On-air problem
Yearly round this time I current a “new names within the information” quiz. I’ll provide you with some names that you just’d most likely by no means heard earlier than 2025 however that had been outstanding within the information in the course of the previous 12 months. You inform me who or what they’re.
1. Zohran Mamdani
2. Karoline Leavitt
3. Mark Carney
4. Robert Francis Prevost (trace: Chicago)
5. Jeffrey Goldberg (trace: The Atlantic)
6. Sanae Takaichi
7. Anonymous raccoon, Hanover County, Virginia
Final week’s problem
Final week’s problem got here from Joseph Younger, of St. Cloud, Minn. Consider a two-syllable phrase in 4 letters. Add two letters in entrance and one letter behind to make a one-syllable phrase in seven letters. What phrases are these?
Problem reply
Ague –> Plagued / Plagues / Leagues
Winner
Calvin Siemer of Henderson, Nev.
This week’s problem
This week’s problem is a numerical one from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the web site mathpuzzle.com. Take the 9 digits — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You’ll be able to group a few of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 – 8 + 9. For those who do these operations so as from left to proper, you get 2011. Nicely, 2011 was 15 years in the past. Are you able to group a few of the digits and add arithmetic symbols another way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 want to remain in that order. I do know of two completely different options, however you should discover solely certainly one of them.
If you recognize the reply to the problem, submit it under by Thursday, January 8 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose solutions are chosen win an opportunity to play the on-air puzzle.

