Brain Teasers
Jangle in the Jungle
Add a different set of three letters to each of the following words to create a list of new words. The three-letter additions all have something in common. What are the new words, and how are the three-letter additions related?
EASE
GIN
HEM
ICE
ON
OPUS
RILE
TIC
EASE
GIN
HEM
ICE
ON
OPUS
RILE
TIC
Hint
MENTATION is another.Answer
DECEASEMARGIN
MAYHEM
NOVICE
APRON
OCTOPUS
FEBRILE
SEPTIC
Each of the three-letter additions is the common three-letter abbreviation for the months of the year (DEC, MAR, MAY, etc). AUG completes the hint word.
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Comments
nice.but opus is too obvious that it makes the teaser quite easy
Jan 05, 2005
Awesome!
Very good teaser. Shame the remaining months couldn't fit
Thanks for the feedback. The title covers Jan(uary) and Jun(e) and the hint is of course Aug(ust). The only one I couldn't make fit was Jul(y). Not many words start with Jul. Any suggestions?
Who Knew?
That was tough! Thanks for posting!
I can think of names that start with JUL but as for words...my well runs dry. Sorry!
The quiz was absolutely amazing! I am inclined to agree, that OPUS helped a bit, however I, thinking along math lines, thought it was geometry-as in HEX, SEPT, OCT, NON, and DEC-the beginnings of polygons! I got DEC-it's the same as December, but missed the others. Great quiz anyway! I like this logic!!
The quiz was absolutely amazing! I am inclined to agree, that OPUS helped a bit, however I, thinking along math lines, thought it was geometry-as in HEX, SEPT, OCT, NON, and DEC-the beginnings of polygons! I got DEC-it's the same as December, but missed the others. Great quiz anyway! I like this logic!!
Very cool . Very challenging, too!
Julep (as in mint) or Julienne (as in fries) could suffice for July and Junction could be for June. Really interesting teaser. I gave it high marks.
Not my cup of tea. I was flummoxed.
But if you take the jul off of julep and the jun from junction, you don't really have two words left.
This teaser is quite clever, I think.
This teaser is quite clever, I think.
Doh!
I looked at the answer too soon. I think I would have finally figured it out if I'd worked on it a little longer. Good one! Thanks!
great teaser
You lost me completely. The way the explanation went sounded like you wanted the three letters at the end and I could find nothing that worked. A better guidance would have been to say add three letters at the beginning of each to make a new word. Sorry! Just my opinion.
I agree in part with Babe; I was unsure at first whether to add at the beginning, end or what. When I saw OCT-OPUS, though, it all clicked and I was able to complete the puzzle easily.
JUN-KING or JUN-TA would have been valid additions for June. January yields only the obscure JAN-IZAR, JAN-TIER and JAN-TIES, and July is impossible (using the Collins Scrabble Words lexicon) to fit in to the puzzle.
JUN-KING or JUN-TA would have been valid additions for June. January yields only the obscure JAN-IZAR, JAN-TIER and JAN-TIES, and July is impossible (using the Collins Scrabble Words lexicon) to fit in to the puzzle.
OCT-OPUS was the word that got me started, too. I enjoyed this teaser very much.
Great job! It would definitely have been harder w/o Octopus, but I think that it would then have been too hard and I might not have gotten it. In the end, I felt it was the perfect balance, plus even after I figured it out (from Oct and May), it was still some work to figure out the rest. Definitely one of my favorites!
Brilliant...and fun... thx
Add 3 letters TO THE FRONT would have clarified the instructions.
Thanks for the feedback. What others have suggested, like you Spikethru, are other words which begin with JUL. However, the teaser is such that the letters PRIOR to adding the month prefix are ALSO WORDS. In other words, Junta doesn't work because TA is not a word. Could have been more specific about the letters being added at the beginning. Thanks for the suggestion.
I thought it had something to do with a jungle.
Thanks for the feedback. stm8r. I understood the concept of the puzzle. I apologise if TA is not familiar to you, but it is a common British shortening of 'thank you' (and a perfectly acceptable word in Scrabble, even in the US ).
Great job with the teaser.
Great job with the teaser.
nicely done
I got 3/8. Margin, mayhem, & octopus. Still did not give me a clue.
Superb idea. I'd have put them in order though, e.g Jan, Feb, Mar, etc.
Most - in fact, all the difficulty arose from wasted time from not knowing if it was allowed to add the set of three letters always to the front, always to the end, either one, or even if they could be split and-or mixed within the given word like polICE, TICket, scHEMe or cOrNy.
To be fair, once this is known, it's all too easy once you look at ---OPUS.
To be fair, once this is known, it's all too easy once you look at ---OPUS.
Love this. It is so well crafted and such a creative idea. Changing the instructions or the ordering of the words would make it easier, not better. If you get stuck, then there is a hint that makes it pretty clear the three letters come at the beginning.
This is going in my list of favorites. Simply outstanding.
This is going in my list of favorites. Simply outstanding.
Got them all except OCTOPUS!
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