NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 22): What's on your desk?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 22): What's on your desk?:

Q: Name an item often found on a desk. It's a hyphenated word. Add an 'S' to the beginning of each part, and you'll get two synonyms. What's the item?

I'm looking at my desk trying to figure out what this item must be. My desk is pretty clean except for the items I'll eventually need to do my taxes (...that nasty IRS!). My wife was thinking it's something related to "ink" --> sink. I was thinking of something related to "light" --> slight. But neither of those ideas seemed to pan out.

I get the feeling people won't be happy when they hear the answer. Anyone else bothered by the puzzle this week?

Edit: There were quite a few clues in my post: Paperwork that is yet to be handled probably appears in this place, "Nasty IRS" is an anagram of the two synonyms, and "pan" is a synonym for tray, while "out" is an antonym for in.

A: IN-TRAY --> SIN, STRAY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 15): Pensacola Anagram

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 15): Pensacola Anagram:

Q: Take the name 'Pensacola,' remove one letter and rearrange the letters that remain to get the first and last name of a famous person in American history. Who is it?

Here's a couple hints: The person died in Florida. Also, I don't think the timing of this puzzle is coincidental.

Edit: The puzzle was aired a day after Valentine's Day... 80 years after the Valentine's Day Massacre.

A: PENSACOLA -S --> AL CAPONE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 8): What is the Country? What are the Synonyms?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 8): What is the Country? What are the Synonyms??:

Q: Take the name of a country, interchange two consecutive letters. Add an 'e' after the fifth letter. The result will be two synonyms, one after the other. What is the country, and what are the synonyms?

Anyone notice that the language of this country sounds like another synonym?

Edit: The language is Finnish, a homonym for "finish".

A: FINLAND --> FINAL, END

Word Game: If I give you BVI, the answer is obvious...

Here's a fun game you can play with friends. I'll give you a sequence of letters. Your goal is to find a common English word that has those letters exactly in that order with no additional letters in between. As the title implies, if I gave you "BVI" you could reply with "oBVIous". Got it?

To get you started, here are a few combinations to try:
HTG, WKW, UMF, PTC, GGP, AUE and HMM...

Good luck, and feel free to post any letter combinations of your own that might be fun to try.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 1): Famous Living Woman...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 1): Famous Living Woman...:

Q: Think of a famous living woman whose first and last names are each accented on the second syllable. Say the second syllable of her last name, followed by the second syllable of her first name, and phonetically you'll get a word meaning very attractive woman. Who is it?

This one isn't that hard. The first woman I thought of was the right answer. Note: Put the syllable in the *last* name first.

Edit: The first woman I thought of was the first lady...

A: MICHELLE OBAMA --> BAM-CHELLE = BOMBSHELL