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Sleuthing with First, Last Clues

NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz quizzes one of our listeners, and has a challenge for everyone at home.

Challenge from July 3:

Take the name, Arthur Conan Doyle. If you select the first and last letters of each of the three words (A, R of Arthur; C, N of Conan; and D, E, of Doyle), they can be rearranged to spell "dancer." Now, what famous American woman, with a three-part name, when you select the first and last letters of each word in her name and rearrange them, makes the word "berths." Who is this woman?

Answer: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Winner: Marge Civil, from Colorado Springs, Colo.

Challenge from July 10:

From Ed Pegg, Jr., from Champaign, Ill., a member of the National Puzzlers League: Start with the name of a masked crime fighter, who had a TV show. Add the letters L, A and rearrange the results to get the name of another masked crime fighter who had a TV show. Who are these characters?

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Will Shortz
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).