NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 25, 2012): In the News...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 25, 2012): In the News...:

Q: Think of a much-discussed subject in the news. Two words (five letters in the first, six letters in the last). The letters of the five-letter word can be rearranged to get the first five letters of the six-letter word. The six-letter word ends in a Y. What's the subject?

Kind of...

Edit: A kind of book or movie would be a genre which is an anagram of the 5 letters.

A: GREEN ENERGY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 18, 2012): This Puzzle is No Sweat

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 18, 2012): This Puzzle is No Sweat:

Q: Take the phrase "no sweat." Using only these seven letters, and repeating them as often as necessary, can you make a familiar four-word phrase? It's 15 letters long. What is it?

Don't forget, you should use every letter at least once.

Edit: In other words, don't waste any letters because you know what they say...

A: Waste not, want not

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 11, 2012): Warning! Puzzle Contains I-L-E-H

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 11, 2012): Warning! Puzzle Contains I-L-E-H:

Q: The answer is a two-word name. Inside this name are the consecutive letters I-L-E-H. Remove these four letters, and the remaining letters in order will name something commonly found inside the original thing with the two-word name. What is it?

It may sound hard at first, but this is a piece of cake.

Edit: The hint was "cake" which if you were breaking out of jail might hold a file (file holder = cake)

A: FILE HOLDER - ILEH = FOLDER

GeekDad Puzzle of the Week Answer: Bigger than Googol!

Bigger than Googol!:

Q: What is the first Fibonacci number bigger than a googol?

This was relatively easy in Haskell:

let fib = 0 : 1 : zipWith (+) fib (tail fib)
let answer = [ (n, fib!!n) | n <- [1..1000], (fib!!(n-1) <= 10^100) && (fib!!n > 10^100) ]
answer
(481,14913169640232740127827512057302148063648650711209401966150219926546779697987984279570098768737999681)

A: F(481) is the first Fibonacci number greater than googol. The numerical value is given above, but just for fun here's that number in words:
fourteen duotrigintillion, nine hundred thirteen untrigintillion, one hundred sixty-nine trigintillion, six hundred forty novemvigintillion, two hundred thirty-two octovigintillion, seven hundred forty septemvigintillion, one hundred twenty-seven sesvigintillion, eight hundred twenty-seven quinquavigintillion, five hundred twelve quattuorvigintillion, fifty-seven tresvigintillion, three hundred two duovigintillion, one hundred forty-eight unvigintillion, sixty-three vigintillion, six hundred forty-eight novemdecillion, six hundred fifty octodecillion, seven hundred eleven septendecillion, two hundred nine sexdecillion, four hundred one quindecillion, nine hundred sixty-six quattuordecillion, one hundred fifty tredecillion, two hundred nineteen duodecillion, nine hundred twenty-six undecillion, five hundred forty-six decillion, seven hundred seventy-nine nonillion, six hundred ninety-seven octillion, nine hundred eighty-seven septillion, nine hundred eighty-four sextillion, two hundred seventy-nine quintillion, five hundred seventy quadrillion, ninety-eight trillion, seven hundred sixty-eight billion, seven hundred thirty-seven million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, six hundred eighty-one

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 4, 2012): Can't see the Forest for the Trees

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 4, 2012): Can't see the Forest for the Trees:

Q: Take the trees hemlock, myrtle, oak and pine. Rearrange the letters in their names to get four other trees, with one letter left over. What trees are they?

How about a monkey tree?

Edit: If you take the consonants in "monkey" you get the last letters of each of the trees.

A: ELM, LEMON, TEAK and HICKORY (with P left over)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 26, 2012): The Best Actor Oscar Goes to...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 26, 2012): The Best Actor Oscar Goes to...:

Q: Name a bird. Change its second letter to an E to get the first name of a famous actor. Then name the female of that bird, and double one of its letters. You'll get the last name of this actor. What are the birds, and who is the actor?

Little House on the Prairie?

Edit: One of the first roles for this actor was an uncredited part as "Kid" on Little House on the Prairie. Can you spot him?

A: SWAN & PEN --> SEAN PENN