Will Shortz

On-air Challenge: Today's puzzle is called "P B & J." I'm going to give you three words starting with the letters P, B and J. You give me a word that can follow each of mine to complete a compound word or a familiar two-word phrase.

Example: Parking, Back, Job --> LOT (parking lot, back lot, job lot)

3-letter answers:

1. Penalty, Boom, Juke

2. Power, Buzz, Jig

3. Present, Birth, Judgment

4. Pill, Bed, Jitter

4-letter answers:

5. Paddle, Basket, Jump

On-air Challenge: Today's puzzle is called A++. I'm going to give you clues for two things. Say what they are. Then put the letter "A" at the start to make a word.

Example: Prohibition / Mafia chief --> ABANDON (a + ban + don)

1. Hydroelectric facility / Insect that scurries

2. Old horse / Male sheep

3. Hot dog holder / Waltz or minuet

4. Where a scientist works / Fall flower

5. Untruth / Country or land

6. Colorado ski resort / Skill

On-air Challenge: I'm going to read you some sentences. Each ends in "___ to ___." You fill the blanks with a pair of homophones.

Ex. The bicycle salesman had an innovative new ___ to ___. --> PEDAL to PEDDLE

On-air Challenge: Every answer today is a familiar phrase in the form "___ of the ___." I'll give you anagrams of the first and last words. You give me the phrases.

Ex. SING of the ITEMS --> SIGN OF THE TIMES
1. TASTE of the RAT
2. LAST of the HEART
3. LILTS of the THING
4. AMEN of the MAGE
5. STOOL of the TREAD
6. SHAPES of the MONO
7. HIPS of the RESTED
8. TABLET of the BUGLE
9. LICENSE of the BALMS
10. DEN of the NILE

On-air Challenge: Today's puzzle is all about "me." Specifically, every answer is a word or name in which the accented syllable "me," in any spelling, appears somewhere inside it.

Example: Serving to fix or correct things --> REMEDIAL

1. Person who tells jokes

2. Single-celled creature

3. Friend in Mexico

4. Minor criminal infraction

5. Part of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014

6. Country located between Turkey and Azerbaijan

7. Ancient Greek mathematician and inventor