Will Shortz, crossword editor of the New York Times and puzzlemaster on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday,” shares a quiz about a whole menagerie of animals with names that are portmanteaus. For example, if you could cross a chipmunk and a monkey, you might get a chipmunky and a cockatoo crossed with a toucan would be a cockatoocan. What overlapping animal name might you get if you crossed an Australian hopping animal and a male barnyard bird? This is part of a complete episode.
Family surnames often derive from occupations, locations, or physical characteristics, so Quiz Guy John Chaneski has crafted a puzzle about fictitious origins of people’s last names. For example, many folks have farmers in their ancestry, but...
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