Questions tagged [english]
Puzzles that crucially depend on some feature of the English language or that only work in an English formulation.
3
votes
3answers
530 views
Word-Letter Ladder
Inspired by this
What is the longest word you can form by using other words arranged in alphabetical order, and making a ladder out of their letters.
Example: (8 letters - Identity)
...
16
votes
5answers
2k views
Second-rate spelling
Find the longest word which can be spelled with the second letters of a group words in alphabetical order. An example with incomprehensible (16 letters):
a...
39
votes
1answer
2k views
The Late Queen Gives in to Remorse - Reverse Hangman
Add a "C", I am what has been,
Add a "G", I might be a queen,
Add a "P", I'll turn away from sin
Add an "L" and I may just give in.
This is a Reverse Hangman puzzle, see here for an example.
...
7
votes
4answers
575 views
Unusual letter combinations 2
I really liked this puzzle so I made my own version of it!
I'll give you an unusual set of letters which are present consicutively in one* word in the English language (and possibly its derivatives, ...
5
votes
2answers
233 views
Word Rectangle #2
As with my previous puzzle, this is an unfinished word rectangle:
Can you fill in the blanks?
When completed, every row will contain a common English word with five letters, and every column will ...
3
votes
12answers
2k views
English Logic Puzzle [closed]
On this site, I found this:
"If some Smaugs are Thors and some Thors are Thrains, then some Smaugs are definitely Thrains."
Options: TRUE, FALSE, NEITHER
The answer given is FALSE. However, I ...
5
votes
2answers
644 views
Incomplete Word Rectangle
This is an incomplete word rectangle:
When completed, every row will contain a common English word with four letters, and every column will contain a word with five letters. All of these are common ...
13
votes
2answers
589 views
What can this rebus solve? How can this rebus be solved?
This is my first rebus, constructive suggestions are welcome. Enjoy!
Mistake: the diagonal of the green circle on the right should be from the top right to the bottom left instead of from the top ...
0
votes
1answer
151 views
ENCRYPTED MESSAGE
I have been given a code to break, and I did frequency analysis on it, but I cannot go any further due to the fact that I am not clear on where are the spaces between words, so in example I present ...
3
votes
4answers
136 views
Cyclical sentences
Are there any sentences that could be written on a cylinder and merge their finish into their start, such that they form a valid sentence no matter where the reader begins?
11
votes
3answers
367 views
A unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds? Inexorably!
With great economy and without superfluous, exaggerated, flowery speech, please elucidate how to determine clearly and precisely what the beautiful, ornate, stupendous Word Of The Day is.
My extreme ...
16
votes
2answers
419 views
Vole Wizard Hovels
The following nine ten words (thank you Bass) are the only words in the entire English language* that have a certain extraordinary property:
bevy
by
girt
grit
hovels
lo
vole
wizard
wold
What is that ...
21
votes
4answers
2k views
Rarer for younger, yet also the opposite
I am a common word that refers to a person.
I rarely refer to very young people – in fact, the older a person is, the more likely they are to be called me.
However, if you pick two random ...
3
votes
1answer
104 views
An unexpected storyteller (2)
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 ...
7
votes
1answer
117 views
Statements in Java
Each code block translates to a specific statement in English. There is a theme behind the statements. As code puzzles tend to be "easier" (relative to other PSE puzzles) than expected, it will not be ...
4
votes
3answers
369 views
Who is John's favourite painter?
John being his usual self forgot the name of his favourite painter. He went to the Oracle for assistance but inadvertently walked in on her while she was busy eating pie. Angry at the interruption, ...
7
votes
5answers
209 views
Find the phrases
There are 4 words: A, B, C, and D
A and B are synonymous verbs.
C and D are two letter words.
A C D and B C D are English phrases (mostly American) with opposite meaning from each other.
What ...
13
votes
7answers
4k views
Basic manners in the UK [closed]
You are a foreigner with heavy accent living in the UK. If you want to be polite getting off public transport, you can say a number and a letter to the driver.
Which number and which letter?
9
votes
3answers
197 views
The Word Am I (Riley riddle)
This Riley I hope you like!
Out there, out there, my prefix you cannot find
An endless line, a stanza, is what my infix is
Lost one in many, and my suffix I become
The word am I, as you are ...
10
votes
1answer
229 views
A Geography-ish Riddle
Here's another riddle of mine, albeit one that's not as hard:
The name of which national capital city sounds as if it's composed of two Greek letters?
28
votes
7answers
1k views
A Riddle of Mine
I came up with this riddle a few years ago, and so far very few people have been able to solve it:
Think of a four-letter word (“_ _ _ _”) such that adding an A to the beginning (“a _ _ _ _”) changes ...
39
votes
5answers
3k views
Unusual letter combinations
This is an entry in the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #41: Short and Sweet.
English spelling is very strange. Sometimes you encounter words with letter combinations that would seem entirely ...
21
votes
2answers
1k views
Sharp or surprising?
Sharp
BR
C
CH
DH
H
N
PR
V
W
Surprising
BL
CR
FL
GL
KN
L
M
SH
SL
SN
ST
THR
T
Both sharp and surprising
B
R
S
Question
Is GR sharp, surprising or both? Why?
-5
votes
3answers
179 views
Simple and political question [closed]
I'm a man who rule my country,
I'm the only rule my country,
While others are my troops, my commanders, and my commoners,
My system was "one-person".
What am i?
-5
votes
1answer
94 views
“Place a single square on the soil, place a firs…” [duplicate]
Place a single piece of square on the soil,
place a first stick vertically on above of a single piece of square,
place a second stick horizontally on above of the first stick,
What symbol did you get?
-3
votes
2answers
123 views
Place a single ring on the soil, Place a fir [closed]
Place a single piece of ring on the soil,
Place a first stick vertically on above of a single piece of ring,
Place a second stick vertically on below of a single piece of ring.
What symbol did you get?...
5
votes
6answers
1k views
My First Mosquito Bite
Help! I just moved houses into an area with many mosquitoes. However, I haven't been outside all week - ever since the first bump appeared on my skin. What's happening to me? Is this some weird sort ...
20
votes
9answers
6k views
Why will my friend have to grow his beard out?
Knowledge required for this riddle: English-language proverbs.
My friend Leonard came to me with a problem the other day. He said, “Tanner, I want to have a clean-shaven face. But every time I use a ...
11
votes
4answers
2k views
This is simple: Just fill in the blank
Newspaper Headline
Insect Researcher Carroll Appleton alongside grandson Adam discover
underground wormhole networks.
Recover ________ earthworms.
Fill in the blank. Following are the choices
...
12
votes
2answers
335 views
Cannibalistic Words
Drawing from the word pool below, find the twelve Cannibalistic Words.
(Note the no-computers and logical-deduction tags.)
WILD
_ _ ☐ _ _ _ _ ☐
PENS
☐ _ _ _ _ ☐ _ _
DEED
_ _ _ ☐ ☐ _ _ _
BLED
...
34
votes
1answer
2k views
Can you follow Directions?
Unemployed? Lk no further!
Are you:
Able to follow directions?
Able to read Flowcharts?
Highly motivated?
Able to count on your hands and feet without utilizing your big toes and thumbs?
Well ...
3
votes
1answer
65 views
A New Simple Riley
I have created another Riley in my down time today and I hope it is neither too easy, nor hard. As always, good luck to all of you, and have fun!
I see the prefix, a letter you seek; look to the ...
5
votes
4answers
313 views
Add Chocolate for Taste
Today I have another puzzle for the community. I will warn that some of the hints are obvious while others are not. You'll need a bit of lateral thinking to complete this one! I hope you all enjoy it; ...
21
votes
9answers
949 views
I Almost am a Chicken
I almost am a chicken,
Not quite a famous horse.
Confined to my domain,
I'll help you see the course.
I almost am contagious,
Not quite a Youtube part.
Use a pencil when you're ready
...
12
votes
1answer
1k views
What is a Homeless Word™?
Based on the What is a Word/Phrase™,
If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Homeless Word™.
Use the following examples below to find the rule.
$$
% set Title text. (spaces around the ...
3
votes
4answers
433 views
Maximum number of the same word in an English language sequence (punctuation allowed) [duplicate]
An old school boy riddle is how to to have 5 x "and" in sequence and yet still make grammatical sense. The answer is that a man saw a sign advertising Dogs and Cats for sale. He commented that ...
9
votes
4answers
720 views
Proverbial Soup is good for the Soul
There are twenty-one(21) well-known, historic, correct English proverbs below and one(1) that is slightly incorrect when compared to the historically correct version. Astute observers will notice that ...
17
votes
1answer
830 views
Is this a puzzle? If so, what is the solution?
In the 2032th xkcd comic Cueball utters a sentence that may (and probably does) contain a word puzzle.
[Cueball and Megan standing together, musical notes hanging in the air as if music is ...
6
votes
2answers
231 views
Hey, Hey! Listen!
"So,
I've got a friend. You haven't met him yet, so I'll tell you about him.
Hey, are you listening? I'll quiz you! Sound fair?
This guy, he's a bit of a trouble maker. At work, when something goes ...
6
votes
1answer
162 views
Falcon Circus, Prologue: The Twins
You get home from work, grab the mail, take off your coat, and sit down on the couch with the TV on the news. "Bills, bills, junk..." you sift through your mail, and stop to look at a very colorful ...
12
votes
3answers
346 views
Bird is NOT the word!
I can't get into my computer.
It's password protected, you see, and I got hit by a cement truck this morning in front of the Compound Word Store.
Luckily, I have this nifty cheat sheet. It was ...
1
vote
1answer
105 views
Deliver the mail, though yours is not gold
You pray they don't curl,
part of them likes to be twirled,
and youngsters are thrilled
to give them a whirl.
They be trusty companions,
take you through the Grand Canyons,
or across the entire world. ...
5
votes
2answers
135 views
Such pride, such strength
19th; cobra, melancholy, like, talk.
Reverse of 23; anger, the gathering, create.
Intelligent adjective; gain, gone, under reverse.
Never work; below, before 20, the gooseling.
Go figure... ...
3
votes
2answers
221 views
Little Pictures
Today I've decided to make puzzles using images because that's easier for me to do than think of a sub-par riddle. A note about these: no, they do not necessarily pertain to a famous saying. Rather, ...
6
votes
2answers
158 views
Little shared property puzzle
What property do the things on this list share?
7
W
Spring
Yellow
Rock
Magenta
Gas
Shoulders
Medium
Examples of things not on the list:
Solid
Blue
...
8
votes
3answers
352 views
How can 15 become 3?
This is not a mathematical puzzle.
How can 14 become 7?
10 becomes 1, but can also become 2.
13 becomes 8, and 8 becomes 10.
6 stays as 6 under this thinking.
Hint 1:
Since answer was found, OP ...
5
votes
3answers
212 views
Moans to Rocky in 4 moves?
In his novel A Case of Need, one of Michael Crichton's characters claims that the classic word‑ladder‡ "MOANS to ROCKY" can be made in 4 moves (5 lines total).
But the book does not ...
11
votes
1answer
267 views
The Vowel Sudoku Challenge
This is an entry into the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #36
Here is a partially filled in Sudoku-like board involving the five vowels:
As with real Sudoku, no vowels in any 9-square box or along any 9-...
17
votes
1answer
912 views
Wild Flash Graphics, Bro!
I've had many tricks played on me, but to my credit, I'm rarely so green anymore.
I used to pack quite a punch, things even got spicy with a mom.
I'll post a video greeting if and only if I'm in ...
38
votes
1answer
2k views
Confessions of a Riddle Junkie
I'm $\bbox[#fff9c3]{\color{#fff9c3}{\textbf{NO PEEKING!}}}$ and I am alcoholic.
I sometimes also take pot; it makes me kind of casual.
And crack too, because it makes me highly skilled.
As you can ...
