Q: Here's an example: Take the letters I, L, R and T. Insert a trigram (three-letter group) twice into these letters to complete a familiar 10-letter word. If you add S, P and O, you would get the answer, 'spoilsport.'On a scale of 0 to 9, I give this week's puzzle a 3.
Now, take R F E and R. Insert a trigram twice somewhere in these letters to complete a familiar two-word phrase. What phrase is it?
Edit: 0 to 9 would be the set of *digits* where 3 is the *fourth* digit.
A: Insert ING twice --> R(ING) F(ING)ER
I think the ladies would enjoy this leftist leaning puzzle more than the men. At least it didn't take two months to solve...
ReplyDeleteon a scale of 0 to 9, i give this one "the bird"
ReplyDeleteI can't add much to radiohead's clue.
ReplyDeleteLooks like another bank is in trouble, Netherland FFIG, not the well known one.
I think Blaine's scoring is just about right, although I'd give it a four.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm curious how you arrived at that score. I propose that if you tell me your criteria I'll tell you mine.
Yngvai, I had the same problem until i checked
ReplyDeletehttp://mw1.merriam-webster.com
I proposed an answer to this weeks puzzle to my girlfriend. She says she knows the answer but wants to keep me guessing!
ReplyDeletehugh, yup, dictionary.com has it there, too. But wikipedia has both (agreed that it's not the most authoritative source, though).
ReplyDeleteyngvai, I agree. It's a four.
ReplyDeleteBut getting the answer made me feel
like singing.
Liane Hansen said, "About a thousand
people sent in correct answers this
time. Re: Suze Orman/Zeus Roman
Come to think about it, since Blaine's scale was from 0 to 9, his 3 could be Yngvai's 4, or he could claim he meant the dictionary's 3 all along. Pretty crafty.
ReplyDeletewhat an engaging puzzle. i feel trapped trying to come up with an answer.
ReplyDeletei can't stop dolores repeating over and over in my head: "do you have to, do you have to, do you have to..."
ReplyDeleteI would like to point to the Car Talk puzzles as fun diversion for you puzzle enthusiasts.
ReplyDeleteWhat almost killed me with this week's puzzle is -- my wife thought I was going to solve it while we were on this trip. But in fact I didn't solve it until we were at a restaurant awhile later.
ReplyDeleteVery dangerous.
- Other Ben
For some reason, this week's puzzle made me think of salmon. I like coho.
ReplyDeletewhat about lake trout in up-state new york
ReplyDeleteWhich U.S. state and its capital city do not share any of the same letters?
ReplyDeleteGeri,
ReplyDeleteThat's a vicious one, because nobody knows that state capital anyway!
- Other Ben
oui
ReplyDeleteI'm just back from family medical emergency which had me out of town and I couldn't get internet or NPR. I see my Suze Orman was right. I'm not sure of the cutoff for submission so I should probably catch up on sleep & laundry instead of staying up to figure this one out,.
ReplyDeleteThe state capital is easy, cause Lennon lived/died there...
ReplyDeleteI've been pretty busy and, between that and the fact that this one just didn't appeal to me, I didn't try hard to figure it out.But now I see the answer is actually a Nine Inch Nails song I'm sorry; would have made for fun/obscure clues...
ReplyDeleteradiohead00725, The Dakota where John Lennon was shot is an apartment building in New York City.
ReplyDeleteIf Blaine does any programming, I suppose he uses a compiler like "C" where arrays of length n have subscripts running from 0 to n-1. Fortran subscripts run from 1 to n. Old habits died hard.
ReplyDeleteTimmy, you of the Blainwise digit of 2 (more likely 7), what does a person do who drinks too much dry wine?
ReplyDeletewakes up with dry heaves?
ReplyDeletegets his whistle soaking wet?
ReplyDeleteis there a hint?
Ring finger got "just over 700."
ReplyDeleteThis week's "product" should top that easily.
Geri, as an actual NPR listener (member, I hope) you'll agree that this puzzle would also be appropriate for another NPR program.
ReplyDelete