This is a solution to /r/dailyprogrammer's Intermediate challenge #154 written almost entirely with numbers and lambdas.

154i_lambdas.rb

MAP = -> coll, &fn {
  coll == [] ? [] : [fn[coll[0]]] + MAP[coll[1..-1], &fn]
}

SIZE = -> coll {
  coll == [] || coll == '' ? 0 : 1 + SIZE[coll[1..-1]]
}

FILTER = -> coll, &fn {
  coll == [] ? [] : (fn[coll[0]] ? [coll[0]] : []) + FILTER[coll[1..-1], &fn]
}

SORT_BY = -> coll, &fn {
  x, *xs = *coll
  coll == [] ? []
  : SORT_BY[FILTER[xs, &-> y { (fn[x] <=> fn[y]) == 1 }], &fn] + 
    [x] +
    SORT_BY[FILTER[xs, &-> y { (fn[x] <=> fn[y]) <= 0 }], &fn]
}

ORD = -> c {
  (order = -> i {
    '' << i == c ? i : order[i + 1]
  })[1]
}

CHARS = -> str {
  sz = SIZE[str]

  (chars_p = -> ret, i {
    ret << str[i]
    (i += 1) == sz ? ret : chars_p[ret, i]
  })[[], 0]
}

INDEX = -> coll, elem {
  (indexer = -> i {
    coll[i] == elem ? i : i > SIZE[coll] ? nil : indexer[i + 1]
  })[0]
}

EACH = -> coll, &fn {
  sz = SIZE[coll]

  (eacher = -> i {
    fn[coll[i]]
    (i += 1) == sz ? coll : eacher[i]
  })[0]
}

PUTS = -> obj { $> << obj << "\n" }

GORELLIAN = -> n, alphabet, words {
  alphabet = MAP[CHARS[alphabet], &-> a { ORD[a] | 32 }]

  EACH[SORT_BY[words, &-> w {MAP[CHARS[w],
                                 &-> c { INDEX[alphabet, ORD[c] | 32] }] }], &PUTS]
}

GORELLIAN[8, 'UVWXYZNOPQRSTHIJKLMABCDEFG', 
          ['ANTLER', 'ANY', 'COW', 'HILL', 'HOW', 'HOWEVER', 'WHATEVER', 'ZONE']]
PUTS['']
GORELLIAN[5, 'ZYXWVuTSRQpONMLkJIHGFEDCBa', 
          ['go', 'aLL', 'ACM', 'teamS', 'Go']]