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Anyone who loves Scrabble or this site is probably familiar with anagrams. But what about Add-A-Grams? An Add-A-Gram takes a word, adds a letter, and then shuffles the letters to make a new word (I guess you can call this an Add-A-Gram's Add-A-Grammar). In this game, I will define an Add-A-Gram chain, and a solution should contain the complete list of words in the chain.

For example, if I provided this definition: depend inside a race inside a counselor

The answer would be: rely -> relay -> lawyer

OK here is the definition for this Add-A-Gram chain:

a pentomino inside an element inside formerly inside a valley inside a compound inside an appendage inside choose inside a doctor inside most ephemeral inside injuries inside one without choices inside an inflammation inside chamber works

Happy Add-A-Gramming!

wildBillMunson
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1 Answers1

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pentomino

N

element

N + e = Ne (Neon)

formerly

Ne + e = nee

a valley

nee + d = dene

a compound

dene + i = diene

an appendage

diene + t = endite

choose

endite + s = destine

a doctor

destine + r = resident

most ephemeral

resident + t = trendiest

injuries

trendiest + m = detriments

one without choices

detriments + i = determinist

inflammation

determinist + o = endometritis

chamber works

endometritis + v = divertimentos

Will
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  • Wow I'm so impressed! You nailed it!!!! :) – wildBillMunson Jan 11 '17 at 20:58
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    @wildBillMunson So instead of such obscure words at the beginning, why not something like N $\rightarrow$ EN $\rightarrow$ DEN $\rightarrow$ SEND $\rightarrow$ DENSE $\rightarrow$ TENSED $\rightarrow$ DESTINE? I generally find too many obscure words in a puzzle to be a strike against. – GentlePurpleRain Jan 11 '17 at 21:10
  • @GentlePurpleRain I guess I was trying to make it a bit harder. As it was, with the obscure words, it was solved in under an hour. Next time, I'll try to avoid using too many of these. ;) – wildBillMunson Jan 11 '17 at 21:11
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    @wildBillMunson I totally understand, but I would suggest that you try to make it harder by making the clues a little more obscure, rather than the solution. Also, a puzzle that's solved quickly (especially on Puzzling.SE) is not necessarily a bad puzzle (in fact, I would say if it takes too long to solve, it is, with very few exceptions, not a great puzzle). – GentlePurpleRain Jan 11 '17 at 21:14
  • @GentlePurpleRain OK I like that plan! For the next one, I'll find an Add-A-Gram chain of words we actually use, and use clues like from a crossword puzzle. Thanks for the advice! :) – wildBillMunson Jan 11 '17 at 21:17
  • @GentlePurpleRain Some of the best puzzles on the site have taken a very long time to solve, like this and maybe this. I might agree that most puzzles which take a long time to solve aren't great (well, most puzzles aren't great, full stop), but I'd also posit that many if not most great puzzles take a long time to solve. – Rand al'Thor Jan 12 '17 at 00:18
  • @randal'thor You'll note that both of those questions required numerous hints before they were solved. I would argue that while the premise of both was excellent, the presentation lacked sufficient hints to lead the solver in the right direction. Looking at them in retrospect, they look like great puzzles, but in truth they required too great a leap of intuition to be solved without further prodding from the OP. – GentlePurpleRain Jan 12 '17 at 04:33
  • @GentlePurpleRain I recognised paco's ("22/48 intrinsically") as a great puzzle from the outset - it was clear that the right answer would be self-confirming, and it just needed someone to have the right idea. The fact that it took the brilliance of McMag to finally solve it doesn't lessen its greatness, IMO. As for Alco's ("rock out"), I still don't understand how that wasn't solved within hours - when you look at it the right way, it's blindingly obvious, even without the hints. – Rand al'Thor Jan 12 '17 at 21:26