Mashups

Mashups are tossups that combine two answerlines (which share words) into one. For example, the opera Einstein on the Beach and the poem “Dover Beach” might be combined into a tossup on Einstein on the Dover Beach. Each clue in a mashup contains information about both of the component entities.

A more strictly constructed subtype of the mashup is the before-and-after. In before-and-afters, the two components aren’t mixed freely. Instead, one component directly follows the other, joined at a hinge word or syllable, which may be a homophone rather than the same word or syllable. (Thus, Einstein on the Dover Beach is not a before-and-after but Einstein on the Beach Boys or Einstein on the Beecher are.)

Before-and-after purist John Lawrence has written an annual 24-tossup before-and-after packet every year since 2014 (his first mashup packet, in 2013, contains some non-before-and-afters).