Matthew 26Q: Think of a state capital and say it out loud. Change one vowel sound in it to name something many schoolkids study. What things are these?
Sunday, August 30, 2026
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30, 2026): Back to School
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30, 2026): Back to School
52 comments:
For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.
You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't assist with solving. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the deadline. Thank you.
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Hesiod.
ReplyDeleteRemove a letter from the subject of study. Rearrange. You get a tool useful for transferring something from one place to another.
ReplyDelete1200 correct answers last week.
ReplyDeleteI have two answers, depending on the age of the schoolkid.
ReplyDeleteLancek, So do I. The first letters two that I have are three steps apart in the alphabet
DeleteI count three, if you count a subject that is commonly known by its two-letter initials.
DeleteI had fun with this one!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteNope. I'll reveal more on Thursday.
DeleteYou can also get something lots of kids study by changing a non-vowel sound in a different state capital. The two capitals are close in some ways, distant in others.
ReplyDeleteI also have two answers to this one. The consonant sound after the change is the same in both cases.
DeleteStart with the state capital. Remove nine letters from the end. Swap the positions of what are now the last two letters, and you get something most people take when they leave the house.
ReplyDeleteNice!
DeleteYes, very clever.
DeleteOhhhhh, I get it. I was convinced you had a different answer from mine, but I see now it's the same one.
DeleteHey Jaws - I like it. In a way, it even works if you removed one key word from your clue!
DeleteCute, but I take issue with the way your puzzle is stated.
DeleteWonderful riff, Jaws! Beyond clever!
DeleteLegoEnvious
Ummmm.
ReplyDeleteIt seems pretty clear that there are two answers, but I have only one. (Mine is definitely not the one Jaws has.) At first I thought Blaine was cluing mine in a way I had thought of, but now I don't see it.
I'll come up with a clue but there isn't one in this comment.
IF I'm correct, you can add the name of an animated character to the subject of study and rearrange to get another subject one might study.
ReplyDeleteEasier than falling off a log. (No clue here.)
ReplyDeleteDouble one letter and rearrange to get something kids would rather study, and what teachers would say in response.
ReplyDeleteOh that's good.
DeleteYou can also get *just* something kids would rather study, if you double a different letter.
But start with the capital, right? Not the thing they study.
DeleteRight -- my variation on yours is: start with the capital, double one of the letters, anagram to make something kids (and others!) often study in preference to what they oughta be studying.
DeleteI should have added I was talking about the capital, not the subject.
DeleteCrito: I see your answer, but eight years ago I could have solved your challenge without doubling a letter!
DeleteNot only teachers…
DeleteWhen I say it out loud, part of what I hear conjures up some happy memories from earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the sunrise this morning, I felt like rising, too. So I did.
ReplyDeleteOooooh, I get this hint. It makes me realize there is a connection between this week's puzzle and last week's. (It's possible I've read too much into Chuck's comment!)
DeleteQuite apropos puzzle this week considering my daughter just moved into the dorm as a first year student at Swarthmore College.
DeleteBen Bass, the author of this week's excellent NPR Puzzle Challenge, is a subrb puzzle craftsman whose puzzles Will Shortz has often broadcast. This latest one lends itself to riffing (that is, creating similar or "copycat" puzzles).
ReplyDeleteAnd that is a good thing, especially for blogs like Puzzleria! that rely heavily on "puzzle-riffs" (that is, puzzles that are variations (or "takes" of already -exiting puzzles).
Lego....
The capital reminds me of a character in a recent show.
ReplyDeletePop rock
ReplyDeletePaul Revere & the Raiders?
DeleteKnowing a bit about Word Woman, it’s possible she’s not offering a musical hint. That said, I can think of many other musical hints myself, all of them tmi.
DeleteDr. K, you are on the right track.
DeleteThere was an app for that.
ReplyDeleteI hear the New York Knicks charge an admission fee to watch a game.
ReplyDeleteFake news! No soup for you!
ReplyDeleteNow that I finally got the answer... here's a nice sequel: Think of a state capital and say it out loud. Change one vowel sound in it to name something many college students study. What things are these?
ReplyDeleteA miner's delight. You and JAWS: Perfect together.
DeleteInstead of HOMES, I guess now it's SHAME. (Off topic, I know.)
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle is legendary. Totally off the hook.
ReplyDeleteMusical Clue: Jann Wenner
ReplyDeleteSpoonerise the name of a Nobel Prize winning playwright to phonetically describe posters on this blog whose hints may be TMI.
ReplyDeleteThat one got me showing my pearly whites.
DeleteI thought you would solve it. It is a good puzzle I believe, but only works on this blog.
Deletex(yw)(zw)
ReplyDeleteHuh, I may have stumbled on a solution ... or one of them. My hint would be that the problem statement appears to offer a hint. What logicians would call a hintikka.
ReplyDeleteI find three answers, depending on how i interpret "schoolkids".
ReplyDelete