SOLVED - Test Puzzle 6 - Get Better at Solving Puzzles

[Suspence]

I wrote this one quickly this morning. Post your thought process and solutions.

arch
ate
bat
cure
doff
fort
goose
key
pass
plain
rum
same
sing
soon
try
wage
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[Zag]

Quick first thoughts:

Looking over the list, there seem to be quite a few that can turn into endings on larger words. i.e.

sing --> using
wage --> sewage

(This is something I always consider if I see words that end in ING that are not gerunds.) However, that doesn't seem to pan out, because goose, especially, doesn't end any words except mongoose.

I count that there are 16 entries, which makes me consider that it might be possible to arrange a 4x4. But now I have to run so I don't have time to try.

[Vagrant]

Interestingly MON can also be added to the beginning of ARCH and SOON (and possibly others, haven't really looked beyond that).

[referee]

that seems good. se- could also gives us search, secure, serum, sesame. (which if 4x4, it's one too many)
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[Vagrant]

It's not too difficult from there to end up with COM, MON, SEN and SE.

[Suspence]

COMMON SENSE is indeed the answer.

Couple of nice quick tips for puzzle-solving uncovered here, as mentioned by Zag:

1. When non-gerund words ending in ING appear, try adding something to the front to make a new word.
   
2. If you see a list of 16, consider a 4x4

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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.