The initial letters below each number need three letters to make a complete word. The challenge is to identify the same three-letter word ending for all of the words in each column that will result in legitimate words. (The name of this puzzle serves as an example: the common syllable is “ick.”)

1. 2. 3.

C ___ D ___ D ___ D ___ H ___ Dr___ H___ L___ Gr___ L___ M___ H___ M ___ P ___ L ___ R___ St___ S___ S___ T___ Sk___

–F. Jacus, Hillsborough, New Jersey

HOW’S THAT FOR HOSPITALITY? Seven travelers met at an inn. They were so pleased with their stay that they each offered the host a lump sum payment of $1,000 if they could stay with him for as many days as there were different seating combinations for them and the host around the dinner table. The host believed this to be a generous offer and

thus agreed. In how many different positions did they sit, and for how long did they stay?

 

Y, SURE!

The words described here have four letters or more, and the only vowel each contains is “y.” Can you identify each word?

1. ___________ : a yellowish-brown to reddish-brown aromatic gum resin with a bitter, slightly pungent taste

2. ___________ : any of the minor di-vinities of nature in classical mythology represented as beautiful maidens dwelling in the mountains, forests, and waters

3. ___________ : the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies in a gravitational system

4. ___________ : a chamber wholly or partly underground

5. ___________ : an ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound and silence in speech