NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 22): What's on your desk?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 22): What's on your desk?:

Q: Name an item often found on a desk. It's a hyphenated word. Add an 'S' to the beginning of each part, and you'll get two synonyms. What's the item?

I'm looking at my desk trying to figure out what this item must be. My desk is pretty clean except for the items I'll eventually need to do my taxes (...that nasty IRS!). My wife was thinking it's something related to "ink" --> sink. I was thinking of something related to "light" --> slight. But neither of those ideas seemed to pan out.

I get the feeling people won't be happy when they hear the answer. Anyone else bothered by the puzzle this week?

Edit: There were quite a few clues in my post: Paperwork that is yet to be handled probably appears in this place, "Nasty IRS" is an anagram of the two synonyms, and "pan" is a synonym for tray, while "out" is an antonym for in.

A: IN-TRAY --> SIN, STRAY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 15): Pensacola Anagram

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 15): Pensacola Anagram:

Q: Take the name 'Pensacola,' remove one letter and rearrange the letters that remain to get the first and last name of a famous person in American history. Who is it?

Here's a couple hints: The person died in Florida. Also, I don't think the timing of this puzzle is coincidental.

Edit: The puzzle was aired a day after Valentine's Day... 80 years after the Valentine's Day Massacre.

A: PENSACOLA -S --> AL CAPONE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 8): What is the Country? What are the Synonyms?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 8): What is the Country? What are the Synonyms??:

Q: Take the name of a country, interchange two consecutive letters. Add an 'e' after the fifth letter. The result will be two synonyms, one after the other. What is the country, and what are the synonyms?

Anyone notice that the language of this country sounds like another synonym?

Edit: The language is Finnish, a homonym for "finish".

A: FINLAND --> FINAL, END

Word Game: If I give you BVI, the answer is obvious...

Here's a fun game you can play with friends. I'll give you a sequence of letters. Your goal is to find a common English word that has those letters exactly in that order with no additional letters in between. As the title implies, if I gave you "BVI" you could reply with "oBVIous". Got it?

To get you started, here are a few combinations to try:
HTG, WKW, UMF, PTC, GGP, AUE and HMM...

Good luck, and feel free to post any letter combinations of your own that might be fun to try.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 1): Famous Living Woman...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 1): Famous Living Woman...:

Q: Think of a famous living woman whose first and last names are each accented on the second syllable. Say the second syllable of her last name, followed by the second syllable of her first name, and phonetically you'll get a word meaning very attractive woman. Who is it?

This one isn't that hard. The first woman I thought of was the right answer. Note: Put the syllable in the *last* name first.

Edit: The first woman I thought of was the first lady...

A: MICHELLE OBAMA --> BAM-CHELLE = BOMBSHELL

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 25): Starts with M, Ends with M

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 25): Starts with M, Ends with M:

Q: Think of a word that starts and ends with the letter M, drop the first M, insert an O somewhere and you'll get a new word that means the same thing as the first word. What words are these?

Truth be told, I'm not positive I have the right answer so I won't say anything (As they say, "A closed mouth gathers no foot.")

Edit: "Truth" was an obvious hint to the synonyms.

A: MAXIM --> AXIOM

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 18): Everything but the Kitchen Sink

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 18): Everything but the Kitchen Sink:

Q: Name an implement that might be in a kitchen drawer. It's a compound word. Add the letter S after each half of the compound, and you'll get two synonyms. What implement is it?

This one is hard. I've been going crazy trying to think of the answer. For awhile I was stuck on dessert implements (pie slice, icecream scoop, etc.). I just couldn't stop thinking of sweets! Oh well, maybe someone else will know the real answer...

Edit: I was going to say "this one is hard to crack", but I thought that would have been too obvious. The "crazy" clue referred to the synonyms that are eventually formed. "Sweet" really was a reference to Tchaikovsky's "Suite".

A: NUTCRACKER --> NUTS, CRACKERS (as in crazy)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 11): The Sound of Letters

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 11): The Sound of Letters:

Q: Take a very common three-letter word. Say the letters phonetically and together they'll sound like a six-letter word meaning knockout. What word is it?

I think I have the answer, but I'm not sure. I don't usually pronounce the six-letter word that way.

Edit: I've checked 3 dictionaries and none of them have the 3-syllable prounounciation, though I'm sure we've heard it pronounced colloquially with 3 syllables. You shouldn't have needed much help this week, but if you did, I've included it a couple times in this post.

A: BUT --> BEAUTY (bee-YOO-tee)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 4): She was Bitten by the Acting Bug

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 4): She was Bitten by the Acting Bug:

Q: Take the last name of a famous actress in 2 syllables and 9 letters. Transpose the syllables and you'll have, phonetically, the word for a common ailment. Who is the person and what is the ailment?

For some reason I came up with the names Meryl Streep, Maureen Stapleton, Stockard Channing and Catherine O'Hara. They don't seem to match the puzzle at all, do they?

Edit: If you look up those actresses in IMDb, you'll find they were all in the same 1986 Movie

A: Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) --> Heartburn

New Year's Resolution: Exercise Your Brain

As long as everyone is making New Year's resolutions, I hope you've made one to get more mental exercise. To start you off, here's a challenging "Cross Number Puzzle." The grid above is filled in like a traditional crossword puzzle, except every answer is a three-digit number (100-999) rather than a word. Warning: some of the clues may have you going in circles but there is a unique solution..

Don't worry, you can get around to your other resolutions, like not procrastinating, and going to the gym later. Go sit on the sofa and work on a puzzle instead!

Across:
1. 3 Down plus 5 Across
3. One-seventh of 8 Across
5. Half of 14 Across
6. A prime number
8. Seven times 3 Across
10. Twice 7 Down
12. A perfect square
14. 9 Down reversed
15. The sum of its own digits, times thirty-seven
16. A perfect square

Down:
1. 13 Down plus 10 Down
2. Average of 9 Down and 14 Across
3. 1 Across minus 5 Across
4. A multiple of three
7. 16 Across minus 1 Across
9. 1 Across plus 5 Across
10. 13 Down plus three hundred
11. 12 Down minus 1 Down
12. Anagram of 4 Down
13. 1 Down minus 10 Down

Stumped or want to check your work? Here's the answer key