Today’s teasers come from pub quiz legend, Only Connect champion, and wizard of wordplay Frank Paul.
One of his fortes is puzzles based on letter or word patterns, such as the ones below.
1. Grr! Ooo!
Here each answer is a pair of words spelt identically except that three consecutive consonants in the first answer have been replaced by three consecutive vowels in the second answer
Example: In a gentle way; social environment.
Answer: mildly, milieu
1. Splits open; writing desk
2. Good qualities; requiring much exertion
3. Peers; a nephew of Donald Duck
2. Strip tease
Here each answer is three words (or names), in which the first and last letter of the first word are removed to make the second, and the first and last letter of the second word are removed to make the third.
Example: Definitive, Indian drink, dolt
Answer: Classic, lassi, ass
1. Astronomical event, fastens, body part
2. Most cheerful, relatives, detach
3. Most ostentatiously bold, red areas, only Black man to win a Wimbledon singles title
3. Word loop
It’s easiest to explain this one by showing an answer:
“Hold forth, forthwith, withhold.”
The answer is of the form AB, BC, CA, where A, B and C are individual words, in this case, hold, forth and with.
The question was: “Talk at length; immediately; keep back”
Find the AB, BC, CA answer to
1. Disadvantage; minor circus attraction or distracting spectacle; decisive confrontation
2. Buttocks; an item used by skirt-wearing equestrians; a breed of pig
3. Bit by bit, or in an unsystematic and fragmentary way; typically shortly after waking, around midday or in the evening; a clock or watch
4. Rats!
Find the three hidden numbers next to each other in this piece of writing. (They are not 4, 6 and 3.)
This final puzzle is taken from Frank’s latest book, Spin Off: Choose your puzzle-filled path to TV stardom, which is a charming and original (and a little bit bonkers) puzzle book that is also a choose-your-own-path adventure. Readers of this column will, I’m sure, be receiving many copies of this book for Christmas!
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution. NO SPOILERS. Please add more Frank Paul-style word puzzles below.
Spin Off: Choose your puzzle-filled path to TV stardom is available on the Guardian Bookshop.
I’ve been setting a puzzle here on alternate Mondays since 2015. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
