This six-part word riddle begins with the amazing-looking baobab tree. Also known as “upside-down trees,” baobabs are famous for their swollen trunks and their fruit, sometimes called “monkey bread.” But don’t get distracted by the tree; pay attention to the words. Will you start to see what baobab and our next term have in common?
As slender as the baobab is squat, dachshunds often have to settle for the simpler name “wiener dogs.” The dachs in dachshund comes from a German word for badger, as the dogs have long been associated with hunting critters that live in tunnels. But do you see a theme between these words yet? Our third term should make matters clearer.
When you encounter a yield sign while driving, the idea is to slow down or stop so that another car can go. If you’re a farmer, your fields yield crops. The question is, are the words yielding a pattern? Let’s see what exactly is scotch about the next entry.
The scotch in hopscotch actually meant “scratch” (as in scratching the lines for the game) in 1789 when the word was first recorded. Here’s a hint about the riddle: the meaning of these six might be a distraction designed to keep you from seeing an answer that’s in plain sight.
The youngberry is a hybrid of blackberries, raspberries and dewberries. Byrnes M. Young of Louisiana began concocting his namesake berry in 1905. It happens to be a hexaploid, but none of this has anything to do with the riddle you’re trying to solve. The answer is waiting for you on the next slide.
So what secret meaning ties together baobab, dachshund, yieldability, hopscotch, youngberry and dumbfounded? Nothing. All six words begin and end with the same letter. The goal was to misdirect you with unusual trees, cute dogs, and more. Magicians call this legerdemain, or sleight of hand. If you figured this out before you reached dumbfounded, congratulations. Stay tuned for other brainteasers like this in the near future.
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