The Invitational Week 118: Clue Us In
We give you a partly filled-in crossword; you give us some words and funny clues. PLUS! Winning photos from our food-art contest.
Pat Myers and Gene Weingarten
Apr 03, 2025


The March 30 New York Times Crossword by Simeon Siegel, awaiting your own letters and clues (up to 25) for this week’s contest.
Hello. Today, as a protest against the Donald Trump regime, we present a marathon Gene Pool that will take you 25 hours and 5 minutes to read. And good news: Unlike Sen. Booker, you will be able to take us into the bathroom.

Okay, kidding. But this is about enduring things: It’s been many years since The Invitational last ran one of its reverse-crossword contests.

For Invitational Week 118: Write novel clues for as many as 25 answers in the grid above, across or down, first supplying your own letters in the blank squares. (Click here for a printable grid.)
— Your answer may be a single word or a phrase, a real word or one you made up.
— The letters don’t have to cross the other words; think of each answer on the grid as an individual word or phrase. When we run the inking entries, it’ll just be a list of words and definitions.
— Your clues don’t have to be as brief as in real crosswords, but they shouldn’t run more than a dozen words or so.
— IMPORTANT!!! Formatting your entries: Begin each entry, one per line up to 25, with the square number followed by A(cross) or D(own):
79A: PITH: What toddlers do at Inappropriate Language Preschool
94A: SPOP: From Slobbovia, the latest teen music fad
73D: HIN: A partial hint

Deadline is Saturday, April 12, at 9 p.m. ET. Results will run here in The Gene Pool on Thursday, April 15.

Click here for this week’s entry form, or go to tinyurl.com/inv-form-118.

This week’s winner gets this week’s first runner-up: the caffeinated portrait shown below, by Craig Dykstra. Craig is putting it in a frame that will not include dartboard circles.

Runners-up get autographed fake money featuring the Czar or Empress, in one of eight nifty designs. Honorable mentions get bupkis, except for a personal email from the E, plus the Fir Stink for First Ink for First Offenders.

LOL You Can Eat: The food art of Week 116
In Invitational Week 116 we asked you to make something funny out of real food, and send us a photo. Naturally, the comestible humor tended toward politics, wordplay, or both.

Third runner-up:


The cracks in Pete Eggseth’s defense were obvious during his
Signalgate press conference.
(Kevin Dopart and Deborah Hensley, Washington, D.C.)
Second runner-up:


“Dammit, Charlene, when are you going
to stop coddling him?”
(Frank Osen, Pasadena, Calif.)
First runner-up:

Coffee Mug Shot: Grounds for Impeachment
Coffee grounds on paper
(Craig Dykstra, Centreville, Va.)

And the winner of the folding mini-signs warning of cat vomit and dog vomit:

The Grape Divide

"With berry little resistance remaining, Republicans are making America grape again. But in Florida, the trend is getting pretty old.”
(Kevin Dopart and Deborah Hensley)
—

Table Scraps: Honorable mentions
Cereal Killer I

Insect’s wings and body made from date and prune; strips of date for the legs; and oiled blueberry eyes (Stu Segal, Charlotte, N.C.; sculpture by his niece Anja)
—

Cereal Killer II
(Duncan Stevens, Vienna, Va.)

—


At the next morning’s sales meeting, Cheepskate Chester
regretted eating the leftover egg salad from the company potluck.
Peeps, a Peeps Delight, graham crackers, cocoa powder, water (Jeff Contompasis, Ashburn, Va.)
—
Couch Potato

Carved russet spud (Jesse Frankovich, Laingsburg, Mich.)
—

Fybertruck: This Too Shall Pass

Tesla logo, broccoli; truck body, fruit and nut bars; outline, asparagus; windows and door, celery; tires, black lentils and carrots (Lee Graham, Reston, Va.)
—

Mount Flushmore: ‘Orange You Glad I Made It?’

Navel orange, Cheez-Whiz hair and eyebrows, clove eyes (Kevin Dopart and Deborah Hensley)
—


“Sure, ignore us, Francine — we remember when
you were a dollar a dozen!”
(Frank Osen)
—

Friday Dinner Special
(Jon Ketzner, Cumberland, Md.)

—


The Tiny-Head Swan is known for its bad breath.
(Duncan Stevens)
—
When the Chips Are Don
Doritos face, Ruffles hair (Jesse Frankovich)

—


“Holy hemorrhoids, Missy — that Preparation H really did smooth your skin!”
Friend: Sumo citrus, with eyes of Trader Joe’s O’s and black beans; Missy: orange, with mouth of salt and white paint, and hair of carrot leaves (Dan Steinbrocker, Los Angeles)
—

The Leaning Tower of Pez
(Craig Dykstra)

—
Can’t Live Without It: A Heart Beet
(Jesse Frankovich)

The headline “LOL You Can Eat” is by Jesse Frankovich; both Chris Doyle and William Kennard submitted the honorable-mentions subhead.

Still running — deadline 9 p.m. ET Saturday, April 5: Our Week 117 contest to imagine more discussion in that Signal chat group, including with some new person added. Click on the link below for details.


InvisibleInk!
Idea: ()
Examples: ()
Judging: ()
Title: (Jesse Frankovich)
Subhead: (Chris Doyle; William Kennard)
Prize: (Craig Dykstra)
Add:H:1588: ()
VisibleInk!