Filed by KOSU News in Art & Life.
December 23, 2012

On-air challenge: Every answer is a word that can be formed from the letters of “Christmas.” You’ll be given two words as clues. The first one can precede the answer word, and the second one can follow it — in each case to complete a compound word or familiar two-word phrase. For example, given “forward” and “madness,” the answer would be “march” (as in “forward march” and “March Madness”).

Last week’s challenge from listener Henri Picciotto of Berkeley, Calif.: Name a two-word geographical location. Remove the first letter. Move one of the other letters to the front of what’s left. This will result in a single word that names what you are most likely looking through when you see that geographical location. What is it?

Answer: North Pole, porthole

Winner: Dan Ezekiel of Ann Arbor, Mich.

Next week’s challenge: Take the last name of a famous actor. Drop the first letter, and you’ll get the last name of a famous artist. Drop the first letter again, and you’ll get the name of a god in classical mythology. What names are these?

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 2012 National Public Radio]