NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 22, 2015): Happy Thanksgiving

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 22, 2015): Happy Thanksgiving:

Q: The following three Thanksgiving dishes have something very unusual in common:

Spit-roast turkey

Cornbread stuffing

Boiled squash

What is it they have in common, and can you name one other thing that might be served at Thanksgiving dinner that has the same property?

Well, it isn't Baked Alaska.

Edit: My hint was a callback to the recent (MOUNT) DENALI puzzle. The food I submitted was the simple CAULIFLOWER.

A: Each food item uses all five vowels (A, E, I, O and U) exactly once. Other possible foods with this property: Whipped young yams, cranberry coulis, pumpkin gelato, robust Zinfandel. Any food whose name contained all five vowels exactly once was accepted.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 15, 2015): Under the Canopy

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 15, 2015): Under the Canopy:

Q: Think of a word that contains three consecutive letters of the alphabet together — like CANOPY, which contains NOP. Change these three letters to one new letter to make a synonym of the first word. What words are these?

This puzzle reminds me of a joke I heard back in grade-school.

Edit: Here's the joke.
Teacher: "Who can use defeat, detail and defense in a single sentence?"
Johnny: "De-feet and de-tail of de-cat went over de-fence."

A: DEFEAT --> BEAT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 8, 2015): Actor Becomes On-Air Contestant

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 8, 2015): Actor Becomes On-Air Contestant:

Q: Name a famous actor — using both first and last name. Drop the first two letters of the first name and the last two letters of the last name. Then put a Y between what's left of the two names. The result, reading from left to right, will identify who might solve this challenge and play puzzle on the air with me next week.

Or take the letters that remain in the actor's last name, add a letter before and after to name where you might see the actor today.

Edit: The answer to my hint was the TV show, BONES

A: RYAN O'NEAL --> ANYONE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 1, 2015): And Three Nines are Twenty

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 1, 2015): And Three Nines are Twenty:

Q: This is one of the "lost" puzzles of Sam Loyd, the great American puzzlemaker from the 19th and early 20th centuries. It's from an old magazine with a Sam Loyd puzzle column. The object is to arrange three 9s to make 20. There is no trick involved. Simply arrange three 9s, using any standard arithmetic signs and symbols, to total 20. How can it be done?

The whole point is there are no tricks involved. So you don't need to flip numbers upside down or involve higher order math like square roots or factorials... at least my solution doesn't need those.

Edit: My hint was point as in decimal point.

A: (9 + 9)/.9 = 20

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 25, 2015): The Holidays Come Earlier Each Year

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 25, 2015): The Holidays Come Earlier Each Year:

Q: The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters — seven consonants (H, K, L, M, N, P and W) plus the five vowels (A, E, I, O and U). Use all 12 of these, and repeat four of them, to get 16 letters in all that can be arranged to name a well-known holiday item. What is it? As a hint — it's a two-word answer.

Too easy.

Edit: As easy as pie

A: HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 11, 2015): Creative Puzzle Challenge: Provide one sample sentence, outshine the pile

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 11, 2015): Creative Puzzle Challenge: Provide one sample sentence, outshine the pile:

Q: Write a 10-word sentence in which each word ends with the same letter of the alphabet.

For example: Dartmouth frosh clash with Pittsburgh church parish, clinch fifth triumph. Every word in that sentence ends with H. You can choose any letter you like. Entries will be judged on sensibility, naturalness of syntax and overall elegance. The person who submits the best sentence in Will's opinion will play the puzzle on the air in two weeks.

For some of you, it's time to include the other half of your brain...

Edit: Be sure to check the list of runner up sentences including several submissions from members of Blainesville.

A: The winning sentence chosen by Will, "Can neurosurgeon Ben Carson pin down Republican nomination in 'Sixteen?" — Kate S. of Maryland

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