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This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.


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

Target Words™ Not Target Words™
TELL SAY
BOIL POACH
TARD LATE
BLINK WINK
JOB TASK
ARGS PARAMS
GRATE GRIND
OIL WATER
NILE GANGA
JOIN LEAVE

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

Target Words™,Not Target Words™
TELL,SAY
BOIL,POACH
TARD,LATE
BLINK,WINK
JOB,TASK
ARGS,PARAMS
GRATE,GRIND
OIL,WATER
NILE,GANGA
JOIN,LEAVE

Hint 1:

enter image description here

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1 Answer 1

6
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A Target Word is:

A word whose letters can be found sequentially on a regulation dartboard whose numbers have been converted into A1Z26. Acceptable moves between letters/numbers include (1) moving to the next letter/number clockwise, (2) moving to the next letter anti-clockwise, (3) moving through the bullseye to the letter/number directly opposite, and (4) staying on the same letter/number for a second use.

The usual arrangement for such an object is (clockwise from top):

20 - 1 - 18 - 4 - 13 - 6 - 10 - 15 - 2 - 17 -
3 - 19 - 7 - 16 - 8 - 11 - 14 - 9 - 12 - 5, then back to 20.

Which translates to:

T - A - R - D - M - F - J - O - B - Q -
C - S - G - P - H - K - N - I - L - E, then back to T.

All the listed words can be found via this method:

TARD, JOB and NILE are found clockwise.
TELL is found anti-clockwise.
BOIL, OIL and JOIN are made by leaping across the bull from O to I.
BLINK is made by leaping across the bull from B to L.
ARGS is made by leaping across the bull from R to G.
GRATE is made by leaping across the bull from G to R.

As for the name:

In darts, the dartboard is the TARGET.

And the clue...

A 'white horse' is a darts term in the 'Cricket' variant of the game, when a player hits 3 different scoring trebles with their first set of 3 darts...

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2
  • $\begingroup$ You also done a "hat trick", like the horse in the photo :P $\endgroup$
    – Conifers
    Commented Aug 14, 2019 at 8:40
  • $\begingroup$ @Conifers Ha, I suppose I have! $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Aug 14, 2019 at 15:36

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