Will Shortz

On-air challenge: Every answer today is a word, name, or familiar phrase in which the only consonants are G and L — each of which may be repeated any number of times. Besides G's and L's, all the other letters are vowels — A, E, I, O, or U.

Example: Against the law --> ILLEGAL

1. Ice home in the Arctic

2. Scum on top of a pond

3. Group of geese

4. Popular search engine

5. Russian dramatist Nikolai

6. Bags packed for the airport

7. Winemaker Ernest or Julio

8. Pioneering astronomer from Pisa

On-air challenge: I've brought a game of categories based on the word MAROC — the French way to say Morocco. For each category, name something in it starting with each of the letters M-A-R-O-C. For example, if the category were "Two-Syllable Girls' Names," you might say Mary, Amy, Rachel, Opal, and Carly. Here are the categories:

1. U.S. PRESIDENTS

2. FOREIGN MAKES OF CARS

3. THINGS FOUND ON A BOAT

On-air challenge: For each 5-letter word, add two letters at the end to complete a common, uncapitalized 7-letter word that is unrelated in meaning to the first one.

Example: UNCLE --> UNCLEAN or UNCLEAR

1. EXTRA

2. SURGE

3. MARSH

4. PLACE

5. SHELL

6. BLANK

7. INFER

8. INTER

9. COMMA

10. COLON

11. WHIST

12. FINES

13. MAXIM

14. AGAIN

15. VIOLA

16. DISCO

17. PLATE

18. BREAD

On-air challenge: Every answer is the name of a famous person with only one name — either because they literally had only one name or because they are generally known by one name. I'll give you anagrams. You name the people.

Example: USUAL - U Biblical king --> SAUL

1. VIDEO - E Roman poet

2. CHROME - C Greek poet

3. LEADER - R Singer

4. SHAKEN - N Singer

5. TITANIC - C Italian artist

6. PEARL ASH - S Painter

7. OPTICIAN - I Native American leader

On-air challenge: Every answer is a familiar phrase in the form of ___ and ___ in which the first word starts with the letter C. I'll give you the last word of the phrase, you tell me the missing first word.

Example: PASTE --> CUT

1. MOUSE

2. ROBBERS

3. SAUCER

4. TIE

5. BULL

6. CARRY

7. ALE

8. PUNISHMENT

9. DAGGER

10. UNUSUAL

11. EFFECT

12. WHEY

13. WESTERN

14. BURN

15. GOWN

16. SUGAR

17. RELEASE

18. POLLUX

19. DRIVER

On-air challenge: I'm going to read you some sentences. Each sentence has two blanks. The word that goes in the first blank starts GR-. Change the GR- to CR- and phonetically you'll get a new word that goes in the second blank to complete the sentence.

For example: At brunch I put ______ jelly on top of my ______. GRAPE, CREPE

1. Folding my bus ticket to Athens, ______, left a permanent ______ in it.

2. At school I always put off studying sentence structure until the last minute, so you might call me a ______ ______.

On-air challenge: This week's puzzle is called "High C's." Every answer is a word or name with the accented syllable "see" (in any spelling) somewhere inside it.

Example: Neighborhood in Los Angeles next to Sherman Oaks --> ENCINO

1. Place in ancient Rome where gladiators fought

2. Pill used in medical tests that has no medical effect

3. Resident of Nashville or Memphis

4. The noun that a pronoun refers back to

5. Like some hairlines and tides

6. Classic Notre Dame football coach Ara

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you two 4-letter words. Rearrange the letters in each of them to make two new words that rhyme.

Example: CAFE, SAVE --> FACE, VASE

1. COLA, LOSE

2. NEAR, RENT

3. LIVE, LIMA

4. DAIS, DEAL

5. SING, DENY

6. EACH, BEAK

7. OPUS, POLO

8. PALE, KEEN

9. RELY, RITE

10. ONCE, NEWS

11. OARS, OGRE

12. WENT, ROTO

13, THAW, THUS

14. ISLE, ZEAL

On-air challenge: Every answer is a word containing the accented syllable, PEN.

Example: Terrific --> Stupendous

1. A 1-cent coin

2. A part added on at the end of a book

3. A five-sided figure

4. Straps to hold one's pants up

5. Part of a grandfather clock that swings

6. Pricey

7. Money for a retired person

8. Expressing sincere remorse

9. A city on the Florida Panhandle

10. The capital of Cambodia

11. A facility where drugs are given out

12. What a red flag means in sports

On-air challenge: This puzzle is something different. Read these statements involving words and names, and figure out if they're true or not.

1. George Herbert Walker Bush is the only U.S. president with four names in his birth name.

2. Maine is the only one-syllable state name in the U.S.

3. "Chicago" is the only Academy Award-winning "Best Film" whose name is a city.

4. Hawaii is the only U.S. state whose name ends in a double letter.

5. Tin is the only 3-letter element on the periodic table.

On-air challenge: Every answer today is the name of a fabric or clothing material. You name it from its anagram.

Example: CLEAN - N --> LACE

1. LIKES - E

2. ON LOW - N

3. NOTARY - T

4. MAIDEN - A

5. ANTICS - C

6. ARCHLY - H

7. RECIPE - I

8. CONTORT - R

9. CALDRON - L

10. REMATCHES - T

11. YOUR CROWD - W

On-air challenge: Every answer is a six-letter word or name ending in the letters D-O.

Example: Gilbert and Sullivan opera, with "The" --> MIKADO

1. Black-and-white outfit worn to a fancy party

2. Sexual drive

3. Oddball

4. Kind of dragon

5. Brand of swim trunks

6. Brand of luxury watches

7. Texas city on the Mexican border

8. Fourth-largest city of Ohio

9. Actor who starred in "The Godfather"

10. Spanish for Saturday

11. Spanish for "when"

12. Prefix meaning "fake"

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you some words and a category. Name something in the category whose letters can be found in left-to-right order in the word — although not consecutively. Every answer has 5 letters.

Example: HUMANOID — World capital ---> HANOI

1. AVENUES — Planet

2. BIODIESEL — State capital

3. UNDERSHRUB — Prime minister of India

4. HOGSHEAD — Book of the Old Testament

5. COMING OUT — African river

6. OCCUPIED — One of Santa's reindeer

On-air challenge: Think of a made-up two-word phrase. Each word has two syllables. The first syllable has a long-E vowel sound. Change that to a long-A sound and phonetically you'll get the second word of the phrase.

Example: Jewish roll for a long-eared dog --> BEAGLE BAGEL

1. Weak story from Aesop

2. One who despises furnaces

3. What an angel wears in the biggest city on Hawaii's Big Island

4. More fashionable member of a more stylish salt or pepper holder

5. Standard feature of church spires

On-air challenge: Every answer today is a familiar two-word phrase or name with the initials S-F.

Example. Eating utensil to the left of the dinner plate --> SALAD FORK

1. Genre for H.G. Wells or Ray Bradbury

2. Place to order a milkshake

3. Up till now

4. Green Berets, for example

5. Largest city in South Dakota

6. 12" x 12"

7. Light precipitation in the winter

8. French expression for the ability to act appropriately in social situations

9. Method of people walking one after another

On-air challenge: Every answer today is the name of a famous person with only one name — either because they literally had only one name or because they chose to go by one name in show business. I'll give you anagrams. You name the people.

On-air challenge: I'm going to read you some sentences. Each one conceals the name of a U.S. city both phonetically and by spelling. Name the cities.

Example: The musician composed a crackerjack sonata in Mississippi --> JACKSON

1. The governor did a handspring fielding questions in Illinois.

2. My grandmother would belittle rocking chairs from Arkansas.

3. I'm looking for semipro vocational training in Utah.

4. Everyone hated to see Wilbur bankrupted in California.

5. Let's plan singalongs all around Michigan.

On-air challenge: Every answer is a word or name in which the second syllable sounds like the letter "K." The syllable is always accented, and there's at least one syllable after it.

Example: Flowering tree that grows in warm climates --> ACACIA

1. Time off from work when you travel somewhere

2. Mount Etna or Mount St. Helens

3. 17-year locust

4. Distracting from real life, as fantasy novels

5. A place

6. One's profession

7. Irish dramatist Seán

8. National park along the coast of Maine

On-air challenge: Every answer is the name of a country, for which I'll give you an anagram. For example, PANE + L = NEPAL. The added letter at the end of the anagram will always be the last letter in the name of the country.

1. INCH + A

2. TAIL + Y

3. VITAL + A

4. ARISE + L

5. LINEAR + D

6. LOOMING + A

7. LIVES ON + A

8. ACROSTIC + A

On-air challenge:

I'm going to give you two words. Change one letter in the first word to name a category of things. And change one letter in the second word to name something in that category.

Example: Inject Wash --> INSECT, WASP

1. Foal Thicken

2. Blower Phony

3. Ration Fiance

4. Allow Bronte

5. Wright Dunce

6. Maternal Pylon

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

Example: Dirt Skate --> CHEAP [dirt cheap, cheapskate]

1. Rocking Lift

2. Blank Mark

3. Flow Topper

4. Wind Pill

5. Lucky Bracelet

6. Fire Justice

7. Treasure Protector

8. Cover Card

9. Say Board

10. Wild Pick

On-air challenge: I've brought a game of Categories based on the word THINK. For each category I give, name something in it starting with each of the letters T-H-I-N-K. For example, if the category were "Boys' Names," you might say Tom, Hank, Ike, Nick and Kent. Any answer that works is OK, and you can give the answers in any order.

1. U.S. States

2. Football Terms

3. Parts of the Human Body

4. Things Seen on a Dinner Table

5. Five-Letter Words Ending in 'O'

On-air challenge: Today's puzzle is based on the names of famous writers of mysteries, crime fiction and spy novels. Their last names have been anagrammed. You name the writers.

Example: OUST + T --> (Rex) STOUT

1. ITCHIER + S (Agatha)

2. RANCHED + L (Raymond)

3. ESSAY + R (Dorothy)

4. WEAKEST + L (Donald)

5. LENDER + L (Ruth)

6. ORDEAL + N (Elmore)

7. CAREER + L (John; 2 wds.)

8. SALONS + R (Stieg)

9. SPANIEL + L (Mickey)

10. MINGLE + F (Ian)

On-air challenge: Every answer is a word that has the accented syllable "tor" somewhere inside it.

Example: 1946 Hitchcock film --> NOTORIOUS

1. Winning

2. Someone who studies the past

3. What "!" stands for in mathematics

4. Class for one person or a very small group

5. Newspaper piece that expresses an opinion

6. Fill in the blank: ___ Guinea (country in Africa)

7. Act of twisting something out of its natural shape

8. Musical work for an orchestra

9. One of the capitals of South Africa

On-air challenge: Every answer is the name of an Academy Awards best actress winner from over the years — except I've anagrammed their last names. You name the actresses.

Example: Emma NOTES --> Emma Stone (La La Land, 2016)

1. Julianne ROMEO

2. Meryl PESTER

3. Natalie TRAMP ON

4. Kate LET'S WIN

5. Holly THE URN

6. Jodie FOREST

7. Sally FIDEL

8. Diane A TOKEN

9. Barbra TARDINESS

10. Julie WANDERS

11. Simone TOE RINGS

12. Helen AH YES

On-air challenge: In celebration of Presidents Day, every answer is the name of a U.S. president. I'm going to give you some words and familiar phrases. For each one, name a president in which the consonants are the same — and in the same order — as the consonants in the word or phrase.

Example: CREATURE --> CARTER

1. AFRAID

2. OREGON

3. BEAM

4. MEANER

5. HEAVIER

6. HURRIES IN

7. PRICE

8. GUARANTEE

9. RATHER

10. ICE LEDGE

11. OUTER MOON

On-air challenge: I'm going to read you two words. Think of a third word that can follow my first one and precede my second one, in each case to complete a common two-word phrase. As a help, each answer starts with the letter O.

Example: Grand Night --> OPENING (grand opening, opening night)

1. Pecking Form

2. Snake Well

3. Oval Hours

4. Agent Juice

5. Second Poll

6. Soap House

7. House Grinder

8. U.S. Sesame

9. Green Rings

On-air challenge: Every answer is a word or name that has the accented syllable "no" somewhere inside it.

Example: Kind of equation in mathematics --> BINOMIAL or POLYNOMIAL

1. Children's character whose nose grows when he lies

2. Wine-making region of California

3. Trance-like state in which a person may be easily manipulated

4. Site of a 1986 nuclear disaster in Ukraine

5. Brilliantly exploding star

6. One of the longest rivers in South America

7. French city that hosted the 1968 Winter Olympics

On-air challenge: This is my annual "New Names in the News Quiz." I'll name some people and things you probably never heard of until 2018, but who sprang to prominence during the past 12 months. You tell me who and what they are. My list was compiled with the help of Kathie Baker, who played one of my year-end quizzes in the past.

1. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

2. Stacey Abrams

3. Jair Bolsonaro

4. Mark Judge, Donny and Squee

5. David Hogg

6. Sergei Skripal

7. Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you two words. Change one letter in the first word to name a category of things. And change one letter in the second word to name something in that category.

Ex. PETAL COPIER --> METAL, COPPER
1. STAGE MAIZE
2. CORN QUARTET
3. DUMBER FORTE
4. RING CHARGES
12. RATIONALITY SWIMS