NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 26, 2023): Household Products

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 26, 2023): Household Products

Q: Name two brands of household products, each in three syllables. All of the syllables in the two brands rhyme with each other. That is, the first syllable in the first brand rhymes with the first syllable in the second brand, the second syllables in the two brands rhyme, and the third syllables rhyme. What brand names are these?

If my answer is correct, both products also rhyme with a centenarian.

Edit: Jean Dolores Schmidt is better known as Sister Jean.

A: LISTERINE and MR. CLEAN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 19, 2023): Bathroom and Kitchen Renovation

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 19, 2023): Bathroom and Kitchen Renovation

Q: Name two well-known commercial products in five letters whose names are anagrams of each other. One product is something you'd probably see in your bathroom. The second is more likely to be in your refrigerator. What products are these?

My first thought came up with something I hope is NOT in my refrigerator. I'll have to keep thinking.

Update: Add a D to the end of my refrigerator product and you get something that sounds like a bathroom product again.

Edit: My initial thought was DRANO --> RADON but I realized that didn't work. My alternate answer was PIPES --> PEPSI (and then PEPCID). But I later figured out the intended answer.

A: NIVEA (cream), EVIAN (water)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 12, 2023): Around the World

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 12, 2023): Around the World

Q: This week's challenge is a spinoff of the on-air puzzle. Name two countries that have "consonyms" that are nationalities of other countries. In each case, the consonants in the name of the country are the same consonants in the same order as those in the nationality of another country. No extra consonants can appear in either name. The letter Y isn't used.

If I add up the years that each of my four countries became members of the U.N. and divide by 5, I get a prime number.

Edit: My countries were Lebanon (1945), Albania (1955), Cameroon (1960) and Comoros (1975). The sum is 7835 and the prime is 1567. My list of nationalities separated North and South Korea, so I didn't get the more obvious answer of UKRAINE and KOREAN.

A: LEBANON → ALBANIAN (from Albania)
UKRAINE → KOREAN (from N. or S. Korea)
CAMEROON → COMORAN/COMORIAN (from Comoros)
MAURITANIA → MAURITIAN (from Mauritius)
RÉUNION → IRANIAN (from Iran)
Any others?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 5, 2023): MeDiCaL XaVier

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 5, 2023): MeDiCaL XaVier

Q: Name something scary in two words. Five of the letters are vowels, which are all the same. And the consonants are all Roman numerals. What scary thing is this?

I found a weird connection to last week.

Edit: When you combine weird with the theme of science from last week's puzzle, you get Oingo Boingo's song Weird Science (YouTube link) which mentions:
"magic and technology, voodoo dolls and chants, electricity"

A: VOODOO DOLL