Thursday, February 19, 2009

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
at

27 comments:

  1. LorenzoSun Feb 15, 09:18:00 AM PST

    This person's name has several fun anagrams. One that I liked was the frequency with which a race car passes the finish line.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Blue of Central IowaSun Feb 15, 09:49:00 AM PST

    Timing? aaaah, The "problem's solution" was sooooo "taken care of" by even 'fore 10:30am four score later in the Central Time Zone mornin'! ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. carlSun Feb 15, 10:04:00 AM PST

    I don't have time for this right now; I need to clean this place up! I'm so disorganized I think it might rise to the level of crime...

    ReplyDelete
  4. hughSun Feb 15, 10:08:00 AM PST

    Yes, it has been a week of anniversaries, two 200ths and an 80th.

    Another name for this person is the anagram for popular places during long distance rail travel.

    ReplyDelete
  5. DaveSun Feb 15, 11:22:00 AM PST

    As a real estate investor, I'm always looking to buy more property. Right now I'd like to amass acres, but they're hard to find around here. Shoot!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Don HodunSun Feb 15, 12:17:00 PM PST

    Carl
    Did you hear that bank robberies are up in Washington this year compared to last??

    ReplyDelete
  7. herbladySun Feb 15, 12:37:00 PM PST

    I've got to go work on my taxes so I don't get thrown in the slammer!

    ReplyDelete
  8. minncognitoSun Feb 15, 08:08:00 PM PST

    this week's puzzle? fuhhhhhgeddabowdit!

    i went gangbusters on this one and got it pretty quickly. when it comes to the Sunday Puzzle, i'm untouchable.

    ReplyDelete
  9. geriSun Feb 15, 09:24:00 PM PST

    "Famous" is not the first adjective
    I'd come up with to describe this
    person.

    Re Finland: Liane Hansen said,
    "This one was a tough one for
    everybody listening. We got
    fewer than 800 correct entries.

    ReplyDelete
  10. MikeSun Feb 15, 10:20:00 PM PST

    Geri, I didn't get Finland. I got busy this week and forgot to return to the puzzle.

    I nearly slapped my forehead when they revealed the answer, because I was actually talking with friends about visiting Finland if the NHL plays there in the fall.

    ReplyDelete
  11. hughMon Feb 16, 10:51:00 AM PST

    Don, As for the bank robberies, they're different this year in that it's not clear who's doing what,and with which, and to whom.

    ReplyDelete
  12. DaveTue Feb 17, 07:45:00 AM PST

    Puzzle #6:

    Remove four consecutive letters from the name of a country and get a different country. The four letters that you are removing are an actual word.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hardly GarbageTue Feb 17, 09:43:00 AM PST

    I forgot to post the answer to my puzzle from last week, so in case anyone is still interested, it's:

    "PAKISTAN" -> "KHAKI(S)" & "TAN".

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hardly GarbageTue Feb 17, 09:45:00 AM PST

    Also, a variant of this week's puzzle:

    If you remove two letters from "Pensacola" and re-arrange the remaining letters, you can form the name of a famous historical figure from the same state as Pensacola!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hardly GarbageTue Feb 17, 09:53:00 AM PST

    (Whoops, I guess you have to remove one of the doubled letters and double a different letter for that to work...)

    ReplyDelete
  16. DaveTue Feb 17, 02:46:00 PM PST

    Folks, Dave and David are two different people.

    ReplyDelete
  17. carlTue Feb 17, 03:58:00 PM PST

    Are you sure?

    ReplyDelete
  18. phredpWed Feb 18, 07:21:00 AM PST

    Dave (or David). Are you sure your name isn't Ben (or Ben)?

    ReplyDelete
  19. DaveWed Feb 18, 10:24:00 AM PST

    Did you hear the one about the guy with a split personality who was always beside himself?

    Anyone have an answer to my puzzle #6?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hardly GarbageWed Feb 18, 11:13:00 AM PST

    Well, if you go back in time, you could remove East or West from Germany, but that doesn't exactly work today... And I don't think there's a country called "Timor", so I'm out of simple ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  21. kenWed Feb 18, 12:07:00 PM PST

    Regarding puzzle #6, both countries are in Asia and have large Muslim populations.

    ReplyDelete
  22. cookiefaceWed Feb 18, 02:03:00 PM PST

    I have the answer

    ReplyDelete
  23. DaveWed Feb 18, 05:40:00 PM PST

    Great job, Ken and Cookieface! You can make an anagram out of the four letter word. The anagram means "denials." There's at least one other anagram, but that would probably give the answer away.

    ReplyDelete
  24. carlWed Feb 18, 06:03:00 PM PST

    I'm spending too much time on facebook. But I promise I won't start a facebook group called Fans of Blaine's Puzzle Blog. That could be a disaster! If it snowballed we could have hundreds of posts a day on here...

    ReplyDelete
  25. geriFri Feb 20, 08:28:00 AM PST

    carl, Why not?

    ReplyDelete
  26. carlFri Feb 20, 09:25:00 AM PST

    I guess I don't want to be the one responsible for this page becoming so popular that we all get lost in a sea of posts. I'll let you, or someone else, make that decision. Might be great, who knows?

    ReplyDelete
  27. hughSun Feb 22, 11:24:00 AM PST

    Blaine, an error on your Feb 22 page is preventing it from loading.

    ReplyDelete

For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

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