Home

Get a PDF of the 2024 edition here

2008 Edition of the
Online Guide to the Engima


Preface to the Guide
History of the NPL
Membership Information
Sharing the Puzzles
      Sharing the fun
      Combining Talents
Composing
Editorial Verses
Flats
      Acrostical Enigma
      Alternade
      Ambigram
      Anagram
      Antigram
      Apt. . .
      Backswitch
      Baltimore Deletion
      Baltimore Transdeletion
      Beheadment
      Bigram. . .
      Brookline Letter-Change
      Change of Heart
      Changeover
      Charade
      Combination Padlock
      Consonantcy
      Curtailment
      Deletion
      Diastichal Enigma
      Double-Cross
      Dropout
      Enigma
      Enigmatic Rebus
      False derivative
      FWNFR
      Group flat
      Head-to-Tail Shift
      Heart Transplant
      Heteronym
      Homoantonym
      Homoconcominym
      Homonym
      Homosynonym
      Interlock
      Letter Bank
      Letter Change
      Letter Shift
      Linkade
      Literatim
      Metathesis
      Mutation
      Mynoreteh
      Order Takeout
      Overloaded. . .
      Padlock
      Palindrome
      Phonetic. . .
      Phrase Shift
      Picture. . .
      Progressive. . .
      Rebade
      Rebus
      Redro takeout
      Repeated-Letter Change
      Repeated-Letter Deletion
      Reversal
      Reversed. . .
      Riddle
      Sound Change
      Sound Shift
      Spoonergram
      Subade
      Suber
      Switchback
      Telestichal Enigma
      Terminal Deletion
      Transaddition
      Transade
      Trans-Cross
      Transdeletion
      Transpogram
      Transposal
      Trigram. . .
      Welded. . .
      Word Deletion
      Word Substitution
      Solving the Rebus
      Browse the Flat Pages
Introduction to Forms
      From A to O
      From P to Z
      Form Modifiers
Cryptograms
      Constructing Medium Crypts
      Solving Cryptograms
      Other Solving Approaches
Extras
      Solving Cryptics
      Composing Cryptics
      Observations
Reference Books
Constitution
      Bylaws
Glossary
Supplements
      Non-Guide Flats
      Non-Guide Forms
      Non-Guide Extras
      Where to Find It
      Form Notation
      Italian Picture Puzzles
      Abbreviated Guide to Flats
      Mobile Guide to Flats
      Submissions
Errata


© Copyright 2013 by
the National Puzzlers' League
 Browse the Flat Type Pages

Webmaster's note: In order to make better use of the hyperlinking ability of the Internet, the flat types are laid out a little bit differently than they are in the hard-copy version of the Guide.

The acrostical, diastichal and telestichal enigmas, for example, are all very similar in structure, and quite dissimilar from the other flats. To compare them directly, though, you'd have to flip back and forth through the Guide.

This experimental rearrangement of the Guide is an attempt to allow any kind of look-up. You can use the list of alphabetized flat types and flat type modifiers in the navigation bar to the left to find any description by name. Once you click on a link, you'll be taken to that description on the relevant page, and the page will contain a number of flat types that are similar to it. It might be worth comparing to the other types on the page to help you remember the difference between, say, a linkade and a padlock.

For all-encompassing browsing, however, it's a little clumsy.

The links below will allow you to look over all the flat types without bouncing around from page to page.

Arrange letters in a new order to get another word or phrase:
Transposal, metathesis, anagram, antigram, ambigram, mutation.

Change letters in an entry to get another word or phrase:
Letter change, repeated-letter change, sound change, word substitution.

Combine shorter words to make single longer words:
Charade, transade, linkade, padlock, alternade, interlock.

The enigma and the riddle get a page of their own.

Some flat types don't change the words and phrases much at all:
Heteronym, homonym, reversal, mynoreteh, palindrome.

Move letters in an entry to get another word or phrase:
Letter shift, head-to-tail shift, phrase shift, changeover, transpogram.

Couplet-based enigmas are some of the most different flat types we have:
Acrostical enigma, telestichal enigma, diastichal enigma.

The rebus and its cousin, the rebade, are among the most popular types of flat we have.

Remove letters from a longer entry to get another word or phrase:
Deletion, beheadment, curtailment, terminal deletion, word deletion, transdeletion.

Some puzzles don't work with words that share a relationship, but instead with words that sound as though they do:
Homoantonym, homoconcominym, homosynonym.

Splice pieces of two entries together to produce two more words or phrases:
Double-cross, trans-cross, change of heart, heart transplant, dropout.

Certain flat types don't fall into any of these descriptions, but are still quite common:
Consonantcy, false derivative, letter bank, spoonergram.

There are also some flat types that don't fit these categories, and that are more rare:
Backswitch and switchback, literatim, order takeout and redro takeout, and group flats.

Finally, there are some modifiers that change the way the words in a puzzle's solution relate to each other:
Apt, bigram and trigram, overloaded, phonetic, picture, reversed, welded, and flats we never finished reading.