NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 17, 2020): Department of (Anagrams)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 17, 2020): Department of (Anagrams):

Q: Name a Cabinet department — as in "Department of ___." Rearrange the letters of what goes in the blank to get the brand name of a product you might find at a drugstore or supermarket. What is it?

Anagramming "Housing and Urban Development" might take several months.

Edit: My hint was that from conception to labor is about 9 months. It also hinted at Labor Day being a few months off.

A: LABOR --> ORAL-B
or STATE --> TATE'S or DEFENSE --> SENEFED

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 10, 2020): Car Pets

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 10, 2020): Car Pets:

Q: Name the make and model of a popular car. Change the first and last letters of the make to name an animal. Change the first and fourth letters of the model to name another animal. What car is this?

Well, I can make FORD into WORM, but how will I make an animal out of MUSTANG? :)

Edit: My hint was "how will" --> "howl"

A: TOYOTA COROLLA --> COYOTE, GORILLA

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 3, 2020): Four Blanks

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 3, 2020): Four Blanks:

Q: Think of two common phrases in the form "___ and ___," in which the blanks stand for four-letter words. All four words in those two phrases have different first letters, but the last three letters in the words are the same. What are the phrases?

Kuantan Port Malaysia or Macomb, Illinois

Edit: Kuantan Port is home to NDWT (New Deep Water Terminal) and Macomb, IL is home to WTND 106.3 FM

A: NEAR and DEAR, WEAR and TEAR

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 26, 2020): Eight Letter Landmark

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 26, 2020): Eight Letter Landmark:

Q: Name a famous American landmark in 8 letters. The first 4 letters in order are the first 4 letters of the name of a famous person associated with this landmark. Who is it? Here's a hint: The famous person's name also has 8 letters.

Bonus puzzle: Find another 8-letter word that starts with the same two letters. It also starts and ends with the same letters as the landmark. What word is it?

Edit: The bonus puzzle answer was ALPHABET which starts with A and ends with Z.

A: ALCATRAZ --> AL CAPONE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 19, 2020): Boys and Body Parts

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 19, 2020): Boys and Body Parts:

Q: Name part of the human body in seven letters. The first four letters, in order, spell a familiar boy's name. The second through fifth letters, in order, also spell a familiar boy's name. What body part is it?

Change the 6th letter to the one immediately before it in the alphabet. You can rearrange the letters to spell a plural of another body part.

Edit: Hint: AREOLAE

A: EARLOBE --> EARL, ARLO

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 12, 2020): LARGE to SMALL Word Ladder

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 12, 2020): LARGE to SMALL Word Ladder:

Q: The challenge is to create the shortest possible word ladder connecting LARGE to SMALL, changing one letter at a time, making a common, uncapitalized word each step of the way. Here's the tricky part: Plurals and verbs formed by adding -s are not allowed.

This could take some time to figure out.

A: LARGE, SARGE, SERGE, VERGE, VERSE, TERSE, TEASE, CEASE, CHASE, CHOSE, WHOSE, WHOLE, WHALE, SHALE, SHALL, SMALL (15 steps).

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 5, 2020): State Your Business

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 5, 2020): State Your Business:

Q: Think of a well-known U.S. city. Its population is over a quarter of a million. Phonetically, the first syllable of the city's name plus the first syllable of the name of its state will sound like a well-known brand name. What is it?

Part of this brand was owned by **** *** at one time.

Edit: The company was Sara Lee

A: PLANO, TEXAS --> PLAYTEX

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 29, 2020): April Foolish Puzzle

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 29, 2020): April Foolish Puzzle:

Q: Here's an April Foolish puzzle. Think of a world capital. Drop the third and fourth letters, and keeping the remaining letters in order you'll name a state. What state is it?

What an appropriate time to post this puzzle — in more ways than one.

A: BEIJING --> State of BEING

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 22, 2020): Names with Four Pairs of Double Letters

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 22, 2020): Names with Four Pairs of Double Letters:

Q: Many famous people's names contain three pairs of double letters, like Johnny Appleseed and the actress Jennifer Connelly. But there are two famous fiction writers — one male, one female — whose names have four pairs of double letters. The male writer is Tennessee Williams. Who is the popular female writer?

This took Blaine much longer than expected. We had a TENNESSEE WILLIAMS puzzle back in 2014 with lots of discussion on alternate answers, but I'm pretty sure her name didn't come up then.

The initial letters of "This Took Blaine" are also the starting letters of "The Thorn Birds," arguably her most famous work.

A: Colleen McCullough

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 15, 2020): What Kind of Animal Is It?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Mar 15, 2020): What Kind of Animal Is It?:

Q: Think of a well-known entertainer, six letters in the first name, four letters in the last. You can change the first letter of the entertainer's last name to name an animal. And you can change the first letter of the entertainer's first name to get what kind of animal that is.

Did you know this entertainer is one of 14?

Edit: She is the youngest of fourteen children.

A: CELINE DION, LION, FELINE