NY Times Crossword
December 16, 2007
David J. Kahn and Steve Kahn

The following words share a certain property that relates them to a certain holiday. What is that property and how does it relate to that holiday?

1. WAKING
2. CAUSE
3. PUP
4. SEA
5. PANE
6. WORD
7. BACK
8. ANIMA

Answers:

All of the words could be changed into new ones by adding an L somewhere in the word, without re-arranging the other letters. So the clue words have NO L - or NOEL - which relates to Christmas.