NPR Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle

November 12, 2023

Will Shortz

Each sentence below contains two words which have homophones that are synonyms. For example, in the sentence, I can pare an apple too, the words pare and too have the respective homophones pair and two - which are synonyms.

1. My dog's paws got stuck under the car's brake.

2. Today's spelling lesson is about words with silent E's.

3. In India, several lower castes are in the throes of change.

4. The wild hare has a hankering for bagels and lox.

5. After his shift ended, the worker hied to the bank to cash his paycheck.

6. The seamstress would vary the way she'd sew.

Answers:

 

1. paws - brake

    pause - break

 

2. lesson - E's

    lessen - ease

 

3. castes - throes

    casts - throws

 

4. hare - lox

    hair - locks

 

5. hied - cash

    hide - cache

 

6. vary - sew

    very - so