Blaine's Puzzle Blog

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 15 and 22, 2012): Two Week TV Title Challenge

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 15, 2012): Two Week TV Title Challenge:
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 22, 2012): Two Week TV Title Challenge (cont.):

Q: This is a special two-week creative challenge. Combine the titles of some TV shows, past or present, into an amusing sentence or statement. Here are 3 examples:
"TODAY / SISTERS / NAME THAT TUNE / FATHER KNOWS BEST,"
"DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES / BEWITCHED / MY THREE SONS / ONE DAY AT A TIME,"
"I'VE GOT A SECRET / MURDER, SHE WROTE / THE F.B.I."
Entries will be judged on their sense, naturalness of syntax, humor, originality, familiarity of the TV shows named, and overall effect. No more than three sentences per entry, please.

Not much to say, but here's list of television shows that might be useful.

Edit: Feel free to discuss your submissions in the comments.

A: "The Nanny / Lost / All My Children." (Will's pick submitted by Patrick B. of Jasper, AL)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 1, 2012): Sport Scores and Another Sport

2012-01-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 1, 2012): Sport Scores and Another Sport:

Q: Name certain scores in a certain sport. This is a two-word phrase with a total of 10 letters (5 letters in each word). If you have the right phrase, you can rearrange all the letters to name a different sport, also in two words (6 letters in the first word, 4 in the second). What are the scores, and what is the sport?

Looks like we are back to anagrams. Perhaps Will wants to start off the year with something familiar. Generally I despise anagrams, but this puzzle was enjoyable. Anyway, the puzzle isn't too difficult so do you think I need to provide a hint or two?

Edit: Read the first letter of each of the sentences above and you'll get LPGA. I also stopped my counting before I got to four ("Fore!")

A: FIELD GOALS --> LADIES GOLF

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 20, 2011): Food Item, Saying and Person's Name

2011-11-23T12:15:00.000-08:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 20, 2011): Food Item, Saying and Person's Name:

Q: Name a food item. Divide this word in half. Take the second half followed by the first half twice, and you'll get a familiar saying. If you take the second half twice (followed) by the first half, you'll name a well-known person. What are the food item, saying, and person's name?

I vote for the food item being incomplete, but I guess if enough people vote against me, I'll rescind my complaint.

Edit: My hint was "nays" which when added to the food item (mayo) gives the full name (mayonnaise).

A: Food Item: Mayo(nnaise)
Saying: Yo' Mama!
Person: Yo-Yo Ma

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 16, 2011): Two-word Rhyming Phrases

2011-10-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 16, 2011): Two-word Rhyming Phrases:

Q: Think of a familiar two-word rhyming phrase that starts with the letter F, like "fat cat." Change the F to a G and you'll get another familiar two-word rhyming phrase. What are these phrases?

My wife and I came up with the same answer and we need to get a hint up quickly, so I guess we'll go with that. I like the first as a familiar two-word rhyming phrase, but I'm not as excited about the second.

Update: After listening to the audio of the puzzle, I discovered that Will provided several other examples of two-word rhyming phrases (fun run, fine line, flower power) which would preclude them from being the answers. So you can scratch my original comment since it no longer fits and would have to change anyway.

Edit: My revised hints were "scratch" and "change".

A: Fender Bender --> Gender Bender

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 24, 2011): A Place of Power Puzzle

2011-04-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 24, 2011): A Place of Power Puzzle:

Q: Think of a familiar three-word phrase in the form '___ and ___'. If you remove the 'and' and put the second word in front of the first word, you get a compound word naming a place of power. Hint: The compound word has nine letters. What is the three-word phrase, and what place of power is this?

I'm going to have to lie back on the sofa and ponder this puzzle.

Edit: Sofa is a synonym for divan which is also the Muslim word for council chamber or boardroom.

A: Room and Board --> Boardroom

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 20, 2011): Consumer Protection Laws Anagram

2011-03-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 20, 2011): Consumer Protection Laws Anagram:

Q: Take the phrase 'consumer protection laws,' and rearrange the letters to name a person in broadcasting and an issue of public debate. Hints: The name of the person in broadcasting has five letters in the first name and five letters in the last name. For the issue of public debate, it's a familiar two-word phrase with seven letters in the first word and five letters in the second. What name and phrase are these?

If NPR keeps posting the puzzle this early we'll have to stop calling it the Sunday puzzle! Are you following what I'm saying? Are you clear? Cool.

Edit: The NPR puzzle is part of Weekend Edition Sunday (host Liane Hansen). The day before, NPR broadcasts Weekend Edition Saturday (host Scott Simon). "Are you following what I'm saying?" was a hint to the game Simon Says. "You clear" was a hint to "nuclear" while "Cool." was a hint to cooling down a reactor.

A: SCOTT SIMON, NUCLEAR POWER

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 6, 2011): In a Galaxy, Far Far Away...

2011-03-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 6, 2011): In a Galaxy, Far Far Away...:

Q: Think of a two-word phrase that means a time long ago. Move the third, fourth and fifth letters to the end of the phrase, without rearranging those three letters, to get a new two-word phrase that means the beginning. What phrases are these?

One less than Osama's and one less than Les Essarts.

Edit: Today (March 10) happens to be the birthdays of Sharon Stone and Osama bin Laden. Sharon's age is 53, Osama's is 54. That was the hint for STONE AGE. The other hint was a reference to the Tour de France 2011. Stage two of the race will be a circuit out and back to Les Essarts. Decrementing you get STAGE ONE.

A: STONE AGE --> STAGE ONE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 6, 2011): You are Cleared for Take-off

2011-02-10T16:27:00.000-08:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 6, 2011): You are Cleared for Take-off:

Name two things an airplane does. Each of these is a single word. Put them together, one after the other, to make a compound word that names something it's nice to have as big as possible. What is this thing?

I don't know about you, but I like my porterhouse as big as possible...

Edit: Porterhouse is a type of steak which is a homophone of stake which is a synonym of the answer.

A: BANK + ROLL = BANKROLL

Explanation of Civil War Message, Decoded 147 Years Later

2010-12-27T01:24:00.000-08:00

In the news today, I read about a Civil War message that was found in a bottle and decoded just recently. However the news article wasn't very clear on the how the message was encoded.

With a little trial and error, I too was able to decode the message. The message uses a Vigenère cipher and a key of length 15. After struggling with some transcription and encoding errors in the message, I was able to determine what was the intended coded message:

SEAN WIEUIIUZH DTG CNP LBHXGK OZ BJQB FEQT XZBW JJOY TK FHR TPZWK PVU RYSQ VOUPZXGG OEPH CK UASFKIPW PLVO JIZ HMN NVAEUD XYF DURJ BOVPA SF MLV FYYRDE LVPL MFYSIN XY FQEO NPK M OBPC FYXJFHOHT AS ETOV B OCAJDSVQU M ZTZV TPHY DAU FQTI UTTJ J DOGOAIA FLWHTXTI QLTR SEA LVLFLXFO.

If you repeatedly write the key phrase "Manchester Bluff" above the letters it tells you the offset from the actual letter. A is an offset of zero (the same letter in the plain text). B is an offset of 1, C is 2, etc. The decoded message is:

Gen'l Pemberton, You can expect no help from this side of the river. Let Gen'l Johnston know, if possible, when you can attack the same point on the enemy's line. Inform me also and I will endeavour to make a diversion. I have sent you some caps. I subjoin despatch from Gen Johnston.

After I figured out the key phrase I noticed in the Wikipedia article that the Confederate leadership primarily relied upon three key phrases, "Manchester Bluff", "Complete Victory" and, as the war came to a close, "Come Retribution".

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 14, 2010) : Tune into TNT

2010-11-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 14, 2010) : Tune into TNT :

Q : What is the longest familiar phrase, title, or name in which the only consonants are N and T, repeated as often as necessary? The other letters are vowels.

On the air, Will mentioned he had an answer with 18 letters. I've matched 18 letters but have a feeling we can do better than that.

Edit : Did you notice that I placed an extra space in front of each colon in this post? The hint was the sci-fi series "Space: 1999".

A : The song "Nineteen ninety nine" by Prince.
Will also accepted the 1947 French film Antoine et Antoinette.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 8, 2010): To Yo, or not to Yo

2010-08-12T12:01:00.001-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 8, 2010): To Yo, or not to Yo:

Q: Take the letters in the name of cellist Yo Yo Ma, and rearrange them to form the initial letters of a familiar six-word question. What is the question?

I could give a musical clue, but it would give it away.
P.S. She might spell the word "Colour".

Edit: My first hint was to Victoria Beckham. The "P.S." was a hint to her nickname (Posh Spice) and the "Colour" clue was the fact that she is British. Her first solo single was "Out of Your Mind". In addition, if you anagram the letters in "Colour" you get "R U Loco?"

A: Are You Out of Your Mind

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb. 14, 2010): Anagramming Proust

2010-02-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb. 14, 2010): Anagramming Proust:

Q: Take the name 'Proust,' as in Marcel Proust. Using these six letters, repeating them as often as necessary, spell a familiar bumper sticker with three words, 16 letters altogether. What bumper sticker is it?

This puzzle is so obvious it doesn't need a hint. Instead, I'm going back to watching the downhill heats. My two favorite skiers are currently tied for 4th place.

Edit: The hints were "tied" and "4th place". Typically one receives a yellow ribbon for a 4th place finish, but it is also a symbol in support of military troops away from home.

A: SUPPORT OUR TROOPS

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 4): Chain Reaction

2009-10-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 4): Chain Reaction:

Q: The challenge is to find a chain of 'C' words to connect 'carbon' to 'circuit.' Each pair of words completes a compound word or familiar two-word phrase (e.g. CASH COW or CREDIT CARD). Will's chain has seven words between 'carbon' and 'circuit' for a total of nine words. The answer doesn't have to match Will's, but each word has to start with 'C,' and each has to combine with the words before and after to make a compound word or familiar two-word phrase.

You can work this forward and/or backward; I did both. In retrospect I shouldn't have had so much trouble finding the joining word in the middle. It's hard to give clues without revealing the answer. I'll just say I'm pretty sure I have the same list as Will.

Edit: The hint above referred to the middle word in the chain which coincidentally was "center".

A: CARBON - COPY - CAT - CALL - CENTER - COURT - CASE - CLOSED - CIRCUIT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20): Higher Education

2009-09-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20): Higher Education

Q: Name a well-known university. Move the last letter three places earlier in the name. The result will be a phrase meaning 'represent.' What's the university and what's the phrase?

Did you hear about the blonde that wanted a higher education? She did her homework in a tall tree. Okay, that was a silly joke. Back to giving clues on the puzzle. I don't know about you, but I didn't much care for the movie; however, I really did enjoy the play.

Edit: The hints this week were "tall tree" (which is the literal translation of Palo Alto) and of course the famous Big Game ending called The Play

A: STANFORD --> STAND FOR

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 5): Keep It Short

2009-04-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 5): Keep It Short:

Q: Think of a four-letter word with a short 'A' sound, and specifically the 'A' is the second letter. Switch the third and fourth letters and you'll get a new word, also with a short 'A' sound. The two words go together to make a phrase that names something that existed from 1982 to 2000. What is it?

Hint: The answer is something that still exists in some places today but the most famous version existed from 1982 to 2000.

Edit: Will was obviously thinking of the Broadway version of this.

A: CATS CAST

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 22): Add 3 Letters Twice

2009-03-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 22): Add 3 Letters Twice:

Q: Here's an example: Take the letters I, L, R and T. Insert a trigram (three-letter group) twice into these letters to complete a familiar 10-letter word. If you add S, P and O, you would get the answer, 'spoilsport.'
Now, take R F E and R. Insert a trigram twice somewhere in these letters to complete a familiar two-word phrase. What phrase is it?

On a scale of 0 to 9, I give this week's puzzle a 3.

Edit: 0 to 9 would be the set of *digits* where 3 is the *fourth* digit.

A: Insert ING twice --> R(ING) F(ING)ER

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 8): Cat Got Your Tongue?

2009-03-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 8): Cat Got Your Tongue?:

Q: Think of a familiar phrase in five words that means 'tongue tied.' One word in it has one letter, one word has two letters, one has three, one has four and one has five — though not necessarily in that order. What is the phrase?

This week, I have no way of providing a clue that won't give away the puzzle.

Edit: I was speechless, completely tongue-tied, I guess you could say I was...

A: AT A LOSS FOR WORDS

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 21): Opposites Attract

2008-09-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 21): Opposites Attract:

Q: Take a common two-word phrase with four letters in each word. Each word has a single O as its vowel. If you add an R somewhere in the second word, the two words become opposites. What is the phrase?

Well at least Will is leaning toward puzzles that take more than 30 seconds to solve...the last one took several days for some people. Your solving time will be quicker if you remember the words are opposites once you add the 'R' (I started searching for synonyms.) Don't give away the answer before the Thursday deadline, but feel to take a shot at posting some "hints".

Edit: My hints weren't very good, but there were some references to Will (Shortz), length of time (long and short), and the obvious inclusion of the word "shot".

A: LONG SHOT --> LONG, SHORT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 17): U.S. Postal Abbreviation Quiz

2008-08-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 17): U.S. Postal Abbreviation Quiz:

Q: Take the two-letter postal abbreviations for three U.S. states. Add the letter A. Then add the two-letter postal abbreviations from three more states. You'll have 13 letters in all. Reading from left to right, you'll get a familiar three-word phrase that's seen on many products. (Hint: The three words in the answer phrase have four, two and seven letters respectively.) What's the phrase?

The puzzle is rather U.S.-centric. If you aren't familiar with the codes, here is a list of U.S. Postal Abbreviations. There are so many clues in the question itself that you shouldn't have any problem solving this. P.S. If you haven't seen this exact phrase recently, you might have at least seen ones similar to it.

Edit: Let's see how many submissions there are on this one... I thought it was pretty obvious.

Massachusetts (MA)
Delaware (DE)
Indiana (IN)
"A"
Maine (ME)
Rhode Island (RI)
California (CA)

A: MADE IN AMERICA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 27): Egomaniac Anagram

2008-07-31T17:12:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 27): Egomaniac Anagram:

Q: Re-arrange the letters in the word 'egomaniac' to spell a sign seen in many stores. What is it?

Well we have returned home from Iceland safely. One thing I will say, is if you try and pronounce the place names, you'll find most Icelanders replying, "what did you say?". A pronounciation hint -- the town of "Höfn" sounds like a hiccup. The 'fn' is pronounced 'b' so don't say "Hoffin", say "Hub" as you inhale quickly. As for the puzzle, it's so easy, you can solve it faster than you can say, Kirkjubæjarklaustur (trust me, don't try...).

Edit: There were a couple hints above -- returning to a place, and the phrase "What did you say?". I initially thought that there would be a gerund with "ing" so I pulled those letters aside. I then saw the word "come" in the remaining letters and knew the answer.

A: EGOMANIAC --> COME AGAIN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 6): Contaminated Anagram

2008-07-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 6): Contaminated Anagram:

Q: Take the word 'contaminated.' Rearrange the 12 letters to get a two-word phrase for a familiar sign.

For all of you that complained that last week's puzzle was too hard, here's one that is extremely easy. A few minutes anagramming the letters will net you the answer (or you can cheat and use an anagram program). Feel free to leave a comment with a hint, but remember you aren't allowed to give any spoilers before the deadline of Thursday 3pm ET.

P.S. The answer isn't "Tandem Action". :-)

Edit: My hidden clue was "you aren't allowed...". I also liked phredp's clue in his comment about "I can't enter..." and geri's comment about "Admit it..."

A: CONTAMINATED <--> NO ADMITTANCE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 21): Working for Mere Peanuts

2007-10-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 21): Working for Mere Peanuts

Q: Think of a word that can follow the word 'peanut' to form a familiar two-word phrase. If you take the first letter and move it to the next-to-the-last position, you get another word that can also follow 'peanut' to form another familiar two-word phrase. What are the words?

As you can see from my prior post, I'm a little behind in posting puzzle clues and answers. Trust me, you'll find a couple clues to this puzzle if you look.

Edit: Well the clues were all in the prior post. "Hello kids! What time is it?" was a quote from Buffalo Bob to start the Howdy Doody show (also mentioned) where the kids sat in the...

A: PEANUT GALLERY --> PEANUT ALLERGY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (June 24): Ran to Oregon?

2007-06-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (June 24): Ran to Oregon?

Q: Take a familiar three-word title, with four letters in the first word, two letters in the next and six letters in the last. The last word contains the consecutive letters R-A-N. Change the R-A-N, to O-R and you'll get another familiar three-word phrase. What is it?

If you finish this quickly it will be quite an achievement.

Edit: I barely finished reading the puzzle and I had the answer, so I doubt others struggled with this for too long. The six letter word with R-A-N in it was the key and the rest fell into place. In case you can't decipher the clues, "finishing quickly" was a hint to racing, but a certain race extended over several days. And "quite an achievement" was a clue to the second part of the answer.

A: TOUR DE FRANCE --> TOUR DE FORCE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 15): Two-word Phrases and Car Parts, a Common Theme

2007-04-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 15): Two-word Phrases and Car Parts, a Common Theme

Q: Take the phrase 'saturated fat,' which contains the letter pair 'AT' three times, and think of another familiar two-word phrase, this time containing the lettered pair 'SE' three times. Drop the 'SEs' every time they appear and the remaining letters, in order, reading left to right, will name part of a car. What is it?

I have to get on Will's case. Just three weeks back we had a puzzle involving two-word phrases and a car part. Practical wisdom would say that you need to vary your puzzles a little. Sounds like he might not be listening to me however...
Edit: The clues were "Practical wisdom" and the reference to the puzzle a few weeks back with the faulty car horn (and the words "sounds" and "listening").

A: HORSE SENSE --> HORN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 25): Motto Puzzle

2007-03-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 25): Motto Puzzle:

Q: Think of a well known two-word motto. Say it quickly and it will sound like a different two-word phrase for the result of some auto garage work. What is it?

I don't think a clue is merited this week. If you just sound it out, you'll get the answer.

Edit: Reread those last two sentences and you'll find the hidden clues that I gave you (even though I said I wouldn't). Merited should make you think of merit badges and scouting. What's the motto of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts? Also, the word sound when you are thinking of a car should make you think of the horn...

A: BE PREPARED --> BEEP REPAIRED