Normally I have something to add here, but today it's the opposite.Q: Name something in 10 letters that's found in a kitchen. Drop its sixth letter to name something on a keyboard. Then drop the new word's fifth letter to name something no one wants to get. What words are these?
Sunday, June 14, 2026
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 14, 2026): From the Kitchen to Something Unwanted
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 14, 2026): From the Kitchen to Something Unwanted
48 comments:
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Puzzle makers often get the third thing.
ReplyDeleteJust over 150 correct entries last week.
ReplyDeleteSo 149 turned out to be a pretty good prediction after all!
DeleteSheer coincidence.
DeleteI solved it working both ways, to and fro, from the 9-letter keyboard word.
ReplyDeleteSame. Can’t say I’d heard of the kitchen item before.
DeleteWas that the first time "biblical erotica" has been uttered on NPR?
ReplyDeleteI suspect so. But I’m thinking of checking it out.
DeleteAre we talking Bathsheba? Salome? That rascal King David? Inquiring minds need more info.
If you know, you know....
DeleteIsn't it just like Michael Pickard to deliver us roses?
ReplyDelete(That's my clue.)
DeleteFrom the third word, remove two letters and rearrange. You get a locale which is musically associated with something you get when you remove three letters from the third word.
ReplyDeleteClever!
DeleteRepeat the removed letters a couple of times. The result is something associated with cats.
ReplyDeleteMusical Clue: Guns 'n Roses
ReplyDeleteCrito was more subtle.
DeleteIf everything I'm seeing in the clue is intentional, then M5's is plenty subtle!
DeleteBut mine was going in a totally different direction, actually.
Trying saying all three words aloud in quick succession. Go ahead...I know you want to.
ReplyDeleteThat was exactly MY thought! After I got the answer, I told my husband “Now try saying them quickly 3 times.” Not as tricky as “toy boat,” but still a kind of tongue twister.
DeleteRelocate one letter in the third word, and get some flora.
ReplyDeleteGreat!
DeleteThink of an old time movie character.
ReplyDeleteI tried looking for other 10-/9-/8-letter words that met the letter-deletion criteria. (There are several, none of them common, and none with the stated properties.) I was surprised that the 10-letter word doesn't appear on the Moby word list of single words (at least not in the version I downloaded years ago), and that the 9-letter word isn't on its list of common words.
ReplyDeleteFun puzzle, which I enjoyed while eating my gourmet breakfast of cornflakes, hashbrowns, and plaintoast. Then I went over to my piano to tickle the ivorykeys (some ebonykeys as well, like when I used a cminor9th chord).
ReplyDeleteBtw, I didn’t realize what the most common synonym was for the first word.
How did you resolve the 9th?
DeleteUsually with a G major chord, though I play around with different bass notes depending on the progression.
DeleteThe thing is made of latex.
ReplyDeleteThat's a bit of a stretch.
DeleteFinally got it. Now, maybe I'll run & fix sangria.
ReplyDeleteChuck Norris would have no problem with this one.
ReplyDeleteMusical Clues: Beatles, GnR
ReplyDeletePhiladelphia, ??
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf you take a different first kitchen item word, remove the 6th letter, then the 5th, then the 4th, you get a synonym for the first word.
ReplyDeleteHuh
ReplyDeleteI was one of the 150+ last week. And I got the answer by playing around with a bunch of Scrabble tiles. I didn’t know about Virginia’s motto, only that John Wilkes Booth uttered those words as he jumped onto the stage after shooting Lincoln.
ReplyDeleteAnd my clue “Et tu, Brute” was deemed TMI by the blog administrator.
DeleteLet us know if those tiles were useful this week.
DeleteOooh, right, surely useful this week. Or are you one of those people who takes things for granted?
DeleteActually, yes. My problem is that I’m a visual learner—-but I’m also good with anagrams. I can stare at a bunch of letters and then rearrange them to get other words. Doesn’t make me any smarter than the average bear, just someone good with anagrams.
DeleteI think cooks who spend lots of time in the kitchen can easily get the first word.
ReplyDeleteIf it’s any consolation, I suck at math.
ReplyDeleteAnybody watch the UFC games today? My stomach couldn’t take it🤮🤮🤮.
ReplyDeleteWatching the Knicks win the championship last night and then watching UFC today really would be going from the sublime to the nauseating.
ReplyDeleteBlaine, It appears ZenoCosini's 2 posts have been blogger deleted. AI sucks!
ReplyDeleteToday's contestant writes Biblical er*tica in her free time. "Paradise Lust" wasn't good enough? Or "The Song of Thongs"?
ReplyDelete(The word with the asterisk must set off some sort of alarm because the site kept deleting my posts.)
I was going to reply to your original post that I always find attending formal functions frustrating if I am unsure if it will be black thong or white thong.
Delete