Monday, September 26, 2022

The latest NPR Sunday Puzzle! Find the names of Sports!

Each sentence conceals the name of a sport in consecutive letters. You name the sports.


Ex. Look — a rat! Eek! --> KARATE






1. He was a dumb ox in grade school.
2. This is your classic rickety chair.
3. My family has always gotten Nissans.
4. The rainbow lingered for more than an hour.
5. With enough cash — and ballots — you can get elected.
6. This historian is the best researcher you'll find.









Answer Keys  


  1.  boxing  (dumb ox in grade)

  2.  cricket (classic rickety)

  3.  tennis (gotten Nissan)

  4.  bowling (rainbow lingered)

  5.  handball (cash and ballots)

  6.  archery (researcher you’ll)



Wednesday, September 21, 2022

LET'S LEARN SOME AAVE EXPRESSIONS!

If you are living in the U.S., you might have more chances (than outside of the country) to be exposed to a variety of English dialects or vernacular English. Have you heard of “What up?”, “Ya dig?”, or “I finna go grab something to eat now.” These expressions originally came from AAVE, which stands for African American Vernacular English. It is also known as Ebonics or Black English Vernacular (BEV), which is a dialect of Standard American English that has been primarily spoken by the African American community of the States. AAVE is not a broken English, bur rather encompasses a bunch of sub-sub-sets which can vary from region to region. Since AAVE has consistent grammar, phonetics, and vocabulary, it is a legitimate/ alternate form of dialect, NOT a slang or broken English.



Today, let us go over some expressions from AAVE.

    1.   Dig – to understand or appreciate

E.g., Ya dig? (meaning “Do you understand?”)

 

    2.   Bad – good or really good

E.g., The Motown 25 show back in 1983 was so bad! Just can’t forget MJ’s first Moonwalk on TV!

 

    3.   Be – used to describe a habitual action

E.g., She be watching horror flicks every Friday night.

 

    4.   Was – used to express “be-verb” in the past regardless of the subject

E.g. I was happy./ We was heading to the nearby trail./ They was nothing but lazy bums.

 

    5.   Got – used to mean “have” (both in present and past tense)

E.g., You got ten bucks I can borrow?    How much you got?

 

    6.   Blade – knife

E.g., He got a blade in his hands! Let us get outta here!

 

    7.   Strap – gun, usually a pistol

E.g., 'In my hood (meaning neighborhood where they grew up), niggaz got love for me, but I go no where without ma strap'

 

8.   Paper – money

E.g., I found some paper in my old jacket! I’m in luck!

 

    9.   Whip expensive/ flashy sports car or sedan

e.g., DAMN! That's a pretty whip you got there, bro!

 

    10. Fed(s) – federal government or an agent from the FBI.

E.g., Harry was caught by the feds on Saturday.

Sunday, September 18, 2022

NPR Sunday Word Puzzle aired today! Find words (respectively beginning with the letters S, P, A, C, E) for each category!

This week's on-air challenge is a game of Categories based on the word SPACE. For each category given, name something in it starting with each of the letters S-P-A-C-E. For example, if the category were "Girl's Names Ending in 'Y,'" you might say Sally, Patty, Amy, Carly, and Emily. Any answer that works is OK, and you can give the answers in any order.

 

**Note: In some cases there may be other answers. Any answer that works will be counted as correct.

*image source: https://busyteacher.org/16817-word-categories.html


1. PUNCTUATION MARKS

 

2. SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES

 

3. BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

 

4. THINGS SEEN ON AN AIRPLANE

 

Answer Keys

1. Semicolon, Period, Apostrophe, Comma, Exclamation mark

2. Suriname, Peru, Argentina, Columbia, Ecuador

3. Samuel, Psalms, Amos, Chronicles, Exodus

4. Seat, Pilot/Passengers, Aisle, Cockpit, Exit

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Today's NPR Sunday Puzzle! Find a word that is an anagram of one word to make a synonym of the other word!

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you two 4-letter words. Rearrange the letters of one of them to get a synonym of the other. Which word is the synonym and which is the anagram is for you to discover.

 

Ex. SOUP WORK --> OPUS (anagram of "soup," synonym of "work")

 


1. COZY SUNG

2. HALT POST

3. LIFE RASP

4. PART LORE

5. TERN TORN

6. LEFT NEWT

7. TOPE BARD

8. LINK OVEN

9. LEAN SILT

10. THIN CLUE

 

Answer Keys

    1.  SNUG (anagram of “SUNG” & synonym of “COZY”)

    2.  STOP (anagram of “POST” & synonym of “HALT”)

    3.  FILE (anagram of “LIFE” & synonym of “RASP”)

    4.  ROLE (anagram of “LORE” & synonym of “PART”)

    5.  RENT (anagram of “TERN” & synonym of “TORN”)

    6.  WENT (anagram of “NEWT” & synonym of “LEFT”)

    7.  POET (anagram of “TOPE” & synonym of “BARD”)

    8.  KILN (anagram of “LINK & synonym of “OVEN”)

    9.  LIST (anagram of “SILT” & synonym if “LEAN”)

    10. HINT (anagram of “THIN” & synonym of “CLUE”)

Sunday, September 4, 2022

NPR Sunday Puzzle aired today!

Every answer is a seven-letter compound word or familiar two-word phrase in which the first two letters are the same as the last two in reverse.

 

Ex. Part of a train --> RAILCAR

 

 


1. Product from Purina or Pedigree

2. Crimson, for example

3. Where a football player reaches to score a touchdown

4. Cheer on, as a team

5. To purposely ignore as sounds

6. Male journalists

7. What you might say when patting Rover on the head

 

Answer Keys

1.  dog food

2.  deep red

3.  end zone

4.  root for

5.  tune out

6.  newsmen

7.  good dog!

Time to play the latest Sunday Puzzle from NPR! Find the answers and their common denominator!

I've brought a few games of Kennections, in the style of "Jeopardy!" host Ken Jennings' new book, "The Complete Kenne...