Thinking about that video that just went up at gscentral, I got to thinking this: What are some puzzles with potentially big payoffs due to letter repitition?

I thought of three:

Title: TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR (5 Ts and 4 Ls)

Phrase: DON'T CALL US WE'LL CALL YOU (6 Ls)

Phrase: ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (6 Ls) (This actually aired as a round 4 puzzle last season, but the payout for the Ls was minimal.)

What are some others?

As per a post in Google, a contestant won $35K on To Be Or Not to Be, That is the Question early in the syndicated run. They did it by picking T upon hitting the $5K space on their first spin and then solving the puzzle right off the bat.

Probably the most famous is "SHE SELLS SEASHELLS BY THE SEASHORE" with 8 S's, four L's, and three H's.

(The claim to fame, of course, was the contestant accumulating a potload of money and then attempting to solve it with "AT" instead of "BY", despite the fact that the "A" had already been called and exposed.)

(The contestant's name? DuMass.)

(I'm just joking about the name.)

(If I may Rock momentarily, no, Zach, it doesn't matter what their name is.)

I don't remember this moment happening. Had they accumulated as much as the American Success Story or Thrill of Victory player?

I remember "THERES NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS" (and no, I didn't leave out the apostrophe - this was from the days of the Woolery version when they didn't have punctuation on the board), which is 8 Ss and 3 Ns, but it was a $500-maximum puzzle so it didn't pay very much.

-- Don

I am pleased to say I don't remember, because, you see, I have a life outside of game shows.

So, obviously, it didn't happen, because you're the Supergod ©.

Though probably not as big as those others, how about AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH. No more than 4 in the consonant department, but a LOT of doubles which could add up quickly.

What about the $54,000 puzzle from earlier this season:

RATTLESNAKES & SCORPIONS

4 T's and 4 S's.

Brian

Will Smith played Hutch?

PETER PIPER PICKED A PECK OF PICKLED PEPPERS

Assuming my math is right. (of course, you know what happens when you assume)
9 Ps
3 Cs
3 Ks
3 Rs
2 Ds
1 T
1 F
1 L
1 S

Vowels
8 Es
3 Is
1 O
1 A


A problem with using the above - or any commonly known tongue twister or similar phrase is that once the one or two money letters are in, the contestant is almost definitely going to stop where they are unless they're...well...an idiot. Peter Piper would be a little better than the person selling those seashells, since at least P is a little farther down the guess list. S would be called no later than 6th, and probably earlier. Still, any commonly known phrase to the majority of the population would fall into the "too easy" scenario.

That said, if they know the answer early on, and they know there are all those multiples up there, and thus a lot of money to be made, they might decide to get greedy and keep playing.