Quickies: The Resurrection

[Oscar]

[Zag]

So an indirect definition? That is, we're supposed to get "quarter note" from crotchet (which, by the way, I've never heard of except as the name of a ski resort near my house), and then re-interpret "quarter note" as if it were the definition and arrive at "E"? Don't you think that's a bit much of a stretch?

If the clue were "Crotchet E" and the intended answer was "quarter note" then I would say it is clever enough and reasonably straightforward that it's ok, in spite of the fact that the wordplay is in the answer rather than the clue. But in a strict cryptic, it would not fly.

[Oscar]

[Zag]

I'm not sure it's an American vs. British thing, it's more of anal-retentive vs. loosey-goosey thing.

Even if we accept that "Crotchet" has no other interpretation than "quarter note" (which isn't quite true, but pretty close), to know that you are then supposed to re-interpret that as a new clue, even with your unusual punctuation, is rather a significant challenge. The problem, as with indirect anagrams, is that even if someone trying to solve it knows that they are supposed to make this unusual step, they have to ask themselves if they've done the first step correctly (i.e. crotchet -> quarter note) and it's hard to put a ton of brain-power into something that might already be wrong, just a complete dead end. In the universe of all the solution methods I'm willing to try, you're talking about a small percentage of a small percentage. At least, with an indirect anagram, the "anagram" step is usually well-indicated, and therefore a pretty large percentage.

If I google "crotchet" the first four hits are (probably because I live in New Hampshire) the ski resort. The next hit is http://www.crotchet.co.uk/ and not until the sixth one do I get a definition which leads me to "quarter note." Even if I had guessed that I was supposed to double-solve the clue, I might have spent a long time trying to interpret "ski resort" and "mountain" as the intermediate clue, and then some time with "classical home" and "music company" before I got around to "quarter note." All the while I'm thinking, "did he really intend me to double solve?" and doubting my whole approach. My patience with this approach once I've reached my fifth option is pretty small. Now, the fact that the answer was a single letter might have led me to focus on "quarter note" right away, but you're saying that the wordplay interpretation of ¹ / ₄ of N-O-T-E was just a coincidence. It's quite an amazing one, by the way.

The fact that no one here got it might tell you something.

My bottom line is that indirect anything isn't necessarily evil, but that second step had better be dead obvious once someone has made the first step. Sure, it seems solvable to you, but that's because you know what the right first step is. A real solver is trying lots of choices for the first step, so the second one really has to jump out at him once he's picked the correct first step, or it is essentially unsolvable.

[Suspence]

I'm confident that 1) I would never have solved the clue as posted and 2) I wouldn't need to, since it was part of the bigger puzzle and made obvious by the other answers. Not sure that says anything, other than the fact that this clue, valid or not, doesn't really affect the puzzle in the end.

So, how did we get to the final solution?
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[bgg1996]

Take all the letters marked with X.
L IL S
S PI E
This anagrams to ellipsis, which is a punctuation mark signified by three periods, which is the answer.
_________________
The one member below 18

[novice]

Nice puzzle. Bgg, you're up.

[Return of the Quickies]

Before you go to the market, your dear Uncle Riddle has left you 2 lists. Once you solve the riddle, you go to the market and you make sure to pick up the item. What was it?

Incremented Index

Sensation caused by nerves
Unruly child
Naval vessel
Dignity
Small inflammable stick
Roof tile
Trump card
Companion
Sparkle
Ring of flowers
Fear

Needle
Feminine undergarment
Flying mammal
Sit on an animal
Language of science
Solo
Walk of a horse
Demon
Hear
Anger
Decipher

--bgg1996
_________________
Password is all one word, all lowercase, no spaces, unless otherwise indicated.

[novice]

[Return of the Quickies]

Nice puzzle, bgg!

--- Oscar
_________________
Password is all one word, all lowercase, no spaces, unless otherwise indicated.

[Jack_Ian]

B(R)AT Unruly child/Flying mammal
? Naval vessel
(P)RIDE Dignity/Sit on an animal
MAT(C)H Small inflammable stick/Language of science
S(H)INGLE Roof tile/Solo
??? T(A)ROT Trump card/Walk of a horse
??? B(R)OTHER Companion/Needle
(G)LISTEN Sparkle/Hear
? Ring of flowers
? Fear

[Suspence]

A - PAIN / PIN - Sensation caused by nerves / Needle
R - BRAT / BAT - Unruly child / Flying mammal
? - ? / ? - Naval vessel / Feminine undergarment
P - PRIDE / RIDE - Dignity / Sit on an animal
C - MATCH / MATH - Small inflammable stick / Language of science
H - SHINGLE / SINGLE - Roof tile / Solo
A - TAROT / TROT - Trump card / Walk of a horse
R - FRIEND / FIEND - Companion / Demon
G - GLISTEN / LISTEN - Sparkle / Hear
E - WREATH / WRATH - Ring of flowers / Anger
? - ? / ? - Fear / Decipher

Fear / Decipher could be D - DREAD / READ, though I'm not sold.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[bgg1996]

[Suspence]

Ahh, yes. I grabbed that from Jack_Ian without checking to see if it lined up.

A - PAIN / PIN - Sensation caused by nerves / Needle
T - BRAT / BRA - Unruly child / Feminine undergarment
O - BOAT / BAT - Naval vessel / Flying mammal
P - PRIDE / RIDE - Dignity / Sit on an animal
C - MATCH / MATH - Small inflammable stick / Language of science
H - SHINGLE / SINGLE - Roof tile / Solo
A - TAROT / TROT - Trump card / Walk of a horse
R - FRIEND / FIEND - Companion / Demon
G - GLISTEN / LISTEN - Sparkle / Hear
E - WREATH / WRATH - Ring of flowers / Anger
D - DREAD / READ - Fear / Decipher

ATOP CHARGED
ON ION
ONION

Nice puzzle.

My only comment was that putting the second list out of order (as Jack_Ian assumed) would have added difficulty. But given that this was a Quickie, that was actually fine.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Zag]

Nice puzzle!

I actually happened to see it just minutes after you posted it. I looked at it a while, and had enough of the words that if I had just written them down, I might have spotted the next step. However, I've become so conditioned to these puzzles being too hard for me, lately, that I didn't put forth the effort.

Aaargh! Try harder next time!

[Oscar]

I *did* have a new puzzle to put up but I think it is too similar to the current one. Inspired by Suspence I'm endeavouring to 'throw' another one together, but if anyone wants to step in first, please feel free.

[Return of the Quickies]

Thrown together - feel free to pull it apart...

Most years Joe forgot his wedding anniversary and suffered accordingly, but this year he was prepared.
He'd booked in a session with a specialist Gift Consultant operating in a large department store and told her "Money no object".
Well she didn't object to his money either and so she started showing him possible presents from her treasure trove of gifts and flowers.

'Give her some lovely lace lingerie - all women love that' Joe was unimpressed.
'How about this gorgeous pottery vase with a bird of paradise painted on it?' 'Nice, but no dice.'
'Feel this silk chemise - it's guaranteed`to provide satisfaction' 'Not to me it isn't'
'A huge bunch of tulips all the way from Amsterdam? Women love flowers' 'Too blowsy'
'What about this lovely handbag made out of calf leather?' 'Too soft'
'A fine celtic bronze brooch?' 'Too weird'
'Some crystal glasses, hand-crafted in Bohemia?' 'Too fragile'
'A single huge sunflower - so dramatic' 'Too scarey'
'You can't go wrong with a big bouquet of red roses - so romantic' 'They'd make her sneeze'
'She's not allergic to peonies? A delicate intertwined display?' 'Too obscure'
'Now I know she'd love this beautiful Japanese paper lantern' 'I know she wouldn't'
'A fine set of bone china tableware?' 'We don't have a table'
'In that case you absolutely need this wonderful piece of furniture carved out of African ebony with six dining chairs?' 'We prefer TV dinners'

So just what did Joe end up buying for his wife?
_________________
Password is all one word, all lowercase, no spaces, unless otherwise indicated.

[Suspence]

These look to be related to anniversary gifts.

[Return of the Quickies]

That looked enough like MILK CHOCOLATE for me to guess at it.

- Suspence
_________________
Password is all one word, all lowercase, no spaces, unless otherwise indicated.

[Oscar]

Yeah but the flowers are specific...

[Return of the Quickies]

Another one tossed together in less than 2 hours...

DESTINATION UNKNOWN

I've traveled across the world, but now I'd like to visit some of the tourist attractions here in the USA. What should be the first place I hit?

Cultural, racial (17)
Room for notes, or for error (13)
Lassie's breed (21)
Like Cyprus, or Martha's Vineyard (14)
White whale (13)
Highest quality (14)
"My Name is Mud" band (19)
What the Iceman does (15)
Smut (21)
Tina or Ted (11)
Opulence (17)
_________________
Password is all one word, all lowercase, no spaces, unless otherwise indicated.

[Jack_Ian]

ETHNIC Cultural, racial (17)[Q]
MARGIN Room for notes, or for error (13)[M]
COLLIE Lassie's breed (21)[U]
ISLAND Like Cyprus, or Martha's Vineyard (14)[N]
BELUGA White whale (13)[M]
VIRTUE Highest quality (14)[N]
PRIMUS "My Name is Mud" band (19)[S]
COMETH What the Iceman does (15)[O]
COLLOW? Smut (21)[U]
TURNER Tina or Ted (11)[K]
WEALTH/RICHES Opulence (17)[Q]

Not sure where to go from here…

[Return of the Quickies]

[novice]

Some of those places:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-3
17 ETH - Ethiopia - Addis Ababa / NIC - Nicaragua - Managua
13 MAR - Morocco - Rabat / GIN - Guinea - Conakry
21 COL - Colombia - Bogota / LIE - Liechtenstein - Vaduz
14 ISL - Iceland - Reykjavik / AND - Andorra - Andorra la Vella
13 BEL - Belgium - Brussels / UGA - Uganda - Kampala
14 ??? / ??? (Highest quality)
19 PRI - Puerto Rico - San Juan / MUS - Mauritius - Port Louis
15 COM - Comoros - Moroni / ETH - Ethiopia - Addis Ababa
21 ??? / ??? (Smut)
11 TUR - Turkey - Ankara / NER - Niger - Niamey
17 LUX - Luxembourg - Luxembourg / URY - Uruguay - Montevideo

The numbers are just the sums of the country lengths.
Anybody want to try the "plot in google maps" trick?

[Return of the Quickies]

[Return of the Quickies]

That helps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-3
C 11 ETH - Ethiopia - Addis Ababa / NIC - Nicaragua - Managua
A 13 MAR - Morocco - Rabat / GIN - Guinea - Conakry
N 21 COL - Colombia - Bogota / LIE - Liechtenstein - Vaduz
A 14 ISL - Iceland - Reykjavik / AND - Andorra - Andorra la Vella
D 12 BEL - Belgium - Brussels / UGA - Uganda - Kampala
14 ??? / ??? (Highest quality)
T 16 PRI - Puerto Rico - San Juan / MUS - Mauritius - Port Louis
O 12 COM - Comoros - Moroni / ETH - Ethiopia - Addis Ababa
21 ??? / ??? (Smut)
G 9 TUR - Turkey - Ankara / NER - Niger - Niamey
A 16 LUX - Luxembourg - Luxembourg / URY - Uruguay - Montevideo

The numbers are no longer just the sums of the country lengths, so using them as an index yields CANAD?TO?GA - Canada / Tonga - CANTON, Ohio


-novice
_________________
Password is all one word, all lowercase, no spaces, unless otherwise indicated.

[Suspence]

Nice work...my apologies for the confusion.

Can you come up with the final two words? I used just about every somewhat common word on my possible word list, without repeating countries (except for the one repeat you already found).
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Oscar]

The 2 missing are:

FINEST - Finland/Estonia and
SLEAZE - Sierra Leone/Azerbaijan

Good puzzle and nice solving, novice!

BTW for my puzzle the flowers that supply the proper letters can be found on the same page of wikipedia as the 'normal' gifts.

[Return of the Quickies]

Rotation point
Famous basketball player
Witty remark
Chess piece
Coach Turner
Sell
Dull
Make beer
Clean
Sandwich
Round shape
Outdoor feast
Desire
Like the Iliad
Relaxed
Asiatic grass
Yank
New Zealander
Mountain goat
Scan
Twelve months
Tease
Lemon peel
Gang's territory
Amphibian creature
Apple variety

wxwuxmsuwz
lfocztqcmz
cfwsqctmol
mlusfcsvbm
szsjcumsvb
rthllbhxvb
twcxactazl
fcqpectgsj
leqwcsztjx
bbuccsqfcz
vmlevfzrta
xdcensklwt
molmlusfcs
vbmszsjcum
svbrtqencz
oczlfcsjts
nnzlsmoxva
tnxuazxjsa
ctcymcuucv
fzsnncztqx
udczjcfsut
qhcsztfrnc
lgnzcmxnxf
sfxlvtwcsf
tqmollubsv
mctgsjleqa
zxggxvtnsz
flgqnccmot
hcxaoftnus
rxvamszbtn
zcmxleqjcf
sutuxicsnl
qftgsjleqw
sqqxqftspo
gunclgykuy
phynezweze
yyelhzcobi
ryphqcdjch
egcsykleen
clghcsscrl
zeyyelheuq
kmheqleyzu
obrubehxhy
edmnulgcss
mpoheqyh


-Suspence
_________________
Password is all one word, all lowercase, no spaces, unless otherwise indicated.

[Oscar]

Time to get started on this one...

With 26 definitions it seemed natural to label each one in alphabetical order:
a Rotation point - CRUX?/AXIS?
b Famous basketball player - ?
c Witty remark - QUIP
d Chess piece - PAWN?/KING?/ROOK?
e Coach Turner - NORV
f Sell - VEND?/HAWK?/TOUT?/FLOG?
g Dull - MATT?/DRAB?/GREY?
h Make beer - BREW
i Clean - WASH?/WIPE?/NEAT?/TIDY?
j Sandwich - CLUB?
k Round shape - DISC?/DISK?
l Outdoor feast - LUAU?
m Desire - LUST?/WANT?/NEED?
n Like the Iliad - EPIC
o Relaxed - EASY?/LAZY?
p Asiatic grass - MUNJ?
q Yank - JERK?//DRAG?/PULL?
r New Zealander - KIWI
s Mountain goat - IBEX
t Scan - READ?/SKIM?
u Twelve months - YEAR
v Tease - BAIT?/JOSH?/TWIT?/RAZZ?
w Lemon peel - ZEST
x Gang's territory - TURF?
y Amphibian creature - NEWT?/FROG?/TOAD?
z Apple variety - FUJI?/JAZZ?/GALA?/CRAB?

Of the 10 letter character groups which might link to a word the first one (wxwuxmsuwz ) has the the most single word options in the above list. I tried to take any letter from those words to replace each character but wasn't able to create a meaningful word. Of course this could mean that either the method or 4 letter word is wrong or both...

[Elethiomel]

The clued words start with A-Z, and also end with A-Z, with no duplicates. So this first and last letters of each word probably define a character mapping.

AXIS - Rotation point
BREW - Make beer
CALM - Relaxed
DRAB - Dull
EPIC - Like the Iliad
FROG - Amphibian creature
GALA - Apple variety
HERO - Sandwich
IBEX - Mountain goat
JERK - Yank
KIWI - New Zealander
LUAU - Outdoor feast
MUNJ - Asiatic grass
NORV - Coach Turner
OVAL - Round shape
PAWN - Chess piece
QUIP - Witty remark
RAZZ - Tease
SHAQ - Famous basketball player
TURF - Gang's territory
URGE - Desire
VEND - Sell
WASH - Clean
XRAY - Scan
YEAR - Twelve months
ZEST - Lemon peel

Substituting the last characters with the first characters in the remaining text yields the following:

BIBLICALBR
OTHERZSECR
ETBASEZCHO
COLATEANDC
ARAMELCAND
YZWOODWIND
ZBEIGEZGRO
TESQUEZFAM
OUSBEARZMI
DDLEEASTER
NCOUNTRYZG
IVEUPAJOBZ
CHOCOLATEA
NDCARAMELC
ANDYZSUPER
HEROTEAMZA
PPROACHING
ZPILGRIMAG
EZEXCELLEN
TRAPPERZSI
LVERMETALZ
SWEARZTYPE
OFPRECIPIT
ATIONZBEAT
ZSCHOOLDAN
CEZFAMOUSG
RIFFINZPAR
TOFSPEECHZ
WEIGHTZPLA
YINGCARDZP
RECIOUSMET
ALZLIKEAPO
STZFAMOUSB
ASSISTZAQH
FLPEOFXJLX
QWXPURBURU
XXUOWREHDK
YXQWSEVMEW
UFEAXJOUUP
EOFWEAAEYO
RUXXUOWULS
JCWUSOUXRL
HDYLDUWIWX
UVCPLOFEAA
CQHWUSXW

That makes no sense to me, though. Maybe it should be substituted the other way around. Or we need to do something else. Edit: The inverse mapping seems to make more sense, yes.

[Oscar]

Nice work, Elethiomel!

Yes, substituting the other way around yields another 26 clues which I guess are needed to complete a second substitution for the latter part of the character groups....

[Elethiomel]

So the next stage is this, then:

BIBLICAL BROTHER
SECRET BASE
CHOCOLATE AND CARAMEL CANDY
WOODWIND
BEIGE
GROTESQUE
FAMOUS BEAR
MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRY
GIVE UP A JOB
CHOCOLATE AND CARAMEL CANDY
SUPER HERO TEAM
APPROACHING
PILGRIMAGE
EXCELLENT RAPPER
SILVER METAL
SWEAR
TYPE OF PRECIPITATION
BEAT
SCHOOL DANCE
FAMOUS GRIFFIN
PART OF SPEECH
WEIGHT
PLAYING CARD
PRECIOUS METAL
LIKE A POST
FAMOUS BASSIST

AQHFLPEOFXJLXQWXPURBURUXXUOWREHDKYXQWSEVMEWUFEAXJOUUPEOFWEAAEYORUXXUOWULSJCWUSOUXRLHDYLDUWIWXUVCPLOFEAACQHWUSXW

[Elethiomel]

ABEL - Biblical brother
BULK - Weight
CUSS - Swear
DEAF - Like a post
ECRU - Beige
FLEA - Famous bassist
GOLD - Precious metal
HAJJ - Pilgrimage
IRAQ - Middle eastern country
JAYZ - Excellent rapper
KING - Playing card
LAIR - Secret base
MERV - Famous Griffin
NIGH - Approaching
OBOE - Woodwind
PROM - School dance
QUIT - Give up a job
ROLO - Chocolate and caramel candy
SNOW - Type of precipitation
TWIX - Chocolate and caramel candy
UGLY - Grotesque
VERB - Part of speech
WHIP - Beat
XMEN - Super hero team
YOGI - Famous bear
ZINC - SIlver metal

[Zag]

Bassist: FLEA
Country: IRAQ
Griffin: MERV

JACK is tempting for playing card, but then you need to change WALK.

[novice]

UGLY - Grotesque

[Elethiomel]

Decoded text:

findawordthatistwelveletterslongbutiscomposedofthreewordsoffourletterseachzsecretlanguagesystemzwardoffzinsects

I.e.

Find a word that is twelve letters long but is composed of three words of four letters each.

Secret language system
Ward off
Insects

The answer is
CODEFENDANTS

[Suspence]

Nice solving folks. One point that wasn't noted in the solving process above was that the original clue order was such that the last letter of the previous word was the first letter of the next word.

AXIS
SHAQ
QUIP
PAWN...
...TURF
FROG
GALA

I assume that was used as an aid in solving, but I'm not sure. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the puzzle.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Oscar]

Yes, very nice work by Elethiomel!

But you're in danger of setting the 'Quickies' bar a little too high, Suspence!

[Zag]

Very nicely constructed puzzle!!