==> combinatorics/alphabet.blocks.s <== n= 2 3 4 5 6 (8,4) (9,7) (9,3) (10,7) (11,7) aijklm abcde? acdefg abcde? abkmuz bijklm fghij? bhijkl fghij? bcpwy? cnopqr klmno? cmnopq klmno? cdlnvz dnopqr pqrst? dhnrvy pqrst? deqxu? estuvw uvwxy? eiosvw uvwxy? efmowz fstuvw afkpu? fjptwx afkpu? fgryv? gxyz?? bglqv? gkquxy bglqv? ghnkx? hxyz?? chmrwz lmrstu chmrwz hisuw? dinsxz zab??? dinsxz ijoly? ejotyz jatvx? pqrstz I think I can prove that there is no solution with 11 dice with 9 don't cares or with 10 dice, but I haven't checked all the details, so I might have made a mistake. In any case, that leaves open the case of 11 dice with 8 don't cares; my guess is that it is not possible. -- John Rickard (jrickard@eoe.co.uk)