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Drawing A Blank (Or Two)

On-air challenge: You are given sentences with two blanks. Put a word starting with R in the first blank. Then move that R to the end to make a new word that goes in the second blank to complete the sentence. For example, given the sentence, "The door of the Indian ___ was left slightly ___," the answers would be "raja" and "ajar."

Last week's challenge: It's an anagram word ladder. For example, take the word "spring." If the last letter is changed to an O and the letters are rearranged, you get "prison." Alternatively, if the last letter is changed to an E and the letters rearranged, you get "sniper." Or change the last letter to an A and get "sprain," and so on. For this challenge, start with the word "autumn." Changing one letter at a time, and anagramming it each step of the way, turn "autumn" into "leaves." Each step has to be a common word. In how few steps can you do it?

Answer: Five is the fewest number of steps using the combination: autumn, mutual, amulet, salute, vestal, leaves; or autumn, mutual, amulet, salute, values, leaves. Many other combinations are possible.

Winner: Sherin Varghese of Los Angeles

Next week's challenge from listener Erica Avery of Wisconsin: Name a world capital whose letters can be rearranged to spell a popular and much-advertised drug. What's the capital, and what's the drug?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to next week's challenge, submit it here. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz has appeared on Weekend Edition Sunday since the program's start in 1987. He's also the crossword editor of The New York Times, the former editor of Games magazine, and the founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (since 1978).