AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
And it's time to play the Puzzle.
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RASCOE: The puzzle editor of The New York Times and puzzlemaster of WEEKEND EDITION, Will Shortz, is out this week, so we are joined by Greg Pliska. He's the chief puzzle officer of "The Puzzler" podcast with AJ Jacobs and a former puzzle guru of NPR's Ask Me Another. Hey there, Greg.
GREG PLISKA, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So, Greg, remind us of last week's challenge.
PLISKA: Last week's challenge came from Mae McAllister from Bath in the United Kingdom. As you may know, each chemical element can be represented by a one or two-letter symbol. Hydrogen is H. Helium is H-E - and so on. McAllister points out that there are two commonly known elements whose names can each be spelled using three other element symbols. We asked listeners to name either one. The two possible answers are iron, which is made from I-R for iridium, O for oxygen and N for nitrogen, and silver, which is S-I for silicon, L-V for livermorium and E-R for erbium.
RASCOE: OK, so you guys really know your elements because there were over 1,500 correct entries. And this week's winner is Eric Maixner of Appleton, Wis. Congratulations, Eric.
ERIC MAIXNER: Thank you so much. Hey, Greg. Hey, Ayesha.
RASCOE: We heard you're a bit of a puzzler in your own right. Can you tell us what you do for work?
MAIXNER: Yes. I work behind the scenes, but I also host live trivia shows in my area.
RASCOE: Oh, OK, OK. So you're going to be great at this, right?
MAIXNER: Well, I'm going to try. Of course, we trivia hosts know everything. Of course we all do.
RASCOE: (Laughter) So, Eric, I have to ask you, are you ready to play the Puzzle?
MAIXNER: Oh, I am so ready.
RASCOE: OK, take it away, Greg.
PLISKA: All right. Thanks, Ayesha. So, Eric, you know the saying that goes March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. And so our March 31 Puzzle is going to go out like a lamb, as well. It's all about words that become new words when you add a B at the end. So I'll give you a sentence with two blanks in it. You find a word that fits the first blank, then add a B at the end to get the word that goes in the second blank. For example, if I gave you the sentence, I was blank sad that I started to blank uncontrollably, you'd give me the answers so and sob to fill in those blanks. I was so sad that I started to sob uncontrollably.
MAIXNER: Well, all right then.
PLISKA: All right. If you drive your blank instead of walking, you won't burn off a single blank.
MAIXNER: That's car and carb.
PLISKA: Exactly. If you drive your car, you don't burn any of those carbs. My sister asked me to bring blank some basil and rosemary from the blank garden out back.
MAIXNER: My sister, blank - oh, asked to bring her some herbs.
PLISKA: Yes, asked to bring her some basil and rosemary from the herb garden. If you spill water on your book, it might blank the blank on the back cover, making it impossible to read.
MAIXNER: Blank on the back cover. It might - oh, God. Soak? No. It might damp? No. Oh, gosh, you might have stumped me on this one.
RASCOE: I think we need a hint.
PLISKA: What is often on the back cover of a book?
RASCOE: Oh, a blurb.
MAIXNER: A blurb.
PLISKA: Yes.
RASCOE: Blur the blurb.
PLISKA: You might blur the blurb. Exactly.
MAIXNER: Oh.
RASCOE: As someone who just had a book out, that's how I got that, Eric...
MAIXNER: Oh.
RASCOE: ...A lot of begging...
MAIXNER: Blurb, yeah.
RASCOE: ...For blurbs.
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MAIXNER: I appreciate the help, Ayesha. We can tag-team that one.
PLISKA: And your last one - blank, cried Captain Blank upon sighting Moby Dick.
MAIXNER: Aha and Ahab.
PLISKA: Aha, cried Captain Ahab. Very well done.
RASCOE: Great job. Yeah. How do you feel?
MAIXNER: I feel super great. That was a lot of fun. What a kick.
RASCOE: (Laughter) For playing our Puzzle today, you'll get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin as well as puzzle books and games. You can read all about it at npr.org/puzzle. And Eric, what member station do you listen to?
MAIXNER: I have two. I listen to 89.3 WPNE and 88.1 WHID, the ideas network.
RASCOE: That's Eric Maixner of Appleton, Wis. Thank you so much for playing the Puzzle.
MAIXNER: Thank you so much for having me.
RASCOE: OK, Greg, what's next week's challenge?
PLISKA: In honor of Women's History Month, all our challenge contributors in March have been women. So to close out the month, I have this related challenge. The English language developed in a patriarchal society, so many words in our language were traditionally assumed to be male and turned into female versions by adding a prefix or suffix. Waiter and waitress or comedian and comedienne are just two examples of the many stereotypically male words that become, quote-unquote, female words by adding a suffix.
However, there is one common English word that works the opposite way, where the uninflected form is used generally for women and to which we add a two-letter suffix to get the male form. What is that word? So again, what is the common English word that is generally used to refer exclusively to a woman but which refers to a man when a two-letter suffix is added?
RASCOE: When you have the answer, go to our website, npr.org/puzzle, and click on the Submit Your Answer link. Remember, just one entry, please. Our deadline for entries this week is Thursday, April 4, 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 WEEKEND EDITION. And, Greg, thank you for being this week's puzzler.
PLISKA: It's my pleasure. Thank you, Ayesha.
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