Culture

Sunday Puzzle: How It Started

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle along with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and K-Q-E-D listener Daniel Erenstein of Lafayette, California.

Published July 26, 2026, 11:00 AM
Updated July 26, 2026, 11:18 AM1.1K
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Sunday Puzzle: How It Started
Sunday Puzzle

Sunday Puzzle NPR hide caption

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NPR

Sunday Puzzle

Sunday Puzzle

NPR

On-air challenge

Answer each clue with a word that starts with the same first two letters as the clue.

Ex. Planetoid beyond Neptune --> PLUTO

1. Car at the end of a train
2. Early spring holiday
3. Windshield clearer
4. Bank amount
5. Boxing match
6. "Gilmore ___"
7. What crop North Dakota raises a lot of
8. Burger holder
9. Almighty one, to Muslims
10. Canada's current prime minister
11. Supporting straps for pants
12. Oranges are grown in it
13. Bales of hay are stored in it
14. City where the Reds play
15. Melodious amusement park ride

Last week's challenge

Last week's challenge came from my New York Times colleague Sam Ezersky. Take the name of a popular 21st-century film with animals, in eight letters. Remove the first and last letters, then change one of the remaining six letters to a C, to spell a plural word for certain animals. What words are these?

Answer

"Zootopia" --> octopi

Winner

Daniel Erenstein of Lafayette, California

This week's challenge

This week's challenge comes from Evan Kalish, of Bayside, N.Y. There is a set of five five-letter words that vary by just their middle letter. If the middle is any letter from K through O, it makes a common word. However, no other letter can go in the middle to complete a word. What words are these?

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, July 30 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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