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Looking back at the last few numbers of my column leaves me with
the distinct impression that I have been letting you off too easy.
I intend to remedy that laxness in this one. It’s time to
challenge you to put your brain to work on some puzzles. All of
the ones posed here are from a source I have used before. That source
is a book by Will Shortz, The Puzzlemaster Presents 200 Mind-Bending
Challenges from NPR® (Random House, 1996). Will Shortz
has been the puzzlemaster for NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday
since 1986. He has recently published Volume Two of The Puzzlemaster
Presents …
Let’s
start with some short ones.
- Can you provide
three standard units of weight to add to the prefix “pro-“
to complete three common words?
- Can you provide
a common five-letter word that contains a silent “ch”?
- The two words
RAID and SAID end in the same three letters but don’t rhyme
with each other. Can you provide a third word that ends in the
same three letters but does not rhyme with the other two?
- Can you provide
a word from which you can drop the last four letters without changing
its pronunciation?
- Can you provide
a common, uncapitalized, seven-letter English word that contains
only one vowel and no “s”. HINT—it begins with
“t”.
- To include
a bit of salty language, can you provide four common English words
that contain the letters N-A-C-L in that sequence?
- You are in
the library and you spy an interesting-looking book on a shelf.
On its spine you read “HOW TO JOG.” When you open
it you find it is not a manual on running in any sense of the
term. What kind of a book is it?
Here is a longer
one of a different sort. Shortz calls it “PAST TIME.”
Put the same
word in both blanks to complete the sentences below. Each answer
is a word ending in "-ed" that has two meanings.
Example:
Georgette pointed at the boy who had made the pointed remarks about
her shoes.
- We ___________
the kegs of beer onto the truck because the owner was too ____________
to do it himself.
- The TV producers
____________ the employee who added ____________ laughter to the
sitcom.
- The argyle
socks the seamstress ____________ now look ____________ impressive.
- Before the
inspector distributed her “Inspected by #23” stickers,
she ____________ every black-and-white ____________ shirt inside
and out.
- Everyone
knew that the man in the ____________ suit would be ____________
in the arm-wrestling contest.
- Dad was so
mad he ____________ the salesman who had sold him used ____________
tires.
- The enemy
commander looked ____________ in the face after our troops ____________
his men out of the woods.
- The game
that Greg Maddux ____________ turned out to be a ____________
battle between rival teams.
Have fun. I
will name those readers who send me the best sets of answers in
my next number of “Verbivores.”
Until
next time, send me your solutions (or suggestions or complaints
or stumpers) at hfox@juno.com
or 2005 Burroughs Drive, Dayton, Ohio 45406.
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