Top Prize For Solving A Tough Puzzle ... There's A Total Pattern Here

By Will Shortz

Published January 8, 2017 at 8:35 AM EST

On-air challenge: This puzzle is a welcome for Lulu to the program. We're going to take it from the top. Every answer is a compound word or familiar two-word phrase in which the first part starts TO- and the second part starts P-.

Ex. Producer of love apples in the garden --> TOMATO PLANT

Product from Crest or Colgate

Product from Charmin or Cottonelle

Place on a highway where you have to stop and pay money

Native American sculpture in the Northwest in which giant heads are carved into a tree

Rock singer and musician with the Heartbreakers

Little dog with a fuzzy coat and a high-pitched bark

Fraternity event seen in the film "Animal House"

Drunkard

Hybrid car from Japan

Pointing device on a laptop computer used as a substitute for a mouse

Procedure for inserting a titanium bar in part of the mouth

Something smoked by Sherlock Holmes and Santa Claus

Set of things for sightseers to see at an all-inclusive price

Paint that's applied by a pedicurist

Last week's challenge:

Take the four-letter men's names TODD, OMAR, DAVE and DREW. If you write them one under the other, they'll form a word square, spelling TODD, OMAR, DAVE and DREW reading down as well:
TODD
OMAR
DAVE
DREW

Can you construct a word square consisting of five five-letter men's names? Any such square using relatively familiar men's names will count. I have an answer using four relatively common names and one less familiar one.

Challenge answer: Winning answer
ABRAM
BLANE
RANDY
ANDRE
MEYER

Puzzle winner: Sixteen-year-old Marisa Schiller of Sandusky, Mich. She plays with her high school teacher, Kurt Wentzel, who assigns the puzzle to his students.

Next week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from Mike Reiss, who's a writer/producer for The Simpsons. He's had a number of challenges on this program. Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a clothing label. Add two letters to the end of the first word, and one letter to the end of the second word. The result is the name of a famous writer. Who is it?

Submit Your Answer

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, Jan. 12 at 3 p.m. ET.