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Sunday Puzzle: Phonetic fun!

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: This is a phonetic puzzle. If I asked you to say a letter of the alphabet before one of the gifts of the Three Wise Men to get a boy's name, you'd put L before MYRRH to get ELMER. Now try these.
 

Say a letter of the alphabet before ... to get ...

  1. ... a decoration on a gift ... a thin musical instrument
  2. ... a carpenter's tool ... a biblical patriarch
  3. ... a boundary of a field ... a word meaning "prevention of a team from scoring"
  4. ... the sound a cat makes ... part of a car that clears a windshield
  5. ... the opposite of war ... a monocle, for example
  6. ... where a judge presides ... a person who accompanies someone on a date
  7. ... a son of Adam and Eve ... a word meaning "difficult to understand"
  8. ... a mean, mixed-breed dog ... a card game
  9. ... a word meaning "having a raspy voice" ... a fish that swims upright
  10. ... a seabird with a harsh call ... a dog with floppy ears

Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from listener Curtis Guy, of Buffalo, N.Y. Name a certain breakfast cereal character. Remove the third, fifth, and sixth letters and read the result backward. You'll get a word that describes this breakfast cereal character. What is it?
 
Challenge answer: Toucan Sam, Mascot

Winner: John Weaver of Tacoma, WA.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Joe Krozel, of Creve Coeur, MO. Think of a place in America. Two words, 10 letters altogether. The first five letters read the same forward and backward. The last five letters spell something found in the body. What place is this?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, October 10th, 2024 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: include a phone number where we can reach you.

Copyright 2024 NPR

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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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.