September 22–26
To earn this week’s extra credit, solve this Wordle-like puzzle and turn in a screenshot of your solution. The answer is the name of a PAA student.
September 15–19
To earn the extra credit, solve the cryptogram below. Each letter in the original quote has been consistently replaced with another letter of the alphabet, and any digits (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0) have been consistently replaced with another digit.
While a Google search would show you numerous cryptogram solvers that use the unique features of computers to try millions of different solutions per second to decrypt a message instantly, please do not use that method. That would go against the spirit of this challenge. Use manual solving techniques only. Hint: W = B
RGF’Z STZ QFNGFT SGGA RGVF GF NGX WTEQXLT NGX QKT NGXFU, WXZ LTZ QF TBQDHST YGK ZIT WTSOTCTKL OF LHTTEI, OF EGFRXEZ, OF SGCT, OF YQOZI QFR OF HXKOZN.
—8 ZODGZIN 5:86
September 8–12
To earn the extra credit, solve this word spiral puzzle.
September 1–5
For this first quarter, the PAA ASB (Associated Student Body) officers have chosen 2 Peter 3:18 as the theme Bible text: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
I think they chose an important text that describes what the Paradise Adventist Academy community wants to help one another to do.
Inspired by two important words from that text, the weekly wordplay this week is a word ladder going from GROW to LORD.
Beginning with the word GROW, change one letter at a time—always forming a valid word each time you change a letter—until you form the word LORD.
Example: DOG to CAT
DOG > DOT > COT > CAT
To earn the extra credit, turn in a sequence of words that goes in that manner from GROW to LORD.
Just a reminder: It is very easy to do a Google search for something like “word ladder solver” or write a prompt for an AI asking it to solve this puzzle. Computers searching through large databases of words can solve word ladder puzzles almost instantaneously. I trust that you won’t use a word ladder solver or AI, since that would go against the spirit of this wordplay challenge.
August 25–29
These odd phrases share a property that most phrases do not:
PARK LOCATING
FLAMING OVEN
THINK ORANGE
NORWAY ESSENCE
A SECRET JURY
YODEL WARRANT
BEADY ALIEN
To earn the extra credit, explain what highly unusual property the phrases share.