Sunday Puzzle: Game Of Words

On-air Challenge: Every answer today is a pair of phrases in the form of "___ of ___," where the phrases can end in two ways. I'll give you the two ways those phrases can end. You give me the starting word. Every starting word is five letters long. Ex. Bread / Life --> SLICE (slice of bread, slice of life)1. Way / First refusal2. Mind / The Union3. Purchase / The pudding4. Wheat / The crop5. Cards / Representatives6. Paper / Cake7. View / No return8. May / All9. Golf / Applause10. Sheba / Hearts11. Mind / Music

Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge was a spinoff of my on-air puzzle, and it was a little tricky. Think of a hyphenated word you might use to describe a young child that sounds like three letters spoken one after the other.

Challenge answer: Q-T-Pi

Winner: Gary St. Germain of Highland, Calif.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Derrick Niederman, of Charleston, S.C. Starting in Montana, you can drive into South Dakota and then into Iowa. Those three states have the postal abbreviations MT, SD, and IA — whose letters can be rearranged to spell AMIDST. The challenge is to do this with four connected states to make an eight-letter word. That is, start in a certain state, drive to another, then another, and then another. Take the postal abbreviations of the four states you visit, mix the letters up, and use them to spell a common eight-letter word. Derrick and I know of only one answer. Can you do this?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to next week's challenge, submit it here by Thursday, Feb. 4, at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you. [Copyright 2021 NPR]