Solution to Silence is Golden

The first thing to do is to solve the crossword-style clues. After solving a couple of clues, you'll notice that the numbers in parentheses denote the length of the answers (in fact, this is a common convention for puzzles in which you have to solve crossword-style clues). With this in mind, you can then solve all the crossword-style clues.

The seven answers you get are:

  • ISLAND
  • BUSINESS
  • SALMON
  • GIRAFFE
  • COLUMNS
  • ACQUIRE
  • CORPSE

Now, either by looking for common properties of these words or by thinking about what the title is hinting at, you'll notice that each of these words contains exactly one silent letter. These silent letters are:

  • ISLAND
  • BUSINESS
  • SALMON
  • GIRAFFE
  • COLUMNS
  • ACQUIRE
  • CORPSE
Thus, the answer to this puzzle is SILENCE.

This puzzle features many conventions commonly found in puzzle hunts. First of all, puzzles generally have at least two steps. The first step usually requires you to solve some a puzzle with a standard set of rules such as a Sudoku, or a crossword. The second step (called the "extraction" step) requires you to figure out how to take the completed Sudoku, or crossword, or set of words and extract an English word or phrase from them.

Puzzles generally will not tell you how to extract the answer. Instead, looking for patterns in the data will commonly suggest how to proceed. There is however, a convention where subtle hints are provided through the title of the puzzle and the "flavortext" (usally an italicized sentence directly below the title) about what to do. In this case, the title "Silence is Golden" hinted that you should look for silent letters among the words.

Finally, the answer to the puzzle itself is often, but not always, thematic. In this case, the answer was SILENCE, which certainly fits the puzzle and provides a sense of satisfaction. However, note that the answer itself almost never appears in the title of the puzzle or within the puzzle. This sample puzzle's answer is a meant to exaggerate the point of thematic answers, but in general, the connection is slightly more subtle. For example, a thematic answer for a puzzle that involves identifying various blends of coffee and tea might be INSOMNIA.

Also, this puzzle provides an example of the thinking behind meta puzzles. The idea behind this puzzle could easily have been turned into a meta puzzle, where instead of solving crossword-style clues, the seven words are actually answers to seven normal puzzles.