How Much Is That Chameleon in the Window? Trivia Quiz | Brain Teasers

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". This is a running example throughout the quiz. 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 rules (so no abbreviations and no proper nouns are allowed, but British and American spelling can both appear). Now the question: replace the C in "a r C - C o 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 very frequent verb form. The other has to do with (a very long) time.

Answer: E

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 many possible solutions: E - F - M - S - T.
The first part of the last sentence of the question excludes the F and the S, but still leaves some options: E - M - T.
If you went for "ARM - MON", the first word would be a verb ("to arm") and the second a Scottish variation of the word "man", so nothing related to time.
Another solution that makes one verb form, renders the ancient "ART" (as in Shakespearean "Thou art") and a weight unit ("TON"). Once again, this is not the correct answer, because it doesn't refer to time.
The correct solution is "A R E - E O N", with "ARE" the very frequent verb form and "EON" a designation of time used in geography and paleontology.

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 capitalized H in "h e H - H i s" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. Hint: You could find one of the resulting words in a book of spells.

Answer: x

This couple of words does not allow for many alternate solutions. M - P - S - W - X come into mind, but the hint leads to "HEX" for the first word. The second word should be "XIS", a very rare word: the plural of the fourteenth letter of the Greek alphabet.
By correctly solving this question, you could also exclude the M and T for the first letter: there are no nine-letter words starting with MX or TX that can be used in a game of Scrabble.
Incidentally, "HEH" is the fifth letter in the Syriac alphabet, used in some languages such as Aramaic or Malayalam.

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 capitalized A in "m o A - A y e" 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 is something you can use when cleaning.

Answer: p

Let's first list some possible solutions if we ignore the hint: B - D - E - K - L - M - P - R - T - W.
But what could we use when cleaning? A "MOB" (group of people) or a "MOM" (affectionate for mother) may do the trick according to some people who don't do any cleaning single-handedly, but I hinted here of course to a "MOP". The other resulting word thus is "PYE", a spelling variant (mostly used in ecclesiastical settings) for PIE - in the sense of a whole to be divided into portions.
The MOA mentioned in the question is an extinct New Zealand bird, while the AYE is an ancient synonym for YES (ancient but not obsolete: in several parliaments one counts the AYES after a vote).

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 "h a M - M e L" 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 is a fish, the other word is a regional variant of a very frequent verb.

Answer: E

Let's once again explore the possibilities if we don't take into account the hint. The following letters give a valid solution: D - E - G - S - T.
An "EEL" is of course a fish. So is a "HAG" - short for hagfish. According to the first part of the hint, there are two plausible solutions: either "h a E - E e l" or "h a G - G e l".
But the second part of the hint solves the question satisfyingly. "HAE" is a regional variant spelling for "HAVE", mostly used in Scotland. "GEL" on the other hand is no variant spelling, and is not used so frequently as a verb.

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 E in the word pair "t a E - E t h" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. I'll hint that one of the words is a verb for a leisure indulged mostly on a sunny beach.

Answer: N

This question is very straightforward: only one letter can replace the E.
Did you try the other vowels? Alas, the answer is N, which gives "TAN" and "NTH".
Tanning is the leisure I referred to in the last part of the question. But the very improbable word of three consonants is more likely to leave you flabbergasted. Well, "NTH" is indeed a word, indicating position N in a numbered sequence. So one can refer to the first, second, or nth element of a sequence.
The words from the question may also raise some eyebrows. "TAE" is a Scottish word equivalent to one of the more common words "TO", "TOO" or "TOE". "ETH" on the other hand is a variant spelling of "EDH": the Icelandic letter sounding as the English "th" digraph.

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 "m o L - L i p" 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 verb which relates to liquids, the other word is the very rare singular of a Latin expression that occurs mostly in the plural.

Answer: S

When you ignore the last part of the question, you would think there are several possible solutions: D - G - N - P - R - S - T. Combining with the first part of the hint (a verb relating to liquids), we still have D ("DIP"), N ("NIP") or S ("SIP"). If we also include the second part of the hint, we keep "MOS" - the singular of "MORES" (acceptable behaviour) and "SIP" - consume a liquid with small amounts at once. "Mod" is not a singular for a Latin expression, but an unconventionally modern fashion. Neither does "mon" qualify: this is a Scottish word for "man".

By the way, Mon (with capital) indicates a member of a certain Buddhist community from eastern Myanmar or Western Thailand, but as a proper noun it would not be a valid Scrabble word.

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 capitalized E by another letter in the word pair "L e E - E g g" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. You may dream of a Hawaiian custom.

Answer: I

This question does not allow many solutions. In the word "EGG" the E can only be replaced by an "I" to get a valid word: "IGG" is short for "ignore" (with a hint of dislike).
Replacing the second E in "LEE" by an "I" gives lei, the traditional flower garland worn around the neck, most typical of Hawaii. It has been customary to greet visitors to the Hawaiian islands by adorning them with a lei.

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 "t a O - O a r" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. Both resulting words are niche words: one is a letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the other is a specific type of unit of electric power

Answer: v

B - E - G - J - M - P - T - V - W - Y could all replace the O in TAO - OAR to make valid words. You need to obey the last sentence of this question to come up with the sole possible answer.
A quick internet research will show you all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet: alef, bet, gimel, dalet, he, vav, zayin, chet, tet, yod, kaf, lamed, mem, nun, samech, ayin, pay, tsade, qof, resh, shin and tav. The only way to transform the word TAO into a Hebrew letter by replacing only the O, would thus be using the V - the TAV is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
By using the same letter substitution in the second word, you would find var - a unit of reactive electric power in alternating currents. Although the use is different, mathematically one var is exactly the same as one watt.
For those who wonder: TAO is the Chinese philosophical entity representing the universe, and is represented by the well-known yin-yang symbol (a black and white circle with a squiggly dividing line).

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 v e" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. I don't like paying one of the resulting words, except for a good service rendered.

Answer: e

Going only by the letters (and ignoring the last sentence of the question), you could come up with the following letters : E - R - W. But the hint given in the last sentence should lead you to a FEE - a payment for service rendered. The other word is thus the EAVE: the edge of a roof overhanging the side of the wall, either for decorative uses or to protect persons standing just before the front door from direct rainfall.

10. I'll reiterate the different word pairs form the previous questions here: a r C - C o n h e H - H i s m o A - A y e h a M - M e L t a E - E t h m o L - L i p L e E - E g g t a O - O a r f e N - N a v e You can clearly read out the original nine letter word "CHAMELEON". Replacing the common letters as indicated in the previous questions (making two valid words horizontally), also gives a nine letter word from top to bottom. Which is this word we're looking for?

Answer: EXPENSIVE

Most of you will have noticed the quiz title is a paraphrase on the song text "How much is that doggie in the window?", popularised by Patti Page and many others. But I wasn't looking for a dog breed as solution, rather for a word that could be exactly the answer to the quiz title.

I've written some other chameleon quizzes as well. If you liked this one, you may try the others too.

Do you want to create a chameleon quiz too? Feel free to do so, but don't take this challenge lightly: you may need several hours to find the most appropriate words for a quiz with only one possible solution.

Source: Author JanIQ

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor spanishliz before going online.
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How Much Is That Chameleon in the Window? 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.

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