Lots of Great Rebus and Mondegreen Puzzles
Fun, visual wordplay that builds puzzle-solving confidence
200 Rebus Picture Puzzles plus 200 Mondegreens (whatever they are), is now available as a Kindle ebook at Amazon's Kindle Store. Buy it. Read it. Review it. And spread the word. Thank you.
What is a rebus?
A rebus puzzle challenges you to build a word or phrase from a series of pictures or symbols.
For example, consider this rebus:
This rebus has four parts:
1. An arrow pointing to a person's back,
2. A tube (perhaps of toothpaste),
3. The letter A,
4. The number 6.
String the sounds of these four pieces together and get "back tube A six." Ignore the spelling and hear the phrase "Back to basics."
You won't need a pencil. The puzzles are short. Hints (on the same page) help you identify both the pictures and the overall phrase. The answer to each puzzle is upside down at the bottom of the page. There's no need to dig around at the back of the book to verify that you got the right answer.
What is a mondegreen?
The mondegreens are basically rebuses without the pictures (letting you skip the challenge of identifying the pictures).
For example: "Thug rate pier amid dove geese saw"
If you read the words carefully, you should hear the phrase we have crafted using homophones (words that sound alike). Both the spelling and the spacing between words are usually changed. In this example, the two words "pier amid" lead the solver to a single word. "Thug rate" leads to two words, but the spacing and the spelling have changed. The answer is a wonder of the ancient world (the great pyramid of Giza).
Why is this book more fun?
It's because you can actually solve the puzzles. Let's face it, puzzles are only fun if you solve them. But most puzzle books ask you to be an expert solver with no training or help. That's like asking you to bench press 400 pounds your first day at the gym.
Instead, this book prepares you for success in two ways. There's a tutorial full of tips and tricks to help you "get the picture" (literally). Even if you skip the tutorial and choose to jump right in (honestly, who ever stops to read the instructions?), each puzzle includes multiple hints. These hints not only increase your chances of success, but also improve your solving ability for the next puzzle. We tested this book with people who had never tried rebus puzzles, and their ability to crack the puzzles grew with each success. Soon they were enjoying the book instead of quitting in frustration.
If you are new to these puzzles, there is an appendix at the back of the book with valuable rebus solving tips; it reveals tricks that will get you solving the puzzles fast. Even if you don't use the appendix, you'll find that your ability to solve each puzzle improves as you gain experience.
If you're already a rebus expert, this book is a treasure trove of fun puzzles to tackle.
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