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Sunday Puzzle: Accept Some Substitutes

Sunday Puzzle
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you some six-letter words. For each one, change one of the consonants to a vowel to make another familiar six-letter word.

Example: DEFECT --> DEFEAT
1. AVENGE
2. DIPPER
3. MIGHTY
4. PREPPY
5. GROUSE
6. MADDEN
7. BIKING
8. CARTER
9. GRANGE
10. DECENT
11. STANCH
12. STANCE

Last week's challenge: This came from listener Judy Horn, of Reading, Mass. Name a famous person with the initials M.C. The first initial and last name anagram to the person's field of renown. What is it?

Challenge answer: Michael Caine --> CINEMA

Winner: Danette Pachtner of Durham, N.C.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Greg VanMechelen of Berkeley, Calif. Take the name of a famous actor — 4 letters in the first name, 5 letters in the last. Spoonerize it. That is, interchange the initial consonant sounds of the first and last names. The result will be two new familiar first names — one male, one female — that start with the same letter ... but that letter is pronounced differently in the two names. Who's the actor?

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 by Thursday, Sept. 24, at 3 p.m. ET.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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).