SOLVED - Test Puzzle 2 - Get Better At Solving Puzzles

[Suspence]

Remember to post your thought process in addition to your solutions. In this case there are no instructions, and no hints, only the below list.

Emerald flooring
Slime town
Famous blemish
Splinter group preferring gritty juice
Yellow men
Do without
Omerta among beacons
Toddler narrative
Foot jewelry god
The man who invented 60's style
Evidence of a scuffle
An excellent elevator
Cataclysm argument
Japan banishes aged currency
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Thok]

Japan banishes aged currency

I'm in a bit of a quirky mood, but I'm guessing this is "No Country for Old Yen".

Knowing that Japanese currency=yen helped, and the format suggests some sort of title.

[Scurra]

I too had got to "old yen".

I then spotted Tot Story and It's a Wonderful Lift, which seems to provide a solid platform for developing this idea.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Thok]

There's also Fight Clue

[Logain]

Here's what I get...
As far as solving steps go, my first assumption was
all movies were on IMDB's top 250


the green tile (T)
city of goo (O)
star wart (T)
??? (A)?
goldfellas (L)
??? (U)?
silence of the lamps (P)
tot story (T)
lord of toe rings (O)
???? (R)?
fight clue (E)
it’s a wonderful lift (T)
apocalypse row (R)
no country for old yen (Y)

TOTALUPTORETRY?
I'm assuming this is another reference but haven't got it yet.

[jbvntx]

I believe I have it. The modified letters spell TOTAL OPTOMETRY, which clues the movie ALL ABOUT EYE (EVE).
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jbv

[Suspence]

That was it. Nice work.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Scurra]

I was actually going to stick my setter's hat on at one point and note that puzzles also require a bit of elegance in construction: it's easy to make a puzzle out of random film names; what you need to be doing is to give them a constraint as well to make it feel satisfying. The imdb 250 is perhaps not really that much of a constraint, but at least it was there.

My version of this puzzle is at:
http://www.greylabyrinth.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=8705
although there was some discussion there about the lack of any entry point.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Suspence]

I thought the IMDB Top 250 was a pretty decent constraint. It narrows it down to the "best" 0.1% of all feature films, and would be a very typical resource for a list of movies.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Scurra]

Don't get me wrong - I wasn't criticising it; indeed it ensures that all the answers will be easily recognisable which is important if the puzzle needs to have an easy entry point. I guess it's all about context.

And perhaps I have got more picky as I have got more experienced in writing? I certainly find that making the constraint relatively tight makes the challenge more interesting, even if solvers sometimes don't realise what the constraint actually was... So maybe I subconsciously assess the constraints more than the actual puzzle?!
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}