ODDS AND ENDS

I'm thinking of certain male animals starting with B. An informal synonym for B starts with D. A homophone for D is a single female of animal B. What am I thinking?

HINT:

Money 

Answer:

BUCKS

DOUGH

DOE

 

Credit: Lester Ruff  

Each phrase below contains a related word with the letters in consecutive, but scrambled order. Can you spot them?

1. BANK ASSET

2. GAME NIGHT

3. STONE GROUND 

4. GRAVE DANGER

5. PAST EXPERIENCES 

Answer:

 

Each phrase contains the name of a U.S. state with the letters in scrambled order:

 

1. bANK ASSet - KANSAS

2. gAME NIght - MAINE

3. stONE GROund - OREGON 

4. grAVE DANger - NEVADA

5. pAST EXperiences - TEXAS

 

Credit: 
Noelle Griskey 

 

CLEVER ENDEAVOR VIII

Find rhyming synonyms for the two words in each pair.

Ex. Explosive device - Poise

Ans. BOMB - APLOMB

 

1. Pupil - Careful 

2. Expert - Cowardly 

3. Nanny - Equal part

4. Language rules - Stutter 

5. Exact copy - Worker bee

6. Steep - Opening performance

7. Make impossible - Trick or fool 

8. Very obvious - dormant, as potential

9. A diverse whole - Very old and out of date

10. Superficial - Annoying, inconvenient situation  

 

Answers: 

 

1. STUDENT - PRUDENT

2. MAVEN - CRAVEN

3. AU PAIR - FAIR SHARE

4. GRAMMAR - STAMMER

5. CLONE - DRONE

6. SHEER - PREMIER

7. PRECLUDE - DELUDE

8. BLATANT - LATENT

9. MOSAIC - ARCHAIC

10. FACILE - HASSLE  

CRYPTO CLUES CCXLI

GAMES Magazine  

January/February, 1981

Will Shortz (1-8)

December, 2000 

Richard Lee Clark (9-11) 

 

Note from JA: Every cryptic crossword clue has two parts: A direct or indirect definition of the answer and a description of the answer in wordplay. The key to solving, and the fun of cryptics, is separating the two parts. Below is a clue from the above puzzle which illustrates the cleverness of a good cryptic clue. 

 

Foe has men in the old switcheroo

 

The answer is ENEMY - defined by FOE. But the wordplay is the clever part: ENEMY has MEN in it in reverse (switcheroo). The EY is YE in reverse, and YE is the "old" form of "the". 

 

1. Birds fight fights

 

2. Dislike a rendition

 

3. Soft drink for an elf 

 

4. Partly woodless lots

 

5. Ordered direct acknowledgement

 

6. Most are waving to the conductor 

 

7. Reportedly travels to sell bicycles 

 

8. A New Hampshire city is overwhelmed

 

9.  Unfinished flower platform

 

10. Dashing hero tempts Dad's new wife 

 

11. Starts to try on gowns after shedding old robes 

 

HINTS:

1. Two definitions

2. Definition - two words 

3. Homophone

4. Hidden word

5. Anagram

6. Anagram

7. Homophone

8. Homophone

9. Curtailment (drop final letter)

10. Anagram

11. Initial letters

 

Answers:

 

1. SPARROWS (spar + rows) [rows = fights]

2. AVERSION ( a + version)

3. Sprite (sprite)

4. OODLES (wOODLESs)

5. CREDIT (direct) [credit = acknowledgement]

6. MAESTRO (most are)

7. PEDALS (peddles)

8. CONQUERED  (Concord)

9. DAIS (daisy) 

10. STEPMOTHER (hero tempts)

11. TOGAS (Try On Gowns After Shedding) 

  

 

 

 

 

.  

ANIMALGRAMS  I

 

GAMES Magazine 

December, 2000

Raymond Hamel 

 

For each word in the first column below, can you choose a word from the second column so that the combined eight letters can be re-arranged to spell the name of an animal? For example, AREA + TENT = ANTEATER

 

AREA       BLUR

GOES        FLOG

GOLF        HELP 

LAST         LATE

MAIN        MOON

MARE       MOST

NEAT        RING

OPEN       TENT 

 

Answers:

 

AREA + TENT = ANTEATER

GOES + MOON = MONGOOSE

GOLF + BLUR = BULLFROG

LAST + RING = STARLING

MAIN + FLOG = FLAMINGO

MARE + MOST = MARMOSET

NEAT + HELP = ELEPHANT

OPEN + LATE = ANTELOPE  

 

POINTS TO PONDER  CXXXVII

Thomas Jefferson, penner of the immortal words, "all men are created equal" had over 600 slaves in his lifetime, and did not free them in his will - as many other slaveholders did. This inescapable irony can be understood, like so many other injustices, in the context of its time. But it is also also interesting to consider that in justifying breaking away from British rule, Jefferson's concept of the equality of men was not about slaves - but about the rejection of the idea of hereditary royalty. 

 

RIDDLES

1. What might a spa retire? 

2. What is not alive, but can die? 

3. What facial hair hurts the most? 

4. Why did I name my pet newt "Tiny"? 

5. Why is a ranch hand like an apothecary?

6. What has a tail but can't wave it? (two answers)

7. Why are puns a waste of time for kleptomaniacs?

8. What can you commonly find in an airport and at a carnival? 

9. Can you think of two 9-letter mathematical terms that are anagrams?  

10. Can you think of two mythological figures who are mother and daughter and whose names are anagrams?

11. NOTE from JA: This might be offensive.

     What do church mice believe in?

 

HINTS:

9. One from geometry and one from calculus

10. Mother is a Titan and daughter is an Olympian goddess. 

 

Answer:

 

1. A spare tire

2. A battery

3. Mustache (must ache)

4. He's minute.

5. He's a farm assist

6. A comet and a coin

7. They take things - literally

8. A carousel

9. TRIANGLES - INTEGRALS

10. RHEA - HERA

11. Cheeses

 

Credits :

3 and 5: Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon