Not using Data|Validation.
But you could use a combobox from the Control Toolbox toolbar. There's a
property that you can set telling it to look for a match.
You could plop that combobox right over the same cell.
rightclick on the combobox and select properties.
look for listfillrange and use the same range as you used for Data|Validation
(or if you typed in the values in the DV dialog, put those values on a different
worksheet (hidden, maybe).
Look for linkedcell and type the address of the cell you're using to hold that
combobox.
Look for Style and change it to fmstyledropdownlist
(prevents users from typing anything they want)
Look for matchentry and try fmmatchentrycomplete (or fmmatchentryfirstletter)
(depends on what you want).
When you're done, use the arrow keys to select that linked cell.
Format|cells|number tab
custom category
In the "Type box", put ;;;
(3 semicolons will hide the value in the cell, but you'll still be able to use
it in your formulas.)