Friday, November 16, 2007

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 11): "The Troubadour" Anagrams

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 11): "The Troubadour" Anagrams:
Q: Take the title Il Trovatore by Verdi. Drop one letter. Rearrange the remaining 10 letters to spell two synonyms. What are they?
I was accused last week of giving away too much in my clue... so this week, in order to prevent another fight, I'm only going to give one small hint. The letter you want to ignore is the first one.

Edit: It is after the deadline, so I can reveal my clues and the answer. First, if you read above, I mentioned a "fight"... this was a subtle clue toward the answer. Next, I gave a very misleading clue... "The letter you want to ignore is the first one." Here I didn't mean the first one in the word, but the first one in the alphabet. Tricked a few of you on that one, didn't I?
A: Il Trovatore, remove the letter A and rearrange.
REVOLT and RIOT

6 comments:

  1. I am curious as to which "first letter" you are referring. You surely do not mean "i," because both my solutions include it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You've implied you have *two* solutions, so I'd love to know what they are. And no, I didn't mean the first letter in Il Trovatore.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My co worker discovered "vial and retort"

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm surprised they didn't mention it as a possible answer. They are both glassware but perhaps there is enough difference between a vial and a retort that they didn't consider them synonyms.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Riot and revolt are
    NOT synonyms. There can be a riot
    without a revolt and
    there can be a revolt without a riot. I had the two early on BUT I
    did NOT submit be-
    cause they did not
    fit the specifica-
    tions stated in the
    puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I didn't write the puzzle, but I do find several sources that say that riot and revolt can be considered synonyms.

    Synonyms:
    ado, agitation, annoyance, backwash, ballyhoo, bedlam, big scene, big stink, brouhaha, bustle, clatter, combustion, confusion, convulsion, discomposure, disquiet, dither, excitement, ferment, fermentation, flap, flurry, furore, fuss, hubbub, hurly-burly, insurgence, insurrection, lather, mutiny, outcry, pandemonium, perturbation, pother, racket, rebellion, revolt, riot, rumpus, stew, stir, to-do, tumult, turbulence, upheaval, uprising, upset, upturn, vexation, welter

    Source: Roget's New Millennium Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)

    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.