Word Herd.png
 
 

Solution

Warning! This is the solution. If you want to give the above puzzle a try, click here.

OK.

So let's walk through the steps for solving "Word Herd."

Let's begin with the title. In Puzzle Hunt Puzzles, the title can occasionally be a clue. In this case it is. "Word Herd" rhymes, suggesting that the puzzle may have to do with rhyming.

Let's look at the words themselves. There's not much that connects the words; however, you might notice some of the words come in rhyming pairs. For example, "WIND"  (as  in the wind is blowing) rhymes with "PINNED." However, "WIND" (as in to wind up a toy) also rhymes with "MIND". The two different "WIND"s are homographs - words that are spelt the same but have a different meaning and pronunciation. If you connect all the rhyming couplets, you'll (loosely) spell out two more words: "AIR" and "EAR".

The last step. It's not uncommon for Puzzle Hunt Puzzles to have a final step that reuses the trick used in the first step. In this case, the puzzle centered around rhyming and homographs. So we need to find a word that rhymes with both "AIR" and "EAR." Given that "AIR" and "EAR" don't rhyme, this word must also be a homograph. The only homograph that rhymes with both words is "TEAR" - our final answer.