WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	INK Types
1583	A Thousand Words	Write a funny poem about the artwork of your choice.	H
1582	You're Workin' on a Chain, Gang	A classic connection game.	H
1581	SOTU-Speak	Use words from Biden's State of the Union speech to write some lines for another oration.	L
1580	Hi, Anxiety!	Tell us some funny ways to stress yourself out.	H
1579	Captions Courageous	Write a description for any of six photos	H
1577	Why the #$%#$% Not?	The Washington Post is looking for some bold ideas -- Let's show it some!	H H
1576	Praise the Lurid!	Give us clickbait headlines for mundane stories.	T H
1575	The Ughscars and the Phewlitzers	Give us an idea for a bad book or movie.	H H
1574	Oh, Grandpa, Stop!	Turn a 'dad joke' into a less-tame 'grandpa joke'	H H H
1573	The Invitational Week 55: Tour de Fours — Be STUD-ly	Give us a new word or phrase containing 'DUST' in any order of letters.	H
1572	S Is for Smartass	Presenting the Devil's Alphabet Soup	L H
1571	Dead Letters, our annual obit contest	Write a funny verse about someone who died in 2023.	H H
1570	The Invitational, Week 52: Replaying Around -- The 2023 retrospective, Part II	Enter or reenter our Week 26-50.	H
1569	Look Back in Inker -- Our 2023 retrospective, Part 1	Enter or reenter our Week 1-25 contests.	H
1567	Picture This	A caption contest	H
1566	Well, the Good News Is ...	Put a positive spin on a bad-news headline	H
1563	The Perfect(ly Ridiculous) Gift	Offer up some products for people-who-have-everything catalogs.	T
1562	Rhyme and Rhyme Again	Write a funny "monorhyme", a poem whose lines all rhyme on the same sound.	M H
1561	Let It Be a Lesson to Us	Tell us some things to be learned from Costco, the bathroom, TV shows, etc.	T
1560	The 'Hole Story	Write us a funny 'Am I The Asshole' question	M
1559	As the Word Turns	'Discover' new words by snaking through this random grid	H
1558	It's Parody Time	Send up the news with those songs and videos you do so well	H
1556	Cross Us Up	Mirror a phrase, more or less	H H
1555	Do You Have to Spell It Out for Us?	Give us "backronyms"	W H
1554	U (Heart) TFG's BFFs	Reach out to beleaguered Trump supporters and bathe them in the warmth of your love, to help bind the nation’s wounds	T M L
1553	Doody and Muldoon	Write a Muldoon, a four-line poem that features at least two body parts and a place name, and at least one rhyme.	H H H H H 4
1552	A Mirthday Party	Link two people who share a birthday	H 2
1551	Ask Backwards XLII	We give the answers. You give the questions.	M
1549	The Tile Invitational X	It's our 10th running of this coin-a-word game.	H H
1548	Poll-ish Jokes	Come up with a ridiculous reader poll.	H H
1547	Alphabettering	Write a funny sentence containing all 26 letters.	H H
1546	Put It in Bee-verse	Write a funny poem using a spelling bee word	H H 3
1543	F Things Up	Neologisms by adding Fs or changing letters to F	L H H H H
1541	Wrong enough for ya?	Fake facts about the weather	M
1540	Picture This	It's caption contest time, with eight motley pictures to choose from.	H
1539	Get Real, Reel	Name a scene in a movie, a TV show, or literature, and tell us how it might be revised (perhaps less satisfyingly but far more realistically)	H H H
1537	A Crooning Achievement	Write a lyric for a politician to sing.	3
1536	Colt Following	Now that we have the winner and punners-up of our venerable foal-name contest, it's time for 'grandfoals'.	H H H
1535	The Poops Diorama	Make some funny art with toilet paper and send us a photo.	H H
1533	The Very Last 'Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions'	Tell us a stupid question followed by a funny retort.	H
1532	We Bee Back With Neologisms	Make up words using letter sets from the NYT Spelling Bee game	L H
1530	Mess With Our Heads	Reinterpret any headline by adding a 'bank head'.	H
1529	Hello, Dall-E!	Our new contest partners you and a machine.	H
1528	It's Our Birthday. Party Like It's 1993.	As the Invite turns 30, enter your choice of contests from our year of infancy	H
1527	Film Flim-Flam	Use all the letters in a movie title to make a new movie	H
1526	Poke Us Till We Giggle	Write a "poke", or a joke recast as a rhyming poem	H H
1525	Arty Har-har	Give us an idea for a humorously audacious modern art work	H H
1522	Questionable Journalism	Find a sentence published in the next week and tell us what question it could answer	T H
1520	Nextra! Nextra!	Read All About it. Predict the big news events of 2023	T
1519	Dead Letters	The post-Post humor contest barely skips a beat as the Czar and Empress begin with the annual obit poems.	H
1518	The final Post edition	Some all-time favorite entries	H H
1515	Munich-ipals -- European "sister cities	Choose any two or more towns from the 51 countries in Europe/Eurasia and come up with a joint endeavor the “sister cities” would undertake.	H
1512	Alphabetter	Write a 26-word sentence or other passage whose words each start with a different letter — except that the X in the X-word may appear elsewhere in the word, as long as the word has an “ex” syllable.	H
1510	Only U (or A, E, I or O)	Write a humorous univocalic poem — one that uses only one of the vowels A, E, I, O or U	H
1508	Tour de Fours XIX —Laughtime Achievement	Coin a word or phrase containing the letters E-L-D-N — consecutively but in any order — and describe it.	H
1507	All over the map!	Choose one of the contiguous 48 U.S. states or D.C. Then write a funny slogan for that state by “traveling a route” from that state into several others. Use the first letters of the states in your route as the first letters of the words in your slogan.	W M
1506	Let's go magnet-fishing with new words	From the provided list, write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer.	M H
1505	Munici-pals	Choose any two or more real U.S. or Canadian towns — they need to show up on a Google search — and come up with a joint endeavor they would undertake.	H H
1503	Sing of your supper--parodies about food	Write a humorous song on the subject of food.	H
1502	It's Hi-time for Limerixicon XIX	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any word, name or term beginning with “hi-.	H H
1500	These go to 15	Make up a word or phrase whose Scrabble letter values add up to exactly 15 (no blanks!) and define it.	H H
1498	V for Verses -- misuse a word in a poem	Write a short (eight lines or fewer), humorous poem that uses one or more words in other than their actual meanings.	H
1497	The if-word	Give us a "what if" scenario and its humorous result	H
1496	Same Difference -- compare two items on this list	Tell us humorously how any two (or more) items on the provided list are alike or different, or linked in some other way.	H
1494	Put it in bee-verse	Write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer that includes at least one of the words used in Round 4 or later of this year's bee; OR: write a joke in Q&A form that uses at least one of the words.	H H
1493	Frankly speaking with feghoots	Tell a feghoot -- a mini-story (a ridiculous one is fine) that ends in a groaner pun on a familiar expression, title, line from a song, etc.	H H
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.	H
1490	It's parody time -- sing the news	Write a satiric song about anything in the news these days.	H H
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.	H
1486	No can do: Signs of incompetence	Give us a clue that someone was incompetent in a given field.	H H
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.	H
1484	Two ways about it	What's something (printable) you could say in two -- or more -- of the provided situations.	H
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.	H H H
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.	H H H
1481	Mess with our heads	Reinterpret some actual headline (or a major part of it), from any publication, print or online.	H
1480	Oh, you don't really mean that	Define" inaccurately and humorously any of the provided words.	L H H
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.	H
1477	Thinking outside the big box	Send us a humorous "review" for any of the provided items listed on walmart.com<\em>.	H
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.	H H
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.	P H H
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.	W H H H
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.	M 3
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.	H H
1468	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1440 through 1464.	H H
1467	The Year in Redo, Part 1	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1413 through 1439, except for Weeks 1414-1416.	H
1466	Be invitationally correct	Give us a funny "correction" that a newspaper or magazine might offer.	H
1465	Put your '22 cents in for our annual pre-timeline	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2022.	M
1462	Time for a new career?	Tell what would happen if any two people switched professions or other roles.	H
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.	H
1460	These new words are on fleek	From the provided list, write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer.	H
1459	And we quote: 'It's Parody Time'	Write humorous first-person lyrics for a song "by" some particular person.	T H H
1457	What is Ask Backwards XL?	You are on "Jeopardy!"; various answers are provided. You provide the questions.	H H
1454	Punku 3 -- haiku with a pun	Create a haiku containing a pun or similar wordplay.	H H
1453	Haven't read it -- mis-subtitle a book	Choose any book title listed on Amazon and misinterpret it by adding a subtitle.	H
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.	H
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.	T
1448	Hear, hear -- it's Limerixicon XVIII	Supply a humerous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any word, name or term beginning with "he-".	W H H
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".	L
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.	H H H
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.	M
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,	H
1441	\'Rick rolling: songs as limericks	Sum up or otherwise reflect a well-known song as a limerick.	H
1440	It's parody time!	Write a satiric song about anything in the news these days.	H 4
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.	H
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.	H
1434	Go ahead, mate my bay: Grandfoals	Breed" any two of this week's inking foal names and name the "grandfoal.	H H H
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.	3
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.	H
1429	Forsoothsayers	Quote a line or so from any Shakespeare work, and exemplify it with a contemporary quote, real or imagined.	L
1427	Rocky of ages, or Badenov for you?	State any historical event -- right up to 2021 -- in the provided "A, or B" format.	H H
1426	Mess with our (or others') heads	Reinterpret an actual headline (or a major part of it) by adding a bank head, or subtitle.	H H
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.	L
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.	H H
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.	W H H H
1416	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1388 through 1412.	H
1415	The Year in Redo, Part 1	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1360 through 1387, except for Weeks 1361-1363.	H H
1414	Divining comedy: 2021 predictions	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2021.	H
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.	M 4
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.	H
1408	Re-Organization	Slightly change the name of a nonprofit organization and describe it.	T 4
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.	H
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.	H
1404	Ask Backwards XXXIX	The answers are provided. You supply the questions.	H H
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.	H
1402	The fourteeners--a neologism contest	Make up a word whose Scrabble letter values add up to exactly 14 (no blanks!), and define it.	H H
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.	H
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.	H
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.	3
1395	Add nauseam: A plus-one contest	Add a "plus one" to some familiar numerical grouping, true or fictional	T
1393	Second chance (acned conches?) for anagrams	Describe any of the provided anagram businesses, or offer its slogan.	H
1392	Picture this -- caption these cartoons	Write a caption, either descriptive or in dialogue, for any of the provided Bob Staake cartoons.	M H
1390	'Same difference' for a new time	Explain how any two of the items in the provided list are similar, different or otherwise linked.	H
1389	TankaWanka 4: Haiku plus tu	Write a TankaWanka about something that's been in the news lately.	M
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.	H
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.	M
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.	H H H
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.	H
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.	L
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).	H 3
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.	T
1374	Versus' verses in a rap battle	Write a mini-"rap" between any two characters, real or fictional, as in the provided ERB example.	H
1372	Trash talking, 1880-style	Write a quatrain or -- heck -- two of Balliol rhyme about some person.	H
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.	H
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.	H
1369	Shoot us some oops	Tell us a concise original joke that revolves around a typo or misheard word.	H
1368	Picture This -- cartoon captions	Supply a caption for one or more of the provided cartoons.	H
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.	P
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.	L H
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.	H H H
1364	Clue us in	Supply clever, funny clues for as many as 25 of the words and multi-word terms in the provided grid.	H
1363	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1334 through Week 1359.	H H 4
1361	2020 vision -- the year in preview	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2020.	P
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).	H H
1357	It's parody time!	Write a satirical song about anything in the news right now, set to a familiar tune.	H
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.	H
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.	M
1352	Hee-rotica -- Steamy prose for unsteamy life	Write a short steamy scene (100 words would be considered long) about a non-steamy event.	M H
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.	H
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.	H
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.	H
1348	Same difference	Explain humorously how any two or more of the provided items are alike, different or otherwise connected.	H
1347	Reologisms	Write a clever, funny definition for any of the provided Loser-concocted words and phrases, and/or show they'd be used.	H
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-".	H
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.	H
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.	2
1339	Songs for a modern error	Write humorous lyrics about some modern woe, set to a familiar tune.	H 2
1338	Picture This -- cartoon captions	Supply a caption for one or more of the provided cartoons.	H
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.	2
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.	H H
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.	H
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.	M H H
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.	H
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.	M
1326	Foaling around	Breed" any two names from the provided list of 100 horses and name the foal to reflect both names.	H
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.	W H
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.	H H
1313	Dead Letters -- our obit poem contest	Write a poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2018.	H
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.	M
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.	H
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.	H
1304	All the muse that's fit to print	Present a "what if" scenario and explain its effect.	H
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.	H H
1300	Botch office sensations	Add "13" to an existing movie title, and some humorous trouble to the plot.	T
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.	L L H
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.	H H
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.	H 4
1290	Bobbing for Witte words	Come up with both an object/situation and a neologism for it.	H 4
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.	H H H
1285	That is so wrong!	Supply a trivia question along with both the correct answer and a cleverly "wrong" guess.	H
1284	Same difference	Explain how any two of the items in the provided list are similar, different or otherwise linked.	H H
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.	H
1279	Just do it -- the 'real' way	List some "accurate" directions for using some product or completing some task.	3
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.	H
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.	H H
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.	H
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.	M H H
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	3
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.	H
1267	Jingle bungle	Suggest an ill-advised spokesman (dead or alive, or fictional), along with a humorously noooo slogan or jingle.	H
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.	H
1265	Parody for the course	Write a song relating to a class or course of instruction, or to school in general.	H
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.	H H
1261	Post mortems -- our annual obit poem contest	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2017.	T H 4
1258	The year in redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1230 through Week 1254.	T H H
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.	H
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.	H
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.	H
1253	Fashion x fiction: More fake trivia	Tell us some totally bogus trivia about clothing or fashion.	H
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.	H H H
1251	Thanking outside the box	Tell us something to be thankful for.	H
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.	H
1248	C'mon, fess up!	Send us a brief "confession" -- there will be categories for true and just-kidding.	H
1247	Script tease	Offer a quote from a script whose title you've given a different plot.	H
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.	H H
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.	H H H
1242	Generation Yux	Give us a "then/now" joke.	H
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.	H H
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.	H
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.	H
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.	H
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.	H H
1230	What in creation . . . ?	Supply a brief monologue or dialogue about a Creator's specifications or planning for some living being.	H
1227	Celebrate ortho-diversity!	Name and describe a new life form -- and no letter in the term may be used twice.	H
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.)	H
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.	T
1221	Who's kidding whom?	Take two people from history, past or present, and tell what their child would be like	H
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.	H H
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.	H
1213	Punku	Write a haiku that incorporates a pun.	H H
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.	2
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.	H
1208	A RIP-roaring year: Obit poems	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2016.	H H
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.	H
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.	H
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.	4
1202	Don't be afraid of the dark	Write lyrics to a song that, in some way, express hope.	H
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.	T H
1199	We want some bad choices	Offer one or more funny Questions for Terrible People, as shown.	H
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".	H
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.	H
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.	H
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.	H H H
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).	3
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	H
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.	H
1189	Gee, it's Limerixicon XIII!	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ge".	M
1188	Just short words, one more time	Explain some concept or philosophy entirely in words of one syllable.	H
1185	The Rorschach of the crowd	Interpret one of more of the provided genuine inkblots. You may look at them upside down or sideways.	H H
1183	C'mon, be honest with us	Write something in roughly the form "If X were more honest, (then) Y.	H
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.	H 3
1178	A ______ of collective nouns	Propose one or more funny new names for groups of things.	H H
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.	H
1175	Good luck with 13	Make up a word whose Scrabble letter values add up to exactly 13, and define it.	H
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.	H
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.	H
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.	3
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.	M
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.	M
1164	'Wait Wait' for us	Compose a multiple-choice question about a Ridiculous but True fact a la the NPR show 'Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me.'	M
1161	Give us four Pinocchios	Tell us some false "facts" about politicians, present or past.	M
1160	A remeaning task	Redefine an existing word or two-word term beginning with P through Z.	H
1159	It's all in the game	Come up with a funny/ridiculous board-type game and describe it.	M
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.	H
1156	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2015.	P H
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.	T H
1154	Tabby Road -- songs for cats	Write a song for -- or about -- cats or other animals, set to a familiar tune.	H
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.	H
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.	H
1149	Gestures of depreciation	Suggest ways to celebrate National Love Your Lawyer Day -- or a made-up "holiday" celebrating some other profession.	H
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.	H 3
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.	H
1146	Stick it to us with a magnet	Suggest a new Style Invitational honorable-mention magnet.	H H
1145	A DICEy situation	Coin a word or multi-word term that contains the letter block D-I-C-E.	M H
1143	Ask Backwards	Provided are 15 answers, separated by asterisks. You supply the questions.	H
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.	H
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).	H
1138	Show us your touché	Offer an elegantly snide (and original) insult of anyone living or dead.	H
1137	Be a published author!	Give us a spicy title for a boring book, real or imagined.	M
1136	Gaah! It's Limerixicon XII	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ga-".	H H
1134	The 'Sty'le Invitational Red'ux'	Put quotation marks around part of a word, name or phrase and define the result.	H H H
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.	H H
1129	Right in the pampootie	Write a humorous short poem (eight lines or fewer) incorporating one of the 50 provided words.	H
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.	M
1126	Picture this	Provide a humorous caption for any of the cartoons provided.	M
1124	Heed! Indeed: Advice verse	Write one of the provided reminders as a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer.	H
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.	H H H
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.	H H
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.	H
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.	H
1119	We want hue so bad	Invent a name for a color and describe it.	H H
1117	You got another sing coming	Write a song about a topic or person lately in the news, set to a familiar tune.	H H
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.	H
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.	M
1112	Some SHARP words	Coin a word or short term that includes all the letters S, H, A, R, and P.	M H H
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.	H H H
1110	The mama of all humor	Write a [Someone’s] Mama joke for some well-known figure, past or present, real or fictional.	H
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.	H
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.	H H
1106	Show your resolve	Suggest a New Year's resolution that someone might make 100 or more years in the future.	H H 2
1105	A lit obit of fun	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2014.	T 4
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.	H
1102	Let's get Sirius	Suggest a new radio channel and describe it.	M H
1101	The year in redo	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 1047 through Week 1097, except for Week 1050.	H
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.	W H H
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".	T
1096	Picture this	Write a humorous caption for any of the provided Bob Staake cartoons.	H H H
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.	H
1093	You're only as rich as you fee	What are some really bad ideas for various businesses to make a few more bucks?	M H H
1092	Are we having funds yet?	Suggest a humorous fundraising "challenge" for any organization.	H 4
1091	Good idea! or not.	Come up with a good idea and, through a small change in wording, a bad idea.	H
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.	2
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.	M H
1087	The core ridiculum	Come up with a comical class (any type of school) and provide a course catalog description.	M
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.	T
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.	T
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-".	H
1083	Everybody get appy	Offer up an idea for either a humorously useful app or a humorously counterproductive one.	H
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.	H H 2
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.	H
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.	H
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").	H
1076	Dactyly fractyly	Send us some double dactyls that conform to Gene Weingarten's rules.	H H 2
1074	Let's go parody-hopping	Describe a stage or movie musical in a parody of a song from a different musical.	M
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.	H
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.	H
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.	H
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.	H 4
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 _____.	3
1067	A(t)tribute to your wit	Alter a well-known quote slightly and attribute it to someone else.	T
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.	H H H H 2
1064	HistoRebuffs	Alter some moment in history and tell us -- in no more than about 50 words -- the likely outcome.	T H H
1063	Same difference	Take any two items from the provided list and explain how they're similar or different.	H
1062	Scanning the headlines	Write a rhyming poem about something currently in the news.	H H H
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.	H
1060	Picture this	Write a caption, or captions, for one or more of the provided cartoons.	H
1058	Eastwood Ho	Create a good-bad-ugly progression.	W
1056	Weather or nuts	Coin a term relating to the weather, climate, etc. -- either literal or figurative -- and define it.	3
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.	H H
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.	M H
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.	H H
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.	H
1050	Just redo it	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 1000 through Week 1046.	P H H
1049	Be rating	Come up with a new movie rating and describe it.	H H
1048	Ask Backwards	You supply the questions to as many of the provided answers as you like.	H
1045	Songs for the asking	Take a sentence, phrase or title from a song and provide a funny question it might answer.	H H
1043	Rechanneling celebrity	Describe a TV reality show featuring a celebrity pursuing some unlikely endeavor.	M
1041	What have you got to lose?	Answer a question, real or rhetorical, that appears in a song.	T M
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.	L
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.	L H
1036	Just for liffs	Use a real place name, from anywhere in the world, as a new term.	T H H
1035	The Empy 500	Explain what news Bob Staake is trying to tell in any of the provided drawings.	H
1033	LimeriXicon	Supply a humorous limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "fa-".	H
1032	Hid stuff	Explain the symbolism "obviously" evident in any well-known site, artwork, etc., in 75 words or fewer.	M
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.	T H
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.	H
1029	Ditty Harry	Write a descriptive theme song for a well-known movie, set to a well-known tune.	H 2
1027	Built for two	Give humorous related names for any pair of features in a given building, organization, etc.	H H H
1026	'Might' makes ink	Give us a joke using any of the using any of the provided "you might be" templates.	T 4
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.	M H
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.	H H H
1022	What's the diff?	Explain how any two of the provided items are alike or different.	H H
1021	'Gram theft	Come up with a term by scrambling any of the letters sets in the provided list, and define it.	H
1020	Colt following	Breed any two of this week's winning foals and name the grandfoal.	H H
1019	What a turnoff	Tell us some creative things that children and families could do during Screen-Free Week.	T
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.	T
1017	Vowel play	Write a "univocalic" newspaper headline -- one that uses only one vowel throughout.	T
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.	M H
1015	Faux re mi	Give us some humorously false trivia about music or musicians.	H H
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.	T H
1013	Har monikers	Write a riddle that uses a pun of a person's name in the answer.	H H
1012	The news at 5	Write a limerick about a recent news event.	H H
1011	Top these!	Try your hand at any of the contests mentioned in this look back.	M H H H
1010	Picture this	Write a caption for any of the five provided cartoons.	H
1007	Clue us in	Come up with creative, funny clues for the words and multi-word terms in the provided grid.	T
1004	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem about anyone who died in 2012.	H H
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.	H H
999	Drectrospective	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 946 through Week 995, except for Week 948.	H
998	Set the law on us	Suggest an odd law for a particular place in the world.	W H
997	Unworthy causes	Name a dubious charity and describe its mission.	H H
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.	P
995	Ask backwards	We give you the "answers" and you supply jokes in the form of a question.	H
994	Stick it to us	Suggest a slogan for one of our two new honorable-mention Loser Magnets for 2012-2013.	H 2
993	Versus, verses	Write a short "rap battle" between any two characters, real or fictional.	H H H 2
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.	H H H
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.	M H H
989	On the double	Come up with a double or multiple profession, and explain how each job complements the other(s).	M H H H
988	A faster break	Suggest ways to make sports and other leisure activities more time-efficient or exciting.	H
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.	M H H
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.	M M H
985	What art art thou?	Tell us which Style Invitational contest any of the provided Bob Staake cartoons might be illustrating.	W
984	Another brilliant contest	Write something whose words begin with consecutive letters of the alphabet.	M H
983	Limerixicon IX	Supply a humorous limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters "eq-" through "ez-".	H H H
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.	L H
980	Def jam	Supply a humorous definition for any of the provided Loser-penned neologisms.	H H
979	The madding crowd	Suggest funny, original ways to tick people off.	M
978	A reason to rhyme the news	Write a short verse about something that's been in the news recently.	H H H H 4
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.	H H
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.	H
975	Gone mything	Debunk a "Sixth Myth" about one of more of the recent "5 Myths" topics provided.	H
974	Eat our dust!	Write a limerick humorously describing a book, play, movie, or TV show.	H 4
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.	H
972	Trends and neighbors	Choose any two items on the provided list and explain how they are alike or different.	H H
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.	H
970	Couple it	Take a line from any well-known poem and pair it with your own second line to make a humorous couplet.	M H
969	Colt following	Breed any two "foals" in today's results, and name the grandfoal.	H
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.	H
967	Overlap dance II	Create a phrase that overlaps two terms, each of two words or more, and describe the result.	H H H
965	Foaling around	Breed any two of the horses in this year's Triple Crown races and name their foal.	H
964	The Grossery Bag?	Suggest a design and/or slogan to go on the side of the ardently desired Style Invitational Loser Bag.	H
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.	H
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.	P H H H
961	The end of our rhops	Write a funny passage or headline whose words all have the same number of letters.	L
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.	H
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.	H
956	Give us some bad ideas	Finish any of the provided "You know" phrases.	T H
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.	H
954	Bring on the 'fight' jokes	Tell us an original joke ending with “And then the fight started.”	H
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.	H H
952	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2011.	H H H
951	Say that again	Double a word, or use a word and its homophone, to make a phrase, and define it.	H
950	Of all the nerve!	Give us a humorous example of hypothetical chutzpah.	H
949	Analogies	Give us an analogy using "a is to b as x is to y."	T
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).	T H
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.	T
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.	H
943	Ask backward XXIX	You are on "Jeopardy!" You supply the questions for as many of the provided answers as you like.	H
942	Singular ideas	Give us an idea for a contest for which there's likely only one good entry.	W
941	They don't say!	Give us a quote that a particular person, present or past, real or fictional, sooo wouldn't have said.	H H
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).	L H
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.	H
936	Hoho contendere	Slightly alter a well-known foreign-language term and define it.	H
935	The 400 blows	Write a humorous poem--choose your form--about the Virginia earthquake, Hurricane Irene or another well-known natural event.	H
934	Same difference	Explain how any two items in the provided list are similar or different.	H H
933	Stories that count (to 56)	Write a humorous story in exactly 56 words.	P
931	Limerixicon 8	Supply a humorous limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters ea- through -el.	H
929	Now sit right back ...	Write a funny song introducing a TV show, past or present.	H
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.	W T
926	Outrageous fortunes	Come up with a fortune cookie line that you'd like to see.	P
925	A remeaning task	Redefine a word in the dictionary beginning with I through O.	H
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.	H 2
920	Sarchiasm	Write an original chiasmus, in which the elements of a phrase are inverted for comedic effect.	H 2
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.	M
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.	L H H H
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.	H 3
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.	H 4
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.	H
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.	H
909	Reprizing	Suggest humorous uses for one or more of the items above, alone or in combination.	L 3
907	Naming rite	Come up with a creative, somehow fitting sponsor for some public facility or part of one.	L
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.	M H
903	Bill us now	Combine the names of two or more members of Congress as co-sponsors of a bill.	H
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).	M
901	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2010.	H H 4
900	Dear us!	Submit a "Dear Blank" letter to us instead.	M H 2
899	Clue us in	Send us funny, clever clues for any of the words already in this grid.	H
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.	T H
894	Look Back in Inker	Enter any Style Invitational from Week 841 through Week 890 (except for Week 844).	H H H
892	Get a move on	Change the location of something for humorous effect. Provide an explanation if you wish.	4
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.	M H H
890	Double-teaming	Combine the names of any two pro sports teams -- even from different sports -- and describe the result.	T H
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.	H
887	Plus-Fours	Write a limerick whose third or fourth line is one of those listed above.	M H
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.	L
884	Rekindling the spork	Combine two devices or other products to make a new one.	H
883	Same difference	Choose any two items from the list above and explain why they are alike or are different from each other.	H
882	Limerixicon VII	Supply a humorous limerick prominently featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters dr-.	H
881	What's in a name?	Take the name of a person or institution. Find within it a hidden message.	H H H
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.	H H
879	Say Venn	Express some sentiment in the form of a Venn diagram.	P H H
877	Quipped from the headlines	Write a rhyming couplet about some matter in the news.	H 2
876	Oilies but goodies	Write lyrics somehow related to the oil spill, set to an existing tune.	H H H
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.	H H H
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.	T H H 3
871	Remarquees	Change a movie title by one letter (or number, if the title includes a number) and describe the new film.	H H
870	Let's play Nopardy	Describe any of the above phrases in the form of a question.	P H
869	Clue us in	Send us funny, clever clues for any of the words already in this grid.	H
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.	H
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.	H
862	Be cheerful	Send us a cheer or fight song for any pro sports team or any national team.	H
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.	M H H
860	Ten, Anyone?	Humorously define or describe something or someone in exactly 10 words.	H
859	Can't goods	Cast a joke in one of the forms listed above.	W
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.	H
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.	H H H H
854	What's not to liken?	Produce one or more similes in any of the following categories.	H
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.	H
852	Small, Let's get	Write a rhopalic sentence (or fanciful newspaper headline) in which each successive word is one letter shorter.	P H H H H
851	Going to the shrink	Downsize the title of a book, movie or play to make it smaller or less momentous and describe it.	H
850	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2009.	H
849	Homonymphomania	Create a new homonym (or homophone) for any existing word and define it.	H H
848	Up and addin'	Compose a humorous rhopalic sentence (or multiple sentences) in which each word is one letter longer than the previous word.	L H H 2
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.	L H H H
845	Reologisms	Write a description for any of 50 genuine Loser-created neologisms.	H H
844	Healthy choice	Enter any Style Invitational from Week 790 through Week 840, except for Week 793 and Week 798.	P
843	Prefrains	Provide a sentence or two of lead-in to the first line of a well-known book, poem, or song.	M H H
842	Ask backwards	Here are your 12 possible answers. Tell us your joke in the form of a question, please.	H H
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.	4
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.	H
837	Strip Search	Combine two comic strips that appear in The Washington Post or at washingtonpost.com/comics and describe the results.	H
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.	P
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.	L H
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.	M H H
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.	W T M
827	Caller Idiot	Name a real product or company and supply a stupid question or complaint for the consumer hotline person.	M H
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.	T H 3
825	Disinstrumentals	Write some words to music that has no words.	M
824	Jestinations	Give us a slogan for any city or town.	H
822	For Real Folks	Suggest some attractions for a Festival of Real American Folklife.	T M
821	Spit the Difference	How are any of the items on the list above alike or different?	M
820	Be Mister Language Person	Supply a Mister Language Person-type question and answer.	M H 3
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.	P H
817	Flopflip	Reverse the first half and second half of a word or name and define the result.	H
816	Googillions	Come up with an original phrase that generates at least 1 million listings on a Google search.	P H
814	There Will Be Bloodline	Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in this week's results, and name their foal.	H
813	Aw, Shocks	Give us a humorous example of the "shocking -- not.	H
812	Rx-Related Humor	Offer up some entirely false medical or psychological "fact.	H
811	Rock-Bottom Lines	Tell us a sign that the economy couldn't get worse.	T H
809	Unkindest Cutlines	Supply cutlines, or captions, for any of these newspaper photos.	P
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.	T H H H
807	Pretty Graphic Expressions	Express some insight as an equation or other mathematical expression.	H
805	Brand Eccchs	Give us an original name in any of the above categories (not an actual badly named product).	P
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.	H H H H H 3
803	The Pepys Show	Write a humorous diary or journal entry for someone, famous or not, for any point in history.	H H H
802	Dreck TV	Suggest a new cable TV channel, with a description or example of its programming.	T M H
801	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. You supply one or more of the questions.	H
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.	H H
799	Send Us the Bill	Come up with legislation that, given their names, two or more freshman senators or representatives might sponsor together.	P H
798	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem commemorating someone who died in 2008.	H H
797	Be Resolute	Make a humorous resolution for some particular person or institution to accomplish next year.	T
796	Sincerest Flattery	Make up a pun on a familiar name of a real of fictional person and provide a fitting description or quote.	H
795	Stimulate Us	Tell us what the government ought to be spending our money on.	H
792	Clue Us In	Compile a set of funny alternative clues to a crossword penned by Ace Constructor Paula Gamache.	T H
790	If Only!	Explain how the world would be different had some event not occurred.	H
789	Doctrine in The House?	State a humorous, original "doctrine" for a person or other entity.	H
788	The Back End of a Bulwer	Give us a comically terrible ending of a novel.	M
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.	H
785	The Ballad Box	Write a short, humorous song somehow relating to the presidential campaign, set to a familiar tune.	H
783	The Shill Game	Name a celebrity or fictional character to endorse a real product or company.	H
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.	T H 4
780	Location, Location, Location	Say how you know you're in a particular place.	H
779	Gripe for the Picking	Rant about any issue that wouldn't make your top 100 for airing in The Post.	H
778	Tied Games	Combine any two sports or nonathletic activities into a single sport or game.	H
777	Limerixicon 5	Supply a humorous limerick featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters da-.	H H
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.	H H
774	Tour De Forks	Supply a name for a restaurant dish named after someone (or some product or organization) and describe it.	H
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.	T H
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.	W T H H
770	A Knack for Anachronism	Take a famous historical moment, literary passage, or movie scene and place it in an entirely different age.	H
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.	H
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.	W H
766	Think to Shudder	Come up with scenarios that are even more awkward (and more imaginative) than the wincers mentioned above.	H
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.	H H H
763	Another Time Around the Track	Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in this week's results, and name THEIR foal.	3
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.	H H
761	Strip Mining	Supply the text for any or all three of these Bob Staake comic strips.	M
758	Wrong Address	Using any of the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, in whatever order you like, create your own passage.	H
757	Gorey Thoughts From A to Z	Send us some rhyming alphabet-primer couplets.	H
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.	H H
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.	T
753	Hot Off The Riddle	Supply a simple riddle and both the wholesome answer and the (printable) Invitational answer.	P H
752	The Might-Mates Right	Fill out any of these five "you just might" joke-templates.	H
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.	H H
748	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about a well-known personage who died in 2007.	H H
747	Boeing Us Silly	Suggest some comical ways to improve air travel, either in general or for yourself.	W
744	You OED Us One	Make up a humorous and false definition for any of the words listed below.	H
742	Clue Us In	Give us a whole new set of clues to a crossword puzzle penned by Ace Constructor Paula Gamache.	H
740	Give Us a Hint	Offer clues in various situations that something isn't working out well.	H
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.	H
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.	T H
734	Turnaround Time	Write a rhyming couplet containing two words that are anagrams of each other.	H H 3
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.	H
724	Abridged Too Far	Sum up a book, play or movie in a humorous rhyming verse of two to four lines.	H H
723	Name Your Poison	Create a name and recipe for a cocktail and, if you like, describe when it might be served.	H
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)	H
716	The Hard Spell	Write a humorous poem featuring one of the 75 words we've selected from this year's National Spelling Bee.	H H
715	Your Mug Here	Send us an idea for a slogan for the back of the new Loser T-shirt.	W
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.	H
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.	H
704	Another Game of Tag	Create vanity plates for well-known people, real or fictional.	H H
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?	3
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.	4
696	Send Us the Bill	Come up legislation the newly-elected members of Congress might sponsor together.	H H
695	Dead Letters	Write a poem about someone who died in 2006.	H
693	Everything Being Sequel	Give a brief scenario for the sequel to a well-known movie.	H
689	Busted Play	Come up with a more objectionable or stupid toy than a working fart-powered toy rocket.	H
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.	4
663	Worth at Least a Dozen Words	Interpret any of the provided cartoons as you see fit in a caption.	H
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.	H

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