NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 31, 2020): Parlez-vous Français?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 31, 2020): Parlez-vous Français?:

Q: Think of a familiar three-word name of something. The first word in that name is a number. Let's call that number "x." The last "x" letters of the second word of the name are a French translation of the third word. What's the name?

I can't give a hint that doesn't give it away.

Edit: If I did give a revealing clue, someone would say it was TMI (too much information) but that abbreviation would also be too revealing. Bonus hint. In one of my replies I said "Cool".

A: THREE MILE ISLAND, ÎLE = ISLAND

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 24, 2020): Win the Race

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 24, 2020): Win the Race:

Q: Think of a well-known European city in seven letters. If you remove the third letter, you'll get a two-word phrase describing what you must do to win a race. If instead you remove the fourth letter, you'll get a two-word phrase describing what you can't do to win a race. What's the city?

Or change the penultimate letter and rearrange to get a car part. Or change it to a different letter to get a type of truck.

Edit: FANBELT or FLATBED.

A: BELFAST --> BE FAST, BE LAST

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