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Summer Puzzle
Once again the time has come to offer up a contest. Answers are welcomed from one and all. I must, necessarily and unfortunately, place limits on how long the contest is to run, in order to contain the number of responses somewhat (this has never been a problem before, but I believe in being an optimist). Responses will be accepted until the end of Father's Day (June nineteenth) in the contest author's (c'est moi) country of residence (Japan). Fourteen points will go to the winner with seven more going to support the charity of his or her choice. Ineligible responses will not be included in the prize drawing. If your name is drawn as the winner, I will contact you and send you (and your charity) the awards. If your name's not drawn, then know you have my condolences (Hey…"condolence" is an anagram of "cloned once"…a random thought…here's another: if a vegetarian only ingests vegetables then humanitarians…gets you thinking, eh? Oh, then palindromic words like "level", "bob" and "toot" exist in English…but what is the longest one? Just thought I'd share in the joys of the "palavra" (that's Portuguese for "word")…enough of this randomness…back to the rules). I might give smooches out during the course of the contest, but it is not for sure. The puzzle shouldn't be too difficult and it might even be fun. I hope you enjoy yourselves. A shout goes out to Mary H. for donating the bulk of the points…"A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand which gives the rose." (quotation is a Chinese proverb). Use your imagination in responses. Good luck to all… Here is the text to begin with: Here within this piece of text,
The clue for which you seek…
'Tis not to do with rhythm, rhyme,
Or hidden words to peek.
Look for something missing,
Yes, for something found not here
Conspicuous being included not,
To next clue it'll you steer.
Zero in its number here,
Look to words before this text
Where here be none..there every fourth
Word with should give your clue next
Quickly then…just four, eight, twelve,
Continue to the end…
Thus this summer puzzle goes,
Write response to here, then send!
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Rebel Sun
13 years ago
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Hi Rebel Sun,
It’s very nice to see you back here with yet another formidable puzzle. I think you deserve either to be deified as a true puzzle master or placed under arrest for your infinite trickiness. Sartre once wrote, “A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost.” Well, I’m not giving up the battle with this puzzle just yet.
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Here’s a conundrum, a wonder to see
You know it will be just as tough as can be
So I said to myself, hey get up off your duff
And train, or you might tear your rotator cuff
Work your brain and you’ll find solving puzzles is fun
But if you have trouble then ha, use your wand gun
He who fails, he who chokes, he who sulks, he who broods
Can go back to his day job and wash naughty nudes
A champion over the problem has gnawed
And triumphed, just like the guy hath nuns awed
On success, clear your throat, speak out loud and
Say the words of the poet, W.H. Auden
“In moments of joy, all of us wish
We possessed a tail we could wag” (or possibly swish!).
So thanks, Rebel Sun, for this puzzle! I say
I believe I must give you a grade of an A!
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Wow, that made more sense with the verses formatted! It was a poem in its original incarnation.
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I had my doubts about this puzzle from the start, but with a bit of research I now believe it is on the level. It reminds me of my childhood when my friends and I would build playhouses and forts in which we would read poetry for hours on end. One of our favorites was Frost who said "A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom." Thank you for the puzzle and I hope that I am able to crack it.
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Conspicuous shall be noticed in a crowd.
Where the sun shines and they are no clouds.
You shall watch night fall and all is within invisable walls.
For thy shall search why you must choose the path that takes you to the crowd.
You may be heard or very quiet for all is love if you play right the silent will win the smile begins go fly away until another crowd appears.
Within us all the text we see for night and day we have to sleep watch over your sholder for the other wind for they blow in when sun shines in.
The path you take is broad and wide but nothing can hide that one rememberable smile.
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Only four days left until the end of the contest and the collective cupboard must be barer than I had thought. Only five people have yet attempted to answer (4 publicly and 1 privately) but only the first three (all public) are eligible at this point (give it another try, Robin). I hoped the level of interest would be higher. That being said, 4 days is still plenty of time to give this puzzle a shot. In the immortal words of Mr. Berra (the only Yankee I'll ever admit to liking), "It ain't over 'til it's over!" Good luck, all!
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The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind. I'm a nice person and I have lots of friends. My apartment is small but I like living in a cramped space. I've lived in trailers most of my life, but lately they've been getting too elaborate for my taste, so now I live in one room, a "bachelorette." I don't have pets. I don't have houseplants. I spend a lot of time on the road and I don't like leaving things behind. Aside from the hazards of my profession, my life has always been ordinary, uneventful, and good. Killing someone feels odd to me and I haven't quite sorted it through.
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?!?!? I'm hoping that that was an attempted contest entry and not an online confession (scary). If it is an entry, it looks to be incorrect (if you dispute this, please send me an explanatory email...'cause I can't see it)
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Let's begin with a quote from the beloved poet Neruda: "A bibliophile of little means is likely to suffer often. Books don't slip from his hands but fly past him through the air, high as birds, high as prices." How sad is that! There was no BM back then. Only lovers of books are forever. This mooching business of ours would've made Mr. N's eyes pop and his shelves full of ripe, unread, wondrous books.
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Another competition, and I almost missed it! I really need to start checking the forum more frequently. Now to enter… Where to start? “The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.” Clever sentence, but I stole it from T. S. Eliot. This is not going well. For a better answer I must refer you to my bio page where it is very well hidden. Or maybe not.
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I must apologize to all...I made a mistake with the competition timeline...Father's Day in Japan is actually on the nineteenth (not the twelfth), so to cover all my bases (and to hopefully wrangle a few more participants) the contest will continue for one more week...my bad y'all. PS - Eligible responses now number 5.
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