AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Time to play the Puzzle.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEFAN SCAGGIARI & NED WHARTON'S "PUZZLEMASH THEME")
RASCOE: Joining us is Will Shortz. He's puzzle editor of The New York Times and puzzlemaster of WEEKEND EDITION. How's it going, Will?
WILL SHORTZ: I am great. How are you, Ayesha?
RASCOE: I am happy, you know, we're heading into fall. Will, please remind us of last week's challenge.
SHORTZ: Yes. I said, spell out the numbers from 13 to 20 - 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Select one letter from each word in order to name another number. What number is it? Well, the answer was infinity, but we heard from quite a few mathematicians that said that infinity is not a number. It is a concept. And, strictly speaking, that is true mathematically. But if you check almost any dictionary, one of the definitions of infinity is an indefinitely large number or amount. So we were working with an informal usage here.
RASCOE: OK, OK. So I know y'all sticklers here, but the answer was infinity (laughter). There were 1,200 correct entries this week, and our winner is Karen Hillerman of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Congratulations, Karen.
KAREN HILLERMAN: Thank you.
RASCOE: So how did you figure out this week's answer, and did you get tripped up on whether infinity was a number or not?
HILLERMAN: To me, I kind of thought it was a number.
RASCOE: (Laughter) OK.
SHORTZ: Yay.
HILLERMAN: Well, I just kind of did it in my head. You know, I knew right away it had to be eight characters and soon realized that there was no number under a hundred that would work, and everything bigger than a hundred is more than eight characters long. And then I realized, oh, infinity.
RASCOE: OK. How long have you been playing the Puzzle?
HILLERMAN: I've been listening regularly since - ever since it came out as a podcast. I listen to it on the NPR One app every Sunday night as I fall asleep. So often I'm asleep before the end of the Puzzle, and I have to...
(LAUGHTER)
HILLERMAN: ...Play it again the next morning.
RASCOE: What do you do when you're not playing the Puzzle?
HILLERMAN: I do a lot of volunteering. I also like to read and cook. And I like to travel. My boyfriend and I have visited all 30 of the Major League Baseball parks.
RASCOE: Oh, very fun. Very nice.
HILLERMAN: Yeah.
RASCOE: So I got to ask you, are you ready to play the Puzzle?
HILLERMAN: I'm ready as I'll ever be.
RASCOE: All right. Take it away, Will.
SHORTZ: All right. Karen and Ayesha, I'm going to name some things. For each one, you tell me something the thing has that starts with the same first two letters that the thing does. For example, if I said tree, you would say trunk because a tree has a trunk and both tree and trunk start T-R.
HILLERMAN: OK. Got it.
SHORTZ: Here's No. 1 - dresser.
HILLERMAN: Drawer.
SHORTZ: That is it. Bird.
HILLERMAN: Bill.
SHORTZ: That's it. Play.
HILLERMAN: Play.
SHORTZ: And we're talking about a theatrical play here.
HILLERMAN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: What does every play have?
HILLERMAN: A plot.
SHORTZ: There you go.
RASCOE: Oh, OK.
SHORTZ: Stairway.
HILLERMAN: A stair, but that's probably not it.
RASCOE: That's close. But what you...
HILLERMAN: Step.
RASCOE: Yes.
SHORTZ: There you go.
RASCOE: Yeah.
SHORTZ: Lettuce.
HILLERMAN: Leaf.
SHORTZ: A makeup kit.
HILLERMAN: Mascara.
SHORTZ: That's it. Skeleton.
HILLERMAN: Skull.
SHORTZ: Good.
HILLERMAN: (Laughter).
SHORTZ: Week.
HILLERMAN: Oh, Wednesday.
SHORTZ: That's it. Quiz.
HILLERMAN: Question.
SHORTZ: Petunia.
HILLERMAN: Petal.
SHORTZ: That's it. Rodeo.
HILLERMAN: Rodeo. Rope.
SHORTZ: Good job. And your last one is pool table.
HILLERMAN: Pool table. Pocket.
SHORTZ: You got it. Nice job.
RASCOE: Oh, my goodness. That was trickier than it seemed. And I'm so glad that you got it, Karen, 'cause we would've both been sitting here sometimes when I was trying to figure it out. How do you feel?
HILLERMAN: Relieved.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Well, you should be relieved and proud. For playing our Puzzle today, you'll get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pen, as well as puzzle books and games. You can read all about it at npr.org/puzzle. And, Karen, what member station do you listen to?
HILLERMAN: KNOW in Minneapolis, St. Paul.
RASCOE: That's Karen Hillerman of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thank you so much for playing the Puzzle.
HILLERMAN: Yep. It was fun. Thank you so much.
RASCOE: All right. Will, what's next week's challenge?
SHORTZ: Yes. It comes from Ben Bass of Chicago. Think of a state capital and say it out loud. Change one vowel sound in it to name something many school kids study. What things are these? So again, a state capital. Say it out loud. Change one vowel sound to name something many school kids study. What things are these?
RASCOE: When you have the answer, go to our website, npr.org/puzzle. To submit your response, just fill out the form on the Puzzle page. Remember, just one entry, please. Our deadline for entries this week is Thursday, September 3 at 3 p.m. Eastern. Don't forget to include a phone number where we can reach you. If you're the winner, we'll give you a call. And if you pick up the phone, you'll get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and puzzlemaster of WEEKEND EDITION, Will Shortz. Thank you, Will.
SHORTZ: Thank you, Ayesha.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEFAN SCAGGIARI & NED WHARTON'S "PUZZLEMASH THEME")
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