I was doing a crossword puzzle the other day when I noticed that each word in the following (two-word) clues all share one unique common characteristic. What is it?

Acid rain
Bath mat
Get Smart
Halloween pumpkin
Harvest moon
Heart patient
High elevation
Monkeyed around
Pigged out
Planet Earth
Skin lotion
Suspected felon
Western Utah
Zen Buddhist

I'm offering just a thought or two, and even then some of these do not seem to be consistent with what is on offer.

First my subject, the word "poor" is somewhat superfluous in as much as we acknowledge that a beggar is poor.

A jack o' lantern probably immediately brings to mind "halloween" and "pumpkin"  while neither actually infer the other.

Um?  The first word in the pair may be a modifier/qualifier of the second.

On the basis of my last thought I'd almost suggest that as being the required solution although I probably haven't expressed the thought terribly well mainly because the concept is still quite fuzzy.

Posted by brianjn on 2008-12-26 00:03:41