LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
It's time to play the Puzzle.
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GARCIA-NAVARRO: Joining us, as always, is Will Shortz. He's puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzlemaster. Good morning, Will.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Lulu. Welcome back.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Thank you. What was last week's challenge?
SHORTZ: Yes, it came from Joel Fagliano. I said, name a major U.S. city in 10 letters. If you have the right one, you can rearrange its letters to get two five-letter words that are synonyms. What are they? In the capital of Sacramento, you can rearrange those 10 letters to get aroma and scent.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: We received 502 responses. And our winner this week is Tova Tenenbaum of Philadelphia.
Congratulations.
TOVA TENENBAUM: Thank you so much. Hi, Lulu. Hi, Will.
SHORTZ: Hey, there.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Hi. What do you do for a living, Tova?
TENENBAUM: I'm a social worker. I work for the VA, the Department of Veterans Affairs. And I work with homeless veterans.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So are you working during this shutdown?
TENENBAUM: Fortunately, yes, I am working. And I'm also being paid. I'm very fortunate.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And are the vets getting the help they need?
TENENBAUM: They are, yeah. We have a great program for permanent subsidized housing for them.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Great. That sounds like it's a lot of hard work. What do you do for fun?
TENENBAUM: Well, besides playing the weekly Puzzle, I do the crossword every night before bed. I play Quizzo every week, which is what they call pub trivia here in Philadelphia. And I have a therapy dog who comes with me to work, and he comes on hikes with me and just all over the Philadelphia area.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I bet you those vets like that therapy dog.
TENENBAUM: They love him, yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes (laughter).
TENENBAUM: He loves it, too.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What's his name?
TENENBAUM: His name is Ernie.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Ernie.
All right, are you ready to play the Puzzle, Tova?
TENENBAUM: I am.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Take it away, Will.
SHORTZ: Well, every answer today is the name of a U.S. state capital.
Which state capital rhymes with noisy?
TENENBAUM: Boise.
SHORTZ: Good. Contains the letters of combs, C-O-M-B-S, in left-to-right order.
TENENBAUM: Columbus.
SHORTZ: Good. Which state capital consists of the chemical symbols for gold and sulfur followed by the full name of a third chemical element?
TENENBAUM: So gold is Au.
SHORTZ: Right.
TENENBAUM: So I'm going to go with Augusta.
SHORTZ: No.
TENENBAUM: No?
SHORTZ: But that does start - and the second, the symbol for sulfur.
TENENBAUM: Austin.
SHORTZ: Austin is right, ending in tin - Austin, Texas. Which state capital contains a silent O as its third letter? And here's your hint - this is a capital in the Southwest.
TENENBAUM: Phoenix.
SHORTZ: Phoenix - good one. Which state capital ends in an O sound but does not contain the letter O?
TENENBAUM: Juneau.
SHORTZ: Nice. Consists of a candidate for president in 1988 plus a president in the 1970s.
TENENBAUM: Gosh, a candidate for president in '88 - so I know...
SHORTZ: Right. He wasn't nominated. He failed in his run for the nomination.
TENENBAUM: It's a little before my time.
SHORTZ: OK. And how about a president of the 1970s?
TENENBAUM: That would be Ford. No.
SHORTZ: Ford is good. Ford is correct.
TENENBAUM: OK.
SHORTZ: What state capital ends in F-O-R-D?
TENENBAUM: Frankfort - no.
SHORTZ: That's not quite. Oh (laughter). That's F-O-R-T. You need F-O-R-D.
TENENBAUM: Oh, you're right.
SHORTZ: And think in the Northeast.
TENENBAUM: Let me see here.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The Nutmeg State.
SHORTZ: There you go.
TENENBAUM: The Nutmeg State?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I know (laughter) - the insurance capital.
SHORTZ: There you go.
TENENBAUM: Oh - the insurance capital?
SHORTZ: All right. We'll just tell you, the capital of Connecticut...
TENENBAUM: Oh.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Which is a lovely state...
TENENBAUM: Hartford...
GARCIA-NAVARRO: ...And both nutmeg and insurance, I don't think, do it justice.
TENENBAUM: I had no idea either of those things are related to Connecticut.
SHORTZ: (Laughter) Hartford is right, as in Gary Hart. And your last one - which state capital ends with the first name of this program's host?
TENENBAUM: Ends with Lulu?
SHORTZ: Yes.
TENENBAUM: Oh - Honolulu.
SHORTZ: Honolulu, Hawaii - good job.
(LAUGHTER)
TENENBAUM: Good one.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: There you go. Finally, I made it into the Puzzle - my goodness. My ship has finally come in.
How do you feel? You did great.
TENENBAUM: Thank you. I feel relieved, and that was really fun.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I feel like all of that sixth grade stuff came up - bubbled up to the surface.
TENENBAUM: Definitely.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And you were able to tap that knowledge.
TENENBAUM: Definitely.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: For playing our Puzzle today, you'll get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin as well as puzzle books and games. You can read all about it at npr.org/puzzle. What member station do you listen to?
TENENBAUM: I am a proud member of WHYY in Philadelphia.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Tova Tenenbaum, thank you for playing the Puzzle.
TENENBAUM: Thank you so much.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: All right, Will, what's next week's challenge?
SHORTZ: Yes, it comes from listener James Matthews of Little Rock, Ark. And the challenge is to make a nine-letter word meaning left using only a B and one D. Can you do it? So again, make a nine-letter word meaning left using only a B and one D. Can you do it?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: When you have the answer, go to our website npr.org/puzzle and click on the Submit Your Answer link. Remember just one entry per person, please. Our deadline for entries is this Thursday, January 17 at 3 p.m. Eastern. Include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And if you're the winner, we'll give you a call, and you'll get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzlemaster Will Shortz.
Thanks so much, Will.
SHORTZ: Thank you, Lulu.
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