TERMINAL DELETION: A word is changed to a new one by removing its first and last letters.
Example: ONE = foregone, TWO = Oregon.
5. TERMINAL DELETION (6, 4)
I knew my son would be a TALL
When he was very small,
For when I put him in his SMALL
He doodled on the wall.
WORD DELETION: A word removed from inside a longer one leaves a third word.
Example: TOTAL = performance; ONE = man, TWO = perforce.
The length is given only of the longest (TOTAL) word.
7. WORD DELETION (10)
I TWO the praise of any soul
With knowledge of a ONE like this.
I've just an ALL–so on the whole
I'm glad that ignorance is bliss.
CHARADE: A word is broken into two or more shorter words.
Example: TOTAL = scarcity; ONE = scar, TWO = city. The length is given only of the long word.
8. CHARADE (10)
My migraine was pounding; I needed some rest.
“There's WHOLE,” said my FIRST, “in the medicine chest.”
The SECOND on all of the labels looked blurred.
I took one at random and promptly got THIRD.
LETTER CHANGE: One letter is changed in a word to make a new one.
Example: ONE = pastry, TWO = pantry (a third-letter change).
9. FIRST-LETTER CHANGE (8)
Our baby had colic, and ONE all the day.
No sound's ever TWO it, I'm happy to say.
10. THIRD-LETTER CHANGE (11)
His mood was indicative, her voice purely passive;
He grew more explicative, her boredom grew massive.
To his ONE, she said, “Somehow I feel it's not you
I'm looking for,” ending their date with a TWO.
On to even more puzzles in verse…
…or go back to some earlier puzzles in verse.
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