Long Story Short Play today

6 September 2026

Puzzle sentence and answer

The sentence

Thin and unwell near Nakanocho Station last October, an apprentice by January, the stray cat nursed by Choshi railway staff was promoted in May to full stationmaster.

Show the five-word answer
straycatpromotedtostationmaster

Kept 'full'? 'Stationmaster' already says it, and an apprentice is not one. Kept 'Choshi' or 'staff'? The town is where, and the staff are who nursed her, but the news is what she became. 'Apprentice' is the rung below, and the top of the ladder is the news. 'Stray' stays, because a cat who could barely open her eyes in October is the whole story. This one really happened. Last October a thin stray kitten with a cold so bad she could barely open her eyes turned up beside Nakanocho Station on the Choshi Electric Railway, a six kilometre line in Chiba, Japan. The station staff took her in and nursed her. By January she was an apprentice. In May she was promoted to full stationmaster, with a cap and a medallion for her collar. Her name is Nakano-san. Her duties, according to the railway, are greeting passengers, inspecting the station, knocking computer mice onto the floor and sleeping on important paperwork. She comes in about once a week. Her first birthday was in July.

Every word, accounted for

ThinHow she looked in October. She is a stationmaster now.
andA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
unwellHow she was in October. The promotion is what changed.
nearA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
NakanochoHalf a name. Where she was found, not what happened.
StationThe other half. Still where.
lastGoes with October.
OctoberWhen she was found. Not when it happened.
anA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
apprenticeThe first rung. The top of the ladder is the news.
byA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
JanuaryWhen she made apprentice. The lower rung.
theA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
strayWhich cat. A stray who could barely open her eyes is the story.
catWho got the job.
nursedThe work before. The promotion is what changed.
byA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
ChoshiWhere. The town, not the news.
railwayWhose staff. Any job has a boss.
staffThey nursed her. The promotion is hers.
wasA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
promotedWhat happened.
inA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
MayWhen. Same promotion any month.
toA little word doing big work today. Promoted to what.
full'Stationmaster' already says it. An apprentice is not one.
stationmasterThe job itself.
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