Grocery Market Word Play (from National Public Radio Sunday Puzzle)

This week, I would like to present the first weekend puzzle from NPR (National Public Radio). These puzzle questions might lack validity for EFL students whose learning settings are not the US ground, because the theme for the questions this week is brand names you find in American grocery store. Let us just give it a try though for fun. Here we go!

Every answer is the brand name of a food or beverage that you might buy at the grocery store.

   

   1.   Preserves — Consists of a word meaning "lollipops" around the letter M

   2.   Soup — Conceals the word OGRES in consecutive letters

   3.   Breakfast cereal — Is an anagram of WHITE SEA

   4.   Baking goods — Is an anagram of RUBY LIPS + L

   5.   Cookies — Spelled backward, is a two-word phrase meaning "betting

 everything"

   6.   Soft drink — Consists of four consecutive state postal abbreviations

   7.   Beer — Completes the phrase "older ___" in a punny way

   8.   Juice — Also names a kind of car engine

   9.   Beverage product — Hidden inside the phrase T-BONE STEAK

Answer Keys 

   

   1.  Smuckers

   

   2.  Progresso

   

   3.  Wheaties

   4.  Lays

   5.  Pillsbury

   

   6.  Coka Cola

   7.  Budweiser

   8.  V8

   9.  Nestea

10.        

1.        

A Prayer for the New Year of 2020

A Prayer for the New Year of 2020

By Jean Lee

I pray that no one feels pushed around or left out in their lives;   

    I hope there’ll certainly be the moments they feel their passion respected.


I pray that I’m willingly spare a minute or two to hear my friends and give them high-fives;

    I hope they remember we are always connected.







I pray the crispy air at dawn fills me with brand new hopes for another given day;

    I hope I’ll still pat on my back even if the time is not as meaningful or fruitful as expected.


I pray I always look inside of me and give any pain some leeway;

    I hope every little scab will not be neglected, but rather be protected.







I pray day-to-day smiles and laughter will strongly pave the way for bigger bunch of happiness;

   I hope daily navigation in life will bring me and my friends unshattered wisdom.


I pray by the end of this year, I will write Christmas cards only filled with sweetness;

   I hope those who get my cards will also be singing a song of freedom.

Quotes about Christmas

Is Christmas your favorite time of the year? With all big words or expressions pushed aside, let us just read some quotes about Christmas this week.

Quotes about Christmas

  “Christmas gift suggestions:  To your enemy, forgiveness.  To an opponent,    tolerance.   To a friend, your heart.   To a customer, service.  To all, charity.   To every child, a good example.   To yourself, respect.”  ….Oren Arnold

  “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” …. Charles Dickens from “Christmas Carol”

  “Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.” …..Edna Ferber

  “Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more.” ….Theodor Seuss Geisel from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”

  

  “Just remember the true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart.” … The Polar Express

  “We are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime.” …Laura Ingalls Wilder

  “Let’s be naughty and save Santa the trip.”…. Gary Allan

  “Christmas: the only time of year you can sit in front of a dead tree eating candy out of socks.”… Anonymous

  “Santa knows when I’m sleeping. He knows when I’m awake. He knows if I’ve been good or bad. I find that rather creepy.”…..Anonymous

  “I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying 'toys not included. The good news is, they can be used with practically any toy (sold separately, of course).' ” …Bernard Manning.

  “I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph.” …Shirley Temple

Word Puzzle from NPR Sunday On-Air Challenge (Dec 8th, 2019)

This week presents the NPR (National Public Radio)’s Sunday Word Puzzle (that was aired on December 8^th, 2019) on my ESL blog. Every answer is a word, name or phrase in which the only consonants are B and L, repeated as often as necessary. All the other letters are vowels.

Ex. Tell a secret --> BLAB

1. Holy book à _________________

2. Reason why you couldn't have committed the crime à ______________________

3. Record company à ___________________

4. "The Hobbit" hero ___ Baggins

5. Tower of _________________

6. Talk rapidly and foolishly à _________________

7. Move up and down, as a doll's head à _________________

8. Air-filled sphere sometimes made by soap à _______________

9. Legally obligated à ______________

10. Spanish explorer who discovered by Pacific in 1513 à _________________

11. Woodcutter who foiled 40 thieves (two words) à ______________

12. Victim of written defamation à _________________

13. Singer Patti with the 1975 #1 hit "Lady Marmalade" à __________________

14. What you might get once a month for heating your home (two words) à __________________

15. Like the hours that a lawyer charges for à ________________

Answer Keys

      

   1.  Bible

   2.  alibi

   3.  label

   4.  Bilbo

   5.  Babel

   6.  babble

   7.  bobble

   8.  bubble

   9.  liable

   10.   Balboa

   11.   Alibaba

   12.   libelee

   13.   Labelle 

   14.   oil bill

   15.  billable

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This week, let us talk about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate the good harvest and other blessings of the past year. Americans generally believe their Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (i.e., Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people. The American holiday is particularly rich in legend and symbolism and the traditional fare of the Thanksgiving meal typically including turkey, bread stuffing, potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. Here’s some trivia questions about Thanksgiving in America. Ready to solve?

(source from St. Joseph Indian School)

   

   

1.   Which state is the top turkey-producing state in America? _________________

   

   2.   _____________ % of all cranberries consumed in the U.S. per year are eaten on Thanksgiving.

   

   3.   The ____________________ of the turkey is used in a good luck ritual on Thanksgiving Day.

   

   4.   The 1^st Thanksgiving football game was a college match between what two teams?

___________________  and ________________________ in 1876.

   

   5.   When was the 1^st Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?

___________________

Want some Thanksgiving jokes?

What do you call a turkey on the day after Thanksgiving? _______________

Why did the farmer have to separate the chicken and turkey?

It’s because he suspected ____________ play.

Answer Keys for Trivia Questions

   

   1.  Minnesota

   2.  20%

   3.  Wishbone

   4.  Yale and Princeton in 1876

   5.  1924

Answer Keys for Jokes

Lucky

Fowl

Weekend Word Puzzle from NPR (Nov, 17, 2019)

Let’s solve the NPR Sunday Word Puzzle! (on the air November 17^th, 2019)  Every answer today is a word or name that ends in the letters -LLO.

Ex. Standard greeting --> HELLO

1. Dessert that jiggles: ____________________

2. Winemaker Ernest or Julio: __________________

3. 1960s-'70s U.S. space program: ________________

4. Brand of scouring pad: ________________

5. Largest city in the Texas Panhandle: _____________

6. Abbott's partner in old comedy: ________________

7. Animal with a leathery shell much seen in Texas and the Southwest: ________________________

8. Italian sculptor of the Renaissance; also one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: ______________________

9. Kind of mushroom: ________________

10. Island in New Brunswick, Canada where F.D.R. had a summer home: _____________________

11. Highly caffeinated, citrus-flavored soft drink: __________________

Answer Keys

1. Jello

2. Gallo

3. Apollo

4. Brillo

5. Amarillo

6. Costello

7. Armadillo

8. Donatello

9. Portabello

10. Campobello

11. Mellow yello

Word Jumble with Muscle Groups

Word Jumble with Names of Muscles!  How many muscle groups in your body can you name? Let us reassemble the following letters to make the names of our muscles. The first letter of each word is Capitalized.

     1.   eloDisidt: ________________

     

     2.   mAnliodsba: _______________

     3.   Oesquilub: _______________

     4.   trsgiamHsn: _______________

     5.   Romdihbso: ____________________

     6.   dcruoAtd: ________________

     

     7.   pscireT: _______________

    

     8.   udairpecQs: _______________

     

     9.   Tsarezpiu: _________________

10. pseiBpc: __________________

Answer Keys

   1.  Deltoids

   2.  Abdominals

   3.  Obliques

   4.  Hamstrings

   5.  Rhomboids

   6.  Adductor

   7.  Triceps

   8.  Quadriceps

   9.  Trapezius

   10.  Biceps