Sunday Puzzle: New newsmakers of 2025
On-air challenge
Every year around this time I present a “new names in the news” quiz. I’m going to give you some names that you’d probably never heard before 2025 but that were prominent in the news during the past 12 months. You tell me who or what they are.
1. Zohran Mamdani
2. Karoline Leavitt
3. Mark Carney
4. Robert Francis Prevost (hint: Chicago)
5. Jeffrey Goldberg (hint: The Atlantic)
6. Sanae Takaichi
7. Nameless raccoon, Hanover County, Virginia
Last week’s challenge
Last week’s challenge came from Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn. Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. Add two letters in front and one letter behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. What words are these?
Challenge answer
Ague –> Plagued / Plagues / Leagues
Winner
Calvin Siemer of Henderson, Nev.
This week’s challenge
This week’s challenge is a numerical one from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. Take the nine digits — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 – 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago. Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.
If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, January 8 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.
ICE agent fatally shoots woman in Minneapolis amid immigration crackdown
The Department of Homeland Security accused the victim of being a "rioter" and that the ICE officer who pulled the trigger was "fearing for his life." Mayor Jacob Frey rejected claims of self-defense.
Béla Fleck cancels Kennedy Center appearance, says it’s become ‘charged and political’
The 18-time Grammy Award winner is the latest musician to cancel an show at the Kennedy Center. Béla Fleck says he cannot currently perform there because it "has become charged and political."
How large is Greenland, really? Your map may be deceiving you
Talk of annexation has Greenland in the news again. But due to quirks of cartography, some common maps show the territory much larger than it is.
RFK Jr.’s new food pyramid puts meat, cheese and vegetables at the top
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced new dietary guidelines for Americans focused on promoting whole foods, healthy proteins and fats. And he's 'declared war' on sugar.
Timothée Chalamet brings a lot to the table in ‘Marty Supreme’
Chalamet stars as a scrappy shoe salesman who dreams of becoming the greatest table tennis player in the world — and is willing to steal, cheat, sweet-talk and hustle his way to the top.
It’s not just oil: How else Wall Street might benefit from Trump’s Venezuela actions
Oil companies and their shareholders may benefit from President Trump's military action in Venezuela — but it also could benefit many other U.S. investors.
