Sandy Wood
Brain Game: The Perthshire Puzzle
by Sandy Wood - February 9, 2010 - 7:30 AM

bloghead_braingames.jpg

Today’s Brain Game is open-ended; there are several dozen correct answers, and your job is to find just one of them (preferably one that someone else hasn’t already offered in the comments). To win the game, come up with ONE word that contains five consecutive consonants. Examples?  BIRTHSTONE, POSTSCRIPT. And to make it a bit more challenging, please follow the “sometimes Y” rule (which states that if “Y” makes a vowel sound, it should be considered a vowel).

Can you come up with a word containing five consecutive consonants?

Please post ONE such word in the comments
(and save any additional ones so that others may answer).

Here are a few popular ANSWERS.
Pages: 1 2
« Previous Post   -   Next Post »
Click here to get a Risk-Free issue of mental_floss magazine
Comments (49)

  1. Strengths, Catchphrase (6 consonants)

    posted by Adam on 2-9-2010 at 7:40 am

  2. STRENGTHS. Which has the advantage of not being a [quasi-]compound word.

    posted by Hugh on 2-9-2010 at 7:50 am

  3. Does ‘lunchbreak’ count? I doubt that’s an official word but it sure is a commonly used phrase.

    posted by Blaine on 2-9-2010 at 7:55 am

  4. Angstrom and birthplace

    posted by Michelle on 2-9-2010 at 8:09 am

  5. blaCKSTRap
    joCKSTRap

    posted by Doc Rock on 2-9-2010 at 8:24 am

  6. ERSTWHILE

    posted by Rus on 2-9-2010 at 8:29 am

  7. lengths

    posted by Katie on 2-9-2010 at 8:35 am

  8. Twelfths.

    posted by Matthew E on 2-9-2010 at 8:44 am

  9. phenoLPHTHalein-it’s an acid/base indicator

    posted by Nick on 2-9-2010 at 8:45 am

  10. oFFSPRing

    posted by Ryan on 2-9-2010 at 8:45 am

  11. ThousaNDTHS

    posted by Chris on 2-9-2010 at 8:47 am

  12. witchcraft…

    posted by Alex B on 2-9-2010 at 8:54 am

  13. nightstick

    posted by JD on 2-9-2010 at 9:00 am

  14. switchblade

    posted by Bryan on 2-9-2010 at 9:00 am

  15. corkscrew

    posted by KevinGA on 2-9-2010 at 9:03 am

  16. The gate to our backyard has a laTCHSTRing, and the factoid about it having six consecutive consonants appeared at a local spelling bee just a few days ago.

    posted by Trivia Why's Guy on 2-9-2010 at 9:11 am

  17. syzygy

    posted by k on 2-9-2010 at 9:27 am

  18. Hardscrabble

    posted by Shawn on 2-9-2010 at 9:46 am

  19. Worthwhile

    posted by Kevin on 2-9-2010 at 10:10 am

  20. SYNCHRonize …. 6.

    posted by Munnster11 on 2-9-2010 at 10:50 am

  21. heaRTSTRings

    posted by Doc Rock on 2-9-2010 at 10:53 am

  22. heaRTHSTone

    posted by Tracy on 2-9-2010 at 11:15 am

  23. EIGHTHS

    posted by giles on 2-9-2010 at 11:23 am

  24. The real trick is finding one that is not a compound word, pluralization, or using y as a vowel. Not that I’ve been able to do it, but I’m trying!

    posted by Rob on 2-9-2010 at 12:27 pm

  25. crwth

    posted by Matt on 2-9-2010 at 12:39 pm

  26. So far, 20% of the repondents didn’t follow the instructions.

    I wonder if that’s average for any task for which instructions are given?

    posted by B on 2-9-2010 at 12:56 pm

  27. Downstream?

    B … the math puzzles go the same way. Usually about the 5th or 6th comment is from some yayhoo with another answer that either doesn’t use digits 1 through 9 or doesn’t follow the rules of arithmetic … which is all explained in the directions.

    posted by Dinosaur on 2-9-2010 at 1:44 pm

  28. BORSCHT! I know, foreign word, but it’s part of the English language now.

    posted by Mark on 2-9-2010 at 2:01 pm

  29. Angsts

    posted by Sharon on 2-9-2010 at 2:09 pm

  30. matchstick

    posted by Dani on 2-9-2010 at 2:27 pm

  31. lengthwise

    posted by Ed on 2-9-2010 at 3:09 pm

  32. Highstrung

    Eighthstreet? (7 consonants)

    posted by Jeffrey on 2-9-2010 at 3:14 pm

  33. niGHTSHade (the deadly flower)

    reCaptcha: Mr depleted

    posted by PartiallyDeflected on 2-9-2010 at 3:30 pm

  34. How about “Perthshire?”

    posted by Jason G on 2-9-2010 at 5:26 pm

  35. aSYMPTote, a favorite of my math teacher because there are five consonants in a row. It’s some sort of graph term about going to infinity…it was awhile ago.

    posted by Jen on 2-9-2010 at 6:40 pm

  36. niGHTSHade

    posted by Melissima on 2-9-2010 at 8:23 pm

  37. Earthshine — which illuminated the astronauts.

    posted by John Land on 2-9-2010 at 9:27 pm

  38. wellspring

    posted by Rathwel on 2-9-2010 at 10:06 pm

  39. crwth

    posted by First Post on 2-9-2010 at 10:32 pm

  40. suBMISSible

    ReCaptcha: knead or

    posted by Lain on 2-9-2010 at 11:57 pm

  41. Tetragrammaton

    posted by Chucklz on 2-10-2010 at 12:10 am

  42. breaststroke

    posted by TV on 2-10-2010 at 3:56 am

  43. ooh there are lots but my favourite would probably be muckspreader

    posted by zy on 2-10-2010 at 6:36 am

  44. Lightswitch

    posted by Betsy on 2-11-2010 at 11:05 am

  45. aRMSTRong I know it’s a proper name, but I figure it’s a common enough surname.

    posted by Mishael on 2-11-2010 at 1:04 pm

  46. zyzyx – like zyzyx road

    posted by kelly on 2-11-2010 at 6:58 pm

  47. sanskrit

    posted by yayer on 2-17-2010 at 10:19 pm

  48. nightclub

    posted by rd on 3-9-2010 at 4:45 pm

  49. CaTCHPHRase… 6 consonants, and I believe it is now a single word

    posted by Rick on 6-25-2010 at 11:14 pm

Comment

commenting policy