SOUND EFFECTS
Credit: GAMES Magazine
December, 2006
Raymond D. Love

The 12 words in the left-hand column below can be paired up with the 12 words in the right-hand column in a special way. Can you figure out which words go together and why?

HUE                      HAMMY
SPOKE                  NICKS
MANY                  AN
ALL                       SEA
BOWLED             SCENE
TWO                     TAW
BOY                      HAPLESS
WITCHY              CAN
MY                        BUNNY
FEE                       STUN
RACE                    HER
SHY                      SUN

HINT:
The answer has to do with how the word pairings sound.

Answers:

The pairings are homophones (if somewhat imperfect) of the names of 12 US cities:

HUE - STUN - - HOUSTON
SPOKE - CAN - - SPOKANE
MANY - HAPLESS - - MINNEAPOLIS
ALL - BUNNY - - ALBANY
BOWLED - HER - - BOULDER
TWO - SUN - - TUCSON
BOY - SEA - - BOISE
WITCHY - TAW - - WICHITA
MY - HAMMY - - MIAMI
FEE - NICKS - - PHOENIX
RACE - SCENE - - RACINE
SHY - AN - - CHEYENNE