Mento Stimulation Puzzle

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette, and we are joined once again by that quiz guy, John Chaneski.

Hi, John.

Hi, Martha. Hi, Grant. How are you guys doing?

Yo, yo, yo. What’s up?

Yo, yo, yo.

Hey, you know, people are always asking me, where do you get the ideas for your puzzles?

And of course, I always say, you know, if I’m just looking around and noticing some interesting pattern, just like nature does.

Now, at least one fan of A Way with Words knows exactly what I’m talking about.

I got an email from Tim Walters of Redwood City, California, in which he says,

John, love your puzzles on A Way with Words.

So right off, we’re off to a good start right there.

We were standing at the register of a shop selling souvenirs and saw several packs of Mentos candy for sale.

It occurred to me that they should offer a special version for tourists called Mementos.

From this, we came up with other special packs.

Okay.

For eating quickly, Mementos.

Mm—

For the sad, Lamentos.

Aw.

For inciting a riot, Fomentos.

Okay.

Now, this is pretty creative, right?

So Tim said I could borrow his idea.

All right.

So I decided to go right ahead and steal it.

Okay.

And I’m going to give you some clues for brand new Mentos brands, and you have to guess what they are, okay?

Okay.

They’re all Mentos?

They’re all Mentos something.

I call this puzzle Mentos stimulation.

Okay.

Get it?

All right.

For example, what kind of candy is appropriate for musicians?

Is there some kind of musical phrase for slowing down that ends in minto or something?

Lento is slow.

Think more basic.

What do musicians do?

They play.

What do they play?

Instrumentos.

Instrumentos.

Very good.

Yes.

Oh, I see.

So they don’t necessarily have to be real words.

Very good.

Right, exactly.

Almost all of these are not.

Actually, I don’t think any of these are real words.

Okay, very good.

They’re a mint brand.

They’re a new candy brand, so they’re all different.

All right.

So some of these have multiple right answers, so no worries.

We’ll just have fun with it.

Here we go.

What kind of minty candies would be appropriate for a judge, lawyers, and jurors who are on break from a trial?

Well, it’s not recessementos.

It’s on break from a trial.

On break from a trial.

Sequitnal.

Recess.

Adjournementos.

Oh, adjournmentos.

Adjournmentos, nice.

Adjournmentos, very good.

What kind of candy is appropriate for a flatterer?

Complimentos.

Complimentos, very good.

That may very well be the Spanish word for compliment.

I was going to say that.

Mentos, the fresh maker.

Very nice.

What kind of candy is appropriate for imaginary friends?

Figmentos.

Figmentos, yes.

What kind of candy is appropriate for a scientist?

Experimentos.

Experimentos.

Experimentos are the mentos you use if you’re going to do that Diet Coke thing.

Oh, experimentos.

Yeah.

What kind of candy would you give a priest?

Sacramentos.

Sacramentos.

Where do you get those?

In Sacramento.

What kind of candies would you give an artist?

Pigmentos.

Big Mentos, very good.

You’re just kicking some butt here.

Those are the ham-flavored Mentos.

What minty candy was eaten by Voltaire?

Enlightened Mentos.

Yes, the Enlightened Mentos.

You guys were fantastic.

Once again, I want to thank Tim Walters and his family of Redwood City, California, for this great puzzle idea.

And if any of our other listeners would like to do my job for me, I’d greatly appreciate it.

Thanks very much.

If you’d like to talk about words and how we use them, the number to call is 1-877-929-9673.

That’s 877-W-A-Y-W-O-R-D, or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.