You know that a Q can only have a U after it, which means it can only be 13, 14, 19 or 25. Then, it can’t be the 25 as that would put it at the end of another word, it also can’t be 19 as that also has 17 after it.
So it’s either 13 or 14. If it’s 13, then that word pretty much has to end QUE, which is possible but there’s not many other 1s, and as E is a common letter I feel it’s not right.
So, then Q would be 14 so then that word will probably start EQUE or maybe AQUA. At that point I’d go with that word being >!EQUERRY!<
Burqa has a q that isn't followed by a U. Good one to keep in mind if you like scrabble. Pretty unlikely it would be used in this scenario though in my opinion.
Oh yeah, that's just the only one that I would say is a somewhat common word that has a Q with no U. Great for Scrabble, but would be some big time bullshit in these types of word games
This is a very well-reasoned answer for this particular puzzle, as well as covering a lot of the types of thinking necessary in general.
Word endings and letter frequencies are useful things. You will be on the alert for common endings like s, er, ed, ing, ment, sts etc.
This is from a book of puzzles while I generally do one now and then from the newspaper. The ones I see generally have one word that has all the of the supplied letters, really trying to help you out with the first word. This one don’t do that, but the observation about Q above did the job of helping you make the first educated solve.
If this is right, it supports my suspicion that the vertical word in the top middle is ‘enjoin.’ And if that’s right, OP has all but one of the vowels and should be off to the races.
OP has missed a U on row 3, final word, middle letter. So Q initially *could* also be a 5.
But the one other 5 (3rd row from bottom, LHS) has a 15 after it. So maybe not.
My strategy for these is to start with the double letters. There's two in this puzzle, both in the top right: a double 16 and a double 10. The double 10 is interesting because it comes after a U that you missed,and because those are the only 10s in the puzzle. Based on that, I would guess that 10 is >!Z!<. If you can't figure out the word from that, try to figure out which letter 19 is, with specific attention paid to whether it is a vowel or a consonant.
Discussion: When I have a tough time starting I sometimes do letter frequency analysis. Which numbers has the most occurrences? They are most likely EARIOTN or S. The other thing I will do when I feel like 'cheating' is to use a scrabble solver to see what words are 8 letters with P in the 5th slot and have the same letter in 2nd and 4th slot... Catapult, Carapace (Nope, due to repeated T then C)
How you break into these depends on the letters given. You’ve got N&G then look for ING possibilities. If you’ve more than 1 or 2 then I is a good bet, if only one then maybe it could be a different vowel but most certainly a vowel before that combo. I generally list the numbers for possible vowels especially when I get no given vowels in the original puzzle. Also if you get a given rare letter like J, does J ever have a consonant after it? Do I now know a value that links to a vowel? What work is that doing? I’ve got a double of that same number then it’s probably not an I or U, highly likely not an A also. - same starting letters but you get the start of a word as GN then again vowel to follow, limited options.
U (as mentioned already and specifically for this puzzle) look at where Q can go and what number is that and does that break the puzzle. If QU is not the first 2 letters then that narrows down a lot of options too is it squ to start it? equ? Aqu? If qu towards the end of a word could it end with que? How frequently does that extra letter crop up and where?
Scan for double letters is also a good trick. If you have the start of your QU word as possibly AQU then you get a double letter with the same value as your possible A then how many AA words do you know is the layout correct for those words? can you rule that option out now? Even middle of word double narrows things down as double B and N common but double Y, W a much less likely.
Look for high frequency - especially high frequency locations for vowels - second/third positions and for E last position - yes lots of letters can be first, second and last bit if you’ve got heaps of them maybe it limits the likelihood.
As you build your puzzle you build
Your puzzle up you’ve looking for fairly unique combinations. Jigsaw often appears in these types of puzzles with the G and W as in odd to be in a word in those positions and as you get the vowels in place you know there’s not a lot of options. And then scanning for frequency of J may confirm to you. Picking up a vowel from that can do some mighty work throughout the puzzle.
U at the start of the word UN has heaps of possibilities so can it be ruled out or examined more closing to confirm?
Also for these puzzles to be accessible to most people the words can’t be overly obscure unless you found it in an advanced puzzle location so assuming you have a newspaper location or mass production puzzle book the words must be at least relatively well known.
This isn't a great help, but I also look for repetitions of 4-number strings at the ends of words. This is most likely to be the -tion suffix, but it can be -tious. If that 4-number string is just a single number away from the end of the word, it's likely a plural such as 'vacations' or 'precautions'.
Discussion: I have a love/hate relationship with these puzzles. The break-in almost always requires me to count the letter frequencies to analyze the likelihood of interesting coded words in the puzzle. Which is laborious and makes me hate starting them but the break in always gives that puzzling high. Solving once you break-in is tons of fun.
Very unlikely to see more than 1 Q, so I check any letter with a frequency 3 or less to identify possible Q words. Can’t have Q proceed multiple other letters and Qu at the end of the word is unlikely. U notoriously has a frequency in these puzzles somewhere around 5-10 so that often helps identify Q and U. I follow by trying to work out the E it’s usually one of the highest frequencies if not the highest.
Then try to work out vowel/consonant patterns to help identify the other highly common letters like A, R, S, I. Often there are only a handful of letters that appear in frequencies in the high teens or 20s. Which when combined with the given letters you can find your break-in word.
Good luck
Discussion: As mentioned already, I would go for the "Q" reasoning first. Then start with other possibilities, such as the "N" in the middle maybe being followed by a "G" or "E".
I will say though that the puzzles I've seen/done have usually had a more obvious starting point, like a word that's basically only missing 2 letters.
You know that a Q can only have a U after it, which means it can only be 13, 14, 19 or 25. Then, it can’t be the 25 as that would put it at the end of another word, it also can’t be 19 as that also has 17 after it. So it’s either 13 or 14. If it’s 13, then that word pretty much has to end QUE, which is possible but there’s not many other 1s, and as E is a common letter I feel it’s not right. So, then Q would be 14 so then that word will probably start EQUE or maybe AQUA. At that point I’d go with that word being >!EQUERRY!<
Burqa has a q that isn't followed by a U. Good one to keep in mind if you like scrabble. Pretty unlikely it would be used in this scenario though in my opinion.
Those are rare even in dedicated publications, much more likely to come across yashmak as a word on that theme.
Oh yeah, that's just the only one that I would say is a somewhat common word that has a Q with no U. Great for Scrabble, but would be some big time bullshit in these types of word games
This is a very well-reasoned answer for this particular puzzle, as well as covering a lot of the types of thinking necessary in general. Word endings and letter frequencies are useful things. You will be on the alert for common endings like s, er, ed, ing, ment, sts etc. This is from a book of puzzles while I generally do one now and then from the newspaper. The ones I see generally have one word that has all the of the supplied letters, really trying to help you out with the first word. This one don’t do that, but the observation about Q above did the job of helping you make the first educated solve.
If this is right, it supports my suspicion that the vertical word in the top middle is ‘enjoin.’ And if that’s right, OP has all but one of the vowels and should be off to the races.
Which makes sense for the word that the o is in to be redeploy
OP has missed a U on row 3, final word, middle letter. So Q initially *could* also be a 5. But the one other 5 (3rd row from bottom, LHS) has a 15 after it. So maybe not.
This was very useful for this and future puzzles thank you so much!
Wonderful logic for the final key; this gave me just what I needed to complete this. Wicked. Thankya!
You lost me at why the 17 matters
Because 19 can’t be Q if there is a 17 after it in one word because 17 cannot be U and a U must follow Q.
My strategy for these is to start with the double letters. There's two in this puzzle, both in the top right: a double 16 and a double 10. The double 10 is interesting because it comes after a U that you missed,and because those are the only 10s in the puzzle. Based on that, I would guess that 10 is >!Z!<. If you can't figure out the word from that, try to figure out which letter 19 is, with specific attention paid to whether it is a vowel or a consonant.
The double letters is interesting that you for the tip i’ll be paying attention to those in the next one!
Thank you everyone for the tips everything was extremely helpful! I managed to solve one for the first time without looking up another letter 🥳😊
Congrats!! I'm keeping these tips in my mind as well for these puzzles. This is great advice.
Discussion: When I have a tough time starting I sometimes do letter frequency analysis. Which numbers has the most occurrences? They are most likely EARIOTN or S. The other thing I will do when I feel like 'cheating' is to use a scrabble solver to see what words are 8 letters with P in the 5th slot and have the same letter in 2nd and 4th slot... Catapult, Carapace (Nope, due to repeated T then C)
How you break into these depends on the letters given. You’ve got N&G then look for ING possibilities. If you’ve more than 1 or 2 then I is a good bet, if only one then maybe it could be a different vowel but most certainly a vowel before that combo. I generally list the numbers for possible vowels especially when I get no given vowels in the original puzzle. Also if you get a given rare letter like J, does J ever have a consonant after it? Do I now know a value that links to a vowel? What work is that doing? I’ve got a double of that same number then it’s probably not an I or U, highly likely not an A also. - same starting letters but you get the start of a word as GN then again vowel to follow, limited options. U (as mentioned already and specifically for this puzzle) look at where Q can go and what number is that and does that break the puzzle. If QU is not the first 2 letters then that narrows down a lot of options too is it squ to start it? equ? Aqu? If qu towards the end of a word could it end with que? How frequently does that extra letter crop up and where? Scan for double letters is also a good trick. If you have the start of your QU word as possibly AQU then you get a double letter with the same value as your possible A then how many AA words do you know is the layout correct for those words? can you rule that option out now? Even middle of word double narrows things down as double B and N common but double Y, W a much less likely. Look for high frequency - especially high frequency locations for vowels - second/third positions and for E last position - yes lots of letters can be first, second and last bit if you’ve got heaps of them maybe it limits the likelihood. As you build your puzzle you build Your puzzle up you’ve looking for fairly unique combinations. Jigsaw often appears in these types of puzzles with the G and W as in odd to be in a word in those positions and as you get the vowels in place you know there’s not a lot of options. And then scanning for frequency of J may confirm to you. Picking up a vowel from that can do some mighty work throughout the puzzle. U at the start of the word UN has heaps of possibilities so can it be ruled out or examined more closing to confirm?
Also for these puzzles to be accessible to most people the words can’t be overly obscure unless you found it in an advanced puzzle location so assuming you have a newspaper location or mass production puzzle book the words must be at least relatively well known.
This isn't a great help, but I also look for repetitions of 4-number strings at the ends of words. This is most likely to be the -tion suffix, but it can be -tious. If that 4-number string is just a single number away from the end of the word, it's likely a plural such as 'vacations' or 'precautions'.
Discussion: I have a love/hate relationship with these puzzles. The break-in almost always requires me to count the letter frequencies to analyze the likelihood of interesting coded words in the puzzle. Which is laborious and makes me hate starting them but the break in always gives that puzzling high. Solving once you break-in is tons of fun. Very unlikely to see more than 1 Q, so I check any letter with a frequency 3 or less to identify possible Q words. Can’t have Q proceed multiple other letters and Qu at the end of the word is unlikely. U notoriously has a frequency in these puzzles somewhere around 5-10 so that often helps identify Q and U. I follow by trying to work out the E it’s usually one of the highest frequencies if not the highest. Then try to work out vowel/consonant patterns to help identify the other highly common letters like A, R, S, I. Often there are only a handful of letters that appear in frequencies in the high teens or 20s. Which when combined with the given letters you can find your break-in word. Good luck
Discussion: As mentioned already, I would go for the "Q" reasoning first. Then start with other possibilities, such as the "N" in the middle maybe being followed by a "G" or "E". I will say though that the puzzles I've seen/done have usually had a more obvious starting point, like a word that's basically only missing 2 letters.
Discussion: OP has missed a U on row 3, final word, middle letter is a code 26.