January 2023 Newsletter

Welcome to January's edition of Philosopher's Tone! I'm your host, Professor Rebus, and I'm delighted to have you aboard the Pitcherwits™ Express. What can you expect? A monthly dose of bonus puzzles, wisdom and snippets about the English language! I hope you enjoy this month's publication.

A quick reminder that the puzzle PDF downloads are now fillable, meaning you can fill them out on your computer instead of having to print them. Before you try to fill them in, save the file to your desktop first instead of opening the file in your internet browser, otherwise they won't work properly.

Onwards!

  • Contentment comes when you want no more than you actually need.

  • Cause and effect? If you don’t have a good cause, you won’t have much good effect in anybody’s life.

  • FEAR only stands for False Evidence, Apparently Real.

  • Talk the talk and a few will believe you for a while: walk the walk and most will believe you for far longer.

  • True gentleness is the greatest strength anyone can aspire to.

  1. Calliope (a) chemical form (b) set of whistles (c) pompous windbag

  2. Derecho (a) obstinate mule (b) Mexican garment (c) severe windstorm

  3. Omphalos (a) central point (b) animal grunting (c) African spear

  4. Paraph (a) short phrase (b) signature ending (c) alternative

  5. Sternutatory (a) reverse logic (b) causing sneezing (c) of a chest bone

From the initials and the clue, what’s the phrase?

  1. A.P.I.W.A.T.W. You need to talk for ages to give the same information as a photo.

  2. A.P.O.C. It’s just so easy!

  3. E.S.T.D. Harder to actually achieve it than just to talk about achieving it.

  4. F.F.T. Now that’s something to ponder!

  5. N.R.S. Really quite simple to understand.

What are the rhyming phrases suggested by these clues?

  1. D.R. Sartorial musician.

  2. F.T. More athletic social media.

  3. F.G. Brief ‘Hello!’ and then you leave.

  4. V.M. Extremely, cheerfully drunk.

  5. J.S. What to drench the clown with?

Chuckle Lines

  • It’s a fine line between what is a numerator and a denominator.

  • When life gives you melons, you might just want to check your dyslexia score.

  • Generally speaking, you can divide any population into three types of people: those who can count and those who can’t.

  • I asked this windmill what its favourite music was, and it claimed to be a big metal fan.

  • Pinnochio’s nose couldn’t have grown to 12 inches, because then it would have been a foot.

  • My wife told me to be honest and direct, and then asked me, “How do I look?” I said, “With your eyes.” So, why was she so cross with me?

  • A cosmetics firm spent all of its research budget trying to find the main cause of dry skin, and found it to be towels.

 

Signing off until next time...

Professor Rebus

Solve clues with us on Instagram at @pitcherwits

Answers:

What’s the meaning?
1. b
2. c
3. a
4. b
5. b

What’s that phrase?
1.A picture is worth a thousand words.
2.A piece of cake.
3. Easier said than done.
4.Food for thought.
5. Not rocket science.

Rhyme time
1.Dapper rapper.
2. Fitter Twitter.
3. Fleeting greeting.
4. Very merry.
5. Joker soaker.

Professor Rebus