Lifestyle

Sunday Puzzle: Roman numeral 9

Published

2 months ago

October 12, 2025

On-air challenge

Today’s theme is the Roman numeral 9. Every answer is a word, name, or phrase ending in the letters -IX. (Ex. Religious cross –> CRUCIFIX)

1. Something added at the start of a word to make a new word

2. Largest city in Arizona

3. Popular streaming service

4. Number of letters in the alphabet

5. The composer Mendelssohn’s first name

6. Keanu Reeves film with three sequels

7. Shape of a DNA molecule

8. 1960s-’70s TV detective series starring Mike Connors

9. Snack consisting of granola, dried fruit, and nuts

10. “Purple Haze” guitarist

11. Longtime queen of the Netherlands

12. Throw away

13. Fancy synonym for “long-winded”

14. Something added on at the end of a book

Last week’s challenge

Last week’s challenge came from Mike Reiss, who’s a showrunner, writer, and producer for “The Simpsons.” Think of a famous singer. Replace the last three letters of the first name with an E. Also replace the last three letters of the last name with an E. The result will be a world-famous location. What singer is this?

Challenge answer

Whitney Houston, White House

Winner

Dan Dabrowski of Alexandria, Virginia.

This week’s challenge

This week’s challenge comes from Joel Moorhead, of Downers Grove, Ill. Think of a word that means exceptionally good. Add two letters at the end of to make a word that means the exact opposite. What words are these?

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, October 16 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.

Lifestyle

Zac Brown shares his harrowing childhood story on ‘Love & Fear’

Published

1 hour ago

December 8, 2025

Press Room

Zac Brown

Tyler Lord/Master of None

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Tyler Lord/Master of None

Zac Brown is best known for celebrating simple pleasures. As his most popular song puts it, all he needs is “a little bit of chicken fried, cold beer on a Friday night, a pair of jeans that fit just right, and the radio on.”

Now, he’s telling a darker story.

The Zac Brown Band’s new album draws partly from Brown’s youth growing up outside Atlanta. “Unless someone knows me very well and is very close to me, I haven’t shared a lot of what drove me into music,” he told Morning Edition.

Brown recalled that both his mother and stepfather lived with mental illness. “I grew up in a really crazy environment, in and out of battered women’s shelters,” he said. “And as a kid, trying to make sense of that, trying to protect my mom, trying to figure out what the hell is going on in my house or whatever, that drove me into music.”

He left home young. Brown said he was playing coffeehouses at 14 and touring by 17. Those early experiences, he added, helped him find his voice. “It gave me my resilience. It gave me my resolve,” he said. “The level of empathy that I am able to hold, it can be kind of crippling in a way, but I think it really serves me well as an artist. Those were all gifts, but you don’t know them at the time.”

That desire to draw inspiration out of that dark backstory explains the tone of songs like “Butterfly,” his duet with Dolly Parton.

Other songs build on elaborate harmonies, which come from another side of his youth. “I grew up as a choir nerd,” he admitted. “The vocal arrangement for me is always my favorite part.”

Brown said he worked with a 20-piece choir on this album, including the standout track “Animal.”

“When you can wrap the right story with the right melody with the right harmony … that’s how you get that visceral feeling. That’s how you get the chill bumps,” he said “I long to hear things that really move me.”

“Love & Fear” was released on December 5 — the same day the Zac Brown Band played its first of several concerts at The Sphere, the giant performance space in Las Vegas.

Lifestyle

Kyle Richards Says She’s Dated Since Mauricio Umansky Separation

Published

2 hours ago

December 8, 2025

Press Room

Kyle Richards Says She’s Dated Since Mauricio Umansky Separation

Kyle Richards
I Date, I’m Just Discreet …
Unlike You, Mauricio!!!

Published December 8, 2025 4:28 PM PST

Bravo

Kyle Richards says she’s been seeing other people amid her separation from Mauricio Umansky … but, unlike her estranged husband, she’s keeping things under wraps.

“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” OG opens up about her relationship status and takes some digs at Mauricio’s dating life in an upcoming ‘RHOBH’ episode.

In a preview, Kyle and Mauricio are chatting it up, and they start talking about paparazzi photos of Mauricio and a mystery blonde.

Mauricio asks Kyle if she’s been seeing other people, but she waits until she’s doing a confessional to reveal that she has, in fact, dated amid their separation.

Kyle says she’s being private and discreet, unlike Mauricio … and says she doesn’t want her estranged husband, or their kids, to see photos of her going on dates.

1110-Kyle-Richards-BravoCon-SUB

Then, Kyle gets in another dig, explaining … “I don’t feel the need to parade around showing it off to everyone.”

Kyle is coy about who she’s been seeing … but, earlier this year, she said she’s opened her mind sexually.

Lifestyle

Here are the 2026 Golden Globe nominations

Published

13 hours ago

December 8, 2025

Press Room

Here are the 2026 Golden Globe nominations : NPR

Here are the 2026 Golden Globe nominations Marlon Wayans and Skye P. Marshall presented the nominees for the 83rd Golden Globes this morning. The awards ceremony will be held on Jan. 11, hosted by Nikki Glaser.