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You refuse to see me as my age.
It's quite odd, and yes, no fun.
Until I was five, you'd just disregard me,
And then you just saw me as one!

When six, you vividly saw me as two,
Following that, thinking me four.
But then at nine, you did announce
That I was inextant once more.

Hint (Added Oct 19, 2024):

The enigmatic tag was included from the beginning to show that this is not a typical riddle. According to the PSE definition, a riddle "gives indirect clues about an unnamed object or concept to be identified, often in a poem format". This enigmatic puzzle could be argued to also be a riddle because the word "indirect" is used. It could also be argued that it is an enigmatic puzzle masquerading as a riddle.

Hint (Added Nov 13, 2024):

This "riddle" gives direct clues to [something], which you must then figure out how to use to get the . Once you find the word, look for a clue to verify it.

Hint (Added Nov 20, 2024):

One of the tricky things about this "riddle" is that the lines are not giving indirect clues about the answer word, like a normal riddle does. Instead, they are giving direct clues to a [something], and then you apply that [something] in a certain way to find the word. Therefore, the answer word is not clued by, or even hinted at by, the meaning of the title or text.

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Something to do with binary I think... $\endgroup$
    – uggupuggu
    Commented Sep 23 at 16:53
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ On many occasions now I have intended to add a hint, but I just cannot seem to come up with anything that doesn't give it away. When you have reached the correct answer, it should lead you to a more subtle clue that will validate your answer, but none of that will help in reaching the answer. 500 rep pts for the first correct answer. $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Commented Sep 28 at 22:45
  • $\begingroup$ Should the knowledge tag here be necessary? $\endgroup$
    – PDT
    Commented Oct 3 at 8:35
  • $\begingroup$ @PDT it is not relevant $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Commented Oct 5 at 5:22
  • $\begingroup$ @rajeev I have thought this too but it doesn’t seem to be well supported by most the clues. For example… V first appears in IV or 4 so we definitely regard it before 5. $\endgroup$
    – PDT
    Commented Oct 10 at 13:11

4 Answers 4

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I thought of it as the roman numeral V

When six, you vividly saw me as two,

it appears twice in VI VI dly

But then at nine, you did announce That I was inextant once more.

Nine is represented as IX. it does not contain V and I was inex points to IX

Until I was five, you'd just disregard me, And then you just saw me as one!

1 to 4 has I in it and five is the only one with only V in it

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  • $\begingroup$ A few things to add - perhaps these might be the op’s intentions: 1) this could be referring to a clock where IV is IIII, 2) ‘I was 5’ could be referring to five Is of the Roman numerals 3) the different ages could be 5-8 where at 8 you can see four Vs on a number line. But if this was the intention of the op it doesn’t seem very self affirming $\endgroup$
    – PDT
    Commented Oct 10 at 13:39
  • $\begingroup$ Nice try, but this is not it. As with most (or all) of my puzzles, there is no doubt when you reach the answer. You will KNOW it is correct. $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Commented Oct 11 at 0:29
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I am pretty sure that's not it but it kinda fits and I'm too curious to know if it's at least the right direction :)

I thought about the word PARTIZAN.

I figured that maybe the "age" refers to the length of the word, and consecutive years describe consecutive letters.

"Until I was five you'd just disregard me"

The first four letters are "part" - not an entire thing, hence one would disregard it.

And then you just saw me as one!

The next three letters I interpreted as nuumber <-> letter, sort of like you do in leet speek (hacker speak), so 1 would be I.

When six, you vividly saw me as two

Analogously, 2 is Z.

Following that, thinking me four.

And 4 corresponds to A.

But then at nine, you did announce
That I was inextant once more.

The word has 8 letters so it stops existing at the 9-th place.

Anyway, thank you for the riddle. I really enjoy thinking about it.

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  • $\begingroup$ Very creative try. Particularly the leet speak part. However, one of the tricky things about this "riddle" is that the lines are not giving indirect clues about the answer word, like a normal riddle does. Instead, they are giving direct clues to a [something], and you apply that [something] in a certain way to find the word. Therefore, the answer word is not clued by, or even hinted at, by the meaning of the title or text. I will add this as hint #3 now. $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Commented Nov 20 at 17:43
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks, I have a lot of more ideas going on but nothing "nails it". Will keep on thinking! $\endgroup$
    – Miriam K.
    Commented Nov 20 at 17:57
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It's quite odd, and yes, no fun.

I am assuming it to be the numbering system used by Robinson Crusoe to track the number of days of his stay on the island - somewhat childish I know...

So the reasoning is :

You refuse to see me as my age.

Since blocks of 5 are considered as a single unit, 1-4 hold no significance.

$1 \rightarrow |$ $2 \rightarrow ||$ $3 \rightarrow |||$ $4 \rightarrow ||||$

But,

Until I was five, you'd just disregard me, And then you just saw me as one!

$5 \rightarrow \require{cancel}\cancel{||||} $ is considered a unit.

When six, you vividly saw me as two,

Stating the urge for us to make it look like $\require{cancel}\cancel{||||} \require{cancel}\cancel{||||} $

Following that, thinking me four.

just the above reason because $6 \rightarrow \require{cancel}\cancel{||||}| $ $7 \rightarrow \require{cancel}\cancel{||||}|| $ $8 \rightarrow \require{cancel}\cancel{||||}||| $ don't look good do they? So you think of making it look like $ \require{cancel}\cancel{||||}|||| $ means thinking of $|$ $||$ $|||$ as $||||$

But then at nine, you did announce That I was inextant once more.

refers to the fact that the next step is to cross out another pack of 5. $ \require{cancel}\cancel{||||}|||| \rightarrow \require{cancel}\cancel{||||} \require{cancel}\cancel{||||}$ or maybe the thinking of penultimate hint is gone now ( hint can refer to both meanings )

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1
  • $\begingroup$ This is not it, but it is a very creative answer. It doesn't explain all the lines and I have to really strain to make it fit some others. Also, the answer is a word, but this answer is described in many words. $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Commented Oct 12 at 7:50
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This is a bit of a stretch but:

20

Until I was five, you'd just disregard me,
And then you just saw me as one!

20*5 = 100
100% of something = 1
Before that it is just a fraction of the total so it is 'disregarded'.

When six, you vividly saw me as two

20*6 = 120
This refers to 120 minutes or 2 hours

But then at nine, you did announce
That I was inextant once more.

20*9 = 180
This could be 180°
If you rotate a symmetrical object 180°, it will look the same and hence the change is 'inextant' ??

I can't connect the other lines to this answer, so it's probably wrong 😅

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1
  • $\begingroup$ Nice try, but this is not it. You will know for sure that it is correct when you find the answer. $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Commented Oct 24 at 17:36

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