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I was rummaging through a trunk in the attic when I found this vintage game. It is some sort of pinwheel or propeller mounted on a board. The propeller has a cryptic series of letters painted on it, and the board has four cryptic series of letters painted on it. As the propeller spins on the board, it forms words as it turns.

Scroll down to watch it spin:

                                   I
                   N             ·
                               S
                   T         ·
                           A
                   N     ·
                       T
                     ·
A   R   H   F      •    S   E   M   H   P


                   R     

                   N         

                   M             

                   T








                   N          

                   T       

                   N     


A   R   H   F      •  · S T E A M S H I P


                   R

                   N

                   M

                   T








                   N             

                   T         

                   N     


A   R   H   F      •    S   E   M   H   P
                     ·
                       T 
                   R     · 
                           A
                   N         ·
                               S
                   M             ·
                                   I
                   T








                   N          

                   T       

                   N     


A   R   H   F      •    S   E   M   H   P
                   ·
                   T
                   R
                   A
                   N
                   S
                   M
                   I
                   T








                   N             

                   T         

                   N     


A   R   H   F      •    S   E   M   H   P
                 ·   
               T       
             ·     R     
           A               
         ·         N         
       S                       
     ·             M             
   I                               
                   T








                   N          

                   T       

                   N     


A I R S H A F T ·  •    S   E   M   H   P


                   R

                   N

                   M

                   T







   I                               
     ·             N             
       S                       
         ·         T         
           A               
             ·     N     
               T       
                 ·   
A   R   H   F      •    S   E   M   H   P


                   R     

                   N         

                   M             

                   T








                   I           
                   N          
                   S        
                   T       
                   A     
                   N     
                   T  
                   · 
A   R   H   F      •    S   E   M   H   P


                   R

                   N

                   M

                   T








                                   I
                   N             ·
                               S
                   T         ·
                           A
                   N     ·
                       T
                     ·
A   R   H   F      •    S   E   M   H   P


                   R     

                   N         

                   M             

                   T


I notice that the horizontal words always read from left to right, and the vertical words always read from top to bottom. So that means the propeller will sometimes read "forward" in the word, while other times it will read "backward" in the word. (More precisely: Sometimes the propeller reads radially outward, while other times it reads radially inward.)

I found some others in the trunk, but unfortunately the propellers are missing. Maybe you can help me re-create the propellers for these boards?

See if you can deduce the propellers from the four boards below:

1.
                   D

                   E

                   N

                   S


  S   R   S   O    •      T   E   L   S


                   L

                   E

                   I

                   R






2.                
                   C

                   U

                   L

                   S

  T   I   P   R    •    T   M   T   E   S

                   L

                   O

                   A

                   D






3.
                     C

                     E

                     A

                     I

                     N

P   O   O   I   N    •      U   S   A   T

                     C

                     S

                     U

                     E






4.
                   H

                   M

                   U

                   G

                   R

J   M   O   E      •    H   A   T   E   T

                   F

                   R

                   Y

                   O

                   T


Afterword:

See the complementary puzzle here.

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4
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Fantastic puzzle, I love it! $\endgroup$
    – Raydot
    Commented May 14, 2019 at 17:41
  • $\begingroup$ Is it accurate to say that the first letter will always come from the same place it does in your example? E.g. the "East" word will always start with a letter from the board ("S") vs. the "South" which starts with the propeller ("T")? $\endgroup$
    – KC Baltz
    Commented May 14, 2019 at 18:05
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @KCBaltz – Great question, thanks for asking! There is no guarantee how the propeller letters and the letters on the board will interlace. A propeller letter might come first, or a board letter might come first. A propeller letter might come last, or a board letter might come last. In other words, the interlacing could follow an ABABA pattern, an ABABAB pattern, a BABABA pattern, or a BABAB pattern. $\endgroup$
    – SlowMagic
    Commented May 15, 2019 at 14:56
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ BTW, I made my best effort to accurately represent the posed problems in ASCII art exactly as they would look on a physical board, but I wouldn't rely on counts of the spacing to determine interlacing patterns. (And anyway, counting spaces is a tedious way to puzzle!) $\endgroup$
    – SlowMagic
    Commented May 15, 2019 at 16:08

3 Answers 3

17
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[I see some other people have posted partials; I haven't looked at them. But @hexomino posted 1,3 before me, and @TwoBitOperation posted 4 before me.]

1

  S R S O
 E P E S
D E N S
~
 T E L S
S E P E
 L E I R

2

 T I P R
S R P E
 C U L S
~
T M T E S
 E P R S
L O A D

3

P O O I N
 R M T O
C E A I N
~
  U S A T
 O T M R
C S U E

4

J M O E
 A B R E
H M U G R
~
H A T E T
 E R B A
F R Y O T

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9
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Partial answer

1.

Propeller = .S.E.P.E (inside to outside)

Words:
DEEPNESS
STEEPLES
SLEEPIER
ESPRESSO

3.

Propeller = .O.T.M.R

Words:
CREMATION
OUTSMART
COSTUMER
PROMOTION

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4
  • $\begingroup$ I was trying to type out answer to 1 when it popped up 3 other answers were submitted, I got number 1 but didnt know how to make my answer spoiler style? $\endgroup$
    – TiO
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 14:47
  • $\begingroup$ @TiO Are you asking how to do that? $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 14:48
  • $\begingroup$ yes, I was trying to type my answer for number 1 but didn't know how to get it to hide my answer like it does for you so didn't post mine :) @hexomino $\endgroup$
    – TiO
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 14:51
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @TiO You use >! before anything you want to hide. I use <br> to break the lines within the spoiler text although others do it in a different way (e.g, see Gareth McCaughan's answer). If you click "edit" underneath an answer you can see how the person did their formatting. $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 14:54
8
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2)

S-R-P-E
Scruples, Temptress, Leopards, Stripper

4)

A-B-R-E
Hamburger, Heartbeat, FerryBoat, Jamboree

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