Skip to main content

Questions tagged [letters]

A puzzle which involves the manipulation of individual letters within words, or letters by themselves.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
-2 votes
1 answer
109 views

An 18-Letter Challenge-B: three 6-letter words, with limitations

Using the YAWL wordlist https://github.com/elasticdog/yawl/archive/master.zip: Locate three 6-letter words comprised of 18 unique letters, Using C and V, Not using KRANTZ / PLONGD / PRANCK, Using a ...
Frisky Dingo's user avatar
-3 votes
1 answer
85 views

An 18-Letter Challenge-A: three 6-letter words, with limitations

Use the following 22 letters to make three 6-letter words (it's the alphabet w/o H, M, Q, and S): ABCDEFGIJKLNOPRTUVWXYZ Here are the limitations: Use YAWL for wordlist: https://github.com/...
Frisky Dingo's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
289 views

Perfect Pangram development

I aim to craft very specific "perfect pangrams." A perfect pangram consists of exactly 26 letters, each used once. I include the letter lengths of each word, as well, between slashes ...
Frisky Dingo's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
218 views

Can you use all 26 letters across four 7-letter words?

I'm wondering if there's a set of four 7-letter words that employ all 26 English letters. That's 28 letters total, allowing for 2 duplicates. I would even count getting 25 a win (see below for my 22- ...
Frisky Dingo's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
329 views

Three 7-letter words, 21 unique letters, excludes either HM or QS

I'm looking for three seven letter words consisting of 21 unique letters, and the final result must exclude either the letters HM or QS (Excluding S may be impossible based off of my own attempts). ...
Frisky Dingo's user avatar
27 votes
1 answer
3k views

What was I thinking when I drew this diagram?

True story which I thought worth sharing: I recently came across a scrawled diagram on a scrap piece of paper while tidying my house. It was clearly my handiwork (probably a rough idea for a puzzle), ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
4 votes
1 answer
380 views

What's the hidden message in this text?

The text is as follows: John has a girlfriend. Her name is Samantha. She is a newbie singer. She sung one of her songs in a charity. She is also an English teacher for foreigners. She broke her hand ...
Etack Sxchange's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
148 views

Name of puzzle with 9 letters where you make 4-letter words always using the central letter

Years ago I used to do the word puzzles in magazines like That's Life, etc. My favourite puzzle used to be called a Wordsmith. It provided 9 letters, out of which you made words of 4 or more letters ...
Christine Ivins's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
268 views

COMMENCE = 18251624, PRESERVE = 18323620, UNLAWFUL = what?

In a certain code language COMMENCE is coded as 18251624 and PRESERVE is coded as 18323620. How will ...
User492177's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
261 views

Four five-letter words from the 20 most common letters

The 20 most common letters in English are ETAOINSHRDLCUMWFGYPB Are there four five-letter words that use all 20 of the letters once?
qwr's user avatar
  • 989
6 votes
1 answer
358 views

A lesson in attention to detail

Background (to be read): In 2023, I created and posted on this site a series of puzzles called A Trivial Pursuit. This involved creating 24 themed puzzles, each of which produced a one-word final ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
7 votes
1 answer
379 views

Who’s missing from this group of stars?

You’ve recently joined the Grey Elm, an exclusive VIP club, as an event organizer. Tonight’s event in particular features a lot of starpower, going by these aliases: Black-DRAGON GreenTurtleShells ...
azi's user avatar
  • 561
8 votes
1 answer
280 views

Ordered Vowelburgers™ as many as possible

I wanted to order Vowelburgers™ as many as possible, and came up with one idea. But for the purposes of giving a puzzle, I'm concealing what the idea was. Here are the Vowelburgers™ I've received, ...
Dannyu NDos's user avatar
  • 5,447
5 votes
3 answers
1k views

Two 10-letter words consisting of 20 unique letters?

I'm looking for two words, 10 letters each, 20 unique letters. Below are my by-hand attempts. https://www.wordunscrambler.net/word-list/10-letter-words-with-no-repeating-letters Find words with 3 or ...
user87072's user avatar
  • 105
4 votes
0 answers
339 views

Lucas's interesting cipher

Lucas was fooling around with some letters when he encoded some text into Gsobj lwmtkd sbceugb vfy rgdjb.. Can you figure out the original text he had?
Alan Bagel's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
690 views

Alphabetic string theory

According to alphabetic string theory, the words we see are merely the visible portions of highly convoluted loops of multi-dimensional alphabetic string. For example, here is what we see in our space-...
SlowMagic's user avatar
  • 14k
0 votes
1 answer
113 views

"Anagrams mod two," U.S. states and territories

I blogged this here, but am crossposting to Puzzling.SE for my benefit and yours. :) At today’s “Gathering 4 Gardner” social, Gordon Lessells presented his annual Christmas puzzle. The mechanism, ...
Quuxplusone's user avatar
  • 2,188
13 votes
1 answer
460 views

17 letters, 4 groups

Arrange these 17 letters into four groups of four: B, A, N, X, O, V, AB, Q, Z, J, I, L, S, C, W, E This is inspired by the New York Times Connections puzzles.
Luke's user avatar
  • 687
13 votes
1 answer
744 views

PSE Advent Calendar 2023 (Day 6): It's a beautiful day for a ballgame

This puzzle is part of the Puzzling Stack Exchange Advent Calendar 2023. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 50 reputation.< Previous Door Next Door > It's the ...
juicifer's user avatar
  • 12.4k
6 votes
2 answers
718 views

Can you employ all 26 letters using three 11-letter, three 10-letter, or three 9-letter words?

I'd like to take the premise of my previous (and insofar, only other) post and extend it. Are there any wordsets that cover all 26 letters across... Three 11-letter words, Three 10-letter words, or ...
user87072's user avatar
  • 105
8 votes
2 answers
3k views

Three 8-letter words with at least 23 different letters

I have literally dozens of wordsets containing 22 different letters, but haven't been able to crack 23, and DEFINITELY not 24. Can you do it? Here are as many of mine as I feel like posting, to get ...
user87072's user avatar
  • 105
6 votes
6 answers
6k views

'SILVER' -> ‘LESIRU' and 'GOLDEN' -> 'LEGOND', so 'NATURE' -> what?

I found this problem in an Indian Highschool Reasoning Olympiad. (image) If 'SILVER' is coded as 'LESIRU' and 'GOLDEN' is coded as 'LEGOND', then in the same code language how 'NATURE' will be coded ...
Darshit Sharma's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
117 views

Can you find the missing letters?

A pattern of letters has had letters 10 through 20 deleted. Your job is to find out what letters should go in spots 10-20. Here is the pattern: a, b, c, d, d, d, f, e, f, _, _, _, _, _, _, _, _, _, _, ...
BigMistake's user avatar
21 votes
1 answer
1k views

Order the cities, then find which one is not described

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #14: Think inside the (very small) box!. Here are four cities, each of them in a different country. What you need to do is the following. Figure ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
858 views

A Trivial Pursuit #07 (Geography 2/4): String Theory

This is part 7 of A Trivial Pursuit, a 25-part puzzle hunt. Each part is solvable on its own, with the exception of the meta-puzzle at the end. If e* t* u* v* w* x* y* is H... What relevant (if ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
20 votes
1 answer
770 views

A Trivial Pursuit #04 (Art and Literature 1/4): Threesome

This is part 4 of A Trivial Pursuit, a 25-part puzzle hunt. Each part is solvable on its own, with the exception of the meta-puzzle at the end. QUE STI ONS SEC@ND L@TR V@LUME B@ANWELL’S AUTHO@ ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
1 vote
1 answer
206 views

Quordle: Killer Guess

The last time I played Quordle, I didn't perfectly match any of the four words on my first guess. But my first guess did give me enough information to fully deduce the solution. (Note that a solution ...
fblundun's user avatar
  • 2,162
69 votes
1 answer
3k views

Alphabet snake, master of camouflage

The alphabet snake is a master of camouflage. It finds a section of text in an old book or newspaper... ...crawls upon it... ...and disappears. Now see if your camouflage skills can match those ...
SlowMagic's user avatar
  • 14k
20 votes
1 answer
2k views

Only Connect - all at once!

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #9: Game/Quiz Shows. Did you see the glitch on Only Connect last Monday?* The one where all four of the rounds got merged into one?! Effectively, ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
13 votes
1 answer
1k views

Patrick Terne Wants to Be a Millionaire

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #9: Game/Quiz Shows. Sergeant Sequence had it all sussed out at last - his nemesis Patrick Terne was funding his criminal operations via an enormous ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
5 votes
1 answer
494 views

Whose garden centre did we visit?

So my mum and I were in a garden centre the other day, run by a large British organisation. Of course, garden centres sell all kinds of things, including home decoration. They had some jarred candles ...
ymbirtt's user avatar
  • 385
15 votes
1 answer
2k views

Known for my code

I am known for my code. If you add a letter before my last one, my first three letters are never eaten by my last five letters. What is my first letter?
Tina Robinson Wilson's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
226 views

Themed Boggle Grids Continued

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #7: Board games. Click here for the rules. Here are some more themed Boggle grids that I created or discovered. Some of these may be references to ...
Scratch---Cat's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
2k views

Using sentence, turn intense into incense; what tool do I need?

Puzzle What tool do I need to turn intense into incense, using sentence? The same tool can turn dated into demented, using statement. Hints (Kudos: the accepted answer was published before the hints.)...
Kamil Maciorowski's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
514 views

Right turn only puzzle

Here is a grid with 24 spaces filled with letters. Pick any place to start your travel in the grid taking right turns only. You must get to all remaining 23 spaces but only once. By doing so create a ...
RogerA's user avatar
  • 6,637
0 votes
1 answer
117 views

Dangerous affection

This word means "(ability) to impose affection", good or malicious. But if broken apart, the spelling of the parts would mean "to witness damage". What is this word?
Arctomachine's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
763 views

PSE Advent Calendar 2022 (Day 3): Okay everybody, from the top!

This puzzle is part of the Puzzling Stack Exchange Advent Calendar 2022. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 50 reputation.< Previous Door Next Door > My brother ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
6 votes
2 answers
436 views

Beatboxer? Get on the tiles!

The three overlapping ellipses form seven curved regions - place one tile in each region so that the tiles in any one ellipse can be re-arranged into an eight-letter solution to the corresponding clue!...
AlteringIntegral's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
846 views

Catching the "L" train

This is a more difficult version of an earlier puzzle. Hit the "C" ball at such an angle that it creates a chain reaction which ultimately dislodges the "L" ball. Whenever the ...
SlowMagic's user avatar
  • 14k
45 votes
1 answer
3k views

Release the "Q" ball

Hit the "I" ball at such an angle that it creates a chain reaction which ultimately dislodges the "Q" ball. Whenever the ball in motion hits a stationary ball, the ball in motion ...
SlowMagic's user avatar
  • 14k
17 votes
1 answer
2k views

We're just hanging out, man

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #3: Pencil and Paper Games I'm a bit unsure who to ask about this... You see, there's this guy I know. I say 'know' - we're not close mates, come ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
29 votes
1 answer
3k views

Avoid consuming broken cereal?

Please allow me to lead you on a merry dance through the following original puzzle (for which you will need to work out exactly which way to proceed). The question is: What type of dance is it? The ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

Pigpen Tic-Tac-Toe

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #3: Pencil and Paper Games Introducing a new tic-tac-toe variant of my own devising (at least I haven't found an equivalent anywhere online). ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
5 votes
1 answer
186 views

Swimmers' favouritism towards letters!

This puzzle is about five professional male swimmers In 2004, after swimming for 200 m and 400 m separately, Michael Phelps started disliking double E but liked the letter I. He then started reading ...
chandanr777 's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
930 views

An IQ test for the brave

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #2: IQ Puzzle Parody $$ \begin{array}{|c|c|c|} \hline \text{Cr} & \text{Br} & \text{Rl} \\ \hline \text{Je} & \text{Ud} & \text{Ft} ...
Auribouros's user avatar
  • 6,591
21 votes
1 answer
3k views

Another pseudo-IQ question

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #2: IQ Puzzle Parody People keep asking me if there's anything between me and my good friend Ingrid Deduction... Well, it's... complicated... We go ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
10 votes
1 answer
580 views

Now I've boxed my ABC's

Well, almost. Can you figure out my letter-classifying system, and where to put W, X, Y, and Z?
dan04's user avatar
  • 3,280
21 votes
2 answers
2k views

Longer Than Usual

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #1: Restricted Title: xkcd 1xxx One for my fellow mapheads and pub quiz fans... There are many puzzles on PSE which use one-or-two-letter ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k
27 votes
1 answer
2k views

Two mystical trees

Behold, the mystical Tree of B: Notice that every path from trunk to canopy forms a word. You should see 16 words (from left to right: BLOOM, BLOOD, BLOWN, BLOWS, BLAND, BLANK, BLASÉ, BLAST, BROOK, ...
SlowMagic's user avatar
  • 14k
18 votes
2 answers
851 views

The Moon and the Great Wall

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #1: Restricted Title: xkcd 1xxx Instructions for this modified connecting wall: In the connecting wall below, each item as written contains one ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 150k

1
2 3 4 5
7