Crossword Puzzles

[reldnahkram]

There's something beautiful about solving a crossword puzzle. It starts as a set of scattered letters, then as more and more letters fill in, everything else falls into place. It's great how the clues that totally stump you at first make sense when you've got half of the letters in place, or once you get the gist of the puzzle. A few days ago, I was thinking the wrong part of speech for jerks (YANKSON), boxcar hopper (HOBO), and prunes (LOPS). I was thinking nouns, not verbs, for all three of them.

Comments

[elizaeffect.livejournal.com]

I thought hobo was a noun. Or maybe it's both a noun and a verb. Whatever. :)

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

I saw hopper as a noun, and so the clue made very little sense - Boxcar hopper - those are two kinds of rail cars, but what do they make together?

[wayman.livejournal.com]

... but what do they make together?

A mixed goods train! (Well, that's what they'd call it in England. Is that term in use in the States?)

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if there's a term for it on this side of the pond.

[uncleamos]

Mixed consist?

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

Er, hopper in the other sense is still a noun -- one who hops. It's just derived from a verb.