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I'm starting to test out puzzles for my second puzzle book (link to the first). They're all word puzzles based on ones you might see during Harvard's CS50x puzzle day. Try out this new puzzle I'm testing and share any feedback you might have to make it even better. Happy to share hints if you ask:

"Word"play Puzzle

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  • $\begingroup$ Is the odd numbering intentional? There is no 2. for example $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Commented Aug 15 at 14:15
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    $\begingroup$ @BeastlyGerbil I believe so. I don't think the given answer has yet found the intended answer word... $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Aug 15 at 14:16
  • $\begingroup$ @Stiv based on the first puzzle, I think I agree $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Commented Aug 15 at 14:17

1 Answer 1

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The hidden answer is:

SWORDFISH

The grid solves as follows:

Completed grid

1A. Golf cry = FORE
3A. Mountain Path = PASS
5A. Metalworker = SMITH
3D. Leader = GUIDE
4D. Angry = CROSS

Now to extract an answer word somehow. There are two important things to note:

1. The questions are numbered very strangely - there is no '2' anywhere in the grid, and the answers do not appear in numerical order in the grid, as is standard in a normal crossword. This suggests they have another purpose rather than just being for show...

2. The five words in the grid share a connection, suggested by the title - they can all have the word 'WORD' appended to them to make another real word. i.e. the letters 'WORD' have been removed, as per the scored-through 'Wordplay' title: FOREWORD, PASSWORD, WORDSMITH, GUIDEWORD, CROSSWORD.

With a little experimenting, we can derive the solution like so:

Use the clue numbers to index into the answer word (i.e. for clue #n, take its nth letter):

1A. Golf cry = [F]ORE
3A. Mountain Path = PA[S]S
5A. Metalworker = SMIT[H]
3D. Leader = GU[I]DE
4D. Angry = CRO[S]S

This yields the letters FSHIS. If we treat this in the same way as the other words in the grid and add the letters 'WORD', with a little rearranging we get a suitable answer: S[WORD]FISH!

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  • $\begingroup$ Amazing! You are solving all these puzzles and explaining the solutions beautifully. Hope you enjoyed! $\endgroup$
    – Stephen S
    Commented Aug 15 at 22:58
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, another satisfying puzzle, thanks :) I wonder whether there might be some arrangement of words that might allow the numbers to still appear in numerical order, with the two 3's still...? Although the fact they were out of order was a helpful hint that all was definitely not as it seemed rather than just seeming like a typo, I guess! $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Aug 15 at 23:16
  • $\begingroup$ Originally, I had the puzzle a bit longer with the extraction as overlapping letters in the word cross that spelled out "broadbills" with conventional numbering. The trouble I ran into was that this was supposed to lead to the same final answer, but if you didn't already know this was a type of the answer, then googling "broadbills" might not get you there. I still go back and forth about which version was better, but couldn't get an arrangement to work out with the conventional numbering and this extraction. $\endgroup$
    – Stephen S
    Commented Aug 16 at 0:03
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    $\begingroup$ Oh wow, congrats! $\endgroup$
    – Stephen S
    Commented Aug 16 at 11:36
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    $\begingroup$ @Stiv Congratulations on 1000 answers! $\endgroup$
    – Will.Octagon.Gibson
    Commented Aug 19 at 10:28

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