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I am watching けいおん！ and in the Episode 17 「部室がない！」the club is trying to find a room for rehearsals. After not finding a suitable room Yui says:

「軽音部{けいおんぶ}とかけて双六{すごろく}と解{と}く」

In response she is asked what she means, so I gather that she is talking in an abstract way. My problems are that:

  • すごろく is obviously a kind of a board game, but to play it would be 双六をする
  • instead 双六と解く is used, but even if by thinking about a game as a kind of puzzle you could "solve/untangle a game" I would expect 解く to use the を-Particle instead of と
  • かける can have so many different meanings. I found that the combination of とかける is found often in "multiply x with y". But I don't think this meaning is correct here as "双六 multiplied with the Light Music Club" because IMO that would need to be 軽音部とかけ た 双六 or 軽音部とかけ て(い)た 双六

So what does the sentence literally mean? Thanks a lot!

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Okay. It should be a word play called なぞかけ.

The structure should be「AとかけてBと解{と}く」and you may be replying「その心{こころ}は」after you have heard.「その心は」is bit hard to translate, but it normally implies "What does it mean?" or alike.

There should be some relationships between A and B. The response should explains similarities or points in common or whatever which is related.

I think 「軽音部{けいおんぶ}とかけて双六{すごろく}と解{と}く」is saying the both are "just a hobby" and it is not treated as seriously as brass band club because the rockband does not seem as beautiful as brass bands. And 双六 also sounds gambling and you play the game relying on luck, so it can not be as serious as chess or shogi or alike.

My answer should be "a hobby" or "an entertainment" or "killing time" compared to other club activities which leads to Inter-High School Championships. Therefore they can not find a rehearsal room. I hope it fits the context of the manga:「けいおん」.

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    How would you translate AとかけてBと解く? – user3856370 Oct 2 '20 at 12:57
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    So basically the meaning of AとかけてBと解く? is "what does A and B have in common" – Quit007 Oct 2 '20 at 13:17
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    @Quit007 I think so. I have found similar Q&A and they explain : "A riddle, a riddle.(なぞなぞだよ｡) A and B those have a common ground.(AとB､これらには共通点があるんだ｡) Do you find it?(それは何か分かるかな?). " from the link 英語でなぞかけがしたいです. – kimi Tanaka Oct 2 '20 at 13:27
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    From the additional context Quit007 has now supplied, it appears that what this club and 双六 have in common isn't actually that they are "just a hobby." Rather, this club is like 双六 because, not having found a room to practice in, the club members "have to start all over again" (振り出しに戻ってしまいました), just like a 双六 player must sometimes go back to the starting point. It's very similar to the English expression "we're right back at square one," meaning "we're right back where we started." – Nanigashi Oct 2 '20 at 18:29
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    Yes, of course – without that additional context, you could only guess what the point of the comparison was, and your guess was perfectly reasonable! – Nanigashi Oct 2 '20 at 22:46

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