What is a Cuddly Word™?

Question

This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee, etc. You know the drill by now.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Cuddly Word™.

Use the following examples to find the rule. The alphabetical ordering of the Cuddly Words™ is not relevant.

And, if you want to analyze, here is a CSV version:

Cuddly Words™,Non-Cuddly Words™  
AMBLE,STROLL  
ANNA,JANE  
APPLE,ORANGE  
BUNT,WHACK  
EAST,WEST  
EGO,PSYCHE  
IDO,ESPERANTO  
LASSI,DOOGH  
REGAN,GONERIL  
RIM,BRINK  
RUES,REGRETS  
STAT,IMMEDIATELY  
TAGINES,NAVARINS  
TAXI,HANSOM

You can use Microsoft Excel to create the table. Just follow the guidelines of previous puzzles for formatting. You can also edit a previous puzzles, copy everything, and then edit what you need to. That's how I got the CSV working. — greenturtle3141, Sep 30 '16 at 18:38

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 01 '16 at 06:52

5

I think a Cuddly Word™ is

one for which you can add exactly one letter at the start and one at the end, and still get a word. Admittedly in some cases an obscure one.

Perhaps more specifically

you can add the same letter at the start and the end. [Edit by Paolo: So a Cuddly Word™ is one you can "hug" with the "arms" of the hug each being the same letter.]

So:

rAMBLEr
pANNAn -- in comments Will suggests sANNAs or maybe nANNAn and Sconibulus suggests tANNAt; I guess Will's first answer is the intended one as his second one is slang and Sconibulus's looks like a proper noun, but all three are pretty credible.
dAPPLEd
uBUNTu (does this count? has it been sufficiently naturalized into the language?)
yEASTy
bEGOb
wIDOw
cLASSIc
oREGANo
pRIMp
tRUESt
eSTATe
sTAGINESs
aTAXIa

All the words for which I have good examples fit the more specific pattern. All the options for ANNA are kinda obscure.

I have checked only the first few of the stated Non-Cuddly Words and they don't fit even the broader one. I bet the more specific pattern is the one intended.

edited Oct 01 '16 at 06:52

paolo

1,074
7
14

answered Sep 30 '16 at 21:51

Gareth McCaughan

119,120
7
313
454

1

Oregano for Regan? – Sconibulus Sep 30 '16 at 22:01
yeah, I was editing that (and other comments) in while you were making the comment :-). – Gareth McCaughan Sep 30 '16 at 22:03
(and feeling very stupid for not having seen it immediately) – Gareth McCaughan Sep 30 '16 at 22:03
ANNA possibly – Will Sep 30 '16 at 22:04
ah yes, that's pluralizable. Could well be. – Gareth McCaughan Sep 30 '16 at 22:07
Another possibility I guess – Will Sep 30 '16 at 22:07
All those suggestions for ANNA are now in the answer and credited appropriately. (If you prefer to minimize spoilers you might want to remove them from the comments, but I personally don't mind.) – Gareth McCaughan Sep 30 '16 at 22:11
Thank you to whoever put the question in the right format. Gareth - you've got it. The more specific method is the correct one. The solution for BUNT does count - it is in Collins English Dictionary as a naturalised word. Finally, the solution given for ANNA is not correct. None of the letters are used more than once. You can consider the word ANNA itself as a hint to its own solution, and I'm sure you will have heard of it. – paolo Oct 01 '16 at 06:32
Oh, so it's HANNAH then... – Will Oct 01 '16 at 06:55
2

Is it really necessary to figure out each word? Isn't the goal of the puzzle to just find the rule? – greenturtle3141 Oct 01 '16 at 17:48
Will, that's it. Accepting as solved. greenturtle3141 - I suppose not, but I think it makes it more interesting for everyone if the answers are found. – paolo Oct 02 '16 at 08:40

What is a Cuddly Word™?

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