< Care For A Little Spa Treatment? Try The SPA In This Week's Puzzle

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Hillary Clinton answered hours of questions this past week at the congressional Benghazi hearing. But nobody asked her for a six-letter synonym for awesome - Puzzle. Here's where I bring in Will Shortz. He's the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master. Hey, Will. Good morning and welcome back.

WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel. Thank you.

MARTIN: So refresh our memories. This was a two-week challenge, right?

SHORTZ: Yeah, it was a creative challenge. The goal was to write a 10-word sentence in which each word ends with the same letter of the alphabet. And I said, entries would be judged on sensibility, naturalness of syntax and overall elegance. Well, there were a lot of good ones, just tons of good ones. But I'd like to read you my favorite runners-up before I tell you the winner.

MARTIN: OK. Yeah, let's do it.

SHORTZ: From Steph Merryman, he wrote, before we solve the puzzle challenge, we prepare some coffee. How appropriate is that?

MARTIN: Nice.

SHORTZ: This is from Patrick Berry. Children grown when stern policemen begin crackdown on Halloween fun.

MARTIN: (Laughter) Seasonal.

SHORTZ: Seasonal, yes. And one more runner-up - from Dave Moran. Sanders dismisses Mrs. Clinton's emails, suggests debaters suggest serious issues.

MARTIN: Also nice and timely.

SHORTZ: That is just beautiful.

MARTIN: Yeah, cool.

SHORTZ: But the best sentence, in my opinion, came from Kate Simpson. And she wrote another timely one - can neurosurgeon Ben Carson pen down nomination in 'sixteen? Thought that was clever, made sense, it was topical, just loved it.

MARTIN: And so she won. Kate Simpson of Kensington, Md. Let me just remind listeners, we did this in a different way. We did not randomly select our winner. Will read each and every entry and he judged them on their merits. And so he picked yours, Kate. Hi, congratulations.

KATE SIMPSON: Thank you.

MARTIN: What inspired you to write this sentence?

SIMPSON: Well, I live near Washington, and so politics is always there. And I was trying to think of a politician whose first and last names ended with the same letter. And I couldn't do it with Marco Rubio, so I thought I'd try Ben Carson.

MARTIN: And it worked out for you.

SIMPSON: It did.

MARTIN: What do you do in Kensington?

SIMPSON: I'm an English composition assistant at a local high school.

MARTIN: So you're kind of predisposed to being good at things like this?

SIMPSON: Sometimes.

MARTIN: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: What do you think about playing The Puzzle? You feel up to it?

SIMPSON: I'm going to do it. I'm terribly nervous.

MARTIN: Oh, it's going to be fine.

SIMPSON: Yeah, OK.

MARTIN: It always is, you know?

SIMPSON: Yeah, well...

MARTIN: I'm here to help you if you need it, but...

SIMPSON: OK.

MARTIN: ...Will, take it away.

SHORTZ: All right, Kate and Rachel, today's theme is SPAs. Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word starts with S and the second word starts with P-A. For example, if I said something to jot notes on, you might say scrap paper or you could say scratch pad. Either answer works for SPA.

MARTIN: Cool. OK. You got it, Kate?

SIMPSON: Yeah, I think so.

MARTIN: Give it a go.

SHORTZ: Number one - twin city of Minneapolis.

SIMPSON: St. Paul.

SHORTZ: That's it. Number two - John McCain's running mate in 2008.

SIMPSON: Sarah Palin.

SHORTZ: That's it. What good things come in, they say?

SIMPSON: Small parcels.

SHORTZ: OK, small packages.

MARTIN: Small packages is the American version (laughter).

SHORTZ: Sounds very British.

SIMPSON: Yeah, sorry. I could go Scots if you want.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: We'll take either.

SHORTZ: We'll take either one. Rogers and Hammerstein musical with the songs...

SIMPSON: "South Pacific."

SHORTZ: You didn't even need my hint, "Some Enchanted Evening." Right. Money source for a presidential candidate.

SIMPSON: Oh, something pack.

SHORTZ: Yes, what kind?

SIMPSON: Secret?

SHORTZ: Yeah, secret PAC is interesting, but what's better than good starting with S?

SIMPSON: Super?

MARTIN: Yeah.

SHORTZ: A super PAC is it. Someone to practice boxing with?

SIMPSON: Spar partner.

SHORTZ: That's it. Try this one - lepton or muon.

SIMPSON: Sorry, could you say that again?

SHORTZ: Lepton - that's L-E-P-T-O-N - or muon.

MARTIN: Yeah, didn't help me to have you say it twice, funny enough (laughter).

SIMPSON: No, it's didn't help (laughter).

SHORTZ: And it's from physics. Do you have any idea, Rachel?

MARTIN: Well, is the second word particles?

SHORTZ: Yes, what kind of particle?

SIMPSON: Seismic - no.

MARTIN: Super small?

SHORTZ: Super small. I've got to tell you. It's a subatomic particle.

SIMPSON: (Laughter).

MARTIN: Subatomic, of course.

SIMPSON: Oh, OK.

SHORTZ: All right, try this - bit of facial hair on the lower lip.

MARTIN: Oh, I know this.

SIMPSON: Oh, go for it.

MARTIN: (Laughter) Soul patch.

SHORTZ: Soul patch is it, nice. Standard beer purchase at a grocery.

SIMPSON: Six-pack.

SHORTZ: Uh-huh. Social occasion for men only.

SIMPSON: Stag party.

SHORTZ: That's it. And your last one - contents of a can used by a graffiti artist.

SIMPSON: Spray paint.

MARTIN: Yay.

SHORTZ: That is it.

MARTIN: Good job. There were a couple of tough ones, but you did great.

SIMPSON: Thank you.

MARTIN: For playing The Puzzle, you get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pen and all kinds of other good stuff. You can read about your prizes on our website, npr.org/puzzle. And, Kate, where do you hear us? What's your public radio station?

SIMPSON: I'm a member of WAMU and my husband's a member of WITS.

MARTIN: Great, Kate Simpson of Kensington, Md. Thanks so much for playing The Puzzle, Kate.

SIMPSON: Thank you so much.

MARTIN: OK, Will, what's up for next week?

SHORTZ: Yes, the challenge comes from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. It's a word puzzle, though, not a math puzzle. The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters, seven consonants - H, K, L, M, N, P and W, plus the five vowels A, E, I, O and U. Use all 12 of these and repeat four of them to get 16 letters in all that can be arranged to name a well-known holiday item. What is it? And as a hint, I'll tell you it's a two-word answer. So again, take the 12 letters of the Hawaiian alphabet, repeat four of them and use those 16 letters and rearrange them to name a well-known holiday item.

MARTIN: OK, when you figured it out, go to npr.org/puzzle. Click on that Submit Your Answer link. You can see other runners-up in the creative challenge there, too, by the way. Limit yourself, though, to one entry per person for this puzzle. And our deadline for entries is Thursday, October 29 at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Don't forget to include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And if you're the winner, then we'll give you a call. And then you get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times. And he is WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Thanks so much, Will.

SHORTZ: Thanks, Rachel.

Copyright © 2015 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.