Wednesday, November 24, 2010

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 21, 2010): Mixed-up Serial Number

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 21, 2010): Mixed-up Serial Number:
Q: What two world capitals can be found by rearranging the letters in the phrase 'serial number.'
Since the NPR puzzle is rather easy, here's related puzzle for you. Take the oxymoronic phrase "A kinetic zen". Rearrange the letters to form the title of a well-known movie. Now figure out how it is related to this week's puzzle.

Edit: The answer to my puzzle was the movie "Citizen Kane" where it is revealed that "Rosebud" was the name of a sled. Sled written backwards is DELS which contains the Internet country codes for Germany(DE) and Lesotho(LS) respectively.
A: BERLIN (Germany) and MASERU (Lesotho)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 14, 2010) : Tune into TNT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 14, 2010) : Tune into TNT :
Q : What is the longest familiar phrase, title, or name in which the only consonants are N and T, repeated as often as necessary? The other letters are vowels.
On the air, Will mentioned he had an answer with 18 letters. I've matched 18 letters but have a feeling we can do better than that.

Edit : Did you notice that I placed an extra space in front of each colon in this post? The hint was the sci-fi series "Space: 1999".
A : The song "Nineteen ninety nine" by Prince.
Will also accepted the 1947 French film Antoine et Antoinette.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 7, 2010): Alphabet Soup?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 7, 2010): Alphabet Soup?:
Q: Write out the 26 letters of the alphabet. Take a sequence of seven letters, change one letter in that sequence to a U, and rearrange the result to name something you might find in your refrigerator. Hint: The answer is a two-word phrase.
Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour. But don't set your clocks back too far or you won't be able to get the answer at all... say 1963?

Edit: According to a couple sources, plastic milk jugs were introduced in 1964.
A: Take GHIJKLM, swap H for a U, rearrange to get MILK JUG

Thursday, November 04, 2010

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 31, 2010): Creature Double Feature

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 31, 2010): Creature Double Feature:
Q: Name a creature in six letters. Move the first three letters to the end and read the result backward to name another creature. Clue: If you break either six-letter word in half, each pair of three letters will themselves spell a word.
No, I'm not late in posting the puzzle. I'm just stunned anyone would think so. Incidentally one of the 3-letter words is more common in crosswords, but it is found in the dictionary. Speaking of a double-feature, I'm thinking of watching a comedy and then a sci-fi thriller. Horror on Halloween is so overrated.

Edit: My hints were "not late" and "just stunned" which allude to various lines in the Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch. The double-feature references were to this comedic sketch and the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. The last comment was a hint to the fact that the creatures aren't directly related to Halloween (e.g. not goblins, zombies, spirits, etc.)
A: PARROT <--> ROTPAR <--> RAPTOR