Each week, New York Times crossword puzzle editor and NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz presents an on-air quiz to one contestant and gives a challenge for listeners at home.

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays with puzzle with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and WBUR listener John Byrne of Watertown, Massachusetts. On-air challenge: This is a phonetic puzzle.

NPR's Eric Westervelt plays the puzzle with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and Michigan Public listener Shailesh ...

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays with puzzle with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and WBUR listener John Byrne of Watertown ...

On-air challenge: Today's puzzle is called "The Pits." Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word starts PI- and the second word starts with T-.

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays with puzzle with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and WBUR listener John Byrne of Watertown, Massachusetts.

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with NPR Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and listener John Meissner of Estes Park, Colorado.

On-air challenge: This is a phonetic puzzle. If I asked you to say a letter of the alphabet before one of the gifts of the Three Wise Men to get a boy's name, you'd put L before MYRRH to get ELMER.

Last week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener David Dickerson, of Tucson, Arizona. The city UTICA, NEW YORK, when spelled out, contains 12 letters, all of them different. Think ...

NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz has appeared on Weekend Edition Sunday since the program's start ... and the founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (since 1978).