Will Shortz

On-air challenge: For each familiar two-word phrase, use the first three letters of the first word and the first three letters of the second word to start two other words that have opposite meanings of each other. Example: Health food = HEAD, FOOT

Last week's challenge: Think of a well-known ...

On-air challenge: Every answer is a made-up two-word phrase, where the second and third letters of the first word are switched to get the second word. Example: Serene bivalve would be calm clam

Last week's challenge: This challenge came from listener Ben Bass of Chicago. Name someone who welcomes you ...

On-air challenge: Every answer today is a word starting with the letters A-R, which you will identify from its anagram. For example, given AR plus ROB, the answer would be "arbor."

Last week's challenge: Name two animals, both mammals, one of them domestic, the other wild. Put their letters together, ...

On-air challenge: Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name, with the initials S.V. For example, given "noted Idaho ski resort," you would say "Sun Valley."

Last week's challenge: From listener Steve Baggish of Arlington, Mass., think of a U.S. city whose name has nine letters. Remove three letters ...

On-air challenge: It's another geographical puzzle this week. For each familiar two-word phrase and name, take one or more letters from the start of the first word plus one or more letters from the start of the second word. Read them in order from left to right to name a ...

Editor's Note: In a previous version of this page we posted the wrong on-air challenge. The correct on-air challenge for the week is posted below.

On-air challenge: Given a clue, each response is a two-word answer with the first word starting with B-R and the second word starting with R.

On-air challenge: Since this is the last puzzle of the year, it's time for the annual new-names-in-the-news quiz. Here's how it works: You're given names that you probably never heard of before 2014, but were in the news during the past 12 months. Answer with who the people are.

Last ...

On-air challenge: Every answer today is the name of a kid's toy that one might give for Christmas. Some are brand names, some are generic. Identify them from their anagrams. Ex. GEL + O --> LEGO

Last week's challenge: Think of a common exclamation in 4 letters. Move the last ...

On-air challenge: These are some business-related puzzles made for the New York Times' DealBook conference in New York last Thursday. Every answer is the name of a Fortune 200 company — that is, one of the top 200 corporations according to the 2014 list in Fortune magazine.

Last week's challenge: ...

On-air challenge: Think of the old saying: "That means no, N-O!" Every answer today is a familiar two-word phrase or name with the initial letters N and O. Example: Any place that reports on current events: NEWS OUTLET.

Last week's challenge: Bertrand Tavernier is a French director of such movies ...

On-air challenge: This week we're playing a game of based on the word "blast," as in "Let's have a blast!" Given a category, name something in the category starting with each letter: B-L-A-S-T. For example, if the category were "Two-Syllable Girl's Names," you might say Betty, Louise, Alice, Sarah and ...

NOTE: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the deadline for this week's puzzle will be on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

On-air challenge: You'll be given two words. Change the first consonant sound in each word to the same new consonant sound and you'll phonetically name two things in the same ...

On-air challenge: Every answer today is a rhyming two-word phrase in which each word has two syllables and the first word ends with a doubled consonant plus the letter Y.

Last week's challenge from Steve Baggish, of Arlington, Mass.: Name a well-known clothing company. Move each of its letters three ...

On-air challenge: Given a category, name something whose first two letters are the first and last letters of the category. For example, given "Animal," you would say "Alligator" or "Alpaca."

Last week's challenge, from listener Sandy Weisz of Chicago: Write down the following four times: 3:00, 6:00, 12:55 and 4:07. ...

On-air challenge: A series of names of famous people will be given. For each name, change either the first or last letter of the last name to a new letter, and rearrange the result to name a country.

Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from listener Mike Reiss, who's ...

On-air challenge: A series of sentences will be given; each one contains a blank. Put the name of an occupation in the blank to complete the sentence in a punny way. As a help, the occupation itself is hinted at, directly or indirectly, near the start of the sentence.

Last ...

On-air challenge: This Tuesday, Oct. 21, would have been the 100th birthday of Martin Gardner, a longtime "Mathematical Games" columnist for Scientific American. He was also a well-known writer on recreational mathematics, puzzles, stage magic and debunking. Today's challenge consists of classic brainteasers from Martin Gardner books.

Last week's challenge: ...

On-air challenge: Every answer today is the name of a popular prime-time TV series from this century, on either broadcast or cable. Identify the shows from their anagrams. For example, OBLIGE + V = BIG LOVE.

Last week's challenge: Take the first four letters of a brand of toothpaste plus ...

On-air challenge: The word cho means "beautiful" in Korean and "butterfly" in Japanese. Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name based around "cho." Specifically, the first word of the answer starts with C and the second word starts HO.

Last week's challenge: Think of a 10-letter word that ...

On-air challenge: There are clues for two words. Add a long A sound at the end of the first word to phonetically get the second one. For example, the clues "baby cow" and "sidewalk eatery" would yield "calf" and "cafe."

Last week's challenge: Name a famous actor best known for ...