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Sunday Puzzle: It's all German to me

Sunday Puzzle
NPR
Sunday Puzzle

On-air challenge

Every answer today is a word that comes from German, but that's also commonly used in English. See if you can identify them from their anagrams.

Ex. REGAL / Beer brewed slowly at low temperature --> LAGER

1. GNATS / Feeling of anxiety or dread
2. PILES / Fast-paced sales talk
3. MUTUAL / Diacritical mark made with two dots
4, ELIDES / Kind of engine or the fuel that powers it
5. WE'RE IN / Sausage
6. GET LAST / Something that's more than the sum of its parts
7. POSTAGE / Brutal secret police
8. BENT OVER / Forbidden
9. ADULT WRENS / Innate desire to travel

Last week's challenge

This week's challenge comes from Gordon Legge, of South Minneapolis, Minn. Name an animal whose first five letters in order spell a religious figure. And if you change the animal's next-to-last letter, its last five letters in order will spell another religious figure. What animal is this?

Answer

Rabbit --> rabbi, abbot

This week's challenge

This week's challenge comes from Chad Graham, of Philadelphia. Name a well-known comic actor (4,5) whose name is an anagram of two terms in golf (4 and 5 letters, respectively). Who is it?

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, May 7 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: include a phone number where we can reach you.

Copyright 2026 NPR

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).