Cryptic Five-words (-----|||||)

Question

Inspired by Aggie Kidd's redux of the original "Four-words" puzzle by Prem, I decided to create a similar "Five-words" puzzle.

Some clues are intentionally somewhat vague and/or misleading, to keep it from being too easy, but they should all make sense when the solution is determined.

My first's what ant calls a cricket, no doubt
My second is third when you really zoom out
My third will protect you from villain or foe
My fourth won't get verdant when it's on the go
My fifth's what you did with the game that you lost
My whole is a square with five words that are crossed

score 20 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 24 '15 at 17:41

20

Here is my answer:

B E A S T
E A R T H
A R M O R
S T O N E
T H R E W

Explanation:
My first's what ant calls a cricket, no doubt

A cricket would be a beast to an ant.

My second is third when you really zoom out

The earth is the third planet if we zoom out on the solar system.

My third will protect you from villain or foe

Armor protects you from everyone.

My fourth won't get verdant when it's on the go

Verdant is green, moss is green, rolling stone gathers no moss.

My fifth's what you did with the game that you lost

You threw the game.

edited Jun 24 '15 at 17:41

Engineer Toast

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answered Jun 24 '15 at 17:35

Aggie Kidd

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Looks like you got it! +1 – Rand al'Thor Jun 24 '15 at 17:36
2

Excellent! I was actually thinking of FEAST for the first one, but your answer is just as good. – GentlePurpleRain Jun 24 '15 at 17:51
Good job! Nice to know I had a good idea with a few of them, Stone was the one that I really wanted to use. – Kingrames Jun 24 '15 at 18:38
@GentlePurpleRain, can you explain FEAST? I don't get it. – dennisdeems Jun 24 '15 at 18:58
@dennisdeems If ants killed a cricket, it would be quite the feast for them. – Aggie Kidd Jun 24 '15 at 18:58
1

Seems like there could be a better clue; the rest are wonderful. – dennisdeems Jun 24 '15 at 19:00
1

Yes, @AggieKidd got what I was thinking. It did seem a little weak, but every other clue I could think of for "feast" seemed too obvious. I never thought of using "beast" (or "yeast" or "least", etc.) – GentlePurpleRain Jun 24 '15 at 19:16

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 24 '15 at 17:35

2

Closest I can figure out is

G I A N T
I _ R _ H
A R M O R
N _ O _ E
T H R E W

But I am lost on 4, which should be a synonym for stone. Got no clue for 2.

edited Jun 24 '15 at 17:35

Rand al'Thor

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answered Jun 24 '15 at 17:33

Kingrames

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I put your answer into a fixed-width font for readability - hope you don't mind! – Rand al'Thor Jun 24 '15 at 17:35
3

It might help to know that there probably aren't any words of the format I_R_H. Litscape is a useful tool. The fourth word could only be NOOSE. – Engineer Toast Jun 24 '15 at 17:38
I had to start with stone and work my way back. – Aggie Kidd Jun 24 '15 at 17:40
Without seeing your answer, I got the same - except I didn't even get stone :p – Alok Jun 24 '15 at 22:56

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 24 '15 at 17:32

0

Partial answer:

My first's what ant calls a cricket, no doubt

JUMPY (compared to an ant, a cricket does a lot of jumping).

My second is third when you really zoom out
My third will protect you from villain or foe
My fourth won't get verdant when it's on the go

Not sure about these yet.

My fifth's what you did with the game that you lost

YIELD (when you lose a game, you yield).

answered Jun 24 '15 at 17:32

Rand al'Thor

116,845
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I also considered HOPPY for #1... – Rand al'Thor Jun 24 '15 at 17:33

Cryptic Five-words (-----|||||)

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