| WEEK | TITLE | SYNOPSIS | INK Types |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1509 | MASH MASH: combine 2 one-word movies | Combine two single-word movie titles to make a new movie and describe it. | H |
| 1472 | Phony money -- tell us fake financial trivia | Tell us some fake trivia about money or the financial system. | M H |
| 1431 | The On-Our-Way-Back Machine | Tell us how (in some funny way) things will be different as we emerge from the pandemic. | H |
| 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 |
| 1395 | Add nauseam: A plus-one contest | Add a "plus one" to some familiar numerical grouping, true or fictional | 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. | H |
| 1382 | For us, it's still Post Time | Breed" any two names from the provided list of 100 of the 145 previous Kentucky Derby winners, from 1875 to 2019, and name the foal to humorously reflect the parents' names. | H |
| 1338 | Picture This -- cartoon captions | Supply a caption for one or more of the provided cartoons. | 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 |
| 1323 | Selected shortened subjects | Delete one or more letters from the beginning or end (or both) of a movie title and describe the resulting movie. | H |
| 1321 | Pumping Prime: Amazon reviews | Send us a humorous "review" (like the provided samples from our earlier contests) for any of the provided items. | H |
| 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. | 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 |
| 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 |
| 1226 | Colt following: The 'grandfoals' | Breed" any two of the 61 foal names that got ink this week, and name the offspring to reflect both parents names. | H |
| 1222 | Foaling around | Breed" any two of the provided racehorses nominated for this year's Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont; and name the foal to reflect both of them. | 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 |
| 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. | H |
| 1125 | The song remains the sa | Supply a real song title that has the end or beginning -- or, what the heck, both -- chopped off and describe it. | 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 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 |
| 1041 | What have you got to lose? | Answer a question, real or rhetorical, that appears in a song. | 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 |
| 925 | A remeaning task | Redefine a word in the dictionary beginning with I through O. | H |
| 884 | Rekindling the spork | Combine two devices or other products to make a new one. | 2 |
| 862 | Be cheerful | Send us a cheer or fight song for any pro sports team or any national team. | 2 |
| 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 |
| 842 | Ask backwards | Here are your 12 possible answers. Tell us your joke in the form of a question, please. | H |
| 841 | Food for naught | Alter the name of a food or dish slightly and describe the result. | H |
| 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. | H |
| 832 | Clue Us In | You supply one or more clues for the words in a filled-in grid. | H H |
| 831 | A Big To-Do | Name a "bucket list" item for a well-known real or fictional character. | H |
| 821 | Spit the Difference | How are any of the items on the list above alike or different? | H |
| 813 | Aw, Shocks | Give us a humorous example of the "shocking -- not. | H |
| 792 | Clue Us In | Compile a set of funny alternative clues to a crossword penned by Ace Constructor Paula Gamache. | H |
| 784 | Words to The Wiseacres | Give us some proverbs for 21st-century life. | 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. | 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. | H |
| 768 | The Events Described Herein Are Entirely Fictitious | Come up with fictitious movie trivia. | H H |
| 757 | Gorey Thoughts From A to Z | Send us some rhyming alphabet-primer couplets. | H |
| 754 | Canny Similarities | Cite a humorous "uncanny similarity" between any two of the very different people listed above. | 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 H |
| 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. | L |
| 677 | The News Gets Verse | Sum up wittily in verse -- but not a limerick -- any article appearing in The Post or on washingtonpost.com from Aug. 28 through Sept. 4. | H |
| 671 | Join Now! | Hyphenate the beginning and end of any two multi-syllabic words appearing anywhere in the July 16 Style or Sunday Arts section, and then define the compound. | H |
| 669 | Huddled Messes | Suggest some bad advice for new arrivals to this country (legal or illegal). | H |
| 668 | Cut From the Chase | Write an original John-Bunnell-style wrap-up to a crime story -- or one for a more minor transgression. | H |
| 667 | Questionable Journalism | Take any sentence that appears in The Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com anytime from now through June 26 and supply a question it could answer. | H |
| 662 | How Low Will You Go? | Humiliate yourself for ink, and a stupid prize. | 1 |
| 634 | Mess With Our Heads | Take any headline, verbatim, appearing anywhere in The Post or on washingtonpost.com from today through next Sunday, and change its meaning by adding either a "bank headline," or subtitle, or the first sentence of an article that might appear under it. | W |
| 578 | Ask Backwards | You are on "Jeopardy!" Above are the answers. Send us the questions. | H |
| 564 | Redefine Print | Redefine any word from the dictionary. | H |
| 563 | Take Two | Take any two of the provided items and explain how they resemble or differ from each other. | H H |
| 560 | The 97.5-Meter Dash | Suggest some time- and cost-saving measures so the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens will open on time. | H |
| 533 | Breed Apart | Mate the clones of any two famous real people, living or dead--a male and a female, please--and hypothesize what traits or skills their offspring might have. | H |
| 532 | Short Pans | Come up with a terse review (four words or fewer) of any work of art. | H |
| 291 | HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE | Take any story in today's paper, find a word that breaks with a hyphen at the end of a line, and combine it with the second half of different hyphenated word in the same story. Then supply a definition for the new hybrid word. | H |
| 180 | WHEN IN DOUBT, PUN | Take any headline in today's Post and improve it by somehow turning it into a pun. | 1 |