CISRA Puzzle Competition 2007 - Solutions

This is the archive of the 2007 Puzzle Competition. Please visit the current competition site for information about the latest Puzzle Competition.

D.1 Beginnings

Intuitive leap: When the missing letters are filled in, each column forms three words: a three-letter word, a four-letter word, and a five-letter word.

We need to find five-letter words in each column such that the last four letters and last three letters of each five-letter word are also words. Some words which fit in each column are:

• stray/spray/splay
• amuse
• clamp/cramp/scamp/tramp/blimp
• odour
• tepee
• aloft/cleft/craft/draft/graft/shaft
• grasp
• abode/anode/erode

An anagramming program may help to find these words. (Note that other more obscure words are possible, if using an unabridged dictionary.)

The first letters of each five-letter word form the following:

sa[bct]ot[acdgs]g[ae]

The only word matching this pattern is the solution: SABOTAGE