Week 841: Food for naught


Lice Krispies: The cereal that goes Snap! Crackle! Gaack!

General So-So's Chicken: A stir-fry dish that spent a little too long in the wok.

The examples explain it all -- or should. This week: Alter the name of a food or dish slightly and describe the result, as in the examples above by 74-time Loser Christopher Lamora, who suggested this contest. (He wins a mini-tube of cola-flavored toothpaste.) By "alter slightly," we mean not so much that a non-imbecile can't figure out what the original term was.

Winner gets the Inker, the official Style Invitational trophy. Second place gets "The Pop-Up Book of Celebrity Meltdowns," featuring perhaps a dozen large-scale dioramas jumping up at you, of such tableaux as the slo-mo O.J. Simpson Bronco chase; Tom Cruise over-emoting on Oprah's couch; and, of course, the famed Super Bowl Wardrobe Malfunction of 2004. Donated by Jeff Contompasis.

Other runners-up win their choice of a coveted Style Invitational Loser T-shirt or yearned-for Loser Mug. Honorable Mentions get one of the lusted-after Style Invitational Magnets. One prize per entrant per week. Send your entries by e-mail to losers@washpost.com or by fax to 202-334-4312. Deadline is Monday, Nov. 9. Put "Week 841" in the subject line of your e-mail, or it risks being ignored as spam. Include your name, postal address and phone number with your entry. Contests are judged on the basis of humor and originality. All entries become the property of The Washington Post. Entries may be edited for taste or content. Results will be published Nov. 28. No purchase required for entry. Employees of The Washington Post, and their immediate relatives, are not eligible for prizes. Pseudonymous entries will be disqualified. The revised title for next week's results is by Pete Morelewicz; this week's honorable-mentions name is by Lois Douthitt.

Report from Week 837, in which we asked you to combine two comic strips and tell about the result:

The winner of the Inker

(Click on links to view enlarged cartoon images)

The actual "Blondie" from Feb. 25:

. . . and "Dagwood Sandwich, featuring Brandy from "Liberty Meadows" (Craig Dykstra, Centreville)

2. the winner of the switch-hitting Mickey Mantle flip book:

The genius monkey from "Watch Your Head" visits "Doonesbury" and gets the strip canceled by every paper in the country when he's mistaken for the long-awaited Obama symbol. (Kevin Dopart, Washington)

4. "Pearls on the Trail": "Mark Trail" plus "Pearls Before Swine." (Linda Miku, Tucson, Ariz.)

3. "Beetle Nuts": Marcie and Peppermint Patty are at Camp Swampy, dressed in fatigues. Marcie: "I won't tell, sir." (May Jampathom, Oakhurst, N.J.)

Slightly out of toon: Honorable mentions

A rear view of Cathy, standing nude in court before Judge Parker. She says: "But everything I tried on made me look fat!" (Beverley Sharp, Washington)

"Dennis the Phantom Menace": A bratty little masked boy exasperates his parents and neighbors while thwarting global drug rings in his neighborhood. (David Friedman, Silver Spring, a First Offender)

Andy Capp, Hagar, and the Jester from "The Wizard of Id" are sharing a drink. Hagar says, "Yeah, they've just about drained all the fun out of alcoholism." (Larry Yungk, Arlington)

If "Dilbert" were imported to "Close to Home": Astonishingly, the character Dilbert is now drawn even worse. (Chuck Smith, Woodbridge)

Combine "Judge Parker" and "Rex Morgan, M.D.," to get the slowest malpractice case in history. (Russ Taylor, Vienna)

"Earl's Before Swine": The Crocs solve Grandpa Pickles's cat problem. (Kevin Dopart)

"A Very Candid Family Circus" (D'Juan Nash, Waldorf)

Next Week: Picture This, or Win, Loser, Draw