NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 30, 2025): Answers Delayed Until Thursday

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 30, 2025): Answers Delayed Until Thursday

Q: Think of a word meaning "delay." Remove one W from it and you'll be left with another word meaning "delay." What words are these?

Read carefully, if you don't want to be delayed.

Edit: The puzzle includes the phrase "one W" which may make you think that W appears more than once (e.g. SLOWDOWN). But that made me question why it was worded that specific way. It became clear that this was intended to be a tricky puzzle where you had to remove "ONE W" from the word.

A: STONEWALL --> STALL

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 23, 2025): TH: Think vs. That

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 23, 2025): TH: Think vs. That

Q: In English the two-letter combination TH can be pronounced in two different ways: once as in the word "booth," the other as in "smooth." What is the only common English word, other than "smooth," that ends in the letters TH as pronounced in smooth?

I can't be the only one that is having trouble in clueing the answer to this puzzle. That's assuming you aren't already having trouble in hearing the distinction between an unvoiced and voiced dental fricative.

Edit: I wasn't sure if the intended answer was WITH or MOUTH (verb). I had to work to not include WITH in my clue. And often when you MOUTH something, you don't use your voice. I agree there can be other valid answers like BETROTH, BEQUEATH, etc.

A: MOUTH (verb)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 16, 2025): Eight Letter Island

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 16, 2025): Eight Letter Island

Q:

Name a famous island in eight letters. Remove three consecutive letters. The letters that remain, in left-to-right order, will name where many islands can be found -- but not this one. What is this island, and where can't it be found?

Who has been scouring lists of islands or bodies of waters?

Edit: I must admit I spent too much time with lists of actual islands and types of waterways while the parts of the answer couldn't be found on either of those lists.

A: ATLANTIS, ATLAS

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 9, 2025): Jon Stewart at the Movies

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 9, 2025): Jon Stewart at the Movies

Q: Take the name JON STEWART, as in the comedian and TV host. Rearrange the letters to spell the titles of three classic movies. One of the titles is its familiar shortened form.

ChatGPT isn't much help, or is it?

Edit: Spielberg directed two of the movies. He also directed A.I. Artificial Intelligence in 2001.

A: JAWS, ET and TRON

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 2, 2025): Scary Things: The Musical

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 2, 2025): Scary Things: The Musical

Q: Think of a famous singer and actress, first and last names, two syllables each. The second syllable of the last name followed by the first syllable of the first name spell something that can be dangerous to run into. What is it?

After we've gotten the answer, we'll be the judges of whether this was a good puzzle or not.

Edit: If you take the left over letters (BRASTREI) and rearrange them, you get ARBITERS.

A: BARBRA STREISAND --> SANDBAR

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 23, 2025): Musical Artists and Game Pieces

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 23, 2025): Musical Artists and Game Pieces

Q: Think of two classic music artists with multiple top 40 hits. Their first names are near-synonyms. And their last names are both game pieces. Who are they?

Their last names being similar is not a coincidence.

Edit: Ernest Evans had the nickname "Chubby". Barbara Clark (wife of Dick Clark) heard a song from "Chubby" of him doing a vocal impression of Fats Domino. She suggested that Chubby be called "Chubby Checker" in homage to Fats Domino and the stage name stuck.

A: FATS DOMINO, CHUBBY CHECKER

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.

Edit: I liked the way the puzzle was presented previously.

A: LARRY BIRD, LADY BIRD (Johnson)

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