The word "grotesque" describes the doll very well and I don't find the word (in this particular context) to be offensive.

(edited because I was being boring again lol)

Just a wee typo- 'controlled' only really needs two 'l's.

11. Make imperfect

Your answer: crack

crack means "make a sharp sound"

The correct answer was deflower

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I would say that "crack" would be a better answer for "make imperfect". "Deflower" has a very specific connotation, which I think has a much more limited context than "crack". While the WW database may equate "crack" with making a sound, it just as commonly means "damaging".

4. What a communication that is about something is about
Your answer: subject matter

Somewhat clumsy wording.

The content of a communication?
What a communication is about?

Cut a rectangualr groove into
Your answer: rabbet

A typo; of course it should be "rectangular".

14. No capable of being moved or rearranged

Your answer: immovableness

'No' should be 'Not'.

Is it no a Scottish dictionary?

Haha, this amuses me

Me too, and I'm not a Scot.

This came up before and again I'll chime in that it could also be fixed to read: "No capability of being moved or rearranged."

13. The semantic relation of being a manner of does something

Your answer: troponymy

I may have selected the right answer, but I had no idea what the question meant!

This is my first post here, probably not my last. Thanks to my teammate romeomikegolf for pointing me in the right direction.

Chevy

I'll try a troponymy:
To shake hands is a way to greet, to kiss on each cheek is another manner of greeting.

Whichever you feel comfortable with, I wish a virtual welcome to you Humanist.

The definition posted here for troponymy is at least grammatically incorrect. "A manner of does something" should be "a manner of doing something" or "a manner in which one does something".

The 'semantic relation' escapes my mind. It doesn't seem to relate to the question.

The semantic relation bit refers to the fact that the word troponymy is a relationship between two words - the more general one, and the troponym which offers the more precise example. This definition has been discussed at least once before pages ago. It is an example of a badly-pasted definition on the web source from which the game draws its definitions. Attempts at brevity for a definition can be ambiguous!

Should be 'usually'.

Slight typo: The correct spelling is "prosciutto"

Half-brother

Your answer: a son of your stepparent by a former marriage

A son of a stepparent would be a step-brother not a half brother surely?

Only when you are your own Step-Grandfather by a previous marriage! Then you are related to everyone so you cannot be half-to anybody not also a sibling once removed. Then the geneological lines turn to circles.

Edit: Actually, if your father had sired a son with a woman not your mother, then married that woman later, her son would be both your step-brother and half-brother.

Not so, he'd simply be your half-brother. My father had the full set, brothers, step-brothers and half-brothers. Two parents the same = full brother; one parent the same = half brother; no parents the same, but one of his parents married one of yours = step-brother. Simple really...

Half-brother through blood, step-brother through marriage. I think my scenario covered it. You brought up a second situation of a marriage, that neither parents are blood and yes that is a step-brother but it does not mean the situation I outlined is wrong.
I had a step-sister that did not come with my step-father into his marriage with my mother. She stayed with her mother. We were not quite kissing cousins, but did... well, I'd rather not kiss and tell.

The whole meaning of "step" in this case is that there are no parents in common (no blood relation), so it is not possible to be both. It is expained fairly well here
http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/relation.htm#Step .

Did I miss something here? Maybe if it was 'product'.

12. Produce
Your answer: yield

yield means "bring about"

The correct answer was effect

When used as a verb, 'to effect' something could certainly mean 'to produce' it, as in the phrase 'to effect a change'. Not the way you usually read the word, but quite possible.

Almost as possible as 'to bring about a change', but not quite as close. I hope it will 'yield' better results for me next time.

Actually, the closer relationship applies and trumps all others. Though the brother is step if viewed only as the offspring of the step-mother, the brother has to be half because of the relationship to the father (by blood). If my sister and I were in the same class one year, I could call her a classmate, but that wouldn't mean that the more appropriate denomination for her would be as my sister.

Sue

There's a comedy song around in which a man becomes his own Grandpa through a complicated string of marriages and births. Sure, a half-brother can be a step-brother and a man can become his own grandfather but the question only states that the son is the offspring of a stepparent. Assuming there is a blood connection is assuming facts not in evidence. The son in question is the son of the stepparent "by a former marriage". No blood connection is implied.

That is precisely why it is wrong. "Half" implies one shared parent, and therefore a blood connection.

edit: was a step-posting to the one below.

"a son of your stepparent by a former marriage"
Let's break this down. A 'stepparent by a former marriage' can mean that your were once married and one of your spouse's parents (your in-law) was not a blood relation to your spouse. In this case a 'son of' that situation would be your step-brother-in-law. Also, why doesn't it say 'a son of a stepparent' by a current marriage? The use of former may be entirely inappropriate. A divorce does not sever sibling relations, does it? Isn't that bond, once made on a group of children, unbreakable?

The question says "son of *your* stepparent" not the son of your spouse's stepparent, stepgrandmother or step second cousin twice removed. A half-brother can be a stepbrother but won't be in all cases. The son of a stepparent will always be a stepbrother. It's like the old story of "All dogs have four legs. My cat has four legs. My cat is a dog." What works in one sense won't work in all examples.

Thank Heavens the Brady Bunch never became this complicated