Change the last two letters in the first word to a vowel and rearrange everything. The result is a word that describes most of this post.Q: Take the name of a nocturnal creature, in two words. The first word is a spooky sound. Move the last letter of the first word to the start of the second word and you'll get another spooky, nocturnal sound. What is the creature and what are the sounds?
A: SCREECH OWL —> SCREECH, HOWL
I can think of another duo that ties the two duos together.Q: Name a famous musical duo. Remove four consecutive letters of the duo's name and phonetically you'll name a famous nonmusical duo. Who are they?
A: RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS --> WRIGHT BROTHERS
A very timely puzzle.Q: Name a famous living singer whose first and last names together have four syllables. The second and fourth syllables phonetically sound like things a dog walker would likely carry. What singer is this?
A: ALICIA KEYS --> LEASH, KEYS
We're not going to quibble over syllabification of Alicia as A‑leesh‑a versus A‑lee‑sha, are we?
Remember: another Wednesday deadline - work at a quick pace!Q: Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. Add two letters in front and one letter behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. What words are these?
A: AGUE --> PLAGUED (also accepted: PLAGUES or LEAGUES)
Q: Think of a famous actress -- first and last names. Swap the first letter of each name (e.g. Lana Turner would become Tana Lurner). Say the result out loud, and phonetically you'll get some advice on fermenting milk. What is it?Take the name of the actress. For each letter, if it appears more than once, keep only half the instances (round up if necessary -- half of 3 is 1.5, but you'd keep 2 letters). Rearrange those letters to get a piece of outerwear.
A: DREW BARRYMORE, "BREW DAIRY MORE"
Q: Name a famous current American singer. Replace the last name with a colloquial term for a person from the place where this singer was born and raised. Say the result out loud. Phonetically, you'll get a form of singing the singer doesn't usually do. Who is the singer and what is the kind of singing?I realize why I was having trouble with the puzzle. I knew the singer, but the "phonetically" was what threw me. I had to change my pronunciation for the sake of making the puzzle work.
A: CARRIE UNDERWOOD, OKLAHOMA (OKIE) --> KARAOKE
Q: This is a phonetic challenge in four parts. First, say a letter of the alphabet out loud -- like B, C, or L. Then name something you might carry around in your pocket. Say it twice. Finally, name a variety of tree. Say these four things in order, and phonetically they'll name a nice place in the United States to vacation. What is it?This place was mentioned on this blog in the last couple years by someone from a city and state that started with the same letter.
A: WAIKIKI BEACH (Y + KEY + KEY + BEECH)
Q: Think of a famous movie star (6 letters, 6 letters). The first name, when said out loud, sounds like a brand of a certain object. The last name is someone who uses this object. What movie star is this?Has this puzzle got you over a barrel?
A: MINNIE DRIVER --> MINI, DRIVER
Q: Take a child's game, in eight letters. Change the sixth letter to 'ch' and, phonetically, you'll have a popular animated children's character. What are the game and the character?How manu of us remember the first time we played this?
A: PEEK-A-BOO, PIKACHU
As Homer said about Denmark, "Third time's a charm."Q: Name an activity in the form of "blank and blank." Move the first letter of the second word to the start of the first word. The result will be two modes of transporting things. What is the activity and what are the modes of transport?
A: ARTS and CRAFTS --> CARTS and RAFTS
Pour out a sunrise smile!Q: Think of an 11-letter word that might describe milk. Change one letter in it to an A, and say the result out loud. You'll get a hyphenated word that might describe beef. What is it?
A: PASTEURIZED --> PASTURE-RAISED
I can't be the only one that is having trouble in clueing the answer to this puzzle. That's assuming you aren't already having trouble in hearing the distinction between an unvoiced and voiced dental fricative.Q: In English the two-letter combination TH can be pronounced in two different ways: once as in the word "booth," the other as in "smooth." What is the only common English word, other than "smooth," that ends in the letters TH as pronounced in smooth?
A: MOUTH (verb)
Take another item that might be worn while sleeping, increment the last letter so it is one later in the alphabet and move it to the 4th position. Change the first vowel sound and you have the last name of the person's most famous character role.Q: Think of a classic television actor — first and last names. Add a long-E sound at the end of each name and you'll get two things that are worn while sleeping. What are they?
A: TED KNIGHT --> TEDDY, NIGHTIE
I had to nix my previous hints.Q: Think of a classic American author, whose first and last name's are each one syllable. The last name, when said aloud, sounds like part of the body. Insert the letters "A-S" into the first name and you have the location of this body part. Who is the author?
A: BRET HARTE --> BREAST, HEART
Change the last letter of the dinner entree to the letter directly to its right on a standard typewriter keyboard. Rearrange to name something we might fear.Q: Name a U.S. state capital. Then name a world capital. Say these names one after the other and phonetically you'll get an expensive dinner entree. What is it?
A: DOVER (Delaware) + SEOUL (South Korea) --> DOVER SOLE
You can drop all instances of that letter and you still get the same answer.Q: Name a famous TV personality of the past. Drop the second letter of this person's last name. Phonetically the first and last names together will sound like a creature of the past. What celebrity is it?
A: DINAH SHORE --> DINOSAUR
Q: Think of a popular food item in six letters. Change the last two letters to a K to make a common five-letter word in which none of the letters are pronounced the same as in the six-letter food. What food is this?Add the letters in the word DOTES to the food item, rearrange to get a place that was popular in the last century.
A: QUICHE --> QUICK
Q: Think of a famous American woman with a two-syllable last name. The first syllable is spelled like a body part, but isn't pronounced like one. The second syllable is pronounced like a body part, but isn't spelled like one. Who is this famous woman?Her middle name can be rearranged to mean "brigade".
A: Amelia EARHART
Q: Take the name of a famous actor of the past. Say it out loud, and phonetically you'll describe what a famous general's horse did. Who is the actor and who is the general?I need an "L" to make my answer work.
A: CARY GRANT --> CARRY (ULYSSES S.) GRANT
Q: This is a little tricky. What item containing a silent "u" is commonly found in kitchen drawers?If you change the "u" to a different letter of the alphabet, you get a name for a similar item.
A: A GUIDE is part of the construction of a kitchen drawer. But SILENT U anagrams to UTENSIL. I'll update this with the intended answer when it's revealed on Sunday.
Update: There were 64 people that submitted the intended answer of UTENSIL
