Questions tagged [wordplay]
A puzzle which incorporates a form of wordplay, such as puns, or which requires wordplay in order to find the solution.
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A mysterious importance
These words. They have a poetry to them, do they not? A mystical or religious significance? Perhaps they were born of the fundamental, ancient stuff of reality, from water or metal. Or maybe just ...
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1
answer
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Infiltrate the Imposter Ring
POWER has arrived late to the puzzle, and another word has stolen its place! Who is the imposter?
Notes:
This style of puzzle (connect-wall) requires you to group 16 words into four groups of four.
I ...
7
votes
0
answers
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Emoticon text code
I found this text on my phone.
Is there a genius out there that is able to tell me what this means?
Edit:
I received a similar message again:
7
votes
1
answer
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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
...
8
votes
1
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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, ...
9
votes
1
answer
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Sort 25 words into five groups
Arrange these 25 words into five groups of five.
I initially created this puzzle for my friends but none of them have solved it yet, so I have posted it here to make sure it was not too hard!
For a ...
17
votes
1
answer
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Magical Spellchecker
As a fifth year in Hogwarts, you’ve begun working as a part-time spellchecker, earning gold to pay off your costly tuition. First years and second years, who are just getting the hang of crafting ...
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Back Word Puzzle [closed]
There's a puzzle given to my friend by his professor. Answer is one real word only.
Puzzle: ifhgormt
Clue: "Sometimes you have to go forward by going backwards"
zyx..
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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 ...
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Note to self: DO NOT FORGET!
Just found this connecting wall on a scrap of paper in my pocket. I know I created it as a reminder about something... I just can't for the life of me remember what!
Can you help me recall what the ...
4
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1
answer
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Find four related words in a word search [closed]
This puzzle was given to me by a friend, who had received it from his professor.
This puzzle contains a word search with 4 hidden words. Your task is to identify these 4 words. The solution to the ...
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votes
2
answers
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Filling a 5x5x5 grid
Inspired by this. On each line to the left is the position of a word, and to the right is the "snyptic clue" not a cryptic clue (duh) for the word, along with the word's length. The 5x5x5 ...
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2
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Nothing but pairs of a kind
The objective is to reduce a given word to nothing in a series of steps.
At each step, remove every occurrence of an adjacent pair of letters of your choosing.
For example:
Problem: Reduce ...
11
votes
1
answer
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What is an Electronic Word™?
This puzzle is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.
For certain integers, there exist some corresponding Electronic ...
12
votes
1
answer
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Aquatic Giants – Heyawake / Marching Bands
This is part 52 of the puzzle series Around the World in Many Days. Each part is solvable on its own.
“One, two, three, four, five, I love marine wildlife.” – unknown
Dear Puzzling,
The grid on the ...
12
votes
1
answer
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Comfolding Origins
Unfortunately, this image is too big for me to provide a transcription.
Hint:
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What is a Universal Word™?
If a word conforms to a rule, I call it a Universal Word™. Can you figure out the pattern?
Universal Words™
Not Universal Words™
acclaim
proclaim
lecture
talk
pajama
sleep
coupon
grocery
...
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1
answer
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An easy positive riddle
A window with no glass
A student with no class
A sea in any season
An epistle? No, a threesome
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answer
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Almighty threats!
There's rhyme and reason behind the following 10-step sequence of words and phrases:
1. HUSK
2. BE COMELY
3. TRACKED
4. NOT HOOK
5. KICK TIPS
6. CUSP
7. ALMIGHTY
8. THREATS
9. BEFIT
10. ?
The name ...
3
votes
2
answers
255
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Longest word where each prefix is another word
What is the longest English word, e.g. “someword” where “s”, “so”, “som”… “someword” are all also valid English words?
The longest such word I could come up with is 6 letters:
Can you do better?
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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-...
2
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0
answers
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Time Rules - a fraud case
Agent J of Time Rules, a sub-division of the Bureau of Inter-temporal Fraud Force (BIFF) shook his head. Since 2041, when quantum computers had inadvertently created entanglement through time, rogue ...
12
votes
1
answer
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Which one is 10?
To allow new users to solve this puzzle and earn reputation points, I encourage all users whose reputation is 200 or more to not post an answer until 48 hours after this question is posted. Thank you!
...
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votes
1
answer
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Double Scramble 2: End of Year Scramble?
Following on from the Scary Sequence is another overly done scrambling. We have a sequence that is doubly scrambled (both the order and the terms themselves). Can you reverse out the sequence and re-...
18
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PSE Advent Calendar 2023 (Day 8): A Quilt for Santa
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 >
Mrs. Claus ...
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Once upon a tile in Hollywood
Bon Venndredi,
the three overlapping ellipses create seven disjoint regions. Each ellipse represents an as yet unknown category. Your job is to place the tiles in the regions and deduce the ...
19
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1
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Can One Solve This Scary Sequence?
The following terms appear in a sequence. Unfortunately, they are scrambled (both the original terms and their order).
Theory, Policeman?, Contest, Clarice, Bad Act, One in Rome, Fashionable, Confess,...
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votes
2
answers
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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 ...
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votes
2
answers
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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 ...
21
votes
1
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curious inflection of English words
The agent-noun form of lingerie is frank.
The present-participle form of military actions is lying.
The past-tense form of sheep is permanent.
The past-participle form of six-pack is urn.
...
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MOVING PICTURES
(8 5 -> 9 6) also as electrophenic in introduced known kuhn's of operation phrase provide respiration revolutions scientific structure support the thomas to ventilatory
(3 4 -> 4 6) book ...
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Blunt Talk, Shrubby Barquentine
Clues:
I stand in the East, facing West in all directions
A day’s sail, just across the line
Unlucky year, a ship ran aground...
A different world, different age
Set the stage, elemental alias...
[...
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votes
1
answer
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Am odd expression?
As any mathematician will tell you there are many expressions involving X.
X can mark the spot. XX is male. XXX is naughty. XXXX is naughtier still.
But how can XXXXX be M?
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1
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At Last, the Crown
Clues:[contextual images]
[Fanta logo on treble clef]
[Winning slot machine]
Instructions: Name That Sith
_ _ I _ _ _ _ _
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The Fellowship of the Square
What brings these four fellows together?
...
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A Trivial Pursuit #22 (Art and Literature 4/4): Bookstore
This is part 22 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.
Yesterday, I was asked to create some window displays ...
3
votes
1
answer
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A hive buzzing with words
A turtle that goes into battle on a cart. (16)
That which is overshadowed by the front. (10)
A vital component of gaining speed. (12)
A time measuring device that has gained wisdom through the ages....
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What was her sentence suggestion?
I'm a judge, and I'm currently judging a littering case. I was going to go with the usual sentence of a public hanging, but when I texted my friend she gave me a much better idea
The problem is that I'...
5
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0
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10 friends of a triangular baseball batter
"I'll do it tomorrow"
"Lattices and nets are my forte"
The paved one
A shadowy character
A place where organic and inorganic meet
Older brother of a piece of text
A job title. Do ...
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votes
1
answer
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Word connect: pair up the words
Connect the words by pairs as appropriate. Each word on the left connects to one word on the right, and vice versa.
CSV version (horizontal):
...
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answers
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A Trivial Pursuit #18 (Sports and Leisure 3/4): Connected
This is part 18 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.
Sometimes one connect-wall puzzle just isn't enough... ...
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1
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The Wug Test For Grownups
Jean Gleason has invented a brand new test for adults to try, not just kids!
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VI or LVE, answer is half a dozen [closed]
The answer to this is half a dozen. I get that VI is 6, but LVE? How is that in any way a dozen?
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2
answers
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Cryptic crossword phrase 'One left'
What does the term ‘one left’ mean in relation to cryptic crosswords?
I can see from some answers that it basically means to add a letter ‘L’ to the definition answer, but this clue has me stumped…
...
7
votes
1
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Relative of a Glue
If zero plus six is a relative of a glue
and four plus two is one who rides around
and two plus two (or four) can harm or heal you,
then what plus what equals a chemical compound?
Looking for the ...
12
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1
answer
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A Trivial Pursuit #13 (Geography 3/4): Things Fall Apart
This is part 13 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.
Identify the 26 words clued by the images below, then ...
18
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1
answer
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A Trivial Pursuit #11 (Science and Nature 2/4): The Search
This is part 11 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.
Okay, let me tell you a story... I’ve got a terrible ...
16
votes
1
answer
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Excuse me, I don't wear pointy hats!
There's a guy moving into my neighbourhood. People have seen him
do some strange, reality-bending things, like materialising objects out
of thin air and moving things around telekinetically with a ...
13
votes
2
answers
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Build-an-Animal Workshop
If I wear a canine head, I’ll become hard like a rock.
But if I wear a cervid head, I’ll be almost as soft as a sock.
If I wear a fish tail, I’ll be dead and rotting on a plain.
But if I wear a ...
4
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1
answer
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"Pawn Placement" - a GCHQ word association puzzle (video game edition)
If instead of video games you're looking for board games, check out Stiv's "Guess Where?" puzzle! ;)
Instructions (adapted from The GCHQ Puzzle Book (2016) and the introductory puzzle here ...