Tag Archives: get thee to a punnery

Puns: What Sweet Music They Make

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Wordplay Wednesday 599

There’s nothing like a bit of shameless punnery to improve my mood. Sure, a deftly crafted and immaculately executed pun can be a delight, but there’s something about a labored, ridiculous pun that just brings me joy.

You know, like the one about going into surgery and being given two options: an old anesthetic or a paddle to the face.

It was an ether/oar situation.

BAM. Silly punnery afoot.

You can find it in many forms, like crossword clues and Tom Swifties. There’s even the O. Henry Pun-Off competition each year where punsmiths from all over the world gather to show off their linguistic limberness.

And what a treat it is when the puns are packaged in a song.

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I recently stumbled across a wonderful example on YouTube when I found the channel belonging to singer, musician, and actress Malinda Kathleen Reese. Her channel, simply called MALINDA, has over 250,000 subscribers, and features not only her lovely voice and impressive musical chops, but a wide variety of creative endeavors involving music.

She’s crafted songs about subjects both joyful and sad, often incorporating submissions and suggestions from her viewers. One is made up entirely of old Facebook statuses she posted. Another features compliments she’s received online, while a third is composed from hate comments.

MalindaKathleenReese

Whether she’s singing what she sees, composing a symphony with a deck of cards, testing the reliability of the website RhymeZone by using it to write a rap, or performing with an orchestra of singers and musicians assembled for a virtual performance, Malinda is as ambitious as she is innovative.

And, as you might expect from this blog post’s introduction, she has a song made up entirely of shameless puns.

Enjoy, won’t you?

What a treat!

You can check out Malinda’s works on her YouTube page and stay up-to-date with her current projects on her Twitter account, and if you’re feeling so inclined, support her on Patreon so she can continue making marvelous musical melodies like the one above.

Thanks for brightening our days, Malinda!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

Don’t Be a Square! Check Out These Puzzly Theme Park Ideas!

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Long-time readers know that we often host in-house wordplay contests. Not only do we invite our friends at Penny/Dell Puzzles to participate, but our fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers as well!

This month, the challenge was to envision a Penny/Dell-inspired theme park!

Participants could create rides and attractions, provide slogans or ads, and whatever else came to mind for this imaginary puzzly paradise! Bonus points for any punny references to Penny/Dell puzzles or magazines!

With both text descriptions and art submitted, covering everything from individual rides to entire brochures, let’s check out what some clever puzzly minds came up with!

PENNYDELL PARK DIRECTORY

RIDES

BURIED TREASURE: Ahoy, mateys! Arrrrrr you ready for adventure? Do you have what it takes to locate the pirate’s booty? Come aboard your own private galleon on the BURIED TREASURE ride, me hearties!

TIME MACHINE: Crafted by Emmett “Doc” Brown himself, this DeLorean TIME MACHINE presents a once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit any time in the past or future. The opportunity to change history or view what is yet to come is all yours!
*Pennydell Park takes no responsibilty for any detrimental consequences that may occur due to your actions during your time-travel adventure.

TOP TO BOTTOM: In this thrill-seeking ride, you will ascend to the top of a tower that overlooks Pennydell Park. Enjoy a relaxing moment or two as you take in the scenery from above. Then, without warning, you will plummet to the bottom of the tower at frightening speeds. You will be taken from TOP TO BOTTOM again and again, resulting in either the excitement of a lifetime or the need for a family-sized package of motion sickness medication.

GAMES

A TO Z MAZE: Are you up to the challenge of this labyrinth of letters? In this game, you will enter a complicated maze in which each of the 26 letters of the alphabet are hidden. Upon finding each letter, you will receive a specially-marked token. Players who collect all 26 tokens win the a-maze-ing prize of a year’s supply of ALPHABET SOUP.

WHEEL OF FORTUNE: In this simple game of chance, players will spin the WHEEL OF FORTUNE to reveal what they’ve won. Prizes range from the terrific to the horrific. Will you walk away with a fist full of cash or a can full of trash? A tropical cruise or an old pair of shoes? Try your luck now!

FOOD AND DRINK

Don’t forget to stop by one of our famous snack stands for our delicious specialties! Now featuring ooey-gooey BROWNIE BITS AND PIECES, the classic popcorn treat CRACKERJACKS (with good prizes like they used to have!), and the ever-popular BANANA SPLIT PERSONALITIES – now with even more personalities than ever before!

puzzleopolis

UNAPPROVED ADVERTISEMENT

Welcome to Penny’s Easy & Fun  Variety Puzzles   Queasy & Fun Ride-It-Free Puzzles Theme Park!

Here you can enjoy some of our famous puzzly rides and games like:

  • Anagram Tragic Squares
  • Mine of Diamonds
  • Keep on Grooving
  • Cheat the Clock

Also, don’t forget to catch the Blinkwords 182 concert and enjoy a free slice of Domino’s “tastes good in Theory” pizza before you leave!

double trouble ride

WELCOME TO PUZZLYWOOD

With the postponement of this year’s Kentucky Derby, an exciting alternative would be to check out the Puzzle Derby at the newly opened Puzzlywood Theme Park, located at the Crossroads of Pigeonhole, which may be in Tennessee or Kentucky, nobody is really sure, but You Know the Odds.

Su and her husband Sum Doku created Puzzlywood Brick by Brick to celebrate their love for all things puzzly. As guests Zigzag into the main area of the park, known as the Circles in the Square, they are met by the Scoremaster who directs them to the Digital Display, where guests can select their Place Cards for the Puzzle in the Round or Pair Off for a little Double Trouble at the End of the Line.

Also at Right Angles from any of the Escalators, and in The Shadow of the Four Corners, solvers have the Right of Way on the Word Trails where they may come Face to Face with the Quote Calculator or the Number Sleuth, each of whom will offer a little Give and Take to help guests make Heads & Tails of the attractions under Camouflage. Decisions, Decisions, you will need a Strategy.

Puzzlywood also boasts a vibrant nightlife, as guests are continually Spellbound by the Throwbacks at the park Disco. For a quieter evening guests may enjoy the sweet bluegrass sounds emanating from the Fiddler’s Frame.

All Four One is the friendly motto of Puzzlywood where Three’s Company and the Letterboxes are always overflowing with Secret Messages penned by happy visitors, including many Guest Stars!

Did you come up with any puzzly theme park ideas, fellow puzzler? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

Janie’s Got a Pun: The ReHASHtag Game

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You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For years now, we’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was #PennyDellPuzzlyBands, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles with musicians, singers, bands, and more!

Examples include: The Beat-the-Clock-les, Brick by Brick Astley, or Kris
Krossword.

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny Dell Puzzles came up with!

U2 at a Time

Sheryl Crows Soundgarden

Sheryl Letter Crow

Men at Framework

Framebjork

Patchwork Swayze

Alphabet Bowling for Soup

Mixmaster Flash and the Furious Five / Grandmaster Flash and the Fancy Fives

Fancy Jackson Fives

The Cracker Jackson 5 / Cracker-Joe-Jackson

Fill-In Collins

Wilson Fill-Ins

Fill-INXS

The Four Topsy-Turvy Fill-In / ZZ Topsy-Turvy Fill-In

ZZ Top to Bottom

Tina Turnabout

TurnabOutkast

Danzig-Zag

Zigzag Marley

RadioHeads & Tails

The Lemon Heads & Tails

The Lemon Headings

Bobby V-Words

Scramb-Led Zeppelin Words

Diagram-Les Paul

Mixed Nikki Sixxes

Throw-Burt-Bach-arachs

Neil Sudoku

Siouxsie Sioux-doku and the Banshees

Hüsker Sudokü

Kenkenny Rogers

Paul Simon Says / Carly Simon Says

Crypto Graham Nash

CryptoGram Parsons

Sly & the Crypto-Families Stone

Sly and the Family Ties

The Partridge Family Ties

Ringo Starr Words / Ringo Starrspell

ABBA-cus

Bay City Rollers of the Dice

Derek and the Missing Dominoes

Grand Funk Railroad Ties

Earth, Windowboxes & Fire

Tower of Letter Power

Flower Power Station

Rufus WainRight of Way

Point the Wayland Jennings

Steve Cropperfect Fit

Susan TedeschiWord

Green Daisy

Sum Words 41

KC and the Sum Words Band

Mathboxes Twenty

Hearts and Flowers

Stepping Rolling Stones

Alice in Chain Words

Sir Mix-and-Match-A-Lot

Busta Pairs in Rhymes

Dexy’s Midnight Punners

New Kidz On The Letterboxes / New Kids on the Blockbuilders

Bull’s-Eilish Spiral

Simple Minds Tickler / Simple Minds Boggler

Right Angles Said Fred

Quote Questlove

Mariah Carry-Overs

AccorDionne Warwick Words

Ella Four-Fitzgerald

The Blackout! Crowes / The Blackout! Eyed Peas / Blackout Sabbath!

Roberta Flack-out!

LudaCrisscross / Kiss-Kross

Chaka Khancellations

Fats Domino Theory

Neil Diamond Mine / Neil Diamond Rings

Alphabet Soupertramp

Cros-Styx

The Lucky Clovers

Miles Around the Block Davis

End of The Skyliners

The Who’s Calling / The Guess Who

Charlie Watts’ My Name

Duke Skellington Key

DartLorde

“My Sudoku” by The Knack

Dell Amitri / Dell La Soul

Tom Penny Publications and the Heartbreakers

Daily Iggy POP Crossword

One puzzler even paired puzzly bands with puzzly songs and albums!

MegaSudokuDeth (“Peace Sells . . . But Who’s Calling?”)

Sonny & Share-A-Letter (“The Beat the Clock Goes On,” “I Got You Know the Odds Babe”)

FleetWord Math (“LandSlide-O-Gram,” “Go Your Own Word Ways”)

Guns N’ Rows Garden (“Sweet Child O’ Diamond Mine,” “Live and Let Diagramless”)

Bingo Crosby (“White Crisscross”)

The Rolling SteppingStones (“Rhyme Time Is on My Side,” “Paint It Blackout!,” “Ruby Cluesday”)

One intrepid puzzler went so far as to rewrite the lyrics to Bungle in the Jungle by Jethro Tull! So please enjoy Bungle In The Jumble…

My friend says she’s bored, yeah she’s lonely and older
I thought, “She needs puzzles.”, and that’s what I told her

With fun illustrations they’re hers for the taking
She can finish several while her cookies are baking

Now she is hooked; she is terribly spellbound
She quickly deciphers and shares whatever she’s found

Bungle in the jumble, well for her that’s a breeze
Don’t give her easy puzzles, ‘cause she’ll say they’re a tease

Our readership also got it on the fun!

Laura Campbell offered up SyllacroSTYX and Bananaramagram Magic Squares. (Judy Schumacker on Twitter also pitched Bananaramagram Magic Squares!)

Sandra Halbrook posted Christopher Cross Sums, and Roni Gunn shared Slay-er-cros-tic.

Terrific puns all around!

Have you come up with any Penny Dell Puzzly Bands entries of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

A Punny Costume Challenge Full of Tricks and Treats for Halloween!

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Happy Halloween, puzzlers and PuzzleNationers!

One of the best things about Halloween is guessing what people’s costumes are. Clever costumes can be great fun, and I’m a huge fan of costumes that only cost a few bucks to put together, because they really let your creativity shine through.

Punny costumes lend themselves to the low-budget costume genre brilliantly. So it’s only appropriate that we celebrate Halloween in the puzzliest way possible by looking at some punny costumes!

It’s simple. I post a picture, and you guess what the costume is.

For example:

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It’s BEE-yonce!

I’ve compiled ten costumes for you to figure out. Let’s see how many you can get!

PuzzleNation’s Punderful Halloween Costume Game!

#1

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#2

2019punderful2

#3

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#4

2019punderful04

#5

2019punderful5

#6

2019punderful6

#7

2019punderful7

#8

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#9

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#10

2019punderful10

[Note: credit and sources for all images will be given in our answers post tomorrow!]

How many did you get? Have you seen any great punny costumes we missed? Let us know! And Happy Halloween!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

(F)right This Way: Caption Contest Results!

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Long-time readers know that we periodically invite our fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers to show off their wordplay skills with puzzly prompts like our recurring hashtag game. We even invite our friends at Penny Dell Puzzles to participate!

A few months ago, we did things a little differently. A member of the Penny Dell crew cooked up an image for us, New Yorker-style, and we challenged our friends and readers to compose the perfect caption for it.

Well, in honor of Halloween, we held another Caption Contest, and this time, there were three images to choose from!

So, without further ado, let’s check out what all these clever folks conjured up!

#1

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“Knew my old American Crossword Puzzle Tournament costumes would come in handy someday!”

“Well if if isn’t Sum-Bob Squarepants and Ed-Word Pencilhands!”

Penny Press version of “The Little Match Girl”: “Now don’t come home until every last PennyDell pencil is sold!”

“Seriously, I can’t believe you found an alternate solve on my outfit without even trying testsolving my puzzle grid outfit first!”

“So what do we have here? Edward Pencilhands and a Boy Named Sue-Doku?”

“You’ve heard of Edward Scissorhands? Well, this is his lesser known third cousin, Bobby Pencil-Fingers!”

“Sorry to tell you kid, but you’re not solvable, no matter how many pencils you use.”

“Nine rows, nine columns, nine boxes, nine pencils, nine TREATS?” Forget it, kid, try your warped Aristotelian logic on the McDermots next door!

So then I said, “If you still can’t guess what I am supposed to be, the solution is on page 130!”

#2

cc2-2

“Ah, so you’re the thief who’s been stealing toilet paper from the 3rd floor bathroom!”

Chasing down the mystery behind rising paper costs, puzzle publishers are squeezing the Charmin.

“I gotcha, Mr. or Mrs. Toilet Paper Bandit!” I’m so glad they didn’t use banana peels as their get away disguise.”

“Whodunnit solved! You need a pedicure!”

“Not so fast, toilet paper man! I heard that Dell Blockbuster Sudoku just hit the newsstands and there’s no way you’re beating me to it!”

“Next time, you may want to try gauze instead of Toilet Paper!”

“What does The Riddler dress up as on Halloween? A puzzle wrapped in an Enigma, of course!”

“You may be a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but I can still read you like an open book!”

“Hold still, I’m trying to decrypt you!”

“Let me follow you to your Cryptogram!”

“Just wait until your Mummy finds out the Pyramid Words you said!”

“Hold still, the clues are unfolding before me!”

#3

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“After seeing the final ingredient for the soup, Gretel realized very quickly that making friends with the witch was only going to land her in hot water.”

“Eenie-meeni chili-beanie – I think this cauldron needs more pepper.”

“This isn’t like the Alphabet Soup on the Penny Press app at all!”

“The recipe for Alphabet Soup calls for a bay leaf, not eye of newt!”

“Matilda you fool! When I said “Eye of Newt”, I didn’t mean the 50th Speaker of the House!”

“Double, puzzle, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Puzzles appear in a slimy puddle–
Maybe the clue is ‘Barney Rubble’.”

“This isn’t how you find the Missing Vowels for the curse; I’ll look it up on the Penny Dell website on my iPhone!”

“I can’t ever remember what goes into this Alphabet Soup!”

“It keeps saying to start the Alphabet Soup with ‘Conjecture’ but I don’t understand where they are getting the E,C and T from!” the short witch exclaimed, as she read the directions aloud.

RECIPE TIME: WIZARD WORD STEW

In a large cauldron pour in ALPHABET SOUP, BITS AND PIECES of a SPIDER’S WEB, Lizard HEAD & TAILS, and a dash of HOCUS POCUS. Recite CODEWORDS until stew boils and BUBBLES and then serve with CRACKERS.

Have you come up with any fun captions for these images? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

A Puzzle Zoo Created By You!

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As you know, from time to time we host puzzly contests. Oftentimes, those contests involve not only our in-house personnel (as well as our friends at Penny/Dell Puzzles), but the marvelous PuzzleNation community as well.

This time around, we challenged our fellow puzzlers to come up with animals and attractions for a Puzzly Zoo. The entries had to involve puzzles featured either by Penny/Dell Puzzles or PuzzleNation, and we thought we’d collect all of the entries here for everyone’s enjoyment!

And we ended up with a menagerie of different submissions, including carnival barker-esque promotional announcements, animals, drawings, and even a poem! (Good thing it’s not a petting zoo, people would be cutting themselves on the razor-sharp wit around here!)

Shall we see what zoo-rific delights our fellow puzzlers cooked up for us? Let’s go!

“Welcome and thanks for Dropping-In! Today, I’ll be your Grand Tour guide as we Explore-A-World full of excitement around the Penny Publications Zoo!

The list of activities includes a visit to the Accordion Worms farm, a sneak peak at the North & South polar bear exhibit, and taking an unforgettable trip to the Crackerjack-rabbits den.

To finish up, we’ll have just enough of a Timed Frame to stop at the aquarium and see the Starfish and Arrow show. Be sure to take many Pictures of This wonderful Place & Please give us a Thumbs Up no matter Which Way you Pair Off! We hope you have a Lion’s Share-A-Fun!”

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[It’s a Don-keyword!]

Take a Grand Tour of our Crypto-Zoo!

Bull’s-Eye Spirals!
Cat-egories!
Fiddler’s Crab Frames!
Cracker-jackals!
Beaver Words!
Piggybacks!
Kakura-burras!

Watch as they Pair off Two by Two on All Fours.
Feed them Animal Crackers, just watch where you Two-Step.
(And don’t eat the yellow snow!)

zegrid

Other attractions!

Adder One

Diamond Mine-A-Taurus

Diamond Rings-Tailed Lemur

Platypuz

Around the Block Ness Monster

Jig(saw)foot

Mongolian Bookworm

Sudokupacabra

Word Mathman (like the Mothman, but better with numbers)

And a more detailed look at the rare and mysterious threyakros:

The threyakros is an elusive creature, found only within the borders of the PuzzleNation. It can only be viewed once all other animals living within its habitat have been discovered as its camouflage derives from copying the physical attributes of animals around it.

Because of its unique camouflage, no one knows what a threyakros actually looks like, and any renderings of its likeness on paper have resulted in completely contrary results; additionally, attempts to sketch a threyakros solely in ink are seen as risky and pretentious.

zoobook

At Penny we don’t have an ordinary zoo.
The creatures featured here are quite an unusual crew.
We’ve got animal CRACKERS walking ’round on ALL FOURS.
In our TIME MACHINE you can observe dinosaurs.

Here’s your ONE & ONLY chance to see PAIRS IN RHYME.
There are hogs & dogs, cats & bats. Stop on by at lunchtime.
They’re fed only the best – fresh green LUCKY CLOVER.
You may get to try some if there’s any left over.

Our resident magician is an amazing baboon.
He creates his own sculptures from colorful balloons.
Trained by Tony Spero, he’s got talent to spare.
His lovely assistant is HOCUS POCUS the hare.

Come visit the exhibit we call HEADS AND TAILS.
See our two-headed double-tailed whale with gold scales.
PICTURE THIS: A most lovely day spent with us.
So order your tickets and hop on the bus!

annelida

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What do you think of the submissions, fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers? Do you have a favorite? Or a suggestion of your own?

Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!