Culture

Sunday Puzzle: NBA Team Names

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with OPB listener Jocelyn Tutak of Portland, OR., along with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz.

Published June 7, 2026, 11:00 AM
Updated June 7, 2026, 11:12 AM2.5K
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Sunday Puzzle: NBA Team Names
Sunday Puzzle

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NPR

Sunday Puzzle

Sunday Puzzle

NPR

On-air challenge

As you probably know, the N.B.A. finals are going on right now. Game 3 between the Knicks and the Spurs is tomorrow night. So today I've brought a puzzle based on N.B.A. team names.

1. The name of what N.B.A. team is an anagram of PARROTS?
2. The name of what N.B.A. team is an anagram of THRONES
3. The name of what N.B.A. team is an anagram of SCRAPE?
4. Name two N.B.A. franchises that are birds.
5. You can remove the consecutive letters UGG of one N.B.A. team to get another. What teams are these?
6. The name of what N.B.A. team sounds like what they try to do for home games?

Last week's challenge

Last week's challenge comes from Mike Reiss, a longtime writer and showrunner for "The Simpsons." Name a classic song with a two-word title. Drop the first letter. Add an R after the new first letter. The result will be the names of two countries one after the other. What song is this?

Answer: "Piano Man" by Billy Joel --> Iran, Oman

Winner

This week's winner is Jocelyn Tutak of Portland, Oregon.

This week's challenge

Rearrange the letters of "NECESSARY MISPRINT" to spell a familiar phrase.

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, June 11 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: include a phone number where we can reach you.

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