Welcome back! You began Series Two of The Puzzleboy strong as you dove into the works of Shakespeare and came up with sopping wet answers! And even if you came up just sopping wet, at least you got to read some nice sonnets along the way!
Just as Shakespeare once wrote in his play EasyQuoteFinder.com, “Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.” So when you’re done gaining knowledge below, move theyself to the Puzzleboy Pantheon and see how the inaugural Series Two scores are looking!
One thing that you may have noticed that was a little different about this puzzle was the fact that it had the overarching title (“Sonnet Positive”) but the opening lines gave you another title (“They have their exits and their entrances…”).
My hope was that between this second title and the fact that some of the sonnet lines asked you to delete a few letters, it would be clear that we would need the opening and ending letters of these lines.
Once you had collected all of the lines, you would end up with a terrible, non-rhyming poem that looked something like this:
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal waR
And I a tyrant have no leisure takeN
Doing thee vantage double-vantage mE
Even those that said I could not love you deareR
O sure I am the wits of former dayS
Fair kind and true is all my argumenT
Self so self-loving were iniqU [last three letters deleted]
That she hath thee is of my wailing chieF
Each changing place with that which goes beF [last three letters deleted]
And as you can see through my capitalizations above, by taking the opening and closing letters of each line, we have the answer to our question:
What separates those who could solve this puzzle from those who could not?
They are MADE OF STERNER STUFF
That’s all you had to say, or some variation, but Puzzler Dan B. took it one step further with his answer:
A quest thou hath beset upon my mind.
The Puzzleboy, a nom de plume in jest,
And yet while at my working place I find
Myself perusing sonnets for the best
Of clues and hints and figments of the Bard.
To jest or jape is not thine final goal,
But rather 'tis to jolt my brain, and hard!
Thy silly quest doth stir and rile my soul,
With naught but website glory for to gain.
The missing text at ends of lines was key
To sniffing out thy puzzle's message plain -
And with the starts and stops I ere did see!
O Puzzleboy, thy tricks are not too tough,
For I, indeed, am made of sterner stuff.
14 line English sonnet. Proper rhyme scheme. Iambic pentameter.
It’s all there in black and white: Dan B. hath wasted both his time and mine.
—
Thanks again to the late Stephen Sondheim for the inspiration for this puzzle (and while I’m at it, thanks for all of the everything you created), and thanks to Barry Joseph for brining the original puzzle to my attention in his wonderful book Matching Minds with Sondheim!
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. I was not present for the birth of any of these people so I can not speak to that first part, but they have achieved greatness in the Puzzleboy Pantheon!
A W.
Adam M.
Alex S.
Anne E.
Audrey A.
Bethany H.
Chris F.
Cyrus H.
Dan B.
David T.
Eric C.
Helene L.
Jack R.
Jay W.
Jesse F.
Jim M.
Kari A.
Lisa U.
Maxim L.
Naina M.
Rakedu T.
Richard P.
Sam L.
Scott N.
Tim M.
Vance S.
But let’s stop talking like old timey weirdos! The next puzzle from The Puzzleboy is written exclusively in Normal English™! Come on back here on December 1st for:
