On-air challenge: I'm going to read you some sentences. Each sentence ends in two blanks. Put two 4-letter homophones in them to complete the sentence. Homophones, of course, are words that sound alike but are spelled differently.
For example: The nautical supplies company that was going out of business had a big ____ ____. --> SAIL SALE
1. Business was strong for most of this month, and then for the last seven days we had a ____ ____.
2. Taxi drivers don't want to gouge passengers with their rates; all they ask for is a ____ ____.
3. Santa Claus started his thank you letter to Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, etc.: "____ ____."
4. The hotel manager in charge of the housekeeping staff examined all 47 beds the ____ ____.
5. To measure the opinion of the residents of Antarctica, you'd have to conduct a South ____ ____.
6. A vegetarians' convention is a place where people who shun ____ ____.
7. A survey of the top-selling laundry detergents found that Brand X outperformed Gain, did less well than Wisk, and ____ ____.
8. A circus grizzly not wearing his costume could be described as a ____ ____.
9. The farm that is raising chickens, geese and peacocks stinks from all the ____ ____.
10. The young singing sensation who lost his recording contract is now an ____ ____.
Last week's challenge: Take five consecutive letters of the alphabet. Write them in left-to-right order. Insert five letters at certain spots. These will all go between the first and last given letters. The result will be a famous actor — first and last names. Who is it?
Puzzle answer: Jack Lemmon
Puzzle winner: Jack Martin of Medford, Mass.
Next week's challenge: An easy-ish one this week. Write the name of a game in small letters. Reverse the second and third letters. Turn the fourth letter upside-down. The result will name something else to play. What is it?
If you know the answer to next week's challenge, submit it here. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you Thursday, March 9, at 3 p.m. ET.
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