Too soon?Q: Think of an 8-letter word with three syllables that contains the letter "I" in each syllable — but, strangely, doesn't contain a single "I" sound, either long or short. The answer is not a plural. What word is it?
A: DAIQUIRI ('da-kə-rē)
I'm going there without you.Q: This challenge is not too hard. Name a major world city with a population in the millions. Take one letter in its name and move it two spots earlier in the alphabet. Reading backward, you now have the name of a major restaurant chain. What is it?
A: SYDNEY --> WENDY'S
Note: an actor can be a woman too.Q: Take the name of a famous actor — 4 letters in the first name, 5 letters in the last. Spoonerize it. That is, interchange the initial consonant sounds of the first and last names. The result will be two new familiar first names — one male, one female — that start with the same letter... but that letter is pronounced differently in the two names. Who's the actor?
A: JOHN WAYNE --> JUAN, JANE
I'm not able to provide a clever clue this week.Q: Name a famous person with the initials M. C. The first initial and last name anagram to the person's field of renown. What is it?
A: MICHAEL CAINE --> MCAINE --> CINEMA
I don't, but others might. Anyone else get sidetracked trying to make Loki turn into lock and key?Edit: My main hint was that I don't put my phone in a purse, but others might. The comment about Loki/Lock/Key was to point out that the pronunciation of "purse" doesn't match the original syllables of the name, similar how the syllables of Loki don't sound like "lock" unless you isolate the letters.Q: Name a deity in ancient mythology. The first half of the name, phonetically, names a common object. The second half of the name, by spelling, names another object that is often put inside the first one. What is it?
A: PERSEPHONE --> PURSE, PHONE
The last name can also be rearrange to name a place where another related game is played.Q: Name a famous person in history (5,4). The letters of the last name can be rearranged to name a popular game. And the letters in the first name can be rearranged to name an action in this game. Who is this famous person?
A: MARCO POLO --> POOL, CAROM
Ask someone to point to this on a map and they'll probably get it wrong.Q: Think of a place on earth with a four-word name. Take the third word. Advance three of its letters to the next letter of the alphabet (so A would become B, B would be come C, etc.). You'll get the fourth word in the name. What place is this?
A: CAPE OF GOOD HOPE (G>H, O>P, D>E)
I thought I had it with AMIENS and MESSINA. I guess I'll have to take a new tack.Q: Think of a major city in France whose name is an anagram of a major city in Italy. Each city has more than 100,000 people. What are the cities?
ORLÉANS <--> SALERNO
Q: Think of a famous living person in the entertainment field whose first name is a bird. The person's last name is a quality of this bird — something its feathers have. Who's the famous person, and what's the bird?Hint: Steamboat inventor?
A: MARTIN SHEEN
Do they have open angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension?Q: Think of a famous living American whose first and last names have a total of eight letters — all different. Five of these letters are consecutive in the alphabet. The remaining three can be rearranged to spell a woman's nickname. What famous American is this?
A: ELON MUSK --> KLMNO + SUE
