Synopsis of
NPR Weekend Edition puzzle
with Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Will Shortz
2021-02-14
The listener challenge last week was from listener Ed Pegg Jr.,
who runs mathpuzzle.com. Think of someone who has been in
the news this year in a positive way. Say this person's first initial
and last name out loud. It will sound like an important person in
U.S. history. Who is it? The answer is Antony Blinken, making "A.
Blinken" which sounds like "Abe Lincoln." Blinken is our newly
confirmed Secretary of State.
Lulu reported over 1,400 correct entries.
The on-air player is Shawn Fritz of Berkeley, California. He is an
architect who thought NPR might be calling him about one of his
projects. He has played the NPR puzzle for 20 years. He actually
noticed that Mr. Blinken, when using his first initial, could be “Abe
Lincoln” phonetically. Will said that Shawn is the first player to
ever report having the answer before Will announced the puzzle.
Today’s on-air puzzle is called, “Of The Anagrams.” Every answer
is a familiar phrase in the form "___ of the ___." The clues are
anagrams of the first and last words. For example, if the clues are
SING and ITEMS then the answer would be SIGN OF THE
TIMES.
Clues:
1. TASTE of the RAT
2. LAST of the HEART
3. LILTS of the THING
4. AMEN of the MAGE
5. STOOL of the TREAD
6. SHAPES of the MONO
7. HIPS of the RESTED
8. TABLET of the BUGLE
9. LICENSE of the BALMS
10. DEN of the NILE
Answers are near the end of this synopsis.
This week's challenge comes from listener Samuel Mace of
Smyrna, Delaware. Name a famous actor whose first name is a
book of the Bible and whose last name is an anagram of another
book of the Bible. Who is it?
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 2021, 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>
After the on-air puzzle finished, Lulu announced that she hates
anagrams.
One longtime subscriber noticed that we did not issue a synopsis
last week. I noticed too. My heart goes out to Joe Wander and I
wish he can return to us healthly and active soon.
This missed synopsis raises an important question: should we
continue with this endeavor of weekly sysnopses of the NPR
puzzle? When I started posting summaries of the NPR puzzle on
alt.puzzles in 1994, I never imagined that we would be continuing
for 26 years. It would not have been possible to continue this long
without the generous contributions of our substitute and co-editors. However, the NPR puzzle is outliving our small group. If
this project is going to continue indefintely, we will need to turn it
over to new volunteers who could carry on for the next
generation. Despite periodic invitations, we have not had such
volunteers step forward.
I prefer to make my decisions after consulting with those who
would be affected. I am open to your suggestions.
Hints:
2. LAST of the HEART: People who are really good are this. The
first word is a condiment, often seen on the table.
3. LILTS of the THING: Lulu sang “in the ___ of the ...”
7. HIPS of the RESTED: a camel
8. TABLET of the BUGLE: a famous event in history, a big fight,
in World War II
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Our group of volunteer co-editors distributes these free weekly
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Option 2: You can also listen to a recording of Weekend Edition
Sunday program after 12:00 noon ET each Sunday by going to
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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. TASTE of the RAT
|
state of the art
|
2. LAST of the HEART
|
salt of the Earth
|
3. LILTS of the THING
|
still of the night
|
4. AMEN of the MAGE
|
name of the game
|
5. STOOL of the TREAD
|
tools of the trade
|
6. SHAPES of the MONO
|
phases of the Moon
|
7. HIPS of the RESTED
|
ship of the desert
|
8. TABLET of the BUGLE
|
Battle of the Bulge
|
9. LICENSE of the BALMS
|
silence of the lambs
|
10. DEN of the NILE
|
end of the line
|
End of NPR Puzzle Synopsis.