# GAME: Word game- Guess my Password **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 17, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772 "2014-09-17T22:34:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/1 "2014-09-17T22:34:57Z")
I’m always forgetting my passwords, but I’m afraid to write them down in plain text. I leave myself two hints, one plain hint and another hint that’s obfuscated by a number of steps. I start with one word in step 1 and by adding, deleting, shifting, or replacing letters, I go through steps to reveal my second password hint. Using the plain clue and the decrypted second clue, I try to remember my password. Note: my password is _not_ the second clue. Can you follow the cryptic instructions below to help me remember my password? First clue: “Enterprising” Second clue: 1. The study of plants 2. Add New Mexico’s region in the center. 3. Delete DC’s most famous Portuguese resident. 4. Invert Hanes’s plain whites. 5. On the border, insert “Fwd”, Twitter-style. 6. Delete the state w/ the most populous US city. 7. After a road text, add the most common English letter. 8. Start with a tax agency. 9. Promote bronze to gold. Password: \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ ? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/2 "2014-09-17T22:36:40Z")
BTW, this was my first attempt at this. I’d like feedback on what you thought. I have three more puzzles if there’s interest. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/3 "2014-09-18T02:44:42Z")
I’m pretty sure I got it…spoilered for your protection:[spoiler] 1. The study of plants **botany** 2. Add New Mexico’s region in the center. I assume that’s ‘sw’ (Southwest), so we have **botswany** 3. Delete DC’s most famous Portuguese resident. Removing ‘Bo’ gives us **tswany** 4. Invert Hanes’s plain whites. ‘plain whites’= ‘ts’. **stwany** 5. On the border, insert “Fwd”, Twitter-style. a quick Google search told me that a Twitter-style ‘fwd’ is ‘rt’ (retweet), but I didn’t know what ‘on the border’ meant here…putting it at the beginning didn’t seem to do much; putting it at the end gave **stwanyrt** 6. Delete the state w/ the most populous US city. 'that would be ‘ny’, so we remove that: **stwart** 7. After a road text, add the most common English letter. i’m guessing ‘road text’=‘st’, so that gives us **stewart** 8. Start with a tax agency. ‘irs’ at the front? **irsstewart** 9. Promote bronze to gold. bronze isn’t an element, so there’s no ‘xx’-\>‘au’ transition…are we looking for a ‘third’-\>‘first’? No, we move the third character to the beginning. **sirstewart** Along with the first clue, that gives us **Patrick** [/spoiler] I’m assuming that because ‘Enterprising’ is capitalized, that the first character of the password is capitalized as well. So…as soon as you PM me your credit card number, I guess I’ll know if I’m right 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/4 "2014-09-18T02:51:33Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/5 "2014-09-18T09:41:50Z")
Without looking at the spoilered answer, I’ll take a crack at some of these - I don’t know the answers to enough of the steps to get the whole thing though: 1. The study of plants - must be BOTANY I think. 2. Add New Mexico’s region in the center. - not sure what region New Mexico is considered to be in. 3. Delete DC’s most famous Portuguese resident. - no idea. 4. Invert Hanes’s plain whites. - no idea. 5. On the border, insert “Fwd”, Twitter-style. - no idea. 6. Delete the state w/ the most populous US city. - New York, so delete NY? Or is LA more populous, so delete CA? Or even IN if the answer is Chicago? 7. After a road text, add the most common English letter. - E. 8. Start with a tax agency. - I, as in the start of IRS? 9. Promote bronze to gold. - change BR to AU? No, wait - Br is the chemical symbol for Bromine, Bronze of course is not an element - so I think this means move the third letter to the start of the word. On checking the spoiler, seems I did OK, but got nowhere near the password due to missing too many steps. Show us the next one! Oh, and can someone explain the answers to 3 and 4 in a bit more detail please? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/7 "2014-09-18T11:43:32Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > So…as soon as you PM me your credit card number, I guess I’ll know if I’m right 😉 You got it! > [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > Oh, and can someone explain the answers to 3 and 4 in a bit more detail please? Bo is the President’s pooch, a Portuguese Water Dog. The plain whites are tee shirts, or “Ts”. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/8 "2014-09-18T20:00:56Z")
**Dead Cat** , Chicago is in IL not IN. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/9 "2014-09-18T21:43:56Z")
Here’s round 2: “Nearer the brine” 1. Like Temple locks (5 letters) 2. Don’t ask me no questions 3. No pickle predecessor repeats 4. Fill with Texas tea 5. Poke out one part, kid. 6. Add an ambulance final destination Password: \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ ? (I tried to make this one harder, but I think I might’ve just made it worse instead) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/10 "2014-09-18T22:57:20Z")
I think you’ve definitely succeeded in making it harder… I think I have a few of the clues, but I’m missing enough that I can’t fill in the blanks, which I was able to do with the first one. [spoiler] 1. Like Temple locks (5 letters) I guessed that this referred to the ‘sideburns’ worn by Orthodox Jews, and Google tells me they are referred to as ‘ **payot** ’ (or peyot, or payos, or peyos, as well as several other non-5-letter variations) 2. Don’t ask me no questions The only thing this brings to mind is the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, the next line being “and I won’t tell you no lies”…but that doesn’t seem likely to be the clue here 3. No pickle predecessor repeats The first hit when I searched for ‘pickle predecessor’ was for the Dill Pickle Club…so perhaps ‘pickle predecessor’ = ‘dill’, and the ‘repeats’ refers to the letter L. If we need to remove all the Ls, that does make the Skynyrd lyric _slightly_ more likely…but only slightly 4. Fill with Texas tea Texas Tea, Black Gold…Oil, that is. so we stick ‘ **oil** ’ in the middle of whatever we have at this point? 5. Poke out one part, kid. I got nothin’ 6. Add an ambulance final destination I’m guessing the ambulance destination is the Emergency Room, so we add ‘ **er** ’ to the end.[/spoiler] Unfortunately, when I put it all together, I’m still a few puzzle pieces short… ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/11 "2014-09-19T02:29:54Z")
I shall give you a hint by providing an anecdote. You’re the second person to think the first line refers to orthodox Jews, which is very far from what I intended. Strangely, their interpretation _still_ produced the right starting word. I would also like to edit it slightly. It’s not “poke out”, it’s “shoot out.” ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/12 "2014-09-19T02:39:28Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I shall give you a hint by providing an anecdote. You’re the second person to think the first line refers to orthodox Jews, which is very far from what I intended. Strangely, their interpretation _still_ produced the right starting word. Thanks for the story…but it helps me not ☹ > [@](#): > > I would also like to edit it slightly. It’s not “poke out”, it’s “shoot out.” This, on the other hand, helps a great deal. (At least, I think it does…but I thought I was onto something with Hint #1, too.) Maybe I can back my way into this one; that worked the first time around ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/13 "2014-09-19T02:53:33Z")
For Temple locks, I’m noticing the capital T, and surely you’re talkingcurly, or curls. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/14 "2014-09-19T07:18:40Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Bo is the President’s pooch, a Portuguese Water Dog. The plain whites are tee shirts, or “Ts”. Thanks. > [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > **Dead Cat** , Chicago is in IL not IN. Again, thanks. I did know that, honest! > [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Here’s round 2: > > “Nearer the brine” > > 1. Like Temple locks (5 letters) > 2. Don’t ask me no questions > 3. No pickle predecessor repeats > 4. Fill with Texas tea > 5. Poke out one part, kid. > 6. Add an ambulance final destination > > Password: \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ ? > (I tried to make this one harder, but I think I might’ve just made it worse instead) I have absolutely no idea about the second set of clues, but from the first clue only, I’m going to guess your password is Oceania.Though actually, now I think about it I can’t see how that fits with clue #6, for which I think the answer is either ER, as suggested by **Suburban Plankton** , or H for hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/15 "2014-09-19T22:26:01Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > For Temple locks, I’m noticing the capital T, and surely you’re talkingcurly, or curls. Heh. I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/16 "2014-09-20T02:38:30Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Here’s round 2: > > “Nearer the brine” > > 1. Like Temple locks (5 letters) > 2. Don’t ask me no questions > 3. No pickle predecessor repeats > 4. Fill with Texas tea > 5. Shoot [edit per erratum] out one part, kid. > 6. Add an ambulance final destination > > Password: \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ ? > (I tried to make this one harder, but I think I might’ve just made it worse instead) [spoiler] 1. as LHOD said, {curly} 2. Taking out the question, “why?” – {curl} 3. Pickle predecessors are cucumbers – “cu” is repeated – take it out – {rl} 4. Texas tea = oil, bubbling crude, black gold, etc.; putting “oil” in the center = {roill} 5. A Christmas Story reference – “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid” – remove I – {roll} 6. Ambulance final destination: ER (or possibly ED, “emergency department” in modern terminology) – {roller} or {rolled}[/spoiler]…neither of which are 7 letters long. They don’t fit the plain clue, either. Hopefully, this failure will help others. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/17 "2014-09-20T03:10:40Z")
The seven letters refer to the final answer, made by combining the ‘plain’ clue and the ‘cryptic’ clue, so the fact that your answer was only 6 letters long isn’t a problem. I think the cryptic clue is ‘roller’ rather than ‘rolled’. A ‘roller’ could refer to a wave, and ‘nearer the brine’ could refer to the ocean, so I think you’re on the right track…but I can’t put it together… ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/18 "2014-09-20T05:44:51Z")
I should say that if you get the final word correct, the password will relate to it in a direct, obvious manner. It’s never a tricky, mind bending sort of connection. If you play that word association ‘game’ that psychologists do in TV dramas, you can get it. If I say “desk,” you might say “chair.” If I say “Hawaii,” you might say “beach.” If I say “top,” you might say “bottom” or “hat” or “spin.” Working from the plain clue (or “title,” as my coworkers have taken to calling it), you’ll never get it. Working from the cryptic clue, you’ll probably just blurt it out. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/19 "2014-09-20T05:51:40Z")
“Sunshine” 1. DNA shape (5 letters) 2. Change genders 3. A Chicago train jumped the tracks. 4. Double the sibilant one. 5. Cross out naught’s partner. 6. Let’s get you and me inside. Password: \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/20 "2014-09-20T06:26:41Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > “Sunshine” > > 1. DNA shape (5 letters) > 2. Change genders > 3. A Chicago train jumped the tracks. > 4. Double the sibilant one. > 5. Cross out naught’s partner. > 6. Let’s get you and me inside. > > Password: \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ \_\_ helix -\> shelix -\> shix -\> sshix -\> sshi -\> susshi? password: JapanI’m still stuck on #2, though. (Thanks for the reminder, Suburban Plankton – the fact that the normal clue seems to hint at a comparative adjective and the cryptic clue might end in “er” threw me off for a little while.) ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772/21 "2014-09-20T19:26:13Z")
Great googly moogly, you guys are getting good at these. Your turn to post one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-word-game-guess-my-password/698772.md?page=2)