AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

It’s time to play the Puzzle.

(SOUNDBITE OF STEVEN HENLEY JR.’S “PLAY THE PUZZLE”)

RASCOE: Joining us this week is Will Shortz. He’s puzzle editor of The New York Times and puzzlemaster of WEEKEND EDITION. How’s it going, Will?

WILL SHORTZ: I’m great. How are you, Ayesha?

RASCOE: Good. You know, looking forward to fall at this point. Well, whether I’m looking forward to it or not, it’s looking for me (laughter).

SHORTZ: That’s right.

RASCOE: Will, would you please remind us of last week’s challenge?

SHORTZ: Yeah. It was a real elegant one from Bobby Jacobs of Glen Allen, Virginia. I said, take the first and last names of a famous athlete, change the first letter of the last name to L, and rearrange the result to get the first and last names of another famous athlete. And I said the first name had six letters, and the last name has five. Well, the answer is Simone Biles, the gymnast. Change the B to an L and rearrange, and you get Lionel Messi, the soccer star.

RASCOE: There were nearly 700 correct entries, so a lot of y’all got this. This week’s winner is Sam McDowell of Boulder, Colorado. Congratulations, Sam.

SAM MCDOWELL: Thank you so much.

RASCOE: How did you figure out this week’s answer?

MCDOWELL: I think I wrote out six or seven different athletes whose name fit the bill, and I eventually got to Lionel Messi and Simone Biles.

RASCOE: Have you been playing the Puzzle a long time?

MCDOWELL: I can’t remember – I think 10 or 15 years, give or take.

RASCOE: Yeah, that’s a long time. Do you usually submit?

MCDOWELL: I would say maybe half the time. I used to be a pretty regular submitter, and then work got a little busier, so I haven’t had quite as much time.

RASCOE: But you got it this week. What do you do when you’re not playing the Puzzle?

MCDOWELL: I do watch a lot of sports, so I would say this was a particularly good puzzle for me, and parenting two young kids takes up a decent amount of time.

RASCOE: Yeah. How old are your kids?

MCDOWELL: Three and 6.

RASCOE: Oh, OK, yeah. That’s going to take up a lot of the time, a lot of the time.

MCDOWELL: Yes.

RASCOE: But they’re going to be happy to hear, you know, their dad on the radio.

MCDOWELL: I hope so. Try not to embarrass myself.

RASCOE: No, you won’t. Now, Sam, I got to ask you. Are you ready to play the Puzzle?

MCDOWELL: I think so.

RASCOE: Take it away, Will.

SHORTZ: All right, Sam. I’m going to give you some nine-letter words. For each one, insert a letter somewhere inside it to make a familiar 10-letter word. For example, if I said mediation, you could insert a C to make medication. An alternative answer would be to insert a T to make meditation. Here’s your first one, imperious, I-M-P-E-R-I-O-U-S.

MCDOWELL: Is imperatous (ph) a word?

SHORTZ: No, sorry.

MCDOWELL: No (laughter).

SHORTZ: Maybe there should be. It means something that can’t be penetrated.

MCDOWELL: Impervious.

SHORTZ: Impervious. You got it. Headwater, H-E-A-D-W-A-T-E-R.

MCDOWELL: Headwaiter?

SHORTZ: Headwaiter is it. Pacemaker, P-A-C-E-M-A-K-E-R.

MCDOWELL: Peacemaker.

SHORTZ: You got it. Rehearing, R-E-H-E-A-R-I-N-G.

MCDOWELL: Rehearing.

SHORTZ: It’s an activity you might do before a big speech.

MCDOWELL: I think it’s rehearsing.

SHORTZ: Rehearsing is correct. Simulated, S-I-M-U-L-A-T-E-D.

MCDOWELL: Simulated. Stimulated.

SHORTZ: That’s correct. Geologist, G-E-O-L-O-G-I-S-T. It’s someone who deals with precious stones.

MCDOWELL: Gemologist?

SHORTZ: A gemologist is right. How about eternally? E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y.

MCDOWELL: How about externally?

SHORTZ: Excellent. Minestone, M-I-N-E-S-T-O-N-E.

MCDOWELL: Minestrone?

SHORTZ: The soup is correct. And your last one is implement, I-M-P-L-E-M-E-N-T.

MCDOWELL: Implement.

SHORTZ: This is kind of a weird one. Put a vowel between the P and the L.

MCDOWELL: Is impalement?

SHORTZ: You got it. Impalement.

RASCOE: OK (laughter), OK. Now, some of those, I was, like, is that a word?

SHORTZ: Not exactly everyday words, some of those.

RASCOE: (Laughter) Were you writing it down, too? – because I couldn’t think of it in my head. I had to write them all down.

MCDOWELL: That probably would have helped.

RASCOE: But how do you feel?

MCDOWELL: Mixed, I would say.

(LAUGHTER)

SHORTZ: Oh, you should feel good. You did a great job.

RASCOE: Yes, you did an awesome job.

MCDOWELL: Oh, thank you.

RASCOE: For playing our puzzle today, you’ll get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin, as well as puzzle books and games. You can read all about it at npr.org/puzzle. And Sam, what member station do you listen to?

MCDOWELL: Colorado Public Radio.

RASCOE: That’s Sam McDowell of Boulder, Colorado. Thanks so much for playing the Puzzle.

MCDOWELL: Thank you.

RASCOE: OK, Will. What’s next week’s challenge?

SHORTZ: Yes, it comes from Mike Reiss, who’s a showrunner, writer and producer for “The Simpsons.”

Name a famous English author. Change the first letter of the last name to an S, then move the first, second and final letters of that last name to go in front of the first name, and the resulting string of letters, reading from left to right, will name a major American city. What is it?

So again, a famous English author, change the first letter of the last name to S, then move the first, second and last letters of that last name in front of the first name, and the resulting string of letters from left to right will name a major American city. What city is it?

RASCOE: You have your assignment, puzzlers. When you have the answer, go to our website, npr.org/puzzle. To submit your response, just fill out the form on the puzzle page. Remember, just one entry, please. Our deadline for entries this week is Thursday, September 4 at 3 p.m. Eastern. Don’t forget to include a phone number where we can reach you.

If you’re the winner, we’ll give you a call, and if you pick up the phone, you’ll get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and puzzlemaster of WEEKEND EDITION, Will Shortz. Thank you, Will.

SHORTZ: Thank you, Ayesha.

(SOUNDBITE OF STEVEN HENLEY JR.’S “PLAY THE PUZZLE”)

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Sunday Puzzle: Plus one

NPR

On-air challenge

I’m going to give you some nine-letter words. For each one, insert a letter somewhere inside it to make a familiar 10-letter word.

Ex. MEDIATION –> C to make MEDI C ATION or T to make MEDI T ATION

IMPERIOUS HEADWATER PACEMAKER REHEARING SIMULATED GEOLOGIST ETERNALLY MINESTONE IMPLEMENT

Last week’s challenge

Last week’s challenge came from Bobby Jacobs, of Glen Allen, Va. Take the first and last names of a famous athlete. Change the first letter of the last name to L, and rearrange the result to get the first and last names of another famous athlete. In each case the first name has six letters and the last name has five. These are athletes everyone knows. Who are they?

Sponsor Message

Challenge answer

Simone Biles –> Lionel Messi

Winner

Sam McDowell of Boulder, Colorado

This week’s challenge

This week’s challenge came from Mike Reiss, who’s a showrunner, writer, and producer for “The Simpsons.” Name a famous English author. Change the first letter of the last name to an S. Then move the first, second, and final letters of that last name in front of the first name. The resulting string of letters reading from left to right will name a major American city. What city is it?

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, September 4th at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.

Jump to: Tricky Clues | Today’s Theme

SUNDAY PUZZLE — Will Shortz, in his print introduction to this grid, writes: “Ruth Bloomfield Margolin, of Westfield, N.J., serves on several community philanthropic boards. Her daughter, Hannah Margolin, of Brooklyn, works for an older-adult services nonprofit. Hannah says she’s been solving crosswords with her mom since she was a tween. ‘My mom used to send me crosswords in the mail at summer camp and she’d pre-fill the answers she knew I wouldn’t know.’ Now they collaborate in constructing as well as solving.”

I know that solving a crossword is a family affair for many of us, so why not construct one together, too? This puzzle’s theme is sweet, and it’s so witty that it’s bound to have people rolling in the aisles.

Today’s Theme

There are nine entries in this theme set, at 23-, 25-, 34-, 52-, 68-, 86-, 101-, 115- and 117-Across. Each is clued with a question. To answer it, the title of the puzzle, “Bringing a Plus One,” is important in two ways.

I used plenty of letters from crossing entries to figure out the answers to a couple of these clues before I figured out the trick. The clues are clever and, in many cases, deducible. At 23-Across, for example, [Make a partner’s beard presentable for all the photos?] solves to SHAVE THE DATE. 25-Across, [Poet hired to write the couple’s vows in flowery verse?] is CASH BARD. “Save the date” with an “h” thrown in, and “cash bar” with a “d”: Each answer is a common expression with an added letter, or a “plus one.”