Nicely done!  for you

One more of the letter-change variety, and then (if there's interest!) I'll move on to new types of flat...

THIRD-LETTER CHANGE (*6, 6)
When the power of miracles beckoned,
FIRST discovered far more than he'd reckoned.
He dissolved in confusion --
No more than illusion --
And melted away like a SECOND.

Same rules?  Mmm hmm, but this time I've used FIRST and SECOND for the words I took out instead of ONE and TWO.  (You can use whatever replacement words you want as long as it's clear which is which.)

Does the word SECOND stands for have to rhyme?  Nope!  The rule is that the replacement words, like FIRST and SECOND, have to fit the rhyme and meter of the poem, but the words they stand for don't.

Good luck!

Well played, Ragnarok! 

So now we've seen several letter changes.  How about a new variety of flat?

BEHEADMENT (10, 9)
There's one simple lesson in Utena's story:
"Develop and grow, or you can't leave Ohtori!"
Take Akio: stagnant, a thousand years old,
And bound to his prison of velvet and gold --
While Anthy, whose psyche's in pretty poor shape,
Through SECOND and personal growth, can escape!
Adults keep maturing when things seem their worst,
And that's what it means to bring the world FIRST.

What's a beheadment?  A beheadment is a simple type of flat where you chop off the first letter of a word to form a new word.  For example, "shack" and "hack" is a beheadment -- you chop off the S of shack to make hack.  "Pirate" and "irate" is another example of a beheadment.  The two words removed from this poem have the same sort of relationship: you'll remove the first letter of FIRST to get SECOND.

How long are the words?  As you can tell from the title line, FIRST is ten letters long, while SECOND is nine letters long.

Who can guess this one? 

Sure is!  You guys are good at this!    Next up...

TRANSPOSAL (*5, 5)
Naji lives in Portland, ONE.
Her jokes have awesome taste.
Her dubs are sometimes better than
The TWO on which they're based!
I click and watch and pretty soon
I'm rolling on the floor.
O Naji in the Pine Tree State,
When will you make Part Four?

A transposal?  Yes, another new flat type!  A transposal, which normal people call an anagram or a jumble, means that you scramble the letters in one word to get another word.  For instance, "worth" and "throw" are a transposal, as are "carthorse" and "orchestra" -- in both cases, you just rearrange the letters of the first word to get the second.  The same is true of the words ONE and TWO stand for in this flat.

By now you can figure out how long the words are by yourself, so have at it! 

Damn straight!  You guys are guessing these a lot faster than I can write them   What's impressive is that we've had four flats and four different guessers, which means this thread is way more popular than I expected!  (It also means you guys have a high tolerance for my rotten poetry.)  More later.  In the meantime, if anyone wants to try their hand at composing, feel free!  Here are a few flat types to get the wheels turning...

NTH-LETTER CHANGE: Change the Nth letter.  Juri/yuri, Touga/tough, Mikage/mirage.
BEHEADMENT: Cut off the first letter.  Pirate/irate, revolution/evolution.
CURTAILMENT: Cut off the last letter.  Karate/karat, time/Tim.
DELETION: Delete a letter other than the first or last.  Fjord/Ford, waiter/water.
TRANSPOSAL: Scramble the letters.  Worth/throw, Maine/anime.
REVERSAL: Spell the word backwards.  Time/emit, stressed/desserts.
LETTER SHIFT: Move a letter elsewhere in the word.  Beast/baste, heart/earth.
METATHESIS: Switch two letters.  Rise/sire, bulge/bugle.

Have fun

Soukougnan wrote:

FIRST LETTER CHANGE (3,3)
They said the uniform was only for ONE
But, Tenjou looked pretty hot, had some fun...
She fought hard and true,
Became kind of a TWO,
And was gone when the series was done...

Hmm, tough one!  It seems like ONE should be easy to guess -- at first glance I was sure it was going to be "men," a three-letter word that fits in the blank -- but I couldn't find a way to change the first letter of "men" to fit in for TWO.  "Boys," "guys," and "males" are too long.

So I put ONE aside and tried thinking about TWO.  It's a hard word to guess from context, but from the previous line about "fighting hard and true" I want it to mean "prince" or "hero."  Or maybe, based on the last line, it should mean "legend."  But I can't think of a three-letter word that means any of those things.

Anyone else having better luck? 

There you go!  Nice one, Soukou!  The answer, if I'm right, is evil/veil.  I especially liked the second word, because there was plenty of "cluing" -- there aren't that many four-letter words that describe things you can cover up bodies with.  My first thought was "cape."  My second thought was right. 

Necro'd more than two years later because I feel like it!    I wonder if anyone remembers how to play.  It's a good thing the FAQ in the first post still exists!

CHARADE (7)
A girl can't just become a WHOLE
With any sword she hefts.
She has to train, and have a goal.
She has to pay her LEFTs.
She has to master how to fight.
A ring she has to find --
Unless she's on Mikage's RIGHT,
In which case, never mind!


What is this?  It's a flat!  Go read the first post to learn what's going on here.

I already did that.  I meant, what's a charade?  Good question!  A charade is a flat type where you stick two words together to make a longer word.  For example, scar + city = scarcity.  That means that three words are left out of the poem: the long word, and the two shorter words that make it up.  In this flat, your job is to find the seven-letter word -- WHOLE -- that is made up of the two shorter words LEFT and RIGHT.  LEFT plus RIGHT should equal WHOLE.

Why is that called a charade?  Hey, I don't make the rules, I just pass them along.

How long are LEFT and RIGHT?  I'm not telling.  Still, you know they have to add up to seven letters.

Do the words have to rhyme properly?  Nope!  The poem has to rhyme on the surface, but the secret words don't have to fit the rhyme scheme.

What if I can't get it?  Then try this one instead!


CONSONANTCY (*6, 6)
It used to be women the Chairman would plunder.
But when he took Touga, it made us all wonder:
Does ONE prefer gentlemen, up in his tower?
Or is he a TWO guy who'll play gay for power?


What's a consonantcy?  It's a flat type where each of the hidden words contains the same consonants, in the same order, but different vowels.  For instance, "acorn" and "ocarina" form a consonantcy because they both use the consonants C, R, and N in that order.  In this flat, both the missing words are six letters long, and ONE is capitalized.

Have fun! 

KillerxXxQueen sweeps it!  +