Brain Teasers
Shun-Na-Na
Forrie Agincourt came prancing through the front door, home from his outing with his Aunt Jen.
"Hey, gene pool," he called to his parents, "what do you call it when someone will eat ice cream and frozen yoghurt with a spoon, but not from a cone?"
Prospera, his mother, was quickest off the mark. "Lick-tose intolerance?" she ventured. Her husband, Connor, lost his thoughtful look and glared at her.
Jen Rahlwitz made a rude noise, coming through the door with the second bag of puzzle books. "Pro, that was awful! Not to mention not quite what we wanted."
"So I'm up one-zip. You owe me a hint." Sarah looked at Forrie; he nodded.
"Okay, Mom. Even worse, what if he's the taste-tester?"
Jen's brow furrowed; Connor finally got it after a couple of seconds.
"Forrie, go to your room! Shame on you!"
"What is it, con?" Prospera still didn't get it.
"Dear, our son's hypothetical friend is guilty of," he cleared his throat as if coughing up the masticated pulp of an entire Shorter OED, "dairy-lick-shun of duty!"
Jen dropped the books on the hunter table in the front hall, held her nose, and ran screaming back out the door, followed closely by her sister.
"Son, if you don't stop this frivolous wordplay and buckle down to studying your football statistics," Forrie joined him in the family warning, "you're likely to get into the college of your choice."
"So," Connor continued, "do you have more of these, or do we have to apologize to the Witty sisters for the rest of the puzzle?"
"Sorry, Dad. I spent all mine downtown. Auntie Jenknows them all, and she'll just smirk at you."
"We'll save them for bed time, then. I guess you'd better go out and grovel, or we'll never get this past the eagle-eyed editors."
Forrie went to the front door and shouted an apology for the pun. Soon, they were all seated in the kitchen with tall glasses of lemonade, lemon-drop cookies, and the Lennon Sisters on the stereo. Forrie walked behind his aunt and pantomimed winding up a huge key on her back.
"Okay, everyone. Where did we go to avoid remaining in the city?"
"Jen, do you have a bunch of these?" She nodded smugly. "Then perhaps you'd better list them all for us, and let us work them out at our own speeds." Connor gestured to the large white-board on the kitchen wall. Jen wrote the puzzle above, following it with these:
2. Avoidance of celebrations
3. Avoidance of sunlight
4. Avoidance of Vice President Cheney or Bandstand host Clark
5. Avoidance of being eaten by a knight
6. Avoidance of criminal habits
7. Avoidance of prison paper money
"Hey, gene pool," he called to his parents, "what do you call it when someone will eat ice cream and frozen yoghurt with a spoon, but not from a cone?"
Prospera, his mother, was quickest off the mark. "Lick-tose intolerance?" she ventured. Her husband, Connor, lost his thoughtful look and glared at her.
Jen Rahlwitz made a rude noise, coming through the door with the second bag of puzzle books. "Pro, that was awful! Not to mention not quite what we wanted."
"So I'm up one-zip. You owe me a hint." Sarah looked at Forrie; he nodded.
"Okay, Mom. Even worse, what if he's the taste-tester?"
Jen's brow furrowed; Connor finally got it after a couple of seconds.
"Forrie, go to your room! Shame on you!"
"What is it, con?" Prospera still didn't get it.
"Dear, our son's hypothetical friend is guilty of," he cleared his throat as if coughing up the masticated pulp of an entire Shorter OED, "dairy-lick-shun of duty!"
Jen dropped the books on the hunter table in the front hall, held her nose, and ran screaming back out the door, followed closely by her sister.
"Son, if you don't stop this frivolous wordplay and buckle down to studying your football statistics," Forrie joined him in the family warning, "you're likely to get into the college of your choice."
"So," Connor continued, "do you have more of these, or do we have to apologize to the Witty sisters for the rest of the puzzle?"
"Sorry, Dad. I spent all mine downtown. Auntie Jenknows them all, and she'll just smirk at you."
"We'll save them for bed time, then. I guess you'd better go out and grovel, or we'll never get this past the eagle-eyed editors."
Forrie went to the front door and shouted an apology for the pun. Soon, they were all seated in the kitchen with tall glasses of lemonade, lemon-drop cookies, and the Lennon Sisters on the stereo. Forrie walked behind his aunt and pantomimed winding up a huge key on her back.
"Okay, everyone. Where did we go to avoid remaining in the city?"
"Jen, do you have a bunch of these?" She nodded smugly. "Then perhaps you'd better list them all for us, and let us work them out at our own speeds." Connor gestured to the large white-board on the kitchen wall. Jen wrote the puzzle above, following it with these:
2. Avoidance of celebrations
3. Avoidance of sunlight
4. Avoidance of Vice President Cheney or Bandstand host Clark
5. Avoidance of being eaten by a knight
6. Avoidance of criminal habits
7. Avoidance of prison paper money
Answer
1. station (stay-shun)2. partition (party-shun)
3. ration (ray-shun)
4. diction (Dick-shun)
5. insertion (in-Sir-shun)
6. emotion (M.O.-shun)
7. conscription (con-scrip-shun)
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