2020-07-26 NPR puzzle synopsis

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Richard Renner

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Jul 26, 2020, 9:19:38 AM7/26/20
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Synopsis of
NPR Weekend Edition puzzle
with Sarah McCammon and Will Shortz
2020-07-26

The listener challenge for this week comes from listener James Matthews, of Little Rock, Arkansas. Think of a six-letter word for something you might wear. Insert an "O" in the exact middle, and you'll get a phrase meaning "Not aware." What is it? The answers are OUTFIT and OUT OF IT.

Sarah reported just over 2,100 entries.

The on-air player is Flora Kupferman of San Francisco, California. She reported that the answer just popped into her head. Sarah noted that this is Flora’s second time winning the NPR puzzle. Her first on-air appearance was on 1995-09-17 when I misspelled her last name as Cooperman. In 1995, she said she was a part time special education consultant. Flora reported that her NPR lapel pin fell off and her friend Ellen Brosbee (phonetic) wrote repeatedly to NPR to ask for a replacement, and finally received it last year. Now that Flora has two, she plans to wear one again. Sarah said the pin is “highly coveted,” but she could not say it is univerally coveted. I refused mine because it does not come with a union label:

Today’s on-air puzzle is called, “Around The World Jumble.” For each clue word, replace one letter with two different letters to name a country. For example, if the clue is “BELLE,” then the answer could be “BELIZE” (replacing the second L with IZ).

CLUES:
1. Fence
2. Grace
3. Brawl
4. No Say
5. Polar
6. Debark
7. Brunt
8. Mondo
9. Malaria
10. Panda (three different answers)

Answers are near the end of this synopsis.

This week's challenge comes from listener Dominick Talvacchio of Chicago, Illinois. Think of a common two-word phrase for something you experience in a desert. Rearrange the letters to get a single word for something you should do in the desert as a result.


Answers must be received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on THURSDAY.  NPR will no longer receive entries by email.  Be sure to include a telephone number where you can be reached if you are selected as the winner. 

Entries may be submitted at the NPR web page:
You can also get to this page by going to:
and clicking the "Submit Your Answer" link. You may also submit a suggestion for a new puzzle by selecting Puzzle Idea from the "I'd Like to" pulldown, and you may comment about NPR programming at the same site.

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Editor's notes:
 
Puzzles, and contents of Weekend Edition/Sunday puzzle segment are copyrighted 2020, by Will Shortz and NPR. Reprinted here with permission.

Here's our regular monthly puzzle transcription schedule:
1st Sunday Joe
2nd Sunday Richard
3rd Sunday Joe
4th Sunday Richard
5th Sunday Kristy
Our e-mail addresses are:
Richard Renner <rrennerATigc.org>
Joe Wander <jdwandersrATgmail.com>
Kristy Compton <bisonbooksATgmail.com>

Sarah last hosted on 2020-01-05. Her bio is at:
Will’s is at:

No mail this week.

Hints:
4. No Say: change the S, think of it as one word
6. Debark: change the B
9. Malaria: change the R
10. Panda (three different answers): One answer almost rhymes with another; change the first letter, starts with a vowel, specifically to a U.

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Links of interest:

Audios of past NPR puzzle segments

World Scrabble Championship

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

Merl Reagle’s article on constructing crossword puzzles, available at

World Puzzle Federation (including Sudoku tournaments):

The US Team page is at:

Register for the USA team at:

Ed Pegg Jr.'s puzzles are available at:

National Puzzlers’ League

Kristy Fowler suggests linguaphiles visit

You can join Kathie Schneider's email list for accessible word and logic puzzles. To subscribe, send a blank email to

Will noted that Matt Jones writes the Jonesin’ Crosswords which appears in over 50 alternative newspapers.

Joseph Young’s Puzzleria is at:

Richard Renner
in Silver Spring, Maryland, for the foreseeable future
rrennerATigc.org
Twitter: @rennerr3

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Clues
Answers
1. Fence
France
2. Grace
Greece
3. Brawl
Brazil
4. No Say
Norway
5. Polar
Poland
6. Debark
Denmark
7. Brunt
Brunei
8. Mondo
Monaco
9. Malaria
Malasia
10. Panda (three different answers)
Panama, Rwanda and Uganda

Brunt and Mondo did not air.
Mondo is used in reference to something very striking or remarkable of its kind (often in conjunction with a pseudo-Italian noun or adjective).
"I think it's going to be mondo weirdo this year.”

End of NPR Puzzle Synopsis.
  
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