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Well, I may not be able to match the rhyme or meter ...or spelling ...or punctuation skills of other puzzle creators on this site, but I thought I should still at least have a go...

Well, I'm handing down the mantle- as that mountain dwarfs this ant hill
Though I.m honoured. lies he fed you. turning cheeks a rosy red colour.

As each time I tr& defeating, it.s my iwn end that I'm meeting.
He continles climbing spires. I.ll just wallow in these swamps.

But, this ain't just dactyl prattle - 'tis a rapping riddle battle
So, I'll play no second fiddle. to his better rhyming prose.

Yet I must admit I'm broken! -though his name here goes unspoken-
'Cos oith rsddles, what a dueler. He's the uedisputed champ!

What is/are the hidden message(s)?

Alconja
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2 Answers2

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Well, I may not be able to match the rhyme or meter ...or spelling ...or punctuation skills of other puzzle creators on this site, but I thought I should still at least have a go...

This tells us where to look: at the errors in rhyme/meter, spelling, and punctuation.


The first hidden message is given by

the spelling errors in the poem.

Bolding them up:

Well, I'm handing down the mantle- as that mountain dwarfs this ant hill
Though I.m honoured. lies he fed you. turning cheeks a rosy red colour.

As each time I tr & defeating, it.s my iwn end that I'm meeting.
He continles climbing spires. I.ll just wallow in these swamps.

But, this ain't just dactyl prattle - 'tis a rapping riddle battle
So, I'll play no second fiddle. to his better rhyming prose.

Yet I must admit I'm broken! -though his name here goes unspoken-
'Cos oith rsddles, what a dueler. He's the uedisputed champ!

So we have

the letters &ilose, which should actually be youwin,

and the message is

YOU WIN & I LOSE.


The second hidden message is given by

the punctuation errors in the poem the dots and dashes in the poem.

Marking them with stars:

Well, I'm handing down the mantle*-* as that mountain dwarfs this ant hill
Though I*.*m honoured*.* lies he fed you*.* turning cheeks a rosy red colour*.*

As each time I tr& defeating, it*.*s my iwn end that I'm meeting*.*
He continles climbing spires*.* I*.*ll just wallow in these swamps*.*

But, this ain't just dactyl prattle *-* 'tis a rapping riddle battle
So, I'll play no second fiddle*.* to his better rhyming prose*.*

Yet I must admit I'm broken! *-*though his name here goes unspoken*-*
'Cos oith rsddles, what a dueler*.* He's the uedisputed champ!

So the message seems to be

- .... .. ... - .. -- . or THIS TIME.


The third hidden message is given by

the rhyming 'errors' in the poem.

Bolding them up:

Well, I'm handing down the mantle- as that mountain dwarfs this ant hill
Though I.m honoured. lies he fed you. turning cheeks a rosy red colour.

As each time I tr& defeating, it.s my iwn end that I'm meeting.
He continles climbing spires. I.ll just wallow in these swamps.

But, this ain't just dactyl prattle - 'tis a rapping riddle battle
So, I'll play no second fiddle. to his better rhyming prose.

Yet I must admit I'm broken! -though his name here goes unspoken-
'Cos oith rsddles, what a dueler. He's the uedisputed champ!

So we have

the non-rhyming words "colour, swamps, prose, champ", which should be replaced by "hue, mires, riddle, ruler",

and the message is

HUGH MEYERS - RIDDLE RULER.


Putting it all together, we get a single unified final message:

Hugh Meyers, riddle ruler - you win & I lose ... this time.

Rand al'Thor
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  • I found another bit, seems this is multilayeres – Beastly Gerbil Sep 12 '16 at 16:09
  • And if you do the reverse? – Hugh Meyers Sep 12 '16 at 16:17
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    @HughMeyers, why didn't you solve this one, it's all about you! :P – Beastly Gerbil Sep 12 '16 at 16:45
  • All looks good, except for the punctuation, but that's my fault not yours. In my rush/sleep deprivation, I lost track of my own puzzle and based the punctuation morse part directly off . and - rather than errors thereof, as I intended and you assumed (spelling "this time" -> "Hugh Meyers - Riddle Ruler. You win & I lose... this time..."). Just a reminder that, 1) @HughMeyers is indeed the master, and 2) I should listen to my own advice and not bash things out the door at 1am. :) Well done though. – Alconja Sep 12 '16 at 23:54
10

The clue is at the top where Alconja says

Well, I may not be able to match the rhyme or meter
...or spelling ...or punctuation skills of other puzzle creators on this site, but I thought I should still at least have a go...

So we need to look at the rhyme and meter, spelling and punctation skills

Punctuation: There are some hidden -s and .s in the text and excluding full stops (dots with a caps after them.)

-... .. -. --.

which when translated from Morse Code gives

BING

Which could be

Relating to the website Bing?

And @RandAl'Thor found spelling - that the spelling mistakes you get

& I lose

And fixing them you get

You win

So

You win & I lose

Which could be related to

The rap battle mentioned

So rhyme and meter is left

I got stuck and Rand got it (of course :P) and the rhyme and meter is

The words that don't rhyme have synonyms that do and they are

Hue Mires Riddle Ruler

So the message is:

Hugh Meyers Riddle Ruler

Beastly Gerbil
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