LIANE HANSEN, host:
From NPR News, this is WEEKEND EDITION. I'm Liane Hansen.
And joining us from Jamaica today is puzzle master Will Shortz.
Hey, Will, I understand you're attending a friend's wedding.
WILL SHORTZ: That's right. I'm best man for a friend's wedding this weekend. And so we're in Kingston, Jamaica. I'm just having a great time.
HANSEN: Is it nice and warm?
SHORTZ: It is so warm. It's 80 degrees today. When I left New York, it was under 20.
HANSEN: Wow. Wow. Before we begin the puzzle today, I want to mention some new words that are going to be coming up, not only in a few moments in this program but in the food world. And I want to know if you've heard of them. The first is Veganomicon.
SHORTZ: No. What is that?
HANSEN: It's an all-encompassing cookbook. Given the title was kind of a tongue-in-cheek, sci-fi thing, but it's all recipes vegan. How about a vegangelical?
SHORTZ: I've never heard that before. No.
HANSEN: Someone who preaches the gospel of vegan.
SHORTZ: Okay.
HANSEN: I thought you'd like to know that because, after our segment, we have some chefs from the post-punk kitchen who are considering all things vegan - exotic ingredients and easy substitutes for dairy products. These women play guitar with oven mitts and they bake cupcakes - Tiramisu cupcakes.
SHORTZ: Wow.
HANSEN: You'd never seen that on a vegan menu. Now - hmmm, yeah. Hmm, mm, mm. So that's coming up. But first, we play. And in order to do that, you have to remind us of the challenge that was to be solved over the past week.
SHORTZ: Yes. It came from listener Scott Gardener of Edwardsville, Illinois. I said, take the equation 5 + 5 + 5 = 550. And I said, make it true by adding a single line. And as a hint, I said, the answer is not a not-equal sign.
HANSEN: What was your answer?
SHORTZ: We'll the answer is to convert one of the plus signs into a four by drawing a diagonal line from the upper left point to the leftmost point. And you get 545 + 5 = 550.
HANSEN: Oh, how elegant. That works very well. We had over 1,000 entries from people who solved the puzzle. Our randomly selected winner is John O'Donahue from Eugene, Oregon.
Hi, John.
Mr. JOHN O'DONAHUE (High School Counselor): Hi, Liane.
HANSEN: What do you do there in Eugene?
Mr. O'DONAHUE: I'm a school counselor - high school counselor.
HANSEN: How long have you been playing the puzzle?
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Well, I've been listening for the 16 years. I think this is about the third time that I actually entered.
HANSEN: Well, you get to play on the air today, John, so please meet Will and let's play.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Hi, Will.
SHORTZ: Hi, John. Every answer today is the name of a well-known company. Name the company from its anagram. For example, if I said coal, C-O-A-L, plus A, you would say Alcoa.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Okay.
SHORTZ: All right. Number one is pale, P-A-L-E, plus P, as in pale. And it's the name of a computer maker.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Apple?
HANSEN: Apple. That's right.
SHORTZ: Apple is right. Good. Number two is scam, S-C-A-M, plus Y. And it's a retail company.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Retail.
HANSEN: A department store.
SHORTZ: Department store.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Macy's?
SHORTZ: Macy's is right. Ahoy, A-H-O-Y, plus O.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Okay.
SHORTZ: And this is a way that you might get on the Internet.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Yahoo?
HANSEN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: Yahoo is it. Coons, C-O-O-N-S, plus U.
HANSEN: Hint.
SHORTZ: And it's a company in oil. It's a brand of gasoline.
HANSEN: Sunoco.
SHORTZ: Sunoco is it. Good. Pound, P-O-U-N-D, as in the British monetary unit.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Okay.
SHORTZ: Plus T, as in Thomas. And we're going for chemicals here.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: I'm going to say Dawpost(ph).
HANSEN: Close. Good. First letter is right.
SHORTZ: The first letter is D, as in dog. You know this one, Liane?
HANSEN: I do. It's an East Coast company, originally, in Wilmington, Delaware. DuPont.
SHORTZ: DuPont is it. Try this one. Litho, L-I-T-H-O, as in a short for lithograph, plus N, as in Nancy. And it's the name of a major hotel chain.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Hotel chain. Hilton?
SHORTZ: Hilton is it. Good. How about this? Metal, M-E-T-A-L, as in iron or gold, plus the letter T, as in Thomas. And it's a big company in toys and games.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Oh, is it Mattel?
HANSEN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: Mattel is it. Good. Prize, P-R-I-Z-E, as in an award, plus F, as in Frank. And this is a major pharmaceutical company.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Pfizer?
HANSEN: Yes.
SHORTZ: Pfizer is it. Copies, C-O-P-I-E-S, as in Xerox copies, plus P, as in Peter.
HANSEN: This is the full name of the company, huh?
SHORTZ: Full name of the company and it's big in beverages, softdrinks.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: In beverages.
HANSEN: Mm-hmm. A rival to Coca-Cola.
SHORTZ: Right.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Oh, Pepsi. Pepsi Co.
HANSEN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: Co is it. Good.
How about accost, A-C-C-O-S-T as in your accost somebody, plus M as in Mary. And it's a telecommunications company.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Comcast?
HANSEN: Mm-hmm.
SHORTZ: Comcast is it.
Traitor, T-R-A-I-T-O-R, plus M as in Mary. And this is another major hotel chain.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Marriot?
SHORTZ: Marriot is it.
And here's your last one. Poor will, P-O-O-R-W-I-L-L, plus H.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Well.
SHORTZ: It's a maker of appliances, large appliances.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Large appliances. Whirlpool?
SHORTZ: Whirlpool. Nice job.
HANSEN: I didn't know Whirlpool was an anagram of poor will with an H. Poorwill indeed from Jamaica, indeed.
John, you were terrific.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Thank you, Liane. Thank you, Will.
HANSEN: And we have some things for you. For playing our puzzle today, you'll the WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin, the 11th edition of "Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus," the "Scrabble Deluxe Edition" from Parker Brothers, "The Puzzlemaster Presents" from Random House volume 2, Will Shortz' "Little Black Book of Sudoku," and "Black and White Book of Crosswords" from St. Martin's Press, and one of Will Shortz' "Puzzlemaster Decks of Riddles and Challenges" from Chronicle Books - few, a mouthful.
John, what member station do you listen to?
Mr. O'DONAHUE: We listen to KLCC in Eugene, Oregon.
HANSEN: Okay, John O'Donahue in Eugene, Oregon. Thanks for playing the puzzle with us today.
Mr. O'DONAHUE: Thank you very much Liane and Will.
HANSEN: All right, Will, from the beach in Jamaica, what's the challenge we have to work on?
SHORTZ: Take the phrase, Yeshiva Center, which is a place of Jewish studies, Y-E-S-H-I-V-A C-E-N-T-E-R. Rearrange these 13 letters to name a well-known movie. It has three words in its name. What movie is it? So, again, Yeshiva Center, rearrange these 13 letters to name a well-known movie in three words. What movie is it?
HANSEN: When you have the answer, go to our Web site npr.org/puzzle and click on the Submit Your Answer link. And that's a new address. It should make the puzzle page a lot easier to find. Once again, that's npr.org/puzzle. Only one entry per person, please. Our deadline this week is Thursday, 3 p.m. Eastern time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time because were going to call you if you're the winner. And you'll get to play puzzle on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master, Will Shortz.
Hey Will, have fun. Thanks a lot.
SHORTZ: Thanks, Liane.