Ready for this month's puzzle? Okay, give it a whirl! Like all our crosswords, use the Visual Thesaurus to help you figure out the puzzle's theme. Think you know the answer? Let us know by clicking here. Please submit your answer by August 1, 2007. How about last month's crossword? The theme was "support group." Thanks to all who solved and sent it!  Continue reading...

Time for this month's puzzle! And like all our crosswords, it's got a theme -- a theme the Visual Thesaurus can help you find. Think you know the answer? Let us know by clicking here. Please submit your answer by July 1, 2007. Now, what about last month's puzzle? The theme was "weak link." Thanks to all who gave it a whirl.  Continue reading...

Okay, rev up your noggins for this month's puzzle! But once you solve it, don't stop... This puzzle, like all our crosswords, has a theme. Can you figure it out? The Visual Thesaurus, of course, can help. If you think you know the theme, let us know by clicking here. Please submit your answer by June 1, 2007. Now, what about the theme of last month's puzzle? It was... drum roll please... "Freedom." Thanks to all of you who sent us the answer!  Continue reading...

Now, you may have noticed the word "contest" in the headline. What's the contest? We challenge you to figure out the theme of today's crossword. (Hint: It's a Visual Thesaurus puzzle -- so, um, the Visual Thesaurus just might help!) We'll send the first ten winners our exclusive -- and very cool -- Visual Thesaurus t-shirt! Once you know the theme, let us know by clicking here. Deadline is May 1, 2007. Okay, start your mental engines...  Continue reading...

Thank you for all your submissions to our recent "Six Degrees of the Visual Thesaurus" contest! If you recall, we challenged you to use the Visual Thesaurus to link the following pairs of words: fire and sale, news and print and smart and card. We picked a winner from the submissions randomly, and our award goes to... subscriber Dallas Browning of Salt Lake City, UT! Thank you, Dallas! Your limited edition Visual Thesaurus t-shirt is on its way. (Runner-ups, you've got t-shirts coming, too!)

We also thought you'd like to see the answers. Here they are:

fire and sale
fire
dispel
disperse
break up
break
give away
shop
buy
sell
sale

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A few weeks ago subscriber Marije Martijn sent us a VT learning activity for students (see "Vox Populi," left column) that reminded us of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the trivia game where you link an actor through their film roles to Kevin Bacon. We here at the Visual Thesaurus love that game, and it inspired us to come up with our own twist:

In today's contest, we challenge you to use the Visual Thesaurus to link two words together through their related words. We'll choose five entries with the fewest "degrees of separation." Winners will receive a limited edition Visual Thesaurus t-shirt. In case of ties, we'll pick winners randomly.

The words pairs are:

fire and sale
news and print
smart and card

How do you play? Put on your cleverness cap, look up the first word in the Visual Thesaurus -- and start clicking to the right related words!

For example, to link "be" to "do:"

be and do
be
follow
do

Simple? Not so fast... Try connecting "be" to "strong." This one takes ingenuity. Here's what we came up with:

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We couldn't decide -- we received photos of so many desks, well-organized or, ahem, other!

We loved these three entries:

The first desk belongs to Mark Husson of Denver, CO, who writes "forecasts of the astrological kind."

The second is the writing desk of Cindy Mitchell, a communications director and writer in Olympia, WA.

And, finally, Particia Olson sent us a picture of hers. She says: "Here's a picture of my desk while I was writing my dissertation. Filing and cleaning was neglected for several years while I plugged my way through endless revisions and delays..."

Mark, Cindy and Particia: Thank you so much for your submissions! We're sending each of you a limited edition Visual Thesaurus T-shirt!