Crossed Words Puzzle

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett. And joining us now is our quiz guy, John Chaneski.

Hello, John.

Hello, Grant. Hello, Martha. It’s great to be here.

Where the hell have you been?

I’ve been in Brooklyn with the kids and the wife and having a great time.

Yeah. Is that what they’re calling prison now? Brooklyn?

Brooklyn. If it is prison, I love it.

Shout out to Cellbox C.

I don’t want to be out on parole at all if I can.

So that’s really wonderful.

Well, John, don’t tell me. Let me guess.

We’re doing crossword puzzles on the air today.

Well, close.

I’ve delivered crossword quizzes before here,

But in honor of this great ACPT, A-W-W-W happening,

I’ve created a special quiz based on something that I call single crossers.

These are words that share exactly one letter.

For example, Siamese and twin have just one letter in common, and that letter is?

I.

That’s right.

So if those two words were to cross in a crossword, that would be the only place they could possibly cross at the I.

Gotcha.

That’s a single crosser.

Now, I’ll give you clues to some related items.

For example, the current president and vice president, and they’ll give you a crossing letter, say H,

And you’ll give me the two answers that share only that letter.

So for current president and vice president and H, you would say…

Chris and Chaney.

Chris Chaney.

Those two only cross at the H.

Right.

That’s probably the easiest I could possibly get.

I’ll either give you a clue or a category,

And some of these will actually have multiple correct answers, so any correct answer is fine.

You ready to go?

Yeah, I think we can try this.

Terrific. Let’s give it a shot.

Okay, here we go.

The clue is, often found in a blue box marked craft, these two food items are a favorite of college students everywhere.

And the crossing letter is C.

Oh, my goodness.

Blue box.

I was going to Tiffany, so I’m off.

I was, too.

You were?

Craft.

They’re marketing people going, cha-ching.

Craft with a K.

Craft with a K.

Craft with a K.

The crossing letter is a C.

Right.

Can we have the clue again?

Sure.

Often found in a blue box marked craft, these two food items are a favorite of college students everywhere.

So mac and cheese?

Cream?

Macaroni and cheese.

Oh, I was going to say cream cheese, but that’s a silver box.

I was like, there’s no C in ramen.

Macaroni and cheese cross only at a single C.

All right, the next one.

The clue is they introduced us to Mrs. Robinson, and the crossing letter is N.

Simon and Garfunkel.

Funkel, right.

Very good.

They just cross at the N.

If they were in a crossword, they would only cross at the N.

Next one.

The category is the classic colors of the rainbow, and the crossing letter is D.

The classic colors of the rainbow.

So, for example, indigo.

Right.

And let’s see, Roy G. Biv.

Red.

Red.

That’s what I was doing.

I was running through Roy G. Biv in my head.

Very good.

Let’s see.

Okay.

This one is sort of wide open.

You could probably get a couple for this if you’re lucky.

The category is trees, and the crossing letter is A.

Well, you could do maple and apple.

No, they should only have one letter in common.

Oh, you’re right.

They will not have several letters in common.

That’s the other way you’re actually doing it.

Right.

Okay, there we go.

But that was a good example of what is not a single crossword.

Grant, you lose it.

Trees, and they share letter A, so let’s see here.

How about dogwood and sequoia spelled with a W?

No.

Well, you could do ash and apple.

Ash and apple work just fine.

That’s great.

Ash and apple.

Very good.

Let’s go on to another one.

The category is Disney’s Seven Dwarfs, and the crossing letter is U.

Okay, Snuffy.

No.

Snuffy.

Is he?

Dummy, scuzzy, lumpy.

Goofy.

No, okay.

Dopey.

Dopey and?

The crossing letter is U?

The crossing letter is U, yes, as in umbrella.

Can this be any dwarf?

Any of Disney’s Seven Dwarfs.

Any two of Disney’s Seven Dwarfs.

Who share but a single letter, and that letter is U.

Oh, U.

Right.

I can’t even name them all.

I have no idea.

Well, let’s try naming them as many as you can.

Sneezy.

Sneezy and Dopey, the only two I can think of.

Sneezy, Dopey.

Papa, or Doc.

Well, there’s Doc, right?

Doc.

You should write these down.

It’ll help you out if you write them down.

I’m writing them down.

You’ve got four left.

Oh, for heaven’s sakes.

Is there a…

Who’s the…

Unctuous?

No.

Let’s see.

One of them is very glad to see you.

Happy.

Right?

Grumpy.

One of them is, what’s that?

Grumpy and happy.

No, that won’t work.

Grumpy and what’s the other one?

No, because they’re why, they end in why.

Grumpy and.

I’ll say the one that this matches is the one that everybody always forgets.

Well, there we go.

Of course, you guys are forgetting sleepy, which is okay.

Because you’re both a little sleepy today, but that’s fine.

The answer is bashful.

Oh.

Grumpy.

Grumpy and bashful.

I’m sure a lot of our listeners, especially the younger ones,

Hammering on the radio.

Yeah, hammering on the dashboard, hammering on the computer.

Well, John, thank you so much.

This was fantastic, as always.

Hey, you guys did really well.

And I’d like to invite our listeners to submit their own single crossers

To quizguys at waywordradio.org.

They should be two words that share only a single letter.

The most elegant ones will be closely related words that are both nice and long.

For example, ab, AB, and gluteus maximus are both muscles, and they share an A, but that’s hardly elegant.

I look forward to seeing what you can come up with.

Maybe I’ll use your submissions to create a quiz from Martha and Grant.

Wow, that sounds exciting, John.

So the address is quizguys, Q-U-I-Z-G-U-Y-S, at waywordradio.org.

That’s us.

And if you’re puzzling over a language question, give us a call.

The number’s 1-877-929-9673.

Or send us an email.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.