Complete these analogies:

competition/tests/analogies/relations New

New entry, edited from material collected for the archive and not yet in a released version.

Problem

Complete these analogies:

 1.  CLOCK is to STOPWATCH as MILOMETER is to ?
 2.  USA is to OPPORTUNITY as SRI LANKA is to ?
 3.  VOID is to FILL as VACUUM is to ?
 4.  LEAD is to HEAVY METAL as GRANITE is to ?
 5.  BATTING is to BOWLING as PITCH is to ?
 6.  LEAN is to STOCKY as ASTHENIC is to ?
 7.  ABAB CDCD EFEF GG is to ABBAABBA CDECDE (or CDCDCD)
       as ELIZABETHAN is to ?
 8.  2 is to 1 as KETCH is to ?
 9.  EXTERNAL is to INTERNAL as COMMAND GUIDANCE is to ?
10.  HEADS is to TAILS as SUPINE is to ?

[ Editor: from a May 1998 thread "Relations" in alt.brain.teasers,
rec.puzzles and rec.games.trivia; the analogies are as quoted in the
reply. ]

Show solution

Here are my guesses as to the intended solutions to these analogies.

> (1) CLOCK is to STOPWATCH as MILOMETER is to ?

Tripmeter.  According to the OED, "milometer" is a synonym for
"odometer" and is also spelled "mileometer."  I believe the intended
answer is "tripmeter."

> (2) USA is to OPPORTUNITY as SRI LANKA is to ?

Serendipity.  Sri Lanka is "Serendip" in Arabic.

> (3) VOID is to FILL as VACUUM is  to ?

Plenum.  Other answers are possible, but this one ends in "-um."  I
believe that there is an element of wordplay in the intended answers.

> (4) LEAD is to HEAVY METAL as GRANITE is to ?

Hard rock.  Again there are other possible answers, but this answer has
an element of wordplay.

> (5) BATTING is to BOWLING as PITCH is to ?

Crease.  In cricket, the batsmen run from wicket to wicket in the
pitch; the bowler bowls from the crease.

> (6) LEAN is to STOCKY as ASTHENIC is to ?

Pyknic.  Again, other answers are possible, but this is the closest in
form to "asthenic" (and is an obscure word, which also motivates many
of these analogies).

> (7) ABAB CDCD EFEF GG is to ABBAABBA CDECDE (or CDCDCD)
>       as  ELIZABETHAN is to ?

Petrarchan.  The Elizabethan, English or Shakespearean sonnet has the
first rhyme scheme; the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet has the second.  I
choose "Petrarchan" since it is a more unusual word.

> (8) 2 is to 1 as KETCH is to ?

Sloop.  A ketch is a two-masted fore-and-aft rigged vessel; a sloop is
a one-masted fore-and-aft rigged vessel.

> (9) EXTERNAL is to INTERNAL as COMMAND GUIDANCE is to ?

Inertial guidance.  Again, there are many possible answers, but this is
the most well-known.  The assumptions here are that this is an analogy
about guided munitions (e.g., missiles), and that the distinction is
between controlling the munition externally versus internally.  The
general term for internal guidance is "self-contained guidance," but
this does not seem like the intended answer.  Special cases of
self-contained guidance are pre-set, terrestrial, inertial, and
celestial navigation, and of these, "inertial" seems like the intended
solution.

> (10) HEADS is to TAILS  as SUPINE is to ?

Prone.  If you're lying on your back, you are supine; if on your
front, prone.

-- Chris Cole <chris@questrel.com>  (May 1998)