Sunday Puzzle: Two words, one anagram 0%

By Will Shortz0%

5/24/2026, 12:28:50 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Unattributed Quote, Loss Aversion, and Indoctrination, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 36.4% saturation with 91 hits. Analysis detected 258 faulty-reasoning hits from 250 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 0% and a BS Rank of 0% (16,808 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 100.00% of the article peer group.

On-air challenge 
I'm going to give you some made up two-word phrases in which each word has five letters. 
Rearrange the letters in one of these words to complete a familiar two-word phrase. 
Which word to anagram is for you to discover. 
Ex. 
APPLE DICER --> Apple cider 
1. 
BAKER PEDAL 
2. 
BLANK SERVE 
3. 
LEGAL FIBER 
4. 
MAID'S TOUCH 
5. 
REGAL PRINT 
6. 
HUMAN BINGE 
7. 
PEACH TRICK 
8. 
DREAM GUARD 
9. 
DUTCH TATER 
10. 
PEARL DRIVE 
11. 
CLEAN TALES 
12. 
SHORE SENSE 
Last week's challenge 
Last week's challenge comes from Joseph Young, of St. 
Cloud, Minn. 
Name a famous actor of the past (7,7). 
Remove three consecutive letters from his last name, and the remaining letters in order will be the well-known lead character from a long-running series of films. 
What actor and character are these? 
Answer: Charlie Chaplin --> Charlie Chan 
Winner 
Thomas Hirschman of Durham, North Carolina. 
This week's challenge 
This week's challenge comes from Jim Francis, of Kirkland, Wash. 
Think of a famous female singer (8,4). 
The first syllable of her first name, the second syllable of her first name backward, and last name forward again are all verbs associated with human desire. 
Who is this singer? 
If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, May 28 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. 
Confirmation Bias
2.4%
Anchoring Bias
0%
Availability Heuristic
2.8%
Representativeness Heuristic
3.2%
Hindsight Bias
0%
Overconfidence Bias
0%
Framing Effect
6.8%
Loss Aversion
7.2%
Status Quo Bias
0%
Sunk Cost Effect
0%
Optimism Bias
5.2%
Pessimism Bias
0%
Negativity Bias
0%
Self-Serving Bias
0%
Fundamental Attribution Error
0%
Actor-Observer Bias
0%
In-Group Bias
0%
Out-Group Homogeneity Bias
0%
Halo Effect
0%
Horn Effect
0%
Dunning-Kruger Effect
0%
Recency Bias
2.4%
Primacy Effect
0%
Blind-Spot Bias
0%
Ad Hominem
0%
Straw Man
0%
Appeal to Authority
4%
False Dilemma
0%
Slippery Slope
0%
Circular Reasoning
0%
Hasty Generalization
0%
Red Herring
0%
Bandwagon
5.2%
Appeal to Emotion
0%
Begging the Question
0%
Post Hoc (False Cause)
0%
Tu Quoque
0%
Burden of Proof
0%
Appeal to Nature
0%
Composition/Division
0%
Anecdotal
0%
No True Scotsman
0%
Ambiguity (Equivocation)
36.4%
Gambler’s Fallacy
0%
Middle Ground
0%
Personal Incredulity
0%
Special Pleading
0%
Genetic Fallacy
0%
Unattributed Quote
7.6%
Quote-first Misdirection
2%
Biased Writer Voice
6.8%
Indoctrination
7.2%
Politically Left Leaning Bias
0%
Politically Right Leaning Bias
0%
Attempt to Sell a Product or Service
4%

250 words analyzed.

Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.