Culture

Sunday Puzzle: Two words, same number of letters, matching first and last letters

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle along with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and WVXU listener Debra Waller of Burlington, Kentucky.

Published July 12, 2026, 3:28 PM
Updated July 12, 2026, 3:52 PM1.9K
Share𝕏f
Sunday Puzzle:  Two words, same number of letters, matching first and last letters

Sunday Puzzle: Two words, same number of letters, matching first and last letters

Audio will be available later today.

sunday puzzle hi-res.png

NPR

On-air challenge

Based on the clue, name two words that have the same number of letters and begin and end with the letters provided. (Ex. Rocks / five letters / S and E —> Slate, Shale)

1. European languages in 7 letters starting with S and ending with .

2. Ancient stringed instruments / 4 letters / L and E

3. Birds / 6 letters / P and N

4. Parts of the body / 5 letters / T and H

5. Things seen in a classroom / 5 letters / C and K

6. Newsstand magazines / 7 letters / E and E

7. Books of the Bible / 4 letters / A and S

8. Foods from Italy / 5 letters / P and A

Last week's challenge

Next weekend will be the 186th convention of the National Puzzler League, in Bloomington, Ind., which I'll be attending as always. Two other people who will be there are Henri Picciotto and Joshua Kosman, who created this week's challenge. Name two words that are opposites. They share a single letter. Remove that shared letter from each word, put a hyphen between the two starting words, and you'll get a term you sometimes see in food ads. What are the two words?

Challenge answer

Slow, fast --> low-fat

Winner

Debra Waller of Burlington, Kentucky

This week's challenge

This week's challenge comes from Steve Baggish, of Arlington, Mass. Take the 10-letter name of a popular TV series for which most of its seasons have been filmed in a foreign country.  Remove the first and last letters, and the remaining letters can be rearranged to spell the name of a country.  What are the two names?

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, July 16 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.

Share𝕏f
News17 is committed to delivering accurate, fair, and thoroughly researched reporting. If you believe this article contains an error, please contact our editorial team at corrections@news17.net. We take all reports seriously and will issue corrections promptly when warranted.