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Part of the Community Metapuzzle. The word in the puzzle below is also the word needed here.

Deadline's tight, got worthless outworn pap.
Noxious ill-timed rot with dreary crap.
"Edit tonight!" Tensely, I repeat.
Verses still not tidy- incomplete.
Damn it! This thing's overdue. I'm beat!

Did I actually miss the boat on this one or is there a secret word hidden six different ways in the little rhyme above?

Community
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Hugh Meyers
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2 Answers2

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The hidden word is ...

... DITTO, which means "the same thing again" and therefore is a kind of déjà vu all over again, as the title says.

It is hidden:


  • in the beginning letters of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th words of the five lines respectively: "Deadline ... ill-timed ... Tensely ... tidy ... overdue";
  • in the first letters of "Damn it! This thing's overdue.";
  • backwards in "still not tidy";
  • in "edit tonight";
  • in "Noxious ill-timed rot with dreary": 1st letter of 5th word, 2nd letter of 4th word and so on, which was found by Wu33o;
  • in "Deadline's tight, got worthless outworn": 1st letter of 1st word, 2nd letter of 2nd word and so on, also found by Wu33o.
M Oehm
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    1st line: 1st word 1st letter, 2nd word 2nd letter, etc. 2nd line: 1st word 5th letter, 2nd word 4th letter, etc. – Wu33o Nov 21 '16 at 13:59
  • @M Oehm looks like your edit was faster than my post. Good job. I was feeling so proud of finding all 6 only to find out you got them all just before me XD – stack reader Nov 21 '16 at 14:17
  • @stackreader: But only with the help of commenters. Did you comment and remove the comment later? – M Oehm Nov 21 '16 at 14:20
  • @MOehm nope, I just got here. didn't see the elusive comment. – stack reader Nov 21 '16 at 14:21
  • Hmm I edited my comment after I found the second one, but I didn't see any other comment. – Wu33o Nov 21 '16 at 14:24
  • @Wu33o: Okay, that explains it: I hadn't noticed that your comment has been updated and saw the hiding place in the first line only briefly in the notification at the top ofthe screen, which was enough to describe it. I've now credited you for both, thanks! – M Oehm Nov 21 '16 at 14:29
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    Well done, all! Plus a nod to Yogi Berra for the quote that inspired the title. – Hugh Meyers Nov 21 '16 at 14:32
  • It still doesn't flow as smoothly as I would like. My apologies. It was hard to fit some of the parts together and still have it scan. I redid it a number of times and this was the best I could manage. – Hugh Meyers Nov 21 '16 at 15:57
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Credits to M Oehm for finding the word to find first.

Deadline's tight, got worthless outworn pap.

Deadline's tight, got worthless outworn pap.
1st letter of first word, 2nd letter of second word, etc...

Noxious ill-timed rot with dreary crap.

Noxious ill-timed rot with dreary crap.
Same as above but reversed. 1st word 5th letter, 2nd word 4th letter, etc.

"Edit tonight!" Tensely, I repeat.

"Edit tonight!" Tensely, I repeat.

Verses still not tidy- incomplete.

Verses still not tidy- incomplete.

Damn it! This thing's overdue. I'm beat!

Damn it! This thing's overdue. I'm beat!
First letter of each word

Last one

The last one is mixing all the lines. first letter of first word on first line, then first letter of second word on second line, etc...

stack reader
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