Blank Rhymes with Blank

By Will Shortz

Published July 24, 2005 at 12:00 AM EDT

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

Challenge from July 24:

A 10-letter word for a form of travel consists of five consecutive symbols of chemical elements. What is it? (For instance, if "automobile" had been the answer, AU, would represent Gold, MO would represent Molybdenum, and BI, would represent Bismuth. Unfortunately, the remaining bigrams, TO and LE, are not chemical symbols.)

Answer: HELICOPTER

Winner: Carol Nolan from New Paltz, New York.

Challenge for July 31:

From listener Henry Hook: Think of a word that completes the two-word phrase "BLANK-Jump." Remove the fourth letter. The remaining letters, phonetically, make a new word that completes the phrase, "BLANK-Hop." What is it?

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).

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