A Chameleon on Crete Quiz | Letter Quizzes

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Let's start with a simple example. I'll give you the following word pairs: b o O - O u t p a N - N e t d u E - E l d The capital letters spell out "ONE". If you correctly replace these capital letters, you get "TWO": b o T - T u t p a W - W e t d u O - O l d Likewise you could replace the C in "a r C - C a t" by an E to get the first letter of the word "ELEPHANTS". Of course the question asks for another letter. To offer a better readability, all the letters in the words to be replaced have been capitalized. Note: all words obtained by substituting the correct letters are valid words according to the Scrabble dictionary. Now the question: replace the C in "S E C - C A B" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. Hint: one of the resulting words could be an animal or a place.

Answer: L

The common letters from the first nine questions will spell out "CHAMELEON" top to bottom. Each and every letter in the word "CHAMELEON" will have to be replaced by another letter. I'll mention in the question (as a running example) how the C can be replaced by an E, the H by an L, the A by an E, the M by a P, the first E by an H, the L by an A, the second E by an N, the O by a T and the N by an S - so that one CHAMELEON hides multiple ELEPHANTS. Yes we can!

When you don't take into account the last sentence of the question, there would be the following solutions: L - N - R - T- W
So the resulting words could be SEL - LAB; SEN - NAB; SER - RAB; SET - TAB or SEW - WAB.
SEN is a hundredth of an Asian currency: 1/100 of a Japanese yen or of an Indonesian rupee, for instance. NAB is a verb meaning to GRAB or to STEAL.
SER is an ancient orthography of SIR. RAB is a stick used by masons to mix mortar.
SET has dozens of meanings, but none of those is an animal. TAB has about a dozen meanings, mostly for some kind of flap. But a TAB cannot indicate any animal.
SEW is a verb indicating to create a garment using needle and thread. WAB can be the skin between the phalanges in web-toed animals, or the barbs on a bird's feather.
SEL is a Scottish variant on SELF. LAB can be short for a LABRADOR dog or short for LABORATORY.
So the only solution is the L.

2. Another example shows how I could go from SEA to AIR. Look at the following word pairs: y e S - S i t l e E - E l l b a A - A i m and replace by y e A - A i t l e I - I l l b a R - R i m In the example of the CHAMELEON hiding ELEPHANTS, the task would consist of "p a H - H a y" to be replaced by "p a L - L a y". Now the question: replace the H in "B A H - H I N" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. One of the resulting words is a typically Scottish dialect word, the other word is used in some versions of a nursery rhyme.

Answer: A

What could be the solution (if you don't use the clue in the last sentence)? Let's list them alphabetically: A - D - G - L - P - R - S - T - Y
Resulting word pairs could thus be BAA - AIN; BAD - DIN; BAG - GIN; BAL - LIN; BAP - PIN; BAR - RIN; BAS - SIN; BAT - TIN or BAY - YIN.
Most of the resulting words are quite well known: BAA, BAD, DIN (noise), BAG, GIN, PIN, BAR, SIN, BAT, TIN, BAY. BAL is either a Cornish word for a mine or a nickname for a Russian anti-ship missile. LIN is an ancient word for "to cease". RIN is the old name for a small Japanese coin. BAS is only used in the expression bas relief, a type of sculpture. YIN is one of the opposing forces in Taoist philosophy, the other being yang.
That leaves us with the typically Scottish words AIN (Scottish for OWN) and BAP (a bread roll). That would give as the word used in some versions of a nursery rhyme either PIN or BAA. So the correct solution has to be the letter A: BAA can be used for sheep or goat in "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".

3. You might need one more elaborate example. Let's turn "HE" into "IS". I'd give you the following word pairs: r a H - H o n h a E - E o n and you'd have to come up with r a I - I o n h a S - S o n. Likewise, the A of "CHAMELEON" would become an E using the word pair "s e A - A r e". Now your question: which letter would replace the A in "R I A - A I N" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one? One of the resulting words can be a bone.

Answer: B

Without heeding the clue, we could come up with following letters: B - D - G - P
Resulting word pairs could thus be RIB - BIN; RID - DIN; RIG - GIN or RIP - PIN.
Only the RIB is a bone, so the correct answer is a B. For those who wonder: a RIA is a geographical word, used for a valley that is filled with water.

4. In the running example of a "CHAMELEON" hiding "ELEPHANTS", we would now have the task of replacing the M by a P in the word pairing "t o M - M a n". You'd have to come up with the solution "t o P - P a n". Your question is something else: replace the M in the word pair "R A M - M A P" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. Clue: one resulting word is a verb mostly associated with small pets, while the other is *NOT* the past tense of a verb.

Answer: Y

First of all here are the possible solutions when discarding the clue: D - G - H - N - P - T - Y
This leads up to the following word pairs: RAD - DAP; RAG - GAP; RAH - HAP; RAN - NAP; RAP - PAP; RAT - TAP or RAY - YAP.
Some of these words are well known: RAG; GAP; NAP; RAP; PAP; SAP; RAT; TAP; RAY. Of these self-explanatory words, you could associate NAP with a cat, thus a small pet. But then you would have RAN, the past tense of to run - which is excluded by the clue.
RAD is a unit of radiation. DAP means to submerge briefly. RAH is a shout of encouragement, short for HURRAH. HAP is a less used word for fortune or fate. None of these fits the clue.
So we're left with the word YAP - a verb used for the short, high-pitched barking of small dogs. And RAY may be used as a verb, but not in the past tense.

5. In the running example of a "CHAMELEON" hiding "ELEPHANTS", we would now have the task of replacing the E by an H in the word pairing "i c E - E a t". You would need the word pair "i c H - H a t". Now the real question: replace the (first) E in both words "F I E - E Y E" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. You could use one of the resulting words in bread.

Answer: R

Valid solutions (without heeding the last sentence of the question) could be the following letters: B - D - L - R - T. So you could come up with FIB - BYE ; FID - DYE; FIL - LYE; FIR - RYE or FIT - TYE.
The least known words of these sets are FID (a beam in a mast), FIL (a small coin in some Arabic countries), LYE (a caustic product used as a cleaning agent) and TYE (a mining implement to separate the valuable ore from the waste products). I strongly recommend using none of these in bread.
Do you bake bread with a FIB (a lie) or a BYE (a farewell)? I don't think so. And neither a DYE (artificial colouring) or a FIT would be greatly appreciated in bread.
So you need to have RYE bread, baked over some flaming FIR perhaps. The correct solution thus is the letter R.

6. In the running example of a "CHAMELEON" hiding "ELEPHANTS", we would now have the task of replacing the L by a H in the word pairing " b a L - L a p". This leads to the word pair "b a H - H a p". Your question is to replace the L by another letter in the word pair "P O L - L O T A" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. There is only one possible solution.

Answer: I

In the first word, you could use one of the following letters: I - P - T - W, resulting in the words POI, POP, POT or POW. But only the I can be used to make a valid second word: IOTA.
By the way: POL is informal for politician, LOTA is a round jug to hold liquids (especially water) in India. POI is either a Hawaiian food or a Maori juggling activity. And POW is an onomatopoeia for a hard blow.

7. In the running example of a "CHAMELEON" hiding "ELEPHANTS", we would now have the task of replacing the E by an N in the word pairing "p i E - E t h". The result would be "p i N - N t h", where NTH means position number N in a mathematical series. And here is your question: replace the E by another letter in the word pair "D U E - E A V E" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. Clue: one of the resulting words can be found in a church

Answer: N

What letters would fit the description? G - H - N - P.
So you could use DUG - GAVE; DUH - HAVE; DUN - NAVE or DUP - PAVE.
DUG, GAVE and HAVE are quite obvious.
DUH is an expression used to doubt the mental condition of the previous speaker. Don't use such expressions in church. DUN can be an invitation to pay, or a shade of brown. DUP is archaic for the verb "to open". PAVE is a verb meaning "to cover with tiles". The NAVE is the central part of a church.
So the correct solution is the letter N.

8. In the running example of a "CHAMELEON" hiding "ELEPHANTS", we would now have the task of replacing the O by a T in the word pairing " n o O - O a r". The result is "n o T - T a r". And now your question: replace the O by another letter in the word pair "B I O - O U T" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. Clue: one of the words can be used in horse riding

Answer: T

If you don't pay attention to the clue, your solutions could include B - G - N - T
So we have BIB - BUT; BIG - GUT; BIN - NUT and BIT - TUT.
A BIB is a sort of napkin, usually for small children. TUT and the similar TUT-TUT are expressions use to calmly reprimand someone.
Now which of these words could be used on a horse? It's only the BIT that makes sense to use in horse riding, although the word BIT has multiple other meanings.
So the correct answer is the letter T.

9. In the running example of a "CHAMELEON" hiding "ELEPHANTS", we would now have the task of replacing the N by an S in the word pairing "b u N - N o w". The replacing pair would then be "b u S - S o w". Your question is to replace the letter N by another letter in the following word pair: "F E N - N A G" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. Clue: one of the words has to do with too many wrinkles.

Answer: H

Correct solutions (when ignoring the clue) could be the H - M - Y - Z.
This means you could come up with the pairings FEH - HAG; FEM - MAG; FEY - YAG or FEZ - ZAG.
FEH is an expression of dislike. FEM is short for female or feminine. MAG is short for magazine (the periodical publication). FEY has a few quite different uses: either indicating (a person) doomed to die soon, or over exaggerated. YAG is a synthetic precious stone. ZAG is usually combined with ZIG for a sharp turn.
The clue can be explained in two ways: a HAG is either an old, wrinkled female, or a witch who could magically cure your wrinkles.
So the last letter you need is an H.

10. I'll reiterate the different word pairs form the previous questions here: S E C - C A B B A H - H I N R I A - A I N R A M - M A P F I E - E Y E P O L - L O T A D U E - E A V E B I O - O U T F E N - N A G You can clearly read out the original nine letter word "CHAMELEON". Replacing the common letters as indicated in the previous questions, also gives a nine letter word from top to bottom. Which is this word we're looking for?

Answer: LABYRINTH

Chameleons live mostly in Africa, although some species may dwell in southern Europe (including Crete). The quiz title does however not refer to the few chameleons living on Crete, but to the palace of Knossos of LABYRINTH fame - thus providing a clue to the correct solution in question 10. The mythical labyrinth of Knossos might have taken its name from a typical Cretan decoration: the double-edged axe, known to the Greeks as a labrys.

But this theory has been refuted, for most ancient labyrinths were not adorned with the labrys, and some other Cretan palaces show the labrys but don't have a labyrinth.

The modern etymology of "labyrinth" refers to "underground", for most of these mazes were indeed (partially) underground.

Source: Author JanIQ

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor spanishliz before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

A Chameleon on Crete Trivia Quiz

You'll get 9 word pairs in which the last letter of the first word is also the first letter of the last word. Replace this common letter by another letter having the same effect. The correct solution will give you (9 for 10) a word top to bottom.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>