Sunday Puzzle: Anyway, It's Drew Carey's Line This Time

By Will Shortz

Published April 30, 2017 at 1:56 AM HST

On-Air Challenge: I'm going to read some sentences. Each sentence has two blanks. Put two five-letter homophones in the blanks to complete the sentence. For example: If I said, "Criminals went to a Pittsburgh factory late at night to ___ ___," you'd say they went their to "steal steel."

"Because I never took a class in penmanship, I never learned to ___ ___."

"The driver jammed his foot on the pedal so hard, he made the ___ ___."

"One of the Shakespeare character messed up the line 'Double, double toil in trouble,' but I couldn't identify ___ ___."

"The increase in car rental rates really hits the pocket book hard. So that latest charge from ___ ___."

"The host of The Price Is Right is bringing in boxes from his car, but how many can ___ ___?"

Next challenge (continued from last week): Mash up the titles of past #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart to tell a story. For example: I Shot the Sheriff / The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia / The Morning After / I'll Be There / Leaving on a Jet Plane

Wikipedia has a list of the Billboard #1 singles from the Hot 100 era, 1958 to present, which you can use. Your story can include up to seven song titles. Entries will be judged on cleverness, naturalness of reading, memorableness of the songs, and overall elegance. You can send up to three entries. The person who submits the best entry in my opinion will play the puzzle on the air.

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. The deadline is Thursday, May 4 at 3 p.m. ET.