156

Complete the last line in each of the following five series:

Puzzle 1:

"Using" is E
"Desist" is I
"Visits" is E
"Design" is ???

Puzzle 2:

"Asia" is H
"Cuffs" is S
"Ender" is I
"Redness" is F
"Fuchsia" is ???

Puzzle 3 (advanced):

"Pro-tem" and "row" are H
"Ties" is K
"Cohesion" is A
"Casino" is E
"Hocks" is either a word, name, ??? or ???

Puzzle 4:

"Gross" is W or R
"Assign" is S
"Amassing" is E
"Design" is S
"Amassing" is S
"Arrows" is ??? or ???

Puzzle 5:

"Edna" is I
"Slang" is X
"Siege" is E
"Basin" is X
"Sin" is X
"Sin" is A
"Besiege" is X
"Signals" is ??? and ???

First person to solve all five gets the win.

Hint:

Each ??? stands for a single letter of the English alphabet.

Hint #2:

The puzzles are not related to one another, except that they are all based on the same principle. If you solve any one, you will rapidly solve all the others.

Hint #3, a quite cryptic one:

The very first parts of vague solutions can decode nothing: that's the core of these puzzles.

Hint #4, a more obvious one:

You want another hint?! Nag! Go botanist first, arse ulcer! O my! More clues? Rats! Rifts in a toboggan!

Matt Malone
  • 5,143
  • 3
  • 22
  • 34
  • Random thoughts: The letters seem to suggest Morse code (E,I,S,H are dot-only characters) except for F. They also possess symmetry, again except for F. – McMagister Dec 15 '14 at 03:12
  • 2
    I added a third, even longer puzzle, so I'm hopeful that it will be solved today. – Matt Malone Dec 15 '14 at 15:52
  • I think this is an example of there not being enough data to come to a unique conclusion. There are four possible answers below, and I thought of a few more. There are just too many patterns that can make three words yield the letters E, I, and E. More data is needed to reduce the number of possible patterns. – PopularIsn'tRight Dec 16 '14 at 13:20
  • 2
    @BmyGuest Thanks for giving these puzzles a second look. I assure you there's nothing random about these. They are painstakingly constructed. – Matt Malone Dec 16 '14 at 13:38
  • 1
    @Bachrach44 Remember that all these puzzles follow the same pattern. If you think you might have more success with the 8-line puzzle, look closely at that one. Personally, I think the shortest one is easiest. – Matt Malone Dec 16 '14 at 13:42
  • 2
    The puzzle idea is indeed great (and painstakingly constructed), but I still think your original posting was not. It only became good after adding the longer puzzles to it. I think this puzzle as a whole is much better. Don't call it "puzzle 1...5" have it the puzzle with part 1 to 5. This way, all alternative solutions drop out and your intended one becomes the only one. – BmyGuest Dec 17 '14 at 14:22
  • 1
    @MattMalone Just hope you can still think sentences which are not palindromes :c) I'm going to remove a couple of the comments in this section, a) as they are not any longer relevant with the edits, b) to have things shorter & cleaner, c) avoid spoilers. BTW, I think I would remove the 4th hint now... – BmyGuest Dec 17 '14 at 17:31
  • 18
    @BmyGuest Remove it? When am I going to have another chance to work "arse ulcer" into a puzzle? – Matt Malone Dec 17 '14 at 17:46
  • 3
    Just switched my downvote to an upvote. Feedback: Cool puzzle, but it just needed more data points from the get go. – Sp3000 Dec 19 '14 at 06:22
  • 2
    This puzzle is currently tied for 2nd best puzzle of 2014. :) http://meta.puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/1759/best-puzzles-of-2014 – pacoverflow Apr 23 '15 at 06:28

4 Answers4

96

Brilliant puzzle.

Puzzle 1:

U

Puzzle 2:

A

Puzzle 3:

T or P

Puzzle 4:

S or G

Puzzle 5:

I and E

Explanation:

They are palindromes, and every word is part of the palindrome too.

Individual solutions

The beginning, middle and end of the palindrome have been bolded:
using is e desist is i visits is e design is U
asia is h cuffs is s ender is i redness is f fuchsia is A
pro-tem and row are h ties is k cohesion is a casino is e hocks is either a word, name, T or P
gross is w or r assign is s amassing is e design is s amassing is s arrows is S or G
edna is i slang is x siege is e basin is x sin is x sin is a besiege is x si gnals is I and E

McMagister
  • 7,763
  • 2
  • 32
  • 58
  • Very close!!! But no unscrambling is required. You're almost there! – Matt Malone Dec 17 '14 at 02:05
  • 2
    Fixed, and I was right to upvote, and vote to reopen. – McMagister Dec 17 '14 at 02:41
  • 4
    And in case anyone didn't understand weird hint #3: The very first parts of "vague solutions can decode nothing" means the first letters of those words: V, S, C, D and N. That's the core of these puzzles, means that these are the central letters of the palindromes. I see you've already highlighted those, so you must have figured that out. – Matt Malone Dec 17 '14 at 02:51
  • Hint 4 itself is a palindrome, except for the bold part. – Scratch---Cat Jul 25 '20 at 04:13
16

The letter is

I

because you

count the number of letters of the word that are also in your username, "Matt Malone"

which gives

"Using" is 1 (n) "Desist" is 2 (te) "Visits" is 1 (t) "Design" is 2 (ne)

and then

take the letter that consists of that many dots in Morse code (e=., i=.., s=..., h=....).

xnor
  • 26,756
  • 4
  • 85
  • 144
  • 10
    The idea of people reading my name over and over, carefully counting each letter, is great for my ego but it won't help you solve this puzzle. – Matt Malone Dec 14 '14 at 04:17
  • 8
    @MattMalone The problem is that this is 100% plausible, and there's nothing in the question to refute this theory. – d'alar'cop Dec 14 '14 at 07:24
  • 8
    So wonderfully obscure and random while still perfectly plausible. I love this answer! @MattMalone I think xnor is just proofing by example that your question needs editing to be a valuable and not random puzzle. Can you add a (much) larger series? Or at her conditions which make the answer uniquely defined? – BmyGuest Dec 14 '14 at 08:43
  • 2
    @BmyGuest Trust me. There is precisely one answer that fits. Once you see it you'll agree. It would be very difficult to make the series longer. I assure you that it's quite long enough already. – Matt Malone Dec 14 '14 at 13:21
  • 4
    @MattMalone " There is precisely one answer that fits." What's wrong with this answer besides it not matching your own method? – d'alar'cop Dec 14 '14 at 14:37
  • 3
    This answer, while quite clever, is ad hoc. The puzzle is carefully and precisely written. There is one undeniably correct answer. – Matt Malone Dec 14 '14 at 14:45
6

It's the letter

I

The pattern is that it's the second letter of the word immediately following it.

"Using" is E "Desist" is I "Visits" is E "Design" is ???

which give the answer because

the next word is "Hint".

Alternatively, the answer could be

S

if you

wrap around back to "Using".

xnor
  • 26,756
  • 4
  • 85
  • 144
5

Answer;

I

Explanation;

The words having nothing to do with it, the pattern is E, I, E, I...

Alternatively...

The answer is "one letter"

Why?

You told us in the hint!

Or maybe...

I

Because...

Whichever letter comes first in the word, is the opposite (I is E, E Is I)
"Using" is E
"Desist" is I
"Visits" is E
"Design" is I

Perhaps it's...

I

A new idea why;

If the first i in the word is the 4th letter it's I else, it's E

Maybe it's...

I

Reasoning;

If the word contains an E the answer is I, else it's E

warspyking
  • 14,500
  • 10
  • 78
  • 144