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A Matryoshka doll is a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another. We're gonna do the same thing with words. Let's call it Matryoshka Words. A solution to this puzzle should contain every word in the chain. Each word in the chain adds a letter to the previous word's letters. The order of the letters does not matter.

For example, if I said top cards inside emptiness that would be: aces -> space.

Here is the definition of these Matryoshka Words:

A musical note inside a rodent inside a cover inside on the left side inside a door inside a meddler inside a bone inside officers inside a springboard.

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    $\begingroup$ Aces is not "inside" space unless you're allowed to rearrange the letters. Is that what you mean by "X inside Y", that Y contains all the letters of X? $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Jan 11, 2017 at 5:18
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    $\begingroup$ But "space" doesn't contain "aces". Should that be "paces"? Or is reordering allowed? @Silenus lol get out of my head $\endgroup$
    – Rubio
    Jan 11, 2017 at 5:18
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    $\begingroup$ @Rubio ninja'd by 6 seconds :P $\endgroup$ Jan 11, 2017 at 5:19
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    $\begingroup$ Yeah I guess I am defying physics here! :) $\endgroup$ Jan 11, 2017 at 5:26
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    $\begingroup$ Could have called it an 'addagram'. $\endgroup$
    – Neil W
    Jan 11, 2017 at 5:33

1 Answer 1

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The sequence seems to be:

ta — a note (a "ta" is a quarter note)
rat — a rodent
tarp — a cover
aport — on the left side
portal — a door
marplot — a meddler
temporal — a bone
patrolmen — officers
trampoline — a springboard

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  • $\begingroup$ You got it! :) Nice work as usual!! $\endgroup$ Jan 11, 2017 at 5:37
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    $\begingroup$ If I use this again, I'll go with 'Addagram' as Neil W aptly suggested! :) $\endgroup$ Jan 11, 2017 at 5:38
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    $\begingroup$ Is there a restriction against one-letter words? Couldn't "a" be the first word here? Or is "a" only a word if it's in a sentence? $\endgroup$ Jan 11, 2017 at 10:38
  • $\begingroup$ Next time I'll start with a one-letter word. Great idea! :) $\endgroup$ Jan 11, 2017 at 14:10
  • $\begingroup$ I started with the assumption that the musical note would be A and was considering word lengths one too short for a bit (leading to the very promising "top" as a cover and "port" for on the left, until I noticed those would never reduce to any note in A to G), then realizing the first assumption was wrong. Great misdirection - I think it worked in the puzzle's favor to NOT start with a single letter word here :) $\endgroup$
    – Rubio
    Jan 11, 2017 at 14:15

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