NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 26, 2023): Household Products

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 26, 2023): Household Products

Q: Name two brands of household products, each in three syllables. All of the syllables in the two brands rhyme with each other. That is, the first syllable in the first brand rhymes with the first syllable in the second brand, the second syllables in the two brands rhyme, and the third syllables rhyme. What brand names are these?

If my answer is correct, both products also rhyme with a centenarian.

Edit: Jean Dolores Schmidt is better known as Sister Jean.

A: LISTERINE and MR. CLEAN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 19, 2023): Bathroom and Kitchen Renovation

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 19, 2023): Bathroom and Kitchen Renovation

Q: Name two well-known commercial products in five letters whose names are anagrams of each other. One product is something you'd probably see in your bathroom. The second is more likely to be in your refrigerator. What products are these?

My first thought came up with something I hope is NOT in my refrigerator. I'll have to keep thinking.

Update: Add a D to the end of my refrigerator product and you get something that sounds like a bathroom product again.

Edit: My initial thought was DRANO --> RADON but I realized that didn't work. My alternate answer was PIPES --> PEPSI (and then PEPCID). But I later figured out the intended answer.

A: NIVEA (cream), EVIAN (water)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 12, 2023): Around the World

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 12, 2023): Around the World

Q: This week's challenge is a spinoff of the on-air puzzle. Name two countries that have "consonyms" that are nationalities of other countries. In each case, the consonants in the name of the country are the same consonants in the same order as those in the nationality of another country. No extra consonants can appear in either name. The letter Y isn't used.

If I add up the years that each of my four countries became members of the U.N. and divide by 5, I get a prime number.

Edit: My countries were Lebanon (1945), Albania (1955), Cameroon (1960) and Comoros (1975). The sum is 7835 and the prime is 1567. My list of nationalities separated North and South Korea, so I didn't get the more obvious answer of UKRAINE and KOREAN.

A: LEBANON → ALBANIAN (from Albania)
UKRAINE → KOREAN (from N. or S. Korea)
CAMEROON → COMORAN/COMORIAN (from Comoros)
MAURITANIA → MAURITIAN (from Mauritius)
RÉUNION → IRANIAN (from Iran)
Any others?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 5, 2023): MeDiCaL XaVier

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 5, 2023): MeDiCaL XaVier

Q: Name something scary in two words. Five of the letters are vowels, which are all the same. And the consonants are all Roman numerals. What scary thing is this?

I found a weird connection to last week.

Edit: When you combine weird with the theme of science from last week's puzzle, you get Oingo Boingo's song Weird Science (YouTube link) which mentions:
"magic and technology, voodoo dolls and chants, electricity"

A: VOODOO DOLL

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 26, 2023): It Doesn't Add Up

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 26, 2023): It Doesn't Add Up

Q: Take this equation: 14 + 116 + 68 = 47. Clearly this doesn't work mathematically. But it does work in a nonmathematical way. Please explain.

It makes about as much sense as 22 + 11 = 26 + 39.

Edit: My equation turns into Ti + Na = Fe + Y, referring back to the recent chemical elements puzzle where Tina Fey was the answer.

A: Looking at the periodic table and replacing the numbers with the chemical symbols, we get Si + Lv + Er = Ag

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 19, 2023): Make Like A Tree and Get Out of Here

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 19, 2023): Make Like A Tree and Get Out of Here

Q: Name a tree. In the very middle of the word insert a homophone of another tree. The result will be a new word describing what everyone wants to be. What is it?

What everyone wants to be? Not me.

Edit: "Not me" would be "you" which is also a homophone for the letter U.

A: POPLAR + YEW(U) --> POPULAR

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 12, 2023): Under Pressure

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 12, 2023): Under Pressure

Q: Name a popular rock band — one that everyone knows. Add a "B" sound at the end, and phonetically you'll name a place where you might hear this band play. What band is it?

I believe they've been touring since the '50s.

Edit: Clearly the band hasn't been around that long, but U-2 spy planes have been flying since the 1950s and require a special pressurized suit.

A: U2 --> YouTube

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 5, 2023): Would You Like Fries with That?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 5, 2023): Would You Like Fries with That?

Q: Name a food item you might order at a fast food restaurant. The first, second and last letters in order name another food item. Remove those letters and the remaining letters spelled backwards name yet another food item. What foods are these?

Hint: 65003

Edit: In the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS), A065003 contains the Not McNugget Numbers. Back when McDonald's only sold McNuggets in boxes of 6, 9 or 20 the question arose as to which quantities of McNuggets you could or couldn't buy. It turns out that 43 was the highest possible Not McNugget Number.

A: NUGGET --> NUT, EGG

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 29, 2023): Fruit Salad

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 29, 2023): Fruit Salad

Q: Name a fruit in one word. Drop the last two letters. The remaining letters can be rearranged to name two other fruits. What are they?

Or if you remove the 2nd and 4th letters, you can rearrange to get a symbol.

Edit: POMEGRANATE-OE --> PENTAGRAM

A: POMEGRANATE-TE --> PEAR, MANGO

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 22, 2023): One Capital, Two Capitals

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 22, 2023): One Capital, Two Capitals

Q: Take a word that's in the name of several tourist attractions in our nation's capital, Washington, D.C. Rearrange the letters in that word to spell the names of two other nations' capitals. What are they?

If you anagram the two countries, you get a spicy warbler.

Edit: The cinnamon-breasted warbler belongs to the genus Euryptila.

A: MEMORIAL --> LIMA (Peru) and ROME (Italy)