1. puz-word-and-letter-01: Furniture in five letters · Difficulty 1
The letters A, B, E, L and T can be rearranged to spell a common five-letter word. That word names a piece of furniture. Which word is it?
- BLEAT
- TABLE
- CHAIR
- BLAME
Answer:
Puzzles are an untimed educational and entertainment activity. They are not a clinical, diagnostic, standardized, or professionally recognized assessment. Solving puzzles here does not produce an IQ score and cannot be used for Mensa qualification, diagnosis, giftedness identification, educational placement, employment selection, disability applications, accommodations, legal matters, or medical decisions. Puzzle items are never used as unseen scored questions in any Novus Learn assessment.
Work the ladder in order. The early puzzles apply one transformation to a short word; the last few compose two rules or run a mirrored alphabet, and reward writing the steps down. Nothing here is timed and nothing is scored, so read the explanation after every attempt, including the ones you get right: the method it names is the part that carries over to the next puzzle. Paper and pencil help on the letter series, though none of these puzzles needs them.
Choose one answer for each item. Keep the authored hints, answer key, and worked explanations separate until you are ready to check your work.
Start here and establish the method before moving up the ladder.
1. puz-word-and-letter-01: Furniture in five letters · Difficulty 1
The letters A, B, E, L and T can be rearranged to spell a common five-letter word. That word names a piece of furniture. Which word is it?
Answer:
2. puz-word-and-letter-02: One step at a time · Difficulty 1
Every letter in this series stands one step further along the alphabet than the letter before it. Which letter belongs in the gap?
Letter series, five terms.
Answer:
3. puz-word-and-letter-03: Three of a kind · Difficulty 1
Three of these words belong to the same everyday category. Which word does not belong with the other three?
Answer:
4. puz-word-and-letter-04: Same meaning, second pair · Difficulty 1
BEGIN is to START as FINISH is to which word?
Answer:
5. puz-word-and-letter-05: Hidden across the gap · Difficulty 1
A six-letter everyday word is hidden in this sentence: Kindly ask for estimates today. Its letters run in order, straight across the space between two adjacent words. Which word is hidden?
Answer:
Continue in order; use the worked explanations from earlier rungs when needed.
6. puz-word-and-letter-06: Two steps, alternating · Difficulty 2
The gaps between these letters are not all the same size. Which letter belongs in the gap?
Letter series, six terms.
Answer:
7. puz-word-and-letter-07: Seven letters, one room · Difficulty 2
The letters C, E, H, I, K, N and T can be rearranged to spell a common seven-letter word naming the room in which meals are cooked. Which word is it?
Answer:
8. puz-word-and-letter-08: Opposites in pairs · Difficulty 2
ANCIENT is to MODERN as SHALLOW is to which word?
Answer:
9. puz-word-and-letter-09: Look at the spelling · Difficulty 2
Three of these words share a feature of their spelling that has nothing to do with meaning. Which word lacks that feature?
Answer:
10. puz-word-and-letter-10: One letter changed · Difficulty 2
Which word can be made from HEAT by changing exactly one letter and leaving the other three letters where they are?
Answer:
11. puz-word-and-letter-11: The word in the middle · Difficulty 2
Which word makes an ordinary compound word both when it follows SUN and when it comes before HOUSE?
Answer:
Continue in order; use the worked explanations from earlier rungs when needed.
12. puz-word-and-letter-12: Pairs on the move · Difficulty 3
Each term in this series is a pair of letters. Which pair belongs in the gap?
Letter pairs, five terms.
Answer:
13. puz-word-and-letter-13: Part and whole · Difficulty 3
PETAL is to FLOWER as PAGE is to which word?
Answer:
14. puz-word-and-letter-14: Seven letters, one meaning · Difficulty 3
Rearrange all seven of the letters A, D, E, I, L, S and T into one word meaning the small points of a plan or description. Which word uses exactly these letters?
Answer:
15. puz-word-and-letter-15: Vowels and consonants · Difficulty 3
Three of these words share the same pattern of vowels and consonants. Which word does not share it?
Answer:
16. puz-word-and-letter-16: Two steps between words · Difficulty 3
CAST becomes COAT in two steps. Each step changes exactly one letter, leaves the other letters in place, and must produce a real word. What is the word in between?
Answer:
17. puz-word-and-letter-17: Hidden over three words · Difficulty 3
An eight-letter everyday word is hidden in this sentence: They watch and someone waves back. Its letters run in order across three consecutive words. Which word is hidden?
Answer:
Continue in order; use the worked explanations from earlier rungs when needed.
18. puz-word-and-letter-18: Numbers in, letters out · Difficulty 4
Replace each letter of COLD with its position in the alphabet, where A is 1 and Z is 26. Add 3 to every number, then turn the numbers back into letters. Which word do you get?
Answer:
19. puz-word-and-letter-19: Instrument and measure · Difficulty 4
A RULER is to LENGTH as a THERMOMETER is to which word?
Answer:
20. puz-word-and-letter-20: A phrase in nine letters · Difficulty 4
The letters B, B, G, H, I, L, L, T and U can be rearranged into an everyday two-word phrase for something that lights a room. Which phrase uses exactly those nine letters?
Answer:
21. puz-word-and-letter-21: A step that grows · Difficulty 4
The gaps in this series are neither all equal nor repeating. Which letter belongs in the gap?
Letter series, six terms.
Answer:
22. puz-word-and-letter-22: The rule applied twice · Difficulty 4
Apply this two-part rule to PLANT: first swap the two letters at the front, then move the letter now at the end to the front. Apply the whole rule a second time to the result. Which string do you finish with?
Answer:
Continue in order; use the worked explanations from earlier rungs when needed.
23. puz-word-and-letter-23: Three conditions at once · Difficulty 5
Which word satisfies all three conditions? It has exactly seven letters; its first and last letters are the same; and it contains exactly three vowels, no two of them next to each other. Count A, E, I, O and U as vowels and treat Y as a consonant.
Answer:
24. puz-word-and-letter-24: Forward and mirrored · Difficulty 5
Two different runs are interleaved in this series. Which letter belongs in the gap?
Letter series, eight terms.
Answer:
25. puz-word-and-letter-25: Two steps in order · Difficulty 5
In the chain WINDOW to GLASS to SAND, the first step names what the object is made of and the second step names the raw material that substance is made from. Apply the same two steps, in the same order, to a wooden table. Where does the chain end?
Answer: