The same word (I think) over and over?

Question

I saw a man seemingly lost

Me: Hi. Are you looking for something?

Him: ____ .

Me: Go to the Federal Triangle ____ street.

Him: Do you know the address?

Me: I think it is ____ street.

Him: O yeah. The Federal building with the IRS office.

Me: Yes. It also houses a HUD office, an FBI office and ____ office

Him: Thanks

Fill in the blanks with one or two words.

Hint

Think of a 3 letter word - it is in the MW dictionary.

Linked to

Same word fills all the blanks

So, I have an answer that requires that you are wrong about the street name by several blocks.. — Bass, Dec 28 '20 at 17:52
@DrD - Is there a typo in the sentence "It also houses a HUD office, an FBI office and ____ office;" specifically, after and, shouldn't there by an a/an/the, or is the article a part of the blank to be filled in? — marsnebulasoup, Dec 28 '20 at 20:56
@marsnebulasoup the blanks are correct. You will see that after the answer is posted. The rules are similar to the linked puzzle but ------ — DrD, Dec 28 '20 at 22:10
@DrD - I'm curious what you mean by "It also houses a HUD office, an FBI office and ____ office." It seems like you're referring to the "Federal building with the IRS office" but as far as I can tell, rot13(gurer nera'g nal ohvyqvatf (va QP ng yrnfg) gung unir obgu n UHQ naq SOV bssvpr jvguva gurz)... — marsnebulasoup, Dec 28 '20 at 22:54
It could e.g. be the street that has all of them. Though I had a quick look and it didn't look to me as if there was any such street. — Gareth McCaughan, Dec 28 '20 at 23:06
Yeah I thought that too, but there isn't any street that has them all...except maybe rot13(9gu Fg Rkcerffjnl/9gu Fg AJ, orpnhfr vg tbrf cnfg obgu n UHQ naq SOV bssvpr, gubhtu arvgure ner grpuavpnyyl ba vg)...see here...or maybe rot13(R Fgerrg)?...map — marsnebulasoup, Dec 28 '20 at 23:19
I never said DC anywhere. Please do not focus on that. Does it have to be an actual place? And there are many cities where a single Federal building houses different offices. — DrD, Dec 29 '20 at 14:50
@DrD You say "federal triangle" though, which implies DC...if it is not a real place, then what is the knowledge tag for? — marsnebulasoup, Dec 29 '20 at 18:27
Not everyone globally knows what a HUD or IRS is for example. rot13 Naq yrg'f fnl gur nafjre vf NOPQRS. Vg svgf bgure pyhrf avpryl ohg abg guvf bssvpr pyhr. Fb bar jvyy unir gb svaq bhg vs NOPQR svgf gur bssvpr pyhr, evtug? — DrD, Dec 29 '20 at 19:01
@DrD - If the answer is, say, ABCDEF, and can be split into, let's say, AB and CDEF, can a blank be filled with these words, but not in order, like "CDEF AB," (instead of "AB CDEF"), or even just one of the two (or more?) words ABCDEF is split into, like just "AB" for one blank and "ABC DEF" for another? — marsnebulasoup, Dec 29 '20 at 20:49
In this case please see the title. The same word over and over. So fnzr jbeq be vgf fcyvg irefvbaf nf jryy nf ubzbcubarf pbhyq svg urer. Cyrnfr frr guvf chmmyr nyfb https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/74713/same-word-fills-all-the-blanks-2 — DrD, Dec 29 '20 at 21:10
@DrD so does this mean that the sentences aren't necessarily grammatically correct, like in the other puzzle like you gave? Because if they are grammatically correct, wouldn't it mean that -- — marsnebulasoup, Dec 29 '20 at 22:02
rot13(gur nafjre jbhyq unir gb fgneg jvgu rvgure na "n" "na" be "gur," sbyybjrq ol gur bssvpr anzr, va gur bssvpr fragrapr? Bgurejvfr vg'q fbhaq njxjneq VZB. Ohg gur fragrapr oynax va "V guvax..." jbhyq frrzf yvxr n fgerrg nqqerff, jvgu gur sbezng "Oyqt_Ahzore + Fgerrg_Anzr," naq vs gur jbeq fgnegf jvgu n n/na/gur, gura gurer pna'g or n ahzore va gung fragnapr, orpnhfr gurer nera'g nal ahzoref (va ratyvfu) gung fgneg jvgu n, na, be gur. Fb V'q thrff gung rvgure gur chmmyr vf tenzzngvpnyyl pbeerpg naq gur "V guvax..." fragrapr oynax qbrf abg fgneg jvgu n ahzore be vg vfa'g.) — marsnebulasoup, Dec 29 '20 at 22:02
@marsnebulasoup Very astute comment. I think the puzzle is conversationally ( and gramatically) correct. I will post a clear hint tomorrow. — DrD, Dec 29 '20 at 22:07
@DrD Most people know what a HUD is. Its a Head Up Display.... — Lio Elbammalf, Dec 30 '20 at 14:23

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 30 '20 at 14:58

7

Me: Hi. Are you looking for something?

Him: ATM.
Me: Go to the Federal Triangle at M street.

Him: Do you know the address?

Me: I think it is 80 M street.

Him: O yeah. The Federal building with the IRS office.

Me: Yes. It also houses a HUD office, an FBI office and a TM office, you know, where they do trademarks or was it the Toyota Motors HQ, I can never remember...

Him: Thanks

Me: Nice puzzle!

answered Dec 30 '20 at 14:58

Amoz

26,817
2
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Not sure if this would work because the OP said no acronyms in the question they linked for the rules – marsnebulasoup Dec 30 '20 at 15:02
@marsnebulasoup, it says no anagrams. Acronyms seem to be acceptable. – MacGyver88 Dec 30 '20 at 15:15
@MacGyver88 - In the comments under the question it says so – marsnebulasoup Dec 30 '20 at 15:16
Not true @marsnebulasoup. ATM is a word in MW dictionary.https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atm. Also linking does not necessarily require exact same rules. I think I said similar but.... – DrD Dec 30 '20 at 15:17
BTW. TM is indeed a Trade Mark. US does have TM office. – DrD Dec 30 '20 at 15:21
@DrD ...so are acronyms allowed then? – marsnebulasoup Dec 30 '20 at 15:39
Yes, in this puzzle's context. – DrD Dec 30 '20 at 15:49

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 30 '20 at 13:34

1

Could be

ONE

I saw a man seemingly lost

Me: Hi. Are you looking for something?

Him:

ONE .

Me: Go to the Federal Triangle

ON E street.

Him: Do you know the address?

Me: I think it is

ON E street.

Him: O yeah. The Federal building with the IRS office.

Me: Yes. It also houses a HUD office, an FBI office and

ONE office

Him: Thanks

Thoughts

I thought this yesterday but didn't think it long enough. Still seems like a stretch, but the clue says look for a three letter word. So, I jumped on it.

answered Dec 30 '20 at 13:34

MacGyver88

5,261
2
12
43

1

You are definitely on the right track @MacGyer88. +1 But my answer is different. All 4 blanks come out different – DrD Dec 30 '20 at 13:43
@DrD, How is that possible with a 3 letter word, using one or two words per blank, and four blanks? Methinks it is not actually a 3-letter word then... Anyway, that's all I have. Thanks. – MacGyver88 Dec 30 '20 at 13:49
2

That is the fun part. That is why I made this Conversational and not just a gramatically correct single sentence. Fvatyr yrggre fgerrg anzr vf cresrpg guvaxvat. – DrD Dec 30 '20 at 13:52
If the answer would have been big with quite a number of letters, I would have been a bit convinced. The answer being a $3$ letter word is still not convincing to me. – Anonymous Dec 30 '20 at 13:54

The same word (I think) over and over?

2 Answers2