Sticking With The Sunshine State

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Tell the kids to work on their Santa list by themselves for a little while because it's time for the puzzle.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: And joining me now is WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle-master Will Shortz. Good morning, Will.

WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: I understand you've been doing a little traveling out to the West Coast?

SHORTZ: Yeah. Are you familiar with Spin, the ping-pong social club? It's been in New York for a couple of years.

MARTIN: I am not.

SHORTZ: And it's co-owned by Susan Sarandon, the actress. And they had a grand opening of an L.A. Spin this past week. So, I was out there. And there were a lot of celebrities: Melissa Etheridge, the singer, Chelsea Handler, talk show host, Vincent Gallo, film director. And they had a celebrity tournament. And I played with Andre Balazs, who owns the Standard Hotel in L.A., which hosts this club. And we won.

MARTIN: Oh, congratulations.

SHORTZ: There was, like, a four- or five-foot trophy. It was ridiculous.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: Well, remind us what was last week's challenge, Will.

SHORTZ: The challenge was to name a major U.S. city in two words. Take the first letter of the first word and the first two letters of the second word and they'll spend the standard three-letter abbreviation for the state the city is in. What city is it? And the answer was Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

MARTIN: OK. Well, more than 2,800 of you sent in the correct answer. And the winner this week is Mark Sobolik. And he joins us now on the line. Congratulations, Mark.

MARK SOBOLIK: Thank you.

MARTIN: And you're joining us from just outside Portland, Oregon; is that right?

SOBOLIK: That's correct.

MARTIN: And I understand you've kind of met Will Shortz before? Tell us that story.

SOBOLIK: Well, I have a carrot rejection letter from a crossword puzzle I constructed years ago.

MARTIN: You submitted it to the New York Times?

SOBOLIK: I did. I sent it to him just soon after Will took over as the editor. And I was relieved to get a response but it was negative.

MARTIN: Kind of disappointing I imagine.

SOBOLIK: Yeah.

MARTIN: Do you at least sign those rejection letters yourself, Will?

SHORTZ: I do. Nowadays, most of it's done by email. But in the early days, it all went out by postal mail.

MARTIN: Well, Mark, now you get to meet Will under different circumstances.

SOBOLIK: That's right. And let's see how I do this time.

MARTIN: OK. Well, let's make it happen, Will. What's our puzzle?

SHORTZ: All right, Mark and Rachel. Continuing on the Florida theme from last week's challenge, every answer today is a familiar two-word phrase or a name in which the first word starts with F and the second word starts with L-A, as in Fort Lauderdale. All right. Number one is Michelle Obama for one.

SOBOLIK: First lady.

SHORTZ: That's it. Number two: French, Spanish or Chinese.

SOBOLIK: Foreign language.

SHORTZ: Um-hum. Arriving at 9 o'clock for an 8 o'clock party, for example. So, there's a party at 8 o'clock and you show up at 9 o'clock, you are...

SOBOLIK: Oh, fashionably late.

SHORTZ: Fashionably late.

MARTIN: I was going to say frequently. But, yeah, fashionably is better.

SHORTZ: Former New York City mayor after whom an airport is named.

SOBOLIK: Fiorello LaGuardia.

SHORTZ: That's it. Long, narrow bodies of water in upstate New York.

SOBOLIK: Finger lake.

SHORTZ: That's it. Finger lakes - plural. Reading light that does not rest on a table.

SOBOLIK: Flying lamp.

SHORTZ: The lamp is right but it's not on the table, what's it on?

SOBOLIK: Oh, floor lamp.

MARTIN: Yeah.

SHORTZ: Floor lamp is it.

SOBOLIK: But if it were flying...

MARTIN: I love a flying lamp. I don't know what that is but that's cool.

(LAUGHTER)

SHORTZ: Bringing down of a plane in an emergency.

SOBOLIK: That's landing.

SHORTZ: Yeah, what kind?

SOBOLIK: I can't think of the F word though.

MARTIN: Freak? How about freak landing?

SHORTZ: Freak landing. I was going for a forced landing.

MARTIN: Oh, OK.

SOBOLIK: Forced landing, OK.

SHORTZ: All right. Try this: it lists ingredients and calorie information.

SOBOLIK: Food label.

SHORTZ: That's it. Subject that includes child adoption, divorce and alimony.

SOBOLIK: Family law.

SHORTZ: Um-hum. Agricultural workers.

SOBOLIK: Farm laborers?

SHORTZ: Good. Old Argentine-born actor known for Latin lover roles.

SOBOLIK: I think you might have got me on that one.

SHORTZ: Yeah, it's a generational thing. He's the father of Lorenzo. Does that help?

SOBOLIK: Oh, Fernando Lamas.

MARTIN: Yeah.

SHORTZ: There you go. The next one's a hyphenated answer: maker of Cheetos and Ruffles potato chips.

SOBOLIK: Frito-Lay.

SHORTZ: Um-hum. How about this: California cemetery where many celebrities are buried.

SOBOLIK: Forest Lawn.

SHORTZ: That's it. And your last one: what auto racers must complete before getting the checkered flag.

SOBOLIK: Final lap?

SHORTZ: The final lap. Nice job.

SOBOLIK: Is that what I just completed?

MARTIN: Yes. You totally completed the final lap with flying colors, Mark.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: Very well done. And for playing our puzzle today, you'll get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin and puzzle books and games. You can read all about it at npr.org/puzzle.

And, of course, before we let you go, we need to know what is your Public Radio station?

SOBOLIK: It's KOPB.

MARTIN: KOPB in Portland, Oregon. Mark Sobolik of Newburg, Oregon, Mark, thanks so much for playing the puzzle.

SOBOLIK: Thank you.

MARTIN: OK, Will, what's our challenge for next week?

SHORTZ: Yes, it comes from Henri Picciotto of Berkeley, California, who co-creates the Cryptic Crosswords for The Nation magazine. Name a two-word geographical location. Remove the first letter. Move one of the other letters to the front of what's left. And this will result in a single word. And this word names what you are most likely looking through when you see that geographical location. What is it?

So again, a two-word geographical location, drop the first letter. Move one of the remaining letters to the front. This will be a single word and it names what you're most likely looking through when you see this geographical location. What is it?

MARTIN: OK, you know what to do. When you have the answer, go to our website, npr.org/puzzle and click on the Submit Your Answer link - just one entry per person, please. And our deadline for entries is Thursday, December 20th at 3 P.M. Eastern.

Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And if you're the winner we'll give you a call, and you'll get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle-master, Will Shortz.

Thanks so much, Will.

SHORTZ: Thanks, Rachel.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEME MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.