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Sunday Puzzle: TLDR Challenge

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: The letters "R-D-A" stand for "recommended daily allowance." They're also the initials of "Red Delicious Apple." I'm going to give you some well-known initialisms plus clues for some common phrases that happen to have the same initials.

1. M.P.H. (miles per hour) — Toy in which you add parts to a face
2. L.O.L. (laugh out loud) — Work done for the sheer pleasure of doing it
3. D.D.S. (doctor of dental surgery) — Many libraries use this to arrange their books
4. W.S.W. (west southwest) — Forecast of wind and heavy snow
5. P.I.N. (personal identification number) — A little sticky thing you write on
6. S.S.T. (supersonic transport) — Latin words cried by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theater
7. M.M.A. (mixed martial arts) — Years in the past
8. P.A.C. (political action committee) — Two sides to consider when weighing a decision
9. P.D.A. (personal digital assistant or public display of affection) — Argue the other side of an argument even if you don't support it
10. B.T. S. (as in the K-pop band) — Out of sight, as backstage where things are done

Last week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Alan Hochbaum, of Duluth, Ga. What common eight-letter noun can be shortened in two ways — using either its first three letters or its last four letters? The answer is a familiar item.

Challenge answer: magazine -> mag, zine

Winner: Vicki Helwick of Port Angeles, Wash.

This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from Joseph Young of St. Cloud, Minn. who runs the website Puzzleria! Name a symbol punctuation mark on a computer keyboard. Anagram it to get the brand name of a product you might buy at a grocery, in two words. What is it?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to the two-week challenge, submit it here by Thursday, Dec. 8 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you.

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).