Culture

Sunday Puzzle: City, State

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle along with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and KQED listener Sara McNinch of Redwood City, California.

Published August 9, 2026, 11:00 AM
Updated August 9, 2026, 10:26 PM2.5K
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Sunday Puzzle: City, State
Sunday Puzzle

Sunday Puzzle NPR hide caption

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NPR

Sunday Puzzle

Sunday Puzzle

NPR

On-air challenge

I'm going to give you some words. The first two or more letters start the name of a well-known U.S. city. The first two or more letters of that city's state will be the rest of the word. The dividing point in the word between the city and the state is for you to discover.

Ex. WHINE  -->  White Plains, New York

1. CHILL

2. LOCAL

3. CHEWY

4. LATEX

5. BLIND

6. MOVER

7. SALMA

8. TUMIS

9. CLONE

10. PASCAL

11. YANKS OUT

12. BOWLIKE

Last week's challenge

Last week's challenge came from Michael Schwartz, of Florence, Ore. Think of a type of exercise equipment in three syllables. Remove the two middle letters and you'll name a means of transportation. What words are these?

Answer: Trampoline --> tram line

Winner

Sara McNinch of Redwood City, California

This week's challenge

This week's challenge comes from Steve Baggish, of Arlington, Mass. Using only the letters of FACES NORTH, repeating them as often as you wish, you can spell a familiar expression in seven words (4,3,3,6,3,3,5). What expression is it?

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, August 13 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.

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