NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 22, 2012): Vs lbh pna ernq guvf, lbh'er n trrx!: Q: Think of a common man's name in four letters, one syllable. Move each letter exactly halfway around the alphabet. For example, A would become N, N would become A, and B would become O. The result will be a common woman's name in two syllables. What names are these?Am I the only one that thinks there should be a couple more letters at the end of the man's name or can we agree that it's more of a nickname?
P.S. I'm heading out to nearby a narrow gorge and will have to ponder this further as I sit beside the river.
Edit: My initial hint was for Trev (or) which becomes Geri (be). Both 'or' and 'be' were hinted at. My second clue was for a "narrow gorge" (glen) and "beside the river" (banks).
A: GLEN & TYRA
Alternate answer: TREV & GERI
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.
Well I have come up with an answer that perfectly fits the description given, but I still do not feel completely comfortable that it is the answer Will is expecting, however I will restrain myself from another rant on the puzzles.
ReplyDeleteBlaine asks: "Am I the only one that thinks there should be a couple more letters at the end of the man's name or can we agree that it's more of a nickname?"
ReplyDeleteI happen to know of a well known singer whose first name is just that -- only 4 letters long. It's true that there are some guys with that name, but where they've doubled that last letter, but that's not the case with the singer.
I have a question: Is ginger a spice or an herb? or both?
ReplyDeleteOk, from Jim's clue I now realize that he AND Blaine have each thought of an ALTERNATE answer!
ReplyDeleteSo here's a clue for you guys: Instead of a nickname or an abbreviated man's name missing an "OR" at the end, think of different names in which the man's name starts with what you THOUGHT was the first letter of your woman's name; and consequently the woman's name starts with what you thought was the first letter of your abbreviated man's name!
Well done Enya!
DeleteI'm heading out to nearby a narrow gorge and will have to ponder this as I sit beside the river.
DeleteBlaine!
DeleteYou ole daredevil you!
Oh yes, and be sure to enjoy the charm of the chasm!
DeleteObscure musical clue: a spoof of "Every Breath You Take" that appeared 6 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe woman's name I came up with is probably more "well-known" than it is "common," but I think it works and I'll run with it.
ReplyDeleteGot your clue Jan. I'm surprised one of the Ben's here didn't catch it. Happy Earth Day everyone. Hope you get outside to your favorite nook and have a picnic or plant a tree. Think green today.
ReplyDeleteI found a solution and I also thought that the woman's name was more well-known than common. Some interesting facts from SSA: the man's name (as I have it spelled) has been in the top 1000 baby names for well over 100 years, reached it's height of popularity in 1931 and fell off the top 1000 in 2004; the woman's name hit the top 1000 in 1964 and was sporadically on the list until 1993, hit it's height in popularity in 1998, then faded from the list in 2008. Though the woman's name has never been as popular as the man's once was, I have to concede it is a common name.
ReplyDeleteTo solve this one I had to pull out an old computer I put away to rot 13 years ago.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how common the female name is. According to findthedata.org
The first name occurs 0.005% of the time in females.
Search the female name in google and all the hits on the first page and half are for the same person (so she's famous but I don't know anyone else with that name)
I think I’ve got a line on this one. I would consider the man’s name to be common. I would not consider the woman’s name to be all that common, but definitely well-known. I can think of one very famous woman with that name.
ReplyDeleteChuck
I've reviewed list after list of baby names and still no luck. I'm thinking about this way too hard. Too many names. They're all blending together and gyrating inside my brain.
ReplyDeleteDon't feel bad for over thinking this. It's what keeps us from getting old.
DeleteOh, I had it figured out already. I guess the clues in my original post aren't so obvious.
DeleteI'm going to go have some tomato soup before withdrawing some money from my account.
ReplyDeleteBlaine's clue was right on. Think about it or use a thesaurus and you'll get your names.
ReplyDeleteI think I now found the intended answer. I passed over it numerous times because I've not heard the name before. I will submit this answer along with my own solution, which I believe is far more fitting. I will explain on Thursday. I guess this puzzle requires a little deeper thinking than other recent ones.
ReplyDeleteHow about "Pete" on Mad Men.
ReplyDeleteBad news from the 1930's.
ReplyDeleteAnother obscure musical clue has to do with Disney and an American Revolutionary hero.
ReplyDeleteI've got another name puzzle. I was going to send it to Will, but it probably has too complex a set-up, so I'll try it out on all of you. Start with the name Lena (as in Lena Olin, one of my favorite actresses). Add three letters and rearrange them to create a common 7-letter girl's name. To this add a "d" and rearrange the result to name a common 8-letter flowering plant. What is the girl's name and what is the flower? For bonus points, find two sets of answers.
ReplyDeletegot it - should i blurt it out? I don't want to be poisonous!
DeleteDoggone-it, Jim. You're the bane of my existence!
DeleteWard, I only have one set of answers - I am still looking for the bonus points!
DeleteI get another 9 letter flower by adding two d's.
I'll bet you know that already!
Surely you can get the other answer by watching some old TV sitcoms.
DeleteThanks Ward! Yes! Sweet like perfume!
DeleteI got the "alternate" answer only after I got what seems to be the "intended" answer and then saw Jim's and Enya's clues.
ReplyDeleteAs Enya laid out: the "alternate" female first letter is the "intended" male first letter.
This (man's) name is neither abbreviated nor truncated, although it is more common in its five-letter version (fourth letter repeated). I'm not thinking of a singer, more of a bandleader.
Other than that: see Chuck's comment (although I don't understand the clue in the first sentence--if that is a clue).
There _is_ a clue in the first sentence of my earlier post. Look at the Top Ten in the late 60s.
DeleteLike a...
Chuck
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSorry Steve, that clue was a little too specific and would be easily found with a search.
DeleteNegligence is not giving this puzzle a try.
ReplyDeleteNice.
DeleteOh Will, you've done it again. If this female name is "common," then I must've been hiding under a moss-covered stone since I left Phoenix. Did you mean to say "well-known?"
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I have happened on this blog though I've been doing the puzzle since postcard days and Susan S. I enjoyed the various clever clues!
ReplyDeleteI suspect I came up with the same result as Ruth. I'm going to keep trying.
ReplyDeleteWhat Dave said.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of two popular music personalities - one is like a cowboy - who spell the man's name with 4 or 5 letters.
ReplyDeleteI thought I had earlier found a solution with two common names, but I have now come to realize I made an error, forgetting that some nationalities reverse their surnames, listing them as the first name in the order. So now I too am sticking with the majority in my final choice.
ReplyDeleteI was heading for the moon when I got stuck between two telephone poles Help!
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle got me thinking of a couple different movies, one from the '90s that used the male name in it's title twice, and one from the '50s that used both the masculine and feminine versions of that same name.
ReplyDeleteApparently, the 4 letter man's name is not ross or gary.
ReplyDeletehttps://apps.facebook.com/offerpop/Contest.psp?c=105839&u=22219&a=202991206406825&p=112173338805484&rest=0&v=View
ReplyDeleteI entered a Facebook contest to win a twelve day trip to South Africa and I'm one of only nine finalists. You can vote every 24 hours and I'd really appreciate your vote. It would be awesome if you could post it on your FB page so your friends can vote, too. Thank you very much!
Dave
(frequent Blaine's Blog contributor from Eugene)
GLEN = TYRA
ReplyDeleteMy clue:
"I think I now found the intended answer. I passed over it numerous times because I've not heard the name before. I will submit this answer along with my own solution, which I believe is far more fitting. I will explain on Thursday. I guess this puzzle requires a little deeper thinking than other recent ones."
The clue is in the last line with the word: deeper which refers to Glen.
Earlier I wrote:
"Well I have come up with an answer that perfectly fits the description given, but I still do not feel completely comfortable that it is the answer Will is expecting, however I will restrain myself from another rant on the puzzles."
and
"I thought I had earlier found a solution with two common names, but I have now come to realize I made an error, forgetting that some nationalities reverse their surnames, listing them as the first name in the order. So now I too am sticking with the majority in my final choice."
I thought I had come up with a great solution:
TRAN = GENA
Later I realized Tran is a Vietnamese surname, but comes first in the string of names. My clue was the word: rant which is an anagram of Tran.
I still have never heard of the name Tyra. Apparently it is not common in my neighborhood. Perhaps I should get out more.
SDB - Tyra, while not common in the US, does go back to Norse origins, being a feminine derivative of Thor. Unfortunately, in this country, the name is mostly associated with certain vapid model/media personality.
ReplyDeleteCurtis:
DeleteYou say: "Tyra, while not common in the US" Then it is not common as Will described it. I live in Seattle, which has a very large Norse community, and I even lived in the Ballard neighborhood, which has always been called: Snoose Junction, but I still never heard of this name prior to this puzzle and researching the name, Tyra. It bothers me when Will frequently uses the term, common to refer to something that is anything but common and I spend my time searching through something such as a list of common girl's names and his "common" name is not listed. I believe in fair play, and calling something common that is actually obscure does not fall into the category of fair play in my copy of Hoyles.
I agree: it's not a common name. Will's wording is misleading. In this case, the name is well-known due to one individual (Tyra Banks), but is not common, just as certain expensive cars are well-known, but not common (think Ferrari - most folks know what one is, but rarely see one). I've never met a Tyra, either.
DeleteWhen Alan Greenspan resigned, and Columbia Business School dean GLENn Hubbard was passed over as the new head of the Federal Reserve Banks (think TYRA), his students got creative and called the Police:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u2qRXb4xCU
My initial answer was TREV & GERI, but I was prompted by Enya to change this to GLEN & TYRA. I think both work, but we can all debate how "common" these names are. I concur that "well-known" is probably better for TYRA; it wasn't on my list of common names, hence didn't show up in my first search.
ReplyDeleteI also had EVAN & RINA, but realized that EVAN wasn't one-syllable, nor was I convinced that RINA was common anyway.
DeleteBlaine:
DeleteWhile I agree with you that RINA is not common, I assure you that RAIN is common here in Seattle.
Puzzle's up.
ReplyDeletelink
Glen(n) brought to mind a certain American actress and the depression era news: "Banks close".
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I think I’ve got a line on this one.” I was harking back to the 1968 Top 10 hit, Wichita Lineman, by Glen Campbell. I was going to add that I was having soup for lunch but I thought that might be cutting the cheese a bit too thin :)
ReplyDeleteLater in a reply to Wolfgang, I said, “There _is_ a clue in the first sentence of my earlier post. Look at the Top Ten in the late 60s.”
Followed by, “Like a...” Those are the first two words in the chorus of Glen Campbell’s #1 1975 hit, Rhinestone Cowboy.
Chuck
Heading for the moon was supposed to refer to astronaut John Glen
ReplyDelete@ jsulbyrne:
ReplyDeleteI thought your clue was referring to vert-igo, Trev spelled backwards. I responded with:
Don't feel bad fo(r over t)hinking this. It's what keeps us from getting old. Getting old, a reference to geriatric.
My assumption was that "...blending together and gyrating..." were a hint to the last three letters of GLEN and TYRA.
DeleteI was imagining Gyra(te) as Glen Campbell and Tyra Banks's celebrity couple name. It lacks the elegance of Brangelina and the absurdity of Willicity H. Muffman, but it's a start.
ReplyDeleteGlengarry Glen Ross was my clue.
ReplyDeleteRyan to Elna, another answer
ReplyDeletenot to be picky - but how many syllables in Ryan?
DeleteAnswers to my name puzzle (somewhere around post #19 above):
ReplyDeleteEleanor + d = oleander
Laverne + d = lavender
A source I consulted gave "god of battle" as a meaning for the name "Tyra". I rather freely associated that with the movie "Michael"(especially the bullfight scene). Hence, my previous comment (OMG...it's not Mike!), but I haven't yet uncovered the movies to which Curtis referred in his clue. I did, however, enjoy phredp's Disney reference; I watched that show as a kid, but was unaware it was Leslie Nielsen in the lead role until this week.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I think the name 'Glen Glenn' has appeared in the credits of LOTS of movies.
My clue:
ReplyDeleteNEGLigence is not giving this puzzle A TRY. NEGL and ATRY anagram into GLEN and TYRA.
Just came home from a celebration of life party and found the new puzzle up, as I expected, and the answer came to me after about a minute, but I should confess that I did use foreign illnesses to discover the answer.
ReplyDelete