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Consider the words a, rat, and aerate. These words form a series, each nested in the next:

a, rat, aerate.

Such a series can be encoded with a clue consisting of the following:

  • synonyms of the words in the series
  • nothing else.

For example, the above series can be encoded with the clue:

Introduce air into an animal.

Parsing this clue, we get:

Introduce air into | an | animal
AERATE               A    RAT

Now that you know the rules, let's see if you can find the series clued by the following:

  1. Consumer swallowed audience member
  2. Refurbished egg-shaped vessel
  3. Vermin gadfly of Athens put in a box
  4. Low-quality beige table
  5. Spirit destructively getting older

*This puzzle was inspired by this one of wildBillMunson.

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  • $\begingroup$ Regarding the green tick, I will award it to the first person to post three solutions that have not been posted previously. If nobody gets three on their own, I will award the tick to the first person to post two solutions that have not been posted previously. If nobody gets two on their own, I will award the tick to the first person to post a solution. $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 13:39
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    $\begingroup$ Great puzzle! +1 $\endgroup$
    – wildBillMunson
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 15:44
  • $\begingroup$ Do nested words need to be completely contained, such as ae(r(a)t)e, or can they touch the edges of the word - ((a)nd)roid? $\endgroup$
    – Zxyrra
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 20:43
  • $\begingroup$ @Zxyrra, they cannot touch the edges, much the same way a smaller Matryoshka doll cannot share a surface with the larger Matroyoshka doll it's contained in. $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 20:57

3 Answers 3

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Here's 5 of 5:

Consumer swallowed audience member

eater | ate | theatergoer

Refurbished egg-shaped vessel

renovated | ovate | vat

Vermin gadfly of Athens put in a box

rat | Socrates | crate

Low-quality beige table

substandard | tan | stand

Spirit destructively getting older

gin | damagingly(?) | aging

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  • $\begingroup$ @Zachstein beat you to #2! Nice job with the others. $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 13:54
  • $\begingroup$ I got ninja'd again! $\endgroup$
    – MikeQ
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 14:17
  • $\begingroup$ @MikeQ but you will get the accepted answer for getting 3 or 2 first $\endgroup$
    – Zachstein
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 14:20
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2) Refurbished | egg-shaped | vessel

renovated | ovate | vat

3) Vermin gadfly of Athens put in a box

rat | Socrates | crate

Five could maybe also be
5) Spirit | destructively | getting older

soul | murderously | moulders

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  • $\begingroup$ Make sure you have tenses correct for each word. $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 13:57
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    $\begingroup$ I think you have to preserve the order of the letters. $\endgroup$
    – MikeQ
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 14:58
  • $\begingroup$ @MikeQ I was thinking that but wasn't sure. I think it popped into my head after looking at the puzzle it was inspired from. $\endgroup$
    – Zachstein
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 15:01
  • $\begingroup$ The order of the letters must be preserved. See my comments on that original puzzle. But nice find in any case! $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 15:07
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Number 5 could be
Spirit – destructively – getting older

gin – ravagingly – aging

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  • $\begingroup$ Make sure you have the part of speech correct for each word. Also, 5 is, I just noticed, underdetermined. $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 13:57
  • $\begingroup$ Better like this? At least, now it's an adverb. $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 14:00
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    $\begingroup$ What does it tell about me that I got the spirits question right? $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 14:26

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