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Sunday Puzzle: Switch It Out!

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you some 7-letter words. For each one, change one consonant in it to a vowel to make a new word.

Ex. PRINTER --> PAINTER or POINTER

1. TRACTOR

2. BOLSTER

3. SUCTION

4. OVERDUB

5. LOCKOUT

6. HERRING

7. SWELTER

8. POMPOMS

9. SHUFFLE

Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge comes from listener Michael Schwartz, of Florence, Ore. Name certain musical instruments (plural). The first, third, fourth, and fifth letters spell something that holds the things named by the last five letters. What instruments were these?

Challenge answer: Trombones --> tomb, bones

Winner: Teagan Reasch of Columbus, Ohio.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from a frequent contributor, Joseph Young, who conducts the blog Puzzleria! Name a creature that has a world capital in its name. Replace the capital with another creature and you'll get another world capital. What is it?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, September 14th 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).