Zany (But Not-So-Brainy) Word Nerd

I’m on a particular self-imposed geocaching quest – to complete the Florida-Style Alphabet Soup Challenge using nothing but puzzle caches.

I mentioned this quest to lorriebird and that I had no caches (neither found nor unfound) that I could use for the letters K or Z. Since she knew that I would be traveling to her area soon for an event cache, she graciously hid two appropriately-named puzzle caches for me to find – Ken(Ken) Moves to Naples and Zany Brainy Word Nerd (aka ZBWN).

I zipped through KenKen fairly quickly and took a cursory look at ZBWN. I tried a few ideas that have worked in other caches, but I couldn’t discover a pattern that made sense to me. I put it aside and went onto a few other caches, returning to ZWBN every now and then.

But as the weeks went by, I started to panic: “What if I don’t solve it before the event? Unless I figure it out, I’m going to be the laughing stock of every puzzlehead south of I-4!” And yet, other people seemed to be cracking it in mere seconds – every Found It log entry on ZBWN that claimed how easily each cacher solved it deflated my oversized ego more and more.

Finally, after the event cache and just as I was about to leave, one of the other cachers asked if he could give me a hint for ZBWN. I finally broke down and said yes, only to discover that I had the solution in front of me the entire time – it was one of the very first things I tried – and I was too blind to see it.

In my defense, I had a very good reason – it was because I’ve attempted too many puzzles like it in the past and they clouded my opinion of what the solution would be.

Below are 12 examples of just the sort of puzzle that kept me from solving ZBWN without a hint. I would strongly recommend that you solve ZBWN first before tackling these, or you will be as lost in the weeds as I was.

Good luck!

The Last Word

Each of the 12 sets of words below has a common denominator, some unusual factor that is shared by the six words in the set. It’s up to you to determine what that factor is and identify which one of the three words after the list has it, too.

For example, given SEXES, MOM, DEIFIED, LEVEL, POP, and REDDER, with choices DIVINED, ROTATOR, and STARTS, you’d pick ROTATOR: All the words are spelled the same forward and back.

For how many of the following sets can you get the last word?

1. SETTEE, RACCOON, EMBARRASS, APPELLATION, BASSOON, SUFFRAGETTE
a. BEDROOM   b. PROPELLER   c. EGGSHELL   Show Answer ▼

2. TEA, EYE, SEA, QUEUE, ARE, WHY
a. YOU   b. ATE   c. WEE   Show Answer ▼

3. MUSEUM, EARLOBE, YEARLY, SEAMSTRESS, WILLOW, DOODAD
a. COCOON   b. ERASER   c. TABLET   Show Answer ▼

4. YOUTH, THEMATIC, USHER, SHEIK, ITALICS, MEDIUM
a. THEATER   b. WEEVIL   c. DOMESTIC   Show Answer ▼

5. GIGGLING, REARRANGER, ASSESS, MINIMIZING, DIDDLED, PIZZAZZ
a. DEEDED   b. INTERMITTENT   c. CANDIDACY   Show Answer ▼

6. REVILED, STRESSED, REPAID, STAR, DRAWER, PARTS
a. VILE   b. REGARD   c. STINK   Show Answer ▼

7. PREVIEW, TALLOW, SELECTION, GOLDEN, BRAIDED, CLAMP
a. TRACING   b. CASHEW   c. CONVERT   Show Answer ▼

8. CIVIC, LIVID, MIX, MILL, VIVID, DILL
a. MIMIC   b. LICIT   c. MINIM   Show Answer ▼

9. BANANA, DEMONIC, FICKLE, HUMBUG, JABORANDI, LUCK
a. NEMESIS   b. NUDISM   c. MEGATION   Show Answer ▼

10. GEL, GROUP, PLACE, FIXED, RESOLUTE, ADJUST
a. USELESS   b. COLLECTION   c. AFGHAN   Show Answer ▼

11. RING, TOPS, MANATEE, WINDLESS, EARTH, ANGER
a. MATTER   b. TUNES   c. OUGHT   Show Answer ▼

12. ACCEPT, BEGINS, ABHORS, CHINOS, BILLOW, EFFORT
a. ALMOST   b. BEFORE   c. CENSOR   Show Answer ▼