Think Pink Trivia Quiz

Answer: fat cat

The word fat is one of many that can be used to describe someone with more than average flesh on their body, and a cat is a domesticated feline. Putting them together gives us FAT CAT, a phrase used to describe a person with a lot of money who uses their wealth to gain power in some way.

It originally referred to people who used their money to influence the actions of corrupt politicians, but now is more generally used to describe someone who is seen as having more than their fair share of the money or prestige.

Answer: white knight

White can be considered the absence of color (if you are thinking about it as the base for adding paint colors to produce a desired shade) or as the presence of all colors (as in the case of white light being what you perceive when all frequencies of visible light are present in equal amounts). Medieval knights were the top-flight soldiers of the time, well-armed and mounted. Later the term came to be associated with persons of nobility, and the ideals of chivalry. When mounted knights became obsolete in warfare, this connotation remained.

Many would associate the term WHITE KNIGHT to fairy tales, and the prince who comes to the rescue of whichever fair maiden is being featured. In contemporary times, it is used in the business world to refer to a person or company who comes to the rescue of a company that is being threatened with a hostile takeover or with bankruptcy.

Answer: foot soot

The foot is a unit of length equal to twelve inches, or roughly 30 centimetres. Soot is a black particulate substance formed during the combustion of organic fuels - when a car or truck is emitting dark exhaust fumes, that indicates a large amount of soot is being produced.

FOOT SOOT is not, in itself, a particularly meaningful phrase - perhaps it describes what happens when you stir up the remnants of last night's campfire with your toes.

Answer: big dig

Synonyms for large include big, huge, substantial, immense and colossal, among others. Synonyms for excavation include hole, pit, crater and trench. However, to get the required rhyming phrase, the word dig (more commonly used among archeologists and in everyday parlance) can be matched with one of the synonyms of large, to give us a BIG DIG.

An archeological excavation is commonly called a dig, and a site such as that where the Terracotta Warriors were unearthed, which covers nearly 100 square kilometres, is certainly a big one!

Answer: cash stash

Money is a substance or material that is exchanged for goods in commercial or private transactions. Most people envision coins or paper/polymer notes (although that is not necessarily the case); this form of money is also called cash. A hoard is an accumulation of money and/or valuable goods that is being held secretively. Synonyms include stockpile, cache, nest egg, reserve and stash.

This clue is something of a tautology, since the definition of hoard on its own could carry the necessary information. CASH STASH clearly describes a hoard; so does CASH CACHE - and that rhymes if you live somewhere where the second word is pronounced with a short vowel sound.

Answer: bug rug

There are lots of insects, and quite a few have three-letter names, such as ant or bee. But neither of those rhymes with a three-letter word for a kind or carpet. The carpet could be a rug or a mat. Bug is a generic term for an insect (please do not get all biologically accurate on me, this is everyday usage even if not quite accurate) and that rhymes with rug, so it works. (Had we not known that the first word had to have three letters, another possible solution would have been gnat mat, since a gnat is a type of insect; then again, what is a gnat mat?)

What is a BUG RUG? Obviously, it's what is wrapped around the bug in the idiomatic expression "as snug as a bug in a rug". This is probably a reference to the contentment experienced by the larva of a fabric-eating moth when accidentally rolled up in a carpet on its way into storage.

Answer: fast blast

Something that is quick is moving rapidly, and can be called fast. (A fast is also a voluntary period of time in which food is not consumed, but that is not really relevant here. Nor is the fact that the blood vessel running through the toe of a dog is called its quick, and bleeds if you try to cut the nails too short.) An explosion is a rapid expansion of (usually) gases in the air, caused by some high-energy event. On an astronomical scale, the explosion of a star at the end of its life span is called a supernova. On a smaller scale, Alfred Nobel's invention of dynamite provided an efficient way to use the energy from an explosion to move substantial amounts of rock or other matter, a process often called blasting. (Back in the 1960s, a blast was also a fun party, but that's another story.)

FAST BLAST is another tautonomy, as any release of energy that would be described as a blast must occur rapidly.

Answer: deep sleep

The word bottomless is an exaggeration, describing something that is so deep its bottom cannot be precisely located, or seems not to exist. It can be used figuratively to describe something that is inexhaustible, or apparently so - many children feel that their parents have access to a bottomless pit of money (that is, before they start to earn some for themselves, and realise how finite it can be). The word snooze means a short nap, usually not in bed; as such, it is a form of sleep.

DEEP SLEEP probably does not happen if you are having a snooze, which suggests a brief and light sleep. Deep sleep, or slow wave sleep, is a stage of non-REM sleep. In case that jargon is not informative, non-REM sleep is the part of the sleep cycle in which rapid eye movement (REM) is not occurring. REM sleep is associated with dreams, while deep sleep is associated with memory consolidation. Deep sleep usually lasts for an hour to an hour and a half.

Answer: shoe glue

A sneaker is a kind of shoe, usually with a flexible sole and a fabric upper. They originated as a shoe for sports wear, but have become fashion wear, especially when a name brand is chosen. They may also be called runners, tennis shoes, trainers, sandshoes, joggers or (going back to the origins of a rubber sole and a canvas upper with no style pretensions) plimsolls. The name sneaker refers to the way the soft sole allows one to move more quietly than in a hard-soled shoe, making it easier to sneak up on someone.

Paste is a kind of glue, one made by mixing some substance with water - as in the case of wallpaper paste. It can also refer to a soft food substance made by evaporating or grinding a food - tomato paste and almond paste being examples. Then there is the kind of leaded glass that is used to make artificial gems.

SHOE GLUE might come in useful if the sole of your shoe has come loose, to keep it from flapping while you get a bit more use from the well-worn footwear.

Answer: cow plow

Bovine animals are members of the subfamily Bovinae. Familiar bovines include especially those in the genus Bos, which includes the domestic cattle which are often identified by age- and gender-identifying names: cow, bull, ox, heifer, calf, steer. Of these, only cow has three letters. An implement used to till the earth (loosening the topsoil before planting seeds) might be a harrow, but could also be a plow or plough.

COW PLOW (COW PLOUGH) is not a particularly meaningful two-word phrase, but at least it rhymes. A plow might once have been pulled by an ox, but it is unlikely that a cow would have been used - they need to concentrate on producing milk, not dragging machinery around. A snow plow is a much familiar phrase, at least in those parts of the world where snowstorms leave streets needing to be cleared, but it is only an eye rhyme, not a proper rhyme.