The NPR "Weekend Edition" Sunday Puzzle
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The Sunday Puzzle Podcast. NPR's weekly word game. Match wits with "Weekend Edition" puzzle master Will Shortz.
| Title | Podcast Description | Author/Reader | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Puzzle Is The Pits | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word starts with "PI" and the second word starts with "T." | Will Shortz | 00:07:03 |
| Sitting Comfortably In Between | Given two things in the same category, name the only other thing in that category falling between the given things alphabetically. Given: "Mars" & "Saturn" Answer: "Mercury." | Will Shortz | 00:10:08 |
| Second To Last | Think of a word that can follow a given word to complete a familiar phrase or name. The first two letters of the word must be the second and last letters, respectively, of the given word. Given "fallen," the answer is "angel." | Will Shortz | 00:07:18 |
| Arrange The Notes | Each answer is a five-letter word or phrase containing the letters N, O, T, E plus one other letter. Answer the clues to get the words. | Will Shortz | 00:07:10 |
| The Fame Game | In our annual year-end news quiz, you are given new names in the news - people you probably never heard of before 2011, but who became famous during the past 12 months. Explain why they're famous. | Will Shortz | 00:06:50 |
| Unwrap The Phrase To Reveal A Gift | Identify a gift for a child spelled by consecutive letters in familiar two-word phrases. For example, if given "tomato paste," the answer would be "top." | Will Shortz | 00:00:00 |
| Rearranging Titles On The Magazine Rack | Rearrange a series of anagrams to identify some well-known magazines. Given "never point," rearrange the letters to spell "Prevention," a popular health magazine. | Will Shortz | 00:07:33 |
| Teasing Out A New Word | Add a letter to create new words in a series of word teasers. | Will Shortz | 00:06:33 |
| Making Changes Is Up To You | Change one letter in each word of a made-up, two-word phrase to get two new words that will start a familiar proverb or saying. Determining which letters to change is up to you. | Will Shortz | 00:06:41 |
| Keep Your Head Above Water | Each answer is a compound word or a familiar two-word phrase containing the consecutive letters H-H-O, as in H2O. For example, given: "Dutch province containing Rotterdam and The Hague," the answer: "South Holland." | Will Shortz | 00:06:41 |
| Where In The Blank Are The Answers? | Every answer is a familiar phrase in the form of "blank for blank". Given the word that follows for, what's the first word that precedes it? For example, given "joy," the answer would be "jump" as in "jump for joy". | Will Shortz | 00:07:02 |
| A Four-Letter Word For Capital City | Given a four-letter word, the first two letters are the first two letters of the world capital city's name, and the last two are the last two letters of the country's name. Given "loin," the answer would be London, Great Britain. | Will Shortz | 00:06:37 |
| Two Words Enter, One Meaning Leaves | Given a five-letter word and seven-letter word. Rearrange the letters of one of them to get a synonym of the other. Given "alloy" and "devoted," the answer is "loyal," an anagram of "alloy." | Will Shortz | 00:06:41 |
| Putting The Name Back In The Fame | Given the name of a famous person without the first and last letters of their first and last names, find the name. For example, given "err row," the answer is "Jerry Brown." | Will Shortz | 00:06:41 |
| Sometimes You've Got To Find The Right Word | Given three words, name the fourth word that, when added to each, creates a familiar two-word phrase. The answer rhymes with one of the words. Given "boob," "inner" and "test," the fourth word is "tube." | Will Shortz | 00:06:43 |
| A Puzzle Riddled With Objects | Identify the objects described in a series of riddles from A New Collection of Riddles by Jesse Cochran. | Will Shortz | 00:06:41 |
| A Highly Logical Christopher Columbus | Identify errors of fact, logic and grammar in a short essay on Christopher Columbus. | Will Shortz | 00:05:19 |
| A Supreme Court Order | In honor of the start of the Supreme Court's new term, think of five words related to a given category whose first letters spell out "court." For example, if the category was girls' names, the answers could be Connie, Olga, Uma, Rachel and Tina. | Will Shortz | 00:05:36 |
| Islands In The Stream | Name the well-known island concealed in consecutive letters of each sentence. For example: "Helga is a saucy Prussian." The answer: "Cyprus." | Will Shortz | 00:07:19 |
| A College Campus Mix-Up | Every answer is the name of a college or university. You must identify the schools from their anagrams. For example: "ICER" The answer: "RICE." | Will Shortz | 00:07:36 |
| The End Is The Beginning | Will names something in a category. The challenge is to name something else in the same category in which the last two letters of Will's word are the first two letters of the answer. | Will Shortz | 00:06:37 |
| An Anagram Challenge | Every answer is the name of a card game. You must name the game from its anagram. For example: "THIS" plus "W". The answer is: "WHIST" | Will Shortz | 00:06:10 |
| Lest We Forget | Every word is a compound word, or a familiar two-word phrase or name, with the consecutive letters L E S T. The first word ends in L E and second part starts with S T. For example, "activity in a seminary" - "Bible study." | Will Shortz | 00:07:02 |
| Finding The Ends | Given a category, name something in it that ends in the letters E,N,D, and S. For example, if the category is boy's names, the answer could be Luke, Aaron, David and James. | Will Shortz | 00:05:55 |
| Race To The Top | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word starts with TO and the second word starts with P. Given, "a person who is responsible for organizing a series of live concerts," the answer is "tour promoter." | Will Shortz | 00:07:00 |
| Hey, How About A Roll In The Hay? | Each answer is a pair of homophones, words that sound alike but spelled differently. You are given two words: One would precede one of the homophones, the other would follow the other, to complete a familiar two-word phrase. Given the words "hay" and "jumper," the answer would be "bale" as in "hay bale" and "bail" as in "bail jumper." | Will Shortz | 00:06:56 |
| A Stroll Down Main Street | Every answer is the name of a state capital. You are given a word. The first letters in the word are the first letters in the name of the capital. The last letters in the word are the last letters in that state's capital. | Will Shortz | 00:06:08 |
| Barking Up The Right Tree | Every answer is a compound word or a two-word phrase. Each part is a single syllable. The vowel sound in the first half is a long I, and and in the second half it's a long O. "Something found on a fir tree," would be "pine cone." | Will Shortz | 00:06:59 |
| Call My Bluff | Every answer ends with the letter F. You are given an anagram of the letters before the F. For example, given the word "flub," the answer would be "bluff." | Will Shortz | 00:06:08 |
| Losing Letters One Blank At A Time | You are given a series of sentences, each of which is missing three words. The word in the first blank is five letters long. Drop the last letter to get a four-letter word for the second blank and the last letter to get a three-letter answer for the third blank. | Will Shortz | 00:06:53 |
| Screen Play | Each answer is the name of a well-known film. You are given three words. Say the words out loud quickly to identify the film. For example, given the words "booty," "Andy" and "pieced," the answer would be Beauty and the Beast | Will Shortz | 00:07:13 |
| A Word Game In Rare Form | The four rarest letters in the alphabet are J, Q, X and Z. You are given a familiar word and must change one letter in it to a J, Q, X or Z to get another familiar word. For example, given the clue "enact," the answer would be "exact." | Will Shortz | 00:06:34 |
| It's Lonely At The TOP | You are given three words, starting with the letters T, O and P, and must come up with a fourth word that can follow the words and complete a familiar two-word phrase. For example, given the words "taste," "oral" and "paternity," the answer would be "test," as in "taste test," "oral test" and "paternity test." | Will Shortz | 00:06:18 |
| Your Goose Is Cooked | Every answer is a compound word or familiar two-word phrase, in which the first word has a long O for its vowel sound and the second word has a long U. For example, given the clue "a traditional Christmas entre," the answer is "goose." | Will Shortz | 00:05:58 |
| Audie Cornish Is The New Host. True Or False? | You are given a statement and must determine whether it is true or false. | Will Shortz | 00:07:52 |
| Everything's Coming Up Roses | Given an item in an unnamed category, name something else in the category. The answer must start with the first two letters in the clue, only reversed. Example: given "orchid," the answer is "rose" (the category being flowers). | Will Shortz | 00:06:13 |
| As A Matter Of Course | Given a sentence with two blanks: The first blank has O as its second letter. Change the O to get the word that goes in the second blank. Example: "If I were to hit my thumb with a hammer, of ___ I would ___." The answer: "course" and "curse." | Will Shortz | 00:06:59 |
| Moms Are DownRight Excellent | In honor of Mother's Day, come up with items in each of the given categories that start with the letters of the word "Madre." For example, for the category "3-letter boys' names," the answer would include Moe, Art, Don, Ray and Eli. | Will Shortz | 00:06:18 |
| Where It's At | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase with AT in the middle. The letter A ends the first word of the phrase, and the letter T begins the second word. For "trying something while changes are still being made," the answer would be "beta test." | Will Shortz | 00:07:41 |
| The Name Game | You are given the first names of famous people and must figure out their last names. The last two letters of the first name, when reversed, are the first two letters of the last name. For example, given "Brad," the answer would be "Davis," as in Brad Davis, the actor. | Will Shortz | 00:06:47 |
| Cool As A Cucumber | Every answer is a simile, in the form "_ as a _." You are given a rhyme for the first and last words. For example, given "dead as a street," the answer would be "red as a beet." | Will Shortz | 00:07:04 |
| This Should Be A Piece Of Cake | Every answer is a pair of homophones, like "wait" and "weight." You are given a word that can precede one homophone and follow the other, in each case, to complete a familiar two-word phrase. For example, given "chess" and "pipe," the answer would be "piece" and "peace." | Will Shortz | 00:06:07 |
| Try One On For Size | Every answer is a familiar proverb or saying that contains a word that starts with the letter T. You are given the T word and must guess the saying. For some words, there are multiple answers. For example, given the word "try," the answer could be, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." | Will Shortz | 00:06:22 |
| A Step In The Right Direction | Every answer is the name of a famous person. The first and second letters of the person's last name are the third and second letters of the first name. For example, given the first name "Harold," the answer would be "Ramis" (the actor, screenwriter and director). | Will Shortz | 00:07:30 |
| 'Inset' Is Set In The Answer | Every answer is a seven-letter word in which the middle five letters are the letters in the word "inset" in some order. | Will Shortz | 00:06:42 |
| Fill In The Blanks | You are given a sentence that contains two blanks. The word in the first blank contains a J sound. Change that to a CH sound to get the second word and complete the sentence. | Will Shortz | 00:06:51 |
| A Tip Of The Hat | Each answer is a familiar two-word phrase. The first word starts with H-A and the second word starts with T. For example, given the clue "a brand of tanning lotion," the answer would be "Hawaiian Tropic." | Will Shortz | 00:06:53 |
| A President Is Present | Each word you are given conceals the name of a U.S. president in left-to-right order, but the letters are not consecutive. For example, given the clue "hairdressing, in seven letters," the answer would be "Harding." | Will Shortz | 00:07:33 |
| Et Tu, EU? | Every answer is a word or phrase in which the first syllable is E-U. For example, given the clue "Holy Communion," the answer would be "Eucharist." | Will Shortz | 00:07:41 |
| The Ol' Switcheroo | Each clue ends in a four-letter word with a single vowel. Change this vowel to a different vowel to make a new four-letter word. The new word will start the answer to the clue. | Will Shortz | 00:06:55 |
| No Business Like Snow Business | You are given clues, and each answer has the letters S, N, O and W in it. | Will Shortz | 00:07:30 |
| Two B's Or Not Two B's | Every answer is a familiar word with two B's in a row somewhere inside it. You are given an anagram of the other letters in the word. For example, given "oat," the answer would be "abbot." | Will Shortz | 00:06:53 |
| Show Us Your Independent Streak | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase, name or title containing the consecutive letters I-N-D, as in "independent." For example, given the clue "19th-century British prime minister," the answer would be "Benjamin Disraeli." | Will Shortz | 00:07:22 |
| Think They Rhyme? Think Again | Every answer is a made up two-word phrase in which the two words look like they should rhyme, but they don't. For example, given the clue "desires trousers," the answer would be "wants pants." | Will Shortz | 00:07:05 |
| Remember These Names From 2010? | It's our annual year-end news quiz, prepared with the help of Kathy Baker and Tim Goodman. You are given names you've probably never heard of before 2010, but they became famous in the past 12 months. | Will Shortz | 00:07:45 |
| Bringing Good Things To Life | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase with the initials G-E. For example, given the clue "traditional Christmas activity," the answer would be "gift exchange." | Will Shortz | 00:07:41 |
| A Cut Above Average | You are given three clues. The answer is a word that can follow each of the clues to complete a familiar two-word phrase. For example, given "batting, grade-point and below," the answer would be "average." In addition, each answer has seven letters. | Will Shortz | 00:06:55 |
| Driven To Succeed | You are given some words and names from a category and must name something else in the category that can be spelled from the letters in the clue. For example, given "Dodge," the answer would be "Geo." Here the category is cars. | Will Shortz | 00:07:48 |
| Starring S And B | Every answer is a six-letter word or phrase that contains the consecutive letters S and B. For example, given the clue "comic Bill and others," the answer would be "Cosbys." | Will Shortz | 00:07:05 |
| Constant Consonants | Every answer consists of two things in the same category that start with the same pair of consonants. You are given rhymes for the items. For example, given "mean" and "way," the answer would be "green" and "gray." ("Green" and "gray" are both colors and start with the same pair of consonants, G and R.) | Will Shortz | 00:07:42 |
| A Wish Upon A Star | You are given an anagram and must rearrange the letters to name a Walt Disney film. For example, given "iconic hop," the answer would be "Pinocchio." | Will Shortz | 00:07:22 |
| Don't Draw A Blank | You are given a sentence with two blanks. The word that goes in the first blank contains an "oy" sound. Change this to an "oo" sound, and phonetically, you'll get a new word that goes in the second blank to complete the sentence. | Will Shortz | 00:07:45 |
| Opportunity Comes Knocking | You are given a word and must provide a second word to complete a familiar two-word phrase. The first letter of the word must be the last letter of the word given, and the last letter of the word must be the first letter of the word given. For example, given the clue "photo," the answer would be "op." | Will Shortz | 00:07:58 |
| Creature Double Feature | You are given categories. For each of the categories, name an item starting with each of the letters in the word "ghost." For example, given the category "girls names," answers could be Greta, Hilda, Olive, Sue and Trish. | Will Shortz | 00:07:25 |
| Power Play | Each answer is a two-word phrase in which the first word begins with P-O and the second word begins with P (and is not followed by an O). For example, given the clue "his or hers," the answer would be "possessive pronoun." | Will Shortz | 00:07:35 |
| Why Not Add Y? | Every answer is a word that starts with the letter Y. You are given a clue that is an anagram of the answer before Y is added. For example, given "wan," the answer would be "yawn." | Will Shortz | 00:07:20 |
| Connect The Unconnected Categories | You are given two categories and must name two things in both of them. For example, given "male singers who have No. 1 hits" and "state capitals," the answers would be John Denver (Denver is the capital of Colorado) and Michael Jackson (Jackson is the capital of Mississippi). | Will Shortz | 00:06:58 |
| Take Hold And Make A Hole | You are given two sentences, each with two blanks. The word that goes in the first blank ends with the letter D. Drop the D and phonetically, you'll get a new word that goes in the second blank to complete the sentence. For example, answers might be "field" to "feel" or "beard" to "beer." | Will Shortz | 00:07:23 |
| This Puzzle Is The Pits | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase, in which the first word starts with P-I and the second word starts with T. For example, given "path taken by early settlers in the West," the answer would "pioneer trail." | Will Shortz | 00:07:26 |
| Get In the Game | Every answer is a familiar three-word phrase starting with "in the." You are given the interior letters of the last word plus a clue to the full phrase. For example, given "A-R-D" and the clue "likely," the answer would be "in the cards." | Will Shortz | 00:07:42 |
| Rhyming Compound Words | You are given a compound word and a clue. The answer is another compound word whose halves rhyme, respectively, with the halves of the original compound word. For example, given "lamplight," with the clue "a place to sleep outdoors," the answer would be "campsite." | Will Shortz | 00:07:46 |
| Hopelessly Devoted To A Challenge | You are given a five-letter word and a seven-letter word. Rearrange the letters of one of the words to get a synonym of the other word. For example, given "alloy" and "devoted," the answer would be "loyal." | Will Shortz | 00:07:51 |
| Fill In The Blanks | You are given sentences with the last two words missing. Add the letter F before the missing word that goes first to get a new word that follows it. | Will Shortz | 00:07:46 |
| A Syllable Solution | Remove the vowel in the first syllable of one word to come up with a new word that's a syllable shorter but sounds the same. For example, "succumb" becomes "scum." | Will Shortz | 00:06:42 |
| Can You See The Trees? | Each sentence conceals the name of a tree in consecutive letters. For example, given "Use soap, please," the answer would be "apple." | Will Shortz | 00:08:17 |
| Time To Get Very Creative | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name with the initials V.C. For example, given "serving of calf's meat," the answer would be "veal chop." | Will Shortz | 00:08:37 |
| It's Just A Walk In The Park | Every answer is the name of a U.S. national park. You are given an anagram of the park's name and asked to identify it. For example, given "search," the answer would be "arches," as in Arches National Park in Utah. | Will Shortz | 00:07:27 |
| You Have The Right Of Way | Every answer is a familiar phrase or title in the form of "blank of blank," where the word before "of" starts with the letter R. You are given the word that follows "of" and must come up with the phrase. For example, given "Saturn," the answer would be "Rings." | Will Shortz | 00:07:46 |
| A Bundle Of Laughs | You are given two words and must provide a third word that can go in between them. The answer will follow the first word and precede the second to complete two familiar two-word phrases. | Will Shortz | 00:07:22 |
| Show Us Your ID | Every answer is a familiar, two-word phrase with the initials I-D. For example, for: "A fake gem for a ring." The answer is "Imitation Diamond." | Will Shortz | 00:07:20 |
| The Answers Run The Gamut | You are given categories and must name items within those categories that begin with the letters G, A, M, U and T. For example, given the category "girls' names," possible answers would be Gloria, Amelia, Martha, Ursula and Theresa. | Will Shortz | 00:07:57 |
| Well Hello, Dolly! | Every answer is the first name of one famous person and the last name of another, in which the names are anagrams. For example, "Dolly Lloyd" for "Dolly Parton and Christopher Lloyd." | Will Shortz | 00:07:21 |
| A Port Of Call | Every answer is a word or name that contains the syllable "port." For example, given the clue "consequential," the answer would be "important." | Will Shortz | 00:07:44 |
| Master Of Ceremonies | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase in which the first word ends in the letter M and the second word starts with C. For example, given "Lysol or Comet product," the answer would be "bathroom cleaner." | Will Shortz | 00:06:45 |
| Pearls Of Wisdom | You are given clues for two words. Add an "L" at the end of the first word and you'll get the second one. For example, given "a fruit and a gem from an oyster," the answer would be "pear" and "pearl." | Will Shortz | 00:07:36 |
| All The Clues Fit To Print | For each word you are given, change one letter to get a common name for a newspaper. For example, given "tomes" the answer is "Times." | Will Shortz | 00:06:52 |
| A Real American Hero | For each category given, name things that fall under it that begin with the letters in 'G.I. Joe.' For example, given the category 'large,' the answers could be 'gigantic,' 'immense,' 'jumbo,' 'oversized' and 'enormous.' | Will Shortz | 00:07:25 |
| Oh, There's Always Room For 'Gel' | Each answer is a familiar two-word phrase containing the consecutive letters G-E-L. For example, given the clue 'where a university student may study,' the answer would be 'college library.' | Will Shortz | 00:07:21 |
| What Does It All Mean? | This week's on-air puzzle is an extension of last week's challenge in which a group of letters and symbols represent a familiar word or phrase. | Will Shortz | 00:08:51 |
| Make A Mental Note | You are given two six-letter words. Rearrange the letters of one word to get a rhyme of the other word. | Will Shortz | 00:07:39 |
| Accentuate The Positive | A "dactyl" is a metrical foot in three syllables, accented on the first syllable, like "Anderson." Every answer is the name of a famous person whose full name is a double dactyl, like "Pamela Anderson." | Will Shortz | 00:07:34 |
| Two-For-One Travel | Every answer is the name of a country. For each word given, take two consecutive letters in that word and change them to one letter to name a country. For example, in the word CUBIC, you would change IC into an A to spell CUBA. | Will Shortz | 00:07:32 |
| Divide And Conquer | Every answer is a six-letter word, name or phrase in which the first five letters read backward and forward the same. In other words, if you drop the last letter, what's left will be a palindrome. | Will Shortz | 00:07:42 |
| Initial Here | Every answer today is a familiar two-word phrase or name with the initials 'E' and 'S.' For example: 'Today.' The answer is: 'Easter Sunday.' | Will Shortz | 00:07:23 |
| The Long And Short Of 'I' | This week, Will Shortz gives clues for two words. Each of the words has two syllables. The first vowel sound in the first word is a short 'I.' Change it to a long 'I' sound, and phonetically you'll get a new word that answers the second clue. | Will Shortz | 00:07:34 |
| What's In A Name? Plenty | This week, Will Shortz's game involves famous people whose last names are used to finish a sentence - only the names have been turned into anagrams. Take, for example, the sentence "Andre is a gas." Rearrange the letters in the last three words to get the answer: "Agassi." | Will Shortz | 00:07:17 |
| The A-B-Cs Of Anagrams | This week, Will Shortz's game involves anagrams, and every word contains the letters A, B and C. For example: To get a type of metal, use A-B-C along with the letters L, O and T to form "cobalt." | Will Shortz | 00:07:30 |
| Just Two Little Words | Given a word, you must give a word that can follow it to make a familiar two word phrase. The third and fourth letters of the first word must be the first 2 letters of the response. For example, for "fashion," the answer would be "show." | Will Shortz | 00:07:53 |
| Put An EE On It | This week, Will Shortz's game involves two words. The challenge is to add an EE sound at the end of the first word to get the second word. Example: For "A person with a bank account" and "tasty" - the answer would be "saver" and "savory." | Will Shortz | 00:07:55 |
| Let There Be L-I-G-H-T | This is a game of categories. For each one, name something in it starting with each of the letters "L-I-G-H-T" in any order. For example, if the category is two-syllable girls' names, the answer might be, Lila, Irene, Georgette, Holly and Tina. | Will Shortz | 00:08:00 |
| The 'Pen' Is Mighty In This Game | Every answer is a word whose second syllable is "pen." For example, given the clue, "a child, say, on one's tax return," the answer is, "de-pen-dent." | Will Shortz | 00:08:09 |
| In Honor Of The Super Bowl | Every answer today is a word used in football. Given three words, you give a word that can follow each to give a familiar two word phrase. The answer will always be a football term. For example, if the clue is "year, tag and dead," the answer would be "end." | Will Shortz | 00:07:54 |
| Alma Maters (Or, A Smart Male) | Every answer is the name of a college or university. Given an anagram, the contestant names the school. For example, if the clue is "lay" plus "e," the answer is "Yale." | Will Shortz | 00:07:43 |
| Who Killed This Puzzle? | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase with the initials J.R. For example, if the clue is "going for a spin in a stolen car," the answer would be "joy ride." | Will Shortz | 00:08:15 |
| The Bad Pun Department Strikes Again | Every answer is a word, name or familiar phrase with alternating A's. For example, if the clue is "Woody Allen movie," the answer is "Bananas." | Will Shortz | 00:09:09 |
| Fresh From The Bad Pun Department | Each sentence has a blank. Fill the blank with the name of a vegetable that can complete the sentence in a "punny" way. | Will Shortz | 00:08:26 |
| I'll See Your Susan Boyle And Raise You A Balloon Boy | It's time for Will Shortz's annual names-in-the-news quiz. Will gives the names of people that you almost certainly never heard of before 2009, but who became suddenly famous during the past 12 months. | Will Shortz | 00:07:28 |
| Can You See Through From Me To You? | Every answer is a familiar phrase in the form blank to blank, as in "bored to tears." Each clue is a compound word or common two-word phrase in which the first part rhymes with the first word in the answer and the second part rhymes with the last word in the answer. | Will Shortz | 00:08:42 |
| These Phrases Have A Shushing Effect | Today's puzzle is called "Shhh." Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase in which the first word starts with S-H and the second word starts with H. For example, if the clue is "restraining device with a diagonal strap across the chest," the answer would be "shoulder harness." | Will Shortz | 00:08:06 |
| 'I' Will Lead | Each clue in today's puzzle is a word that contains the letter "I" inside. Rearrange the letters to get a new word that starts with the letter "I." For example, if the clue is "Susie," the answer would be "issue." | Will Shortz | 00:08:50 |
| Nouns In Famous People's Names | Every answer is the name of a famous person. The person's last name is a plural noun that is part of a category. The clues are the person's first name and the category of the last name. For example, if the clues are 'Britney' and 'weapons,' the answer is 'Britney Spears,' because spears are weapons. | Will Shortz | 00:08:41 |
| Solving This One Will Be A Fine Trick | Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase that has the letters N-E-T consecutively inside. Specifically, the letters N-E will end the first word, and T will start the second. For example, if the clue is "cause of a breakdown on the road," the answer would be "engine trouble." | Will Shortz | 00:07:05 |
| A Tale Of Turkey, Full Of 'Blobs' | This is a game called 'Blobs' that Will Shortz found in an old book of party games. Will talks about his recent trip to Turkey, and the account has a number of intentional errors. Every time there's an error of fact, logic or word usage, the player says 'blob.' | Will Shortz | 00:11:06 |
| Familiar Phrases Starting With 'T' | Every answer in today's puzzle is a familiar phrase in the form BLANK of BLANK, where the first word starts with the letter "T." Given the last word of the phrase, the player must give the first word. | Will Shortz | 00:07:03 |
| Categories Fit For 'Radio' | To mark Liane Hansen's 20th anniversary hosting Weekend Edition Sunday, this puzzle is a game of categories using the word "radio." Will Shortz names the categories, and the guest names something in the categories beginning with each of the letters in "radio." | Will Shortz | 00:09:01 |
| Fill In The Blanks | Each clue is a sentence with two blanks. Fill in the blanks with two words that complete the phrase. But here's the twist: The words that complete the sentence are homophones of the words in the answer phrase. | Will Shortz | 00:07:52 |
| 'Mix And Match' These Word Ensembles | This puzzle is called "Mix and Match." Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase in which the first word starts with M-I and the second word starts with M-A, as in "Mix and Match." For example, for the clue "a day before St. Patrick's Day," you would say "mid-March." | Will Shortz | 00:08:39 |
| Get A Clue And A Four-Letter Word | I'm going to give you some clues. The answer to each clue is a four-letter word which can be found in consecutive letters inside the clue. For example, if I said "a sail boat's part", you would say "spar", because a sail boat's part is a spar, and it's concealed in consecutive letters inside "sail boat's" parts. | Will Shortz | 00:08:00 |
| P.S., Think U Have It Solved? | This week's puzzle involves the letters P-S-U as in Portland State University, where Will spoke on Saturday. Each answer is a familiar two-word phrase in which the first word starts with "P" and the second word starts with "SU." So if the clue is "What a lawyer conducts to see if an invention has been made before," the answer would be "patent survey." | Will Shortz | 00:08:00 |
| These C's Come In Threes | Each clue consists of two words starting with the letter "C." The answer is a third word starting with "C" that can follow the first word and precede the second one to complete a compound word or familiar two-word phrase. | Will Shortz | 00:08:20 |
| Initially, Michigan's Upper Peninsula | This week's puzzle is in honor of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Because U.P. is short for Upper Peninsula, each answer has "U" and "P" in it. The first clue is: "U" and "P" are the initials of a common two-word phrase naming something holding a street lamp. What is it? | Will Shortz | 00:07:51 |
| Give A Ring, Get A Grin | For each clue, the answer is a four-letter word. The word is an anagram of one of the words in the clue. For example, if the clue is "main line through Egypt," the answer would be "Nile," because Nile is a rearrangement of the letters in "line." | Will Shortz | 00:06:24 |
| Maybe Not So Easy As Pie | This puzzle is called "Dividing the Pie." Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase in which the first word starts "pi" and the second word ends with "e." So, the "pi-e" is divided. For example, if the clue is "power source for most automobiles," the answer would be "piston engine." | Will Shortz | 00:07:32 |
| 'A' Test Of Islands | For each word given, add the letter "a" and rearrange all the letters to name a well-known island. For example, if the clue is "trees," add an "a" to get the answer: Easter. | Will Shortz | 00:08:11 |
| Reading Backward Is The Trick | Each answer starts with a clue for a six-letter word. If you drop the first letter and read the remaining letters backward, you'll get a five-letter word that answers a second clue. | Will Shortz | 00:07:05 |
| Scramble The Word To Get One Like The Other | From two given four-letter words, rearrange the letters of one of them to get a synonym of the other. For example, given "each" and "pain," the answer is "ache," because "ache" is an anagram of "each," and it means "pain." | Will Shortz | 00:07:45 |
| Oh My, A Relaxing Game | This puzzle involves meditation. Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase that starts with the initials "O-M." For example: protection for the hand while cooking? Answer: oven mitt. | Will Shortz | 00:08:58 |
| It's All About The Wordplay | It's a game of completing analogies. Each involves wordplay. For example, "pink" is to "pen" as "plead" is to "pencil," because by removing the "p" from "pink," you get "ink," which goes inside a pen. And by removing the "p" from "plead" you get "lead," which goes inside a pencil. | Will Shortz | 00:09:47 |
| How Does That Old Saying Go? | Every answer is a familiar proverb or saying. Given a two-word phrase, one of the words is in that proverb or saying, and the other is an anagram of a word in it. The anagram can be either word in the phrase. | Will Shortz | 00:08:00 |
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