Word Games

[Domino]

I thought we'd start with a tenner. No, no, I'm not going to send you one each! This is simply a ten-letter word where the letters are replaced by the numbers 1-10.

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10

If you solve the following clues and insert the letters for the appropriate numbers, if you are correct, then the ten-letter word will appear.

Letters 9/7/1/8 give a kiln for drying hops.

Letters 2/3/2/2/3/10 give a pungent condiment.

Letters 4/6/5/3 give something that helps in the solution of a poblem.

So what is the ten-letter word?

Dave

[Courtenay]

SPECULATOR. (The answers to the clues are OAST, PEPPER and, well, CLUE.)

[Domino]

Well done, Courtenay! Thats correct. How about a twelver?

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12

Letters 6/2/12/1 give an artificial sheet of ice.

Letters 10/8/3/7 give a distinctive flavour or quality.

Letters 9/11/5/4 give the dtalk of various grasses.

Not so easy perhaps, as each letter is used only once in the clues.

Dave

[Courtenay]

KINDERGARTEN — the clues being RINK, TANG and REED.

[Domino]

Correct again.

Let's try something different this time. We'll call it 'Letter Pairs'
If you were to be given the arrangement of letters shown here:

++TR++CH

you would be able to fill both pairs with the same two letters, so as to make a word. In this case, the letters would be EN and the word would be ENTRENCH.

Try these:

++ID++LE

++RM++LS

++RE++CK

[Courtenay]

I think the first and the third are ABIDABLE and BAREBACK, but I haven't worked out the middle one yet...

[Courtenay]

Ah, got it! AIRMAILS.

[Domino]

Congratulations! You've got 'em again!

Some further Letter Pairs:

++UR++ES

++CA++NT

++IL++SY

[Courtenay]

The second one's DECADENT. Not sure about the others yet.

[Eddie Muir]

The first one must be CHURCHES and the third one EPILEPSY.

[Daisy]

I got ABIDABLE, but wondered if it was a real word... I didn't manage the other two though. Nor can I see the answers to the next lot, yet. I say "yet" in a spirit of optimism!

Oh just seen Eddie's ideas... oh well, perhaps the next lot then, if Dave has more in store!

[Courtenay]

Well done, Eddie.

[Boatbuilder]

Here are three more:

++S++DE
++E++INT
++AVI++E

[Domino]

Well done, Eddie! (And Courtenay for the one she got.)

Ilsa, 'abidable' does not appear in Chambers Dictionary, but the puzzle was set by Darryl Francis, an expert in the field of puzzles, so it probably does exist, even though it's obscure. I think Darryl Francis was once the National Scrabble Champion.

Here's another three:

++MI++ZE

++VE++RN

++ST++NE

[Courtenay]

Ilsa, 'abidable' does not appear in Chambers Dictionary, but the puzzle was set by Darryl Francis, an expert in the field of puzzles, so it probably does exist, even though it's obscure. I think Darryl Francis was once the National Scrabble Champion.

The Oxford English Dictionary does not lie. (I checked it before I posted that answer!)