NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jun 10, 2012): Have a Seat: Q: Name something to sit on. Divide the letters of this exactly in half. Move the second half to the front, without changing the order of any letters. The result will name some things seen on computers. What are they?Add the letters D-E-M to the answer, rearrange to name something that might be affected the longer you sit on one of these.
Edit: BARSTOOL + DEM --> BLOODSTREAM
A: BARSTOOL --> TOOLBARS
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.
"I'll Have Another" was scratched from yesterday's Belmont. It was still an exciting race.
ReplyDeleteLeo, have you been there all week?
DeleteIt's up now: Name something to sit on. Divide the letters of this exactly in half. Move the second half to the front, without changing the order of any letters. The result will name some things seen on computers. What are they?
ReplyDeleteWhile Blaine labors to come up with a hint, I'll just say this was a pretty easy puzzle.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice how most things you sit on have an odd number of letters? Like chair, couch, divan, davenport, etc. If you go with sofa, you can split and reverse and come up with the first word of a country name.
DeleteWith sofa, you can also split, move the second half to the front, and get the second word of a country name.
DeleteActually, with sofa, you don't have to change anything to get the middle of a country name.
DeleteWell…not quite the middle, is it…? And few people ever say it that way.
DeleteClose. Letters 12 - 15 of 21.
DeleteSomething that boosters do from time to time at Victoria's Secret may provide a clue.
ReplyDeleteOooh…that was too much…I think I'm falling off it…!
ReplyDeleteMy Celtics didn't make it last night and we may have seen the end of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in green. Cheers, gentlemen! Everybody will know your name as synonymous with teamwork and success. We'll always be glad you came here in 2007 and contributed to the 2008 championship win.
ReplyDeleteThink of an old Frank S. tune!
ReplyDelete2061092311
ReplyDeleteDDLad:
DeleteGreat clue! Nailed it for me as soon as I thumbed through other possibilities.
DDL I have the answer but when the week is over, I would love to know what your number clue means.....
DeleteDon’t know about you but I think this puzzle is far better than recent ones. In fact, I think it’s pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteChuck
In addition to describing something seen on computers, it could also describe a possible location for these seats (perhaps on the Jersey Shore)?
ReplyDeleteReminds me of ballet. Also pirate's booty and Fess Parker.
ReplyDeleteThat's a quite diverse set of associations.
DeleteIt is, and you just saw SDB stir and shake it into quite the blend.
DeleteInterestingly, though I’m sure all of us here would consider the “something to sit on” word a perfectly common everyday word, it does not appear in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition, nor in a number of other standard reference works. It does appear in some dictionaries including Dictionary.com online.
ReplyDeleteChuck
It's in the online edition of Merriam-Webster 11e as well (m-w.com).
DeleteScat.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIs that Pigeon English?
DeleteNo, actually, I think it may refer to one of your associations.
Deletefoo
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletethis puzzle answer came to me while I was sitting on the toilet!
ReplyDeleteWell SDB, there is certainly a lot of focus on the booty this week and I dare say the answer and all the accoutrements certainly emphasize my point (my point, not my booty which is not that large)
ReplyDeleteIs it my imagination or is this one easier than the last 10? Not many options to choose from.
ReplyDeleteI think a couple of folks here may be misunderstanding part of my hint. And I see why the confusion.
ReplyDeleteSome computers can use keys to control treble/bass. So one could sit on a keystone (of an arch) and think of the tone keys.
ReplyDeleteYou shouldn't get too fixed on only one answer.
ReplyDeleteGetting ready to watch the Mad Men season finale.
ReplyDeleteI hope Pete meets his comeuppance. He is what his now deceased partner Lane would call a "toady."
-- Other Ben
Except for the small fact that it is an uneven lettered name, there is a well known town in California that can be split in two in a similar fashion. The question would be to reverse the syllables of the name of this town and come up with something in two words you might see on certain road vehicles.
ReplyDeleteHey, SDB. Been there, done that. Read my clue again!
DeleteOne might be quite annoyed to have one's home state ignored.
ReplyDeletebtw...blogger does suck.
After I solved the puzzle, I followed Blaine's clue and solved his puzzle by looking up the sorted string in my "Sorted Anagrams List", a sorted list of the output of a program which ran through a long word list and printed a list of its own; taking the string of each word, alphabetizing it, and printing a line with that result followed by spaces and then the source word at the 40th column. A wonderful tool.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of posting a clue along the lines of the 4th word past the answer to Blaine's puzzle (the past tense of a 6-letter verb, the present tense of which could also serve as a noun (some sculptors use it), or the 3rd word *before* Blaine's puzzle answer (the same past tense verb, but starting with "un" -- that's right, adding the prefix "un" results in the entry that shows up 7 lines *back* - remember this is the *sorted* list of the *alphabetized* strings).
Unfortunately, the sorted strings of all three of those words, as well as all words in-between begin with the same 6 letters; and even though all 3 of the letters Blaine told us to add are amongst them, that still leaves 3 letters which everyone would realize is part of the NPR puzzle answer. I wouldn't want to be blamed for revealing that.
*SIGH*, I am SOOOOO embarassed!....
DeleteYou don't have to post your corrections, folks.
I realize already that the 4th word past the answer to Blaine's puzzle is an ADJECTIVE, NOT a VERB PAST TENSE!
I can visualize the humorous scenario running through people's minds already:
At any suppermarket, at the butcher's section:
Customer: Oh, look at all the wonderful steaks they have here, so beautifully ______d beneath the cellophane.
Butcher's assistant: Ah, but they didn't all start out that way, *I'm* the one who ______d them!
Chief butcher: Hey, assistant! Get back in here!
Butcher's assistant: What's wrong, Chief?
Chief butcher: Look at those steaks! You OVER_____D them!
(He hands him...<whatever tool?>...)
Chief butcher: YOU ______d those steaks, now you don't get to go home until you have UN______D EVERY ONE OF THEM!!!
Butcher's assistant: B-B-But,... Hey, Un______ ISN'T EVEN A WORD!!
Chief butcher: That's why I used the "past, with helping verb" tense; because Un______d IS a word, even if un______ is not.
Yep, I guess poor ol' Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan has lost his ______s!
Really in the mood for some chocolate right about now.
ReplyDeleteI had my lab robots help me with the puzzle this week.
ReplyDeleteCareful, you've got a bee loose in there!
DeleteDid somebody just say Olympic diver? There's a new puzzle afoot.
ReplyDeleteLondon calling...
Last Sunday I said, “Don’t know about you but I think this puzzle is far better than recent ones. In fact, I think it’s pretty cool.” Far rhymes with bar – cool, stool.
ReplyDeleteChuck
BARSTOOL = TOOL BARS
ReplyDeleteMy Clues:
"Reminds me of ballet. Also pirate's booty and Fess Parker."
The ballet barre. Pirate's booty = loot and spell loot backwards to get tool. Fess Parker as Davy Crockett called bears bars.
Sorry, no ka ka hints this time. I know you all know the difference between a bar-stool and a foot-stool, which is a turd about twelve inches long. I hope I would never stoop so low as to post such a thing.
I was thinking that Fess Parker was in reference to his wine.
DeleteLab robots = anagram of Barstool(+ an extra "b" for good measure).
ReplyDelete"Labors to" -> BARSTOOL.
ReplyDeleteScat is bar (a la Dan'l Boone) stool.
unitedstateSOFAmerica.
Dan'l Boone? Did you mean David Crockett as depicted in the Disney rewrite of history?
DeleteSorry, yes, you're right. "Kilt him a bar when he was only three," etc.
DeleteRight, and when he grew up he enjoyed killing Indian men, women and children too. He was quite a guy. His diaries are rather informative. Disney is another story.
DeleteWas "in the mood for chocolate" as in chocolate bar.
ReplyDeleteWrapping up this week's comments with questions:
ReplyDelete1. What is the California town?
2. What do the numbers 2061092311 represent?
3. What country has the letters "sofa" in the middle?
BTW, I thought this was a good puzzle challenge.
Thanks for reminding me, I meant to say that the California town is Barstow and that becomes tow bars.
DeleteYa know, I still don't know what country has "sofa" in the middle, and I'm cool with that;.....but, if you'd care to enlighten me.....?
DeleteAs noted above, United States of America has sofA in the middle.
DeleteWhat do the numbers 2061092311 represent?
DeleteTake them as two zip codes:
20610 is BARSTOW, MD.
92311 is BARSTOW, WA.
This is as close as I could find, because no US town seems to be named BARSTOOL!
There are at least two more BARSTOWS, one in CA and one in TX.
SDB spotted the one in CA a little later. Of course, BARSTOW inverts to TOWBARS, as he also realized.
Nope. 92311 is the zip code for Barstow, CA.
DeleteI live in Seattle, WA, and have never heard of a Barstow, WA. So I just looked it up via Google and guess what it says:
"Barstow had a population of 0; a land area of 0.56 sq. miles; a water area of 0 sq. miles; and a population density of 0.00 people per sq. mile according to the US Census Bureau estimate of July 1, 2009. Latest Census Estimates for all incorporated places in Washington."
Maybe Jimmy Hoffa lives there with a pooka, or perhaps the Rapture got 'em all.
I was convinced that 2061092311 was a SKU number some online furniture retailer that was going to point to a barstool. I guess I over thought it. :)
Deletemy hint; 'old Frank S. Song" --quarter to 3, so set em up Joe....
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised! The new NPR puzzle has been up for hours now. Why am I the first to mention it here at 4:33 AM in the morning PDT?
ReplyDelete