One Word Wonder

Instructions

One Word Wonders are puzzles where the answer to the puzzle is exactly one word. For a better idea on how to solve this puzzle see an example

One Word Wonder

Murdoctor

wants to try to stump you with this puzzle that was published on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:00 PM

You must be a Tanga member to play. Please either log in or sign up!

66 Comments

Refresh comments

ahecht

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:08 PM |

Sorry, 'murdoctor' is not correct. Please try again.

jmcintyre

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:08 PM |

2nd. Wooot!

capkincaid

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:09 PM |

That was my first thought.

martinp13

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:11 PM |

Hmmmm.... wouldn't there be a bunch of answers to this?

zyzzva

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:12 PM |

any salt?

ninjoo

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:12 PM |

Well, that was kinda neat. Nice puzzle.

trumpetjosh

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:12 PM |

ya, i'm not seeing this although it looks like it should be really easy.

ninjoo

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:13 PM |

Salt: the knight gets to move 3 times. And it might not hit all the squares...

yelowflower

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:15 PM |

[7] I agree, but....

gooseme

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:17 PM |

I got the open squares, now what?

heatherlouwho

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:17 PM |

There is no one there for you to capture....

foxdave

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:17 PM |

You're going to have to take a tour of the thread to find the salt.

jmcintyre

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:20 PM |

Darn! If the puzzlemaker had only given us one more square! Think of what we could do with them...

Arnott

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:22 PM |

Neat. Might have gotten it sooner had I not messed it up, like, three full times :)

martinp13

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:25 PM |

I even see the "answer" and I don't get it. I mean, I think I see the answer, but I don't know what to do with it to make the answer answer.

774

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:26 PM |

Clever!

PhantaCComics

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:28 PM |

There are a ton of possible move options here. . . how are we supposed to know which combo to use? Maybe I'm missing something here.

*edit* I may be on to something. . . not certain though yet

blahmcblah

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:27 PM |

Very clever. I kept jumping around the answer, but I just... couldn't... reach...

BigSlick

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:28 PM |

The first time I figured out the moves, I only had one square left; then, I realized I had some more that I moved over but didn't land on. From there, [13] gave me the push in the right direction. Thanks!

BigSlick

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:29 PM |

[17] If you know how a knight moves, just start moving him and figure out where he can get to within 3 moves. I found it helpful to number each move in a given square.

martinp13

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:32 PM |

[20] I did that. I have some left. Don't know where to go from there.

Nevermind... I vote this puzzle "out of order". :(

QurqirishDragon

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:33 PM |

I got it, but I don't like the answer, unless I missed a clue as to how the missed spaces are supposed to be ordered?

PhantaCComics

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:33 PM |

[20] I think I got it. I was marking off squares I was passing through, not just the specific "capture" point. Maybe.

heatherlouwho

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:33 PM |

[18] all I have left is gibberish. *pout*

Patillian

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:36 PM |

I get very, very few squares I can't reach. Not enough to make something legible if they correspond...

blahmcblah

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:38 PM |

[24] Tangagram sent.

GertSoB

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:39 PM |

Salt: copy the image, then open MS-Paint and paste it in. Pick "Fill with colour" and a colour other than black or white; say red. Mark the two spots where that knight can move. Now pick a second colour, say blue, and mark every spot that a knight can reach from the two red spots. Now pick a third colour, say yellow, and mark every spot that a knight can reach from a blue spot, that isn't already coloured. The spots that remain black or white are the ones that can't be reached. Proceed from there as usual.

escKey

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:43 PM |

That's the first time my WAG ever got accepted.

[27] Oh!! That works. That's pretty neat. I like it.

blahmcblah

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:58 PM |

Edit: bzzzzt.

ahecht

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:43 PM |

Got it, but only after a wild goose chase studying chess notation schemes.

ShinigamiSPQR

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:48 PM |

[30] Yeah, I did the same thing at first and got CHAFED as an answer. And to be honest, I've very glad it was incorrect.

Patillian

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:52 PM |

Ooooh...I thought I had one fewer missed squares than I actually had. Very easy with that square. Fun puzzle.

revchewie

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:54 PM |

[22] Not as such, but with so few letters, it's easy enough to figure out the order.

nrkii

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:55 PM |

[27] thanks! that was much quicker and easier than trying to eyeball it

blahmcblah

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:57 PM |

[27] On second thought, I definitely would've finished faster if I'd thought of that :/

monocle

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:58 PM |

ok...

jewelia

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 07:59 PM |

Very clever concept, and well-suited to board game enthusiasts, I'd say.

yelowflower

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 08:01 PM |

[27] you win the prize tonight, that sure did make it easier, I had tried with paper and pen, your method worked a treat. Thanks

good puzzle, fun and solvable

heatherlouwho

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 08:11 PM |

OMG! That was reallllllly hard! Thanks [27] for the solve method. It really helped to visualize it.

And thanks for the side conversation, blahmcblah! I appreciate your confidence in my abilities!

Stexe

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 08:25 PM |

Interesting, although there are too many answers for the puzzle. I mean, there is no way he could capture a King (can't capture without checkmating, which isn't possible with a singular knight) and also, your name is either murdoctor or "knight" so... ya.

gst

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 09:13 PM |

I'm struggling; I have three 'safe' squares on the 5x5 board.
All the notations I can find don't lead to much...

Can I get a nudge?

blahmcblah

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 09:18 PM |

[41] Tangagram sent.

natsume

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 09:19 PM |

are there suposed to be other "pieces" on the board?

blahmcblah

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 09:21 PM |

[43] It could help to imagine that there's a piece on every square... but you're looking for the ones you can't capture.

karp

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 09:23 PM |

So I'm in the same boat as [41]...any tips?

blahmcblah

Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008 09:35 PM |

[45] Check yo Tangagrams.

dajagr

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 02:15 AM |

[41] [45] Same here.

sloshr

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 02:41 AM |

[47] check your tangagrams. I figured the others were asleep by now, so I sent you some salt.

ragulo

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 05:18 AM |

I don't know who he is, must be Murdoctors uncle...

jwiv

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 07:07 AM |

I'm hitting the same got the squares but not the next step block that everyone else is I fear.

Murdoctor

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 07:12 AM |

[40] You aren't capturing any particular pieces... but if there were pieces on the board, where could you NOT capture them, given 3 moves?

[41] The only chess knowledge needed is how a knight moves. Standard chess notations aren't relevant, but the number of squares might give you a clue as to what IS relevant.

[49] That's funny, as I have fond childhood memories of playing chess with my dear departed uncle. But the answer isn't his name.

heymondo

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 08:15 AM |

Even with various salt, still stuck. Have the 3 spots. But what I came up with (cad, pia) are not correct. An old chess team geek having trouble with the last step....

jwiv

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 08:17 AM |

Oof. Yah, wasted WAY too much time chasing down chess notation. Even adjusted the board numbering to match the subsection. Completely unnecessary. I like this one, but definitely tricky.

natsume

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 08:17 AM |

when do the new puzzles appear? every night at what time please? :)

leadfoot

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 08:32 AM |

The new puzzles are usually posted at 7pm U.S. Pacific coast time (10 pm eastern)

grant5

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 09:28 AM |

Cool puzzle, enjoyed doing it. Nice job doc.

chemguy

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 09:52 AM |

I got the squares, but I am lost on how they are relevant

leadfoot

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:09 AM |

[57] chemguy

check out [13] for a nudge in the right direction...

what could you do if you ADDED one more square to the number that is already there...?

sjlee

Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:47 AM |

I'm confused still. This is not a complete chess board... so I have no idea what adding one more square would get me (let alone where I would add it).

EDIT: Ok, I finally got it. It took me a while to figure out why adding another square is significant.