NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 21, 2010): Mixed-up Serial Number

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 21, 2010): Mixed-up Serial Number:

Q: What two world capitals can be found by rearranging the letters in the phrase 'serial number.'

Since the NPR puzzle is rather easy, here's related puzzle for you. Take the oxymoronic phrase "A kinetic zen". Rearrange the letters to form the title of a well-known movie. Now figure out how it is related to this week's puzzle.

Edit: The answer to my puzzle was the movie "Citizen Kane" where it is revealed that "Rosebud" was the name of a sled. Sled written backwards is DELS which contains the Internet country codes for Germany(DE) and Lesotho(LS) respectively.

A: BERLIN (Germany) and MASERU (Lesotho)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 14, 2010) : Tune into TNT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 14, 2010) : Tune into TNT :

Q : What is the longest familiar phrase, title, or name in which the only consonants are N and T, repeated as often as necessary? The other letters are vowels.

On the air, Will mentioned he had an answer with 18 letters. I've matched 18 letters but have a feeling we can do better than that.

Edit : Did you notice that I placed an extra space in front of each colon in this post? The hint was the sci-fi series "Space: 1999".

A : The song "Nineteen ninety nine" by Prince.
Will also accepted the 1947 French film Antoine et Antoinette.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 7, 2010): Alphabet Soup?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 7, 2010): Alphabet Soup?:

Q: Write out the 26 letters of the alphabet. Take a sequence of seven letters, change one letter in that sequence to a U, and rearrange the result to name something you might find in your refrigerator. Hint: The answer is a two-word phrase.

Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour. But don't set your clocks back too far or you won't be able to get the answer at all... say 1963?

Edit: According to a couple sources, plastic milk jugs were introduced in 1964.

A: Take GHIJKLM, swap H for a U, rearrange to get MILK JUG

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 31, 2010): Creature Double Feature

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 31, 2010): Creature Double Feature:

Q: Name a creature in six letters. Move the first three letters to the end and read the result backward to name another creature. Clue: If you break either six-letter word in half, each pair of three letters will themselves spell a word.

No, I'm not late in posting the puzzle. I'm just stunned anyone would think so. Incidentally one of the 3-letter words is more common in crosswords, but it is found in the dictionary. Speaking of a double-feature, I'm thinking of watching a comedy and then a sci-fi thriller. Horror on Halloween is so overrated.

Edit: My hints were "not late" and "just stunned" which allude to various lines in the Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch. The double-feature references were to this comedic sketch and the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. The last comment was a hint to the fact that the creatures aren't directly related to Halloween (e.g. not goblins, zombies, spirits, etc.)

A: PARROT <--> ROTPAR <--> RAPTOR

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 24, 2010): That's a Capital Idea

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 24, 2010): That's a Capital Idea:

Q: Name the capital of a country. Rearrange the letters to spell a word that sounds the same as the name of another country. To approach the puzzle backward, name a country that has a homophone that is an anagram of a different country's capital. What country and what capital city are they?

The following list of country capitals could be handy. I'm still working on the intended answer since so far I found a perfect anagram, not one that is a homophone.

Update: I feel like such a heel for not having figured this out sooner.

Edit: My hint was "feel like such a heel". A shoe has a heel and a sole (sounds like Seoul). You could also say I felt like a louse. :)

A: SOUTH KOREA's capital is SEOUL which anagrams to LOUSE which sounds like the country of LAOS.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 17, 2010): Typing the Opening Credits

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 17, 2010): Typing the Opening Credits:

Q: Rearrange the 14 letters of 'OPENING CREDITS' to name two symbols you can type on a typewriter or computer. What symbols are these?

Am I the only one that is bothered when these symbols appear together?

Edit Type it as $0.25 or 25¢, but please don't print your amount as 0.25¢, unless I'm allowed to buy 4 for a penny!

Note: To type the cent sign on a PC keyboard, enable NumLock, hold down the Alt key and type 155 (or 0162) on the numeric keypad.

A: OPENING CREDITS --> PERIOD and CENT SIGN

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 10, 2010): Rhyme Time

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 10, 2010): Rhyme Time:

Q: What are the two longest rhyming words that have no letters in common? For example, 'pie' and 'guy' rhyme and do not share any letters. The answer words cannot start with an unaccented syllable, such as 'today.' The source for acceptable words is Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary.

Hooray! This time the puzzle isn't one that can easily be solved via computer. In fact, depending on your definition of "rhyming" there may be several answers coming Will's way. Let's discuss, but don't give away an answer before the deadline.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 3, 2010): Third Time's a Charm

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 3, 2010): Third Time's a Charm:

Q: Name a famous person whose first name has six letters and last name has eight. In this person's first name, the first two letters are the same as the last two letters. And, these two letters also start the last name. The first two letters of the last name are pronounced differently from how they're pronounced in the first name. Who is this person?

Just so we are on the same page, united in thought so to speak, the pair of letters keeps the same order each time it is used.

Edit: I tried to include some misdirection (page=Author, thought=Philosopher, speak=Orator/Actor/Politician). The only real clue was united (as in United Airlines), which has used Rhapsody in Blue for years in its commercials.

A: GEorGE GErshwin

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sept. 26, 2010): The Best Things in Life...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sept. 26, 2010): The Best Things in Life...:

Q: Take the phrase 'patron saint,' remove a letter, then rearrange the letters to create a new, familiar two-word phrase that names something important in life. Hint: The first word has three letters, the second word has seven.

The list of anagrams I came up with spanned 4 pages. How come one of the words in the phrase wasn't in the list?

Edit: I'm sure Liane and Will would say, "The Best Things in Life are Listener Supported". Though there is one intended answer, there are really 4 pages of them. I also hinted at the fact that part of the answer is an acronym rather than a "word".

A: PATRON SAINT - A --> NPR STATION

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sept. 19, 2010): International Trade

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sept. 19, 2010): International Trade:

Q: Name five countries whose names are five letters long. Using the middle letter of each country's name, spell the five-letter name of a sixth country.

I didn't find this difficult and I can form the names of 6 different countries. How about you?

Update: On the air, Will mentioned wanting an answer that didn't use the lesser-known country of Palau. I'm still able to come up with 3 good answers that only involve well-known countries (and one that uses a country similar to Palau).

Edit: My clue above was "I" + "and I" which can be anagrammed to make India. I think this is probably Will's intended answer, but there are some other possible answers.

A:
3 answers with well-known countries:
CHINA, KENYA, SUDAN, CHILE, ITALY --> INDIA
CHILE, QATAR, SPAIN, MALTA, EGYPT --> ITALY
MALTA, CHINA, GABON, EGYPT, SPAIN --> LIBYA

One with lesser-known countries:
LIBYA, NAURU, SYRIA, YEMEN, ITALY --> BURMA

A couple more that include Palau:
YEMEN, ITALY, PALAU, QATAR, SPAIN --> MALTA
JAPAN, ITALY, MALTA, SPAIN, NAURU --> PALAU