Comments on Blaine's Puzzle Blog: NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 7): TV Personality Puzzle

Answer to Dave's Puzzle #8: Take a ten letter...

2009-06-13T18:42:11.290-07:00

Answer to Dave's Puzzle #8:

Take a ten letter word that means the opposite of freedom. Take away two letters and get an eight letter word for something that is essentially free.

Hint: The two letters that you are removing are consecutive in the alphabet.

Answer: INTERNMENT becomes INTERNET. The bird in question is a tern. I mentioned the nine letter transitional word. That word is INTERMENT. My clue was to be open minded and not "bury" your head in the sand.

I'll try to come up with some more puzzles for those weeks when Will's puzzles are so easy.

My clues rtelating to "giving Blaine a "...

2009-06-13T06:50:43.613-07:00

My clues rtelating to "giving Blaine a "B" for his clue" referred to King's role in the "Bee Movie"

Dave, When do we get the answer to #8, the 10-let...

2009-06-13T02:35:17.551-07:00

Dave, When do we get the answer to
#8, the 10-letter bird word?

Great clues to the Larry King puzzle, e.g., alludi...

2009-06-12T08:30:30.618-07:00

Great clues to the Larry King puzzle, e.g., alluding to the "colored spots" on his "suspenders." The clue I misinterpreted was Blaine's "step" clue--I thought that referred to his cameo in the 2004 "Stepford Wives" movie (hence the "sister"; I don't know any of the Shrek movies).

Anyway, in case you haven't already noticed, my clues were

(1) my mentions of "pointers" and "indicate" (King's original last name is Zeiger, which is German/Yiddish for something like 'pointer'); and

(2) my allusions to "marrying" ("committing"; "second thoughts"; "I do").

Dave--Amazing how much time I spent on and off my ...

2009-06-10T05:31:49.837-07:00

Dave--Amazing how much time I spent on and off my computer to look at the ording of your puzzle.
Thanks for the hints, the letters of the alphabet is what got me, but I think I got the puzzle.
Thanks for the clues.

I almost had a heart attack when I figured out the...

2009-06-10T05:15:34.172-07:00

I almost had a heart attack when I figured out the answer. Thanks reversing my royally incorect assumptions about word breaks.

The earlier hints really sent me down some strange paths. "Cindy Bear -> mind year" ?

Wolfgang, I think you got it, but are you sure tha...

2009-06-09T21:53:51.456-07:00

Wolfgang, I think you got it, but are you sure that there are four letters before the first letter in the bird's name?

Cookieface, the first six letters can be someone you would see in a hospital.

Dave--am stuck! please post another clue

2009-06-09T17:54:44.130-07:00

Dave--am stuck! please post another clue

Dave, as I said, I had a ten-letter word in mind, ...

2009-06-09T14:46:08.786-07:00

Dave, as I said, I had a ten-letter word in mind, meaning the opposite of "free," containing a bird word, and containing a nine-letter and an eight-letter word both standing for things that you can get for free (or at high cost in some cases)--but I understand it's not what you had in mind.

Several of your posts hinted at something other than a migratory bird that is currently in season. That got me thinking of certain "birds" located north of the border, although they are considered "American." On the other hand, your most recent hint suggests the habitat of that bird is a completely different one. In any case, it seems warranted to take some license with the spelling.

I'm confused--too many divergent hints...

Wolftone, the answer to Will's puzzle is a one...

2009-06-09T14:39:55.909-07:00

Wolftone, the answer to Will's puzzle is a one word answer.

Wolftone, once you know who the person is, you won...

2009-06-09T13:32:36.211-07:00

Wolftone, once you know who the person is, you won't have any second thoughts. (As I indicated earlier, I do know the answer.)

The rules are (perhaps intentionally) ambiguously ...

2009-06-09T13:09:00.950-07:00

The rules are (perhaps intentionally) ambiguously worded. Given a name of the form 12345 6789, must the answer be of the form "m2345 789"? Or are more flexible word breaks allowed of the form "m234 5789" or "m23 457 89"?

Hugh, nice! I thought about incorporating that ni...

2009-06-09T11:51:22.855-07:00

Hugh, nice! I thought about incorporating that nine letter word into the puzzle, but didn't. If anyone else is trying to figure out the answer, be open minded and don't bury your head in the sand trying to figure out the nine letter word.

Dave, Dropping only one of the two letters gets ri...

2009-06-09T09:21:11.520-07:00

Dave, Dropping only one of the two letters gets rid of the bird in a particular 9 letter way.

Wolfgang, we're thinking of two different word...

2009-06-08T23:09:21.169-07:00

Wolfgang, we're thinking of two different words. The ten letter word that I'm think of has two letters before the bird word.

Lorenzo, I think that you and I have the same words in mind.

Hugh, I'm not sure if we're thinking of the same word.

Dave, after a brute force solution, and not seeing...

2009-06-08T21:29:06.093-07:00

Dave, after a brute force solution, and not seeing what Lorenzo was getting at, I agree with both of you. A little bird, and not Roget or a dictionary told me the answer. The bird came courtesy of Swanfeldt. Looks like I still have something else to fret over.

Dave, relax, it's four letters before the firs...

2009-06-08T20:46:25.958-07:00

Dave, relax, it's four letters before the first letter in the bird word.

By the way, you don't even have to remove two letters to get something "essentially free"; removing just the second of the two alphabetically consecutive letters will give you something that oftentimes you can get for free (with nine letters). At least that's how I see it, having practiced it from a different angle.

2009-06-08T20:43:38.821-07:00

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Lorenzo, of course! My mistake. Wolfgang, I thin...

2009-06-08T17:06:08.312-07:00

Lorenzo, of course! My mistake.

Wolfgang, I think that you got it, too. How many letters are in the ten letter word before the first letter in the bird word?

I have a suggestion regarding posting "hints&...

2009-06-08T14:12:15.218-07:00

I have a suggestion regarding posting "hints" for the NPR Sunday puzzle: my favorites posts are those where, if you know the answer, someone else's post confirms it for you (perhaps with a little digging), but if you don't know the answer, the post doesn't give it away, but may help you think laterally or suggest some ideas as to other lines of thought you might want to pursue, e.g. romans or the sound of bad weather.
Just my two-penneth...

This just in -- Omar Bongo, the former Dictator of...

2009-06-08T12:21:30.212-07:00

This just in -- Omar Bongo, the former Dictator of Gabon, has died:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/world/africa/09bongo.html

I note this only because there are a hundred fun anagram puzzles we can create out of "OMAR BONGO GABON"

Let's get to work! (Too bad NPR doesn't have some global affairs show with a puzzler.)

-- Other Ben

Dave, actually "turning point" was my co...

2009-06-08T11:47:36.787-07:00

Dave, actually "turning point" was my coded message to you. I hope this post doesn't cost me.

I may have figured out Dave's puzzle #8. * A ...

2009-06-08T09:30:17.724-07:00

I may have figured out Dave's puzzle #8.

* A ten-letter word that means the opposite of "freedom," that contains no o or p, and in the middle of which you find a bird:
Got a ten-letter word, only that it really means the opposite of "free" (i.e., the adjective), and you have to know about the "bird" in order to find it. The word hasn't enough room for the entire animal.

* Remove two letters that are consecutive in the alphabet, and the resulting eight-letter word will denote something that is essentially free:
The two letters I removed are indeed consecutive in the alphabe--but not in the word. Also, what the word denotes may get extremely costly in some cases.

Dave, am I still on the right track?

Lorenzo, throw me a clue so I know we're think...

2009-06-08T08:05:23.337-07:00

Lorenzo, throw me a clue so I know we're thinking about the same word. I think that I'm going to submit the puzzle to Will.

Let's not give too much away, shall we?

2009-06-08T02:59:30.407-07:00

Let's not give too much away, shall we?