Thursday, March 01, 2012

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 26, 2012): The Best Actor Oscar Goes to...

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 26, 2012): The Best Actor Oscar Goes to...:
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

44 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.

    ReplyDelete
  2. As I posted at the end of last week's blog:

    skydiveboyFeb 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.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My wife wants the answer but I won't tell her.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This actor's name appeared as a WESUN puzzle answer at least once before, on a Mother's Day long ago.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Think 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Change 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).

      Delete
  6. I had to look up what the female was called - still in my salad days of puzzling !

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ran a 10K race last week. I was not last but real close...

    Chuck

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ahhh thank you Chuck. this helped me realize i had misread the clue and that my almost-answer was a correct answer.

      Delete
  8. There 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.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Writing down all the possible solutions for this mystery is making my hand hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I never knew the female can have a different name.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Had not heard of this female bird name. Got the answer working backwards.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Honestly, I got this one in about five minutes. Pretty easy. They should send me to jail.

    ReplyDelete
  13. X-4-161-1. Anybody get this clue?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Like totally cool puzzle, dude.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Musical hint: Animals with a ball and socket wrist joint.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Suddenly got the urge for pizza. Can someone give me a hand?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Depends. Is that on your time or my time?

      Delete
  17. Easy as Dr. Suess.

    -- Other Ben

    ReplyDelete
  18. Those of you who prefer to drink water - Got a Lake?

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have a musical clue this week: Pat Metheny

    ReplyDelete
  20. Most of the hints I have come up with have turned out to be a load of old cobblers.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Things have gotten pretty quiet. How about a new puzzle?

    Follow this link

    ReplyDelete
  22. SWAN & PEN = SEAN PENN

    I 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.

    ReplyDelete
  23. On Sunday I said: “Ran a 10K race last week. I was not last but real close...”

    Real 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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was thinking you might have been referring to "AT CLOSE RANGE." The film Penn did with Walken.

      Delete
  24. On 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."

    On 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.)

    ReplyDelete
  25. "They should send me to jail." Jail = penitentiary, or the "pen" for short.

    ReplyDelete
  26. LOON --> LEON --> LEO --> Leo Penn, Sean's father.

    ReplyDelete
  27. My 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!)

    ReplyDelete
  28. X-4-161-1. Lynn Swann was the MVP of Super Bowl X. He caught 4 passes for 161 yards and 1 touchdown. GO STEELERS!!!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Animals with ball and socket wrist joints are gibbons.
    Musician Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) wrote a famous madrigal
    called "The Silver Swan".

    ReplyDelete
  30. So mine were a bit obvious referring to "got Milk" from Penn's oscar winning performance and of course lake as in swan lake.
    Dave, 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?

    ReplyDelete
  31. My clue "easy as Dr. Suess" was summoning the great "Green Eggs and Ham," starring SAM I AM.

    PENN 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

    ReplyDelete
  32. "...I won't tell her".....Penn & Teller

    ReplyDelete
  33. I'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!!

    Musical clues: Peter, Paul & Mary and Johnny Horton.

    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.