NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 19): Now That's A Capital Idea

Sunday Puzzle (Oct 19): Now That's A Capital Idea:

Q: Name a famous actress with four letters in her first name and five letters in her last name. Drop the last letter of her first name and the last two letters of her last name. The remaining letters, in order, will name well-known a world capital. Who is the actress and what is the capital?

Seems like we have a pattern going on. A few weeks ago the puzzle answer was "Giant Anteater" and I gave the clue to "B.C. Comics" which has a giant anteater as a recurring character. Then I used the same clue to hint at Bill Cosby for the puzzle on "Jello". Perhaps I can reuse an old clue in a similar fashion for this week?

Edit: The hint was a reference to the Cosby show. The actress in question played Denise Huxtable

A: LISA BONET --> LISBON

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 12): A Series of *Fortunate* Events...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 12): A Series of *Fortunate* Events...:

Q: Name the sixth thing in a well-known series. Change its third letter to the next letter of the alphabet. Then rearrange all the letters and you'll get the seventh thing in the series. What names are these?

If you've solved this, then about the only thing left to do is to debate the pronunciation of the seventh item, or to say how many items are really in the list. I'll just say, that the third item is my favorite.

Edit: If you hadn't figured it out, the well-known series consists of the names of the planets.

A: SATURN --> -T +U --> URANUS

Suduro - A blend of Sud(oku) and (Kak)uro

Suduro -- If you already know and enjoy Sudoku and/or Kakuro, there's a website that offers a blend of the two. The grid is filled like a normal Sudoku, but there are gray squares that are filled similar to Kakuro. Sums are provided for just the gray squares in each row or column. In addition, a separate box contains the sum of just the gray squares in each 3x3 square. The extra dimension of clues should make for some fun puzzles. Give it a try.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 5): Anagram Interaction

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 5): Anagram Interaction:

Q: Rearrange the 11 letters of 'interaction' to make two closely related words. What words are they?

I seem to be in the habit of pretending I don't have a clue, when I really do. Is this week any different?

Edit: The hidden clue was "habit"

A: INTERACTION --> TAR and NICOTINE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 28): Just Desserts

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 28): Just Desserts:

Q: Name a popular dessert that has two syllables, in which the vowel sound in the first syllable is a short E. Change this to a long A, and phonetically you'll name a famous singer. Who is it?

I liked my clue from a couple weeks ago regarding the B.C. Comic. I wish I had a similar clue this week. Oh wait, maybe I do...

Edit: My clue above was to the comedian Bill Cosby and he is associated with this dessert.

A: JELLO --> J. LO (Jennifer Lopez)

Friday Fun - Mini-Sudoku Puzzle (nine squares!)

For all of those that are tired of having to fill in a full Sudoku grid, here's a Mini-Sudoku Puzzle. The goal is to fill the nine squares with just the digits 1 to 9. The only hints provided are the "L-block" hints at each corner. Each value tells you the sum of the five squares that make up the two adjacent edges.

Note: This is not a magic square. You cannot make any assumptions about the totals of the rows, columns or diagonals.

See how quickly you can come up with the unique solution. I'll probably post the answer next Friday. In the meantime, please don't reveal the answer so others can enjoy the puzzle too. Post comments on whether you find this puzzle easy, hard, fun or frustrating. I'd be interested in your solving techniques and times, too.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 21): Opposites Attract

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 21): Opposites Attract:

Q: Take a common two-word phrase with four letters in each word. Each word has a single O as its vowel. If you add an R somewhere in the second word, the two words become opposites. What is the phrase?

Well at least Will is leaning toward puzzles that take more than 30 seconds to solve...the last one took several days for some people. Your solving time will be quicker if you remember the words are opposites once you add the 'R' (I started searching for synonyms.) Don't give away the answer before the Thursday deadline, but feel to take a shot at posting some "hints".

Edit: My hints weren't very good, but there were some references to Will (Shortz), length of time (long and short), and the obvious inclusion of the word "shot".

A: LONG SHOT --> LONG, SHORT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 14): Name that Animal

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 14): Name that Animal:

Q: Take the phrases 'move over' and 'local call.' In each case, the last three letters of the first word are the first three letters in the next. Name a familiar animal, in two words, in which the last three letters of the first word are the first three letters of the next. Hints: It's a furry, four-footed animal that can grow up to six feet in length. The first word in its name has five letters, the second word has eight.

We seem to have the question early this week from the RSS feed. My daughter, in kindergarten, knew the answer to this. Her class has been studying animals. If she can get this, so can you! Incidentally, some sources I checked said they could grow to be 8 feet in length... that's large! Zot!

Edit: There were several clues above. In kindergarten you learn your ABCs... that was a hint to think of animals at the beginning of the alphabet. Also, if anyone is familiar with the comic strip B.C., you should know what Zot refers to.

A: GIANT ANTEATER

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 7): You'll Figure it out in the End

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 7): You'll Figure it out in the End:

Q: Kris Kristofferson's last name starts with his four-letter first name. Can you name a famous American whose last name ends with his four-letter first name? Hint: The last name has seven letters.

Note: It is easy to overlook that the last name ends with the letters in his first name, so rather than MARK MARKHAM, you should be looking for names like MARK WIDMARK (not the answer).

Edit: Check the comments for clues like "jump" and "wicked" (homonym for "evil" = "evel")

A: Motorcycle Daredevil EVEL KNIEVEL

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 31): Labor Weekend Sale, Vowels Are $100, Three Days Only

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 31): Labor Weekend Sale, Vowels Are $100, Three Days Only:

Q: Think of a 9-letter word with no repeated letters. The letters in the odd positions (the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th positions) are vowels. All five vowels, A, E, I, O and U, appear once each in some order. What word is this?

When I first read the puzzle, I thought "I already know the answer". It's the word FACETIOUS with A-E-I-O-U appearing once and in order... After I had that in my mind, for awhile it prevented me from noticing that I hadn't solved the right puzzle.

I think others might be stymied by the fact that the correct answer is a word that people commonly misspell. Hopefully you aren't one of the people that suffers from such an inability to spell. P.S. I was able to come up with two answers, but the second is not a common word at all. I wonder if anyone will submit it?

Edit: It's after the deadline so I think it okay to reveal my hidden clues: "prevented" and "suffer from".

A: INOCULATE