# The clues for this puzzle annoyed me **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 10, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286 "2012-09-10T14:33:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/1 "2012-09-10T14:33:20Z")
I was trying to solve this Quote Acrostic puzzle. (For anyone unfamiliar with this kind of puzzle, you have to define words based on the given clues and then transfer the defined words’ individual letters to a grid, according to the number under each letter. The words in the grid will spell out a quotation. Once you have enough letters in the word list and in the grid, you can work back and forth between the two to figure out other words in each.) Anyways, what really annoyed me were the clues for these two words in the word list : “Curved symbols to indicate a qualifying remark”. I thought “parentheses” but the “correct” answer was “parenthesis” The clue for another word was “Observable event”. I didn’t figure that one out right away. It turns out the “correct” answer is “phenomena”. There seemed to me to be disagreements of plural and singular nouns in both clues and what were supposed to be their correct answers. Am I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/2 "2012-09-10T15:22:25Z")
No, you’re not wrong. chalk it up to sloppy editing. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/3 "2012-09-10T16:27:31Z")
I unagree, and I would find that unacceptably unprofessional. Was this a professionally published puzzle? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/4 "2012-09-10T16:53:02Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I unagree, and I would find that unacceptably unprofessional. I overstand. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/5 "2012-09-10T19:12:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I unagree I don’t know where that came from. :o ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/6 "2012-09-11T13:18:29Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I unagree, and I would find that unacceptably unprofessional. Was this a professionally published puzzle? It was published in the STARS Magazine section of the Syracuse, N.Y. Post-Standard on August 26. The fine print under the puzzle’s grid says (copyright)\* 2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc. \*I don’t know how to do that c-within-a-circle symbol. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/7 "2012-09-11T13:31:18Z")
> [@williamweigand](#): > > \*I don’t know how to do that c-within-a-circle symbol. ALT + 0169 Like so: ©. Here’s [the ASCII, ISO and HTML code table](http://www.toutimages.com/codes_caracteres.htm) for every character that isn’t on your keyboard. ---
**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 11, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/8 "2012-09-11T18:58:08Z")
The “parenthesis” one is perhaps just about acceptable (but I agree with you really) as you could try to argue that the “(but I agree with you really)” in this sentence is a parenthesis (though it is more properly referred to as a parenthetical [remark], I think). But no such excuse for the second one. I would also have been annoyed by both. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/9 "2012-09-17T20:01:45Z")
I’d say the parentheses one is right, as it clearly uses the plural in the clue. I’d say phenomena was wrong, because the clue uses the singular. ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clues-for-this-puzzle-annoyed-me/634286/10 "2012-09-17T20:09:32Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’d say the parentheses one is right, as it clearly uses the plural in the clue. I’d say phenomena was wrong, because the clue uses the singular. If you’ll reread my OP you’ll see that the answer the puzzle-writer was providing the clue for was “parenthesis”. I hope that makes it clearer to you.