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Sunday Puzzle: P-A-R-T-Y words and names

NPR

On-air challenge

Today I've brought a game of 'Categories' based on the word "party." For each category I give, you tell me something in it starting with each of the letters, P-A-R-T-Y.  For example, if the category were "Four-Letter Boys' Names" you might say Paul, Adam, Ross, Tony, and Yuri. Any answer that works is OK, and you can give answers in any order.

1. Colors

2. Major League Baseball Teams

3. Foreign Rivers

4. Foods for a Thanksgiving Meal

Last week's challenge

I was at a library. On the shelf was a volume whose spine said "OUT TO SEA." When I opened the volume, I found the contents has nothing to do with sailing or the sea in any sense. It wasn't a book of fiction either. What was in the volume?

Challenge answer

It was a volume of an encyclopedia with entries from OUT- to SEA-.

Winner

Mark Karp of Marlboro Township, N.J.

This week's challenge

This week's challenge comes from Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn. Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. Add two letters in front and one letter behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. What words are these?

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Wednesday, December 31 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.

Copyright 2025 NPR

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).