NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 11, 2021): Scrambled Body Parts

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 11, 2021): Scrambled Body Parts

Q: Think of part of the body in seven letters. Add an "N" and rearrange all the letters to name two more parts of the body (none related to the original word). What body parts are these?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 4, 2021): Cars, Cars, Cars

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 4, 2021): Cars, Cars, Cars

Q: Write in capital letters the name of a popular vehicle brand. Move two vertical lines closer together. Add a horizontal line. The result will be another popular vehicle brand. What names are these?

It didn't say popular car make, or popular car model...

Edit: Apparently Will was trying to use a more encompassing term so that we didn't complain that one is a car make and the other is a car model.

A: CIVIC --> GMC

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 28, 2021): One For the Birds

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 28, 2021): One For the Birds

Q: Name something birds do. Put the last sound of this word at the start and the first sound at the end, and phonetically you'll name something else birds do. What are these things?

I almost posted a picture of a bird doing both things.

Edit: The first picture I picked had an open-beaked bird on a branch.

A: CHIRP⟷PERCH

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 21, 2021): Zany Box Kept Him

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 21, 2021): Zany Box Kept Him

Q: Take the phrase ZANY BOX KEPT HIM. Write it in capital letters. Something is special about the 14 letters in this sentence that sets them apart from all the other 12 letters of the alphabet. What is it?

Not this week.

Edit: If it had been last week, Pi Day (3/14) might have made the puzzle too obvious. Also, week rhymes with Greek.

A: The 14 uppercase latin letters in that phrase look like uppercase Greek letters Α(alpha), Β(beta), Ε(epsilon), Ζ(zeta), Η(eta), Ι(iota), Κ(kappa), Μ(mu), Ν(nu), Ο(omicron), Ρ(rho), Τ(tau), Υ(upsilon), Χ(chi).

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 14, 2021): Not Six Flags

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 14, 2021): Not Six Flags

Q: This week's challenge is more challenging than it sounds. Name a well-known tourist locale that attracts millions of visitors a year. It has a two-word name. The first word is a number. And that number is the same as the total number of letters in the name. What's the tourist site?

The nearby airport is associated with a number that is one smaller.

Edit: The nearby airport is Ian Fleming International author of the James Bond (aka "007") novels. By the way, this list was helpful to solving the puzzle.

A: OCHO RIOS (Jamaica)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 7, 2021): Country Anagrams = Mr. Guyana Cartons

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 7, 2021): Country Anagrams = Mr. Guyana Cartons

Q: Think of a country with a one-word name. You can rearrange its letters to identify a member of one of our country's armed forces. Who is that, and what's the country?

The map on the right should keep you busy.

Edit: Clearly the answers weren't on the map.

A: SURINAME --> US MARINE, MYANMAR --> ARMY MAN, ARMENIA --> A MARINE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 28, 2021): A Tale of Two Companies

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 28, 2021): A Tale of Two Companies

Q: Think of the names of two companies. One of them has a two-part name (5,5). The other has a three-part name (5,7,5). The last five-letter part of the two names is the same. And the first five-letter part of the first company's name is something the second company wants. What is it?

A: OSCAR MAYER / METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 21, 2021): All We Are is Dust in the Wind

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 21, 2021): All We Are is Dust in the Wind

Q: Think of a famous philosopher — first and last names. Change one letter in the first name to get a popular dish. Drop two letters from the last name and rearrange the result to get the kind of cuisine of this dish. What is it?

It's not Aristotle, Plato or Socrates.

A: Friedrich Nietzsche --> Fried rice, Chinese

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 14, 2021): Name the Books of the Bible

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 14, 2021): Name the Books of the Bible

Q: Name a famous actor whose first name is a book of the Bible and whose last name is an anagram of another book of the Bible. Who is it?

This actor had a role in a sci-fi film playing a character whose name sounds like a name from the Bible.

Edit: He played crewman Kane in Alien.

A: JOHN + RUTH = JOHN HURT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 7, 2021): In the News

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 7, 2021): In the News

Q: Think of an official who has been in the news this year in a positive way. Say this person's first initial and last name out loud. It will sound like an important person in U.S. history. Who is it?

No clue this week; I choose to close my eyes.

Edit: Close my eyes (quickly) = blink

A: Secretary of State Antony Blinken --> A. BLINKEN --> ABE LINCOLN