NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 26, 2014): Igor, Fetch me my Brain

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 26, 2014): Igor, Fetch me my Brain:

Q: Name a well-known TV actress of the past. Put an R between her first and last names. Then read the result backward. The result will be an order Dr. Frankenstein might give to Igor. Who is the actress, and what is the order?

We might as well dig up some of our hints from a prior puzzle.

Edit: Clues were "dig up" and a reference to a similar puzzle in July.

A: EVA GABOR --> ROB A GRAVE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 19, 2014): Time To Flex Those Math Muscles

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 19, 2014): Time To Flex Those Math Muscles:

Q: The following challenge is based on a puzzle from a Martin Gardner book, that may not be well-known. Out of a regular grade school classroom, two students are chosen at random. Both happen to have blue eyes. If the odds are exactly 50-50 that two randomly chosen students in the class will have blue eyes: How many students are in the class?

It's going to be hard to provide hints to the answer this week.

Edit: My hint was "Be" which is the symbol for Berylium, element 4 on the periodic table. While 4 is a technically correct answer (3 blue-eyed children --> 3/4 x 2/3 = 1/2) the intended answer was for a more typical class size.

A: 21 students (15 with blue eyes and 7 without).

The probability the first child has blue eyes is 15/21 or 5/7. Once that child is taken out of consideration, there are 14 children with blue eyes out of 20 so the probability is 7/10. Multiplying that together, we have 5/7 x 7/10 = 5/10 = 1/2

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 12, 2014): Country and Capital Mixup

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 12, 2014): Country and Capital Mixup:

Q: Name a certain country. Change one letter in its name to a new letter and rearrange the result to name another country's capital. Then change one letter in that and rearrange the result to name another country. What geographical names are these?

There's one more thing you can do. If you draw a triangle connecting the 3 capitals from the puzzle, the center of mass of that triangle is very close to the capital of a well-known country. And that country has the same number of letters as the answers to the puzzle.

A: SPAIN <--> PARIS <--> SYRIA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 5, 2014): Morning Routine

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 5, 2014): Morning Routine:

Q: Take the first four letters of a brand of toothpaste plus the last five letters of an over-the-counter medicine, and together, in order, the result will name a popular beverage. What is it?

I don't suggest consuming what is formed from the leftover letters of the second word, followed by the leftover letters of the first word.

Edit: The leftover letters are R+ODENT.

A: PEPSodent + rICOLA --> PEPSI COLA