# “IQ” puzzles seem to be flooding this site

“IQ” puzzles seem to be flooding this site, so I reviewed a few and left some feedback.
The answer to this puzzle is a single relevant word (8), with explanation of how you found it.

CRITIQUE

The test items:

Each question encodes a word letter by letter, each in a different way. The important things to note are:

• The three options A, B and C are not options, but descriptions of how the letters A, B and C are encoded.
• In each word, the question mark can be replaced by IQ. (That usually means that the letter after that is a U.)
• The scribbled remarks define (or confirm) the word and occasionally give a hint.

In particular: Question 1

Found this one irritatingPIQUE: These are just simple straight-line drawing of the letters.

2

Elements of this were too narrowly focusedCLIQUE: The black and black pixels are elements in the periodic table, zoomed in on one element and its direct neighbours. The atomic number of the green element is letter index, see below.

3

I think the creator was drunkLIQUOR: The symbols are blocks of a seven-segment display with starred segments inactive and the other segments highlighted.

4

SameLIQUID: The number of edges of each shape is the letter index.

5

Never seen it beforeUNIQUE: This is Α1Ω24, if you will; after getting a number from the letter, use A1Z26 to get a Latin letter. I don't think the rotation matters.

6

Very unclearOBLIQUE: We can prepend a letter to get the name of a moon of Uranus (U) or Jupiter(J): Oberon (U), Bianca (U), Lysithea (J), Umbriel (U), Europa (J). A and C are Ariel (U) and Callisto (J).

7

Interesting! – PIQUANT: The number of number of areas is the letter index.

8

Too old sxchoolANTIQUE: The first letter of a named web colour: Azure, Navy, Tan, United Nations blue*, Ecru*. B and C are Black and Cyan. (The two starred colours are not web colours.)

9

FascinatingMYSTIQUE: The number of inner angles in each shape is the letter index.

10

Requires key skillsTECHNIQUE: Each box shows two letters which are on the same row in a QWERTY keyboard and one letter apart. Pick the letter in between.

11

Seen it beforeUBIQUITOUS: These letters are drawn only half and the arrow indicates a plane of symmetry, where to reflect the already drawn part to complete the letter. The S does not have reflectional symmetry, so it doesn't have an arrow, but it is reflected nonetheless.

(Thanks to user fljx for spotting that the arrows indicate symmetry. I had in incomplete explanation originally and the answer wasn't hard to get with the three U's already in place.)

12

Distant, for many. Need to zoom in.MOZAMBIQUE: These are the flags of African coutries. If there is a blue star overlain on the flag, take the first letter of the country's capital, otherwise take the first letter of the country's name. To remove ambiguity, all other stars have been removed from the flags. (Thanks to user39583, who found out what the stars mean.)

The countries are: Mali, Burkina Faso (★Ouagadougou), Zambia, Angola, Mali, Benin, Uganda, Ethiopia. A, B and C are Algeria, Botswana and Egypt (★Cairo).

The grid:

The grid at the bottom has twelve items, each corresponding to a question of the test. We can use the same rules as above to get the letters. (The moon, this time of Saturn, is Ymir; the colour is Turquoise; the country is Egypt.)

    E   E   S
A   R   Y
O   T   U
E   E   E


The numbers:

Now use these numbers as indices to the grid to extract letters:

sea are eye tea ? you eee

These are homophones of letters. After replacing the question mark with IQ as above, we get the answer: CRITIQUE.

• Aha, good find, @user39583. I'll can do a more detailed write-up of the individual answers, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow morning, CEST. I just wanted to put the towel on the sunbed ... Aug 7, 2022 at 20:00
• For 11: ROT13(Ersyrpg gur qenja yvarf va gur qverpgvba bs gur neebj gb pbzcyrgr gur yrggre. Gur F qbrfa'g unir ersyrpgvbany flzzrgel, fb vf whfg n yvar jvgu ab neebj. Naq V thrff "frra vg orsber" vf n uvag gb gur ersyrpgrq cnegf ercrngvat jung jr unir nyernql frra.)
– fljx
Aug 8, 2022 at 8:41