SPELLING BEE III

NY Times Puzzle Mania

Sam Ezersky

 

        D

L R C O I E  

 

Can you use all seven letters to make a nine letter word?

 

HINTS:

1. The word starts with C.

2. It's the name of an animal.

 

Answer:

 

CROCODILE   

1. What do the following words have in common?

SANTA

SAUCE

SERVICE

SOCIETY

 

2. What do the following words have in common?

 

PLUMBER 

DATELINE

LIMELIGHT

FIGURATIVE

 

Answers:

 

1. Each word can be precede by SECRET to make a common phrase

 

2. Each word starts with the name of a fruit:

    PLUMber

    DATEline

    LIMElight

    FIGurative

 

Credit: 

1-2: Wyna Liu  

 

  

ODDS AND ENDS

1. Can you use the three words below as homophones to begin common phrases?

PAPER

BACON 

LETTUCE

 

2. What do the following words have in common?

  

JOB

POLISH 

AUGUST

TANGIER 

READING

 

3. What do the following words and phrases have in common?

 

PHENOMENON

SESAME SEEDS 

JUMPED OVERBOARD 

WORLD SERIES GAME 

THERE ARE NO WORDS

 

Answers:

 

1. PAPER VIEW (Pay per)

    BACON IN THE SUN (Bakin')

    LETTUCE PRAY (Let us)  

 

2. Words that are pronounced differently when they are not capitalized.

 

3. Each word of phrase conceals the name of an American city"

    pheNOMEnon (Alaska)

    sesAME Seeds  (Iowa)

    jumpeD OVERboard (Delaware)

    world sERIEs game (Pennsylvania)

    there aRE NO words (Nevada)

 

Credits:

1: Hanh Huynh

2. Ken Jennings

    Kennections

3: Kathy Lowden 

 

 

GAMES/World of Puzzles

December, 2025

Scott Erdman

 

Can you define these Latin phrases that are still a major part of our language?

 

1. Mea culpa

2. Bona fide

3. E pluribus unum

4. Carpe diem

5. Tempus fugit

6. Tabula rasa

7. Rara avis

8. Cogito ergo sum

9. Corpus delicti

10. Caveat emptor

11. Ars longa, vita brevis

12. Nolo contendere

 

Answers:

 

1. My fault - I'm to blame

2. Good faith - authentic, genuine

3. From many one - motto of the United States

4. Seize the day

5. Time flies

6. Blank slate

7. Rare bird - a wonder or marvel

8. I think therefore I am

9. Body of the crime - concrete evidence of a crime

10. Let the buyer beware

11. Art is long, life is short 

12. No contest - A legal plea in which a defendant accepts conviction without admitting guilt  

MISSING LINKS CCLXIX

Each group below contains a Missing Link - that is, its members have something in common, obvious or not. For example, RIVERS, NOSES, & VIOLINS can all have BRIDGES.

1. Helium..........Exodus..........February

2. Pie..........River..........Rock..........Walk

3. Doctor..........Tree..........Guy..........Way 

4. Dice..........Questions..........Baked potatoes 

5. Rome..........Adam..........The Berlin Wall 

6. Eskimo..........Hershey..........Butterfly 

7. Rubber..........Bridges..........Calories 

8. Number..........Suspect..........Time  

9. Duel..........Factory..........Minute

10. Money..........Heart..........Rules 

 

Answers: 

 

1. Things that are often second on lists

2. Moon

3. Family

4. Things that can be loaded

5. Things that fell

6. Kinds of kisses

7. Things that you can burn

8. Prime

9. Things that have seconds

10. Things you can follow  

 

Credits:
Ken Jennings

Kennections  

ANAGRAMS LVIII

Dell PennyPress Variety Puzzles

April, 2025

 

FIND-A-WORD

 

What is the longest possible word that you can anagram from the letters of the words below? You may not use any letter more times than it appears in the listed word, and you may not be able to use all the letters of the listed word in your new word. As a hint, the number of letters in the anagrammed word is given in ( ).

 

1. MEDIAN (6)

2. RUMBLE (6)

3. JOURNAL (5)

4. ETHANOL (6)

5. HESITATE (7)

6. VENATION (8)

7. MATRIARCH (8)

8. YARDSTICK (7)

9. MICROSCOPE (8)

10. WHEELBARROW (7)

 

Answers:

 

1. MAIDEN

2. LUMBER

3. LUNAR

4. LOATHE

5. ATHEIST

6. INNOVATE

7. ARMCHAIR

8. DRASTIC

9. COMPOSER

10. LABORER   

TRI -Os

GAMES/World of Puzzles

Holiday, 2026

Scott Erdman

 

Each clue below leads to a word, name, or title containing exactly three O's - a pair somewhere, either preceded or followed by a single O. For example, the answer to the clue "Kind of bridge or boat" would be PONTOON.

 

1. Ralph and Alice Kramden of old TV

2. "69 "happening" in Bethel, NY

3. Study of animals

4. Tradesman's carry-all

5. Gold coin in pirate stories

6. Where attendance is taken in high school

7. Chinese tea variety

8. Old five-and-dime store chain

9. Seasonal wind bringing heavy rains

10. Barnes & Noble, for example

11. Dog with extremely keen sense of smell

12. Large noisy parrot

13. It's useful for gaining access or egress

14. Poisonous mushroom, often

15. Landing spot for Santa's reindeer

16. Person in the crow's nest

 

Answers:

 

1. Honeymooners

2. Woodstock

3. Zoology

4. Toolbox

5. Doubloon

6. Homeroom

7. Oolong

8. Woolworth's

9. Monsoon

10. Bookstore

11. Bloodhound

12. Cockatoo

13. Doorknob

14. Toadstool

15. Rooftop

16. Lookout