18
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I'm where you keep your most private possessions
With a small adjustment, I'm always on the move
Again, and I'm one of you, lacking aggression
Once more, at my end, my son has something to prove

If you gut him, you may have done so for this
Change that, and a group of great beasts have you found
Again, it's my versatile partner, my bliss
She protects me when orderly enemies are 'round

Make a rhyme, if you've done a good job it will squeak
Sort them out and you'll find a great tool comes to view
This weapon, however, is not the word that you seek:
It's the user, of which, in my land I have two

Take his opposite, and several later you've got one
Change its first, and this riddle's answer you desire
Conjugate incorrectly, and you've not got a verb, son
But one close to this soldier, in his path, you'll retire.

Again, recall the user of the weapon above
When his opposite appears, it is given this name
One fix and you've found my minions least loved
But without them I'd be at a loss in this game

Disclaimer: This riddle is intended to be a much harder follow-up to my quickly solved puzzle last week. At the end of each line, you should be left with a one-syllable, common word. Only lines 11 and 20 do not yield a word. Most words will only change by one letter between lines, as hinted, but this riddle is more complex: phrases like gut him, sort them out, and take his opposite should be interpreted analogously to behead me from the previous riddle, which was wordplay for remove my first letter.

  • All words are one syllable long, and no longer than six letters

  • All words should be well known by the community

    • Exception: Line 15 jokes that its word is an incorrect conjugation of [14]. I didn't know that it was even a word, but apparently it has an obscure definition.
  • No proper nouns are used in this puzzle

Other words will change completely across line pairs, but I hope not to confuse you too badly, so I'll provide hints here:
Hint 1:

From line 4 to 5, our first odd pair appears
Hark! From first to third person it veers!

Hint 2:

In lines 7 and 8, the subject is the same
For [8], the [7] of [4] is given this name.

Hint 3:

Line 3 describes its word in two separate ways
It makes a good place to begin solving this maze.

Improve this question
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12
  • $\begingroup$ First line looks like either PURSE or PANTS :-) $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 21:56
  • $\begingroup$ In your other dynamic poem, words only ever changed by one letter at a time. Can you confirm that rule applies to this one too? $\endgroup$
    – greenglass
    Commented Aug 9, 2015 at 7:51
  • $\begingroup$ Some words change by a letter, as hinted, but others will play with letters differently. There are also changes that are rhyming, wordplay, and antonyms, but it works the same in that parts can be solved backwards if your first word is in the middle. $\endgroup$
    – Roland
    Commented Aug 10, 2015 at 0:54
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Just to confirm, is every word between 1 and 5 characters long? $\endgroup$
    – Alconja
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 1:18
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Thanks for asking! Some 6-letter words are used, but every word is one syllable. I'll update the puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – Roland
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 1:37

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
13
+50
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Who is missing?

The bishop

I'm where you keep your most private possessions

My most private possessions are my thoughts, which I keep in my mind

With a small adjustment, I'm always on the move

The wind is always on the move

Again, and I'm one of you, lacking aggression

Of my kind, or to be kind

Once more, at my end, my son has something to prove

The son of a king would have something to prove

If you gut him, you may have done so for this

price (see comments, thanks @Lampost42)

Change that, and a group of great beasts have you found

A group of lions is a pride

Again, it's my versatile partner, my bliss

A partner or a bride

Who protects me when orderly enemies are 'round

of a king would be a queen - a versatile and powerful chess piece

Make a rhyme, if you've done a good job it will squeak

as in, squeaky clean

Sort them out and you'll find a great tool comes to view

clean is an anagram of lance

This weapon, however, is not the word that you seek
It's the user, of which, in my land I have two

and a lance is the weapon of a knight, of which there are two per chess player

Take his opposite, and several later you've got one

The opposite of night is day, and several days is a week

Change its first, and this riddle's answer you desire

It took me a while to notice the italics around desire, but once I did it could be replaced with seek

Conjugate incorrectly, and you've not got a verb, son

The past of seek is sought, and a sook is (apparently) a female crab

But one close to this soldier, in his path, you'll retire.

You wouldn't want your king in the path of a rook

Again, recall the user of the weapon above

back to knight

When his opposite appears, it is given this name

the appearance of day is dawn

One fix and you've found my minions least loved

the least appreciated piece in chess is a pawn

But without them I'd be at a loss in this game

and although the edit says this doesn't yield a word, I think it could yield chess

Improve this answer
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6
  • $\begingroup$ Excellent work! One (and only one) of your words is wrong, though. I'm sure someone, or yourself, will catch it, but I'll give a strong hint in a little bit if it goes unsolved. +1 $\endgroup$
    – Roland
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 18:57
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ I believe "if you gut him" refers to the kings son or the prince. Removing the n, "gutting" him, gives you price. $\endgroup$
    – Lampost42
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 18:58
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks @Lampost42 - it seems so obvious now you've pointed it out! Thanks for a satisfying (and infuriating) puzzle Roland $\endgroup$
    – greenglass
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 19:00
  • $\begingroup$ That was an awesome answer to an awesome puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – Bailey M
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 19:00
  • $\begingroup$ @BaileyM Thanks, but for some reason this riddle was the least viewed of the one's I've written. Do you know why (or how) some riddles get 1k views in an hour while others get <50 per day? $\endgroup$
    – Roland
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 19:13

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