NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 9): 5 letters + 5 letters = 10 letters

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 9): 5 letters + 5 letters = 10 letters:

Q: Think of a well-known actor. Take the first five letters of his first name, and the last five letters of his last name, together, in order. These letters spell the name of a major American city. Who is the actor and what is the city?

I don't think we need to challenge this actors characterization as "well-known". I looked him up on IMDb and he has a good 125 film and TV appearances listed; a testament to his staying power in Hollywood.

Edit: Everyone remembers his role as Moses in the "Ten Commandments", right?

A: CHARLTON HESTON --> CHARLESTON

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 2): One Small Step for Man...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 2): One Small Step for Man...:

Q: Take the word "stepparents". Rearrange these 11 letters to spell two words that are opposites. What are they?

The answer is pretty easy to figure out. You'll get it sooner or later, but if not I'll post the answer after the deadline.

Edit: The deadline has passed (homonym of past) so I'll present the answer.

A: STEPPARENTS --> PAST and PRESENT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 25): What's in a Name?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 25): What's in a Name?:

Q: Think of a familiar man's name in four letters. Change the first letter to the next letter in the alphabet, and you'll get another familiar man's name. What names are these?

I have a feeling there are multiple answers to this puzzle. I started by ignoring funky letter combinations (like XY --> Xeno & Yeno?). Once I used likely letter pairs, I came up with an answer. Not sure if it is the only answer, but it does work.

Edit: My clues were "funKY LEtter" and "likeLY LEtter". There was also a reference to XY as in the NBC series Kyle XY. I was going to try and fit in "love it" as in Lyle Lovett, but thought that would be too obvious.

A: KYLE and LYLE

I suspect other answers may also be accepted like: BURT and CURT, MICK and NICK, RAUL and SAUL, MIKE and NIKE (maybe), SHAD and THAD (maybe). Any others you want to mention?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 18): Take Me to Your Leader

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 18): Take Me to Your Leader

Q: Think of the name of a current world leader. Taking the letters in the first half of the first name, and the letters in the first half of the last name, you can rearrange them to spell the language of this leader's country. Who's the leader and what's the language?

I didn't intend to anger many with my sparse clues last week, but apparently I did. Well this week, I hope to give some help that will be directly relevant to the topic. What I suggest is looking at a list of current world leaders, but be sure to look at both the heads of state and the heads of government.

Edit: Apart from the obvious hints, here are the hidden clues:
"anger many", "directly relevant" (= germane).

A: Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany)
ANG/MER --> GERMAN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 11): "The Troubadour" Anagrams

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 11): "The Troubadour" Anagrams:

Q: Take the title Il Trovatore by Verdi. Drop one letter. Rearrange the remaining 10 letters to spell two synonyms. What are they?

I was accused last week of giving away too much in my clue... so this week, in order to prevent another fight, I'm only going to give one small hint. The letter you want to ignore is the first one.

Edit: It is after the deadline, so I can reveal my clues and the answer. First, if you read above, I mentioned a "fight"... this was a subtle clue toward the answer. Next, I gave a very misleading clue... "The letter you want to ignore is the first one." Here I didn't mean the first one in the word, but the first one in the alphabet. Tricked a few of you on that one, didn't I?

A: Il Trovatore, remove the letter A and rearrange.
REVOLT and RIOT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 4): Fibonacci's Lieutenant

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 4): Fibonacci's Lieutenant:

Q: Take a common three-letter word, move each letter three places later in the alphabet, the resulting letters can be re-arranged to spell a new word that is a synonym of the original. What are the two words? And here's a hint: all three letters in both words are in the first half of the alphabet.

Honestly, I haven't a clue...

Edit: Well, actually I wasn't being truthful. I did have a clue in the title. And my dishonesty was another clue.

A: FIB --> LIE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 28): Why a Question about Summer in the Fall?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 28): Why a Question about Summer in the Fall?:

Q: Name something you might wear in the summer. The answer will have two words, with five letters in the first word and three letters in the second. Remove the next-to-last letter and read the result backward and you'll get a word that means 'blocks.' What words are these?

I'm not thinking about things you'd wear in the summer right now. Instead we are focused on our family Halloween theme. I can't reveal what we are all going as yet. You'll have to check our family website for when we post pictures. In the meantime, I will tell you about one of my favorite family themes we did... The Wizard of Oz. Click on Halloween Costumes, on our Family Blog. Look at 2003. The things we had the most problem with were the grass sticking out of my costume (Scarecrow), the funnel on Michael's head (Tin Man) and the warts on my wife's nose (Wicked Witch). Anyway, check back for photos of this year's costumes and perhaps clues to this puzzle.

Edit: Well, I was busy updating our family website with the latest Halloween costumes... but I hope you figured out the clues (Scarecrow = straw, Tin man = hat, Witch = th' warts)

A: STRAW HAT -A --> THWARTS

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 21): Working for Mere Peanuts

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 21): Working for Mere Peanuts

Q: Think of a word that can follow the word 'peanut' to form a familiar two-word phrase. If you take the first letter and move it to the next-to-the-last position, you get another word that can also follow 'peanut' to form another familiar two-word phrase. What are the words?

As you can see from my prior post, I'm a little behind in posting puzzle clues and answers. Trust me, you'll find a couple clues to this puzzle if you look.

Edit: Well the clues were all in the prior post. "Hello kids! What time is it?" was a quote from Buffalo Bob to start the Howdy Doody show (also mentioned) where the kids sat in the...

A: PEANUT GALLERY --> PEANUT ALLERGY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 14): A Country that Makes Cars

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 14): A Country that Makes Cars:

Q: Name a country in 11 letters that has an R in its name. Change the R to a K. Rearrange all the letters to name three makes of automobiles.

This isn't too difficult. There are only 6 countries (in my counting) that have 11 letters and an R. And how many makes of car have a K in them? My one hint: None of them are domestic car makers.

Edit: What time is it? Okay, no complaints please. I know I'm late in posting the answer to the puzzle. Last week, all I did to solve the puzzle was search a list of countries as I noted. When I saw AUDI in one of them, I knew I had the answer. By the way, remind me someday to tell you how my Dad tried to find a good play on "HOWDY DOODY" for the license plate of his Audi 4000. Closest he got was "AUDI DUD" but that didn't look quite right.

A: SAUDI ARABIA -R +K --> AUDI, SAAB and KIA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 7): Say That Again?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 7): Say That Again?:

Q: Name a well-known city in the United States, two words, 10 letters altogether. Add the letter A at the front, add the city's two-letter state postal abbreviation at the end, the resulting 13-letter chain will be palindromic, that is, it will read backward and forward the same. What city is this?

Well, at least letter 'A' is guaranteed to be the first and last letter... I just had to read it a second time and voilà, I knew the answer.

Edit: If you look carefully at the first letters in "Well, at least letter 'A'" you come up with WALLA. In addition voilà sounds a lot like WALLA also. Read them a second time and you get the answer.

A: WALLA WALLA (Washington) --> AWALLAWALLAWA