NPR Puzzle 5/8/11 -- Endless Names

Here's this week's NPR Puzzle:

Think of two common girls' names that are seven letters long and that start with the same four letters in the same order. Drop these four letters in each name, and mix the last three letters in each name to come up with another common girls' name in six letters. What names are these?

Wow - there are many pairs (or triplets) of girls' names in seven letters that start with the same four letters.  The key is to think common and also to assume that Will would not have found "cute enough" a puzzle that relied on variants of the same name.  So it's not going to be Britney and Britnie (even assuming you could anagram EEINNY as a third girl's name).

We have an answer -- but I think Will's going to find that the intended answer is not the only answer possible.

You should send all your legal answers to NPR here!

Before I get to today's photos, a shout-out and a huge thank you to Dave Taube.  In addition to being smart enough to have had two puzzles used on air and lucky enough to get picked as the on-air contestant, Dave has been providing me with lots of useful information about his home town, Eugene, Oregon.  As luck would have it, I sent the heroine of my current novel off to Eugene where her mother needed heart surgery.  Now the hero's shown up and I need to get them out of the hospital for a bit.  Dave's explained where the pair of them should go for lunch.  Even I got hungry from Dave's descriptions!

Photo time.  I love the name puzzles -- here are some women (and one dog), selected at random because I thought the photos looked nice, with the forenames used in this week's puzzle:

Time for ...

P I C K   A   R A N G E

This is where we ask you how many entries you think NPR will get for the challenge above.  If you want to win, leave a comment with your guess for the range of entries NPR will receive.  First come first served, so read existing comments before you guess.  Ross and I guess last, just before we publish the Thursday post.  After the Thursday post is up, the entries are closed.  The winner gets a puzzle book of our unspecified choosing.

There were "about 700" entries (NPR Intern: we had that discussion already.  Don't make me call you out by an exaggerated job title to make the point that the number should be characterized as "above" or "below"). Ross had one of the two ranges adjacent to 700; no one had the other.  No prize this week.

But next week -- I'm feeling good about sending out a book.  Make it happen.  Pick the right range!

Here are the ranges:

Fewer than 50        50 - 100 100 - 150 150 - 200 200 - 250 250 - 300 300 - 350 350 - 400 400 - 450 450 - 500 500 - 550 550 - 600 600 - 650 650 - 700 700 - 750 750 - 800 800 - 850 850 - 900 900 - 950 950 - 1,000

1,000 - 1,050          1,050 - 1,100 1,100 - 1,150 1,150 - 1,200 1,200 - 1,250 1,250 - 1,300 1,300 - 1,350 1,350 - 1,400 1,400 - 1,450 1,450 - 1,500 1,500 - 1,550 1,550 - 1,600 1,600 - 1,650 1,650 - 1,700 1,700 - 1,750 1,750 - 1,800 1,800 - 1,850 1,850 - 1,900 1,900 - 1,950 1,950 - 2,000

2,000 - 2,050 2,050 - 2,100 2,100 - 2,150 2,150 - 2,200 2,200 - 2,250 2,250 - 2,300 2,300 - 2,350 2,350 - 2,400 2,400 - 2,450 2,450 - 2,500 2,500 - 2,750 2,750 - 3,000 3,000 - 3,250 3,250 - 3,500 3,500 - 4,000 4,000 - 4,500 4,500 - 5,000 More than 5,000 More than 5,000 and it sets a new record.

Our tie-break rule:   In the event that a single round number is announced, AND two separate people picked the ranges leading up to and leading up from that round number, the prize will be awarded to whichever entrant had not already won a prize, or in the event that both entrants had won a prize already or neither had, then to the earlier of the two entries on the famous judicial principle of "First Come First Serve," (or in technical legal jargon, "You Snooze, You Lose").