Word Puzzle from NPR

Let’s have fun with NPR Sunday Word Puzzle from this last week! (This show was on the air on September 29^th, 2019)

Question:  

Every answer today is a word, name, or familiar phrase in which the only consonants are D and N — repeated as often as necessary. All the other letters are vowels.

Example: Had a fancy meal --> DINED

1. Poet John who wrote "No man is an island"

2. The Hoosier State

3. Cul-de-sac (2 words)

4. Signaled at an auction

5. Any of the celebrated 1930s quintuplets

6. Movie "Crocodile ___"

7. Epic poem by Virgil

8. Brand of yogurt

9. Supplementary parts of books

10. Oblique remark about someone that casts aspersion on them

11. Verily or without a doubt

12. Relating to the lymph glands

13. Girl in the musical "Oklahoma!" (2 words)

14. "Beats me!" (2 words)

15. Interminably (3 words)

16. Like zombies

Answer Keys

    

    1.  Dun

    2.  Indiana

    3.  Dead End

    4.  Nodded

    5.  Dionne

    6.  Dundee

    7.  Aeneid

    8.  Dannon

    9.  Addenda

   10.              Innuendo

   11.              Indeed

   12.              Adenoid

   13.              Ado Annie 

   14.              No Idea

   15.              On and on 

   16.              undead

Fun Puzzle with Anagrams from NPR

This week, let me share the Sunday puzzle from the On-Air challenge on the National Public Radio. Every answer is a holiday that goes by "____ Day." With the given anagrams of the words that go in the blanks, you name the holidays.

Example: ROAR + B => ARBOR (Arbor Day)

              GAL + F => FLAG (Flag Day)

 

1. HARE + T => _____________  Day

2. BOAR + L => _______________ Day

3. RESHOT + M => _______________ Day

4. STRAFE + H => _______________ Day

5. SERVANT + E => _________________ Day

6. IMMORAL + E => _______________ Day

7. DISPENSER + T => _______________ Day

8. VENETIANS + L => ________________  Day

9. INDENTATIONS + U (2 words) => ______________   _________________  Day

Answer Keys

1. Earth Day

2. Labor Day

3. Mothers Day

4. Fathers Day

5. Veterans Day

6. Memorial Day

7. Presidents Day

8. Valentines Day

9. United Nations Day

Back-to-School Idioms

The back-to-school season is here! I bet all students and teachers are excited about going back to their major stomping ground. Hopefully…..

This week, we are going to cover some school-related expressions in English.  

    1.  to call the roll/ to take the roll: to call the students’ name on a roll to check if they are present in class

    2.  honor roll: a list of students who have earned grades above a specific average during a semester or school year

    3.  to get/ have a leg up (on the competition): to be in a position of advantage over another person or in a situation/ to headstart on ….

    4.  to keep one’s ear (close) to the ground: to be well-informed about what will be happening

    5.  to cover a lot of ground: to go over/ present a lot of information

    6.  an eager beaver: a person who is excessively diligent or overly zealous

    7.  to dilly-dally: to goof off or waste time doing nothing

    8.  to crank out (a paper): to produce something quickly/ to write an essay/ paper in a quick, mechanical way

    9.   to draw a blank: to fail in an attempt; be unsuccessful; to fail to comprehend or be unable to recollect something completely; to get no response when you ask a question

   10.               to make the grade: to attain a specific or satisfactory goal; to succeed

Let’s practice using the above expressions in sentences!

    1.   Lolita has been ________________________ throughout this semester. She had to ____________________ the term paper right before the due date.

    2.   Brian is such an ______________________ who always has a __________________ in school works and exams. No wonder he will make __

__________________ to be in that medical school next year.

    3.   Jared is always tardy and sneaks into the classroom after his teacher finished calling the __________________. Pigs will fly when he is on the ________________ roll.

    4.   You need to keep your ear close to __________________________ in Mrs. Thomson’s class. She talks very fast and covers a lot of __________________ in each class.

    5.    Kathy drew a __________________ when she was asked to solve the easiest question by her Math teacher. She has recently been getting unusually forgetful and confused, which worries her parents.

Answer Keys

    

    1.  dilly-dallying, crank out

    2.  eager-beaver, leg-up, the grade

    3.  roll, honor

    4.  ground, ground

    5.  blank