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I was just talking with my younger sister who is in 6th or 7th grade, I think. I don't quite remember. I asked her, what she has learnt in School so far and whether she has learnt anything new. Her answer goes as follows,

Bhai, I have learnt quite a few things so far. I have learnt about our Sun's iconic place, how radium came out which sort of confused me. Perhaps, you could help me with that. Another question that I have is, Do atoms shine? I learnt in chemistry that the discovery of the ion is a revelation for that time. In class, we heard a story about how a family had care but not support of their neighbours and thus perished when they were in danger as none of their neighbours came to help them.

At that time, Mom called both of us out for our supper, but before going, I asked her, what she was really interested in, She just smiled and replied that she had already told me.

Can you figure out what she was interested in? And how she had concealed it?

HINT 1

Only the block quote is important. There is another tag that this puzzle requires but that would be a dead giveaway.

HINT 2:

@Techidiot has got a useful idea in the comments. There are other similar strange stuff in the blockquote. The tag that I mentioned about could be confusing for some.

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  • $\begingroup$ Is she interested most in learning from you.? $\endgroup$
    – Sam Harrington
    Oct 18, 2016 at 18:50
  • $\begingroup$ @SamHarrington i wish that were true. But no :) $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Oct 19, 2016 at 18:04
  • $\begingroup$ Something is hidden in "our Sun". Why is she calling it as "our"? $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Oct 20, 2016 at 14:07
  • $\begingroup$ @Techidiot Now, there is some progress. Think carefully, you are on the right track. And if you have an answer, do post it... $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Oct 20, 2016 at 14:08
  • $\begingroup$ @Sid Oh was that a progress? It was just an arrow in a dark. It would help if you post another "useful" hint. I am starting to think the tag you didn't use is "Liars" :) $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Oct 20, 2016 at 14:14

4 Answers 4

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I think the missing tag is

anagrams.

This is hinted towards by the references to

being "confused" - a word often used in cryptic clues to indicate the presence of anagrams.

The real meaning of her speech is hidden by

taking anagrams of what she really wants to say: "do atoms shine" -> THOMAS EDISON, "our sun's iconic place" -> NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, "a family had care" -> MICHAEL FARADAY, "ion is a revelation" -> ANTOINE LAVOISIER, and (maybe?) "radium came" -> MADAM CURIE.

So it looks as if your sister is really learning about

history of science.

Big thanks to @ffao for helping me to get started on

actually solving the anagrams, given that the theme was anagrams of proper nouns.

Thanks also to @Ankoganit for help with some of the phrases.

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  • $\begingroup$ you got the gist... and IAS is not the place to look for it... $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Oct 20, 2016 at 14:41
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    $\begingroup$ Do atoms shine is thomas edison, sun's place is nicolaus copernicus $\endgroup$
    – ffao
    Oct 20, 2016 at 14:55
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    $\begingroup$ Ion is a revelation=Antoine Lavoisier $\endgroup$
    – Ankoganit
    Oct 20, 2016 at 15:05
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    $\begingroup$ Radium came =Madam Curie $\endgroup$
    – Ankoganit
    Oct 20, 2016 at 15:05
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    $\begingroup$ @Ankoganit Thanks! I'm not convinced by that last one though ... Madam wasn't actually her name ... $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Oct 20, 2016 at 15:11
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I think she is interested in

Radiation

I have learnt about the Sun's iconic place, how radium came out which sort of confused me

Ra is both the symbol for Radium and the name of the Egyptian sun god.

Do atoms shine? I learnt in chemistry that the discovery of the ion is a revelation for that time.

Radiation is very similar to the word Radiate, which sometimes means to shine. Radiation either Ionizes or DeIonizes particles, which relates to the discovery of the Ion.

In class, we heard a story about how a family had care but not support of their neighbours and thus perished when they were in danger as none of their neighbours came to help them.

Possibly no one came to help them because they were afraid of Radiation poisoning? idk, I'm a little puzzled about this part.

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    $\begingroup$ I think 'family' in the story is metaphor for the field of study that is not widely supported. May be. $\endgroup$
    – WeShall
    Oct 18, 2016 at 21:59
  • $\begingroup$ I am sorry, but nowhere near the answer.. Look carefully, all the hints are in the question.. $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Oct 19, 2016 at 11:35
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Wrap-up: The Making Of The strange answers

This is not a solution to the puzzle, but provides details about the OP's thoughts. This type of puzzles has been approved by the community

Caution - This answer may contain spoilers

Inspiration

I have always been thrilled by the tag . It usually brings out many funny things from seemingly simple words and phrases. I had always wanted to create a puzzle from anagrams of famous personalities. I had tried one earlier but I wasn't really happy with it. I wanted to use anagrams of scientists because I have been fascinated by their works.

Anagrams tend to be easily noticed by experienced puzzlers. So, I decided to make it a bit obscured with a story so that the puzzler gets a bit distracted. And precisely for this reason, I avoided the "anagram" tag on the puzzle so that the puzzler doesn't get through it too easily.

Steps Of Creation

I was clear on what I wanted with this puzzle. Next, I tried for anagrams of famous scientists. I had come up with Edison and Faraday on my own. And after a little bit of browsing, i got myself three more. I wanted more, but everything else that I got would have been a giveaway.

So, armed with anagrams, I decided to frame a nice story which would serve as a distraction for the puzzler and my puzzle would last more than 24 hours.

Initially, I had thought of framing a story of X talking to Y and put these phrases in the conversation. However, I quickly saw that this phrases and lines would be suspicious and an experienced puzzler(There are many such people here!) would quickly see through it.

I then, changed the story into me talking with someone. I also decided that it would be better if a young guy/girl talked to me about it as ions and atoms are usually taught in middle school. Thus, my younger sister was born.

I then decided to cryptically refer to anagrams in the blockquotes so that the puzzler wouldn't complain about obscure stuff in the puzzle. I chose the cryptic clue of "confused" for two reasons- First, I couldn't possibly directly write about anagrams and had to clue them in somehow. And two, the word "confused" fitted nicely in the story and didn't attract much attention to it until I provided the last hint. I also chose scientists mainly because they are proper nouns and the Internet Anagram Server wouldn't dish out the names directly.

Resources

I used google for a bit of browsing through different anagrams of famous personalities. Once, I got the ones that I required, (along with the ones that I had prepared) my puzzle was almost complete.

Takeaway

I was a tad happy that my puzzle lasted more than 24 hours(which is quite an achievement for me!). This has been my favourite puzzle that I have posted here. I hope that this puzzle has done justice to the anagram tag. The puzzle has also reinforced my belief that this community can solve just about any problem.

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I think she is interested in

Nuclear Physics

since the 'iconic place of sun' similar to the nucleus in an atom

Also she wants to know more about the

Radium and atoms and takes interest in ions

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  • $\begingroup$ So where's the hidden message? $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Oct 20, 2016 at 16:39

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