NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 3): Sacramento Anagrams

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 3): Sacramento Anagrams:

Q: Take the name 'Sacramento,' the capital of California. Re-arrange these 10 letters to spell two words that are synonyms.

A: SCENT and AROMA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 26): Giving Lots of Thanks

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 26): Giving Lots of Thanks:

Q: Name a well-known American city, with 12 letters in its name, containing the letters of THANKS in left to right order, not necessarily consecutively. A hint: This is a city of more than 100,000 people. What city is it?

Thanksgiving is putting me in a giving mood, so I'll give you a link to a List of U.S. Cities by Population. That should be very helpful for solving this week's puzzle.

A: THOUSAND OAKS in Southern California

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 19): A Political Scramble...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 19): A Political Scramble...:

Name a famous person in American politics, five letters in the first name, six letters in the last. You can rearrange this to spell the names of two countries, one of them five letters and the other six. The five-letter one is the current name of a country, the six letter one is an old name for a country, but both are well known. Who is the politician and what are the countries?

This person has been in the news recently. And one extra hint, one of the countries is in Asia.

Edit: I had to look through old names of countries to remember that Sri Lanka's former name (pre-1952) was Ceylon. Looking at the letters, Nancy just popped into my head and I got the answer.

A: NANCY PELOSI --> SPAIN and CEYLON

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 12): Lots of Lather...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 12): Lots of Lather... to clean one's conscience?:

Q: Take the word lather. Rearrange the letters and repeat them as often as necessary to name a famous literary work in 16 letters. Hint: The title of this literary work has three words, one of which is hyphenated. Name this famous literary work.

My son had recently gone on a class field trip and coincidentally they had seen this story performed as a play. Looking at the letters of 'lather' it was pretty apparent that 'THE' would be part of the title. I was the first to come up with the longest part of the title and then the other word, beating everyone else to the punch. I'll post the answer after the Thursday deadline.

Edit: The hidden clue above was "beating everyone to the punch"... beating, beating, beating...

A: Edgar Allan Poe's THE TELL-TALE HEART

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 5): Writer Turned Detective

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 5): Writer Turned Detective

Q: Name a well-known writer of the 20th century, now deceased... an author of bestselling non-fiction. There are six letters in the first name and six in the last. Remove the letter 'C' somewhere from this name. The remaining letters can be rearranged to name a famous fictional detective with four letters in the first name and seven in the last. What names are these?

I will be honest that I didn't figure this out before the deadline passed. Certainly the author did write a famous book, but it is hard to classify someone as an "author of bestselling non-fiction" based on a single book. Anyway here is the answer:

A:
RACHEL CARSON - zoologist and marine biologist whose landmark book, Silent Spring (about pesticide use, especially DDT), is often credited with having launched the global environmental movement.
NORA CHARLES - From the Dashiell Hammett novel "The Thin Man", Nick Charles and his wife Nora Charles.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 29): And Now the President Will Sing...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 29): And Now the President Will Sing...:

Q: Name a famous American singer, one who's living. Six letters in the first name, six letters in the last. Write out this name from left to right. Cross out six consecutive letters from inside the name, leaving the start and end intact. The result will be the six-letter last name of a U.S. president. Name the singer and the president.

This one is really easy. All you need to do is get a list of presidents and find the ones with 6-letter last names (there are only 9).

Edit: So did you get the correct answer?

A: WIL(LIE NEL)SON --> Woodrow WILSON

Need help solving the FoxTrot Su-Dork-U?

A week ago Sunday (10/15), the FoxTrot comic strip featured a Sudorku where the grid included various math equations (hence the Dork reference) in place of the usual starting digits.

It's pretty straightforward once you get the starting digits. For those that need some help, here are some clues:

(1/3)^-1 is the reciprocal, namely (3/1)^1 or just 3

For all the square roots, obviously only take the positive root

d/dx 3x means take the derivative. In general d/dx ax^n = nax^(n-1). So you get 1*3*x^0 or just 3

For the integral from 1 to 2, you do the reverse. x^2 becomes x^3/3. Taking this from 1 to 2 results in (2^3)/3 - (1^3)/3. That gives you 7/3. But it is multiplied by 3 to get you 7.

3! means factorial or multiplying all the numbers from 3 down to 1 (3*2*1) or 6.

The sum of k from k=1 to 3, is just 1+2+3 = 6

The log10(10) means that 10^x = 10. It's essentially the number of zeroes after the 1.

0101 is binary (base 2). This is 0*8 + 1*4 + 0*2 + 1*1 = 5

By the Pythagorean theorem a^2 + b^2 = c^2. Some common Pythagorean triples are 3-4-5 and 5-12-13

-(i^2). In complex numbers, i represents the square root of -1. So this is just -(-1) or 1.

FF-F8 is a hexidecimal equation. In hex, A-F represent 10 through 15. So FF = 15*16 + 15 and F8 = 15*16 + 8. The difference is 7.

sin(pi/2 radians) is the same as sin(90 degrees) = 1

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 22): A Politician's Name is Synonymous with...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 22): A Politician's Name is Synonymous with...

Q: Name a well-known 20th century political figure, now deceased, with a two-syllable last name. The word spelled by the first syllable is a synonym of the word spelled by the second syllable backward. Who is this famous person?

I have no clues this time, not a one. But you will recognize the person.

Edit: Time to reveal who the person is. Remember, I gave you *no* clues!

A: Richard NIXON --> NIX and NO.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 15): Chained Sentences

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 15): Chained Sentences:

Q: The challenge is a special challenge called, 'Chained Sentences.' The object is to write a sentence or other bit of writing in which the last two letters of each word are the first two letters of the next.
For example: Give veteran Angela Lansbury rye yeast. Or, the heroic iconoclast stops psychological allusions.

Well, I can't give you *the* answer since there are lots of possible answers. I will just give you my submission and you can judge it against what is announced on the air on Sunday. I think it has pretty good syntax and a reasonable length.

A: Despite technological alternatives espoused, Edith, the head administrator, ordered education online, neglectful ultimate telecommunication onus usurious.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 1): Is it Better to Plan, or not to Plan?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 1): Is it Better to Plan, or not to Plan?:

Q: Think of a nine-letter word for something that is unplanned. Change the middle letter from I to U, and you'll get a new word for something that is always planned. What is it?

I came by the answer almost accidentally. I wasn't really thinking about this puzzle, but was just pondering things that might be planned or unplanned. While I was thinking of unplanned things, the answer hit me.

Edit: In response to the title, I wouldn't want to be involved in either of these events (unplanned or planned). By the way, there were a couple *big* clues in what I wrote earlier. The keywords were "accidentally" and "hit me". So it's time to reveal my answer:

A: COLLISION --> COLLUSION