NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 1, 2012): Sport Scores and Another Sport

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 1, 2012): Sport Scores and Another Sport:

Q: Name certain scores in a certain sport. This is a two-word phrase with a total of 10 letters (5 letters in each word). If you have the right phrase, you can rearrange all the letters to name a different sport, also in two words (6 letters in the first word, 4 in the second). What are the scores, and what is the sport?

Looks like we are back to anagrams. Perhaps Will wants to start off the year with something familiar. Generally I despise anagrams, but this puzzle was enjoyable. Anyway, the puzzle isn't too difficult so do you think I need to provide a hint or two?

Edit: Read the first letter of each of the sentences above and you'll get LPGA. I also stopped my counting before I got to four ("Fore!")

A: FIELD GOALS --> LADIES GOLF

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 25, 2011): Unusual, Uncommon Entertainer

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 25, 2011): Unusual, Uncommon Entertainer:

Q: Name an occupation in nine letters. It's an entertainer of sorts — an unusual and uncommon but well-known sort of entertainer. Drop the third letter of the name, and read the result backward. You'll get two four-letter words that are exact opposites. What are they?

I'm sorry for the late post of the puzzle. There was some problem with our internet where it would be up for a little bit, but before I could finish a post, it would come back down. Anyway, it seems to have sorted itself out and my elder son is just grateful that he can get online with his Xbox again.

Edit: Okay, so our internet wasn't really dead (we were just busy with Christmas), but I did like the visual of something going up for a little bit and back down, like a daredevil jumping a canyon or a row of buses. The other hints were Grateful (Dead) and Xbox (Live) which are the antonyms.

A: DAREDEVIL --> LIVE + DEAD

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 18, 2011): A Guy and Another Guy

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 18, 2011): A Guy and Another Guy:

Q: Take the word "at." Put a man's first name on each side of it, and say the word out loud. Phonetically, you'll get a word that describes a growing part of our country. What is it?

Will probably forgot to mention that these are two *different* men's names.

Edit: Sorry, I guess I was trying to imply that Will was getting forgetful in his "old age".

A: Jerry + at + Rick = Geriatric

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 11, 2011): Mixed up animals

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 11, 2011): Mixed up animals:

Q: Think of an animal whose name contains an O. Change the O to an H, and rearrange the result to name another animal. What animals are these?

Hint: Beautifull Desaster

An image search for "Antelope Elephant" came up with this image on DeviantArt by BeautifullDesaster.

A: ANTELOPE -O +H --> ELEPHANT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 4, 2011): Forget this music, let's get some food!

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 4, 2011): Forget this music, let's get some food!:

Q: Name a style of music. Change the middle letter to a B, and you'll name a style of cooking. What are the style of music and the style of cooking? (There are several ways to spell the cooking style, but the answer is one of them.)

Hint: Bert Lance

Edit: Bert Lance, Jimmy Carter's Budget Director, is credited with popularizing the colloquial southern phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

A: Baroque --> Bar-B-Que

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 27, 2011): Common 5 Letter Words Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 27, 2011): Common 5 Letter Words Puzzle:

Q: Think of a common five-letter word in one syllable. Change the fourth letter to the next letter of the alphabet, and you'll get a common word in two syllables, also in five letters. What words are these?

6, 2, 7, 6D --> 8, 9, 11, 29D

Edit: Since Will Shortz is the editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle, my hints are to those puzzles. On 6/2/2007 the clue for 6 down was Charm (Ans: ENDEAR) and on 8/9/2011 the clue for 29 down was Chasm (Ans: ABYSS).

A: CHARM --> CHASM

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 20, 2011): Food Item, Saying and Person's Name

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 20, 2011): Food Item, Saying and Person's Name:

Q: Name a food item. Divide this word in half. Take the second half followed by the first half twice, and you'll get a familiar saying. If you take the second half twice (followed) by the first half, you'll name a well-known person. What are the food item, saying, and person's name?

I vote for the food item being incomplete, but I guess if enough people vote against me, I'll rescind my complaint.

Edit: My hint was "nays" which when added to the food item (mayo) gives the full name (mayonnaise).

A: Food Item: Mayo(nnaise)
Saying: Yo' Mama!
Person: Yo-Yo Ma

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 13, 2011): What Comes Next?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 13, 2011): What Comes Next?:

Q: What number comes next in the following series: 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 15, 20, 40, 51*, 55*, 60 and 90?

See, I thought I had the answer to this, but if so, there are a couple numbers missing.

*Update: The consensus seems to be that Henry Hook and Will Shortz overlooked a couple terms in the sequence and it should be 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 15, 20, 40, 51, 55, 60 and 90. Hopefully everyone is able to solve it now with the corrected wording. If anyone has direct access to Will's email, perhaps they could ask for a similar correction to the puzzle on the NPR website.

Will Shortz has confirmed (see his comment) that he extended Henry Hook's original series (2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 15, 20) and in the process overlooked the numbers above. The NPR website has been updated as well. Thanks to everyone that helped clear this up.

Edit: My hint was "See, I..." which sounds like CI which is 101 in Roman numerals

A: 101 is next in the sequence. When represented as Roman numerals, each number in the series requires exactly two letters (II, IV, VI, IX, XI, XV, XX, XL, LI, LV, LX, XC, CI...)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 6, 2011): Count the Equilateral Triangles

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 6, 2011): Count the Equilateral Triangles:

Q: Take 15 coins. Arrange them in an equilateral triangle with one coin at the top, two coins touching below, three coins below that, then four, then five. Remove the three coins at the corners so you're left with 12 coins. Using the centers of the 12 coins as points, how many equilateral triangles can you find by joining points with lines?

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, but I know the answer is much smaller than that.

Edit: My hint points to a shorter form of Minnesota, namely the abbreviation MN. That's also the abbreviation for Manganese (Mn) which has an atomic number of 25.

A: 25 equilateral triangles total (see the video for details).

13 small triangles pointing up or down

4 medium triangles pointing up or down

6 medium triangles pointing left or right

2 large triangles at a slight angle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 30, 2011): This Singer Keeps Company with a Logo?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 30, 2011): This Singer Keeps Company with a Logo?:

Q: Name a well-known singer. Drop the first and last letters of the singer's first name and you'll get the letters of a well-known company. Drop the first and last letters of the singer's last name, and you'll identify the logo that the company is classically known for. Who is the singer and what's the company?

Musical clue: Adele & Lil Wayne

Edit: There were two clues in my answer. First I had an ampersand (&), hinting at the additional symbol needed in the company name. Second if you combine Adele and Wayne you get "Adele Wayne". Patti LaBelle played Adele Wayne, the mother of Dwayne Wayne on A Different World.

A: Patti LaBelle --> AT&T + A Bell