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Sunday Puzzle: New Start

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: I'm going to read you some words. For each one, change the initial consonant or consonants to a new consonant or new consonants to get a new word that looks like it should rhyme with the original but doesn't. Every answer is unique.

Example: Cord --> Word
1. Howl
2. Golf
3. Brave
4. Fork
5. Paste
6. Toad
7. Gasp
8. Green
9. Pooch
10. Goose

Last week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Greg Van Mechelen of Berkeley, Calif. Think of a five-letter word. Change the first letter to the next letter of the alphabet, and you'll get a new word that doesn't share any sounds with the first one. Then change its first letter to the next letter of the alphabet, and you'll get a third word that doesn't share any sounds with either of the first two. What words are these?

Challenge answer: Bough --> Cough --> Dough

Winner: Rachel Mazor of Brooklyn, N.Y.

This week's challenge: Think of a famous person whose name consists of three names. The first and last letters of the first name plus the first and last letters of the second name plus the first and last letters of the third name, in order, name a city and lake in Europe. Who is it?

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 by Thursday, June 25th, at 3 p.m. ET.

Copyright 2021 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).