So Many Chameleons in the Computer Online 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". 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 "P A C - C U M" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. Need a clue? Sometimes you have to do something (one of the resulting words) to obtain something that's the other resulting word.

Answer: Y

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: H - L - M - R - S.
So the resulting words could be PAH - HUM, PAL - LUM, PAM - MUM, PAR - RUM, PAS - SUM or PAY - YUM.
But most of these word pairs won't fit to the clue. You're not likely to sing a tune without words in order to obtain something that's disgusting , so you won't HUM for PAH. Associating with friends will most definitely not get you a chimney, so it's no use to PAL for a LUM. Playing a mime is not giving you the knave of clubs: don't MUM for the PAM. And you don't have to calculate a ballet step: don't SUM a PAS.
One may celebrate scoring average on the golf course with an alcoholic beverage, but it's not evident to PAR for RUM. But you're more likely to spend some money for a tasty treat: PAY for YUM.
For those who wonder: PAC is a soft shoe (especially when worn in a boot), and CUM is the Latin word for "with", which has also appeared as such in the English language.

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 "C A P H - H A T" 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 associated with crime syndicates.

Answer: O

What could be the solution (if you don't use the clue in the last sentence)? Let's list them alphabetically: E - O - S.
Resulting word pairs could thus be CAPE - EAT, CAPO - OAT or CAPS - SAT.
Only the CAPO is involved in crime syndicates: he is the boss of a gang.
Incidentally, CAPH is an alternate spelling of KAPH, one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

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 "M O 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? Clue: one resulting word is a metal.

Answer: T

Without heeding the clue, we could come up with following letters: B - D - G - L - P - R - S - T - W.
Resulting word pairs could thus be MOB - BIN, MOD - DIN, MOG - GIN, MOL - LIN, MOP - PIN, MOR - RIN, MOS - SIN, MOT - TIN or MOW - WIN.
These words mean respectively gang, waste receptacle, modern style, noise, cat, alcoholic beverage, chemical amount, to cease, household item to clean the floor, decorative item on clothing, acidic humus, functional square root of the sine, behavioural custom (singular of MORES), guilty activity, a Semitic deity, a metal, to cut short the lawn, or to be victorious.
By the way: a MOA is an extinct flightless bird. AIN can be the Scottish word for "own" or an alternative spelling for the Hebrew letter ayin.

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 "G U 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 of the resulting words can be found inside one's belly.

Answer: T

First of all here are the possible solutions when discarding the clue: L - N - T - Y.
This leads up to the following word pairs: GUL - LAP, GUN - NAP, GUT - TAP or GUY - YAP.
Only the gut can normally be found inside one's belly. A GUL is a motif in a (usually Oriental) carpet, a LAP can be the part of their owner's thighs cats like to sit on, a GUN is a firearm, a NAP is a short period of sleep, a GUT is part of the intestines, to TAP is to make a distinctive sound as by knocking, a GUY is a (mostly adult) male and to YAP is to bark sharply.

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 "P I E - E L L" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. You won't get a clue, for there is only one option.

Answer: A

Three-letter words ending on LL are quite rare. You need a vowel to start with, and that gives you the choice between A, E, or I - no O or U. So you have to replace the E by an A or an I.
But PII is not acceptable in the English game of Scrabble.
That leaves thus only the A, with resulting words PIA (the inner membrane covering the brain and spinal cord) and ALL.
An ELL is an ancient measure of length (similar to the length of an arm) or a right bend in plumbing pipes.

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 "D A L - L I 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 resulting words is a verb meaning "to apply pressure with a piece of fabric".

Answer: B

Omitting the clue, you could come up with B - D - G - H - K - N - P - W.
This would give us the following word pairs: DAB - BIT, DAD - DIT, DAG - GIT, DAH - HIT, DAK - KIT, DAN - NIT, DAP - PIT or DAW - WIT.
Some meanings of these words are the following: to apply pressure with a piece of fabric - small amount, father - spoken representation of the dot in Morse code, lock of wool - contemptible person, spoken representation of the dash in Morse code - to land on, ancient Indian messenger service - set of tools, black belt in martial arts - egg of a louse, to fish with a rod - opening in the ground, a bird related to the crow - intellect. Note of course that some words can have multiple meanings.
If you'd really like to know: DAL is an alternate spelling for DAHL, a lentil stew.

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 "S A E - E A R" 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 is an uncommon synonym for "nimble" or "agile".

Answer: Y

When ignoring the clue, we could come up with B - C - G - L - P - T - W - Y.
This means we have to choose between SAB - BAR, SAC - CAR, SAL - LAR, SAP - PAR, SAT - TAR, SAW - WAR and SAY - YAR.
Now some synonyms for these words are respectively opponent - place to get some drinks; pouch - vehicle; salt - Roman deity; juice - average score on golf; took a seat - dark oily viscous substance; tool for carpenters - armed conflict; speak - nimble.
So the correct solution is the Y.
Incidentally, SAE is a Scottish word for "so". Sean Connery could utter "I say sae".

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 I L" 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 mean an intricate type of lace.

Answer: T

Let's explore once more the different solutions if we don't use the clue. The following letters give valid solutions: M - N - T.
Resulting word pairs would thus be TAM - MIL , TAN - NIL or TAT - TIL.
Some synonyms of these words are respectively Scottish hat - unit of length (1/1000 of an inch); to get a brownish colour from sunbathing - nothing; type of lace - until.
TAO is a Chinese philosophical concept: the eternal principle of the universe. It is usually represented as the dual symbol for yin and yang.

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: "S U N - N T H" so that you get two new valid words of which the first one ends with the initial of the last one. No clue here, there is only one possible solution.

Answer: E

There are several three letter words starting with SU: SUB, SUE, SUK, SUM, SUN or SUQ. Both the unusual words SUK and SUQ are alternate spellings for the word SOUK: an oriental bazaar.
But in NTH one can replace the N only by an E. The word ETH (also spelled EDH) is a character of the Icelandic alphabet to indicate the th sound.

10. I'll reiterate the different word pairs form the previous questions here: P A C - C U M C A P H - H A T M O A - A I N G U M - M A P P I E - E L L D A L - L I T S A E - E A R T A O - O I L S U N - N T H 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: YOTTABYTE

The title of this quiz seems quite awkward. It serves to indicate that it is possible, at least according to the rules of this bizarre "change a letter" pattern, to change a chameleon into a yottabyte.
A yottabyte is a measure for the memory capacity of a computer (probably a mainframe). The byte takes up one single position in a computer memory, and has 256 possible values. The bigger measures are in order (each time multiplied by thousand): kilobyte - megabyte - gigabyte - terabyte - petabyte - Exabyte - Zettabyte - Yottabyte.
So one yottabyte could store 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 bytes. Wow, that's massive.
In comparison: if you would count the characters on a page of a textbook (usually about 4 800 characters per page including all blanks), you would need only 5 kilobytes per page of plain text. A yottabyte could store up to 200 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 pages of plain text - a lot more than is stored in your library, I dare say.

Source: Author JanIQ

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Fifiona81 before going online.
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So Many Chameleons in the Computer 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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