What's Up?

Q:

At a certain pseudoscience convention, a couple found this dinner invitation slipped under the door of their hotel room.

La Soiree - Ribs Special - Currant Sauce    

The letters in each phrase can be rearranged  to get two new words that are related.  What convention was the couple attending?

Photo courtesy of

xadrian

A:

The image may have been a dead giveaway, especially if you visited the artist's photostream.  

Leo  Aries  -  Libra  Pisces  -  Cancer  Taurus

The couple was attending an astrology convention.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

Q:

Vowels and vowel combinations can have different sounds depending on the word.  Room and wood both have a double o but sound different.  Read and read sound different depending on the verb tense.  Who cares, right?  Consider this.  Take the word friend.  The ie has a short e sound.  Drop the r, and you have fiend with a long e sound.  Drop the i and you have fend, back to a short e sound.

Think of a word with a vowel combination.  Drop a letter to get a word with a different vowel sound.  Drop another letter to get a word with the first vowel sound.  Finally, drop one more letter to get a word with the second vowel sound.  The vowel sound pattern should be ABAB.  What words are these?

Photo courtesy of

mgstyer

A:

"Rub a dub dub, three men in a tub...the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker...

The baker pondered how much flour

One cup, two, three maybe four.

Too thin, too thick, the batter for our

Cake 't would be either or.

May I Take That?

Q:  


Take the word nostril and the word pepper.  Change one letter and rearrange the result to name two descriptive terms that are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Photo courtesy of

olillevik

A:

The title is something you may hear at a hotel, perhaps by a bellhop.  Bellhop is largely an American term.  The image, 99 BOB on the wall, came from Flickr.  Change a P to an R and rearrange to get:

Pilsner  and  Porter

This One's for the Birds

Q:


Find an answer for each "crossword" clue.  Drop one letter from your answer to get the name of a common bird.  Take the first letter of each bird name and you will have seven consecutive letters in the alphabet, not necessarily in order.

1.  Put it on the short grass  

2.  A chase involving no running

3.  Taking the edge off

4.  Addict's bane

5.  Bonk on the noggin

6.  Brave men seldom do it

7.  Hale's rue

Photo courtesy of

See-ming Lee

A:

1.  A golf reference, put being past tense - drove

2.  Chase being a channel, ravine or in this case - gully

3.  Not talking imbibing here - blunting

4.  Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, John Belushi, etc. - heroin

5.  As a noun, it's a noggin.  As a verb, it's the bonk - crown

6.  And sometimes they get punched in the face - flinch

7.  Hale as in Nathan.  Rue as in - regret

In order:

Bunting    Crow    Dove    Egret    Finch    Gull    Heron

                                                                                                                                                                          





      
       

Don't Touch That Dial!

Q:


"Do you see this thin wound beneath the victim's left shoulder blade?  Its symmetry and size leave little doubt as to the murder weapon.  I'll inform the captain to hold the suspects since they all had access to the kitchen."

Now that I have your attention, pick two consecutive words from this excerpt.  Rearrange the letters to name the genre of the story.

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Olivander

A:  


There are some red herrings here.  Film Noir and Suspense were close but no cigar.  Damn Mystery works, but c'mon.  Really?

The solution comes much sooner from the phrase thin wound.  

Who Dunnit

Now That's Funny

Q:


Rearrange the letters in  Balkan anise, fitful rise, lanai worker and lifetimes.  Put the new phrases in the proper order to come up with a humorous two line proverb.

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Reclamation Revolution

A:


Take the phrases in reverse order.  Rearrange the letters and you get...

Time flies like an arrow.

Fruit flies like bananas.

Stuck in the Middle

Q:


Since tomorrow is a federal (and national) holiday, I'll mix picnics and politics.  Rearrange the letters in a sourer incumbent to make two new words.  One word can be placed in front of the word sandwich to make a common phrase.  The other word can be placed after the word sandwich to make another common phrase.  What words are these?

Photo courtesy of

Symic

A:

Nothing flashy here.

Submarine Sandwich Counter