WEEK | TITLE | SYNOPSIS | INK Types |
---|---|---|---|
1532 | We Bee Back With Neologisms | Make up words using letter sets from the NYT Spelling Bee game | M |
1529 | Hello, Dall-E! | Our new contest partners you and a machine. | H |
1384 | Of course there are stupid questions! | Give us stupid questions, especially ones reflecting Our Current Situation. | 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 |
1373 | Prime time for some Amazon reviews | Send us a humorous "review" for any of the provided Amazon-listed items. | H |
1342 | MRGRS: Mash 2 abbrevs. | Combine two acronyms or other abbreviations, whether of entities or expressions, into one big one, and describe it, offer a slogan for the new organization, etc. | 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 |
1339 | Songs for a modern error | Write humorous lyrics about some modern woe, set to a familiar tune. | H |
1338 | Picture This -- cartoon captions | Supply a caption for one or more of the provided cartoons. | 4 |
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. | P |
1292 | Golly gosh, it's Limerixicon XV | Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term, beginning with "gl-" through "go-". | P |
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 |
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. | P |
1279 | Just do it -- the 'real' way | List some "accurate" directions for using some product or completing some task. | 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 |
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. | L H H |
1253 | Fashion x fiction: More fake trivia | Tell us some totally bogus trivia about clothing or fashion. | 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 H |
1249 | Ask Backwards 36 | Choose any of the 15 provided items and follow it with a question that it could humorously answer. | H |
1248 | C'mon, fess up! | Send us a brief "confession" -- there will be categories for true and just-kidding. | H |
1245 | Call us reprehensible . . . | Complain in a humorously missing-the-point way about something that has appeared in The Washington Post (in print or online) recently, or in another publication. | H |
1244 | Primed for product reviews | Send us a creative "review" for any of the provided items that are listed on Amazon. | H 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. | P |
1128 | Drone for a loop | Give us some novel uses for a CICADA micro-drone, assuming that anyone can get one, and that it can have a micro-camera, micro-grips, etc. | H H |
1042 | Tour de Fours X: Go SANE | Create a new word or two-word term containing the letter block S-A-N-E -- in any order, but consecutively, and define it. | H H H |
1020 | Colt following | Breed any two of this week's winning foals and name the grandfoal. | 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. | 2 |
1011 | Top these! | Try your hand at any of the contests mentioned in this look back. | H |
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. | H |
899 | Clue us in | Send us funny, clever clues for any of the words already in this grid. | H |
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. | P |
858 | Same OED | Make up a false definition for any of the words listed below. | 3 |
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. | P |
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 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 H |
819 | Art Re-View | These objects are not what they seem to be, at first glance. They are something else entirely. What are they? | H |
817 | Flopflip | Reverse the first half and second half of a word or name and define the result. | H |
815 | Wittecisms | Create an original word containing -- in any order -- at least a W, an I, two T's and an E. | H |
744 | You OED Us One | Make up a humorous and false definition for any of the words listed below. | P |
727 | We Get a C-Section | Tell us some pros and cons of moving The Style Invitational to the Saturday Style section; or write us up some free promo-ad copying announcing the move. | P |
725 | Beggars For Description | Describe, without being boring, a cartoon to fit any of the provided captions. | H |
721 | Know Your Market | For any of the provided photos, supply two captions: one that would appeal to The Style Invitational and one that would appeal to the Harrisburg Patriot-News. | 3 |
684 | Backtricking | Spell a word backward and define the result, somehow relating the definition to the original word. | H |
672 | Just Sign This | Write a funny message for an overhead highway sign. | 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. | 4 |
665 | Your One-in-a-Million | Coin the millionth word in the English language and define it. The word must end in -ion. | H |
662 | How Low Will You Go? | Humiliate yourself for ink, and a stupid prize. | H |
661 | Name Any Good Movies Lately? | Give us a funny new title for an existing movie. | H |
660 | Foaling Down: The Next Generation | Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in this week's results, and name THEIR foal. | H H |
647 | Paste Imperfect | Change a headline or sentence that appears in the Post or on washingtonpost.com through Feb. 6 either by deleting up to 40 consecutive characters from it or by adding 40 consecutive characters from the same article or ad. | H |
644 | Winter Limp Picks | Brighten up the Winter Olympics with some new events and rules. Alternatively, you can suggest a commercial or ad campaign that could be tied in with the Winter Games or one of its sports. | H |
641 | Dreck of All Trades | Come up with a business that combines two or more disparate products or services, and tell us its name and/or something else funny about it. | H |
640 | Whassa Motto Wid You? | Give us a slogan or motto for any of the states, the District or the U.S. Territories. | P |
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. | H |
633 | Your Secret Here! | Send us some original secrets (they don't have to be true). | 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. | 3 |
631 | Picture This | What's going on in any of these cartoons? | 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 H H |
629 | Odd Couplings | Marry or otherwise combine famous names and supply the result. | H H H |
628 | You Gotta Have Connections | Choose any two or more items from the provided truly random list and describe how they are alike or different. | H 3 |
627 | Per-Verse | Write a limerick or other short poem with comically awful rhyming. | H |
626 | Course Light | Come up with a comical college class, along with a description for the course catalog. | H |
625 | Haven't Seen It | Make up a new plot for an existing movie title. | 2 |
622 | Our Sunday Constitutional | Write a new article or amendment to the Constitution, using on the words contained in the existing document (including amendments). | H H |
617 | Best the Best | Write something about any famous personage that uses only the letters in his or her name. | H |
613 | Tour de Fours II | Create and define a word that includes, consecutively, E, R, A and N. in any order. | H H H |
612 | Oh, and One More Thing | What was the thing that didn't make the cut on any list? | H |
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 H |
597 | Eccchsibits | Come up with some alternative museums and exhibits for the nation's capital. | H |
594 | History Loves Company | Name an appropriate corporate sponsor for some historical event or for someone's life story. | H |
593 | Take This, Job, and . . . | Come up with some entertainingly awful things that a Job's comforter might offer. A Job's comforter is someone who seems to be offering sympathy but instead just makes the person feel worse, either intentionally or unintentionally. | H |
590 | Send Us the Bill | Come up with a bill sponsored by any combination of the newly elected members of Congress and explain the purpose of the bill. | H H 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 H |
585 | It's Parody Time | Offer, in the holiday spirit of goodwill, some advice--as constructive and unifying as Loserly suggestions always are--to our nation's leaders (or the loyal opposition) as we prepare for the next four years. This advice will be set to the tune of some winter holiday song, either religious or secular. | H |
583 | Mess With Our Heads | Take any headline, verbatim, from the Washington Post or its Web site from today through next Sunday, and reinterpret it by writing either a "bank headline"--or subtitle--or the first sentence of an article that changes the original meaning entirely. | H |
577 | Teledubbies | Slightly change the title of a TV show, past or present, and describe it. | H |
576 | Well, Excuuuuse Us! | Come up with new excuses for any common human shortcoming or imperfection. | H H 4 |
574 | Boor Us Silly | Come up with some unwise attempts at humor--one either likely to backfire or to create other unpleasant consequences. | H 4 |
573 | Thine Ad Goest Here | Propose biblical and other literary passages, poems, etc., that could benefit from product placement. | 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 |
564 | Redefine Print | Redefine any word from the dictionary. | H |
557 | Oh, for Namesakes! | Take two people, real or fictional, who share some element of their names and explain the difference between them. | H H H |
527 | Rite of First Defusal | Come up with witty or bizarre things to say to defuse the tension in awkward moments. | H H |