Q: Think of a common five-letter word in one syllable. Change the fourth letter to the next letter of the alphabet, and you'll get a common word in two syllables, also in five letters. What words are these?6, 2, 7, 6D --> 8, 9, 11, 29D
Edit: Since Will Shortz is the editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle, my hints are to those puzzles. On 6/2/2007 the clue for 6 down was Charm (Ans: ENDEAR) and on 8/9/2011 the clue for 29 down was Chasm (Ans: ABYSS).
A: CHARM --> CHASM
Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any hints that could lead directly to the answer (e.g. via Google or Bing) 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.
ReplyDeleteYou 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.
In last week's blog I posted the following re: this new puzzle:
ReplyDeleteThe new puzzle is up and I am delighted to not have to wait until after nine this week.
I suspect this will be another week with few who get the correct answer.
Jan I think you could have a Shortz moment in your sleep!
If you are having trouble solving this one, then think of soup or comity.
I suspected there might be more than just one that works. I wonder if I got the intended one. Anyway mine works perfectly.
There seem to be several possible answers. Here's a clue for one.
ReplyDeleteThe second word followed by the first word would make a catchy but irreverent bumper sticker!
Musical Clue: Frank Sinatra
ReplyDeleteThere are plainly many, since the one I have doesn't seem to fit any of your clues. Skydiveboy, you can keep the soup, as long as you don't take away what comes at the other end of the meal.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of word pairs that fit the alphabetical requirement. As to those pairs that consist of two words both of which might be considered “common,” it’s up for grabs.
ReplyDeleteI have found five pairs that appeal to me. However, there may be a gulf between what I think is common and what Will thinks is common.
One pair may just out-common the others by a skosh. But once again, it’s a matter of opinion...
Chuck
That's the allure of a wide open puzzle like this one; while there can be multiple answers (some like Crito's which may be accepted as alternate answers) there is an intended answer which makes it a little fun to guess what is in the mind of Mr. Shortz. While I do like the common words in Crito's pair, I like the pair that Chuck is hinting at more.
ReplyDeleteSeems like one word is more common than the other.
ReplyDeleteWait! Wait! Don't tell me!
ReplyDeleteOnly one of the possible answers I found also has the required syllable property if the last letter is omitted.
ReplyDeleteFollowing a lead from Jan, I have been playing with the reverse puzzle (2 syllable first word, 1 syllable second word). Here's a few that I found chaos/chaps, glacé/glade, lamas/lambs, passé/paste and value/valve. I don't like #1 and #3 for the plurals and #2 and #4 for the accent marks, so that makes #5 (value/valve) my favorite in the reverse puzzle category. Anyone have others?
ReplyDeleteYeah, value/valve is what I was hinting at before I realized I was solving the wrong puzzle. I'm entranced by the gap between this week's puzzle and last's.
ReplyDeleteMovie clue: The Man Who Would Be King.
ReplyDeleteDo I detect sarcasm? Well, there's no harm in that.
ReplyDeleteJan and Chuck - I just got the pair you were both hinting at, and I agree with Blaine that this is the most elegant of several (up to 6 now) possible answers.
ReplyDeleteLorenzo:
ReplyDeleteI only came up with the one answer and looked no further, so I want to thank you for your post confirming that I got the intended one. I already knew it though, as it is, as you say, most elegant. Anyway I submitted it yesterday.
Here are my numbers:
ReplyDelete275 total pairs that meet the alphabetical requirement
7 pairs that are somewhat common
5 pairs that would be common enough for me to submit
1 pair that – in my opinion - takes “common” a skosh higher than the others.
Chuck
Hm, yes, Chuck's is the best, I agree.
ReplyDeleteI have another, thought the one syllable word is not common at all. I'll prepare my fingers to type it on Thursday.
Chuck:
ReplyDeleteThen according to Levi Strauss, that will leave a bit more room for others.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have the answer - with a little luck. But Blaine's number hints 6,2,7,6D - -> 8,9.11, 29D are really cryptic - unless they are Roman numerals or something.
ReplyDeleteAfter rejecting one syllable plurals, I still come upwith two possibilities. I'm not too concerned that I'm digging a deep hole for myself by guessing the the answer WS has in mind.
ReplyDeleteI've found two that work, both of which derive from one-syllable plurals. I'm rejecting one of the two because the transformed word is actually the proper name of an astronomical object. The pair I'm using, which don't seem to match any clues here, are very common. There will probably be several potentially correct answers this week, which is a breath of fresh air.
ReplyDeleteLadies and gentlemen, I'm not sure what category this puzzle belongs in. As I posted in the end of last week's thread, I took a look at it after dinner, after I had removed some items from my honey-do list. Came up with four reasonable answers, two of which involve capitalized words. Will normally rules these out, but he did not mention capitalization this time.
ReplyDeleteI've got my pair,and I'm banking that they're acceptable to Shortz.
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: Arlo Guthrie
-- Other Ben
After ruling out the plurals I have one answer that seems to be more common, n'est-ce pas?
ReplyDeleteHow about Chile/Chime for a reverse answer ?
I got your first clue, Lorenzo, but that's the only pair I've come up with so far.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite so far is the answer that Hugh and f5575a18-7651-11e0-8f0a-000bcdcb471e are both hinting at.
ReplyDeleteIt might have been easier to find it if WS had given us this one three months later!
Science clue: 1976.
other reverse answers:
ReplyDeletepassé/paste
glacé/glade
trios/trips
Oops, just realized that Blaine already listed two of those. Je suis désolé.
ReplyDeleteAlthough she had a certain je ne sais quoi, her face was eerily familiar. And while not so inclined to dig deep enough to resurrect the past, I find the issue quite puzzling.
ReplyDeleteI got a few pairs for satisfactory answers, not sure if I got the one people seem to think is the best answer. But Jan hints at one of the pairs I've found.
ReplyDelete@William, I'm not sure if I'm reading your science clue but I wonder if you meant 1974? If I've misunderstood your clue, though, please give me some slack.
ReplyDelete@William, after discovering a flaw in my logic, I now recognize why you picked 1976 instead of 1974.
ReplyDelete@Blaine, you understand that the flavor is important!
ReplyDeleteI had spasms until I was lucky enough to find the intended answer.
ReplyDeleteAll these oblique answers- yet my solution, once gotten, is unquestionably correct- no vagueness. This is why I am a math teacher, I guess.... it gives me a good breath, er, breadth of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteBicycleIreland25thAnniversary:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. And I think your trip has something in common with this puzzle.
Finally got it, thanks to the clues that everybody so, um, generously provided.
ReplyDeleteI've come up with many different options, but who knows whether it is the one that Shortz came up with.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite past-times is enjoying a cheesesteak with some ice cold Coors. I also enjoy watching cable in my favorite armchair (especially the Golden Girls).
You all must be geniuses or
ReplyDelete- is that genera?
Here's another variation on this week's challenge puzzle: think of a one-syllable word in 5 letters. Switch places with the 3rd and 4th letters to form a two-syllable word. (I've got two answers - maybe there are more.)
ReplyDelete@ william, well my logic still has a quirk in it. This is my birth month and if there is going to be a revolution then I should know about it.
ReplyDeleteDay late and dollar short (again). New puzzle's up. Follow the link.
ReplyDeleteLink
Great blog, but since u changed the color scheme to a brown BG with black lettering it's impossible to read on my iPhone!
ReplyDeleteCHARM & CHASM
ReplyDeleteMy Clues and Hints:
"In last week's blog I posted the following re: this new puzzle:"
"The new puzzle is up and I am delighted to not have to wait until after nine this week."
DELIGHTED as in charmed.
"Jan I think you could have a Shortz moment in your sleep!"
The initial letters of: 'Could Have A Shortz Moment' spell CHASM.
"If you are having trouble solving this one, then think of soup or comity."
I thought if I said Super Committee it would be too obvious, so I used: SOUP OR COMITY as a hint at the Super Committee that to many of us represented a huge chasm.
"I suspected there might be more than just one that works. I wonder if I got the intended one. Anyway mine works perfectly."
PERFECTLY as in: like a charm.
"Movie clue: The Man Who Would Be King."
SPOILER ALERT!!!
Sean Connery falls to his death into a huge chasm.
"BicycleIreland25thAnniversary:
I completely agree with you. And I think your trip has something in common with this puzzle."
Ireland is frequently referred to as charming.
NOTE:
I wanted to also post a hint by mentioning EVEL KNIEVEL, and this would reference his failed attempt to jump across the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. The problem I had with using this clue was that I felt everyone would immediately associate Mr. Knievel with his charming personality and give the puzzle answer away. (Of course I did.)
On Sunday I wrote: “I have found five [word] pairs that appeal to me. However, there may be a gulf between what I think is common and what Will thinks is common.”
ReplyDelete“Appeal to” was intended to evoke “charm.” “Gulf” was intended to evoke “chasm.”
Your mileage may vary.
Chuck
Although she had a certain "je ne sais quoi", her face was eerily familiar. And while not so inclined to "dig deep" enough to resurrect the past, I find the issue quite puzzling.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, this puzzle does sound eerily familiar. I was "not so inclined to dig deep enough" through possibly years of Sunday Puzzles. Anyone else experiencing deja vu?
Blare and blase also work.
ReplyDeleteAlso
ReplyDeleteGents and Genus
Vents and Venus
It is now December. Three months from now it will be MARCH, an anagram for CHARM.
ReplyDeleteThe Nobel Prize for Physics in 1976 was awarded for exploring the 4th quark, CHARM. (No doubt Blaine was aware that the 4th quark was actually first discovered in 1974!)
@RoRo: "quirk"? quark?
Also jests and Jesus. @Lorenzo: this would indeed reverse to a catchy but irreverent bumper sticker!
My hint was as follows:
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite past-times is enjoying a cheesesteak with some ice cold Coors. I also enjoy watching cable in my favorite armchair (especially the Golden Girls).
Cheesesteaks = Philadelphia
Coors = Denver
Cable (cable cars) = San Francisco
Armchair - "arm"ie - Army - West Point
Golden Girls - Gold - Fort Knox
These are the locations of the actual facilities of the U.S. MINTS
MINTS - MINUS
This worked, but obviously everyone else came up with a better one not involving a plural.
@Berkeley B, can you let me know if the mobile template looks better now?
ReplyDeleteIn my reply to Crito and Chuck, "That's the allure of a wide open puzzle like this one..."
ReplyDelete"allure" hints at CHARM
"wide open" hints at CHASM
In my reply to William, "...after discovering a flaw in my logic, I now recognize why you picked 1976 instead of 1974.". 1974 was the discovery of the charmed quark while 1976 was when the SLAC team was recognized with the Nobel Prize.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, William gets my award of favorite hint this week. :)
Kilns and kilos (Weight! Weight! Don't tell me!). I like the fact that this works as a pair of 4-letter words without the "s". (Of course, if Will had been looking for a 4-letter answer, he would have said so.)
ReplyDeleteAlso,
ReplyDeletetorts -> torus (as in Dunkin Donuts)
Like Lorenzo, I also submitted KILNS and KILOS.
ReplyDeleteMy musical clue was Arlo Guthrie, who sang "coming into Los Angeleeez, bringin' in a couple of keys," as in KILOS of some illicit substance or another.
I also wrote that I was "banking" that my word pair would be acceptable to Shortz.
Money banks have KILOS of various things and river banks are made of clay, which of course go into KILNS.
Alas, still no call.
-- Other Ben
Wow Blaine! I don't know why I didn't get those crossword puzzle clues right away!
ReplyDeleteThe Charm of You - Frank Sinatra
ReplyDeleteMy first hint alluded to Mints/Minus (breath of fresh air), which I submitted as an alternate with Charm/Chasm
ReplyDeletedight/digit
ReplyDeleteBenmar, I sent in dight/digit too.
ReplyDeleteIs "dight" a common word? (I am not a native English speaker)
ReplyDeleteI submitted "blare" and "blase" (I *am* a native French speaker, which helped with this one)
Dight is archaic (13c), therefor not common. Even spell check does not recognize it.
ReplyDeleteDAPF:
ReplyDeleteInteresting, because I at first tried to think of a second answer word with an accented E as the fifth letter, but I did not think of one that worked.
BTW: Isn't Tony Blare English? :)
Some alternate solutions that I don't think have been mentioned (or hinted at) yet:
ReplyDeletelimns/limos
bolts/bolus
I so wanted the --ght combination to work. I thought I had it with light, until I realized ligit wasn't a legit word. Even if I had known about an archaic 13th century word like dight, I don't think it would have met the "common" criteria for me.
ReplyDeleteOne other word combo I found that hasn’t been listed here yet is quake and quale, although again I reject it as not being common enough.
ReplyDeleteQuake and quale are both one syllable words, though, perhaps depending on a person's accent.
ReplyDeleteBlaine, would you please send me an email? I have a question for you. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteQuale has two syllables: see for example
ReplyDeletehttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quale
but is it really a common word?
Blaine,
ReplyDeleteYes the new mobile version is great! Clean, elegant and easy to read on my iPhone 4s. I liked the old crossword graphic, but this new design is crisp. Thanks.
@William yes my Quirk was Quarky. I was about to comment on the common use of dight in the Brahms Lullaby until I learned the words were roses
ReplyDeletebedight and not roses be dight as I grew up
be lieving
I wrote a quick program to check through a list of 'common' 5-letter words. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteanime + anile
blase + blare
blate + blase
bolus + bolts
caffs + cafes
camps + camos
casus + casts
chaps + chaos
chasm + charm
chime + chile
combe + comae
combs + comas
digit + dight
farms + farls
genus + gents
gript + griot
helps + helos
heros + herns
hilus + hilts
kilos + kilns
lambs + lamas
limbs + limas
limos + limns
limps + limos
marls + marks
minus + mints
paste + passe
pomps + pomos
serfs + seres
sorbs + soras
sorus + sorts
taros + tarns
tarps + taros
torus + torts
valve + value
venus + vents
Whoops. "anime" and "anile" are both two syllables. Nix that one. :)
ReplyDeleteWhoops again. I also forgot that the first word has to be the one with 1 syllable, and the altered word has to be the one with 2 syllables. Here's the reduced list...
ReplyDeleteblare, blase
bolts, bolus
casts, casus
charm, chasm
dight, digit
gents, genus
herns, heros
hilts, hilus
kilns, kilos
limns, limos
marks, marls
mints, minus
sorts, sorus
tarns, taros
torts, torus
vents, venus
Solutions to my alternate puzzle (Think of a one-syllable word in 5 letters. Switch places with the 3rd and 4th letters to form a two-syllable word) are: trail/trial and louts/lotus.
ReplyDeleteAnswers using proper nouns are: brain/Brian and pairs/Paris.
There may be more.
6/2/2007, 6 Down = Charm/ENDEAR
ReplyDelete8/9/2011, 29 Down = Chasm/ABYSS
New puzzle just came up and it is a real crock this time!
ReplyDeleteAgreed - I don't think we should even try to fix it !!!
ReplyDeleteThis really is the lamest puzzle I can remember. If Will lowers the bar any further we may as well throw in the collective towel.
ReplyDeleteDaveJ:
ReplyDeleteWok do you think we should do about this?
Makes me think of the famous words of Bill Clinton: "It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is"
ReplyDeleteokey I was just browsing through this blog for the heck of it. Those of us in "charm city" won't hear broadcast 4 another 8 hours (I prefer to hear radio version) But it sounds like I won't be charmed.
ReplyDeletei found one thats appealing, reminds me of the song by Bob Dylan, "Blowing in the Wind."
ReplyDeleteI can't handle this puzzle. It rubs me the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteMy computer must be broken because I can't find the NPR web link for the new puzzle.
ReplyDeleteTwo weeks ago it was Yo Mama, now it's this style of cooking. Does anyone else see a trend?
ReplyDeleteReminds you of Bob Dylan, you say? Hmmm,...
ReplyDeleteOne of the protest songs from the '60's during the Viet-Nam war.
Actually, the new puzzle reminds me more of the President at the time, Lyndon Johnson, than of Bob Dylan.
07-15-09
ReplyDeleteI submitted DREARY and DREAMY. Most likely, this week will be one where Will will say "Well, my intended answer was.....but we also received.....so we accepted all of these as being corrrect."
ReplyDeleteLMP