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Sunday Puzzle: Two Words, Scrambled Please

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you some six-letter words. For each one rearrange the letters to get two three-letter words in the same category.

Ex. REGALE (parts of the body) --> EAR, LEG

1. BEATEN (insects)

2. GENIAL (alcoholic beverages)

3. ARDENT (colors)

4. BAITER (things to wear)

5. TACKLE (animals)

6. LAUGHS (boys' nicknames)

7. SHARIF (trees)

8. AUTHOR (Greek letters)

9. ORIOLE (resources from the earth)

10. THEIRS (possessive pronouns)

Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from listener Peter Gwinn, who writes for "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" Take the first name of a famous movie director. Write it in upper- and lowercase letters. Rotate the third letter of this name 180° and you'll get the name of the main character in one of this director's most popular movies. Who was it?

Challenge answer: Ridley (Scott), who directed "Alien," starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley

Winner: Mark Powell of Tungunga, California.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Henri Picciotto of the National Puzzlers' League. Name a famous singer (first and last names, 12 letters in all). Add a Y at the end, and the result, with respacing but not rearranging any letters, will spell a possible contribution to a picnic and how it might be served. What singer is it?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, July 20th 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.

Produced by Lennon Sherburne contributed to this story

Copyright 2023 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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