Sunday, November 01, 2026

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 1, 2026): Head and Shoulders Above the Rest

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 1, 2026): Head and Shoulders Above the Rest
Q: Think of a three-letter part of the human body. Insert it into a four-letter part of the body to get a brand name you might see at the supermarket. What names are these?
Savage, as before.

30 comments:

  1. Looking forward to the NCAA tournament next year.

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  2. I consider this compulsion to solve puzzles a people trait.

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  3. Will acknowledged the problem with eBay as an answer, and listed the other alternates. Just over 180 correct entries last week.

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    1. A welcome change from the PM after 30 years of denying such things.

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  4. Anyone catch the speeches in Ohio?

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  5. If Will happens to be in Redwood National Park, he should really offer an apology.

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  6. Putting on my glasses, rereading the puzzle, and no longer trying to put a four letter body part into a three letter one made things a lot easier.

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  7. Double a letter in the answer. Rearrange. You get a leader.

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  8. I can think of a musical group from my youth (that I actually saw perform recently) that would be a giveaway. I also recently saw this product in a different place.

    Nodd - nice clue!

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  9. I got the answer almost instantly. Not sure why though.

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  10. Here is a geographical puzzle I came up with late last evening and emailed to Will and he declined quickly. I made it fairly easy to solve I think.

    There is a 4 syllable Canadian port that when the letter N is inserted just before its last letter will now name a 4 syllable country. Can you name these?

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    1. Specifying that it is a Canadian port made it fairly easy to find the answer online. On the other hand, I had never heard of the port (but shipping ports are not my area of expertise). So, unfortunately, I feel this falls into a situation where it's either too easy, or too hard.

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    2. JAWS,
      I agree with you. I made it easy by indicating Canada so Will would be more likely to accept it. I intend to post after the deadline how I came up with it.
      You might also enjoy the 5 puzzles Lego is running now on Puzzleria I coined. Especially #5, which I devised more as a joke and then into a puzzle for Joe to use. I did not submit it to Will. Modesty prevents me from telling you I am proud of it.

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  11. The brand name contains two Excel functions.

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  12. The first commercial for this product was shot in the most appropriate place possible.

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  13. anagrams to something I will never be. --Margaret G.

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  14. While solving this one, I stumbled across an almost identical puzzle:

    Think of a three-letter part of the human body. Insert it into a four-letter part of the body to get something transportation-related. What names are these?

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    1. Shortz's brain is scrambled eggs, he's been repeating puzzles.

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  15. I think it's not:
    head + lip => Helipad brand lighting equipment

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    Replies
    1. That was my intended answer. Why do you think that’s not it?

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