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Do You Remember The First 3 Letters Of September?

Sunday Puzzle.
NPR
Sunday Puzzle.

On-air challenge: For the following words starting with the letters S, E and P — as in September — find a word that can precede each to complete a familiar two-word phrase.

For example: system, eclipse, power --> SOLAR (solar system, solar eclipse, solar power).

Last week's challenge: This week's challenge is a spinoff of the on-air puzzle. Think of a well-known category with exactly 7 things in it. Alphabetize the things from their ending letters, and the last letter alphabetically will be E. In other words, no thing in this category ends in a letter after E in the alphabet. It's a category and set of 7 things that everyone knows. What is it?

Answer: Continents.

Winner: Haig Donabedian of Toledo, Ohio.

Next week's challenge, from listener Justine Tilley of Vancouver: Think of a familiar three-word phrase in the form "___ and ___." Drop the "and." Then move the last word to the front to form a single word that means the opposite of the original phrase.

Here's a hint: The ending word has seven letters. What is it?

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, Sept. 22, at 3 p.m. ET.

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).