I think the biggest stretch here was Zeus' wife. You pronounce Hera as "Ari?" or something even close? You could say "air", or "arid" without the "d" which is what the name actually comes from. Anyway, good quiz.
Not all sounds are exact. I got the quiz idea from a game called Mad Gabs (Not to be confused with Mad Libs). Some of these, as in the game, are stretches; however, I pronounce Arizona as air-a-zone-a. I believe that Hera and air-a are similar in sound enough to be used.
Actually the "arid zone" theory for Arizona's name is just the most popularly retold one, but honestly one of the least likely. I prefer the theory that it comes from a local O'odham place-name "ali sonak", and most serious etymologies favor that one. But I agree, turning "Hera" into "Ari" is a stretch. How about make the hint be "Aphrodite's lover" and it becomes "Ares + zone + a".
Good idea for a quiz, but I found the capitalisation really confusing and inconsistent. E.g. "To Don Apparel" made me think don was a name, while "female deer" was not capitalised at all O.o
This was fun, was totally stuck on Trumpeter Armstrong + Z + Miss. Karenina for a while because pronouncing Z as "Zee" didn't occur to me. It still gives me a dirty feeling...
Just pointing out that the "Zeus's wife" hint leads quite naturally to the answer "Iowa" as well. Outside of the "zone" part of the hint that answer fits quite well. (Io was a mistress to Zeus, Iowa also ends in 'a')
Just pointing out that "wife" and "mistress" are two very different things. I'll test that theory however, and start introducing my wife as my mistress and see how that goes :-)
To be extremely picky (what else is Jetpunk for?), "Karenina" was Anna's married name, so it should be "Mrs". Her daughter "Annie" was by her lover Count Vronksy and wasn't called Karenina.
i love that 'sick badger' could lead to Illinois (to badger someone = to annoy them), but 'sick badger' could lead to Massachusetts (mass atchoo setts)