1. What unusual property do the following words have in common?

ANTARCTIC

AFTERGLOW

ADORATION

 

2. What unusual property do the following words have in common?

 

DUMBSTRUCK

THUMBSCREW

BIRTHPLACE

 

Answer:

 

1. Each of the words is made up of three smaller words:

    ANT  ARC  TIC

    AFT   ERG  LOW

    ADO   RAT   ION 

 

2. All three words have five consonants in a row:

    duMBSTRuck

    thuMBSCRew

    biRTHPLace  

  

ODD ONE OUT 

Which word is the odd one out and why?

SAVE

MUSIC

ABOUT

SCRIPT

WASH

 

Answer:

 

SCRIPT is the odd word out. All the others can be associated with FACE:

Save face

Face the music

About face

Face wash   

1. Three common 5-letter words end in MUR. Can you name them? 

_ _ MUR
_ _ MUR 

_ _ MUR 

 

2. Three 6-letter Shakespearean-era words end in KIN. Can you name them?

 

_ _ _ KIN

_ _ _ KIN

_ _ _ KIN

 

HINT:

2. A cask, a jacket, and a dagger

 

Answers:

 

1. FEMUR

    LEMUR

    DEMUR

 

2. FIRKIN

    JERKIN

    BODKIN  

RIDDLE

 

Age before beauty

Pearls before swine

Death before dishonor 

Cart before horse

End before source 

What am I?

 

Answer:

 

A dictionary   

DROP A LETTER - GET A NEW WORD CXXXIV

GAMES/World of Puzzles

February, 2026

FAMILY REUNIONS

Bob Stigger

 

Drop one letter from each word and re-arrange the remaining letters to get ten related words.

 

1. BIOMES

2. DAMSEL

3. PROVED 

4. PERKIER

5. TSUNAMI

6. BANALLY 

7. ADMONISH

8. PALIMONY

9. TARPAULINS

10. CHLORINATES 

 

HINTS;

First letters of the new words:

1. B

2. S

3. D

4. P

5. A

6. A

7. M

8. O

9. S

10. C

 

Answers:

 

1. BOISE

2. SALEM

3. DOVER

4. PIERRE

5. AUSTIN

6. ALBANY

7. MADISON

8. OLYMPIA

9. SAINT PAUL 

10. CHARLESTON - - - U.S. state capital cities  

 

COMMON STOCK

GAMES/World of Puzzles

February, 2026

Shawn Kennedy

 

1. Fill the blanks below with the name of a card game to complete the longer word. 

 

NE _ SP _ PE _

S _ _ _ ESP _ _ SON

_ _ _ DQU _ _ _ ER _ 

 

2.  Fill the blanks below with the name of a road sign to complete the longer word.

 

GA _ _ R _ _ OD

HA_ F _ _ _ _

_ ISC _ _ LE

FL _ _ IB _ LI _ Y 

 

3. Fill in the blanks below with the names of buttons on a remote control to complete the longer word.

 

DI _ _ OM _ C _

_ L _ _ _ IBL _ 

HO _ OG _ _ O _ S 

Answers:

1. WAR - NEWSPAPER

    POKER - SPOKESPERSON

    HEARTS - HEADQUARTERS

 

2. STOP - GASTROPOD

    YIELD - HAYFIELD

    DIP - DISCIPLE

    EXIT - FLEXIBILITY

 

3. PLAY - DIPLOMACY

    PAUSE - PLAUSIBLE

    MENU - HOMOGENOUS 

  

Universal Crossword

March 24, 2026

Tarun Krishnamurthy

 

The four phrases below have something in common that is hinted at by the last clue. Can you determine what it is?

 

1. NUMBERS GAME

2. CHILDHOOD HOME

3. PIRATE COSTUME

4. MUSK PERFUME

5. It's Greek to me

 

Answer:

 

The first word of each clue begins with Greek letters and the second word ends with ME:

1. NUmbers gaME

2. CHIldhood hoME

3. PIrate costuME

4. MUsk perfuME