NPR Sunday Puzzles
I've had 15 puzzles featured on the NPR Sunday Puzzler, hosted by Will Shortz
8/21/2010
Take a country whose name contains a symbol for a chemical element, and change it to a different chemical element to get another country. For example, if Aruba were an independent country, you could take the "AR," which is the chemical symbol for argon, and change it to "C," which is the chemical symbol for carbon, to come up with Cuba. There are two answers to this puzzle, and both must be found.
10/9/2011
Name something that is part of a group of twelve. Change the first letter to the next letter of the alphabet to name something that is part of a group of nine. What are these things?
4/8/2012
Name an article of clothing that contains three consecutive letters of the alphabet consecutively in the word. For example, "canopy" contains the consecutive letters N-O-P. This article of clothing is often worn in a country whose name also contains three consecutive letters of the alphabet together. What is the clothing article, and what is the country?
9/23/2012
Name two parts of the human body. Put them together one after the other. Change the seventh letter in the result to the next letter of the alphabet to name something that's often found in books. What is it?
4/14/2013
Take a common English word. Write it in capital letters. Move the first letter to the end and rotate it 90 degrees. You'll get a new word that is pronounced exactly the same as the first word. What words are these?
11/2/2014
Write down the following four times: 3:00, 6:00, 12:55 and 4:07. These are the only times on a clock that share a certain property (without repeating oneself). What property is this?
8/21/2015
Name a famous military figure of the past 50 years. The first three letters of his first name and the first three letters of his last name are both well-known military abbreviations. Who is it?
1/10/2016
This week's challenge comes from listener Sandy Weisz, of Chicago, who runs something called The Mystery League, which conducts puzzle hunts. This challenge isn't too hard. Name a unit of measurement. Remove two consecutive letters. The letters that remain can be rearranged to name what this measurement measures. What is it?
4/17/2016
Here's a tricky challenge from Sandy Weisz of Chicago. Take the name of a famous musical. Write it in upper- and lowercase letters, as you usually would. Now turn one of the characters upside-down and move it to another place in the title. The result will be the last name of a well-known stage performer. What is the musical, and who is the performer?
9/15/2018
This week's challenge comes from Sandy Weisz of Chicago, who's also attending the National Puzzlers' League convention in Milwaukee this weekend. Name a famous person from Chicago — first and last names. The last name ends in an E. Change the E to an I and rearrange the letters in just the last name to get a famous actor — whose first name is the same as the first person's. Who are these people?
8/23/2020
This week’s challenge comes from listener Sandy Weisz, of Chicago. Think of a place on earth with a four-word name. Take the third word. Advance three of its letters to the next letter of the alphabet (so A would become B, B would be come C, etc.). You’ll get the fourth word in the name. What place is this?
6/13/2021
This week’s challenge comes from listener Sandy Weisz, of Chicago. Name a famous woman in American history with a three-part name. Change one letter in her first name to a double letter. The resulting first and second parts of her name form the first and last names of a famous athlete. And the last part of the woman’s name is a major rival of that athlete. Who are these people?
12/31/2023
This week's challenge comes from Sandy Weisz, of Chicago. Name a famous movie in 4 letters. Change one letter and anagram the result to name another movie that came out 20 years later. Then change one letter in that and anagram to name a third movie that came out 29 years after the second one. What movies are these?
7/14/2024
This weekend I'm at the 184th convention of the National Puzzlers' League, in Dallas. It's a four-day event of word puzzles and games shared with about 160 fellow enthusiasts. One of these is Sandy Weisz, of Chicago, who sent me this puzzle: Think of a famous actor and a famous actress who co-starred in a classic movie of the past. The actress's first name, when reversed, and the actor’s last name, spelled forward, are similar romantic gifts. Who are these film stars?
1/19/2025
This week's challenge comes from Sandy Weisz, of Chicago. He runs puzzle hunts and trivia events under the name The Mystery League. Think of a familiar two-word phrase that means "a secret mission". Move the last letter of the first word to the start of the second word. The result will be two words that are synonyms. What are they?