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Sunday Puzzle: An I and an A, the Long Way.

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: Every answer today is a madeup phrase like MIGHTY MATEY, consisting of two two-syllable words that are pronounced the same except for their initial vowels. The first word in the phrase has a long-I sound. The second one has a long-A.

Ex. Powerful comrade --> MIGHTY MATEY

1. Restaurant server who's more pale

2. Passover meal that comes with fermented apple juice

3. Person staring at Old Faithful, for example

4. Double-crosser who uses more hackneyed expressions

5. Earlier person making supplications to God

Bonus:

6. Two U.S. presidents whose names are appropriate for this puzzle

Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from Sid Sivakumar, who's one of the top crossword contributors for the New York Times. Name a major U.S. city in two words. Change the first letter of the first word and the next-to-last letter of the second word. Then rearrange all the letters to name the people who live in this city. What city was it?

Challenge answer: San Francisco --> Californians

Winner: Jonathan Cosin of West Hartford, Connecticut.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Jim Humphreys, of Northampton, Mass. Name a well-known U.S. city in four syllables. The first two syllables, with a letter inserted, will name an animal — that might be found in the place named by the last syllable. What city is it?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, October 5th 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).