On-air challenge: Every answer today is a word that contains part of the human body in the exact middle.
Ex. Group of Native Americans, starting with T and ending with E --> TRIBE, which contains RIB between the T and the E
1. E ____ Y Mournful poem
2. W ____ Y Tired
3. A ____ G Very sore
4. EL ____ SE Geometrical shape
5. LE ____ ES Beans and peas
6. RE ____ AL Opposing argument in a debate
7. OB ____ TE Out of date
8. RA ____ SS Quality of a harsh voice
9. FLA ____ ESS Showy display
Last week's challenge: Consider this sentence: Benjamin, the Greenpeace ombudsman in the panorama, was charmed by the chinchilla fragrance. This sentence contains seven words of seven or more letters. They have something very unusual in common. What is it, and can you think of an eighth word with the same property?
Puzzle answer: You can delete some of the interior letters of each of the words to leave the name of a country — Benin, Greece, Oman, Panama, Chad, China, and France.
Other words with this property include Chipotle (Chile), Indicia (India), Latinos (Laos), Ironman (Iran), and Turnkey (Turkey).
Puzzle winner: Mike Strong of Mechanicsburg, Va.
Next week's challenge: This is a spin-off of the on-air puzzle. Think of a familiar two-word phrase starting with T and ending with S, in which the interior letters name part of the human body. Remove the first and last letters of that word, and what remains will name another part of the human body. What's the phrase, and what are the body parts?
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. The deadline is Thursday, June 22 at 3 p.m. ET.
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