On Sundays, Weekend Edition combines the news with colorful arts and human-interest features, appealing to the curious and eclectic. With a nod to traditional Sunday habits, the program offers a fix for diehard crossword addicts-word games and brainteasers with The Puzzlemaster, a.k.a. Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times. With Hansen on the sidelines, a caller plays the latest word game on the air while listeners compete silently at home. The NPR mailbag is proof that the competition to go head-to-head with Shortz is rather vigorous.
Another trademark of Sunday's program is "Voices in the News," a montage of sound bites from the past week, poignant in its simplicity. Hansen also engages listeners in her discussions with regular contributors, who cover a wide range of national and international issues.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Glory Dolphin Hammes, CEO of IQAir North America, about the difficulties of tracking wildfire smoke.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Bloomberg AI infrastructure reporter Dina Bass about concerns over circular financing in the AI sector.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Ariane Tabatabai of the the Chicago Council on Global Affairs about potential offramps from the war available to the U.S. and Iran.
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Germany's Langenscheidt dictionary publisher awards an annual prize for best new word or phrase as voted by teenagers. This year, the phrase "du bist gut genug"(you are good enough), from a song that went viral, is on the shortlist. It's better known as "doobie scoot canoe."
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Frozen yogurt, or froyo, has had waves of popularity, starting in the 1980s. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to journalist Rachel Kurzius, who says we're in the midst of a "third wave froyo renaissance."
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Shaboozey, whose new album, "The Outlaw Cherie Lee and Other Western Tales," tells a tale of revenge in the Wild West.
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NPR's Books We Love is back with some staff recommendations for novels.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe discusses America's declining trust in public health officials with Marianne Udow-Phillips, a lecturer at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan.
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NPR's Lakshmi Singh reports on how volunteers at a Maryland senior living community are bringing back the art of letter writing with a unique pen pal program. (This story first aired on All Things Considered on July 29, 2026.)
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As part of our series on breakfasts from around the world, we take a look at Vegemite, the iconic salty, yeasty spread popular in Australia.