One Word Wonder

OK, I'm clueless. Anybody else? Beuller? Beuller?

trying to move letters, not getting anything

3rd!

Oh, good, a try a bunch of stuff until you stumble across the right solve method puzzle?

Rearranged to start...nothing

This is marked as "easy"

Not so easy...

This is the only one I don't have so far...

5th to solve. Very Funny! How many people wrote this puzzle anyway?

Use the puzzlemaker's avatar.

Hope, do you have the hard OWW? I'm only getting yesterday's.

[10] same here

Click on daily fun and then click on See all

[10] [11] Look in the archives

should something not in the puzzle be the part of the puzzle?

[10],[11] Go look at the archive - two "easy" posted tonight!

[9] But what do I do with it?

solved the other one, it was pretty easy, wish it had posted properly...

[16] I'm with you.

help!!!!

I think this was meant to be the hard and the hidden puzzle was the real easy.

How nice, a puzzle with a different slant to it.

this is not easy!!!

Okay,
Have any of the comments posted by the solvers had any salt in them?

Is this another one you have to manipulate with a printer or another program?

I suggest googling "scytale"

[22] I'm thinking you'll change your mind when you see the answer, lol.

That was truly random.

...and a printer i think is what the creator wanted you to have to use .. even if there is another way.

9th to solve
leadfoot... yes... there is salt. the solving method even harkens back to a few very "early" and forgotten tanga puzzles.

I solved it and I don't think it was easy. There is no hint to a solve method that I can see. Just stare at it until something doesn't look right.

[9] That was salt? It must have been that "non-sodium looks like salt but doesn't taste like it" seasoning.

[28]No printer needed.

[25] You're kidding me, right?

Hi, all--I literally just submitted this a couple of hours ago, long after I would have thought they had selected today's puzzles. I really just wanted to test to make sure it would print properly from the website, as printing could help you solve it (although it can also be solved without printing). [25] has great salt.

Edit: So does [21]

[30] Excellent salt!

Apologies to the creator, this was the worse puzzle I have done in a year on Tanga.

[32] True, if you have good eyes.

wow, even after doing the suggested google search as well as printing this out I'm coming up with basically nothing.

I'm just going to go away for a while, maybe there will be some salt that will push me further when I come back.

Heavy salting here for those who don't see it right away: Google "scytale" ... those dotted lines are important as well as the subject of the text.

[38] Tangagram sent

"scytale??" lol. Why take the long, winding route. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Well, I am frustrated even with the salt in [39] echoed from the earlier mention. The size of the decrypting tool seems undiscoverable except by trial and error?

[42] Try something different. Look closely, you'll see that not everything is the same.

[36] My apologies in return. I guess that's what happens when you use the daily frustrations of sharing a household as puzzle inspiration!

[42] I had hoped the size of the decrypting tool was implied by the topic, especially the irony of the last three words.

[44] It was like reading my life story!! Doesn't ANYONE know how to change the roll besides us?

[45] LOL Thanks for vindicating me!

Well, I got the answer (thanks Scoutmom for your help). In the end I didn't do anything special, such as the supposedly implied size of the decrypting tool. . . no idea, I didn't use it. The answer is there plain as day with no real effort needed though I spent an hour and 26 minutes making it harder. . . and was still only the 81st solver.

If there was a more elegant and proper way to solve this I would be interested to know it. Essentially, how would printing it out have made it any easier, what was I supposed to have done with the printout to get the answer?

I printed it and I still don't get it

So we're supposed to print it out, cut it up, tape it together and then use it like what we find when we google "scytale?"

I don't think so. This is supposed to be a puzzle site - not arts and crafts.

Edit: Yes, I figured out the size - that part was easy. But I don't feel like going through the work to do that for a few Tanga points.

[44] I got the idea of how to solve before the scytale was mentioned, but still don't see any implication of its size, except the indicated non-uniformity, which was very subtle. Or perhaps my eyes just suck.

[43] Thanks to you, I finally put away my scissors and closed my paint program.

This was a little frustrating, but ultimately rewarding. I think the graphics and the ironic hint in the text are brilliant touches. The frustrating part to me was that I almost immediately understood the construction, but couldn't find the correct shift. What really threw me was the inversion. I think that would be better the other way, then there would be no need for the extra clue in the type.

Overall, outstanding!

[52] Thanks! I do love irony, don't you? Creating a puzzle is always a difficult balance between making it challenging, but not frustrating, and making it fun, but not too easy. I was kind of hoping to play with this one a little more before they published it, but Tanga is full of surpises!

I know what we're supposed to do. I even know what to use as the "tool".

I'm just not going to print and cut and all that good stuff. It's just too much of a darned nuisance.

[54] Tangagram sent

I like the puzzle idea.
Agree with 54 though.

Everybody is pointing out the "proper" tool to use and talking about printing this out and cutting it and twisting it and so on and so on, and I agree, it is a nice idea but way too much of a extravagant nuisance. I think instead of doing all that stuff, I'll just go grab my DELL puzzle book and my ruler do another word search.

I don't get it...isn't it already spelling out the message? I don't think I would get it even if I did print it out.

well, that took forever.

I still don't see what it would do if I did print it out and wrap it...

Let's say I did cut out the strips. And let's say I did tape them together end to end. I see a problem with the amount of space between ends. If I put them dotted line to dotted line, then there is no " " between some words.

[60] yeah and? ... I found the answer the easy way, but I ended up doing it the print out and cut up way as well just to see if it would work... and it did. I taped the pieces as they were, used the implied tool, and the answer was clear.

What if you don't have "The implied tool" handy? I'm not emptying anything for a puzzle.

[61] Sorry, 'clear' is not correct. Please try again. :)

[62] Then you use very little of the tool? ... or maybe your trash got emptied the other day? You might be able to use a similar but longer version of the object... not sure about that though. I guess it's good the maker made it so that you can also get the solution by looking at it closely. Otherwise tool deprived people would be stuck, as well as those not able to figure out the method of solving even with all the salting.

[63] I'm not THAT salty ;)

[52] had the part that got it to click for me... although I'm not sure about the last part of their comment. In the end, I just had to change my perspective.

I understand what I am supposed to do. I understand that it should be possible to do without actually constructing it. I couldn't see the appropriate shift so I decided "why not" and printed it out and cut it up and taped it together and found the appropriate core and wrapped it and came up with... nothing. Is it possible that the appropriate core is brand dependent, or different for double rolls? Also, it is awkwardly too long and wants to fall off the ends, which seems odd since the length was at the makers discretion. Could someone perhaps give me the first (or last) letter so I have a start point.

Edit: Got it by carefully looking for the "oddities" in the original text. Looking back at my construction it seems my core really is not the correct size. I guess Purex double rolls are slightly bigger. And the "inversion" (why is that there???) meant I was never going to find it with the slight diametre issue.

Am I the only idiot who cut this out and tried wrapping it around a toilet paper roll???

68: No, I did too, and as pointed out in 67, it did not work and was of no help...

[31] Yes, that was salt. Just as many have said later on, you only have to use your eyes on this one. You can solve it the traditional "arts and crafts" way, but it's not required (the puzzlemaker was kind in that respect). This might be too salty, but the next-to-longest word is quite helpful.

the "arts & crafts" method was the only way I could solve it. I have since "back solved" it just by looking at it but only because I know what to look for and where. I have no idea how any of you found it just by looking at it. Some have mentioned "clues" in the text that makes it easy to find. I see no clues that indicate that. But it is doable the "arts & crafts" way. As for the "inversion", I guess you need to not assume there is only one way to wrap something.

Nice premise, however there are four different ways to wrap the message and after knowing the answer I finally massaged the mechanism to make the answer show up. [25] gave me the push I needed.

[69] Seriously, just use a straight edge (ruler, edge of a piece of paper). Try it a couple of different ways, and it will eventually jump right out at you.

Are we looking for a 19 letter answer???

[74] No

Charmin' answer.

70..thanks, that did it, and no scissors required.

oh... I see it now. whoa! I never would have noticed that without being told to look for it and where to look for it and without knowing what the answer was already. To those that found that hours ago with little or no help... I bow in your general direct.

[32] wow don't know how you did that without a printer, even knowing the what would happen and couldn't find that pattern.