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Welcome To An Affair Of Phrases, Each Entwined By A Tiny 'Of'

NPR

On-air challenge: Every answer this week consists of two familiar phrases in the form "___ of ___." In each case, the first word of the two phrases is the same. I'll give you the ending words. You tell me the full phrases.

For example: Heart / Pace --> Change of heart, change of pace.

Last week's challenge from listener Mark Isaak of Sunnyvale, Calif.: The challenge was to think of a word that means "unfinished." Add one letter at the start and one letter at the end to get a new word that means the opposite of the first. What words are these?

Answer: ROUGH to WROUGHT.

Winner: Keith Clay of Kent, Wash.

Next week's challenge from listener Peter Collins of Ann Arbor, Mich.: Think of two well-known American cities, each five letters long. The first two letters of the first city are the state postal abbreviation of the second city. And the first two letters of the second city are the state postal abbreviation of the first city. What two cities 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 Wednesday, June 29, at 3 p.m. ET. NOTE: The deadline is a day earlier than usual this week.

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).