No clue how many here are regular listeners of "Sunday Edition" on NPR and to Wil Shortz and the "puzzle" segment, but I'm one of those listeners who goes back to the sending in post-card days. When Liane Hansen retired I was willing to give Audie Cornish every chance to fit in as host of the legendary show, and segment, and I resisted complaining when she (in my opinion) stunk from the get-go but let it be.
Well Wil Shortz has posted on his twitter he has taped his final segment with Ms. Cornish as she's "..."been stolen away for 'All Things Considered.' " (I'm sure NPR would phrase it differently)
Let's hope the new host can put some life back into the segment. Audie was the prime example of one with no ability to banter or ad-lib and, I don't think, really cared about puzzles at all. Her chemistry with Will Shortz was non-existant and I can't help but wonder if it hasn't been the reason for the seeming loss of people sending in guesses to the puzzles. It used to be "we had over 1500 entrys last week" but these days it's a fraction of what it was.
-Shawn (MPR listener AND member)