I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with "umpteen."

Because I've got so many reasons to be grateful this year. Only the last syllable rhymes.

Absolutely perfect!

You rascal!

It would be cool to be a filter feeder. I'd dive around with my kisser wide open and catch stuff in my mouth parts. No more worrying about how to hold a fork properly.

Crambo is not pristine. He's having trouble coming up with a rhyming word for rascal, but will persevere and return.

whoops, missed #4. No cetaceans here.

Not pristine, baleen,

Thanks to gender issues, I missed my sweet _______ party.

>3 Jenni_Canuck:/5 It was a favoured epithet of my Irish grandmother who, when we misbehaved, would holler at us “You young so-an-so!”

Paris had an internal organ
Its bile was black as balls
Baudelaire had rhymes like dimes
But so have toilet walls

Lou, Crambo is neither sixteen nor any other teen.

Jenni, I guess given the context, she wasn't calling you "mavourneen," or even "colleen." I'm still stumped but still trying.

defaults, I love the poem. I remember having a few pages of quotes from Chuck B back in high school and thinking they were pretty cool.

Not pristine, baleen, sixteen, *teen, spleen,

I was served soup in a bowl, but ended up eating the whole thing.

Plop, plop, fizz fizz. Crambo is sympathetic.but no winner.

Not pristine, baleen, sixteen, *teen, spleen, tureen,

There's one on either side of me.

#13 I thought of various amusing possibilities for the things that might be on either side, then it occurred to me that whether you were playing two tambourines or surrounded by teen queens on trampolines, you were in between. Was that the idea?

Not pristine, baleen, sixteen, *teen, spleen, tureen, between,

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __s were supposed to have joined
the "Dearly Loved &
Departed", be they weekly, monthly or yearly,
By the year 2000, pundits
were assuring us ca. 1995. It's
Strange,to see some of them still alive
In the year 2013. "Mere jive",
One may say of the pundits'
forecast;
We still don't know if __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __s will last.

There's a wild pack animal that I've never seen that might fit ( yes, I did mean between)

I'm not sure what it is but Massive Attack named an album after it.

Roland, are you thinking of magazines? Crambo is not subscribed.
Julie, I'm drawing a blank. You haven't left the final a off of hyena, have you?
defaults, Crambo prefers to sit on the main floor.

Jenni, I still haven't figured out #3 but don't let that stop you form more guessing.

HINT: Crambo's word is the singular form of a noun that you might have seen only in the plural.

Not pristine, baleen, sixteen, *teen, spleen, tureen, between, magazine, mezzanine,

After today I'll be computer-less for a week or so, so I'll add another hint: Crambo's word begins with the name of a wooden leg.

"...are you thinking of magazines?" (15, 19)

Yes "magazine" was the guess -- and thinking about the doubtful forecasts about them some 2 decades ago. Newsweek
and U.S. News have gone, as expected. Time and The Economist survive.

I was going to guess "jean"
(singular of "jeans"(?),
but the hint "begins with the name of
a wooden leg" shot that one down.
Ditto for "paparazzO" (singular of "paparazzI",very seldom seen in the singular),
but on the rhyming -- not a prayer.

I watched Mary Poppins last night.

I'll be back online in a week or so. If anyone wants to have a new game during that time, feel free. I'll look here for more guesses when I'm back. Best wishes to all for a wonderful holiday!

(BTW, #22 was not a random note; it is related to #19.)

My last guess was'wolverine' but it obviously wasn't correct.

// #23 I'm off too for a week. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Season's Greetings, Happy Holidays, etc.

See you next year, you young spalpeen! ///

While I remember it' invisible' - but the clue about a wooden leg has left me dumbfounded!

Spalpeen! That's an entirely new one for me. Thanks, Jenni!

Julie, sorry I couldn't come up with wolverine. Duh. Maybe as an old Buckeye I've got them blocked out of my mind. Such denseness is virtually unseen in these parts!

Not pristine, baleen, sixteen, *teen, spleen, tureen, between, magazine, mezzanine, spalpeen, wolverine, seen, unseen,

My first is short for "uncle", and
My second's of "thin" a near
Synonym. Altogether, I'm a clear
Case of 'Unwashed". Understand?

Not unclean. Crambo's word has three syllables.

My h.s. French teacher, (I'm allowing for possible errings
Of accuracy), said that herrings
Are what is sold to the public
under the name
"__ __ __ __ __ __ __ s" (and she was USUALLY right), so is her claim
Viable, or should we look for anoth-
-er explanation? I'm loth,
In this situation (it's kind of fish-
Y ) to say that she was right I do or don't wish.

"__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __" might be tri-
Syllabic, if a 2nd vowel were slurred
Over. (It has just now occurred
To me that "sardines" (31) was an ill-
Advised guess, being a bi-syll-
able.) Anyway, "__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __" denotes
"Like the hardest substance".
Votes
In my favor would be wel-
Comed; or else just say, "Hell,
It's tetrasyllablic, slur or
No slur!"
Okay, whatever you say, sir.

Two Guesses: one - a floor, two - an orange fruit. I did have another guess when I was in bed last night but couldn't be bothered to write it down and now it's gone! Ahh, the trials of old age!

Roland, you're right that sardine is short on syllables, and I'm afraid diamantine, while a wonderful word, is long.

Julie, it's neither tangerine nor nectarine. I haven't come up with the name of one of those vinyl or linoleum substances; before I rack my rains further, is that what you meant by floor? My sympathy on memory issues. I've been reading lately that they're helped more by exercise than by playing mental games, so to play it safe I'm walking as well as playing bridge this year.

Not pristine, baleen, sixteen, *teen, spleen, tureen, between, magazine, mezzanine, spalpeen, wolverine, seen, unseen, unclean, sardine, diamantine, nectarine, tangerine,

"diamantine" (an adjective that is new* to me) wasn't the guess of 32, but it sure was close.
My guess was a tetra(?)syllable that, but for one vowel, is an anagram of "diamantine", and has almost the same meaning as a metaphorically used "diamantine".

*Come to think of it perhaps I was thinking
in Greek -- of an Aeschylean phrase:
"__ __ __ mantinon desmon in arrhektais pedais" / ...in the unbreakable bonds of
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ chains"--
and the cognate word doesn't exist in English.
(Might as well sound erudite, even in my
errors, if any!)

Aha, were you thinking of adamantine? Not that either.

"...thinking of 'admantine' "...
Yes.

That "-ine" suffix* again!
And you can use it when
You speak of something slith-
-ering and reptilian with
no breaking of the three-
syllable rule/hint. See?

*This time, as in
"__ __ __ __ __ __ __ i n e."

I actually thought about using "serpentine" but I was afraid too few people would be familiar with it. I suspect most people have heard Crambo's word, possibly in a television cartoon. Review of the hints:

rhymes with "umpteen"
three syllables
singular form of a noun that you probably see more frequently in the plural form
first syllable is the name of a wooden leg mentioned in a joke in the movie Mary Poppins.

(BTW, I gave my sisters and brother-in-law these clues when I saw them over the break and they all blurted out Crambo's word immediately. Not sure what that might mean about my family.)

And a final new hint: Crambo's word does not end with "ine."

If we don't get it soon, we might need to blow this game up and let someone start a new one.

Not pristine, baleen, sixteen, *teen, spleen, tureen, between, magazine, mezzanine, spalpeen, wolverine, seen, unseen, unclean, sardine, diamantine, nectarine, tangerine, adamantine, serpentine,

Would we hear it in the "jingle jangle morning" ?

".. .most people have heard Crambo's word, possibly
in a television cartoon

Amlost rules out my guess of
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __, which
I've never seen/heard outside the covers
of a Victorian novel:
But since you never know what a
cartoon might pick up,
I'll guess it: what a British Victorian
lady might wear on a festive occasion.

I'd volunteer Yosemite Sam if I had time to host a Crambo round, but I don't, so I won't!

Got it! Bits and pieces ( only one) There was a question on Pointless last night where they had to find a word ending in 'ail' and the contestant said 'entrail.' It was judged to be nonexistent. I would venture that your word probably only exists in the plural, too! Am I right?

"(the Crambo! word probably exists only in the
plural . . ." (43)

I can't think of a possible ending for an English plural
that would rhyme with (the 2nd syllable of). Possibly an Arabic-derived ending ("mujahadeen", though, has one syllable too many).
"umpteen". The ending: "-i"
or "-ae" would require ignoring the "-n".

I suppose thirteen to nineteen only exist in the plural.

#40 wonderful reference, but I won't come following today.

#41 sorry, no idea, but not Crambo's word.

#43 Showing real guts with that anecdote ;-) Crambo's word is in the dictionary in the singular, but as I noted, we've all seen it primarily in the plural. As Rodney noted, one common usage is, "Varmint, I'm going to blow you to smithereens!" Well done, and over to you, Julie!

OK, Jim. I'll start a new thread.Here?

Don't know where my last message went but I've started a new one.