Scrabble Gram suggests naughty answer

A BB Reader says: "This is an actual Scrabble Gram that ran in the Washington Post last Friday. The set of first tiles seem to suggest a very dirty answer. I'm not sure how it got past their editor. (The real answer, of course, is entirely G-rated)." Link

[#1 posted by ehkca , January 28, 2008 11:41 AM]

Now that I've seen the dirty answer I can't for the life of me see the proper one.

[#2 posted by acohn , January 28, 2008 11:44 AM]

I think the correct answer is "subtext." Not that that doesn't make the incorrect one funnier...

[#3 posted by gerta , January 28, 2008 11:52 AM]

Ha! I first thought the dirty answer, then realized it was supposed to be subtext. But that makes the dirty answer even funnier.

Sad it isn't spelled with the "secks" suffix (or sufficks?). Scrabble doesn't roll with the new kids.

[#4 posted by macisaguy , January 28, 2008 12:02 PM]

and they say video games are a bad influence on kids...

[#5 posted by fylateri , January 28, 2008 12:09 PM]

wtf is dirty about buttsex? i mean, asides the obvious...

[#6 posted by mujadaddy , January 28, 2008 12:18 PM]

Scrabble Gram suggests naughty answer

Isn't it your own filthy mind that has suggested the answer? It's the poor scrabbler who blames the clues... :P

[#7 posted by semiotix , January 28, 2008 12:19 PM]

Katydid whatnow?!

Seriously, though, this needs to be reported to the NSA.

[#8 posted by Prufrock451 , January 28, 2008 12:30 PM]

And now Allied High Command may have to cancel Operation Buttsex!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/03/nxword03.xml

[#9 posted by risser , January 28, 2008 12:43 PM]

You know, the bottom one can be arranged to say "depoops". That's kind of dirty.

Also, #2 could be a "tad diky." Or a celebration of "Dikt Day".

Hooray for dirty anagrams!

[#10 posted by Paul Coleman , January 28, 2008 12:50 PM]

Prufrock451...That's a great link.

Loose lips...what is it that they do again?

[#11 posted by NE2d , January 28, 2008 1:05 PM]

"The real answer, of course, is entirely G-rated"

And how exactly do you know that "subtext" is the "real" answer?

[#12 posted by Jason McIntosh , January 28, 2008 1:24 PM]

http://jmac.org/images/subtext.jpg

Also, #8 Prufrock - Bwahahaha!

[#13 posted by Matthew Miller , January 28, 2008 2:02 PM]

I don't get it -- what's naughty about "Best Tux"?

[#14 posted by boukenpurple , January 28, 2008 2:09 PM]

Remember: You can't spell subtext without buttsex.

[#15 posted by pffft , January 28, 2008 2:22 PM]

boingboing has some of the funniest comments in the blogsphere. why is that?

[#16 posted by Takuan , January 28, 2008 2:32 PM]

drugs

[#17 posted by Anonymous , January 28, 2008 2:35 PM]

The NY Magazine's crossword editor, who's great, will once in a while use the clue 'poop out' for a 4-letter word. The real answer is 'tire' but I always think of a certain transitive verb...

[#18 posted by Antinous , January 28, 2008 2:35 PM]

Specifically, Salvia divinorum cut with mushrooms from Helsinki.

[#19 posted by Sowey , January 28, 2008 2:36 PM]

This is where the "rack" boxes are making sense.

Boxes, that you need to.... fill.

[#20 posted by jonathan_v , January 28, 2008 2:38 PM]

I think the author was trying to use subtext to talk about buttsex.

[#21 posted by cronopio , January 28, 2008 3:25 PM]

This sketch from 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie' (that's Hugh Laurie, now known as House MD) is about a similar predicament.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1VXQa0BRdA

[#22 posted by addrake , January 28, 2008 3:59 PM]

"People who annoy you"

N_ggers

(It's from south park everybody)

[#23 posted by Antinous , January 28, 2008 4:03 PM]

You, sir, are no Trey Parker.

[#24 posted by Bat Guano , January 28, 2008 4:28 PM]

The first I thought of was SEXBUTT and now I can't stop tittering.

[#25 posted by Anonymous , January 28, 2008 4:30 PM]

I recall a Jumble cartoon where the word solution was supposed to be "spine" but that's not the word I came up with. I'm still laughing, but then, I am easily amused.

[#26 posted by Zan , January 28, 2008 5:39 PM]

Just in case you don't believe it's real, you can click on "January 25 Scrabble" at http://www.whatsonwinnipeg.com/index.php?option=com_puzzles to see it for yourself.

[#27 posted by Zan , January 28, 2008 5:41 PM]

Just in case you don't believe it's real, you can click on "January 25 Scrabble" at http://www.whatsonwinnipeg.com/index.php?option=com_puzzles to see it for yourself.

[#28 posted by minamisan , January 28, 2008 7:12 PM]

now, for the rest of my life, every time i hear someone use the word 'subtext'...

[#29 posted by Antinous , January 28, 2008 7:35 PM]

Some people think that no matter what's being said to them.

[#30 posted by musicpsych , January 28, 2008 8:31 PM]

#25, that was awesome. I like how you didn't explain it, either - I earned my treat...

[#31 posted by Anonymous , January 28, 2008 9:40 PM]

Oh THANK you! I saw this in my local paper (work copy), and no one else I mentioned this to had seen the paper that day. Now I have a link to prove that this actually exists.

I saw "buttsex" right away, and couldn't for the life of me get past that to work out the "real" answer.

[#32 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , January 29, 2008 8:27 AM]

Grow a penis,
Spiro Agnew,
or a spewing
orange wisp.
---
Spiro Agnew
gains power
sawing rope.
Paws region.
Rigs weapon.
Wipes organ
wi. peon's rag.
Wrongs a pie,
pawing sore
Signora Pew.

[#33 posted by n , January 29, 2008 10:32 AM]

SURPRISE SUBTEKST

[#34 posted by Antinous , January 29, 2008 11:34 AM]

Teresa,

You can almost sing that to the tune of "Have an Eggroll, Mister Goldstone" from Gypsy.

[#35 posted by jcnemecek , January 29, 2008 2:09 PM]

Ahem...I went back and fixed my math. You'll see it in any image that someone takes from my site from now on. Thanks to those who noticed it.

I was waaaay too busy laughing and waiting for my husband to show up so I could show the puzzle to SOMEONE that I must have lost my ability to add :)

[#36 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , January 29, 2008 5:39 PM]

Antinous, just tell me you get the joke, so I can die happy.

JCNemchek, that's admirably tidy. Thank you.