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I came across a puzzle today that gave 3 solutions of an anagram and simply asked for 2 others (granted, the 2 intended answers share a common theme). I questioned whether this was something that ought to be on the site, but wanted to ask here first before flagging it. I am taking into consideration this meta post concluded that "simple" puzzles are allowed, but the post also felt a little bit like an English version of off-topic math "puzzles".

I have the feeling that I'm in the wrong and it's just fine, but I want to be sure and get a ruling on the books.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm against them, but I'm not quite sure how to articulate why... $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi Mod
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 23:26

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I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with simple anagrams as puzzles, they just don't present much of a challenge. When you can literally plug a word into a search to get the answer, it's not surprising that the puzzle is answered in less than 5 minutes.

So while I don't think we should be banning them by any stretch, we should certainly be encouraging people to get a little more creative. Look at the top rated anagram puzzles on the site to see some much more interesting ways of presenting what are still effectively "simple" anagrams (there's word searches, rebuses, mad libs, cryptic synonyms, etc, etc). Adding that twist not only makes it more enjoyable and challenging to solve, but also has the convenient side-effect of removing the "google search" issue.

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    $\begingroup$ I think downvotes are the correct tool here, for a puzzle that is technically on-topic, but shows very little effort. $\endgroup$
    – user20
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 2:32
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    $\begingroup$ @Emrakul - Agreed. So long as (just to be clear), the downvote is for lack of effort, not for being too easy, because those are different things. Nothing wrong with a creative, but very easy puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – Alconja
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 2:36
  • $\begingroup$ Agreed with both of you here. $\endgroup$
    – question_asker
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 14:20

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