Synopsis of
NPR Weekend Edition puzzle
with Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Will Shortz
2020-12-13
The listener challenge last week was from listener Jared Harvey,
of Santa Cruz, California: Think of a common word in six letters.
Write it in lowercase. If you hold up a mirror at its side, the
reflection will show the same word. What is it? The answer is
tidbit. Will did not accept ballad because the lower case a is not
symmetrical.
Lulu reported over 1,200 correct entries.
The on-air player is Gloria Rear from Eugene, Oregon. She is a
senior in high school and plans to study nursing in college. Her
family has played the NPR puzzle as long as she can remember.
Her sister was the first in her family to blurt out tidbit, and Gloria
determined that it worked. She appreciates that the NPR puzzle
gets her family to talk and have fun.
Today’s on-air puzzle is called, “Word Sandwiches.” Each answer
is a familiar phrase in the form "___ and ___," in which the first
two letters of the first word plus the first two letters of the last
word themselves spell a word. Each clue is the word formed from
the first two letters of the first and last words of the phrase, as
well as a definition of the phrase. For example, if the clues are
SODA and “combination performance,” then the answer would be
SONG AND DANCE.
CLUES:
1. BOAR — Native American weapon
2. CAMO — cunning game that a feline and rodent might play
3. EVAN — old-fashioned phrase meaning "occasionally"
4. ABBE — more than could possibly be expected
5. LASE — amphibious
6. SHAW — overwhelm through a show of force
7. BACH — heavy restraint to keep a prisoner from escaping
8. HOVE — like the positions of the x and y axes on a graph
Answers are near the end of this synopsis.
This week's challenge comes from listener Steve Baggish, of
Arlington, Massachusetts. Using only the letters in the phrase
RIDE ON — repeating them as often as necessary — you can
spell 1) the one-word proper name of a famous fictional animal,
and 2) a word for what kind of animal it is. What's the name of the
animal, and what's the word?
Answers must be received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on
THURSDAY. NPR will no longer receive entries by email. Be
sure to include a telephone number where you can be reached if
you are selected as the winner.
Entries may be submitted at the NPR web page:
You can also get to this page by going to:
and clicking the "Submit Your Answer" link. You may also submit
a suggestion for a new puzzle by selecting Puzzle Idea from the
"I'd Like to" pulldown, and you may comment about NPR
programming at the same site.
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Editor's notes:
Puzzles, and contents of Weekend Edition/Sunday puzzle
segment are copyrighted 2020, by Will Shortz and NPR.
Reprinted here with permission.
Here's our regular monthly puzzle transcription schedule:
1st Sunday Joe
2nd Sunday Richard
3rd Sunday Joe
4th Sunday Richard
5th Sunday Kristy
Our e-mail addresses are:
Richard Renner <rrennerATigc.org>
Joe Wander <jdwandersrATgmail.com>
Kristy Compton <bisonbooksATgmail.com>
I apologize that last week’s synopsis was late due to last minute
unexpected circumstances.
No mail this week.
Hints:
3. EVAN — old-fashioned phrase meaning "occasionally": this
phrase does not come up much in teen conversation, it is hard
4. ABBE — more than could possibly be expected: someone who
does more than you can possibly expect
5. LASE — amphibious: kind of like surf and turf; if a vehicle can
go in two terrains, the first word starts with LA and has 4 letters,
the second has 3 letters
6. SHAW — overwhelm through a show of force: it was a phrase
used as a phrase in the Iraq war; the AW word has 3 letters
8. HOVE — like the positions of the x and y axes on a graph: the
second word is the opposite of the first word
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Links of interest:
Audios of past NPR puzzle segments
World Scrabble Championship
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
Merl Reagle’s article on constructing crossword puzzles, available
at
World Puzzle Federation (including Sudoku tournaments):
The US Team page is at:
Register for the USA team at:
Ed Pegg Jr.'s puzzles are available at:
National Puzzlers’ League
Kristy Fowler suggests linguaphiles visit
You can join Kathie Schneider's email list for accessible word and
logic puzzles. To subscribe, send a blank email to
Will noted that Matt Jones writes the Jonesin’ Crosswords which
appears in over 50 alternative newspapers.
Joseph Young’s Puzzleria is at:
Richard Renner
in Silver Spring, Maryland, for the foreseeable future
rrennerATigc.org
Twitter: @rennerr3
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Clues
|
Answers
|
1. BOAR — Native American
weapon
|
bow and arrow
|
2. CAMO — cunning game that a
feline and rodent might play
|
cat and mouse
|
3. EVAN — old-fashioned phrase
meaning "occasionally"
|
ever and anon
|
4. ABBE — more than could
possibly be expected
|
above and beyond
|
5. LASE — amphibious
|
land and sea
|
6. SHAW — overwhelm through a
show of force
|
shock and awe
|
7. BACH — heavy restraint to keep
a prisoner from escaping
|
ball and chain
|
8. HOVE — like the positions of the
x and y axes on a graph
|
horizontal and vertical
|
End of NPR Puzzle Synopsis.