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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
Wants to stump you with this puzzle:
How to play: Answer this puzzle with exactly one word.
Wants to stump you with this puzzle:
How to play: Answer this puzzle with exactly one word.
Wants to stump you with this puzzle:
How to play: Answer this puzzle with exactly one word.
Wants to stump you with this puzzle:
How to play: Answer this puzzle with exactly one word.
© 2008 Tanga.com LLC. All rights reserved.
59 Comments
Bluefaith
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:02 PM |
I think I'm going 'round in circles...
Hope2002
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:11 PM |
Is there some hint as to what to do that I'm missing?
Hope2002
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:11 PM |
Nevermind..random guess wins again.
BlueDevilDucky
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:12 PM |
Yea for the random guess!
Murdoctor
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:18 PM |
Wow... I can't believe you guys randomly guessed that answer word. I'm going to need to come up with more obscure answers that don't directly tie in with the puzzle, as much as I enjoy doing those.
EDIT: I actually HAD a more obscure word, but decided against using it. Looks like I should've gone with it.
[2] The hints are all in the puzzle... but you only get one hint at a time for what to do next.
entropy
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:17 PM |
You solved this puzzle in 11 minutes and 33 seconds and were the 8th Tanga member to solve it. You earned 103 points for solving this.
No guessing here! Another excellent puzzle Murdoctor.
escKey
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:18 PM |
[5] a little more salt?
Verve640
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:19 PM |
No need to guess...Nice one 'doc...
Murdoctor
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:21 PM |
[7] Ok, I'll amend my previous statement: You only get one hint at a time for where to go next.
rdunlap1125
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:21 PM |
Very nice puzzle.
[7] -- think about classic Tanga strategies.
silentp
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:23 PM |
You solved this puzzle in 13 minutes and 24 seconds and were the 7th Tanga member to solve it. You earned 104 points for solving this.
Ditto on the 'no guess' approach. Beautiful puzzle! Do yourself a favor and try this one salt-free.
leadfoot
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:24 PM |
I've numbered all the letters...
I've lettered all the numbers
i've permutated, rotated, "mod"ulated, decimated
sigh
Murdoctor
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:26 PM |
[12] You're overcomplicating it. Just start from the beginning and follow where it leads you.
leadfoot
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:26 PM |
the heck of it is I KNOW it's another elegant murdoctor puzzle...
heatherlouwho
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:26 PM |
HUH?
Bluefaith
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:27 PM |
Thought I tried that earlier. Guess I can't count accurately.
Very nice!
escKey
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:31 PM |
I'm getting jibberish
jtotheh
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:35 PM |
[17] Are you getting something you understand, and then getting gibberish, or just gibberish?
heatherlouwho
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:36 PM |
[18] If I do it one way, I get a four-letter word and an additional letter. If I do it another way, I get six letters then repeats, and the letters don't anagram.
Not that you asked me, but....
leadfoot
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:37 PM |
well - at least I'm getting some ideas for making other puzzles...
jtotheh
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:40 PM |
[19] Did you switch directions at some point?
CWarrior
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:40 PM |
This is more personally amusing than helpful, but the answer reminded me of a scene in Mel Brooks' 'Robin Hood: Men In Tights.'
johninc
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:43 PM |
Nice puzzle, not just a google scavenger hunt. Thanks.
heatherlouwho
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:43 PM |
Um... No.
heatherlouwho
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:44 PM |
[21] I TG'd you with what I'm doing. Maybe you could check my work?
GertSoB
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:45 PM |
Salt: Do NOT change direction. It's clockwise all the way. What seems to be a hint to change directions, isn't.
perihelion
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:46 PM |
okay, I must suck at anagrams, because I got the clue, but the result seems to be useless...
escKey
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:47 PM |
Got it. Nice!!
dagibbs
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:47 PM |
[13] was enough salt!
You solved this puzzle in 23 minutes and 3 seconds and were the 78th Tanga member to solve it. You earned 33 points for solving this.
w00t!
dagibbs
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:49 PM |
[27] If you hate anagrams... there's always the internet, e.g. http://wordsmith.org/anagram/
RPardoe
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:50 PM |
If you follow directions, no anagramming is needed.
perihelion
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:52 PM |
[30] thanks for the link. got it!
escKey
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:55 PM |
[31] Could you TG me with you you solved the clue without anagram? I'm not seeing it.
EDIT: Nevermind. That is so elegant!!
RPardoe
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:55 PM |
Agreed....
QurqirishDragon
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 07:59 PM |
No anagramming needed
dagibbs
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:19 PM |
I assumed I didn't need to anagram, but the anagram was faster as I already had the link open from playing with an old puzzle.
nurdremes
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:15 PM |
A work of art.
heatherlouwho
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:17 PM |
[21] THANK YOU, jtotheh!
BLESSED BOVINE, Murdoctor! That was totally, totally hard-but-cool! I bow to your puzzlemaking greatness!
Hope2002
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:18 PM |
Backsolved, but didn't really care for the method. Nothing leads you to it but trial and error.
Murdoctor
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:26 PM |
[39] Just trying to come up with new ideas... not going to please everyone. What appears counter-intuitive to you... may actually be COUNTER-intuitive to someone else.
goingboeing
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:28 PM |
I disagree with [26], but I got it anyway. Nice one Murdoctor!
Hope2002
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:30 PM |
[40] That's what I mean. I'd rather not have to figure out what was going through the puzzle maker's head. Some people are less linear than I am, I know that.
dagibbs
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:30 PM |
Wow, [40] is salty.
RPardoe
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:35 PM |
Oh, the puzzle maker can be as salty as he likes....
yelowflower
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 08:54 PM |
I'm just not cut out for some of these puzzles.
RPMiller
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 09:04 PM |
[10] Hard to think of classic tanga strategies when you are a newbie. :(
I think this puzzle depends on that knowledge because it just isn't clicking for me.
cavefish
Posted on Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:52 PM |
really great puzzle!
revchewie
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:24 AM |
Agreeing with [41]'s disagreement with [26]. If you keep going the same direction, you have to anagram. If you reverse, no anagram needed.
[46] I've had that same problem. Check
http://www.tanga.com/forum/blogs/980-PUZZLER_FAQS
I need to re-read that, too. Just to keep things current in my head.
Arnott
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:31 AM |
First off: WOW to the people who guessed! I suppose at this point, that shouldn't amaze me anymore :) Solvers here have become quite savvy, it seems. Plus, perhaps there are enough of "us" now such that there's always gonna be at least ONE person who will guess correctly. Or solve the crazy unsolvable puzzles that may show up in the future.
Secondly: Nice idea, Doc. I wouldn't have changed your answer for a second - in fact, I would have been quite pleased with it. I do think, though, that your answer word is more than good enough to have stayed within your original paradigm (starting, perhaps, at the "end")
I get where the solve method comes from, but I'm not sure you needed to mine the "extra" meaning out of it. It was already elegant enough to be cool, you know?
Lastly: speaking of that elegance... how long did this take to make? And how many times did you shift/alter your ring size, if any? Really nice work.
wmshub
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 02:18 AM |
OK, got it! But I didn't do it the "right" way. I assumed that the solution used letters in the ring, and that it had something to do with the presentation. A little fiddling with the letters gave me what looks right, and it was.
Could somebody TG me with the "right" way to solve? I spent an hour or so trying to figure out the real puzzle, I'd like to know what it was!
Murdoctor
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 07:00 AM |
[49] Since it would have been just as easy to fill in a different answer word of the same length, I could have made it much harder to guess. But it's really tough to pass on a word that fits so well with the theme.
Not sure what you mean by staying within my original paradigm, though. If you're talking about the reversal of direction in the final step, I debated on that for a while, but figured the clue-within-a-clue was a nice touch.
As for how long it took to make... I had to go through several iterations of phrases and circle sizes before I found something that worked without overlapping on itself until the end of the phrase. After a couple of manual attempts (I manually came up with a 10-letter clue phrase in a 35-letter circle, thereby needing a much longer answer word or additional phrase), I deduced that the size of the circle should be a factor of the sum of the values of the clue phrase, and finally ended up writing a computer program into which I could enter my target phrase, get back the sum, then go through the main factors of that sum (within a reasonable range for the circle size) and it would figure out whether or not there was an overlap in the "path". Around 15-20 possible clue phrases later, I found the one I finally settled on.
After explaining all that, y'all probably think I'm nuts.
runart
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 07:07 AM |
no, just so smart that it nauseates me.
heatherlouwho
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 08:13 AM |
[51] I agree with [52]!
hatemachine
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 09:01 AM |
Had to sleep on it...You solved this puzzle in 13 hours, 58 minutes and 17 seconds...
I can't believe people got this with random guesses.
Great puzzle as usual Doc.
dagibbs
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 09:59 AM |
[50] TG sent.
Ilta
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:12 AM |
Add me to the "guessed but have no idea how" list.
steve
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:13 PM |
great puzzle. wish my intarwebs worked at home so I could do them at launch.
Arnott
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 02:28 PM |
[51] Well, you know *I* don't think you're nuts :) In fact, I'm prolly the crazy one, as I'd have done the whole thing by trial and error if I had to (no mad computer/math skillz for me).
Yeah, I was talking about the reversal, but I was trying to talk around it (no pun intended) just for obfuscation. Was erring on the side of not giving too much away.
I think the clue-within-a-clue here ended up being a hat on top of a hat. I think your initial "aha" was terrific, and was good enough on its own. I was having so much fun seeing it all work out as I went along, that I just wanted to keep going, you know - in both meanings - so that when I hit the turnaround, it metaphorically stopped me, as well.
GertSoB
Posted on Sun Feb 17, 2008 03:38 PM |
[41], [48]: Yes, the final word goes backwards, but I think [21] was talking about switching directions while solving it. The first 8 letters in the solution seem to indicate a switch of directions, but that leads you nowhere. You have to keep going in the same direction, and eventually you end up with a word which is the answer spelled backwards.
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