Surely each of you has heard this word “rebus” more than once. What does it mean? A rebus is a riddle, but it is not an ordinary riddle. All words in the puzzles are depicted using pictures and various signs. In order to read what is encrypted in the rebus, you need to correctly name all the depicted objects and understand which sign means what.
Before the advent of crosswords, puzzles were very popular. In the century before last, the magazine “Rebus” was even published in Russia. “We know a lot of serious people,” it wrote, “who happily devote hours of their leisure time to solving puzzles and especially recommend this activity to young people as excellent gymnastics for the mind...”
Surely each of you has heard this word “rebus” more than once. What does it mean? A rebus is a riddle, but it is not an ordinary riddle. All words in the puzzles are depicted using pictures and various signs. In order to read what is encrypted in the rebus, you need to correctly name all the depicted objects and understand which sign means what.
By the way, puzzles have very interesting story. When people did not yet know how to write, objects, and then drawings with their images, replaced writing. If it was necessary to write “deer,” they drew a deer. It was necessary to write “hunting” - they drew a hunter and an animal. The pipe spoke of peace, the spear - of war, the drawn bow - of attack. The leaders of one tribe once sent their neighbors, instead of a letter, a bird, a mouse, a frog and five arrows. The meaning of this “letter” was as follows: “Do you know how to fly like birds, hide in the ground like mice, jump through swamps like frogs? If you don’t know how, then don’t try to fight with us. We will shower you with arrows as soon as you enter our country."
Nowadays there is no need for such messages consisting of drawings, but in puzzle games, which are usually called rebuses, writing various words using drawings and symbols is widely used.
But if all puzzles were so simple, it would be very easy to solve them. But they are, of course, much more complicated. We will tell you about what you definitely need to know when composing or guessing a puzzle.
Puzzles. Rules for composing and solving
If there are no commas next to the picture - neither on the right nor on the left, then you need to read the whole word.
If there is one comma to the left of the picture, you need to discard the first letter, if there are two, two letters, and so on. If commas are on the right, the last letters are discarded.
If two objects or letters are drawn one inside the other, then their names are read with the addition of the letter “v”.
If one of the letters or figures is under another, then it must be read with the addition of “on”, “above” or “under”.
If another letter is written on top of a letter, then add “by” or “from”.
If the letter is next to or behind, then we read “s”, “u” or “for”.
If the picture is upside down, read it backwards.
If there is a crossed out letter next to the picture, it must be removed from the word. And if there is another letter next to the crossed out one or there is an “equal” sign between two letters, you need to replace one letter with another in the word.
Numbers, standing nearby with a picture, indicate the order of letters in a word.
Look at the puzzle and let's solve it together.
In the word "MILK" you need to drop the last 2 letters. It will turn out to be "MOLO".
The letter D is simply added to the previous ones.
When we put everything together, we will say the word “WELL DONE”.
The material was prepared based on the book by V. Volin “The game is a serious matter”
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Hello everyone!
How about a mental workout? Do you like to solve crossword puzzles and think about logic problems in your free time? People began to turn complex things into fascinating things a long time ago by drawing abracadabra and intricate diagrams. Puzzles to decipher hidden words, or in common parlance - rebuses, are a whole art that lives by its own rules of composition and solving.
Do you know how to solve puzzles or encrypted riddles for you - a dense forest? It turns out that there are techniques and techniques here that allow you to “turn on your brain.” So, let's get acquainted - a mysterious puzzle.
Lesson plan:
Where did the rebus come from?
A little history. Logical training of the mind came to us from France. There they were happy to solve them back in the 15th century; the Prussian King Frederick himself was not averse to flexing his brain.
The word is translated from Latin as “with the help of things.” And indeed, it is with the use of pictures of all sorts of objects, letters and numbers that puzzle lovers make riddles.
In 1582, the French even published the first collection, which introduced the whole of Europe to entertaining logic in pictures. In our native Russia, puzzles appeared only towards the end of the 19th century - we had no time to solve problems! Thanks to the Rebus magazine, they became one of the entertainments for the inhabitants of that era.
It turns out that the modern Russian rebus is already more than a hundred years old, and it is still just as popular, and improving the techniques used in “hide and seek” is an endless and limitless matter. New riddles today - a wide variety of “taste and color”, for those who are too smart and simpler.
What types of puzzles are there?
Words in logic riddles are encrypted in different ways.
The simplest drawn puzzles usually hide one or at most two words, they can be solved in “one-two-three”, but problems with three or more elements are much more difficult to solve, but even more interesting.
You can even write down sayings and proverbs, phrases and quatrains with rebuses! Imagine Pushkin's letter from Tatyana to Onegin in the form of pictures! That would be interesting! And how incredibly beautiful it would look!
And puzzles will be an excellent, beautiful and interesting addition to your school research projects. For example, like or .
Solving the unsolvable, or general rules for puzzles
If you combine all the rules for solving logical puzzles together, you get a special set that helps you choose the right path to the solution.
- Each hidden word is divided into parts, depicted by a picture or using signs. These parts are usually read from left to right, but it happens the other way around and even from top to bottom.
- The hidden lonely word is usually a noun in singular nominative case. There are exceptions to the rules, but hints are given for this.
- When a rebus is a whole sentence, then, of course, not only nouns live there, but also verbs, and adjectives, in general, other parts of speech. For such puzzles, the compilers specifically make instructions like “guess the proverb.”
- The rebus must have one solution. If there are several of them, a reference is also made about this.
So, armed with a piece of paper and a pencil, we write out each guessed image, follow all the instructions for them, and add up the resulting parts. Voila! You have found the correct answer!
Now let’s go over the main types of puzzles and how to solve them.
Pictures with letters and numbers
There are several techniques that allow you to easily solve such problems:
Drawings with commas and signs.
Riddles with commas and pictures, as well as using other signs, they are also solved according to their own rules:
Letter puzzles
Often here the letters are drawn from different angles - inside each other, near, one under the other - all these are techniques that allow you to hide the hidden word:
Try your strength!
Have you studied the instructions for solving the puzzles? Now put the theory into practice! Here's a proverb:
How's it going? I'm waiting for answers in the comments!
Well, since we have worked hard, we need to have a good rest! Jumble! For all! We look and smile)
With this I say goodbye to you, I’ll also go and tell the puzzles and do exercises for the mind!
Always yours, Evgenia Klimkovich.
Who among us is not familiar with puzzles? These entertaining encryptions are familiar to everyone, young and old. In puzzles, words are encrypted using a sequence of pictures and various symbols, including letters and numbers. The word "rebus" is translated from Latin as "with the help of things." The rebus originated in France in the 15th century, and the first printed collection of rebuses, published in this country in 1582, was compiled by Etienne Taboureau. Over the time that has passed since then, the technique of composing rebus problems has been enriched with many different techniques. To solve a rebus, it is important not only to know what is drawn, but also to take into account the location of the drawings and symbols relative to each other, and this is achieved with practice. There are some unspoken rules by which puzzles are composed, and it is easier to solve them using the same rules, and the rules are as follows:
General rules for solving puzzles
A word or sentence in a rebus is divided into parts, which are depicted as a picture or symbol. The rebus is always read from left to right, less often from top to bottom. Spaces and punctuation marks are not read. What is drawn in the pictures in the rebus is read in the nominative case, usually in the singular, but there are exceptions. If several objects are drawn, an arrow indicates which part of the entire image is used in this rebus. If the riddle is not just one word, but a sentence (a proverb, a catchphrase, a riddle), then in addition to nouns it contains verbs and other parts of speech. This is usually specified in the task (for example: “Guess the riddle”). A rebus must always have a solution, and only one. The ambiguity of the answer should be specified in the conditions of the rebus. For example: “Find two solutions to this puzzle.” The number of techniques and their combinations used in one rebus is not limited.
How to solve puzzles from pictures
Name all objects sequentially from left to right in the nominative singular case.
Answer: trail experience = tracker
Answer: ox window = fiber
Answer: eye of the face = outskirts
If an object is drawn upside down, its name should be read from right to left. For example, “cat” is drawn, you need to read “current”, “nose” is drawn, you need to read “dream”. Sometimes reading directions are shown with an arrow.
Answer: sleep
Often an object drawn in a rebus can be called differently, for example “meadow” and “field”, “leg” and “paw”, “tree” and “oak” or “birch”, “note” and “mi”, in such cases, you need to select a suitable word so that the rebus has a solution. This is one of the main difficulties in solving puzzles.
Answer: rava oak = oak grove
How to solve puzzles with commas
Sometimes the name of the depicted object cannot be used in its entirety and it is necessary to discard one or more letters at the beginning or end of the word. Then a comma is used. If the comma is to the left of the picture, the first letter of its name is discarded; if it is to the right, the last letter is discarded. How many commas are there, so many letters are discarded.
Answer: ho ball k = hamster
For example, 3 commas and a “feeder” are drawn, you only need to read “fly”; “sail” and 2 commas are drawn, you only need to read “steam”.
Answer: umbrella p = pattern
Answer: li sa to por gi = boots
How to solve puzzles with letters
Such letter combinations as before, above, on, under, behind, at, y, in, as a rule, are not depicted in rebuses with a picture, but are revealed from the corresponding position of the letters and pictures. Letters and letter combinations with, to, from, from, by, and are not shown, but the relationships of letters or objects, or direction are shown.
If two objects or two letters, or letters and numbers are drawn one inside the other, then their names are read with the addition of the preposition “in”. For example: “in-oh-yes”, or “in-oh-seven”, or “not-in-a”. Different readings are possible, for example, instead of “eight” you can read “seven-v-o”, and instead of “water” - “yes-v-o”. But such words do not exist, so such words are not a solution to the rebus.
Answers: v-o-yes, v-o-seven, v-o-lk, v-o-ro-n, v-o-rot-a
If one object or symbol is drawn under another, then we decipher it by adding “on”, “above” or “under”, you need to choose a preposition according to its meaning. Example: “fo-na-ri”, “pod-u-shka”, “over-e-zhda”.
Answers: fo-na-ri, pod-u-shka, na-e-zhda
If behind a letter or object there is another letter or object, then you need to read it with the addition of “for”. For example: “Ka-za-n”, “za-ya-ts”.
Answer: for-i-ts
If one letter lies next to another or leans against it, then read with the addition of “u” or “k”. For example: “L-u-k”, “d-u-b”, “o-k-o”.
Answers: onion, oak
If a letter or syllable consists of another letter or syllable, then read with the addition of “from”. For example: “iz-b-a”, “b-iz-on”, “vn-iz-u”, “f-iz-ik”.
Answers: hut, bison
If another letter or syllable is written over the entire letter, read with the addition of “by”. For example: “po-r-t”, “po-l-e”, “po-ya-s”. Also, “by” can be used when one letter with legs runs over another letter, number or object.
Answer: Poland
Answers: belt, field
If an object is drawn, and a letter is written next to it and then crossed out, this means that this letter must be eliminated from the word. If there is another letter above the crossed out letter, this means that you need to replace the crossed out letter with it. Sometimes in this case an equal sign is placed between the letters.
Answer: manhole
Answer: raspberry z Mont = lemon
How to solve puzzles with numbers
If there are numbers above the picture, this is a hint in what order you need to read the letters from the name of the object. For example, 4, 2, 3, 1 means that the fourth letter of the name is read first, then the second, followed by the third and first.
Answer: brig
The numbers can be crossed out, which means you need to discard the letter corresponding to this order from the word.
Answer: skate ak LUa bo mba = Columbus
Quite rarely, the action of a letter is used in rebuses - runs, flies, lies; in such cases, the corresponding verb in the third person of the present tense must be added to the name of this letter, for example “u-runs”.
How to solve puzzles with notes
Often in puzzles, individual syllables corresponding to the names of notes - “do”, “re”, “mi”, “fa”... are depicted with the corresponding notes. Sometimes the generic word "note" is used.
Notes used in composing puzzles
Answers: beans, minus
A fairy tale about how kittens learned to solve puzzles
Rules for solving puzzles for children and adults with presentation
Tatyana Aleksandrovna Tolstikova, teacher of the Nenets Sanatorium Boarding School, Naryan-Mar
Description: I bring to your attention a fairy tale, by reading which the children will learn the rules of solving puzzles. The material may be interesting and useful to everyone who wants to comprehend this simple and very fascinating science.
Target: Introducing the rules for solving puzzles
Tasks: Develop logical thinking, intelligence,
Develop fantasy, imagination,
Cultivate a love for pets.
Once upon a time there lived a girl Masha who loved to read books and solve puzzles. And even more, she loved to play with little kittens, take care of them and teach them the rules of cultural behavior.
And how the kittens loved her! At every free moment they ran to their girlfriend. Mashenka immediately put aside her business and frolicked with the restless guests.
Once, during one such game, the smartest kitten, Murzik, dropped Mashin’s book, and the kittens saw on the page that opened some pictures with squiggles, letters and numbers. The kittens began to run around the book and look into it with caution. And Mashenka laughed and began to calm them down:
- Don't be afraid, these are just puzzles. Would you like me to teach you how to guess them?
“Here’s another thing,” said Chernysh, “I’d better go and eat some fish.”
With these words, he took the fish that Mashenka had prepared for her pets and ate it in one minute.
- Well, you have an appetite, just like commas in puzzles. As soon as such a comma appears near a picture, the letters immediately disappear in the word that the picture represents. There are as many commas as there are letters. Look at this.
And Masha drew several pictures for Chernysh so that everything would be clear to him.
-You see, there is a comma after the image of the table. This means that the letter “l” must be removed from the word “table”. What word will it be?
“It seems like a hundred,” Chernysh said cautiously.
-Well done!
-Oh, oh, I'm afraid! - Chernysh suddenly shouted, seeing a thunderstorm in the picture.
-Don’t be afraid, weirdo, you see the comma ahead. What will happen now?
-Rose? Cool! Can a thunderstorm really turn into a rose? - Chernysh jumped for joy.
-Surely!
- What if you need to remove several letters? – the kitten asked, narrowing his eyes slyly.
- To do this, you just need to put a few commas. Look,” and Mashenka showed Chernysh a new picture.
“I know, I know,” Chernysh jumped for joy, “hedgehogs will appear now!”
“Let’s check,” Mashenka said with a smile. And two funny hedgehogs appeared in the picture.
-Hooray!!! - Chernysh shouted, - I learned to solve puzzles!
He jumped with joy and turned over his head. And Murzik jumped after him. And at that very moment he found himself in the air upside down.
- Take your time! - Masha shouted, - look what can happen in puzzles with cats who behave like this. If the object in the rebus is turned upside down, its name is read from right to left.
-It's not fair! – someone’s ringing voice rang out, “why are the puzzles only about them?” I also want a puzzle to be written about me.
Barsik was peeking out of Grandma's favorite cup.
“Okay, okay,” Masha reassured him, “where are you now?”
“In a cup,” answered Barsik, and waved his paw to Masha.
- Here you are in a cup, and the letters can be in another letter. Look. The letter "LK" is located in the letter "O".
- Exactly, just like me! – the kitten was happy.
-What word did you get?
- Wolf? Why do we need a wolf? - Barsik was scared.
“Just so that you can learn to solve puzzles,” Masha reassured him, “you just need to remember that prepositions can also appear in the middle of a word, here you need to choose correct option. For example, here the preposition is in the middle of the word.
- In these puzzles we used the preposition B. And you can also use other prepositions. For example, for example,” the girl began to look around, “Look at Vaska.” A butterfly landed on his tail. Letters can also sit on top of each other.
-Or they may be under a different letter, like Vaska the cat under a hat from Nikolai Nosov’s story.
“And also,” said Mashenka, “you can use the prepositions for, before, to, from, by, with, from.” You just need to not be lazy and look for the right option.
“That’s it, I’m completely confused in your puzzles,” Ryzhik sighed doomedly.
“You got tangled up in grandma’s threads,” Mashenka scolded him, “by the way, letters can also get tangled up and change places in a word using ordinal numbers.” Imagine that you came to visit me in a carriage. Try to find out how you will get away from me.
- On a rocket! “On a rocket,” the kittens shouted in unison.
-But do you want to make friends with such an animal? – Mashenka asked, showing a mole in the picture.
“Fi,” the kittens hissed, arching their backs.
- Then use another rebus rule rather, and cross out the letter from the middle of the word.
- Do you want me to treat you for your efforts? – the girl asked the kittens.
“We want, we want!” the kittens purred and began to rub against Machine’s legs.
- Get it! – Masha showed the squirrel to the kittens with a smile.
“Oh-oh,” the disappointed kittens sighed, “we don’t eat squirrels.” And they turned away from Masha offended.
“Well then, guess for yourself, with the help of which puzzle rule you can turn a squirrel into a delicious bun,” said Masha and went to the kitchen. And when she returned, in the picture and on Masha’s plate, instead of a squirrel, there were delicious buns.
- Well done, you guessed it! – Mashenka praised her smart students. She treated them to delicious buns. The kittens ate their fill and immediately fell asleep, and they dreamed of puzzles that they would always solve now together with their little teacher.
Sometimes in a magazine there is a riddle with pictures, letters and numbers, as well as punctuation and equal signs. This is a rebus. Compared to crosswords or scanwords, not many people can solve this riddle. The question arises: “What do commas mean in puzzles?” The difficulty is that the decision rules are never printed. And if you come across some kind of instruction, it will most likely be incomplete. But in reality, everything is not so difficult.
What is a rebus
The Latin word rebus means "things." The catchphrase “not with the help of words, but with the help of things” very accurately describes the parlor game of words. It first became known in France when a collection of these riddles was published. Its compiler is E. Tamburo. The first puzzles were not distinguished by a wide range of riddles, but in subsequent years they were significantly enriched with various techniques.
Since then, musical, literary, mathematical and theatrical puzzles have appeared. The principle is the same for everyone: the encrypted concept is composed in parts from several other words, which are represented by pictures or pantomime. In the board game of rebuses, there are commas that are interspersed with images.
There are certain principles by which encryption is written. To solve the riddle, you need to know what commas mean.
Puzzles have their own laws
In short, commas indicate letters that need to be removed from a word. They can stand on one or the other side of the picture. Since the text is read from left to right, having a comma before the image means that the first letter is removed. A comma after it indicates that the last letter is not taken into account. There may be several signs. In this case, several letters are excluded from the word encrypted by the image.
What does the comma mean in the rebus at the top of the picture? Another rule says that the rebus is read from top to bottom. So, we drop the initial letter. By analogy, it is already clear what the comma in the rebus at the bottom means - dropping the final letter.
There are also inverted signs. This means that letters from the end of the word are discarded. When inverted pictures are encountered, the word is read backwards. If the picture also contains a comma drawn upside down, then the final letter is removed from the word read backwards.
For example, under the image of a cow there are two inverted commas. Below them is a lion, and below the lion the letter is "A". Solution: first, we remove the last two letters from the word “cow”, we get “koro”. Now we add "left". It turns out the word "queen".
Multiple commas
Sometimes there are not one, but two commas in a rebus. What does this code mean? Some people think these are quotes. However, it is not.
For example, you need to guess the following riddle: there are two commas in front of the picture of the elephant on the left. Words are read from left to right, which means the first two letters will be removed. If you subtract the first two letters from the word “elephant,” you get “he.”
Another option: in front of the picture of the elephant on the left there is the syllable “mu”. After the picture on the right there are two commas and the letter "i". Solution: from the word “elephant” we subtract the last two letters, we get “sl”. Add "mu" to the beginning and "i" to the end to get the word "muesli".
But what if you need to create a puzzle yourself? Let's say you need to choose an encryption for the syllable "he". Of course you can use different ways. But if you remember what commas mean in puzzles, then everything will become easy. The Russian language has enough words consisting of several syllables. To get the one you need, you don’t have to worry about coming up with items. For example, take a picture with a gramophone and put nine commas on the left. The task is complicated by the fact that you first need to guess which word is encrypted by the picture. Perhaps not everyone knows what a gramophone is.
The picture with a chameleon and six commas on the left can also be presented as a rebus.
What does the comma at the top of the picture mean?
This means that it is necessary to discard the first letter of the word, since the rule for reading rebuses always applies: from left to right and from top to bottom. For example, there is a rebus consisting of two pictures - a bucket and a book. Above both pictures there are three ordinary non-inverted commas. The solution is this: we subtract the first three letters from the words “bucket” and “book”. We get "ro" and "ha", that is, "horns".
Another example: a drawing of a snake with a comma above it. There is an indication: "i" = "l". The solution will be this: we subtract the first letter from the word “snake”, we get “meya”. Now we change the letter “i” to “l”. It turns out to be "chalk".
The examples with a chameleon or a gramophone, which were discussed above, could be written like this: above the picture with the image of the word put required quantity commas to take them away from the words "gramophone" and "chameleon".
When the signs are under the picture
It happens that commas are at the top or bottom of the picture. What does the comma at the bottom mean in a rebus? Don't let this bother you. When reading from top to bottom, the comma located above the picture indicates that the first letter of the encoded word is being removed. And the one that stands under the image points to the latter. If there are several commas, remove several letters.
Let's say we have an image of a hammer. There is an indication: "t" = "k". This means that the letter "t" should be replaced with "k". Next, there is a comma under the picture. Solution: replace the letter and get the word “milk”. We remove the last one and “milk” comes out.
Inverted punctuation mark
Sometimes there is an inverted comma in puzzles; what does deleting the last letter mean in this case? To complicate the task, this symbol, standing upside down, may not be at the end or bottom of the picture. If the rebus is made up of several images, each of which is supplemented with commas, the following principle will help you avoid confusion.
If there is a regular comma, then the letters at the beginning of the word are removed, and if it is inverted, then the letters from the end of the word are removed. If a word is encrypted from several pictures and commas, each picture will be preceded by regular commas, and then inverted. This separates the puzzle pieces. No matter how many commas there are between the pictures, by their position you can understand where the cipher of the previous syllable ends and the cipher of the next one begins.
For example, there are two images: raspberries and an umbrella. There are two regular commas before the raspberry, then two inverted ones. After the umbrella there is another one upside down. There is an indication: "z" = "m". Let's decide in order. The entire rebus is written in a line, which means we read from left to right. We subtract two letters at the beginning and two at the end from the word “raspberry”, we get “li”. This is the first syllable. Now in the word “umbrella” we change the letter “z” to “t”, we get “mont”. We remove the last letter and get "mon". This is the second syllable, and all together it will be “lemon”.
Vertical puzzles
There are also vertical riddles where there are punctuation marks between the pictures. What do commas mean in puzzles if they are located on top of each other? Some of them, if written on a line, take up too much space. Let's say one picture shows a field, the other a road. After the field there are two inverted commas, before the road there are two more, but now ordinary ones, and after the road there is one inverted one. This rebus will not fit on the page, but it cannot be moved. What to do?
A way to write a rebus from top to bottom, in which the pictures will be placed one above the other, will help out. Under the one with the field we put two inverted commas, above the road - two regular commas, and under the road - an inverted one. We solve the rebus: subtract the last two letters from the word “field”, we get “by”. This is the first syllable. From the word “road” we subtract the first two and one last letter. We get a "horn". This is the second syllable. Together - "threshold".
How to make a beautiful puzzle with commas
To write a rebus gracefully, you should not make it too long or high. For example, you can use this method: take the middle part of the word and find a picture for it. Let it be a syllable that is easy to find as part of other words. By cutting off the extra letters above and below with commas, we get the desired syllable. Now you just need to add the missing letters before and after the picture, and the work is ready.
Example: you need to encrypt the word "deer". First, we select the middle syllable, which we will represent with a picture. IN in this case It's easier to choose the syllable "le". It is found in many words, but for beauty’s sake we’ll choose “beehive.” It is square and easy to place in the middle of the sheet. Place commas at the top and bottom of the picture with the hive. Above - normal, below - inverted. This is how we designate the syllable "le". Now on the left before the picture we put the letter “o”, and after it – the letters “n” and “b”. All together - "deer".
Try playing this board game. It develops logic and increases lexicon. After some time, you will notice that you have become better at understanding the composition of words.
