I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a puzzled/baffled/bewildered expression (= one that shows you are confused or cannot understand something )
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I can still recall Dan’s baffled expression when I asked him for an answer.
puzzled
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He looked at his son’s puzzled face.
solve a puzzle
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You progress through the game by solving puzzles.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
crossword
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And probably a book or a crossword puzzle or something you could do when you were down there, you know.
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Using quantum theory to understand gravity makes as much sense as trying solve a crossword puzzle with the key to your door.
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It has taken 28 more years to add a crossword puzzle .
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She was highly educated and was good at crossword puzzles and so unlikely to make such an elementary error.
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All around the room, trainees put down their New York Times crossword puzzles .
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It's like a crossword puzzle .
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She left her book of crossword puzzles folded open on the kitchen counter.
jigsaw
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Instead, the candidates have to put together a jigsaw puzzle of states, bagging their votes in the electoral college.
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It is like putting together a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces.
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She was wound up, jumbled inside like a spilled jigsaw puzzle .
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And the majority of changes relate to content, more time-consuming and frustrating than an all-red jigsaw puzzle .
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Dress children up in paper which has wavy lines drawn on it to seem like a jigsaw puzzle .
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She thought the contents of a Cornflakes box were a jigsaw puzzle of a hen.
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The pieces of evidence fell into place with the unequivocal precision of a well-made jigsaw puzzle .
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We have a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces jumbled up.
■ VERB
solve
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As I walked around that charming town, I undertook the task of solving the puzzle she had set for me.
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Using quantum theory to understand gravity makes as much sense as trying solve a crossword puzzle with the key to your door.
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He needed to solve the puzzle that was Harold Piper.
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Results of tests on two more carcasses may solve the puzzle , she added.
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Create electricity under your own power! Solve puzzles and break illusions!
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It solves some of the puzzles mentioned for proper names.
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There were two ways of solving a scientific puzzle , they said.
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He thought that the way to solve archaeological puzzles was to weigh the opposing authorities.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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In 1953 the intricate puzzle of DNA's structure was solved in a Cambridge laboratory.
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The police have almost solved the case but one important piece of the puzzle is still missing: the murder weapon.
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Women have always been a puzzle to Brad.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Another casket presents the adventurers with an intriguing puzzle .
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How television has changed is one piece of the puzzle .
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In these terms, the original puzzle becomes that of why natural selection does not produce a population consisting entirely of hawks.
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So he created a temporary scaffolding to get one piece of the puzzle going.
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This was the puzzle that preoccupied scientists concerned with complexity.
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Top scientists around the country are pounding away at different parts of the puzzle .
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
out
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The client would puzzle out an explanation later, if he got informed by letter of his right to exercise the warrants.
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No sign and he couldn't puzzle out where it could have gone.
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He tried to puzzle out , from what Blondel had told him, how time worked.
over
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As she walked, her mind was still puzzling over the mystery of Moloch's peculiar ecology.
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He puzzled over these for the few seconds of his silent approach, then realized what they were.
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Detectives puzzling over a motive say the girls were not sexually assaulted.
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Others, too, puzzle over what to call the person who used to be a manager.
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Her mind was taken up with puzzling over a fact which had become increasingly clear the longer she stayed in the apartment.
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Meanwhile, residents and officials puzzled over exactly how to dispose of thousands of tons of debris.
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She was still puzzling over the problem when she saw Joanna's car coming towards her.
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This was a result of his puzzling over how they made moral decisions.
■ NOUN
jigsaw
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The process is similar to doing a jigsaw puzzle , but without a clear pattern on each piece.
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The pieces in the hangar are fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle .
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In putting a jigsaw puzzle together he may move the pieces around to improve his chances of finding a fit.
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Some one who could put the circumstantial jigsaw puzzle together.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Astronomers continue to be puzzled by the existence of black holes.
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Her unwillingness to answer any of his questions puzzled him.
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There are things that still puzzle me about this new computer system.
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What puzzles me about the robbery, is how they managed to enter the building unseen.
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What puzzles me is why she doesn't just leave him.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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As she walked, her mind was still puzzling over the mystery of Moloch's peculiar ecology.
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Carroll was puzzled over the way Protestants who had always feared priests could now demand his services.
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Flora was puzzled by this exchange.
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Initially, the taxi driver was puzzled when we asked to be driven to Shantinagar.
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It was only when the young man moved away in this fashion that George began to puzzle over the incident.
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The men are recalled with a deliberate and puzzling emotional inconsistency.
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What puzzled me was how Mrs Witherspoon fit into the setup.