Sunday, August 26, 2018

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 26, 2018): Musical Body Parts

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 26, 2018): Musical Body Parts:
Q: Think of a well-known musician whose last name contains a body part. The musician has a single-word nickname that anagrams to a different body part. Who is this musician, and what is the nickname?
The longer version of the musician's nickname also contains a body part.

Edit: Satchmo is short for "satchel mouth".
A: LOUIS ARMSTRONG --> SATCHMO --> STOMACH

Sunday, August 19, 2018

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 19, 2018): Part of a Complete Breakfast

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 19, 2018): Part of a Complete Breakfast:
Q: Think of a brand name you might see on your breakfast table. Change one letter to a Y and rearrange the result to get a familiar two-word phrase that names something else you might see on your breakfast table. What phrase is this?
It could be Grape Jell-O® but Grape Jelly doesn't involve any rearrangement.

Edit: My hint was about not being scrambled which is what you would need in order to see the egg yolks.
A: KELLOGG'S-L+Y = EGG YOLKS

Sunday, August 12, 2018

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 12, 2018): The Missing Link (Part 2)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 12, 2018): The Missing Link (Part 2):
Q: Continuing on from Part 1, here's Part 2 of the challenge.

These four words have a very interesting and unusual property in common — something about the letters in them (all the letters). What is it?

SCARECROW
SCREENSAVER
CAMERAWOMAN
CURVACEOUSNESS

When you know it, think of a common 7-letter word that shares the unusual properties of both last week's and this week's words.
If you are thinking anagrams, you are heading down the wrong path. Personally I don't feel the second property is that uncommon. However some of you may still be wishing the deadline was extended another week.

Edit: The hints were "down" and "extended" trying to hint at the missing descenders and ascenders when written in lowercase. And the word "uncommon" was an example of such a word.
A: In lowercase, the words have no ascenders and descenders
scarecrow
screensaver
camerawoman
curvaceousness

The common words that I found that could both contain a planet and only use these letters were:
aVENUeS -> VENUS
MAnneRS --> MARS
MAnuReS --> MARS
MARacaS --> MARS
MARoonS --> MARS
MARrowS --> MARS
MoAneRS --> MARS

I submitted AVENUES because VENUS wasn't included in last week's planet list.

Sunday, August 05, 2018

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 5, 2018): The Missing Link (Part 1)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 5, 2018): The Missing Link (Part 1):
Q: This is Part 1 of a two-week challenge. You'll need to solve both parts before you send in your answer. So hold your answer for now.

These four words have a very interesting and unusual property in common. What is it?
NEANDERTHAL
EMBARRASS
SATURATION
CONTEMPTUOUSNESS
Don't get overenthusiastic — be sure to wait until after the two-week deadline. Here's a link to Part 2.

Edit: oVerENthUSiastic contains the letters of yet another planet in order.
A: All the words contain planet names

nEAndeRTHal --> EARTH
eMbARraSs --> MARS
SATURatioN --> SATURN
coNtEmPTUousNEss --> NEPTUNE