Sunday, December 22, 2013

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 15, 2013): Oh, the Places You'll Go!

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 15, 2013): Oh, the Places You'll Go!:
Q: Name an island in which some of the letters appear more than once. Drop exactly two instances of each repeated letter. The remaining letters can be rearranged to name something to eat. What is it?
This puzzle seems to have been inspired by the Quarrel Synonyms Puzzle from a few weeks back. I could try and solve this but instead I think I'm going to read some Dr. Seuss.

Edit: Obviously I was reading "Green Eggs and Ham"
A: Manhattan --> Ham

158 comments:

  1. Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any hints that could lead directly to the answer (e.g. via a chain of thought, or an internet search) before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET. If you know the answer, click the link and submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

    You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't give the answer away. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the Thursday deadline. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Take one instance of each removed letter to name something some (with strange tastes) consider to be a delicacy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suppose you could dip almost anything in chocolate and it becomes edible! :>)

      Delete
    2. I don't know about chocolate. What other flavors do you have?

      Delete
    3. Right Bob, just ask Hannibal Lecture (sic).

      Delete
  3. Goes with something out of "To Kill a Mockingbird,"

    ReplyDelete
  4. You may drink in the beauty of my comment at the end of last week's thread.

    ReplyDelete
  5. If you are fasting and eat NOTHING, then your island is BORA BORA... I had a sudden inspiration and now I have two answers, but they are not for vegetarians.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lanai will also get you the starvation diet!

      Delete
    2. Just now arrived home.

      MANHATTAN, removing “two instances of each repeated letter” yields HAM, something to eat!





      Second answer: SANTORINI, Greece. Drop the repeated letters, leaving SATOR; this anagrams to ROAST, something to eat.






      The word “inspiration” contains the letters “santorini + pi.” (Both Greek!)


      “The first shall be last” means that the first letter of the island (M) will be the last letter of the “something to eat,” HAM. Most clever Chuck!



      SDB's puzzle: Replace the ia in SARDINIA with an e to form SARDINE, something some people might enjoy eating or using as a pizza topping(joke)! Yes, SARDI is the Manhattan restaurateur.

      Delete
    3. Interesting that I saw your clue, Ron, about fasting and sdb's about a slow boat to China (I thought) confirming speed and my snail answer. And AbqGuerrilla and his foot fetish confirmed Gastropoda also.

      The honey mead clue, even knowing you were thinking Manhattan and I was thinking Alonissos, is yet a conundrum. Kindly illuminate, Monsieur.

      Delete
    4. I was just saying the "miel" doesn't work in English (Ça ne marche pas en anglais), despite Meryl Streep. "Miel" is fine in French or Spanish. It is "meli" in Greek. The comment had nothing to do with this week's challenge or your answer, Alonissos, which had not occurred to me. I enjoyed all the "ark" comments and I am surprised that SANTORINI, apparently, had not occurred to anyone.

      Delete
    5. Oh, the mind! I have used "miel" as a term of endearment for so long it didn't sink in that it's not a real English word. Next, you'll be telling me "mon petit chou" isn't English either. . .

      Delete
  6. This morning I was considering the meaning of an old adage, the first shall be last. The answer just came to me. BTW I found another island that would work, too, but the answer isn’t as eloquently simple.

    Chuck

    ReplyDelete
  7. Removing letters two by two: you Noah it! (again)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, of course! How is it Lego saw that and I didn't?

      Delete
    2. Hope you haven't seen this cartoon before:

      http://beautyofthebible.com/2009/10/15/oh-crap-that-was-funny-regan-dinosaur-cartoon/

      Delete
    3. ron, I have seen it but enjoyed seeing it again.

      That was a first. We were both posting at the same time and Blogger said basically, "Sorry, your post has evaporated." And it was so darn amusing. . .

      Delete
    4. Good one, ron. Was it from the arkive?

      Delete
    5. Son of a gun, I just got it, WW!

      Delete
  8. Hey everybody! Emailing from Utah State Penitentiary! They finally granted me computer room privileges! Yay!

    My cellmate, Andy, who is a bit of a foot fetishist, is certain the answer is Hilton Head Island.

    GuerrillaBoy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome back, AbqGuerrilla! We have truly missed you!

      Delete
    2. How much of your debt to society do you have left to pay?

      Delete
    3. GuerillaBoy, there's a place not far from ABQ with a connection to the answer.

      Delete
    4. Is Simon Saiz there or Gitmo?

      Delete
    5. Slow to warm back up to this crowd, are you, AbqGuerrilla? (I was going to say "It's a Christmas Miracle!" but I didn't want it to go to your head.)

      Delete
    6. Actually, now that I think of it, there are places near ABQ with connections to both the island and the food.

      Delete
    7. I think some of you are just being bad actors no matter how you slice it.

      Delete
    8. ABQ, How you be?
      Where on this green earth did you lime? and did you did you do your time?

      Delete
    9. AMELIA (Island) of the Florida coast. Remove the a's and you have LIME which I hear is edible ("something to eat").

      Delete
    10. ron,
      That’s probably not the island Will is expecting, but it could/should win you the coveted NPR lapel pin. I say, “Submit it!” Hope to hear you on air on Sunday.
      Lego…

      Delete
    11. Rearrange LIME to MIEL for a sweet clue, mes amis.

      Delete
    12. Is that how miracle fruit works? (That stuff is pretty cool!)

      Delete
    13. Je savais que tu parles français, mais "miel" ne va pas en anglais. C'est "MEAD," n'est-ce pas?

      Delete
    14. Jan, ooh la la, a shape-shifting glycoprotein! I want to try that next. Miraculen!

      Ron, non, Monsieur, c'est le miel (x deux) pour l'indice.

      Delete
    15. Yeah, you treat your tongue with that stuff and lemons taste like lemonade, yogurt like flan. We felt a little guilty when we tried it with our nieces, introducing them at a tender age to a taste bud hallucinogen like that. But, you live in Colorado -- this could open up a whole world of low-calorie munchies for you!

      Delete
    16. Jan, I am not a partaker but the miracle berry sounds most intriguing.

      Ron, Margaret?

      Delete
  9. abq, welcome back. I guess you will be the butt of many jokes this week.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Again, I solved thin one while still in bed and without lists, etc. I am certain Will thought about this one while on his recent China visit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did I forget to provide a clue? Oh well, since it didn't take long to solve this one, it seemed to take longer to come up with a good hint, and here it is: Javier Bardem.

      Delete
    2. Mama mia, what an easy puzzle, just as Will said it was.
      ABQG, welcome back. Really did miss your wit and wisdumb. No more misbeehiving! I suggest you check out a video of “The Great Escape” from the penitentiary library.
      WW, excellent ark-istic clue!
      Bob K, (from last week’s thread) I’d ask Will, “What makes a good NPR puzzle?” or “How do you avoid repeating puzzles, or making them to easy?” or “Do you edit submitted puzzles much?“ I wonder if they pre-screen the questions.
      ron and Chuck, I sensed immediately that this was likely a puzzle with multiple answers. So many islands, so many foods. Unlike you two, I have so far only discerned one answer, which I presume is the one Will came up with.
      Lego…

      Delete
  11. I will now predict next week's puzzle challenge.

    Think of the name of an island. Replace the last two vowels with a third vowel (yes, another vowel movement puzzle, I know) and you will name something some people enjoy eating. What is it?

    ReplyDelete
  12. It is an answer related to my favorite NFL team from the frozen tundra, The last letters of the part of the "somethoing some people enjoy eating" spell out a synonynm for "eat."
    LegoTundra

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know the answer also. Some people enjoy it on pizza.

      Delete
    2. Did you also notice that the first letters are the name of a famous restaurateur with connections to the puzzle answer this week?

      Delete
    3. SDB,
      Easy? Maybe. I had an advantage in that I composed a puzzle involving this island and food about four months ago.
      Coincidentally, an NPR puzzle from a year or two ago also involved eating, and was very similar to one that I had already composed . It involved changing the tense of a two-word phrase by moving two letters at the end to the beginning or two letters from the beginning to the end (ATE AT, EAT AT). I composed it, ironically, while solving a Shortz-edited NYT crossword puzzle with one of those phrases as an entry. As I have noted before, true originality is rare. Not much is new under the sun, be it in music, literature, etc., including puzzle-creation. But I believe that at least some of the puzzles I’ve composed are somewhat original/fresh/challenging.
      (I have composed a file of about 250 puzzles during the past five years or so, and I have lately been cranking out about one new puzzle weekly. Were I more net-savvy I would launch a “puzzle-a-week” blog. If there is anyone out there in cyberspace with blog expertise -- Blaine, WW or others, for example -- willing to lend advice, please contact legolambda@aol.com. NOTE: Blaine, if this request is not kosher blog etiquette, please remove this post posthaste.)
      Lego…

      Delete
    4. I prefer pepperoni on my pizza.

      Delete
  13. Replies
    1. Jan, check out the six week "Paramedical from Trenton" program on this week's Prairie Home Companion. And watch out at Groundhog Day. . .

      Delete
    2. That's funny, Steph; I was going to tell you to check out the song about New York schist being gneiss.

      Delete
    3. That is funny. No names please ;-).

      Delete
  14. The answer just hit me on the head. But aren't there two sppellings of this island? We need the one w/the extra letter, right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We ought to discuss later, Leo. (Clever use of misspelling spelling ;-)).

      Delete
    2. yea Leo. Transfer to the one with the extra letter.

      Delete
    3. It sometimes happens as men age, Leo. ;-)

      Delete
  15. Many people who live on this island don't eat this food.

    ReplyDelete
  16. there's a second answer, which some people apparently do eat, though that takes guts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is this the thing that, in some circumstances, may eat you if you don't eat it ?

      Delete
  17. I must declare my heart is there tho I've been from Maine to Mexico.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RoRo, there's a timely video to share. . .but I shall wait until Thursday.

      Good solstice week to all!

      Delete
  18. Did Captain Cook ever visit this island?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know, but one of his ships did.

      Delete
    2. As I recall Captain Cook rarely cooked, but preferred the Sandwich.

      Delete
    3. I will endeavour to learn more about this, but I may be barking up the wrong tree.

      Delete
    4. Be of strong resolution and allow yourself plenty of latitude.

      Delete
    5. Wiki states: "Cook succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy, an unusual accomplishment at the time."
      I guess the few married men weren't so lucky.

      Delete
  19. Rearrange the letters in the name of this prominent island to describe a vehicle that is out of control.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the immortal words of Catherine of Octane, "Si." Congratulations! Send me your address and I will send you the pair of lemurs you have won.

      Delete
    2. SDB,
      Whoopie! Can I pin the lemurs on my lapels?
      Instead of posting a clue, I spilled the answer (and thereby spoiled the fun for other solvers) because I thought it was a long shot to be the answer you were looking for. (So many islands, so many vehicles out of control).
      Madagascar was in my mind because about four/five years ago Will ran a delightful puzzle which went something like this: Name an island. Insert a letter within. Split the result into three words, no rearrangement necessary. The first word is the brand name of a product. The second is what the product needs in order to function. The third is the general term categorizing the product.
      LegoLamazda

      Delete
    3. Interesting. I doubt anyone else was working on it.

      The two lemurs are much too large to pin on your lapel, however, since Mrs. Lemur is in a family way, you might be able to pin one of the litter. I bet you can't wait.

      Delete
  20. Getting back to our luau discussion of a couple of puzzles ago: how did the tradition of putting an apple into the mouth of a roasting pig get started?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.chow.com/food-news/54738/why-do-you-put-an-apple-in-a-roasting-pigs-mouth/

      Delete
    2. jan,
      I think it was because due to the heat the tennis balls would stink when the rubber melted.

      Delete
    3. jan,
      No, no, no! Bob K and SDB obviously have no cluau. (You can’t trust anything you read on the internet, Bob. And, SDB, pigs are synonymous with “stink”!) The real reason for the apple? The trauma generated when the pig becomes aware of its impending fate forces its heart up into its throat, thereby dislodging its Adam’s apple outward and mouthward. It’s a domino effect. BTW, jan, nice clue.
      LegoLuaumba…

      Delete
    4. Thanks, all. No word on how large a fruit one should use, I see.

      Delete
    5. A pineapple should do the trick.
      Lego...

      Delete
    6. A while back a pineapple was crossed with a dinosaur creating a Bractiasaurus.

      Delete
    7. WW,
      Don’t know much about arkaeology. (Were dinosaurs ushered two-by-two into Noah’s boat?) All I know is that if you put a pig with a pineapple in its puss into a luau pit, a dinner-sow results.
      Lego***da

      Delete
    8. This thread is becoming a boar.

      Delete
    9. WW,
      And a while further back, a used Pine-Sol sponge was crossed with a dinosaur, creating a bacteriasaurus.
      Legodliness

      Delete
    10. All this reminds me of my favorite NPR puzzle of all time, broadcast many years ago, but after the postcard era, I think. (BTW, Bob K, another question for Will: “What was your favorite NPR puzzle ever?) I can’t remember the puzzle’s exact wording, but it went something like: Rearrange the letters in two plural English words to form a long (more than ten letters) English word that does not contain an “S”. What are these words?
      LegoArkivist

      Delete
  21. It was 64 (!) degrees F here today, warmer than on this island today.

    ReplyDelete
  22. There is another island with four same-letter pairs which, when removed, leave letters that can be rearranged to spell a place to get the food named in the main answer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love your puzzle, Ward.Your island has REALLY a lot in common, including close proximity, with the island in Will's puzzle this week. The former name of your island is a present-day state capital.
      Kindly send my lapel pin or lemurs or whatever to: Guerrilla Boy, care of: Utah Stae Penitentiary. I think he could use some cheering up. Or better yet, why not just reWard us all with another excellent puzzle?
      Lego-Islanda

      Delete
    2. Did not know it used to be called Richmond! And apparently it was called Aquehonga Manacknong by the Lenape people before that. Go ahead and try to parse the letter pairs in that!

      Meanwhile, how about another Eastern US island that works out to "a cuke" ?

      Delete
  23. So SDB, if you give a dinosaur some tools and liquor do you get a Jackhammersawrus?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do I detect a hint in there?

      Delete
    2. yes albeit bitter and sweet especially for the dinosaur that remains on the island

      Delete
    3. Are you telling me dinosaurs are not kosher?

      Delete
    4. I just don't get this fascination with chicken taste buds. Do these birds have some secret miracle berry source that makes everything taste sweet for them?

      Delete
    5. cheap to raise. easy to cook. my grandkids like it. 3 for 3.

      Delete
  24. Using the same rules as the regular puzzle:

    a. start withn an island and get a well known current government official.

    b. or start with a different island and get something you may find in a game room or a bathroom.

    Remember, sometimes I cheat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David,
      Thanks for posting your puzzles. I solved the first, got the same answer Snipper (see below post) got. I especially cottoned to your very clever cluing, and Snipper’s clue too.
      I’m not certain if WW’s “Sometimes?” is a clue. Knowing her, it might be. “Sometimes?” is the reply she might post if I posted “I sometimes ramble.”
      But I’m stumped on your second puzzle, so need a hint. The closest I can come to an answer is Mombasa. I can think of more than one prominent government official who is probably an S.O.B.
      Lego…

      Delete
    2. Lego-
      My answer is posted below, but try marathon distance for a hint. You are right about SOB.

      Delete
  25. My island answer is a good example, phonetically, once you apply yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  26. MANHATTAN > HAM

    My hints:

    "I think some of you are just being bad actors no matter how you slice it."
    An bad actor might be called a ham.

    "I am certain Will thought about this one while on his recent China visit."
    Will lives in New York, so I am sure he must have thought about it at sometime during his China visit.

    "...it didn't take long to solve this one, it seemed to take longer to come up with a good hint, and here it is: Javier Bardem."

    It didn't take Long Island to solve it either. Javier Bardem starred in the Spanish movie, "Jamon, Jamon." Jamon is ham in Spanish.

    ReplyDelete
  27. ALONISSOS >>> SNAIL

    The Noah (two by two) clue referred to an arch(k)ipelago.

    "Golden ticket" at the end of last week's blog referred to the Golden Spiral, seen on the shells of many gastropods.

    "Three way(s)" referred to the three transliterations of the island: ALONISSOS, ALONISOS, AND ALONNISOS.

    MIEL referred to "Honey, Honey," sung in the Meryl Streep movie "Momma Mia." The movie was filmed on Skiathos, neighboring Sporades Island to Alonissos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was sure your "Noah" hint referred to his 2nd son, Ham!

      Delete
    2. Funny, funny.

      Oh, the 8-minute Meryl Streep video for, as they say in Texas, all y'all, but especially for RoRo:

      MERYL AND THE REAL DEAL


      Delete
  28. MANHATTAN -> HAM

    > GuerillaBoy, there's a place not far from ABQ with a connection to the answer. Actually, now that I think of it, there are places near ABQ with connections to both the island and the food.

    Los Alamos was the home of the MANHATTAN Project during WWII. And HAM, the space chimp, was named for the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, at Holloman AFB.

    > Karl Rove?

    Or was that his near-identical twin, HAM Rove, on the Colbert Report?

    >> Many people who live on this island don't eat this food.
    > ha! lol!

    Of course, HAM is not Halal.

    > Getting back to our luau discussion of a couple of puzzles ago: how did the tradition of putting an apple into the mouth of a roasting pig get started?

    Maybe LUAU is the connection between the Big Apple and HAM.

    >> Did Captain Cook ever visit this island?
    > I don't know, but one of his ships did. I will endeavour to learn more about this, but I may be barking up the wrong tree.

    The bark HMS Endeavour, renamed Lord Sandwich, delivered a contingent of Hessian mercenaries to New York in 1776.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jan,
      I refrained from using my Manhattan joke because I think I've used it here before. The difference between my mother and J. Robert Oppenheimer is that Oppenheimer did not have a maraschino cherry in his Manhattan Project.

      Delete
  29. My hints were society and a flavor other than chocolate, pointing to the "Vanilla Island" roughly 25 miles southeast of Bora Bora.

    I saw a flying pig this week -- I'll be a monkey's uncle.

    ReplyDelete
  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anyone who has not eaten snails is missing out on something wonderful! And, NO! They don't taste like chicken.

      Delete
    2. I agree, sdb. Here is the 30 second video I meant to post:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guu-qqErnBY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

      Delete
  31. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  32. My two totally unimaginative references:

    saying Will Shortz might be an actor = HAM

    "DRINK in the beauty . . . " = MANHATTAN

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My reference to "Kill Aa Mockingbird," was Scout's halloween costume.

      Delete
  33. Another solution is "Lesser Antilles", which reduces and anagrams to (not for the sensitive) "entrails". As I said above, eating this takes guts.

    And entrails anagrams to latrines, a grim oddity.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Manhattan, ham

    Last Sunday I said, “This morning I was considering the meaning of an old adage, the first shall be last.” The first letter in the name of the island, Manhattan, becomes the last letter of the food, haM.

    The other island I found was Puerto Rico which becomes CUT PIE.

    Chuck

    ReplyDelete
  35. "10/6" leads to the Mad Hatter.
    a MAN with a HAT (TAN perhaps)

    A picture, an explanation of 10/6, and reference to an obscure holiday appear at

    http://www.kafejo.com/holidays/hatter.htm

    ReplyDelete
  36. Did anyone get "Pineapples" from "Pelopponesian" Islands?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Almost fits the puzzle, removing a pair of 'O's but only one 'N.'

      Partial credit if not atoll, Leo.

      Delete
    2. There is a spelling "Pelopponnesian."
      But I may be wrong.

      Delete
    3. That works! And is welcoming, to boot!

      Delete
  37. My hints this week (for Will’s and other Blainesville bloggers’ puzzles) and answers to puzzles I posted:

    1. Will’s Manhattan/Ham puzzle:
    “Mama Mia…” = Mia Hamm, soccer goaltender.
    I wanted to hint “Land of Sky Blue Waters,” (see link below) but that proved to be, alas, too Googleable.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o83xxWCel8g

    2. My reply to Benmar12001‘s “Goes with something…”: “Cool Hand Luke” had an scene with a wager about Paul Newman eating 50 eggs within a certain time frame. (ham goes with eggs)

    3. In my Monday 7:00 PM PST reply to WW, the “***” in “Lego***da” stands for “Ham,” which, of course, I could not spell out.


    4. My reply to Ward’s Tuesday 2:03 PM PST Staten Island/deli puzzle: Staten Island used to be known as Richmond, (VA)

    5. My reply to David’s 3:54 PM PST Puerto Rico/cue tip puzzle, “I especially COTTONED to your clever clueing” alluded to the tip of the Q-tip. (I should have added, “Chalk one up for David!”

    6. “My favorite NPR puzzle of all time”:
    BACTERIA + OXEN = EXACERBATION

    7. The answer to Will’s “delightful puzzle” of four/five years ago:
    MADAGASCAR = MA(Z)DA + GAS + CAR

    8. WW, regarding your Thursday 12 PM PST post: I’m with jan and Paul (Hey, didn’t they have a hit with “Dead Man’s Curve?”). I went down the same “Ham Shemwich Japeth” they traveled. (“the road MORE traveled by,” this week). Amazing!

    That’s what I call serendipitous clueing -- hints that work for both Alonissos/snail and Manhattan/ham. I suspect, WW, that you knew you were doing such double-duty clueing (Did you? See also your Momma MIA movie” clue and my “Mama MIA…{Hamm}” clue above.)
    Finally I’m surprised our esteemed blog administrator did not remove your four clues. All were blatant TMI giveaways! (Irony intended) And the eating-snails video you posted today only would have confused me more… “Snails? Ham? What’s the connection?”

    Lego…

    ReplyDelete
  38. Lego, your Mama Mia clue also confirmed to me that Mamma Mia, the movie, was heading me in the same direction. I had no Aleutians whatsoever. . .

    That Greek guy with the steamy snails makes me smile. I challenge you to find such a fun video of a New Yorker eating ham.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tried but failed to find a video of Daniel Pinkwater telling the story of his observant Jewish father stopping on the way home from synagogue on Shabbos to buy Virginia ham, explaining that ham this good should be considered kosher.

      How about David Sidaris singing the Oscar Meyer balogna jingle in the style of Billie Holiday?

      Delete
    2. Anyway, I think you and skydiveboy should get together and figure out how to deal with whatever it is that blocking Seattle's Highway 99 tunnel project. Bertha, a 55-foot tall tunneling device is being stalled by a big boulder or Balrog or something. Can't they just hydraulically frack it?

      Delete
    3. Sorry jan, but the tunnel project is beneath me.

      Delete
    4. I don't know, Jan. Mr. Greek says it all with his sexy rendition of "S_n_a_i_l." It would need to be a pretty amazing Ham to top that, you Noah?

      Delete
    5. You haven't been able to find a video of Daniel Pinkwater for the same reason you may have had the same problem finding a video of Big Bertha, the world's largest tunnel boring machine. It requires a wide angle lens in both cases.

      Delete
    6. I forgot to include the link:

      www.cbsnews.com/news/big-bertha-mystery-object-blocks-seattles-tunnel-drill/

      Delete
    7. Sdb, I know how you know about this...but Jan, how do you?!

      I want to know why they call a viaduct in Seattle the Alaskan Way. Did Sarah Palin visit and try to see Alaska from her car?

      Still no Aleutians. . .

      (Depends on whether it is frackable)

      Delete
    8. Very interesting question you ask, WW, and I believe I have the answer, although I had never thought about it before now.

      Hy 99 runs from Kanada to Mejico and prior to the completion of I-90 was the major West Coast highway. In built up areas, such as the Greater Seattle area, it has nicknames for short distances, such as Aurora in the North End, and Pacific Highway South in the South End, and Evergreen Way up north in Everett. Downtown along the waterfront where Puget Sound is called Elliott Bay where it pushes inward against the city center is where Alaskan Way is located. When gold was discovered in 1896 up in Alaska and then the rush north began in 1897 it was required that prospectors heading up there first come through Seattle in order to obtain the necessary equipment they would need in order to survive the harsh climate they would encounter in Alaska. That must be why the road along the waterfront is named Alaskan Way and then the raised viaduct just to the east and above is called the Alaskan Way Viaduct, although it is actually just another short section of Hy 99. It is in this waterfront part of the city that the ships going to Alaska berthed. There is a video of one of them being loaded and departing that I have watched in the Museum of History and Industry here.

      Delete
    9. Interesting answer. Thanks sdb.

      Delete
  39. On a train with limited wifi. My second extra puzzle answer is Santa Catalina, which becomes A. Scalia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Clever and funny cheating, David.

      Glad you are on a train so as not to encounter this:

      http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/ham-jam-closes-south-fulton-interstate-ramp/ncPdk/

      Delete
  40. OK, no one went for this last year, but I'm not above beating a dead horse, 'cause they don't fight back:

    At the end of each year, the on-air NPR Sunday Puzzle is a list of Names in the News, people you'd probably never heard of before who made the news during the past year.

    Here's my list for 2013, Vigenere ciphered using as the key the better-known name of the person I'm most certain will be on Will's list:

    Bogc Grrec
    Rggut Qfiib Dmjvcvpnf
    Cnttgh Rprlvr
    Jgvvn Rpznj
    Rbd Nggr
    Gsgvrg Iidqfpmyy
    Jrpvausg Kwfug
    Pqudzáh Qfuueq
    Rsss Gegsig
    Fhzdywsprr Guijcotz
    Ornrv Gwazxr
    Lvoeim Sasmesuee Nwmxg Lmsusbt
    Amb Hxrl Noai, Ea Ii As

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jan, if you're going to beat a dead horse, do it here:

      http://www.google.com/search?q=dead+horse+point+state+park&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari#biv=i%7C1%3Bd%7CHtSgyR7CCn-roM%3A

      Must use paypal ;-).

      Delete
    2. No Pope but North West? SMH over here.

      What are your answers, Jan, as I prefer orange juice to cipher ;-).

      Delete
  41. Spelling errors at 10 & 11 ?

    ReplyDelete
  42. drop two instances of letters--well there are 3 ....????? one drops A N and T.....tell me what I am or was missing in the question.
    TY

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Drop exactly two instances of each repeated letter."
      There are 2 instances of N, and 2 of T, in MANHATTAN, so N and T disappear.
      There are 3 instances of A in MANHATTAN. Dropping exactly 2 of them leaves 1 remaining A to go with the unrepeated M and H.
      Hope that helps. YW

      Delete
    2. In retrospect, perhaps I should have said "N-ness" and "T-ness" disappear.

      Delete
    3. tyvm but I did not read it well then

      Delete
  43. Next week's challenge from listener Andrew Chaikin of San Francisco: Think of a well-known filmmaker, first and last names, add "S-U-N" before this person's first name and last name. In each case, you'll form a common English word. Who is the filmmaker?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All I can say now is I found the good old-fashioned hardbound dictionary (you know, the one on the shelf) most helpful.
      Maybe I'll think of something more clever or shrewd tomorrow.

      Delete
  44. This is an historic day, as our Captain Will Shortz sets sail on the first day of the Second Century C. E. (Crossword Era).

    ReplyDelete
  45. The ease of solving this puzzle with make some people angry. Old Zeke treasures the ones he gets.

    ReplyDelete
  46. A toast to all who solve this one quickly before finishing their breakfast.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I submitted the island of Kahoolawe, which drops the a's and o's, and rearranges itself into WHELK. Will actually recognized it as a correct alternate answer!

    ReplyDelete

For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't assist with solving. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the deadline. Thank you.