NPR for Northern Colorado

Cool As A Cucumber

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On-Air Challenge: Every answer is a simile, in the form "___ as a ___." You are given a rhyme for the first and last words. For example, given "dead as a street," the answer would be "red as a beet."

Last Week's Challenge: From listener Dan Pitt of Palo Alto, Calif.: Name a unit of length in the plural form. Rearrange the letters to spell two units of weight, also in the plural form. What units are these?

Answer: "Angstroms," rearranged will get "tons" and "grams."

Winner: Paul Wagner of Eau Claire, Wis.

Next Week's Challenge:From listener Steve Baggish of Littleton, Mass.: Think of a nine-letter word naming a venue for certain sports. Three letters in the word are repeated. Remove all the repetitions, and the remaining six letters can be rearranged to name a piece of sports equipment. What are these two words?

Submit Your Answer

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

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz has appeared on Weekend Edition Sunday since the program's start in 1987. He's also the crossword editor of The New York Times, the former editor of Games magazine, and the founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (since 1978).