It's not a Ford Tempo or Hyundai Sonata. Maybe I'm not smart enough to figure this out this week?Q: Think of a musical instrument. Add two letters at the end, and you'll get the names of two popular automobile models reading left to right. What musical instrument is this?
Sunday, April 05, 2026
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 5, 2026): Musical Cars
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 5, 2026): Musical Cars
36 comments:
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Think of a different musical instrument whose first letters are the surname of a person who behaves like what the last 2 letters can describe when used as the initial letters of a French phrase that describes a child no one would want to be around.
ReplyDeleteMais oui!
DeleteGreetings from Indianapolis, where I’m attending the Final Four. Yesterday, I met and shook hands with Michelle Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson. Imagine that.
ReplyDeleteYou have to be smart to get this puzzle, but I’m in agreement that the extra two letters may not be necessary. A fun and clever puzzle. Congrats, again, Cap!
To those who celebrate, Happy Easter!
Go, UConn!
Huskymania!
DeleteBe sure to stop at Shapiro's
DeleteWe walked past it yesterday.
DeleteAnd we’re eating there now!
DeleteRemove five letters of the instrument to get a classic American musician. Remove five different letters to get a classic American car.
ReplyDeleteRemove the first three letters from the instrument, rearrange, and you get somewhere I am right now.
ReplyDeleteI can feel your pain.
DeleteAutocorrect, or correct auto?
ReplyDeleteSomeone in this group ought to have no trouble with this one.
ReplyDeleteThat's true. The typo wasn't mine
Delete"left or right" or "left to right"?
ReplyDelete"left to right"
DeleteThanks. I fixed it here, but the NPR intern will have to fix it on the website. 😜
DeleteOkay, I guess my answer is the intended one -- Blaine's clue confirms it. But I didn't think the second model was well-known.
ReplyDeleteI see them every day.
DeleteRemove three letters from the instrument, rearrange the remaining letters, and get the surname of a renowned 20-century philosopher.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm thinking of the right one, he was also connected to music.
DeleteRight you are, sir.
DeleteSeveral people have commented on the cleverness of this puzzle. I agree.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteClue: Monopoly
ReplyDeleteI once saw a Yugo transfigured into the instrument, in Grand Central Station, in NYC. Pix on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteFrom last week and continuing on:
ReplyDeleteWord WomanSun Apr 05, 04:56:00 AM PDT
Well, I have a whole treatise on women named Sarah at car shows describing the new models from either direction ;-).
"A bidirectional text contains two text directionalities, right-to-left (RTL) and left-to-right (LTR). It generally involves text containing different types of alphabets, but may also refer to boustrophedon, which is changing text direction in each row.
An example is the RTL Hebrew name Sarah: שרה, spelled sin (ש) on the right, resh (ר) in the middle, and heh (ה) on the left. Many computer programs failed to display this correctly, because they were designed to display text in one direction only.
Some so-called right-to-left scripts such as the Persian script and Arabic are mostly, but not exclusively, right-to-left—mathematical expressions, numeric dates and numbers bearing units are embedded from left to right. That also happens if text from a left-to-right language such as English is embedded in them; or vice versa, if Arabic is embedded in a left-to-right script such as English."
This was worth the price of admusdion!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Word WomanSun Apr 05, 04:57:00 AM PDT
Um, admission. But I am carefully considering adding "admusdion" to the lexicon. ;)
*******************
Admusdion: to amuse the god, Dionysus, god of wine, joy, theatre and madness, including this celestial body. (my nod to this lunacy is my clue this week).
Would you please clarify the correct pronunciation of admusdion?
DeleteIs it ad-MUSE-dee-un?
Is it ad-muss-DIE-on?
Something else?
Ad muse Die on, me thinks.
DeleteIf you have it as an appetizer, it's an Ad muse Bouche.
I was going to stick with my first answer: BUGLE (Bug+Leaf), but after a hot cup of brain lubricant, I found the intended answer. Happy Resurrection Day to all here who are humble enough to accept the greatest gift ever offered! Thank you, Jesus!
ReplyDeleteI play this instrument! My mother made me take lessons all thru high school! This isn’t a hint, merely a comment.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to CAP (in ALL CAPS!). 'Tis a capital puzzle challenge.
ReplyDeleteLegoWhoClassifiesThisAsASuperPuzzleFromASuperNiceGuy
Thanks Lego
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle is elementary.
ReplyDeleteIt helps to be bright to solve this one.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of blue
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/why-there-was-no-word-for-blue-in-ancient-greece-and-how-homer-and-aristotle-perceived-colors
have folks gotten their lapel pins and kyanite crystals yet?
Funny, I can think of an instrument that doesn't need two letters added to have two car models in it. (And note the wording of the puzzle, "models.")
ReplyDelete