This is a continuation of the very long Reverse Empathy thread. Someone more clever than I am may want to post to this forum to make links to the previous two threads.

New puzzle!

1. Afghanistan
2. Boston
3. Yorkshire

“Here's the link back to Reverse Empathy thread II.“:http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/forum/topic2.jsp?forum=200&topic=457

“…and the link to the original thread.“:http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/forum/topic2.jsp?forum=200&topic=332

Terrier?

4. Malta
5. Newfoundland

Afghan Hound
Boston Terrier
Yorkshire Terrier
Maltese
Newfoundland

Those are all dog breeds.

Correct!

But kingogthebesl deserves some credit, too.

New puzzle! My first one.

1. Cat
2. Chimney
3. Aircraft

4. Rose
5. Horse

I'll ask then if Lollipop and Cow are on the list?

Thanks Art Duval, the lesson is start out general and provide more info if guess is not specific enough.

Going straight in with … black

6. Lollipop
7. Cow

You're right, kfas2! Feel free to post the answer and start the next puzzle.

Ok. So these are probably names of Othello openings. And if so I'll be ready with a puzzle on Saturday

Correct! These are all names of Othello (reversi) openings.

1. key
2. imp
3. use

4. bit
5. can

6. her
7. ear
8. fly

I don't really believe this is the answer, but just to get it out of the way:

Three-letter words?

Well these are only three letter words, but with an extra feature :-)

9. ion
10. set
11. row

Three letter parts you can find both at the beginning and at the end of some words?

getting closer.
12. pie
pay is not on the list
13. lie
most probably not lay
14. ill

I'm also quite convinced that
the does not belong to my list.

The hint is that I can be sure if something is on the list, but I'm only almost certain saying that some word is not on the list.

15. pet
16. ray
17. ant
18. val

1. Mon
2. Shr
3. Gro
4. Rab
5. Tou
6. Gop
…
If so - good one!

Yes. For 3. I thought you can use Mo
The beginning does not have to be three letter. You can coin the phrase and start next puzzle.

Congratulations FatPhil.

Here we go. There really is no more appropriate place to start than with a fight:

1. Fight
2. Soldier
3. Army
4. Marines

5. Dixie
6. Mexico
7. Vatican

Songs by Tom Lehrer?

Words from titles of …, yes!

I guess I'm glad to see that Lehrer isn't so obscure.

1. Yen
2. Elm
3. Him

4. Rum
5. Bro

3 letter words? One of these days I'm sure it will be something really simple like this (although probably not today…)

Names of bands?

6. Car (but not Bus)
7. Ion (but not Jet)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_(band)

8. Oye (but not Aye)
9. For (but not Aft)

10. Eon (but not Rob)
11. Sum (but not Add)

12. Man (but not Boy)
13. Mum (but not Dad)

14. Son (but not Sis)
15. Pop (but not Gun)

16. Fur (but not Far)
17. One (but not Two)

18. Ago (but not Ale)
19. Pot (but not Lid)

20. Aim (but not Way)
21. Sad (but not Sac)

(Hint: There is a list to which my words can be correlated.)

22. Tit (but not Gob)
23. Van (but not Sub)

Not (but not But)?

3-letter words composed of ordered (but not necessarily consecutive) letters in the corresponding element of the periodic table.

Good job, dougforte.

Thanks, it was a good category. This will be my first puzzle, starting with:

0. nada
1. one
2. dos

3. wait
4. go

From Black Eyed Peas, Light Up the Night Lyrics?

I hadn't heard of that song, but it sounds like a happy song that probably doesn't have
5. pain (but not hurt)
6. scar (but not scab)
On the other hand,
7. pal (but not friend)

8. man (but not woman)
9. men (but not women)

However,
10. gal (but not guy)
11. we (but not you)

12. via (but not by)
13. many (but not much)
14. way (but not will)

15. ore
16. pan
17. had
18. tar

19. land
20. name

5. PA (Pennsylvania) IN (Indiana)
6. SC (South Carolina) AR (Arkansas)
13. MA (Massachusetts) NY (New York)
19. LA (Louisiana) ND (North Dakota)
20. NA (??) ME (Maine)

The only missing 4-letter words are nada (uses “na” again) and wait (“WA” = Washington)
I suspect the other words are also mashups of abbreviations, but I'm not sure what, and if other abbreviations come in besides geographical ones. (Note “NE”-Nebraska, “AL”-Alabama, “OR”=Oregon show up in some 3-letter words, as do some of the states I've listed above).

That's an interesting idea, it would make a good topic. I think my favorites are Nebraska-Arkansas, Pennsylvania-Connecticut, Washington-North Dakota, Colorado-Indiana, Wisconsin-Delaware, and Louisiana-Maine, but none of those are on this list (though some might be close).
21. rain (but not pour)
22. so (but not sew)
23. ran (but not went)

24. den
25. mark

Without trying to make any political statement, I will note that 'bet' and 'wan' may or may not be included depending upon affiliation (a list that I have been using to help check validity would include wan but not bet). Perhaps this will assist with a solution
26. anon

Letters that are part of the name of a country?

Or better said, connexe part of the name of a country.

You're on the right track.

Last letters of the name of a country?

Still closer.
27. us (but not guay)
28. an (but not ize)

Words you can find at the end of the names of countries, at last I hope!

29. rance?

Yes, that is exactly it, well done. rance sounds good for 29, I was not aware of that one, otherwise I would probably have used it.

Very good puzzle!
Thanks to all for whom it must have bee obvious to let me get it in the end!

1.Togo
2.Belarus
3.Oracle

4. Noria
5. Toy

6. Belove
7. Thanatos

8. Isolated
9. Theology

10. Queen
11. Wheel

12. Tissue
13. Nonbeliever

14. Incrimination
15. Theater

Can I ask if Spain and Raft would be on the list?

Neither

16. Minister
17. Toast

18. Sure
19. Them

20. Slicing
21. Anonymise

22. Arrester
23. Offcast

@dougforte, to be more precise these words are not on the list because I will stop at 40 words, otherwise they could be on it.

Good to know, even if the idea that I had was already ruled out by the newer words. Thanks for the clarification.

24. Outserve
25. Forted

26. Ordinary
27. Tooth

28. Takeover
29. Armada

30. Agaric
31. A

32. Sealing
33. Offensive

34. Troubadour

35. Andante
36. Byte

37. Opposing

Endive
Thematic

Nope.

38. End

Ah sorry FatPhil, I read it as Endive thematic… you got it!

38. Endive
39. Thematic
40. To
41. Die
42. To
43. Sleep

1. Evil is cut
2. A shoe
3. Threes

4. 2 Chic loners
5. Seen a ship

6. Violent era
7. Metal nations

\m/,

So what was going on in Carroll's list? It ends with Shakespearean words,
but I don't get the rest.

look at the start of each of Carroll's words

8. Denial
9. Ransom

Anagrams of books of the Bible?

10. Annalists Shoe ?

Well spotted, Carroll!

Although I could not make sense of some of them, care to give complete solution FatPhil? The easiest one was Leviticus which set me on track.

This time, I will do an easier than last one :

1. Russian
2. Dieu
3. Three

From “memory”, those are: Leviticus, Hosea, Esther, 2 Chronicles, Ephesians, Revelation, Lamentations, Daniel, Romans. I had none prepared, I was just making them up as I went along. Some books clearly don't anagram sensibly at all, I'd have left those till last.

Thanks!

4. Ephraim
5. Démon

6. Darkness
7. Bells

I can map all of those onto beers.

Russian River brewery
Dieu du Ciel brewery
Three Floyds
Hill Farmstead Ephraim
Biere du Demon
Surly Darkness
Bells Hopslam

You are too strong! Well done!

Beer names universe is not so vast, hard not to ring bells… Cheers!

It was a category with my name written all over it, though.

1. Lee
2. Simon
3. Hazel

Not so vast? http://www.ratebeer.com/forums/this-went-without-notice-the-250000th-beer_253892.htm
8000 down, 242000 to go…

4. Ian
5. James

6. Stewart
7. Paul

8. Gilbert
9. George

Surnames that could also be first names?

Bruce Lee, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart.

James, Paul and George are all surnames of basketball players currently active in the NBA.

You're most of the way there. These are all from a single quite narrow field.

10. Guy
11. Nelson

12. Vincent
13. Marvin

First names of actors?

Lee Marvin
Simon Pegg
Hazel Crowney
Ian Hunter
James Stewart
Stewart Granger
Paul Walker
Gilbert Roland
George Hamilton
Guy Madison
Nelson Eddy
Vincent Vaughn
Marvin Miller

Getting colder

14. Holly
15. Eddy

16. May
17. Buck

rock 'n' roll?…

Brenda *Lee*/Albert *Lee*/Jerry *Lee* Lewis
*Paul* *Simon*
Eddie *Hazel*
*Ian* McLagan/Scott *Ian*
Etta *James*/*James* Hetfield
Rod *Stewart*/Jay *Stewart*
*Paul* McCartney/Les *Paul*
*Paul* *Gilbert*
*George* Harrison
Buddy *Guy*
Ricky *Nelson*/Freddie *Nelson*/Willie *Nelson*
Gene *Vincent*
*Marvin* Gaye/Hank *Marvin*
Buddy *Holly*
Duane *Eddy*

Sorry, I forgot to refresh the page before post it…

TV shows

Close enough, gamesorry.

It's surnames of guitarists that just happen to look like first names.

And I was running out. And everyone should now go listen to Maggot Brain.

Oh, I once came across the word _guitarist_ when I was browsing the page of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where I found most of the names ;)

my first puzzle:

1. arcane
2. fertile
3. hilarious

4. new
5. gallant

I thought TV was correct, as these shows indicate
1. Lee TV is TV coverage of Lee County Florida
2. Simon (TV Series 1995–1996) - IMDb
3. Hazel (TV Series 1961–1966) - IMDb
4. Being Ian (TV Series 2004–2008) - IMDb
5. Home James! (TV Series 1987–1990) - IMDb
6. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (TV Series 1996– ) - IMDb
7. Poor Paul (TV Series 2008– ) - IMDb
8. Ask Rhod Gilbert (TV Series 2010– ) - IMDb
9. Curious George (TV Series 2006– ) - IMDb
10. Family Guy (TV Series 1999– ) - IMDb
11. Half Nelson (TV Series 1985– ) - IMDb
12. Vincent (TV Series 2005– ) - IMDb
13. Marvin Marvin (TV Series 2012– ) - IMDb
14. Holly (TV Series 1972– ) - IMDb
15. Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy (TV Series 1999–2009) - IMDb
16. The Darling Buds of May (TV Series 1991–1993) - IMDb
17. Uncle Buck (TV Series 1990–1991) - IMDb

Yeah there could be multiple answers when the words are popular ;)

6. leisured
7. gauche

8. desirable
9. lagered

10. abecedarian
11. ramose

12. eucharistic
13. noetic

14. klephtic
15. brave

This puzzle is way too slow….does anyone else have one?

Sorry, I forgot to update it… I kind of ran out of words, in order to limit the words to a controllable number… Let me give you some hints first: only some of the letters are meaningful, and they are part of some other words.

Hint 2: People

First 3 letters match last names of famous mathematicians
1. arcane Archimedes
2. fertile Fermat
3. hilarious Hilbert
4. new Newton
5. gallant Galois
6. leisured Leibniz
7. gauche Gauss
8. desirable Descartes
9. lagered Lagrange
10. abecedarian Abel
11. ramose Ramanujan
12. eucharistic Euclid
13. noetic Noether
14. klepthtic Klein??
15. brave [not sure of the mathematician]

sorry, just found it:
15. brave Brahmagupta

Without a doubt you are a math professor!

I was trying to limit the range to those who have a picture in the wiki page of mathematician: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematician. I guess the only word left is poisonous (which I didn't really want to use because it is a negative one)

[To paraphrase a “t-shirt”:http://www.amazon.com/Actually-Rocket-Scientist-Mens-Shirt/dp/B00D21EE5G :] Um, why yes, I *am* a “math professor”:http://www.math.utep.edu/Faculty/duval/home.html

Give me until later in the weekend for a new puzzle.

1. power
2. up

Mathematical operations providing huge numbers?

3. good
4. on

5. over
6. head
7. along

8. round
9. out

10. business
11. wire

12. safe
13. acid

14. weekend
15. return

Hint: Some go before, some go after

16. ski
17. beach

vacation?

@ypercube: I don't think vacation goes with several of the words. (acid? up? wire? along? round?)

18. tucker

(I should add that I thought 18. was an obscure clue, but I'm running low on non-obscure clues. So if 18. doesn't help you, feel free to ignore it.)

play?

triangular prism?

board?

19. plane
20. train
21. automobile

trip?

“trip” is correct!

I was inspired by an airplane magazine crossword that had a couple of the words on my list as the themed clues.

Okay, sorry about the delay in a new puzzle, but I work nights and I usually log on from work.

1. Cream
2. Barenaked Ladies
3. Queen

Cheers!

4. Heart

5. The Beatles

6. ABBA

Broken up bands?

Nope, sorry.

7. Arcade Fire

8. Fleetwood Mac

9. The Traveling Wilburys
10. Pink Floyd

11. Alice in Chains

but not AC/DC

Bands that changed their names.

Sorry, no.

12. The Bangles
13. The Beach Boys
14. The Bee Gees
15. The Black Eyed Peas

but not Blondie

16. The Cars
17. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

but not The Cranberries

18. Devo

but not Def Leppard

19. The Eagles

but not Extreme

20. Grateful Dead
21 Goo Goo Dolls

but not Green Day

22. KISS
23. The Monkees

but not Led Zeppelin

24. The Oak Ridge Boys
25. The Proclaimers
26. The Prodigy

but not The Police

27. Red Hot Chili Peppers
28. The Rolling Stones

but not Rush

29. Simon & Garfunkel

I still have no good ideas for this one, but let me tie this puzzle to a recent one about mathematicians: Art Garfunkel earned a master's degree in mathematics.

30. Velvet Revolver
31. ZZ Top

but not U2

Well, that about taps me out. There are other bands that follow the rule, but they're pretty obscure (at least to me). It's possible I may have made a mistake with the “but not X” ones, but I don't think so. Still if you have a rule that works except for one of the “nots” give it a try. Tomorrow I'll start giving hints.

Hint # 1: The rule has nothing to do with the names of the bands.

Hint #2: The instruments being played are not important.

Hint #3: The band members are important.

Band members with number one hit as solo artists?

Good guess, but no.

Hint #5: No solo artist could possibly make this list.

@Chris Smith: Please continue the game, I'm so curious what the answer is.

Sorry Art, I wasn't sure if people were still interested in this. Hint #6: It's an activity the band members are doing while performing (in a studio, on stage, or anywhere else)

Hint #7: It can sometimes lead to break-ups - egos can become more important than the music.

More than one singer in the band?

More than one lead vocalist in the band?

Congrats to Art Duval! Bands with more than one lead singer as members at the same time.

Wow, cool idea.

I've been busy with a real-world project this week, not doing any LG, and then remembered last night that I should check Reverse Empathy. I'll come up with a new puzzle soon.

Looks like someone needs to resurrect this:

1.  Dog2.  TV3.  Horse

1.  Dog

2.  TV

3.  Horse

4.  River

5.  Chamber

(Let's see if that formatting is better)

1.  Dog

2.  TV

3.  Horse

4.  Rivier

5.  Chamber

6.  Music

7.  Swing

Darn. Can't edit.  #4 should be “River” as it was the first time it appeared.

1.  Dog

2.  TV

3.  Horse

4.  Rivier

5.  Chamber

6.  Music

7.  Swing

8.  California

9.  Rubber

Note to self.  Fix the version that I copied from….  Again, #4 should be “River” not “Rivier”.

Thank you for your patience.

Kinds of baby buggy bumpers?  (Just to let you know that I'm at least thinking about it!)

@wanderer_c:  No.  Just to let you know that I read people's responses.

1.  Dog

2.  TV

3.  Horse

4.  River

5.  Chamber

6.  Music

7.  Swing

8.  California

9.  Rubber

10.  Capulet

11.  Pascal

Hmm. Up until now I was thinking this puzzle was based on the meanings of the words – “semantic” if you will. After these last two words I'm not so sure any more and wonder if it's based on the particular letters that appear in the word – “syntactic”. Any theories from others or hints from WF?

I'll give a hint with my next clue…

1.  Dog

2.  TV

3.  Horse

4.  River

5.  Chamber

6.  Music

7.  Swing

8.  California

9.  Rubber

10.  Capulet

11.  Pascal

12.  Bean

13.  Open

Hint:  I am exactly half way done with this list.

words that go with (at least one version) of the phonetic alphabet:ALPHA centauri is the DOG starBRAVO is a TV channelyou get a CHARLIE [or CHARLEY] HORSERIVER has a DELTAECHO CHAMBERFOXTROT is a kind of MUSICin GOLF, you SWINGThe Eagles sang about HOTEL CALIFORNIAetc.

Sorry, I ran into the same formatting problems that William did.

Art Duval is correct.

1. Spain, bed,…

2. “What about me?”

3. This list.

1. Spain, bed,…

2. “What about me?”

3. This list.

1. Spain, bed,…

2. “What about me?”

3. This list.

1. Spain, bed,…

2. “What about me?”

3. This list.

1. Spain, bed,…

2. “What about me?”

3. This list.

Sorry about the repeated posts. LG was being unresponsive so I tried submitting the reply a couple of times.

1. Spain, bed,…
2. “What about me?”
3. This list.
4. Disdain
5. Game

1. Spain, bed,…

2. “What about me?”

3. This list.

4. Disdain

5. Game

6. Schadenfreude

7. Examples instead of category

By the way, I keep trying to make it an ordered list, using the tools in the message composing window, and it never works.  :-(

1. Spain, bed,…

2. “What about me?”

3. This list.

4. Disdain

5. Game

6. Schadenfreude

7. Examples instead of category

8. ?of think will others will What

Does the last item actually have 'will' twice?

1. Spain, bed,…

2. “What about me?”

3. This list.

4. Disdain

5. Game

6. Schadenfreude

7. Examples instead of category

8. ?of think others will What

9. The answer is not going forward on the “M” trail.  Why? (7,7)

[Nathan is correct.  Thanks to an editing error, I had an extra “will” in 8., but I have fixed it in the most recent list.]

And now I remember that you can't see the numbers in the numbered list, which makes my reference to “8.” not so helpful.  Let me put in numbers manually:

1. 1. Spain, bed,…

2. 2. “What about me?”

3. 3. This list.

4. 4. Disdain

5. 5. Game

6. 6. Schadenfreude

7. 7. Examples instead of category

8. 8. ?of think others will What

9. 9. The answer is not going forward on the “M” trail.  Why? (7,7)

There must be some reason why 8 looks like *8. ?of think others will What* instead of *8. What will others think of ?* …

1. 1. Spain, bed,…

2. 2. “What about me?”

3. 3. This list.

4. 4. Disdain

5. 5. Game

6. 6. Schadenfreude

7. 7. Examples instead of category

8. 8. ?of think others will What

9. 9. The answer is not going forward on the “M” trail.  Why? (7,7)

10. 10. Deanna Troi looking in a mirror.

gamesorry is correct that there is a reason clue 8. is written as it is.

1. 1. Spain, bed,…

2. 2. “What about me?”

3. 3. This list.

4. 4. Disdain

5. 5. Game

6. 6. Schadenfreude

7. 7. Examples instead of category

8. 8. ?of think others will What

9. 9. The answer is not going forward on the “M” trail.  Why? (7,7)

10. 10. Deanna Troi looking in a mirror.

11. 11. (things that are) too short, things you roll,…

1. 1. Spain, bed,…

2. 2. “What about me?”

3. 3. This list.

4. 4. Disdain

5. 5. Game

6. 6. Schadenfreude

7. 7. Examples instead of category

8. 8. ?of think others will What

9. 9. The answer is not going forward on the “M” trail.  Why? (7,7)

10. 10. Deanna Troi looking in a mirror.

11. 11. (things that are) too short, things you roll,…

12. 12. Guess what I'm thinking!

I recognize some of these from previous posts on the Reverse Empathy threads.  Not sure whether that helps any, though, as I didn't find all of them……

Some are autoreferencial.

@Carroll: That is a correct observation.  (But it is not the answer.)

@Carroll and William Fraser: You've made some connections on some clues, not on others, right?  What guesses would you make based on the ones you have ideas about?  What would you do with the other clues?

@everyone: As usual, it can help to think “out loud” (i.e., by posting your ideas, even if incomplete).

1. 1. Spain, bed,…

2. 2. “What about me?”

3. 3. This list.

4. 4. Disdain

5. 5. Game

6. 6. Schadenfreude

7. 7. Examples instead of category

8. 8. ?of think others will What

9. 9. The answer is not going forward on the “M” trail.  Why? (7,7)

10. 10. Deanna Troi looking in a mirror.

11. 11. (things that are) too short, things you roll,…

12. 12. Guess what I’m thinking!

13. 13. The solution is hamster pee?  Very wrong! (7,7)

May I ask? Because:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”

@Carroll: Well, you can ask anything you like, though I may not answer.

If you're trying to suggest that the answer to this puzzle is a question, or that somehow your guesses influence the answer, no, it's nothing as strange as that. The answer is, as usual, a particular word or phrase.

Another clue tonight, when I'm at a real keyboard (so I can format the list correctly).

1. 1. Spain, bed,…

2. 2. “What about me?”

3. 3. This list.

4. 4. Disdain

5. 5. Game

6. 6. Schadenfreude

7. 7. Examples instead of category

8. 8. ?of think others will What

9. 9. The answer is not going forward on the “M” trail.  Why? (7,7)

10. 10. Deanna Troi looking in a mirror.

11. 11. (things that are) too short, things you roll,…

12. 12. Guess what I’m thinking!

13. 13. The solution is hamster pee?  Very wrong! (7,7)

14. 14. dewolla regnol on “xes”

Do all these clues describe “Reverse Empathy”. I'm not smart enough to get all of them to work, but quite a few seem to fit.

Martyn Hamer is correct!  The answer is: “Reverse Empathy”.  Here is the explanation of all the clues:

1. 1. Spain, bed,…: When this puzzle started, these were the two most recent Game of Empathy words, in reverse order.

2. 2. “What about me?“: This sentiment is somewhat the reverse of empathy.

3. 3. This list.: This list of clues is part of the game of Reverse Empathy

4. 4. Disdain: This is an antonym (reverse) of empathy

5. 5. Game: Reverse empathy is a game.

6. 6. Schadenfreude: This word (roughly: enjoying others' pain) is another opposite (reverse) of empathy

7. 7. Examples instead of category: This is a feature of Reverse Empathy, showing how it is a sort of reverse of Game of Empathy.

8. 8. ?of think others will What: This describes a feature of the Game of Empathy, but described in reverse.

9. 9. The answer is not going forward on the “M” trail.  Why? (7,7): A cryptic crossword type clue; fully explained below.

10. 10. Deanna Troi looking in a mirror.: Deanna Troi was a character on Star Trek: Next Generation, noted for being an empath.

11. 11. (things that are) too short, things you roll,…: The answers (categories) for the first two Reverse Empathy games.

12. 12. Guess what I’m thinking!: This describes a feature of Reverse Empathy.

13. 13. The solution is hamster pee?  Very wrong! (7,7): Another cryptic crossword clue, fully explained below.

14. 14. dewolla regnol on “xes”: A rule for the Game of Empathy, but written in reverse.

More full explanations of the cryptic crossword clues:9. “not going forward” = “reverse”; “M”=“em”, “trail”=“path”, “Why”=“Y” (em+path+Y)13. “wrong” indicates anagram, and “hamster pee very” is an anagram of “reverse empathy”

Very nice Art, thanks for explaining. Hopefully the formatting will be okay as I begin another round.

1.Statutory belief2.Starchiest ballads3.Honest gene

I guess someone should explain that, if you want your clues to go on separate lines, you need to put two carriage returns between each…

Otherwise, each person will need to figure it out for themselves.

Thanks William, let's add another clue and see if this is any better

1.Statutory belief

2.Starchiest ballads

3.Honest gene

4.Treadmill time

Okay, just to get the ball rolling:  Two word noun phrases where the first word is alphabetically before the second.

Edit.  alphabetically AFTER the second.

That's not it William

1.Statutory belief

2.Starchiest ballads

3.Honest gene

4.Treadmill time

5.Bind forty dice

Looks like monuments of some kind but Little Mermaid has me confused.

Close enough Wanderer, well done, they're all anagrams of world landmarks. The Little Mermaid is a famous statue in Copenhagen, the others are the Statue of Liberty, St Basil's Cathedral, Stonehenge and the Forbidden City. The word “the” doesn't form part of the anagram (for 1 and 5), I was hoping that might add a bit of confusion.

Others I had lined up include “Emus hurt moron”, “Eel writeoff”, “Ebbing”, “Sailor cop”, “Rainfall gas”, “Frail vocalist”, “Canny dragon”, “Innovate fruit”, “Dodge gerbil agent”, “Seedy porous hyena”, “Loose scum” and “Elm rink”, I'll leave these as a little puzzle for anyone who wants to unscramble them/

I'll try not to be so forgetful/lazy and will login to my regular account for these posts.

1. jolly

2. fusion

3. fuji

I recall somebody else trying this, but let me try the “ordered list” from the toolbar.

1. jolly
2. fusion
3. fuji
4. perk

1. jolly

2. fusion

3. fuji

4. perk

5. murks

1. jolly

2. fusion

3. fuji

4. perk

5. murks

6. golem

little things? little golem? little island? little reaction? perk is maybe a little incentive

Well, fuji is not Fiji. Haha, my mistake on that part.

Creative, Ryan! But you need to look elsewhere.

1. jolly

2. fusion

3. fuji

4. perk

5. murks

6. golem

7. shun

8. layout

1. jolly

2. fusion

3. fuji

4. perk

5. murks

6. golem

7. shun

8. layout

9. cheer

10. aped

11. cold

12. frog

Hint: Syntactic.

1. jolly

2. fusion

3. fuji

4. perk

5. murks

6. golem

7. shun

8. layout

9. cheer

10. aped

11. cold

12. frog

13. opal

14. step

As another hint I've rearranged the order of the clues.

1. cheer

2. jolly

1. fusion

4. layout

5. aped

6. fuji

1. perk

2. shun

9. golem

10. murks

11. cold

12. frog

13. opal

14. step

15. dolt

16. grow

Ah, now that you've reordered them, I see that each pair of words consists of a word and a Caesar cipher of that word.

Correct! (Though you just taught me the term “Caesar cipher”.) It seems there are not so many pairs that are made from common words as I thought there would be. With the word list I am using there are just a bit over 300 pairs, and only one triple: aped, fuji, pets. And even this word list pushes the limits of what a common word is. For example, what do you think of some of these pairs: (ywca, cage), (xvii, tree), (swop, wast) ?

I guess you considered only words with 4+ letters? because I can find easily many more with 3.

Simple example:    add,  bee, ill, loo

Good point. I forgot what I had done! Words with fewer than 4 letters didn't seem very interesting to me.

I could count up the 3-letter (and 2-letter?) ones this evening if there's any interest.

twine

twirl

twist

Okay, I'll be the first one to fall into the trap. 5 letter words beginning with “twi”…

Would you believe me if I said “yes”?

twine

twirl

twist

tongue

ear

twine

twirl

twist

tongue

ear

butterfly

stripe

twine

twirl

twist

tongue

ear

butterfly

stripe

thread

tape

Is “ears” on the list?

No.  Ears is not on the list.

(Thinking out loud:) This suggests that the rule is not “semantic”: Doesn't depend on the meaning of the word.  Though maybe there is some object that might have one “ear”, but not two “ears”.

Definitely means that the rule does not depend on containing certain letter combinations.

twine

twirl

twist

tongue

ear

butterfly

stripe

thread

tape

spindle

quill

@Art Duval.  As a hint, I will say that it is semantic, more or less (and I suppose that someone could even argue that ears belongs on this list if they wanted to….).

twine

twirl

twist

tongue

ear

butterfly

stripe

thread

tape

spindle

quill

hollow

shell

I hope that doesn't break the formatting.

seems like a lot of pasta words

Ryan is correct…

http://www.disgracesonthemenu.com/2011/06/pasta-names-explained.html

Excellent. I wasn't sure.

Try these…:

Vermin

Destiny

Mojo

Vermin

Destiny

Mojo

Abomination

Gambit

Butterfly

Vermin

Destiny

Mojo

Abomination

Gambit

Butterfly

Tattoo

Storm

Thing

Vermin

Destiny

Mojo

Abomination

Gambit

Butterfly

Tattoo

Storm

Thing

Apocalypse

Hulk

Beast

Are they all Marvel characters? Hulk seems like a nice clue but some of the others seem familiar now

Correct.

http://marvel.com/comics/characters

Nice one, here's another one.

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

4. Shoot

5. Tramp

My turn to fall for the trap: One-syllable ords which begin with t

Very strange.  That isn't what I thought I had sent.  Let's try again:

One-syllable words which begin with “n” consonants or “n” vowels, where “n” is word-length minus 3.

Just a coincidence I'm afraid.

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

4. Shoot

5. Tramp

6. Rhythm

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

4. Shoot

5. Tramp

6. Rhythm

7. Let

8. Basket

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

4. Shoot

5. Tramp

6. Rhythm

7. Let

8. Basket

9. Wrest

10.Bask

Don't know if it means anything, but….basketwrestlelettertrampledresser

So for a lot of these words, we can add two (or three) letters to the end to get a new word, not directly related to the original word (well, dress and dresser is close).  But I don't see how to do it for all the words.

Is this typesetting any better?:

• basket

• wrestle

• letter

• trample

• dresser

You're not a million miles away Art, but that's not what I had in mind. Quite a lot of words would fit that criteria but hopefully #11 is an example of one that doesn't

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

4. Shoot

5. Tramp

6. Rhythm

7. Let

8. Basket

9. Wrest

10.Bask

11.Lifting

12.Water

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

4. Shoot

5. Tramp

6. Rhythm

7. Let

8. Basket

9. Wrest

10.Bask

11.Lifting

12.Water

13.Ten

14.Cling

15.Bad

For many of these words, you can change one letter, often the first letter, often changing it by just one letter in the alphabet, and get a new word.  (But “rhythm” messes up every clever solution I've tried.)  For instance:Eight->Fight

Mint->Lint

Dress->Cress

Shoot->Short

Tramp->Cramp

Rhythm ???

 Let->Met

Basket ->Casket

Wrest->Wrist

Bask->Cask

Lifting->Sifting

Water->Waver

Ten->Tin

Cling->Bling

Bad->Cad

Is “Lift” on the list, or only “Lifting”?

Lift is on the list as well, but I have something more specific in mind than changing the first letter

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

4. Shoot

5. Tramp

6. Rhythm

7. Let

8. Basket

9. Wrest

10.Bask

11.Lifting

12.Water

13.Ten

14.Cling

15.Bad

16.Lift

17.Beach

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

4. Shoot

5. Tramp

6. Rhythm

7. Let

8. Basket

9. Wrest

10.Bask

11.Lifting

12.Water

13.Ten

14.Cling

15.Bad

16.Lift

17.Beach

18.Weight

19.Modern

1.Eight

2.Mint

3.Dress

4. Shoot

5. Tramp

6. Rhythm

7. Let

8. Basket

9. Wrest

10.Bask

11.Lifting

12.Water

13.Ten

14.Cling

15.Bad

16.Lift

17.Beach

18.Weight

19.Modern

20.Sail

21.Hand

Words that are also parts of names of (olympic?) sports?  Basketball, wrestling, tennis, rhythmic gymnastics, modern pentathlon, handball, bad-minton, beach volleyball, bicycling.  A few I can't quite place.

Congratulations, you've got it Art, Olympic sports is exactly what I had in mind. The ones you haven't mentioned are Dressage, Trampolining, Athletics, Weightlifting (covers several of these), Water Polo, Sailing and Handball.

OK, new puzzle.

1. 1. Frankly

2. 2. refuse

3. 3. contender

1. 1. Frankly

2. 2. refuse

3. 3. contender

4. 4. Kansas

5. 5. kid

6. 6. day

There's probably something specific I've missed but I can see some words that are part of famous movie quotes. Frankly my dear, I couldn't give a damn. I made him an offer he couldn't refuse. I could have been a contender. Here's looking at you, kid. After all, tomorrow is another day. I can't recall the exact quote for Kansas but it's from the Wizard of Oz

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

Well done, Richard!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years…100_Movie_Quotes

Sorry, I looked too quickly; of course, it is Martyn who deserves the congratulations!

Thanks Art, here's another one.

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

Citiy names without consecutive vowels.

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Freetown

Sorry, ignore the last post, Freetown does not belong on the list. It turns out that most of the entries don't have consecutive vowels, I was in too much of a rush to find one that does!

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

11.Athens

12.Oslo

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

11.Athens

12.Oslo

13.Addis Ababa

Except for Belmopan, each is both the capital of its country and its largest (most populous) city.  Belmopan is the capital of Belize, whose largest city is Belize City.

All the answers on the list are capital cities, but there's more to it than that. Freetown is the largest city in Sierra Leone but I (accidently) gave away that it isn't on the list. Other examples are Reykjavik and Tokyo, also not on the list.

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

11.Athens

12.Oslo

13.Addis Ababa

14.Panama City (but not Quito)

15.Islamabad (but not New Dehli)

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

11.Athens

12.Oslo

13.Addis Ababa

14.Panama City (but not Quito)

15.Islamabad (but not New Dehli)

16.Jerusalem (but not Jakarta)

17.Stockholm (but not Copenhagen)

Time for a clue, the link isn't necessarily to do with the cities themselves…

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

11.Athens

12.Oslo

13.Addis Ababa

14.Panama City (but not Quito)

15.Islamabad (but not New Dehli)

16.Jerusalem (but not Jakarta)

17.Stockholm (but not Copenhagen)

18.Brasilia (but not Berlin)

19.Warsaw (but not Tallinn)

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

11.Athens

12.Oslo

13.Addis Ababa

14.Panama City (but not Quito)

15.Islamabad (but not New Dehli)

16.Jerusalem (but not Jakarta)

17.Stockholm (but not Copenhagen)

18.Brasilia (but not Berlin)

19.Warsaw (but not Tallinn)

20.Lima (but not Madrid)

21.Ottawa (but not Canberra)

Cities which are national capital cities and contains the country's busiest airport?

It's not that, I've not gone into that much trouble to research the list. Canada's busiest airport is apparently in Toronto rather than Ottawa for example

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

11.Athens

12.Oslo

13.Addis Ababa

14.Panama City (but not Quito)

15.Islamabad (but not New Dehli)

16.Jerusalem (but not Jakarta)

17.Stockholm (but not Copenhagen)

18.Brasilia (but not Berlin)

19.Warsaw (but not Tallinn)

20.Lima (but not Madrid)

21.Ottawa (but not Canberra)

22.Bangkok (but not Beijing)

23.Havana (but not Hanoi)

Anything to do with the sea or a nearby harbour?

It's nothing to do with that Ypercube. No specialist knowledge required, you just need to know which countries the cities are in, the locations aren't important.

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

11.Athens

12.Oslo

13.Addis Ababa

14.Panama City (but not Quito)

15.Islamabad (but not New Dehli)

16.Jerusalem (but not Jakarta)

17.Stockholm (but not Copenhagen)

18.Brasilia (but not Berlin)

19.Warsaw (but not Tallinn)

20.Lima (but not Madrid)

21.Ottawa (but not Canberra)

22.Bangkok (but not Beijing)

23.Havana (but not Hanoi)

24.Dhaka (but not Dakar)

25.Sofia (but not Doha)

1.Baku

2.Harare

3.Lisbon

4.Mexico City

5.Kampala

6.Nicosia

7.Tehran

8.Kuwait City

9.Riga

10.Belmopan

11.Athens

12.Oslo

13.Addis Ababa

14.Panama City (but not Quito)

15.Islamabad (but not New Dehli)

16.Jerusalem (but not Jakarta)

17.Stockholm (but not Copenhagen)

18.Brasilia (but not Berlin)

19.Warsaw (but not Tallinn)

20.Lima (but not Madrid)

21.Ottawa (but not Canberra)

22.Bangkok (but not Beijing)

23.Havana (but not Hanoi)

24.Dhaka (but not Dakar)

25.Sofia (but not Doha)

26.Paris (but not Rome)

27.Ljubljana (but not Tirana)

Capitals of countries with even number of letters in thier (country) name?

Sorry, Lima doesn't fit in the above.

Oh yes, it does fit. I confused Chile with Peru!

Well done Ypercube, that's it. I deliberately stuck with one word countries as well to avoid any ambiguity, but realised I'd need to give examples of cities not on the list as well.

Next game:

snow

tree

fire

snow

tree

fire

football

Christmas?

Ball ?

No, nothing to do with Christmas or balls.

snow

tree

fire

football

music

It seems it isn't as easy as I thought.

snow

tree

fire

football

music

beer

sea

The 2014 opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi?

No, nothing to do with Olympics. Or Russia.

Although I can't verify it completely right now, I think these were the first Game of Empathy topics.  (It used to be possible to see all Empathy games, ever, I think.)  But I was somehow remembering “snow” was the first topic, and then I was able to check, through searching the forum, that “snow”, “tree”, and “fire” were the very first three topics, in order.

@Art Duval, congrats! This is the correct answer.

The first 10 topics, in order:

snow

tree

fire

football

music

beer

sea

mathematics

sky

computer

And a link to the 10th game:

Date: February 7, 2006\
\
Expression: computer\
\
Number of players: 92

New puzzle in another day or two, once I'm done grading final exams.

1. 1. Elizabeth

2. 2. New York

3. 3. diamonds

1. 1. Elizabeth

2. 2. New York

3. 3. diamonds

4. 4. JFK

5. 5. Aretha Franklin

Sorry for the double numbering, still getting a hang for how to do numbered lists, it looks like.

1. Elizabeth

2. New York

3. diamonds

4. JFK

5. Aretha Franklin

6. pawn

7. number theory

1. Elizabeth

2. New York

3. diamonds

4. JFK

5. Aretha Franklin

6. pawn

7. number theory

8. Isabella

9. Bunkers

1. Elizabeth

2. New York

3. diamonds

4. JFK

5. Aretha Franklin

6. pawn

7. number theory

8. Isabella

9. Bunkers

1. Elizabeth

2. New York

3. diamonds

4. JFK

5. Aretha Franklin

6. pawn

7. number theory

8. Isabella

9. Bunkers

Queens? Can't see a link with them all. Pawns promote. Queen of diamonds in cards. Queen of Soul. Queens, the city. Queen Isabella

Yes!

Queens is a borough of New York, where JFK airport is located.  Also, the television show All in the Family, about Archie Bunker and his family, was set there. Finally, Gauss said that number theory is the queen of mathematics (and that mathematics is the queen of the sciences).

Excellent. Let's try this one:

1. Mobile

2. Cell

3. Test

'T'

That's right! I wondered if it was going to be too easy. But that was faster than I expected for sure. Good job.

1.  Acquiesce

2. Cockamamy

3. Ecossaise

1. Acquiesce

2. Cockamamy

3.  Ecossaise

4.  Muckamuck

5.  Kaikomako

1.  Acquiesce

2.  Cockamamy

3.  Ecossaise

4.  Muckamuck

5.  Kaikomako

6.  Coseismic

7.  Mosaicism

Names on/of Christmas music disks?

Nope.  Interesting guess, though….

1.  Acquiesce

2.  Cockamamy

3.  Ecossaise

4.  Muckamuck

5.  Kaikomako

6.  Coseismic

7.  Mosaicism

8.  Caciquism

9 letter words? One of these days it will be something simple like this…

9 letter words with repeated vowels and consonants? (slightly less simple)

Sorry, I forgot to update it:

1.  Acquiesce

2.  Cockamamy

3.  Ecossaise

4.  Muckamuck

5.  Kaikomako

6.  Coseismic

7.  Mosaicism

8.  Caciquism

9.  Misogamic (but not Witticism nor Trinitrin)

As an extra hint, I've only got one 9-letter word left, although if I run out, I may start allowing longer ones…..

Words composed only of odd-ranked letters.

Hum why not Acosmisms or Causeways, I must miss something.

Carroll is correct, (and I forgot that I eliminated words ending with an 'S').

Nice!

1. French

2. Long

3. Red

1. French

2. Long

3. Red

4. Smelly

5. Hairy

Beans?

Nope ;)  they are English…

1. French

2. Long

3. Red

4. Smelly

5. Hairy

6. Meaningless

1. French

2. Long

3. Red

4. Smelly

5. Hairy

6. Meaningless

7. Infinite

Okay, let get things started.  Adjectives?

Yes, but somewhat special ones.

1. French

2. Long

3. Red

4. Smelly

5. Hairy

6. Meaningless

7. Infinite

8. Counterfeit

1. French

2. Long

3. Red

4. Smelly

5. Hairy

6. Meaningless

7. Infinite

8. Counterfeit

9. Extraterrestrial

1. French

2. Long

3. Red

4. Smelly

5. Hairy

6. Meaningless

7. Infinite

8. Counterfeit

9. Extraterrestrial

10. Adjective

1. French

2. Long

3. Red

4. Smelly

5. Hairy

6. Meaningless

7. Infinite

8. Counterfeit

9. Extraterrestrial

10. Adjective

11. Quadrisyllabic

Words that do not describe itself e.g. “long” is a short word, “meaningless” has a meaning, “quadrisyllabic” has more than four syllables, etc.

Congrats, heterological words, would heterological be on the list?

Ha! My brain explodes when I try to figure that out :-)

Here's the new one:

1. Harare

2. Washington D.C.

3. Paramaribo

Capitals?

Yes, but there's more to it.

1. Harare

2. Washington D.C.

3. Paramaribo

4. Bucharest

5. Berlin

6. Paris

7. Amsterdam

1. Harare

2. Washington D.C.

3. Paramaribo

4. Bucharest

5. Berlin

6. Paris

7. Amsterdam

8. Islamabad

9. Beirut

10. Tbilisi

11. Manama

1. Harare

2. Washington D.C.

3. Paramaribo

4. Bucharest

5. Berlin

6. Paris

7. Amsterdam

8. Islamabad

9. Beirut

10. Tbilisi

11. Manama

12. Belgrade

13. Beijing

14. Canberra

I don't know if romei wants to continue the one from last January.  I think we reached the point where he needed to give us a few non-examples.

In the mean time, I've got a quickie.  There are only four members of this “category” so I'll give them one at a time:

1.  Flexibly resilient

I just realized that two items are needed in order to really create a category…..  Next one is in roughly 24 hours.

1.  Flexibly resilient

2.  Executive brief

1.  Flexibly resilient

2.  Executive brief

3.  Absurd Endeavor

1.  Flexibly resilient

2.  Executive brief

3.  Absurd Endeavor

4.  Icily Cold

I think it's time for this thread to go dormant again.

If someone asks for a hint, I'll give one.  Otherwise, I'll just leave this as a puzzle for people to stumble across in the future….

For whatever reason threads like this (also word association game, word pairs, etc.) all seemed to go dormant when the new site format was introduced.