On-air challenge: Every answer today is a word or name that sounds like it starts with two spoken letters of the alphabet.
Ex. Element #55 --> CESIUM (C-Z-um) or Wanting what other people have --> ENVIOUS (N-V-ous)
1. Degree or SpeedStick product
2. Green insect related to grasshoppers and crickets
3. Pilot
4. San ___, Calif.
5. Brainstorm
6. No person in particular
7. Obsolete, like old-fashioned language
8. Forty-three doubled
Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge comes from listener Julia Lewis, of Fort Collins, Colo. Take the name of a major American city. Hidden inside it in consecutive letters is the name of a Japanese food. Remove that. The remaining letters can be rearranged to to spell some Mexican foods. Name the city and the foods.
Challenge answer: SACRAMENTO --> RAMEN — > TACOS
Winner: Lee Ann Koehler of New Albany, Ind.
This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from Todd McClary, who's a member of the National Puzzlers' League. Think of a place where a plant might grow, in two words. Spoonerize it — that is, switch the initial consonant or consonants of the two words. The result will name another place where a plant might grow, and a plant that might grow in either place.
If you know the answer to next week's challenge, submit it here by Thursday, July 8, at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you.
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