NPR Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle

December 10, 2023

Will Shortz

 

[Note from JA: Here I am again posting a puzzle that features backward spelling. Like Elizabeth Gorski's "GREENBACKS" - posted Dec. 5 - this puzzle is so ingenious it trumps my disinclination to backward spelling answers.]

 

The answer to the first clue in each pair below is a six-letter word with a pair of double letters. Drop one of the double letters to get a five-letter string which read backwards answers the second clue.

Ex. Drooped 

       French Impressionist painter

Ans. SAGGED

         DEGAS

 

1. Texas home of the Cowboys

    Leafy lunch

 

2. Soldiers

    Baseball or basketball

 

3. Faints from love

    Blizzards

 

4. Sort of music from Bob Marley

    Impatient

 

5. Did one better than

    Train station

 

6. Candies

    Goulash and gumbo dishes

 

7. One who works the soil

    Ignited again, as a candle

 

8. To move unsteadily from side to side

    Joint in the arm

 

Answers:

 

1. DALLAS - SALAD

2. TROOPS - SPORT

3. SWOONS - SNOWS

4. REGGAE - EAGER

5. TOPPED - DEPOT

6. SWEETS - STEWS

7. TILLER - RELIT

8. WOBBLE - ELBOW