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Sunday Puzzle: Three Words, One Proverb

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge: I'm going to read you some sentences. Three consecutive words somewhere in each sentence are the first three words of a familiar proverb or saying. Tell me what it is.

Example: Put out a saucer of milk when the cat's hungry. --> When the cat's away the mice will play.

1. As meteorologists know, every cloud has water droplets.
2. Variety is the daily publication of show business.
3. The surgeon put a stitch in the gaping wound.
4. Through the mountains the road to the next town is very twisty.
5. On average the proof of most whiskey is 80.
6. In this motel a picture is hanging over every bed.
7. The joke starts: a priest, a fool, and a lawyer walk into a bar.

Last week's challenge:This challenge came from listener Wesley Davis of Black Mountain, N.C., and when you get the answer it will make you smile. Name an animal and spell it backward. Now name a variety of meat and insert it inside the animal's name that you've spelled backward. A common word will be revealed. What is it?

Challenge answer:Revealed

Winner:Sherie Trakhtenbroit of San Antonio, Texas

This week's challenge:This week's challenge comes from listener Jared Harvey, of Santa Cruz, Calif. Think of a common word in six letters. Write it in lowercase. If you hold up a mirror at its side, the reflection will show the same word. What 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 by Thursday, Dec. 10, at 3 p.m. ET.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz has appeared on Weekend Edition Sunday since the program's start in 1987. He's also the crossword editor of The New York Times, the former editor of Games magazine, and the founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (since 1978).