NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 16, 2025): Sports Figure and American of the Past

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 16, 2025): Sports Figure and American of the Past

Q: Name a famous sports figure of the past (5,4). Change the third and fourth letters of the first name to a single D, and you'll have the nickname of another famous American of the past. Who are these two people?

Been there, done that.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 9, 2025): Happy Valentine's Day!

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 9, 2025): Happy Valentine's Day!

Q: Name a well-known cartoon character in eight letters. Change the last letter to a U and rearrange the result to make a phrase you might see on a Valentine's Day card.

The cartoon starring this character had a different name for quite awhile.

Olive Oyl was one of the cast of characters in the strip "Thimble Theater". It would be almost a decade later before the character Popeye appeared.

A: OLIVE OYL --> I LOVE YOU

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 2, 2025): Hip, Hip Hooray!

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 2, 2025): Hip, Hip Hooray!

Q: Name a part of the human body in seven letters. Add a B and rearrange the result it to get another part of the human body.

I woke up and it was yet another body part puzzle. Is this Groundhog Day?

Edit: The groundhog actually has a functioning tail containing bones. Also, hip (from the title) and toe are examples of three-letter parts of the body. Can you name eight more?

A: TOENAIL + B --> TAILBONE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 26, 2025): Name That Popular Singer

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 26, 2025): Name That Popular Singer

Q: Think of a popular singer whose first and last names each have two syllables. Drop the second syllable from each name and you'll be left with the piece of a toy. What singer is this?

I accidentally focused on the letters in the second syllables; I was way off.

Edit: The leftover letters are YON.

A: DOLLY PARTON, DOLL PART

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 19, 2025): Should You Choose to Accept It

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 19, 2025): Should You Choose to Accept It

Q: Think of a familiar two-word phrase that means "a secret mission". Move the last letter of the first word to the start of the second word. The result will be two words that are synonyms. What are they?

I keep feeling like there's more to this.

Edit: My first thought was "covert operation", hence the hint about something missing.

A: COVERT OP --> COVER, TOP

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 12, 2025): Rot-13 International Location

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 12, 2025): Rot-13 International Location

Q: Think of a well-known international location in nine letters. Take the first five letters and shift each of them 13 places later in the alphabet. The result will be a synonym for the remaining four letters in the place's name. What place is it?

I was sure the answer was going to be NICAR/AGUA, but sadly NICAR didn't become WATER.

On my map, the WATER is BLUE and the LAND is GREEN. Also, AGUA is a Spanish word we know to be WATER, while TERRA is a Latin word we know to be EARTH or LAND

A: GREENLAND --> TERRA, LAND

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 5, 2025): Math Fun in 2025

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 5, 2025): Math Fun in 2025

Q: This week's challenge is s a numerical challenge for a change. Take the digits 2, 3, 4, and 5. Arrange them in some way using standard arithmetic operations to make 2,025. Can you do it?

I'm not sure how to clue this... but I'm going to say 865 or 2619.

Edit: One possible order to the digits is 3452. The prime factorization of 3452 is 2² x 863. Adding the unique prime factors gives 865.

Another possible order is 5234. Its prime factorization is 2 x 2617. Adding the prime factors gives 2619.

A: If you just take the prime factorization of 2025, you have the answer.
3⁴ x 5² = 2025, or 5² x 3⁴ = 2025.

Note: You could also just use 25 in place of 5²
(3⁴ x 25 or 25 x 3⁴).

I'm sorry to everyone for the times I had to use my moderator powers.

One comment I hated to delete was the one about the sum of the cubes of the first 9 integers. (1³ + 2³ + 3³ + ... + 8³ + 9³ = 2025). It also included the related fact that the sum of the first 9 integers squared gets the same result (1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 8 + 9)² = 2025.

This is actually true for the first 'n' integers that the sum of the cubes is the square of the sum. (1³ + 2³ + 3³ + ... + n³) = (1 + 2 + 3 + ... + n)².
This is known as Nicomachus's theorem

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 29, 2024): Punctual Singer

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 29, 2024): Punctual Singer

Q: Think of a famous singer -- first and last names. Use all of the first name, plus the first three letters and the last letter of the last name. The result, reading left to right, will spell a phrase meaning "punctual." What singer is this?

The unused letters anagram to the start of a fun video game.

Edit: The video game is KERBAL Space Program

A: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE --> JUST IN TIME

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 22, 2024): Upscale vs Budget Brands

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 22, 2024): Upscale vs Budget Brands

Q: Think of a two-word brand name for a food item that is marketed as upscale. Remove the last two letters of the first word and the first letter of the second word. Read the result from left to right and you'll get a one-word brand name associated with the budget-conscious. What is it?

Reread it again and realized something about the second brand.

Edit: I initially thought both brands were food related. Trying to work it backwards, as a result I got nowhere. It was Scarlett's one word "Clue" that led me to Colonel Mustard and then Grey Poupon.

A: GREY POUPON --> GROUPON

Annual Puzzle and Video for Christmas 2024!

It's time for our Annual Puzzle and Video. Click the tree below to get a printable PDF of the full puzzle.

Once you have figured out the password, click the video link below to see all the fun we've had in 2024!

As always, post a comment below about your favorite part of the video to show you've solved the puzzle, but don't give away the password directly.

P.S. If you need help, here is the answer key with the password.