Sunday, October 29, 2017

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 29, 2017): Metal Nationalities

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 29, 2017): Metal Nationalities:
Q: This week's challenge sounds easy, but it's a little tricky. Name a well-known nationality. Drop a letter, and the remaining letters in order will name a metal — one of the elements on the periodic table. What is it?
A person from Oman is an Omanganese, right?

Edit: Omanganese hints at the greek letter OMEGA.

Update: I included a better clue in the comments about whether Will Shortz ever tests these puzzles. Software companies will often release a BETA version of their software to let customers test features before the final version is released.

A: TIBETAN, remove β (BETA) and you get TIN

Sunday, October 22, 2017

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 22, 2017): Two Week Challenge: Move Two Numbers

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 22, 2017): Two Week Challenge: Move Two Numbers:
Q: This is a two-week challenge. Write down the equation:
65 – 43 = 21.
You'll notice that this is not correct. 65 minus 43 equals 22, not 21. The object is to move exactly two of the digits to create a correct equation. There is no trick in the puzzle's wording. In the answer, the minus and equal signs do not move.
Keep it up; you still have another week to solve this.

Edit: My hint last week was "I used to be an advocate...". I guess you could say if I'm no longer a proponent, I must be an ex-ponent. :) This week's clue is a hint to raise the numbers up.
A: 65 - 4³ = 1² --> 65 - 64 = 1

Sunday, October 15, 2017

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 15, 2017): Two Week Challenge: Move Two Numbers

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 15, 2017): Two Week Challenge: Move Two Numbers:
Q: This is a two-week challenge. Write down the equation:
65 – 43 = 21.
You'll notice that this is not correct. 65 minus 43 equals 22, not 21. The object is to move exactly two of the digits to create a correct equation. There is no trick in the puzzle's wording. In the answer, the minus and equal signs do not move.
I used to be an advocate of more challenging number/math puzzles. But this one is not worthy of a two-week challenge.

Sunday, October 08, 2017

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 8, 2017): What did Henry Ford Do?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 8, 2017): What did Henry Ford Do?:
Q: Take the name of a country. Insert an E somewhere inside it. You'll get a phrase that answers the question: What did Henry Ford do?
Not to repeat myself, but I just like saying the name of the capital.

Edit: This puzzle wasn't that different from the "Just add Z" puzzle from 2014.
A: MADAGASCAR --> MADE A GAS CAR

Sunday, October 01, 2017

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 1, 2017): I can't make SUSHI without U

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 1, 2017): I can't make SUSHI without U:
Q: Think of a 4-letter food. Move each letter one space later in the alphabet — so A would become B, B would become C, etc. Insert a U somewhere inside the result. You'll name a 5-letter food. What foods are these?
To make a long story short, I woke up to raindrops in the night. Later, when my alarm went off, I tried working on this in my sleepy state for about 15 minutes and then fell back asleep. Good thing I wasn't trying to get up for a final.

Edit: In Final Fantasy XV, during the "Raindrops in the Night" hunt, you fight a JUMBO FLAN. Perhaps a little too much of a clue and something searchable, but I went for it anyway.
A: FLAN and GUMBO