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This puzzle is a little similar to a previous one of mine: An unexpected storyteller

In the story, you are ultimately looking for 26 words. Although finding all the words is part of the puzzle, the real goal is to answer two main questions:

1. What do all the words have in common?

2. What's special about the order of the words?

I once met a deceiver, who was arrested for not repaying the money he owed. In court, he was formally accused of the crime and despite trying to look attractive, he spasmed every time he lied. He had stolen an old British coin, but his alibi was that his mother had begun coughing thick mucous from the lungs after she was startled by an apparition.

They called the owner of the company he worked for as witness, he told the court that the man had once left his Dutch rice table dinner early and he was a scoundrel for doing so. The judge reminded the owner that they were not here to chat and so the witness told him that had a condition where his brain could not forget and so he knew it was a French man, or possibly more than one person, who stole the brilliant blue gem.

After hearing such nonsense, the judge was forced to release the man, who left for a gambling ship to play a card game which sounded like 500. It was held in the crew's living quarters, with a man who was British nobility and a missionary who had deposits on his teeth. The man produced a coin worth 10 of what he was accused of stealing, and made double his money on the game.

He decided to spend his winnings on a trip to a French suburb, where he could ask a higher power for help and eventually meet up with the woman of his dreams

BONUS POINT: Where did I get the list of words from?

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1 Answer 1

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The thing that all of the words have in common is

that they all contain a silent letter (for some stretching of the definition of silent, e.g. PRAY).

The order they are in is

the alphabetic order of the silent letter

So:

  1. deceiver

CHE(A)T

  1. the money he owed

DE(B)T

  1. formally accused

INDI(C)TED

  1. attractive

HAN(D)SOME

  1. spasmed

S(E)IZED

  1. old British coin

HAL(F)PENNY (actually the L is silent, too)

  1. thick mucous from the lungs

PHLE(G)M

  1. apparition

G(H)OST

  1. company

BUS(I)NESS

  1. Dutch rice table

RI(J)STTAFEL (is Indonesian food)

  1. scoundrel

BLAC(K)GUARD ("blaggard")

  1. chat

TA(L)K

  1. his brain could not forget

HYPER(M)NESIA

  1. French man

MO(N)SIEUR

  1. more than one person

PE(O)PLE

  1. brilliant blue gem

SA(P)PHIRE

  1. a card game which sounded like 500

CIN(Q)-CENTS

  1. crew's living quarters

FO(R)ECASTLE ("fo'c'sle")

  1. British nobility

VI(S)COUNT

  1. missionary

APOS(T)LE

  1. deposits on his teeth

PLAQ(U)E

  1. coin worth 10 of what he was accused of stealing

SIL(V)ER (5p piece, "siller")

  1. double

T(W)O

  1. a French suburb

PUTEAU(X) (there are probably many of these; Issy-les-Moulineaux is another)

  1. ask a higher power for help

PRA(Y)

  1. meet up

RENDE(Z)VOUS

Bonus. Where the words came from:

? I found some at wordplays.com, a crossword-solver, but they're not all there. RIJSTTAFEL is not, but I knew that one.

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    $\begingroup$ Nicely done! I had a couple of different words - rot13(N - yvne, R - gjvgpurq, Z - cnazarfvn, I - svircrapr, K - snhkobhet, L - cenlre), but yours work too. As for where the words came from, the "V" at the start is definitely not silent... ;) $\endgroup$
    – Dmihawk
    Dec 28, 2018 at 5:48

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