WEEK | TITLE | SYNOPSIS | INK Types |
---|---|---|---|
1618 | Week 100! | ...which we celebrate with a centennial contest | W |
1606 | The Cold New Trend | What would be an even sillier new fad than decorator refrigerator shelves? | H H |
1605 | Get Thee to a Punnery | Change a quote slightly and credit it to someone else. | H |
1603 | Hu-boy, It's Limerixicon XXI | Write a limerick featuring a word beginning 'hu' or 'hy'. | H |
1602 | We Got Game | Tell us some funny ways to 'improve' a sport. | H |
1601 | Stop, Hey, What's That Sound? | Tell us what these noise-words mean. | H H |
1600 | Taylorgaters | Take a line from a 'Tortured Poets' lyric and rhyme it with one of your own. | H 3 |
1599 | Picture This | It's our caption contest. | 4 |
1598 | Same Difference | We give you a random list of things, and you tell us how any two are alike or different. | 3 |
1594 | So Good! So Bad! So Ugly! | We bring back a classic contest | H |
1589 | Wait Wait Right Here! | Write some 'Not My Job' questions a la the NPR quiz show. | 2 |
1586 | Pun for the Roses | Our annual crazy-popular horse 'breeding' wordplay contest. | L H |
1582 | You're Workin' on a Chain, Gang | A classic connection game. | 2 |
1578 | The Pepys Show | Give us a diary entry from anyone in history. | H |
1574 | Oh, Grandpa, Stop! | Turn a 'dad joke' into a less-tame 'grandpa joke' | 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 3 |
1568 | Nextra! Nextra! | Tell us the funny news events from 2024 | L H H |
1567 | Picture This | A caption contest | H |
1564 | "Air" "Quotes" | A new forefinger contest | L L |
1563 | The Perfect(ly Ridiculous) Gift | Offer up some products for people-who-have-everything catalogs. | H H |
1560 | The 'Hole Story | Write us a funny 'Am I The Asshole' question | 4 |
1559 | As the Word Turns | 'Discover' new words by snaking through this random grid | H 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 3 |
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 | H |
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 |
1551 | Ask Backwards XLII | We give the answers. You give the questions. | H H |
1550 | Holy Moly, It's Limerixicon XX | Write a limerick featuring a word beginning "ho-". | H |
1546 | Put It in Bee-verse | Write a funny poem using a spelling bee word | H |
1541 | Wrong enough for ya? | Fake facts about the weather | T H 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 |
1533 | The Very Last 'Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions' | Tell us a stupid question followed by a funny retort. | H H |
1532 | We Bee Back With Neologisms | Make up words using letter sets from the NYT Spelling Bee game | H 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 | L H |
1524 | Picture This | A caption contest | H |
1521 | Send Us the Bill | Our "Joint Legislation" contest | H H |
1520 | Nextra! Nextra! | Read All About it. Predict the big news events of 2023 | H 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 |
1513 | You're such a card | Come up with a greeting card rhyme for an un-greeting-card occasion. | L |
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. | H 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. | L H H |
1503 | Sing of your supper--parodies about food | Write a humorous song on the subject of food. | 3 |
1501 | Try a little 'kindness' | Tell about an “act of kindness” that you or someone else does that, well, won’t be appreciated. | L H |
1486 | No can do: Signs of incompetence | Give us a clue that someone was incompetent in a given field. | W |
1484 | Two ways about it | What's something (printable) you could say in two -- or more -- of the provided situations. | 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 |
1477 | Thinking outside the big box | Send us a humorous "review" for any of the provided items listed on walmart.com<\em>. | H |
1472 | Phony money -- tell us fake financial trivia | Tell us some fake trivia about money or the financial system. | H |
1459 | And we quote: 'It's Parody Time' | Write humorous first-person lyrics for a song "by" some particular person. | L |
1451 | Could have said it worse ourselves | Give us a humorously bad "first draft" of a famous line from history, literature or entertainment. | 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. | H |
1436 | Haven't seen it: Fun with movie titles | Misinterpret a movie title in a supposed plot description. | 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 |
1420 | Singing on the job -- a parody contest | Write a humorous "work song" for any job or profession. Set it to any well-known tune. | 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 |
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 |
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. | H H |
1397 | Trope springs eternal | Use any of the four provided standard settings -- (a) desert island, (b) bartender at a bar, (c) desert, (d) psychiatrist next to a couch -- and describe a cartoon that includes your choice of characters, along with a caption. | W H |
1396 | Hail Limerixicon XVII: Write a limerick featuring a 'ha-' word | Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ha-". | H |
1395 | Add nauseam: A plus-one contest | Add a "plus one" to some familiar numerical grouping, true or fictional | W H |
1384 | Of course there are stupid questions! | Give us stupid questions, especially ones reflecting Our Current Situation. | H |
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 |
1375 | Mess With Our Heads | Reinterpret an actual headline (or a major part of it) by adding a bank head, or subtitle. | H |
1373 | Prime time for some Amazon reviews | Send us a humorous "review" for any of the provided Amazon-listed items. | H |
1372 | Trash talking, 1880-style | Write a quatrain or -- heck -- two of Balliol rhyme about some person. | H |
1363 | The Year in Redo, Part 2 | Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1334 through Week 1359. | H 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. | L |
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 |
1338 | Picture This -- cartoon captions | Supply a caption for one or more of the provided cartoons. | H |
1336 | Two ways about it | What's something (printable) you could say in two -- or more -- of the provided situations. | W |
1322 | Back to the drawing board | Come up with an idea for an invention that still needs a bug ironed out. | H |
1319 | The Tile Invitational VI | Create a five-, six-, or seven-letter word (or phrase) by scrambling the letters of any of the provided sets and define it. | H |
1317 | Punku 2: Haiku with puns | Create a haiku containing a pun or similar wordplay. | 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. | 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. | H |
1287 | It's parody time: Oldies for newsies | Write some song lyrics about something in the news these days, set to a familiar tune. | H |
1283 | Put it in Bee-verse | Write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer that includes one of the provided words, all from the 2018 National Spelling Bee. | 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 |
1276 | What 4? A limerick contest | Use a limerick using one of the provided lines as Line 5. | H |
1264 | A cry for Yelp: 'Review' any place | Write a humorous review, positive or negative, of anyplace (real of fictional) one might visit. | H |
1260 | What lies (are) ahead for 2018 | Jokingly predict some news event to happen in 2018. | 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 |
1240 | We GIVE you Limerixicon XIV | Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "gh-" or "gi-". | H |
1210 | Send us the bill: Our 'joint legislation' game | Combine two or more names from the provided list of members of Congress to “co-sponsor” a bill based on their combined last names, and state its purpose. | H |
1206 | Do-over the do-over -- enter any of the year's contests | Enter (or re-enter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1149 to 1202, 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. | H H |
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. | L |
1189 | Gee, it's Limerixicon XIII! | Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ge". | H |
1188 | Just short words, one more time | Explain some concept or philosophy entirely in words of one syllable. | H 2 |
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 |
1178 | A ______ of collective nouns | Propose one or more funny new names for groups of things. | 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 |
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 |
1161 | Give us four Pinocchios | Tell us some false "facts" about politicians, present or past. | H |
1156 | Dead letters | Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2015. | 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. | 4 |
1149 | Gestures of depreciation | Suggest ways to celebrate National Love Your Lawyer Day -- or a made-up "holiday" celebrating some other profession. | H |
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. | 2 |
1144 | Someone else's business | Name a real brand, along with something else it would be a better name for. | 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 |
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. | 2 |
1124 | Heed! Indeed: Advice verse | Write one of the provided reminders as a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer. | 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 |
1106 | Show your resolve | Suggest a New Year's resolution that someone might make 100 or more years in the future. | H |
1105 | A lit obit of fun | Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2014. | H |
1101 | The year in redo | Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 1047 through Week 1097, except for Week 1050. | H |
1098 | Prime time for some Amazon reviews | Send us a creative "review" for any of the provided items that are listed on Amazon. | H |
1074 | Let's go parody-hopping | Describe a stage or movie musical in a parody of a song from a different musical. | H |
1067 | A(t)tribute to your wit | Alter a well-known quote slightly and attribute it to someone else. | H |
1063 | Same difference | Take any two items from the provided list and explain how they're similar or different. | H |
1057 | Sportin' lie | Give us some fake sports trivia. | H |
1054 | Dead letters | Write a short, humorous poem commemorating someone (or maybe even something) who died in 2013. | H |
1050 | Just redo it | Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 1000 through Week 1046. | H |
1032 | Hid stuff | Explain the symbolism "obviously" evident in any well-known site, artwork, etc., in 75 words or fewer. | L |
1008 | Switched reels | Re-arrange all the words in the title of a movie, and describe the resulting work. | H |
1005 | Send us the bill | Name a piece of legislation "cosponsored" by two or more of the 98 new House and Senate members provided. | 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. | 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. | H |
975 | Gone mything | Debunk a "Sixth Myth" about one of more of the recent "5 Myths" topics provided. | 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. | H |
960 | Raving reviews | Send us a creative "review" for any of the provided items that are listed on Amazon. | H H |
956 | Give us some bad ideas | Finish any of the provided "You know" phrases. | 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 |
949 | Analogies | Give us an analogy using "a is to b as x is to y." | H |
928 | Play feature | Use the title of a movie as the answer to a riddle or other question. | 2 |
915 | Picture this | Write a caption for any of the cartoons pictured here. | H |
887 | Plus-Fours | Write a limerick whose third or fourth line is one of those listed above. | H |
882 | Limerixicon VII | Supply a humorous limerick prominently featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters dr-. | H |
850 | Dead letters | Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2009. | H |
832 | Clue Us In | You supply one or more clues for the words in a filled-in grid. | H |
806 | DQ Very Much | Give us a phrase or sentence that would nip a potential relationship in the bud (or elsewhere). | H |
803 | The Pepys Show | Write a humorous diary or journal entry for someone, famous or not, for any point in history. | H |
799 | Send Us the Bill | Come up with legislation that, given their names, two or more freshman senators or representatives might sponsor together. | H H |
793 | Take The Fifth | Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 725 through Week 789. Each entry must include the word "five" of "fifth" or something fiveish, or -- depending on your favorite anniversary tradition -- something involving (a) wood or (b) silverware. | W |
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 |