NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 5, 2026): Musical Cars

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 5, 2026): Musical Cars

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?

It's not a Ford Tempo or Hyundai Sonata. Maybe I'm not smart enough to figure this out this week?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 29, 2026): If the Shoe Fits...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 29, 2026): If the Shoe Fits...

Q: Name some tools used by shoemakers. After this word place part of a shoe. The result will be the subject of a famous painting. What is it?

Take the resulting subject, remove the 6th, 8th and 10th letters and add an O. Rearrange to get something else pictured in that painting.

Edit: The new letters anagram to APOSTLES

A: LASTS + UPPER = LAST SUPPER

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 22, 2026): Animals and Habitats

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 22, 2026): Animals and Habitats

Q: Name an animal. The first five letters of its name spell a place where you may find it. The last four letters of this animal will name another animal -- but one that would ordinarily not be found in this place. What animals are these?

Remove two consecutive letters that are an element, rearrange the remaining letters to name part of another animal.

Edit: Remove LI and rearrange to get TALONS

A: STALLION --> STALL, LION

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 15, 2026): Films and Food

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 15, 2026): Films and Food

Q: Think of a popular movie franchise with many sequels. Hidden in consecutive letters inside its name is a food. Replace that food with a single letter and you'll get another popular film franchise. What films are these?

I started with Scream but replacing "cream" with a single letter didn't go anywhere. Then I came up with the intended film series.

Edit: My hint was "didn't go anywhere" which hinted toward "to boldly go where no man (or one) has gone before"

A: STAR TREK - TART + H = SHREK

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 8, 2026): Dynamic Duos

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 8, 2026): Dynamic Duos

Q: Name a famous musical duo. Remove four consecutive letters of the duo's name and phonetically you'll name a famous nonmusical duo. Who are they?

I can think of another duo that ties the two duos together.

Edit: I was thinking of Maverick and Goose who sang You've Lost That Loving Feelin' in Top Gun. They also flew a plane together.

A: RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS --> WRIGHT BROTHERS

Lapel Pin (Proposed Design)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 1, 2026): Famous 20th Century Writer

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 1, 2026): Famous 20th Century Writer

Q: Name a famous 20th century writer. Remove the last two letters of the first name and the last letter of the last name. The result will name a clothing material. What is it?

Contrary to what Will might think, we've seen a version of this before.

Edit: "Version" sounds like "virgin" and "Will" sounds like "wool". This puzzle was very similar to a puzzle from January 2017.

A: VIRGINIA WOOLF --> VIRGIN WOOL

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 22, 2026): Get Out Your Secret Decoder Rings

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 22, 2026): Get Out Your Secret Decoder Rings

Q: Name something you don't want to have at night using two words (3,5). Shift each of the letters of the second word nine spaces later in the alphabet. If your count reaches the end of the alphabet, continue counting from the start. The result will name a famous singer.

Too soon?

Edit: This singer was in the spotlight recently.

A: BAD SLEEP --> BAD BUNNY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 15, 2026): Ian and his Friend

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 15, 2026): Ian and his Friend

Q: A man said to a friend: "I'm thinking of a 9-letter word that contains my name, Ian ("I-A-N"), embedded somewhere inside it. If you replace my 3-letter name with your 4-letter name, you'll get a familiar word in 10 letters." What are the two words, and what is the name of Ian's friend?

Take the even letters of the second word and rearrange to name something associated with this --> ❤️

Edit: The even letters anagram to PULSE

A: APPL(IAN)CE --> APPL(ESAU)CE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 8, 2026): Weightloss

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 8, 2026): Weightloss

Q: Name something in 7 letters that's designed to help you lose weight. Insert the letters EP somewhere inside this word to get a two-word phrase naming things that are likely to add weight. What words are these?

Take the letters in the longer phrase. Replace the middle letter with a T and rearrange to get something else that can work against weightloss.

Edit: APPETITES

A: PILATES --> PIE PLATES

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 1, 2026): Two Hooved Animals and an Actress

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 1, 2026): Two Hooved Animals and an Actress

Q: Think of two hooved animals. Take all the letters of one of them and the last three letters of the other, mix them together, and you'll get the first and last names of a famous actress. Who is it?

I was initially convinced it had to do with a dromedary and Drew Barrymore.

Edit: My hint was "initially". Take Drew Barrymore's initials (D.B.) and reverse them (B.D.)

A: DEER + (spring*)BOK --> BO DEREK

*Note: There are many African antelope that would work (Blesbok, Bontebok, Bosbok, Duikerbok, Gemsbok, Grysbok, Klipbok, Reitbok, Rhebok/Reebok, Springbok, Steenbok/Steinbok and Waterbok)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 25, 2026): Famous Living Singer

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 25, 2026): Famous Living Singer

Q: Name a famous living singer whose first and last names together have four syllables. The second and fourth syllables phonetically sound like things a dog walker would likely carry. What singer is this?

A very timely puzzle.

Edit: The singer's birthday is January 25, 1981.

A: ALICIA KEYS --> LEASH, KEYS
We're not going to quibble over syllabification of Alicia as A‑leesh‑a versus A‑lee‑sha, are we?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 18, 2026): Very Tiny, Very Large

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 18, 2026): Very Tiny, Very Large

Q: Think of a word that means "very small." Move the first syllable to the end, separated by a space, and you'll get a two-word phrase naming something that is very large. What words are these?

Change the last letter of the word to an "i" and rearrange to get a word meaning "enterprising".

Edit: Changing the "c" to an "i" you can rearrange to get "ambitious". I was also reminded of Star Trek IV where the Enterprise landed in San Francisco, and Chekov was looking for a "nuclear wessel" in Alameda.

A: SUBATOMIC --> ATOMIC SUB
Possible alternate answer: "subnuclear" and "nuclear sub"

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 11, 2026): Famous Duos

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 11, 2026): Famous Duos

Q: Think of a well-known couple whose names are often said in the order of _____ & _____. Seven letters in the names in total. Combine those two names, change an E to an S, and rearrange the result to name another famous duo who are widely known as _____ & _____. Who are these couples?

If you take the last name of one of them, you can rearrange those letters to name another half of a famous duo.

Edit: (Sam) MOORE anagrams to ROMEO.

A: ADAM & EVE --> SAM & DAVE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 4, 2026): Equation of the Year

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 4, 2026): Equation of the Year

Q: This week's challenge is a numerical one. Take the nine digits -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 - 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago. Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. Will knows of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.

I'm a little annoyed that the example doesn't follow the order of operations and instead must be performed left to right. It would have to be (1 + 23) ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 - 8 + 9 to work correctly in most calculators.

I have one expression that works either way, three expressions that work left to right and one that only works using the standard order of operations. I have a feeling that Ed Pegg Jr. provided the two that work using the standard order of operations.

My only hint is 390,625.

Edit: To "brute force" this, you could take the digits 1 to 9. Then you have 5 choices of symbol (nothing, or one of the basic operators) to put in the 8 spaces between each digit. That results in 5^8 or 390,625 strings that would need to be evaluated. I submitted the first answer below because it has all the multiplication first so going left to right is the same as following the standard order of operations.

Note: The two answers following PEMDAS order are the ones that Ed Pegg Jr. provided in his Wolfram Community post which makes me think the PEMDAS answers are what were originally given to Will. I've contacted Will to see if that's the case and if Will introduced the non-standard "left to right" example and wording. I'll let you know if I hear back.

A: 12 x 34 x 5 - 6 - 7 + 8 - 9 = 2026 | PEMDAS or L to R
(1 + 2) x 3 x 4 x 56 - 7 + 8 + 9 = 2026 | L to R
(1 x 2 + 34) x 56 - 7 + 8 + 9 = 2026 | L to R
(12 - 3) x 4 x 56 - 7 + 8 + 9 = 2026 | L to R
1 + 2 + 345 x 6 - 7 x 8 + 9 = 2026 | PEMDAS

Note: As suspected, the intended solutions followed PEMDAS without parentheses and the whole "left to right" example was a confusing red herring introduced by Will