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'''Word Puzzles''' are |
'''Word Puzzles''' are puzzles revolving around words and wordplay, and are certainly one of the most common puzzle types (if not ''the'' most common puzzle type) found in puzzle hunts. This popularity and prevalence in the hunt community is likely due to both the accessibility of them (linguistics, particularly the English language, being a well-documented topic), and word puzzles' long history of public consumption, with some of the earliest word puzzles dating back to at least the first century AD. |
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== Core Characteristics == |
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As the name would suggest, word puzzles have a core topic that makes them word puzzles as opposed to any other type: words. If a puzzle's main conceit is identifying, manipulating, or placing words in a particular arrangement, they'd be considered a word puzzle. While there are some rare cases when a puzzle does deal with these concepts, but is not a word puzzle, most will at least end up being partially word puzzles. |
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To differentiate between a word puzzle and another type of puzzle that happens to involve letters or linguistics, look at what you're actually doing with the words, and whether or not replacing the linguistic theme with another topic would result in a sufficiently similar puzzle. For example, a letter-based [[sudoku]] puzzle isn't a word puzzle, since the letters (regardless of whether they spell words) could be replaced with numbers without changing the difficulty of the puzzle. If a sudoku used letters but also included clues in order to place the givens, that would be both a word puzzle ''and'' a logic puzzle. |
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==== Clues, Clues, and More Clues ==== |
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== History of Use == |
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* [[Crossword|Crosswords]] - With two key components: Words, and Crossing! Available in classic, or variant styles: |
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Word puzzles, word games, and wordplay all stem from a desire to use language in a clever way. While modern word puzzles mostly have origins in the 1900s, that linguistic desire extends as far back as written languages in general. |
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** Criss-Cross - Fewer words, less crossing, yet it takes up a lot more space. |
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** Cryptic Crosswords - More words, around the same amount of crossing, but clues that do twice the work, using both definitions ''and'' wordplay. |
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** Diagramless Crosswords - Probably equal in words and crossing to the average crossword, but that's really up to you to decide. |
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** Something Different Crosswords - Somewhat of the opposite to Cryptic Crosswords; these clues don't even solve to real words! |
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** Marching Bands - Words travel across rows, but also in concentric rings around the grid. |
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** Rows Gardens - Using a unique triangle-based grid, usually has words travelling across, but also around hexagonal "flowers" |
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** Some Assembly Required (SAR) - Someone broke the crossword puzzle! Thankfully, whoever did it was kind enough to make all of the pieces also valid words. Perfect for people who like both crosswords and jigsaws! |
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* [[Tortured Clues]] - Clues that have been transformed in some way; figure out what happened and repeat it on the answer! |
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* [[Connecting Sides]] - Clues pair up somehow, but they're stuck on opposite sides of the page! Drawing lines to connect them usually helps. |
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* [[Before And After]] - Connecting answers at shared letters, usually resulting in a difficult-to-pronounce mess. |
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* [[Word Ladder|Word Ladders]] - Getting from GOAT to MEAD in 5 easy steps! {{spoiler|text=GOAT, GOAD, GOLD, MOLD, MELD, MEAD.}} |
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The popularity of word puzzles as we know them today has also risen and fallen, with many people falling into the [[Crossword]] fad of the 1920s, and interesting picking up again with the advent of the [[Wordsearch]] in the 1960s-1970s and the introduction of more rigorous puzzle-solving events in the 1980s-onward. |
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{{To do}} |
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* [[Dropquote|Dropquotes]] - All of the columns' letters are there, they just need to be put into the correct spaces. |
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* [[Trigram Hell]] - Words, Phrases, and Sentences, all broken down into three-letter chunks and rearranged. |
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* [[Fill-In-The-Blanks]] - Like Mad Libs, but with wrong answers. |
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* [[Anagram|Anagrams]] - Requires you to Nag A Ram, or perhaps find Agar Man. |
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== Subtypes == |
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* [[Cryptogram|Cryptograms]] - Substitution ciphers that got a big boost in popularity. |
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* [[Crossword|Crosswords]] - One of the original modern word puzzles, in which clues based on definitions, trivia, and popular culture are answered and the results placed in a grid where they intersect with one another. |
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* [[Matchmaker]] - A puzzle involving drawing lines between pairs of clues based on some common property. <!--Note: temporarily placed here while we sort this out--> |
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* [[Tortured Clues]] - A puzzle where clues are presented having been transformed via a consistent rule. When deciphered and solved, the answers must be transformed by that same rule. |
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* [[Word Ladder|Word Ladders]] - A puzzle involving the gradual transformation from one word to another via small changes. |
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==== Rearrangement ==== |
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* [[Dropquote|Dropquotes]] - A puzzle where a quote or series of words/phrases are written in a grid, one letter per cell, and all of the letters in a given column get alphabetized and written above the columns. The goal then becomes to reconstruct the original string. |
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* [[Fill-In-The-Blanks]] - A puzzle where a piece of text has certain words removed, leaving solvers to figure out what the original words were based on contextual clues. |
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* [[Trigram Hell]] - A puzzle in which a string of text is broken into 3-letter chunks and rearranged alphabetically (until a solver restores it, that is) |
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==== Other Word Puzzles ==== |
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* [[Cryptogram|Cryptograms]] - Essentially a substitution cipher, often where a quote, instruction, or set of connected words/phrases are encoded. |
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* [[Flats]] - A puzzle type invented by the National Puzzlers' League, where a short poem or sentence is presented and placeholder words need to be replaced based on contextual information and a particular relationship between the proper words. |
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* [[Printer's Devilry]] - A puzzle where a body of text is presented, but with certain words/phrases removed after being found spanning two or more words (such as 'member line' having BERLIN removed to leave 'meme'). |
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* [[Rebus]] - One of the oldest types of word puzzles, in which images are displayed to represent names, words, or phrases through pronunciation or overall punniness. |
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[[Category:Elements]] |
[[Category:Elements]] |
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Latest revision as of 07:58, 12 February 2024
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Word Puzzles are puzzles revolving around words and wordplay, and are certainly one of the most common puzzle types (if not the most common puzzle type) found in puzzle hunts. This popularity and prevalence in the hunt community is likely due to both the accessibility of them (linguistics, particularly the English language, being a well-documented topic), and word puzzles' long history of public consumption, with some of the earliest word puzzles dating back to at least the first century AD.
Core Characteristics[edit | edit source]
As the name would suggest, word puzzles have a core topic that makes them word puzzles as opposed to any other type: words. If a puzzle's main conceit is identifying, manipulating, or placing words in a particular arrangement, they'd be considered a word puzzle. While there are some rare cases when a puzzle does deal with these concepts, but is not a word puzzle, most will at least end up being partially word puzzles.
To differentiate between a word puzzle and another type of puzzle that happens to involve letters or linguistics, look at what you're actually doing with the words, and whether or not replacing the linguistic theme with another topic would result in a sufficiently similar puzzle. For example, a letter-based sudoku puzzle isn't a word puzzle, since the letters (regardless of whether they spell words) could be replaced with numbers without changing the difficulty of the puzzle. If a sudoku used letters but also included clues in order to place the givens, that would be both a word puzzle and a logic puzzle.
History of Use[edit | edit source]
Word puzzles, word games, and wordplay all stem from a desire to use language in a clever way. While modern word puzzles mostly have origins in the 1900s, that linguistic desire extends as far back as written languages in general.
The popularity of word puzzles as we know them today has also risen and fallen, with many people falling into the Crossword fad of the 1920s, and interesting picking up again with the advent of the Wordsearch in the 1960s-1970s and the introduction of more rigorous puzzle-solving events in the 1980s-onward.
TO DO
Subtypes[edit | edit source]
Similar to Logic Puzzles, there's a very wide range of established word puzzle types, as well as new ones being invented relatively often.
Clue-based[edit | edit source]
- Acrostics - A puzzle in which clues are answered and individual letters from those answers get mapped to disparate positions in a larger grid.
- Crosswords - One of the original modern word puzzles, in which clues based on definitions, trivia, and popular culture are answered and the results placed in a grid where they intersect with one another.
- Matchmaker - A puzzle involving drawing lines between pairs of clues based on some common property.
- Tortured Clues - A puzzle where clues are presented having been transformed via a consistent rule. When deciphered and solved, the answers must be transformed by that same rule.
- Word Ladders - A puzzle involving the gradual transformation from one word to another via small changes.
Rearrangement[edit | edit source]
- Dropquotes - A puzzle where a quote or series of words/phrases are written in a grid, one letter per cell, and all of the letters in a given column get alphabetized and written above the columns. The goal then becomes to reconstruct the original string.
- Fill-In-The-Blanks - A puzzle where a piece of text has certain words removed, leaving solvers to figure out what the original words were based on contextual clues.
- Interwoven Strings - A puzzle where two strings of text that make sense separately (often clues) get woven together into one long, nonsensical string.
- Trigram Hell - A puzzle in which a string of text is broken into 3-letter chunks and rearranged alphabetically (until a solver restores it, that is)
Other Word Puzzles[edit | edit source]
- Cryptograms - Essentially a substitution cipher, often where a quote, instruction, or set of connected words/phrases are encoded.
- Flats - A puzzle type invented by the National Puzzlers' League, where a short poem or sentence is presented and placeholder words need to be replaced based on contextual information and a particular relationship between the proper words.
- Printer's Devilry - A puzzle where a body of text is presented, but with certain words/phrases removed after being found spanning two or more words (such as 'member line' having BERLIN removed to leave 'meme').
- Rebus - One of the oldest types of word puzzles, in which images are displayed to represent names, words, or phrases through pronunciation or overall punniness.
- Wordsearches - A puzzle involving finding particular words/phrases hidden within a large grid of letters.
