NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 23): I walked and later I ran

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 23): I walked and later I ran:

Q: Name a well known historical figure with a one-word six-letter name. The first and fourth letters are the same, the second and fifth letters are the same, and the third letter is one letter before the sixth, alphabetically. Who is it?

I wonder if this is a popular baby name? Probably not, but if someone can get away with having just one name, they must be pretty great.

A: King XERXES the Great, of Persia (former name of Iran)

Billiard Balls Puzzle

In the American game of "eight-ball" there are 15 numbered balls (1 through 15). At the beginning of the game, these balls are racked into a triangular pattern as shown.

The challenge this week is to place the numbers 1 through 15 into an upside-down triangle pattern such that each number is the result of *subtracting* the two numbers above it. To eliminate mirrored answers, provide a solution where the numbers at the three points of the triangle are in ascending order going clockwise.

P.S. When taking the difference, always use the absolute value. Feel free to add a comment with your answer, along with how you solved it.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 16): If you said *top* row, I'd say *typewriter*

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 16): If you said *top* row, I'd say *typewriter*:

Q: Using the middle row of letters on a keyboard, name something that has eight stars. Hint: The answer is spelled in 10 letters.

Let's see there were 7 castaways on Gilligan's Island, so that was 7 stars perhaps. Or on the Brady Bunch there were Mike and Carol and 6 kids but Alice made 9 stars. Perhaps I'm thinking of the wrong type of stars. What a folly!

Edit: My clue was "folly" as in Seward's Folly. If you want to see more clues, check out the comments. I liked the references to "Juneau" and "Alaska" as well as the hints for "flag".

A: ALASKA FLAG

Playing with Blocks

Here's a fun puzzle to ponder.

A certain number of faces of a large wooden cube are stained. Then the block is divided into equal-sized smaller cubes. Counting we find that there are exactly 45 smaller cubes that are unstained. How many faces of the big cube were originally stained?

Feel free to add a comment with your answer, along with how you solved it.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 9): Separated by A

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 9): Separated by A:

Q: Name two vehicles, put the letter A between them and the result will be a word naming what the two vehicles might be in. Name the vehicles.

Wow! This is really difficult! Automobile? Moving Truck?

Edit: Not hard at all, was it?

A: CAR & VAN = CARAVAN

Can you turn 2008 into 97?

Come on all you genius puzzlers... I'm sure you can solve the on-going challenge from last week.

In case you missed it, here is the link:
Use the digits in 2008 to form an expresion that will equal 97

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 2): Animal Anagram -- Marionettes

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 2): Animal Anagram -- Marionettes:

Q: Take the letters in the word 'marionettes' and rearrange them to spell the names of two animals that are related. What are they?

I thought I was close when I got "MARTEN" (a member of the weasel family) but I couldn't figure out what to do with the remaining IOEST...

Edit: Oh, but maybe the answer is a member of the weasel family. Take a look at the comments for more hints.

A: ERMINE and STOAT

A Puzzle for Leap Day, 2008 -- Can you make 97?

Today is February 29, a special date that only appears on our calendars every four years. There are exceptions to this 4 year rule on century years (those ending in 00). These years are NOT leap years unless the century is evenly divisible by 400. For example, 2000 was a leap year, but 2100 will NOT be. The cycle of leap years on our calendar repeats in a 400 year cycle. Within that cycle there will be 97 leap years.

All this historical information was a way to introduce this week's math puzzle.

Q: Using each of the digits in 2008 and standard math operations, can you write an expression that equals 97?

Rules:

• Each of the digits 2, 0, 0, 8 must be used. (2 and 8 will appear once, 0 will appear twice.)
• You may use standard math operations of +, -, x, /, √(square root), ^(raise to a power) and !(factorial) along with parentheses for grouping.
• Decimal points and multi-digit numbers may be used (e.g. 20, 208, .02 or 2.8
• If squaring is done, that uses up the digit 2.
• 0! is agreed to have a value of 1.
• Anything raised to the zero power (i.e. x^0) is 1, but 0^0 may not be used (undefined)
• The integer/floor/ceiling/round functions may NOT be used.
• Change of bases may NOT be used.
• Logarithms may NOT be used.
• Sine and Cosine may NOT be used.

Edit: The answer is now available in the comments... but don't look if you still want to figure it out on your own.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 24): Uh-oh! Oops! Drat! Where is that darn city?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 24): Uh-oh! Oops! Drat! Where is that darn city?:

Q: Take the name Seattle. The letters in the odd positions are S-A-T-E, which spell SATE. Think of another U.S. city name, in seven letters, in which the letters in the odd position spell a common four-letter exclamation. What's the city and what's the exclamation?

My wife had the answer right away but I was off thinking world cities, European capitals, etc. Once I got back to U.S. cities it came to me right away. Isn't L. L. Bean associated with this city? No? Oh well, maybe I'm wrong. Post your clues but don't reveal any answers until after the deadline (Thursday 3pm ET). Talk to you later!

Edit: We'll have to see what the official answer is from NPR. It might be Oshkosh, but I was thinking Chicago, home of the elevated transit system called the "L" and a new sculpture in Millennium Park entitled "Cloudgate", but known more familiarly as "The Bean".

A: CHICAGO --> CIAO!

Use the digits 1 through 9 exactly once...

This is a quick puzzle that shouldn't be too difficult to figure out.

Q: Arrange the digits 1 through 9 to form three 3-digit perfect squares. You must use each of the nine digits exactly once.

Feel free to add a comment with your answer, along with how you solved it.