LeonFrontier Games

Reading the blanks: a Lost Vowels strategy guide

Every Lost Vowels answer arrives with its A, E, I, O and U taken out. What is left looks sparse, but it carries a surprising amount of information: where each vowel was, how many there were, how many words the answer has, and which consonants sit next to each other. Learning to read all of that is most of the skill in the game.

What the puzzle shows you

Each removed vowel is shown as a blank tile, and every consonant stays exactly where it was. So Barcelona appears as B_RC_L_N_ and Tokyo as T_KY_. You never have to guess how many vowels there are or where they go. You only have to work out which vowel fills each blank.

A few more rules help:

  • Y is never removed. It stays visible as a consonant, as in T_KY_. If you see a Y, it is in the answer.
  • Spaces stay. An answer of two or more words keeps its word breaks, so you know how long each word is. Lionel Messi appears as L__N_L M_SS_.
  • Punctuation stays. Hyphens, apostrophes and full stops remain visible, which is a strong clue for place names.
  • Accented vowels become blanks too. Medellín appears as M_D_LL_N. You never need to type the accent.

How your answer is checked

You type the whole answer, not just the vowels. Capitals, accents, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes are all ignored when your answer is checked, so "sao paulo" matches São Paulo. Spelling still matters: a close but wrong spelling is marked incorrect.

A wrong guess costs no points. After three wrong guesses the answer is revealed and the puzzle scores zero, so it pays to think before typing a third time.

Step 1: count the blanks in each gap

The number of blanks between two consonants tells you what kind of vowel sound sits there.

  • One blank is a single vowel. Most of these are A, E, I or O. In English words, E is the most common.
  • Two blanks together are a vowel pair. The usual suspects are EA, EE, OO, OU, AI, IE, OA and UI. J__RN_Y is journey: OU, then E.
  • Three blanks together are rare and usually mean a word borrowed from another language, or a place name.

Step 2: look at the edges

A blank at the very start means the answer begins with a vowel: _NSW_R is answer, V_C_D is avocado. Short consonant runs after a starting blank are often prefixes such as UN-, IN- or EX-.

A blank at the very end usually means a final E in English words, or A or O in names and borrowed words: CR__SS_NT is croissant, while T_KY_ ends in O.

Step 3: read the consonant clusters

Some consonant pairs can sit side by side in English and some cannot. That tells you where a vowel must have been, and the game has already shown you those positions. What the clusters really help with is recognition:

  • CH, SH, TH, PH, WH and GH are single sounds. CH_MP_NZ__ starts with CH, which points you towards chimpanzee.
  • NG, NK, ST, ND and RT often end a syllable. K_NG is king; G_RD_N is garden.
  • Doubled consonants like LL, SS and TT usually follow a short vowel: B_LLF_NCH is bullfinch.

Step 4: use the category

The category is the strongest clue you have. A skeleton can fit several ordinary words, but only one of them belongs to the category in front of you. M__T could be meat, meet or moot; in Food & Drink it is almost certainly meat. The game is also built so that, within a category, two answers do not share the same consonants, so once you have a word that fits the category, you can be confident in it.

Step 5: say it aloud

When the letters on screen will not resolve into a word, try sounding out the consonants with a neutral vowel between them. "B-r-c-l-n" quickly becomes "Barcelona" when spoken, even though it is hard to see written down.

When to take help

Every puzzle starts at three points. The clue and the first hint each cost one point, and the price is shown before you take it. Two habits make help worth its cost:

  1. Take help before your third guess, not after. A solved puzzle with one hint scores two points; a puzzle revealed after three misses scores none.
  2. Use the hint that fits the gap in your knowledge. In Cities & Towns there is no clue, and the hint tells you the country, which is often all you need. In other categories the clue is a short definition.

A routine for any puzzle

  1. Read the category.
  2. Count the words and the blanks in each gap.
  3. Check the edges for a starting or ending vowel.
  4. Spot the consonant clusters and say them aloud.
  5. Fill the single blanks with E first, then try A, I and O.
  6. Type it in. If it is wrong, change the vowel pair, not the whole word.

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