THEMES: Below are links to subsets of these contests, which I call "themes". Most of the contests have been assigned one or more themes, which are indicated with trigraphs. It was not easy going through more than a thousand synposes to make these subjective assignments, so please let me know of any adjustments that should be made.

YEAR 1 BEGINS
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 7, 1993	1	SHEDDING THE SKINS?	Come up with a new name for the Redskins.	WAS ATH	Text file | Contest image
March 14, 1993	2	WRITE A MOTTO. WIN A MONSTROSITY.	Maryland needs a new motto, a multi-purpose slogan suitable for placement on a state seal or a license plate. Something grand, something that embodies the full bodacious majesty of the state.	SLO POL	Text file | Contest image	"Oslo"	Text file | Contest image
March 21, 1993	3	A STATUE OF LIMITATIONS	Come up with a concept for a statue of someone -- anyone, dead or alive -- who doesn't currently have one.		Text file | Contest image
March 28, 1993	4	[untitled]	This week, a gripe-fest about modernity and other irritations. Complete this sentence: "If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we ... "		Text file | Contest image
April 4, 1993	5	THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW	Invent a creative piece of legislation based on skillfully juxtaposed names of actual U.S. senators and representatives.	LEG	Text file | Contest image	Carol Vance Jacki Drucker	Text file | Contest image (pub 4-18-93) Text file | Contest image (pub 4-25-93)
April 11, 1993	6	PUTTING WORDS IN THEIR MOUTHS	In 40 words or less, write a caption for either of these two generic cartoons drawn by famed Style Invitational artist Marc Rosenthal.	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image
April 18, 1993	7	BEAT THE BANDS	Come up with a name for rock bands.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
April 25, 1993	8	I AM SPURIOUS (YELLOW)	Write a headline for the Weekly World News (Maximum length, 10 words)	HEA	Text file | Contest image
May 2, 1993	9	VANITY UNFAIR	Create vanity license plates for famous people.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
May 9, 1993	10	A WEEK THAT WILL LIVE IN EUPHEMY	Write us a funny euphemism.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 16, 1993	11	YOU GIVE US THE BACKS OFF OUR SHIRTS	The back of the shirt needs a slogan, something that captures the spirit of The Style Invitational. What is that spirit? You tell us.	TSH STY	Text file | Contest image	Mary Pat Jones
May 23, 1993	12	HERE, DOGGEREL …	Write a limerick. It must contain one of the following names: "Hillary Rodham Clinton," "Jack Kevorkian," "George Stephanopoulos" or "Bosnia-Herzegovina."	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image
May 30, 1993	13	ANAGRAMS = A MAN'S RAG	Come up with a funny anagram for the name of a famous person or institution. All letters in the name must be used, and no letters may be left over.	ANA	Text file | Contest image
June 6, 1993	14	COLLECTIVE INSANITY	Modernize collective nouns (as in a "pride" of lions or an "exaltation" of larks), inventing snide new names for groups of things.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
June 13, 1993	15	PUNCH US	Complete any of the provided jokes in 75 words or fewer.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
June 20, 1993	16	I AM ADDICTED TO AN ASININE CONTEST…	Come up with sleazy new topics for the daytime talks.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
June 27, 1993	17	REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM	Come up with an easy way to reduce the federal deficit, in 20 words or fewer.	POL	Text file | Contest image
July 4, 1993	18	PUNCH US IN THE EAR	Give us a motto for The Washington Post.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
July 11, 1993	19	A RECYCLED IDEA THAT WAS NONE TOO GOOD TO BEGIN WITH	Alter a well-known phrase or name by deleting, adding or changing only one letter, and then supply a definition for what results.	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image
July 18, 1993	20	COMIC RELIEF	Rewrite 60-year-old cartoons, filling in your own balloons, to make them funnier and more timely.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
July 25, 1993	21	A SO-SO CONTEST	Describe somebody--or something--through exaggerated comparison.		Text file | Contest image
August 1, 1993	22	STUMP US	Come up with slogans for the 1996 presidential campaign.	POL	Text file | Contest image
August 8, 1993	23	HAPPY ENDINGS	Modernize an old quote or expression by altering its ending.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
August 15, 1993	24	ASK BACKWARDS	You are on "Jeopardy!" Those are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
August 22, 1993	25	CAPTION CRUNCH	Write a caption for any of these photos.	CAP	Text file | Contest image
August 29, 1993	26	CASTING ABOUT FOR AN IDEA	Name a political person (past or present) and the TV or movie role in which he or she could have been cast.	MOV POL TEL	Text file | Contest image
September 5, 1993	27	IT'S THE EPONYMY, STUPID	Coin an eponym, a word or figure of speech based on the name of a famous person. You must define the word, and, if you wish, use it in a sentence.	CUL WOR	Text file | Contest image
September 12, 1993	28	MOTHERS-IN-LAW OF INVENTION	Propose some drastic change in government to help the economy or otherwise improve the quality of life in America.	POL	Text file | Contest image
September 19, 1993	29	AD NAUSEAM	Come up with an unfortunate slogan for any real product, service, or organization.	SLO	Text file | Contest image
September 26, 1993	30	THE RORSCHACH OF THE CROWD	Interpret any of the provided ink blots.	ROR	Text file | Contest image
October 3, 1993	31	INVITATION TO A DUAL	Divide the world into two types of people.		Text file | Contest image
October 10, 1993	32	FATAL ART ATTACK	In 50 words or fewer, describe a performance art concept that might get public funding. Winners will be audacious enough to seem like art, but pretentious enough to seem to have a social "message."	ART	Text file | Contest image
October 17, 1993	33	POST IMPRESSIONISM	Give us the opening lines of a big story from American history as it might have been written by someone whose work appears in The Washington Post. Maximum 100 words. You must choose one of three news stories: "Lincoln Assassinated," "Stock Market Crashes" or "Man Walks on Moon."	HIS	Text file | Contest image
October 24, 1993	34	INSPECT A GADGET	What do these machines do?	CAR	Text file | Contest image	Reef family	Text file | Contest image
October 31, 1993	35	LIGHT AT THE END?	Tell the federal government what it should do with the 14-mile-long, 15-foot-diameter sausage-shaped tunnel it dug near Waxahachie, Tex., for the Superconducting Super Collider project that was scrapped by Congress last week.	POL	Text file | Contest image
November 7, 1993	36	SCAM ON WRY	Come up with a prank you can play, for fun, profit, or deliverance of a well-needed comeuppance.		Text file | Contest image
November 14, 1993	37	A STATE OF DISGRACE?	Propose any of the following for D.C.: A State Name, A State Flower, A State Bird, A State Slogan, A State Capital, A Governor, An Insulting State Joke.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
November 21, 1993	38	ASK BACKWARDS II	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
November 28, 1993	39	WAY OUTSIDE THE LINES	Name a new crayon color for the 1990s, with a description.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
December 5, 1993	40	NOT WRONG. JUST INCORRECT.	What's next on the political correctness agenda?	CUL	Text file | Contest image
December 12, 1993	41	READ-END COLLUSION	Design a Style Invitational bumper sticker to be awarded to all Honorable Mentions.	BUM	Text file | Contest image
December 19, 1993	42	HEY, IT COULD BE WORSE	There are worse things in life than the Washington Redskins. Just tell us what they are.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
December 26, 1993	43	GOOD LORD!	What does God look like?	REL	Text file | Contest image
January 2, 1994	44	ADVERB PUBLICITY	Write us a Tom Swiftly or two, updated for the '90s. Each must include a reference to a famous person or institution.	WOR CUL	Text file | Contest image
January 9, 1994	45	INVITATION TO A DUAL, II.	Deliver us a Good News-Bad News scenario.		Text file | Contest image
January 16, 1994	46	WE WANT STUPID ENTRIES ONLY	Make up a sentence that, were it not for this contest, would never be uttered.	STY	Text file | Contest image
January 23, 1994	47	CAN YOU DO VERSE?	Bad Valentine's Day poetry. Any rhyme scheme, any form of literary dysfunction.	POE	Text file | Contest image
January 30, 1994	48	SNIVEL WAR	Beg for the coveted Style Invitational T-shirts.	TSH	Text file | Contest image
February 6, 1994	49	A SLALOM OCCASION	Come up with events for a Washington Olympics. They can be winter or summer sports, based on bureaucracy or other themes peculiar to Washington, and must include a brief description of the event.	WAS ATH	Text file | Contest image
February 13, 1994	50	GIVE US THIS DAY	There are no holidays between Presidents' Day and Memorial Day, a cheerless run of more than three months. Let's stick one in there, somewhere. The holiday should celebrate something or someone uniquely American. Tell us the date, the name of the holiday and how it should be observed.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
February 20, 1994	51	CAPTION CRUNCH, VOL. II	Supply captions for any of these pictures.	CAP	Text file | Contest image
February 27, 1994	52	PERJURED TESTIMONIALS	Come up with inappropriate celebrity endorsements for real products.		Text file | Contest image
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 6, 1994	53	CRUEL FETE	Tell us how the Invitational has changed America.	STY	Text file | Contest image
March 13, 1994	54	ODD COUPLING	Write comical combinations of famous names, by marriage or other conceit.		Text file | Contest image
March 20, 1994	55	ESCAPE CLAUSES	Send us self-serving moral loopholes through which the enterprising 1990s transgressor can crawl.		Text file | Contest image
March 27, 1994	56	DO THE HOOKY POKEY	Come up with inventive ways to call in sick or otherwise persuade your employer you must miss a day.		Text file | Contest image
April 3, 1994	57	CALLING THE TOON	Who are these people, and what are they doing?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
April 10, 1994	58	PLAY IT AGAIN, DENZEL	Bring Casablanca into the 1990s. Write the opening of a plot outline, in 120 words or fewer.	MOV	Text file | Contest image
April 17, 1994	59	A GRAVE AFFAIR	Write appropriate epitaphs for the not-yet-dead.	EPI	Text file | Contest image
April 24, 1994	60	ASK BACKWARDS III	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
May 1, 1994	61	NO HARD FEELINGS	Fill in the balloons in these cheerful farewell panels drawn by Marc Rosenthal, the Style Invitational artist who is being replaced by Bob Staake.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
May 8, 1994	62	BAD NEWS BEARERS	Come up with statements one would not want to hear from friends, relatives, service personnel, etc.		Text file | Contest image
May 15, 1994	63	BAD ABOUT YOU	Come up with a lame idea for a Style Invitational contest, an idea destined to create unfunny results.	STY	Text file | Contest image
THE SCREW-UP Week 64 inadvertently skipped
May 22, 1994	65	DESPERATELY SEEKING HUMOR	Write a personal ad. It may be for a celebrity or for anyone in need of adroit euphemism.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 29, 1994	66	THE SON-OF-SMITH LAW	In 50 words or fewer, what do we do about the Chuck Smith problem?	STY	Text file | Contest image
June 5, 1994	67	FAMOUS LAST WORDS	Make up the last words of famous dead people whose last words are unknown.	EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 12, 1994	68	GIVE US A SIGN	Come up with new astrological signs for the 1990s, together with one day's horoscope.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
June 19, 1994	69	LAYING DOWN THE LAW	Send us some exciting new principles that explain why things happen they way they happen.	SCI	Text file | Contest image
June 26, 1994	70	SOUNDS LIKE A BAD IDEA	Come up with jokes based on noises.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
July 3, 1994	71	CAPTION CRUNCH III	Come up with a new, funnier caption for any picture or illustration anywhere in today's newspaper.	CAP WAS	Text file | Contest image
July 10, 1994	72	OH, HELL	Come up with the perfect vision of Hell for a famous person, living or dead.		Text file | Contest image
July 17, 1994	73	LUNACY	Tell us what Neil Armstrong should have said upon stepping onto the moon's surface, instead of what he did, the greatest gaffe in the history of Historic Sayings.	HIS	Text file | Contest image
July 24, 1994	74	SHIRT HAPPENS	In 10 words or fewer, what should the back of the "Year 2" T-shirt say?	TSH	Text file | Contest image
July 31, 1994	75	CURSES!	Come up with modern maledictions in the wise and entertaining Yiddish tradition.	LAN	Text file | Contest image
August 7, 1994	76	ADIOS.	Tell us, in 40 words or fewer, what is great about August in Washington. It's August, and we're out of here.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
THE VACATION Column takes off three weeks
August 14, 1994
August 21, 1994
August 28, 1994
September 4, 1994	77	THE RORSCHACH OF THE CROWD II	What do these ink blots mean?	ROR	Text file | Contest image
September 11, 1994	78	SEEKING SMART MORONS	Come up with an oxymoron for our times, an expression made bogus by the fact that it combines incompatible, contradictory ideas.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
September 18, 1994	79	TERROR-DACTYL	Send us a double dactyl. The first line must be a nonsense phrase of five to seven syllables containing exactly two downbeats. The second line must be a name, in five to seven syllables but only two downbeats. The remaining six lines must contain four to seven syllables and two downbeats each, with Lines 4 and 8 rhyming. Somewhere in the poem, one line must consist of only one word.	POE	Text file | Contest image
September 25, 1994	80	NICK KNACKS	Come up with a great nickname for any contemporary celebrity.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
October 2, 1994	81	HEADS, YOU LOSE	Take any two or more headlines anywhere in today's Washington Post, and combine them to make a funnier headline.	HEA WAS	Text file | Contest image
October 9, 1994	82	PICTURE THIS	Who are these people, and what are they doing?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
October 16, 1994	83	BEDROOM FARCE	What questions were left out of the Great American Sex Survey?	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 23, 1994	84	THE WASHINGTON IRVINGS	Come up with creative names for the high school football teams of real towns in America.	ATH	Text file | Contest image
October 30, 1994	85	PLAY MYTHTY FOR ME	Come up with new urban myths, those vaguely believable, wildly paranoid stories that circulate by word of mouth until they are generally accepted as true.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
November 6, 1994	86	EXCUSES, EXCUSES	Come up with funny excuses for various malfeasances.		Text file | Contest image
November 13, 1994	87	WEST EASY, ANN	Come up with good things about West Virginia, in 50 words of fewer.	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 20, 1994	88	GIVE US SOME GOOD NEWS	Come up with ways things are going to be different now that Republicans have ascended to power.	POL	Text file | Contest image
November 27, 1994	89	CHILD'S PLAY	Come up with bad ideas for new toys for the Christmas season.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
December 4, 1994	90	BILL US NOW	Come up with funny legislation based on the names of the 102 freshman congresspersons.	LEG	Text file | Contest image
December 11, 1994	91	ASK BACKWARD IV	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
December 18, 1994	92	PLOTBOILERS	Tell us what excerpts from celebrities' novels might look like.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
December 25, 1994	93	I WANT THE MONGOOSE	Tell us, in 50 words or fewer, why you must have this elegant piece of taxidermy featuring a snake being killed by a mongoose.	STY	Text file | Contest image
January 1, 1995	94	WEEKS 1-93	Come up with a great answer to any previous Style Invitational contest, an answer you may have thought of after the contest was over.	PRE	Text file | Contest image
January 8, 1995	95	HOW'S THAT AGAIN?	Take any headline appearing anywhere in The Post this week and completely rewrite the first lines of the story to put a different, unintended spin on it.	HEA	Text file | Contest image
January 15, 1995	96	STICK IT IN YOUR ERA	Come up with a catch phrase for the 1990s.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
January 22, 1995	97	NEWTONIAN PHILOSOPHY	Come up with more Newt Gingrich philosophy to explain the differences between men and women, Democrats and Republicans, dogs and cats, whatever needs explaining.	POL	Text file | Contest image
January 29, 1995	98	YOUR CHEATIN' ART	Come up with titles for country music songs featuring any one or more of the following themes: cheatin', thievin', drinkin', truckin', lovin' or dogs.	MUS	Text file | Contest image
February 5, 1995	99	WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE PICTURES?	What's wrong with these pictures?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
February 12, 1995	100	THE JOKE'S ON YOU	Retell any of these jokes as they would be told by some celebrity, living or dead.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
February 19, 1995	101	[deliberately left blank]	[deliberately left blank]		Text file | Contest image
February 26, 1995	102	HELP! I'M A PRISONER IN THIS CONTEST	Come up with fortune cookie messages that you would love to see, but never will.		Text file | Contest image
March 5, 1995	103	SEND HELP.	Come up with ways to raise some badly needed cash for the District of Columbia.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 12, 1995	104	HERE, DOGGEREL	Create poems so bad they thud. The first line must be a name. The second line can be as long or as short as you wish. The third line must sound the same as the first line, using the name as a verb or some other part of speech.	POE	Text file | Contest image
March 19, 1995	105	WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?	Come up with Good Ideas and then convert them to Bad Ideas through slight changes in wording.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
March 26, 1995	106	DRAWING CONCLUSIONS	Who are these people, and what are they doing?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
April 2, 1995	107	CLUSTERS' LAST STAND	Take an actual star cluster, redraw the lines into a different image, and give it a new name.	SCI	Text file | Contest image
April 9, 1995	108	NEAR MISSES	Come up with the first drafts of great lines in history, entertainment or literature.	HIS CUL LIT	Text file | Contest image
April 16, 1995	109	SEND US YOUR MAIL PARTS	We're looking for funny examples of pidgin English that try to say one thing, but actually say something quite different.	LAN	Text file | Contest image
April 23, 1995	110	DO NOT INHALE THIS PAGE	Come up with absurd warning labels that might be found on common products.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
April 30, 1995	111	ASK BACKWARDS V	Here are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
May 7, 1995	112	POOP FICTION	Come up with the opening lines of a book so bad it will compel you to stop reading immediately; maximum 50 words.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
May 14, 1995	113	WHAT KIND OF FOAL AM I?	Take a list of horses nominated to the Triple Crown races this year, choose any two, and propose a name for their offspring.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
May 21, 1995	114	THE JOKE'S ON YOU	Come up with jokes to culminate in any of these six punch lines.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
May 28, 1995	115	THE MNEMONIC PLAGUE	Come up with new mnemonic devices to remember complicated lists.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
June 4, 1995	116	WRITE PURE POETRY	Write a complete sentence using only the letters contained on the top row of a typewriter. Alternatively, you can use the letters of the first four lines of the standard eye chart.	LET	Text file | Contest image
June 11, 1995	117	GIVE 'EM HELOISE	Come up with a tribute to Heloise, that queen of inanely creative recycling.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
June 18, 1995	118	WEAK 118	Take any photo caption or headline appearing anywhere in today's Post and alter its meaning by adding, deleting, or changing one letter.	CAP HEA WAS	Text file | Contest image
June 25, 1995	119	MUZAK TO OUR EAR	Come up with unfortunate Muzak songs to hear on the phone while on hold. You can use either a song title or a lyric.	MUS	Text file | Contest image
July 2, 1995	120	SIMILE OUTRAGEOUS	Come up with inept analogies, rotten comparisons as a literary device.	ANL	Text file | Contest image
July 9, 1995	121	IT'S NO USE	Come up with useless products.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
July 16, 1995	122	THE UNKINDEST CUTE OF ALL	Come up with a new story line for "Peanuts", some plot development or new character that will put the strip back on the road to relevance.	COM	Text file | Contest image
July 23, 1995	123	WHY IS POOP FUNNY?	Come up with creative answers to any of the five questions above that might be asked by a 5-year-old.		Text file | Contest image
July 30, 1995	124	SPOON-FEED US.	Come up with spoonerisms, expressions based on the transposition of the initial sounds of two paired words.	LET	Text file | Contest image
August 6, 1995	125	ASK BACKWARD VI	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
August 13, 1995	126	EVERYBODY'S TALKIN'	What are these people, etc., saying or thinking?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
August 20, 1995	127	GADGET IF YOU CAN	Choose one or more of these devices and describe their use.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
August 27, 1995	128	LIKE, DUH	Come up with snappy answers to stupid questions.		Text file | Contest image
September 3, 1995	129	REMAKE US HAPPY	Come up with alternative story lines to movie titles, new or old.	MOV	Text file | Contest image
September 10, 1995	130	NICELY STATED	Create a fictional city to be humorously paired with a real state abbreviation.	POL	Text file | Contest image
September 17, 1995	131	DROODLEYSQUAT	Come up with "droodles," simple geometric drawings with funny explanations.	ART	Text file | Contest image
September 24, 1995	132	GIVE US THE BACKS OFF OUR SHIRTS.	What should our loser's T-shirt say on the back? Your goal is to somehow capture the spirit of the contest.	TSH	Text file | Contest image
October 1, 1995	133	LIKE, WOW.	Come up with funny analogies.	ANL	Text file | Contest image
October 8, 1995	134	A SIMPLE CLERIHEW ERROR	Revive clerihews. A clerihew is a biographical poem in four lines divided into two rhyming couplets. The rhyme scheme is aa bb. The first line of the clerihew must contain the name of the subject of the poem. The lines must be of disparate meter, the clunkier the better.	POE	Text file | Contest image
October 15, 1995	135	JERRY-BUILT SOLUTIONS	Come up with Seinfeld-isms: whiny, quirky musings on little questions of life.		Text file | Contest image
October 22, 1995	136	NEW END IN SIGHT	Come up with new endings to make literary classics more suitable for Hollywood in the 1990s.	MOV	Text file | Contest image
October 29, 1995	137	VELVIS LIVES	Come up with a title and/or art gallery blurb for this velvet Elvis painting.	ART	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 5, 1995	138	LIST BUT NOT LEAST	Come up with Top-10-style lists for any of the above four subjects.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
November 12, 1995	139	EMPLOYMENT LINES	Come up with jobs that make even your crummy job seem good.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
November 19, 1995	140	WHAT IF YOU GIVE IT A TRY?	Come up with "What-If" scenarios and logical outcomes.	HIS	Text file | Contest image
November 26, 1995	141	ASK BACKWARD VII	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
December 3, 1995	142	EXHIBITING BAD TENDENCIES	Come up with the winner of next year's Turner Prize, which says its aim is to expand ideas of what is art.	ART	Text file | Contest image
December 10, 1995	143	IT'S MY PARODY (& I'LL TRY IF I WANT TO)	Rewrite any common jingle or theme song in the style of famous writer.	POE	Text file | Contest image
December 17, 1995	144	JUST REBUS ALONE	Come up with a rebus, a phrase or sentence composed of letters, pictures, and symbols. Your entry must contain at least two pictures or illustrations from today's Washington Post.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
December 24, 1995	145	LOOIE, LOOIE	Come up with paired, themed ladies' room and men's room signs for various types of public places.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
December 31, 1995	146	IT'S LIKE THIS	Produce an A and B to complete the expression "A makes about as much sense as B."	WOR	Text file | Contest image
January 7, 1996	147	JUST FOR LIFFS	Come up with original liffs, which identify a familiar, tantalizing concept without a word to define it, and pairs it with a perfectly good but underutilized word that just loafs around on maps and street signs.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
January 14, 1996	148	RORSCHACH OF THE CROWD IV	Interpret these ink blots.	ROR	Text file | Contest image
January 21, 1996	149	O, NO!	Come up with a palindrome, a line that reads the same backward and forward, and then use it as a punchline to a joke.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
January 28, 1996	150	TRIAL BALLOONS	What are the people saying?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
February 4, 1996	151	STRIP MINING	Come up with a concept for a new, controversial strip to replace an existing one in The Post.	COM WAS	Text file | Contest image
February 11, 1996	152	WE ARE CURIOUS (YELLOW)	Take any headline in today's Washington Post and rewrite it in tabloid fashion so the story seems a lot more scandalous and/or lurid than it is.	HEA WAS CUL	Text file | Contest image
February 18, 1996	153	STUMP US	Complete this sentence, "I should be elected President of the United States because…" and launch your campaign.	POL	Text file | Contest image
February 25, 1996	154	ENTER LAUGHING	Make up a knock-knock joke. The subject of the third line must be something crude, silly, or profound.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
March 3, 1996	155	COMPARISON SHOPPING	Explain the difference between any two of the above items.	DIF	Text file | Contest image
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 10, 1996	156	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE	Create new word by combining the first half of a hyphenated word with the second half of a hyphenated word. Both words must appear in the same story anywhere in today's Washington Post. Each entry must provide a definition for the newly created word.	HYP WAS	Text file | Contest image
March 17, 1996	157	WARNING SIGNS	Complete any of these "you might be about to" warning sentences.		Text file | Contest image
March 24, 1996	158	SO SUE US	Come up with frivolous lawsuits.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
March 31, 1996	159	ODDBALLS	Which item in each series does not belong? Explain your answer.		Text file | Contest image
April 7, 1996	160	SEEKING WISE GUYS	Come up with cool new bad-guy terms.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
April 14, 1996	161	CAPITOL MISTAKES	Come up with very, very bad advice for first-time visitors to Washington.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
April 21, 1996	162	MAY WE HAVE YOUR PRETENSION, PLEASE?	Come up with the most pretentious original sentence possible.		Text file | Contest image
April 28, 1996	163	WHAT KIND OF FOAL AM I?	Take the list of all 1996 Triple Crown nominees, couple up any two of them, and propose an appropriate name for their hypothetical foal. The foal's name must fit in no more than 18 characters, including spaces.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
May 5, 1996	164	MEAN MEANINGS	Translate things politicians say into what they really mean.	POL	Text file | Contest image
May 12, 1996	165	WHEEL OF TORTURE	Complete any of the provided "Wheel of Fortune" phrases.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 19, 1996	166	DOO WAH DOODY	We are looking for really bad lyrics to real rock songs. Your lyrics must be from a reasonably popular song, and you must include the name of the singer or songwriter.	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image
May 26, 1996	167	CRAPSEY	Resurrect the "cinquain," a long-deceased poetic form, poems so ickily precocious and pretentious they make haiku look like Kipling. There are five lines, the first containing two syllables, the second containing four syllables, the third six, the fourth eight and the last, with grave finality and thunderous drama, only two. Your subject matter must be suitable for the 1990s.	POE	Text file | Contest image
June 2, 1996	168	LICENSE TO CARRY A PUN	Come up with original jokes like those provided.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
June 9, 1996	169	DIFF'RENT JOKES	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	DIF	Text file | Contest image
June 16, 1996	170	THE ELEMENTS OF SMILE	Why are these people smiling?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
June 23, 1996	171	ON SECOND THOUGHT	Ideas that never got off the drawing board, for good reason.		Text file | Contest image
June 30, 1996	172	POEDTRY	An entire poetic form, making its global debut in the Style Invitational. The first line must contain only six words of one syllable each; the second line, three words of two syllables each; the third line, two words of three syllables each, and the final line a single word of six syllables. At least two lines must rhyme. The general subject matter should be mundane.	POE	Text file | Contest image
July 7, 1996	173	DEAD RECKONING	Propose a question that might be asked by a living celebrity to a famous dead person. You must name the living person, name the dead person, and tell us the question.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
July 14, 1996	174	THE EDGE OF MIGHT	Complete any of the four provided "you might" phrases.		Text file | Contest image
July 21, 1996	175	FOSSIL FOOLS	What would aliens mistakenly conclude about us from any of the provided items?	SCI	Text file | Contest image
July 28, 1996	176	WRITE IN THE KISSER	In the style of any famous author, write a description of any one of these people: Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Prince Charles or Sylvester Stallone.		Text file | Contest image
August 4, 1996	177	SOUNDS LIKE TROUBLE	Tell us what any of the provided sounds are.		Text file | Contest image
August 11, 1996	178	DEEP THROATS	Come up with Deep Thoughts, in the style of Jack Handey of "Saturday Night Live." A Deep Thought is a short, simple, seemingly inspirational observation that winds up being cynical, ironic, or just plain weird.		Text file | Contest image
August 18, 1996	179	A CLOCKWORK, UM, UM, ... ER	Write single sentences containing no fewer than three examples of rhyming slang.	POE	Text file | Contest image
August 25, 1996	180	WHEN IN DOUBT, PUN	Take any headline in today's Post and improve it by somehow turning it into a pun.	HEA WAS	Text file | Contest image
September 1, 1996	181	YOU CAN TAKE IT TO DEBUNK	Take a common slogan or saying and prove it wrong with at least one example.	SLO	Text file | Contest image
September 8, 1996	182	CAN YOU STOP THIS?	Come up with a conversation stopper, a line likely to end all further discourse, perhaps even empty a room.		Text file | Contest image
September 15, 1996	183	COCKNEY RHYMING SLANG II	Create hawkers' rhymes for modern-day occupations like lobbyists, lawyers, talk show hosts, actuaries, etc., at a maximum of four lines. It must contain at least one rhyme.	POE	Text file | Contest image
September 22, 1996	184	ED ANGUISH	Create an argument on some social issue, in 75 words or fewer, taking an extreme liberal view.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
September 29, 1996	185	WONDERLUST	Come up with replacements for the Seven Wonders of the World. To qualify, an object must really exist, and be manmade and, in some way, awesome.	HIS	Text file | Contest image
October 6, 1996	186	CALLING THE TOON	Who are these people? What are they doing?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
October 13, 1996	187	RACE TO THE FINISH LINE	In 75 words or fewer, continue in a productive fashion the story line of the provided real first lines of famous literary works.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
October 20, 1996	188	BLANKETY BLANKS	Complete any of the above sentences, substituting your own phrases for the well-known omitted words.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
October 27, 1996	189	YOU CAN PRANK ON IT	Come up with a hoax or prank that begins with any of the provided scenarios.		Text file | Contest image
November 3, 1996	190	OFFICE YOU CAN'T REFUSE	Come up with a Principle for the Workplace.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
November 10, 1996	191	GOING THROUGH A PHRASE	Come up with phrase for an American English phrasebook that would provide no practical help whatsoever to a foreigner trying to get along in the United States.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
November 17, 1996	192	HILL'S BILLS	Come up with bills any of the new members of Congress might jointly sponsor.	LEG	Text file | Contest image
November 24, 1996	193	ASK BACKWARDS VIII	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
December 1, 1996	194	ADVICE SQUAD	Answer any of the provided questions unwisely.		Text file | Contest image
December 8, 1996	195	THE MARTHIAN CHRONICLES	Come up with items for Martha Stewart's December-January calendar of projects.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
December 15, 1996	196	YOU MUST BE MAD	Come up with a contemporary Scene We'd Like to See.		Text file | Contest image
December 22, 1996	197	DAVE'S WORLD	Make David Twenhafel laugh. Any sort of delightful drollery or amusing witticism will do, so long as it is not the sort of lowbrow fare we usually favor.	STY	Text file | Contest image
December 29, 1996	198	YOU MUST BE MAD II	Come up with proposals designed to infuriate special interest groups.	POL CUL	Text file | Contest image
January 5, 1997	199	WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	DIF	Text file | Contest image
January 12, 1997	200	CAPTION CRUNCH IV	Supply a new caption to any photograph appearing anywhere in today's Post, to make it funnier.	CAP	Text file | Contest image
January 19, 1997	201	THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE	Come up with a new element and its symbol, and provide a brief description of its chemical or physical properties.	SCI	Text file | Contest image
January 26, 1997	202	THE ELEMENTS OF SMILE	Interpret any of the provided computer emoticons, or "smileys."		Text file | Contest image
February 2, 1997	203	CAN IT GET MUCH VERSE?	Create Very Bad Poetry, containing banalities masquerading as profundities, overstretched metaphors, etc. Special attention should be paid to dreadful syntax and painful rhyme	POE	Text file | Contest image
February 9, 1997	204	DOUBLE EXPRESSO	Take any well-known colorful expression, and modernize it.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
February 16, 1997	205	SOME PIG	Beg for the prize: convince us why you, and you alone, deserve to get it.	STY	Text file | Contest image
February 23, 1997	206	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE II	Create a new word by combining the first half of any hyphenated word in today's newspaper with the second half of any other hyphenated word elsewhere in the same story, and supply a definition.	HYP	Text file | Contest image
March 2, 1997	207	TIED TO BE FIT	Each of the eight provided items is related, in some fashion, to one or more of the provided individuals. You make the connections.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 9, 1997	208	SEND IN THE CLONES	Suggest questions a commission to investigate the moral, legal and practical question raised by cloning might consider.	POL REL SCI	Text file | Contest image
March 16, 1997	209	WE NEED SOME SEASONING	Come up with the first signs of spring in Washington.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
March 23, 1997	210	RANDOM MEMO	Supply embarrassing "While You Were Out" phone messages that might be left for famous people, in plain sight, while they are away from their desks.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
March 30, 1997	211	GIVE US THE BACKS OFF YOUR SHIRTS	Design the back of the fourth Style Invitational T-shirt, with anything that captures the transcendent indignity of this contest.	TSH	Text file | Contest image
April 6, 1997	212	DUMB AS THE POST	Come up with even stupider crimes than those committed by Montgomery County's "gentleman burglars."		Text file | Contest image
April 13, 1997	213	A SIN OF THE TIMES	Submit campaign or other political practices that would be illegal and/or unethical.	POL	Text file | Contest image
April 20, 1997	214	ASK BACKWARDS IX	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are your answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
April 27, 1997	215	SON OF A PITCH	Write lavish blurbs in 50 words or fewer so some sucker will want to pay a lot of money for the provided items.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 4, 1997	216	WHAT KIND OF FOAL AM I?	Pair up any two of the 400-plus horses who have qualified for this year's Triple Crown races, and name their foal, in a maximum of 18 characters, including spaces.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
May 11, 1997	217	NO QUESTION ABOUT IT	Come up with truly stupid questions.	QUE	Text file | Contest image
May 18, 1997	218	CALLING THE TOON	Who are these people? What are they doing?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
May 25, 1997	219	VERBOSITY	Come up with new, obnoxious, self-conscious faux verbs and use them in sentences.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
June 1, 1997	220	RSVP	Provide an answer to any of the dumb questions from Week 217.	QUE	Text file | Contest image
June 8, 1997	221	SONG SUNG BROWN	Pick any song, pick a well-known line, and give us the discarded first draft. If it is part of a rhyme, you must maintain the rhyme.	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image
June 15, 1997	222	TRIP DEUCES	Take the two subject listings at the top of any page of the Yellow Pages and create a dictionary definition for the compound word they form.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
June 22, 1997	223	ATTEMPTING REENTRY	Submit entries to any past contest, so long as you never submitted them before.	PRE	Text file | Contest image
June 29, 1997	224	DRAWING CONCLUSIONS	What is wrong with these pictures?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
July 6, 1997	225	WE RESPECTfully decline to publish any dumb entries by YOU.	Come up with signs for a T-shirt or a bumper sticker that hide the real message in tiny type.	TSH	Text file | Contest image
July 13, 1997	226	GOING WITHOUT	Complete some variation of the expression "An A without a B is like a C without a D."	WOR	Text file | Contest image
July 20, 1997	227	WILD PITCHES	Come up worthy successors to Joe Camel. Name the product, and describe the totally inappropriate cartoon character that would be created to represent it.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
July 27, 1997	228	MAKE MY DAY	Supply advice to today's spoiled kids about how bad things were when we were growing up.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
August 3, 1997	229	WE CAN'T HEAR YOU	Supply an example for any of the five "Things you don't want to hear" categories provided.		Text file | Contest image
August 10, 1997	230	TALES FROM THE CRYPTOGRAM	Take any proper noun--a person, a book, a movie, whatever--and create for it an appropriate cryptogram.	LET	Text file | Contest image
August 17, 1997	231	GIVING QUARTER	Suggest a motto for the "tails" side of any of the state-themed quarters.	SLO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 24, 1997	232	PRIMAL URGES	Update, for the millennium, the old "A is for Apple" reading primer. An entry must include the four letters in one of these blocks: A-D, E-H, I-L, M-P, Q-T, U-Z.	LET	Text file | Contest image
August 31, 1997	233	SEEKING PARODY	Take any paragraph appearing on Page A1 of today's Washington Post, and rewrite it in the style of any famous writer.	WAS LIT	Text file | Contest image
September 7, 1997	234	THE JOKE'S ON YOU	Complete any of the provided jokes as it would be told by someone famous, living or dead.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
September 14, 1997	235	ROOTS	Make up historical explanations--they should be vaguely plausible--for the etymology of any term you wish. The term should be the punch line.	HIS WOR	Text file | Contest image
September 21, 1997	236	CALLING THE TOON.	What is happening here?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
September 28, 1997	237	ASK BACKWARD	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
October 5, 1997	238	CHALK IT UP TO STUPIDITY	Propose apologies for yourself in the style of Bart Simpson writing on his blackboard.		Text file | Contest image
October 12, 1997	239	NAME THAT TOON	Send us the captions for cartoons not provided.	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image
October 19, 1997	240	ADDING INSULT	Come up with elegant insults directed at any famous person, living or dead, such as the real encomiums above.		Text file | Contest image
October 26, 1997	241	CAN YOU BEAT THIS?	Come up with headlines describing the defeat of one pro team by another.	HEA	Text file | Contest image
November 2, 1997	242	SACRED COW PIES	Take cheap shots at sacred institutions only, places and things that are so noble and wholesome they are beyond reproach, from among the items provided.	POL CUL REL	Text file | Contest image
November 9, 1997	243	VERSE THAN EVER	Write a rhyming poem of two to eight lines as a tribute to someone famous who died in 1997, the more awful the better. We will particularly value rhymes that thud, and extremes of emotion and sentiment.	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image
November 16, 1997	244	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE	Coin new words, and provide a definition, by combining the first half of a hyphenated word for any story in today's Post with the second half of another hyphenated word in the same story.	HYP	Text file | Contest image
November 23, 1997	245	LIKE FUN	Complete any of the provided "A is like B because" sentences.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
November 30, 1997	246	OUR OWN DEVICES	What do these contraptions do? Tell us in 50 words or fewer.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
December 7, 1997	247	BLACK AND WHITE AND WED ALL OVER	Propose the marriage of any two people, and the song they should not play at their wedding. The people must be a man and a woman.	MUS	Text file | Contest image
December 14, 1997	248	STICKER SCHLOCK	Come up with a message for our new, mildly sought-after Style Invitational bumper sticker, something that summarizes the grandeur and dignity of this stupid contest.	BUM	Text file | Contest image
December 21, 1997	249	BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS	Supply a silver lining for any scourge or social ill facing America or the world.	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image
December 28, 1997	250	OH, GREAT	Complete the sentence "Wouldn't it be great if …"	WOR	Text file | Contest image
January 4, 1998	251	QUOTH THE MAVEN	Take any famous line, change it by one letter only (add, subtract or change a single letter), and reattribute it.	LET	Text file | Contest image
January 11, 1998	252	MAKE YOUR MOVIE	Propose people who were the secret inspiration for famous movies.	MOV	Text file | Contest image
January 18, 1998	253	IT'S A PITY	Enter any of the provided contests. Winners will be judged entirely on the basis of how pitiful an attempt at humor the entry is.	PRE	Text file | Contest image
January 25, 1998	254	DOUBLE JEOPARDY!	Take any sentence appearing anywhere in today's Washington Post, and make up a question to which it could be a plausible answer.	WAS QUE	Text file | Contest image
February 1, 1998	255	SCANDAL IN THE WIND	Each of the provided items is somehow related to the current presidential scandal. Tell us how.	POL	Text file | Contest image
February 8, 1998	256	THE PYLE INVITATIONAL	Come up with hip, contemporary riddles and answers. The punch line must contain a painful pun.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
February 15, 1998	257	LET US PLAY	Create a game, or a prank, that can be played using any two or more of the provided objects.		Text file | Contest image
February 22, 1998	258	IT'S A BIRD. IT'S A PAIN.	Choose one or more of the provided super powers and tell us what you would do with it.		Text file | Contest image
March 1, 1998	259	SPARE EXCHANGE, BUDDY?	Take any phone number of any business or government office in the Washington area, translate the first two digits into their constituent letters and propose any appropriate one-word exchange.	LET POL BUS	Text file | Contest image
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 8, 1998	260	IT'S A SNAP	Come up with replacements for the two hackneyed answers: "Is the Pope Catholic?" and "When Hell freezes over."	JOK	Text file | Contest image
March 15, 1998	261	WHAT IF YOU GIVE IT A TRY II	Alter some crucial moment in history, and then tell us the likely outcome.	HIS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 22, 1998	262	CAMPAIGN FOR ONE	Design a line for Niels Hoven to deliver in his campaign for a student government office that will wake up a snoozing audience.	POL	Text file | Contest image
March 29, 1998	263	THE GAME OF THE NAME	Propose a bad name for the provided categories.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 5, 1998	264	ASK BACKWARDS	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 12, 1998	265	A SPORK OF GENIUS	Come up with new products like the spork: combinations of two existing products that work together in some special way. Name the device and explain its function.	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 19, 1998	266	DEFINITELY WEIRD	Take any word from the dictionary and redefine it.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 26, 1998	267	THE CONCEPT CONCEPT	Come up with a situation for a "People Unclear on the Concept" cartoon. Describe the situation and supply any necessary dialogue.	CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 3, 1998	268	WHAT KIND OF FOAL AM I?	Take the names of this year's Triple Crown nominees, mate any two of them, a propose a name for the foal. The foal's name must be contained in 18 characters, including spaces.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 10, 1998	269	SIGNS, AND THE TIMES	Come up with new, helpful signage for downtown streets. You must state the problem, and propose the sign to rectify it.	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image
May 17, 1998	270	PALINODE--HAVE PUN, WILL TRAVEL	Write a "palinode", retracting something said in an earlier poem. Your poem must be four lines long and contain at least one rhyme.	POE	Text file | Contest image
May 24, 1998	271	YOGI BEARER	Come up with new Yogi-isms, which seem to make sense, but collapse like a soufflé when you poke it a little	WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 31, 1998	272	PICTURE THIS	What is happening in these cartoons?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
June 7, 1998	273	UNSEENS WE'D LIKE TO SEE	Provide examples of any of the provided categories of things that will never happen.		Text file | Contest image
June 14, 1998	274	THE DROLL OF A LIFETIME	Be the New Yorker comics editor, and explain to readers of The Washington Post why the provided jokes are charmingly witty.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
June 21, 1998	275	THERE ONCE WAS CONTEST FROM NANTUCKET …	Write a limerick in which the first line is about someone who comes from some place in the Washington area.	LIM WAS POE	Text file | Contest image
June 28, 1998	276	SPIT THE DIFFERENCE	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	DIF	Text file | Contest image
July 5, 1998	277	LIFE IN THE BLURBS	Come up a simple plot summary to help attract the modern audience to any classic work of fiction. It must be literally true and defensible.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
July 12, 1998	278	THE STALE INVITATIONAL	Begin with a word. Add, subtract or change a single letter only, and then provide a new definition.	LET	Text file | Contest image
July 19, 1998	279	TREACLE-DOWN THEORY	Come up with a treacly and deeply moving piece of crap. It must somehow mine joy and goopy inspiration from the vicissitudes of life. It must also rhyme.	POE	Text file | Contest image
July 26, 1998	280	EXPRESSING IT NICELY	Come up with colorful expressions for any of the six provided activities, to make them sound a little less tawdry.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
August 2, 1998	281	CALCULATE THE ODDS	Tell us which of the two provided items does not belong with the other two, and why.	DIF	Text file | Contest image
August 9, 1998	282	TAKING SNIDES	Take any story anywhere in today's Post and append to it a single snide observation, concerning either the headline or the text of the story.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
August 16, 1998	283	UH-OH	Come up with "uh-oh" lines, statements that occur in the middle of a seemingly benign speech or conversation, suddenly alerting the listener that he is about to hear some bad news.		Text file | Contest image
August 23, 1998	284	ASK BACKWARDS MCLXVII	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
August 30, 1998	285	ELEVENIS, ANYTWO?	Take a common phrase containing a specific number, add or subtract one, and explain the revised phrase.		Text file | Contest image
September 6, 1998	286	CLINTOONS	Make your own Clintoon, a comic strip consisting of any or all of the provided drawings.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
September 13, 1998	287	BEFORE AND AFTERMATH	Begin with a real name, append to it a word, name or expression that completes the bridge, and finally define the resulting phrase.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
September 20, 1998	288	PICTURE THIS	What is happening in these pictures?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
September 27, 1998	289	PLAY IT AGAIN, SHAM	Submit entries to any previous contest, ideas you might have thought of after the contest deadline had passed.	PRE	Text file | Contest image
October 4, 1998	290	THE WORLD THEORIES	Codify some of life's more populist theories.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
October 11, 1998	291	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE	Take any story in today's paper, find a word that breaks with a hyphen at the end of a line, and combine it with the second half of different hyphenated word in the same story. Then supply a definition for the new hybrid word.	HYP	Text file | Contest image
October 18, 1998	292	PAYING THE BILL	Propose appropriate punishments for President Clinton.	POL	Text file | Contest image
October 25, 1998	293	THE VERSE OF AMERICA	Take any story in today's Washington Post and create a poem or song by stringing together various phrases from that story. Each phrase must be a least two words long.	POE	Text file | Contest image
November 1, 1998	294	PRODUCT LIARBILITY	Take the name of any commercial product and redefine it.	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 8, 1998	295	PANEL DISCUSSION	Supply the contents of the missing panel in the provided cartoon strips.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
November 15, 1998	296	BILL US LATER	Choose among the names of any of the newly elected U.S. senators or representatives and propose a bill they might sponsor.	LEG	Text file | Contest image
November 22, 1998	297	FREE FOR OIL	Take any article in today's paper, and write an outraged letter to the editor about it that totally misses the point, either by misreading a word or misunderstanding the topic.	WAS CUL POL REL	Text file | Contest image
November 29, 1998	298	THE RIGHT STUFF	Write a sentence, or phrase, or entire passage, using only your right hand on the keyboard. This means you may use no keys to the left of N, H, Y and 7.	LET	Text file | Contest image
December 6, 1998	299	ANOTHER LEFTIST RAG	Write the day's tabloid headlines with your left hand only. (This means you can use no keys to the right of 6, T, G and B.)	LET	Text file | Contest image
December 13, 1998	300	A BRAND NEW CONTEST	Come up with celebrity-brand products.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
December 20, 1998	301	PICTURE THIS	What is happening in these cartoons?	CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 27, 1998	302	UNSTATED TRUTHS	Come up with lines that you'll never hear the provided people say.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 3, 1999	303	BOOM TIMES	Come up with old and new concerns for the baby boom generation.	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 10, 1999	304	TIME OF THE SIGNS	Come up with appropriate signage to appear outside any business or retail establishment in the Washington area, including government offices.	WAS BUS POL	Text file | Contest image
January 17, 1999	305	ASK BACKWARDS CMXVI2	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
January 24, 1999	306	YOUNGIAN THERAPY	Suggest ways in which the Style Invitational or any other Washington area institution can become more relevant to younger people.	WAS STY CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 31, 1999	307	IF YOU BOYCOTT THIS TASK / YOU WON'T WIN THE FLASK	Come up with rhyming couplets to warn us about the perils of modern life.	POE CUL	Text file | Contest image
February 7, 1999	308	GIVE US NO MO	Write an updated version of those old children's selecting rhymes. Your rhyme must (1) rhyme and (2) conform, at least loosely, to a point-and-shoot cadence that permits the elimination of one item from a group.	POE	Text file | Contest image
February 14, 1999	309	A STINKING PILE OF THESES	Write an all-purpose first line or paragraph for any doctoral dissertation, designed to impress the heck out of academics.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
February 21, 1999	310	IT'S LIKE THIS	Come up with really lame analogies.	ANL	Text file | Contest image
February 28, 1999	311	A JERRY-BUILT CONTEST	Find cleverly disguised threats to public morality or hallowed American values that may be secretly lurking out there in our culture.	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 7, 1999	312	BOOKS AND BOOKS	Combine any two works of literature--no movies or TV--into one, give its title and describe it in a brief, appealing blurb that might appear in Publishers' Weekly.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
March 14, 1999	313	THE STYLE INVITATIONAL SOUVENIR SHOP	Come up with bad names for a new store at a mall.	WOR BUS	Text file | Contest image
March 21, 1999	314	IT'S THE LIST YOU CAN DO	Start with the name of a famous person, living or dead, real or fictional, either a full name or partial name. Progress through a series of other names or phrases. Each name or phrase must be related to the prior item either by being a homophone or a definition. Eventually, arrive at a name or a phrase that is an appropriate pairing with the original name.		Text file | Contest image
March 28, 1999	315	FERMENTING TROUBLE	Write a rhyming poem, eight lines maximum, on the subject of cheese or any of the provided items.	POE	Text file | Contest image
April 4, 1999	316	CALLING THE TOON	What are these things?	CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 11, 1999	317	PICK US A WINNER	Come up with flawed contest ideas, and the single, obvious, too-good-to-beat entry.	STY	Text file | Contest image
April 18, 1999	318	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE	Combine the first half of any hyphenated word in a story in today's paper with the second part of a different hyphenated word from the same story, and provide a new definition.	HYP	Text file | Contest image
April 25, 1999	319	REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY	Create an original chiasmus, an ancient literary form in which meaning is derived by pairing two words or phrases, and then reversing their order.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 2, 1999	320	WHAT KIND OF FOAL AM I?	Mate any two of the horses qualifying for the Triple Crown races and come up with appropriate names for their foals. Maximum 18 letters and spaces.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
May 9, 1999	321	INTERPRET THIS	Take any of the provided cartoons and come up with a matched pair of interpretations for what is happening.	CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 16, 1999	322	YOU NAME IT	Take a well known pair or group of names, extend one of them in some manner, and explain how the group dynamic changes.		Text file | Contest image
May 23, 1999	323	THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD INVITATIONAL	Come up with not-quite-ready inventions, past or present.	SCI BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 30, 1999	324	A PREQUEL OPPORTUNITY OFFERING	Come up with a "prequel" to some classic film or work of literature. You must produce a title and a brief plot summary, which of course must take place prior to the main action of the original work.	MOV	Text file | Contest image
June 6, 1999	325	THE BURMA ROAD	Propose welcoming doggerel for states or cities patterned after Burma Shave signs.	POE	Text file | Contest image
June 13, 1999	326	COMIC RELIEF	Look at today's comics pages, select one panel and one panel only from any comic strip, and rewrite the dialogue.	COM	Text file | Contest image
June 20, 1999	327	ASK BACKWARDS	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
June 27, 1999	328	NICE CAPADES	Send in some pleasant observation, in which you take a really cheerful or heartwarming view of something that less charitable people might conceivably see differently.		Text file | Contest image
July 4, 1999	329	THE STYLE INVITATIONAL: HELL	Take the name of a person or institution. Find within it a hidden message. You may add spacing and punctuation, but you may not move letters around.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 11, 1999	330	NERD PLANET FROM THE SUN	Come up with comments from the Nerd Side even less interesting than the observation that the 21st century doesn't really start until 2001.		Text file | Contest image
July 18, 1999	331	DRAWING ON CREATIVITY	Come up with an idea for a fictional central character for a comic strip based in Washington, D.C., and the environs. Describe your character in as much detail as you wish, and give the strip a name.	WAS COM	Text file | Contest image
July 25, 1999	332	AUTHORS IN SEARCH OF A CHARACTER	Come up with a three- or four-panel cartoon about any of the winning characters from Week 332.	CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 1, 1999	333	GET A LOAD OF THIS TA-TA	Submit episodes for the three winning strips from Week 331. There is no next week's contest.	COM	Text file | Contest image
THE SABBATICAL The Czar claims he is being sent on a secret half-year assignment, and that the Invitational may return with a new, invigorated format yet to be determined. When the column resumed, the Czar began to use Roman numerals for the Weeks. He abandoned this scheme at the beginning of Year 11, resuming taditional numbering as if there had been no break.
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
August 8, 1999
August 15, 1999
August 22, 1999
August 29, 1999
September 5, 1999		Save the Style Invitational!	Write a three- or four-panel script for one of three strips for one of three strips: Diogenes Gump, a man who wanders Washington and introduces himself to people. Anyone who shakes his hand is compelled to tell the truth for 24 hours. Or: Bryan Winter, Scumball, the story of an insensitive cad in Washington. Or: The Dead Presidents Society, in which the ghosts of ex-presidents wander the nation's capital, interacting with people and commenting on public events.	CAR
September 12, 1999
September 19, 1999
September 26, 1999
October 3, 1999
October 10, 1999
October 17, 1999
October 24, 1999
October 31, 1999
November 7, 1999
November 14, 1999
November 21, 1999
November 28, 1999
December 5, 1999
December 12, 1999
December 19, 1999
December 26, 1999
January 2, 2000
January 9, 2000
January 16, 2000
January 23, 2000
January 30, 2000	334 (I)	The New Style Invitational: Six Choices for Czar	Vote for one of six possible editors of the Style Invitation, from among the current Czar and five worthy competitors.	STY	Text file | Contest image		Text file
February 6, 2000	335 (II)	A LOVER'S SPAT	Enter the contest that is run by the editor of your choice.	STY	Text file | Contest image		Text file
February 13, 2000	336 (III)	THE "STY"LE INVITATIONAL	Choose any word and emphasize a single part of it, as though you were saying the word out loud with "air quotes" around the key part. Then redefine the word. You cannot alter the spelling of the word.	WOR	Text file | Contest image	Tom Witte Elden Carnahan	Text file (pub 3-5-00) Text file (pub 3-12-00)
February 20, 2000	337 (IV)	DEGREES OF DIFFICULTY	Take a quality you wish to quantify and devise the perfect icon to measure it. Then give us an example of the extremes.		Text file | Contest image
February 27, 2000	338 (V)	WHO WANTS TO WIN A TOILET?	Propose even greater depths of shameless, tasteless sleaze to which Fox TV is likely to sink after the noisome debacle of "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?"	TEL	Text file | Contest image
March 5, 2000	339 (VI)	Campaignful Developments	Come up with signs that a presidential campaign might be in trouble.	POL	Text file | Contest image
March 12, 2000	340 (VII)	ASK BACKWARDS 12	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
March 19, 2000	341 (VIII)	What's In a Name?	Write something about any famous person that uses only the letters in his or her name.	LET	Text file | Contest image
March 26, 2000	342 (IX)	Plainly Ridiculous	Take any direct quotation from any article in today's Washington Post and translate it into "plain English."	WAS	Text file | Contest image
April 2, 2000	343 (X)	Eastwood Ho.	Create a Good-Bad-Ugly progression.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
April 9, 2000	344 (XI)	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Envision the mating of any two of the 387 horses qualifying for this year's Triple Crown, and propose a name for their foal. The foal's name must be contained in 18 or fewer letters and spaces.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
April 16, 2000	345 (XII)	Picture This	What is going on in these cartoons?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
April 23, 2000	346 (XIII)	Greasy Kids Tough	Take any news event from history, recent or ancient, large or small, and rewrite it in 100 words or fewer as it might have appeared in KidsPost.	HIS	Text file | Contest image
April 30, 2000	347 (XIV)	Capital Pun-ishment	Take an expression, or a lyric for a song, or any recognizable line of prose, and make it the punchline of an awful pun.	JOK LIT	Text file | Contest image
May 7, 2000	348 (XV)	When We're LXIV	Fashion an entry by selecting one from each of the provided menu groups.		Text file | Contest image
May 14, 2000	349 (XVI)	Orienting Oneself	Produce a haiku using only words found in today's Washington Post. Your entry must have three lines, the first containing exactly five syllables, the second containing exactly seven syllables, the third containing exactly five.	POE	Text file | Contest image
May 21, 2000	350 (XVII)	Employing Irony	Propose bad career choices.		Text file | Contest image
May 28, 2000	351 (XVIII)	Dubya Fun	Take any well-known statement, expression, slogan, etc., and rewrite it the way Dubya might have said it.	POL	Text file | Contest image
June 4, 2000	352 (XIX)	A Laff Riot	Take the name of a company and/or its commercial product and provide it a new definition.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
June 11, 2000	353 (XX)	Patently Silly	What do these devices do?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
June 18, 2000	354 (XXI)	Everyone's a Critic	Adopt the style of a famous writer and review any of the provided dishes.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
June 25, 2000	355 (XXII)	Seeing Stars	Tell us ways we can attract celebrity participation to this contest.	STY	Text file | Contest image
July 2, 2000	356 (XXIII)	Med Icks	Invent a clever name for a new medical product, and specify the condition it would treat.	SCI	Text file | Contest image
July 9, 2000	357 (XXIV)	Coming to a Bad End	Take some immortal line from literature or film and ruin it by adding a short phrase or sentence.	MOV	Text file | Contest image
July 16, 2000	358 (XXV)	Finish the Fire	Finish "We Didn't Start the Fire," to summarize 1990 to the present.	MUS	Text file | Contest image
July 23, 2000	359 (XXVI)	It's No Party	Come up with a new political party and its main political tenet.	POL	Text file | Contest image
July 30, 2000	360 (XXVII)	No Competition	Create a list of 25 names, each linked in some way to the name before, and you must begin and end with Mary Ann Madden.		Text file | Contest image
August 6, 2000	361 (XXVIII)	Bad Libs	Select one subject, one verb, and one object from the provided lists, and then answer the riddle you create.	WOR JOK	Text file | Contest image
August 13, 2000	362 (XXIX)	Something Missing	Tell us what is missing in each of the provided cartoons.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
August 20, 2000	363 (XXX)	It's Your Movie	Take the title of any movie and make it the answer to a riddle.	MOV JOK	Text file | Contest image
August 27, 2000	364 (XXXI)	Low Marks	Come up with a new punctuation mark. Tell us what it looks like, and what it is used for, and use it in a sentence.		Text file | Contest image
September 3, 2000	365 (XXXII)	Terse Verse	Ask a question and then answer it with a rhyme. Your answer can be as many words as you wish, but all must have the same rhyme.	POE	Text file | Contest image
September 10, 2000	366 (XXXIII)	Just Fulghum	Come up with a list of at least three Major Life Lessons one can learn from any of the venues provided.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
September 17, 2000	367 (XXXIV)	Future Schlock	Come up with a line that will surely not appear in an upcoming work.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
September 24, 2000	368 (XXXV)	Hyphen the Terrible	Combine the first half of any hyphenated word in a story in today's paper with the second part of a different hyphenated word from the same story, and provide a new definition.	HYP	Text file | Contest image
October 1, 2000	369 (XXXVI)	Punch Us	Complete any of the provided jokes.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
October 8, 2000	370 (XXXVII)	No End in Sight	Write the beginnings of sentences you don't want to hear the end of.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
October 15, 2000	371 (XXXVIII)	Ask Backward	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
October 22, 2000	372 (XXXIX)	Trial Balloons	Fill in the balloons.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
October 29, 2000	373 (XL)	An Extra Large Challenge	What should we put on the back of the new Style Invitational T-shirt?	TSH	Text file | Contest image
November 5, 2000	374 (XLI)	Bill Us Later	Take a well-known expression and update it for the new millennium.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
November 12, 2000	375 (XLII)	Show Us Up	Combine the names of two existing TV shows (past or present) to make an entirely new show. Then, describe the show.	TEL	Text file | Contest image
November 19, 2000	376 (XLIII)	Apply Yourself	Supply bad openings to college application biographies.		Text file | Contest image
November 26, 2000	377 (XLIV)	Week MMDCXLIV	Provide a headline (and, if necessary, the first line of the text) for any article that will appear in The Washington Post on this day in the year 2050.	HEA HIS	Text file | Contest image
December 3, 2000	378 (XLV)	Bill Us Now	Come up with a bill sponsored by any of the newly elected U.S. senators and representatives, and explain the purpose of the bill.	LEG	Text file | Contest image
December 10, 2000	379 (XLVI)	Rather Unusual	Come up with lines that could be uttered by Dan Rather, with his unbearably folksy excesses.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
December 17, 2000	380 (XLVII)	The New-Name Offense	Propose changes for the names of places and things that need it, either because there is something wrong with their name, or because another name would be so much more descriptive.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
December 24, 2000	381 (XLVIII)	Idiom Savant	Take any well-known idiom, or expression, and invent an interesting derivation for it.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
December 31, 2000	382 (XLIX)	Pickup Schticks	Write inept pickup lines, by either sex, to either sex.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
January 7, 2001	383 (L)	A Kinder, Gender Nation	Take an noun and give us a reason or two why it should be either masculine or feminine.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
January 14, 2001	384 (LI)	What's Your Story?	Take at least four of the provided cartoons, arrange them in any sequence you wish, and make up a funny story that they would illustrate.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
January 21, 2001	385 (LII)	Proceed Gingerly	What is the still-secret invention, code-name "Ginger", that is said to meet the provided criteria?	SCI	Text file | Contest image
January 28, 2001	386 (LIII)	The Game of Clue	What are some clues that someone might be any of the provided characterizations?		Text file | Contest image
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
February 4, 2001	387 (LIV)	By Jingo	Come up with a joke that could be written and understood only by a Washingtonian.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
February 11, 2001	388 (LV)	Pitches in the Dirt	Come up with a sales pitch to get any surplus product off the shelves.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
February 18, 2001	389 (LVI)	Operation Overkill	Present a solution to a problem that goes just a little too far.		Text file | Contest image
The Uberczar and the Auxiliary Czar begin filling in temporarily for the Czar.
February 25, 2001	390 (LVII)	Canine Fashion	Write: 1. A caption for the provided image explaining what is happening; 2. An explanation of why the image is not photography but art; 3. A description of what additional items might be needed to make the image complete. Sex and potty jokes will be disqualified.	CAP ART	Text file | Contest image
March 4, 2001	391 (LVIII)	Spinning Out of Control	Take a headline in today's Washington Post and create a subhead that spins the story in an opposite or unexpected direction.	HEA	Text file | Contest image
March 11, 2001	392 (LIX)	Everyone's a Comic	Choose any panel of any comic strip in today's Washington Post and improve it by replacing the original speech and thought balloons with your own,	CAR	Text file | Contest image
March 18, 2001	393 (LX)	Things Could Be Verse	Take any story in today's Washington Post and rewrite it into a rhyming poem of no more than eight lines.	POE	Text file | Contest image
March 25, 2001	394 (LXI)	Life in the Blurbs	Come up with a blurb used to sell a real or imagined book or movie that would be likely to have the opposite of the intended effect.	LIT MOV	Text file | Contest image
April 1, 2001	395 (LXII)	Devilishly Clever	Describe someone's special little corner of Hell.	REL	Text file | Contest image
April 8, 2001	396 (LXIII)	April Foals	Mate any two of the horses qualifying for the Triple Crown races and come up with appropriate names for their foals. Maximum 18 letters and spaces.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
April 15, 2001	397 (LXIV)	Sins of Omission	Omit a letter or letters from a real-life sign to create a name for a new business, comically different from the original. Describe the new business or include a slogan that explains it.	LET	Text file | Contest image
April 22, 2001	398 (LXV)	Animal Magnetism	Make great literature and/or a significant expression of the human condition out of the provided randomly-selected words. Use whatever punctuation you choose and any of the words, but only those words, and use them only once.	LIT CUL WOR	Text file | Contest image
April 29, 2001	399 (LXVI)	IT PAYS TO BE GENDEROUS	Write a short film description that could persuade a woman that the guy movie he wants to see is really close to being a gal movie, or vice versa.	MOV	Text file | Contest image
May 6, 2001	400 (LXVII)	Life Is Snort	Write a "Life is Short" entry in under 100 words, in the voice of a celebrity, living or dead.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
May 13, 2001	401 (LXVIII)	A Matter of Degree	Describe a sign of some modest change in a situation and pair it with a sign of an extreme change in that same situation.		Text file | Contest image
The Czar returns to duty.
May 20, 2001	402 (LXIX)	Spitting the Difference	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	DIF	Text file | Contest image
May 27, 2001	403 (LXX)	Cry, Uncle!	Write the beginnings of an obituary that will provide the details of what happened to the Style Invitational Uncle.	EPI	Text file | Contest image
June 3, 2001	404 (LXXI)	Balloonacy	Create a comic strip of one to four panels. For your dialogue or thought balloons, you may choose from the provided menu. You may invent one line of your own.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
June 10, 2001	405 (LXXII)	The "Sty"le Invitational	Take any word--this may include people or places--put a portion of it in "air quotes" and redefine it. You may not alter the spelling.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
June 17, 2001	406 (LXXIII)	Bum Steerage	Offer some spectacularly bad advice to any of the provided people.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
June 24, 2001	407 (LXXIV)	Adverbiage	Come up with a witticism or a joke by making a pun out of an adverb. Unlike Tom Swiftlys, your adverb must modify not a verb but an adjective.	JOK WOR	Text file | Contest image
July 1, 2001	408 (LXXV)	What's In a Name?	Take the name of any politician, living or dead, and construct an appropriate message from the letters of the name. You may use any letter as many times as you wish, and you may insert punctuation.	LET POL	Text file | Contest image
July 8, 2001	409 (LXXVI)	Nice Job, if You Get It	Take anything that might need its image enhanced and rename it in a way the keeps its essential identity, but makes it seem nicer.		Text file | Contest image
July 15, 2001	410 (LXXVII)	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
July 22, 2001	411 (LXXVIII)	X's and Oaths	Take any oath, pledge, declaration or slogan and update it.	SLO	Text file | Contest image
July 29, 2001	412 (LXXIX)	Painful Climaxes	Come up with statements that start really dramatically, but leave you sorta flat at the end.		Text file | Contest image
August 5, 2001	413 (LXXX)	Bland Ambition	Come up with one or more items from an underachiever's list of midlife resolutions.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
August 12, 2001	414 (LXXXI)	No Rest for the Query	Complete the provided rhetorical question by filling in the blanks. It must be a put-down.	QUE	Text file | Contest image
August 19, 2001	415 (LXXXII)	Sentence Us to Death	Take any sentence appearing anywhere in today's Washington Post, and invent a question that it answers.	WAS QUE	Text file | Contest image
August 26, 2001	416 (LXXXIII)	Diff'rent Jokes	Describe how things might have been different if a famous person, living or dead, had had one of the provided conditions.	HIS	Text file | Contest image
September 2, 2001	417 (LXXXIV)	Initially Mistaken	Take any name of a person or thing, and construct an appropriate message using its letters, in order, as the first letters of the words of your message.	LET	Text file | Contest image
September 9, 2001	418 (LXXXV)	Xtreme Invitational	Come up with signs you are overdoing it any in any of the provided categories.		Text file | Contest image
September 16, 2001	419 (LXXXVI)	Don't Spare the Rodney	Come up with indications that one might not be getting no respect.		Text file | Contest image
September 23, 2001	420 (LXXXVII)	Ha Anxiety	Make us laugh.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
September 30, 2001	421 (LXXXVIII)	Picture This	These objects are not what they seem to be, at first glance. They are something else entirely. What are they?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
October 7, 2001	422 (LXXXIX)	Taught Language	Come up with lessons learned from (1) the movies, (2) popular songs, (3) romance novels or (4) the comics page.	MOV MUS LIT COM	Text file | Contest image
October 14, 2001	423 (XC)	Roling With Laughter	Take a character from one movie, use him or her to replace a character in a second movie, and then explain how this change would affect the second movie.	MOV	Text file | Contest image
Reacting to the anthrax scare, the Invitational no longer accepts mailed-in entries.
October 21, 2001	424 (XCI)	Osama Chanted Evening	Write poems about Osama bin Laden.	POE	Text file | Contest image
October 28, 2001	425 (XCII)	Hyphen the Terrible	Take the first half of any hyphenated word from any story in today's newspaper and combine it with the second half of any other hyphenated word in the same story, and propose a definition of the new word you've created.	HYP	Text file | Contest image
November 4, 2001	426 (XCIII)	Captions Courageous	Take any photograph or illustration from today's Washington Post and give it a more interesting caption.	CAP	Text file | Contest image
November 11, 2001	427 (XCIV)	Skinned	Come up with events that have a smaller chance of happening than the Redskins winning the Super Bowl.	ATH	Text file | Contest image
November 18, 2001	428 (XCV)	No Rest for the Query	Answer any of the provided supposedly unanswerable questions in the voice of any famous person, living or dead.		Text file | Contest image
November 25, 2001	429 (XCVI)	Shark Instruments	Tell us what would be a sign that any current institution--TV show, newspaper feature, magazine, business, etc.--has jumped the shark.	TEL CUL BUS	Text file | Contest image
December 2, 2001	430 (XCVII)	OMB Directive No. 2	Revisit any contest The Style Invitational has ever run, and rewrite our tawdry past by proposing a new first-prize winner serious and/or decorous enough to please the Ombudsman.	PRE	Text file | Contest image
THE Czar claims to be embarking on a secret mission, and promises that the Invitational will resume in January. During this time he will run profiles of top SI contestants, each of which will contain one lie.
December 9, 2001	431 (XCVIII)	Please Bear With Us …	There is no contest. Czar ran biographies of Chuck Smith and Jean Sorensen, each containing one lie.		Text file | Contest image
December 16, 2001	432 (XCIX)	Sleeps With the Fishes.	No contests until mid-January. Czar ran biographies of Chris Doyle, Sue Lin Chong, Paul Styrene, and Brian Broadus, each containing one lie.		Text file | Contest image
December 23, 2001	433 (C)	Takes a Break	No contests until mid-January. Czar ran biographies of Russell Beland, Sarah Gaymon, John Kammer, and Paul Kondis, each containing one lie.		Text file | Contest image
December 30, 2001	434 (CI)	Takes a Breather	No contests until mid-January. Czar ran biographies of Jennifer Hart, Jonathan Paul, Mike Genz and Robin Grove, each containing one lie.		Text file | Contest image
January 6, 2002	435 (CII)	Vegies Out	No contests until mid-January. Czar ran biographies of Tom Witte, Dave Zarrow, Sandra Hull, and Kevin Cuddihy, each containing one lie.		Text file | Contest image
January 13, 2002	436 (CIII)	Takes a Powder	The contest resumes next week. Czar ran biographies of Elden Carnahan, Stephen Dudzik, Joseph Romm, and Art Grinath, each containing one lie.		Text file | Contest image
January 20, 2002	437 (CIV)	The Telegraph Poll	Tell us the beginning of a joke that badly telegraphs the punch line.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
January 27, 2002	438 (CV)	What's the Pun Line?	Ask a question and answer it, somewhere incorporating the name of a least one famous person.	QUE	Text file | Contest image
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
February 3, 2002	439 (CVI)	No Can Do	Write signs of incompetence.		Text file | Contest image
February 10, 2002	440 (CVII)	Picture This	What is going on in these cartoons?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
February 17, 2002	441 (CVIII)	Spit the Difference	Take any two nouns that appear on the front page of today's Washington Post and explain how the nouns differ from each other.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
February 24, 2002	442 (CIX)	Titletales	Take any real book or movie, change one word slightly, and describe the resulting new product.	LIT MOV WOR	Text file | Contest image
March 3, 2002	443 (CX)	Sick Humor	Come up with modern diseases of Washington life.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
March 10, 2002	444 (CXI)	Advice Squad	Take any letter from today's advice columns and answer it in the voice of someone famous, living or dead.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
March 17, 2002	445 (CXII)	Another Round of Bierce	Add a few entries to Ambrose Bierce's famous "Devil's Dictionary."	WOR	Text file | Contest image
March 24, 2002	446 (CXIII)	Poems Where the Heart Is	Take any recent news event and summarize it in a rhyming poem of eight lines or fewer.	POE	Text file | Contest image
March 31, 2002	447 (CXIV)	Acronimble	Take any of the provided witty statements and use the first letters in each of the words to create a brand-new, unrelated funny statement.	LET	Text file | Contest image
April 7, 2002	448 (CXV)	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Mate any two of the horses qualifying for the Triple Crown races this year and propose a name for their foal. No name may exceed 18 characters, including spaces.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
April 14, 2002	449 (CXVI)	Cut and Pastiche	Create a new, funny headline from the words of any headlines appearing anywhere in today's Post. You cannot subdivide words.	HEA	Text file | Contest image
April 21, 2002	450 (CXVII)	Blues It or Lose It	Write the first verse of a blues song expressing some Washington area woe.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
April 28, 2002	451 (CXVIII)	Make Your Pix	Which two of the provided cartoons are related, and how?	CAR DIF	Text file | Contest image
May 5, 2002	452 (CXIX)	Russellmania!	(1) Design one or more steps for a 12-step program for the recovering Invitationalaholic; (2) Propose a devious method by which we might lure Russell Beland back.	STY	Text file | Contest image
May 12, 2002	453 (CXX)	Haiku 2 U2	Write a haiku summarizing the career of any American politician, living or dead. A haiku is generally defined as a nonrhyming poem, of three lines. The first and last lines are five syllables; the middle line is seven.	POE POL	Text file | Contest image
May 19, 2002	454 (CXXI)	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file | Contest image
May 26, 2002	455 (CXXII)	Comixing	Create new comic characters by crossing two existing characters, then describe the character.	COM	Text file | Contest image
June 2, 2002	456 (CXXIII)	A Bad-Ask Contest	You are still on Jeopardy!, and you still have to supply questions to the provided answers, but the winners will be the least funny answers.	JEO	Text file | Contest image
June 9, 2002	457 (CXXIV)	Letter Rip	Give us the beginning of a letter to the editor that is certain never to see print.		Text file | Contest image
June 16, 2002	458 (CXXV)	It's a Setup	Come up with joke setups for any of the provided punch lines.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
June 23, 2002	459 (CXXVI)	Stock Humor	Look at any of the abbreviated company names in the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange listings in any newspaper's business section and suggest what business the companies might be in.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
June 30, 2002	460 (CXXVII)	Pompous Assets	Come up with the first paragraph of a review of a real book or movie, past or present, that is narcissistic, pretentious, and self-aggrandizing.	LIT MOV	Text file | Contest image
July 7, 2002	461 (CXXVIII)	Punch Us Again	Take any comic from the daily Washington Post during the next week and make it better by changing the contents of the final word balloon.	WAS COM	Text file | Contest image
July 14, 2002	462 (CXXIX)	Cast Away	Come up with a terrible bit of miscasting in a movie or TV show, past or present, real or imagined.	MOV TEL	Text file | Contest image
July 21, 2002	463 (CXXX)	Retell Sales	Give us the beginning of any well-known story as retold by any famous person, living or dead, except for Ronald Reagan.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
July 28, 2002	464 (CXXXI)	Cursive Writing	Come up with a new curse for this millennium.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
August 4, 2002	465 (CXXXII)	Hyphen the Terrible	Take the first half of any word or word combination in today's Post that is broken by a hyphen at the end of a line, and combine it with the second half of any other hyphenated word from the same story, and define the new word that is formed.	HYP	Text file | Contest image
August 11, 2002	466 (CXXXIII)	Spit the Difference	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	DIF	Text file | Contest image
August 18, 2002	467 (CXXXIV)	Get Your But in Here	Produce a line that fits this structure: (Real thing based upon current events) is (word or phrase suggesting some quality) but (other word or phrase suggesting a dissimilar or incompatible quality), like (funny analogy).		Text file | Contest image
August 25, 2002	468 (CXXXV)	Ism This Stupid?	Take any common prefix and attach it to any well-known "ism" and define the new term.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
September 1, 2002	469 (CXXXVI)	Playing Check-In	Suggest appropriate hotel check-in names for any celebrities, past or present, living or dead.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
September 8, 2002	470 (CXXXVII)	Czar Har	Take the name of someone famous, rhyme it with a product, and describe the unholy union.	POE	Text file | Contest image
September 15, 2002	471 (CXXXVIII)	Excuses, Excuses	Come up with creative new excuses for not turning in homework, not filing your taxes on time, missing church or forgetting your spouse's birthday.		Text file | Contest image
September 22, 2002	472 (CXXXIX)	Water Stupid Idea	Propose bad ideas for saving water in the continuing drought.		Text file | Contest image
September 29, 2002	473 (CXL)	Offensive Line	Find what's offensive in any of the provided cartoons, and explain.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
October 6, 2002	474 (CXLI)	Alphabettering	Create a sentence that uses each letter of the alphabet at least once but that would never be heard on the politically correct, genteel, rarified air of NPR.	LET	Text file
October 13, 2002	475 (CXLII)	Bad Connection	Take any two seemingly unrelated stories from anywhere in today's Washington Post and explain how their subjects are linked in some unholy conspiracy or other suspicious way.	WAS	Text file	Czar: "Week CXLII ... required you to find funny hidden cabals in the news stories of the day. A daunting task. Too daunting. None of the measly 120 entries produced even a germ of an idea worthy of publication."
October 20, 2002	476 (CXLIII)	Portmanteautapping	Make a new word by squishing together two existing words. The constituent words must share at least two letters.	WOR	Text file
October 27, 2002	477 (CXLIV)	A Load of Bulwer	Give us the beginning of incompetently written novel.	LIT	Text file | Contest image	Brian Barrett Chuck Smith	Text file (pub 11-10-02) Text file (pub 11-24-02)
November 3, 2002	478 (CXLV)	Do You Mindset?	Anticipate items for the Mindset List for the freshman class of the year 2020.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
November 10, 2002	479 (CXLVI)	Invest Case Scenario	Suggest new companies in which it might be unwise to invest.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
November 17, 2002	480 (CXLVII)	In No Uncertain Terminations	Come up with a way to stop any unwanted overture in its tracks.		Text file | Contest image
November 24, 2002	481 (CXLVIII)	Homonymphomania	Create a new homonym of any existing word, and define. The new word must be spelled in such a way that is obviously pronounced identically to the original word.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
December 1, 2002	482 (CXLIX)	Inspect Our Gadgets	What are these gadgets? What do they do?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
December 8, 2002	483 (CL)	Obitter Fate	Give us an obit headline for some famous person, currently living or dead.	HEA EPI	Text file | Contest image
December 15, 2002	484 (CLI)	Manufracturing	Take any product and explain how it would be different if it were designed by a different existing company.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
December 22, 2002	485 (CLII)	Asterisky Business	Write a joke with a punch line depending on knowledge so esoteric that it requires an asterisked explanation.	JOK	Text file | Contest image
December 29, 2002	486 (CLIII)	A Word From Our Co-Sponsors	Come up with bills the new members of Congress might sponsor. Each bill must have at least two sponsors.	LEG	Text file | Contest image
January 5, 2003	487 (CLIV)	Eee! Rotica	Come with a passage in a novel that ineptly describes hanky-panky.	LIT	Text file
January 12, 2003	488 (CLV)	No Rest for the Query	Come up with a vexing, funny question about life.	QUE	Text file
January 19, 2003	489 (CLVI)	Combo, First Blood	Combine two people whose names contain a common element, as in the examples above. Then describe the person, or provide a quote he or she might have uttered.	WOR	Text file
January 26, 2003	490 (CLVII)	Eyes on Reprise	Submit any good entries you might have thought of, for any previous contest, after the deadline passed.	PRE	Text file
February 2, 2003	491 (CLVIII)	Hirschfeld Follies	Try to figure out which celebrities Bob Staake is trying to draw in imitation of Al Hirschfeld.	CUL	Text file
February 9, 2003	492 (CLIX)	Cheap Tricks	Come up with extreme cost-conserving measures for these difficult economic times.	POL	Text file		Text file
February 16, 2003	493 (CLX)	A Major Offensive	Find something anywhere in today's Washington Post and complain about it with absurd oversensitivity.	WAS	Text file		Text file
February 23, 2003	494 (CLXI)	Quote-idian	Take any extremely banal piece of familiar writing and rewrite it in the style of a famous writer, poet or lyricist.	LIT POE	Text file
March 2, 2003	495 (CLXII)	Words of One Syl- … Um, Just Short Words	Take some complex issue of any sort and explain it to all us morons entirely in words of one syllable.	POL	Text file
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 9, 2003	496	The Style Invitational: The First Dreckade	Submit new entries to any of the old contests listed, and try to beat The Very Best of the Past 10 Years.	PRE	Text file | Contest image
March 16, 2003	497	Ask Backward	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file
March 23, 2003	498	Unamazing But True!	Submit a true fact that is of absolutely no use, but interesting in a weirdly Invitationalist way.	STY	Text file
March 30, 2003	499	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Mate any two of the horses qualifying for this year's Triple Crown and tell us the name of their foal. Maximum 18 characters, including spaces.	HOR	Text file
April 6, 2003	500	Ergo-Nomics	Create a sillygism--a syllogism that doesn't quite work.	WOR	Text file
April 13, 2003	501	Questionable Sentences	Take any sentence appearing anywhere in today's Washington Post and make it the answer to a question.	WAS	Text file
April 20, 2003	502	Picture This	Who are these people? What are they doing?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
April 27, 2003	503	Doody and Muldoon	Write poetry that out-Muldoons Paul Muldoon, the Princeton professor who won this year's Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Your poem must be a single quatrain, containing at least one rhyme and references to at least two body parts and one geographic name.	POE	Text file
May 4, 2003	504	Life Is Snort	Write a schmaltzy last line of a "Life Is Short."		Text file
May 11, 2003	505	The Rule of Dumb	You are given $1 million. Conditions: (1) You must spend it all. (2) You must use it in a way that neither directly nor indirectly works to your financial benefit. (3) You may not use it to alleviate the suffering of anyone on Earth, or for any public-spirited project other than the joy of stupidity.		Text file
May 18, 2003	506	The Battle of All Mottoes	Provide a slogan for any federal department agency, department, office, etc.	SLO	Text file | Contest image
May 25, 2003	507	Crocktails	Come up with a drink named for something or someone associated with Washington and describe the drink.	WAS	Text file
June 1, 2003	508	Letter Rip	Take a word from the dictionary, add, change, or delete a single letter, and redefine the word.	LET	Text file
June 8, 2003	509	Be a Real Card	Come up with a greeting card rhyme for an un-greeting-card occasion.	POE	Text file
June 15, 2003	510	Universal Embarrassment	What would you like to see Miss Universe Pageant contestants asked live, on national TV?	TEL	Text file
June 22, 2003	511	It All Impends	Tell us what is something unusual about to happen in the provided cartoons.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
June 29, 2003	512	Live On, Sweet, Earnest Reader	Take the name of any person--living, dead, fictional--and use the letters of his name, in succession, to form the first letters of an expression appropriate to that person.	LET	Text file
July 6, 2003	513	It's Delete We Can Do	Come up with very bad subject lines for spam e-mail--lines that will guarantee instant deletion, sight unseen.	WOR	Text file
July 13, 2003	514	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are your answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file
July 20, 2003	515	A Cellebration of Tasteful Living	Come up with ways that Martha Stewart can prettify and improve her new prison surroundings using only her skills, her impeccable taste and those resources available to her.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
July 27, 2003	516	Err Apparent	Come up with unwise things to say in any of the provided circumstances.		Text file
August 3, 2003	517	Insert Joke Here	Slip a single bogus sentence into next year's State of the Union address, figuring the Prez will probably just read it right off the teleprompter.	POL	Text file
August 10, 2003	518	Say, Kids, What Time Is It?	Fill in the blanks in the following sentence: "You know it's time to ------ when ------."	CUL	Text file
August 17, 2003	519	Hey, Baby, What's Your Sector?	Come up with pickup lines that could be heard only in Washington.	WAS	Text file
August 24, 2003	520	I, Object	These items were ordered by well-known people. Who ordered them, and why?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
August 31, 2003	521	Hyphen the Terrible	Take the first half of any hyphenated word in today's Washington Post (or Tuesday's USA Today) and combine it with the second half of any other hyphenated word in the same story, and define the new word it produces.	HYP WOR	Text file
September 7, 2003	522	Being There	Set the agenda for a flash mob, one of those existential, Web-arranged, sudden, pointless, instantaneous but brief gatherings of people at odd places, to do odd things.	CUL	Text file
September 14, 2003	523	Hard to Overstate	Propose ways to make modern life just a little bit harder than it needs to be.	CUL	Text file
September 21, 2003	524	Around Things Moving	Take the title of any book or movie, rearrange the words, and explain what the new book or movie is about.	LIT MOV WOR	Text file | Contest image
September 28, 2003	525	It Won't Belong Now	Tell us which of three cartoons provided does not belong, and why.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
October 5, 2003	526	Conventional Wisdumb	Answer any of the provided questions.	QUE	Text file
October 12, 2003	527	Rite of First Defusal	Come up with witty or bizarre things to say to defuse the tension in awkward moments.	CUL	Text file
October 19, 2003	528	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	JEO	Text file
October 26, 2003	529	United We Stanza	Summarize in four rhyming lines of verse any famous document, theory, principle or speech.	POE	Text file | Contest image
November 2, 2003	530	Tri Harder	Take any word, alter it in three ways--by adding a letter, by subtracting a letter and by changing a letter--and redefine all three new words.	LET	Text file
November 9, 2003	531	Your Cynic Duties	Come up with a saying that sounds as if it's going to be inspirational, but winds up being cynical, misanthropic or sad.	WOR	Text file
November 16, 2003	532	Short Pans	Come up with a terse review (four words or fewer) of any work of art.	ART	Text file
November 23, 2003	533	Breed Apart	Mate the clones of any two famous real people, living or dead--a male and a female, please--and hypothesize what traits or skills their offspring might have.	CUL	Text file
November 30, 2003	534	The Feminine Touch	Propose how any male-dominated occupation or institution would change if it suddenly became female-dominated.	BUS CUL	Text file
THE CZAR IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE EMPRESS
December 7, 2003	535	Picture This	Can you tell us what astonishing news Bob Staake is trying to pass on with cartoons?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
December 14, 2003	536	And the Horse He Rodin On	Come up with some words we can stick in the back of The Inker.	STY	Text file | Contest image
December 21, 2003	537	The New York Post	Liven up any article appearing in The Washington Post or its Web site over the next eight days by giving it an irresponsibly sensationalistic headline.	WAS HEA	Text file
December 28, 2003	538	Try, Try Again	Enter any previous Invitational. Your entry must be substantially different from the original winners.	PRE	Text file
January 4, 2004	539	Dead Letters	Pay tribute in verse to someone who died in 2003.	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image
January 11, 2004	540	Revisionist History, or Badenov for You?	State any news event (or old event) in the style of the Rocky-and-Bullwinkle teasers about the next show.	CUL	Text file
January 18, 2004	541	Celled Up the River	Give us a delicious scenario, in which a cellphone yakker's yakking could be taken profitably out of context.		Text file
January 25, 2004	542	Discombobulate Us	Come up with both an object/situation and a neologism for it, something that Bob Levey would never have stooped to print in his column.	WOR	Text file
February 1, 2004	543	Read Our Leaps	Fill any readers of The Washington Post on Sunday, Feb. 29, 2032, on: (a) the day's lead news story; (b) the highest-flying company and its business; (c) the best-selling self-help book; and/or (d) the day's winning Style Invitational entry.	WAS BUS LIT STY HIS	Text file
February 8, 2004	544	You Gotta Have Heart	Write us some valentine sentiments from one particular person (real or fictional) to another.	POE	Text file
February 15, 2004	545	Put It in Reverse	Spell a word backward and define it, with the definition relating in some way to the original word.	LET	Text file
February 22, 2004	546	A Nice Pair of Cities	Choose any two or more real U.S. towns and come up with a joint endeavor they would undertake.	POL	Text file
February 29, 2004	547	Give Us a Bad Name	Take an existing product or business name and pair it with an incompatible one.	BUS	Text file
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 7, 2004	548	Inklings	Tell us about certain people's childhood experiences and behaviors that hint at their destinies.	CUL	Text file
March 14, 2004	549	Show Us Your Best Quantities	Come up with novel units of measure, and explain or quantify them.	SCI	Text file
March 21, 2004	550	Spring Cleaning	Suggest creative uses for things you've already used, or never will use, or other disposable household thingies, singly or in combination.		Text file | Contest image
March 28, 2004	551	Lost in Translation	Find us some comical translations-and-back using Google translator. Feed some passage of English text into the tool--25 words max--and ask it to translate it into one of the five languages offered; then copy the result back into the tool and ask it to translate that back to English.	GOO LAN	Text file
April 4, 2004	552	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Breed any two of the horses on a list of those qualifying for this year's Triple Crown races, and tell us a good name for their foal. Maximum 18 characters, including spaces.	HOR	Text file
April 11, 2004	553	Picture This	Tell us what's going on in one or more of the provided cartoons.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
April 18, 2004	554	Love the Tiny Tail Stain	Write an anagram based on a name or event that's been in the news recently.	ANA	Text file | Contest image
April 25, 2004	555	A Tsk, A Task	Come up with a super-wholesome passage of 25 words or fewer that would likely be banned by the admirable, ever-vigilant Neopets.com site.	WOR	Text file
May 2, 2004	556	So Zoo Us	Combine any two kinds of animals, give its name and describe it.	WOR	Text file
May 9, 2004	557	Oh, for Namesakes!	Take two people, real or fictional, who share some element of their names and explain the difference between them.	DIF	Text file | Contest image
May 16, 2004	558	Set Us Right	Send us conservative-leaning humor in any of the provided genres.	JOK	Text file
May 23, 2004	559	Your Slogan Here	Come up with a clever slogan or sign for a business.	SLO BUS	Text file
May 30, 2004	560	The 97.5-Meter Dash	Suggest some time- and cost-saving measures so the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens will open on time.	ATH	Text file
June 6, 2004	561	Deform of a Question	Take any sentence appearing in The Washington Post or washingtonpost.com today through June 14, and make up a question to which the sentence could be an answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
June 13, 2004	562	The LMNs of Style	Write a funny sentence (or more) that you spell with only the sounds of the names of letters and those of numbers 1 through 9.	LET	Text file
June 20, 2004	563	Take Two	Take any two of the provided items and explain how they resemble or differ from each other.	DIF	Text file
June 27, 2004	564	Redefine Print	Redefine any word from the dictionary.	WOR	Text file
July 4, 2004	565	Anthem Is as Anthem Does	Give us a verse for an alternative U.S. national anthem, set to any well-known tune.	POE	Text file
July 11, 2004	566	Get Whack	Type a two-word phrase into the Google search engine that produces exactly one result.	GOO	Text file
July 18, 2004	567	A Running Gag	Explain how any of the provided bizarre cartoons by Bob Staake relates to the current presidential campaign.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
July 25, 2004	568	Tome Deftness	Make a pun or similar wordplay on a book title.	WOR LIT	Text file
August 1, 2004	569	Murphy's Lore	Give Eric Murphy advice he deserves on the provided questions.	QUE	Text file
August 8, 2004	570	Timeline Rhyme Lines	Produce colorful chronological couplets about some historical event. They must rhyme and be in good meter.	HIS POE	Text file
August 15, 2004	571	A Tour de Fours	Create and define a word that includes T, H, E, and S in any order. The letters must appear consecutively.	TDF	Text file | Contest image
August 22, 2004	572	The Limerixicon	Supply a limerick based on any word in the dictionary (except proper nouns) beginning with ai- through ar-.	LIM POE	Text file | Post e-version
August 29, 2004	573	Thine Ad Goest Here	Propose biblical and other literary passages, poems, etc., that could benefit from product placement.	POE REL LIT BUS	Text file
September 5, 2004	574	Boor Us Silly	Come up with some unwise attempts at humor--one either likely to backfire or to create other unpleasant consequences.	JOK	Text file
September 12, 2004	575	T Hee Hee	Come up with new ideas for both front and back of the Loser T-shirts.	TSH	Text file
September 19, 2004	576	Well, Excuuuuse Us!	Come up with new excuses for any common human shortcoming or imperfection.		Text file
September 26, 2004	577	Teledubbies	Slightly change the title of a TV show, past or present, and describe it.	TEL WOR	Text file
October 3, 2004	578	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" Above are the answers. Send us the questions.	JEO	Text file
October 10, 2004	579	Another Brilliant Contest! Do Enter!	Write us a sentence or phrase consisting of words beginning with consecutive letters, in the A-to-Z direction.	LET	Text file | Contest image
October 17, 2004	580	United Nations	Combine the names of any two countries in the world and describe the new hybrid country.	POL	Text file
October 24, 2004	581	Evil Things in Store	Think of evil or just plain stupid practices that the staff of a retail or other establishment might perpetrate.	BUS	Text file
October 31, 2004	582	Perversery Rhymes	Update a nursery rhyme or children's song with an edgier text.	POE	Text file
November 7, 2004	583	Mess With Our Heads	Take any headline, verbatim, from the Washington Post or its Web site from today through next Sunday, and reinterpret it by writing either a "bank headline"--or subtitle--or the first sentence of an article that changes the original meaning entirely.	HEA	Text file
November 14, 2004	584	Deliver Us a Post	Come up with some new Cabinet or other positions that the president could establish, and describe the job responsibilities.	POL	Text file
November 21, 2004	585	It's Parody Time	Offer, in the holiday spirit of goodwill, some advice--as constructive and unifying as Loserly suggestions always are--to our nation's leaders (or the loyal opposition) as we prepare for the next four years. This advice will be set to the tune of some winter holiday song, either religious or secular.	POE	Text file | Post e-version
November 28, 2004	586	God's Will (and Won't)	Complete either of the following: "If God hadn't wanted us to ----, God wouldn’t have ----"; "If God had wanted us to ----, God would have ----."	REL	Text file
December 5, 2004	587	The B-List	Come up with an In-Out list for 2005, or other pairings.	CUL	Text file
December 12, 2004	588	Gadget If You Can	Tell us what these nifty, indispensable items are.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
December 19, 2004	589	Hyphen the Terrible (New Edition!)	Combine the beginning of any multi-syllabic word in this week's Invitational with the end of any other multi-syllabic word in this column (or in this week's Web supplement) to coin a new word, and then define it.	HYP WOR	Text file
December 26, 2004	590	Send Us the Bill	Come up with a bill sponsored by any combination of the newly elected members of Congress and explain the purpose of the bill.	LEG	Text file
January 2, 2005	591	Dead Letters	Write rhyming poems about notable personages who have died in the past year.	POE EPI	Text file
January 9, 2005	592	We Got Gamy	Offer us a concise idea for a Super Bowl commercial, or some innovative halftime entertainment, or some inappropriate sponsors, or some ideas for improving the game itself.	ATH BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image
January 16, 2005	593	Take This, Job, and …	Come up with some entertainingly awful things that a Job's comforter might offer. A Job's comforter is someone who seems to be offering sympathy but instead just makes the person feel worse, either intentionally or unintentionally.		Text file
January 23, 2005	594	History Loves Company	Name an appropriate corporate sponsor for some historical event or for someone's life story.	BUS HIS	Text file
January 30, 2005	595	Listing Precariously	Take the two subject listings at the top of any page of the Yellow Pages and create a dictionary definition for the compound word they form.	WOR	Text file
February 6, 2005	596	Take Her Words for It	Use the words of this week's Ask Amy advice column, as a pool from which to compose your own useful (or useless) thoughts. You may ignore or change capitalization or punctuation.	WOR	Text file
February 13, 2005	597	Eccchsibits	Come up with some alternative museums and exhibits for the nation's capital.	WAS	Text file
February 20, 2005	598	Site Gags	Come up with an appropriate name for a cafeteria--or meeting room, or an employee lounge, or some other workplace spot--for a particular institution.	WOR BUS	Text file
February 27, 2005	599	So What's the News?	Tell us what the illustrated events are.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
March 6, 2005	600	Top of the Inking	Tell us some ways the District of Columbia will change now that we have the Nationals.	CUL ATH	Text file
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 13, 2005	601	Anticdotes	Give us an untrue anecdote in response to one of the provided Editor's Query topics.		Text file
March 20, 2005	602	Take a Letter -- Again	Take a word, term or name that begins with A, B, C or D; either add one letter, subtract one letter, replace one letter, or transpose two letters; and define the new word.	LET	Text file
March 27, 2005	603	Sui Genesis	Take one or two of the 50 chapters of the KJV Book of Genesis and draw thou from them, using words in the order in which they appear in the original, your own passage.	REL WOR	Text file | Contest image
April 3, 2005	604	Fun for the Roses	Breed any two of the horses on a list of those qualifying for this year's Triple Crown races, and tell us a good name for their foal. The name of the foal must be no more than 18 characters, including spaces.	HOR	Text file
April 10, 2005	605	Truly Stupendous Ideas	Name two people with the same initials (the people can be living or dead, real or fictional) and explain how they are similar or different.	DIF LET	Text file
April 17, 2005	606	The News Could be Verse	Translate the fine prose of Washington Post articles into verse. Choose any article appearing in The Post of on its Web site from April 17 through April 25.	POE	Text file
April 24, 2005	607	Contest Fodder Created!	Produce absurdly parochial views of historical events.	HIS	Text file
May 1, 2005	608	Comeback Next Week	Come up with original snide retorts to various rude questions or comments.		Text file
May 8, 2005	609	A2D2	Give us some funny "corrections" to brighten up Page A2.	CUL	Text file
May 15, 2005	610	MASH	Find two well-known movies, plays, or TV shows whose title have a significant word in common, combine their titles, and describe the hybrid.	MOV LIT TEL WOR	Text file
May 22, 2005	611	Ask Backwards, Erudite Edition	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the sophisticated answers. You supply the questions.	JEO	Text file
May 29, 2005	612	Oh, and One More Thing	What was the thing that didn't make the cut on any list?		Text file
June 5, 2005	613	Tour de Fours II	Create and define a word that includes, consecutively, E, R, A and N. in any order.	TDF	Text file | Contest image
June 12, 2005	614	In-Stock Characters	Pitch us an idea for a summer movie featuring two or more of the provided characters.	MOV	Text file
June 19, 2005	615	Airy Persiflage	Write some jokes you'd like to hear in an airport announcement.	JOK	Text file
June 26, 2005	616	Picture This, Kids	Supply title and one-sentence synopsis for Bob Staake new kids' project, incorporating any of the provided cartoons.	CAR	Text file
July 3, 2005	617	Best the Best	Write something about any famous personage that uses only the letters in his or her name.	LET	Text file
July 10, 2005	618	Of D.C. I Sing	Give us a song about Washington, set to a recognizable tune.	POE MUS	Text file
July 17, 2005	619	WordCount Us In	Write a poem of no more than four lines containing four or more consecutive words on the WordCount list. They must occur in the sentence in the order they appear on the list.	POE WOR	Text file
July 24, 2005	620	Keep the Empress Employed	Suggest some original, creative ways that The Post could increase its circulation.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
July 31, 2005	621	Questionable Journalism	Take any sentence that appears in The Post or in an article in washingtonpost.com anytime through Aug. 8 and supply a question it could answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
August 7, 2005	622	Our Sunday Constitutional	Write a new article or amendment to the Constitution, using on the words contained in the existing document (including amendments).	POL WOR	Text file
August 14, 2005	623	Try to Remember	Give us an original mnemonic for any list that someone might want to remember.	WOR	Text file
August 21, 2005	624	Limerixicon 2	Supply a limerick based on any word in the dictionary (except proper nouns) beginning with bd- through bl-.	LIM POE	Text file
August 28, 2005	625	Haven't Seen It	Make up a new plot for an existing movie title.	MOV	Text file
September 4, 2005	626	Course Light	Come up with a comical college class, along with a description for the course catalog.	CUL	Text file
September 11, 2005	627	Per-Verse	Write a limerick or other short poem with comically awful rhyming.	LIM POE	Text file
September 18, 2005	628	You Gotta Have Connections	Choose any two or more items from the provided truly random list and describe how they are alike or different.	DIF	Text file
September 25, 2005	629	Odd Couplings	Marry or otherwise combine famous names and supply the result.		Text file
October 2, 2005	630	Hyphen the Terrible	Combine the beginning and end of any two multisyllabic words in this week's Invitational, and then define the compound.	HYP WOR	Text file
October 9, 2005	631	Picture This	What's going on in any of these cartoons?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
October 16, 2005	632	Live On, Sweet, Earnest Reader (Inc.)	Give us an original backronym for a company or product. A backronym is a fake etymology that often gets in a little dig at the subject.	WOR BUS	Text file
October 23, 2005	633	Your Secret Here!	Send us some original secrets (they don't have to be true).		Text file
October 30, 2005	634	Mess With Our Heads	Take any headline, verbatim, appearing anywhere in The Post or on washingtonpost.com from today through next Sunday, and change its meaning by adding either a "bank headline," or subtitle, or the first sentence of an article that might appear under it.	HEA	Text file
November 6, 2005	635	I've Told You a Hundred Times	Enter any Style Invitational from Week 536 to Week 631. Your entry must be substantially different from the original winners.	PRE	Text file | Contest image
November 13, 2005	636	A Song From Tex Arcana	Write a verse of a song about sea urchin sushi or any of the other provided ostensibly unlyrical topics.	POE MUS	Text file
November 20, 2005	637	Full Steam Ahead	Write a steamy passage of a novel that's ostensibly by some well-known person who isn't a novelist.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
November 27, 2005	638	The Little Bummer Boy	Come up with an idea (and title, if you like) for an original Christmas movie or TV special that provides an antidote to all the sap, and give us a brief synopsis.	MOV TEL	Text file
December 4, 2005	639	What's the Small Idea?	Do you have a senseless idea for improving the day-to-day lives of everyday Americans?	CUL	Text file
December 11, 2005	640	Whassa Motto Wid You?	Give us a slogan or motto for any of the states, the District or the U.S. Territories.	SLO POL	Text file
December 18, 2005	641	Dreck of All Trades	Come up with a business that combines two or more disparate products or services, and tell us its name and/or something else funny about it.	BUS	Text file
December 25, 2005	642	It's Open Season	Come up with a brand-new word and its definition. The words must begin with O, P, Q, R or S.	LET WOR	Text file
January 1, 2006	643	The Post's Mortems	Give us a rhyming poem about some notable who died in 2005.	POE EPI	Text file
January 8, 2006	644	Winter Limp Picks	Brighten up the Winter Olympics with some new events and rules. Alternatively, you can suggest a commercial or ad campaign that could be tied in with the Winter Games or one of its sports.	ATH BUS	Text file
January 15, 2006	645	A Hearty Har Har	Write up a Valentine's sentiment to any personage, or to someone in some generic category.	POE	Text file
January 22, 2006	646	Warped Perspectives	Tell us how two different types of people, animals, organizations, etc., would interpret any of the provided cartoons.	CAR	Text file
January 29, 2006	647	Paste Imperfect	Change a headline or sentence that appears in the Post or on washingtonpost.com through Feb. 6 either by deleting up to 40 consecutive characters from it or by adding 40 consecutive characters from the same article or ad.	HEA LET	Text file
February 5, 2006	648	Caller IDiot	Name a product or company and supply a stupid question to ask the consumer hotline person.	BUS QUE	Text file
February 12, 2006	649	Across the Wide What?	Give us some Virginia-appropriate lyrics for "Shenandoah."	POE MUS	Text file
February 19, 2006	650	King Us	Give us a scenario for a horror novel based on an everyday item.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
February 26, 2006	651	Show Us Some Character	Add a character to a book or movie and tell us what happens in it.	LIT MOV	Text file | Contest image
March 5, 2006	652	Ask Backward	You are on "Jeopardy!" Above are the answers. You supply the questions.	JEO	Text file
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 12, 2006	653	It's the Eponymy, Stupid	Coin a word or expression based on the name of a well-known person, define it, and perhaps use it in a sentence	WOR	Text file
March 19, 2006	654	It Plays to Recycle	Come up with funny ways to recycle things, people, writing (except for your old Invitational entries) or ideas.		Text file | Contest image
March 26, 2006	655	Laughing Inside	Take any article appearing in The Washington Post or online on washingtonpost.com from today through April 3 -- the more serious and/or mundane its headline, the better -- and write a funny poem or other passage using only words that appear in that article.	POE	Text file
April 2, 2006	656	It's Post Time	Breed any two from a list of 100 of the more than 400 3-year-old racehorses nominated for this year's Triple Crown races, and name their hypothetical foal. The foal's name cannot exceed 18 characters and spaces combined.	HOR	Text file
April 9, 2006	657	Nuts Fruit	Send in funny (but printable) images of real pieces of fruit.	PIX	Text file		Text file | Contest image
April 16, 2006	658	Not in the Cards	Send us ideas for cards that would likely be ruled "FBN" (Funny, But No) by Hallmark but F&YYY by the Empress.	LET CUL	Text file | Contest image
April 23, 2006	659	Tell Us a Fib	Compose a six-line poem with the following number of syllables per line: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. It must be about a person or topic currently in the news, and two successive lines must rhyme.	POE CUL	Text file
April 30, 2006	660	Foaling Down: The Next Generation	Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in this week's results, and name THEIR foal.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 7, 2006	661	Name Any Good Movies Lately?	Give us a funny new title for an existing movie.	MOV	Text file | Contest image
May 14, 2006	662	How Low Will You Go?	Humiliate yourself for ink, and a stupid prize.	STY	Text file | Contest image
May 21, 2006	663	Worth at Least a Dozen Words	Interpret any of the provided cartoons as you see fit in a caption.	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image
May 28, 2006	664	A Thousand Times?! No!	Come up with a new signature line for Russell Beland's -- or anyone else's -- e-mails.		Text file
June 4, 2006	665	Your One-in-a-Million	Coin the millionth word in the English language and define it. The word must end in -ion.	WOR	Text file
June 11, 2006	666	Bedevil Us	Give a mini-sermon explaining how some innocuous object or event signals the End of Days.	REL	Text file | Contest image
June 18, 2006	667	Questionable Journalism	Take any sentence that appears in The Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com anytime from now through June 26 and supply a question it could answer.	WAS QUE	Text file | Contest image
June 25, 2006	668	Cut From the Chase	Write an original John-Bunnell-style wrap-up to a crime story -- or one for a more minor transgression.	CUL	Text file
July 2, 2006	669	Huddled Messes	Suggest some bad advice for new arrivals to this country (legal or illegal).	POL	Text file
July 9, 2006	670	A Test of Character	Change a word or phrase by only one letter -- substitute one letter for another, add a letter or transpose two letters -- and explain how they are different or similar.	LET	Text file
July 16, 2006	671	Join Now!	Hyphenate the beginning and end of any two multi-syllabic words appearing anywhere in the July 16 Style or Sunday Arts section, and then define the compound.	HYP	Text file
July 23, 2006	672	Just Sign This	Write a funny message for an overhead highway sign.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
July 30, 2006	673	Mess With Our Heads	Take any headline, verbatim, appearing anywhere in The Washington Post or on Washingtonpost.com from July 30 through Aug. 7 and reinterpret it by adding either a "bank headline," or subtitle, or the first sentence of an article that might appear under it.	HEA	Text file
August 6, 2006	674	Limerixicon 3	Supply a humorous limerick based on any word in the dictionary (except proper nouns) beginning with ca-.	LIM LET POE	Text file
August 13, 2006	675	Cut Us Some Slack	Come up with humorous ways to be lazy.		Text file
August 20, 2006	676	Tour de Fours III	Coin and define a word containing -- with no other letters between them, but in any order you like -- the letters L, E, A and F.	TDF	Text file | Contest image
August 27, 2006	677	The News Gets Verse	Sum up wittily in verse -- but not a limerick -- any article appearing in The Post or on washingtonpost.com from Aug. 28 through Sept. 4.	POE LIM	Text file
September 3, 2006	678	Limerick Smackdown!	Chris Doyle and Brendan Beary will go head to head in a series of 10 limericks.	LIM POE	Text file
September 10, 2006	679	Ask Backwards	Here are the answers. You supply the questions to as many as you dare.	JEO	Text file
September 17, 2006	680	Rendered Speechless	Provide dialogue to fill the balloons in any of these cartoons.	CAR	Text file | Contest image
September 24, 2006	681	Ticket to Write	Write a jingle for a business (or its product), organization or government agency, set to a Beatles song.	POE BUS POL MUS	Text file
October 1, 2006	682	Punkin'd!	Send us a funny, clever, entirely original photo featuring one or more pumpkins and/or other vegetables.	PIX	Text file | Contest image
October 8, 2006	683	What a Piece of Work	String together words in a single scene, or two consecutive scenes, of "Hamlet" to produce one or more funny sentences, preferably unrelated to the original content. The words must appear in the order in which they appear in the play.	LIT WOR	Text file
October 15, 2006	684	Backtricking	Spell a word backward and define the result, somehow relating the definition to the original word.	LET	Text file | Contest image
October 22, 2006	685	Thank it Over	Tell us some things to be thankful for.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
October 29, 2006	686	It's Baaaaack!	Explain why you, or anyone else in particular, ought to have this fine oil-on-panel by Fred Dawson of Beltsville, or what it might be used for.	ART	Text file | Contest image
November 5, 2006	687	What Were They Thinking?	Tell us (A) What someone might say in some situation, and (B) what that person was actually thinking when he said A.		Text file
November 12, 2006	688	Making Short Work	Write a humorous six-word story.	LIT WOR	Text file
November 19, 2006	689	Busted Play	Come up with a more objectionable or stupid toy than a working fart-powered toy rocket.	BUS	Text file
November 26, 2006	690	Funnies: How Time Flies	Pull Billy of "The Family Circus" -- or any of his comic strip neighbors in The Washington Post -- out of his time warp to a different age, era or place, and provide a short storyline or dialogue or caption.	WAS COM	Text file | Contest image
December 3, 2006	691	Haven't Got a Clue	Make all the clues in the provided crossword ooh-clever or at least ah-that's-funny, even the little words.	CRO WOR	Text file
December 10, 2006	692	Reinkernation	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 640 through Week 688. Every entry must include the word "three" or "third" or a creative variation.	PRE	Text file
December 17, 2006	693	Everything Being Sequel	Give a brief scenario for the sequel to a well-known movie.	MOV	Text file
December 24, 2006	694	Hopelessly Ever After	Offer up a gloomy interpretation of any ungloomy piece of writing.	LIT	Text file
December 31, 2006	695	Dead Letters	Write a poem about someone who died in 2006.	POE EPI	Text file
January 7, 2007	696	Send Us the Bill	Come up legislation the newly-elected members of Congress might sponsor together.	LEG	Text file
January 14, 2007	697	We Beg You To Differ	Take any two items from the truly random provided list and explain why they are different or why they are similar.	DIF	Text file
January 21, 2007	698	Let's Get Personnel	Send us some humorously creative questions that a job interviewer would ask an applicant, or some questions it might be fun to ask the interviewer.	BUS	Text file
January 28, 2007	699	Our Greatest Hit	Take a word, term or name that begins with E, F, G or H; either add one letter, subtract one letter, replace one letter, or transpose two letters; and define the new word.	LET	Text file		Text file (pub 2-25-07) Text file (pub 3-18-07)
February 4, 2007	700	Stump Us	Come up with someone's slogan for the 2008 presidential campaign.	POL	Text file
February 11, 2007	701	Untitlement	Here are the covers for what just might be Bob Staake's next four books. What are they called and what are they about?	CAR ART LIT	Text file
February 18, 2007	702	Unreal Facts	Come up with a comically false factoid.	TRI	Text file
February 25, 2007		(We) Give Us a Break	The Empress takes a day off from judging to go lounge poolside in the Imperial Hammock, taking care first to don the Imperial Parka and Earmuffs and Moon Boots.		Text file
March 4, 2007	703	Freak Trade Agreements	Think of one thing to trade for another, and supply a short and funny explanation.		Text file
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 11, 2007	704	Another Game of Tag	Create vanity plates for well-known people, real or fictional.	CUL	Text file
March 18, 2007	705	Simile Outrageous	Come up with funny analogies, perhaps with some 21st-century references.	ANL	Text file
March 25, 2007	706	Questionable Journalism	Take any sentence that appears in The Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com from March 24 through April 2 and come up with a question it could answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
April 1, 2007	707	What Would YOU Do?	Use only the words appearing in "The Cat in the Hat" to create your own work of "literature" of no more than 75 words.	WOR LIT	Text file
April 8, 2007	708	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Breed any two from a list of 100 of the horses eligible for this year's Triple Crown races and provide an appropriate name for their foal.	HOR	Text file
April 15, 2007	709	A Return Engagement	Come up with some novel change to the tax code: a tax on something ought to be taxed, a credit for something that should be rewarded, what the $3 should go to instead of presidential campaigns, etc.	POL	Text file
April 22, 2007	710	Aw, Shoot	Send us a funny, clever, entirely original photo featuring kitchen utensils and/or small household tools.	PIX	Text file
April 29, 2007	711	Join Now!	Hyphenate the beginning and end of any two multi-syllabic words appearing anywhere in the April 29 or May 6 Style or Sunday Arts section, and then define the compound.	HYP WOR	Text file
May 6, 2007	712	Another Time Around the Track	Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in the results of Week 708, and name THEIR foal.	HOR	Text file
May 13, 2007	713	Painings	Name and interpret any of the provided paintings by Fred Dawson.	ART	Text file | Contest image
May 20, 2007	714	Amalgamated Steal	Merge two or more company or product names into a new, ORIGINAL company or product.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
May 27, 2007	715	Your Mug Here	Send us an idea for a slogan for the back of the new Loser T-shirt.	TSH	Text file | Contest image
June 3, 2007	716	The Hard Spell	Write a humorous poem featuring one of the 75 words we've selected from this year's National Spelling Bee.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 10, 2007	717	Pitch Us a No-Hitter	Send us some genuine Googlenopes. A Googlenope is a phrase or very brief sentence that, entered into the Google search engine with quotation marks around it, produces no hits.	GOO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 17, 2007	718	Put Our Heads Together	Create a new, funny headline from the words of any headlines appearing anywhere in a single day's Washington Post (or on washingtonpost.com)	HEA	Text file
June 24, 2007	719	We Har the World	Come up with a creative name for a sports team for a town or city anywhere outside the United States.	ATH	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 1, 2007	720	The Course of Humor Events	Sum up a historical event in a two-line rhyme or other clever and pithy epigram.	POE HIS	Text file
July 8, 2007	721	Know Your Market	For any of the provided photos, supply two captions: one that would appeal to The Style Invitational and one that would appeal to the Harrisburg Patriot-News.	CAP STY	Text file
July 15, 2007	722	Let's Play Nopardy!	We supply 12 phrases and you get to provide questions they might answer. The phrases were entries in our Week 717 contest, which asked for Googlenopes -- phrases that showed no previous hits from the Google search engine.		Text file
July 22, 2007	723	Name Your Poison	Create a name and recipe for a cocktail and, if you like, describe when it might be served.		Text file
July 29, 2007	724	Abridged Too Far	Sum up a book, play or movie in a humorous rhyming verse of two to four lines.	POE LIT MOV	Text file
August 5, 2007	725	Beggars For Description	Describe, without being boring, a cartoon to fit any of the provided captions.	CAR CAP	Text file
August 12, 2007	726	Limerixicon 4	Supply a humorous limerick based on any word in the dictionary beginning with cl- through co-.	LIM POE	Text file
August 19, 2007	727	We Get a C-Section	Tell us some pros and cons of moving The Style Invitational to the Saturday Style section; or write us up some free promo-ad copying announcing the move.	STY	Text file
August 25, 2007	728	Tour de Fours IV	Coin and define a humorous word that includes -- with no other letters between them, but in any order you like -- the letters S, A, T and R.	TDF	Text file
September 1, 2007	729	Otherwordly Visions	Take any sentence in an article or ad in The Washington Post or on washingtonpost.com from Sept. 1 through Sept. 10 and translate it into "plain English."	WAS WOR	Text file | Contest image
September 8, 2007	730	Time-Wastes For Everyman	Describe activities that make entering The Style Invitational seem like a constructive use of one's time.	STY	Text file
September 15, 2007	731	Doo Process	Describe for us a wildly inefficient and ridiculous way to produce or prepare an ordinary dish or beverage.		Text file | Post e-version
September 22, 2007	732	The Chain Gang	Supply a chain of 25 names -- they may be names of people, places, organizations, products, etc., but they must be names -- beginning and ending with "George W. Bush."	POL	Text file | Post e-version
September 29, 2007	733	Just Drop It, Okay?	Drop the first letter from an actual word or term to make a new word or term, and define it.	LET WOR	Text file | Post e-version
October 6, 2007	734	Turnaround Time	Write a rhyming couplet containing two words that are anagrams of each other.	POE ANA	Text file | Post e-version
October 13, 2007	735	Look Back in Inker	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 680 through Week 731.	PRE	Text file | Post e-version
October 20, 2007	736	So, Should I Drive Like Your Brother?	Ask a car-related question that would make the Car Guys crack up. If you're not into cars, you can also post a question for advice columnist Ask Amy or etiquette columnist Miss Manners.	QUE	Text file | Post e-version
October 27, 2007	737	No River, No Woods	Send us a funny parody of a well-known song, with lyrics that commemorate an occasion other than Christmas or Hanukkah.	POE HIS	Text file | Post e-version
November 3, 2007	738	So What's To Liken?	Take any two items from the utterly random list above and explain how they are different or how they are similar.	DIF	Text file
November 10, 2007	739	Lies, All Lies	Give us some humorous fictional revelation about a current or past political figure.	HIS POL TRI	Text file | Post e-version
November 17, 2007	740	Give Us a Hint	Offer clues in various situations that something isn't working out well.		Text file | Post e-version
November 24, 2007	741	Well, What Do You Know?	Tell us what Major Life Lessons can be derived from any of these venues or situations.		Text file
December 1, 2007	742	Clue Us In	Give us a whole new set of clues to a crossword puzzle penned by Ace Constructor Paula Gamache.	CRO	Text file
December 8, 2007	743	Picture This	Write a caption for any of these Bob Staake cartoons.	CAR CAP	Text file
December 15, 2007	744	You OED Us One	Make up a humorous and false definition for any of the words listed below.	WOR	Text file
December 22, 2007	745	Hurry Up and Slow Down!	Suggest particular ways that would slow life down, or ways that would speed it up.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
December 29, 2007	746	We Err The World	Give us a motto or short slogan for any country in the world.	SLO POL	Text file | Post e-version
January 5, 2008	747	Boeing Us Silly	Suggest some comical ways to improve air travel, either in general or for yourself.	CUL	Text file | Post e-version
January 12, 2008	748	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about a well-known personage who died in 2007.	POE EPI	Text file | Post e-version
January 19, 2008	749	Opus 266, No. 3	Take any common word or two-word term beginning with any letter from A through H and give it a new definition.	LET WOR	Text file | Post e-version	Peter Metrinko Pie Snelson	Text file (pub 2-16-08) Text file (pub 2-23-08)
January 26, 2008	750	Hit Us With Your Best Shot: Photo Contest No. 4	Illustrate, any way you like, any of the provided five captions with your own original photo.	PIX CAP	Text file | Post e-version
February 2, 2008	751	Strike Gold	Slightly change the name of an existing or former TV show to create a program that can scab the writers' strike.	TEL	Text file | Post e-version
February 9, 2008	752	The Might-Mates Right	Fill out any of these five "you just might" joke-templates.	JOK	Text file | Post e-version
February 16, 2008	753	Hot Off The Riddle	Supply a simple riddle and both the wholesome answer and the (printable) Invitational answer.	JOK	Text file | Post e-version
February 23, 2008	753a	Get In Your Last Shot: Photo Contest's Final Days	No new contest this week. While the sun never seems to set on the Empress, even she ventures outside the Forbidden City once in a while.		Text file
March 1, 2008	754	Canny Similarities	Cite a humorous "uncanny similarity" between any two of the very different people listed above.	DIF	Text file | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 8, 2008	755	Take Another 'Whack	Send us a phrase of two or more words that produces exactly one Web page on the Google search engine and describe the phrase.	GOO	Text file | Post e-version
March 15, 2008	756	Mess With Our Heads	Take any headline, verbatim, appearing anywhere in The Post or on washingtonpost.com from March 15 through 24 and reinterpret it by adding a "bank head," or subtitle.	HEA	Text file
March 22, 2008	757	Gorey Thoughts From A to Z	Send us some rhyming alphabet-primer couplets.	POE LET	Text file
March 29, 2008	758	Wrong Address	Using any of the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, in whatever order you like, create your own passage.	HIS WOR	Text file
April 5, 2008	759	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Breed any two of the 100 horses eligible for this year's Triple Crown and provide an appropriate name for their foal.	HOR	Text file
April 12, 2008	760	Whacksy Buildup	Describe any of these Googlewhacks in the form of a question, "Jeopardy"-style.	GOO JEO	Text file
April 19, 2008	761	Strip Mining	Supply the text for any or all three of these Bob Staake comic strips.	CAR	Text file
April 26, 2008	762	Look This Up in Your Funk & Wagnalls	Supply the pair of terms listed at the top of a page of any print dictionary to indicate the first and last listings on the page, and define that hyphenated term.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 3, 2008	763	Another Time Around the Track	Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in this week's results, and name THEIR foal.	HOR	Text file
May 10, 2008	764	Can You Up Chuck?	Come up with entirely new and funny Chuck Norris Facts.	CUL	Text file
May 17, 2008	765	It's Doo-Dah Day	Write humorous lyrics commemorating any of the 50 states of the District, set to any of these Stephen Foster songs.	POE POL	Text file
May 24, 2008	766	Think to Shudder	Come up with scenarios that are even more awkward (and more imaginative) than the wincers mentioned above.		Text file
May 31, 2008	767	Questionable Journalism	Find any sentence (or a substantive part of a sentence) that appears in the Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com from May 31 through June 9 and come up with a question it might answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
June 7, 2008	768	The Events Described Herein Are Entirely Fictitious	Come up with fictitious movie trivia.	MOV TRI	Text file
June 14, 2008	769	Splice Work If You Can Get It	Combine two words -- overlapping by at least two letters -- into what's known by polysyllabic types as a portmanteau word, and by the rest of us as mash word, and define it.	WOR	Text file	Rick Haynes	Text file
June 21, 2008	770	A Knack for Anachronism	Take a famous historical moment, literary passage, or movie scene and place it in an entirely different age.	HIS LIT MOV	Text file
June 28, 2008	771	Groaner's Manuals	Come up with a humorous name for a guide or manual for, or a book about, a particular enterprise or organization.	WOR BUS	Text file
July 5, 2008	772	Make It Simile, Stupid	Translate a sentence or two of literature or other good writing so that "Los Angeles residents under 40" can appreciate it.	LAN LIT CUL	Text file
July 12, 2008	773	Always Looking for Sects	Coin a religion or belief system and tell us its basic tenet or distinguishing characteristic.	REL	Text file
July 19, 2008	774	Tour De Forks	Supply a name for a restaurant dish named after someone (or some product or organization) and describe it.	WOR CUL	Text file
July 26, 2008	775	Ad-dition	Combine the beginning and end of any two words appearing in any single advertisement in The Post or on washingtonpost.com, from today through Aug. 4, and then define the new word.	HYP WOR	Text file
August 2, 2008	776	An Act of Sunny Side	Note the silver lining in some otherwise disappointing turn of events.		Text file
August 9, 2008	777	Limerixicon 5	Supply a humorous limerick featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters da-.	LIM POE	Text file
August 16, 2008	778	Tied Games	Combine any two sports or nonathletic activities into a single sport or game.	ATH	Text file
August 23, 2008	779	Gripe for the Picking	Rant about any issue that wouldn't make your top 100 for airing in The Post.	WAS	Text file
August 30, 2008	780	Location, Location, Location	Say how you know you're in a particular place.		Text file
September 6, 2008	781	Our Greatest Hit	Start with a word or multi-word term that begins with I, J, K or L; either add one letter, subtract one letter, replace one letter or transpose two adjacent letters; and define the new word.	LET WOR	Text file
September 13, 2008	782	That's the Ticket!	Explain why any of the items on the list below is qualified to be President of the United States.	POL	Text file
September 20, 2008	783	The Shill Game	Name a celebrity or fictional character to endorse a real product or company.	BUS CUL	Text file
September 27, 2008	784	Words to The Wiseacres	Give us some proverbs for 21st-century life.	CUL	Text file
October 4, 2008	785	The Ballad Box	Write a short, humorous song somehow relating to the presidential campaign, set to a familiar tune.	POE POL	Text file
October 11, 2008	786	Top of the Staake	So get your thoughts provoked for No. Umpteen of our cartoon caption contest.	CAR CAP	Text file | Contest image
October 18, 2008	787	Tour de Fours V	Coin and define a humorous word that includes -- with no other letters between them, but in any order -- the letters M, I, N and E.	TDF	Text file
October 25, 2008	788	The Back End of a Bulwer	Give us a comically terrible ending of a novel.	LIT	Text file
November 1, 2008	789	Doctrine in The House?	State a humorous, original "doctrine" for a person or other entity.	POL	Text file
November 8, 2008	790	If Only!	Explain how the world would be different had some event not occurred.	POL HIS CUL	Text file | Contest image
November 15, 2008	791	The 1K Club	Supply a chain of 20 names -- they may be names of people, places, organizations, products, etc., but they must be names -- beginning and ending with "Chris Doyle."	STY	Text file | Contest image
November 22, 2008	792	Clue Us In	Compile a set of funny alternative clues to a crossword penned by Ace Constructor Paula Gamache.	CRO	Text file
November 29, 2008	793	Take The Fifth	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 725 through Week 789. Each entry must include the word "five" of "fifth" or something fiveish, or -- depending on your favorite anniversary tradition -- something involving (a) wood or (b) silverware.	PRE	Text file | Post e-version
December 6, 2008	794	Ripped Off From the Headlines	Send us some Onion-type headlines.	HEA	Text file
December 13, 2008	795	Stimulate Us	Tell us what the government ought to be spending our money on.	POL	Text file | Post e-version
December 20, 2008	796	Sincerest Flattery	Make up a pun on a familiar name of a real of fictional person and provide a fitting description or quote.	JOK	Text file | Post e-version
December 27, 2008	797	Be Resolute	Make a humorous resolution for some particular person or institution to accomplish next year.	POL BUS	Text file
January 3, 2009	798	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem commemorating someone who died in 2008.	POE EPI	Text file
January 10, 2009	799	Send Us the Bill	Come up with legislation that, given their names, two or more freshman senators or representatives might sponsor together.	LEG	Text file
January 17, 2009	800	Compairison	Briefly define or sum up an existing word or short phrase, then change it very slightly and do the same with the result.	WOR	Text file
January 24, 2009	801	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. You supply one or more of the questions.	JEO	Text file | Post e-version
January 31, 2009	802	Dreck TV	Suggest a new cable TV channel, with a description or example of its programming.	TEL	Text file | Post e-version
February 7, 2009	803	The Pepys Show	Write a humorous diary or journal entry for someone, famous or not, for any point in history.	HIS	Text file
February 14, 2009	804	Our Type o' Joke	Change a headline by one letter, or switch two letters, in a headline (or most of a headline) appearing on an article or ad in The Washington Post or on washingtonpost.com between Feb. 14 and 23, and elaborate on it in a "bank" headline (subhead) or a brief first sentence of an article that would run under it.	HEA	Text file
February 21, 2009	805	Brand Eccchs	Give us an original name in any of the above categories (not an actual badly named product).	BUS	Text file
February 28, 2009	806	DQ Very Much	Give us a phrase or sentence that would nip a potential relationship in the bud (or elsewhere).		Text file | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 7, 2009	807	Pretty Graphic Expressions	Express some insight as an equation or other mathematical expression.	SCI	Text file | Post e-version
March 14, 2009	808	Take Us At Our Words	Create a humorous poem or other writing using only the words contained in this week's Style Invitational column or results.	POE WOR STY	Text file
March 21, 2009	809	Unkindest Cutlines	Supply cutlines, or captions, for any of these newspaper photos.	CAP	Text file
March 28, 2009	810	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Breed any two of the more than 400 horses eligible for this year's Triple Crown races and provide an appropriate name for their foal.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
April 4, 2009	811	Rock-Bottom Lines	Tell us a sign that the economy couldn't get worse.	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 11, 2009	812	Rx-Related Humor	Offer up some entirely false medical or psychological "fact."	SCI TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 18, 2009	813	Aw, Shocks	Give us a humorous example of the "shocking -- not."		Text file | Contest image
April 25, 2009	814	There Will Be Bloodline	Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in this week's results, and name their foal.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
May 2, 2009	815	Wittecisms	Create an original word containing -- in any order -- at least a W, an I, two T's and an E.	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 9, 2009	816	Googillions	Come up with an original phrase that generates at least 1 million listings on a Google search.	GOO	Text file | Contest image
May 16, 2009	817	Flopflip	Reverse the first half and second half of a word or name and define the result.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 23, 2009	818	Name the Day	Cite an actual holiday or one of those silly commemorative days, weeks or months for which you can find previous evidence, and supply a snarky description or slogan.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
May 30, 2009	819	Art Re-View	These objects are not what they seem to be, at first glance. They are something else entirely. What are they?	CAR	Text file | Contest image
June 6, 2009	820	Be Mister Language Person	Supply a Mister Language Person-type question and answer.	LAN QUE	Text file | Contest image
June 13, 2009	821	Spit the Difference	How are any of the items on the list above alike or different?	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 20, 2009	822	For Real Folks	Suggest some attractions for a Festival of Real American Folklife.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
June 27, 2009	823	Wryku	Compose a humorous (or at least wry or clever) haiku.	POE	Text file | Contest image
July 4, 2009	824	Jestinations	Give us a slogan for any city or town.	SLO POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 11, 2009	825	Disinstrumentals	Write some words to music that has no words.	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 18, 2009	826	The Inside Word	Take any word -- this may include the name of a person or place -- put a portion of it in quotation marks, and redefine the word.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 25, 2009	827	Caller Idiot	Name a real product or company and supply a stupid question or complaint for the consumer hotline person.	BUS QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 1, 2009	828	Inhuman Puns	Make a pun on the name of a familiar group, organization or company, and describe it or provide a quote from it.	BUS JOK WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 8, 2009	829	Limerixicon 6	Supply a humorous limerick prominently featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters di-.	LIM WOR LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 15, 2009	830	Mess With Our Heads	Take any headline, verbatim, appearing anywhere in The Post or on washingtonpost.com from Aug. 14 through Aug. 24 and reinterpret it by adding a "bank head," or subtitle.	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 22, 2009	831	A Big To-Do	Name a "bucket list" item for a well-known real or fictional character.	LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 29, 2009	832	Clue Us In	You supply one or more clues for the words in a filled-in grid.	CRO	Text file | Contest image
September 5, 2009	833	Our Greatest Hit	Start with a real word or multi-word term or name that begins with M, N, O, or P; add one letter, subtract one letter, replace one letter or transpose two adjacent letters; and define the new word.	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image
September 12, 2009	834	Fractured Compounds	Combine two full words within any single article appearing in The Washington Post or on washingtonpost.com into a hyphenated compound word, and define or otherwise describe the result.	HYP WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 19, 2009	835	Tour de Fours VI	Coin and define a humorous word that includes -- with no other letters between them, but in any order -- the letters T, H, R, and E.	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 26, 2009	836	Other People's Business	Describe what might happen if any of the above institutions (a) were run by an institution of your choice or (b) ran an institution of your choice.	POL BUS REL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 3, 2009	837	Strip Search	Combine two comic strips that appear in The Washington Post or at washingtonpost.com/comics and describe the results.	WAS COM	Text file | Post e-version
October 10, 2009	838	Picture This	Provide a caption for any of these pictures.	CAP	Text file
October 17, 2009	839	Overlap Dance	Overlap two words that share two or more consecutive letters -- anywhere in the word, not just at the beginning or end -- into a single longer word, and define it. AND your portmanteau word must begin with a letter from A through D.	LET WOR	Text file | Post e-version
October 24, 2009	840	Frittering away the neurons	Give us some more colorfully useful phrases; they don't have to be in the X'ing-the-Y form.		Text file
October 31, 2009	841	Food for naught	Alter the name of a food or dish slightly and describe the result.		Text file | Post e-version
November 7, 2009	842	Ask backwards	Here are your 12 possible answers. Tell us your joke in the form of a question, please.	JOK JEO	Text file
November 14, 2009	843	Prefrains	Provide a sentence or two of lead-in to the first line of a well-known book, poem, or song.	LIT MUS POE	Text file
November 21, 2009	844	Healthy choice	Enter any Style Invitational from Week 790 through Week 840, except for Week 793 and Week 798.	PRE	Text file
November 28, 2009	845	Reologisms	Write a description for any of 50 genuine Loser-created neologisms.	WOR	Text file
December 5, 2009	846	Season's gratings	Write a brief (50 words or fewer) holiday letter from a personage from past or present, or from fiction.	HIS LIT	Text file | Post e-version
December 12, 2009	847	Questionable journalism	Find any sentence (or a substantive part of a sentence) that appears in The Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com from Dec. 11 through Dec. 21 and come up with a question it might answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
December 19, 2009	848	Up and addin'	Compose a humorous rhopalic sentence (or multiple sentences) in which each word is one letter longer than the previous word.	LET WOR	Text file
December 26, 2009	849	Homonymphomania	Create a new homonym (or homophone) for any existing word and define it.	WOR	Text file
January 2, 2010	850	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2009.	POE EPI	Text file
January 9, 2010	851	Going to the shrink	Downsize the title of a book, movie or play to make it smaller or less momentous and describe it.	LIT MOV	Text file
January 16, 2010	852	Small, Let's get	Write a rhopalic sentence (or fanciful newspaper headline) in which each successive word is one letter shorter.	LET WOR	Text file
January 23, 2010	853	It's easy as DEF	Create a brand-new word or phrase that contains a block of three successive letters in the alphabet; the series must go forward in the alphabet, not backward.	LET WOR	Text file
January 30, 2010	854	What's not to liken?	Produce one or more similes in any of the following categories.		Text file
February 6, 2010	855	The news could be verse	Sum up an article (or even an ad!) in any Washington Post print or online edition from Feb. 6 through Feb. 15 in verse.	POE WAS	Text file
February 13, 2010	856	Titled Puerility	Here are some untitled book covers. For any of them, tell us a title and synopsis of a book that will never be published.	ART LIT	Text file | Post e-version
February 20, 2010	857	All FED Up	Create a brand-new word or phrase that contains a block of three successive letters in the alphabet -- but the series must go backward through the alphabet.	LET	Text file
February 27, 2010	858	Same OED	Make up a false definition for any of the words listed below.	WOR	Text file
March 6, 2010	859	Can't goods	Cast a joke in one of the forms listed above.	JOK	Text file
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 13, 2010	860	Ten, Anyone?	Humorously define or describe something or someone in exactly 10 words.	WOR	Text file
March 20, 2010	861	It's incumbent upon us	Combine the names of two or more freshman members of Congress to create "joint legislation." This week's pool of legislators includes only those who were elected to their seats before 1994, the first year we ran the freshman contest.	LEG	Text file
March 27, 2010	862	Be cheerful	Send us a cheer or fight song for any pro sports team or any national team.	POE MUS ATH	Text file | Post e-version
April 3, 2010	863	It's Post time	Breed any two of 100 of the almost 400 horses eligible for this year's Triple Crown races, and name the foal.	HOR	Text file
April 10, 2010	864	Oonerspisms	Spoonerize a single word or a name by transposing different part of the word (more than two adjacent letters), and define the resultant new term.	WOR	Text file
April 17, 2010	865	No Googlenopes left	Come up with a humorous Googlenope.	GOO	Text file | Post e-version
April 24, 2010	866	Natalie Portmanteau	Begin with a real name; append to it a word, name or expression so that they overlap; and finally define (humorously, of course) the resulting phrase.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 1, 2010	867	Back in the saddle	Breed any two of the foals in today's results -- OR one foal with one of the actual horses used in today's entries, and name the grandfoal.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 8, 2010	868	Count the ways	Give us some musings of a technical wonk.	SCI	Text file | Contest image
May 15, 2010	869	Clue us in	Send us funny, clever clues for any of the words already in this grid.	CRO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 22, 2010	870	Let's play Nopardy	Describe any of the above phrases in the form of a question.	QUE	Text file | Post e-version
May 29, 2010	871	Remarquees	Change a movie title by one letter (or number, if the title includes a number) and describe the new film.	LET MOV	Text file | Post e-version
June 5, 2010	872	Har Monikers	Combine the first parts of each word in a famous person's or character's name -- in order -- and define it or use it in a sentence that somehow refers to its source.	WOR	Text file | Post e-version
June 12, 2010	873	Back to Square 1A	Replace the shaded letters in this grid with your own letters to come up with a different word or phrase -- either an existing word or one you make up -- and define it humorously.	CRO	Text file | Post e-version
June 19, 2010	874	Stat Us	Write a funny Facebook status line.	CUL	Text file
June 26, 2010	875	Fail Us	Give us a funny Learn From My Fail-type lesson, 30 words or fewer, true or not, in your own words or attributed to a famous personage.	CUL	Text file
July 3, 2010	876	Oilies but goodies	Write lyrics somehow related to the oil spill, set to an existing tune.	POE MUS	Text file | Post e-version
July 10, 2010	877	Quipped from the headlines	Write a rhyming couplet about some matter in the news.	POE CUL	Text file
July 17, 2010	878	Safety in blunders	Tell us a way to make the nation more secure.	SCI POL	Text file
July 24, 2010	879	Say Venn	Express some sentiment in the form of a Venn diagram.		Text file
July 31, 2010	880	Our greatest hit	Start with a real word or multi-word term or name that begins with Q, R or S; add one letter, subtract one letter, replace one letter with another, or transpose two adjacent letters; and define the new word.	WOR LET	Text file	Lennie Magida	Text file (pub 8-28-10) Text file (pub 9-25-10)
August 7, 2010	881	What's in a name?	Take the name of a person or institution. Find within it a hidden message.	LET BUS POL	Text file
August 14, 2010	882	Limerixicon VII	Supply a humorous limerick prominently featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters dr-.	LIM LET POE	Text file | Post e-version	Carole Lyons	Text file (pub 9-11-10) Text file (pub 9-25-10)
August 21, 2010	883	Same difference	Choose any two items from the list above and explain why they are alike or are different from each other.	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 28, 2010		Not this week, honey	No new contest this week -- it's the first break that the Empress has given the Obsessive Losers since February 2008.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 4, 2010	884	Rekindling the spork	Combine two devices or other products to make a new one.	BUS	Text file
September 11, 2010	885	Mess with our heads	Take any headline, verbatim, appearing anywhere in The Post or on washingtonpost.com from Sept. 10 through Sept. 20 and reinterpret it by adding a "bank head."	HEA	Text file
September 18, 2010	886	Look both ways	Give us a new term that's a palindrome and define it.	WOR	Text file
September 25, 2010	887	Plus-Fours	Write a limerick whose third or fourth line is one of those listed above.	LIM POE	Text file
October 2, 2010	888	It's the eponymy, stupid	Coin a word or expression based on the name of a well-known person, define it, and perhaps use it in a sentence	WOR	Text file
October 9, 2010	889	Tour de Fours VII	Coin and define a humorous word that includes -- with no other letters between them, but in any order -- the letters P, O, L and E.	TDF	Text file
October 16, 2010	890	Double-teaming	Combine the names of any two pro sports teams -- even from different sports -- and describe the result.	ATH	Text file
October 23, 2010	891	Mirror, Mirror	Write a word-palindrome sentence, in which the first and last words are the same; the second and next-to-last, etc.	WOR	Text file
October 30, 2010	892	Get a move on	Change the location of something for humorous effect. Provide an explanation if you wish.		Text file
November 6, 2010	893	Give us a hint	Write a humorously witty story in 25 words or fewer.	WOR	Text file | Post e-version
November 13, 2010	894	Look Back in Inker	Enter any Style Invitational from Week 841 through Week 890 (except for Week 844).	PRE	Text file | Post e-version
November 20, 2010	895	Picture this	Supply a caption for any of these cartoons.	CAP CAR	Text file
November 27, 2010	896	Other people's business	Describe what might happen if any of the above institutions (a) were run by an institution of your choice or (b) ran an institution of your choice.	BUS REL POL	Text file
December 4, 2010	897	Catch their drift	Take any sentence from an article or ad in The Washington Post or washingtonpost.com from Dec. 3 to Dec. 13 and translate it into "plain English."	WAS LAN	Text file
December 11, 2010	898	Pre-current events	Predict some humorous news event that would happen in 2011.	CUL	Text file | Post e-version
December 18, 2010	899	Clue us in	Send us funny, clever clues for any of the words already in this grid.	CRO	Text file | Post e-version
December 25, 2010	900	Dear us!	Submit a "Dear Blank" letter to us instead.		Text file
January 1, 2011	901	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2010.	POE EPI	Text file | Post e-version
January 8, 2011	902	What's the good news?	Take any sentence, or substantive part of a sentence, or a headline from an article or ad in The Washington Post or washingtonpost.com from Jan. 7 to Jan. 18 and make it sound upbeat (or not so bad).	WAS	Text file | Post e-version
January 15, 2011	903	Bill us now	Combine the names of two or more members of Congress as co-sponsors of a bill.	LEG	Text file | Post e-version
January 23, 2011	904	We move on back	Move the first letter in a word or name to the end of that word and define the resulting word.	LET WOR	Text file	Marian Carlsson David Garratt	Text file (pub 2-20-11) Text file (pub 3-18-11)
January 30, 2011	905	Anticdotes	Give us an untrue anecdote responding to one of these past Editor's Query topics.	WAS	Text file
February 6, 2011	906	Your mug here	Give us a new design for the Loser Mug.	STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 13, 2011	907	Naming rite	Come up with a creative, somehow fitting sponsor for some public facility or part of one.		Text file
February 20, 2011		Give it a rest	No new contest this week.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 27, 2011	908	Recast away	Fire an actor or actress from a movie or TV show, past or present, and offer a replacement for the role.	MOV TEL	Text file | Post e-version
March 6, 2011	909	Reprizing	Suggest humorous uses for one or more of the items above, alone or in combination.	CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 13, 2011	910	Your ad here	Slightly alter an advertising slogan so that someone else could use it.	SLO BUS	Text file | Post e-version
March 20, 2011	911	Help!	Create a short humorous dialogue -- or a monologue featuring one party -- of a phone call to 911, or a call for help to someone else.		Text file | Post e-version
March 27, 2011	912	Pair-a-phrase	Lift a word that appears inside a longer word; pair it with the original word to create a phrase; and define it.	WOR	Text file
April 3, 2011	913	Bring up the rear	Move the last letter of an existing word or name to the front of the word, and define the new term.	LET	Text file | Contest image
April 10, 2011	914	Foaling around	Breed any two of 100 of the almost 400 horses eligible for this year's Triple Crown races, and name the foal.	HOR	Text file
April 17, 2011	915	Picture this	Write a caption for any of the cartoons pictured here.	CAP CAR	Text file
April 24, 2011	916	Bank shots	Take any headline, verbatim, appearing anywhere in The Post or on washingtonpost.com from April 22 through May 2 and reinterpret it by adding a "bank head," or subtitle.	HEA	Text file
May 1, 2011	917	Wryku	Write a haiku--a sentiment that can be broken into three lines with exactly five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, five in the third--on any subject that's been in the news in the last couple of weeks.	POE CUL	Text file
May 8, 2011	918	Colt Following	Breed any two "foals" in today's results, or one foal with one of the real horse names used in today's entries--and name the "grandfoal." The name may not exceed 18 characters, including spaces, and your entry shouldn't remotely duplicate any of today's results.	HOR	Text file
May 15, 2011	919	Good Luck With 13	Alter a 13-letter word, phrase or name by one letter (add a letter, drop a letter, switch two letters somewhere in the word, or substitute one letter for another) and describe the result.	LET	Text file
May 22, 2011	920	Sarchiasm	Write an original chiasmus, in which the elements of a phrase are inverted for comedic effect.	WOR	Text file
May 29, 2011	921	Give Us Willies	Write an original Little Willie poem, perhaps reflecting our current era. This is a venerable four-line genre in which Master W. does some nasty thing and doesn't tend to learn to be a Good Boy by poem's end.	POE	Text file | Post e-version
June 5, 2011	922	A Banner Week	Write entirely new, humorous lyrics to the tune of “The Star-Spangled Banner”; they can be on any subject.	POE	Text file
June 12, 2011	923	Chemical Wordfare	Create a new chemical element or other chemical term.	SCI	Text file
June 19, 2011	924	Doomed to repeat it	Create "Unreal Facts" about history.	HIS TRI	Text file
June 26, 2011	925	A remeaning task	Redefine a word in the dictionary beginning with I through O.	LET WOR	Text file
July 3, 2011	926	Outrageous fortunes	Come up with a fortune cookie line that you'd like to see.		Text file
July 10, 2011	927	Drive-By Shoutings	Write a very short four-line “poem” promoting a product or company, or offering advice to drivers; the poem must rhyme, in ABAB or ABCB rhyme scheme. A fifth, non-rhyming line may state the product name or a conclusion.	POE BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 17, 2011	928	Play feature	Use the title of a movie as the answer to a riddle or other question.	MOV QUE	Text file
July 24, 2011	929	Now sit right back ...	Write a funny song introducing a TV show, past or present.	MUS TEL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 31, 2011	930	We WANT stupid complaints!	Complain comically unreasonably about some innocuous thing appearing in the print Post or on washingtonpost.com over the next week or the previous few days.	WAS	Text file
August 7, 2011	931	Limerixicon 8	Supply a humorous limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters ea- through -el.	LIM POE	Text file | Post e-version
August 14, 2011	932	We'll call them your-mama jokes	Tell us an original "your mama" joke.	CUL	Text file | Post e-version
August 21, 2011	933	Stories that count (to 56)	Write a humorous story in exactly 56 words.	WOR	Text file
August 28, 2011	934	Same difference	Explain how any two items in the provided list are similar or different.	DIF	Text file
September 4, 2011	935	The 400 blows	Write a humorous poem--choose your form--about the Virginia earthquake, Hurricane Irene or another well-known natural event.	POE CUL	Text file
September 11, 2011	936	Hoho contendere	Slightly alter a well-known foreign-language term and define it.	LAN WOR	Text file | Post e-version
September 18, 2011	937	Staake it to him	Write a caption for any of the five pages or details pictured from some of Bob's more than 50 picture books.	CAP ART LIT	Text file
September 25, 2011	938	Free and Lear	Write a limerick using the first two lines of any of Edward Lear's 115 limericks plus your own remaining three lines.	LIM POE	Text file | Post e-version
October 2, 2011	939	MASH 2: The Retread	Combine two movie titles and describe the result.	MOV	Text file
October 9, 2011	940	Our type o' headline	Change a headline by one letter, or switch two letters, or change spacing or punctuation, in a headline (or most of a headline) appearing on an article or ad in The Washington Post or on washingtonpost.com from Oct. 7 through Oct. 17, and elaborate on it in a "bank" headline (subhead).	HEA LET	Text file
October 16, 2011	941	They don't say!	Give us a quote that a particular person, present or past, real or fictional, sooo wouldn't have said.	HIS	Text file
October 23, 2011	942	Singular ideas	Give us an idea for a contest for which there's likely only one good entry.	STY	Text file | Post e-version
October 30, 2011	943	Ask backward XXIX	You are on "Jeopardy!" You supply the questions for as many of the provided answers as you like.	JEO	Text file
November 6, 2011	944	Uh, yeah, it's just you	Give us one or more "Is it just me" questions.	QUE	Text file
November 13, 2011	945	Laugh-baked ideas	Cleverly depict a person, event or phenomenon of the 21st century — real history as well as scenes from movies, books, videos, etc. — using edible materials, and send us a photo of your creation.	PIX HIS MOV LIT	Text file | Contest image
November 20, 2011	946	Another round of Bierce	Write a clever definition of a word, name or multi-word term.	WOR	Text file
November 27, 2011	947	Tour de Fours VIII: Neologisms	Come up with a new word or two-word term that includes the letter block N-O-E-L, in any order but with no other letters between them, and define it.	TDF	Text file
December 4, 2011	948	Look back in Inker	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 891 through 945 (except for Week 896, which was the same contest for the previous year).	PRE	Text file
December 11, 2011	949	Putting the SAT in satire	Give us an analogy using "a is to b as x is to y."	WOR	Text file | Contest image
December 18, 2011	950	Of all the nerve!	Give us a humorous example of hypothetical chutzpah.		Text file | Post e-version
December 25, 2011	951	Say that again	Double a word, or use a word and its homophone, to make a phrase, and define it.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
January 1, 2012	952	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2011.	POE EPI	Text file
January 8, 2012	953	Clue us in	Come up with creative, funny clues for the words and multi-word terms in the crossword puzzle that's already run in The Post.	CRO	Text file
January 15, 2012	954	Bring on the 'fight' jokes	Tell us an original joke ending with “And then the fight started.”	JOK	Text file | Contest image
January 22, 2012	955	Twits' twist	Create a phrase by combining a word or phrase with an anagram of that word or phrase, and define or describe it.	ANA WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 29, 2012	956	Give us some bad ideas	Finish any of the provided "You know" phrases.		Text file | Post e-version
February 5, 2012	957	Fearful Symmetry	Write a clever passage whose successive words are one letter longer until the middle of the passage, and then become one letter shorter.	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image
February 12, 2012	958	All's Weller	Write a "wellerism," a sentence that starts with a quote, often a short proverb, and goes on to include some sort of wordplay on something in the quote.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 19, 2012	959	Out of network	Move a current or former TV program (or type of programming) to a different network and explain what would change.	TEL	Text file | Contest image
February 26, 2012	960	Raving reviews	Send us a creative "review" for any of the provided items that are listed on Amazon.	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image
March 4, 2012	961	The end of our rhops	Write a funny passage or headline whose words all have the same number of letters.	LET HEA WOR	Text file | Contest image
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 11, 2012	962	Questionable journalism	Take any sentence (or a major part of it) that appears in the Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com anytime from now through March 19 and supply a question it could answer.	WAS QUE	Text file | Post e-version
March 18, 2012	963	The overlap dance	Send us a Before & After "person" whose name combines two people's names, real or fictional (okay, you can use animals' names, too), and describe the person in a funny way.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
March 25, 2012	964	The Grossery Bag?	Suggest a design and/or slogan to go on the side of the ardently desired Style Invitational Loser Bag.	SLO STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 1, 2012	965	Foaling around	Breed any two of the horses in this year's Triple Crown races and name their foal.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 8, 2012	966	Inkremental change	Start with any word or name, and create a series of words that change by one letter at a time, until you come up with a related word or name.	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image
April 15, 2012	967	Overlap dance II	Create a phrase that overlaps two terms, each of two words or more, and describe the result.	WOR	Text file	Mark Richardson	Text file (pub 5-13-12) Text file (pub 8-19-12)
April 22, 2012	968	Take us for grants	Come up with a proposal to the National Science Foundation or other research-funding organization for a study based on a stupid hypothesis.	SCI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 29, 2012	969	Colt following	Breed any two "foals" in today's results, and name the grandfoal.	HOR	Text file | Contest image
FIRST INKIN' MEMORIAL AWARDED IN REPORT FROM WEEK 966
May 6, 2012	970	Couple it	Take a line from any well-known poem and pair it with your own second line to make a humorous couplet.	POE LIT	Text file | Post e-version
May 13, 2012	971	Double booking	Come up with a double book with a humorous connection; the first title must be an actual book, while the other may be your own fictitious title or a second real book.	LIT	Text file | Contest image
May 20, 2012	972	Trends and neighbors	Choose any two items on the provided list and explain how they are alike or different.	DIF	Text file | Contest image
May 27, 2012	973	A real triple crown	The horses in this week's list either produced no inking "foals" in Week 965, or ran in the Kentucky Derby but weren't on the initial list. "Breed" any two and name the foal.	HOR	Text file
June 3, 2012	974	Eat our dust!	Write a limerick humorously describing a book, play, movie, or TV show.	LIM LIT TEL MOV POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Chris Doyle	Text file | Contest image (pub 7-1-12) Text file (pub 8-19-12)
June 10, 2012	975	Gone mything	Debunk a "Sixth Myth" about one of more of the recent "5 Myths" topics provided.	CUL	Text file | Contest image
June 17, 2012	976	Join now!	Combine the beginning and end of any two words or names in this week's Style Invitational or Style Conversational columns to make a new term, and define it.	HYP WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 24, 2012	977	Lost in Translation 2.0	Translate a line of text from English into another language using Google Translate; then copy that result and translate it back into English. You may also make intermediate steps into one or more other languages.	GOO LAN	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 1, 2012	978	A reason to rhyme the news	Write a short verse about something that's been in the news recently.	POE CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 8, 2012	979	The madding crowd	Suggest funny, original ways to tick people off.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 15, 2012	980	Def jam	Supply a humorous definition for any of the provided Loser-penned neologisms.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
July 22, 2012		You can't lose this week!	Because there’s not a new contest this week. Three and a half weeks from now, the Empress will be lounging on an exotic (okay, Delaware) beach, blissfully disconnected from this newspaper's "content management system," Methode, better known within the newsroom as "that piece of [not 'blueberry pie'] Methode."		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 29, 2012	981	Feeling testy	Write a question that "ought to" be on a qualifying test for a particular job.	BUS	Text file
August 5, 2012	982	The parody line	Set your own, humorous words to the tune of a well-known song--except that you must preserve one of the original lines.	POE MUS	Text file | Post e-version
August 12, 2012	983	Limerixicon IX	Supply a humorous limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters "eq-" through "ez-".	LIM LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 19, 2012	984	Another brilliant contest	Write something whose words begin with consecutive letters of the alphabet.	LET	Text file
August 26, 2012	985	What art art thou?	Tell us which Style Invitational contest any of the provided Bob Staake cartoons might be illustrating.	CAR	Text file | Contest image	Beverley Sharp	Text file | Contest image
September 2, 2012	986	Hear here!	Give us a sentence or short dialogue that would be a lot funnier if a word in it were mistaken for a homophone of that word.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
September 9, 2012	987	Bank shots	Take any headline, verbatim, appearing anywhere in The Washington Post or on washingtonpost.com from Sept. 6 through Sept. 17 and reinterpret it by adding a "bank head," or subtitle.	HEA	Text file
September 16, 2012	988	A faster break	Suggest ways to make sports and other leisure activities more time-efficient or exciting.	ATH	Text file | Contest image
September 23, 2012	989	On the double	Come up with a double or multiple profession, and explain how each job complements the other(s).	BUS	Text file | Post e-version
September 30, 2012	990	Indecent relations	Pair two people, real or fictional, who have the same last name; say how they're alike or different, or something they might do (even in fantasy), as a pair.	DIF	Text file | Post e-version
October 7, 2012	991	Tour de Fours IX	Create a new word or two-word term containing the letter block V, O, T, and E and define it.	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 14, 2012	992	Mittsterpiece Theatre	Suppose public-TV shows, past or present, were turned out onto the open market to make a living on commercial TV. Tell us what would happen.	BUS TEL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 21, 2012	993	Versus, verses	Write a short "rap battle" between any two characters, real or fictional.	POE	Text file
October 28, 2012	994	Stick it to us	Suggest a slogan for one of our two new honorable-mention Loser Magnets for 2012-2013.	SLO STY	Text file | Post e-version
November 4, 2012	995	Ask backwards	We give you the "answers" and you supply jokes in the form of a question.	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 11, 2012	996	A Life-Time opportunity	Combine two magazines or journals and describe the result, supply a marketing pitch, or suggest a story or two that it might publish.	CUL	Text file	Lawrence McGuire	Text file
November 18, 2012	997	Unworthy causes	Name a dubious charity and describe its mission.		Text file | Contest image
November 25, 2012	998	Set the law on us	Suggest an odd law for a particular place in the world.	POL	Text file | Contest image
December 2, 2012	999	Drectrospective	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 946 through Week 995, except for Week 948.	PRE	Text file
December 9, 2012	1000	We now have 4 digits; you now have 7 letters	Choose any word, name or two-word term beginning anywhere from T through Z; then add one letter, drop one letter, substitute one letter for another, or transpose two adjacent letters, and define the result.	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image
December 16, 2012	1001	Make us ROFL	Give us a funny, original acronym.	LET WOR	Text file
December 23, 2012	1002	Wring out the OED	Make up a false definition for any of the listed OED words.	WOR	Text file
December 30, 2012	1003	Just do it	Use a well-known advertising slogan for a different company, organization or product to humorous effect.	SLO BUS POL	Text file | Post e-version
January 6, 2013	1004	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem about anyone who died in 2012.	POE EPI	Text file | Post e-version	Robert Schechter Nan Reiner	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 13, 2013	1005	Send us the bill	Name a piece of legislation "cosponsored" by two or more of the 98 new House and Senate members provided.	LEG	Text file | Post e-version
January 20, 2013	1006	It's a ... a ...	Create a new superhero (or duo) and describe the superpower, or not-very-superpower.	CUL	Text file | Post e-version
January 27, 2013	1007	Clue us in	Come up with creative, funny clues for the words and multi-word terms in the provided grid.	CRO WOR	Text file | Contest image
February 3, 2013		Primping for our big day	There's no new contest this week, because four weeks from now, the Empress will devote this entire space to a celebration of the Style Invitational's 20th anniversary.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 10, 2013	1008	Switched reels	Re-arrange all the words in the title of a movie, and describe the resulting work. (Conversational text)	WOR MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 17, 2013	1009	What's in a name?	Write something about some person, real or fictional, using only the letters in the person's name.	LET	Text file | Post e-version
February 24, 2013	1010	Picture this	Write a caption for any of the five provided cartoons.	CAP CAR	Text file | Post e-version
March 3, 2013	1011	Top these!	Try your hand at any of the contests mentioned in this look back.	PRE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 10, 2013	1012	The news at 5	Write a limerick about a recent news event.	LIM CUL POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 17, 2013	1013	Har monikers	Write a riddle that uses a pun of a person's name in the answer.	JOK WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 24, 2013	1014	Join now	Combine the beginning and end, or the beginnings and ends, of any two words in single Washington Post story or ad published March 21 to April 1 into a new word or two-word phrase, and define the result.	WAS WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 31, 2013	1015	Faux re mi	Give us some humorously false trivia about music or musicians.	MUS TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 7, 2013	1016	Foaling around	Breed any two of the horses nominated for this year's Triple Crown races and give the foal a name humorously reflecting the names of the parents.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 14, 2013	1017	Vowel play	Write a "univocalic" newspaper headline -- one that uses only one vowel throughout.	LET HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 21, 2013	1018	Reologisms	Write a clever, funny definition for any of the Loser-concocted neologisms from Week 1014 as well as from Week 1000 that deserve better definitions than their creators offered at the time.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 28, 2013	1019	What a turnoff	Tell us some creative things that children and families could do during Screen-Free Week.	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 5, 2013	1020	Colt following	Breed any two of this week's winning foals and name the grandfoal.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 12, 2013	1021	'Gram theft	Come up with a term by scrambling any of the letters sets in the provided list, and define it.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jay Cummings Chuck Smith	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 6-9-13) Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 6-23-13)
May 19, 2013	1022	What's the diff?	Explain how any two of the provided items are alike or different.	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 26, 2013	1023	Hai there, Martians!	Write one or more humorous haiku that will greet the Martians or share a little nugget of what life is like on Earth.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 2, 2013	1024	Gorey thoughts	Send us some edgy rhyming alphabet-primer couplets. The pairs are AB, CD, EF, GH, IJ, KL, MN, OP, QR, ST, UV, WX, and YZ.	LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 9, 2013	1025	In so many words	Create an original backronym for a name or other term, especially one that's been in the news lately.	WOR CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 16, 2013		(We) give us a break	The Empress is spending a week touring her dominions and so she's giving you a week off as well.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 23, 2013	1026	'Might' makes ink	Give us a joke using any of the using any of the provided "you might be" templates.	JOK	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Art Grinath	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 7-21-13) Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 7-28-13)
June 30, 2013	1027	Built for two	Give humorous related names for any pair of features in a given building, organization, etc.	BUS POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 7-28-13)
July 7, 2013	1028	Joint Legislation	Combine the names of two or more of the First Congress senators and/or representatives to create "joint legislation".	LEG	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 14, 2013	1029	Ditty Harry	Write a descriptive theme song for a well-known movie, set to a well-known tune.	MOV MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 21, 2013	1030	The cinquain feeling	Write a clever cinquain. The five-line form is straightforward: first line, two syllables; second line, four syllables; third line, six; fourth line, eight; fifth line, two.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 28, 2013	1031	The 'Sty'le Invitational	Choose any word, name, or short term; emphasize a key, suddenly pertinent part of it with quotation marks; then redefine the word.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 4, 2013	1032	Hid stuff	Explain the symbolism "obviously" evident in any well-known site, artwork, etc., in 75 words or fewer.	ART	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 11, 2013	1033	LimeriXicon	Supply a humorous limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "fa-".	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 18, 2013	1034	What's to like?	Supply an original joke of the form "I like my [your choice] the way I like my [something else of your choice]: [some clever, funny parallel]."	JOK	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 25, 2013	1035	The Empy 500	Explain what news Bob Staake is trying to tell in any of the provided drawings.	CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 1, 2013	1036	Just for liffs	Use a real place name, from anywhere in the world, as a new term.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 8, 2013	1037	Outrage us	Find something offensive about an inoffensive name of a product, organization, place, etc.	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 15, 2013	1038	It's like this, see	Answer a simple question with a ridiculously argued answer citing various connections and parallels.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 22, 2013	1039	Shookespeare	Combine any of the words in Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy, in any order, to create a humorous sentence or longer passage.	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 29, 2013	1040	IRS my case	Schedule A: Suggest a novel way for the government to determine taxes. Schedule B: Suggest a deduction that you'd like to take, or that some real or fictional person past or present might like to take. Schedule C: Suggest a cause you'd rather check off $3 for.	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 6, 2013	1041	What have you got to lose?	Answer a question, real or rhetorical, that appears in a song.	MUS QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 13, 2013	1042	Tour de Fours X: Go SANE	Create a new word or two-word term containing the letter block S-A-N-E -- in any order, but consecutively, and define it.	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 20, 2013	1043	Rechanneling celebrity	Describe a TV reality show featuring a celebrity pursuing some unlikely endeavor.	TEL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 27, 2013	1044	Play it safe	Come up with a comically safety-conscious rule for the workplace or elsewhere.	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 3, 2013	1045	Songs for the asking	Take a sentence, phrase or title from a song and provide a funny question it might answer.	MUS QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 10, 2013	1046	Derive us crazy	Offer a bogus but funny explanation of how a particular expression originated.	HIS WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 17, 2013	1047	Bank shots	Quote a headline appearing in The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com or another publication, print or online, dated Nov. 14 to Nov. 25, and supply a humorous "bank" headline that either misinterprets it or comments wryly on it.	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 24, 2013	1048	Ask Backwards	You supply the questions to as many of the provided answers as you like.	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 1, 2013	1049	Be rating	Come up with a new movie rating and describe it.	MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 8, 2013	1050	Just redo it	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 1000 through Week 1046.	STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 15, 2013	1051	Love the tiny tail stain!	Create an anagram -- a text with the letters rearranged -- of any text (except merely someone's name), of any length, referring to something or someone in the news.	ANA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 22, 2013	1052	Clue us in	Come up with up to 25 creative, funny clues for the words and multi-word terms that appear in the provided grid.	CRO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 29, 2013	1053	Questionable journalism	Quote an actual sentence, from The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com, or another print or online publication dated between Dec. 26 and Jan. 6, and follow it with a question that the sentence might answer.	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 5, 2014	1054	Dead letters	Write a short, humorous poem commemorating someone (or maybe even something) who died in 2013.	EPI POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 12, 2014	1055	Oh, K!	This week, to commemorate both Kevin Dopart and his 1K ink blots: Change a word, phrase or name by adding one or more K's, and define your new term.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 19, 2014	1056	Weather or nuts	Coin a term relating to the weather, climate, etc. -- either literal or figurative -- and define it.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 26, 2014	1057	Sportin' lie	Give us some fake sports trivia.	ATH TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 2, 2014	1058	Eastwood Ho	Create a good-bad-ugly progression.	JOK	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 9, 2014	1059	With parens like these …	Add some words in parentheses to a well-known song title to make it funnier in some way.	WOR MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 16, 2014	1060	Picture this	Write a caption, or captions, for one or more of the provided cartoons.	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 23, 2014	1061	Less taste, more fill-in	Give us a novel clue for any word or phrase in which the remaining letters in the provided crossword puzzle fit, across or down.	CRO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 2, 2014	1062	Scanning the headlines	Write a rhyming poem about something currently in the news.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Chris Doyle	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 3-30-14) Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 4-27-14)
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 9, 2014	1063	Same difference	Take any two items from the provided list and explain how they're similar or different.	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Dave Letizia	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 4-6-14) Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 4-27-14)
March 16, 2014	1064	HistoRebuffs	Alter some moment in history and tell us -- in no more than about 50 words -- the likely outcome.	HIS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Gary Crockett	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 4-13-14) Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 4-27-14)
March 23, 2014	1065	The ands have it	Slightly alter ANY well-known phrase in the form "A-and-B" -- it doesn't have to be Latinate/Anglo-Saxon -- and define it.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Frank Osen	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 4-20-14) Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 4-27-14)
March 30, 2014		(We) give us a (spring) break	There's no new contest this week, because the Empress will be on assignment overseas four weeks from now.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 6, 2014	1066	It's mating season	"Breed" any two from the provided list of 100 of the 3-year-old racehorses nominated for this year's Triple Crown and name the foal to reflect both names.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 13, 2014	1067	A(t)tribute to your wit	Alter a well-known quote slightly and attribute it to someone else.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 20, 2014	1068	An iffy proposition	Suggest some humorous action that you would take if you were in someone's position, more or less in the form "If I were _____ my first act would be _____."		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 27, 2014	1069	It's a small, small world	Write a humorous poem of no more than eight lines -- it doesn't have to rhyme -- using only the top 1,000 words on Wiktionary.org's list of the most common among 20 million words found in movie and TV scripts.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 4, 2014	1070	Colt following -- our grandfoals contest	"Breed" any two of the foal names that got ink this week, and name the offspring to reflect the parents' names.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 11, 2014	1071	A pair of threes	Choose two or three entities represented by a single three-letter combination at bit.ly/3letterabs and say how they are alike or different.	LET DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 18, 2014	1072	The Tile Invitational	Come up with a 5-, 6-, or 7-letter term by scrambling any of the provided seven-letter ScrabbleGram sets, and define it.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 25, 2014	1073	Bank shots: Mess with (y)our heads	Quote a headline appearing in the Washington Post, washington.com or another publication, print or headline, dated May 22 to June 1, and supply a "bank" headline that either misinterprets it, as in the examples above, or comments wryly on it.	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 1, 2014	1074	Let's go parody-hopping	Describe a stage or movie musical in a parody of a song from a different musical.	POE MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 8, 2014	1075	Falsity is Job One	Send us some fictoids about cars and trucks and driving and stuff.	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 15, 2014	1076	Dactyly fractyly	Send us some double dactyls that conform to Gene Weingarten's rules.	DAC	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 22, 2014	1077	Time marches Swiftly	Give us a novel Tom Swifty, playing on either an adverb or a verb (e.g., "We care about the little people, the BP chairman gushed").	WOR CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 29, 2014	1078	Hyphen the Terrible	Combine one side of any hyphenated word or compound term with one side of another word to make a new hyphenated term, and define it humorously. Both halves must appear in the same issue of The Post or another print newspaper, or in writing published the same day on washingtonpost.com or another online publication. (Conversational text)	HYP WAS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 6, 2014	1079	Little piddle riddle	Ask a question and answer it with a rhyme.	POE QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 13, 2014	1080	McGonagall with the windiness	Memorialize a modern "tragedy" in a poem burdened with hilariously overwrought verse; lame, forced rhymes; and painfully uneven meter. Get the badness across in one verse of no more than eight lines. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 20, 2014	1081	It's the stupidity, stupid	Write us stupid questions that will make us laugh. (Conversational text)	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 27, 2014	1082	Band on the pun	Alter the name of a music group or performer slightly -- not necessarily by just one letter, but enough so it's obvious what the original is -- and describe it in some way. (Conversational text)	MUS WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 3, 2014	1083	Everybody get appy	Offer up an idea for either a humorously useful app or a humorously counterproductive one. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 10, 2014	1084	Limerixicon XI: Fi-, fo-, go!	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "Fl-" through "fo-". (Conversational text)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 17, 2014	1085	Eww-venirs: Ideas for gift shops	Suggest a humorous--but NOT horribly tasteless--tchotchke, T-shirt, etc., from a real or imagined gift shop at a particular tourist site. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 24, 2014	1086	Playing the dozens	1. Start with any 12-letter word, name or multi-word phrase. 2. Add one letter OR drop one letter OR substitute another letter OR switch the position of two letters to create a new term, as in the examples given. 3. Define or describe the result humorously. (Conversational text)	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 31, 2014	1087	The core ridiculum	Come up with a comical class (any type of school) and provide a course catalog description. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 7, 2014	1088	Ask backwards with our answers, your questions	Supply the questions to as many of the 16 supplied answers as you like. (Conversational text)	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 14, 2014	1089	It's E-Z Find-a-Word -- your own!	Create a word or multi-word term that consists of adjacent letters -- in any direction or several directions -- in the provided grid, and provide a humorous definition. (Conversational text)	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 21, 2014	1090	Talk undirty to us	Write a humorous poem in any form (no more than eight lines) that includes one or more of the provided words; the word must make sense in the poem in its TRUE meaning. (Conversational text)	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 28, 2014	1091	Good idea! or not.	Come up with a good idea and, through a small change in wording, a bad idea. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 5, 2014	1092	Are we having funds yet?	Suggest a humorous fundraising "challenge" for any organization. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 12, 2014	1093	You're only as rich as you fee	What are some really bad ideas for various businesses to make a few more bucks? (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 19, 2014	1094	TAXI's the fare for Tour de Fours XI	Coin a word or hyphenated term that contains the letter block T-A-X-I; the letters may be in any order, but there may be no other letters between them. (Conversational text)	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 26, 2014	1095	TankaWanka!	Write a TankaWanka about something that's been in the news lately. The poem must consist of five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables in that order. And it must include at least one rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 2, 2014	1096	Picture this	Write a humorous caption for any of the provided Bob Staake cartoons. (Conversational text)	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 9, 2014	1097	Futz your sign	Select a line from one of the horoscopes appearing anytime from Nov. 6 through Nov. 17 in the Washington Post's daily Style or on washingtonpost.com and "clarify" it with a translation or extra "information". (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 16, 2014	1098	Prime time for some Amazon reviews	Send us a creative "review" for any of the provided items that are listed on Amazon. (Conversational text)	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 23, 2014	1099	Questionable journalism	Take a sentence (or most of a sentence) that appears in an article in The Washington Post or on washingtonpost.com dated Nov. 20 through Dec. 1 (in print, any article from those days' papers), and make up a question that the sentence could answer.	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 30, 2014	1100	Pun and ink -- the feghoot	Contrive an elaborate scenario that ends in a novel groaner pun on a familiar expression, title, etc. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 7, 2014	1101	The year in redo	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 1047 through Week 1097, except for Week 1050. (Conversational text)	PRE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 14, 2014	1102	Let's get Sirius	Suggest a new radio channel and describe it. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 21, 2014	1103	Themes good enough for us	Suggest an existing song to be used as the theme for a TV series or program for comic effect. (Conversational text)	MUS TEL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 28, 2014	1104	A pair of threes	Choose two or three entities represented by a single three-letter combination beginning with E- through H- — see the links at bit.ly/abbrevs-e-h — and say how they are alike or different. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 4, 2015	1105	A lit obit of fun	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2014. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 11, 2015	1106	Show your resolve	Suggest a New Year's resolution that someone might make 100 or more years in the future. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 18, 2015	1107	Send us the bill	Combine two or more names from the list of members of Congress on this page to "cosponsor" a bill based on their combined last names, and state its purpose. (Conversational text)	LEG	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 25, 2015	1108	Hearts of dorkness	Write a humorous Valentine's Day sentiment to someone (or to some organization), either real or fictional -- either from you or from someone else you name. Plus an all-new option: We'll also be willing to run at least one really funny, clever, well-executed graphic. (Conversational text)	POE ART	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 1, 2015	1109	Fictoids of Columbia	Tell us some humorously untrue “facts” about Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area. (Conversational text)	WAS TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 8, 2015	1110	The mama of all humor	Write a [Someone’s] Mama joke for some well-known figure, past or present, real or fictional.	JOK	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 15, 2015	1111	When you riff upon a store	Use a wordplay on a song title as a name or slogan for a real or imagined business. (Conversational text)	WOR BUS SLO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 22, 2015	1112	Some SHARP words	Coin a word or short term that includes all the letters S, H, A, R, and P. (Conversational text)	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 1, 2015	1113	Our occasional parodies	Write a song celebrating someone's birthday or other personal occasion (rather than, say, a holiday), set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 8, 2015	1114	Awww together now	Write us a humorous headline -- from the past, present, or future -- that puts an optimistic perspective on some otherwise not-so-promising news. (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 15, 2015	1115	Our type o' headline	Change a headline in an article or ad in the Washington Post and then add a "bank head" or subtitle. (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 22, 2015	1116	Punning in place	Create a new term using only the letters in a place name. You don't have to use all the letters, but you can't use a letter more often than it appears in the word. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 29, 2015	1117	You got another sing coming	Write a song about a topic or person lately in the news, set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 5, 2015	1118	Breed 'em and weep	Breed any two of the provided 100 racehorses nominated for this year's Triple Crown events and name the foal the reflect both names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 12, 2015	1119	We want hue so bad	Invent a name for a color and describe it. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 19, 2015	1120	Celebrating our differences	Each of the provided 17 items appeared in a different Style Invitational compare/contrast contest from 1996 to 2014. Explain how any two of them are alike or different or otherwise linked. (Conversational text)	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 26, 2015	1121	The an(n)als of civilization	Briefly describe some "bad day in history" -- you may be creative in what you classify as such -- and sum it up with a humorous heading. (Conversational text)	HIS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 3, 2015	1122	Colt Following: 'Grandfoals'	"Breed" any two of the 65 foal names that got ink this week and name the offspring to reflect the parents' names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 10, 2015	1123	The Tile Invitational III	Give us a five-, six-, or seven-letter word (or two words) by scrambling the letters of any of the provided seven-letter sets. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 17, 2015	1124	Heed! Indeed: Advice verse	Write one of the provided reminders as a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 24, 2015	1125	The song remains the sa	Supply a real song title that has the end or beginning -- or, what the heck, both -- chopped off and describe it. (Conversational text)	MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 31, 2015	1126	Picture this	Provide a humorous caption for any of the cartoons provided. (Conversational text)	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 7, 2015	1127	From the creators of …	Think up a spinoff of a real TV series, past or present, and furnish a description or bit of dialogue. (Conversational text)	CUL TEL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 14, 2015	1128	Drone for a loop	Give us some novel uses for a CICADA micro-drone, assuming that anyone can get one, and that it can have a micro-camera, micro-grips, etc. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 21, 2015	1129	Right in the pampootie	Write a humorous short poem (eight lines or fewer) incorporating one of the 50 provided words. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 28, 2015	1130	Yux Redux: Play on a foreign phrase	Make a word play on a foreign phrase or term (or English phrase using foreign words) and describe it. (Conversational text)	WOR LAN	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 5, 2015	1131	One man's trash	Suggest a humorous way to reuse one or more of the items listed above -- or anything else advertised on RepurposedMaterialsinc.com. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 12, 2015	1132	You and what army? Military fictoids	Give us some comically bogus trivia about the military, past or present, ours or theirs. (Conversational text)	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 8-9-15)
July 19, 2015	1133	Are 'hew ready? A contest for clerihews	A clerihew is a humorous four-line rhyming poem about a person whose name is mentioned in the first line; in fact, the name must be at the end of that line (or constitute the whole line) so that it has to rhyme with something. The rhyme structure (and we don't want "lazy" rhymes) is AABB: the first line rhymes with the second, the third with the fourth. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 26, 2015	1134	The 'Sty'le Invitational Red'ux'	Put quotation marks around part of a word, name or phrase and define the result. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 2, 2015	1135	The meter's running	Suggest actions in daily life that should require a time limit -- maximum or minimum -- and come with an appropriate penalty for running over (or under). (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 9, 2015		It's August. Give that little brain of yours a rest. Or …	There's no new contest this week: you and your fellow Losers get a week off to dust off your cranial synapses, write cranky letters to the editor, think of limericks featuring words beginning with ga-, whatever it is you people do.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 16, 2015	1136	Gaah! It's Limerixicon XII	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ga-". (Conversational text)	POE LIM	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 23, 2015	1137	Be a published author!	Give us a spicy title for a boring book, real or imagined.	LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 30, 2015	1138	Show us your touché	Offer an elegantly snide (and original) insult of anyone living or dead. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 6, 2015	1139	A little sixty-four play	Fashion an entry by selecting one element from each of the provided menu groups. Make sure you indicate the combination you chose (e.g., 2-C-iii).		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 13, 2015	1140	You're giving us a bad name	Cite a REAL brand name, past or present, note its original use, and then say what sort of product, organization, etc., that name would be bad for. (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 20, 2015	1141	Mess with our heads	Reinterpret (or comment wryly on) a headline appearing in the Post (print or online) Sept. 17-28 by writing a bankhead, or subtitle. (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 27, 2015	1142	Two-faced tweets	Combine two well-known names into a Twitter handle, and write a tweet (no more than 140 characters and spaces) that that portmanteau person might write. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 4, 2015	1143	Ask Backwards	Provided are 15 answers, separated by asterisks. You supply the questions. (Conversational text)	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 11, 2015	1144	Someone else's business	Name a real brand, along with something else it would be a better name for. (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 18, 2015	1145	A DICEy situation	Coin a word or multi-word term that contains the letter block D-I-C-E. (Conversational text)	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 25, 2015	1146	Stick it to us with a magnet	Suggest a new Style Invitational honorable-mention magnet. (Conversational text)	STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 1, 2015	1147	It's E-Z find-a-word -- yours	Create a word or multi-word term that consists of adjacent letters -- in any direction or several directions -- in the provided grid, and provide a humorous definition. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 8, 2015	1148	It's TankaWanka II	Write a TankaWanka about something that's been in the news lately. The poem must consist of five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables in that order. And it must include at least one rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 15, 2015	1149	Gestures of depreciation	Suggest ways to celebrate National Love Your Lawyer Day -- or a made-up "holiday" celebrating some other profession.	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 22, 2015	1150	A deviant character	Change the name of person or animal -- real or fictional -- by adding or subtracting one letter; substituting one letter for another; or switching the positions of two nearby letters, and describing the results. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 29, 2015	1151	To [a glass], snarkly	Write a short, snarky (but witty) note to one of the provided glassbowls. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 6, 2015	1152	Oops? You do it again.	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 1098 through Week 1148, except for Week 1101, last year's do-over. (Conversational text)	STY PRE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 13, 2015	1153	Be three-paired	Choose two or more entities represented by a single three-letter combination from IAA through LZZ, found at the provided link, and say how they are alike or different or have some connection.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 20, 2015	1154	Tabby Road -- songs for cats	Write a song for -- or about -- cats or other animals, set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 27, 2015	1155	Vowel movement	Choose a title of a book, movie, play or TV show; drop all the vowels (including Y when it's used as a vowel); then add your choice of vowels -- as many as you like -- to create a new work; and describe it.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 3, 2016	1156	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2015. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 10, 2016	1157	Clue us in -- a backward crossword	Supply clever, funny clues to up to 25 of the words and multi-word terms in the provided grid. (Conversational text)	CRO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 17, 2016	1158	What have we here?	Tell us what one or more of these objects really are. (Conversational text)	CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 24, 2016	1159	It's all in the game	Come up with a funny/ridiculous board-type game and describe it. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 31, 2016	1160	A remeaning task	Redefine an existing word or two-word term beginning with P through Z. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 7, 2016	1161	Give us four Pinocchios	Tell us some false "facts" about politicians, present or past. (Conversational text)	HIS POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 14, 2016	1162	An 8-year Re-Onion	Write a fictional Onion-type headline. (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 21, 2016	1163	Put it in reverse	Spell a word, name or phrase backward and define the result in a way that relates to the original. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 28, 2016	1164	'Wait Wait' for us	Compose a multiple-choice question about a Ridiculous but True fact or event, with two entertaining wrong answers as well as the right one. One of the two wrong answers may be obviously untrue as long as it's funny. (Conversational text)	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 6, 2016	1165	B all you can B	Change a word, phrase or name by adding one or more B's, and/or by replacing one or more letters with B's, and define your new term.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 13, 2016	1166	Questionable journalism	Take a sentence (or most of a sentence) that appears in text (not a headline) in The Washington Post or on washingtonpost.com dated March 10-21 and make up a question that the sentence could answer (Conversational text)	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 20, 2016	1167	So what's to liken?	Take any two items from the provided list and explain how they're similar or different, or connect them some other way. (Conversational text)	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 27, 2016	1168	Asterisky business	Tell us an original joke whose punchline can't be understood without knowledge -- not necessarily scientific -- that most of us don't have (which you'll supply with a concise explanation). (Conversational text)	JOK	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 3, 2016	1169	Be caustic by acrostic	Review or otherwise describe a movie, book, play or TV show (or Internet equivalent) with words whose first letters spell out the name of the work. (Conversational text)	MOV LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 10, 2016	1170	Derby or not Derby	"Breed" any two of the provided racehorses nominated for this year's Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont; and name the foal to reflect both names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 17, 2016	1171	What's my (next) line?	Take a line from any song and pair it with your own second line to make a humorous rhyming couplet; the second line should match the rhythm of the first, rather than the second line of the song itself. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 24, 2016	1172	Pieces of 'Pie'	Write a short passage -- an observation, a joke, a dialogue, a poem, anything -- using only words that appear in the song "American Pie".	WOR MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 1, 2016	1173	Tinker with the recipe	Slightly change the name of a food or brand of food (or something else in the food industry) and describe it, or write a slogan, jingle, etc. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 8, 2016	1174	Colt following -- It's time for the grandfoals	"Breed" any two of the 57 foal names that got ink this week and name the offspring to reflect both parents' names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 15, 2016	1175	Good luck with 13	Make up a word whose Scrabble letter values add up to exactly 13, and define it. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 22, 2016	1176	Let 'er RIP: Write an obit line	Write a humorous line or two for someone's obituary -- either for a particular person (dead or not) or for a fictional or generic one. (Conversational text)	EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 29, 2016	1177	The ballad box	Write a song related to this year's elections, set to a familiar tune.	MUS POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 5, 2016	1178	A ______ of collective nouns	Propose one or more funny new names for groups of things. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 12, 2016	1179	Blasted alphabetical contests . . .	Coin a three-word phrase whose words begin with A, B and C -- in any order -- and describe it.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 19, 2016	1180	Strip search!	Find a line of text from any comic strip or panel that appears on the Post's comics pages or on washingtonpost.com/comics, dated anywhere between June 16 and June 27, and either (a) supply a question that the original line could answer, or (b) follow it with your own line of dialogue or reply. (Conversational text)	COM QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 26, 2016	1181	Put it in Bee-verse	Write a short, humorous poem using one of the 36 provided words, all from the 2016 National Spelling Bee. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 3, 2016	1182	Where in the wor(l)d?	(1) On What3words.com, find one or more humorously appropriate (or ironic) three-word codes at a particular place; or 2) find a three-word code, tell us where it is, and tell us what ought to be there. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 10, 2016	1183	C'mon, be honest with us	Write something in roughly the form "If X were more honest, (then) Y." (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 17, 2016	1184	Plan C -- a third candidate?	Explain why some novel person (or thing) should be president; you could also suggest a president-veep ticket. (Conversational text)	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 24, 2016	1185	The Rorschach of the crowd	Interpret one of more of the provided genuine inkblots. You may look at them upside down or sideways. (Conversational text)	ROR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 31, 2016	1186	We're always happy to verse you	Write a humorous poem, of any form, about or “by” the anagram of anyone’s name.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 7, 2016	1187	Just drop it, okay?	Drop the last letter from an existing word, phrase or name and define the result. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 14, 2016	1188	Just short words, one more time	Explain some concept or philosophy entirely in words of one syllable.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 21, 2016	1189	Gee, it's Limerixicon XIII!	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ge". (Conversational text)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 28, 2016	1190	You're workin' on a chain, gang	Create a chain of no more than 15 proper nouns — names of people (real or fictional), products, places, etc. — including one title of a work — in which each name relates somehow to the previous one. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 4, 2016	1191	Mess with our heads	Reinterpret (or comment wryly on) a headline appearing in The Post (print or online) and dated Sept. 1-12 by writing a bank head, or subtitle (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 11, 2016	1192	Ask Backwards	The 15 provided phrases above are the answers. You provide  the questions to as many as you’d like (up to 25 entries  total).  (Conversational text)	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 18, 2016	1193	Poedtry	Write a Poed, which consists of four lines: The first line contains six one-syllable words. The second line contains three two-syllable words. The third line contains two three-syllable words. The fourth line contains one six-syllable word (or a name totaling six syllables.  And at least two of the lines must rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 25, 2016	1194	Nyetymologies: fake word origins	Provide a humorously untrue explanation for the derivation of a word. (Conversational text)	WOR TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 2, 2016	1195	Don't change a letter!	Alter a movie title only by changing word spacing, changing capitalization, and adding or deleting punctuation marks, accents, etc., then describe the result. (Conversational text)	MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 9, 2016	1196	Hyphen the Terrible	Combine either half of a hyphenated word or compound term with either half of another such term to create a new hyphenated term, and describe the result humorously. (Conversational text)	HYP	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 16, 2016	1197	Picture This -- It's a Bob Staake caption contest	Write a caption for any of the cartoons provided. (Conversational text)	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 23, 2016	1198	Give it to us straight	Take any sentence from an article or ad in any publication dated Oct. 20 to Oct. 31 — or from an online article dated within that period — and translate it into “plain English". (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 30, 2016	1199	We want some bad choices	Offer one or more funny Questions for Terrible People, as shown.	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 6, 2016	1200	The definitive dozen	Supply a word, name or multi-word term along with a wry definition or description; together, the term and description must total exactly 12 words. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 13, 2016	1201	Tour de Fours XIII: What's there to NOVE?	Coin a word or multi-word term that contains the letter block N-O-V-E. (Conversational text)	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 20, 2016	1202	Don't be afraid of the dark	Write lyrics to a song that, in some way, express hope. (Conversational text)	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 27, 2016	1203	You've got the powers	Tell us what you would do if you had one or more of the six magical powers provided. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 4, 2016	1204	Well, at least …	Note some good news for the coming year to comfort -- or "comfort" -- those who are depressed about the change of presidential administration. (Conversational text)	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 11, 2016	1205	Could we just have a do-over? Yes, we could.	Enter (or re-enter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1149 to 1201, except for Week 1152, last year's do-over. (Conversational text)	PRE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 18, 2016	1206	Do-over the do-over -- enter any of the year's contests	Enter (or re-enter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1149 to 1202, except for Week 1152, last year's do-over. (Conversational text)	PRE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 25, 2016	1207	Clue us in -- a reverse crossword	Supply clever, funny clues to up to 25 of the 72 words and multi-word terms in the provided grid. (Conversational text)	CRO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 1, 2017	1208	A RIP-roaring year: Obit poems	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2016. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 8, 2017	1209	Invented facts: A fictoid contest	Tell us a humorously untrue account of how a product or invention came to be, or got its name. (Conversational text)	HIS TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
NEW MAGNETS ANNOUNCED
January 15, 2017	1210	Send us the bill: Our 'joint legislation' game	Combine two or more names from the provided list of members of Congress to “co-sponsor” a bill based on their combined last names, and state its purpose. (Conversational text)	LEG	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 22, 2017	1211	The best tweets in history	Write a stupidly disparaging tweet (140 characters or fewer, including spaces) about some laudable figure of past or present, true or fictional. (Conversational text)	HIS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 29, 2017	1212	The Tile Invitational IV	Give us a five-, six- or seven-letter word (or two words) by scrambling the letters of any of the provided sets and define it. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 5, 2017	1213	Punku	Write a haiku that incorporates a pun.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 12, 2017	1214	The alternaugural address	Write a humorous passage — a “quote,” an observation, a joke, a dialogue, a poem, anything — using only words that appear in Trump’s inaugural address. (Conversational text)	WOR POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Frank Osen	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 19, 2017	1215	A so-so contest (How so-so is it?)	Write a humorous exaggeration in the form "x is so y that …" (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jeff Shirley	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 26, 2017	1216	As the word turns	Create a word or multi-word term that consists of adjacent letters -- in any direction or several directions -- in the provided grid, and provide a humorous definition. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jesse Frankovich	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 5, 2017	1217	Mergers you wrote: Combine two businesses with puns	Give a clever name for a combination of two or more businesses. (Conversational text)	BUS WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Tom Witte	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 12, 2017	1218	Mess with our -- or anyone else's -- heads	Reinterpret (or comment wryly on) a headline appearing in the Post (print or online or another publication dated March 9-20) by writing a bankhead, or subtitle. (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Ellen Ryan	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 19, 2017	1219	Cast your Bred upon us	Write a Lik the Bred verse about someone in the news lately. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	David "Charlestown" Lewis	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 26, 2017	1220	O pedantry, O pedantry	Give us some humorous pedantry. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Kevin Dopart	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 2, 2017	1221	Who's kidding whom?	Take two people from history, past or present, and tell what their child would be like	HIS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Dave Matuskey	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 9, 2017	1222	Foaling around	"Breed" any two of the provided racehorses nominated for this year's Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont; and name the foal to reflect both of them. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 16, 2017	1223	Post again out to mislead public!	Write a humorously sensationalistic, misleading headline on an otherwise mundane article or ad published in The Post or elsewhere from April 13 to April 24. (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 23, 2017	1224	We beg you to differ	Explain how any two (or more) items in the provided list are the same or different, or otherwise connected. (Conversational text)	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 30, 2017	1225	The Ideas of March	Suggest a march for some group or field, along with one or more slogans. (You might also, or instead, comment on the march with some pertinent wordplay.)	SLO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 7, 2017	1226	Colt following: The 'grandfoals'	"Breed" any two of the 61 foal names that got ink this week, and name the offspring to reflect both parents names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image
May 14, 2017	1227	Celebrate ortho-diversity!	Name and describe a new life form -- and no letter in the term may be used twice. (Conversational text)	LET SCI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 21, 2017	1228	That movie is SO about you	Name someone who was the "secret inspiration" for a certain movie. (Conversational text)	MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 28, 2017	1229	Gorey bits from A to Z	Send us one of more edgy rhyming alphabet-primer couplets. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 4, 2017	1230	What in creation . . . ?	Supply a brief monologue or dialogue about a Creator's specifications or planning for some living being. (Conversational text)	REL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 11, 2017	1231	TankaWanka 3: Haiku Plus Tu	Write a TankaWanka about something that's been in the news lately. The poem must consist of five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables in that order. And at least two of the lines must rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 18, 2017	1232	Picture this -- a caption contest	Write a caption for one or more of the provided cartoons. (Conversational text)	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 25, 2017	1233	Not	The Loser Community  gets a week off (actually  two) from writing contest  entries and will have to  find something else to do  during staff meetings,  sermons, romantic  breakups, etc. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 2, 2017	1234	It's incontestable	Four weeks from now, the Empress will have just placed her dainty imperial toe back on our glittering shores. Which means that for the first time since January 2002, almost 800 contests ago—back during the late reign of her predecessor, theCzar—the Invitational will skip two contests in a row. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 9, 2017	1235	The Sound of Science	Write humorous lyrics on the subject of science or technology, set to a well-known tune. (Conversational text)	POE SCI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 16, 2017	1236	Portmanteaux faux	Explain--inaccurately but amusingly--how a real word is a combination of two or more words, with an illustrative sentence, as in the provided examples, or some other funny way.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
July 23, 2017	1237	Our alliteracy campaign	Rewrite an existing headline from any  publication, print or online — about something in the  news from July 20 to 31, by using alliteration.	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 30, 2017	1238	D-E-F Comedy Jam (or E-D-F, etc.)	Coin a threeword phrase (you may add an insignificant word or two)  whose words begin with D, E and F — in any order — and describe it.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 6, 2017	1239	MASH 3	Combine two movie titles and  describe the result. (Conversational text)	MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 13, 2017	1240	We GIVE you Limerixicon XIV	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "gh-" or "gi-". (Conversational text)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 20, 2017	1241	Less taste, more fill-in	Give us a novel clue for any word or phrase in which the remaining letters in the provided crossword puzzle fit, across or down. (Conversational text)	CRO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 27, 2017	1242	Generation Yux	Give us a "then/now" joke. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 3, 2017	1243	We bid you: No T-R-U-M-P	Coin a new term, or choose an existing one, whose letters do not include a T, R, U, M, or P, and write a humorous definition. (Conversational text)	WOR POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 10, 2017	1244	Primed for product reviews	Send us a creative "review" for any of the provided items that are listed on Amazon. (Conversational text)	CUL BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 17, 2017	1245	Call us reprehensible …	Complain in a humorously missing-the-point way about something that has appeared in The Washington Post (in print or online) recently, or in another publication. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 24, 2017	1246	Questionable journalism	Find any sentence (or a substantive part of a sentence) that appears in The Post or another publication, in print or online, dated Sept. 21-Oct. 2, and pair it with a question it might answer. (Conversational text)	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 1, 2017	1247	Script tease	Offer a quote from a script whose title you've given a different plot.	MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 8, 2017	1248	C'mon, fess up!	Send us a brief "confession" -- there will be categories for true and just-kidding.	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 15, 2017	1249	Ask Backwards 36	Choose any of the 15 provided items and follow it with a question that it could humorously answer.	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 22, 2017	1250	Poems of the year(s)	Write a humorous poem incorporating three or more terms from a particular year or era listed on Time Traveler. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 29, 2017	1251	Thanking outside the box	Tell us something to be thankful for. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 5, 2017	1252	It's a med, med, med, med world	Invent a clever name for a new medical product, and specify the condition it would treat. (Conversational text)	SCI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 12, 2017	1253	Fashion x fiction: More fake trivia	Tell us some totally bogus trivia about clothing or fashion. (Conversational text)	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 19, 2017	1254	Inkorporation--a change-one-letter contest	Change the name of a present or past business, store or agency (not just a product) by adding one letter, deleting one letter, transposing two letters or substituting one letter for another. (Conversational text)	LET BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 26, 2017	1255	Tour de Fours XIV: SANT is coming	Coin a word or multi-word term that contains the letter-block S-A-N-T; the letters may be in any order, but there may be no other letters between them. (Conversational text)	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 3, 2017	1256	Picture this -- a caption contest	Provide a funny caption for any of the provided cartoons. (Conversational text)	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 10, 2017	1257	The year in redo, Part 1	Enter (or re-enter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1203 through Week 1229, except for Weeks 1205 and 1206. (Conversational text)	PRE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 17, 2017	1258	The year in redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1230 through Week 1254. (Conversational text)	PRE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 24, 2017	1259	Beat the banned with euphemisms	Come up with creative euphemisms for the provided words, or for other words that might offend someone or other. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 31, 2017	1260	What lies (are) ahead for 2018	Jokingly predict some news event to happen in 2018. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 7, 2018	1261	Post mortems -- our annual obit poem contest	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2017. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 14, 2018	1262	Clue us in -- a backward crossword	Supply one or more creative clues for the provided filled-in crossword grid -- as many as 25 clues in all. (Conversational text)	CRO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 21, 2018	1263	Playing the short game	Using the three-letter Olympic national abbreviations and/or the abbreviation for any college, tell what would happen if one abbreviated team played another. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 28, 2018	1264	A cry for Yelp: 'Review' any place	Write a humorous review, positive or negative, of anyplace (real of fictional) one might visit. (Conversational text)	CUL BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 4, 2018	1265	Parody for the course	Write a song relating to a class or course of instruction, or to school in general. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 11, 2018	1266	The Tile Invitational V	Create a five-, six-, or seven-letter word (or phrase) by scrambling the letters of any of the provided sets and define it.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jesse Frankovich	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 18, 2018	1267	Jingle bungle	Suggest an ill-advised spokesman (dead or alive, or fictional), along with a humorously noooo slogan or jingle. (Conversational text)	SLO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	John McCooey	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 25, 2018	1268	Playing pinocchio	Tell us some humorously bogus trivia about the news media or the publishing or broadcasting industries. (Conversational text)	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Robert Schechter	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 4, 2018	1269	Mess with our (or other) heads	Reinterpret (or comment wryly on) a headline appearing in The Post (print or online) or another publication and dated March 1-12 by writing a bank head. (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Elden Carnahan	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 11, 2018	1270	The Style Invitational turns 5 x 5	Write a witty poem, on any subject, in any of these forms: A. Five lines of five syllables each B. Five lines of five words each C. Five lines of iambic pentameter (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Frank Osen	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 18, 2018	1271	Yodel Doyle's praises with a D-O-Y-L-E neologism	Coin a new word or phrase that contains the letters D, O, Y, L and E. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Brian Collins	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 25, 2018	1272	The hex files: creative curses	Come up with a creative curse. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Danielle Nowlin	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 1, 2018	1273	Restocking the Cabinet	Explain why a particular person -- or thing -- ought to fill a Cabinet post or other U.S. government position. (Conversational text)	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Duncan Stevens	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 8, 2018	1274	Heading for a foal -- our horse name 'breeding' contest	Your job is to "breed" any two names of the 360 horses nominated for this year's Triple Crown races and name the "foal" to reflect both names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 15, 2018	1275	That is the question	Choose a line from Shakespeare (or a significant part of a line) and pair it with a question that the line could humorously answer. (Conversational text)	LIT QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 22, 2018	1276	What 4? A limerick contest	Use a limerick using one of the provided lines as Line 5.	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 29, 2018	1277	Come into Beeing with neologisms	From any of the 15 provided Spelling Bee letter sets, coin a new term of one or two words and define it humorously. You may also supply an especially clever or funny definition of a real term. (Conversational text)	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 6, 2018	1278	Colt following: The 'grandfoals'	"Breed" any two of the 68 foal names that got ink this week, and name the offspring to reflect both parents' names, in the style of today's inking entries. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 13, 2018	1279	Just do it -- the 'real' way	List some "accurate" directions for using some product or completing some task. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 20, 2018	1280	A la'ugh' a minute with 'air quotes'	Highlight part of a word, name or short phrase in "air quotes" to give it a new meaning or description. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 27, 2018	1281	We only have (googly) eyes for you	Send us a photo of something that you have made funny by pasting googly eyes on it; funny titles and captions are optional. (Conversational text)	PIX	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 3, 2018	1282	Picture This	Write a caption for one or more of the provided pictures. (Conversational text)	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 10, 2018	1283	Put it in Bee-verse	Write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer that includes one of the provided words, all from the 2018 National Spelling Bee. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 17, 2018	1284	Same difference	Explain how any two of the items in the provided list are similar, different or otherwise linked.	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 24, 2018	1285	That is so wrong!	Supply a trivia question along with both the correct answer and a cleverly "wrong" guess. (Conversational text)	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 1, 2018	1286	Mind your P's and B's (and more)	Replace one or more P's in a word, name, or multi-word term with a B or with another letter and define or describe the results. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 8, 2018	1287	It's parody time: Oldies for newsies	Write some song lyrics about something in the news these days, set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 15, 2018	1288	Your results may vary	Write a funny disclaimer or warning for some product or service. (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 22, 2018	1289	Fake gnus: bogus animal trivia	Tell us a fictoid -- a humorously false "fact" -- about the nonhuman animal kingdom. (Conversational text)	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 29, 2018	1290	Bobbing for Witte words	Come up with both an object/situation and a neologism for it. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 5, 2018	1291	Film flam -- movie anagrams	Rearrange the letters of a title of a movie or play to make a new title, then describe the new work. (Conversational text)	MOV LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 12, 2018	1292	Golly gosh, it's Limerixicon XV	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term, beginning with "gl-" through "go-". (Conversational text)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 19, 2018	1293	Constitutional unconvention	Humorously translate or explain some part of the U.S. Constitution. (Conversational text)	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 26, 2018	1294	As the word turns	“Discover” a word or multiword term that consists of adjacent letters — in any direction or several directions — in the provided grid, and provide a humorous definition. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 2, 2018	1295	Really, now? A matter of degree.	Tell us an indication to some problem, followed by an even more dire sign. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 9, 2018	1296	A, we're Adorbs: New-word poems	Use one or more of these words new to M-W.com in a humorous poem of eight lines max. (Conversational text)	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 16, 2018	1297	A different type o' headline contest	Change a letter in an article or ad in the Post or another publication dated Sept. 13-24 by adding or subtracting one letter; substituting a letter; transposing two letters; or changing spacing or punctuation; and then add a "bank head." (Conversational text)	HEA LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 23, 2018	1298	It's IGH time for 3-word phrases	Make up some entity that might take a three-letter abbreviation of GHI, HGI, GGG, GHH, etc., and then humorously describe it. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 30, 2018	1299	OK, hivemind! A contest with new Scrabble words	Choose any two of the words in the provided list as the beginning and end of a humorous word chain of 6 to 14 words or phrases. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 7, 2018	1300	Botch office sensations	Add "13" to an existing movie title, and some humorous trouble to the plot. (Conversational text)	MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 14, 2018	1301	Tell us a Fib(onacci)	Write a humorous poem of 20 syllables divided among six lines like this: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. And a least two -- any two -- of the lines must rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 21, 2018	1302	Ask Backwards 37	Fifteen "answers" are provided. Tell us the questions. Do one or more, up to a total of 25 A&Q's. (Conversational text)	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 28, 2018	1303	Neologisms to di- for	Replace a digraph in an existing word or phrase with another digraph to make a new term. (Conversational text)	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 4, 2018	1304	All the muse that's fit to print	Present a "what if" scenario and explain its effect.	HIS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 11, 2018	1305	Hits and Googles	Find us either a Googlenope -- a phrase in quotation marks that generates no previous hits -- or a Googleyup, a phrase that surprisingly does have hits.	GOO WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 18, 2018	1306	PolitiCaroling: A song parody contest	Write a song about something in the news lately -- political or otherwise -- using a Christmas, Hanukkah or New Year's tune.	MUS POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 25, 2018	1307	One-for-one for all	Replace one letter in an existing word, name or multi-word phrase with one different letter (in the same place in the word) and define or describe the result.	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 2, 2018	1308	Picture this -- or these	This week you have two choices: (1) Write a caption for one or more of these pictures, or (2) explain what is wrong with the picture. You might also combine two pictures into one -- or all four into one.	CAP	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 9, 2018	1309	The Year in Redo, Part 1	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1255 through Week 1281.	PRE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 16, 2018	1310	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1282 through Week 1306.	PRE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 23, 2018	1311	Nextra! Nextra! The year in preview	Name some humorous event to happen in 2019.	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 30, 2018	1312	Neologisms in TOUR de Fours XV	Coin a word or multi-word term that contains the letter block T-O-U-R and describe it. The letters may be in any order. (Conversational text)	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 6, 2019	1313	Dead Letters -- our obit poem contest	Write a poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2018.	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 13, 2019	1314	Bill Us Now -- 'joint legislation'	Combine two or more names from the provided list of the new members of Congress to “co-sponsor” a bill based on their combined last names, and state its purpose	LEG	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 20, 2019	1315	Clue us in -- our reverse crossword	Supply clever, funny clues for as many as 25 of the 74 words and multi-word terms in the provided grid.	CRO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 27, 2019	1316	Lies, damn lies, with statistics	Tell us some bogus trivia using "statistics" or some bogus quantitative meaure.	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 3, 2019	1317	Punku 2: Haiku with puns	Create a haiku containing a pun or similar wordplay.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 10, 2019	1318	Love the tiny tail stain!	Create an anagram -- a phrase or sentence with the letters rearranged -- of any text (except merely someone's name), of any length.	ANA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	J. J. Gertler	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 17, 2019	1319	The Tile Invitational VI	Create a five-, six-, or seven-letter word (or phrase) by scrambling the letters of any of the provided sets and define it.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Danielle Nowlin	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 24, 2019	1320	Questionable journalism	Find any sentence (or a substantive part of a sentence) that appears in the Post or another publication, in print or online, dated Feb. 21-March 4, and pair it with a question it might answer.	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Beverley Sharp	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 3, 2019	1321	Pumping Prime: Amazon reviews	Send us a humorous "review" (like the provided samples from our earlier contests) for any of the provided items.	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	David Hammond	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 10, 2019	1322	Back to the drawing board	Come up with an idea for an invention that still needs a bug ironed out.	SCI BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jeffrey Contompasis	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 17, 2019	1323	Selected shortened subjects	Delete one or more letters from the beginning or end (or both) of a movie title and describe the resulting movie.	LET MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	David Peckarsky	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 24, 2019	1324	Chapter and worse	Tell or describe a Bible story, or another classical or folk tale, very briefly (75 words would be lengthy) in the voice of a particular author or other person.	LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Frank Osen	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 31, 2019	1325	Stand up and jeer	Give us some original standup jokes that would have been good at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner.	POL JOK	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jesse Frankovich	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 7, 2019	1326	Foaling around	"Breed" any two names from the provided list of 100 horses and name the foal to reflect both names.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 14, 2019	1327	Mess with our (or anyone's) heads	Reinterpret (or comment wryly on) a headline (or a big part of a headline) by writing a bank head, or subtitle.	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 21, 2019	1328	Hooked on 'classic': a do-over	Summarize a book or play by any author, or retell a scene (or even a moment) from one, in the style of some other person.	LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 28, 2019	1329	Shakespeare + Thee: Tailgaters	Select any line from a work by Shakespeare (poetry or prose) and pair it with your own line to create a humorous rhyming couplet.	LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 5, 2019	1330	Spinoff x Time Is Now = Grandfoals Week!	"Breed" any two of the 65 foal names that got ink this week, and name the offspring to reflect both parents' names.	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 12, 2019	1331	Paste Imperfect	Choose a headline or sentence from The Post or another publication, print or online, dated May 9-20, 2019. Then change that headline or other text by:      A. Deleting up to 40 consecutive characters from it (put brackets around the deleted text);      B. Adding up to 40 consecutive characters from the same article or ad (write the additions in capital letters);      or C. Both A and B, as long as the added text goes at the end of your headline or sentence.	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 19, 2019	1332	We'll call them Spellimericks	Write a humorous limerick that's an acrostic: a pertinent five-letter word or name spelled out by the first letter of each line.	LIM LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 26, 2019	1333	Check your (homo)phones	Invent a homophone--a word that sounds the same as an existing word but is spelled differently--and define it.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 2, 2019	1334	Mull 'er over: A search for collision	Combine any two words, names, abbreviations, etc., from anywhere in the redacted Mueller report, in a two-word or hyphenated phrase and define it.	WOR POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 9, 2019	1335	Put it in bee-verse! Or . . .	Write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer that includes at least one of the provided words, used in Round 9 or later of this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee; OR: write a joke in Q&A form that uses at least one of the words.	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 16, 2019	1336	Two ways about it	What's something (printable) you could say in two -- or more -- of the provided situations.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 23, 2019	1337	Lidder me this: anagram riddles	Write a Q&A joke (or an A followed by a Q, if you're into "Jeopardy!") in which the punchline contains an anagram or one or more relevant words or names.	ANA JEO JOK QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 30, 2019	1338	Picture This -- cartoon captions	Supply a caption for one or more of the provided cartoons.	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 7, 2019	1339	Songs for a modern error	Write humorous lyrics about some modern woe, set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Duncan Stevens	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 8-4-19) Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 9-1-19)
July 14, 2019	1340	Not-ables -- slightly alter a famous name	Slightly alter the name (make sure the original is obvious) of a famous personage -- past or present, real or fictional -- and describe the resulting nonpersonage, or offer a quote from that person, or both.	LET CUL HIS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 21, 2019	1341	Portmanteautapping from E to R	Coin a portmanteau word beginning with E through R, in which the words overlap by at least two letters, and describe it.	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 28, 2019	1342	MRGRS: Mash 2 abbrevs.	Combine two acronyms or other abbreviations, whether of entities or expressions, into one big one, and describe it, offer a slogan for the new organization, etc.	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 4, 2019	1343	The Empress pleads no contest	It's been a couple of years, but the Empress gives you a break this week from your sacred obligation to submit Style Invitational entries every seven days ad infinitum.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 11, 2019	1344	Well, that's just great -- It’s Limerixicon XVI	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "gr-".	LIM LET WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 18, 2019	1345	The confaketionary -- food fictoids	Tell us some comically false "fact" about food, drink or dining.	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 25, 2019	1346	AZ if -- balancing acts	Think of a new word or two-word phrase that begins and ends -- either way -- with one of the provided "alphabetically balanced" pairs.	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 1, 2019	1347	Reologisms	Write a clever, funny definition for any of the provided Loser-concocted words and phrases, and/or show they'd be used.	WOR DEF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 8, 2019	1348	Same difference	Explain humorously how any two or more of the provided items are alike, different or otherwise connected.	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 15, 2019	1349	Revise and extend these remarks	Go to congress.gov/congressional-record and click on the PDF for any day's Congressional Record. Choose any sentence (or substantial part of one) and write a question that it could answer.	POL QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 22, 2019	1350	Here's inspo for new-word poems	Write a poem of eight lines or fewer featuring one or more of these recent additions to m-w.com.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 29, 2019	1351	What concept will you be for Halloween?	Give us a creative, clever idea for a timely Halloween costume (for one or more people) or an idea for a party or other activity. You may even send us a photo of an actual new costume you've created this year.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 6, 2019	1352	Hee-rotica -- Steamy prose for unsteamy life	Write a short steamy scene (100 words would be considered long) about a non-steamy event. (Conversational text)	LAN	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 13, 2019	1353	What's playing at the retroplex	Change a movie title to its "opposite" by reversing one or more words; then describe the new movie. (Conversational text)	MOV WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 20, 2019	1354	As the Word turns 5: Taking our vowels	"Discover" a word or multiword term that consists of adjacent letters -- in any direction or several directions -- in the provided grid, and provide a humorous definition. (Conversational text)	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 27, 2019	1355	The inside word	Highlight part of a word, name or short phrase in "air quotes" to give the word a new meaning or description. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 3, 2019	1356	Ask Backwards 38	Sixteen "answers" are provided. Tell us the questions. (Conversational text)	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 10, 2019	1357	It's parody time!	Write a satirical song about anything in the news right now, set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 17, 2019	1358	What to your wondering eyes will appear?	Write a humorous passage -- a "quote", an observation, a joke, a dialogue, a poem, anything -- using only words that appear in "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (a.k.a "The Night Before Christmas"). (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 24, 2019	1359	Back up in the air (quotes)	Write a sentence or two and highlight an "air quote" that spans two or more words (and two sentences if you like). (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 1, 2019	1360	The lyin' in winter: Seasonal fictoids	Give us some untrue trivia about winter or things that occur in winter.	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 8, 2019	1361	2020 vision -- the year in preview	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2020. (Conversational text)	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 15, 2019	1362	The Year in Redo, Part 1	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1307 through 1333, except for Weeks 1309-1311. (Conversational text)	PRE STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 22, 2019	1363	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1334 through Week 1359. (Conversational text)	PRE STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 29, 2019	1364	Clue us in	Supply clever, funny clues for as many as 25 of the words and multi-word terms in the provided grid. (Conversational text)	CRO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 5, 2020	1365	Dead Letters, our obit poem contest	Write a poem of eight lines or fewer (plus an optional title) about someone who died in 2019. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 12, 2020	1366	Tour de Fours XVI -- It's the LIAR club	Coin a word or multi-word term that contains the letter block L-I-A-R and describe it. (Conversational text)	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 19, 2020	1367	Pick me up at work, okay?	Give a pickup line from someone in a particular profession, or from a particular person or fictional character. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 26, 2020	1368	Picture This -- cartoon captions	Supply a caption for one or more of the provided cartoons. (Conversational text)	CAP	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 2, 2020	1369	Shoot us some oops	Tell us a concise original joke that revolves around a typo or misheard word. (Conversational text)	JOK WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 9, 2020	1370	What's in a name?	Write something about a well-known person, real or fictional, using only the letters in that person's name. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Melissa Balmain	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 16, 2020	1371	The Tile Invitational VII	Create a five-, six-, or seven-letter word (or phrase) by scrambling the letters of any of the provided sets and define it. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Duncan Stevens	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 23, 2020	1372	Trash talking, 1880-style	Write a quatrain or -- heck -- two of Balliol rhyme about some person. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Nan Reiner	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 1, 2020	1373	Prime time for some Amazon reviews	Send us a humorous "review" for any of the provided Amazon-listed items. (Conversational text)	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	David Prevar	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 8, 2020	1374	Versus' verses in a rap battle	Write a mini-"rap" between any two characters, real or fictional, as in the provided ERB example. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Gary Crockett	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 15, 2020	1375	Mess With Our Heads	Reinterpret an actual headline (or a major part of it) by adding a bank head, or subtitle. (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Michelle Christophorou	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 22, 2020	1376	Get thee to a funnery	Add a character (or more) to a Shakespeare play and supply some resulting dialogue. (Conversational text)	LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Mike Gips	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 29, 2020	1377	Make your own March Madness	Think of some sport, game, art project or other activity that you can conjure up using various items that you might find around the house. (Conversational text)	ATH	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	John O'Byrne	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 5, 2020	1378	It's (emergency) Parody Time	Write a song about life in the Age of Corona, set to a familiar tune (or even one of your own, if you perform it on video). (Conversational text)	MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 12, 2020	1379	Your wish: A pun -- a star	Tell a joke, in your choice of form, whose punchline is a pun on a song title or lyric. (Conversational text)	JOK WOR MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 19, 2020	1380	Both sides now	Delete one or more letters (in a row) from a word or brief phrase to find another word, and define it. (Conversational text)	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 26, 2020	1381	Let's be equinoxious with fictoids about spring	Tell us some untrue trivia about springtime or things that happen or happened in the spring. (Conversational text)	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 3, 2020	1382	For us, it's still Post Time	"Breed" any two names from the provided list of 100 of the 145 previous Kentucky Derby winners, from 1875 to 2019, and name the foal to humorously reflect the parents' names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 10, 2020	1383	Questionable Journalism	Choose any sentence (not a headline) in an article or ad in The Washington Post or another publication dated May 7 through May 18, and write a question it might humorously answer. (Conversational text)	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 17, 2020	1384	Of course there are stupid questions!	Give us stupid questions, especially ones reflecting Our Current Situation. (Conversational text)	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 24, 2020	1385	Don't you want to see new places?	Change any place name slightly and describe the new place. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 31, 2020	1386	Colt following: It's the grandfoals!	"Breed" any two of the 70 foal names that got ink this week and name the offspring to reflect both parents' names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 7, 2020	1387	Movie clips -- drop letters from the middle of a title	Delete one or more letters (they must be consecutive) from the middle of a movie title, and describe the resulting new movie. (Conversational text)	LET MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 14, 2020	1388	Turning around a business	Create a business, product, organization or similar entity that contains a word, name or phrase and its anagram, and describe it. (Conversational text)	BUS ANA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 21, 2020	1389	TankaWanka 4: Haiku plus tu	Write a TankaWanka about something that's been in the news lately. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 28, 2020	1390	'Same difference' for a new time	Explain how any two of the items in the provided list are similar, different or otherwise linked. (Conversational text)	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 5, 2020	1391	No-covid zone -- a neologism contest	Coin a new word or phrase that lacks C, O, V, I and D and describe it. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 12, 2020	1392	Picture this -- caption these cartoons	Write a caption, either descriptive or in dialogue, for any of the provided Bob Staake cartoons. (Conversational text)	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 19, 2020	1393	Second chance (acned conches?) for anagrams	Describe any of the provided anagram businesses, or offer its slogan. (Conversational text)	ANA BUS SLO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 26, 2020	1394	Two movies, one line	Cite a real or coined line, or give a description, that could work for two different movies, plays or TV shows. (Conversational text)	MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 2, 2020	1395	Add nauseam: A plus-one contest	Add a "plus one" to some familiar numerical grouping, true or fictional (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 9, 2020	1396	Hail Limerixicon XVII: Write a limerick featuring a 'ha-' word	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ha-". (Conversational text) (Limerick Guide)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 16, 2020	1397	Trope springs eternal	Use any of the four provided standard settings -- (a) desert island, (b) bartender at a bar, (c) desert, (d) psychiatrist next to a couch -- and describe a cartoon that includes your choice of characters, along with a caption. (Conversational text)	CAR CAP	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 23, 2020	1398	This is the year that is	Describe the year 2020 in a novel, colorful metaphor or simile. You may also offer an original graphic. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 30, 2020	1399	The lie-zy days of summer	Tell us some bogus trivia about the summer or things that happen or have happened in the summer. (Conversational text)	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 6, 2020	1400	Back on track with our classic 'foal' contest	"Breed" any two of the provided names of the 100 horses nominated for the 2020 Triple Crown races and name the "foal" to humorously reflect the parents' names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 13, 2020	1401	How hai? A joke-haiku contest	Write a joke (roughly) in the "It's so xxx" genre as a haiku. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 20, 2020	1402	2020: Metaphors for a bleep year	Make up a word whose Scrabble letter values add up to exactly 14 (no blanks!), and define it. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 27, 2020	1403	Who was that masked man?	Current a short listing for a current or past TV show that has a coronavirus story line, or one reflecting some other issue in the news right now. (Conversational text)	CUL TEL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 4, 2020	1404	Ask Backwards XXXIX	The answers are provided. You supply the questions. (Conversational text)	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 11, 2020	1405	Okay, once more around the track	"Breed" any two of the provided foal names that got ink in Week 1400 and name the offspring to reflect both parents' names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 18, 2020	1406	The news could be verse	Write a poem based on a recent news article, in which the lines' first letters spell out the title or subject of the poem. (Conversational text)	POE LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 25, 2020	1407	Your ad space (or space ad) here	Come up with an idea for promoting some commercial product or service (a) in space, (b) in a prison, (c) at a kindergarten, (d) by a football team or (e) in the White House. (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 1, 2020	1408	Re-Organization	Slightly change the name of a nonprofit organization and describe it. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 8, 2020	1409	Skip a groove: Drop a letter or more from a song title	Drop one or more letters from somewhere in the middle of a song title and describe the new song, and/or quote some lyrics from it.	LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 15, 2020	1410	Legends of the fall -- more fictoids	Tell us some bogus trivia about autumn, or things that happen (or have happened) in autumn. (Conversational text)	TRI FIC	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 22, 2020	1411	Back end of a Bulwer	Write a humorously awful final sentence or two to an imaginary novel. (Conversational text)	LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 29, 2020	1412	Jumble bells -- anagram a song line	Rearrange all the letters in a song title, or a line (or more if you dare!) from a song. Optional: Offer a parody of the original tune (or a few lines of it) that refers to the new title. (Conversational text)	LET MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 6, 2020	1413	We're finna give you some new words	Write a poem of eight lines or fewer featuring one or more of the provided terms. The terms must be used as they're defined in the new m-w.com listing. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 13, 2020	1414	Divining comedy: 2021 predictions	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2021. (Conversational text)	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 20, 2020	1415	The Year in Redo, Part 1	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1360 through 1387, except for Weeks 1361-1363. (Conversational text)	STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 27, 2020	1416	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1388 through 1412. (Conversational text)	STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 3, 2021	1417	Dead Letters, our obit poem contest	Write a poem of no longer than eight lines (plus an optional title) about someone who died in 2020. (Conversational text)	EPI POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 10, 2021	1418	Tour de Fours XVII: Just Undo It	Coin a word or multi-word term containing the letters U-N-D-O -- consecutive but in any order -- and describe it. (Conversational text)	TDF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 17, 2021	1419	Send us the bill -- 'joint legislation'	Combine two or more names from the provided list of the new members of Congress to “co-sponsor” a bill based on their combined last names, and state its purpose. (Conversational text)	LEG	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 24, 2021	1420	Singing on the job -- a parody contest	Write a humorous "work song" for any job or profession. Set it to any well-known tune. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 31, 2021	1421	Alternaugural Address '21	Write a humorous passage -- a "quote", an observation, a joke, a dialogue, a poem, anything -- using only words that appear in Biden's inaugural address. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 7, 2021	1422	The Collaboratory	Think of a book, movie or song title. Then pair its creator, star, singer, etc., with an unrelated "collaborator" to produce a wordplay on the title. (Conversational text)	WOR MUS LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 14, 2021	1423	Muddled heads: Headline anagrams	Choose a headline (or part of a headline) in any print or online publication dated Feb. 11-22 and rearrange all its letters into an anagram. (Conversational text)	ANA HEA LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 21, 2021	1424	We Bee back -- a neologism contest	From any of the 30 provided Spelling Bee letter sets, coin a new term or phrase and describe it humorously. You must use the first letter in the set (anywhere in the word) plus any or all of the others, as often as you like. (Conversational text)	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 28, 2021	1425	Picture this -- a caption contest	Write a caption, either descriptive or in dialogue, for any of the provided cartoons. (Conversational text)	CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 7, 2021	1426	Mess with our (or others') heads	Reinterpret an actual headline (or a major part of it) by adding a bank head, or subtitle. (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 14, 2021	1427	Rocky of ages, or Badenov for you?	State any historical event -- right up to 2021 -- in the provided "A, or B" format. (Conversational text)	HIS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 21, 2021	1428	The Tile Invitational VIII	Create a five-, six-, or seven-letter word (or phrase) by scrambling the letters of any of the provided sets and define it. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 28, 2021	1429	Forsoothsayers	Quote a line or so from any Shakespeare work, and exemplify it with a contemporary quote, real or imagined. (Conversational text)	LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 4, 2021	1430	Back to racing speed with the 'foals'	"Breed" any two of the provided names of the 100 horses nominated for the 2021 Triple Crown races and name the "foal" to humorously play off both parents' names. (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 11, 2021	1431	The On-Our-Way-Back Machine	Tell us how (in some funny way) things will be different as we emerge from the pandemic.		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 18, 2021	1432	Turn tale and run with it	Offer a new angle on a folk tale, nursery rhyme, children's song, etc., with a short poem, mini-story (under 100 words) or song parody. (Conversational text)	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 25, 2021	1433	Questionable Journalism	Choose any sentence (not a headline!) in an article or ad in The Washington Post or another publication dated April 22 through May 3, and write a question it might humorously answer. (Conversational text)	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 2, 2021	1434	Go ahead, mate my bay: Grandfoals	"Breed" any two of this week's inking foal names and name the "grandfoal." (Conversational text)	HOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 9, 2021	1435	Who needs Peeps when we have CICADAS?	Create a witty visual artwork that includes at least one real cicada or cicada casing (the body-shaped shell from which the insect emerges) and send us a photo of it. (Conversational text)	PIX	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 16, 2021	1436	Haven't seen it: Fun with movie titles	Misinterpret a movie title in a supposed plot description. (Conversational text)	MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 23, 2021	1437	One-offs: A 'typo' neologism contest	You're a fat-fingered typist: Change a word, name or phrase by either adding or substituting one letter that's adjacent (in any direction) to the original one on a regular QWERTY keyboard, or by doubling the correct letter. (Conversational text)	LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 30, 2021	1438	Nothing but the untruth: Fake trivia about the law	Give us some bogus trivia about the law -- lawyers, courts, judges, police, odd laws, terminology, what have you. (Conversational text)	TRI POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 6, 2021	1439	Vowel Movement: The Musical	Choose a song title; remove all the vowels; then add back as many vowels as you like to create a new title, and describe the song. You might also provide a line or two of lyrics. (Conversational text)	LET MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 13, 2021	1440	It's parody time!	Write a satiric song about anything in the news these days. (Conversational text)	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 20, 2021	1441	\'Rick rolling: songs as limericks	Sum up or otherwise reflect a well-known song as a limerick. (Conversational text)	MUS LIM	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 27, 2021	1442	Same difference, or missing links	Choose any two (or more) items from the utterly random list above and say how they're different, alike or otherwise linked. (Conversational text)	DIF	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 4, 2021	1443	The letters of the laws	Propose some law -- it doesn't have to be a serious issue -- and give it a name and an acronym, (Conversational text)	LET LEG	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 11, 2021	1444	It's a whole new all-game	Slightly change the name of a sport, sports event or similar pastime to create a new one, and briefly describe it. (Conversational text)	ATH	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 18, 2021	1445	Put it in bee-verse -- poems with spelling words	Write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer that includes at least one of the words used in Round 8 or later of this year's bee; OR: write a joke in Q&A form that uses at least one of the words. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 25, 2021	1446	Clue us in -- and we spill the beans	Write novel clues for as many as 25 answers in the provided grid, across or down, first substituting your own letters for any covered ones. (Conversational text)	CRO LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 1, 2021	1447	Give it to us straight	Take any sentence from an article or ad in any publication (print or online) dated July 29 through Aug. 9, 2021, and intepret it in “plain English". (Conversational text)	HEA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 8, 2021	1448	Hear, hear -- it's Limerixicon XVIII	Supply a humerous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any word, name or term beginning with "he-". (Conversational text)	LIM	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 15, 2021	1449	Let's have a get-together	Begin with a real name; append to it a word, name or expression so that they overlap; and finally define or "quote" the resulting phrase or name. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 22, 2021	1450	Putting the 'anoid' in humanoid	Humorously describe some aspect of our current society as a space alien and/or future anthropologist might interpret it. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 29, 2021	1451	Could have said it worse ourselves	Give us a humorously bad "first draft" of a famous line from history, literature or entertainment. (Conversational text)	HIS CUL LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 5, 2021	1452	As the Word Turns	"Discover" a word or multiword term that consists of adjacent letters -- in any direction or several directions, up, down, back, forth, diagonally -- in the provided grid, and provide a humorous definition. (Conversational text)	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 12, 2021	1453	Haven't read it -- mis-subtitle a book	Choose any book title listed on Amazon and misinterpret it by adding a subtitle. (Conversational text)	LIT	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 19, 2021	1454	Punku 3 -- haiku with a pun	Create a haiku containing a pun or similar wordplay.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 26, 2021	1455	Good idea! Or not.	Cite a "good idea' and, with a small change of wording, a "bad idea". (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 3, 2021	1456	The hunting of the snark	Ask an insulting rhetorical question in the form (or a variation) of "Is that your _______ or _______?" (Conversational text)	QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 10, 2021	1457	What is Ask Backwards XL?	You are on "Jeopardy!"; various answers are provided. You provide the questions. (Conversational text)	JEO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 17, 2021	1458	Do adjust your set: TV anagrams+	Use all the letters of any TV show (including streamed ones), past or present, to create new show; or it can be an episode of the original.	LET TEL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 24, 2021	1459	And we quote: 'It's Parody Time'	Write humorous first-person lyrics for a song "by" some particular person. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 31, 2021	1460	These new words are on fleek	From the provided list, write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer. (Conversational text)	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 7, 2021	1461	It's the eponymy, stupid	Create an eponym -- a word based on the name of a well-known person -- define it, and perhaps use it in a humorous sentence. (Conversational text)	WOR CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 14, 2021	1462	Time for a new career?	Tell what would happen if any two people switched professions or other roles. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 21, 2021	1463	Fork over some (new) Spoonerisms	Write and original Q-A joke featuring a spoonerism. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 28, 2021	1464	Picture this -- a caption contest	Write a caption, either descriptive or in dialogue, for any of the provided cartoons.	CAP CAR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 5, 2021	1465	Put your '22 cents in for our annual pre-timeline	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2022. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 12, 2021	1466	Be invitationally correct	Give us a funny "correction" that a newspaper or magazine might offer. (Conversational text)	CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 19, 2021	1467	The Year in Redo, Part 1	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1413 through 1439, except for Weeks 1414-1416. (Conversational text)	STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 26, 2021	1468	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1440 through 1464. (Conversational text)	STY	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 2, 2022	1469	Post Mortems 2021, our obit poems	Write a poem of no longer than eight lines (plus an optional title) about someone who died in 2021. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 9, 2022	1470	Your add here -- a prefix feast	Add a "prefix" -- by which we mean at least one syllable of any kind (but not multiple words) -- to the beginning of any word in well-known phrase, name, book title, etc., and describe the result. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 16, 2022	1471	Tour de Fours XVIII: B-I-D-E with us	Coin a word or phrase containing the letters B-I-D-E -- consecutively but in any order, and describe it. (Conversational text)	LET WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 23, 2022	1472	Phony money -- tell us fake financial trivia	Tell us some fake trivia about money or the financial system. (Conversational text)	TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 30, 2022	1473	Sign right here	Write a funny message for the overhead highway sign. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 6, 2022	1474	Hyphen the Terrible	Combine one side of a hyphenated word or phrase with one side of another such term -- either side can be the end or the beginning -- to create a new term. AND! Both halves of the term must come from the same issue of a newspaper (The Post or another one) or published the same day on its website, Feb. 3 through 14. (Conversational text)	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 13, 2022	1475	Hail to the Commanders!	Write a song (set to any familiar tune) or shouted cheer for the Washington Commanders. OR: Write for any other D.C. institution, e.g., the Metro, the Senate, the National Zoo, The Washington Post. (Conversational text)	MUS POE WAS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jeff Shirley	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 20, 2022	1476	Matchless humor -- show us some Googlenopes	Find us a Googlenope -- a phrase in quotation marks that generates the message "It looks like there aren't many matches for your search" -- or a Googleyup, a phrase that surprisingly does have hits. (Conversational text)	GOO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 27, 2022	1477	Thinking outside the big box	Send us a humorous "review" for any of the provided items listed on walmart.com<\em>. (Conversational text)	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 6, 2022	1478	It's a small, small world	Write a humorous poem, eight lines max, using only words from the provided list of 1,000 most common English words. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 13, 2022	1479	It's a WordleVite! Write a prhase of 5-letter words	Write a phrase or sentence consisting of two to six five-letter words or names, then define it or say something funny about it. AND the Wordle part: once a letter is in the right, "green" place -- the same place as it is in the final word (like the P in "pouty" in the example provided) -- your subsequent words must keep those letters in their right places. (Conversational text)	WOR LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 20, 2022	1480	Oh, you don't really mean that	"Define" inaccurately and humorously any of the provided words. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 27, 2022	1481	Mess with our heads	Reinterpret some actual headline (or a major part of it), from any publication, print or online. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 3, 2022	1482	The Tile Invitational IX	Rearrange the letters of any of the letter sets provided to create a new term, then define or describe; you may use all seven letters, but also just six or five. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 10, 2022	1483	Pun for the Roses -- our famous foal-'breeding' contest	"Breed" any two of the provided names and name the "foal". As in actual thoroughbred racing, a name may not exceed 18 characters including spaces. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 17, 2022	1484	Two ways about it	What's something (printable) you could say in two -- or more -- of the provided situations. (Conversational text)		Text file | Post e-version
April 24, 2022	1485	Switchcraft -- transpose two letters in a word	Switch the positions of two letters within a word, name, title or phrase, then describe the result. (Conversational text)		Text file | Post e-version
May 1, 2022	1486	No can do: Signs of incompetence	Give us a clue that someone was incompetent in a given field. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 8, 2022	1487	Colt following -- now it's the grandfoals	"Breed" any of the "foal" names provided in today's results (including the intro) and give the "grandfoal" a name that reflects both names. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 15, 2022	1488	Let's recycle!	Come up with humorous uses for ANY product or combination of products listed at RepurposeMaterials.com, including but no restricted to the provided list. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 22, 2022	1489	Let's movie things around	Rearrange the words of a movie title to create a new movie, then describe it (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 29, 2022	1490	It's parody time -- sing the news	Write a satiric song about anything in the news these days. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 5, 2022	1491	The add biz	Choose any word, name or phrase beginning with A throough E, then add any single letter of the alphabet to it -- one or more times -- and define the result or show how it would be used. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image
June 12, 2022	1492	Set us right -- conservative humor	Send us conservative-leaning humor in a Q&A joke format or a knock-knock joke. (Conversational text)		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version		Text file
June 19, 2022	1493						Text file
June 26, 2022	1494
July 3, 2022	1495
July 10, 2022	1496
July 17, 2022	1497
July 24, 2022	1498
July 31, 2022	1499
August 7, 2022	1500
August 14, 2022	1501
August 21, 2022	1502
August 28, 2022	1503
September 4, 2022	1504
September 11, 2022	1505
September 18, 2022	1506
September 25, 2022	1507
October 2, 2022	1508
October 9, 2022	1509
October 16, 2022	1510
October 23, 2022	1511
October 30, 2022	1512
November 6, 2022	1513
November 13, 2022	1514
November 20, 2022	1515
November 27, 2022	1516
December 4, 2022	1517
December 11, 2022	1518
December 18, 2022	1519
December 25, 2022	1520
January 1, 2023	1521
January 8, 2023	1522
January 15, 2023	1523
January 22, 2023	1524
January 29, 2023	1525
February 5, 2023	1526
February 12, 2023	1527
February 19, 2023	1528
February 26, 2023	1529
March 5, 2023	1530