Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle involves dropping a letter from a fictional character to form the name of a new one. For example, if the clue is: He once used the Force to turn people to the Dark Side, but now all he does is hang out in bars and...
This week, it’s backhanded phrases, those snarky remarks that come sugar-coated in politeness, like “How nice for you,” “Oh, interesting!,” and the mother of all thinly veiled criticism, “Bless her heart.” Also this week, free reign vs. free rein...
In many neighborhoods, the night before Halloween is the night when pranksters run around wreaking all kinds of mischief–toilet-papering houses, spraying windows with shaving cream, ringing doorbells and then running away. A Connecticut woman...
heli-mulching n.— «Rice straw dropped from a heavy-lift helicopter rained down like snow Monday on fire-blackened forest land north of Oroville in an effort to control erosion. The process, known as “heli-mulching,” is set to continue through...
gabber n.— «The guild was pointing out how soon television might grind to a halt, including shows like Saturday Night Live (almost immediately) and what the trades call “gabbers,” like the Letterman show (the host was a union loyalist in a previous...
guising
n.— «Harriet is going “guising” this evening (though it’s “trick or treating” in her parlance) and lacks ears for her black cat outfit.» —“Bits and pieces, ups and downs” Cornflower Oct. 31, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)