Verbal riddles, oriented

A riddle is built so that the first meaning you think of leads nowhere. When the obvious reading of a clue seems too easy or impossible, ask what else the key word can mean. "Port" can be a harbor, a socket on a computer or the left side of a ship, and a riddle may lean on any of them.

The answer must satisfy every clue, not just the most striking one. A wrong answer usually fits one line well and quietly breaks another, so test each candidate against every line before you settle. If a candidate explains the first clue brilliantly but fails the last, set it aside.

For a riddle with several clues, work like a detective with a list. The first clue suggests a class of things; each later clue removes some. Writing the short list keeps you from fixing on one idea too early, and by the last clue one candidate usually remains.

Easy riddles rely on everyday meanings, the kind found in a school dictionary rather than one trade's jargon. If your answer needs specialist knowledge, look for a plainer one. The difficulty in a good riddle comes from where it points your attention, not from rare words.

Rule: find the second meaning, then keep only the candidate that fits every clue.

When a riddle hinges on one word, write its senses down. "Season" can be a time of year, a run of games or episodes, or a verb meaning to add flavor. Test each sense against each clue; the one that fits all of them is the answer.

Objects borrow body-part names: the lip of a cup, the arm of a sofa, the mouth of a cave, the brow of a hill. When a riddle gives an object a human part and denies the human ability, look for an object that uses that word for one of its pieces. A hammer has a head and a claw, yet it neither thinks nor scratches.

Some words change meaning with pronunciation. "Refuse" stressed on the second syllable means to say no, while stressed on the first it means trash. "Produce" is a verb with the stress on the second syllable and a noun for fruit and vegetables with the stress on the first. Say the sentence both ways. Other words mean their own opposite: "screen" can mean to show, as in screening a film, or to hide, as in a privacy screen.

"Has X but no Y" clues often describe something that represents the world rather than containing it. A picture of a forest has trees but no wood, and a globe has oceans but no water. Ask whether the answer is a picture, a model or a diagram of the thing.

Rule: list every meaning and pronunciation, and ask whether a part is real or only a name.

Letter riddles are hard in your head and easy on paper. Write the candidate word, cross off the letter the riddle names, and read what is left aloud: remove the first letter of "blink" and you have "link".

Try reading the key word backward when a clue mentions turning around or mirrors. "Drawer" spelled backward is "reward". A word that reads the same both ways, such as "kayak", is a palindrome.

Spoken letters sound like words: B like bee, I like eye, Q like queue, U like you. Riddles that ask you to write a long word with two or three letters usually rely on this, so say the letters aloud. The letters X and L, said together, sound like "excel".

Words also hide inside other words. "Together" contains "to", "get" and "her", and "season" contains "sea" and "son". Clues about something being inside or carrying another thing may mean letters inside a word.

Blended words join the start of one word to the end of another. "Camcorder" joins camera and recorder, and "chortle", coined by Lewis Carroll, is probably chuckle plus snort. A riddle describing a mix of two things often wants the blend.

When a clue about how often something happens makes no sense in the real world, count letters instead. The letter R appears once in "road" and twice in "error".

Rule: put the word on paper, then remove, reverse, split or count its letters.

Some riddles describe something you can build, lose or share but cannot hold. That points to an abstract noun, such as an idea, a reputation, a plan or a memory. Test the candidate with a sentence for each clue: you can build a reputation and you can lose a reputation, so it fits both.

Times of day and seasons often stand for parts of a lifetime, with morning for childhood and evening for old age. When a riddle describes one thing changing across a single day in an impossible way, ask whether the day is a metaphor for a whole life.

Everyday speech treats forces and events as if they were alive: a rumor spreads, a deadline looms, the wind howls, a storm rages. A riddle that describes a creature with strange habits may be describing a force or a process. Ask which forces match each behavior.

The sentence test is the general tool. When the clues describe actions or qualities rather than an object, make a short sentence for each clue with the candidate word. For clues about something you can draw, cross and toe, "line" fits every one: you draw a line, cross a line and toe the line. If every sentence sounds natural, the candidate is right; if one sounds forced, keep looking.

Rule: when no object fits, test abstract words and metaphors in a sentence for every clue.

Easy trick riddles let you assume something ordinary: the number of people, the time of day, that "it" is alive. List what you pictured and check each item against the exact words; the answer appears once the extra detail is gone.

Some riddles ask about something impossible, such as which way a boat's wake points on a lake with no boats. Before working out a direction or a number, ask whether the thing exists at all. If it cannot, the right answer usually says so.

Number riddles often hide a fact about the numbers themselves. 2 + 2 equals 2 × 2, and a number can hide inside a word, so check spelling as well as arithmetic.

Riddles about why we say a phrase want its original image, not a modern synonym. "Turning over a new leaf" pictures turning to a fresh page, since a leaf is one sheet of a book. The right option names that literal picture.

Modern-life riddles use words that devices borrowed from ordinary life: you swipe, scroll, stream and save. A riddle may describe one of these actions in physical terms, such as a stream that holds no water. Read the clue for its everyday meaning first, then ask which device habit uses the same word.

Rule: strip out the detail you added, test the premise, and look for the literal picture behind the words.