Fill In The Blanks

JACKI LYDEN, host:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Jacki Lyden, sitting in for Liane Hansen.

And joining us is puzzlemaster Will Shortz. Hi, Will.

WILL SHORTZ: Hi, Jacki. Nice to talk to you again.

LYDEN: It's nice to talk to you. What are we celebrating? Day of the Dead, I think.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SHORTZ: Yeah. Yeah.

LYDEN: And, of course, the puzzle.

SHORTZ: Actually, I'm flying to Turkey for the World Puzzle Championship. And I'll be away all this week.

LYDEN: Ah.

SHORTZ: And it's a city called Antalya on the Mediterranean Coast.

LYDEN: Well, safe passage and good weather.

SHORTZ: Thanks a lot.

LYDEN: Will, would you remind us of the challenge you gave us last week?

SHORTZ: Yes. I said, take the name Boris Karloff, it contains the letters of Oslo, O-S-L-O, in left-to-right order, although not consecutively. And I asked you to write down these three names: Leonardo da Vinci, Frank Sinatra and Stephen Douglas. Each of these conceals the name of a world capital in left-to-right order, not in consecutive letters. What capitals are these?

LYDEN: Well, Will, it would be great if we could get the capital of Turkey in the answer since you're going there. What is the answer?

SHORTZ: Well, Leonardo da Vinci has London. Frank Sinatra has Ankara. Unfortunately, I won't be in Ankara. I'll be in Istanbul and Antalya. And Stephen Douglas has Seoul.

LYDEN: Well, close enough. We received more than 3,400 entries this week. And from the correct entries, our randomly selected winner is Lee Schipper from Berkeley, California.

Hi, Lee.

Mr. LEE SCHIPPER: Hi. How are you?

LYDEN: I'm grand, thank you. So how long did it take you to get the world capitals?

Mr. SCHIPPER: Well, I was cycling up a very bad in hill in the Berkeley Hills and I suddenly blurted out Ankara. My wife got London and then I figured out Seoul.

LYDEN: Well, you ready to play the puzzle and say hi to Will?

Mr. SCHIPPER: I'm ready. Hi, Will.

SHORTZ: Hey, Lee - well, and Jacki - every answer today is a familiar phrase in the form of blank and blank. I'm going to read you some sentences. Each sentence has two blanks. Fill the blanks with two words that will complete the answer phrase. But here's the twist: the words that complete the sentence are homophones of the words in the answer phrase.

For example: When the vegetable store received a fresh supply of blank, excited customers lined up in blank. You'd say peas and queues. A fresh supply of peas, the customers lined up in queues and Ps and Qs is a familiar phrase.

LYDEN: All right. I'm reaching for some, you know, one of those (unintelligible).

(Soundbite of laughter)

SHORTZ: Some aspirin.

LYDEN: I thought about saying that.

SHORTZ: Here's number one: It has been difficult to involve the blank in northern Iraq, but we must find the blank.

Mr. SCHIPPER: Hmm. Curds and whey.

SHORTZ: Good job.

LYDEN: That's excellent. Excellent.

SHORTZ: Number two: The warship had a blank of 20,000 tons, as it was put out to blank.

Mr. SCHIPPER: Weight and?

SHORTZ: Yes.

Mr. SCHIPPER: (unintelligible)

SHORTZ: No. What's that familiar phrase, wait and...

Mr. SCHIPPER: Weight and sea.

SHORTZ: That's it. Put out to sea. Good job.

In London's blank park, we watched a religious discussion between a Muslim and blank.

Mr. SCHIPPER: Hyde and sheikh.

SHORTZ: Hyde and sheikh, so fast.

LYDEN: Oh wow. You are fast, Lee.

SHORTZ: The sharp jolt in the jostling contest left one of the blank in a blank.

Mr. SCHIPPER: Knight and daze.

SHORTZ: Knights and a daze. That's right.

In ancient Mongolia, tales and poetry and blank entertained the royal blank.

Mr. SCHIPPER: Hmm, tales and poetry?

SHORTZ: What's the opposite of poetry?

Mr. SCHIPPER: Prose.

SHORTZ: Yeah, it's that, prose and - who are the?

Mr. SCHIPPER: Pros and kahns.

SHORTZ: Pros and kahns. Nice. Try this one. At the seafood restaurant, composer Lorenz blank ordered fillet of blank.

Mr. SCHIPPER: Lorenz...

SHORTZ: Composer Lorenz blank...

Mr. SCHIPPER: I'm a musician. I should know this.

Hart.

SHORTZ: That's it. Hart and...

MR. SCHIPPER: Sole.

SHORTZ: Hart and sole. Good.

LYDEN: Ah.

SHORTZ: And here's your last one. If your landline telephone isn't working, you can still contact me blank, blank. If your landline telephone isn't working, you can still contact me blank, blank. That first blank is a two-letter preposition.

Mr. SCHIPPER: By.

SHORTZ: Uh-huh. By and...

Mr. SCHIPPER: Buy, sell.

SHORTZ: Uh-huh. Buy and sell. Nice job.

LYDEN: Truly impressive. Well, as a long-time listener who has done, I think, a most impressive job - don't you agree, Will?

SHORTZ: Yes.

LYDEN: You get to take home some wonderful prizes for playing the puzzle, but in addition to that, we have an S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E, a very special guest to tell you about the prizes. A couple of clues, she's my office mate, best friend, maid of honor at my wedding and the host of NPR's MORNING EDITION. Say, hello.

RENEE MONTAGNE: Hello, hi. Hi all and hi, Lee.

LYDEN: And she is?

Mr. SCHIPPER: Hello, hello.

MONTAGNE: Renee Montagne. That puzzle actually might be my all-time favorite, and I listen to the puzzles, too.

SHORTZ: Well, thank you.

MONTAGNE: The prose and khans were so elegant because we're talking K-H-A-N, the Khans.

SHORTZ: Thanks a lot.

LYDEN: Renee has something special, too, because MORNING EDITION is celebrating its what?

MONTAGNE: Its 30th anniversary. MORNING EDITION went on the air 30 years ago.

LYDEN: And I think that, Renee, you're going to tell Lee what he wins for playing the puzzle today.

MONTAGNE: Lee, for playing our puzzle today, you'll get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin, the 11th Edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, the Scrabble Deluxe Edition from Parker Brothers, ?The Puzzlemaster Presents? from Random House Volume 2. And Will Shortz's latest book series, ?Will Shortz Presents KenKen,? Volumes 1 and 2 and 3 from St. Martin's Press. One of Will Shortz's ?Puzzlemaster Decks of Riddles and Challenges? from Chronicle Books, and now the new the CD compilation of NPR's Sunday puzzles. So, congratulations and I guess you've got plenty to do with that boxful of stuff you're going to be getting.

Mr. SCHIPPER: I have 25 hours of flying next month. I've got lots to do on the plane.

(Soundbite of laughter)

LYDEN: Great. Well, that was truly fantastic. Thanks so much, Renee. And before we let you go, Lee, tell us what member station you listen to, please.

Mr. SCHIPPER: KQED live and on the Web, and I'm a member.

LYDEN: Well, this is all great. Lee Schipper from Berkeley, California, that was absolutely outstanding. Thanks for playing the puzzle with us.

Mr. SCHIPPER: Thank you all.

LYDEN: So, Will, what's the challenge for next week?

SHORTZ: Yes. It comes from listener Ed Pegg, Jr., who runs MathPuzzle.com: Take the name Noah Adams, as in the former host of ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, add the phrase, false teeth, you can rearrange all 19 letters to name a famous work of literature. What is it? So, again, Noah Adams, N-O-A-H A-D-A-M-S, add false teeth, rearrange all 19 letters to name a famous work of literature. What work is it?

LYDEN: And when you have the answer, go to our Web site npr.org/puzzle, click on the Submit Your Answer link. Only one entry per person, please. Our deadline this week is Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. And please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. We'll call if you're the winner. You'll get to play the puzzle on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzlemaster Will Shortz. Renee, thank you so much.

MONTAGNE: It was a pleasure, Will, Jacki. It was lovely.

LYDEN: And happy birthday to MORNING EDITION. And Will, have a great trip to Turkey. Thanks so much.

SHORTZ: Thanks a lot, Jacki. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.