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

Let's solve NPR word puzzle!

This week, let me share the NPR weekend puzzle (that was on air on August 25, 2019). It is a bit challenging but fun brainteaser.

For each question, give the name of a famous person with only one name, either because they literally had only one name or because they're generally known by one name. For example, if the question is “usual - U-S-U-A-L - minus U for a biblical king”, the answer is “Saul”.

<1> video - V-I-D-E-O - minus E for a Roman poet.

<2> chrome - C-H-R-O-M-E - minus C for a Greek poet.

<3> Leader - L-E-A-D-E-R - minus R for a singer.

<4> S-H-A-K-E-N - minus N for a singer.

<5> Titanic - T-I-T-A-N-I-C - minus C for an Italian artist.

<6> Pearlash - P-E-A-R-L-A-S-H - minus S for a painter.

<7> Optician - O-P-T-I-C-I-A-N – minus one I, a Native American leader which is also the name of a bygone car.

<8> Palacetour - P-A-L-A-C-E-T-O-U-R - minus U for an Egyptian queen.

<9> Merchandise - M-E-R-C-H-A-N-D-I-S-E - minus N for an ancient Greek mathematician inventor.

<Answer Keys>

    1.   Ovid

    2.   Homer

    3.   Adele

    4.   Kesha

    5.   Titian

    6.   Raphael

    7.   Pontiac

    8.   Cleopatra

    9.   Archimedes

Food Idioms

Let go over some interesting English expressions which have but do not mean food items!

  

   

   1.  to take ….  with a grain/pinch of salt: to accept that …..might be exaggerated

   2.  like chalk and cheese: opposites

   3.  to go pear-shaped: to fail or to turn out unexpectedly wrong

   4.  …doesn’t cut the mustard: ….doesn’t meet or live up to the required standard

   5.  a hard nut to crack: a difficult person to understand or difficult problem to solve

   6.  a bad apple or a bad egg: a bad influence or someone who brings trouble

   7.  to butter someone up: to flatter/ brownnosing someone in the hopes of receiving special

   8.  to egg someone on: to push or urge someone to do (something mischievous or bad)

   9.  a smart cookie: a clever person who makes good decisions

  10.               icing on the cake: This expression can either be used in a positive or a negative situation. In a positive situation, it means “an additional good thing that happens to something that is already good” or “something that makes situation even better”

In a negative situation, it means “an additional bad thing that makes the already bad situation worse”.  In this case, the icing on the cake is used with a sarcastic attitude.

Time to practice! Fill in the following blanks with proper idioms learned above.

   

   1.   Hans’s car is such a fast beauty, and the addition of a turbo adds _______________________________________.

   2.   Everyone in my family knows that auntie Kirsten is a big talker. I just take whatever she says with _________________________________.

   3.   Coach Miller didn’t want to let one bad _________________ ruin the entire team. He made Tim, who had kept picking a fight with other players, benched for a year.

   4.   Have you seen the latest episode of Star Wars? Well, I think it doesn’t cut _______________________________, and most of Star Wars maniacs left the theatre a little disappointed.

   5.   Little have I imagined that you and Paul are brothers!! You guys are so different and totally opposite to each other in every way like __________________ and __________________.

   6.   What’s the answer to question #5 on the pop quiz yesterday? I still can’t figure out what the question itself means. Such a hard __________________________________!

   7.   The surprise birthday party for Ethan went __________________ as he had happened to find out about it.

   8.   Are you snapping at me? Hey, I guess you should at least  __________________ me up if you want to borrow my car!

   9.   I think you are underestimating your daughter. If you give her a chance, she’ll be one ____________________________ and make the right thing to do!

   10.               Don’t _______________ him on to drive faster. The speed limit on this road is only 45 mph!

Answer Keys

   

   

   1.  icing on the cake

   2.  a grain of salt  or a pinch of salt

   3.  apple or egg

   4.  the mustard

   5.  chalk and cheese

   6.  nut to crack

   7.  pear-shaped

   8.  butter

   9.  smart cookie

   10.              egg

Find a "Missing Word" in Sentences

It is not impossible but very hard to get your ideas across in English, using incorrect grammar. Why don’t you test out your grammatical competence? One word is missing in each sentence. Find and rewrite the sentence with the Missing Word.    (source from http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/mw001.html)

    

    

    1.   When visitors come, don't forget keep these chipped dishes out of sight.

ð   ________________________________________________________.

    2.   The car wasn't a success, so they decided to work a new model.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

    3.   The books used in our school published in the USA.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

    4.   If you don't know the meaning of a word, look up in the dictionary.

ð  ________________________________________________________.

    5.   She was little late, but still in time for the closing session.

ð  ______________________________________________________.

    6.   Young boy finally plucked up courage to invite his beautiful classmate to dinner.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

     7.   You shouldn't live memories of your childhood.

ð   ________________________________________________________.

     8.   The girl was dressed in blue head to foot.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

     9.   When they looked through the window, saw a boy hiding behind a tree.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

     10.Don't fill the glasses to brim.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

<Answer Keys>

1.  “to”:      When visitors come, don’t forget to keep these chipped dishes out of sight.

2.  “on”:    The car wasn't a success, so they decided to work on a new model.

3.  “are/ were”:  The books used in our school are/ were published in the USA.

4.  “it”:  If you don't know the meaning of a word, look it  up in the dictionary.

5.  “a” :  She was a little late, but still in time for the closing session.

6.  “The”:  The young boy finally plucked up courage to invite his beautiful classmate to dinner.

7.  “on”:  You shouldn't live on memories of your childhood.

8.  “from”: The girl was dressed in blue from head to foot.

9.  “they”: When they looked through the window, they saw a boy hiding behind a tree.

10.              “the”: Don’t fill the glasses to the brim.