Mar 01, 2008 One Word Wonder Puzzle

Ooh, this one would have taken me a _lot_ longer without the background!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing better than reading the clues and guessing the answer. Except perhaps knowing the solve method.

I hate mimes! Maybe that's why I don't get it!

not dreamer

I was expecting a RickRoll.

I guessed it but only because I had high hopes. That was before the 3 divorces :p

[1] Yeah, but since it was there, what an easy night! I was done by 9:05! If they put the hypercross back (which was posted earlier and I finished) everyone will need a bit more time, but not that much. Is Picathon up?

Perfect background clue...

The mime tells you HOW to get it!

[10] Then I am hosed. Did I mention, I hate mimes? I have no clue what he is telling me!

Ah, but a mime doesn't say anything, does he???

36th - best yet

You are a freaking genius!!, you solved this puzzle.

You solved this puzzle in 1 minute and 16 seconds and were the 35th Tanga member to solve it. And I didn't even know the solve method- I just guessed!

dingo262's daughter

guessed, now to backsolve!

[10]By being trapped in an invisible box?

[8] What!!
Another early one? This is getting old.

[17] yeah, another early one, but within a minute of the 2nd place finisher posting, my completed puzzle wouldn't save the answers.

[16] No, with his silence

10th on Crypto, 16th on Easy, 24th on Hard....bring on the Hyper

This doesn't have anything to do with "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions" does it? That's the only MIME that I know anything at all about. ;-)

You solved this puzzle in 8 minutes and 36 seconds and were the 59th Tanga member to solve it. You earned 52 points for solving this.

Huh?

Thanks scoutmom, that made it click!

From the clues I thought the answer was going to be more of the K-9 variety, but I guess the actual answer fits too.

[23] Not for me; I have been trying to figure out that angle since the beginning at it hasn't helped.

[24] your not alone ...

when I was young if a guy did all that he was "kitty cat whipped"

[26] LOL. You know we're all living in a fantasy.

I hate this type of puzzle, since I'm very bad at figuring out what's not needed.

You have GOT to be kidding. Definitely not what I had in mind.

What don't you hear?

Got it on a guess, by answering the implied question, but I have no idea how I was supposed to solve it!

Guessed, can't even work this backwards into a solve method. Really don't get it.

When is the hypercross (re)showing up? I need something to do, since I am just staring blankly at this one!

Ah! I get it. Nice one, Cyncat!

[30] A tree that falls in the woods when no one is around?

Okay, scoutmom. Thanks. now I see what we were supposed to get from it. I question the universality.

[33] We're all wondering this.

Mimes are what? (see [19])
What else in this puzzle shares that quality?

[31] Try reading each word out loud.

Hmmmm, I have the answer now, but even with that and all the salt scoutmom is dumping, I still don't see a solve method at all other than just randomly sticking stuff together. Somehow I doubt that's it. Can some one t-gram me w/ the solve method?

[39] I have been doing that for half an hour now :-)

[39] while thinking like a 6 year old

[40] Sure...TG coming.

[41] Well, what DON'T you hear???

Some one call me when the hypercross is up :-)

Why do I wait up until 3am when my favourite puzzle (hypercross) won't even come up :-( Thankfully it's not a work night.

son of a......101

You are a freaking genius!!, you solved this puzzle.
You solved this puzzle in 15 minutes and 23 seconds and were the 101st Tanga member to solve it. You earned 10 points for solving this.

Thanks escKey & soccer_ref for the t-grams! My brain was just not seeing that one at all!

Edit: scoutmom - now your salt makes perfectly good sense!

[48] I still don't get it, trying to backsolve.

Thanks to [30] and [39], You are a freaking genius!!, you solved this puzzle.
You solved this puzzle in 6 minutes and 1 second and were the 109th Tanga member to solve it. You earned 10 points for solving this.

OK, I finally get the solve method, but in that case #7 is simply wrong.

Hypercross is finally up again!

[51] I guess that depends on where you're from. For me, you would be correct in your statement, but for others, well....

Aww man what a solve method nice job

You solved this puzzle in 28 hours, 0 minutes and 53 seconds and were the 421st Tanga member to solve it. You earned 10 points for solving this.

o

Shhh...That was a cool puzzle. Thanks.

OK, in what dialect of English is #7 correct?

I've been pronouncing 7 wrong my whole life.

[51] [56]. Hi. The use of that letter in #7 does not mean that its sound is not heard when the word is pronounced. It just means that it does not contribute to the sound. The other letters in the word are sufficient to create the correct sound. The pronunciation given in merriam-webster.com, dictionary.com, and thefreedictionary.com does not use that letter. Just the one right next to it.

It is true that it is not a dummy letter like the rest of the letters in the puzzle answer, but it is a silent letter (specifically, a part of an "endocentric" digraph).

[58] I'd pronounce the word (slightly) differently if the letter were not there, myself. Then again, I was absolutely mystified back in grade school when we had a chapter in spelling on silent letters and it included words like "calm" and "palm." (Those are pronounced rather differently than "cahm" and "pahm" where I grew up. "Calm" did not rhyme with "bomb," nor "shawm.")

Yeh, I threw out the correct solving method early because #7 didn't fit the bill. I don't care what Webster's says... Noah ain't trying to solve this. :)

[60] LOL.

When I started developing this puzzle, I knew that I would be treading on dangerous ground because word pronunciation is not universal. But I thought I would give it a shot anyway. "These puzzles are just for fun," I said to myself.

The other words that I could think of for #7 (handsome, handkerchief, Wednesday) had more than one silent letter in them, and they would have contributed ambiguity to the solution.

I must say I was expecting the kind of criticism I have received here so far. No one has pointed out yet that the answer is just ridiculous, but I was expecting that, too. :)

[7]nurdremes

LOL

[9]gst
[34]escKey
[54]pepperhead
[55]WontGrowUp

Thanks.