Ben Bass and Beyond: Puzzles

I like puzzles. I like creating them, solving them, and flying across the country to spend entire weekends playing them:

NPR Sunday Puzzle
Will Shortz airs my classic TV puzzle

Will Shortz airs my capital letters puzzle

Will Shortz airs my "OK" puzzle

Will Shortz airs my "deep cleanse" puzzle

How Will edited the "deep cleanse" puzzle

Nations and cities

Spoonerisms

My TiVo puzzle

Events

Crosswords

And...

Guess my word!

NPR Sunday puzzle

This week:

From listener Ed Pegg Jr.: Think of something that the majority of adults buy. It's a two-word phrase with 10 letters in the first word and nine in the second. This phrase uses each of the five vowels (A, E, I, O, and U) exactly twice. What familiar product is this?

Enter here or email me for a hint.

Last week: From listener Erica Avery: Name a world capital whose letters can be rearranged to spell a popular and much-advertised drug. What's the capital, and what's the drug?

Highlight for answer: Tripoli, Lipitor

Two weeks ago: It's an anagram word ladder. For example, take the word "spring." If the last letter is changed to an O and the letters are rearranged, you get "prison." Alternatively, if the last letter is changed to an E and the letters rearranged, you get "sniper." Or change the last letter to an A and get "sprain," and so on. For this challenge, start with the word "autumn." Changing one letter at a time, and anagramming it each step of the way, turn "autumn" into "leaves." Each step has to be a common word. In how few steps can you do it?

Highlight for answer: Five is the fewest; there are many ways to do it.

Three weeks ago: Take the name of a popular children's character in nine letters. Several of its letters appear more than once in the name. Remove every duplication of a letter, so every letter that remains appears just once. This new set of letters can be rearranged to name a famous classical composer. Who is it?

Highlight for answer: Pinocchio, Chopin

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