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My JLPT textbook gives me this example sentence to explain the meaning of
`凝{こ}る`:

> 釣{つ}りに凝{こ}る

The book provides a translation, which is, "be absorbed in fishing."

Later, in a test question, there is this sentence:

> あの建物{たてもの}はかなりこった造{つく}りをしている

(The question in the book does not use the kanji for `凝{こ}る`.)

This really confused me until I looked in a dictionary and saw that `凝{こ}った`
can also be defined as "elaborate, refined, artistic."

I notice, when I use Rikaichan to double check the definitions as I write
this, that the "artistic" definition only comes up for the `こった` form of the
word, and the "be absorbed in" definition comes up for the `こる` form of the
word.

I don't understand how I was supposed to get the meaning in the question from
the meaning in the example. Perhaps the book just made a mistake? Or maybe
there's some other way of looking at this that I'm just not seeing. The
varying forms of the verb and the use of hiragana versus kanji is confusing me
to the point where I can't sort it all out.

What is the relationship between the meanings, the kanji versus hiragana use,
and the two forms of the word?
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definitions
Does 凝{こ}る mean "absorbed in" or "artistic" in this sentence?
It's just one word with more than one definition. [See for
yourself](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%87%9D%E3%82%8B) (or
[here](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/82723/m0u/%E5%87%9D%E3%82%8B/)).
Your first example falls under the first definition (趣味に夢中になる) while your
second example falls under the second definition (意匠をこらす). Kanji usage seems
irrelevant here, it's the same word and you can use the kanji or not with no
change in meaning. Context should give you an idea for which meaning you need
to use. So for example, if a building has a "こった造り" then you can probably
surmise that it's not referring to someone being absorbed in something.
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I recognise the expression and traced the question in the book (総まとめ語彙n１？）. I
also see I had flagged the question when I studied it. This is how I think you
were supposed to approach this:

The question asks you choose between こった and こりた. Both 懲りる and 凝る were part of
that chapter and you are being asked to choose between the two.

The other meaning of 凝る in my dictionary is 工夫を凝らす, one example is 「凝った庭園｜an
exquisite garden」. 8 pages earlier in the book we had to learn this expression
as "come up with ideas" and learn the expression「これは特別な工夫をこらして作りました。」There is
also one meaning of こった、stiff as in stiff shoulders which you are possibly
expected to know anyway.

If you don't know the specific meaning in the question then my guess is that
if you have picked up all the other words in the book mentioned in the last
paragraph, and you know your kanji, then you might know 懲りる is a rare word
with only one meaning but there some variations on the use of 凝る and therefore
it is probably the best fit.

Strange? Maybe but, as I expect you know, it is probably difficult for even a
native speaker to answer all the questions in the real JLPT N1 correctly in
the allotted time. Us non-native speakers have to think laterally using what
we do know to make intelligent guesses, and this is this book's way of getting
us used to it.
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