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The October 4, 2026 NPR Sunday Puzzle asks you to add IN to the end of each first answer to form the answer to its paired clue. It gives nine pairs, but the published page does not provide their solutions.
How the “In at the Finish” puzzle works
For each pair, solve the first clue, then append the two letters IN. The resulting word should answer the second clue. The page’s example is “Bit of smoke / Arctic bird”: PUFF becomes PUFFIN.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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The New York Times Mega Book of Sunday Crosswords: 500 Puzzles | $15.41 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Dreamy Sunday Crosswords | $10.39 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
Unplugged Weekend Crosswords (Sunday Crosswords) | $12.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
Los Angeles Times Sunday Crossword Puzzles, Volume 25 | $9.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Los Angeles Times Sunday Crossword Omnibus, Volume 2 | $12.78 | Buy on Amazon |
The nine on-air clue pairs are:
- Shopping area / President Van Buren
- Fancy home beside the sea, maybe / Opposite of a hero
- Fine powder / Actor Hoffman
- Terse / Jane who was an original cast member of “S.N.L.”
- Actor Lundgren of “Rocky IV” / Intelligent sea creature
- Item on a bracelet / Brand of bathroom tissue
- Bit of ammunition / Short news report
- Force of gravity on Earth (2 wds.) / Tchaikovsky opera “Eugene ___”
- Gillette razor brand / Vehicle in a Duke Ellington jazz standard (2 wds.)
The published puzzle page lists the clues and example, not an answer key. Treat any proposed answers as deductions unless they are confirmed elsewhere.
The separate weekly challenge
The page also poses a different challenge from Robbie Ellis of Chicago. Find two well-known colleges or universities in the same state such that the last letter of one is the first letter of the other. Replace each occurrence of that shared letter with the same new letter; the changed names should identify two other well-known colleges or universities. The page does not give the solution to this challenge.
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Listeners can submit an answer to this weekly challenge by Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 3 p.m. ET. Include a phone number; selected listeners have a chance to play the on-air puzzle.
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Will Shortz’s page was published October 4, 2026, at 9:18 a.m. EDT (13:18 UTC). It identifies Shortz as NPR’s Puzzlemaster on Weekend Edition Sunday since the program began in 1987, and notes his work as New York Times crossword editor, former Games magazine editor, and founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which the page dates to 1978.
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