yes you did. but in “reverse”. it implied but didn’t point. you know, like for dummies 
and it was never as clear as this:
<DIV style="display: table-cell">
</DIV>
<DIV style="display: table-cell">
</DIV>
The above example would have a table and a table row implied around it.
simple concepts are the mark of genius.
you’re saying: only put the table to generate table row and table cell.
i’m saying (not really me, i’m just quoting): only put the table cell to generate table row and table.
the later just feels more right. and in tone with how optional tags and optional elements are described in specs. you can omit the parent (html, body), putting the child in will generate it. but by putting in the parent, the child is not implied to be generated.
and i was doing the search today, at work. for bugs not explanations. to dismantle the inline-block solution, not to explain it.
indeed it does not wrap. i see it as a good thing. if it’s a horizontal menu, it should not expand multiple lines when viewport shrinks. think about multilevel horizontal menus.
a quiz is a quiz. but still… 
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what was the OP’s trouble:
space between inline items still remains
setting display:table-cell fully covers it. i don’t see any “keep the inline-block” requirement.
you need to give some reasons.
ok, here it is.
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>Untitled Document</title>
<style type="text/css">
*{margin:0; padding:0; list-style:none;}
body {text-align:center;}
ul {display:inline-block;}
li {display:table-cell; padding:10px; background:silver;}
li a{font-size:12px;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<ul>
<li><a href="#">Item</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Item</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Item</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Item</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Item</a></li>
</ul>
</body>
</html>
notice in the code above that i can use inline-block just fine. just for other purposes. i’m not absurd in my rejection of an idea:
i’m not petty and i can recognize when ANY person proves to be right:
thank you ds60 and bravo… for your knowledge and instinct