Words to Love: Levidrome Cryptic Clues Part Two
Wordy people are so much fun. Really. Case and point, levidromers. I’m a levidromer. And thanks to the shrinking world of the web, I’ve been blessed to meet many more levidromers out there.
What is a levidromer? It’s someone who uses levidromes everyday and derives great pleasure out of doing so.
Oh, but what’s a levidrome?
Well, if you go to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary or the Oxford English, you won’t find the word there. Not yet, anyway.
We levidromers are trying to rectify this.
A levidrome is a word that spells one word forwards and another word backwards.
The word levidrome itself is the brain child of an actual child, Levi Budd. At the age of six, while sitting in the backseat, he saw the word STOP on a stop sign. This intrepid little lad realized that STOP spelled backwards is POTS. He asked his mother what the word for this phenomenon was called. You see, coming from a wordy family- his father, Lucky, counts being an author and oral historian among his many accomplishments- Levi already knew that a word spelled the same backwards and forwards was a palindrome. Naturally, he assumed that there would already exist a word that grouped words like STOP/POTS into a group. But, after a little research, the Budd family learned, no such word existed. So, they invented it. Just like Einstein would have had he been in their literary shoes.
Hence, levidrome was born.
A cursory search of the web will spring up all sorts of fun you, dear readers, can have with levidromes. There are crossword puzzles aplenty- I’m including one in this post. There’s a website, The Levidrome Game, where you can play hangman while you guess the levidromes. I play that one quite a bit when I need to get my juices flowing.
Earlier this year, I did a Levidrome Cryptic Clue quiz. And since it’s been just about a year since I joined the Levidrome movement, which carries the stamp of approval from none other than the enterprising William Shatner, I thought we’d have a little fun today with some more cryptic clues.
Just so you get the idea, we’ll do one together:
A quick glance to make sure you’re earning your room and board.
Any takers?
Well, if you take a PEEK you can make sure you’re earning your KEEP.
The levidrome here is PEEK/KEEP. See how that works?
I’ll give you the list of Levidrome Cryptic Clues (some are originals by yours truly, but many of them come from the avid levidromers on Twitter who are too many to list). Answer as many as you can. Try not to overthink them. I tend to do that myself. Most of the time, the answer is easier than you think. If you come up with an answer or two or all, leave a comment below in the comments section. Then follow the link at the bottom of the page for the answers. Good luck!
Intertwined Bumper Stick
Avoid purling mishaps; do it backwards.
The old wagon stays behind our house.
Ottoman sultan turns jazz artist.
A bursting star that becomes a body of water.
Shakespeare is never boring.
Jacked Up - Fashionista
Step in the mire? Or was it a lump of goo?
Let’s gather where the river swarms with salmon.
A prince who leaves the door open to smell the spices in the air.
Cork it or drink it down.
Phasers set to… almonds or pecans?
You know it’s bad when a Roman god takes legal action against you.
The brightest star in Pegasus is better than okay.
Juvenile leader of a ‘mad equine;’ an IOU
Classic boy detective bites into a sour fruit.
Those last two clues are very difficult. I actually was only able to get one of the two. However, I loved having the challenge.
Good luck, dear readers. Give it a whirl and leave a comment to let us know how you’re doing.
And since it would be cruel to keep you guessing all weekend at how you did, here are the answers: Levidrome Cryptic Clues Answered.
