This is topic A new riddle in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.


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Posted by Falken224 on :
 
For those that followed Survivor's 'riddle me this' thread in the 'Writing Class' forum, and want to stretch your brains and your word association/analytical skills, we started another, but are going to move it here . . . where it belongs. Here's the first & second posts from it . . .
---------------------
So, what do the following words have in common?

Bent
Abet
Flop
First
Lot
Elms

Shouldn't be too hard, but I hope it's not too easy, either.
--------------
JeremyMc's reponse was:

Substance
Upward
Percussion
Perspicacious
Eradicate
Revery

Does that work?
-----------------
I replied:

Nope . . . but it sure makes me hungry. ;-9

somebody noticed my misdirection, eh?

Have fun y'all
 


Posted by epiquette (Member # 1272) on :
 
amp
act
cost

Oh, man, it's too early in the morning. Can only think of 3-4 letter words....zzz

Erk
 


Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
Falken, you purposely led me astray.
And I thought it was going to be easy.
 
Posted by Thought (Member # 111) on :
 
Cathedral
Lamp
Error
Ventilation
Equator
Rope

Quite fun

Just a riddled


Thought

[This message has been edited by Thought (edited April 19, 2002).]
 


Posted by Falken224 on :
 
epiquette, you've got it. And I was kind of brain fried too when I wrote it. You'll notice I don't have any words longer than 4 letters, either. Oh, well. I'll come up with a longer one somewhere.

If the strange lists of words other people are putting down in this forum 'baffle' you, sit down and think about it over 'supper'. You'll see a pattern, though it's the wrong one, and think it's quite 'clever'.

But now for a few more words (along with epiquette's which are COMPLETELY correct) which DO belong on the list.

best
most
gist
nosy
aegis
cent
dent

-Nate
 


Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
 
So just for the record, the list now stands as:

best
most
gist
nosy
aegis
cent
dent
amp
act
cost
Bent
Abet
Flop
First
Lot
Elms

and no other words have been admitted as belonging to the list.

One of the first things that I'll notice is that all of these words are short, but Falken is mistaken (I hope) when he says, "You'll notice I don't have any words longer than 4 letters, either."(though at that time he had not added "aegis" to the list).

I will suggest,

army (I don't know if this works with the parameters I think Falken is using)
age
einkorn (yes this is a word)
facetious?

Okay, I'll give up with that last one. If that's not on the list then I'm back to square one.

facetiously?

 


Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
 
Aww Crud!

I just figured it out, and I'm both deliciously right and completely wrong, not one of my examples belong on this list, they all belong on a closely related list that necessarially encompasses all words on Falken's list.

Boy am I dumb!
 


Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
 
By the way, what's the misdirection? Oh, okay.

Man, now I feel even more stupid than before.

Fort
Ux
Bet
An
Ru

Okay, that doesn't really make sense, does it.
 


Posted by Falken224 on :
 
Ahh . . .

SUBTLE HINT! ---->> Survivor's rule only applies to vowels <<----

. . . right?

Took me a while to figure that out. And no, I hadn't added aegis to the list when I said no 4+ letter words, but (*sheepishly*) I had added 'first' to the list. DOH!

[This message has been edited by Falken224 (edited April 19, 2002).]
 


Posted by Brinestone (Member # 747) on :
 
Got it.

fist
clot
art (was this done before?)
fort
ace
 


Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
 
Art wasn't already done, but Fort was (although I put it on that, um, other list).

To be frank, I'm not even sure that some of the words on my FUBAR list are even words.
 


Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
 
You gotta admit, had I been right, Facetiously would have taken the prize, eh?
 
Posted by Rahl22 (Member # 1411) on :
 
Wow - I am so lost.

What is going on here?
 


Posted by JP Carney (Member # 894) on :
 
A request - please don't give the answer away on the list quite yet. If someone must know now and can't wait, please give the answer privately. I haven't a clue either, but I'm trying to figure it out.

Now, that said, I guess a clue that wouldn't completely give away the answer might be in order for those of us who are clueless <grin>, but I'm still happy struggling along.

JP
 


Posted by Rahl22 (Member # 1411) on :
 
I just mean, I don't think I really understand what kind of game this is. Am I to recognize a pattern, and then based on that pattern list some words of my own?
 
Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
Rhal, check here for the last one:

http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum5/HTML/000013.html
 


Posted by Brinestone (Member # 747) on :
 
Oooh! I have a good one!

Empty

*is very proud of herself for thinking of a five-letter one*

And yes, Survivor, facetiously would take the cake. I think there are only a few of those kind in the English world...three maybe?

A clue was requested. Don't know if this works, but the word "Yoda" is sort of the opposite.
 


Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
oust
ahoy
cellos
aegilops (wild oats)
 
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 1198) on :
 
I think "Aegilops" would be a record, no? But I don't think "oust" works, does it?
 
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
 
I don't think that Falken's rule would permit Cellos either, though I'm not sure that it wouldn't.

Perhaps if someone started a new list...no, wait, that would get confusing, rather than helping to illustrate anything.
 


Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
No, you're right. Oust should be ousted.
Wasn't thinking.

 
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 1198) on :
 
You're right, "cellos" is an interesting case. Thinking about it, I don't think it would fit, though. But it might, depending on the semantics of the rule.
 
Posted by Falken224 on :
 
I thought about it and decided not to include words such as 'cello' 'abcess' 'access' 'bellow' and 'egg' simply to avoid confusion, though the way I had envisioned it, those would still work.

In any case, it's not WRONG, just might not fit exactly 100% with the rest of the words.

I think everybody's pretty much got it now.

:-)
 


Posted by JP Carney (Member # 894) on :
 
would 'inebriate' work? i'm not sure i have it at all, though i see some of the obvious pieces...
 
Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
Sorry JP.
Check out Brinestone's clue above. That gave it away for me.
 
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 1198) on :
 
How bout this for a hint:

These words work:
cost
lost
gist

These similar words don't:
post
mist

That do it for ya?


 


Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
And more opposites for you:

Troma
Roled
Wonka
Wolf
Yule
 


Posted by epiquette (Member # 1272) on :
 
Fun, fun!

Here's an embarrassingly simple one:
NEW LIST:
Tuber
Moor
Pool
Rat
Evil
War

and many more...

Erk


 


Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
Are you starting a new riddle Epi?
 
Posted by sherisaid (Member # 1410) on :
 
Tuber
Moor
Pool
Rat
Evil
War

Too easy.
Bat
Pots
No
Way

I FINALLY got the other one...geez.

JPCarney: Inebriate don't cut it.

 


Posted by Falken224 on :
 
Pans
Bats
Sore
Gib
Smug

:-)

Right?
 


Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
Snot

 
Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
And Smear
 
Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
Succor
It works. Really.
 
Posted by JeremyMc (Member # 1400) on :
 
Tuba

I suppose I could've waited and just put them all in one message.
 


Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 1198) on :
 
And with a twist:

Eve
Tenet
Noon
Mom
Pop
Redder


 


Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
 
Okay, I get Flying Cow's 'twist' on this list, but the list itself I can't get a handle on. I don't see that there is a rule here.

Maybe it's that there are no words not belonging to this list.

Etiquite, how about

File
Waste
Gray
Correct
Animal
Dead
Vapor
Risk
Bleat

Do any of these words belong on the list?
 


Posted by GZ (Member # 1374) on :
 
For Epi's list

Dog
Deer

and three more for the the subset list with a twist

Nun
Pep
Pup

[This message has been edited by GZ (edited May 04, 2002).]
 


Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 1198) on :
 
Survivor, all of the "twist" words work for the original list's rule... but they have an added restriction.

For some reason, this list gets me thinking about Naomi from Van Wilder...


 


Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
 
I have no idea what you're talking about. Are all palindromes part of the first list, or only certain ones? And how...but I begin to see, words like I, Saw, and Elba. I've always doubted that Napolean actually said that. So Naomi...is not an example. Nor are Succor, Smear, or any of my shots in the dark, I fear.

Raw, Rats, Tuber, I can't help but feel that there would be a clever little ditty about the exingencies of human conflict and the French diet.
 


Posted by Falken224 on :
 
Okay . . . here's the list.

tuber moor
pool rat
evil war
bat pots
no way
pans bats
sore gib
smug snot
tuba dog
deer

And ALL palindromes work with this rule. By definition they HAVE to work with this rule. Right epi?

{edit} Well, originally, those were supposed to look like two columns, but the spacing doesn't come out right. There's nothing magical about the word pairs. That's just two columns of words.{/edit}

[This message has been edited by Falken224 (edited May 06, 2002).]
 


Posted by epiquette (Member # 1272) on :
 
Right.

Sorry about delay responding.

As I said, embarrassingly simple.

OK. Anyone else have a riddle?
(This may not be the place to play, but I'm having fun. )

 




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