© 2024 Milwaukee Public Media is a service of UW-Milwaukee's College of Letters & Science
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Sunday Puzzle: Short A's

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: Every answer is a compound word in which the vowel sound in each half is a short "a" — as in "grassland" or "madcap."

1. Father's father

2. Item in a levee

3. Slang term for someone who talks, talks, talks

4. Symbol in a tweet

5. Sudden remembrance of something past

6. Carrying case with straps that's worn over the shoulders

7. Pancake

8. Game of 21

9. Low-growing weed that can quickly take over a lawn

10. Old-fashioned timer that you periodically turn over

11. Place where taxis line up

12. What a pirate might be made to walk

13. Done hurriedly and carelessly

14. Make individually without machine help

15. Item you step onto when you step out of the shower

Last week's challenge:This challenge came from listener Evan Kalish of Bayside, N.Y. Think of an informal term for part of the human body that consists of two alcoholic beverages, one after the other. What is it?

Challenge Answer:Noggin (nog + gin)

Winner: Molly Moss of Shutesbury, Mass.

This week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Neville Fogarty of Newport News, Va. Think of a familiar three-word phrase that has the following property: The first word is a number. Let X be that number. Then the last X letters of the second word form, in order, a common abbreviation for the third word.

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, Jan. 16at 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).