Curio Cabinet / Teaser Curio

Of course, all of our word square teasers are at a loss for words: the words are missing. Duh. This one is a little more meta, though... Here the missing words are about words that are missing (or negative). So in a teaser about missing words, why is this preamble still going? We'll just stop.   Remember: a word square is similar to a square crossword puzzle, but the same words appear across and down. Here's an example of a 3x3 word square:   CAT AGO TOY   Below are four clues, not in order. Can you make a 4x4 word square out of it? Its booklets have frustratingly few words in them. It has no words when you buy it, but it can fit ~500,000 of them. It can't speak but it can sing (well, it most likely can't speak) What negative words can do to positive thoughts

Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #195" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

Did you have an explosive Fourth of July? The tradition of fireworks displays for Independence Day started on the very first Independence Day when Benjamin Franklin dropped his pipe in a comically large shed filled with explosives. Or at least that's what we heard once. We didn't really research that. What we do know is that we love fireworks. Can you find the word ladder that connects FIRE to WORK to BOOM that satisfies the clue below? FIRE     WORK      The best way to use fire on July 4th     BOOM Remember: a word ladder is a series of words, starting from one word and ending with another, where each subsequent word is a one-letter change from the previous word (without rearranging, adding, or removing letters). And, of course, each step is a common, valid English word. For instance, you can change CAT to DOG like this: CAT => COT => DOT => DOG.
 

Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #194" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

Cindy has two kids, born one year apart. Unfortunately for her, she's still responsible for them as they're both currently still under 18 and at least 1. One day, because she's into this kind of thing, she starts doing calculations with her kids' ages (in whole years) and discovers something interesting. If you multiply the two ages then add 17, the result isn't prime. OK, that's not that interesting, but their ages are the only consecutive ages under 18 where that's true. Now, that's interesting. Well, if you're super nerdy, that is. How old are Cindy's kids? Can you figure it out without trying every number?
 

Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #193" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

One of former First Lady Michelle Obama's initiatives while she was in office was healthy eating, even planting a vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House. You probably knew that, but did you know she was obsessed with counting animals? At least her quote below suggests that. Ummm... right? Three phrases from this quote have been scrambled. The phrases of the original quote have the number of words and letters shown below. The phrases were scrambled independently (i.e., the letters from the first phrase aren't scrambled into the second phrase). Can you figure out the original phrases? Our greatness has always come from people who get ten pinch-ox and take a tenth droning frog - folks who work hard for what they have, then reach back and form three health pets. - Michelle Obama Our greatness has always come from people who (6) (7) and take (7) (3) (7) - folks who work hard for what they have, then reach back and (4) (6) (5) (4). - Michelle Obama

Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #192" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

Word riddles aren't usually the most beautiful of things, but there is a fine art to it. Almost any word has other words hidden inside it, but it takes a lot of creativity and finesse to make a word riddle worthy of the Curious Teaser Curio.
 
OK, we're totally kidding; we don't take ourselves that seriously! Tackle this one. Artlessly.
 
This is a common 7-letter English word. (The original word) An art. (Swap the last two letters) A place to practise an art. (Remove the first letter) It causes comfort. (Remove the first and third letters) It causes discomfort. What's the original word?

Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #191" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

What do "tot", "noon", and "taco cat" have in common? Yes, yes, you're right; they're all palindromes. Clearly, you know what a palindrome is: a word or phrase that is the same forward as it is backward. For instance, "Go hang a salami; I am a lasagna hog."
 

Even numbers can be palindromes: 7557, 1234321, 558909855. Today's teaser is all about palindromic whole numbers.
 

Let f(n) be the number of palindromic numbers that have n-digits. For instance, f(2) is the number of 2-digit palindromes: 11, 22, 33, etc.
 

Ready? Here's your question: what is the value of this expression? f(1) - f(2) + f(3) - f(4) + f(5) - ... - f(98) + f(99) - f(100)

For today's teaser, we recommend chatting with some friends. Friends are perfect for telling us when there's unidentifiable green stuff stuck between our teeth. And they're great at helping with tricky problems, like Curious Teaser Curios and squeezing furniture into a two-door coupe. So chat up your friends and get them to help you with this chatty word square.
 

Remember: a word square is similar to a square crossword puzzle, but the same words appear across and down. Here's an example of a 3x3 word square:   CAT AGO TOY  

Below are four clues, not in order. Can you make a 4x4 word square out of it? Someone who might chat you up Someone who probably doesn't have to chat you up Chats you up Chat you into something wrong
 

Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #189" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!
 

Memorial Day is this weekend, bringing with it summer, sun, and backyard parties. And yes, we know that the Curious word nerds (that's you) would love a little brain tickler to enjoy with their lemonade. So invite your friends over, fire up the grill, and tackle this one.
 

Can you find the word ladder that connects SUNNY to PARTY that satisfies the clues below?
 

SUNNY
 
 Something to shake at these parties
 
 
 
 Eating utensils at these parties
 
 
 
 Possible locations for these parties
 
PARTY

Remember: a word ladder is a series of words, starting from one word and ending with another, where each subsequent word is a one-letter change from the previous word (without rearranging, adding, or removing letters). And, of course, each step is a common, valid English word. For instance, you can change CAT to DOG like this: CAT => COT => DOT => DOG.
 

Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #188" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!
 

Life isn't always fun, but, we really should have as much fun and laughter as we can. But who would boo life? Jen? And red dust on Mars in the month of June? Does Mars even have months?
 
Confused? This thoroughly confused quote about fun and life is from Gordon B. Hinckley. Two phrases from this quote have been scrambled. The phrases of the original quote have the number of words and letters shown below. The phrases were scrambled independently (i.e., the letters from the first phrase aren't scrambled into the second phrase). Can you figure out the original phrases?
 
Remember, no Googling for help! What's the fun in that?.

In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is booed yet, Jen, not red June dust.
 
In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is (2) (2) (7), not (4) (7).

Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #187" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

The world can be a dangerous place. Maybe you need protection from someone trying to steal your credit cards, or from antibiotic-resistant super-bugs, or from a particularly ornery squirrel in your backyard. Curious provides none of that. Hopefully, today's teaser will provide a little protection from Saturday boredom.
 
This is a common 6-letter English word.

(The original word) It can be a good way to protect the ground.
(Remove the first letter) A good one will protect you for life.
(Remove the second letter) A good one will protect you from burning.
(Remove the second and last letters) A good one will protect you from drowning.

What's the original word?
 
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #186" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

All we've been hearing about the past two years has been Robert Mueller and his report, and all we've been hearing about the past two weeks has been William Barr. And what do you get when you add a lot of Mueller with a little Barr? A lot of juicy details and a lot of black bars.
 
In the addition problem below, each unique letter represents a different single digit. None of the number "words" starts with a 0 (i.e., M, B, and R are not 0). What are the values of MUELLER, BARR, and REDACTED?
 

  MUELLER
  MUELLER
  MUELLER
  MUELLER
+    BARR
 REDACTED

 
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #185" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

How many languages are there in the world? Well, as you can imagine, the answer is the subject of quite a bit of argument, and that argument is probably held in many different languages. Ethnologue catalogs over 7,000 spoken languages, including an astounding 151 with fewer than 10 speakers!
 
For this word square, we're sticking with English instead of, say, Marathi. And no, Marathi isn't a rare language; it's the 11th most popular language with 83 million speakers.
 
Remember: a word square is similar to a square crossword puzzle, but the same words appear across and down. Here's an example of a 3x3 word square:
 

CAT
AGO
TOY

 
Below are four clues, not in order. Can you make a 4x4 word square out of it?

A universal language for some, a completely foreign language for others
It can accent a language
The effect you can get when using the right language
It's usually performed in a different language (not English)

 
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #184" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

So one morning, Josh struggled to get out of bed, his head groggy from the previous night's excesses (studying, booze, or "Game of Thrones" marathon; it's unclear). He stumbled into the bathroom and looked at the digital clock in his bathroom (ya know, the kind where each digit is made up from as many as 7 lit segments). This clock does not show the first 0 if the hour is a single digit; i.e., if it's 7am, the clock shows "7:00" not "07:00".
 
Even through his brain fog, Josh noticed that the clock showed 4 different digits. That's not particularly odd, but then it got weird. As he reached for his toothbrush, he knocked over the clock, and it landed upside down. "Bah! I don't care," he thought. He turned back to the mirror and noticed the reflection of the upside down clock and... what?!? The reflection showed the same time as when he saw it the first time.
 
What time is it?
 
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #183" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

This week, the world saw the first-ever image of a black hole from the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, approximately 55 million light-years away. This one image came from the decades-long collaboration of teams of scientists from around the world. We dare say it's the coolest picture of a fuzzy ring of light ever.
 
Luckily, we're not going to make you put that much effort into solving today's teaser. Can you find the word ladder that connects BLACK to HOLES that satisfies the clues below?
 

BLACK
 
 
 Like constellations, they require a little imagination.
 
 
 
 Most astronomers wore them.
 
HOLES

 
Remember: a word ladder is a series of words, starting from one word and ending with another, where each subsequent word is a one-letter change from the previous word (without rearranging, adding, or removing letters). And, of course, each step is a common, valid English word. For instance, you can change CAT to DOG like this: CAT => COT => DOT => DOG.
 
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #182" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

Dating. For many, that word brings to mind horrors of rude conversations, irritating jokes, and awkward silences. We suffer through these so we don't have to be alone on major holidays. For the nerds here at Curious, we make brain teasers out of them, which may explain why we also tend to make brain teasers on major holidays.
 
This is a common 5-letter English word.

(The original word) It may be between a pair on a good date.
(Remove the last letter) It may be between a pair on a bad date.
(Remove the first letter) It may be where a pair meet on a play date.
(Remove the first two letters) It may have been where pairs met on a wet date.

What's the original word?
 
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #181" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

Have you tried Word Genius yet? What? Haven't you heard that it's the most important app of the day? It's chock full of wholesome brains, well-balanced cognition, fortified with Vitamin S(mart), and goes best with excessive amounts of warm maple syrup.
 
Here's a sample puzzle from Word Genius. Give it a taste!
 

 
Did you get it? Get more (a LOT more) in Word Genius, available for iOS and Android.

Is there such a thing as too much bacon? The answer will shock you!
 
Of course, there is. John, however, loves bacon and refuses to give it up. Recently, he went way overboard with a 100%-bacon lunch, justifying it to himself and his cardiologist by saying it helped him come up with this math teaser.
 
In the addition problem below, each unique letter represents a different single digit. None of the numbers starts with a 0 (i.e., B and L are not 0). What are the values of BACON and LUNCH?
 

  BACON
  BACON
  BACON
+ BACON
  LUNCH

 
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #179" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

Did you know that the average square inch of human skin has 650 sweat glands, 20 blood vessels, 60,000 melanocytes (cells that produce melanin that give skin its color), and more than 1,000 nerve endings? You did? Wow... Well, then today's teaser is dedicated to you and the latent dermatopathologist in all of us.
 
Remember: a word square is similar to a square crossword puzzle, but the same words appear across and down. Here's an example of a 3x3 word square:
 

CAT
AGO
TOY

 
Below are four clues, not in order. Can you make a 4x4 word square out of it?

The skin
It will puncture the skin
It will heal the skin
To find it, look deep beneath the skin

Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #178" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

Cindy got a glitzy new watch for Christmas last year. It was an analog watch (ya know, the one with the hands). Shiny, metal band, what looked like a diamond in the face, very special. Unfortunately, despite it being so fancy, it wasn't great at actually keeping time. In the first week she had it, she noticed it gained exactly 6 minutes smoothly over the course of the day, but lost 2 minutes over the course of the next day, and kept alternating gains and losses on alternating days like that.
 
Not wanting to return the gift, she reset the watch to the correct time at exactly midnight at the beginning of New Year's Day 2019 (just before downing her champagne). And just as she thought it would, it gained 6 minutes on January 1. If she doesn't reset the watch again, when will the watch show the correct time again?
 
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #177" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!

Carl Sagan was a astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, and, more than anything else, a great communicator of science. He made a science accessible, inspiring, and exciting for generations, and turned countless children to a future in science. But did you know he also researched hawks and donkeys?
 
OK, maybe he didn't. In this quote about science from Carl Sagan, two phrases have been scrambled. The phrases of the original quote have the number of words and letters shown below. The phrases were scrambled independently (i.e., the letters from the first phrase aren't scrambled into the second phrase). Can you figure out the original phrases?
 
Remember, no Googling for help!

Science is a tiny hawk in fog much more than it is a glob of donkey dew.
 
Science is a (3) (2) (8) much more than it is a (4) (2) (9).

 
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #176" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!