NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 30, 2017): Acirema fo Setats Detinu

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 30, 2017): Acirema fo Setats Detinu:

Q: This puzzle might require a little research. There is a city somewhere in the United States with a population of about 24,000 people. Change the last letter in the name of its state. If you now read the name of the city plus the altered name of its state together, the result is a palindrome — that is, it reads backward and forward the same. What city is it?

Edit: The only tricky part was realizing that part of the repeated letters came from the state name so that the city name was shorter than the state.

A: ZION, ILLINOIS

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 23, 2017): Pat Sajak and Vanna White

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 23, 2017): Pat Sajak and Vanna White:

Q: What common three-word expression — 14 letters in all — has only N and G as consonants, and otherwise is all vowels?

I'm not sure Will Shortz has hit a homerun with this puzzle.

Edit: Some announcers might say this as the ball is heading over the wall.

A: GOING, GOING, GONE!

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 16, 2017): A Novel Approach

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 16, 2017): A Novel Approach:

Q: Name a U.S. city and its state — 12 letters altogether.

Change two letters in the state's name. The result will be the two-word title of a classic novel. What is it?

I was thinking the answer was a city in Florida until I pulled the correct answer out of the recesses of my brain.

Edit: The city I was thinking of was St. Petersburg, but I guess it wasn't the one in Florida. The other hint was pull being the opposite of push.

A: EUGENE OREGON --> EUGENE ONEGIN by Alexander Pushkin

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 9, 2017): Synonyms and an Antonym

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 9, 2017): Synonyms and an Antonym:

Q: Take a certain 7-letter word. Remove the first letter and you get a 6-letter synonym of that word. And the letter you removed is an abbreviation for the opposite of both words. What words are these?

A: FACTUAL and ACTUAL --> F (False)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 2, 2017): Girls and Cars

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 2, 2017): Girls and Cars:

Q: Think of a common girl's name. Write it in all capital letters. Rotate one of these letters 90 degrees and another of the letters 180 degrees. The result will name a make of a car. What is it?

And if you take one letter in the make of a car and turn it 90 degrees and another letter is turned 180 degrees the result is a fish.

Edit: A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

A: WANDA --> MAZDA