WEEK | TITLE | SYNOPSIS | INK Types |
---|---|---|---|
1316 | Lies, damn lies, with statistics | Tell us some bogus trivia using "statistics" or some bogus quantitative meaure. | H |
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. | H |
1158 | What have we here? | Tell us what one or more of these objects really are. | H |
1144 | Someone else's business | Name a real brand, along with something else it would be a better name for. | H |
1118 | Breed 'em and weep | Breed any two of the provided 100 racehorses nominated for this year's Triple Crown events and name the foal the reflect both names. | H |
1116 | Punning in place | Create a new term using only the letters in a place name. You don't have to use all the letters, but you can't use a letter more often than it appears in the word. | H H |
1057 | Sportin' lie | Give us some fake sports trivia. | H |
1035 | The Empy 500 | Explain what news Bob Staake is trying to tell in any of the provided drawings. | A |
1034 | What's to like? | Supply an original joke of the form "I like my [your choice] the way I like my [something else of your choice]: [some clever, funny parallel]. | H H |
1027 | Built for two | Give humorous related names for any pair of features in a given building, organization, etc. | H |
1002 | Wring out the OED | Make up a false definition for any of the listed OED words. | H |
951 | Say that again | Double a word, or use a word and its homophone, to make a phrase, and define it. | 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. | P |
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 |
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 |
910 | Your ad here | Slightly alter an advertising slogan so that someone else could use it. | H |
903 | Bill us now | Combine the names of two or more members of Congress as co-sponsors of a bill. | H |
900 | Dear us! | Submit a "Dear Blank" letter to us instead. | H |
886 | Look both ways | Give us a new term that's a palindrome and define it. | 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 |
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. | 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. | H |
832 | Clue Us In | You supply one or more clues for the words in a filled-in grid. | H |
810 | What Kind of Foal Am I? | Breed any two of the more than 400 horses eligible for this year's Triple Crown races and provide an appropriate name for their foal. | 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. | 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 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. | H |
763 | Another Time Around the Track | Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in this week's results, and name THEIR foal. | H |
759 | What Kind of Foal Am I? | Breed any two of the 100 horses eligible for this year's Triple Crown and provide an appropriate name for their foal. | H |
751 | Strike Gold | Slightly change the name of an existing or former TV show to create a program that can scab the writers' strike. | 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 |
699 | Our Greatest Hit | Take a word, term or name that begins with E, F, G or H; either add one letter, subtract one letter, replace one letter, or transpose two letters; and define the new word. | H |
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. | W |
684 | Backtricking | Spell a word backward and define the result, somehow relating the definition to the original word. | H |
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. | H |
630 | Hyphen the Terrible | Combine the beginning and end of any two multisyllabic words in this week's Invitational, and then define the compound. | H |
605 | Truly Stupendous Ideas | Name two people with the same initials (the people can be living or dead, real or fictional) and explain how they are similar or different. | P |
602 | Take a Letter -- Again | Take a word, term or name that begins with A, B, C or D; either add one letter, subtract one letter, replace one letter, or transpose two letters; and define the new word. | H |
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. | H |
588 | Gadget If You Can | Tell us what these nifty, indispensable items are. | H |
580 | United Nations | Combine the names of any two countries in the world and describe the new hybrid country. | H |
577 | Teledubbies | Slightly change the title of a TV show, past or present, and describe it. | H |
571 | A Tour de Fours | Create and define a word that includes T, H, E, and S in any order. The letters must appear consecutively. | H H |
570 | Timeline Rhyme Lines | Produce colorful chronological couplets about some historical event. They must rhyme and be in good meter. | H |
564 | Redefine Print | Redefine any word from the dictionary. | H |
559 | Your Slogan Here | Come up with a clever slogan or sign for a business. | H |
553 | Picture This | Tell us what's going on in one or more of the provided cartoons. | H |
552 | What Kind of Foal Am I? | Breed any two of the horses on a list of those qualifying for this year's Triple Crown races, and tell us a good name for their foal. Maximum 18 characters, including spaces. | H |
547 | Give Us a Bad Name | Take an existing product or business name and pair it with an incompatible one. | H |
546 | A Nice Pair of Cities | Choose any two or more real U.S. towns and come up with a joint endeavor they would undertake. | H |
545 | Put It in Reverse | Spell a word backward and define it, with the definition relating in some way to the original word. | H |
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. | H |
465 | Hyphen the Terrible | Take the first half of any word or word combination in today's Post that is broken by a hyphen at the end of a line, and combine it with the second half of any other hyphenated word from the same story, and define the new word that is formed. | H H |
458 | It's a Setup | Come up with joke setups for any of the provided punch lines. | H |