Hope all puzzlers had a great weekend. Here's today's puzzle, straight from the mind and words of PCS Season II runner-up Josh:
To solve this puzzle, you will need to use the clues to find the following 22 word pairs. The first word in each pair will be three (Pairs 1-4), four (Pairs 5-14), or five letters (Pairs 15-22) long. The second word in each pair can be formed by adding a pair of letters to the first word. (For example: RED, RAZED) When you have all 22 word pairs solved (plus the freebie to get a total of 23), you will use those added letter pairs from the second word of each pair to uncover a secret clue. The answer to that secret clue is a former Dodger.
Note: You get one freebie in the secret clue because I wrote myself into a corner on one of the word pairs.
Good luck! I will post hints in the comments as I see fit.
- Madden’s choice of travel / An unexpected addition
- Humbug predecessor / Cookie grouping
- Simple bed / Sesame’s vampire
- Signal to start / Offensive word
- Child’s pillow construction / Tidwell’s service
- 5-time Wimbledon champ / Drill’s task
- Engine’s energy drink / Potentially hazardous cloud
- Beast of burden / Your heart is one
- Expires / Current instabilities
- Mayweather’s workplace / Fired up
- To smudge / Where chads hang
- 63,360 inches / Comparative figure of speech
- Interjection for Yorick / Eucalyptus eaters
- Famous Christian / To perplex
- Hefty Giant’s nickname / Top grosser’s setting
- Butcher’s tubmate / More depressing
- Furious / Thankless one
- Person of authority / Effective handler
- Jobs’ job / Contest for superiority
- Casual affair / What Cronin can’t fight
- Zero / Beer on tap
- “Community” Spanish teacher / Runner’s irritation
Secret Clue:
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ RW __ __ __ __ __ __
Solution here.
Puzzle Rules: The answer to the puzzle is a former Dodger. Watch the comment thread for possible hints from Josh S. Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:
- Email us with the first and last name of the Dodger player who is the answer, along with your reasoning (answers arrived at via luck or the wrong reasoning, even if correct, count for participation credit only). And please include your screen name somewhere in the email; and
- Post a comment simply saying you have emailed your solution attempt. I may not be able to reply to your original email promptly, so please be patient and check back on the comment thread for the latest news; I may confirm correct answers there.
You have until midnight PT tonight to submit your answer. Solution will be posted tomorrow. Good luck!
*New to SoSG's PCS Puzzle Series? Here's how it works. Join the fun, all are welcome!
99 comments:
Good luck, everybody!
Josh - Are there 22 or 23 word pairs? Directions indicate both. Thanks...
Josh - When assembling the secret clue, do the letter pairs go in order? If so, the ones I have so far are completely wrong...
I've got over half of them, but it's so frustrating! It's like a crossword puzzle, but if you don't know either of the pair, you're completely screwed!
Steve D - I think there are 22 pairs you have to solve for, the 23 pairs includes the freebie.
Right, Josh?
Answer sent! Fun puzzle, Josh!
To clarify: There are 23 letter pairs used in the secret clue, but you only have to solve 22 of them. The "23" in the fourth sentence of the first paragraph should say "22". That's a typo on my part. (You solve 22, and add them to the one freebie, making 23.)
And J. Steve: No, the letter pairs do not go in order.
Ubragg is in! Mr Customer's got to be hearing the footsteps...
1. UBragg
Will fix the typo as soon as I'm able...
I was afraid we'd have to unscramble pairs...
J. Steve: But the pairs do stay together as they appear in the word. Using the example: A and Z stay together as AZ, not ZA, or Z in one place and A in another.
This bigram sorting business is hard! I've found lots of promising words in there, but none of them are fitting together, nor is there any "external" ordering evident.
Giving up! Participation credit.
@EK 8:52a: typo fixed
I just dont have the time to waste on something like this. Maybe tonight after work?
Why can't I just come into work, watch baseball games, collect a pay check and go home?
Thank goodness I remember it's puzzle day. I have all but two of the answers, but even if (when) I get those, I really think it's going to take a clue to help me put these pairs together.
IT crew member checking in. This is a very time consuming puzzle but I'm giving it a shot anyways.
Guess sent. :P
I also think I have 20/22 and have no clue whether I'll be able to sort out the clue... I don't know how Ubragg did it!
I'm right there with you, Erin and J Steve.
I'm utterly lost. I'll wait for a hint
Hmmm...I'm not sure what I can offer as far as a hint for the secret clue. It's essentially a jigsaw puzzle, with the letter pairs as pieces. The RW is in its correct position, so building off of that would be my only suggestion.
If you're stuck on the word pairs, I'd say try figuring out the word on the left first. It will only have 3, 4, or 5 letters. Consequently, their partners will have 5, 6, or 7 letters.
If no one has made any progress by 1pm Pacific or so, I'll share how many words are in the secret clue and how many letters in each word.
Golem - what you've sent in so far is correct, but yields the wrong ultimate solution because you need to finish the uncompleted portion.
You're pretty close though
Man I hate crossword puzzles!
I'm pretty sure I have what comes after the RW, but not before.
I don't know if this will help or hinder, but here goes:
If you have all 22 letter pairs, you will notice that among them are the postal abbreviations of six different states. Three of those pairs go somewhere in the first four spaces of the clue.
Well, that told me that the ones I have aren't all correct! I have 21 "solved" clues, but only 4 states...
I have twenty solved and four states, which means the two I'm missing must be state abbreviations. That doesn't really help much, since I'm not going to go through the other 46 states and work backwards. But at least it will help to confirm an answer if I stumble upon it. Thanks, Josh. :)
Hmm. I think I have it... answer sent.
Answer sent...
Answer (kinda) sent
If I solved it correctly, that was a really cool puzzle, Josh S. If I didn't, damn you Josh S.!
I'm going to lunch. Back in about 30 or so and I can answer any other questions then.
You know, other than "What's the answer?".
Arrrgghhhhh!!!
Participation points, I hope.
how about a clue for getting some of the answer pairs? I'm terrible at this.
"how about a clue for getting some of the answer pairs? I'm terrible at this."
Ditto.
Mondays are the worst day for me to not work at work, so can't take a real look at this until later tonight. So I'll have about 4 hours to work on it before closing time on the puzzle.
Nonetheless, looks veyr cool and I can't wait to work on it, Josh.
Unless I move that call around, and...
The suspense is killing me. I've still been trying to piece together the remaining parts of the hint to make sure of my answer, but I fear I may have one wrong.
19 of 22, and no clue. Partial credit, here I come.
Re: The word pairs. As with most crossword puzzle clues, some are punny plays on words and some are literal definitions. Solving one side will really help you get the other. If you think you have the word on the left, add two letters somewhere to get a word that fits the second clue. If you think you have the word on the right, subtract two letters to get a word that fits the first clue.
I'm glad I do crossword puzzles fairly often (not that I'm particularly good).
Deferral of gratification is driving me crazy.
If anyone wants to email me your progress, I can let you know if you're on the right track or not. CC the Sons' email, just to keep things on the up and up. Answers sent to me don't count as official entries, of course.
jschippe @ charter.net
or
josh.schippe @ gmail.com
(Charter seems to be down at the moment.)
Well I finally have the bigrams ordered properly, but I'm now failing on the research half!
Josh S.,
I just sent you my solution because I want to know if I managed to get everything right...
^me too!
Replies sent to Mr. C, Mr. F, and Erin. Mr.F's reply was supposed to be cc'd to the Sons, but I typed their address wrong.
More correct:
1. Ubragg
2. Fanerman
3. Keven C
Curious. I can't figure out what doesn't fit.
Second guess sent. :P
@Mr C: Is it the glove that doesn't fit?
Because then, you know what you have to do.
IF I continue to comment do I get more participation points?
@Sax
If acquit, I won't be able to live with myself.
Mr. C, for what it's worth, I had #19 wrong.
@golem
I'm pretty sure all the answers are right at this point. I've got the order messed up somehow.
Because this just came up in one of the emails:
The letter pairs are always together in the second word (as with red and rAZed).
If we haven't hit 5 correct solvers by 3:30, I will reveal the proper placement of a couple of letter pairs.
I know I promised the number of words in the secret clue, but there's a bit of tricky business I need to figure out before I can share that info.
Progress sent. Head hurts.
Josh, great puzzle.
Extra tip of the cap for "What Cronin can't fight." And how pathetic is it that I knew that answer without having to look it up?
Good lord, I think it was faulty research. Answer re-sent
Whew, finally!
Nice work Josh.
2 more:
More correct:
1. Ubragg
2. Fanerman
3. Keven C
4. Golem
5. Mr C
Wow, only 5 solvers so far. My puzzles have apparently been way too easy.
I think the word count breakdown will help things (if Josh can work out that snag)
Hold off on clues as long as possible. It's not the worst thing to make us think every once in awhile.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know what the "snag" is. Dunno how I'd deal with it.
I've been stuck on 17/22 for about an hour. and i have to go soon...time to work faster
I'm inclined to agree with DB. I'll throw out the letter/word breakdown later tonight, if no one has made any significant progress.
When I responded to each of the 5 solvers' email submissions letting them know they were correct, 2 of them replied by saying "thank god".
Great puzzle, Josh.
Heh heh heh.
Mine is an evil laugh.
Oh, and thanks for the compliments too.
Now that I've got that ironed out, I'd like to point out that the reduction in the number of puzzle days means there will sadly be no PCS next Thursday.
In light of this regrettable situation, I am pleased to announce that I'll be releasing surplus puzzle fodder from my personal cache to cover the lapse in schedule.
I will keep my blog-whoring to the absolute minimum, but I'm start up a little side venture. If there is enough interest in the initial run, I'll keep the place stocked with both fun and prizes.
And yes, "thank god" would have been me, for one.
Heh. Great puzzle!
Let me add a "Thank God" of my own if the answer I sent in is right...
This is some difficult shit.
Add J Steve to the list:
1. Ubragg
2. Fanerman
3. Keven C
4. Golem
5. Mr C
6. J Steve
Alright, I'm headed home. I will check in again when I can. Congratulations to the solvers and best of luck to those still working on it.
I had fun making this. I hope you all enjoyed it too.
Answer sent.
Well played, Josh.
Nice work, jason:
1. Ubragg
2. Fanerman
3. Keven C
4. Golem
5. Mr C
6. J Steve
7. Jason
Getting close to closing the clues. Can't say if I'll be able to decipher the message.
I got a few of the clues, but I can't seem to put anything together. Consider this my surrender.
I give up.
I'm getting there...but have to drive home now. Do you know how these little letter pairs are going to torture me on the way? Do you?
@Dusty: I do, actually.
Even worse, Josh, I'm still here at work, thus ignoring my family.
I have the secret clue now. Who knew the underlying research would prove just as tedious. *shakes fist at Josh*
Help, I'm stuck in Blythe with a slow internet connection! I'm getting my comment points and going to Sizzler...
My choice of activities: 1) Solve SOSG puzzle, or 2) Read "Chiral Lewis acid catalysed asymmetric nucleophilic ring opening of cyclohexene oxide"
Puzzle is still winning, barely
Jesus christ, Josh. Doing the research is taking me twice as long as solving the clues. Family now loathes you.
I can't get it, and I need to go to sleep. Maddening! Sent my work in, hoping for participation points.
Sincerest apologies to Mrs. Dusty.
Answer sent, I believe.
Just getting steely glares from Mrs Dusty now. It will be a cold night on the front room sofa. Thanks, Josh! ;-)
Answer Sent! I will have to wait until tomorrow to figure out if it is correct. Bed time in the ATL.
I'm sure EK will make the official announcement sooner or later, but unofficially, Dusty Baker and Nicholas are in.
Well done!
Mad props to Josh on the great puzzle today!
ugh i give up. participation points.
answer sent
Here's final list, I believe:
1. Ubragg
2. Fanerman
3. Keven C
4. Golem
5. Mr C
6. J Steve
7. Jason
8. Dusty Baker
9. Nicholas
100. Just 'cause.
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