NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 27, 2020): Come Find Me

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 27, 2020): Come Find Me

Q: This challenge is not too hard. Name a major world city with a population in the millions. Take one letter in its name and move it two spots earlier in the alphabet. Reading backward, you now have the name of a major restaurant chain. What is it?

I'm going there without you.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20, 2020): What's in a Name?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20, 2020): What's in a Name?

Q: Take the name of a famous actor — 4 letters in the first name, 5 letters in the last. Spoonerize it. That is, interchange the initial consonant sounds of the first and last names. The result will be two new familiar first names — one male, one female — that start with the same letter... but that letter is pronounced differently in the two names. Who's the actor?

Note: an actor can be a woman too.

Edit: Marion Michael Morrison (aka John Wayne) has a unisex first name of Marion. In addition, the image was of a Post-It Note made by 3M.

A: JOHN WAYNE --> JUAN, JANE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13, 2020): U Can't Touch This

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13, 2020): U Can't Touch This

Q: Name a famous person with the initials M. C. The first initial and last name anagram to the person's field of renown. What is it?

I'm not able to provide a clever clue this week.

Edit: My hint was not able hinting at Cain and Abel.

A: MICHAEL CAINE --> MCAINE --> CINEMA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 6, 2020): Ancient Deities

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 6, 2020): Ancient Deities

Q: Name a deity in ancient mythology. The first half of the name, phonetically, names a common object. The second half of the name, by spelling, names another object that is often put inside the first one. What is it?

I don't, but others might. Anyone else get sidetracked trying to make Loki turn into lock and key?

Edit: My main hint was that I don't put my phone in a purse, but others might. The comment about Loki/Lock/Key was to point out that the pronunciation of "purse" doesn't match the original syllables of the name, similar how the syllables of Loki don't sound like "lock" unless you isolate the letters.

A: PERSEPHONE --> PURSE, PHONE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30, 2020): Make Your Move

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30, 2020): Make Your Move

Q: Name a famous person in history (5,4). The letters of the last name can be rearranged to name a popular game. And the letters in the first name can be rearranged to name an action in this game. Who is this famous person?

The last name can also be rearrange to name a place where another related game is played.

Edit: The game of "Marco Polo" is played in the pool.

A: MARCO POLO --> POOL, CAROM

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 23, 2020): Where in the World?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 23, 2020): Where in the World?

Q: Think of a place on earth with a four-word name. Take the third word. Advance three of its letters to the next letter of the alphabet (so A would become B, B would be come C, etc.). You'll get the fourth word in the name. What place is this?

Ask someone to point to this on a map and they'll probably get it wrong.

Edit: Many people believe this to be the southernmost point of Africa but it's actually not.

A: CAPE OF GOOD HOPE (G>H, O>P, D>E)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 16, 2020): Taking the Intra-Europe Train

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 16, 2020): Taking the Intra-Europe Train

Q: Think of a major city in France whose name is an anagram of a major city in Italy. Each city has more than 100,000 people. What are the cities?

I thought I had it with AMIENS and MESSINA. I guess I'll have to take a new tack.

Edit: I was hinting at NEW ORLEANS.

ORLÉANS <--> SALERNO

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9, 2020): A Puzzle for the Birds

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9, 2020): A Puzzle for the Birds

Q: Think of a famous living person in the entertainment field whose first name is a bird. The person's last name is a quality of this bird — something its feathers have. Who's the famous person, and what's the bird?

Hint: Steamboat inventor?

The actor adopted his stage name from a combination of the CBS casting director, Robert Dale Martin, who gave him his first big break, and the televangelist archbishop, Fulton J. Sheen. If he had chosen their first names he might be Robert Fulton.

A: MARTIN SHEEN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 2, 2020): Name with 5 Consecutive Letters

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 2, 2020): Name with 5 Consecutive Letters

Q: Think of a famous living American whose first and last names have a total of eight letters — all different. Five of these letters are consecutive in the alphabet. The remaining three can be rearranged to spell a woman's nickname. What famous American is this?

Do they have open angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension?

GANFORT is a medicine that can be used to treat the stated conditions. It anagrams to GRAFTON, as in author SUE GRAFTON which was a hint to the woman's name.

A: ELON MUSK --> KLMNO + SUE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 26, 2020): Tumbling Tumbleweed

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 26, 2020): Tumbling Tumbleweed

Q: Think of a common two-word phrase for something you experience in a desert. Rearrange the letters to get a single word for something you should do in the desert as a result.

Think of a two-word phrase that means the same thing as the word. Rearrange to get something you can experience in the Arctic.

Edit: The answer to my puzzle was DRINK WATER --> DARK WINTER

A: DRY HEAT --> HYDRATE