NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 4, 2015): Help Wanted, Inquire Within

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 4, 2015): Help Wanted, Inquire Within:

Q: Think of a two-word term for someone who might be working at a nightclub. The second letter of the first word is a consonant. Move that letter so it's the second letter of the second word, and phonetically you'll get a made-up, two-word term for someone else who might work at a nightclub. What persons are these?

I'm not happy that this took so long to figure out. By the way, the deadline is Wednesday this week.

The hint was "not happy", or feeling "blue".

A: BLUES SINGER --> BOOZE SLINGER

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 27, 2015): Greek and Italian Heritage

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 27, 2015): Greek and Italian Heritage:

Q: Name a famous Greek person from history. Rearrange the letters of the name to get the title of a famous Italian person from history. Who are these two people?"

I don't think the name or title will include an N.

Edit: Remove an N from INCLUDE and you get the letters used in the name and title.

A: EUCLID and IL DUCE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20, 2015): Foretold Fourfold Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 20, 2015): Foretold Fourfold Puzzle:

Q: Take the words FORETOLD and FOURFOLD. They start with homophones, FORE and FOUR, and they end with rhymes, TOLD and FOLD. The challenge is to find two common nine-letter compound words that have the same property. Specifically, the two homophones are each five letters long, and the rhymes have four letters each. What words are these?

Edit: In one of my comments, before I knew the answer, I said it wasn't BIRTHDATE-BIRTHMATE or WAISTCOAT-WASTEBOAT. I had to delete that for obvious reasons.

A: WAISTEBAND and WASTELAND

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13, 2015): The Quick Brown Fox...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13, 2015): The Quick Brown Fox...:

Q: It's a well-known curiosity that the longest common unhyphenated word that can be typed on the top row of a typewriter or computer keyboard is TYPEWRITER.

Find a common hyphenated word in 12 letters that can be typed using only the keys on the top row of a typewriter or computer keyboard.

And a synonym of the word can be typed with one hand.

Edit: You can type SEESAW with the left hand.

A: TEETER-TOTTER

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 6, 2015): Where Am I?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 6, 2015): Where Am I?:

Q: Name a well-known U.S. geographical place — two words; five letters in the first word, six letters in the last — that contains all five vowels (A, E, I, O and U) exactly once. It's a place that's been in the news. What is it?

I see a problem with the puzzle; isn't the name of this place a single word?

A: (MOUNT) DENALI

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30, 2015): A Bag of Holding

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 30, 2015): A Bag of Holding:

Q: Name a famous movie in eight letters that has had multiple sequels. The title is one word. Rearrange its letters to get a two-word phrase for a satchel. What is it?

I can't help you with a clue this week... it's too obvious.

Edit: My hint was "can't" as a hint to Clark Kent.

A: SUPERMAN --> MAN PURSE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 23, 2015): Name that Military Figure

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 23, 2015): Name that Military Figure:

Q: Name a famous military figure of the past 50 years. The first three letters of his first name and the first three letters of his last name are both well-known military abbreviations. Who is it?

February 1, 1976: One of the abbreviations applied to him.

Edit: That was the date he attained the rank of Colonel. The other hint was the colon.

A: COLIN POWELL --> Col. and P.O.W.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 16, 2015): Easily Say Lei

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 16, 2015): Easily Say Lei:

Q: Take the word EASILY. You can rearrange its letters to spell SAY and LEI. These two words rhyme even though they have no letters in common.

What is the longest familiar word you can find that can be anagrammed into two shorter words that rhyme but have no letters in common? The two shorter words must have only one syllable.

I guess we'll all be spending time with a rhyming dictionary and an anagrammer.

A: CHICKPEAS = CHIC, SPEAK
PHYSICKED = PSYCH, DIKE
HEAPINGLY = NEIGH, HAY
LIGHT-YEARS = SLEIGH, TRAY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9, 2015): Time to Grease Your Muffler Bearings

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9, 2015): Time to Grease Your Muffler Bearings:

Q: Name part of a car. Drop the fifth letter. Now reverse the order of the last three letters. The result, reading from left to right, will name a major American city. What city is it?

Safety tip: put wheel chocks in place before working on your car.

Edit: "Safety" hinted at the part of a car being used for safety. The other hint was "chocks" which, if you break it into parts, sounds like c-hocks = "Seahawks".

A: SEAT BELT --> SEATTLE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 2, 2015): Watching a Butterfly Flutter By

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 2, 2015): Watching a Butterfly Flutter By:

Q: This challenge involves a spoonerism. (To recap, that's where you exchange the initial consonant sounds of two words to get two new words. For example, a spoonerism of "light rain" is "right lane.")

Name two animals. Exchange their initial consonant sounds, and the result in two words will be the name of a third animal. What is it?

A: BUNNY + HARE --> HONEY BEAR