Thursday, January 05, 2012

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 1, 2012): Sport Scores and Another Sport

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 1, 2012): Sport Scores and Another Sport:
Q: Name certain scores in a certain sport. This is a two-word phrase with a total of 10 letters (5 letters in each word). If you have the right phrase, you can rearrange all the letters to name a different sport, also in two words (6 letters in the first word, 4 in the second). What are the scores, and what is the sport?
Looks like we are back to anagrams. Perhaps Will wants to start off the year with something familiar. Generally I despise anagrams, but this puzzle was enjoyable. Anyway, the puzzle isn't too difficult so do you think I need to provide a hint or two?

Edit: Read the first letter of each of the sentences above and you'll get LPGA. I also stopped my counting before I got to four ("Fore!")
A: FIELD GOALS --> LADIES GOLF

57 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 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.

    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.

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  2. A hint or two from you would probably be worth three! But fewer is better.

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  3. Funny answer. Used www.wordsmith.org to find it.

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  4. Rearrange to get a reassuring headline announcing the full recovery of a sick pet.

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  5. Let’s see...

    One if by land, and two if by sea;
    And I on the opposite...

    No, that’s not it. But it’s from some old 60s song by Paul Revere and the Raiders.

    Chuck

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  6. I really don't like the "sport". It really is a specific subset of a certain sport.

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  7. Doubling a letter in the sport gives a clue to the origin of the sport

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  8. I agree with bhunter47 that this is really a subset of another sport. But, I'll let others iron out that issue.

    Clue: Daytona Beach


    www.curtisjohnsonimages.com

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  9. Yeah. You can't consider it a certain sport. Might make some people unhappy.

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  10. Chuck, good clues just keep getting harder to find these days.

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  11. Audi Cornish said this was her last puzzle "for a while" and that Rachel Martin will be the host next week. I still miss Liane.

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  12. Yeah, Mike. Phenomenal woman among women.

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  13. I had a ball with this puzzle.

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  14. Definitely a subset of a sport, not a sport itself. Like saying "gay tennis" is different from tennis.

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  15. Thanks for straightening me out, Curtis. My lines were all crossed.

    L, glad to hear spot pulled through.

    Hugh - alas, I didn't get your clue.

    To all - let's play games again!

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  16. I thought I'd clear up something that might still be getting in some people's way as they work on this puzzle. The way Will worded the challenge, "Name certain scores in a certain sport", I had thought he meant to name two different particular kinds of scores in a particular sport which may combine together and still make sense. (I first thought of "split" and "spare" in bowling and lo and behold the phrase "split spare" made sense.) What is really being asked for is the PLURAL of a certain score which WOULD BE a two-word phrase in 9 letters (5 and 4), but it becomes a 5 and 5 phrase when you pluralize it.

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  18. Finally! That took me all day to score a hit. I was about to whip myself for not solving it.

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  19. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  20. To not be sexist, won't that require being bisexual?

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  21. SKD:

    Strictly intended as a helpful and neutral clue.

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  22. benmar:
    Thanks. Simply intended as humorous along with a dash of reality.

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  23. It seems the sunday host spot has become the "defense against the dark arts" of weekend edition. Next please !

    As for the answer it is a different sport indeed as many of us wouldn't be able to play it.

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  24. After you solve this week's challenge, try this one: Think of an accessory used in the sport in question. Drop the first letter to create a term for a sports score. (Not the same sport.)

    Better not post answers until after the bell on Thursday.

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  25. Since I have little interest in sports, I had given up on this puzzle. But then I read the clues above and found the answer pretty fast even though I know nothing about the two sports involved! So I am guessing that Blaine has not yet read today's posts or he would have deleted one of these clues, which is as direct as I have ever seen on this blog. Thanks to all!

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  26. DAPF's comment, and the subsequent removal of some clues, finally gave me
    all the information I needed. Andy's Anagram Solver also helped!

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  27. @ekw so I can finally come out of the closet and admit I sometimes use Andy's as well?

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  28. Major thanks to @Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan -- I had definitely interpreted the "5-5" as two distinct types of scores, not a 5-4+s combination of one type of score.

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  29. EKW & RoRo: There's also "http://wordsmith.org/anagram/". Not that either site would help with my hint.

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  30. Jan, Thanks. I saw the reference to that site in the comment posted by googlyeyes1 on Sunday.

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  31. First puzzle of the new year is ready at the Midweek Puzzle Break site.

    Follow this link

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  32. FIELD GOALS > LADIES GOLF

    I wrote: "Finally! That took me all day to score a hit. I was about to whip myself for not solving it." The clue is WHIP, which is a synonym for FLOG, and that is GOLF spelled backwards.

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  33. "Gay tennis" is not only as silly an idea as LADIES GOLF, it's also an anagram for "Yani Tseng", the world's top-ranked female golfer.

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  34. On Sunday I said: “It’s from some old 60s song by Paul Revere and the Raiders.”

    Paul Revere and the Raiders had a 1966 Top 10 hit titled “Kicks.” And then there are the Oakland Raiders. Hence kicks and football. Hence field goals. I rest my case. Your mileage may vary :)

    Chuck

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  35. Jan:
    Then I guess Gay Ladies Golf would be a non-starter. :)

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  36. This one was definitely under par, with too many holes but I took a swing and missed - join the club, time for tee, make you green with envy and and want to jacket in, etc, etc.
    There I feel better now....

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  37. My favorite hint this week was Tommy Boy's with "let's play games again!" But that's probably because he had the same idea as me to hide LPGA.

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  38. I had to delete Tommy Boy and Enya's exchange because "Goal" (Go Al!) and "Field" (...field that question) were too obvious.

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  39. Solution to my follow-up puzzle: Think of an accessory used in the sport in question. Drop the first letter to create a term for a sports score. (Not the same sport.)

    Answer: "Glove" (as in golf glove) and "love" (the tennis score for zero).

    Thanks to Tommy Boy for posting an appropriate "clue/answer."

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  40. I'm glad my reference to "iron" got past the censor. Daytona Beach refers to the LPGA Headquarters.

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  41. In the past year it seems Will has had several puzzles that could be considered to be rather misleading. This year he has started us out with a puzzle that is miss-leading.

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  42. SDB, did you overlook the double entendre in your clue?

    While you may choose to whip yourself, others may choose to kick themselves, which is how a field goal is scored.

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  43. TB:
    Well, I'm kicking myself now!

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  44. I guess I just learned something because I actually did not know the definition of field goal. Shame on me, since I did attend a football game once, when I was 8 or 9. I'm still trying to erase that trace memory.

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  45. Skydiveboy, field goals are scores in two sports. In football, and in basketball (as a made shot is considered a field goal).

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  46. bhunter47:
    This is interesting in that Will said the term, field goals, referred to a certain sport.

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  47. +1 sdb
    That is is a score in fb and bb were somewhat missleasing

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  48. Sorry I missed the basket or uprights
    Meant to say
    "That a FG is score ........."

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  49. There are more than four parts which work, of course, and the game has variations as well.

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  51. Bryan,
    I agree, and there are also more than two related places a car might go.

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  52. I think we might all have the same sport here, but I'm not completely sure yet. On a scale of one to ten, I would not give this puzzle a ten by any means. I think it may also have a few holes in it.

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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.