Can you use "same" without "the"?

I've been racking my brain trying to think of a grammatically correct sentence that uses same without the earlier in the same (see!) phrase.

It is the same

It is the very same

I have 10 things all the same

I have 10 of the same things

The same boy as last time did it again

The boy did the same thing as last time

I am discounting same-day dry cleaning and any similar phrases that might crop up because using a hyphen is acceptable which suggests it's an atomic phrase and it sounds awkward if inverted:

They have a same-day dry cleaning service.

Their dry cleaning service is same-day. - Sounds odd but might be acceptable in some situations

Their dry cleaning service is done on the same day. - Sounds better

So I don't think it's possible when same is used by itself. Can someone either explain why same must always have the before it or provide a grammatically correct counter-example?

Solution 1:

The word same is usually used with the definite article. However, it can be used with any central determiner which marks the noun phrase as definite:

• these same ideas
• those very same people
• my same friend
• whose same idea
• Ben's same problems

There are also some stock phrases which don't use the definite article. For example the two word reply:

• Same difference.

There are also a few examples of same being used with an indefinite article in published books. Here's a quote from a philosophy book:

• Striking as well is that a same idea is several times repeated, but each time the wording shows up to be somewhat different.

We can even find examples of same with the negative determiner no:

• The chairman and vice-chairman would serve a term of 1 year, with no renewal of term for the chairman (either as chairman or vice-chairman) and the further stipulation that no same person may serve as the vice-chairman for a consecutive period of more than two years.

Notice that using "same" with these determiners and the definite article leads to ungrammatical results:

• the these same ideas
• those the very same people
• my the same friend
• the whose same idea
• Ben's the same problems
• a the same idea
• the no same person

This is because English does not allow two so-called central determiners for the same noun.

Solution 2:

Same is occasionally used in a technical sense to mean "the aforementioned person/thing." For example:

We are responsible for the house and any costs of same.

In most typical occasions, however, that would not be considered proper syntax.