NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 8, 2011): Happy Mothers' Day

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 8, 2011): Happy Mothers' Day:

Q: Think of two common girls' names that are seven letters long and that start with the same four letters in the same order. Drop these four letters in each name, and mix the last three letters in each name to come up with another common girls' name in six letters. What names are these?

We were out all day in the sun celebrating Mothers' Day; I got a tan. By the way, is the six-letter name Barbie?

Edit: My hints: "a tan" reverses to be the first 4 letters of both names. "Barbie" referenced the phrase "put a shrimp on the barbie" which was popularized in ads for the Australian Tourism Board. Colloquially in Australia, a girl or woman might be called a "Sheila".

A: NATALIE and NATASHA --> SHEILA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 1, 2011): Transferring Universities

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 1, 2011): Transferring Universities:

Q: Take the name of a well-known U.S. university. One of the letters in it is a chemical symbol. Change this to a two-letter chemical symbol to name another well-known U.S. university. What universities are these?

If you are a regular visitor to this blog, you'll know I sometimes complain about the puzzles Will picks. This time, since it was submitted by a regular visitor (Dave Taub), I'll try to be not so critical. I will say I like how the chemical elements are related, but I feel one of these universities may not be as "well-known" to some.

Edit: All of my hints referred to the chemical elements. Both are radioactive hence the comments about "critical" and being related. Also the post started with "...you are a..." = U, Ra.

A: DUKE (University) - U + Ra = DRAKE (University)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 24, 2011): A Place of Power Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 24, 2011): A Place of Power Puzzle:

Q: Think of a familiar three-word phrase in the form '___ and ___'. If you remove the 'and' and put the second word in front of the first word, you get a compound word naming a place of power. Hint: The compound word has nine letters. What is the three-word phrase, and what place of power is this?

I'm going to have to lie back on the sofa and ponder this puzzle.

Edit: Sofa is a synonym for divan which is also the Muslim word for council chamber or boardroom.

A: Room and Board --> Boardroom

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 17, 2011): Sports Venue Transforms into Sport Equipment

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 17, 2011): Sports Venue Transforms into Sport Equipment:

Q: Think of a nine-letter word naming a venue for certain sports. Three letters in the word are repeated. Remove all the repetitions, and the remaining six letters can be rearranged to name a piece of sports equipment. What are these two words?

I might have to pray to a Norse god for assistance on this.

Edit: The hint pointed to Odin, the Norse god. O is an oval shape, like a racetrack, while din is a synonym for racket.

A: Racetrack (remove the duplicated letters r,a,c and rearrange) --> Racket

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 10, 2011): Weight Weight... Don't Tell Me

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 10, 2011): Weight Weight... Don't Tell Me:

Q: Name a unit of length in the plural form. Rearrange the letters to spell two units of mass, also in the plural form. What units are these?

Don't worry. My memory may not be the best, but I wasn't going to forget to post the puzzle. On that note, I was thinking of a couple award-winning hints, but they were too obvious. Instead, I'll just point out that technically the puzzle should have asked for units of mass, not weight. I've made the correction above.

Edit: My first hints were worry/memory which were a clue to angst/rom. My second hints were note and award-winning which should have pointed to music awards, specifically the Grammy and Tony Awards.

A: Angstroms --> Grams and Tons

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 3, 2011): Moby Dick scores an 82

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 3, 2011): Moby Dick scores an 82:

Q: Assign every letter of the alphabet a numerical value: A=1, B=2, C=3 and so forth. Think of a classic work of literature that has eight letters in its title. When the letters are given a numerical value, they add up to 35. What's the title? Clue: The title has two words.

Clue: 12,672

Edit: First hint was 12 as in Adam-12, second hint was 672 as in the birth year of Venerable Bede

A: ADAM BEDE, the first novel by George Eliot

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 27, 2011): This Puzzle is Rated PG for Mild Language

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 27, 2011): This Puzzle is Rated PG for Mild Language:

Q: Take the word 'calm' and flip the letters A and L to get 'clam.' Take the last name of a film director known for using profanity, and flip two pairs of letters in place to get a word used as a substitute for profanity. Who's the director, and what's the word?

Have I ever used profanity? I plead the fifth.

Edit: The name Quentin comes from the Latin quintus meaning "the fifth"

A: Quentin TARANTINO (swap AN and NO) --> "What in TARNATION!"

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 20, 2011): Consumer Protection Laws Anagram

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 20, 2011): Consumer Protection Laws Anagram:

Q: Take the phrase 'consumer protection laws,' and rearrange the letters to name a person in broadcasting and an issue of public debate. Hints: The name of the person in broadcasting has five letters in the first name and five letters in the last name. For the issue of public debate, it's a familiar two-word phrase with seven letters in the first word and five letters in the second. What name and phrase are these?

If NPR keeps posting the puzzle this early we'll have to stop calling it the Sunday puzzle! Are you following what I'm saying? Are you clear? Cool.

Edit: The NPR puzzle is part of Weekend Edition Sunday (host Liane Hansen). The day before, NPR broadcasts Weekend Edition Saturday (host Scott Simon). "Are you following what I'm saying?" was a hint to the game Simon Says. "You clear" was a hint to "nuclear" while "Cool." was a hint to cooling down a reactor.

A: SCOTT SIMON, NUCLEAR POWER

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 13, 2011): Sounds Like Another Name Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 13, 2011): Sounds Like Another Name Puzzle:

Q: Think of a five-letter girl's name that ends in a 'J' sound. Change that to a 'CH' sound to get a common five-letter boy's name. What names are these?

Not to be a pest but didn't we have a puzzle recently involving names? If you thought Marsha and Martha were less common girl's names, what about the names this week? I was going to clump together a clue or two from last week, but I think I'll refrain.

Edit: The first clue was pest as in a tiny fly. The second hint was clump as in comic book character, Midge Klump. The third clue was a reference to last week's post where I mentioned people that shared birthdays on March 10, including gymnast Mitch Gaylord. The final clue was refrain, an indirect reference to the show Sing Along with Mitch.

A: Midge and Mitch

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 6, 2011): In a Galaxy, Far Far Away...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 6, 2011): In a Galaxy, Far Far Away...:

Q: Think of a two-word phrase that means a time long ago. Move the third, fourth and fifth letters to the end of the phrase, without rearranging those three letters, to get a new two-word phrase that means the beginning. What phrases are these?

One less than Osama's and one less than Les Essarts.

Edit: Today (March 10) happens to be the birthdays of Sharon Stone and Osama bin Laden. Sharon's age is 53, Osama's is 54. That was the hint for STONE AGE. The other hint was a reference to the Tour de France 2011. Stage two of the race will be a circuit out and back to Les Essarts. Decrementing you get STAGE ONE.

A: STONE AGE --> STAGE ONE