Rime Thyme Help

Overview
How To Play
Homonym Puzzles
Phrase Puzzles
Scoring, Hints and Answers
Game Options
Statistics
High Scores
Credits
FAQ

Overview

Rime Thyme is a word puzzle game based on homonyms. Homonyms are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently. Some examples are: time and thyme, rime and rhyme, or their and there.

The goal of Rime Thyme is to guess the homonyms using the clues provided. Like a crossword puzzle, the clues are cryptic, so you'll also need to use your vocabulary and the context of the other words to help you solve each puzzle.

Included in Rime Thyme are two different types of puzzles: the straightforward "Homonym Puzzles," and the more devious and challenging "Phrase Puzzles". Each type has 4 levels of difficulty, depending on the obscurity of the homonyms and the obliqueness of the clues.

The following sections describe the puzzles in more detail and explain various elements of the game.

How To Play

Every puzzle in Rime Thyme has you guessing words to solve the clues. To supply your answers to the game, you can use the mouse or the keyboard.

To use the mouse, simply spell out your word by clicking on the letters at the top of the screen. As you click, the letters will fly down to the place where you spell your word. If your answer is correct a checkmark will appear at the end of the word as soon as it's finished. Click on the checkmark to score your word and begin on the next one in the puzzle. If your answer is incorrect, you'll need to clear your answer before trying again. You can remove one letter at a time by clicking the Undo button. Or you can clear the entire word by clicking the X button.

To use the keyboard, just start typing. This is the fastest way to play. Type out each letter in the word, and watch as the letters fly down to spell it out on the screen. Once you've typed the correct answer, simply press <RETURN> or <SPACE> to score the word. If you make any typos, you can use the <BACKSPACE> key to erase the previous letter. Or clear the entire word by pressing the <ESCAPE> key.

Homonym Puzzles

In the homonym puzzles, your goal is to guess a pair of homonyms from their definitions. For instance, you might see the definitions:

__________ (n.) a physician's customers

__________ (n.) a virtue of note

The two answers are homonyms, so you know they both sound the same. They're just spelled differently. What could it be? A bit of thinking might suggest Patients and Patience. So as fast as you can, type or click on the letters to spell out each of these words. That's it! You've solved the puzzle! Simple, huh?

Phrase Puzzles

In the phrase puzzles, your goal is to decipher a common phrase or saying. But the phrase has been translated using homonyms, and you only have these homonyms' definitions to start working with.

For instance, a baseball umpire cries Foul Ball whenever the ball is hit outside the playing field. Using homonyms, Rime Thyme translates this phrase into Fowl Bawl and gives you this pair of definitions as a puzzle:

_________ (n.) member of the bird family

_________ (v.) to cry aloud; to wail

To solve the puzzle, you first need to guess the words that fit the definitions: fowl and bawl. Then you need to put them together and "translate" them into the appropriate phrase: foul ball. So in all, you need to come up with four words: fowl, foul, bawl and ball. Devious, isn't it?

Scoring, Hints and Answers

You score points in Rime Thyme for each word you solve -- the longer the word, the better. You also get bonus points for finishing quickly.

However, some of the puzzles in Rime Thyme can be quite difficult, especially at the "Toughie" and "Challenger" levels. Rather than forcing you to give up on a difficult puzzle, Rime Thyme offers you several different types of hints that may let you solve the puzzle on your own. Of course, the more useful the hint, the more points it deducts from your final score! The three types of hints are:

Syllables - (25 pts) - the number of syllables in each word in the puzzle
Hint - (50 pts) - an additional clue or definition to get you on the right path
Ananym - (100 pts) - an anagram of one of the homonyms, i.e. a word that is spelled with exactly the same letters as one of the homonyms in the puzzle.

To use any of the hints, simply click the ? button next to the one you want.

But if you exhaust all of the hints and still can't solve the puzzle, there's just one thing left to do... look up the answers! For any word you don't know, click on the "lightning bolt" next to its definition and the word will be revealed to you. It costs you 200 points, but sometimes it's all you can do!

Game Options

At any time, you can change the appearance of the game by choosing Options... from the Game menu. Different combinations of letter tiles and backgrounds can make quite a difference.

Statistics

At the end of each game, Rime Thyme displays its statistics dialog (shown below). This screen gives you information about your latest score, average score, fastest score and so on. It also tracks the number of puzzles that you finished without "cheating," versus the number of puzzles in which you had ask for a "hint", the number of puzzles you gave up on, etc.

The statistics are tracked separately for the two different types of puzzles, as well as for each level of difficulty. You can check your stats in the middle of the game by selecting Statistics... from the Game menu.

High Scores

To help you gauge your progress, Rime Thyme keeps track of the top 10 high scores it has encountered. You can see the current top ten at any time by selecting High Scores... from the Game menu. And of course, your own score will be added to the list whenever your score exceeds one of those already on the top ten.

The scores are tracked separately for the two different types of puzzles, as well as for each level of difficulty.

Credits

Rime Thyme was conceived and designed by Jerold Odens. Jerry collected homonyms over the years and devised all of the puzzles you find in the game. He even put together a printed "home version" to play with friends and family. Then one day after playing Word Solitaire, he contacted Haversack Software with an idea for a computer version of his puzzle game. After several months of work, Susan Brooks and Jason Mai put together the computer version you're playing now. The rest is history!

FAQ

Q: When I run rime Thyme, I get an error message about PUZZLES.LST. What's up?
A: The files PUZZLES1.LST and PUZZLES2.LST contains all of the puzzles in the game. Rime Thyme needs these files in order to run, but if you're getting an error message, chances are that Rime Thyme cannot find one of them. PUZZLES1.LST and PUZZLES2.LST should have been included in your download of Rime Thyme, and should have been installed in the same directory as the program itself. So the first thing you should do is check to be sure it is located in the same folder as your RIMETHYME.EXE file. If it's not, try downloading and installing Rime Thyme again.

However, if PUZZLES1.LST, PUZZLES2.LST and RIMETHYME.EXE are in the same directory, but Rime Thyme still doesn't work, check out the Properties of your shortcut to RIMETHYME.EXE and make sure the correct Working Folder has been specified. To do this, open your Start menu, point to the Rime Thyme folder, and the right-click on the Rime Thyme program. This will bring up the Properties dialog, where you can make sure the Working Folder is set to "C:\Program Files\Haversack Software\Rime Thyme" (or wherever you installed the game). This works for most people. But if it still doesn't, send me email.

Q: My copy of Rime Thyme has expired. How can I keep on playing?
A: That's simple! Just go to http://www.haversack.com/rimethyme/register.htm and register.

Q: Why should I register my copy of Rime Thyme?
A: Because it's the right thing to do!
A: Because it helps to support the Rime Thyme web site!
A: Because it helps me improve the game and write others like it!
A: Because it gives you a chance to offer feedback and suggestions for the game!
A: Because it gets rid of the download timer and removes the 60-game limit!
A: Because it supports the shareware game industry, which brings you low-cost, high-quality, non-corporate games like this!
A: Because it's so darn cheap!