Practice № 1 of 12

A past spine

The poem hides a 5-letter word. Each line holds one letter of it, in order — but nothing says which letter. Six guesses. Find the spine.

Back to today

Play today's riddle, or pick another past spine below.

• № 15 letters · Lewis Carroll“Jabberwocky”
• № 24 letters · Lewis CarrollChapter 6, “Pig and Pepper”
• № 35 letters · Edward Lear“There was an Old Man with a beard”
• № 44 letters · Edward Lear“There was a Young Lady of Ryde”
• № 54 letters · Edward Lear“There was an Old Man with a nose”
• № 64 letters · Edward Lear“The Owl and the Pussy-Cat”
• № 75 letters · Rudyard Kipling“How the Whale got his Throat”
• № 85 letters · Rudyard Kipling“How the Camel got his Hump”
• № 96 letters · Benjamin FranklinFather Abraham’s speech
• № 105 letters · Benjamin FranklinFather Abraham’s speech
• № 116 letters · Various (King James translators)Psalms 1 and 23
• № 125 letters · Various (King James translators)Genesis 1:1–5

New to this? How to play. Every line is quoted from a public-domain text; the sources name each edition.