NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 4, 2026): Higher Education

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 4, 2026): Higher Education

Q: Name two well-known colleges or universities from the same state. The last letter of one is the first letter of the other. Change each instance of this letter to the same new letter to get the names of two other well-known colleges or universities. What four schools are these?

I'm thinking of a rectangle.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 27, 2026): Getting There

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 27, 2026): Getting There

Q: Name a well-known U.S. geographic location in six letters. Move the last letter two places earlier in the name and you'll get a regular English word. Say that word out loud. It will sound like a well-known geographic location abroad. What places are these? Here's a hint: Neither place name is a city.

Change the first letter of the first location and rearrange to get [REDACTED].

Edit: Change the D to a B and rearrange to get BLAINE

A: DENALI --> DENIAL --> THE NILE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20, 2026): Rhyming Country Anagrams

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20, 2026): Rhyming Country Anagrams

Q: There are two neighboring countries whose names have anagrams that rhyme with each other. What are the countries and their anagrams?

Change the first letter of one of the countries so it is four earlier in the alphabet and rearrange all the letters to name two other countries.

Edit: CHINA + (J)EPAL --> JAPAN, CHILE. This week's puzzle has two of the four countries from the May 4, 2025 NPR puzzle.

A: CHINA, NEPAL --> CHAIN, PLANE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13, 2026): Going to the Shop

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13, 2026): Going to the Shop

Q: Name a product in seven letters that people buy in a shop that typically sells only this product. The last four letters backward spell what people often do to this product. Rearrange the first three letters to spell what people then do to this product. What product is it?

This puzzle might have been better next month.

Edit: I was thinking of Halloween

A: SPIRITS --> STIR, SIP

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 6, 2026): From the Latin, transportare "to carry across"

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 6, 2026): From the Latin, transportare "to carry across"

Q: Think of a means of transportation in seven letters. Change the fifth letter to a U and read the result backward. You'll get a common Latin word followed by its English synonym. What words are these?

The level of difficulty in this week's puzzle is just right.

Edit:"Just right" --> Goldilocks --> Porridge --> "Mush" --> Dogsled.

A: DOGSLED --> DEUS, GOD

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30, 2026): Back to School

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30, 2026): Back to School

Q: 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?

Matthew 26

Edit: Matthew 26:41 includes the line, "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jack Swilling is commonly credited as one of the founders of Phoenix, Arizona.

A: PHOENIX --> PHONICS

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 23, 2026): Thirteen to Twenty

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 23, 2026): Thirteen to Twenty

Q: Spell out the numbers from 13 to 20 -- THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN, FIFTEEN, SIXTEEN, SEVENTEEN, EIGHTEEN, NINETEEN, TWENTY. Select one letter from each word, in order, to name another number. No anagramming is necessary. What number is it?

Again, Will has given us a "number" puzzle that doesn't expect any math knowledge.

A: INFINITY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 16, 2026): Movie Villains

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 16, 2026): Movie Villains

Q: Think of a famous movie villain. Insert one letter to get the brand name of a household product. Then change one letter of the product to get the last name of another famous movie villain. Who are the characters, and what is the product?

I got it on the fourth try.

Edit: Ivan Drago was the villian in Rocky IV.

A: DR. NO, DRANO, DRAGO

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9, 2026): Faces North

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9, 2026): Faces North

Q: Using only the letters in the words FACES NORTH, repeating them as often as you wish, you can spell a familiar expression in seven words (4,3,3,6,3,3,5). What expression is it?

I'm reminded of a puzzle with something left out.

Edit: I was thinking of a puzzle involving trees that got rearranged to be 4 other trees, but with a letter left out.

A: CAN'T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 2, 2026): Get Moving

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 2, 2026): Get Moving

Q: Think of a type of exercise equipment in three syllables. Remove the two middle letters and you'll name a means of transportation. What words are these?

It was worded differently, but we've seen this wordplay twice before.

Edit: The first time we had this wordplay was in the NPR Puzzle for August 8, 2021. The other time was as the On-air Puzzle in January 18, 2026.

A: TRAMPOLINE, TRAMLINE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 26, 2026): K, L, M, N, O Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 26, 2026): K, L, M, N, O Puzzle

Q: There is a set of five five-letter words that vary by just their middle letter. If the middle is any letter from K through O, it makes a common word. However, no other letter can go in the middle to complete a word. What words are these?

The first and last words are somewhat similar.

Edit: HOKEY and HOOEY are terms that both relate to nonsense.

A: HOKEY, HOLEY, HOMEY, HONEY, HOOEY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 19, 2026): Animal Plurals

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 19, 2026): Animal Plurals

Q: Take the name of a popular 21st-century film with animals, in eight letters. Remove the first and last letters, then change one of the remaining six letters to a C, to spell a plural word for certain animals. What words are these?

Change the penultimate letter in the film title to an R and rearrange. The result is a plural for something else that can move and consume food.

Edit: ZOOTOPIA -I +R --> PROTOZOA

A: ZOOTOPIA, OCTOPI

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 12, 2026): Filmed on Location

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 12, 2026): Filmed on Location

Q: Take the 10-letter (2-word) title of a popular TV series for which most of its seasons have been filmed in a foreign country. Remove the first and last letters, and the remaining letters can be rearranged to spell the name of a country. What are the two names?

Take the 4th letter of the country and change it to a G. Rearrange to get the name of a popular liquid.

Edit: The liquid is GASOLINE

A: LOVE ISLAND --> SLOVENIA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 5, 2026): Marketing Buzzwords

NPR Sunday Puzzle (July 5, 2026): Marketing Buzzwords

Q: Name two words that are opposites. They share a single letter. Remove that shared letter from each word, put a hyphen between the two resulting words and you'll get a term you sometimes see in food ads. What words are these?

Take the hyphenated term and add the letters M and R. Rearrange to get something you don't want to see in your food.

Edit: FLATWORM

A: SLOW, FAST --> LOW-FAT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 28, 2026): Going Places

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 28, 2026): Going Places

Q: Think of a U.S. city with a two-word name. Add a letter to the first word, without rearranging letters, to name a country. Then, without adding a letter, rearrange the letters of the second word to name another country. What places are these?

Add the letter D to the city and rearrange to get a former sports team in the same state.

Edit: The California Golden Seals were an NHL team in Oakland from 1967 to 1976.

A: LOS ANGELES --> LAOS, SENEGAL

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 21, 2026): Nocturnal Creature

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 21, 2026): Nocturnal Creature

Q: Take the name of a nocturnal creature, in two words. The first word is a spooky sound. Move the last letter of the first word to the start of the second word and you'll get another spooky, nocturnal sound. What is the creature and what are the sounds?

Change the last two letters in the first word to a vowel and rearrange everything. The result is a word that describes most of this post.

Edit: Change "ch" to "a" and rearrange to get "lowercase"

A: SCREECH OWL —> SCREECH, HOWL

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 14, 2026): From the Kitchen to Something Unwanted

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 14, 2026): From the Kitchen to Something Unwanted

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?

Normally I'd have something to add here, but today it's the opposite.

Edit: A postscript (P.S.) is something that might be added afterwards, but this time they are the letters to be removed.

A: BACKSPLASH, BACKSLASH, BACKLASH

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 7, 2026): Necessary Misprint

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 7, 2026): Necessary Misprint

Q: Rearrange the letters of "NECESSARY MISPRINT" to spell a familiar phrase.

There are many words that can be created from those letters, e.g. reminiscent, trespassers, creaminess, seamstress, etc.

Edit: I used a couple of Latin abbreviation: e.g. is exempli gratia meaning for example and etc. is et cetera meaning and the rest.

A: SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS ("Thus Always to Tyrants")

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 31, 2026): Song Title: Two Words, Two Countries

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 31, 2026): Song Title: Two Words, Two Countries

Q: Name a classic song with a two-word title. Drop the first letter. Add an R after the new first letter. The result will be the names of two countries one after the other. What song is this?

Clue: Dolour

Edit: Dolour is a band led by Shane Tutmarc. His name anagrams to "Tehran Muscat".

A: PIANO MAN --> IRAN, OMAN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 24, 2026): A Singer of Human Desire

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 24, 2026): A Singer and Human Desire

Q: Think of a famous female singer (eight and four letters, respectively). The first syllable of her first name, the second syllable of her first name backward and the last name forward again are all verbs associated with human desire. Who is this singer?

Rearrange all the letters in her name to get an instrument and a type of belt.

Edit: The instrument was a LUTE and the type of belt was a CONVEYOR

A: COURTNEY LOVE --> COURT, YEN, LOVE