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Wanted to try out a new puzzle. Doesn't seem like an original idea, so the concept may already be out there. Please let me know if so and I'll put a link back to it. Also, not sure if it will be too easy or too hard, so please add your comments below. (Edit: I've made a second such puzzle here)

Find a pair of "bridge words" to fill in the gaps of the sentences below. Bridge words are words where the last $n\geq3$ letters of the first word are the same as the first $n$ letters of the second word. The words must then both be more than $n$ letters long.

For example:
Q: I hurled away boredom. I flung away drabness. I _______ _______.
A: I catapulted tediousness.

Okay, here goes:

  1. Sometimes we torture people. Sometimes we don't. We ______ our ______.
  2. I object to objects. In fact, I have a ______ for _______.
  3. I measured our location through the _______, while keeping track of our distance on the _______.
  4. The trouble with _________ _________, is that kids and drunkards end up dancing on them.
  5. Despite his __________ tone, my sense were all ______.
  6. The runny-nosed trebuchet operating was basically a ________ ________.
  7. It's much smaller, but leaves a remainder. It's an ______ _______. (This is quite a technical word)
  8. I don't care about the strength. _________ is _________.
  9. If ________ your _______ is confirmed, you may be eligible to become king!
  10. They punched each other without speaking. The _______ were rather _____.

Hint:

$n\geq4$ and mostly $n=5$.

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  • $\begingroup$ Are the words always in the order of your example, or are they sometimes swapped? $\endgroup$ Nov 12, 2015 at 19:43
  • $\begingroup$ can the two words be the same word? $\endgroup$
    – Yaze
    Nov 12, 2015 at 19:54
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The words are always in order. They could be the same in theory, but none of them are. $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Nov 12, 2015 at 20:06
  • $\begingroup$ One clarification that I've added above. There must be at least $n+1$ letters in each word. So "tormentor-tormentor", "murmur-murmur", "hotshots-hotshots" would be valid bridge pairs, but "here-here" would not. $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Nov 12, 2015 at 22:39
  • $\begingroup$ I just wanted to reiterate how much I love this puzzle. I'm sad I got here too late to do all of them, but even filling in the missing few answers was a ton of fun. I definitely vote in favor of more of these! $\endgroup$ Nov 19, 2015 at 21:50

4 Answers 4

4
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Since several people have provided different parts of the answer, I figured it made sense to make a single community-wiki answer that pulls together all the parts.


  1. Sometimes we torture people. Sometimes we don't. We ______ our ______.

intersperse/persecution

  1. I object to objects. In fact, I have a ______ for _______.

loathing/things

  1. I measured our location through the _______, while keeping track of our distance on the _______.

astrodome/odometer

  1. The trouble with _________ _________, is that kids and drunkards end up dancing on them.

unstable/tables

  1. Despite his __________ tone, my sense were all ______.

accommodating/atingle

  1. The runny-nosed trebuchet operating was basically a ________ ________.

snuffling flinger

  1. It's much smaller, but leaves a remainder. It's an ______ _______.

piddling lingerer or aliquot quotient

  1. I don't care about the strength. _________ is _________.

Sturdiness/inessential

  1. If ________ your _______ is confirmed, you may be eligible to become king!

perchance/ancestry

  1. They punched each other without speaking. The _______ were rather _____.

fighters/terse

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4
  • $\begingroup$ A lot of these are really clever, I'm a big fan of this puzzle. My only concerns are 1 and 7. For number 1, the first two sentences are in the past tense, and then the answer suddenly switches to present tense. Obviously intersperse/persecution no longer works if you put a 'd' on the end of intersperse, but it's such a clever answer I suspect it's the intended one. As for number 7, the first word needs to start with a vowel sound since it's preceded by "an". Again, though, I'm a huge fan of the given answer. $\endgroup$ Nov 19, 2015 at 21:43
  • $\begingroup$ Oh wait, I think I just got the intended answer for #7: "aliquot quotient". I'll add it to my answer $\endgroup$ Nov 19, 2015 at 21:44
  • $\begingroup$ Excellent. Thanks! I will award the bounty when I can. I had in mind surmountable tables for 4, but obviously unstable is as good. For number 7, I had something else in mind. $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Nov 19, 2015 at 21:45
  • $\begingroup$ @VictorHenry, good catch on the tense in #1. I'll fix the question $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Nov 19, 2015 at 21:48
4
+100
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1.Sometimes we torture people. Sometimes we don't. We ______ our ______.

2.I object to objects. In fact, I have a ______ for _______.

loathing/things

3.I measured our location through the _______, while keeping track of our distance on the _______.

4.The trouble with _________ _________, is that kids and drunkards end up dancing on them.

portable/tables - Thanks to @GentlePurpleRain

5.Despite his __________ tone, my sense were all ______.

disbelieving/ingrained

6.The runny-nosed trebuchet operating was basically a ________ ________.

snuffling flinger

7.It's much smaller, but leaves a remainder. It's an ______ _______.

piddling lingerer

8.I don't care about the strength. _________ is _________.

9.If ________ your _______ is confirmed, you may be eligible to become king!

perchance/ancestry

10.They punched each other without speaking. The _______ were rather _____.

fighters/terse

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  • $\begingroup$ Good start. 2 and 10 are right. 4 is half right, though pretty good. $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Nov 12, 2015 at 20:21
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    $\begingroup$ I was thinking portable tables for #4. $\endgroup$ Nov 12, 2015 at 20:28
  • $\begingroup$ I definitely like some of your alternative answers. Particularly 5. $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Nov 12, 2015 at 21:14
  • $\begingroup$ I've clarified a rule, which rules out here/heredity. Both words need to be $n+1$ letters long. $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Nov 12, 2015 at 22:39
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I'm pretty sure that #1 is intersperse / persecution $\endgroup$ Nov 14, 2015 at 2:40
3
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I believe 3 is astrodome/odometer.

8 could be a lot of things, I think. The second word is "inessential", so the first word is any synonym for strength that ends in -iness, such as "sturdiness" or "brawniness".

Edit: #7 I think was meant to be "aliquot quotient".

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  • $\begingroup$ Woohoo! @DrXorile: Give the bounty to VictorHenry for filling in the missing pieces! $\endgroup$ Nov 19, 2015 at 21:33
  • $\begingroup$ Why don't you update the community-wiki answer with your solution for #7? It sounds better to me. $\endgroup$ Nov 19, 2015 at 21:46
  • $\begingroup$ @GentlePurpleRain, I've marked your wiki entry as correct, and will award the bounty that way also. However, if you would like to re-award you could simply add the bounty back! $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Nov 19, 2015 at 21:47
  • $\begingroup$ @GentlePurpleRain Done and done! I forgot there was a community wiki answer, I'm used to adding answers in comments for these kinds of puzzles. =P $\endgroup$ Nov 19, 2015 at 21:48
  • $\begingroup$ @DrXorile I didn't come up with any solutions, so please don't give me the bounty. I just amalgamated them into a coherent answer. It was VictorHenry who filled in all the missing pieces. $\endgroup$ Nov 19, 2015 at 21:49
2
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  1. Despite his __________ tone, my senses were all ______.

    accommodATING ... ATINGling

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1
  • $\begingroup$ That's close enough. I had atingle, rather than atingling, and I realize that there are 100s of words ending in -ating. $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Nov 15, 2015 at 19:47

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