Acrostical enigma
Through an alphabetical quirk, the first puzzle in our list is also among the hardest to master. If you’re reading this Guide for the first time, we recommend learning about the other flat types first, returning here when you’ve had more practice.
The solution to an acrostical enigma, or AE for short, is a word or phrase. This solution is divided into chunks of two or more letters each; each chunk is clued in a different couplet in an unusual way. The chunk plus the first two or more letters of the couplet form a word or phrase (called the “part-word”) that is clued somewhere within the couplet itself. A final couplet clues the entire solution.
In part A, the letters afi plus the letters re from the beginning of the couplet form the part-word afire, which is clued by “burning”. The first chunk of the solution is afi.
The remaining part-words are: ci|gar (“smoke”), on|ion (“tearjerker”), ado|red (“beloved”). Putting all the chunks together—afi, ci, on, ado—produces the solution: aficionado (clued by “fan” in the final couplet).
In an AE, only the full solution is enumerated. Both the part-words and the full solution are tagged when necessary, and hyphenated words or phrases among the part-words are noted. If a part-word needs a * or ^, it will appear before the label on that couplet.
Misleading clues are common in acrostical enigmas. Be on guard for words that have other meanings (like “fan” in the above example) or that can be used as parts of speech other than those used in the verse.
Definitions can be phrases, too. In one acrostical enigma, the solution was bodhisattva, and the definition (“future Buddha”) was concealed in this final couplet:
Punctuation may be misleading. In one acrostical enigma (with a verse about the Three Stooges), the solution was pertussis, and the definition (“whooping cough”) was deceptively hidden in this final couplet:
The entire couplet may indicate the solution or part-word, rather than any single word or phrase, as in this couplet clueing by-pro|duct:
The gnus here are a by-product of the gin and so refer to the part-word. This sort of clue isn’t used often; almost always the couplet has a direct definition of the part-word.
Also used are couplets that clue by example, as iambic hexameter lines clueing alexandrines, or a line with “he brung” clueing solecism. Sometimes, there is no final couplet; this means the entire verse is the clue. For example:
The parts here are ru|in (damage), nonsen|se (trifles), ten|der (young), ce|iling (limit). The answer, run-on sentence, is clued by the verse as a whole.
However misleading a definition may be, it must match the word or phrase it defines in number, tense, case, and so forth. The definition for aver|age can be “mean”, as in “A gentle smile can mean a lot,” or “Aged men, mean-spirited”. But the definition can’t be “means” or “meaning” or “meant”. If the definition is “means”, as in “A gesture means a lot,” then the part-word had better be aver|ages.
At least two letters of each part-word’s root must start the couplet; for example, there should be three if one letter is just a plural -s or a past-tense –d, four with plural –es or past-tense –ed, five with –ing. “Edna loved a bonny lad” is poor help for a solver looking for ador|ed; “Espy the animals” is an equally stingy clue for mul|es.
In some AEs, a single line or a quatrain is used for each clue instead of a couplet.
In the double acrostical enigma, the same puzzle leads to two different solutions. An example:
The first solution is French: fr|ame (form), en|demic (local), ch|ant (song). The second is English: en|amel (paint), gli|de (float), sh|anty (song). In this case both solutions share the same clue (“something Canadians spout when they’re vocal”), but this is not a requirement in general.
In the reversed acrostical enigma, the solution is reversed before being broken into its chunks, so that the solver must put the pieces together and then reverse the whole thing to read the solution. For example, the solution pertussis might be broken into the chunks sis, sut, and rep, and then clued in couplets as usual (with the A couplet clueing sis|ter, and so on).
The phonetic acrostical enigma is rarely seen in practice. There are two separate parts of the puzzle that are phonetic: each part-word must overlap the start of the couplet phonetically and not literally, and the final solution must be a homonym of the sequence of part-word elements. For example, the part-words cycloid, keyhole and naughtiness might be clued by “curve”, “intimate”, and “terrible”, respectively. This would be phonetic if the first words of each part-verse were “cloyed”, “wholesome”, and “Enos”. The part-word elements then combine, also phonetically, to give “Psyche knot” (a hairstyle). The example below is likewise phonetic in both respects.
The solution: foment (stir up), network (commune), ichthyology (fish science), acclaim (kudos), rostrum (platform), ticker tape (printout of some New York stocks), culinary (cooking), ignoble (base), mummers (actors). The initial chunks combine to pronounce phonetic acrostical enigma (this flat). (Normally it would be a problem that this answer also appears as a title; the editor deemed it whimsical in this case, and the final couplet references “the error that cannot be named” (TETCBN), which is when a word in a puzzle’s solution appears in the puzzle itself.)
Seealso diastichal enigma, omnistichal enigma, telestichal enigma.