TWO BY TWO I
Credit: GAMES Magazine
August, 2013
Erich Friedman

Each of the words below is missing two pairs of two different letters, in some order. Fill in the missing letters. As a hint, the words are listed in alphabetical order.

For example, given the clue: _ N _ W _ _ , the answer would be ANYWAY, filling the blanks with two pairs of two different letters - AA and YY.

1. _ _ _ _ I R
2. _ _ _ E _ R
3. _ A _ _ _ N
4. _ A M _ _ _
5. _ O _ R _ _
6. _ R _ T _ _
7. _ U _ K _ _
8. _ _ P _ N _
9. _ _ _ _ C T
10. _ _ B L _ _

HINTS:
The first letters of the words are:
1. A
2. A
3. B
4. B
5. C
6. C
7. C
8. D
9. E
10. E

Answers:

1. AFFAIR
2. APPEAR
3. BABOON
4. BAMBOO
5. COERCE
6. CRITIC
7. CUCKOO
8. DEPEND
9. EFFECT
10 EMBLEM