GAMES/World of Puzzles

August, 2026

Shawn Kennedy 

 

Other than being three letters long, what do the following words have in common?

 

TEN      KAY

ROT      RAD

MAD     SAG

REF   

 

Answer:

 

Adding the first two letters of each word to the end creates palindromes:

 

TENET      KAYAK

ROTOR     RADAR

MADAM   SAGAS

REFER

     

AWESOME FACTS ABOUT EVERYTHING - CLXXXV

1. Logging is the deadliest job in the United States - by far - with 110/100,000 work injuries, 33 times the national average if 3/100,000

2. The tallest mountain on earth, measured from sea level, is Mt. Everest - at 29,031 feet. But the tallest mountain on earth is actually Mauna Kea in Hawaii at 33,500 feet. 20,000 feet of it are under water.

3. On August 15, 1945, Japanese people heard the recorded voice of Emperor Hirohito for the very first time - via a nation-wide radio broadcast. The Emperor announced the surrender of Japan in World War II.

4. Emmett Ashford was the first African-American umpire in major league baseball. He worked in the American League from 1966-1970. Jen Pawol made history as the fist woman to umpire a MLB game on August 9, 2025 - working first base in a game between the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves.

5. There is no direct word for "please" in Danish.

6. A rice bed is a traditional four-poster wooden bed frame featuring intricate carvings of rice sheaves or tobacco leaves on its posts. Originating in South Carolina and Georgia during the 18th and 19th centuries, these beds reflect the immense wealth generated by slave-based rice plantations.

7. American mathematician Edward Kasner needed a name for an unimaginably large number- 10 to the hundredth power - or 1 followed by 100 zeros. He asked his nephew, Milton Sirotta, to think of a name, and the nine-year-old coined the word googol - because he thought a silly, massive number deserved a simple, playful name (1920). The founders of the namesake search engine, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, originally wanted to name it Googol - to symbolize their mission to organize a vast and seemingly infinite amount of online information. In 1997, while brainstorming and seeing if the domain name was available, Sean Anderson (a Stanford colleague helping them) accidentally typed google.com instead of googol.com. Instead of correcting the typo, Larry Page liked the misspelled version even more and decided to register google.com.

 

8. Kyoto served as the imperial capital and cultural heart of Japan for over 1,000 years (794 - 1868) before Tokyo became the capital. 

 

9. Random House publisher Bennett Cerf made a good-hearted bet with Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) that he could not write an entertaining book with only 50 distinct words. Dr. Seuss won the bet with Green Eggs and Ham. Of the 50 words, 49 are of one syllable. The most commonly used word is "not" - used 82 times.

 

10. The highest U.S. state capital is Santa Fe, New Mexico - at 7,199 feet. Cheyenne, Wyoming is second - at 6,062 feet. Denver, Colorado is third - at exactly 5,280 feet - giving it the name Mile-High City. Fourth and fifth are Carson City, Nevada and Salt Lake City, Utah. 

 

CLEVER ENDEAVOR X 

Find rhyming synonyms for the two words or phrases in each pair. 

Ex. Overly sweet and attentive - Irritating

Ans. CLOYING - ANNOYING 

 

1. Temper - Hide

2. Analysis - Slanting, indirect 

3. Peaceful - Serving dish for soup 

4. Not showing excess emotion - Brave 

5. Standard gold score - Open marketplace

6. Tenacious, resolute - Opposed, unwilling 

7. Vicious - Accomplished beyond one's age

8. Bell-shaped hat - Period of Vivaldi's music 

9. Extremely harsh - Of a Mesopotamian Empire

10. Projectiles in motion - Dealing with the entire system

 

Answers:

 

1. ANNEAL - CONCEAL

2. CRITIQUE - OBLIQUE  

3. SERENE - TUREEN

4. STOIC - HEROIC

5. PAR - BAZAAR

6. PERSISTENT - RESISTANT 

7. FEROCIOUS - PRECOCIOUS

8. CLOCHE - BAROQUE

9. DRACONIAN - BABYLONIAN

10. BALLISTIC - HOLISTIC  

CRYPTO CLUES CCLII

GAMES Magazine  

October, 1983 

Loni Hutchinson. (1-4)

GAMES/World of Puzzles

August, 2024

Bob Stigger (5-10) 

 

1. Foolishly presented her to someone else

 

2. Master's students get prose rewritten

 

3. Roughly, bear north for base

 

4. Place wagers without beginning to shuffle

 

5. A very hot spot in oven

 

6. Mooed a whole lot, so to speak

 

7. Dollar's extremes ought to be a concern to farmers

 

8. Unworkable ban on vile novel

 

9. Death is serious

 

10. Fees for using bongs 

 

HINTS:

1. Anagram

2. Anagram

3. Anagram

4. Definition/Beheadment

5. Anagram

6. Homophone

7. Letters + word

8. Anagram

9. Homograph

10. Homograph

 

Answers:

 

1. OTHER (her to)

2. PROTEGES (get prose)

3. ABHORRENT (bear north)

4. AMBLE (gamble)  

5. VENUS (in oven)

6. LOWED (load)

7. DROUGHT (D OUGHT R)

8. NONVIABLE (ban on vile)

9. GRAVE

10. TOLLS  

 

HOMOGRAPHS CXV

What single word satisfies both or all of the meanings?  

1. Small sea snail

    Pale, purple-blue color

    Plant with blue-violet flowers

 

2. Lower portion of an interior wall

    Middle section of a column or pedestal 

    Rectangular slot cut into a piece of wood 

3. Two-masted sailing ship

    Prison on a military ship or base 

 

4. Steal

    Tell on, rat out

 

5. A special design, color scheme, or uniform

    A place that will take care of horses for a fee

 

6. Wild donkey

    Ancient Roman catapult

 

7. A covering to protect clothing from stains

    Carefully mowed area surrounding a golf green 

 

Answers:

 

1. Periwinkle

2. Dado

3. Brig

4. Snitch

5. Livery

6. Onager

7. Apron  

ADD A LETTER - GET A NEW WORD CCCXII

Add the designated letter to each word and re-arrange the letters to get a new word.

1. CHEST + Y

2. IDEAL + N 

3. SABER + I

4. HEIST + S

5. RELIC + A

6. NERVE + E

7. ROUGE + S

8. BALMY + C 

9. NOMAD + I 

10. TRANCE + I  

 

HINTS;

First letters of the new words:

1. S

2. D

3. B

4. T

5. E

6. V

7. G

8. C

9. D

10. C

 

Answers:

 

1. SCYTHE

2. DENIAL

3. BRAISE

4. THESIS

5. ECLAIR

6. VENEER

7. GROUSE

8. CYMBAL

9. DOMAIN

10. CERTAIN 

FLEXERS CXLV 

Answer each clue by matching it with one of the choices below. Wordplay is fair play.

1. SAG

2. Sine field

3. Puts on a coat

4. Diamond sides 

5 They raise kids 

6. Last word, often

7. Hit close to home 

8. Cinnabon, Kool-Aid, Hi-C 

9. They get what's coming to them 

10. Statement that often contains lies

 

CHOICES:

a. Bunt

b. Trigonometry

c. Never-ending story

d. Epitaph

e. Nines

f. Booster seats

g. Heirs

h. Paints

i. Amen

j. Roll with the punches

 

Answers:

 

1. c - Never-ending story (SAGA)

2. b - Trigonometry

3. h - Paints

4. e - Nines (baseball)

5. f - Booster seats

6. i - Amen

7. a - Bunt (baseball)

8. j - Roll with the punches

9. g - Heirs

10. d - Epitaph ("Here lies .....")

 

Credits:

1: Sam Brody

2: Linda Gould

3: Mike Graczyk

4: Eva McCarthy

5: Jack Hatchett

6: Richard Lee Clark

7: Wendy L. Brandes

8: Rich Katz

9: Jared Cappel

10: Noelle Griskey.