Don't Look Now Trivia Quiz

Answer:

FACETIOUSLY is an adverb that means intended to be funny (but often not seen that way by the recipient of the humour). It is an eleven-letter word with some curiosities: There are no repeated letters. Each letter appears only once, and all the vowels are represented in alphabetical order.

While there are 18 six-letter groupings in this collection, only 10 form six-letter words acceptable in Scrabble. The other six groupings are simply not six-letter words.

Correct choices: ICY TAU; CLOY IS; COIL US; IF LACE; TAU FLY; FEY SIT; IF LUTE, US LATE, LO ACES, CLUE IS.

Here are the meanings of the ten words that these groups of letters can be transformed into:

Acuity (= ICY TAU), a noun, means a quickness and sharpness of intelligence: "I admired the acuity of his intelligence"
It also refers to sharpness of vision - the ability to resolve fine detail.

Cosily (= CLOY IS) is an adverb meaning in a warm, comfortable manner. "The cat nestled cosily by the fire and curled up to go to sleep".

Coulis (= COIL US) in French is a noun meaning puree. In English, it refers specifically to a thick sauce of fruit and occasionally vegetables. "The raspberry coulis enhanced the dessert of vanilla ice cream".

Facile (= IF LACE) is an adjective that means appearing easily enough but without depth or thought, or performing adroitly with little effort. "The experienced dancer learned the facile routine in five minutes".

Faulty (= TAU FLY) is an adjective meaning having a defect or something characterised by errors. "A faulty part caused the machine to stop working"; "His transcription of the court proceeding was full of errors - it was faulty".

Feisty (= FEY SIT) is an adjective meaning spirited or determined, showing courage: "The challenger was half the size of the champion, but she was feisty." It also has a negative connotation when it means aggressive and often quarrelsome: "She took offence to his remarks and fired back a few choice words of her own. She was a feisty one".

Futile (= IF LUTE) is an adjective which means producing no benefit or good outcome: "All efforts to revive the swimmer were futile". It also means fruitless. "The search for the missing person was futile".

Salute (= US LATE) can be a noun or a verb. As a noun, it is a mark of honour or recognition, especially in the armed forces: "He tipped his hat as a friendly salute". As a verb, it means to propose a toast to someone, or to express commendation: "I salute your bravery".

Solace (= LO ACES) can be a noun or a verb. As a noun, it means to give comfort or consolation in times of grief or disappointment: "He eventually found solace in religion". As a verb, it means to comfort, soothe, or console: "She tried to solace her friend after the sudden loss of her husband".

Sluice (= CLUE IS) can be a noun, an adjective, or a verb. As a noun, it can be an artificial channel to direct water with or without a valve to regulate flow. "The sluice gates allowed the floodwater from the river to dissipate over the meadows". As a verb, it means to drench with a large flow of water. "The cleaner sluices water down the City Hall steps each morning to clean them".

The imposters are: OF ACTS; US TACO; YE LUST; COT SUE; SLAY IT; and COAT US, none of which can form six-letter anagrams that are acceptable in 'Scrabble'.