Extra Letters

Here's an Extra Letters instructional puzzle:

AHMTW IOS AT EIKY AACCCEHIIRRSTV AFO ANT ADEEIL AACDIINPPRTT?

To create this puzzle, we typed a question. We added a letter to each word in this question. Then we scrambled the letters of each word along with the extra letter.

How To Solve This Puzzle

To find the first word in the question, unscramble the first set of letters. Identify the extra letter that does not belong to this word and save it somewhere (for instance, you can write it on a piece of paper). Continue with each set of letters, saving the extra letters.

Once you have unscrambled all the words in the question and saved all the extra letters,  you should be able to read the question and the answer.

Solution

Create Your Own Puzzle

You can use Extra Letters puzzles as review or follow-up exercises for your training session. Here’s how you create an Extra Letters puzzle:

1. Write a question and the answer. Select a question that lends itself to a fairly short answer.

WHAT MOTIVATES PEOPLE? MASTERY

2. Here’s the tricky part: Rewrite the question so that the number of words in it is the same as the number of letters in the answer.

WHAT IS ONE FACTOR THAT MOTIVATES PEOPLE? MASTERY

3. Add the first letter of the answer to the first word of the question, the second letter to the second word, and so on.

WHATM ISA ONES FACTORT THATE MOTIVATESR PEOPLEY?

4. Arrange the letters of each word in the question (along with the extra letter) in alphabetical order.

AHMTW AIS ENOS ACFORTT AEHTT AEIMORSTTV EELOPPY?

5. Your puzzle is now ready. Add appropriate instructions at the top of the puzzle.

How To Use Your Extra Letters Puzzle

Extra Letters can be used to review the training content from a lecture, a handout, a podcast, or a video recording. An effective way to use this puzzle is to get the participants involved. Here’s how to conduct a review activity:

  1. Before the session, create an Extra Letters puzzle with a question (and an answer) related to some key topic from the training content. Distribute copies of the puzzle to the participants and explain how to solve it.
  2. Explain how you created the puzzle. Demonstrate the steps listed above. Tell participants that they will be creating their own Extra Letters puzzles later.
  3. After the instructional session, organize the participants into teams and ask each team to collaboratively create an Extra Letters puzzle.
  4. Give the puzzle from Team 1 to Team 2, Team 2 to Team 3, and so on. The puzzle from the last team goes to the first team.
  5. Ask teams to solve the puzzle they received.