Logogriphs
| No. of Players: | 2+ |
| Type of Game: | written |
| What you need: | pen and paper |
Goal
To find a word from clues given for anagrams of that word.
How to play
A logogriph is a word game in which clues are given to words whose letters are taken from letter combinations of a mystery word. Gamemasters will create these puzzles to challenge other players to be the first to solve the clues and correctly guess the mystery word. The first to do so becomes the next gamemaster. Often, these puzzles are presented in prose or verse form. But they are more easily made as a simple list of clues.
Example
Angus creates the following logogriph puzzle:
The 8-letter mystery word is what Jack the Ripper would do.
| (1) | letters in positions 4,5,6,7,8,1 is a group of fishermen |
| (2) | 7,4,3,6,8,1,2 is the biggest |
| (3) | 1,2,3,4,5,6,8 is odd |
| (4) | 4,5,6,8,7,1 dance on a pinhead |
| (5) | 4,5,6,7,8,1 come in 45 and 90 degrees |
| (6) | Ulysses S. 6,3,4,5,2 |
| (7) | 6,5,4,2 is a small winged fly |
| (8) | 1,4,5,6 is the past tense of 'sing' |
| (9) | t-shirts have them, and kids play it: 2,4,6 |
| (10) | fuel for automobiles: 6,4,1 |
Solution:
The mystery word is STRANGLE.
| (1) | ANGLERS |
| (2) | LARGEST |
| (3) | STRANGE |
| (4) | ANGELS |
| (5) | ANGLES |
| (6) | GRANT |
| (7) | GNAT |
| (8) | SANG |
| (9) | TAG |
| (10) | GAS |
Did you know?
The 'canonical five' is the name given to the five victims believed to have been killed by Jack the Ripper. But some historians argue the serial killer murdered up to 6 additional prostitutes. This occurred in London between 1888 and 1891, after which the murders curiously stopped.
Other curious facts include how the killer left absolutely no evidence for the police to find. And how no one ever witnessed the brutal murders. How could these attacks happen in the busy neighborhood of Whitechapel without anyone seeing anything?
Trevor Marriott, a retired British Police murder squad detective, thinks he knows the answer. Beginning in 2002 he conducted an extensive cold case investigation. His conclusion is that Jack the Ripper never existed! He reasons that when the police failed to solve the murders, they falsified the story to deal with the public pressure they were facing. Maybe it was all a hoax?
In case you're wondering, the images under the title of this word game form a rebus puzzle:
LOW + GO + GRAPHS - A + I = LOGOGRIPHS
