JAMES HATTORI, host:
From NPR News, this is WEEKEND EDITION. I'm James Hattori, sitting in for Liane Hansen.
And joining us now is puzzle master Will Shortz. Hi, Will.
WILL SHORTZ: Hi, James.
HATTORI: You know, Will, I have been filling in for Liane for three weeks now and you've finally converted me. I'm a puzzle freak now.
SHORTZ: All right.
HATTORI: Of course, you'll have Liane back next week to challenge even more than I know - you even go easy on my this time.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HATTORI: What else can I do to build on my newfound affection for puzzles, Will?
SHORTZ: Well, you know the movie "Wordplay" about crossword puzzles and me that was a hit two years ago. It's going to be on PBS Tuesday from 10 to 11:30 eastern time and it kicks off a new season of "Independent Lens." So check it out.
HATTORI: All the fans, I'm sure, will be waiting to see that on the air. Why don't you remind us now the challenge that you left us with last week?
SHORTZ: Yes. I said name a well-known city in the United States, two words, 10 letters all together. Add the letter A at the front and add the city's two-letter state postal abbreviation at the end. The resulting 13-letter chain will be a palindrome - that is it will read backward and forward the same. What is it?
HATTORI: Well, I struggle with it but didn't manage to come up with so what's the answer?
SHORTZ: The answer is Walla Walla, Washington.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HATTORI: I've actually been to Walla Walla. They like the name so much they named it twice, right?
SHORTZ: That's right.
HATTORI: Well, like I said that was a tough one for me but, you know, that's not saying the whole lot. Apparently, it was easy for a lot of people. We received about 3,000 correct entries to this week's puzzle.
And our randomly selected winner this week is David Jernigan of San Antonio, Texas.
Hey, David.
Mr. DAVID JERNIGAN (Puzzle Winner; Resident, San Antonio, Texas): Hey. Hello.
HATTORI: Now, did I hear correctly that you're a fan of this movie as well that we were talking about a second ago?
Mr. JERNIGAN: Yes. In fact, I met Will Shortz at Sundance Film Festival in 2006. I attended one of the screenings of the movie. He was there along with a lot of the folks who were featured in the film. And so I actually met him afterwards and was able to speak to him how much I enjoyed the film and his puzzle segments. And, in fact, just a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I watched the movie on DVD because she had not seen it yet.
HATTORI: Well, there it is. Your biggest fan, Will, right there in San Antonio, Texas. So how long have you been playing the puzzle, David?
Mr. JERNIGAN: I actually started playing the puzzle before I got married, so I got married 12 years ago. So I remember dating and being at my future in-laws' house trying to figure out the puzzles back in the days when you had to mail them on a postcard.
HATTORI: Of course you probably had more trouble back then because you were more preoccupied with your spouse.
Mr. JERNIGAN: I had some destruction then. Yes.
HATTORI: Yeah. Well, David, meet Will and let's go head and start.
SHORTZ: All right, David, I have a feeling you're going to be a good puzzler today. I just got back from Rio de Janeiro, the site of this year's World Puzzle Championship, which is what inspired this puzzle. Every answer is a seven-letter word or name that contains the consecutive letters R-I-O, somewhere in it. For example, if I gave you the clue inquisitive, you would say curious.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Okay.
SHORTZ: All right. Number one is a lover of one's country.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Patriot.
SHORTZ: Patriot is right. Number two is Toronto's province.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Ontario.
SHORTZ: Uh-huh. Not joking around.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Serious.
SHORTZ: Uh-huh. Baseball team that plays at Camden Yards.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Orioles.
SHORTZ: Good. Screamingly funny.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Riotous.
SHORTZ: Excellent. A man experienced in battle.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Warrior.
SHORTZ: Uh-huh. Very angry.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Furious.
SHORTZ: Yes. Vehicle in Ben Hur.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Chariot.
SHORTZ: That's right. A light-French roll.
Mr. JERNIGAN: I'm sorry. Light French, what?
SHORTZ: Roll or bun.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Croissant?
SHORTZ: No. I doesn't have R-I-O consecutive in it.
Mr. JERNIGAN: I'm afraid I'm blanking on that one.
SHORTZ: And the R-I-O those at the second, third, and fourth letters, in case that helps.
HATTORI: Kind of a more baked and kind of harder than a croissant, and kind of rounded sometimes.
Mr. JERNIGAN: I can't come up with that. I'm showing my culinary ignorance on this one.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HATTORI: Do I get to guess?
SHORTZ: You go ahead.
HATTORI: How about brioche?
SHORTZ: Brioche is right. Good. Highway caustic criticism.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Highway caustic criticism. I'm blanking on that one too.
SHORTZ: Something - it's really nasty. Do you know it, James?
HATTORI: No. I'm blank on that one too. Sorry.
SHORTZ: That's vitriol.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Oh. Of course.
SHORTZ: Vitriol. Try this one. Diverse or assorted.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Various.
SHORTZ: That's right. An ancient trumpet or its shrill sound.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Clarion.
SHORTZ: Uh-huh. A resident of Nicosia.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Cypriot.
SHORTZ: Cypriot. Excellent. Richard, who is mayor of Los Angeles from 1993 to 2001.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Riordan.
SHORTZ: That's good. This - next one is a two-word phrase, deductive as reasoning.
Mr. JERNIGAN: Deductive as reasoning. My, I need some help with this one.
SHORTZ: And the first part of the two-word phrase is one letter and the second part is six letters.
Mr. JERNIGAN: One letter followed by six letters.
SHORTZ: Yeah. Deductive. It's a kind of reasoning.
Mr. JERNIGAN: May need held with this one also.
SHORTZ: Do you know, James?
HATTORI: No. I'll need the help as well.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SHORTZ: I'll just tell you the answer. It's a priori.
DAVID: Oh.
HATTORI: Ah.
SHORTZ: A priori. And here is your last one: it's an informal British goodbye.
DAVID: Cheerio.
SHORTZ: Cheerio is correct.
HATTORI: Wow. I mean the first one you're on a real roll.
SHORTZ: Oh, I save the hard ones for the end, that's why.
HATTORI: I guess so. Well that was still pretty good, David.
DAVID: Thank you.
HATTORI: You're obviously a practitioner of puzzles going way back. And for playing us today, you'll get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin and the "11th edition of Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus," the "Scrabble Deluxe Edition" from Parker Brother's, and "The Puzzle Master Presents" from Random House volume 2, plus Will Shortz's "Little Black Book of Sudoku" and "Black and White Book of Crosswords" from St. Martin's Press, and one of Will Shortz's "Puzzle Master Decks of Riddles and Challenges" from Chronicle Books.
David, tell us what member station you listen to there in San Antonio?
DAVID: It's KFTX.
HATTORI: All right. David Jernigan from San Antonio, Texas, thanks again for playing the puzzle with us this week.
DAVID: Thank you very much. It's was very enjoyable.
HATTORI: All right.
Will, so what is the challenge for next week?
SHORTZ: Yes, it comes from listener Steve Dobinsback(ph) of Harleysville, Pennsylvania. Name a country in 11 letters that contains an R in its name. Change the R to a K and rearrange all letters to name three who makes of automobiles. What are they? So, again a country in 11 letters. It contains an R somewhere in its name. Change the R to a K - rearrange all the letters to name three who makes automobiles. What's the country and what are the autos?
HATTORI: Well, countries, autos and worlds all in one puzzle.
SHORTZ: That's right.
HATTORI: When you have the answer to this puzzle, go to our Web site npr.org and click on the, submit your answer, link on the Sunday puzzle page - only one entry per person please. Our deadline this week is Thursday at three p.m. eastern time. So, be sure to include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time in case you're the winner. We'll call you if you are the winner and you'll get to play puzzle on the air with the puzzle editor of the New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION'S puzzle master, Will Shortz.
Will, it's been fun filling in for Liane and I thank you again for being with us this week.
SHORTZ: It's been a pleasure, James. Thanks a lot.
HATTORI: And we'd like to remind all of you that the Sunday puzzle is available as a podcast, now you can listen to Will Shortz befuddling our listeners and me at your convenience. For information, go to out Web site npr.org and click on the podcast link.
Copyright © 2007 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.