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Sunday Puzzle: Bridge those words!

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you two three-letter words. Think of another three-letter word that can follow my first one and precede the second one, in each case to complete a compound word or a familiar two-word phrase.

Ex. RED, LID --> EYE (red-eye, eyelid)
1. FAT, NAP
2. PEA, MEG
3. WET, HOP
4. BOW, DYE
5. BAD, NOG
6. HOT, LEG
7. POP, ROD
8. RAM, LAG
9. OLD, TIP
10. TEA, PIE
11. PIG, PAL

Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from Mike Reiss, who's a writer/producer for "The Simpsons." Name a place in Europe in nine letters. Swap the third and fourth letters, then the eighth and ninth letters. The result is two words describing what this place famously does.

Challenge answer: Stromboli (the volcanic island off the coast of Sicily) --> storm, boil

Winner: Shrinidhi Rai of Pleasington, California.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Peter Collins, of Ann Arbor, MI. Think of a well-known author whose first name is nine letters long, and last name six letters. Change the first letter of the last name and anagram those six letters to spell a word. Now read everything together — the author's first name plus the anagram with a letter changed of the last name — and you'll get a certain professional athlete. Who is it?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, June 1st at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: include a phone number where we can reach you.

Copyright 2023 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).