P.S., Think U Have It Solved?

On-Air Challenge

This week's puzzle involves the letters P-S-U as in Portland State University, where Will spoke on Saturday. Each answer is a familiar two-word phrase in which the first word starts with "P" and the second word starts with "SU." For example, if the clue is "What a lawyer conducts to see if an invention has been made before," the answer would be "patent survey."

Last Week's Challenge

It was an extension of an on-air challenge in which each clue consists of two words starting with the letter "C," and the answer is a third word starting with "C" that can follow the first word and precede the second one to complete a compound word or familiar two-word phrase. Some of the chains of "C" words in the puzzle can be extended in either direction. For example, the chain "cold-cash-cow" could be lengthened by adding "common" at the start to make "common cold," and "college" at the end to make "cow college." The five-word circuit would then be "common-cold-cash-cow-college."

The challenge is to find a chain of "C" words to connect "carbon" to "circuit." Will's chain has seven words between "carbon" and "circuit." The answer doesn't have to match Will's, but each word has to start with "C," and each has to combine with the words before and after to make a compound word or familiar two-word phrase.

ANSWER: At least 2 answers would work:

carbon — copy — center — court — case — closed — circuit

carbon — copy — cat — call — center — court — case — closed — circuit

WINNER: Ken Harris of Slippery Rock, Pa.

Next Week's Challenge

From listener Doug Heller of Flourtown, Pa.: Think of a beverage with a 2-word name. The first word has 3 letters and the second word has 9. Arrange the letters of the 9-letter word in a 3x3 box with the first 3 letters across the top, the middle 3 across the center and the last 3 across the bottom. If you've named the right beverage, you can read down the center column to get the 3-letter word in the beverage's name. What beverage is this?

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.