Q: Name an animal whose first five letters in order spell a religious figure. And if you change the animal's next-to-last letter, its last five letters in order will spell another religious figure. What animal is this?Is this a joke? So easy!
Sunday, April 26, 2026
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 26, 2026): Religious Figures
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 26, 2026): Religious Figures
69 comments:
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I thought it was luck, but I got this one right away. And I think a lot of other people will too
ReplyDeleteWrite down the names of the two religious figures. If a letter repeats, remove all instances of that letter. You are left with a tumult.
ReplyDeleteRob, You are one amazing hint giver! Every Sunday morning you come up with a wordplayfully clever hint almost immediately after Blaine has uploaded his beautiful blog.
DeleteLegoWhoAddsThatWhatThatTellsUsIsThatRobIsAlsoOneAmazinglyQuickPuzzleSolverWhy?BecauseYouCan'tGiveAHintWhenYouDon'tKnowTheAnswerToTheDarnPuzzle!
Jeepers. Such praise from such a source makes me blush.
DeleteAnd isn't Blaine's wonderful? And aren't we lucky to take part?
Reminds me of a famous Chief Justice.
ReplyDeleteAnd Will turned down the puzzle suggestion I sent him for this?
ReplyDeleteI sympathize, but I have to admit I think it's kind of cute.
DeleteI'm still out in left field on this one.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteOh, OK, now I get it.
DeleteI guess there's no harm in revealing that my first guess was "angelfish" but I couldn't think of ANY word starting with "lf".
DeleteI had the tee shirt.
DeleteMusical check-in Sunday since this isnt much of a puzzle. Loop and everyone, are you a fan of Trampled by Turtles? Their song, Duluth, is playing now. Just found them through a 20 year old plumber who unclogged my drain. Really enjoying their vibe. Folksy, blue-grassy. And the 20 year old was the first 20- or 30-something I've asked recently who knew James Taylor. He said "Of course, the singer/songwriter who made all of the the following folks possible!"
ReplyDeleteThis made me happy.
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. Ever heard o' that?
DeleteWe were recently at an outdoor karaoke event and we struck up a conversation with the couple next to us (30ish) who had a very friendly dog. I jokingly said "you should send him up to the stage to sing Werewolves of London. The guy looked at me kind of puzzled so I said "Have you ever heard of Warren Zevon?" and he said "No, can't say that I have." My husband got the last laugh. He figured they were too young. 😂
DeleteScarlett, right?
Delete"James Taylor? Is he a make-up
artist?"
This cover of Iris Dement's "Our Town"
by Trampled by Turtles is inspired. My 20nyeat plumber says he likes to slow down like a meandering river and let the turtles trample away.
Have a listen to the sweet "Our Town," as you wind your way through Sunday morning. >>>
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ch0J8FtMSA0
^^^20 year old
DeleteOUR TOWN Trampled by Turtles cover of Iris Dement, an Arkansan by birth.
DeleteThanks for sharing this. I had never heard of Trampled by Turtles, but I'm an instant fan as of now.
DeleteWe've seen Iris Dement in concert a couple times, but it's been awhile. She's absolutely top shelf right from the get-go!
I know. Her songwriting skills are sublime. And I love seeing Emmy Lou Harris backing her up.
DeleteMy dentist's receptionist (!) knows Iris and is going to ask her if she would talk to me about growing up in Arkansas, a Stone's throw away from Fifty-Six, AR.
Fifty-Six could be Our Town or many Our Towns.
.
And as for the plumber? He had to drop out of college after one year due to financial issues in his family. He has a great attitude, though, and helped start a fund for kids in his community to get mental health support where the suicide rate is much too high.
DeleteI've put him in contact with folks at the same fund that helped my son get a full ride scholarship to college. He is quite deserving of reaching his goals of going into outer space.
In the meantime, I asked the handyman at the house with the turtle sign (shown in my thumbnail) if it referred to actual turtles or metaphorical turtles?
"Metaphorical turtles, of course."
May you have many turtles and many meanderings in your day, metaphorical, metaphysical, or real ;-).
May you slow down enough today to be Trampled by Turtles.
Who?
ReplyDeleteDr. K, today you've not got a friend . . .
DeleteGot it before the on-air puzzle had been read through. Figuring out a non-TMI clue will take me much longer.
ReplyDeleteReplace each vowel in the animal with a different vowel. Phonetically, you get something associated with laws.
DeleteNot the Dalai llama.
ReplyDeleteNot an Allahgator?
DeleteThe first hint I thought of involved the three answers, but then I read Blaine's and decided I couldn't top it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteA comedy duo comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteOn a different topic, many of us are likely familiar with the story from last week that the New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle had an error. In a rather strange coincidence, the Saturday paper had an error in the 6x6 KenKen puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI usually knock out the KenKen puzzles in a few minutes. After running into a dead end a few times Saturday morning, I set the puzzle aside, and went on with my day.
This morning, I tried again, and once again hit a dead end, in the same area. So, I tried pulling up an online KenKen solver. After carefully checking that I had entered all of the information correctly, the solver told me there was no solution!
So, I'm looking forward to Monday's paper, to see what the error is.
WE APOLOGISE FOR THE FAULT IN THE PUZZLES. THOSE RESPONSIBLE HAVE BEEN SACKED.
DeleteWE APOLOGISE AGAIN FOR THE FAULT IN THE PUZZLES. THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR SACKING THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE JUST BEEN SACKED, HAVE BEEN SACKED.
DeleteAre those coconuts I hear banging together? Run away!
DeletepjbSays"Nih!"ToTheWholeThing
I solved the 6x6 yesterday. I thought it was possible I made a mistake, but I also just checked an online solver, and I was right. I'm currently in the middle of the 7x7 one in the magazine and feel stuck; is it possible that's the one with the error?
DeleteHeads up, Blaine, Blogger is playing its "Newer Post" tricks again.
ReplyDeleteI think it's better now. Can you check?
DeleteI think you got it. Thanks!
DeleteReminds me of a comedy team.
ReplyDeleteSilly puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to picture a full barrel in the hold of a sailing boat.
ReplyDelete(My TMI average is about 50%, I beieve.)
I agree with some of the observations above - this is a bit silly for a Sunday challenge, though if it’s going to be offered nonetheless, I’m surprised it wasn’t timed to a more appropriate time of year.
ReplyDeleteBlaine’s hint is one of the best I’ve seen, bar none.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, we couldn't have Lucky Charms, but ....
ReplyDeleteThere are a few reasons I might get this.
ReplyDeleteI understand the wait staff at the White House Correspondents dinner were recommending duck with no cover charge.
ReplyDeleteReally? I thought Trump always chickens out?
DeleteNo one wanted duck a la orange.
DeleteIn the "I guess I chose the wrong week to give up dropping acid" category, here is a clip of Karoline Leavitt telling a Fox News reporter before the event that "there will be shots fired" at the WHCD: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/B2B3KJKNOss.
DeleteDuck tacos... It's a thing!
DeleteNo one else seems to be pointing that out. Bet she could eat her words.
DeleteIt was all carefully scripted.
DeleteBTW, off the subject, but if you haven't seen the recent animated Iranian Lego propaganda videos from Explosive Media, they're pretty cute.
ReplyDeleteFinally, equal time!
ReplyDeleteThe link to this week's Sunday Puzzle takes us instead to one from a month ago. Here's a link to today's: https://www.npr.org/2026/04/26/g-s1-118349/sunday-puzzle-blank-to-blank.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing that out. I can't blame the intern; it definitely was my mistake but I've fixed it now.
DeleteBlaine, do you pay your interns well ;-)?
DeleteDoes that make you an internist at heart?
DeleteThe first 5 letters of a word that precedes an infinitesimal unit of length spell a religious figure.
ReplyDeleteChange this word's penultimate letter; its last 5 letters will spell another religious figure.
What are this word and unit of length?
LegoWhoDisavowsAnyAssociationWithExplosiveMedia!
I have posted below Puzzleria!s current "Schpuzzle of the Week" for the benefit of those of you who have already solved the current NPR challenge and are hankering for an addition challenge:
DeleteName a parlor game. Remove its first letter.
Write down the first four letters of this newly “beheaded” game.
Leave a space, followed by the final five letters of the game. Invert two adjacent letters of these final five.
As a result of these meddlesome lexical
manipulations, the game has now been rendered edible... like a Christmas goose or Thanksgiving turkey! (Has this parlor game perhaps indeed become an entirely different kind of game!?)
What are this game and this grub?
LegoCabLapper
Name an animal whose first five letters in order spell the name of a demon. And the animal's last five letters in order spell the name of a saint.
ReplyDeleteRudolfo is a brilliantly talented puzzle-maker whose puzzles have appeared on NPR; and I have been privileged to post his creativity on Puzzleria!... along with that of scores of other talented contributors.
Delete(Chad Graham's "Conundrumstruck by Chuck" is featured in our current edition, and Mark Scott's "Skydiversions" shall be featured in this Thursday's edition.)
LegoGratefully
I'm pretty sure it's not devil ray, but I'll keep looking.
DeleteI've got TWO answers to this one.
ReplyDeleteMore on Thursday 3pm.
I knew my hint would be removed as TMI—but I couldn’t’ resist.
ReplyDeleteAnd skydiveboy, LOVE your hints/wordplay! VERY clever!
Good clues. The idea I was going to use has been used at least a couple times, so... hm.
ReplyDeleteShakes him, makes him.
I leave a clue for my friends at "What's on Tonight", and it took me more research to clue the first religious figure than to actually solve the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHmm, now I am thinking this would be a good puzzle for the beginning of a month.
ReplyDeleteWill Shortz is the only person to hold a degree from Indian U for enigmatology. It's a self organized degree in puzzles. He should be ashamed for posting this.
ReplyDeleteEven Blaine agrees. (It's not a joke)