1. What do the following words have in common?

FLAT

OPEN

TEST

TONIC
MISER 

2. What do the following words have in common?

IN

OUT

RING

ROUT

HERE

READ

ROCKET

3. What do the following words have in common?

BALSAM

NEURON

DESTROY

ENAMEL

BETRAY

HINTS:

1. One letter in each word can be replaced by the same letter.

2. Each word can be preceded by the same two letters.

3. The answer involves hidden words.

Answers:

1. One letter in each word can be replaced by X to form a new word:

FLAX/OXEN/TEXT/TOXIC/MIXER

2. Each word can be preceded by SP to make new words.

3. The last three letters of each word spell a man's name.

SAM/RON/ROY/MEL/RAY

Credit #3:

Idea: Joe Bower

NY Times Crossword
June 12, 2005

NAME DROPPING