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In the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee, a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Koffka Word™.
Use the following examples below to find the rule.

Koffka Words™ Not Koffka Words™
OPINE ONION
LOUNGE RELAX
ORNATE ADORNED
MOONSET SUNRISE
FLOURED FLOORED
JOURNEY BEGONE
CORNAGE CORNICE
ANTINOME ANTIDOTE
EYESIGHT EARSHOT
LOOSENER TIGHTENER
HALFLIVES HEIGHTEN
VALENTINE SWEETEST
FORECLOSURE EVICTION

And, if you want to analyze, here is a CSV version:

Koffka Words™,Not Koffka Words™
OPINE,ONION
LOUNGE,RELAX
ORNATE,ADORNED
MOONSET,SUNRISE
FLOURED,FLOORED
JOURNEY,BEGONE
CORNAGE,CORNICE
ANTINOME,ANTIDOTE
EYESIGHT,EARSHOT
LOOSENER,TIGHTENER
HALFLIVES,HEIGHTEN
VALENTINE,SWEETEST
FORECLOSURE,EVICTION

The puzzle satisfies the series' inbuilt assumption, that each word can be tested for whether it is a Koffka Word™ without relying on the other words.
These are not the only examples of Koffka Words™, many more exist.

What is the special rule these words conform to?

Connect the Clues!

The Koffka Words™ given here can be combined.
Doing so should give you an answer to this Connect the Clues! riddle.
It shouldn't take you weeks or days. Hours should do; less than 48, in fact.
If you have understood this puzzle fully, you will know what to do,
 and will know by my clues that your answer is correct.

What is your answer?

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3
  • $\begingroup$ Whoa where did the downvote come from? $\endgroup$
    – greenturtle3141
    Nov 13, 2016 at 23:49
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Dear downvoter, I'd certainly appreciate some feedback about why you found this puzzle critique-worthy. It would help me make better puzzles in the future to know what about this one displeased you. Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – Rubio ♦
    Nov 14, 2016 at 15:16
  • $\begingroup$ Unless I'm missing something, this doesn't seem to be a riddle. (I've already edited out that tag, assuming that this is from your early days on the site when you didn't know all the tags so well, but leaving a comment in case you did have a good reason for that tag.) $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    May 18, 2019 at 20:11

1 Answer 1

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28
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Koffka words

contain a number as a nonconsecutive substring, and all the leftover letters are also a word.
OPINE,ONION
LOUNGE,RELAX
ORNATE,ADORNED
MOONSET,SUNRISE
FLOURED,FLOORED
JOURNEY,BEGONE
CORNAGE,CORNICE
ANTINOME,ANTIDOTE
EYESIGHT,EARSHOT
LOOSENER,TIGHTENER
HALFLIVES,HEIGHTEN
VALENTINE,SWEETEST
FORECLOSURE,EVICTION

Kurt Koffka said "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". That means our answer is greater than the sum of all the numbers, which is 46. Since the question said "less than 48, in fact", the only possible final answer is 47. (Thanks, GentlePurpleRain!)

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3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Deusovi Do you have an explanation for the term "Koffka Words"? $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    Nov 14, 2016 at 15:11
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Kurt Koffka is famously quoted as saying, "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" (although the actual quotation is, "The whole is something else than the sum of the parts"). If you sum all the individual numbers, you get $46 = 1+1+1+1+4+1+1+9+8+1+5+9+4$. The clues say that the answer should be less than $48$. So $46 < x < 48$. That implies that the solution is $47$ (although if we're not working with integers, there are many other options as well...). $\endgroup$
    – GentlePurpleRain
    Nov 15, 2016 at 16:18
  • $\begingroup$ @Rubio I was hoping Deusovi would add it to their answer... $\endgroup$
    – GentlePurpleRain
    Nov 16, 2016 at 2:05

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