Alternate Reality

[DudleyDude]

SLANTS

CHIMPS

SHORED

BRACER

BUNGLE

MISTED

I don't often post riddles but it's quiet so I thought I'd give it a try. This is definitely more of a word related puzzle than a riddle (the clues are words and the solution is a single word) so I thought it would go nicer here than the general Logic/Math section which usually skews pretty heavily to the math. I've never been good at predicting whether a puzzle will be hard or not so I'm not going to offer any directions or clues at first and I'll see how it goes. Enjoy.

[fabpig]

PRAYER appropriately fits...

Plants
cRimps
shAred
braYer
bungEe
misteR

[plainglazed]

hey hey DD - know it's tough to post and not have any idea how it's going. want you to know I'm enjoying struggling with this one.

not much as of yet. six six letter words - coincidence? don't see much relationship between words with the possible exception of SHORED and BRACER but even that relationship breaks down considering tense and parts of speech. thinking this is more of a manipulation of letters. Alternating letters perhaps from the title?

will get there DD. thanks for posting and your patience.

[andromeda]

Hey

The words seem too random to be related by association. I tried to toss the letters around, that didn't get me anywhere. I laid them in a grid, nothing. I tried then to replace the letters in words with the letters that come before or after the letter, nothing. I only got a word by eliminating same letters, two by two, until the remaining 6 letters formed the word "groups". I'm probably off, I just wanna know if I'm moving in the right direction.

[DudleyDude]

Heya guys, thanks for giving this one a go.

I wouldn't put too much thought into the title. I probably should have just titled it "Word Puzzle" and that would have been less distracting. You are both right in thinking that this is letter manipulation type puzzle. I hesitate to give too many clues because discovering the letter manipulation mechanic is the main part of the puzzle. Once that is figured out, the final answer will quickly follow. I will say that PG was correct in believing that 6 words of 6 letters was not a coincidence. Hopefully this doesn't turn out being one of those puzzles that was more entertaining to construct than for others to solve.

[fabpig]

but I thought the word "bracer" to be a bit unusual. If it's a letter substituion type puzzle, then it would be about the only word that could be used for "braver" if the v is to be replaced. But I could be barking up the wrong kettle of fish.

[DudleyDude]

but I thought the word "bracer" to be a bit unusual. If it's a letter substituion type puzzle, then it would be about the only word that could be used for "braver" if the v is to be replaced. But I could be barking up the wrong kettle of fish.

You chose the right letter to alternate for that word, but 'braver' isn't quite right.

[plainglazed]

...prayer?

working off of fabpig's above albeit like a more cowardly loud a$$

[DudleyDude]

Thanks for playing this one. I had intended the answer to be forced if the right letter pattern was chosen for alterations but I made at least one mistake (with the fourth word, which Fab discovered). I'm glad it didn't ruin the puzzle.

[plainglazed]

didn't ruin the puzzle at all DD. no need to sell yourself short. I enjoyed from the start but was obviously a little behind in the end. cheers.