Q: Think of a popular online service. Change the first letter to a Y and rearrange the result to get what this service provides. What is it?Yes! Will is back! If you add 4 letters to the service and rearrange, you get a color.
A: VENMO --> MONEY
If you change the fourth letter so it is two later in the alphabet (e.g. A becomes C) and rearrange, you get something rowdy.Q: Think of a nine-letter word naming a kind of tool that is mentioned in the Bible. Remove the second and sixth letters and the remaining letters can be rearranged to spell two new words that are included in a well known biblical passage and are related to the area in which the tool is used. What is the tool and what are the two new words?
A: PLOWSHARE - LH = REAP, SOW
Q: The English language developed in a patriarchal society, so many words in our language were traditionally assumed to be male, and turned into female versions by adding a prefix or suffix. Waiter and waitress, comedian and comedienne — those are just two examples of the many stereotypically "male" words that become new "female words" by adding a suffix.The answer hit me squarely on the forehead.
There is a common English word that works the opposite way. What is the common English word that is generally used to refer exclusively to women, but which becomes male when a two-letter suffix is added?
A: WIDOW + ER = WIDOWER
Q: Each chemical element can be represented by a one or two-letter symbol. Hydrogen is H, helium is He, and so on. There are two commonly known elements whose names each can be spelled using three other element symbols. Name either one.Could they be Zirconium and Tungsten, but a small quantity?
A: Iron = Ir (Iridium) + O (Oxygen) + N (Nitrogen), Silver = Si (Silicon) + Lv (Livermorium) + Er (Erbium)
Q: Take two three-letter tree names and combine them phonetically to get a clue for a type of fabric, then change one letter in that word to get something related to trees. What are the two trees?Anagram the letters of the clue to get an appropriate surname.
A: YEW + FIR --> EWE FUR --> WOOL --> WOOD
Q: Take a body part. Add one letter at the beginning and another at the end to get a different body part. Then again add a letter at the beginning and another at the end to get something designed to affect that body part.I can tell you it isn't a knee.
A: EAR --> HEART --> THE ARTS
Q: Take the last name of a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Remove the middle three letters and duplicate the last two letters to get the first name of a different Nobel Peace Prize winner. What are those two names?I gave a major clue to this week's puzzle previously.
A: Nelson MANDELA --> MALALA Yousafzai
Q: Take the word SETS. You can add a three-letter word to this twice to get a common phrase: SPARE PARTS. Can you now do this with the word GENIE, add a three-letter word to it twice to get a common phrase?Hey you!
A: GOLDEN OLDIE
Q: Think of a famous character in American literature. Change each letter in that character's name to its position in the alphabet — A=1, B=2, etc. — to get a famous year in American history. Who is this person and what is the year?The author was born shortly after the famous year.
A: (Captain) AHAB --> (War of) 1812
Q: Start with the name of a blockbuster movie star. Remove the first letter of the first name and last two letters of the last name to get the types of movies he almost never stars in. Who is this?I'm glad Will included "almost never".
A: VIN DIESEL --> INDIES
