TAKING THE FIRST
Credit: GAMES Magazine
December, 1991
O. J. Robertson (#1-7)

In each sentence below, fill in the first blank with a five-letter word, the second blank with the four-letter word formed by removing the first letter of the five-letter word, and the third blank with the three-letter word formed by removing the first letter of the four-letter word - so the sentence makes sense. (#'s 8 and 9 will have six, five, and four-letter words, following the same pattern.)

1. The dinner _____ was empty when she arrived _____, so she _____ leftovers.
2. A _____ bracelet that has some sharp edges might _____ your _____.
3. If you try to _____ someone and that person doesn't seem to _____, you _____ apt to be disappointed.
4. He caught a _____ while climbing the steep _____, and now he's _____.
5. The _____ of converted _____ at my supermarket is less than that of _____ cream.
6. If you like freshly-baked bread, mix _____ with other ingredients, _____ it, and _____ it.
7. At the _____ shopping _____, _____ of the stores know their customers.
8. The _____ on the _____ crew was exacerbated by the _____.
9. You'll make me _____ if you spill _____ on this _____ of paper

Answers:

1. plate, late, ate
2. charm, harm, arm
3. scare, care, are
4. chill, hill, ill
5. price, rice, ice
6. wheat, heat, eat
7. small, mall, all 
8. strain, train, rain 
9. scream, cream, ream