Onnicles | Hidden Object Games

I thought I was the only crazy one to cook up coined words – Onamography and Onnicle. Seems like there are more of those out there. It’s encouraging (and entertaining) to see that readers have not only embraced the concept, they are helping it evolve by extending the vocabulary. Here are a few examples, from the self-explanatory to the divine.

Onnicled fans:
Fans who have their own personalised onnicles.

Onamomania, Onamomaniacs:
Vipin Savai‘s fertile imagination at work here to describe the obsession and the obsessed.

Onamogenius, Onnicly stalking, Onamoized:
Sangeeta Shroff threatens to fill a complete dictionary with these.
The first one seems obvious. The second one refers to the attempt to attract fans to the FB page by creating onnicles in their name. Sangeeta attempts to explain the last one in the comments section below.

Elcinno:
Pratyush Rohatgi probably felt calling it ‘Reverse Onnicle’ wouldn’t be cool enough. Similar to a regular onnicle, except the characters in the name are reversed. He has posted an example in the comments below.

Anacronnomicle:
Twosleepy (real name?), an educator, coined this to describe a Tricky onnicle where the first character of every word from the onnicle spells out the answer.
Sample Onnicle (created by Beck, a biologist from Florida): Sam almost made my young daughter a virtual instigator. “Sam’s just unfettering Nicole,” I often rationalized.
Clue: Initially, this entertainer may have been one I’d befriend, but in fact he was a rat from way back.
Answer: Sammy Davis Junior –> Sam almost made my young daughter a virtual instigator. “Sam’s just unfettering Nicole,” I often rationalized. Brilliant!

Onamophony:
James Davis (Linguist) has come up with this to describe a puzzle based on phonemes, as opposed to characters. This would takes the idea closer to Steganography. Check the comment for details.
Sample Onnicle: When the computer first starts up, you will be required to key a new password in
OnniClue: 1st name of a celebrity
Answer: Keanu (Reeves) –> ‘…key a new…’

If you can think up with more of these, do let me know. You never know which of these will stick on and become more popular over time.

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From the deepest darkest forests of the French Alps, our next onnicle is from Wendy Hollands, who spends most of her time swishing down the white stuff in winters and writing fiction in summers. Is she Wendy or April? She’s both! Her mum preferred to call her by her middle name, which has stuck. It makes paperwork confusing, but where’s the fun in words if they’re not a challenge?

The level of difficulty and the overall flavour is a little different this time. Hope to see many more folks joining in.

OnniClue: How many animals from around the world can you find in there?
(10 is not the magic number this time)

If you can identify all of them, submit your answer as a comment to this post. Alternatively, send an email with the list of names to: onnicles [at] gmail [dot] com.

Onnicle:
The light on Leo’s badge reflected into Zoe’s eyes. She shuffled left to escape the glare, and her dad growled at her to keep still. He knew that she was feeling tired: they had been queuing all morning to meet Elvira, the famous entertainer and magician, who was an hour late for her book signing. She arrived when he was thinking about removing his Elvira badge. Her rings sparkled as she entered the room waving and gliding over the red carpet. The queue passed Elvira quickly, and Leo was soon saying: “Elvira, I’m Leo and this is Zoe. She’s catching up on magic tricks to become magician like you.”

Elvira smiled with her sunglasses on. “Hello Zoe and Leo. Pardon me for my tardiness. I hope you love my book,” she said while signing their book. Before they could thank her, the highflying Elvira was already signing another fan’s book. As they walked away, Zoe said: “Dad, she bugged me. She came late and didn’t seem to care that I love magic. I’ve been thinking. I want to replace my magic books with a trampoline so I can be an acrobat instead.”

Answers:
Hillevi Rombin, Dayanara Torres, Armi Kuusela, Georgina Rizk, Amelia Vega,
Shawn Weatherly, Norma Nolan, Brook Lee, Marisol Malaret, Chelsi Smith

The Legend of Lia Bell

Just south of Vegas’s beautiful city of Denmar, is Olga bridge. This bridge spans an island, on which stands the ruins of a time and weather lynched Georgian Castle. It once stood as a superb rook to create a gateway to area’s impressive tourist or residential attractions. Today, an Arab team is restoring this bleeding friz kissed beauty.

Long before the charming castle was built, this Native haiku use land, was thought to be possessed by paranormal and evil spirits. Over time, a number of legendary tales evolved. From Sasha W.N. Field’s story came ‘Lia Bell’.
Newlywed Lia was saved from the frozen River Georg in a lath, following a romantic sleigh ride with her beau, Michel. A local blacksmith rescued Lia by tying her from binweed and pulling her ashore. Anormal a return that it was, this island with no landscape was named after her. Some claim that they have heard Michel sigh for his lost love in this chill evil Island!

Winners:
Aditi Surendra (transitions from being a contributor to winner)
Mudita Jaitly (breaks into the top-3 finally)
Shashank Baveja (déjà vu)

Followed close on the heels by the new kids on the block: Nicholas, Jan Bottcher, Kristine

Great to see Linguists having fun with the concept.

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Check out the onnicle that James Davis has created. Don’t you think it belongs on this site?
James say – It’s a fun puzzle game. It’s especially fun as both the creation and solution process are puzzles, which gives it a nice feel, in my opinion.

James, all the best for your Ph.D. You’ve got the entire Onamography community wishing you good luck.

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Here’s another post by Laura Payne called – The Chronicles of Onnicles.
She calls it ‘a stimulating new concept in word puzzles‘. She says – I think the best way to describe Onnicles is that they are a cross between a word search puzzle, Scrabble and Jeopardy; so if you like any or all of these games give an Onnicle a try.

Thanks for the kind words, Laura.

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Check out this puzzle website where dalfamnest (an Education Officer from Brunei) has been posting Onnicles. A few samples here and here.

If you come across any other sites (including your own) where we’ve been talked about, drop us a note and we’ll include it in this post.

She hates being called SMS, the moniker she’s acquired on the OG Facebook Page. But Sangeeta Shroff smiles and pretends she doesn’t mind. Though she’s not yet in the same league of active proponents of World Peace as our protagonists this week, she’s still a peace-loving person nevertheless, who’s willing to ignore all minor irritants. There’s also another reason for her largesse. She’s not only won the previous Onnicle Challenge, but also authored this week’s onnicle (no connection between the two, both independently deserved).
Girl power continues to dominate the site this week. Way to go, Sangeeta!

OnniClue: Identify 10 Miss Universe pageant winners

If you can identify all of them, submit your answer as a comment to this post. Alternatively, send an email with the list of names to:onnicles [at] gmail [dot] com

Onnicle 5:
The Legend of Lia Bell

Just south of Vegas’s beautiful city of Denmar, is Olga bridge. This bridge spans an island, on which stands the ruins of a time and weather lynched Georgian Castle. It once stood as a superb rook to create a gateway to area’s impressive tourist or residential attractions. Today, an Arab team is restoring this bleeding friz kissed beauty.

Long before the charming castle was built, this Native haiku use land, was thought to be possessed by paranormal and evil spirits. Over time, a number of legendary tales evolved. From Sasha W.N. Field’s story came ‘Lia Bell’. Newlywed Lia was saved from the frozen River Georg in a lath, following a romantic sleigh ride with her beau, Michel. A local blacksmith rescued Lia by tying her from binweed and pulling her ashore. Anormal a return that it was, this island with no landscape was named after her. Some claim that they have heard Michel sigh for his lost love in this chill evil Island!

Solution:
Casino, Monster, Freedom Writers, Finding Neverland, Titanic, Calendar Girls, Antwone Fisher, Gridiron Gang, American Gangster, Rookie, Radio

Yes, there were 11 this time! But the euphoria that sets in after reaching the 10th one ensured that no one tried for the extra one.

I remember Erica Grant as being shy and overly timid because of her obesity. Now, obese girl, she was a renowned actress. Today, Erica’s in Orlando performing ‘Demon’s Terrain’, a play written by her, based on a black man’s attempt to free domestic women who were tortured at the New Riters Mansion, a wealthy household in California. I always cherished the dream of finding a career in the theatre business, but never had the courage to really take a shot and hit it. A nice backdrop was arranged to bring out the 1980s feel. I was glued to my seat during the whole play, constantly wondering how it would it end – plays with a radical end are so hard to find. At the end of the play, the audience stood in ovation, Erica Grant won every single member’s appreciation that day.
“… and Fiddler on the roof is her favorite movie”, the radio jockey stated about Erica, as I drove home thinking of how many times I had thought that a career in theatre is something I would never land because I was simply too scared. I began to suddenly boil as I looked down at my perfect body, feeling angst erupt in my soul wanting to go after my dream. I stopped by at Grid Iron, a café around the corner that puts up audition announcements, taking angrily the numbers down. When I got home, as I put my face cream on and went to bed, I repeated the words under my breath “If she can be a dreamer, I can do it too!” The next morning clutching my security blanked, this old chess rook, I entered the amphitheatre, hoping that when I exited I would become the next Erica Grant.

Winners:
Sangeeta Shroff [Girl power! Clean sweep this week in the contributor (Aditi) and winner department (Sangeeta)]
Brotin Das [fighting to regain his crown]
Prasan Babli [nailed it this time after a false start in the last onnicle]

Full marks for their genuine effort:
Achyutha Anantha Murthy (he could’ve been the king of the Onamography world if he hadn’t missed out Titanic), Sarita Puthran (she still insists, ‘I’m not good at such things’), Sharock, Shashank Baveja, Joanne, Ritu Surendra (Didi must be proud), Mamu, Sameer Jadhav (found 3 Erins, but no Brockovich)

Many of the onnicles that you see on this site have been submitted by fans. We are looking for warped brains with an amazing control over the English language and a sense of humour.

Read the FAQ for submission guidelines. Before you submit an onnicle, contact us and let us know what theme you’d like to work on. If we’ve already received too many submissions for a particular theme or we are looking for something specific, we’ll let you know.

We can’t offer money for your efforts. But we can include your name with a URL on the website next to the published onnicle. With a growing fan-base for the concept, this is a good opportunity for writers, puzzlers and creative ones in general to demonstrate their skill, their wit and their potential. And of course, the fantastic mental workout that you’ll get in the creative process will be a bonus.

If creating puzzles isn’t your cup of tea, you can still show support for the concept by becoming a fan on Facebook.

Contact us to know more: onnicles at gmail dot com

This onnicle comes from Aditi Surendra, a young copywriter from Bangalore. She’s brave (she once caught a tiger by the jaws to save the lives of the shocked audience around her), she’s considerate (she left him after remembering there are only 1411 of them left*) and she’s also just a little absent-minded (she realised there are no wild tigers in air-conditioned malls). The guy who was wearing a tiger-suit that day to entertain kids now solves Onamography puzzles to help heal the mental scars.

OnniClue:
10 Hollywood movies inspired by real life stories (need help?)

If you can identify all of them, submit your answer as a comment to this post. Alternatively, send an email with the list of names to: onnicles [at] gmail [dot] com

Onnicle:
I remember Erica Grant as being shy and overly timid because of her obesity. Now, obese girl, she was a renowned actress. Today, Erica’s in Orlando performing ‘Demon’s Terrain’, a play written by her, based on a black man’s attempt to free domestic women who were tortured at the New Riters Mansion, a wealthy household in California. I always cherished the dream of finding a career in the theatre business, but never had the courage to really take a shot and hit it. A nice backdrop was arranged to bring out the 1980s feel. I was glued to my seat during the whole play, constantly wondering how it would it end – plays with a radical end are so hard to find. At the end of the play, the audience stood in ovation, Erica Grant won every single member’s appreciation that day.

“… and Fiddler on the roof is her favorite movie”, the radio jockey stated about Erica, as I drove home thinking of how many times I had thought that a career in theatre is something I would never land because I was simply too scared. I began to suddenly boil as I looked down at my perfect body, feeling angst erupt in my soul wanting to go after my dream. I stopped by at Grid Iron, a café around the corner that puts up audition announcements, taking angrily the numbers down. When I got home, as I put my face cream on and went to bed, I repeated the words under my breath “If she can be a dreamer, I can do it too!” The next morning clutching my security blanked, this old chess rook, I entered the amphitheatre, hoping that when I exited I would become the next Erica Grant.

———–
* We support the Save The Tiger cause as well and do not mean to belittle the genuine efforts.

If you are not in a mood for a mental workout, you can still show your support for this initiative by becoming a fan on Facebook.

Beyond the long unruly locks of hair lies a highly-evolved, fully-functional amazingly-creative human being. The next onnicle comes from Shreyon Moniz, the sweet well-behaved guy next door who suddenly transforms into a possessed, head-banging maniac when you hand him a guitar. No points for guessing what his onnicle is all about.

OnniClue:
10 of the greatest guitarists of all time (according to Rolling Stones)

If you can identify all of them, submit your answer as a comment to this post. Alternatively, send an email with the list of names to:onnicles [at] gmail [dot] com

Onnicle 3:
“Life on the edge of a precipice”

When I left Panjim, my family bid me goodbye at the doorstep. Henry, my son, was 6 years old. He was a big fan of Mickey Mouse. My house was in front of the sealink where I saw rays of the morning sun each day without fail! I used to take my dog for a walk and on the way back I used to gulp down a franky from a bakery nearby. My mom used to stitch white Kurtas for a living. She was a big fan of Abacus till she became old. My brother Neil was a consultant for McKinsey & Co, Bain & Co and now for Ernst & Young. Back then, he was the first guy to own a pager downtown.

I boarded an evening flight which got hijacked within 15 minutes of departure. One of the terrorists had to zap passengers to intimidate them. These terrorists, unabashed, die and kill if provoked. Seven injured people were extricated and taken in a van to the hospital. The chief air marshal entered and killed all the terrorists. Those were the scenes from a fatal tragedy. I’m happy to be alive and telling all this.