You can view past Midday Quiz results here by year. This quiz airs on The Midday hosted by Norman Gilliland.
Most Recent Quiz Question:
Friday, December 20, 2024
These confections are said to represent St. Nick’s pastoral status, rather than a travel accessory
Candy canes.
Winner: Charmaine Uphaus, La Crescent, MN
January 2024
Monday, January 1, 2024
What do they have in common: Elizabeth Tudor, Hydrogen, Delaware, Alpha, New Year’s Day?
All are firsts: Elizabeth I, Atomic Number 1, first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, first letter of the Greek alphabet, the first day of the year.
Winner: Joe Layde, Madison
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
He was the second to do so and his mother’s maiden name was the same as the place he did it.
Buzz Aldren. Second person to walk on the moon. His mother’s maiden name was Marion Moon.
Winner: Katherine Cera, Lodi
Wednesday, January 3, 2024
A certain sleigh driver might not approve, but paces in Finland, Iceland, and Alaska serve it as a pizza topping.
Reindeer meat.
Winner: Denny Blum, Sun Prairie
Thursday, January 4, 2024
Circus strongmen inspired the seemingly improbable attire of these law enforcers.
Superheroes.
Winner: Sarah Minsloff, New York, NY
Friday, January 5, 2024
This state is tied with Missouri for adjacency.
Tennessee.
Winner: Susan Riesch, Middleton
Monday, January 8, 2024
What do they have in common: A songbird, a fish, part of a cooked turkey, a channel marker, and a chess piece?
All are named for religious figures–cardinal, monkfish, pope’s nose, nun, bishop.
Winner: Kathleen Lhost, Appleton, WI
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
In 2011 a royal couple used them to issue wedding invitations. About half of US small businesses still use them. Many people prefer them for sharing sensitive information.
Fax machines.
Winner Bill Toman, Green Lake, WI
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
A 3 x 3 word square:
Across: Traveler’s bane, may freeze, with #1 across, stolen diamonds
Down: Somewhat, corporate top, usually enjoyable to
Across: Ice, Sea, Hot
Down: Ish, CEO, Eat
Winner: Erik & Mary Sue Osby, Plover, WI
Winner: Erik and Mary Sue Osby, Plover, WI
Thursday, January 11, 2024
See a line of its clones and you’ll know That you have a good healthy cash flow Or a boom in your coffers; Alone, though, it offers The sad news that you’re flat out of dough.
A: A Zero
Winner: Beth Dinkela, Madison, WI
Monday, January 15, 2024
The Empire Strikes Back, The Revenant, Nanook of the North, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Way Down East did. It’s a Wonderful Life, The Shining, Lost Horizon, Citizen Kane and Fargo did not.
Use real snow.
Winner: David Hastings, Tomahawk, WI
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
From almost 3/4 of a million gallons a second to, seemingly, nothing during several early 20th century winters.
Niagara Falls.
Winner: George Savage, Madison
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
The engineer didn’t change his German name until a few years before he developed this famous French project.
The Eiffel Tower. Gustave Bonickhausen’s family had long since used the name Eiffel.
Winner: Martha Sumi, Madison
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Start with a 5-letter word for what mathematicians like. Take off first letters and you have words for an upper extremity, a comic book word, the first word of titles by Steinbeck and Somerset Maugham, and a white letter in a blue field. What’s the first word?
Proof.
Winner: Leo Van Asten, Fitchburg, WI
Friday, January 19, 2024
For now, the largest is about 39 miles by 39 miles by a sixth of a mile.
Iceberg. A23a is about the size of Rhode Island.
Winner: Gary Edelstein, Madison, WI
Winner: Leo Van Asten, Fitchburg, WI
Monday, January 22, 2024
Word word applies:
Will he be at the rollicking game?
Make some racket, ongoing acclaim?
Though the lowly grass feeder
Is no raucous cheerleader,
He should come since they have the same name.
Cricket
Winner: Liz Walker, Madison, WI
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Batman does. So do Miss Piggy, Count Tyrone Rugen, Audrey Hepburn, and the Lone Ranger.
Wear gloves.
Winner: Dana Brzezinski, Milwaukee, WI
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
A mouse passed this test, joining several primates, dolphins, an elephant, and an evil queen
The mirror test of self-recognition.
Winner: Jim Miller, Manitowoc, WI
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Actually, the total is about 200 stories, the title being hyperbole.
The 1001 Nights, aka The Arabian Nights.
Winner: Yoyi Steele, Fort Atkinson, WI
Friday, January 26, 2024
About three quarters of the world’s remaining reserves of this life-sustaining element are in an African country and a disputed area adjacent to it.
Phosphorus. In Morocco and Western Sahara.
Winner: Jake Wood, Madison, WI
Friday, January 26, 2024
About three quarters of the world’s remaining reserves of this life-sustaining element are in an African country and a disputed area adjacent to it.
Phosphorus. In Morocco and Western Sahara.
Winner: Jake Wood, Madison, WI
Monday, January 29, 2024
A workman’s error spelled a bad future for this presidential monument.
The Lincoln Memorial. The word “future” was spelled “euture.”
Winner: Bennette Harris, Belleville, WI
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Q: Named in 2017, these notorious media do have positive uses in healthcare.
Deepfakes.
Winner: Aaron Gaetzke, Madison, WI
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
What do they have in common: A marine mammal with a prominent proboscis, a manatee, a fish with a prehensile tail, a predatory marine mammal, a fish with barbels?
All are named for land animals: An elephant seal, a sea cow, a seahorse, a leopard seal, and a catfish.
Winner: Gary Kuchenbecker, Tigerton, WI
February 2024
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Despite the marketing images, the source of about half of it is a tap.
Bottled water.
Winner: Wes Ebert, Wausau, WI
Friday, February 2, 2024
Appropriately, the first film to make this statement was about dogs.
No animals were harmed in the making of this film.
Winner: Ken Braband, Green Bay, WI
Monday, February 5, 2024
What’s the progression: Cyclops, Odysseus, a Twilight Zone Venusian, the bespectacled, an Opabinia, Cerberus?
Number of eyes from 1 through 6.
Winner: Samuel Bates, Madison, WI
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
An 18th century English playwright who found that a sound effect he had created had been co-opted is thought to have initiated what familiar saying?
They’ve stolen my thunder.
Winner: Joe Turzynski, Genesee Depot, WI
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Who is it?
There’s no time now to think twice or freeze.
You’re a whirlwind of hands, feet, and knees.
When you take to the air
You must look debonnair,
And then land with a force of 10Gs.
A: A figure skater doing a quadruple jump
Winner: John Powlaites, Mt. Pleasant, WI
Thursday, February 8, 2024
This term for a nonconforming pedestrian was once applied to drivers.
Jaywalker, jaydriver
Winner: Marina Agerter, Reston, VA
Monday, February 12, 2024
It’s second to Thanksgiving in this regard and has a menu heavy on pizza.
Food consumption in the U.S. on Super Bowl Sunday.
Winner: Paul Hesse, Tomahawk, WI
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Decode the following message: 91215225251521.
I Love You.
Winner: Chris Lofgren, Eau Claire, WI
Thursday, February 15, 2024
What distinction do they share: Chickadee, Ping-Pong, Bobwhite, Kodak, Whippoorwill?
Their names are all onomatopoetic, named for the sounds they make.
Winner: Karl Nilson, New Berlin, WI
Friday, February 16, 2024
Some of the extras in this classic film were recruited at a garbage dump.
A: Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.
Winner: Blaine LeGault, Sun Prairie, WI
Monday, February 19, 2024
An automotive engineer exasperated by working with his team uttered this famous saying.
No correct answer today. We’ll repeat this question tomorrow.
Winner: Find out tomorrow!
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Repeat Question: An automotive engineer exasperated by working with his team uttered this famous saying.
“A camel is a horse designed by a committee.” Sir Alec Issigonis, designer of the Mini, 1959.
Winner: Donford Anderson, Green Bay, WI
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
The biggest was about 80 inches in circumference, a record that has stuck and the substance may making it may have also.
Bubble gum bubble.
Winner: Jim Hess, Sheboygan, WI
Thursday, February 22, 2024
What is it?
Within earshot of Westminster chimes,
A short walk from the venerable Times,
It stands massive and mute.
As grim goes, it’s a beaut,
A concealer of myriad crimes.
The Tower of London.
Winner: Andrew Hellpap, Belleville, WI
Friday, February 23, 2024
This familiar theater designation isn’t based on geography, but on capacity.
Off Broadway.
Winner: Ross Michaels, Middleton, WI
Monday, February 26, 2024
What distinction do these words share: Gray, Whiskey, Judgement, Kidnapped, Traveled?
A: All can be spelled two different ways in American English: Grey, Whisky, Judgment, Kidnaped, Travelled.
Winner: Daniel Lee, Evansville, WI
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
This innovation occurred when an American merchant sent separately packaged samples of his product to Europe and found out that the samples were being used while still in the packaging.
A: The teabag.
Winner: Robert K. Leedham, Jr., Madison, WI
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
What does this refer to: Hundred—Number 1, one—number 2, twenty—number 3, five–number 4, fifty—number 5, ten–number 6, two–number 7.
Number of bills in each denomination in circulation.
Winner: Tony Reindl, Two Rivers, WI
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Born in Kansas to formerly enslaved parents, an actor in this movie set a film precedent.
A: Gone With the Wind. Hattie McDaniel became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award on February 29, 1940.
Winner: Pat Hammeke, Applrteon, WI
March 2024
Friday, March 1, 2024
These rural phenomena, most popular from the 1880s to the 1910s, were touted for their efficiency.
Round barns.
Winner: Julie Nelson, Mazomanie
Monday, March 4, 2024
A 3×3 word square:
Across: Reason request; a voter; split resistant wood.
Down: Welsh river, Norse underworld denizen, edible tuber.
A: Why, yea, elm, Wye, Hel, Yam.
Winner: David Larsen, Sioux Falls, SD
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
A short story and play set on American island during a downpour has this name.
A: Rain. The story is by Somerset Maugham. The play was written by John Colton and Clemence Randolph.
Winner: Jan Adelman, Fond du Lac, WI
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
What do they have in common: A tree disease, influenza, measles, a respiratory illness, a pesky scarab?
Rightly or wrongly, all are named after countries—Dutch elm disease, Spanish flu, German measles, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Japanese beetle.
Winner: Robert Newton, Madison, WI
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Particularly popular in Wisconsin, its most prominent characteristic comes from a bacterium also found on human skin.
Limburger cheese.
Winner: Rhonda Kilker, Shelburne, VT
Friday, March 8, 2024
This popular character was named after one of the creator’s relatives, who was named after an American Chief Executive.
Garfield the cat. Named after James A. Garfield Davis, grandfather of cartoonist Jim Davis.
Winner: Fred Koerschner, Algona, IA
Monday, March 11, 2024
Start with a six-letter word for a blade seller. Take off first letters and you get words for “what’s in a shell,” “bumpkin,” “disgusting!,” clothier logo, and a vitamin. What’s the first word?
Schick.
Winner: Erin Kotenberg, De Pere, WI
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
It may take as long as a thousand years to biodegrade, as visitors to a wall in Seattle may one day aver.
Chewing gum. A Seattle landmark is the gum wall.
Winner: Stephanie Doose, Eau Claire, WI
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
What distinction do they share: Music popularized in the ’60s, a decorative ball, a lively French dance, a Pacific capital, a West African belief system?
All have double names: go-go, pom-pom, can-can, Pago-Pago, Juju.
Winner: Charles McDonald, Mount Pleasant, WI
Thursday, March 14, 2024
At the dawn of the 20th century, the New York Times asserted that a nation that eats this food can never be permanently vanquished.
Pie.
Winner: Karl Stubenvoll, Fish Creek, WI
Friday, March 15, 2024
What is it? ‘Tis no object, I think, for affection, With its mottled and slimy complexion. Tourists give it a kiss With their eyes closed in bliss— Saints be praised–-and no closer inspection.
The Blarney Stone.
Winner: J Depner, Menasha, WI
Monday, March 18, 2024
This opera—most famous for its beginning—was based on a play inspired by the French and American revolutions.
William Tell by Rossini. Based on the play of the same name by Friedrich Schiller.
Winner: Petra Streiff, New Glarus, WI
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Tracking the world record for this was discontinued at 18 days because of the danger to the health of the contestants.
Sleep deprivation.
Winner: Elizabeth Barrett, Madison, WI
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Derived from the name of a play from the 1930s, this term for a form of psychological deception came back into common usage in the 2010s.
Gaslighting.
Winner: Tyler Jones, Appleton, WI
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Who is it? A king of charisma and means Took the lead in historical scenes. Was he started and floored? No Best Actor award–Just his name on a can of sardines.
King Oscar of Norway
Winner: TBA
Friday, March 22, 2024
A prominent feature of this African landmark may disappear within a few decades.
Mount Kilimanjaro.
Winner: Daniel S. Greenspan
Monday, March 25, 2024
What do they have in common: A Mozart and Rossini character, a longtime sportscaster, a Fleet Street businessman, the Adagio for Strings, Johnny Depp.
A: All are barbers. Figaro–The Barber of Seville, Red Barber, Sweeney Todd—the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, composer Samuel Barber, beautician Edward Scissorhands played by Johnny Depp.
Winner: Arthur Ness, Dodgeville, WI
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Smuggling is a factor in the price increase of this Easter favorite.
Chocolate. Drier, hotter weather in West Africa is another factor.
Winner: John Lightfield, Burlington, WI
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Who are they: Although it’s more dangerous for one of the two to head in that direction, they go with the flow.
Huckleberry Finn and Jim.
Winner: Adam Allison, Verona, WI
Thursday, March 28, 2024
For the sake of their mental health, some young people are reverting to this pre-2015 form of communication.
Flip phones. For various reasons, including the “always-on” mentality of email.
Winner: Taylor, Schultz, Sarona, WI
Friday, March 29, 2024
Although the odds are not good for getting through, this ancient form of communication resulted in a wedding between a Swede and an Italian.
A message in a bottle. In 1956, Swedish sailor Ake Viking sent a bottled message “To Someone Beautiful and Far Away.” Two years later he and the Sicilian girl who found it were married.
Winner: Mike Cooper, Baraboo, WI
April 2024
Monday, April 1, 2024
An announcement that this famous instrument was going to go digital for the convenience of visitors met surprising disapproval.
Big Ben. The redesigned clock was to be renamed digital Dave. Surprisingly few listeners thought the BBC April Fool’s joke was amusing.
Winner: Charles Wickliffe, Lake Mills, WI
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
A 3×3 word square:
Across—Rain feature, business communication method, stand here to get #1 across.
Down—Lies form one, Tokyo once, Norse god.
Wet, EDI, bow, web, Edo, Tiw.
Winner: John Reilly, Janesville, WI
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
A servant’s monologue in one of Shakespeare’s plays may be the source of this childhood form of humor.
The knock-knock joke. The play is Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3.
Winner: Diane Hodson, Belvedere, IL
Thursday, April 4, 2024
About one American in 11 has this economic distinction, with New York, California, and Florida having the most.
Millionaire.
Winner: June Varney, Elm Grove, WI
Friday, April 5, 2024
People in this profession pay $20 or more for a snack food bag, not its contents.
The movies. Let’s brand potato chip bags are made of vinyl that won’t make noise during dialogue and won’t create copyright issues.
Winner: Jim Tortorellli, Madison, WI
Monday, April 8, 2024
Columbus predicted one to impress the locals. So did the Connecticut Yankee.
A Solar eclipse.
Winner: Linda Hyer, Sheboygan, WI
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
What do they have in common: Pneumonia, an amicus brief, a plunger, a dog, and a 1941 novel and 1943 movie?
All are “friends.” The old man’s friend, friend of the court, plumber’s friend, man’s best friend, My Friend Flicka.
Winner: Neil Fleming, Eau Claire, WI
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
While he lived in the only home he owned, he adopted stray kittens, and continued with some he found on a battlefield after he had moved into government housing.
Abraham Lincoln.
Winner: Susan Harris, Belleville, WI
Thursday, April 11, 2024
A still life by Cezanne, Head of a Peasant Woman by Van Gogh, The Old Guitarist by Picasso, a portrait of John Medford, and Portrait of a Woman by Degas all exhibit his kind of economy.
Reusing a canvas. All have paintings underneath them.
Winner: David Snook, Madison, WI
Friday, April 12, 2024
The solution to a famous mystery by this American author hinges on confusion over what language the perp speaks.
Edgar Allan Poe. The mystery is Murders in the Rue Morgue.
Winner: Ron Frager, Portage, WI
Monday, April 15, 2024
Just under a million dollars a year, about ten percent of it at JFK.
How much money passengers left behind at airport screening.
Winner: RuthAnn Reynen, De Pere, WI
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Q: These plans for Alaska and the Danish West Indies went through. Greenland, Iceland, and part of the Dominican Republic did not.
U.S. purchases.
Winner: Dan Elsass, Madison, WI
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
The starting point of this prominent American feature was Identified at a place about 9000 feet above sea level in the 1880s, but now nobody’s quite sure where it is.
The Missouri River.
Winner: Dena Sedlmayr, Madison, WI
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Charles Darwin observed that every animal makes way for this one.
The skunk.
Winner: Hazel Jonjak, Hayward, WI
Friday, April 19, 2024
There’s no need to worry about a spoiler when talking about a mystery that was the last book by this Victorian author because
Charles Dickens left The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished.
Winner: Pat Malcolm, Madison, WI
Monday, April 22, 2024
What are they?
Though they may be considered the least
Of the gems in spring’s flowery feast
And a lowly discard
From a homeowner’s yard,
They’re the teeth of the kingliest beast.
Dandelions. The name comes from the French for “lion’s tooth.”
Winner: Barry Yarbro, Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Q: What do these words have in common: trap, cake, grass, cactus, apple?
Crab can go before all of them.
Winner: Lori Brost, Marshfield, WI
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Q: During an effort to develop a nonalcoholic painkiller, a Confederate veteran inadvertently developed the mainstay of this major corporation.
Coca-Cola
Winner: Greg Polacheck, Lake Mills, WI
Thursday, April 25, 2024
A woodpecker grounded one of these billion-dollar pieces of government property for a month.
A space shuttle. The Discovery.
Winner: Lynn Hammill, Menominee, MI
Friday, April 26, 2024
Generally frowned upon, they were introduced by this name in the National Lampoon as a way of saving the time and money required to see a movie or buy a mystery novel.
Spoilers.
Winner: Helene Androski, Madison, WI
Monday, April 29, 2024
What is it?
Rubbing Liberty’s risks a great fall,
Likewise, Lincoln’s at Rushmore’s too tall,
Giving David’s a touch
Would presume way too much,
And the Sphinx doesn’t have one at all.
Noses.
Winner: Randy Williams, Beloit, WI
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Various university libraries have been tied to this urban legend about a design miscalculation.
That the building is sinking because the architect failed to account for the weight of the books.
Winner: Tod, Penfield, NY
May 2024
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Q: The debut game at this venerable park was overshadowed by a calamity that had taken place hundreds of miles to the northeast.
Fenway Park. Opened April 20, 1912, five days after the sinking of the Titanic.
Winner: Arn Chamberlain, Eagle, WI
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Q: George Washington advised his agents to write messages of this kind in the margins of books.
A: Messages written in invisible ink.
Winner: Paul Cera, Racine, WI
Friday, May 3, 2024
A journalist thought that a lamp was a more suitable image for her than the hammer she used for breaking the locks of cabinets to get to medicines for soldiers.
A: Florence Nightingale, known generally as The Lady with the Lamp, although soldiers called her The Lady with the Hammer.
Winner: Robert Kopeke, Watertown, WI
Monday, May 6, 2024
This world capital recently slipped a notch in its ranking among the highest capitals in the world.
A: Mexico City, which is sinking as much as 10 inches a year.
Winner: Ed Bruni, Plymouth, WI
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
This geological feature got its name, not from animals or its extent, but from the proportions of its entrance.
A: Mammoth Cave, KY
Winner: Brian Clancey, Alpha, MN
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
A Swedish biologist came up with the concept for this more or less accurate timekeeper.
A flower clock with the hour of the day indicated by when its flowers open. The biologist was Carl Linnaeus.
Thursday, May 9, 2024
This 18th century Pennsylvania native ran afoul of lawsuits over his faulty surveys of land to the southwest.
Daniel Boone.
Daniel Elsass, Madison, WI
Friday, May 10, 2024
What do they have in common: A Boston transit route, a road marker, a World War II novel, an Errol Morris documentary, a document showing the differences between two versions of another document
Lines—The Green Line, the yellow line, The Thin Red Line, The Thin Blue Line, blackline.
Winner: Keli Goodchild, Baraboo, WI
Monday, May 13, 2024
A 3×3 word square:
Across: To know, archaically
A population indigenous to India
A racket
Down: Member of a former feminine military branch
Heard at weddings
A transgression and—with 1 and 3 across—a state.
Wis, Adi, Con, WAC, I Do, Sin.
Winner: Paul Bentzen, Lone Rock, WI
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
What’s the progression: A fluid quantity, extraordinary perception, an astrological phenomenon, a musical designation, pastime finale.
A fifth of liquor, sixth sense, the seventh house, an eighth note, the ninth inning.
Winner: Joseph Rohrer, Eau Claire, WI
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Popular deep-fried at fairs, in their factory state, they’re about 65 percent air.
Twinkies.
Winner: Joshua Mose, Jefferson, WI
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Seaside spectators and news crews were horrified to discover that they were standing too close to the demolition of one.
A deceased whale. A half ton of dynamite covered the onlookers with parts of the whale, most of which remained intact.
Winner: Robert Borchers, Middleton, WI
Friday, May 17, 2024
What distinction do they share: A mathematical genius, a naval officer, a gladiator, a hard-boiled detective, and an outlaw leader.
Russell Crowe played them all.
Winner: U. Allen Plum, Madison
Monday, May 20, 2024
This municipality got nickname not from dairy but from the color of a prominent building material.
Milwaukee, the Cream City, named for its cream-colored bricks.
Winner: Marc Sanders, Cedarburg, WI
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
What do these plants have in common: An unwelcome lawn feature, freshwater greenery, a bitter root, digitalis, vampire repellent?
All are named after animals—crabgrass, duckweed, horseradish, foxglove, wolfsbane.
Winner: Philip Munroe, Neenah, WI
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Where in America? As many as 300,000 exit this dwelling every night.
Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico.
Winner: Tom Russell, Stevens Point, WI
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Typically, 16 rows with 50 in a row.
Kernels on an ear of corn.
Winner: Diane Ekar, Lake Nebagamon, WI
Friday, May 24, 2024
Taking Emerson’s advice, she built a better one and theater-goers have beaten a path to the doors of theaters ever since.
Agatha Christie with er play Mouse Trap.
Winner: Donna Gilson, Madison, WI
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Q: The smallest and the largest states haven’t had any for a quarter century, while other states have seen them in record numbers.
A: Tornadoes.
Winner: Maxine Smith, Kewaunee, WI
Thursday, May 30, 2024
The recipient opposed receiving the highest of honors, but this landmark is named for him anyway.
Mount Everest Sir George Everest , Surveyor General of India, who preferred a local name for the mountain.
Winner: John Powilaites, Mount Pleasant, WI
Friday, May 31, 2024
Because of Inflation this symbol was omitted from computer keyboards.
The cent sign.
Winner: Steve Lasco, Shawano, WI
June 2024
Monday, June 3, 2024
Because of a promise to their father, these two flew together only once.
Wilber and Orville Wright.
Winner: Wayne Carroll, Eau Claire, WI
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
The developers of this condiment couldn’t get the trademark for its name because it was already on the map of England.
Worcestershire sauce.
Winner: Tom Normington, Edgar, WI
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
During World War II, why would an American officer be on a German ship flying an American flag over a German one?
The German ship had been captured by an American one. It was U-505, a German submarine captured by the Americans off the coast of Africa.
Winner: Bob & Betty Kleemeier, Eau Claire, WI
Thursday, June 6, 2024
The future Obi-Wan Kenobi and Scotty were there. So were Medgar Evers, Charles Durning, and Yogi Berra.
All participated in D-Day. James Doohan—aka Scotty—and Charles Durning were wounded. Also there were David Niven, J.D. Salinger, and Henry Fonda.
Winner: Carl Creager, Middleton, WI
Friday, June 7, 2024
A dog, a rabbit, an insect, a parrot, and an angel all take on this literary role.
Narrator. In the Art of Racing in the Rain, Watership Down, and books by Robertson Davies, Rebecca Miller, and Michael Chabon.
Winner: Annie, Arena, WI
Monday, June 10, 2024
US production of them peaked in 1965 and, during the next decade, plummeted to zero, in part because of the greater availability of air conditioning.
Convertibles.
Winner: Gary Edelstein, Madison, WI
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Its plural varies, and its first public demonstration took place way back in 1968.
A computer mouse.
Winner: Andrew Bruce, Fitchburg, WI
Tuesday, June 12, 2024
A 3×3 word square: Across—in summer forecast, Keats wrote about one, goes with informal potato. Down—Goes with ten in the military, conquistadors’ object, used to find the foregoing?
Hot, Urn, Tot, Hut, Oro, TNT.
Winner: Barbara Moldenhauer, Herbster, WI
Thursday, June 13, 2024
The largest artificial one is shared by two African countries.
Lake or reservoir
Winner: Jill Ellis, Oregon, WI
Friday, June 14, 2024
A life-sized replica of this legendary gift stands outside a city in Turkey.
The Trojan Horse.
Winner: Nancy Fuller, Middleton, WI
Monday, June 17, 2024
A Greek astronomer could’ve told you 2300 years ago, a Polish one 500 years ago, but according to a recent poll, one American in four cannot.
Tell you that the earth revolves around the sun.
Winner: Ann Marie Godfrey, Ripon, WI
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
From three to 8 feet or so they can manage. Higher or lower may cost one of their mythical nine.
A: Cats. They can right themselves in that height zone.
Winner: Chris Simonson, Muscoda, WI
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
What are they?
It’s a family reunion perhaps,
Taking place after quite a long lapse.
Once you’re roused from a dream
You can let off some steam,
Then resume your spectacular naps.
Winner: Emily Gage, Minneapolis, MN
Thursday, June 20, 2024
Fidel Castro was. So were Napoleon, Juan Peron, Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I and her father.
Were excommunicated.
Winner: Carol Rost, Plymouth, WI
Friday, June 21, 2024
According to the Library of Congress, this satirical film was no bomb although it has one in the title.
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Winner: Carol Sparr, Tomahawk, WI
Monday, June 24, 2024
The accessory in this famous Dutch painting may be fake since a real one would’ve been very expensive.
The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Vermeer.
Winner: Dana Brzezinski, Milwaukee, WI
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
The story about the men on the bridge, the boat and the trees was made up to sell more of this English product.
Blue Willow China.
Winner: Mary Ann Hall
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
This classic satire tells of a place where small thinkers develop political parties based on how to crack open an egg.
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift.
Winner: Charles R. Williams, Beloit, WI
Thursday, June 27, 2024
Contrary to expectations, hundreds in the Pacific are getting larger.
Islands.
Winner: Pixie Martin, La Pointe, WI
Friday, June 28, 2024
Watched by thousands of Americans, these two opponents hammered away at each other inconclusively for 3 or 4 hours, the only victor being innovation.
The Monitor and the Merrimack.
Winner: John Dodge, Bristol, WI
July 2024
Monday, July 1, 2024
One becomes a mentor to a lost child in a Kipling story that endures in Scouting lore.
A wolf. Akela in the Jungle Book.
Winner: Michael F. Stemper, Waunakee, WI
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
What distinction do these words share: mayor, media, once, arena, sin.
All are false cognates—i.e., English words that have different meanings from the corresponding Spanish words.
Winner: Jeff Bracht, Cascade, WI
Wednesday, July 3, 2024
What are they?
Long maligned at your outdoor repast,
Research gives them due credit at last.
They have surgical skills
(And will never send bills)
To repair a game leg with no cast.
A: Carpenter Ants
Winner: James Bowman, Stevens Point, WI
Friday, July 4, 2024
Who was the first US president to warn about the dangers of political parties?
George Washington.
Winner: Ruth Vos, Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Friday, July 5, 2024
What distinction do these words share: onion, county, cab, snake, book, girls, shrinking.
A color of the spectrum goes with each of them. Red onion, Orange County, Yellow Cab, green snake, blue book, Indigo Girls, shrinking violet
Winner: Robert Gage, Madison, WI
Monday, July 8, 2024
Named for a philosopher known for denying the existence of material objects, this California city has an average home price of about $1.5 million.
A: Berkeley, California, named for Bishop Berkeley.
Winner: Chuck Mahnke, Fond du Lac, WI
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Popularized in the Pacific islands, this apparel was named after a nursery rhyme character.
The Mother Hubbard dress.
Winner: Sean Strache, Madison, WI
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
The family in this book drives much of Route 66 at 35 mph.
The Grapes of Wrath.
Winner: Judy Ashley, Kenosha, WI
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Later discoveries about the effects of mercury explain the name often given to this character by readers of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The Mad Hatter. Lewis Carroll refers to him simply as The Hatter.
Friday, July 12, 2024
This summertime accessory gets it name not from its country of origin but from its country of export.
The Panama hat, which originates in Ecuador.
Winner: Heidi Beckman, Madison, WI
Monday, July 15, 2024
As its name suggests, this game was developed for the entertainment of passengers on a luxury craft.
Yahtzee.
Winner: Aaron Schindler, Madison, WI
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
A 3×3 word square: Across–Begins beach tongue-twister, Lone Star tea, stock holder’s delights. Down—French coin of little worth, two with hooray, they begin love letters.
She, Oil, Ups, Sou, Hip, Els
Winner: Jeannie Jerde, Deerfield, WI
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
A prominent American author said that readying this instrument to play included shaking out bits of tobacco.
The harmonica. So says John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath.
Winner: Paula Tracy, Eau Claire, WI
Thursday, July 18, 2024
Taken impulsively, a 1945 photograph of this event won a Pulitzer and became the model for a statue.
Joe Rosenthal’s photo “The Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima.”
Friday, July 19, 2024
Producers of films starring Carrie Fisher, Oliver Reed, Shemp Howard, Crispian Glover, and Bela Lugosi all required one.
A body double, aka Fake Shemp, to replace an actor unavailable to complete a film. Such doubles are sometimes known as Fake Shemps.
Winner: John Casey, McFarland, WI
Monday, July 22, 2024
50 states have at least one, with California the leader (or should that be liter?) by far.
Wineries.
Winner: Susan Christensen, Madison, WI
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Who is it?
In the days before forecasts abounded,
Shakespeare’s monarch stormed, thundered, and sounded
His belief that the weather
Had turned altogether
Against him and left him confounded.
King Lear
Winner: Joe Layde, Madison, WI
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Start with a 5-letter word for a negotiation subject. Take off the first letter and you get, successively, words for what is sometimes found in a saltshaker, diamonds to fences, refers to our time, and 2.7 or so. What’s the first word?
Price.
Winner: Jake Stockinger, Madison, WI
Thursday, July 25, 2024
An extended growing season has enabled wry grocery store managers in this country to advertise “the only true iceberg lettuce.
Greenland.
Winner: Brian Mero, Eau Claire, WI
Friday, July 26, 2024
Parts of this landmark are being repurposed to recognize 3 levels of achievement.
The Eiffel Tower. For Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals in the Paris Olympics.
Winner: Tara Opstein-Van Dyke, Kimberly, WI
Monday, July 29, 2024
This European capital long ago bought the distant source of the river that runs through it.
Paris.
Winner: Helen Bruni, Plymouth, WI
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
What does this refer to: Wisconsin—Virginia, Missouri—Hawaii, Iowa—California, Texas—Texas, New Jersey—New Jersey?
US battleships and their current locations.
Winner: Peter Graening, Baltimore, MD
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Who are they?
They may not be ready to croon
By the light of the silvery moon,
But new lab tests reveal
That the rhythm they feel
Makes them nod to a favorite tune.
Rats.
Winner: Tom Phelps, DeForest, WI
August 2024
Thursday, August 1, 2024
In 2002, a 5000-year-old example of this innovation was found in a marsh in eastern Europe, but given its sophistication, it’s probably not the first of its kind.
A wheel.
Winner: Gail Russell, Chicago
Friday, August 2, 2024
Mostly found on the outside of it, the trace amount of this element in the human body is important for conducting electrical signals.
Gold.
Winner: Val Siler, Lake Villa, IL
Monday, August 5, 2024
Once named for its turbulent weather, this African landmark has long since had a more positive name.
The Cape of Good Hope, formerly the Cape of Storms.
Winner: Neal Fleming, Eau Claire
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Most people begin to respond to this fleetingly pleasant stimulus at the age of about 6 months.
Tickling.
Winner: Todd DeMad, McFarland
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
It isn’t the deepest of its kind, but it’s bigger than Rhode Island.
The Grand Canyon.
Thursday, August 8, 2024
Once upon a time you could find the name of one of 1400 or so cities embossed on the bottom of one.
A Coke bottle, which had the name of the bottler’s city.
Winner: Bob Cook, Santa Fe, NM
Friday, August 9, 2024
The world’s top producers of this crop are Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Philippines, Belgium, and the US, thanks to the 50th state.
Pineapples.
Winner: Cyrus Quinones, Appleton, WI
Monday, August 12, 2024
France has had ten, Spain four, and England three so far.
Kings named Charles.
Winner: Sue Ward, Middleton
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
They emerge white and develop as many as 500 spots.
Dalmations.
Winner: Andrea Goede, Monona
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
New York City removed the last of its 30,000 in 2022.
Payphones.
Thursday, August 15, 2024
After an absence of about 10,000 years, they returned with Columbus.
Horses.
Winner: Barry Y., Oshkosh
Friday, August 16, 2024
Especially among couples in their 30s, the demand for these understandings has increased significantly.
Prenups.
Winner: Deanna Johnson, Two Rivers
Monday, August 19, 2024
Who is it?
Having scented the danger and bounded
To a place where he’s nicely surrounded
By the green haut cuisine
About which he’s quite keen,
He gets high and yet stays totally grounded.
A giraffe.
Winner: Clint Sprott, Madison, WI
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
The 1920 Republican national convention is said to have led to the coining of this phrase for an element of the candidate selection process.
The smoke-filled room.
Winner: Mara Munroe, Neenah, WI
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
In road travel seasons past and present you might see the letters A,S,T,X and Y in this context.
No correct answers today. Tune in tomorrow at 12:30 CT!
Winner: Could be you….
Thursday, August 22, 2024
In road travel seasons past and present you might see the letters A,S,T,X and Y in this context.
On the road. The word “model” can go before all of them.
Winner: Will Busse, Oshkosh, WI
Friday, August 23, 2024
Start with a five-letter word for a popular backyard device. Take off first letters and you get words for a water flow, indisposed, a camping mogul’s initials, and a negative social media notation. What’s the first word?
Grill.
Winner: Janet Johnson, Madison, WI
Monday, August 26, 2024
His goal was to live to 100 and make $100,000. He fell 2 % short of the first and far exceeded the second.
John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
Winner: Doug Kroll, Kaukauna, WI
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
What distinction do these words share: Pump, Shield, Sink, Wave, Rash?
The word heat can go before all of them.
Winner: Mike Eastman, Waunakee, WI
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Not exactly the food of the gods as the formal name implies, this New World native is now wreaking seasonal havoc in other parts of the world.
Ragweed, aka Ambrosia artemisiifolia.
Winner: Paula Kocken, Ellison Bay, WI
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Although this Mexican was said to be responsible for raids in Texas and New Mexico, an American president likened him to Robin Hood.
Pancho Villa. The president was Woodrow Wilson.
Winner: Randall Colton, Wausau
Friday, August 30, 2024
World War II efforts to conserve gasoline and rubber and the 1970s oil crisis helped to popularize this automotive convenience.
Cruise control.
Winner: Lois Mueller, Oshkosh, WI
September 2024
Monday, September 2, 2024
Although safety advocates in the US have called for the removal of these time-savers, they remain in use in many fire stations around the world.
Fireman’s poles.
Winner: Loren Trick, Green Bay, WI
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
From our traffic department: It’s unlikely that after almost two weeks, anyone helping to set this 60-mile record was happy about it.
A: Longest traffic jam. Set outside Beijing in 2010.
Winner: Bill Toman, Green Lake, WI
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
What distinction do they share: A queen, a Broadway musical character, a prophetic apparition, a game, a drink?
Bloody Mary.
Winner: Kristen Christensen, Washburn, WI
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Q: What’s the significance of these dates and numbers:
1789—6, 1807—7, 1837—9, 1863—10, 1869—9?
The number of US Supreme Court justices established in the corresponding dates.
Winner: Patrick Downing, Blanchardville, WI
Friday, September 6, 2024
The demand for low-alcoholic beverages and its increasing popularity among millennials point to this traditional drink’s increasing share of the US soda market.
A: Root beer.
Winner: Mary Haarrmann, Waukesha, WI
Monday, September 9, 2024
The length of this event, an approximation of the original, was determined by the distance from Windsor Castle to the Royal Observatory.
A marathon.
Winner: Thomas McClurg, Verona, WI
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Once glorified in upscale architecture, this plant is still represented in household ornamentation.
The pineapple.
Winner: Fred Smith, North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
What question goes with the answer:
A: Perhaps in the mistaken belief that they’re expressing solidarity with another pack.
Q: Why do coyotes and dogs howl at sirens?
Winner: U. Allen Plum, Madison, WI
Thursday, September 12, 2024
A company selling this type of insurance bestows an annual award in remembrance of a policy-holder who reportedly survived after eating an entire ham.
Pet insurance. It’s the annual Hambone Award.
Winner: Kim Schardin, Milwaukee, WI
Friday, September 13, 2024
Contrary to popular belief, this ballad about a migrant who steals a sheep does not have national anthem status.
Waltzing Matilda. The Australian nation anthem is Advance Australia Fair.
Winner: Evelyn Rohrer, Eau Claire, WI
Monday, September 16, 2024
When the wind is right you can see this image in Australia, Hawaii, the Cayman Islands, Fiji, and Somerset County, Maryland.
The Union Jack. It’s on the flag of all of those places.
Winner: Tom Wanamaker, Neenah, WI
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
The US government accomplished this common household goal most recently during the Clinton and Lyndon Johnson administrations.
A balanced federal budget.
Winner: John Brauer, Fish Creek, WI
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Instead of hanging cameras railroads now use these to check the tracks.
A: Drones.
Winner: Judy Ashley, Kenosha, WI
Thursday, September 19, 2024
This mogul is the great uncle of triplets.
A: Scrooge McDuck.
Winners: Debby and Jeff Magnuson, Minneapolis, MN
Friday, September 20, 2024
Q: This masked rural crime fighter is the great uncle of a masked urban crime fighter.
The Lone Ranger. He’s the great uncle of The Green Hornet.
Winner: Jo Ann Busalacchi, Madison, WI
Monday, September 23, 2024
What kind of landmark is mentioned?
Short of funds as he aimlessly wandered,
He sat down at a landmark and pondered.
With a deft bit of fishing,
He had no need for wishing.
He got money conveniently laundered.
A fountain or, less likely, a wishing well.
Winner: Elizabeth Carlson, Oconto, WI
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Tried for centuries by those hoping for quick wealth, this feat was accomplished in the 1980s but without commercial feasibility.
Turning lead into gold.
Winner: Cindy Bloczynski, Madison, WI
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
A dog has this latitudinal first to is credit, and because of an international treaty at one end, may remain the only one.
Bothie the Jack Russell Terrier, went to both the North and South Poles. Dogs have since been banned in Antarctica.
Winner: Austin Guenther, Milwaukee, WI
Thursday, September 26, 2024
About 3500 years ago, a transportation innovation popularized this now ubiquitous fashion component.
Pants. Horseback riding made them practical.
Winner: Jennifer Lhost, Princeton, NJ
Friday, September 27, 2024
Charles Darwin, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Tchaikovsky, Steve Jobs, and Albert Einstein famously have done this to facilitate problem-solving.
A: Take a walk.
Winner: Julie Shiner-Bazan, Madison WI
Monday, September 30, 2024
A dog, an octopus, a cricket, a gorilla, and a crow have this literary distinction.
Narrators of books.
Winner: Jessica Chamberlain, Eagle, WI
October 2024
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
In 19th century France opera composers were known to hire off-stage actors for this purpose.
As audience members to laugh, weep, or applaud at appropriate points in their opera.
Winner: Mark C. Brill, Madison, WI
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
The sponsors led to the generic name for this form of ongoing entertainment.
Soap operas.
Winner: Michael Higgins, Rothschild, WI
Thursday, October 3, 2024
In her final film this actor—perhaps to the consternation of a previous character she played—sings backup in a performance of a ’60s pop song.
Dame Maggie Smith sings “He’s So Fine” in “The Miracle Club.:” Would Lady Grantham have been horrified?
Winner: Joan Downs, Madison, WI
Friday, October 4, 2024
Because one part of the set is sold by the pound and the other made by the pan, the two are typically numerically mismatched.
Ten hot dogs to the pack vs. eight buns.
Winner: Kevin J. Mack, Madison, WI
Monday, October 7, 2024
Start with a five-letter word for a hold. Take off first letters and you get words for what you might do running uphill, Cleo’s demise, once seen in red on essays, and an initial for Sloan and Morgan. What’s the first word?
Grasp.
Winner: Robert Factor, Madison, WI
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Un-hollowed and unhallowed, rutabagas often served the purpose in the British Isles but were supplanted in the New World.
Jack o’Lanterns.
Winner: George Rampoli, St. Francis, WI
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Several companies have placed ads in this predictive food.
Fortune cookies.
Winner: Sam Gratz, Madison, WI
Thursday, October 10, 2024
One of these two famous American writers recognized the other by the aroma of cigars.
Helen Keller and Mark Twain.
Winner: Marc Steele, Conover, WI
Friday, October 11, 2024
A campsite decision on this journey may have been the first American vote to include a Black man and a woman.
The Lewis and Clark expedition. The Black man was the enslaved man York. The woman was Sacagawea.
Winner: Dan Dettmann, Madison, WI
Monday, October 14, 2024
Diet soft drinks were among the products introduced at this extravagant lakeside event.
The World’s Columbian Exposition, AKA Chicago World’s Fair, of 1893.
Winner: Jim Rose, Washington Island, WI
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Perhaps seeing through the ping-pong balls this character has admired his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Kermit the Frog. His eyes are made of ping-pong ball halves.
Winner: RuthAnn Reynen, De Pere, WI
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
A 3×3 word square: Across—Relaxing place, brew unit, aurora reaction.
Down—Jamaican music, church feature, follows pack and garb.
Across—Spa, Keg, Awe. Down—Ska, Pew, Age.
Winner: Benjamin Loritz, Madison, WI
Thursday, October 17, 2024
These women’s fashion accessories fell out of style in the 19th century, made a brief comeback in the 1960s and are now marketed as apparel for winter weddings.
Muffs.
Winner: Don Carpenter, Appleton, WI
Friday, October 18, 2024
This character is often mistakenly called by the name of his assembler.
Frankenstein’s monster.
Winner: Catherine Claire, Green Bay
Monday, October 21, 2024
Those of the earliest vintage are best not shared in polite company.
Jokes.
Winner: Bonnie Cera, Racine, WI
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
This 1930s DuPont development put some caterpillars out of work.
Nylon.
Winner: David Murray, Janesville, WI
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
As of a 2023 survey, Hawaii is No. 1, followed by Washington, with four New England states in the top ten and Wisconsin at No. 15.A: Life expectancy.
Winner: Paul Cera, Racine, WI
Thursday, October 24, 2024
A defunct flying mammal is named for this literary character.
Dracula. Desmodus draculae is an extinct species of vampire bat that inhabited Central and South America during the Pleistocene.
Winner: Margaret, Ruf, Platteville, WI
Friday, October 25, 2024
A famous American story ends with the discovery of a shattered one near a hat.
A pumpkin. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Winner: Johnny Quartuccio, Madison, WI
Monday, October 28, 2024
The real monster in this film was the fake one that ate up the budget because of its incompatibility with water.
Jaws.
Winner: Rita Bogolub, Conover, WI
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
What distinction do they share: Town, Dance, Write, Crab, and Word?
The word ghost can go before all of them.
Winner: Patrick Lutz, Beaver Dam, WI
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
This American printer’s epitaph, written long before it was needed, expressed optimism that the deceased would return in a corrected edition.
Benjamin Franklin.
Winner: Jon Rost, Plymouth, WI
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Despite the mysteries and rumors, Lloyd’s of London doesn’t charge higher premiums for traffic passing through this section of ocean.
The Bermuda Triangle.
Winner: Barb Strand, Rice Lake, WI
November 2024
Friday, November 1, 2024
A famous 18th century actor actually did this while performing in a Shakespearian play before it was traditional for friends to wish it.
David Garrick broke a leg while acting in Richard III.
Winner: Todd Fillingham, Milwaukee
Monday, November 4, 2024
As of 2020, 90 of them have not voted as expected in a US presidential election but did not affect the outcome.
A: Electors. They’re known as faithless electors.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
George Washington all of them, James Monroe all but one.
A: Electoral College votes.
Winner: H.M. Tamlin, Greendale, WI
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
What are they: concealed for a lie, displayed for good luck.
Crossed fingers.
Winner: Wes Ebert, Wausau
Thursday, November 7, 2024
This photographic preliminary was first documented in 1943, but without any reference to Wisconsin.
A:Saying “cheese” when posing for a picture.
Winner: Kim Genich, Madison, WI
Friday, November 8, 2024
Some critics were concerned that it would collapse, others that it would be around too long, and still others that it was being built by an engineer instead of an architect.
The Eiffel Tower.
Winner: Bryn Jacobson, Duluth, MN
Monday, November 11, 2024
A 3×3 word square:
Across–Monday holiday honoree, wrath, soldier chow
Down—Required for obstacle course, proverbially human, duffer’s first shot.
A: Vet, Ire, MRE, vim, err, tee.
Winner: Joseph Bula, San Francisco, CA
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
The teller of this story promises to tell all except for the exact location of the place in the title, for monetary reasons.
Winner: Jan Burns, Stillwater, MN
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
If the legend is true, this trait would’ve enabled one Roman consul to outrun all of the others.
A: Being a horse. Caligula supposedly made his horse Incitatus a consul. Or intended to do so, perhaps as a joke.
Winner: Ben Passmore, Madison, WI
Thursday, November 14, 2024
What do they have in common: Rossano Brazzi in the film South Pacific, Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, Sidney Poitier in Porgy and Bess, and Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music?
All of their songs were dubbed by other singers—Georgio Tozzi, Marni Nixon, Marni Nixon again, Robert McFerrin, Bill Lee.
Winner: Susan O’Sullivan, Wauwatosa, WI
Friday, November 15, 2024
Who is it?
As he foraged, his heart skipped a beat
At the sound of a predator’s feet,
So he raised a defense
That made uncommon scents
And inspired a hasty retreat.
A skunk.
Winner: Bill Bracken, Oshkosh, WI
Monday, November 18, 2024
Like the song, this snack food is not named for the beast but for the city.
Buffalo wings. Named for Buffalo, NY as is the song “Buffalo Gals.”
Winner: Frank Winkel, Madison, WI
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Stricter international quarantine laws largely ended the traditional role of these shipboard assistants.
Cats.
Winner: Dena Sedlmayr, Madison, WI
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Start with a letter for a kind of corporation, put letters in front of it to get a Nintendo game console, sales messages, a Mississippi River bridge, what a ruler does and what a defendant does. What’s the final word?
Pleads.
Winner: Dagney Lund, Whitehall, WI
Thursday, November 21, 2024
The only US president to have one sported his family crest.
Tattoo. Theodore Roosevelt had a tattoo on his chest.
Friday, November 22, 2024
A lake on the continental divide is believed to be the only lake in the US that does this.
Drains into two oceans.
Monday, November 25, 2024
Cake, break, table, mill, and house share what distinction?
The word coffee can go before all of them.
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
This spice may have gotten its English name from the way the bark curls when it dries.
Cinnamon.
Winner: Melissa Dettmann, Peoria, IL
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Perhaps because of the symbolism digging up one of these plants in Massachusetts can result in a fine.
A mayflower.
Winner: Leo Jacoby, Stevens Point, WI
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Who is she?
Still unwed? Is your fella afraid
Of the vows that so many have made?
Well, you’ve risen above
Disappointments in love
At the Macy Thanksgiving parade.
Minnie Mouse.
Winner: Dee Meyer, Galina, IL
Friday, November 29, 2024
Over the years the term has been applied to the start of a financial crisis, to a day of worker absences and to a time of traffic congestion to a retailer’s blessing.
Black Friday.
Winner: Steve Fisher, Wausau
December 2024
Monday, December 2, 2024
Organized labor leaders once opposed them, several states tried to ban them, and taxing them has never been very accurate.
Tips.
Winner: Anna Campbell, Monona, WI
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Start with a 9-letter word for what the giant fish did to Jonah. Take off first letters to get words for what buffalo did in mud and for permitted; take off the next two letters for a word for what Bossie did; then take off first letters for what a loan is, for what George and Martha did, for learning and a cell popular at Christmastime. What’s the first word?
Swallowed.
Winner: Gary Strand, Rice Lake, WI
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
In keeping with a quickly abandoned 1930s law, a confiscated sturgeon was the first deposit in the Capitol building of this state.
Wisconsin. The 1932 law, quickly abandoned, required confiscated fish and game to be deposited in an un-air-airconditioned storeroom in the Capitol.
Winner: Pam Midbon, Madison, WI
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Fittingly, this rapid delivery service was the first entity commemorated pictorially by the government agency that replaced it.
The Pony Express. On an 1869 2-cent stamp.
Winner: Peggy Haas, Menomonee Falls, WI
Friday, December 6, 2024
Like its namesake, this 1920s literary classic had a long transit–through international publishing and censorship.
James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Winner: Willa Schmidt, Madison, WI
Monday, December 9, 2024
A national park is named after this allegorical American worker.
Rosie the Riveter. Namesake of a National Historical Park in Richmond, California.
Winner: Louise Elbaum, Madison, WI
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
People wielding bamboo poles, batons, and in one case a pea shooter were once paid to do this for industrial workers.
A: Wake them up for work. They were known as knocker-uppers.
Winner: Anne Alessondro, Waunakakee, WI
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
This Caribbean teenager’s neighbors were so impressed with his writing that they helped finance his college education, but they never got to see the musical about him.
Alexander Hamilton.
Winner: Brian Schildroth, Madison, WI
Thursday, December 12, 2024
A 50-kilo halibut may be the largest obtained this way.
Ice fishing.
Winner: Joe Statz, Madison, WI
Friday, December 13, 2024
A late 19th century French film shows one of these seasonal conflicts.
A snowball fight.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball fight.
Winner: Ryan Yanke, Madison, WI
Monday, December 16, 2024
Popular at Christmastime, it was once used to confuse radar.
Tinsel.
Winner: John W. Fenner, Green Bay, WI
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
When rescuers couldn’t reach a senior citizen who had fallen through thin ice his friend was able to help for this reason.
She was a dog. Ruby brought the rescue disc to him.
Winner: Debbie Trexel, Madison, WI
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
A 3×3 word square: Across—Polar assistant, shirt, wood shaper. Down—when Santa could get here, what Rudolph did, tasseled headgear.
Elf, Tee, Adz, ETA, Led, Fez.
Winner: Henry L., Milwaukee, WI
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Since they have the same name, it would be fitting for the gift-giver to leave one under the tree.
Kringle.
Winner: Cheryl Bracht, Cascade, WI
Friday, December 20, 2024
These confections are said to represent St. Nick’s pastoral status, rather than a travel accessory
Candy canes.
Winner: Charmaine Uphaus, La Crescent, MN