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Sunday Puzzle: Triple-Purpose!

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you three words, starting with A, B, and C. You give me a fourth worth that can precede each of mine to complete a compound word or a familiar two-word phrase.

Example: Ant / Breast / Cross --> RED (red ant, redbreast, Red Cross)
[3-letter answers:]
1. Age / Bucket / Cream
2. Air / Button / Chocolate

[4-letter answers:]
3. Alarm / Bell / Code
4. Affair / Bite / Child

[5-letter answers:]
5. Airplane / Back / Clip
6. Arrest / Boat / Committee
7. Apple / Bar / Cane
8. Age / Bar / Craft

Last week's challenge: Take the last name of a famous 20th-century American. The 5th, 6th, 7th, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd letters, in that order, name a European capital. Who is the person, and what capital is it?

Challenge answer: (Charles) Lindbergh --> Berlin

Winner: Jane Babbitt from Camden, Maine.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Peter Collins, of Ann Arbor, Mich. Think of two famous people — one from business and one from entertainment — whose last names are anagrams of each other. Now take their first names, drop the last letter of each of them, and put the result together, without rearranging, and you'll get the full first name of a famous fictional character. Who are these people?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to next week's challenge, submit it here by Thursday, June 23 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you.

Copyright 2022 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).