(I AM POSTING 10 NEW PUZZLES I'VE CONSTRUCTED THAT REPRESENT SAMPLES FROM A BOOK IN PROGRESS. ENJOY, AND PLEASE PROVIDE ME YOUR FEEDBACK).
CELEBRITY LETTER
BANKS
The purpose in a
letter bank is to create longer words using only the letters that
appear in the word. So for example, from “seas” we get
“assesses,” “lends” yields “needlessness” and “imps”
gives us “Mississippi.” In Celebrity Letter Banks, I
will provide the surname of a famous person and from it you are asked
to come up with the name of another celebrity, whose surname is
comprised of the same letters as the other celebrity, only in this
case at least one letter from the first celebrity's surname will be
repeated. So for example, if the clue was “Baer” (as in Max Baer
or Max Baer Jr.) some possible answers would be “Berra”
“Barber” or “Barbee.” Many of the surnames in my quiz will
yield more than one answer. See if your answers matches the one or
two I’ve provided.
Answers
1)Ambler
Ballmer
2)Arkin
3)Arnold
4)Arp
5)Asner
6)Asper
7)Baker
8)Bale
9)Barton
10)Bates
11)Beach
12)Begin
13)Bonds
14)Bonet
15)Brel
16)Brison
17)Brunet
18))Bure
19)Byrne
20)Carle
21)Cather
22)Close
23)Conley
24)Craig
25)Crane
CORE WORDS
I've
called this puzzle Core
Words because it
features words of four letters or more that represent the heart of
the words sought and are only missing the first and last letters of
the words. For example, possible answers to the first clue “able”
would be “cabled” and “tablet.” All the clue words and
the answer words can be found in the Oxford
English Dictionary or
are recognized place names, trade names, ethnic terms, or surnames
of famous people. None of the answers should end in an “s” if it
represents a plural.
See if your answers
matches the one or two I’ve provided.
Core Word Clue
Answer
1)able
cabled/tabled
2)ache
3)acre
4)across
5)actor
6)addle
7)agent
8)ague
9)aide
10)akin
11)alee
12)ales
13)alien
14)alone
15)amble
16)amen
17)ampere
18)ample
19)angle
20)anil
21)ankle
22)ante
23)apse
24)aria
25)Aries
26)arouse
27)arrant
28)arty
29)aster
30)aught
THREE WORDS IN ONE
In the first puzzle
Split Definitives we found two new words by dividing a word
at one point in the word. There is another method, however, of
finding two new words. Closeted in many words are other smaller
words. For example the word “covenant” can be broken up as such,
c(oven)ant to produce “cant” and “oven.” In a similar fashion
“evaporating” produces “eating” and “vapor.”
Placing one word
inside another is one of the types of clues found in cryptic
crossword puzzles are often called container word clues. These are
actually three clues in one. A part of the clue suggests the
container, another part hints at the inside word and the third part
is the main definition. An example of such is “A laugh in the
heavens is unstable.” (5 letters) The answer here is “shaky”
as ”ha” (the inner word) represents the laugh, the “sky”
(the outer word) represents heavens and “shaky” is a synonym for
“unstable.”
In this first
puzzle, you are asked to match the words on the left side with the
the words on the right, with the words on the right representing the
inner part of the words. To get you started I will tell you that
outer word, 1)”aces” combines with inner word l) “hill” to
form the word “Achilles.”
Outer Word
Inner Word
A
1)aces
a)abet
2)acted
b)ante
3)badly
c)Berlin
4)bard
d)dime
5)beau
e)dole
6)bide
f)ever
7)bred
g)fort
8)buss
h)game
9)carry
i)hill
10)cold
j)lapse
11)colon
k)laughter
12)comment
l)live
13)coming
m)lucid
14)dies
n)ouch
15)eating
o)part
16)fish
p)pent
17)forte
q)posse
18)lint
r)quit
19)pressing
s)ratio
20)reining
t)reason
21)rent
u)roads
22)runt
v)sine
23)sing
w)star
24)stakes
x)tuna
25)table
y)vest
26)time
z)weeps
HIDDEN TRINITIES
Here the
puzzler will find clues that feature three words. In each case you
must insert three-lettered words, but not at the beginning or end of
words. So for example. If the words were “broom, “ “sow” and
“shot” you would add the word “all” to create “ballroom,”
“sallow” and “shallot.” As the puzzle progresses past the
half-way point, you may find that in some clues there might be a
word, or even two, not known to every puzzler. All words, however,
are found in the Oxford
English Dictionary and
none of them are designated as obsolete.
1)sped red sing
2)west fed swing
3)bed get bet
4)orgy mate slot
5)per caul pace
6)bag divest lag
7)mow fed bow
8)rear comes grant
9)pry con per
10)loon sled shoo
11)boon scion show
12)unshed cred red
13)late tile price
14)spring pine per
15)less natal fractal
16)wart gola warty
17)coned deer reed
18)fish men lie
19)absent roue say
20)faced facial sage
CRYPTIC HOMONYM PUZZLE
One of the reasons
English is such a devilishly difficult language to master is that
words can have so many different meaning. Many words have slang
meaning totally at odds with the standard sense of the word, but
these slang meanings are so entrenched in our language that they are
listed in virtually all dictionaries. The champion word with various
meanings is “set.” It can be used as an adjective, adverb, noun
and verb and there are over 200 different senses to the word. The
next most prolific word found in our lexicon is “run.”
To complicate
matters even more, words that are spelled the same way can have
totally different meanings and be pronounced differently. For
example, DOES can mean “performs” or “female deer” and PUSSY
can refer to a cat but also to something that is full of pus. And
you thought English was an easy language?
On the positive
side, words that have double meanings are a staple of cryptic
crossword puzzles. Thus, in the May16,2010 New York Times cryptic
crossword, the duo of Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon presented us with
this clue to a four lettered word : “Blue feathers,” The answer
here is “down” as this word can mean both “blue” and
“feathers.” To help solvers along in my puzzle, I have
arranged the puzzle so that the words get longer as it progresses
and all the words of the same length are in alphabetical order.
Also, the answer can be found in two parts of the clue and where the
clue is more than two letters, the solver has to discern how the
clue is divided. For example in the first clue, to arrive at the
answer “ace.” the clue should be divided “unreturned service”
and “expert,” not “unreturned” and “service expert.”
Similarly the clue “reduce psychiatrist” would yield the
answer “shrink.” Also, be mindful that a clue word that seems
to be a noun, verb, adjective, etc., might be something else. Good
luck.
Cryptic homonym
clue
Answer
1)unreturned service expert
ace
2)express pretentious attitude
3)ban pub
4)fire container
5)hound hound
6)terminate final
part
7)strike out
afficionado
8)cool body part
90)jelly blockage
10)function Old
Testament book
11)recumbent
prevarication
12)schlep galoot
13)sink kitchen
utensil
14)fight line
15)distinguished
blade
16)surreptitiously
listen to the faucet
17)cravat deadlock
18)desire Japanese
money
19)do up nothing
20)upper limbs
weapons
21)chops alliances
22)depend on
financial institution
23)tolerate someone expectingbad financial
conditions
24)outscore rhythm
25)meat complaint
BEGIN TO END
The answer to each word on the right has the last letter of the
answer on the left in front of it. For example, if a clue read as
such (instructs - effort) the answers would be “trains” and
“strain.” Discern the answers with the clues provided. As an
added clue the answers in the left column are all in alphabetical
order and have a minimum of five letters.
Answers
1)most competent pool,
bridge, e.g ablest-tables
2)stop the mission type of
drum
3)snakes more
down
4)befuddles riding
apparatus
5)sense of dread strong
tastes
6)hope
rose shrub
7)rate
teases
8)strong point French
cup
9)German cars Middle
Eastern person
10)groups
mischievous child
11)fondle
frightens
12)studies hard get
lost
13)toilets
pugilist
14)what a baby does messy
handwriting
15)beliefs
harangue
16)economizes folds or
presses together
17)painful skin areas disdain
18)hang loosely placed
obliquely
19)fool
evaded
20)soil
core
PRECISE RECIPES
This puzzle is
called “precise recipes” because it features clues that will
yield two words answers where each word is an anagram of each other
in the manner that “precise” is an anagram to “recipes.”
Hence the answer to Puzzle a) #35, “exacting cooking
formulas” is precise recipes (Not seen here in this sample
puzzle). As
an added clue the puzzle starts with clues where you have to discern
short answers and then the answers get progressively longer. Hence
the answer to the first clue “viper resort” in Puzzle b) is
“asp spa” Aside from the answers getting longer, another clue is
that the clues are in alphabetical order based on the length of the
answer. So for example, in the case of the clues before and after
Puzzle a) #35, the answers sought will contain words seven letters
long and they will start with the letter “p” or a letter just
before or after “p” in the alphabet. To help you along,
I have provided the first answer to all five precise recipes
puzzles
a)PRECISE
RECIPES-The Good LifeI've
entitled this section “The Good Life” because it features many
phrases that suggest a life replete with life's luxuries, such as
food, beverages, culture and entertainment. As you will see some of
the entries in the “good life”are not necessarily so good. The
answer to #1 “spring potato” is “May yam.”
ANSWER
1)spring potato
May yam
2)make
Weight-Watcher adjustment
3)actors in
T.S.Eliot-inspired play
4))ritzy boutique
5)gunned down emcee
6)quiet spouse
7)inexpensive fruit
8)bogus Canadian
hockey team ?
9)yellowish fruit
10)whiter jewel
11)party poopers?
12)What Simon Cowell
likes to see each year
13)recycled movies?
14)advertises strong
dark beer
15))wishy-washy
movie
16)OPEC’s wine
choice?
17)Look for a
whiskey after a beer
18)women's Olympic
golds
19)dating service?
20)cultured product well past the due date?
SEMORDNILAP
This puzzle
features paired words where each word not only is an anagram for each
other but also spells the other word backward. So the answer to the
first one “average hip-
hop” is “par
rap.” The puzzle is called semordnilap because this made up word
spells palindrome backwards and each paired phrase such as “par rap
” is a palindrome. In the next chapter we will look at palindrome
puzzles.
Answers
1)average hip-hop
par rap
2)bitter hostilities
3)Maria Callas?
4)boring poet
5)publish weekly
news magazine
6)early rumbling of
volcano
7)notice well-known
English school
8)created cheese
9)train fabricator
10)concealed weapons?
11)skewer flying
mammals
12)famous rodents
13)where to purchase a
streetcar?
14)spring or hold-down bar
15)hospital sweepstakes
PALINDROMES IN PALINDROMES PUZZLES
Puzzle
1Readers
are asked to uncover the following palindromes with the aid of the
clues provided. Remember that in palindromes the placement of a
letter usually tells one where other letters are placed. So for the
second clue that means that the fourth letter from the end will also
be an “r.” Also if the clue features a plural, there’s a
good chance that an “s” will appear at the then of at least one
word. When this first puzzle is completed, the third letters of the
phrases will spell out a question that George W. Bush may have asked
himself while attending Yale.
1)Support a taxi _ _ _ k
_ _ _
2-Laconic snares _ _ _ r _ _ _ _ _ _
_
3)Former Cambodian leader _ _ _ _ _ _
4)Keen
operatic star _ _ _ d _ _ _ _
5)Break bridges s _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
6)Free Indian guitar s _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
7)Bare-headed _ _ _ a _ _ t _
_
8)Less than 2000 lbs. _ _ _ _ _ _ n
9)Simple
French mineral water _ _ _ v _ _ _ _ _ _
10)Harshly
enclose pets s _ _ _ _ _ a_ _ _ _ _ _
11)Bamboo
eater slept _ _ _ d _ _ _ _ _ _ _
12))Holy Grail of
Pro Hockey _ u _ _ _ _ _
WORD
QUIZZES
AMERICAN
GEOGRAPHY & PRESIDENTS PUZZLE
1)What is the only
letter that doesn’t appear in any of the 50 United States?
2)What American
state is an anagram for “forlaid?”
3)What American state is an anagram of
“nominates?”
4)What American city is an anagram of
“diagnose?”
5)What do these words have in common? “caption,”
“dottier,” “meals,” “scrape”
6)What do the words
“foregone” and “remained” have in common?
7)What do these
words and phrases have in common? “balaustine,” “over and
over,” “renovation,” “vagary”
8)What American state
can be made only from the letters found in “imps”?
9)What
American state can be made only from the letters found in
“lions”?
10)What American state can be made only from the
letters found in “ranks”?)Bamboo eater slept _ _ _ d _ _
_ _ _ _ _
12))Holy Grail of Pro Hockey _ u _ _
_ _ _
WORLD GEOGRAPHY
PUZZLE1)What is the only country named for its geographical
position ?
2)What city in Africa is an anagram for “goals?”
3)What country is an
anagram of “lizard newts?”
4)What country is an anagram of
“lenient ethics?”
5)What country is an anagram of “prison
age?”
6)What country is an
anagram of “mistaken runt?”
7)What country is an
anagram of “Ghana faints?”
8)What country is an
anagram of “ones’ India?”
9)What country is an
anagram of “led Iran?”
10)What do the following places have in common? :
“Belarus,” “Iraq,” “Malawi,” “United Arab Emirates”
FIND THE COMMONALITY
All the following lists of words share
a common thread. Name it.
1)appeasement,arpeggio,bedchamber, fortunately
2)aching,attribution,deliverance,monoselenide
3)Dixielander,
interregnum, scowlingly, transmigration, unscathed
4)bra, cab,
flu, pants, piano
5)bikini, denim, donnybrook, jeans,
millinery
6)blackmailed, gimmick, headache, kickback milkmaid
7)polka, song, spoonfeed, wrong, zoned
8)abhors, almost,
biopsy, chimps, ghost
9)ambidextrously, Falconbridge,
Schwarzkopf, troublemaking, uncopyrightable
10)jumbo shrimp,
military intelligence, pretty ugly
MISCELLANEOUS
LANGUAGE QUIZZES1)What
word yields the most points in Scrabble that doesn’t contain an a,
e, i o, or u?
2)Name a brand of beer whose letters are only
worth one point in Scrabble?
3)Name a nine letter word with only
one vowel?
4)Name a word with three consecutive letter pairs?
5)Which entertainer’s last name is the past tense of a synonym
for his first name?
6)What do the products Dial, Serutan, Tide
and Tums have in common?
7)Name a 7 letter word with none of the
regular 5 vowels.
8)Name a word of at least 5 letters that is a
palindrome?
9)The number “ten” has three letters. What’s
the only number that has the same number of letters as the
number?
10)In the word “begin” all the letters appear in
alphabetical order. Name the only number where the letters appear in
alphabetical order.
ALPHABET PUZZLE
There are more than
one answer to most of these questions. I will only list one in the
answers.)
A)Name a word of at least 6 letters that starts with
an a and
ends in an a?
B)Name
a word of at least 5 letters that starts with a b
and ends
with a b?
C)Name
a word of at least 6 letters that starts with a c
and ends
with a c?
D)Name
a word of at least 10 letters that starts with a d
and ends with a d?
E)Name
a word with at least 4 Es?
F)Name
a word with 4 Fs?
G)Name a word of at least 8 letters that starts with a g
and ends
with a g?
H)Name
a word with 2 consecutive Hs?
I)Name
a word with 3 Is?
J)Name
a word with 2 Js?
