STUMPERS IX
Credit: Will Shortz
NPR Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle

1. Think of the names of two insects, the first with three letters and the second with four. Write them one after the other, without a space. Insert an H somewhere in the seven letters and you will have an eight-letter word which is the opposite of what the two insects are.

2. Think of two words which share no common letters. The first word has three letters, starting with I, and the second has five letters, starting with O. If you precede each word with the same two letters, the two resulting words will be the present and past tenses of the same verb.

HINTS:
1. The first insect starts with B and the second with M.
2. The first of the two preceding letters is T.

Answers:

1. The insects are BEE and MOTH. Inserting the H gives BEHEMOTH - something very big, in contrast to the insects, which are very small.

2. The two words are INK and OUGHT. The two preceding letters are TH - giving THINK and THOUGHT.