Jan 19, 2012 One Word Wonder Puzzle

Funny that this is rated 1 star difficulty, when 8 minutes in there are less than 10 solves.

Took several attempts at a method, but once it clicked, it was simple.
[1] not many people probably rated it yet. I gave it a 3 for difficulty.

Clearly I didn't vote yet....vote early, and often!

Eep, finally got it. Maybe the difficulty issue is due to the ratings not taking. I don't think mine is. Lot of wrong avenues to go down on this one. Did anyone else try "chance"?

[1] I guess those (less than) 10 solvers thought it wasn't difficult at all.

[4] Yes. Also "hens".

[4] I tried chance... but that's because I have noooo idea

cache, too

[4], [6] Went down both of those roads...still scratching my head.

Got the answer finally. Thanks to dharmaRN for pointing me in the right direction.

and 'feed'

... And 'chicks'.

it's not potato

[4] yep.

solved it, but I'm not a fan of this puzzle. Sorry.

We are half way to salt.....I may give up before that happens.

[15] Why do you say that (halfway)? Plenty of math related puzzles have heaping doses of salt within 5 minutes and under 20 solves. Wonder why that happens for some puzzles but not others...

Well, isn't that the 'rule'....no salt until 100 solves?

Well, I could sure use a little seasoning.

[17] If it is a rule it's not strictly enforced.

Big thanks to a helpful tanganite (you know who you are) who shoved me in the right direction.

I agree with [14]. To paraphrase Liar, Liar, "I've solved better."

Indeed as the instructions say you're looking at only one couple. And leave the couples as they're presented, no need to mix & match.

I'm feeling so stupid!

I was stuck on chance and any word that went with it for a long time. Still stuck though I have come up with many ODD solve methods.

Thanks "d"....

Does this involve Oppositional Defiant Disorder??? I wondered what the ODD was cluing.

Leave it to me to try and take it one step further without using what I had. No goats here.

[19] Thanks. I was doing way too complicated things.

I think this should have gone that extra step that seems to be implied.

[19] thanks for the clues, but it's still not doing it for me.

would welcome salt or a tg--just not seeing it tonight.

Unbelievable!!! [24] I was doing the exact same thing!

Thanks, "d".

Gee, thought I tried that. Had something very similar--guess I was still pairing "real" couples back then.

How about some Na & Cl ?

yeah I'll take a TG now, I am getting frustrated

Ah, thanks, 'D'! Wish I'd seen that TG sooner!

I wouldn't mind a TG either... nothing seems to work.

I feel like there's not enough here to let us know where to start.

What's the point of everyone sending TG's instead of posting salt publicly?

"Odd" is the key word, but not in the way you might think.

[34] A TG only salts the person who asks for it, rather than anyone reading the comments.

Of course, most of us read the comments for salt, right?

[34]I suppose it would be easier than telling .. every other.. person.

i agree [34]! i'm lost.
thanks for the saltiness!

[37] thanks for the ... explanation.

Well, going with the keyword ODD, I picked the only pair with an odd number of letters on each side, SONNY and EVE, which seems to clue DOUCHE, but that's apparently not it, either.

You solved this puzzle in 1 hour, 20 minutes and 29 seconds and were the 92nd Tanga member to solve it. Not a fan of this. Thank you [19]. Went to the grocery store and spent only $25 while I was thinking about it.

I came up with Sonny and Eve too. Now what? (42)

[44] Shrug. I'm not even sure that's the right couple.

Me either.(45)

[45] [46] ... read my... salt ...in [37].
Ps. You picked the wrong group. It has nothing to do with the amount of letters that each couple has... just what you do with them

Just started doing these puzzles. There's a lot to learn. It's still fun trying.

Also new at this, and having fun. On this one, I got an answer pretty early on and then made the same mistake as [24].

After 4 hours and 8 minutes, I got it (using only what was posted here). It still called me a "freaking genius", so I don't feel too bad.

The solve method on this is just effing esoteric. Not crazy about puzzles where the "obvious" thing to do is a total red herring, and the real solution is totally out in left field. That can work sometimes, when it's done really well, but I don't think it worked here. There were just a ridiculous number of possibilities, like Tori AMOS and Elvis COSTELLO? The only significance of the couple that gives the solution, is the fact that it gives the solution? What? Well, beyond that, I'll politely say, "I'm not a fan of this one".

And thanks [47], that tipped me over the edge. [37] and [19] have good salty info. I'll also add that the puzzle is self-contained. You won't need to Google anything at all, but could easily spend hours doing so.

Not getting it. More explicit salt please.

Dammit! Thought I tried that hours ago.

[51] Okay, salty saltiness: Try something "odd" with each of the couples. For one of the couples, the answer will pop out at you. This really is an easy, one step puzzle, once you figure out the solve method.

[53] - sorry don't see it. Can I get a TG please.

Edit: Got it

Stew & Pitt

I got it finally, but in my opinion the answer should be butter.

Wow, I was looking at the pairings and oddly enough the answer just jumped out at me.

I am feeling dumb not enough salt for my tastes i guess ><

You're not the only one, I've been staring at the pairings and names the better part of the day and nothing has jumped out at me /sigh

i got it but i am not happy about it, odd...

This puzzle is yet another example of why I think we should be able to rate a puzzle beyond its difficulty and "fun level".

Great puzzle, jebidiehard. Keep them coming. Absolutely loved it!

Eh. Most of the false methods of solving it are far more fun and interesting (and better clued) than the actual method.

In particularly, the Sonny & Eve pairing is both:

1. Odd (both people are odd, and it's the only pairing where both members are odd)
and
2. In an odd grammatical relationship ("Sun" and "Eve" -- I'd expected, therefore, an answer like "Evening" or "Dusk").

It's a good idea when designing puzzles to watch for false answers like these and cut them off.

Needs another rating category:

Desire to kick puzzle in the shin after finding 23 ways to attempt to solve the puzzle based on the instructions that result in a gibberish answer, but otherwise make sense: ☆☆☆☆☆

[63] Well, if the answer to the puzzle had been "Evening", then perhaps I should truly be shot! While I agree with what you are saying, I'm not sure how much of a "false answer" EVENING was.

i very much dislike this puzzle, I am new-er to this, but the answer was nowhere near to where I was going.

Now that I've waited the 24 hours and seen the solution, I agree with the other curmudgeons... might as well clue it as "Guess what word I'm thinking of?"

So what is the solution... Nothing I put in comes back as "correct"

Nvm... I found the solution...

[63] "It's a good idea when designing puzzles to watch for false answers like these and cut them off."
.
Most experienced puzzlemakers here (and especially Jeb as a mod) attempt to do exactly that. The problem is that often a different potential solution comes from a completely different train of thought. Expecting someone to anticipate every potential direction a different solver might attempt beforehand is a bit unrealistic : ).

I don't know how many people test solve the puzzles that appear here, but I think that even one test solver could have pointed out that this was a poorly clued puzzle with too much noise and a suspect solve method.

Just ick. I worked on it for a while on the day, and gave up. Finally came back to it, read a bunch of the salt... and, yep, ick. Inelegant, essentially exhaustive, search. Pick the couple that is the solution, cause you know, that couple is the only one that actually works.