NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 25, 2018): United States of Mammals

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 25, 2018): United States of Mammals:

Q: Name a place in the United States that contains a W. Drop the W, and you can rearrange the remaining letters to name two types of mammals, each in the plural form. What place is it, and what are the mammals?

I was going to provide a crass clue but decided against it.

Edit: Crass Clue is an anagram of Las Cruces (New Mexico) which is where the puzzle submitter is from.

A: NEW MEXICO - W --> MICE, OXEN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 18, 2018): Hot Spots Not to be Forgot

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 18, 2018): Hot Spots Not to be Forgot:

PRIOR WEBSITE PUZZLE:

Q: An easy-sounding challenge this week that turns out to be not so easy: Two major U.S. cities, each with two-word names, each have an unusual property: The last two letters of the first word in the name are the same as the last two letters of the second word in the name — like University City, in Missouri, in which both "university" and "city" end in "-ty." But both cities in my answer are much larger. According to the 2010 U.S. census, each city has more than a quarter-million people. What cities are they?

Don't miss any of the bright spots in the photo here (courtesy of NASA). If you think Mr. Shortz made a mistake in the population count, he did not.

Update: The puzzle above is apparently *not* the puzzle that was presented on air. Here's the one that was presented on-air and has now been corrected on the website.

ON-AIR PUZZLE:

Q: Take the start of the name of a country and the end of that country's capital. Put the parts together, one after the other, and you'll get the last name of a character in a very popular movie. It's a character everyone knows. Who is it?

This one's easier and less controversial. I'm guessing it was inspired by another recent puzzle.

Edit: The recent puzzle involved Alec Guinness.

A: KENya + nairOBI --> (obi wan) KENOBI

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 11, 2018): Put Your Back Into It

Sunday Puzzle (Feb 11, 2018): Put Your Back Into It:

Q: Name part of the human body in six letters. Add an R and rearrange the result to name a part of the body in seven letters. What are they?

I went through three ENTIRE lists until I figured out the answer.

Edit: The first *3* letters of ENTIRE are ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat)

A: Tonsil and Nostril

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 4, 2018): Getting Short with You

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 4, 2018): Getting Short with You:

Q: In English, a short "u" sound is usually spelled with a "u," as in "fun" and "luck." Occasionally it's spelled with an "o," as in "come" and "love." Can you name two everyday one-syllable words in which a short "u" sound is spelled with an "a"?

I used to wear corduroy pants.

Edit: What was I thinking?

A: WHAT, WAS