Editing -gry puzzle (section)

==Similar puzzles==
{{anchor|-dous}}
There are numerous similar puzzles, giving letter sequences that rarely occur in words.<ref name="lederer">''The Word Circus: A Letter-perfect Book'', by Richard Lederer, Dave Morice, 1998, [https://archive.org/details/wordcircusletter00lede/page/259 p. 259]</ref> The most-notable of these is the ''-dous'' puzzle of finding words ending in ''-dous'', which was popular in the 1880s. This took various forms, sometimes simply listing all words or all common words,<ref name="nandq"/><ref>''The Brooklyn Magazine'', Volumes II, Number 2, 1885, May, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9KbQAAAAMAAJ&dq=dous+tremendous+stupendous+hazardous+horrendous+jeopardous&pg=RA2-PA85 p. 85]</ref> sometimes being posed as a riddle, giving the three common words, ''[[wikt:tremendous|tremendous]]'', ''[[wikt:stupendous|stupendous]]'', and ''[[wikt:hazardous|hazardous]]'', and requesting the rarer fourth, which is ''[[wikt:jeopardous|jeopardous]]''. This form originated in 1883, with an A.A. of Glasgow writing to [[George Augustus Henry Sala]] in his "Echoes of the Week" column in the ''[[Illustrated London News]]''.<ref>Collected in ''Echoes of the year Eighteen Hundred and Eighty-Three'',[https://archive.org/details/echoesyeareight00unkngoog/page/n358 <!-- quote=dous tremendous stupendous. --> p. 337]</ref><ref>See credit of Sala in ''Tidbits'', 1884 February 2, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sj85AQAAMAAJ&dq=dous+tremendous+stupendous&pg=PA246 p. 246]; reprint: [https://books.google.com/books?id=vPgIAAAAQAAJ&dq=dous+hazardous+tremendous&pg=PA327 p. 327]</ref>
This question has had enduring popularity,<ref>''Graphite'', 1909 March, "'Dous' Sequel", [https://books.google.com/books?id=sZzmAAAAMAAJ&dq=tremendous+stupendous+dous&pg=PA1976 p. 1076]</ref> even inspiring a contest,<ref name="spatula">''The Spatula'', Volume 2, 1895, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nxVOAAAAMAAJ&dq=dous+tremendous+stupendous&pg=PA360 p. 360]</ref> though the words have proven less stable: today ''jeopardous'' is considered too rare, and the formerly unpopular ''[[wikt:horrendous|horrendous]]'' has taken its place; this change occurred as early as 1909.<ref name="eandp">Editor and Publisher, Volume 9, 1909, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7yVDAQAAMAAJ&dq=tremendous+stupendous+hazardous+dous&pg=PA18-IA89 p. 89]</ref> At times other words such as ''[[wikt:hybridous|hybridous]]'' have been accepted.<ref name="spatula"/> Today ''[[wikt:hazardous|hazardous]]'' is typically the omitted word, and differs from the others in being a visible compound ''[[wikt:hazard|hazard]]'' + ''[[wikt:-ous|-ous]]''. This puzzle has continued in popularity through the end of the 20th century,<ref>''The Game of Words'', Willard Epsy, 1971</ref>{{sfn|Beaman|1976|loc="Kickshaws: An Earlier Kickshaw", [https://books.google.com/books?id=9IgsAAAAMAAJ&q=tremendous+stupendous p. 40]}} with recent versions giving it as an alternative to the gry puzzle.<ref>''The Word Circus: A Letter-perfect Book'', by Richard Lederer, Dave Morice, 1998, [https://archive.org/details/wordcircusletter00lede/page/229 p. 229]</ref>
There is a Russian puzzle which goes: "There are three words in the Russian language which end in -zo. Two of them are ''zhelezo'' "iron" and ''puzo'' "belly". What is the third word?" There is quite a handful of other nouns that end in -zo, in the Russian language, but most of them are fairly obscure terms like авизо, abbreviations or proper names like Кензо. 
Another similar one is words ending in ''-cion'', of which the common words are ''[[wikt:coercion|coercion]]'', ''[[wikt:scion|scion]]'', and ''[[wikt:suspicion|suspicion]]''.<ref name="nandq">''Notes and Queries'', Vol. VI, No. 10, 1889, October, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0qYXAQAAMAAJ&dq=cion&pg=PA365 p. 365]</ref><ref name="eandp"/>

The most similar to the gry puzzle in form is to find three words that contain the letter sequence ''shion'', to which the answer is ''[[wikt:cushion|cu'''shion''']]'', ''[[wikt:fashion|fa'''shion''']]'', and ''[[wikt:parishioner|pari'''shion'''er]]'';  this is typically stated by giving ''cushion'' and ''fashion'', and requesting the third word, namely ''parishioner''.<ref name="lederer"/><ref>''Weeds in the Garden of Words: Further Observations on the Tangled History of the English Language'', Kate Burridge, 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Iq9R_9AQ19gC&pg=PA82 p. 82], p. 184</ref> This can be modified to finding words ''ending'' with ''-shion'', in which case the answer is the obsolete word ''[[wikt:parishion|parishion]]'', which is a synonymous variant of ''parishioner''. This has not been nearly as popular as the gry puzzle.