TRINONYMS II
Credit: LA Times Crossword
May 31, 2015
Merl Reagle

NOTE (from Merl Reagle): Nine years ago I made a puzzle about an unusual subset of words and phrases whose parts have the same meaning as the whole, such as "taxi," "cab," and "taxicab" which are all used interchangeably. I called them "trinonyms" and guessed that the original puzzle exhausted the list. Well, no. But this one should do it.

NOTE (from JA) To view the ten trinonyms from the first puzzle, see TRINONYMS I, posted April 24, 2014 under Word Puzzles. In the current puzzle, Merl has clued eleven more trinonyms. I have listed seven of them below, as I am ambivalent about the other four. I have listed those four below the answers for your own consideration. In the clues below, the words in parentheses are my own.

Use the following clues to identify seven trinonyms:

1. Pursuing (as a dream)
2. Performer (Jerry Seinfeld, for one)
3. Doubter's query ("Can you give me an example?")
4. Streaking, e.g.
5. Toy (kind of transportation)
6. Recent arrival (human)
7. Anything at all (as in nothing at all)

Answers:

1. Chasing after
2. Stand-up comic
3. "Like what, for instance ?"
4. Bare naked
5. Choo-choo train
6. Newborn baby
7. Diddly squat

Merl's four other clues:

7. Household grippers
8. Student's concern
9. Theater event
10 Government setting

Answers to the above four clues:

8. Flat-nosed pliers
9. Final exam
10. Sneak preview
11. Washington, D.C.