SWITCHCRAFT IV

SWITCH IN TIME
Credit: GAMES Magazine,
February, 1992
Gloria Rosenthal

Every sentence in the puzzle below contains three blanks. To fill them, find a word fitting the first blank that can be split into two other words that, in switched order, will fill the remaining two blanks. For example, in the sentence

When painting _____, the artist found that flower-filled _____  _____ be pretty subjects.

The answer words would be:

When painting CANVASES, the artist found that flower-filled VASES CAN be pretty subjects.

1. When her _____ said they might get the whole _____  _____ from school as well as summer, Mother fainted.

2. A _____ poet might write only one _____  _____ year and still consider himself a genius.

3. The beauty queen lost her _____ quality when she said smugly, "_____  _____, other don't, and that's just the way it goes."

4. All of the cod, _____, and mackerel the fishermen was unloading onto the _____  _____ been caught in international waters.

5. Employees of the Post _____ must scrape the _____  _____ the outdoor mailboxes to open them after a winter storm.

6. It's not wise _____ a person who's broke to play poker, since he's likely to wind up _____  _____ the other players money.

7. The long-winded explorer liked _____ of the times he survived a scorpion's _____,  _____ constrictors' squeezes , and attacks by panthers.

8. The losing team's quarterback passed the ball _____ to a running back, leading to a _____  _____ in the fourth quarter.

9. Being the _____ editor of a magazine takes youthful vigor, so it's hardly the right job for an _____  _____.

10. Consumer complaints _____ off rapidly after the city eliminated much of the bureaucratic _____  _____.

Answers:

1. OFFSPRING - SPRING OFF
2. PERVERSE - VERSE PER
3. WINSOME - SOME WIN*
4. HADDOCK - DOCK HAD
5. OFFICE - OFF ICE
6. ALLOWING - OWING ALL
7. BOASTING - STING BOA
8. LATERALLY - LATE RALLY
9. MANAGING - AGING MAN
10. TAPERED - RED TAPE

*3. I came up with AWESOME - SOME AWE, which is not as good as WINSOME, but I think is acceptable.