Do you think we can solve this 1855 puzzle from the Deseret News? Maybe for the first couple of hours you should limit yourself to solving one clue, so that latercomers can have a chance to play, too. I’ll update progress in the comments from time to time.
(If you haven’t played before: The first clue might be either noun or verb, the only parts of speech named in four letters. But which? Well, if you can tentatively solve any other clue that has a 1, 5, 3 or 14 in it, you’ll know which word is meant and can solve several more numbers at the same time.)
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MLA: Parshall, Ardis E. ""Organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith": An 1855 Enigma." Keepapitchin.org, 01 Jun 2018, https://keepapitchinin.org/2018/06/01/organized-by-the-prophet-joseph-smith-an-1855-enigma/.
APA: Parshall, A. (2018, Jun 01). "Organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith": An 1855 Enigma. Keepapitchinin.org. https://keepapitchinin.org/2018/06/01/organized-by-the-prophet-joseph-smith-an-1855-enigma/
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25 thoughts on ““Organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith”: An 1855 Enigma”
Since English isn’t my native tongue, I first thought this would be really hard. However, I started with the clue about a planet. There are only two planets with six letters and only one of them fits.
I’m going to say that the celebrated river in Tuscany is the Arno.
(I’ve solved the whole puzzle so I could say more, but I’ll wait.)
Niklas, do you want to state the name of the planet, or should I just fill in the letters?
Thanks, Cate, for giving others a chance to play. In a couple of hours, feel free to solve another clue or two or three — perhaps that will be the help someone else needs to solve yet another.
__ __ U __ O __ __ R __ S __ __ A N __
(I just filled in the letters from your solution, Niklas, because there is such an overlap with Cate’s answer that only “Uranus” fits.)
Not in common use now, but the front of an army is VAN.
And, for those of you trying to figure out which state of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland to fit into the penultimate clue, you’re 150 years late to the game! 🙂
“Van” as in “vanguard”!
N __ U V O __ __ R __ S __ __ A N __
This puzzle has left me feeling inadequate . . . 🙂
Oh, come on now, Bruce! One of the clues is a four-letter voice part, which is right up your alley. You have two choices. One of those choices would give an unpronounceable result in connection with the letters already known, while the other has no such conflict. Look it over again …
What? The capital of the Bahamas named after a once-German state? No wonder the Duke of Windsor retired there when his sympathies became known.
Since we know “van” the 4-letter river in England that fits is Avon.
Mark B. and TOClark are toying with us. I finally had to look it up. 🙂
N A U V O __ __ R __ S __ __ A N __
(Bit of a derail, but “vanguard” was a word I sort of knew even as a little kid, because of this toy.
Way to update the culture, Mike R.! 😀
N A U V O O __ R __ S __ __ A N __
I think I see a Mormon word starting to form in there …
The part of music is BASS
That’s a deep solution, Fiona …
N A U V O O B R A S S __ A N __
Ooh, Ooh! It’s Nauvoo Brass Fang! (Much more imposing than brass knuckles, don’tcha know)
Ha ha! The Whistling and Bloodsucking Brigade!
The name Nassau made it into England in the person of good King Billy, William III of Orange-Nassau, who with his wife (and first cousin) Mary became joint monarchs of England after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Not to be confused with what was (from the English point of view, at least), the rather inglorious American Revolution of about a century later. Of course, by then the Stuarts had made way for the Hanovers (another bunch of Germans, by the way) who arrived in the person of George I and stuck around until Queen Victoria passed to her reward just over 100 years ago.
But William and Mary arrived just in time to get “Nassau” stuck onto a county just east of me here on Long Island, the capital city of the Bahamas, a street in the Financial District of Manhattan, a hall at Princeton University (which was shot up during the glorious Battle of Princeton just after New Years 1777–I’ve heard you can still see the bullet holes, but I never spent enough time to find any), and who knows what else. And, their own names are on a college in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Awesome! I promise to be in better shape to play the next one — I’m been sick from that toxic water issue in Oregon that you’ve been reading about, but I will be in better shape when you post another one!
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!
This one is for my missionary too!
She’s serving a performing mission in Nauvoo and they have a brass band there. They will all have fun solving this.
. . . Printing right now . . .
Solved this with my son. We had some confusion reined because I told him 7, 5, 12 was a dishonest action. I was on the verge of asking what is so evil about cutting hair when I received my mistake.
Ack! It is early and yesterday was a long day. Please forgive my reining….
🙂 You do sound a little like a spam English translation there … And it’s fun to hear that this became a bit of a family activity.
Since we haven’t actually posted the full answer, here it is:
N A U V O O B R A S S B A N D
I had big smile as I perceived what the answer would be (before looking at the comments!) – because I grew up with a degree of ‘hometown’ pride in the story of how the little town of Keosauqua delighted in a concert of the Nauvoo Brass Band so much that they provided money and food for the mud-slogging travelers in the spring of 1846.
Since English isn’t my native tongue, I first thought this would be really hard. However, I started with the clue about a planet. There are only two planets with six letters and only one of them fits.
I’m going to say that the celebrated river in Tuscany is the Arno.
(I’ve solved the whole puzzle so I could say more, but I’ll wait.)
Niklas, do you want to state the name of the planet, or should I just fill in the letters?
Thanks, Cate, for giving others a chance to play. In a couple of hours, feel free to solve another clue or two or three — perhaps that will be the help someone else needs to solve yet another.
__ __ U __ O __ __ R __ S __ __ A N __
(I just filled in the letters from your solution, Niklas, because there is such an overlap with Cate’s answer that only “Uranus” fits.)
Not in common use now, but the front of an army is VAN.
And, for those of you trying to figure out which state of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland to fit into the penultimate clue, you’re 150 years late to the game! 🙂
“Van” as in “vanguard”!
N __ U V O __ __ R __ S __ __ A N __
This puzzle has left me feeling inadequate . . . 🙂
Oh, come on now, Bruce! One of the clues is a four-letter voice part, which is right up your alley. You have two choices. One of those choices would give an unpronounceable result in connection with the letters already known, while the other has no such conflict. Look it over again …
What? The capital of the Bahamas named after a once-German state? No wonder the Duke of Windsor retired there when his sympathies became known.
Since we know “van” the 4-letter river in England that fits is Avon.
Mark B. and TOClark are toying with us. I finally had to look it up. 🙂
N A U V O __ __ R __ S __ __ A N __
(Bit of a derail, but “vanguard” was a word I sort of knew even as a little kid, because of this toy.
Way to update the culture, Mike R.! 😀
N A U V O O __ R __ S __ __ A N __
I think I see a Mormon word starting to form in there …
The part of music is BASS
That’s a deep solution, Fiona …
N A U V O O B R A S S __ A N __
Ooh, Ooh! It’s Nauvoo Brass Fang! (Much more imposing than brass knuckles, don’tcha know)
Ha ha! The Whistling and Bloodsucking Brigade!
The name Nassau made it into England in the person of good King Billy, William III of Orange-Nassau, who with his wife (and first cousin) Mary became joint monarchs of England after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Not to be confused with what was (from the English point of view, at least), the rather inglorious American Revolution of about a century later. Of course, by then the Stuarts had made way for the Hanovers (another bunch of Germans, by the way) who arrived in the person of George I and stuck around until Queen Victoria passed to her reward just over 100 years ago.
But William and Mary arrived just in time to get “Nassau” stuck onto a county just east of me here on Long Island, the capital city of the Bahamas, a street in the Financial District of Manhattan, a hall at Princeton University (which was shot up during the glorious Battle of Princeton just after New Years 1777–I’ve heard you can still see the bullet holes, but I never spent enough time to find any), and who knows what else. And, their own names are on a college in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Awesome! I promise to be in better shape to play the next one — I’m been sick from that toxic water issue in Oregon that you’ve been reading about, but I will be in better shape when you post another one!
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!
This one is for my missionary too!
She’s serving a performing mission in Nauvoo and they have a brass band there. They will all have fun solving this.
. . . Printing right now . . .
Solved this with my son. We had some confusion reined because I told him 7, 5, 12 was a dishonest action. I was on the verge of asking what is so evil about cutting hair when I received my mistake.
Ack! It is early and yesterday was a long day. Please forgive my reining….
🙂 You do sound a little like a spam English translation there … And it’s fun to hear that this became a bit of a family activity.
Since we haven’t actually posted the full answer, here it is:
N A U V O O B R A S S B A N D
I had big smile as I perceived what the answer would be (before looking at the comments!) – because I grew up with a degree of ‘hometown’ pride in the story of how the little town of Keosauqua delighted in a concert of the Nauvoo Brass Band so much that they provided money and food for the mud-slogging travelers in the spring of 1846.