NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 3, 2022): Add -s, -es, -ies or -ves?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 3, 2022): Add -s, -es, -ies or -ves?

Q: Name a well-known fictional character in two words. Remove two letters from the first word in the name. The result is the plural form of the second word. What character is this?

My first thought was a fictional detective by a well-known author.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 26, 2022): The Lord is a Shoving Leopard

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 26, 2022): The Lord is a Shoving Leopard

Q: How old was Reverend Spooner when he found happiness?

I started counting cobblestones and got the answer.

Edit: The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) by Simon and Garfunkel mentions cobblestones.

A: FIFTY NINE --> NIFTY, FINE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 19, 2022): Who Are These People?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 19, 2022): Who Are These People?

Q: Think of two famous people — one from business and one from entertainment — whose last names are anagrams of each other. Now take their first names, drop the last letter of each of them, and put the result together, without rearranging, and you'll get the full first name of a famous fictional character. Who are these people?

You can also rearrange the last names to get a place that you might have seen one of these people, maybe both.

Edit: Their last names also anagram to STAGE

A: (BIL)L GATES + (BO)B SAGET --> (BILBO) BAGGINS

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 12, 2022): Twentieth Century American

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 12, 2022): Twentieth Century American

Q: Take the last name of a famous 20th-century American. The 5th, 6th, 7th, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd letters, in that order, name a European capital. Who is the person, and what capital is it?

Change one letter in the capital and rearrange to get a country. Repeat the process to get an element. Repeat the process one last time to get some gemstones.

Edit: BERLIN --> BRUNEI --> ERBIUM --> RUBIES

I had to change the book cover I originally used because it featured pictures of Lusitania, JFK and the Berlin Wall. Oops!

A: LIN(d)BER(gh) --> BERLIN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 5, 2022): Do You Smell Something?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 5, 2022): Do You Smell Something?

Q: The name of what country contains a deodorant and an air freshener in consecutive letters?

I'm just going to keep quiet and say I agree.

Edit: The additional letters are SH ("keep quiet"). And in French, "d'accord" means I agree and it is pronounced similar to the capital of Dhaka.

A: BAN + GLADE (+ SH) = BANGLADESH

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 29, 2022): Be Right Back

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 29, 2022): Be Right Back

Q: Take an abbreviation found in text messages. Reverse the first two letters, and the result sounds like something else often found in text messages. What are these things?

I might say something else used in text messages. And again, I question the pronunciation.

Edit: Apart from variations in the first vowel sound (EE, IH, UH?), I've always seen the M sound included as part of the second syllable, instead of the first. Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A: OMG --> MOG --> EMOJI

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 22, 2022): A Pair of Islands Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 22, 2022): A Pair of Islands Puzzle

Q: Take the name of an island. Move its first letter two spaces later in the alphabet (so A would become C, B would become D, etc.). Reverse the result and you'll have the name of another island. What islands are these?

Regulars to this blog have an advantage. While I submitted this awhile ago and don't remember hearing back, I guess it got added to the queue of puzzles. Well, I can't change yesterday, but we can change tomorrow! I say we "keep calm and carry on".

The day before the puzzle was May 21. On that same date in 1976, I was living on Guam and went through Supertyphoon Pamela that went straight over the island. And in May 23, 1960 a tsunami hit the Hawaiian Islands. The other hint was "keep calm" which was what it was like in the eye of the storm (a really eerie experience if you've never gone through such a storm) and also a callback to another puzzle where I mentioned keep calm and love Maui.

A: GUAM --> MAUI

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 15, 2022): Merci Beaucoup

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 15, 2022): Merci Beaucoup

Q: Name a famous living movie star. Insert an R in the middle of the first name, and drop the last two letters of the last name. You'll get a familiar French phrase. What is it?

Déjà vu, for the third time

Edit: Variations of the puzzle appeared in April 2014 and November 2015. I also mentioned the actor in another puzzle from February 2022.

A: CATE BLANCHETT --> CARTE BLANCHE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 8, 2022): Name that Sitcom

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 8, 2022): Name that Sitcom

Q: The initial letters in the title of a popular movie from this century spell the name of a popular sitcom from the last century. What titles are these?

I'm not going to lie but I thought there might be a link to Mother's Day... there is, but I'm not happy with it.

Edit: LIE -> LYE -> SOAP and also the memorable quote from the movie, "I have had it with these motherloving snakes on this motherloving plane!" (slightly altered from the original).

A: Snakes on a Plane (2006) --> SOAP (1977-1981)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 1, 2022): Take 4 Steps Forward

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 1, 2022): Take 4 Steps Forward

Q: This week's challenge is more challenging than last week's. Write down the name of a number. Move each letter four spots later in the alphabet — so A would become E, B would become F, etc. The result will be a number that's 44 more than your first one. What numbers are these?

More challenging? That's debateable. This is basically a Caesar cipher, except shifting by 4 letters.

Edit: In retrospect, perhaps mentioning a Roman statesman whose eponymous cipher usually involves a shift of three letters was a bit too revealing.

A: THREE --> XLVII (47)