NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 23, 2010): What Country Doesn't Have Problems?

What Country Doesn't Have Problems?:

Q: Name a country that is spelled as a solid word. Change two consecutive letters in it to a single R. The result will name a problem that this country has traditionally faced. What's the country and what's the problem?

My hints this week? 43 and 66...

Edit: Malaysia is the 43rd most populated country and the 66th largest country by total land area in the world.

MALAYSIA - YS + R = MALARIA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 16, 2010): "Be vewwy, vewwy quiet..."

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 16, 2010): "Be vewwy, vewwy quiet...":

Q: Rearrange the letters in the phrase 'rabbit season' into two related words. What are the words?

Well, if that is the question, I have two possible answers that would work. However, I can't think of any serious clues since I keep imagining Elmer Fudd reciting "Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit..."

Edit: My clue was "that is the question" hinting toward a revised Hamlet soliloquy, "Two Bs or not two Bs...". (The intended answer has two words starting with B.) The clue to that was to think of a male voice singing opera. The clue to the alternate answer was the word "serious".

A: BARITONE+BASS
Alternate answers: ABSTAIN+SOBER, BOATERS+BASIN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 9, 2010): Happy Mothers' Day Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 9, 2010): Happy Mother's Day Puzzle:

Q: Think of a big name in the oil business, then drop the first and last letters to get another big name in the oil business. What names are these?

If you think like Will, this puzzle is so easy!!! If you don't, it might take you awhile. P.S. I'm sure there are long lists of petrochemical companies (and maybe even company executives) if you look on Wikipedia and elsewhere. P.P.S. Happy Mothers' Day.

Edit: The hint was the italicized word "so". If you pronounce the individual letters you get "Esso". (Esso is the international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies derived from the pronunciation of the initials of Standard Oil.) Will deliberately tried to misdirect with his wording to make you only think of companies refining petroleum. But think instead of other uses of oil (perhaps used by your mother in cooking) and you'll easily get the answer.

A: WESSON --> ESSO

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 2, 2010): A Number of Cities...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 2, 2010): A Number of Cities...:

Q: Write down the number '100.' Underneath it write '100/500.' How the numbers align doesn't matter. What U.S. city does this represent?

Another numeric hint --> 12:21

Edit: As Ben surmised, my hint was to the Bible, specifically the book of Romans, chapter 12, verse 21: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." An alternate translation found in some versions of the Bible is "Do not be CONQUERED by evil, but conquer evil with good." Romans is a hint to Roman numerals. Conquered is a homonym of the answer.

A: C on C or D --> Concord

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 25, 2010): Name Two Birds...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 25, 2010): Name Two Birds...:

Q: Name a famous person whose first name is seven letters long and ends with the name of a bird, and whose last name is also seven letters but starts with the name of a bird. Hint: One of these birds is the general name for the bird, and the other is a specific type of bird. Who is it?

Finally a nicely constructed puzzle with enough clues to confirm your answer, but not too many that they give it away. Are the bird names long or short? Is this person part of history? Or part of the present time? Not wanting to ruin the puzzle, I'm steping out of giving a clue this week and leave it to you to ponder.

Edit: If you read the last word of each question you get short/history/time --> A Brief History of Time. Also, I deliberately misspelled step(p)ing because that's what is left after removing the birds from his name.

A: stepHEN HAWKing

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 18, 2010): A Tale of Two Countries

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 18, 2010): A Tale of Two Countries:

Q: Name a country in six letters. Change two consecutive letters in it to one letter to get the name of another country. What countries are these?

Here's a related puzzle sent to me by Gillog Lautomy, "Name a country in seven letters. Change three consecutive letters in it to one letter to get the name of another country. What countries are these?"

Edit: The hint was the "name" Gillog Lautomy. You can insert the country names to form 4 words (gilGUY/ANAlog lauGH/ANAtomy).

A: GUYANA --> GHANA

P.S. The answer to the bonus puzzle is LIBERIA --> LIBYA.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 11, 2010): Is it Thanksgiving Yet?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 11, 2010): Is it Thanksgiving Yet?:

Q: Name something you might order in a restaurant — two words, eight letters all together, with four letters in the first word and four letters in the last. Drop the last letter. The remaining seven letters will read backward and forward the same.

Man, I've got turkey on the brain, and it's only April. If you think turkey too, I'm sure it will pan out.

Edit: There were a few clues in my short post. "Man I've got turkey" sounds like "Manavgat, Turkey" which is near "Side". A little more obvious is that Thanksgiving dinner usually consists of turkey and numerous side dishes. Finally, dishpan and outside contain the words "dish" and "side". What is left is "pan out". I hope those hints weren't too obvious and didn't give it away.

A: SIDE DISH --> SIDEDIS

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 4, 2010): Death and Taxes

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 4, 2010): Death and Taxes:

Q: Think of a 15-letter word that is spelled without using any of the letters T, A, X, E or S. And it means how Stephen King writes.

Every Sunday I feel the pressure to come up with a solution to the puzzle and then post a good clue as quickly as possible. Other times I can't figure it out and just have to rely on others to post their hints. I guess that's just the way it is.

Edit: My hints were "pressure" (as in blood pressure) and "way" (as in curds and "whey")

A: BLOODCURDLINGLY
Some have proposed blood-chillingly as an alternate answer, but most sources have it hyphenated

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 28, 2010): The Name's the Same

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 28, 2010): The Name's the Same:

Q: What 6 letter word beginning with the letter 'S' would be the same if it started with 'TH?'

So I was thinking I should have words like SOUGHT and THOUGHT, or SINNER and THINNER. But those aren't the same in the end. I'm open to any hints...

Edit: Indeed I did have "open" as my hidden hint. The puzzle intentionally tried to mislead us into thinking we were looking for synonyms. You'll notice I didn't put this puzzle in the synonym category however.

A: SESAME --> THE SAME

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 21, 2010): Know your Animals

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 21, 2010): Know your Animals:

Q: Take the plural name of one animal and the singular name of another animal. Say the two words out loud one after the other and you'll name a country. What are the animals, and what is the country?

See, I knew Will Shortz would put his years as a crossword puzzle editor to good use and come up with something interesting...

Edit: My hint was "knew" which is another homonym for the first animal and the first part of the country. Also, both words are the type of words that crossword puzzle solvers have seen often, so I mentioned that as an additional hint.

A: GNUS + ELAND = NEW ZEALAND