Q: Think of a word meaning "delay." Remove one W from it and you'll be left with another word meaning "delay." What words are these?Read carefully, if you don't want to be delayed.
A: STONEWALL --> STALL
Their last names being similar is not a coincidence.Q: Think of two classic music artists with multiple top 40 hits. Their first names are near-synonyms. And their last names are both game pieces. Who are they?
A: FATS DOMINO, CHUBBY CHECKER
I keep feeling like there's more to this.Q: Think of a familiar two-word phrase that means "a secret mission". Move the last letter of the first word to the start of the second word. The result will be two words that are synonyms. What are they?
A: COVERT OP --> COVER, TOP
The name of the TV show can be rearranged to two related words -- ones you might hear today.Q: Name a well-known TV character (5,6). Change the first letter of the first name to a Y and read it (the modified first name) backward. You'll get a synonym of the character's last name. Who is it?
A: DELLA STREET --> ALLEY, STREET
Drop the second and eighth letters and rearrange to get a word. That word could describe an item that was taken to a place also described by the word by someone whose name sounds like the original word.Q: Think of a common 8-letter word, in which the first three letters spell a word, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh letters also spell a word. These two little words mean the same thing. The fourth letter, when rotated 180°, becomes the eighth letter. What word is this?
A: shepherd --> she, her, p/d
Gasoline is NOT the answer, but an example. While "gas" is a shortened form of gasoline, "line" is not.Q: What common eight-letter noun can be shortened in two ways — using either its first three letters or its last four letters? The answer is a familiar item.
A: MAGAZINE --> MAG, ZINE
Clearly "porn" and "pom" don't work, and I'd never expect to hear that as the answer on NPR either.Q: If you squish the lowercase letters "r" and "n" together, they look like an "m." Think of a word that ends in the consecutive letters "r-n." Squish them together to get a homophone of a synonym of the first word. What words are these?
A: DARN --> DAM (DAMN)
Q: Name a food item in seven letters. Move the first letter to the fifth position and you'll get two words that are synonyms. What are they?
A: BRISKET --> RISK, BET
Q: Think of a familiar two-word phrase meaning "to fight." Change the third letter of each word to get two new words that are opposites of each other. What words are these?I have one answer, but won't have the other until around Wednesday.
A: WAGE WAR --> WANE, WAX
Q: Think of a six-letter word for something you might wear. Insert an "O" in the exact middle, and you'll get a phrase meaning "Not aware." What is it?A Rubik's Cube
A: OUTFIT --> OUT OF IT
I could sew burlap together and make the opposite of these pants.Q: Think of a hyphenated word that describes certain pants. The first half of the word and a homophone of the second half are synonyms. What kind of pants are these?
A: HIGH-WAISTED --> HIGH, WASTED
I was so focused on homophones like "ewe" and "you" and "aye/eye" and "I" that I couldn't see the forest for the trees.Q: Think of an adjective in five letters in two syllables. The first syllable phonetically sounds like a synonym of the full, five-letter word. And strangely these two words have no letters in common. What words are these?
A: PHONY --> FAUX
If today is Day 1, I'll definitely give you the answer before Day 6.Q: Think of a two-letter and a five-letter word that are synonyms. The two-letter word and the last syllable of the five-letter word sound like new words that are antonyms. What words are these?
A: HI, HELLO --> HIGH, LOW
Hint: Many fishQ: Think of a word for a deceitful person. Move the middle letter to the end and you'll get another word for a deceitful person. What words are these?
A: SNEAK --> SNAKE
I have a sense of déjà vu — more than a decade's worth.Q: Name a major U.S. city in 10 letters. If you have the right one, you can rearrange its letters to get two 5-letter words that are synonyms. What are they?
A: SACRAMENTO --> SCENT + AROMA
If you take the initial letter of each word, change the last letter to two later in the alphabet, you get another synonym for the last word.Q: This challenge is easy, but elegant. Think of a familiar four-word phrase that means "to be last." Together the first two words are a synonym for the last word. What phrase is it?
A: BRING UP THE REAR
I have two answers -- a third if you want to include an Academy Award winning composer.Q: Think of the last name of a famous film director. The first two letters and last two letters in order spell a word. And the remaining letters, rearranged, spell a synonym of that word. What film director is it?
A: (Francis Ford / Sophia) COPPOLA --> COLA + POP
Q: Think of two synonyms — one in 5 letters, the other in 4. The 5-letter word starts with S. The 4-letter word contains an S. Change one of these Ss to an A. You can rearrange the result to name a group of people, in 9 letters, that ideally have those two adjectives describe them. What group is it?
Q: Take a certain 7-letter word. Remove the first letter and you get a 6-letter synonym of that word. And the letter you removed is an abbreviation for the opposite of both words. What words are these?
A: FACTUAL and ACTUAL --> F (False)
For some reason this was the first thing I thought of today. By the way, if you rearrange the last 6 letters, you can name something else that is a common household item, and something that definitely is NOT.Q: Name something in 11 letters that's a common household item. You can rearrange the first six letters to form a synonym of a word spelled by the middle three letters. What is the item, and what are the words?
A: THERMOMETER --> MOTHER and MOM
