Thursday, January 22, 2009

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 18): Everything but the Kitchen Sink

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 18): Everything but the Kitchen Sink:
Q: Name an implement that might be in a kitchen drawer. It's a compound word. Add the letter S after each half of the compound, and you'll get two synonyms. What implement is it?
This one is hard. I've been going crazy trying to think of the answer. For awhile I was stuck on dessert implements (pie slice, icecream scoop, etc.). I just couldn't stop thinking of sweets! Oh well, maybe someone else will know the real answer...

Edit: I was going to say "this one is hard to crack", but I thought that would have been too obvious. The "crazy" clue referred to the synonyms that are eventually formed. "Sweet" really was a reference to Tchaikovsky's "Suite".
A: NUTCRACKER --> NUTS, CRACKERS (as in crazy)
Posted by Blaine at 5:33 PM
Labels: ,

47 comments:

  1. Dave, you recently gave us a puzzle about San Marino. And this week's puzzle was submitted by a Dave in San Marino. Is this just a coincidence or is it you?
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  2. Don't drive yourself too insane thinking about it. The clue's hard, and it's kind of vexing. Still, keep your wits about you and you'll come up with it soon enough.
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  3. I am going bananas over this puzzle.
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  4. How sweet it is when you finally get it!
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  5. No more comments about the Marx brothers?
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  6. If there is still anyone who needs a clue, here are two:
    1. The website of Williams-Sonoma has a good list of kitchen implements.

    2. Don't make the puzzle harder than it is (as I did at first). The "s" is indeed added to the end of each half of the compound word.
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  7. How nicely seasonal.

    (And terrific hints, Blaine!)

    - Other Ben
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  8. Blaine, I am not now nor have I ever been the Dave from San Marino. That's just a coincidence. I live in Eugene.

    Pretty cool how I changed the last letters to get not now nor in consecutive words. Can anyone else come up with a similar sentence? I just thought this one up after I wrote it.

    For those of you who haven't figured out the answer to this week's puzzler, try not to get too unhinged thinking about it.
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  9. Thank all of you for the hints.
    It's wonderful being in touch
    with all of you.

    Answer submitted.
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  10. I dont need the "s"'s to make my compounds synonomus? I think I'm stuck?!?
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  11. My whole family got in the mix solving this one.
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  12. Dave, Merl Reagle's "Study Group"
    78d "What Pop has that the Pope
    doesn't" six-letter answer is
    SHORT O.

    Blaine, The answer to your last
    week's riddle is: A last name.
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  13. Geri, I didn't take a stab at your pop/pope question because I didn't check out the blog on Saturday night and didn't see that you had posted it. Clever clue.
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  14. ugh i can't figure this one out...crazy glue doesn't work. gorilla glue? super glue doesn't work, either.

    serving spoon doesn't work.
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  15. i hope the answer has nothing to do with a pen, containing a certain type of dark fluid (a fluid which octopi have).
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  16. If minncognito is right, clue was tricky. Kitchen drawer implement is not necessarily food related. Nasty!
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  17. The intended answer is food related. However, you may have to go back a generation since I don't think they are as prevalent today. I know my parents had a working one growing up, but I personally don't have one in my kitchen drawers.
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  18. mellon baller? juicer?

    oh man i wanna figure this out. can i have another hint, please?
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  19. You could use this thing to kill rodents. Or at least make them dance around.

    I thought "bottlecap" would be a good answer. Alas it is two words, not a compound word. Same with "soup spoon".
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  20. The ones in our family are the decorative type that would not fit in a kitchen drawer. In fact, for most of the year, they just take up valuable space in the garage.
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  21. Awww man I just realized mine (parchment paper)is two words not one...thanks Ken.
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  22. This puzzle reminds me of Patsy Cline.
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  23. there's so many references to "crazy", "unhinged", etc...i can't think of it. time to do some free association exercises to try to get the answer.
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  26. OHHHHHHHH!!!!! lolol....oops! now i get it.
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  27. lol what great "sweet" clues, too! now i understand them.

    blast! i fear i'm not up to your guys' caliber of Riddlery and Puzzlemastery.
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  28. I was thinking of an English pub where you can get more bang for your buck. That is, if you see eye to eye with me.
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  29. I deleted minncognito's answer because he actually posted the answer before he realized it was the answer.

    It's safe to give out the answer now, though...
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  31. I got the answer, but could someone please explain the 'sweet' clues?
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  32. Ignore my previous post - I just noticed the reference to Tchaikovsky's "Suite". Sorry.
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  33. I actually have a nutcracker in my kitchen implement drawer, so this one was pretty easy.
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  34. I think unshelled nuts are no
    longer marketed.
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  35. Think of a nine-letter compound
    word that uses all five vowels.

    We've gotta keep busy here. Stay
    out of trouble.
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  36. I think Alice would know the answer... here's one for you. Same pattern (5 vowels, 9 letters) but it's the name of an illness.
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  37. Although I was considering using the Christmas production as a clue, I was dense enough to need an explanation of the "sweet" clues.

    I wonder if anyone picked up on the Marx Brothers reference. The first movies in which all 5 brothers appeared were:
    The CocoaNUTS (1929)
    Animal CRACKERS (1930)

    Hey, Geri, I came up with 3 words the first letters of which coincidentally form my monogram:
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  38. My original thinking was that a potato-masher (grenade used by Nazi Germany in WWII) fit the bill but I see by the other answer that I was too clever by half. Oh well.
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  39. Blaine got the first letter of the monogram.

    Which Alice? Sitcom's or White Rabbit's?
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  40. Think of a ten letter word that uses all five vowels in their correct order (a first and u last).

    Hugh, I understood the Marx Brothers reference, but I had already solved the puzzle before seeing it.
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  41. Here's a slightly different one:
    Think of a ten letter word that uses all five vowels in their correct order (allowing other appearances to be out of order)(a first and u last). Is Dave's lab experience in this area?

    Got to quit the duelling puzzles for now. Got Blaine's illness, and Dave's word (was that a trap?)
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  42. My "Alice" was from the Brady Bunch... the housemaid.
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  43. Words with the 5 vowels in order:
    facetious
    abstemious

    Words with the 6 "vowels" (sometimes y) in order:
    facetiously
    abstemiously

    7-letter word with all 5 vowels/2 consonants
    sequoia

    8-letter word with all 5 vowels/3 consonants
    dialogue
    equation
    euphoria

    9-letter words with all 5 vowels/4 consonants
    authorize
    education
    emulation
    equivocal
    exudation
    facetious
    housemaid
    inoculate
    jailhouse
    nefarious
    odalisque
    pneumonia
    tenacious
    veracious
    vexatious

    10-letter words with all 5 vowels/5 consonants
    abstemious
    copulative
    delusional
    denudation
    deputation
    discourage
    duodecimal
    eructation
    exhaustion
    exhumation
    exultation
    fluoridate
    gelatinous
    gregarious
    mendacious
    nucleation
    numeration
    outpatient
    peculation
    persuasion
    popularize
    precarious
    precaution
    refutation
    regulation
    repudiator
    reputation
    rheumatoid
    tambourine
    tourmaline
    ulceration
    unsociable
    urogenital
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  44. Blaine, the seven letter word with all five vowels and only two consonants (sequoia) was the answer to a Car Talk Puzzler a few months ago.

    Hugh, I think that your puzzle was the same as mine.
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  45. WOW! I feel like the sorcerer's apprentice.

    I was thinking of jailhouse.
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  46. Blaine's answers are more specific than the questions asked. For Geri's a nine-letter compound word that uses all five vowels, how about "audiotape" with its 2 a's?

    In the same vein, I suppose I'm being fussy (not captious) by asking whether Dave's puzzle:

    Think of a ten letter word that uses all five vowels in their correct order (a first and u last).

    is answered by "autoecious"?
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  47. The answer was completely different than what I came up with. It took me a couple of days to figure it out, but when I did, I felt pretty good about it. I came up with potholder, for pots and holders, but now that I see the answer, I realize my solution was a bit of a stretch. I haven't had a chance to check the answer until today.
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