The Yeti of promotional giveaways.

My zombie friend Robin mentioned on Saturday night that she really, really wants to get her hands on a Weekend Edition Lapel Pin. After thinking about it, I realized that, while I've heard it promised to puzzle winners legion, I've never actually seen one.

So I set about finding an image of one on the Internet.  I googled and I searched the photostreams on flickr. Nothing. Nobody is trying to unload one on ebay. You can't buy your own in the NPR shop. I'm a little embarrassed, really, at how much time I spent looking for this item on line. I've concluded now that it may very well be that the most precious of all cheap-ass trinkets doesn't even exist.

And now that I know this, I WANT ONE TOO.

Fortunately, all one has to do to get one of these pins is answer a qualifying question, have his or her correct entry selected from alllll the other correct entries, and then play the puzzle on the radio.  On-air, the challenges are pretty easy--and even if the player gets stumped, Liane Hansen can usually figure out the answer.

The problem for me is going to be the qualifying challenge. 

Think of a six-letter word in which the third letter is 'S.' Remove the 'S' and you'll be left with a five-letter word that means the opposite of the six-letter one. What is it? Clue: The six-letter word has two syllables. The five-letter one has one.

I worked for a guy once who had some synapse connectivity issues and most of his instructions sounded like this. Fortunately, I found that if I stood there and nodded my head long enough, he would eventually say something that made sense. But I don't see these challenges getting any easier for me, no matter how long I stand and nod my head. 

NPR challenge quote courtesy Theresa Novak.