Fill in the blank riddle

[smeeb]

I have the following two sentences that contain 4 variables (W1, W2, W3 and W4) between them. I must figure out what each missing word is, and the only information I have is a range of possible word lengths for each variable:

The puzzle (2 sentences):

1. There is a W1 in the W2 W3 is near where the road bends which contains very important items.
2. For W4, the top of the W3 is on the counter.

For each variable/missing word, here's what we know about it:
 

• W1 is 6-8 characters in length
• W2 is 3-5 characters in length
• W3 is 3-5 characters in length
• W4 is 6-8 characters in length

My first inclination is that W3 is either "which" or "that":
 

• "There is a W1 in the W2 which is near where the road bends which contains very important items."; or
• "There is a W1 in the W2 that is near where the road bends which contains very important items."

But W3 also exists in sentence #2 and neither which/that make sense for it:
 

• "For W4, the top of the which is on the counter."; or
• "For W4, the top of the that is on the counter."

I'd be enormously happy to get any-and-all help for all the 4 variables, but specifically I'm really stumped on W3. It's a word that has to be both a noun (something that has a "top" to it) and a connector that is similar to which/that. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

[plasmid]

Are there any other clues to work with? For example, if this is from a video game, can you look at a counter and tell us what's on it?

[smeeb]

Thanks Senior Lolcat - unfortunately no, there is no other contextual info behind these setences...any ideas?!

[DudleyDude]

Are there any other sentences with more 'variables'.  The possible variable sizes are interesting and it makes me wonder if there might be more variable relationships that could help (for example, W1 = W2 + W3).  

 

As far as W3, the only thing I can think of is to play with the relationship between W2 and W3 and change the spacing.  So if you say W2=CART and W3=HAT, you could change the spacing when placing them in the sentence and come up with CAR THAT.  The reason I asked if there were other possible variables is that W1=CARTON works well for the whole sentence and the word CARTON breaks into CART (already used for W2) and ON.  

 

W4 could be any word that works but I guess INSTANCE fits the best and I like it since the word also naturally breaks into 2 other words (IN, STANCE)

 

Hope this helps.