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Sunday Puzzle: City Sounds

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: I'm going to read you some sentences. Each one conceals the name of a U.S. city both phonetically and by spelling. Name the cities.

Example: The musician composed a crackerjack sonata in Mississippi --> JACKSON

1. The governor did a handspring fielding questions in Illinois.

2. My grandmother would belittle rocking chairs from Arkansas.

3. I'm looking for semipro vocational training in Utah.

4. Everyone hated to see Wilbur bankrupted in California.

5. Let's plan singalongs all around Michigan.

6. That's some weirdo vernacular in Delaware.

7. The diners ordered some jumbo calamari in Florida.

Last week's challenge: Think of a word for a deceitful person. Move the middle letter to the end and you'll get another word for a deceitful person. What words are these?

Challenge answer: Sneak --> Snake

Winner: Kirstie Newman, Santa Fe, N.M.

This week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Daniel Nathan of Washington, D.C. Think of a common greeting in another country. You can rearrange its letters to get the capital of a country that neighbors the country where this greeting is commonly spoken. What greeting 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, April 25 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).