Wordplay Wednesday (August 8, 2012)

[Neel Mehta]

Take a common six-letter noun. Add the letter ‘T’ to the front of it, and you’ll make an adjective describing someone who knows what they’re going to do with that noun. What are the words?

I have no idea, but I posted for two reasons:

1. People who start these Wordplay Wednesday threads almost never include Ken's question, which should be a crime;
2. That trailer for the new TV show Last Resort adds a T to the front of a different six-letter noun, and now I can't think of anything else.

[skullturfq]

Any chance of a hint, Ken? This one seems to be taking us longer than normal.

[marpocky]

I don't suppose HIRSTY is some sort of beverage?

[jbenz]

It's too bad THUMPER is the name of a rabbit and not an adjective describing said rabbit.

I still haven't come up with the answer either, but I did realize that HEATER is one of those fun words where the vowel sounds change completely just by adding a single letter to the beginning.

[Neel Mehta]

I've gotten over (T)REASON, but I still am at a loss on this one.

I thought that the words should end in -ER. That would make sense for a 6-letter noun (like ROOFER) and a 7-letter adjective (like TASTIER). But I couldn't think of any matches when I inserted H, R, W, or a vowel as the second letter. It seems less likely that the words would end in -ED: that can form a lot of adjectives (like TRUSTED) but not many nouns. Same problem with -AL.

Which leads me to the conclusion that there's not a logical way to go about this. It'll either dawn or you or it won't.

[Bill]

Someone who is TACTION knows how to get some ACTION.

A good TEACHER knows what to do if you use the slang EACHER.

Someone whose system is TOXICAL better know what to do with some OXICAL.

Yeah, I need a hint...

[PhygLeGuy]

Having resorted to a mechanical aid, I offer the following:

Someone who is tearful might very well know what they're going to do with an earful, which is not exactly a common six-letter noun.

When looking over the tote board while waiting for the start of an early morning gluttony contest, it wouldn't be a terrible idea to put a couple of bucks on Tom Elet.

Regarding what I suspect to be the correct answer: there is a reason why the noun, but not the adjective, was described as common, and the adjective is most often encountered with a negative prefix.

[Bill]

Now I'm wondering if someone we know plays the rebeck.

[Ken Jennings]

I never have any clue how hard these are.

This one might be easier if phrased like this: "Add the letter ‘T’ to the front of it, and you’ll make an adjective describing someone who has officially decided what they’re going to do with that noun. "

[A Wray]

Thank you, Ken; that did it for me. For the record, I'd never heard of the adjective before.

[Bill]

Nice hint, Ken. Thanks.

I also had never heard of the adjective before, even in its negative form, though there is a closely related noun that is much more familiar within the given context.

[jbenz]

I still never got this. Anyone care to answer in white?

[Bill]

Nice hint, Ken. Thanks.

I also had never heard of the adjective before, even in its negative form, though there is a closely related noun that is much more familiar within the given context.

The closely related noun was TESTAMENT, if that helps.

[skullturfq]

Aha. Bill's hint finally did it for me.

I had heard of the negative form of the adjective, but not the positive form.

For anyone still working on it, the negative prefix is IN-.

[Paucle]

I'd also never heard of it except for the negative aspect. Although it makes sense.

[SMWinnie]

I never have any clue how hard these are.

This one might be easier if phrased like this: "Add the letter ‘T’ to the front of it, and you’ll make an adjective describing someone who has officially decided what they’re going to do with that noun. "

Excellent question! I'm professionally embarrassed to have missed it.

Giving it away completely, one who uses the seven-letter adjective professionally should object to the clue's tense and insist upon something like, "someone who decided what they wanted to be done with that noun...


...while not insane or under duress...


...and made sure to get two witnesses (three if they had property in Vermont), because while writing it out longhand suffices in most states (like Utah or California) it doesn't in some (like Washington)."