NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20): Higher Education

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20): Higher Education

Q: Name a well-known university. Move the last letter three places earlier in the name. The result will be a phrase meaning 'represent.' What's the university and what's the phrase?

Did you hear about the blonde that wanted a higher education? She did her homework in a tall tree. Okay, that was a silly joke. Back to giving clues on the puzzle. I don't know about you, but I didn't much care for the movie; however, I really did enjoy the play.

Edit: The hints this week were "tall tree" (which is the literal translation of Palo Alto) and of course the famous Big Game ending called The Play

A: STANFORD --> STAND FOR

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13): Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13): Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?

Q: Take a familiar French word with three letters. It's a word everyone knows. Then take its meaning in English, also with three letters. Say these two words one after the other, and phonetically they'll sound like another French word everyone knows. What word is it?

Well, I must admit I know very little French. And despite the title, I wouldn't recommend learning conversational French from songs.

When I saw this puzzle, I tried to make MOI or OUI work. We've all heard Miss Piggy utter "moi" (meaning me). And isn't "yes" one of the first words we learn in whatever language we are studying? Unfortunately MOI-ME and OUI-YES, don't result in familiar French words.

Edit: My hints take a little bit of explaining. We have MOI or OUI. MOI translates to ME. Then you have the word "OR". And OUI is YES, but in another language would be SI. So all together you have ME OR SI which sounds like MERCI.

Several people will probably complain that MER is not a common French word, but those people just haven't done enough crossword puzzles. Plus you could have solved this working backwards, which is exactly what I did.

One additional hint, if you read my standard reminder at the top of the comments, you'll notice I left off the "Thank you" at the end.

A: MER + SEA --> MERCI

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 6): Element-ary School Math Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 6): Element-ary School Math Puzzle:

Q: Take the names of the first nine elements of the periodic table: hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and fluorine. Select one letter from each of these names in order to spell a familiar nine-letter word. Hint: It's a word used in math.

Did I give this away with the reference to elementary school in the title? Well there are many terms we learn in our formative years of school, so I don't think it's too big of a giveaway. However, if it did spoil the puzzle for you, get over it. On the other hand, if you want another clue, look to a puzzle we had in August.

Edit: The puzzle in question was from August 2008 where the answer was FRACTION/RATIO. This week's hint was "get over it..."

A: NUMERATOR

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30): Take me to your Leader

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30): Take me to your Leader:

Q: Name a famous leader in world history — the name by which this person is usually known. Change the first letter of the leader's name to the previous letter of the alphabet, rearrange the result, and you'll name what this person was the leader of. Who is it, and where was this person the leader?

I haven't a clue, yet... sorry, I'm no real help at the moment.

Edit: Here's the hidden hint "I'm no real help..."

A: NERO --> ROME

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 23): I like knocking down pins

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 23): I like knocking down pins:

Q: Think of two words that each mean 'bowler.' Put them together, one after the other, and you'll name a sport in two words that is not related to bowling.

On a different note, remember how bowling used to be frequently televised? I don't think I've seen it that much these days...

Edit: There isn't much need for me to explain my hints, but the title refers to knocking things down. That applies to bowling or the answer to the puzzle. Similarly, both bowling and this sport used to be frequently on TV, all the time it seemed in the early 70s; now not so much.

A: ROLLER DERBY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 16): Beware of Invisible Cows

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 16): Beware of Invisible Cows:

Q: Think of a common street sign with three words: four letters in the first word, four letters in the second word and three letters in the last. Drop the last letter of the first word in the sign and you'll get a new word that is a synonym of the last word in the sign. What is the sign?

Mr. Shortz states that it is a "common street sign" so I'm sure it's not Beware of Invisible Cows. However, I'm suspicious; I've looked up and down a list of Road Signs and don't see the answer. No doubt I'm thinking too hard so let me ponder this a bit more.

Feel free to add clues in the comments, but no outright answers or spoilers, please.

Edit: Remember Will didn't say traffic signs. That was a clue. In addition, hopefully my clue indirectly made you think of animals.

A: CURB YOUR DOG (Cur = Dog)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9): Would you like cream and sugar with that?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9): Would you like cream and sugar with that?:

Q: A waitress walks up to a breakfast table with five logicians and asks, 'Does everyone here want coffee?'
The first logician says, 'I don't know.'
The second logician says, 'I don't know.'
The third logician says, 'I don't know.'
The fourth logician says, 'I don't know.'
And the fifth logician says, 'No.'
To whom did the waitress bring coffee — and why?

No doubt the waitress has to be a logician too. This reminds me of a related joke:

René Descartes walks into a diner and orders a cup of coffee. The waitress asks if he wants cream and sugar to which he replies, "I think not". He promptly disappears.

Edit: The answer isn't too difficult if you just think of each person's reply choices...

A: The waitress asks, "Does EVERYONE here want coffee?"

If the first logician didn't want coffee, he knows that not EVERYONE wants coffee so he could have replied "No." But he doesn't yet know what the others are thinking so he answers "I don't know." This tells us he wants coffee.

Similarly, the second logician has determined that the first logician wants coffee. Now we are in the same situation as the first logician. If the 2nd logician didn't want coffee, he could say, "No." But because he replies "I don't know." it means he also wants coffee.

The same logic applies to the 3rd and 4th logicians.

The fifth logican has determined that all the rest want coffee. If he also wanted coffee, he would reply "Yes" because he can accurately determine that everyone wants coffee. However, he doesnt want coffee and therefore answers "No", because he is the lone logician that doesn't want coffee and therefore NOT everyone wants coffee.

Summary:
The waitress (being the consumate logician herself) brings coffee to logicians 1 through 4. Logician 5 is not served coffee.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 2): Show Me the Money!

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 2): Show Me the Money!:

Q: Take a slang term for money. Change one of its letters to the next letter of the alphabet. Rearrange the result, and you'll get another slang term for money. What are the words?

To be honest, I haven't figured this one out yet. I thought I was close with BEAN and BANK, but it fails the "next letter" rule.

Edit: I must admit I'd never come across the term Do-re-mi as slang for money. There were less than 300 entries so I don't think I was alone.

A: DO-RE-MI --> DINERO

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 26): A Tale of Two Cities

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 26): A Tale of Two Cities:

Q: Name a well-known U.S. city in six letters. Drop the first and fourth letters so the remaining four letters, in order, will name another well-known U.S. city. What cities are these?
Hint: The two cities are in adjoining states.

Would it help if I gave the hint Fraxinus?

Edit: Fraxinus is the latin name for the Ash tree. In Spanish (as Geri figured out) it is Fresno.

A: FRESNO (California) --> RENO (Nevada)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 19): On Vacation -- Returning Soon

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 19): On Vacation -- Returning Soon

Our vacation to Madagascar finishes up in a couple more days, but I'm still not around to supply any hints. Perhaps once I return I can add to the comments. Until then you are on your own; play nice.

Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any outright spoilers before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET. If you know the answer, click the link and submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here. Thank you.