NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 7, 2014): A few Texans come in...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 7, 2014): A few Texans come in...:

Q: Take the phrase "a few Texans come in." Rearrange these letters to name a geographical place. What is it?

I guess it's not "amalgamate my Boron".

Edit: That anagrams to "Montgomery, Alabama" which is another state capital.

A: SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 30, 2014): Bertrand Tavernier Word Play

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 30, 2014): Bertrand Tavernier Word Play:

Q: Bertrand Tavernier is a French director of such movies as Life and Nothing But and It All Starts Today. What amazing wordplay property does the name Bertrand Tavernier have? This sounds like an open-ended question, but when you have the right answer, you'll have no doubt about it.

Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal. We control the vertical.

Edit: The hint was to the striped shirts that this duo wears, one with vertical stripes (Bert) and the other with horizontal (Ernie).

A: Removing a few interspersed letters, 3 words remain --> BERT AND ERNIE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 23, 2014): Traveling Cultural Museum Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 23, 2014): Traveling Cultural Museum Puzzle:

Q: The letters in the name of a major American city can be rearranged to spell a traveling cultural museum. What is it? Each name is a single word, and the city's population is more than a half million.

If you haven't figured this out, you are probably getting stuck on the phrase "traveling cultural museum". Perhaps it isn't on a standard list of museums, or is on several you haven't checked. And yes, there is a hint hidden somewhere here.

Edit: If you anagram "or is on several", you get "Orioles Ravens".

A: BALTIMORE --> ARTMOBILE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 16, 2014): Show me the money!

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 16, 2014): Show me the money!:

Q: Name a country. Drop one of its letters. Rearrange the remaining letters to name this country's money. What is it?

By now everyone has figured this out so no clue is necessary.

Edit: The hint was the first word in the sentence; the ISO country code for Belarus is BY.

A: BELARUS (-A) = RUBLES

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 9, 2014): I got Caesar dressing on my clothes!

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 9, 2014): I got Caesar dressing on my clothes!:

Q: Name a well-known clothing company. Move each of its letters three spaces earlier in the alphabet and rearrange the result. You'll name something you don't want in an article of clothing. What is it?

I generally enjoy these letter rotation type puzzles, but it took me awhile to figure this one out.

Edit: The two clues were "I general..." (referring to General Zod from Superman) = IZOD and "awhile" from the phrase, "In awhile, crocodile." Though many people thought the animal on the Izod Lacoste polo shirt was an alligator, it was actually a crocodile, referring to tennis player Rene Lacoste's nickname of "The Crocodile".

A: IZOD = FWLA --> FLAW

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 2, 2014): An Apt Time for a Clock Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 2, 2014): An Apt Time for a Clock Puzzle:

Q: Write down the following four times: 3:00, 6:00, 12:55 and 4:07. These are the only times on a clock that share a certain property (without repeating oneself). What property is this?

I guess we all have an extra hour to figure this one out this week...

Edit: Time's up!

A: The intended answer is that the four times given visually form Roman numerals L(50), I(1), V(5) and C(100). (The other Roman numerals (M, D, X) can't be easily formed so are excluded.)

I take issue with the misleading wording (only times?) and that we have to visually view two straight hands as forming a curved letter of 'C'. I'm sure there will be some that call this puzzle bogus and you would be justified in saying so, but remember I'm just the messenger.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 26, 2014): Igor, Fetch me my Brain

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 26, 2014): Igor, Fetch me my Brain:

Q: Name a well-known TV actress of the past. Put an R between her first and last names. Then read the result backward. The result will be an order Dr. Frankenstein might give to Igor. Who is the actress, and what is the order?

We might as well dig up some of our hints from a prior puzzle.

Edit: Clues were "dig up" and a reference to a similar puzzle in July.

A: EVA GABOR --> ROB A GRAVE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 19, 2014): Time To Flex Those Math Muscles

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 19, 2014): Time To Flex Those Math Muscles:

Q: The following challenge is based on a puzzle from a Martin Gardner book, that may not be well-known. Out of a regular grade school classroom, two students are chosen at random. Both happen to have blue eyes. If the odds are exactly 50-50 that two randomly chosen students in the class will have blue eyes: How many students are in the class?

It's going to be hard to provide hints to the answer this week.

Edit: My hint was "Be" which is the symbol for Berylium, element 4 on the periodic table. While 4 is a technically correct answer (3 blue-eyed children --> 3/4 x 2/3 = 1/2) the intended answer was for a more typical class size.

A: 21 students (15 with blue eyes and 7 without).

The probability the first child has blue eyes is 15/21 or 5/7. Once that child is taken out of consideration, there are 14 children with blue eyes out of 20 so the probability is 7/10. Multiplying that together, we have 5/7 x 7/10 = 5/10 = 1/2

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 12, 2014): Country and Capital Mixup

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 12, 2014): Country and Capital Mixup:

Q: Name a certain country. Change one letter in its name to a new letter and rearrange the result to name another country's capital. Then change one letter in that and rearrange the result to name another country. What geographical names are these?

There's one more thing you can do. If you draw a triangle connecting the 3 capitals from the puzzle, the center of mass of that triangle is very close to the capital of a well-known country. And that country has the same number of letters as the answers to the puzzle.

A: SPAIN <--> PARIS <--> SYRIA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 5, 2014): Morning Routine

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 5, 2014): Morning Routine:

Q: Take the first four letters of a brand of toothpaste plus the last five letters of an over-the-counter medicine, and together, in order, the result will name a popular beverage. What is it?

I don't suggest consuming what is formed from the leftover letters of the second word, followed by the leftover letters of the first word.

Edit: The leftover letters are R+ODENT.

A: PEPSodent + rICOLA --> PEPSI COLA