Puzzler’s Guide

~ In this guide ~

➀ Solving Cryptopix puzzles
➁ Solving OWW [One Word Wonder] puzzles (and what does it mean to tanga something?)
➂ Solving HC [Hypercross] puzzles
➃ Hints & help: comments, “salt”, and TGs [Tangagrams]
➄ Tanga points: how to earn them and what they’re good for
➅ Submitting your own puzzles
➆ Links to additional information

➀ Solving Cryptopix puzzles

Cryptopix puzzles are solved by putting pictures together to form a phrase (usually, a well known phrase). This is often straightforward, but here are a few remarks…

• Phonetics are almost always more important than spelling. The word TO might be clued by the number 2.
• Picture arithmetic is commonly used. The word TO might be clued by “TUTU / 2”; also, the word WHERE might be clued by “WEREWOLF – WOLF”.
• There are two different types of letter addition used: with or without a “+”. A letter on its own (without a “+”) represents the full sound of the spoken letter (e.g., T = “tee”), whereas letter(s) preceded by a “+” indicates that you should append those letter(s) to the previous word. Here are two examples comparing these methods…
      [Picture of a tree] T = “Treaty”
      [Picture of a tree] +T = “Treat”
• Letter substitution is commonly used. The word BOARD might be clued by “SWORD, sw→b” (see the example linked to below).
• Picture placement may clue puzzle words. A (bold) horizontal line separating pictures may clue words such as ‘under’, ‘above’, ‘on’, or ‘over’ (as in the example below). Other words such as ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘around’, etc., may be clued in a similar fashion.

Click Here for an example of a Cryptopix (and its solution) that uses picture arithmetic, letter substitution, and a picture placement convention.

➁ Solving OWW [One Word Wonder] puzzles (and what does it mean to tanga something?)

OWW’s can be very difficult. There is no one method for solving OWW puzzles; anything goes, as long as the answer is one word. With that being said, solving a OWW often requires you to tanga something. To tanga usually means to extract letters using a certain index or key. Two of the most common ways to tanga are given below.

• To tanga might mean using the following number/letter association: 1=A, 2=B, 3=C, … 26=Z. Click Here for an example of a OWW puzzle that uses this number/letter association.
• To tanga might mean using the number N to find the Nth letter of a line or word. Click Here for an example of a OWW puzzle that uses this “Nth letter” trick.

It is also common for OWW puzzles to have multiple steps (or “layers”). In particular, a repeat step known as “lather, rinse & repeat” is frequently used. Click Here for an example of a OWW puzzle that makes use of the “lather, rinse & repeat” method.

➂ Solving HC [Hypercross] puzzles

Really, HC puzzles are just crossword puzzles with pictures for clues (instead of words). Below are a couple remarks about HC puzzles; the second remark links to an example HC puzzle.

• The (picture) clues for HC puzzles often use the conventions of Cryptopix puzzles (e.g. – picture & letter arithmetic).
• Every HC puzzle has a title, which usually describes the puzzle’s theme. Sometimes a HC’s title might be of minimal importance, while other times solving a HC puzzle may be nearly impossible unless you understand the title and/or theme. To complicate matters, some HC titles have a straightforward connection to the puzzle, while others may disguise the title↔theme connection as a riddle or pun. Click Here for a sample HC puzzle that is themed around the word HEAD.

➃ Hints & help: comments, “salt”, and TGs [Tangagrams]

On Tanga, hints/help for a puzzle is referred to as salt. If you’re stumped with a puzzle and need salt, the best place to look is amidst the puzzle’s comments. If you’ve been stumped for a while, you might try asking for more salt or try sending someone (e.g. – the puzzle’s author) a TG asking for more help. Here are some guidelines to consider regarding salt & posting comments:

• Be patient. If you get here right at 7:00 PM PST, don’t expect salty comments right away. The tanga community often waits to give “heavy” salt until after the puzzle has 100 solves (because of the way bonus points are awarded).
• Be careful before you post salty comments or “incorrect” answers. If you post a comment that is too big of a hint, others may complain and/or flag (delete) your comment. Also, avoid posting “incorrect” answers because you may actually be revealing an intermediate answer or some other overly helpful information.
• Do not send answers via TG. Sometimes TG’s are exchanged to give/get extra salt (particularly after the puzzle is a few hours old and no additional salt is being given in the puzzle’s comments). However, you are NOT allowed to exchange answers via TG.
• Please don’t post, “I just guessed it” comments, and don’t post pepper. Especially for OWW’s, good salt hints at the solution method, not the final answer itself; I refer to hinting at the answer word as ‘pepper’ instead of salt. Posting peppery comments or posting “I just guessed the answer” encourages other solvers to bypass the intended solve method & skip straight to the end. This takes the fun out of solving the puzzle and is disrespectful to the puzzle’s author.

➄ Tanga points: how to earn them and what they’re good for

Here are the ways to earn Tanga points:

• Solve Cryptopix & OWW puzzles. Solving featured Cryptopix or OWW puzzles within 24 hours of their release (daily at 7:00 pm PST) gives you 10 points; after that they’re worth only 3 points. Also, the first 100 solvers receive between 1 and 100 bonus points, depending on where they finished.
• Solve HC puzzles. Solving featured HC puzzles within 48 hours of their release (every other day at 7:00 pm PST) gives you 20 points; after that they’re worth only 5 points. Also, the first 100 solvers receive between 1 and 100 bonus points, depending on where they finished.
• Unfeatured puzzles There are usually some number of “unfeatured” puzzles on Saturday mornings at 7:00 am PST. There are no bonus points for these puzzles. Unfeatured OWW and Cryptopix puzzles are worth 3 points each and unfeatured HC puzzles are worth 5 points each.
• Bottom Feeder & Random Questions (RQs). Clicking on the PLAY button near the top of Tanga’s webpage will reveal links to the Bottom Feeder contest and the current RQ (but you might have to scroll down to find them). Participating in either will earn you 1 point. Getting a submitted RQ published also earns one a small number of points.
• Making purchases. Clicking on the SAVE button near the top of Tanga’s webpage will display Tanga’s current deals. Purchasing items on Tanga will earn you 30 points (although the first buyer of each product type is rewarded with 60 points instead).
• Creating Puzzles. If you submit a puzzle and it gets published, you get points. If your puzzle is featured, you get 150 points for a Cryptopix, 250 points for a OWW, and 500 points for a HC. Each unfeatured puzzle published is worth 50 points.

Here is what you get for earning Tanga points:

• Earning 5,000 points get you STU [Super Tanga User] status. STU status earns you extra discounts on Tanga merchandise, gives you 5 picks (instead of 3) in the Bottom Feeder contest, and allows you to flag comments.
• Earning Tanga points is how to achieve the next level of “fruit”. Click Here for a list of how many points are required for the various levels of fruit. Note: earning fruit is simply for fun.
• Top point-earners are listed on the Tanga leaderboards. Click Here to see the Tanga leaderboards. In addition to bragging rights, the top 10 point earners of each month are sometimes awarded some tanga cash.

➅ Submitting your own puzzles

Creating puzzles can be even more rewarding than solving them, but creating a feature-worthy puzzle is difficult. You shouldn’t be surprised if you get a “rejection” notice after submitting your first puzzle. Having your puzzle rejected isn’t necessarily bad news; “rejection” doesn’t always mean what you might think (the mods could just be asking for changes before they change the status to “approved”/“featured”).

Creating puzzles is a complex topic that deserves its own guide. Such a guide can be found here: Puzzle Makers Guidelines.

Note: I’ve heard that an updated version of the Puzzle Maker’s Guide is in the works…

➆ Links to additional information

• Puzzler FAQs (Another useful –although somewhat outdated– Tanga puzzle article)
• Discussion on Cryptopix Conventions (A more in-depth discussion of the use of letter arithmetic in Cryptopix puzzles)
• Puzzle Makers Guidelines (A guide for puzzle makers)
• Tanga fruit (A list of the Tanga fruit and their required points)