< Yule Never Guess The Theme To This Week's Song-Filled Puzzle

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.

(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN WILLIAMS SONG, "STAR WARS MAIN THEME")

MARTIN: You've been waiting for what seems like forever. You can't get the theme song out of your head. You have channeled the force. And now you are ready. It's time for the puzzle.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: Joining me now is Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master. Good morning, Will.

WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: You a big "Star Wars" fan?

SHORTZ: I am. I was there opening night in 1977, was it?

MARTIN: Wow.

SHORTZ: When the first "Star Wars" came out. It's honestly my all-time favorite movie.

MARTIN: All right. With that, can you remind us of last week's puzzle?

SHORTZ: Yes, it came from listener Steve Baggish of Arlington, Mass. I said name a well-known character of TV, movies and comics, two words. Replace the eighth, ninth and 10th letters with an S. And then rearrange the result to name a well-known actor who played this character on film, first and last names. Who is it? Well, the character was The Green Hornet. And the actor who played him in the 2011 action comedy was Seth Rogen.

MARTIN: So over 120 of you got the correct answer. Our randomly selected winner this week is Shmuel Thaler of Santa Cruz, Calif. He joins us on the line now. Shmuel, congratulations.

SHMUEL THALER: Good morning. Thank you so much.

MARTIN: So did this take you a long time?

THALER: You know, sometimes we struggle for hours on the puzzler. But this one we got really, really quickly. And I think it was the comic book thing that gave it away. And we're big Seth Rogen fans too.

MARTIN: And you're referencing a we. You have a partner in this puzzle?

THALER: My wife. My wife usually gets up at 7:40, hears the puzzle, goes to yoga. I hear it at 9:40. And then we...

MARTIN: (Laughter) Compare notes?

THALER: Figure it out together later on.

MARTIN: That's very cool. So do you have a question for Will Shortz, Shmuel?

THALER: Yes, I do actually 'cause my father started to The New York Times crossword puzzle back when Margaret Farrar was editing actually.

SHORTZ: Yeah.

THALER: And Will, when you took over as the editor, we noticed that the clues and answers often became more whimsical, witty and fun. And we all loved that.

SHORTZ: Thank you.

THALER: But we were wondering if you faced much resistance when you began making these changes.

SHORTZ: Good question. And yes, I did. I was 37 years younger than my predecessor. And of course, I had a more modern sensibility, and a lot of people were unhappy.

MARTIN: Wow, I didn't know that.

SHORTZ: But they eventually came around.

MARTIN: I didn't know that you were a...

SHORTZ: Oh, boy, did I get letters at the start.

MARTIN: Wow. OK, so, Shmuel, are you ready to play the puzzle?

THALER: I'm ready. I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

MARTIN: OK. All right, let's give it a go, Will.

SHORTZ: All right, Shmuel and Rachel. I'm in a Christmasy mood today. Every answer is the name of a Christmas carol or song, mostly carols. Answer the questions.

The title of what Christmas carol or song sounds like a member of King Arthur's Round table who won't speak?

MARTIN: Oh, man. What?

THALER: Oh, my gosh.

SHORTZ: Well, first of all.

MARTIN: Can you repeat the clue?

SHORTZ: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The title of what Christmas carol or song sounds like a member of King Arthur's Round Table who won't speak?

MARTIN: OK, so a mute...

SHORTZ: What's any member of King Arthur's Round Table?

MARTIN: A knight.

THALER: A knight. "Silent Night."

MARTIN: "Silent Night." Yay.

SHORTZ: "Silent Night," there you go.

MARTIN: OK.

SHORTZ: Number two, title of what Christmas carol or song has three words that rhyme respectively with whittle summer toy.

THALER: "Little Drummer Boy."

MARTIN: Yes.

SHORTZ: That's it. What title is an anagram of Beverly Sills without the Y. Beverly Sills without the Y. It's two words, six, five. It starts with a color, six-letter color.

THALER: Blue...

SHORTZ: No, six-letter color.

THALER: Six-letter color, right. I'm kind of stuck here.

MARTIN: I need another hint. But don't tell us the answer, Will. Just give me another hit.

SHORTZ: OK, the color starts with S.

THALER: "Silver Bells."

SHORTZ: "Silver Bells" is it.

MARTIN: Oh, good job.

SHORTZ: Which one sounds like a phrase meaning wallop former TV host Arsenio and his family?

THALER: "Deck The Halls."

SHORTZ: "Deck The Halls" is it.

MARTIN: Nice.

SHORTZ: All right. Here's your last one. "Joy To The World" is a Christmas carol that contains a newspaper name, The World. Can you think of a Christmas carol that contains another newspaper name, one starting with H?

THALER: Herald.

SHORTZ: Herald is it.

THALER: "Hark The Herald Angels Sing."

MARTIN: Good job.

SHORTZ: There you go.

MARTIN: "Hark The Herald Angels Sing." Shmuel, that was really, really well done.

THALER: Well, thank you. I was a little worried.

SHORTZ: I'm impressed.

MARTIN: (Laughter). For playing the puzzle today, you get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin and all kinds of cool puzzle books and games. You can read about it at npr.org/puzzle. And before we let you go, where do you hear us, Shmuel?

THALER: We hear you where we are members, at KAZU FM in Seaside, Calif.

MARTIN: Shmuel Thaler of Santa Cruz, Calif. Thanks so much for playing the puzzle, Shmuel.

THALER: Thank you so much.

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

SHORTZ: Yes, the challenge comes from listener David Aukland of Tarrytown, N.Y. This of four common six-letter words that all end in the same five letters in the same order. And the first letters of these four words are consecutive consonants in the alphabet, like B, C, D, F. There are no other common six-letter words that end with these five letters. What are the words? So again, four common six-letter words that end in the same five letters in the same order. And the first letters of these four words are consecutive consonants in the alphabet. No other common six-letter words end in these five letters. What are the words?

MARTIN: OK, when you've got the answer, go to npr.org/puzzle. Find that submit your answer link and click on it. Just one entry per person, please. And our deadline for those entries is early this week because of the holiday. It is Wednesday, December 23 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Again, Wednesday, December 23 at 3 p.m. 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 will 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. Happy holidays.

SHORTZ: Merry Christmas, Rachel.

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