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Shades of Carnac: Common Themes in Threes

Puzzle master Will Shortz quizzes one of our listeners, and has a challenge for everyone at home.

Challenge from March 26: From David Rudofsky, of Sleepy Hollow, New York: Take the name of a geographical area in the New World (in the western hemisphere). It's popular with tourists, and has seven letters in its name, one of them an "A." Change the "A" to an "S" and rearrange the result to name a geographical area in the Old World that is also popular with tourists. What places are these?

Answer: New World region: Yucatan. Old World region: Tuscany.

Winner: Carlos Alcala of Sacramento, California.

Challenge from April 2: From Ed Peg, Jr. of Champaign, Illinois: Take the letters of PYTHAGOREAN and rearrange them to make two familiar math terms.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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).