A slight twist on the old schooldays word guessing game to gently tickle your grey cells. Here, the guessers start off by building a nonsense anagram of the answer, because the setter will simply enter each correctly guessed letter (including any duplicates) into the first available space(s) in the outline, except for the first letter of each word which will be correctly placed. At some point, there will be enough letters to create scope for a guess at the answer by unscrambling them, or at least that is the general idea...

Rather than being limited to a single word the puzzle will often be a title or character, adding a flavour of the game of charades.

Please read the instructions carefully as these are not the usual rules of the traditional game. Hopefully everything is reasonably clear, but please do not hesitate to ask for help or clarification.

The rules

(i) The setter puts up the outline of a word or a short reasonably well-known expression in blank (so that all the other players know are the numbers of words and of letters in each word) together with an indication of the nature or category of the word/expression. An expression might be for example a book, play, film or music title or the name of a famous person or character, or perhaps a proverb or saying: it is entirely up to the setter, but please give enough of a hint to narrow the category.

(ii) Someone else posts at least two letters which he/she thinks might be in the word/expression.

(iii) The setter enters into the outline any correctly guessed letter, but only in its correct position if it is the first letter of a word: otherwise the letter and any repetition of it will simply be placed in the first available empty space (which might entirely coincidentally be its correct position). The space for the first letter of each word is therefore left blank until that letter is correctly guessed.

(iv) Meanwhile the setter also starts to add the hanged person to the gallows with one step for each incorrectly guessed letter or position of letter. Seven steps are needed to complete the victim (head, body, right leg, left leg, right arm, left arm, face). [If having to do this deters you from playing, feel free not to bother.]

(v) Someone posts another two (or more) letter guesses and/or a guess at the correct position in the outline of at least one of the already posted letters, and so on. There is nothing to prevent the same person from posting consecutive guesses, or even hogging an entire game.

(vi) The setter keeps score by posting a list of wrong guesses and the number of steps remaining.

(vii) Players are allowed to try to guess individual words of an answer consisting of more than one word. However, such a guess will be treated as separate letter or position guesses for each blank space in the word (which could therefore prove expensive if the guess is wrong).

(viii) At any stage anyone can try to guess the whole word/expression, and a wrong word/expression guess results in two steps towards the completion of the picture, but without any indication of whether any of the individual letters or words guessed are correct.

(ix) Any letter appearing in its correct position (whether coincidentally or as a result of a correct position guess, or because it is the first letter of a word) will be shown in bold italic.

(x) Apostrophes will not be shown, and any letter following an apostrophe will be counted as part of the word which it follows (so that for instance Wayne's World would be two words 6,5).

(xi) The setter wins if the picture of the hanged person is completed: otherwise the person to correctly guess the word/expression is the winner, and hopefully then sets the next word/expression. Don't be afraid to have a go: there is plenty of help available if you have any difficulty, and you can always edit your way out of any errors.

Note for setters on creating the picture of the gallows and hanged person

The picture steps (kindly contributed by Pandora) are in a photobucket album on the internet which are accessed by using one of the urls (web addresses) below, and here's how you do it:

In the full reply screen one of the option buttons across the top is "enter an image" which then offers you a choice of various image positions to insert followed by a dialogue box for a url.

You just copy and paste the url you need, deleting and replacing (using the edit process) as you go through the game and want to change the picture.

[I have been using the position "non-floating image"]

The urls

The gallows, in place at the start of the game
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/PandoraSD/Hangman/G4.gif

Step one, the head of the condemned person
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/PandoraSD/Hangman/H1.gif

Step two, the body
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/PandoraSD/Hangman/H2.gif

Step three, the right leg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/PandoraSD/Hangman/H3.gif

Step four, the left leg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/PandoraSD/Hangman/H4.gif

Step five, the right arm
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/PandoraSD/Hangman/H5.gif

Step six, the left arm
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/PandoraSD/Hangman/H6.gif

Step seven, the face of death
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/PandoraSD/Hangman/H10.gif


Go on, you know you really want to give it a try!

Manxman is next Lord High Executioner.

Thank you Lex

QUANTUM OF SOLACE guessed by Lex
incorrect guesses: I, R, D, G, H
steps left: 2

O and F.

Yes

Second word OF, and fresh letter guesses I and N.

no I

A and T.

We are obviously both weird in a similar (and not necessarily good) way to be the only ones to get a kick out of this game!

I agree Lex
A and T both good.

L and E.

Both good

S and R.

S is good

Still no idea: D and G.

Two misses

F and H.

You already guessed F, H however is a miss.

Becoming forgetful in my dotage,,,!

Q and U.

That's a winning guess.

I still don't know it.

I thought someone else would have snatched it!

Quantum of Solace

You got it Lex

Thank you: a late flash of inspiration!

Hoping that I haven't already set it previously, this one is a band 8,5:

Reckless Kelly guessed by Manxman (despite incompetence by the setter!)

Wrong guesses: TANOID
Steps left: 1

Put a toothbrush in my hand, let me be a travelin' man

T, E Good morning Lex

The E is good.

R, S

Both in the frame!

A, N

Neither of those.

Darn it L, O

3L but 0O.

This has me stumped

I, D

Two misses!

They are a country and western group, and K would be a good guess.

Maybe we need to add hints once we get down to one step left...

Should the second letter, E, be bolded?
That is what is stumping me
If it is bolded then I would guess.....
Reckless Kelly

Aargh! You're quite right - grovelling apologies!

I love their album Bulletproof, but none of the others quite hit the spot for me.

No problem. Enjoyed the challenge

Linda Ronstadt... guessed by Mr and Mrs Lex (singer 5,8)

incorrect guesses: E
steps left: 6

A and N.

two hits

R and E.

Welcome back Lex

R is good.

S and T.

(On holiday in France at present so not on line as often).

Tres bien Lex. Deux pour deux. Hope you are having a good time

L and O

two more good ones

Clue: she is no longer able to sing due to a debilitating disease

Mrs Lex has helped: Linda Ronstadt.

Well done Mrs. Lex

This one is a current writer of thrillers well worth trying 3,7:


A A A * _ N R S S S _

Wrong guesses: TE
Steps remaining: 5

Deep, deep water spills all the ghosts from the river mouth...

T, E

Two misses.

That's a shame
How about A, N?

Plenty of those!

R, S

Asa Larsson

That's her!

Name of a 20th century writer...

JACK KEROUAC guessed by Lex

incorrect guesses: L, N, T, S
steps left: 3

A and E.

Very good

L and R.

R is good

N and T.

Two misses

C and S.

C is good

Time to try J and K.

Excellent

I see that you are trying to keep me guessing by not entering the latest letters, but I think it must be Jack Kerouac.

That's it Lex.
I did enter the edits but it looks like I must have hit the wrong button because when I previewed it, everything looked good. I will be more vigilant next time

.

Singer and band 5,6,3,3,3,4,4 (probably far too easy because of word/letter count):

Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo guessed by Manxman

Wrong guesses: S
Elmer for first word

Steps left: 2

Tombstone shadow, stretchin' across my path...

T, E, A

All three on target.

D, N, H

Still all looking good.

third word 'and'
fourth word 'the'
S

No S.

R, O

Two more good choices.

You got me stumped on this one Lex

L, M

Nevertheless those are two more correct letters!

The singer is Australian but now living in England, their music has featured in two TV programmes, and they have three or four albums, the most recent being earlier this year (very well reviewed). I think/hope that they are on the verge of a major breakthrough because I love their music.

Fifth word "red"?

Colouring up nicely!

B, C

Both in the zone - managing all these letters is quite challenging but I do not believe that I am misleading you...!

I have no idea what this answer is but I'll take a stab at "Elmer" for the first word.

Made me laugh, but wrong.

Hint: the singer is female, two of the missing letters are the same and the name of the band is a Gillian Welch song title.

Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo

Very challenging and obscure

I still don't know who they are but did think that 6th word was clay. Glad I could make you laugh!

Correct!

www.emilybarker.com

Did you catch her show in the UK Lex?

We are going to see her in Gloucester on 17th October; meanwhile the album Dear River is a constant on my car CD player.

I really hope that the recent exposure (including the opening ceremony at the Olympics with Frank Turner) helps get her the wider recognition she deserves.

Thanks Lex

EASTERN PROMISES guessed by Cue (2-word movie title 7,8)

incorrect letters:
steps left:

I'll go with A and E

Excellent choices

T, R and P.

I think you got it Lex. I have a inkling that I used this one before???

I don't think that you have used it before, and I will wait to see whether Cue or anyone else wants to have a shot!

Eastern Promises?

That's the one Cue. Great movie.

Okay, let's try this one.

Book title

Deception Point by Dan Brown (good book) solved by manxman

Incorrect Guesses: RSLHG
Steps Remaining: 2

Hi Cue,
T, E

Two hits, manxman!

R, S

Two misses, manxman!

Well, shiver me timbers matey

L, N

Good on N but not on L

Well, all together you're batting .500. Not a bad average.

If you are a baseball player
I'd like to buy a couple of vowels Pat..... I, O

Excellent buys, my good man!

H, G

Oh oh! Getting a little tight now. This is a techno-thriller from 2001 that takes place on the polar ice cap.

D, P

Guess that was a pretty good hint!

Two hits.

Deception Point (thanks for the hint)

That's the one, manxman. I liked all of Dan Brown's books.

Agreed

Taylor Swift - guessed by Lex

incorrect guesses: D, C, N, M, H, E
steps left: 1