Sandy Wood
Brain Game: Corduroy Pillows Make Headlines
by Sandy Wood - February 23, 2009 - 7:30 AM

bloghead_braingames.jpg

You’re the editor of a newspaper, and trouble’s brewing. The owner’s inept nephew, Zeke, has been hired on to typeset the headlines. You like your job, so you want to take it easy on the boss’s kin. Zeke has trouble centering the headlines exactly… especially after having a few drinks with his lunch. To make things as easy as possible for Zeke, you set up a template with three four-letter words:

XXXX XXXX XXXX

And since Zeke doesn’t know the whole alphabet, you promise him that you’ll never use more than four different letters of the alphabet in any headline. (So each word in the headline is an anagram of the other words.)

So you’re sorting through the headlines from the upcoming issue, and try to convert them to meet the new requirements. The first one comes to you quickly: The story titled FELINE MUSICAL TROUPE PERFORMS would become CATS CAST ACTS.

How about these five?

RED PLANET MOBILIZES SHEEP

THREE PAPARAZZI RUSH SPELLING

LUNCH FOR GUYS: BAD

U2 GAINING YOUNG FANS

BECKHAM PATRONIZES NEW STORE

Here are the SOLUTIONS.
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Comments (12)

  1. An alternative for “LUNCH FOR GUYS: BAD”: MALE MEAl: MALE.

    posted by James on 2-23-2009 at 8:54 am

  2. Got most of them (didn’t know the word “noob”), but what’s the title?

    posted by Diana on 2-23-2009 at 10:19 am

  3. “Noob” is a slang term for “newbie,” used commonly on the Internet but now creeping into everyday language.

    posted by Sandy Wood on 2-23-2009 at 11:19 am

  4. I don’t think the title is part of the game – it’s just an old joke about corduroy pillows and the lines they leave on your face.

    posted by Kate on 2-23-2009 at 11:41 am

  5. hah – I could not for the life of me think of a four letter work for “corduroy pillow” :)

    posted by Diana on 2-23-2009 at 11:47 am

  6. Got the 1st, 3rd, and 5th ones.

    Couldn’t get the other 2 completely.
    Had Bono and Boon. And Trio and Riot. Missed tori and noob.

    posted by Nerak on 2-23-2009 at 2:33 pm

  7. got 1 and 3, and almost finished 4. I really enjoyed this brain game — keep ‘em coming!

    posted by NattAttack on 2-23-2009 at 3:05 pm

  8. Here’s my solution for “LUNCH FOR GUYS: BAD”:

    LADS SALAD SAD

    Although, I guess no self-respecting man would admit to eating a salad for lunch (as the entire meal)!

    posted by Jon F. on 2-23-2009 at 4:55 pm

  9. How about this one….

    Top leading actor blacktops rodents

    “Star Tars Rats”

    posted by Kevin in Vegas on 2-23-2009 at 9:23 pm

  10. So where do the corduroy pillows belong?

    posted by Miss Cellania on 2-23-2009 at 11:59 pm

  11. Uh, at the head of the bed?

    No, really, Miss C… it’s an old joke about the fact that if you sleep on pillows covered in corduroy, you may wake up with lines indented on your head from the pattern on the fabric.

    I didn’t say it was a *good* joke, just an *old* joke.

    posted by Sandy Wood on 2-24-2009 at 12:27 am

  12. For the U2 one, I did:

    Disk
    Skid
    Kids

    Keep those cards & brain games coming!

    posted by Carolyn on 2-26-2009 at 1:36 pm

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