Culture

Sunday Puzzle: That's HOT!

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with KNOW listener Dan Sadoff of St. Paul, Minnesota along with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz.

Published June 28, 2026, 11:00 AM
Updated June 28, 2026, 12:23 PM3.7K
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Sunday Puzzle: That's HOT!

Sunday Puzzle: That's HOT!

Audio will be available later today.

Sunday Puzzle

Sunday Puzzle NPR hide caption

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NPR

Sunday Puzzle

Sunday Puzzle

NPR

On-air challenge

Today's theme is "hot." Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase in which the first word starts HO- and the second word starts with T-.

Ex. Rowdy bar with country music, in slang --> HONKY TONK
1. Guided walkthrough of a property
2. Any member of the N.H.L.
3. Lone Star State metropolis that's the fourth-largest city in the U.S.
4. Like an animal with its four legs bound (hyph.)
5. Instruction manual (hyph.)
6. A little pompous and arrogant, informally (hyph.)
7. Punny greeting from a magician
8. Someone who steals animals from a stable
9. Congestion that drivers encounter around July 4th, say
10. Acquisition of a company against its will.
11. Exclamation for "wow!" on TV's "Batman"

Last week's challenge

Last week's challenge comes from Evan Kalish, of Bayside, N.Y. Take the name of a nocturnal creature, in two words. The first word is a spooky sound. Move the last letter of the first word to the start of the second word and you'll get another spooky, nocturnal sound. What is the creature and what are the sounds?

Answer: Screech owl --> howl

Winner

Dan Sadoff of St. Paul, Minnesota

This week's challenge

This week's challenge comes from Rawson Sheinberg. of Plymouth, Mich. Think of a U.S. city with a two-word name. Add a letter to the first word, without rearranging letters, to name a country. Then, without adding a letter, rearrange the letters of the second word to name another country. What places are these?

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, July 2 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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