Our Annual Puzzle and Video for 2022

Our Annual Family Video for 2022 is available now. The password can be found by solving our annual puzzle. Click this link or the image below to get a PDF of the full puzzle.

Post a comment below about your favorite part of the video to show you've solved the puzzle, but don't give away the password directly.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 25, 2022): A Puzzle for Christmas

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 25, 2022): A Puzzle for Christmas

Q: Name a prominent geographical location in the United States. Change the fifth letter to an S. The resulting string of letters from left to right will name a game, a mountain, and a popular website. What place is it?

plɹoM

Edit: Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) from Hamilton has the lyrics "Lafayette is there waiting in Chesapeake Bay!"

A: CHESAPEAKE BAY --> CHESS, PEAK, EBAY

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 18, 2022): What Does the Fox Say?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 18, 2022): What Does the Fox Say?

Q: If you change the third letter of WOLF to an O, you get the sound made by a dog — WOOF. Name a six-letter animal and change the second letter to get the sound made by a completely different animal. What is it?

If you take the sound the first animal makes and you change one letter... well, I'm not saying anything more.

Edit: Rabbits are pretty silent.

A: RABBIT, RIBBIT

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 11, 2022): Keep Calm and Carry On

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 11, 2022): Keep Calm and Carry On

Q: Many people carry _____ (4-letter word) in a _____ (5-letter word) to make _____ (9-letter word). You can rearrange the letters of the first two words (the 4- and 5-letter ones) to get the last word (the 9-letter one). What words are these?

Actually NOT true for many people.

Edit: Most men don't carry purses and cash is used less often these days for purchases compared to debit/credit/phone transactions.

A: CASH in a PURSE to make PURCHASES

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 4, 2022): Getting Straight to the Point

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 4, 2022): Getting Straight to the Point

Q: Name a symbol or punctuation mark on a computer keyboard. Anagram it to get the brand name of a product you might buy at a grocery, in two words. What is it?

A: SEMICOLON --> MOLSON ICE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 27, 2022): Common Eight-Letter Noun

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 27, 2022): Common Eight-Letter Noun

Q: What common eight-letter noun can be shortened in two ways — using either its first three letters or its last four letters? The answer is a familiar item.

Gasoline is NOT the answer, but an example. While "gas" is a shortened form of gasoline, "line" is not.

Edit: Gasoline has the same syllable structure as the answer. You might see the item in the checkout line

A: MAGAZINE --> MAG, ZINE

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 20, 2022): Weird Science

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 20, 2022): Weird Science

Q: Name a branch of scientific study. Drop the last letter. Then rearrange the remaining letters to name two subjects of that study. What branch of science is it?

A fun puzzle, I'll give you that, but not that difficult.

Edit: I'll give you the moon and the stars.

A: ASTRONOMY --> STAR, MOON

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 13, 2022): A Pair of Companies

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 13, 2022): A Pair of Companies

Q: Think of two well-known companies with two-syllable names starting with J and D, respectively and whose names rhyme. One of these companies was founded in the last 10 years. What companies are these?

I calculate 44 years between the founding of the two companies. Anyone notice a connection to last week's puzzle?

Edit: The first company was founded in 1969 and the second in 2013. The callback to last week's puzzle was punctuation — a dash.

A: JORDACHE and DOORDASH

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 6, 2022): Punctuation is Important People!

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 6, 2022): Punctuation is Important People!

Q: Name a punctuation mark found on a computer keyboard. Somewhere inside this insert a word for what this punctuation mark may be part of or what it may represent. The result will be a 10-letter word associated with painting. What words are these?

From the final word, remove letters that are duplicated leaving only one copy of each letter. Rearrange to get an herb.

Edit: CILANTRO

A: COLON + RATIO = COLORATION

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 30, 2022): (Blank) of my (Blank)

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 30, 2022): (Blank) of my (Blank)

Q: Think of a common phrase in the form "___ of my ___." The word that goes in the first blank is the name of a well-known company. And the word that goes in the second blank sounds like part of the names of many of that company's products. What phrase is it?

The puzzle is easy -- a clue, not so much.

A: Easy as (apple) pie.

A: APPLE of my EYE (I in iMac, iPhone, iPod, iPad, etc.)