Lifestyle
Sunday Puzzle: Popular TV shows
On-air challenge
I’m going to read some sentences. Each sentence conceals the name of a popular TV series past or present. (Ex. Down South, parking meters still line many streets. –> “South Park”)
1. James loved his mother-in-law and ordered a dozen roses for her birthday.
2. The camp counselor counted twenty-six feet underneath the dining table.
3. For pioneers in the West, wing-footed deer were a highly prized source of meat.
4. The mountain whippoorwill and graceful egret are two of the aviary’s most popular birds.
5. The brigadier general was tonight courtmartialed on the Army base.
6. If you’ll get on the bandwagon, training will start next week.
7. At the bookstore, I bought a witch-doctor whodunit.
8. The desert nomad mentioned something about a herd of camels.
9. In 1930, rockets were first being designed to fly to the moon.
10.The thieves aim to target smartphones in a California warehouse.
Last week’s challenge
Last week’s challenge came from Donn DiMichele, of Redlands, Calif. Name a famous current American singer. Replace the last name with a colloquial term for a person from the place where this singer was born and raised. Say the result out loud. Phonetically, you’ll get a form of singing the singer doesn’t usually do. Who is the singer and what is the kind of singing?
Challenge answer
Carrie Underwood –> karaoke
Winner
Scott Anderson of Beloit, Wisconsin.
This week’s challenge
This week’s challenge comes from Andrew Chaikin, of San Francisco. Name a popular automobile import — make + model. Add the letter V and anagram the result. You’ll name a popular ethnic food. What names are these?
If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, November 6 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.
The American Library Association’s list of the most frequently challenged books of 2025 includes Sold by Patricia McCormick, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir.
American Library Association
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American Library Association
The American Library Association has released its annual list of the most commonly challenged books at libraries across the United States.
According to the ALA, the 11 most frequently targeted books include several tied titles. They are:
1. Sold by Patricia McCormick
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
4. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
5. (tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
5. (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
7. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
8. (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins
8. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green
8. (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Many of these individual titles also appear on a 2024-25 report issued last October by PEN America, a separate group dedicated to free expression, which looked at book challenges and bans specifically within public schools.
The ALA says that it documented 4,235 unique titles being challenged in 2025 – the second-highest year on record for library challenges. (The highest ever was in 2023, with 4,240 challenges documented – only five more than in this most recent year.)
According to the ALA, 40% of the materials challenged in 2025 were representations of LGBTQ+ people and those of people of color.
In all, the ALA documented 713 attempts across the United States in 2025 to censor library materials and services; 487 of those challenges targeted books.
According to the ALA, 92% of all book challenges to libraries came from “pressure groups,” government officials and local decision makers. While 20.8% came from pressure groups such as Moms for Liberty (as the ALA cited in an email to NPR), 70.9% of challenges originated with government officials and other “decision makers,” such as local board officials or administrators.
In a more detailed breakdown, the ALA notes that 31% of challenges came from elected government officials and and 40% from board members or administrators. In its full report, the ALA states that only 2.7% of such challenges originated with parents, and 1.4% with individual library users.
Fifty-one percent of challenges were attempted at public libraries, and 37% involved school libraries. The remaining challenges of 2025 targeted school curriculums and higher education.
The ALA defines a book “ban” as the removal of materials, including books, from a library. A “challenge,” in this organization’s definition, is an attempt to have a library resource removed, or access to it restricted.
The ALA is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to American libraries and librarians.
Promo image with Phil Pritchard, Alzo Slade, and Peter Sagal
Bruce Bennett, Arnold Turner, NPR/Getty Images, NPR
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Bruce Bennett, Arnold Turner, NPR/Getty Images, NPR
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