Tom Swifties are puns modeled on the narrative style of the literary Tom Swift. The Tom Swifty pun features an adverb playing on the content of the sentence. “The thermostat is set too high,” said Tom heatedly. “The chimney is clogged,” said Tom fluently. Get it? Test yourself with our fill-in-the-blank challenge below, then challenge yourself to add your own Tom Swifty to our collection which will be featured in an upcoming issue of Word.Com.

The following were submitted to a Tom Swifty contest in the Minneapolis Tribune. See if you can fill in the blanks. Exact wording isn't required as long as the pun works. And remember if you don't groan, it's not a good pun.

1. “Let's gather up the _____,” Tom said coyly.

2. “I've been _____,” Tom said waspishly.

3. “Let's trap that ____ ____,” said Tom illegally.

4. “This boat _____,” Tom said balefully.

5. “Welcome to my ____,” Tom said cryptically.

6. “I've lost my _____” Tom said expansively.

7. “I just ran over my ______,” Tom said transparently.

And how about these, with the last word omitted?

8. “Who, what?” said Tom _______.

9. “Gold leaf,” said Tom ________.

10. “Zero,” said Tom ________ .

11. “…and lose some,” said Tom __________.

12. “Just Newsweek,” said Tom __________.

To see the answers, click here.