THEME: WOR

PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
May 9, 1993	10	A WEEK THAT WILL LIVE IN EUPHEMY	Write us a funny euphemism.	WOR	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
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
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
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
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
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
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
May 28, 1995	115	THE MNEMONIC PLAGUE	Come up with new mnemonic devices to remember complicated lists.	WOR	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 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
April 7, 1996	160	SEEKING WISE GUYS	Come up with cool new bad-guy terms.	WOR	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
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
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 25, 1997	219	VERBOSITY	Come up with new, obnoxious, self-conscious faux verbs and use them in sentences.	WOR	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
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
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
November 23, 1997	245	LIKE FUN	Complete any of the provided "A is like B because" sentences.	WOR	Text file | Contest image
December 28, 1997	250	OH, GREAT	Complete the sentence "Wouldn't it be great if …"	WOR	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 19, 1998	266	DEFINITELY WEIRD	Take any word from the dictionary and redefine it.	WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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 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
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
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
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
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
April 6, 2003	500	Ergo-Nomics	Create a sillygism--a syllogism that doesn't quite work.	WOR	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
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 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
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
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
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
June 27, 2004	564	Redefine Print	Redefine any word from the dictionary.	WOR	Text file
July 25, 2004	568	Tome Deftness	Make a pun or similar wordplay on a book title.	WOR LIT	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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
July 23, 2006	672	Just Sign This	Write a funny message for an overhead highway sign.	WOR	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
November 12, 2006	688	Making Short Work	Write a humorous six-word story.	LIT WOR	Text file
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
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 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
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 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
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
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)
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 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
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 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 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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
November 28, 2009	845	Reologisms	Write a description for any of 50 genuine Loser-created neologisms.	WOR	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 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
February 27, 2010	858	Same OED	Make up a false definition for any of the words listed below.	WOR	Text file
March 13, 2010	860	Ten, Anyone?	Humorously define or describe something or someone in exactly 10 words.	WOR	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 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
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
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)
September 18, 2010	886	Look both ways	Give us a new term that's a palindrome and define it.	WOR	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 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
November 6, 2010	893	Give us a hint	Write a humorously witty story in 25 words or fewer.	WOR	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)
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
May 22, 2011	920	Sarchiasm	Write an original chiasmus, in which the elements of a phrase are inverted for comedic effect.	WOR	Text file
June 26, 2011	925	A remeaning task	Redefine a word in the dictionary beginning with I through O.	LET WOR	Text file
August 21, 2011	933	Stories that count (to 56)	Write a humorous story in exactly 56 words.	WOR	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
November 20, 2011	946	Another round of Bierce	Write a clever definition of a word, name or multi-word term.	WOR	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 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 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
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
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
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
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)
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
July 15, 2012	980	Def jam	Supply a humorous definition for any of the provided Loser-penned neologisms.	WOR	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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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)
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 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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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 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
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
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 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
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 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 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 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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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 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 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 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 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 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 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
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
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
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
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 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 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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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 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 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 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
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 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
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
YEAR 31 BEGINS