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A Puzzle In The Merry Merry Month Of May

On-air challenge: The theme of today's puzzle is May. Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word starts with MA and the second word ends with Y. Example: Alcoholic beverage made from fermented mash: Malt Whiskey

Last Week's Challenge: Name a famous actress of the past whose last name has two syllables. Reverse the syllables phonetically. The result will name an ailment. What is it?

Answer: Sarah Bernhardt — heart burn

Winner: David Hodges of Collingswood, N.J.

Next week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website Mathpuzzle.com. The word "sort" has an unusual property: the first letter, S, is found inside the word "first." The second letter, O, is found inside "second." The third letter, R, is found inside "third," and the fourth letter, T, is found inside "fourth." Think of a familiar three-word phrase in 10 letters that has the same property, in which every letter in the phrase is found inside its corresponding ordinal. Here's a hint: It's something most people have, lose and regain. What is it?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to next week's challenge, submit it here. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz has appeared on Weekend Edition Sunday since the program's start in 1987. He's also the crossword editor of The New York Times, the former editor of Games magazine, and the founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (since 1978).

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