Q: Name a bird. Change its second letter to an E to get the first name of a famous actor. Then name the female of that bird, and double one of its letters. You'll get the last name of this actor. What are the birds, and who is the actor?Little House on the Prairie?
Edit: One of the first roles for this actor was an uncredited part as "Kid" on Little House on the Prairie. Can you spot him?
A: SWAN & PEN --> SEAN PENN
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.
As I posted at the end of last week's blog:
ReplyDeleteskydiveboyFeb 25, 2012 09:16 PM
New puzzle just came up and I was thinking we were done with states.
ReplyDelete
skydiveboyFeb 25, 2012 09:22 PM
At least this time we don't have to drive. I'm thinking I might just stroll along on this one and it might even be my last NPR puzzle to solve too, now that they are so easy, not to mention all the problems with descriptions.
I hate to say this SDB - You've sang that song before!
Deleteor have "sung"
Deleteanger management type guy.
ReplyDeleteMy wife wants the answer but I won't tell her.
ReplyDeleteThis actor's name appeared as a WESUN puzzle answer at least once before, on a Mother's Day long ago.
ReplyDeleteThink of another bird and again, change the second letter to an E. Drop the last letter and you're left with the first name of the actor's father.
ReplyDeleteChange the last letter of the father's first name to an E, and take a glance at DaveJ's comment below (if you haven't already).
DeleteDon't be silly!
DeleteI had to look up what the female was called - still in my salad days of puzzling !
ReplyDeleteRan a 10K race last week. I was not last but real close...
ReplyDeleteChuck
ahhh thank you Chuck. this helped me realize i had misread the clue and that my almost-answer was a correct answer.
DeleteThere are a couple of well-known actors with this first name, both with the same double letter in their last names. I started by figuring out the wrong actor, which led me to the correct one.
ReplyDeleteWriting down all the possible solutions for this mystery is making my hand hurt.
ReplyDeleteI never knew the female can have a different name.
ReplyDeleteHad not heard of this female bird name. Got the answer working backwards.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I got this one in about five minutes. Pretty easy. They should send me to jail.
ReplyDeleteX-4-161-1. Anybody get this clue?
ReplyDeleteLike totally cool puzzle, dude.
ReplyDeleteMusical hint: Animals with a ball and socket wrist joint.
ReplyDeleteSuddenly got the urge for pizza. Can someone give me a hand?
ReplyDeleteDepends. Is that on your time or my time?
DeleteEasy as Dr. Suess.
ReplyDelete-- Other Ben
Those of you who prefer to drink water - Got a Lake?
ReplyDelete46A
ReplyDeleteI have a musical clue this week: Pat Metheny
ReplyDeleteMost of the hints I have come up with have turned out to be a load of old cobblers.
ReplyDeleteThings have gotten pretty quiet. How about a new puzzle?
ReplyDeleteFollow this link
SWAN & PEN = SEAN PENN
ReplyDeleteI posted these clues:
"skydiveboy Feb 25, 2012 09:16 PM
New puzzle just came up and I was thinking we were done with states.
Reply Delete
skydiveboy Feb 25, 2012 09:22 PM
At least this time we don't have to drive. I'm thinking I might just stroll along on this one and it might even be my last NPR puzzle to solve too, now that they are so easy, not to mention all the problems with descriptions."
There are several clues, the first being a reference to PENN STATE.
Not having to drive refers to DEAD MAN WALKING, as does the word STROLL.
The rest of my post is hinting that it might be my SWAN SONG. (I was sorry that someone felt it necessary to parse my hint, as I thought it might be giving it away.)
I thought about posting PEANUTS, the comic strip, as a clue, PIGPEN. I decided not to.
On Sunday I said: “Ran a 10K race last week. I was not last but real close...”
ReplyDeleteReal close to last meaning second-to-last, i.e., PENultimate. Actually, I didn’t run any such race – just needed the setup for the clue.
Chuck
I was thinking you might have been referring to "AT CLOSE RANGE." The film Penn did with Walken.
DeleteOn Mother's Day, a couple of decades ago, the puzzle was something like "Think of an actor, insert MA into his first and last names to name 2 professions."
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, 2/27, the 46-across clue in Will Shortz's New York Times crossword puzzle was "2001 Sean Penn movie". ("I Am Sam" was the answer.)
What was the answer to the first puzzle? Seaman & Penman?
DeleteYup.
Delete"They should send me to jail." Jail = penitentiary, or the "pen" for short.
ReplyDeleteLOON --> LEON --> LEO --> Leo Penn, Sean's father.
ReplyDeleteMy Pat Metheny reference: he did the music for the movie "The Falcon and the Snowman", which starred Sean Penn (and Timothy Hutton). (If you've never seen it, see it; it's really good!)
ReplyDeleteX-4-161-1. Lynn Swann was the MVP of Super Bowl X. He caught 4 passes for 161 yards and 1 touchdown. GO STEELERS!!!
ReplyDeleteAnimals with ball and socket wrist joints are gibbons.
ReplyDeleteMusician Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) wrote a famous madrigal
called "The Silver Swan".
So mine were a bit obvious referring to "got Milk" from Penn's oscar winning performance and of course lake as in swan lake.
ReplyDeleteDave, I am a Ravens fan but was given a "terrible towel" when I performed in Pitts burgh. Going to perform there again soon.
I read that since female swan feathers were the first quill writing instruments that is why we call them pens. Is that true or urban legend?
My clue "easy as Dr. Suess" was summoning the great "Green Eggs and Ham," starring SAM I AM.
ReplyDeletePENN starred in I AM SAM.
Of course I didn't get the call from Will. Nor will Robin Wright ever ring me up either. Drag.
-- Other Ben
"...I won't tell her".....Penn & Teller
ReplyDeleteI'm suprised that it's 11:07 PST and yet I seem to be the first to post here that THE NEW PUZZLE IS UP!!
ReplyDeleteMusical clues: Peter, Paul & Mary and Johnny Horton.