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Sunday Puzzle: A City Scramble

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: Very simple idea. I'm going to give you some words and some familiar phrases. Rearrange the letters of each one to name a state capital.

Ex. MEALS --> SALEM (Oregon)
1. ROVED

2. POKE AT

3. ANTI-U.S.

4. UP LAST

5. LEG HAIR

6. IN SLANG

7. IPHONE X

8. MISSED ONE

9. TICKET ROLL

10. ACTOR'S NAME

Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn., who conducts the blog "Puzzleria." Name some things you might grow in a garden. Move the middle letter to the beginning. Phonetically the result sounds like part of the human body and an article of clothing that covers it. What words are these?

Challenge answer: Eggplants --> leg, pants

Winner: Ned Toll of Harvard, MA.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Jan Brooksby, of Mesa, Ariz. Think of a common 8-letter word, in which the first three letters spell a word, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh letters also spell a word. These two little words mean the same thing. The fourth letter, when rotated 180°, becomes the eighth letter. What word is this?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, April 20th 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.

Produced by Lennon Sherburne contributed to this story

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).