Puzzle master Will Shortz quizzes one of our listeners, and has a challenge for everyone at home.
Challenge from January 7 and January 14: The object is to arrange 16 different letters of the alphabet into a 4X4 square, so four common, uncapitalized words read across and four common uncapitalized words read down. To start, the second word across is ruly. This is the only sightly unusual word in the square, every other word in it is one any school child would know. Can you do it?
Answer: BASH RULY ITEM GOWN or GASH RULY ITEM DOWN
Winner: Robert Pettengill from Austin, Texas
Challenge from January 21: Name a famous film director, whose last name has two syllables. Phonetically these two syllables sound like words that are opposites of each other. What are the words and who is the director? Challenge from Mark Leeper of Old Bridge, New Jersey.