Round two - the answers

Time for the head scratching to end - here are the answers for round two.

Lots of people told me they found this round trickier than the last. I think, perhaps the photographers were a touch more oblique than the last round and there were a couple of diptychs which were clearly harder to solve than others.

Number 1

Beachcomb (I allowed beachcombing and beachcomber too).

A fairly straightforward one, which almost everybody got right - wavy hair, though not a compound word, was an entertaining alternative solution.








Number 2

Pondweed

I disallowed waterweed (which may have been a bit harsh) and wintergreen and rivercrossing were other incorrect guesses.









Number 3

Bluebird

Bit more variation in the answers for this one - alternative guesses included smokestack, firefly (good one!), meltdown, blueprint and waxwing.








Number 4


Toothpick

I loved this one - inspired industrial chic pictures! And most of the answers were correct.








Number 5

Peppermint

Almost everyone got this, apart from a couple of folks who guessed pepperpot, which is logical.

Number 6

Butterscotch

This one caused quite a few problems. Lots of people plumped for letterbox and there was also a letterhead and cheeseboard.








Number 7

Drawbridge

Wrong guesses included handrail (very good), inside out and tugboat.

Number 8

Honeymoon

Everyone got this one!

Number 9

Watermark

Almost all correct, with other inspired answers including spotcheck and metalwork.









Number 10

Headlight

Oh this one caused SO many problems. Yup - it was a toughie. Wrong guesses - bright spark, pinup, pinwheel, headbanger (like that one), needlework, pinpoint and felt work.

So yes, perhaps a little tougher, but still one very clever person managed to get them all correct - Meg (who doesn't yet have a blog). Many congratulations! She clearly has an aptitude for these, because she was a winner in the last round too. Look out for a teeny treat in your post sometime soon, Meg.

And thank you again to all the photographers and to everyone who played along - hope you enjoyed yourselves.

Round one - the answers

So, the post you've been waiting for - it's Monday evening and here are the answers:

Number 1

Basketball

I think everybody got this one correct. Just a starter to ease you into the game.









Number 2

Pothole

This one caused a few more problems. Incorrect, but plausible answers included polycotton (which I thought was very inspired).









Number 3

Tealeaf

Now I apologise for this one. Tea-leaf is hyphenated sometimes and sometimes two words and therefore not strictly a compound word. Mea culpa. But most people did get it right.
A few guesses of spotless for this one, which I totally see the logic behind.






Number 4

Chopstick

Almost all guessed correctly.










Number 5

Neckline

Caused a few problems. Hey, they couldn't ALL be straightforward!

Number 6

Nightclub

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Number 7

Blackberry

I worried about this one. Rightly, it seems. Plenty of correct answers, but also lots for coffeebean, with a few other random guesses thrown in.








Number 8

Dishcloth

Didn't think this would cause as many problems as it did. We had plum duff, fruitcake, fivefold (inspired guess) and plumline.









Number 9

Summertime

A tough one. Baywatch, stopwatch, snacktime, sundial, playtime, snacktime, daytime. All plausible, but not what we were after.









Number 10

Lipstick

So obvious once you got it. But we also had dipstick, ubend, panstick and heartbroken (which took me a while to see, but oh, yeah).








Six clever people got all 10 correct with their original guesses - Sue, Amanda, Libby, Meg, Louise and Val. Bravo all of you! Look out for an email from me soon.

And to everybody, thanks so much for playing along. It was really good fun from my end and I hope it was for you too. Somebody suggested a festive theme for round 2, which might be fun - what do you think?

Also, thanks to those brave souls who have volunteered as photographers for the next round - if you feel you'd be able to photograph one of the words next time out, please do drop me an email.