WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	INK Types
1614	The Tile Invitational XI	Make up new words with the letters we give you	H H H
1613	What's the Worst That Could Happen?	After the election, we mean. And be funny about it.	T
1611	Ask Backwards XLIII	We give you the 'answers'; you tell us the questions.	H
1609	Saved!	Tell us funny ways to be thrifty in these parlous times	W
1607	Funny, Init?	Compare two people who have the same initials.	H
1606	The Cold New Trend	What would be an even sillier new fad than decorator refrigerator shelves?	H 2
1605	Get Thee to a Punnery	Change a quote slightly and credit it to someone else.	W H H 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.	M H H
1599	Picture This	It's our caption contest.	H H H H
1598	Same Difference	We give you a random list of things, and you tell us how any two are alike or different.	T H H
1596	History for the tl;dr Crowd	Sum up an event for the 21st-century reader in a rhyming couplet.	3
1594	So Good! So Bad! So Ugly!	We bring back a classic contest	T
1592	It's Parody Time	Write a funny song about ... anything you like!	T
1588	Colt Fusion	Because of our munificense and guilt, you get a full hundred foal names to 'breed' for 'grandfoals'	H H H
1587	The Trite Stuff	Replace some well-worn phrases with better ones.	T
1586	Pun for the Roses	Our annual crazy-popular horse 'breeding' wordplay contest.	H H H H H 3
1584	Seeds of Change	Make an anagram of a name-brand product.	H H
1582	You're Workin' on a Chain, Gang	A classic connection game.	T H
1581	SOTU-Speak	Use words from Biden's State of the Union speech to write some lines for another oration.	M
1580	Hi, Anxiety!	Tell us some funny ways to stress yourself out.	L H
1579	Captions Courageous	Write a description for any of six photos	T H
1578	The Pepys Show	Give us a diary entry from anyone in history.	M
1577	Why the #$%#$% Not?	The Washington Post is looking for some bold ideas -- Let's show it some!	H
1576	Praise the Lurid!	Give us clickbait headlines for mundane stories.	H H 4
1575	The Ughscars and the Phewlitzers	Give us an idea for a bad book or movie.	M H H
1574	Oh, Grandpa, Stop!	Turn a 'dad joke' into a less-tame 'grandpa joke'	M 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.	M
1572	S Is for Smartass	Presenting the Devil's Alphabet Soup	M
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 H
1567	Picture This	A caption contest	H
1565	Oh, For Namesakes!	Compare two people who share part of a name.	T
1563	The Perfect(ly Ridiculous) Gift	Offer up some products for people-who-have-everything catalogs.	W H H H
1561	Let It Be a Lesson to Us	Tell us some things to be learned from Costco, the bathroom, TV shows, etc.	M
1559	As the Word Turns	'Discover' new words by snaking through this random grid	H
1557	Tailgating On the Highway	Pair a Dylan line with your own rhyming one	M
1556	Cross Us Up	Mirror a phrase, more or less	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	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.	M
1552	A Mirthday Party	Link two people who share a birthday	M
1551	Ask Backwards XLII	We give the answers. You give the questions.	H
1549	The Tile Invitational X	It's our 10th running of this coin-a-word game.	H H 4
1548	Poll-ish Jokes	Come up with a ridiculous reader poll.	H H 3
1547	Alphabettering	Write a funny sentence containing all 26 letters.	H
1545	Their Base Behavior	Tell humorously how some business or organization could alter its product or message to appeal to Trump’s cult.	H
1543	F Things Up	Neologisms by adding Fs or changing letters to F	T H H H
1542	Your (B)ad Here	Tweak an ad slogan to use it for another product	L H H H H 3
1541	Wrong enough for ya?	Fake facts about the weather	H H
1540	Picture This	It's caption contest time, with eight motley pictures to choose from.	H H H 3
1538	Rhymes Against Humanity	Write a four-line poem about people in the news, using either of two poetic forms	T
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 4
1534	Pun for the Roses	Our renowned horse name 'breeding' contest returns!	2
1533	The Very Last 'Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions'	Tell us a stupid question followed by a funny retort.	T
1531	The Worst New Contest Ever	Describe something that would be worse than a second Trump presidency	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	T H H
1518	The final Post edition	Some all-time favorite entries	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
1511	The inside word--our 'air quote' contest	Highlight part of a word, name or short phrase in “air quotes” to give the word a new meaning or description.	H 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.	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.	M
1502	It's Hi-time for Limerixicon XIX	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any word, name or term beginning with “hi-.	M
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.	M H H
1499	Picture This, a cartoon caption contest	Write a caption, either descriptive or in dialogue, for any of the provided cartoons.	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.	M H
1497	The if-word	Give us a "what if" scenario and its humorous result	L 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.	T
1492	Set us right -- conservative humor	Send us conservative-leaning humor in a Q&A joke format or a knock-knock joke.	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
1489	Let's movie things around	Rearrange the words of a movie title to create a new movie, then describe it	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.	M H
1486	No can do: Signs of incompetence	Give us a clue that someone was incompetent in a given field.	T 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.	T H 2
1484	Two ways about it	What's something (printable) you could say in two -- or more -- of the provided situations.	T
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
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
1481	Mess with our heads	Reinterpret some actual headline (or a major part of it), from any publication, print or online.	T H
1480	Oh, you don't really mean that	Define" inaccurately and humorously any of the provided words.	H
1476	Matchless humor -- show us some Googlenopes	Find us a Googlenope -- a phrase in quotation marks that generates the message "It looks like there aren't many matches for your search" -- or a Googleyup, a phrase that surprisingly does have hits.	T
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.	M H
1473	Sign right here	Write a funny message for the overhead highway sign.	M
1472	Phony money -- tell us fake financial trivia	Tell us some fake trivia about money or the financial system.	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.	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.	H
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
1466	Be invitationally correct	Give us a funny "correction" that a newspaper or magazine might offer.	H H
1465	Put your '22 cents in for our annual pre-timeline	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2022.	L
1464	Picture this -- a caption contest	Write a caption, either descriptive or in dialogue, for any of the provided cartoons.	M
1463	Fork over some (new) Spoonerisms	Write and original Q-A joke featuring a spoonerism.	H 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.	M H
1460	These new words are on fleek	From the provided list, write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer.	T
1459	And we quote: 'It's Parody Time'	Write humorous first-person lyrics for a song "by" some particular person.	T
1458	Do adjust your set: TV anagrams+	Use all the letters of any TV show (including streamed ones), past or present, to create new show; or it can be an episode of the original.	M
1457	What is Ask Backwards XL?	You are on "Jeopardy!"; various answers are provided. You provide the questions.	H
1456	The hunting of the snark	Ask an insulting rhetorical question in the form (or a variation) of "Is that your _______ or _______?	H H
1455	Good idea! Or not.	Cite a "good idea' and, with a small change of wording, a "bad idea".	T H
1454	Punku 3 -- haiku with a pun	Create a haiku containing a pun or similar wordplay.	T M H
1452	As the Word Turns	Discover" a word or multiword term that consists of adjacent letters -- in any direction or several directions, up, down, back, forth, diagonally -- in the provided grid, and provide a humorous definition.	H
1451	Could have said it worse ourselves	Give us a humorously bad "first draft" of a famous line from history, literature or entertainment.	T M 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.	H
1448	Hear, hear -- it's Limerixicon XVIII	Supply a humerous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any word, name or term beginning with "he-".	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".	H
1444	It's a whole new all-game	Slightly change the name of a sport, sports event or similar pastime to create a new one, and briefly describe it.	M H H
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
1442	Same difference, or missing links	Choose any two (or more) items from the utterly random list above and say how they're different, alike or otherwise linked.	H
1441	\'Rick rolling: songs as limericks	Sum up or otherwise reflect a well-known song as a limerick.	H
1436	Haven't seen it: Fun with movie titles	Misinterpret a movie title in a supposed plot description.	H
1434	Go ahead, mate my bay: Grandfoals	Breed" any two of this week's inking foal names and name the "grandfoal.	H
1432	Turn tale and run with it	Offer a new angle on a folk tale, nursery rhyme, children's song, etc., with a short poem, mini-story (under 100 words) or song parody.	M
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.	T
1429	Forsoothsayers	Quote a line or so from any Shakespeare work, and exemplify it with a contemporary quote, real or imagined.	T M
1428	The Tile Invitational VIII	Create a five-, six-, or seven-letter word (or phrase) by scrambling the letters of any of the provided sets and define it.	H H
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 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.	M
1424	We Bee back -- a neologism contest	From any of the 30 provided Spelling Bee letter sets, coin a new term or phrase and describe it humorously. You must use the first letter in the set (anywhere in the word) plus any or all of the others, as often as you like.	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.	T
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.	T M
1419	Send us the bill -- 'joint legislation'	Combine two or more names from the provided list of the new members of Congress to “co-sponsor” a bill based on their combined last names, and state its purpose.	M
1416	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1388 through 1412.	H 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.	M
1411	Back end of a Bulwer	Write a humorously awful final sentence or two to an imaginary novel.	T H H 3
1410	Legends of the fall -- more fictoids	Tell us some bogus trivia about autumn, or things that happen (or have happened) in autumn.	H
1409	Skip a groove: Drop a letter or more from a song title	Drop one or more letters from somewhere in the middle of a song title and describe the new song, and/or quote some lyrics from it.	M
1407	Your ad space (or space ad) here	Come up with an idea for promoting some commercial product or service (a) in space, (b) in a prison, (c) at a kindergarten, (d) by a football team or (e) in the White House.	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.	M
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 H
1404	Ask Backwards XXXIX	The answers are provided. You supply the questions.	H 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.	3
1401	How hai? A joke-haiku contest	Write a joke (roughly) in the "It's so xxx" genre as a haiku.	M 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
1394	Two movies, one line	Cite a real or coined line, or give a description, that could work for two different movies, plays or TV shows.	H
1393	Second chance (acned conches?) for anagrams	Describe any of the provided anagram businesses, or offer its slogan.	H
1391	No-covid zone -- a neologism contest	Coin a new word or phrase that lacks C, O, V, I and D and describe it.	T 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.	T H
1387	Movie clips -- drop letters from the middle of a title	Delete one or more letters (they must be consecutive) from the middle of a movie title, and describe the resulting new movie.	H 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.	T
1385	Don't you want to see new places?	Change any place name slightly and describe the new place.	T H
1384	Of course there are stupid questions!	Give us stupid questions, especially ones reflecting Our Current Situation.	H H
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.	4
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 H
1381	Let's be equinoxious with fictoids about spring	Tell us some untrue trivia about springtime or things that happen or happened in the spring.	M
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 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).	T M
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 H
1376	Get thee to a funnery	Add a character (or more) to a Shakespeare play and supply some resulting dialogue.	M
1374	Versus' verses in a rap battle	Write a mini-"rap" between any two characters, real or fictional, as in the provided ERB example.	T
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.	M
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.	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.	T
1364	Clue us in	Supply clever, funny clues for as many as 25 of the words and multi-word terms in the provided grid.	W
1363	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1334 through Week 1359.	H
1362	The Year in Redo, Part 1	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1307 through 1333, except for Weeks 1309-1311.	H H H
1361	2020 vision -- the year in preview	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2020.	T H
1360	The lyin' in winter: Seasonal fictoids	Give us some untrue trivia about winter or things that occur in winter.	H H H
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
1358	What to your wondering eyes will appear?	Write a humorous passage -- a "quote", an observation, a joke, a dialogue, a poem, anything -- using only words that appear in "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (a.k.a "The Night Before Christmas").	T
1356	Ask Backwards 38	Sixteen "answers" are provided. Tell us the questions.	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.	H H H
1352	Hee-rotica -- Steamy prose for unsteamy life	Write a short steamy scene (100 words would be considered long) about a non-steamy event.	L
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
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
1346	AZ if -- balancing acts	Think of a new word or two-word phrase that begins and ends -- either way -- with one of the provided "alphabetically balanced" pairs.	H H
1345	The confaketionary -- food fictoids	Tell us some comically false "fact" about food, drink or dining.	T
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-".	T
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.	T
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.	T H
1338	Picture This -- cartoon captions	Supply a caption for one or more of the provided cartoons.	H
1337	Lidder me this: anagram riddles	Write a Q&A joke (or an A followed by a Q, if you're into "Jeopardy!") in which the punchline contains an anagram or one or more relevant words or names.	H
1336	Two ways about it	What's something (printable) you could say in two -- or more -- of the provided situations.	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
1330	Spinoff x Time Is Now = Grandfoals Week!	Breed" any two of the 65 foal names that got ink this week, and name the offspring to reflect both parents' names.	H
1326	Foaling around	Breed" any two names from the provided list of 100 horses and name the foal to reflect both names.	H
1325	Stand up and jeer	Give us some original standup jokes that would have been good at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner.	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.	H 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 H
1317	Punku 2: Haiku with puns	Create a haiku containing a pun or similar wordplay.	T M 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.	H H
1311	Nextra! Nextra! The year in preview	Name some humorous event to happen in 2019.	M H
1310	The Year in Redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1282 through Week 1306.	T
1309	The Year in Redo, Part 1	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1255 through Week 1281.	H
1308	Picture this -- or these	This week you have two choices: (1) Write a caption for one or more of these pictures, or (2) explain what is wrong with the picture. You might also combine two pictures into one -- or all four into one.	H
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 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
1305	Hits and Googles	Find us either a Googlenope -- a phrase in quotation marks that generates no previous hits -- or a Googleyup, a phrase that surprisingly does have hits.	H
1304	All the muse that's fit to print	Present a "what if" scenario and explain its effect.	H
1303	Neologisms to di- for	Replace a digraph in an existing word or phrase with another digraph to make a new term.	M
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
1299	OK, hivemind! A contest with new Scrabble words	Choose any two of the words in the provided list as the beginning and end of a humorous word chain of 6 to 14 words or phrases.	M H
1297	A different type o' headline contest	Change a letter in an article or ad in the Post or another publication dated Sept. 13-24 by adding or subtracting one letter; substituting a letter; transposing two letters; or changing spacing or punctuation; and then add a "bank head.	T H H H
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.	T
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.	L
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-".	T
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.	T 2
1290	Bobbing for Witte words	Come up with both an object/situation and a neologism for it.	H H H H 3
1289	Fake gnus: bogus animal trivia	Tell us a fictoid -- a humorously false "fact" -- about the nonhuman animal kingdom.	H
1288	Your results may vary	Write a funny disclaimer or warning for some product or service.	H H 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.	M
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
1285	That is so wrong!	Supply a trivia question along with both the correct answer and a cleverly "wrong" guess.	H H
1284	Same difference	Explain how any two of the items in the provided list are similar, different or otherwise linked.	H 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.	T H
1280	A la'ugh' a minute with 'air quotes'	Highlight part of a word, name or short phrase in "air quotes" to give it a new meaning or description.	T H
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 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.	T M 4
1275	That is the question	Choose a line from Shakespeare (or a significant part of a line) and pair it with a question that the line could humorously answer.	T
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 H
1273	Restocking the Cabinet	Explain why a particular person -- or thing -- ought to fill a Cabinet post or other U.S. government position.	H
1272	The hex files: creative curses	Come up with a creative curse.	M H H 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.	H H
1265	Parody for the course	Write a song relating to a class or course of instruction, or to school in general.	M
1261	Post mortems -- our annual obit poem contest	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2017.	M
1260	What lies (are) ahead for 2018	Jokingly predict some news event to happen in 2018.	H
1258	The year in redo, Part 2	Enter (or reenter) any Style Invitational contest from Week 1230 through Week 1254.	M
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.	T H
1256	Picture this -- a caption contest	Provide a funny caption for any of the provided cartoons.	H H 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
1251	Thanking outside the box	Tell us something to be thankful for.	T
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
1249	Ask Backwards 36	Choose any of the 15 provided items and follow it with a question that it could humorously answer.	H H
1248	C'mon, fess up!	Send us a brief "confession" -- there will be categories for true and just-kidding.	T M
1247	Script tease	Offer a quote from a script whose title you've given a different plot.	H
1239	MASH 3	Combine two movie titles and describe the result.	H 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 2
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 H
1230	What in creation . . . ?	Supply a brief monologue or dialogue about a Creator's specifications or planning for some living being.	H
1229	Gorey bits from A to Z	Send us one of more edgy rhyming alphabet-primer couplets.	T H H
1228	That movie is SO about you	Name someone who was the "secret inspiration" for a certain movie.	T
1227	Celebrate ortho-diversity!	Name and describe a new life form -- and no letter in the term may be used twice.	M H 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 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.)	M 4
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 H
1223	Post again out to mislead public!	Write a humorously sensationalistic, misleading headline on an otherwise mundane article or ad published in The Post or elsewhere from April 13 to April 24.	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.	M H
1221	Who's kidding whom?	Take two people from history, past or present, and tell what their child would be like	4
1220	O pedantry, O pedantry	Give us some humorous pedantry.	T
1217	Mergers you wrote: Combine two businesses with puns	Give a clever name for a combination of two or more businesses.	W 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 H
1215	A so-so contest (How so-so is it?)	Write a humorous exaggeration in the form "x is so y that . . .	H
1214	The alternaugural address	Write a humorous passage — a “quote,” an observation, a joke, a dialogue, a poem, anything — using only words that appear in Trump’s inaugural address.	T
1213	Punku	Write a haiku that incorporates a pun.	T
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.	T
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.	M
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.	M 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.	M H 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
1203	You've got the powers	Tell us what you would do if you had one or more of the six magical powers provided.	T
1202	Don't be afraid of the dark	Write lyrics to a song that, in some way, express hope.	M
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.	H 2
1200	The definitive dozen	Supply a word, name or multi-word term along with a wry definition or description; together, the term and description must total exactly 12 words.	H H
1199	We want some bad choices	Offer one or more funny Questions for Terrible People, as shown.	W T
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".	T H
1197	Picture This -- It's a Bob Staake caption contest	Write a caption for any of the cartoons provided.	H
1194	Nyetymologies: fake word origins	Provide a humorously untrue explanation for the derivation of a word.	M
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).	H
1188	Just short words, one more time	Explain some concept or philosophy entirely in words of one syllable.	M
1187	Just drop it, okay?	Drop the last letter from an existing word, phrase or name and define the result.	T M H
1184	Plan C -- a third candidate?	Explain why some novel person (or thing) should be president; you could also suggest a president-veep ticket.	T
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
1179	Blasted alphabetical contests . . .	Coin a three-word phrase whose words begin with A, B and C -- in any order -- and describe it.	H
1178	A ______ of collective nouns	Propose one or more funny new names for groups of things.	H
1177	The ballad box	Write a song related to this year's elections, set to a familiar tune.	T
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.	T
1175	Good luck with 13	Make up a word whose Scrabble letter values add up to exactly 13, and define it.	T 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.	M
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 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.	T H
1169	Be caustic by acrostic	Review or otherwise describe a movie, book, play or TV show (or Internet equivalent) with words whose first letters spell out the name of the work.	T
1166	Questionable journalism	Take a sentence (or most of a sentence) that appears in text (not a headline) in The Washington Post or on washingtonpost.com dated March 10-21 and make up a question that the sentence could answer	H
1165	B all you can B	Change a word, phrase or name by adding one or more B's, and/or by replacing one or more letters with B's, and define your new term.	T H H
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.'	H H
1163	Put it in reverse	Spell a word, name or phrase backward and define the result in a way that relates to the original.	H H H H H
1161	Give us four Pinocchios	Tell us some false "facts" about politicians, present or past.	T
1160	A remeaning task	Redefine an existing word or two-word term beginning with P through Z.	H H
1159	It's all in the game	Come up with a funny/ridiculous board-type game and describe it.	T H
1158	What have we here?	Tell us what one or more of these objects really are.	T
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.	M
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.	H 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 H
1146	Stick it to us with a magnet	Suggest a new Style Invitational honorable-mention magnet.	T
1145	A DICEy situation	Coin a word or multi-word term that contains the letter block D-I-C-E.	H H
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.	W H
1142	Two-faced tweets	Combine two well-known names into a Twitter handle, and write a tweet (no more than 140 characters and spaces) that that portmanteau person might write.	H
1140	You're giving us a bad name	Cite a REAL brand name, past or present, note its original use, and then say what sort of product, organization, etc., that name would be bad for.	H
1138	Show us your touché	Offer an elegantly snide (and original) insult of anyone living or dead.	H H H
1136	Gaah! It's Limerixicon XII	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ga-".	H
1135	The meter's running	Suggest actions in daily life that should require a time limit -- maximum or minimum -- and come with an appropriate penalty for running over (or under).	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
1132	You and what army? Military fictoids	Give us some comically bogus trivia about the military, past or present, ours or theirs.	T
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.	T
1130	Yux Redux: Play on a foreign phrase	Make a word play on a foreign phrase or term (or English phrase using foreign words) and describe it.	T H H
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.	T
1126	Picture this	Provide a humorous caption for any of the cartoons provided.	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.	M 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.	T H
1119	We want hue so bad	Invent a name for a color and describe it.	T
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.	T
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.	T
1112	Some SHARP words	Coin a word or short term that includes all the letters S, H, A, R, and P.	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
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.	T H
1106	Show your resolve	Suggest a New Year's resolution that someone might make 100 or more years in the future.	H
1102	Let's get Sirius	Suggest a new radio channel and describe it.	T
1100	Pun and ink -- the feghoot	Contrive an elaborate scenario that ends in a novel groaner pun on a familiar expression, title, etc.	T
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.	M
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 H H
1096	Picture this	Write a humorous caption for any of the provided Bob Staake cartoons.	T H
1094	TAXI's the fare for Tour de Fours XI	Coin a word or hyphenated term that contains the letter block T-A-X-I; the letters may be in any order, but there may be no other letters between them.	H H H
1092	Are we having funds yet?	Suggest a humorous fundraising "challenge" for any organization.	H
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.	H
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.	P M
1088	Ask backwards with our answers, your questions	Supply the questions to as many of the 16 supplied answers as you like.	T H
1087	The core ridiculum	Come up with a comical class (any type of school) and provide a course catalog description.	T H
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.	H
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-".	M H
1083	Everybody get appy	Offer up an idea for either a humorously useful app or a humorously counterproductive one.	T T
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
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.	T
1079	Little piddle riddle	Ask a question and answer it with a rhyme.	M
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 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 H
1076	Dactyly fractyly	Send us some double dactyls that conform to Gene Weingarten's rules.	T
1075	Falsity is Job One	Send us some fictoids about cars and trucks and driving and stuff.	H
1074	Let's go parody-hopping	Describe a stage or movie musical in a parody of a song from a different musical.	T
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.	T
1072	The Tile Invitational	Come up with a 5-, 6-, or 7-letter term by scrambling any of the provided seven-letter ScrabbleGram sets, and define it.	P 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.	T
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 _____.	T L
1067	A(t)tribute to your wit	Alter a well-known quote slightly and attribute it to someone else.	H
1066	It's mating season	Breed" any two from the provided list of 100 of the 3-year-old racehorses nominated for this year's Triple Crown and name the foal to reflect both names.	H H
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
1064	HistoRebuffs	Alter some moment in history and tell us -- in no more than about 50 words -- the likely outcome.	P H
1063	Same difference	Take any two items from the provided list and explain how they're similar or different.	H H
1062	Scanning the headlines	Write a rhyming poem about something currently in the news.	M
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.	M H
1059	With parens like these . . .	Add some words in parentheses to a well-known song title to make it funnier in some way.	M H
1057	Sportin' lie	Give us some fake sports trivia.	I H H
1056	Weather or nuts	Coin a term relating to the weather, climate, etc. -- either literal or figurative -- and define it.	4
1054	Dead letters	Write a short, humorous poem commemorating someone (or maybe even something) who died in 2013.	T 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.	H
1049	Be rating	Come up with a new movie rating and describe it.	T
1048	Ask Backwards	You supply the questions to as many of the provided answers as you like.	M H H
1045	Songs for the asking	Take a sentence, phrase or title from a song and provide a funny question it might answer.	T
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
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.	T
1037	Outrage us	Find something offensive about an inoffensive name of a product, organization, place, etc.	H
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].	M H
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.	H 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.	M
1027	Built for two	Give humorous related names for any pair of features in a given building, organization, etc.	H
1026	'Might' makes ink	Give us a joke using any of the using any of the provided "you might be" templates.	H
1025	In so many words	Create an original backronym for a name or other term, especially one that's been in the news lately.	M H
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.	T
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.	T
1022	What's the diff?	Explain how any two of the provided items are alike or different.	T H
1021	'Gram theft	Come up with a term by scrambling any of the letters sets in the provided list, and define it.	M H
1020	Colt following	Breed any two of this week's winning foals and name the grandfoal.	T H 4
1019	What a turnoff	Tell us some creative things that children and families could do during Screen-Free Week.	M H
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.	H
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.	H
1015	Faux re mi	Give us some humorously false trivia about music or musicians.	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.	H
1013	Har monikers	Write a riddle that uses a pun of a person's name in the answer.	M
1012	The news at 5	Write a limerick about a recent news event.	M
1011	Top these!	Try your hand at any of the contests mentioned in this look back.	T H H H H H H H H H
1010	Picture this	Write a caption for any of the five provided cartoons.	M H
1006	It's a ... a ...	Create a new superhero (or duo) and describe the superpower, or not-very-superpower.	M
1004	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem about anyone who died in 2012.	H
1003	Just do it	Use a well-known advertising slogan for a different company, organization or product to humorous effect.	T
1002	Wring out the OED	Make up a false definition for any of the listed OED words.	M
1001	Make us ROFL	Give us a funny, original acronym.	T 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 H 2
999	Drectrospective	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 946 through Week 995, except for Week 948.	H H
997	Unworthy causes	Name a dubious charity and describe its mission.	M 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.	M
995	Ask backwards	We give you the "answers" and you supply jokes in the form of a question.	T H
994	Stick it to us	Suggest a slogan for one of our two new honorable-mention Loser Magnets for 2012-2013.	P
993	Versus, verses	Write a short "rap battle" between any two characters, real or fictional.	T T
992	Mittsterpiece Theatre	Suppose public-TV shows, past or present, were turned out onto the open market to make a living on commercial TV. Tell us what would happen.	T P
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
989	On the double	Come up with a double or multiple profession, and explain how each job complements the other(s).	H H
988	A faster break	Suggest ways to make sports and other leisure activities more time-efficient or exciting.	T
984	Another brilliant contest	Write something whose words begin with consecutive letters of the alphabet.	T 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.	M
981	Feeling testy	Write a question that "ought to" be on a qualifying test for a particular job.	H 4
980	Def jam	Supply a humorous definition for any of the provided Loser-penned neologisms.	T 2
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.	M
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.	W T M
972	Trends and neighbors	Choose any two items on the provided list and explain how they are alike or different.	T
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
969	Colt following	Breed any two "foals" in today's results, and name the grandfoal.	T
967	Overlap dance II	Create a phrase that overlaps two terms, each of two words or more, and describe the result.	P
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 3
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.	T M
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
956	Give us some bad ideas	Finish any of the provided "You know" phrases.	M H H
954	Bring on the 'fight' jokes	Tell us an original joke ending with “And then the fight started.”	T P
952	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2011.	T
951	Say that again	Double a word, or use a word and its homophone, to make a phrase, and define it.	M
950	Of all the nerve!	Give us a humorous example of hypothetical chutzpah.	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).	H H
946	Another round of Bierce	Write a clever definition of a word, name or multi-word term.	H H H
944	Uh, yeah, it's just you	Give us one or more "Is it just me" questions.	M H
939	MASH 2: The Retread	Combine two movie titles and describe the result.	3
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
933	Stories that count (to 56)	Write a humorous story in exactly 56 words.	M
932	We'll call them your-mama jokes	Tell us an original "your mama" joke.	H
928	Play feature	Use the title of a movie as the answer to a riddle or other question.	W 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.	T H
926	Outrageous fortunes	Come up with a fortune cookie line that you'd like to see.	M
925	A remeaning task	Redefine a word in the dictionary beginning with I through O.	H H
924	Doomed to repeat it	Create "Unreal Facts" about history.	T H
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.	L H H 4
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
917	Wryku	Write a haiku--a sentiment that can be broken into three lines with exactly five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, five in the third--on any subject that's been in the news in the last couple of weeks.	H
915	Picture this	Write a caption for any of the cartoons pictured here.	H H
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.	T H
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.	M H H
911	Help!	Create a short humorous dialogue -- or a monologue featuring one party -- of a phone call to 911, or a call for help to someone else.	P
910	Your ad here	Slightly alter an advertising slogan so that someone else could use it.	L
908	Recast away	Fire an actor or actress from a movie or TV show, past or present, and offer a replacement for the role.	M
906	Your mug here	Give us a new design for the Loser Mug.	T H 4
905	Anticdotes	Give us an untrue anecdote responding to one of these past Editor's Query topics.	M H
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.	H H H H H H 4
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).	T
894	Look Back in Inker	Enter any Style Invitational from Week 841 through Week 890 (except for Week 844).	T
893	Give us a hint	Write a humorously witty story in 25 words or fewer.	T
892	Get a move on	Change the location of something for humorous effect. Provide an explanation if you wish.	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.	T M H H
888	It's the eponymy, stupid	Coin a word or expression based on the name of a well-known person, define it, and perhaps use it in a sentence	H
887	Plus-Fours	Write a limerick whose third or fourth line is one of those listed above.	M
886	Look both ways	Give us a new term that's a palindrome and define it.	H 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.	T
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.	M
881	What's in a name?	Take the name of a person or institution. Find within it a hidden message.	T
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.	M H H H H
879	Say Venn	Express some sentiment in the form of a Venn diagram.	T
877	Quipped from the headlines	Write a rhyming couplet about some matter in the news.	P
876	Oilies but goodies	Write lyrics somehow related to the oil spill, set to an existing tune.	T
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.	4
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.	T H H H
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.	M
868	Count the ways	Give us some musings of a technical wonk.	T
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.	T M
865	No Googlenopes left	Come up with a humorous Googlenope.	M
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 H
863	It's Post time	Breed any two of 100 of the almost 400 horses eligible for this year's Triple Crown races, and name the foal.	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.	T
860	Ten, Anyone?	Humorously define or describe something or someone in exactly 10 words.	T
859	Can't goods	Cast a joke in one of the forms listed above.	H
857	All FED Up	Create a brand-new word or phrase that contains a block of three successive letters in the alphabet -- but the series must go backward through the alphabet.	W H H H
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
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.	T 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.	T M
849	Homonymphomania	Create a new homonym (or homophone) for any existing word and define it.	H H H 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.	T
846	Season's gratings	Write a brief (50 words or fewer) holiday letter from a personage from past or present, or from fiction.	T T
845	Reologisms	Write a description for any of 50 genuine Loser-created neologisms.	4
844	Healthy choice	Enter any Style Invitational from Week 790 through Week 840, except for Week 793 and Week 798.	H H
843	Prefrains	Provide a sentence or two of lead-in to the first line of a well-known book, poem, or song.	H
842	Ask backwards	Here are your 12 possible answers. Tell us your joke in the form of a question, please.	H H H
841	Food for naught	Alter the name of a food or dish slightly and describe the result.	H
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.	M H 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.	T H
835	Tour de Fours VI	Coin and define a humorous word that includes -- with no other letters between them, but in any order -- the letters T, H, R, and E.	W H H 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.	T H 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 H H
832	Clue Us In	You supply one or more clues for the words in a filled-in grid.	H
829	Limerixicon 6	Supply a humorous limerick prominently featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters di-.	T
827	Caller Idiot	Name a real product or company and supply a stupid question or complaint for the consumer hotline person.	T
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 H H 3
824	Jestinations	Give us a slogan for any city or town.	H
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.	M
817	Flopflip	Reverse the first half and second half of a word or name and define the result.	H 2
815	Wittecisms	Create an original word containing -- in any order -- at least a W, an I, two T's and an E.	W T H H H H H
814	There Will Be Bloodline	Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in this week's results, and name their foal.	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 H
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.	P M
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).	H H H H
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.	T
803	The Pepys Show	Write a humorous diary or journal entry for someone, famous or not, for any point in history.	H
802	Dreck TV	Suggest a new cable TV channel, with a description or example of its programming.	H
801	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. You supply one or more of the questions.	H 4
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 H 2
798	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem commemorating someone who died in 2008.	T M H
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
794	Ripped Off From the Headlines	Send us some Onion-type headlines.	T
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.	H H
792	Clue Us In	Compile a set of funny alternative clues to a crossword penned by Ace Constructor Paula Gamache.	H 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.	T
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.	W H H H
786	Top of the Staake	So get your thoughts provoked for No. Umpteen of our cartoon caption contest.	H
784	Words to The Wiseacres	Give us some proverbs for 21st-century life.	T
783	The Shill Game	Name a celebrity or fictional character to endorse a real product or company.	T H
782	That's the Ticket!	Explain why any of the items on the list below is qualified to be President of the United States.	M 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.	L H H H
780	Location, Location, Location	Say how you know you're in a particular place.	H 4
778	Tied Games	Combine any two sports or nonathletic activities into a single sport or game.	T
776	An Act of Sunny Side	Note the silver lining in some otherwise disappointing turn of events.	L
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 H
773	Always Looking for Sects	Coin a religion or belief system and tell us its basic tenet or distinguishing characteristic.	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 H H H 2
770	A Knack for Anachronism	Take a famous historical moment, literary passage, or movie scene and place it in an entirely different age.	T 4
766	Think to Shudder	Come up with scenarios that are even more awkward (and more imaginative) than the wincers mentioned above.	M 3
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.	T
764	Can You Up Chuck?	Come up with entirely new and funny Chuck Norris Facts.	T
763	Another Time Around the Track	Breed any two of the winning "offspring" included in this week's results, and name THEIR foal.	T
761	Strip Mining	Supply the text for any or all three of these Bob Staake comic strips.	T
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.	M H H
758	Wrong Address	Using any of the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, in whatever order you like, create your own passage.	T M
757	Gorey Thoughts From A to Z	Send us some rhyming alphabet-primer couplets.	4
753	Hot Off The Riddle	Supply a simple riddle and both the wholesome answer and the (printable) Invitational answer.	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 H H H H H H H
747	Boeing Us Silly	Suggest some comical ways to improve air travel, either in general or for yourself.	H
744	You OED Us One	Make up a humorous and false definition for any of the words listed below.	H H
742	Clue Us In	Give us a whole new set of clues to a crossword puzzle penned by Ace Constructor Paula Gamache.	H
741	Well, What Do You Know?	Tell us what Major Life Lessons can be derived from any of these venues or situations.	H H
739	Lies, All Lies	Give us some humorous fictional revelation about a current or past political figure.	T
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 H
736	So, Should I Drive Like Your Brother?	Ask a car-related question that would make the Car Guys crack up. If you're not into cars, you can also post a question for advice columnist Ask Amy or etiquette columnist Miss Manners.	M
735	Look Back in Inker	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 680 through Week 731.	H 4
734	Turnaround Time	Write a rhyming couplet containing two words that are anagrams of each other.	M
733	Just Drop It, Okay?	Drop the first letter from an actual word or term to make a new word or term, and define it.	T H H 2
732	The Chain Gang	Supply a chain of 25 names -- they may be names of people, places, organizations, products, etc., but they must be names -- beginning and ending with "George W. Bush.	M
731	Doo Process	Describe for us a wildly inefficient and ridiculous way to produce or prepare an ordinary dish or beverage.	T M H H
730	Time-Wastes For Everyman	Describe activities that make entering The Style Invitational seem like a constructive use of one's time.	T
728	Tour de Fours IV	Coin and define a humorous word that includes -- with no other letters between them, but in any order you like -- the letters S, A, T and R.	W H H H
722	Let's Play Nopardy!	We supply 12 phrases and you get to provide questions they might answer. The phrases were entries in our Week 717 contest, which asked for Googlenopes -- phrases that showed no previous hits from the Google search engine.	T
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.	H
720	The Course of Humor Events	Sum up a historical event in a two-line rhyme or other clever and pithy epigram.	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.	T
715	Your Mug Here	Send us an idea for a slogan for the back of the new Loser T-shirt.	H H H H H
713	Painings	Name and interpret any of the provided paintings by Fred Dawson.	T
711	Join Now!	Hyphenate the beginning and end of any two multi-syllabic words appearing anywhere in the April 29 or May 6 Style or Sunday Arts section, and then define the compound.	T M H H
708	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Breed any two from a list of 100 of the horses eligible for this year's Triple Crown races and provide an appropriate name for their foal.	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.	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.	T
704	Another Game of Tag	Create vanity plates for well-known people, real or fictional.	M
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.	T H H H H H 3
698	Let's Get Personnel	Send us some humorously creative questions that a job interviewer would ask an applicant, or some questions it might be fun to ask the interviewer.	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.	H
696	Send Us the Bill	Come up legislation the newly-elected members of Congress might sponsor together.	T
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
692	Reinkernation	Enter any Style Invitational contest from Week 640 through Week 688. Every entry must include the word "three" or "third" or a creative variation.	H
691	Haven't Got a Clue	Make all the clues in the provided crossword ooh-clever or at least ah-that's-funny, even the little words.	H
689	Busted Play	Come up with a more objectionable or stupid toy than a working fart-powered toy rocket.	H 2
688	Making Short Work	Write a humorous six-word story.	T H 2
687	Whatever Were They Thinking?	Tell us (A) What someone might say in some situation, and (B) what that person was actually thinking when he said A.	H H
686	It's Baaaaack!	Explain why you, or anyone else in particular, ought to have this fine oil-on-panel by Fred Dawson of Beltsville, or what it might be used for.	T
685	Thank it Over	Tell us some things to be thankful for.	H
684	Backtricking	Spell a word backward and define the result, somehow relating the definition to the original word.	W H H H H H H H H H 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.	T
682	Punkin'd!	Send us a funny, clever, entirely original photo featuring one or more pumpkins and/or other vegetables.	T M
681	Ticket to Write	Write a jingle for a business (or its product), organization or government agency, set to a Beatles song.	M
680	Rendered Speechless	Provide dialogue to fill the balloons in any of these cartoons.	M H
679	Ask Backwards	Here are the answers. You supply the questions to as many as you dare.	H H
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.	M
676	Tour de Fours III	Coin and define a word containing -- with no other letters between them, but in any order you like -- the letters L, E, A and F.	H H
675	Cut Us Some Slack	Come up with humorous ways to be lazy.	H
673	Mess With Our Heads	Take any headline, verbatim, appearing anywhere in The Washington Post or on Washingtonpost.com from July 30 through Aug. 7 and reinterpret it by adding either a "bank headline," or subtitle, or the first sentence of an article that might appear under it.	T
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 H H H
670	A Test of Character	Change a word or phrase by only one letter -- substitute one letter for another, add a letter or transpose two letters -- and explain how they are different or similar.	H H H
669	Huddled Messes	Suggest some bad advice for new arrivals to this country (legal or illegal).	T
668	Cut From the Chase	Write an original John-Bunnell-style wrap-up to a crime story -- or one for a more minor transgression.	M 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.	T H
665	Your One-in-a-Million	Coin the millionth word in the English language and define it. The word must end in -ion.	H H H 2
664	A Thousand Times?! No!	Come up with a new signature line for Russell Beland's -- or anyone else's -- e-mails.	M
663	Worth at Least a Dozen Words	Interpret any of the provided cartoons as you see fit in a caption.	H
661	Name Any Good Movies Lately?	Give us a funny new title for an existing movie.	W H H 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 H H
656	It's Post Time	Breed any two from a list of 100 of the more than 400 3-year-old racehorses nominated for this year's Triple Crown races, and name their hypothetical foal. The foal's name cannot exceed 18 characters and spaces combined.	H H H
654	It Plays to Recycle	Come up with funny ways to recycle things, people, writing (except for your old Invitational entries) or ideas.	H
653	It's the Eponymy, Stupid	Coin a word or expression based on the name of a well-known person, define it, and perhaps use it in a sentence	T H H
652	Ask Backward	You are on "Jeopardy!" Above are the answers. You supply the questions.	T H
649	Across the Wide What?	Give us some Virginia-appropriate lyrics for "Shenandoah.	T
648	Caller IDiot	Name a product or company and supply a stupid question to ask the consumer hotline person.	T
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.	T
645	A Hearty Har Har	Write up a Valentine's sentiment to any personage, or to someone in some generic category.	H
642	It's Open Season	Come up with a brand-new word and its definition. The words must begin with O, P, Q, R or S.	H H H H H H 4
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.	T H
640	Whassa Motto Wid You?	Give us a slogan or motto for any of the states, the District or the U.S. Territories.	T
638	The Little Bummer Boy	Come up with an idea (and title, if you like) for an original Christmas movie or TV special that provides an antidote to all the sap, and give us a brief synopsis.	H
637	Full Steam Ahead	Write a steamy passage of a novel that's ostensibly by some well-known person who isn't a novelist.	T
635	I've Told You a Hundred Times	Enter any Style Invitational from Week 536 to Week 631. Your entry must be substantially different from the original winners.	H H H H
633	Your Secret Here!	Send us some original secrets (they don't have to be true).	T 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
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.	W T H H H H H
629	Odd Couplings	Marry or otherwise combine famous names and supply the result.	T 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
626	Course Light	Come up with a comical college class, along with a description for the course catalog.	H H
625	Haven't Seen It	Make up a new plot for an existing movie title.	H H H
624	Limerixicon 2	Supply a limerick based on any word in the dictionary (except proper nouns) beginning with bd- through bl-.	H
623	Try to Remember	Give us an original mnemonic for any list that someone might want to remember.	L
621	Questionable Journalism	Take any sentence that appears in The Post or in an article in washingtonpost.com anytime through Aug. 8 and supply a question it could answer.	T
617	Best the Best	Write something about any famous personage that uses only the letters in his or her name.	T
615	Airy Persiflage	Write some jokes you'd like to hear in an airport announcement.	H H H
614	In-Stock Characters	Pitch us an idea for a summer movie featuring two or more of the provided characters.	H
613	Tour de Fours II	Create and define a word that includes, consecutively, E, R, A and N. in any order.	T H H
612	Oh, and One More Thing	What was the thing that didn't make the cut on any list?	W
611	Ask Backwards, Erudite Edition	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the sophisticated answers. You supply the questions.	H H
610	MASH	Find two well-known movies, plays, or TV shows whose title have a significant word in common, combine their titles, and describe the hybrid.	T H
609	A2D2	Give us some funny "corrections" to brighten up Page A2.	H H
608	Comeback Next Week	Come up with original snide retorts to various rude questions or comments.	H 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
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 H H H 6
601	Anticdotes	Give us an untrue anecdote in response to one of the provided Editor's Query topics.	T 2
600	Top of the Inking	Tell us some ways the District of Columbia will change now that we have the Nationals.	T
599	So What's the News?	Tell us what the illustrated events are.	H
598	Site Gags	Come up with an appropriate name for a cafeteria--or meeting room, or an employee lounge, or some other workplace spot--for a particular institution.	H H H
597	Eccchsibits	Come up with some alternative museums and exhibits for the nation's capital.	T H H
596	Take Her Words for It	Use the words of this week's Ask Amy advice column, as a pool from which to compose your own useful (or useless) thoughts. You may ignore or change capitalization or punctuation.	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.	T H
592	We Got Gamy	Offer us a concise idea for a Super Bowl commercial, or some innovative halftime entertainment, or some inappropriate sponsors, or some ideas for improving the game itself.	T H
591	Dead Letters	Write rhyming poems about notable personages who have died in the past year.	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.	T
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 H H H H
587	The B-List	Come up with an In-Out list for 2005, or other pairings.	T H H H H
586	God's Will (and Won't)	Complete either of the following: "If God hadn't wanted us to ----, God wouldn’t have ----"; "If God had wanted us to ----, God would have ----.	H H
580	United Nations	Combine the names of any two countries in the world and describe the new hybrid country.	T H
579	Another Brilliant Contest! Do Enter!	Write us a sentence or phrase consisting of words beginning with consecutive letters, in the A-to-Z direction.	T
578	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" Above are the answers. Send us the questions.	H 4
577	Teledubbies	Slightly change the title of a TV show, past or present, and describe it.	T 4
576	Well, Excuuuuse Us!	Come up with new excuses for any common human shortcoming or imperfection.	H
575	T Hee Hee	Come up with new ideas for both front and back of the Loser T-shirts.	T H 3
574	Boor Us Silly	Come up with some unwise attempts at humor--one either likely to backfire or to create other unpleasant consequences.	W H
573	Thine Ad Goest Here	Propose biblical and other literary passages, poems, etc., that could benefit from product placement.	T H
572	The Limerixicon	Supply a limerick based on any word in the dictionary (except proper nouns) beginning with ai- through ar-.	T
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.	T H H
570	Timeline Rhyme Lines	Produce colorful chronological couplets about some historical event. They must rhyme and be in good meter.	H
569	Murphy's Lore	Give Eric Murphy advice he deserves on the provided questions.	T H
568	Tome Deftness	Make a pun or similar wordplay on a book title.	H
567	A Running Gag	Explain how any of the provided bizarre cartoons by Bob Staake relates to the current presidential campaign.	H
564	Redefine Print	Redefine any word from the dictionary.	H H H H H H H H H H H H 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.	T
559	Your Slogan Here	Come up with a clever slogan or sign for a business.	H H
558	Set Us Right	Send us conservative-leaning humor in any of the provided genres.	H 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
556	So Zoo Us	Combine any two kinds of animals, give its name and describe it.	T H
555	A Tsk, A Task	Come up with a super-wholesome passage of 25 words or fewer that would likely be banned by the admirable, ever-vigilant Neopets.com site.	H
553	Picture This	Tell us what's going on in one or more of the provided cartoons.	T 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.	T H H H H
551	Lost in Translation	Find us some comical translations-and-back using Google translator. Feed some passage of English text into the tool--25 words max--and ask it to translate it into one of the five languages offered; then copy the result back into the tool and ask it to translate that back to English.	T H
550	Spring Cleaning	Suggest creative uses for things you've already used, or never will use, or other disposable household thingies, singly or in combination.	T
548	Inklings	Tell us about certain people's childhood experiences and behaviors that hint at their destinies.	H H 2
547	Give Us a Bad Name	Take an existing product or business name and pair it with an incompatible one.	H 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.	W H H H H H H H H H
544	You Gotta Have Heart	Write us some valentine sentiments from one particular person (real or fictional) to another.	T
543	Read Our Leaps	Fill any readers of The Washington Post on Sunday, Feb. 29, 2032, on: (a) the day's lead news story; (b) the highest-flying company and its business; (c) the best-selling self-help book; and/or (d) the day's winning Style Invitational entry.	H H
542	Discombobulate Us	Come up with both an object/situation and a neologism for it, something that Bob Levey would never have stooped to print in his column.	H H H H H 5
541	Celled Up the River	Give us a delicious scenario, in which a cellphone yakker's yakking could be taken profitably out of context.	T
540	Revisionist History, or Badenov for You?	State any news event (or old event) in the style of the Rocky-and-Bullwinkle teasers about the next show.	H H H
539	Dead Letters	Pay tribute in verse to someone who died in 2003.	T
538	Try, Try Again	Enter any previous Invitational. Your entry must be substantially different from the original winners.	H
537	The New York Post	Liven up any article appearing in The Washington Post or its Web site over the next eight days by giving it an irresponsibly sensationalistic headline.	H
536	And the Horse He Rodin On	Come up with some words we can stick in the back of The Inker.	H
534	The Feminine Touch	Propose how any male-dominated occupation or institution would change if it suddenly became female-dominated.	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.	W H H H
532	Short Pans	Come up with a terse review (four words or fewer) of any work of art.	T H H
531	Your Cynic Duties	Come up with a saying that sounds as if it's going to be inspirational, but winds up being cynical, misanthropic or sad.	H
530	Tri Harder	Take any word, alter it in three ways--by adding a letter, by subtracting a letter and by changing a letter--and redefine all three new words.	H H H H
528	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	H
527	Rite of First Defusal	Come up with witty or bizarre things to say to defuse the tension in awkward moments.	H H H 3
525	It Won't Belong Now	Tell us which of three cartoons provided does not belong, and why.	H
524	Around Things Moving	Take the title of any book or movie, rearrange the words, and explain what the new book or movie is about.	H H H H 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 H H H H H H 5
520	I, Object	These items were ordered by well-known people. Who ordered them, and why?	T H
514	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are your answers. What are the questions?	H H H
513	It's Delete We Can Do	Come up with very bad subject lines for spam e-mail--lines that will guarantee instant deletion, sight unseen.	H H H H 3
511	It All Impends	Tell us what is something unusual about to happen in the provided cartoons.	H 2
510	Universal Embarrassment	What would you like to see Miss Universe Pageant contestants asked live, on national TV?	H
508	Letter Rip	Take a word from the dictionary, add, change, or delete a single letter, and redefine the word.	T H H H
506	The Battle of All Mottoes	Provide a slogan for any federal department agency, department, office, etc.	H H
505	The Rule of Dumb	You are given $1 million. Conditions: (1) You must spend it all. (2) You must use it in a way that neither directly nor indirectly works to your financial benefit. (3) You may not use it to alleviate the suffering of anyone on Earth, or for any public-spirited project other than the joy of stupidity.	T
504	Life Is Snort	Write a schmaltzy last line of a "Life Is Short.	H
502	Picture This	Who are these people? What are they doing?	H H
499	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Mate any two of the horses qualifying for this year's Triple Crown and tell us the name of their foal. Maximum 18 characters, including spaces.	H H
496	The Style Invitational: The First Dreckade	Submit new entries to any of the old contests listed, and try to beat The Very Best of the Past 10 Years.	H H H
492	Cheap Tricks	Come up with extreme cost-conserving measures for these difficult economic times.	H
490	Eyes on Reprise	Submit any good entries you might have thought of, for any previous contest, after the deadline passed.	H H
489	Combo, First Blood	Combine two people whose names contain a common element, as in the examples above. Then describe the person, or provide a quote he or she might have uttered.	H H H H H
486	A Word From Our Co-Sponsors	Come up with bills the new members of Congress might sponsor. Each bill must have at least two sponsors.	T
484	Manufracturing	Take any product and explain how it would be different if it were designed by a different existing company.	T H
483	Obitter Fate	Give us an obit headline for some famous person, currently living or dead.	H H H
481	Homonymphomania	Create a new homonym of any existing word, and define. The new word must be spelled in such a way that is obviously pronounced identically to the original word.	T H H H H H H H H 3
480	In No Uncertain Terminations	Come up with a way to stop any unwanted overture in its tracks.	H
478	Do You Mindset?	Anticipate items for the Mindset List for the freshman class of the year 2020.	H
476	Portmanteautapping	Make a new word by squishing together two existing words. The constituent words must share at least two letters.	H H H H H H 3
475	Bad Connection	Take any two seemingly unrelated stories from anywhere in today's Washington Post and explain how their subjects are linked in some unholy conspiracy or other suspicious way.	T
472	Water Stupid Idea	Propose bad ideas for saving water in the continuing drought.	H
471	Excuses, Excuses	Come up with creative new excuses for not turning in homework, not filing your taxes on time, missing church or forgetting your spouse's birthday.	H
470	Czar Har	Take the name of someone famous, rhyme it with a product, and describe the unholy union.	T
468	Ism This Stupid?	Take any common prefix and attach it to any well-known "ism" and define the new term.	T H H H H
467	Get Your But in Here	Produce a line that fits this structure: (Real thing based upon current events) is (word or phrase suggesting some quality) but (other word or phrase suggesting a dissimilar or incompatible quality), like (funny analogy).	H
466	Spit the Difference	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	T H H H 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.	T H
464	Cursive Writing	Come up with a new curse for this millennium.	L H H
458	It's a Setup	Come up with joke setups for any of the provided punch lines.	T H H
456	A Bad-Ask Contest	You are still on Jeopardy!, and you still have to supply questions to the provided answers, but the winners will be the least funny answers.	T
455	Comixing	Create new comic characters by crossing two existing characters, then describe the character.	T
454	Ask Backwards	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	H H
452	Russellmania!	(1) Design one or more steps for a 12-step program for the recovering Invitationalaholic; (2) Propose a devious method by which we might lure Russell Beland back.	T
451	Make Your Pix	Which two of the provided cartoons are related, and how?	T
450	Blues It or Lose It	Write the first verse of a blues song expressing some Washington area woe.	T H
448	What Kind of Foal Am I?	Mate any two of the horses qualifying for the Triple Crown races this year and propose a name for their foal. No name may exceed 18 characters, including spaces.	H H H
445	Another Round of Bierce	Add a few entries to Ambrose Bierce's famous "Devil's Dictionary.	H
444	Advice Squad	Take any letter from today's advice columns and answer it in the voice of someone famous, living or dead.	T
443	Sick Humor	Come up with modern diseases of Washington life.	H
442	Titletales	Take any real book or movie, change one word slightly, and describe the resulting new product.	H H
441	Spit the Difference	Take any two nouns that appear on the front page of today's Washington Post and explain how the nouns differ from each other.	T R H H
440	Picture This	What is going on in these cartoons?	H H H
439	No Can Do	Write signs of incompetence.	T H
437	The Telegraph Poll	Tell us the beginning of a joke that badly telegraphs the punch line.	T
432	Sleeps With the Fishes.	No contests until mid-January. Czar ran biographies of Chris Doyle, Sue Lin Chong, Paul Styrene, and Brian Broadus, each containing one lie.	T
430	OMB Directive No. 2	Revisit any contest The Style Invitational has ever run, and rewrite our tawdry past by proposing a new first-prize winner serious and/or decorous enough to please the Ombudsman.	H
429	Shark Instruments	Tell us what would be a sign that any current institution--TV show, newspaper feature, magazine, business, etc.--has jumped the shark.	5
427	Skinned	Come up with events that have a smaller chance of happening than the Redskins winning the Super Bowl.	T
425	Hyphen the Terrible	Take the first half of any hyphenated word from any story in today's newspaper and combine it with the second half of any other hyphenated word in the same story, and propose a definition of the new word you've created.	T H H H H H H H H H H 4
424	Osama Chanted Evening	Write poems about Osama bin Laden.	T H
419	Don't Spare the Rodney	Come up with indications that one might not be getting no respect.	T
418	Xtreme Invitational	Come up with signs you are overdoing it any in any of the provided categories.	H
417	Initially Mistaken	Take any name of a person or thing, and construct an appropriate message using its letters, in order, as the first letters of the words of your message.	H 4
416	Diff'rent Jokes	Describe how things might have been different if a famous person, living or dead, had had one of the provided conditions.	H H 5
409	Nice Job, if You Get It	Take anything that might need its image enhanced and rename it in a way the keeps its essential identity, but makes it seem nicer.	H H H H
407	Adverbiage	Come up with a witticism or a joke by making a pun out of an adverb. Unlike Tom Swiftlys, your adverb must modify not a verb but an adjective.	H H H
406	Bum Steerage	Offer some spectacularly bad advice to any of the provided people.	H
405	The "Sty"le Invitational	Take any word--this may include people or places--put a portion of it in "air quotes" and redefine it. You may not alter the spelling.	H H H
403	Cry, Uncle!	Write the beginnings of an obituary that will provide the details of what happened to the Style Invitational Uncle.	W
402	Spitting the Difference	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	H H
401	A Matter of Degree	Describe a sign of some modest change in a situation and pair it with a sign of an extreme change in that same situation.	H H
398	Animal Magnetism	Make great literature and/or a significant expression of the human condition out of the provided randomly-selected words. Use whatever punctuation you choose and any of the words, but only those words, and use them only once.	T
396	April Foals	Mate any two of the horses qualifying for the Triple Crown races and come up with appropriate names for their foals. Maximum 18 letters and spaces.	H H H H
395	Devilishly Clever	Describe someone's special little corner of Hell.	H
392	Everyone's a Comic	Choose any panel of any comic strip in today's Washington Post and improve it by replacing the original speech and thought balloons with your own,	H
390	Canine Fashion	Write: 1. A caption for the provided image explaining what is happening; 2. An explanation of why the image is not photography but art; 3. A description of what additional items might be needed to make the image complete. Sex and potty jokes will be disqualified.	U H H
389	Operation Overkill	Present a solution to a problem that goes just a little too far.	H
387	By Jingo	Come up with a joke that could be written and understood only by a Washingtonian.	H
386	The Game of Clue	What are some clues that someone might be any of the provided characterizations?	H H H 4
383	A Kinder, Gender Nation	Take an noun and give us a reason or two why it should be either masculine or feminine.	U
381	Idiom Savant	Take any well-known idiom, or expression, and invent an interesting derivation for it.	H
380	The New-Name Offense	Propose changes for the names of places and things that need it, either because there is something wrong with their name, or because another name would be so much more descriptive.	H H H
377	Week MMDCXLIV	Provide a headline (and, if necessary, the first line of the text) for any article that will appear in The Washington Post on this day in the year 2050.	W H H H H
375	Show Us Up	Combine the names of two existing TV shows (past or present) to make an entirely new show. Then, describe the show.	H 3
373	An Extra Large Challenge	What should we put on the back of the new Style Invitational T-shirt?	H H H H
370	No End in Sight	Write the beginnings of sentences you don't want to hear the end of.	H
368	Hyphen the Terrible	Combine the first half of any hyphenated word in a story in today's paper with the second part of a different hyphenated word from the same story, and provide a new definition.	H H H H H H H
367	Future Schlock	Come up with a line that will surely not appear in an upcoming work.	H H
366	Just Fulghum	Come up with a list of at least three Major Life Lessons one can learn from any of the venues provided.	H
365	Terse Verse	Ask a question and then answer it with a rhyme. Your answer can be as many words as you wish, but all must have the same rhyme.	H H 2
364	Low Marks	Come up with a new punctuation mark. Tell us what it looks like, and what it is used for, and use it in a sentence.	H
363	It's Your Movie	Take the title of any movie and make it the answer to a riddle.	H H
359	It's No Party	Come up with a new political party and its main political tenet.	H
357	Coming to a Bad End	Take some immortal line from literature or film and ruin it by adding a short phrase or sentence.	H
356	Med Icks	Invent a clever name for a new medical product, and specify the condition it would treat.	H H
355	Seeing Stars	Tell us ways we can attract celebrity participation to this contest.	H
352	A Laff Riot	Take the name of a company and/or its commercial product and provide it a new definition.	H
351	Dubya Fun	Take any well-known statement, expression, slogan, etc., and rewrite it the way Dubya might have said it.	H 3
349	Orienting Oneself	Produce a haiku using only words found in today's Washington Post. Your entry must have three lines, the first containing exactly five syllables, the second containing exactly seven syllables, the third containing exactly five.	H
348	When We're LXIV	Fashion an entry by selecting one from each of the provided menu groups: a short poem, analogy or metaphor, slogan or aphorism, or "Did you ever wonder why" sentence with various limitations.	U H
346	Greasy Kids Tough	Take any news event from history, recent or ancient, large or small, and rewrite it in 100 words or fewer as it might have appeared in KidsPost.	2
345	Picture This	What is going on in these cartoons?	U H
343	Eastwood Ho.	Create a Good-Bad-Ugly progression.	H
342	Plainly Ridiculous	Take any direct quotation from any article in today's Washington Post and translate it into "plain English.	H
340	ASK BACKWARDS 12	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. What are the questions?	H
339	Campaignful Developments	Come up with signs that a presidential campaign might be in trouble.	H H
338	WHO WANTS TO WIN A TOILET?	Propose even greater depths of shameless, tasteless sleaze to which Fox TV is likely to sink after the noisome debacle of "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?	H H H
337	DEGREES OF DIFFICULTY	Take a quality you wish to quantify and devise the perfect icon to measure it. Then give us an example of the extremes.	6
336	THE "STY"LE INVITATIONAL	Choose any word and emphasize a single part of it, as though you were saying the word out loud with "air quotes" around the key part. Then redefine the word. You cannot alter the spelling of the word.	W H H H H H H H H H H 4 3
335	A LOVER'S SPAT	Come up with some inept "sweet nothings"--graceless terms of endearment.	H 2
328	NICE CAPADES	Send in some pleasant observation, in which you take a really cheerful or heartwarming view of something that less charitable people might conceivably see differently.	H
327	ASK BACKWARDS	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	H 2
325	THE BURMA ROAD	Propose welcoming doggerel for states or cities patterned after Burma Shave signs.	H H H H
324	A PREQUEL OPPORTUNITY OFFERING	Come up with a "prequel" to some classic film or work of literature. You must produce a title and a brief plot summary, which of course must take place prior to the main action of the original work.	H
323	THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD INVITATIONAL	Come up with not-quite-ready inventions, past or present.	H
321	INTERPRET THIS	Take any of the provided cartoons and come up with a matched pair of interpretations for what is happening.	H 4
320	WHAT KIND OF FOAL AM I?	Mate any two of the horses qualifying for the Triple Crown races and come up with appropriate names for their foals. Maximum 18 letters and spaces.	H H
319	REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY	Create an original chiasmus, an ancient literary form in which meaning is derived by pairing two words or phrases, and then reversing their order.	H H H 3
318	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE	Combine the first half of any hyphenated word in a story in today's paper with the second part of a different hyphenated word from the same story, and provide a new definition.	H H H H 5
314	IT'S THE LIST YOU CAN DO	Start with the name of a famous person, living or dead, real or fictional, either a full name or partial name. Progress through a series of other names or phrases. Each name or phrase must be related to the prior item either by being a homophone or a definition. Eventually, arrive at a name or a phrase that is an appropriate pairing with the original name.	H
313	THE STYLE INVITATIONAL SOUVENIR SHOP	Come up with bad names for a new store at a mall.	4
312	BOOKS AND BOOKS	Combine any two works of literature--no movies or TV--into one, give its title and describe it in a brief, appealing blurb that might appear in Publishers' Weekly.	H
311	A JERRY-BUILT CONTEST	Find cleverly disguised threats to public morality or hallowed American values that may be secretly lurking out there in our culture.	H
310	IT'S LIKE THIS	Come up with really lame analogies.	H H
308	GIVE US NO MO	Write an updated version of those old children's selecting rhymes. Your rhyme must (1) rhyme and (2) conform, at least loosely, to a point-and-shoot cadence that permits the elimination of one item from a group.	2
307	IF YOU BOYCOTT THIS TASK / YOU WON'T WIN THE FLASK	Come up with rhyming couplets to warn us about the perils of modern life.	L H H H H
306	YOUNGIAN THERAPY	Suggest ways in which the Style Invitational or any other Washington area institution can become more relevant to younger people.	H H
305	ASK BACKWARDS CMXVI²	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	H
304	TIME OF THE SIGNS	Come up with appropriate signage to appear outside any business or retail establishment in the Washington area, including government offices.	H H
303	BOOM TIMES	Come up with old and new concerns for the baby boom generation.	H
302	UNSTATED TRUTHS	Come up with lines that you'll never hear the provided people say.	H H H
301	PICTURE THIS	What is happening in these cartoons?	H 3
300	A BRAND NEW CONTEST	Come up with celebrity-brand products.	H H
299	ANOTHER LEFTIST RAG	Write the day's tabloid headlines with your left hand only. (This means you can use no keys to the right of 6, T, G and B.)	2
298	THE RIGHT STUFF	Write a sentence, or phrase, or entire passage, using only your right hand on the keyboard. This means you may use no keys to the left of N, H, Y and 7.	H
297	FREE FOR OIL	Take any article in today's paper, and write an outraged letter to the editor about it that totally misses the point, either by misreading a word or misunderstanding the topic.	H
296	BILL US LATER	Choose among the names of any of the newly elected U.S. senators or representatives and propose a bill they might sponsor.	H
295	PANEL DISCUSSION	Supply the contents of the missing panel in the provided cartoon strips.	H
294	PRODUCT LIARBILITY	Take the name of any commercial product and redefine it.	H 4
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 H H 4
289	PLAY IT AGAIN, SHAM	Submit entries to any previous contest, ideas you might have thought of after the contest deadline had passed.	H H H
287	BEFORE AND AFTERMATH	Begin with a real name, append to it a word, name or expression that completes the bridge, and finally define the resulting phrase.	H H H H H H
285	ELEVENIS, ANYTWO?	Take a common phrase containing a specific number, add or subtract one, and explain the revised phrase.	H 3
284	ASK BACKWARDS MCLXVII	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	H H H
283	UH-OH	Come up with "uh-oh" lines, statements that occur in the middle of a seemingly benign speech or conversation, suddenly alerting the listener that he is about to hear some bad news.	2
282	TAKING SNIDES	Take any story anywhere in today's Post and append to it a single snide observation, concerning either the headline or the text of the story.	H 2
280	EXPRESSING IT NICELY	Come up with colorful expressions for any of the six provided activities, to make them sound a little less tawdry.	H H 6
278	THE STALE INVITATIONAL	Begin with a word. Add, subtract or change a single letter only, and then provide a new definition.	W H H H H
276	SPIT THE DIFFERENCE	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	H H
274	THE DROLL OF A LIFETIME	Be the New Yorker comics editor, and explain to readers of The Washington Post why the provided jokes are charmingly witty.	2
273	UNSEENS WE'D LIKE TO SEE	Provide examples of any of the provided categories of things that will never happen.	H H H
269	SIGNS, AND THE TIMES	Come up with new, helpful signage for downtown streets. You must state the problem, and propose the sign to rectify it.	H
266	DEFINITELY WEIRD	Take any word from the dictionary and redefine it.	H H H H 8
263	THE GAME OF THE NAME	Propose a bad name for the provided categories.	H
262	CAMPAIGN FOR ONE	Design a line for Niels Hoven to deliver in his campaign for a student government office that will wake up a snoozing audience.	H
260	IT'S A SNAP	Come up with replacements for the two hackneyed answers: "Is the Pope Catholic?" and "When Hell freezes over.	H
259	SPARE EXCHANGE, BUDDY?	Take any phone number of any business or government office in the Washington area, translate the first two digits into their constituent letters and propose any appropriate one-word exchange.	H H
258	IT'S A BIRD. IT'S A PAIN.	Choose one or more of the provided super powers and tell us what you would do with it.	H H
257	LET US PLAY	Create a game, or a prank, that can be played using any two or more of the provided objects.	W H H
256	THE PYLE INVITATIONAL	Come up with hip, contemporary riddles and answers. The punch line must contain a painful pun.	H
255	SCANDAL IN THE WIND	Each of the provided items is somehow related to the current presidential scandal. Tell us how.	H H H H H
254	DOUBLE JEOPARDY!	Take any sentence appearing anywhere in today's Washington Post, and make up a question to which it could be a plausible answer.	H
253	IT'S A PITY	Enter any of the provided contests. Winners will be judged entirely on the basis of how pitiful an attempt at humor the entry is.	H E
252	MAKE YOUR MOVIE	Propose people who were the secret inspiration for famous movies.	H H
251	QUOTH THE MAVEN	Take any famous line, change it by one letter only (add, subtract or change a single letter), and reattribute it.	H H H E
250	OH, GREAT	Complete the sentence "Wouldn't it be great if . . .	H
249	BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS	Supply a silver lining for any scourge or social ill facing America or the world.	W H H
248	STICKER SCHLOCK	Come up with a message for our new, mildly sought-after Style Invitational bumper sticker, something that summarizes the grandeur and dignity of this stupid contest.	H
245	LIKE FUN	Complete any of the provided "A is like B because" sentences.	H H
244	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE	Coin new words, and provide a definition, by combining the first half of a hyphenated word for any story in today's Post with the second half of another hyphenated word in the same story.	H H 7
243	VERSE THAN EVER	Write a rhyming poem of two to eight lines as a tribute to someone famous who died in 1997, the more awful the better. We will particularly value rhymes that thud, and extremes of emotion and sentiment.	H 4
242	SACRED COW PIES	Take cheap shots at sacred institutions only, places and things that are so noble and wholesome they are beyond reproach, from among the items provided.	H 6
241	CAN YOU BEAT THIS?	Come up with headlines describing the defeat of one pro team by another.	H H 4
240	ADDING INSULT	Come up with elegant insults directed at any famous person, living or dead, such as the real encomiums above.	H
239	NAME THAT TOON	Send us the captions for cartoons not provided.	H
237	ASK BACKWARD	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	H H 2
236	CALLING THE TOON.	What is happening here?	5
234	THE JOKE'S ON YOU	Complete any of the provided jokes as it would be told by someone famous, living or dead.	H H
230	TALES FROM THE CRYPTOGRAM	Take any proper noun--a person, a book, a movie, whatever--and create for it an appropriate cryptogram.	H H H
229	WE CAN'T HEAR YOU	Supply an example for any of the five "Things you don't want to hear" categories provided.	H E 4
228	MAKE MY DAY	Supply advice to today's spoiled kids about how bad things were when we were growing up.	H H
227	WILD PITCHES	Come up worthy successors to Joe Camel. Name the product, and describe the totally inappropriate cartoon character that would be created to represent it.	H 4
225	WE RESPECTfully decline to publish any dumb entries by YOU.	Come up with signs for a T-shirt or a bumper sticker that hide the real message in tiny type.	W 6
223	ATTEMPTING REENTRY	Submit entries to any past contest, so long as you never submitted them before.	H
222	TRIP DEUCES	Take the two subject listings at the top of any page of the Yellow Pages and create a dictionary definition for the compound word they form.	H H H
220	RSVP	Provide an answer to any of the dumb questions from Week 217.	H
219	VERBOSITY	Come up with new, obnoxious, self-conscious faux verbs and use them in sentences.	H H
218	CALLING THE TOON	Who are these people? What are they doing?	H
217	NO QUESTION ABOUT IT	Come up with truly stupid questions.	4
215	SON OF A PITCH	Write lavish blurbs in 50 words or fewer so some sucker will want to pay a lot of money for the provided items.	H H 4
214	ASK BACKWARDS IX	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are your answers. What are the questions?	4
212	DUMB AS THE POST	Come up with even stupider crimes than those committed by Montgomery County's "gentleman burglars.	L H H H
209	WE NEED SOME SEASONING	Come up with the first signs of spring in Washington.	H H H
207	TIED TO BE FIT	Each of the eight provided items is related, in some fashion, to one or more of the provided individuals. You make the connections.	E
206	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE II	Create a new word by combining the first half of any hyphenated word in today's newspaper with the second half of any other hyphenated word elsewhere in the same story, and supply a definition.	W H H H
204	DOUBLE EXPRESSO	Take any well-known colorful expression, and modernize it.	H H 3
200	CAPTION CRUNCH IV	Supply a new caption to any photograph appearing anywhere in today's Post, to make it funnier.	H
199	WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	H H H
198	YOU MUST BE MAD II	Come up with proposals designed to infuriate special interest groups.	L
197	DAVE'S WORLD	Make David Twenhafel laugh. Any sort of delightful drollery or amusing witticism will do, so long as it is not the sort of lowbrow fare we usually favor.	H
196	YOU MUST BE MAD	Come up with a contemporary Scene We'd Like to See.	H H H 4
195	THE MARTHIAN CHRONICLES	Come up with items for Martha Stewart's December-January calendar of projects.	H H H 5
193	ASK BACKWARDS VIII	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. What are the questions?	H H
191	GOING THROUGH A PHRASE	Come up with phrase for an American English phrasebook that would provide no practical help whatsoever to a foreigner trying to get along in the United States.	H H H H 2
190	OFFICE YOU CAN'T REFUSE	Come up with a Principle for the Workplace.	H H
189	YOU CAN PRANK ON IT	Come up with a hoax or prank that begins with any of the provided scenarios.	H
188	BLANKETY BLANKS	Complete any of the above sentences, substituting your own phrases for the well-known omitted words.	H
186	CALLING THE TOON	Who are these people? What are they doing?	H
182	CAN YOU STOP THIS?	Come up with a conversation stopper, a line likely to end all further discourse, perhaps even empty a room.	H H H
181	YOU CAN TAKE IT TO DEBUNK	Take a common slogan or saying and prove it wrong with at least one example.	H
180	WHEN IN DOUBT, PUN	Take any headline in today's Post and improve it by somehow turning it into a pun.	H
178	DEEP THROATS	Come up with Deep Thoughts, in the style of Jack Handey of "Saturday Night Live." A Deep Thought is a short, simple, seemingly inspirational observation that winds up being cynical, ironic, or just plain weird.	H
177	SOUNDS LIKE TROUBLE	Tell us what any of the provided sounds are.	H H
175	FOSSIL FOOLS	What would aliens mistakenly conclude about us from any of the provided items?	H H
174	THE EDGE OF MIGHT	Complete any of the four provided "you might" phrases.	H
173	DEAD RECKONING	Propose a question that might be asked by a living celebrity to a famous dead person. You must name the living person, name the dead person, and tell us the question.	H H
171	ON SECOND THOUGHT	Ideas that never got off the drawing board, for good reason.	H H
169	DIFF'RENT JOKES	Tell us the difference between any two of the provided items.	H
168	LICENSE TO CARRY A PUN	Come up with original jokes like those provided.	H H H
164	MEAN MEANINGS	Translate things politicians say into what they really mean.	W H
163	WHAT KIND OF FOAL AM I?	Take the list of all 1996 Triple Crown nominees, couple up any two of them, and propose an appropriate name for their hypothetical foal. The foal's name must fit in no more than 18 characters, including spaces.	H
161	CAPITOL MISTAKES	Come up with very, very bad advice for first-time visitors to Washington.	H
160	SEEKING WISE GUYS	Come up with cool new bad-guy terms.	H H H H
159	ODDBALLS	Which item in each series does not belong? Explain your answer.	H
158	SO SUE US	Come up with frivolous lawsuits.	H E
157	WARNING SIGNS	Complete any of these "you might be about to" warning sentences.	H H
156	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE	Create new word by combining the first half of a hyphenated word with the second half of a hyphenated word. Both words must appear in the same story anywhere in today's Washington Post. Each entry must provide a definition for the newly created word.	H H H H H
155	COMPARISON SHOPPING	Explain the difference between any two of the above items.	H
153	STUMP US	Complete this sentence, "I should be elected President of the United States because. . ." and launch your campaign.	H 2
152	WE ARE CURIOUS (YELLOW)	Take any headline in today's Washington Post and rewrite it in tabloid fashion so the story seems a lot more scandalous and/or lurid than it is.	H
151	STRIP MINING	Come up with a concept for a new, controversial strip to replace an existing one in The Post.	H H
150	TRIAL BALLOONS	What are the people saying?	H
147	JUST FOR LIFFS	Come up with original liffs, which identify a familiar, tantalizing concept without a word to define it, and pairs it with a perfectly good but underutilized word that just loafs around on maps and street signs.	H
145	LOOIE, LOOIE	Come up with paired, themed ladies' room and men's room signs for various types of public places.	H
142	EXHIBITING BAD TENDENCIES	Come up with the winner of next year's Turner Prize, which says its aim is to expand ideas of what is art.	H
141	ASK BACKWARD VII	You are on "Jeopardy!" These are the answers. What are the questions?	2
140	WHAT IF YOU GIVE IT A TRY?	Come up with "What-If" scenarios and logical outcomes.	L
139	EMPLOYMENT LINES	Come up with jobs that make even your crummy job seem good.	H H
138	LIST BUT NOT LEAST	Come up with Top-10-style lists for any of the above four subjects.	H H
136	NEW END IN SIGHT	Come up with new endings to make literary classics more suitable for Hollywood in the 1990s.	L H
135	JERRY-BUILT SOLUTIONS	Come up with Seinfeld-isms: whiny, quirky musings on little questions of life.	H
134	A SIMPLE CLERIHEW ERROR	Revive clerihews. A clerihew is a biographical poem in four lines divided into two rhyming couplets. The rhyme scheme is aa bb. The first line of the clerihew must contain the name of the subject of the poem. The lines must be of disparate meter, the clunkier the better.	L
133	LIKE, WOW.	Come up with funny analogies.	H H E
129	REMAKE US HAPPY	Come up with alternative story lines to movie titles, new or old.	W H
128	LIKE, DUH	Come up with snappy answers to stupid questions.	H H 5
127	GADGET IF YOU CAN	Choose one or more of these devices and describe their use.	H H H
124	SPOON-FEED US.	Come up with spoonerisms, expressions based on the transposition of the initial sounds of two paired words.	H H H
123	WHY IS POOP FUNNY?	Come up with creative answers to any of the five questions above that might be asked by a 5-year-old.	H
121	IT'S NO USE	Come up with useless products.	H
120	SIMILE OUTRAGEOUS	Come up with inept analogies, rotten comparisons as a literary device.	H
117	GIVE 'EM HELOISE	Come up with a tribute to Heloise, that queen of inanely creative recycling.	H 3
115	THE MNEMONIC PLAGUE	Come up with new mnemonic devices to remember complicated lists.	H H
113	WHAT KIND OF FOAL AM I?	Take a list of horses nominated to the Triple Crown races this year, choose any two, and propose a name for their offspring.	W
111	ASK BACKWARDS V	Here are the answers. What are the questions?	W
110	DO NOT INHALE THIS PAGE	Come up with absurd warning labels that might be found on common products.	4
106	DRAWING CONCLUSIONS	Who are these people, and what are they doing?	H H
104	HERE, DOGGEREL	Create poems so bad they thud. The first line must be a name. The second line can be as long or as short as you wish. The third line must sound the same as the first line, using the name as a verb or some other part of speech.	H
98	YOUR CHEATIN' ART	Come up with titles for country music songs featuring any one or more of the following themes: cheatin', thievin', drinkin', truckin', lovin' or dogs.	5
96	STICK IT IN YOUR ERA	Come up with a catch phrase for the 1990s.	H H 3
95	HOW'S THAT AGAIN?	Take any headline appearing anywhere in The Post this week and completely rewrite the first lines of the story to put a different, unintended spin on it.	H
94	WEEKS 1-93	Come up with a great answer to any previous Style Invitational contest, an answer you may have thought of after the contest was over.	H H
93	I WANT THE MONGOOSE	Tell us, in 50 words or fewer, why you must have this elegant piece of taxidermy featuring a snake being killed by a mongoose.	H H
89	CHILD'S PLAY	Come up with bad ideas for new toys for the Christmas season.	H H
87	WEST EASY, ANN	Come up with good things about West Virginia, in 50 words or fewer.	H H
86	EXCUSES, EXCUSES	Come up with funny excuses for various malfeasances.	H H H
83	BEDROOM FARCE	What questions were left out of the Great American Sex Survey?	H
81	HEADS, YOU LOSE	Take any two or more headlines anywhere in today's Washington Post, and combine them to make a funnier headline.	H H
74	SHIRT HAPPENS	In 10 words or fewer, what should the back of the "Year 2" T-shirt say?	H
73	LUNACY	Tell us what Neil Armstrong should have said upon stepping onto the moon's surface, instead of what he did, the greatest gaffe in the history of Historic Sayings.	H
62	BAD NEWS BEARERS	Come up with statements one would not want to hear from friends, relatives, service personnel, etc.	H 3
58	PLAY IT AGAIN, DENZEL	Bring Casablanca into the 1990s. Write the opening of a plot outline, in 120 words or fewer.	H
56	DO THE HOOKY POKEY	Come up with inventive ways to call in sick or otherwise persuade your employer you must miss a day.	H H H
55	ESCAPE CLAUSES	Send us self-serving moral loopholes through which the enterprising 1990s transgressor can crawl.	2
46	WE WANT STUPID ENTRIES ONLY	Make up a sentence that, were it not for this contest, would never be uttered.	H
42	HEY, IT COULD BE WORSE	There are worse things in life than the Washington Redskins. Just tell us what they are.	H 4
38	ASK BACKWARDS II	You are on "Jeopardy!" Here are the answers. What are the questions?	6
35	LIGHT AT THE END?	Tell the federal government what it should do with the 14-mile-long, 15-foot-diameter sausage-shaped tunnel it dug near Waxahachie, Tex., for the Superconducting Super Collider project that was scrapped by Congress last week.	H H
32	FATAL ART ATTACK	In 50 words or fewer, describe a performance art concept that might get public funding. Winners will be audacious enough to seem like art, but pretentious enough to seem to have a social "message.	3
31	INVITATION TO A DUAL	Divide the world into two types of people.	H H 3
11	YOU GIVE US THE BACKS OFF OUR SHIRTS	The back of the shirt needs a slogan, something that captures the spirit of The Style Invitational. What is that spirit? You tell us.	7
7	BEAT THE BANDS	Come up with a name for rock bands.	L

PERMANENT INKSTAIN FOR TOM WITTE