Style Invitational Week 1010: A good old caption contest, and the crossword clues

Every week in this space we feature a cartoon by Bob Staake, the Pen Who Will Not Be Stopped. But it’s been almost a year since we’ve done our perennial contest in which we ask Bob to draw several bizarre renderings and ask readers to write captions for them. This week: Write a caption for any of these five cartoons. When several people come up with the same humorous idea, it will be the funniest writer who wins.

Winner gets the Inkin’ Memorial, the Lincoln-statue bobblehead that is the official Style Invitational trophy. Second place receives this “What’s Your Poo Telling You?” daily calendar, with fascinating factoids on every page (Aug. 28: “Why Can’t You Smell Your Own Poo, but Others Can?”; Feb. 6: “The Menstool Cycle: When men who live together poo on the same cycle”). Donated by Brendan Beary, who already knows what he’s being told.

The Style Invitational

The Style Invitational is The Post’s weekly humor/wordplay contest, serving up since 1993 an irreverent mix of highbrow and lowbrow -- haughty and potty -- in genres ranging from neologisms to cartoon captions to elaborate song parodies. A new contest appears at washingtonpost.com/styleinvitational every Friday.

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(Bob Klahn — CrosSynergy)

Other runners-up win their choice of a yearned-for Loser Mug or the ardently desired Grossery Bag. Honorable mentions get a lusted-after Loser magnet. First Offenders receive a smelly, tree-shaped air “freshener” (FirStink for their first ink). E-mail entries to losers@washpost.com or fax to 202-334-4312. Deadline is Monday, March 4; results published March 24 (online March 21). No more than 25 entries per entrant per week. Include “Week 1010” in your e-mail subject line or it might be ignored as spam. Include your real name, postal address and phone number with your entry. See contest rules and guidelines at wapo.st/inviterules. The subhead for this week’s honorable mentions was submitted by both Tom Witte and Kevin Dopart. Join the lively Style Invitational Devotees group on Facebook at on.fb.me/invdev.

Report from Week 1007

in which we presented the filled-in crossword grid shown on this page, and asked you to come up with creative, funny clues for any of the words: As always with the results of our Clue Us In contests, some of the clues require some mental flexibility to read; for example, the two clues for ARE below are “era” backward, and “a Re.” (The real clues for this crossword — by master constructor Bob Klahn — include many clever ones as well. See bit.ly/xwordclues1007 for the list.) As in past years, not all the words in the grid get ink below, and some are represented by more than one clue — it was about what was funny, not in getting a complete list. First Offenders are designated by asterisks.

The winner of the Inkin’ Memorial

RAH: The Egyptian god who demanded sacrifices of human pyramids (Barbara Turner, Takoma Park, Md.)

2 . Winner of the little jar of Turkish “Aprodisiaque”: BET: Bettor if you do; better if you don’t. (Edmund Conti, Raleigh, N.C.)

3 . HOMEMADE: Terrifying adjective with “fireworks” and “condoms.” (*Craig Whitaker, Rockville, Md.)

4 . GEEZERS: A good name for an ear-hair plucker (Gary Crockett, Chevy Chase, Md.; Christopher Lamora, Guatemala City)

Cluesers: honorable mentions

AGELIMIT: Death (Barry Koch, Catlett, Va.; David Garratt, Silver City, N.M.)

ARE: Era of reflection (Jeff Contompasis, Ashburn, Va.)

ARE: Between a female deer and a name I call myself (Pie Snelson, Silver Spring, Md.)