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This puzzle is based on another one called Stella di dadi (dice star) from a popular Italian puzzle magazine. However there have been some modifications to make this puzzle a bit a lot harder.

Instructions:

  1. A word of 6 letters has been engraved on each die. Definitions at the bottom must be solved to find these words.
  2. Definitions are not given in the standard order (1,2,3,...), so you might have to properly associate each one (along with the solution) to its die. Observational skills are going to be your best weapon.
  3. Letters on the dice are either hidden or shown. Shown letters should be removed from the clue word, therefore the remaining hidden letters will be used to progress in the puzzle.
  4. When all the clue words have been found and placed, the hidden letters will give another definition (which this time will be much easier, I promise) following the numbers, therefore giving you the final word.
  5. A complete answer would show: (a) all the clue words associated with their die number and definition (or just write them in order like a list), (b) the hidden definition, (c) the final word, and optionally, (d) hidden letters written in a sequence as a recap somewhere in the answer.

    A note on formatting. I'd like to request something for consistency across answers: as shown in the example below, hidden letters should be enclosed in <sub> </sub> to increase readability (bold lettering is hardly visible). In case of multiple eligible letters, you may highlight any, as this is not relevant to finding the solution, i.e. CARPAL could be CARPAL or CARPAL.
    Therefore, an example answer could be:

    Alpine ...

    PAL, IEN, ...


    1. CARPAL - definition here...
    2. HIDDEN - another definition here...
    3. ...

    Again, apart from the single request I've made, any formatting choice is up to you.

  6. You may safely ignore the incription written around the center when solving the puzzle (while still appreciating the many years of experience of the author).

Puzzle

          enter image description here

Definitions

Reciprocal of cosine. — In an eager or enthusiastic manner. — Too emotionally dependent. — Remove a person from power. — Equipped for industrial production. — An ordained minister. — It cannot be used as a minus in programming. — Food reduced to shreds through rubbing. — Conferred as a distinction for achievement. — Just outside of the podium. — Lively dance of Czech origin. — Calm someone by administering a drug. — Food containing oxidized fatty acids. — Food made from gluten... approaching the sunrise. — Be easily removable. — Pillaged, stolen. — Lose one's temper. — Of leafy vegetables. — Inflamed with passion.


Dice letters in text form for the visually impaired, given in order:

$1.$ SET, $2.$ STA, $3.$ AED, $4.$ NLY, $5.$ DEA, $6.$ OUR, $7.$ LNY, $8.$ LTE, $9.$ OUR, $10.$ SAT, $11.$ DAN, $12.$ EDA, $13.$ OOE, $14.$ AED, $15.$ STE, $16.$ ECO, $17.$ EAD, $18.$ AND, $19.$ NDA.

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  • $\begingroup$ Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 14:43

4 Answers 4

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The clues are:

1.SECANT: Reciprocal of cosine.
2.SEITAN: Food made from gluten... approaching the sunrise. (Rosie F)
3.GRATED: Food reduced to shreds through rubbing.
4.KEENLY: In an eager or enthusiastic manner. (Gareth)
5.DETACH: Be easily removable. (Gareth)
6.HONOUR: Conferred as a distinction for achievement.
7.CLINGY: Too emotionally dependent.
8.LOOTED: Pillaged, stolen.
9.FOURTH: Just outside of the podium.
10.UNSEAT: Remove someone from power.
11.DANDER: Lose one's temper. (Gareth)
12.REDOWA: Lively dance of Czech origin. (Gareth)
13.TOOLED: Equipped for industrial production
14.HEADED: Of leafy vegetables.
15.SEDATE: Calm someone by administering a drug.
16.DEACON: An ordained minister. (M Oehm)
17.HEATED: Inflamed with passion.
18.RANCID: Food containing oxidized fatty acids. (Rosie F)
19.ENDASH: It cannot be used as a minus in programming.

Making the riddle:

ANC IEN TGR EEK CHT HON ICG ODO FTH EUN DER WOR LDT HED EAD AND THE RIC HES

or

Ancient Greek Chthonic God of the Underworld, the Dead, and the Riches.

For which the answer is:

Hades.

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  • $\begingroup$ I thought the other sort of dash was more likely. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 13:21
  • $\begingroup$ Other remarks: the "sunrise" might possibly be the letter S suggesting a different final letter; I have an entirely different conjecture for the distinction for achievement. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 13:23
  • $\begingroup$ @GarethMcCaughan If it was towards the sun, I could agree, but I think Sunrise is too much Easterly $\endgroup$
    – Sconibulus
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 13:41
  • $\begingroup$ The ordained minister can also be pASTor die 2 or 10 $\endgroup$
    – Rubio
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 16:10
  • $\begingroup$ There is a mistake in your answer, it's CHT, not CTC, therefore CHTHONIC, not CTCHONIC. :) $\endgroup$
    – Alenanno
    Commented Oct 13, 2016 at 0:31
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(Partial answer.)

I think the final answer is going to be

HADES.

First of all, some answers to clues (some of which I'm happier with than others). Some of these were first found by other solvers and you can see them in comments and other answers. Some of them (even ones found elsewhere) I found independently, but feel free to assign credit for all of them to other people :-).

SECANT 1 2 10 15
KEENLY 4 7
CLINGY 4 7
UNSEAT 1 2 10 15
TOOLED 8 13
PRIEST 1 15
ENDASH 3 5 11 12 14 17 18 19
GRATED 3 5 12 14 17
HONOUR 6 9
FOURTH 6 9
REDOWA 3 5 12 14 17
SEDATE 1 2 3 5 10 12 14 15 17
???
BREADS 3 5 12 14 17 (I am becoming very skeptical of this one)
DETACH 3 5 12 14 17
LOOTED 8 13
??? (but see below)
??? (but see below)
ARDENT 3 5 11 12 14 17 18 19

The things I'm least satisfied with there, apart from the outright unsolved ones, are

GRATED (seems like the clue should be referring to the food rather than its property), HONOUR (assumes British rather than American English; I don't know which Alenanno prefers), BREADS (the S is from "sunrise" and seems rather unsatisfactory), DETACH (surely there should be something better). Of these, I think I have good evidence for GRATED, HONOUR and DETACH but BREADS remains dubious.

In Sphinx's Lair chat there has been a little discussion of one of the clues for which I haven't proposed a solution and

ERUPTS has been mentioned as possible for "lose one's temper", but it seems wrong in something like the same way as GRATED. (I make another proposal for it below.)

So that leads to the following residuals for our dice:

1 CAN AUN PRI EAD 2 ECN EUN EED 3 NSH GRT ROW SET BRS TCH RNT 4 KEE CIG 5 NSH GRT ROW SET BRS TCH RNT 6 HON FTH 7 KEE CIG 8 OOD OOD 9 HON FTH 10 ECN EUN EED 11 ESH RET 12 NSH GRT ROW SET BRS TCH RNT 13 TLD TLD 14 NSH GRT ROW SET BRS TCH RNT 15 CAN AUN PRI EAD 16 17 NSH GRT ROW SET BRS TCH RNT 18 ESH RET 19 ESH RET

which rather suggests that

for dice 3-10 we might want .../CHT/HON/IC G/OD O/F TH/E DE/... although if so we had better find something else for die 11 because neither EST nor ERT seems to go well after that; we surely want that last word to be DEAD or DEEP or something. (Aha, no, we can do better; see below.)

Another place worth a look is

die 13 which (unless one of the unsolved clues provides something helpful) seems to have to have a residual of TLD, and be both preceded and succeeded by quite consonant-heavy stuff. The best I can find at present is .../WOR/LD T/... but if so then I think we need something else for die 14. And, aha!, we can join these two blocks together to get CHTHONIC GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD which sounds awfully promising. That would mean that die 11 has a residual of DER so that word is an anagram of ADDENR; perhaps DANDER is the intended answer to the clue about losing one's temper, though I don't think it actually quite works if so. And, aha! again, it surely must be ANCIENT GREEK CHTHONIC GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD (hence my confidence that the final answer is HADES) which means I'm missing a word with an I in it for die 2. Perhaps our leafy-vegetable one is TISANE.

At this point we have just the last part of the final definition to figure out ... and I'm having real trouble finding anything that fits with anything else. I suspect BREADS is wrong; it might be DANISH (going on die 18 or 19) but while that's a more satisfactory answer to the clue it doesn't make it any easier to piece the residuals together.

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Remove a person from power.

DEPOSE

Calm someone by administering a drug.

SEDATE

Sorry -- no attempt here to match a word with a die, or to find out which letters are shown.

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    $\begingroup$ DEPOSE is a nice answer in itself but I don't think it fits any of the dice. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 12:41
  • $\begingroup$ (I have another guess for that one which is intrinsically a worse answer but does fit the dice. Four of them, annoyingly.) $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 12:41
  • $\begingroup$ @GarethMcCaughan Mind posting an answer? Or are you waiting to possess more clues? $\endgroup$
    – Alenanno
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 13:16
  • $\begingroup$ I have plausible conjectures for 10 of the answers, which I think isn't enough to start making serious guesses about which ones go where... $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 13:21
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Here's my list, including some not yet mentioned alternatives:

 SECANT                 Reciprocal of cosine.
 KEENLY/ARDENT/HEATED   In an eager or enthusiastic manner.
 CLINGY                 Too emotionally dependent.
 UNSEAT/DEMEAN?         Remove a person from power.
 ???                    Equipped for industrial production.
 PASTOR/PRIEST          An ordained minister.
 EM-DASH/EN-DASH        It cannot be used as a minus in programming.
 GRATED                 Food reduced to shreds through rubbing.
 MEDALS/BADGES          Conferred as a distinction for achievement.
 FOURTH                 Just outside of the podium.
 REDOWA                 Lively dance of Czech origin.
 SEDATE                 Calm someone by administering a drug.
 ???                    Food containing oxidized fatty acids.
 ???                    Food made from gluten... approaching the sunrise.
 ???                    Be easily removable.
 LOOTED/SACKED/LIFTED   Pillaged, stolen.
 GALLED/HEATED?/CHAFED? Lose one's temper.
 JOCOTE?/CLOVER?        Of leafy vegetables.
 ROUSED/ARDENT          Inflamed with passion.
 

The ones marked with ? are questionable at least.

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