NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 14, 2013): Organizing the Clothes Closet: Q: The phrase "clothes closet" describes a place to keep your clothes. What's interesting about the phrase is that all the letters of the second word are found inside the first one. Think of another two-word phrase that names a place to keep clothes, in which all the letters of the second word are found inside the first. The first word of the phrase has nine letters, and the second word has six. What common phrase is this?You don't need an additional hint from me since the puzzle provides plenty of clues. The answer is not "roughened ground" or "ephemeral hamper" though.
Edit: My hint was in "You don't" where the initials U.D. are hidden between the words.
A: Underwear Drawer
Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any hints that could lead directly to the answer (e.g. via a chain of thought, or an internet search) 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.
Emphemeral, Blaine? Why not trusty ephemeral? Stream of consciousness thinking now ;-).
DeleteTypo fixed... thanks.
DeleteWould have been synonyms if one letter had not been dropped.
ReplyDeleteAlong the same lines as Lorenzo, I think Will has a vested interest in the answer.
ReplyDeleteChuck
Wow, my brain had to dig deep to find this one LOL
ReplyDeleteI believe Will liked that total last week just under 2,000 correct solutions.
DeleteGoing for 3000!
Btw, Vive la France and Happy Bastille Day, mes amis!
Many of our French brothers willl not even understand this puzzle.
DeletePourquoi? Were the maquis commandos?
DeleteSans, Jan.
DeleteSpeaking of French brothers, I enjoyed watching Inspector Trousseau in all those Pink Panther cartoons. Da dum da dum da dum da da da da da daaaaaa dum. ;-)
DeleteNice, WW. You can't escape the long armoire of the law.
DeleteNor the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Super Pink Division. They are pretty snappy dressers over there.
DeleteNot to hamper your style but my sewing machine treadle can put out some pretty trendy threads
DeleteI happen to think your sewing machine is stuck up. Sorry, I don't mean to needle you.
DeleteI'm just trying to follow the thread. So, please weave me alone.
DeleteAs puns go, skydiveboy, those are so-so.
DeleteWord Woman, I jes' never figured you fur an old sew 'n' sew. Oh well, stitch 'n' bitch. As fur me, well I'll jes go bobbin along.
DeleteSDB no need to be a sweater. I will not knit pick with you. That might crochet your spirit
DeleteAnd our red red Robin goes bob bob bobbin' along...
DeleteSpeaking (again) of birds, a scientist at the U of Sheffield predicts in an article titled "The Beak Shall Inherit the Earth" that humans will eventually have beaks like pufferfish instead of teeth. But, don't worry, the author says it is unlikely this will happen in the next 50 years. ;-)
DeleteI would say he has been sipping out of the wrong beaker.
DeleteAnyway, I think this thread has run out.
Having just had a wisdom tooth removed I will abstain from my usual LOL. I truly resembled a pufferfish for close to a week. And I had to deal with the dentist "bill" for accepting all the misery.
DeleteYou are reminding me of having my teeth cleaned by an older dental hygienist 35 or more years ago who I immediately took a disliking too, and I suspect the dentist soon did as well since I never saw her again.
DeleteAs she was doing her cleaning she suddenly advised me that I should have my wisdom teeth removed. When I asked her why, she said in case I was in a car accident and they needed to wire my jaw closed and needed an attachment point or something like that. I could hardly believe my ears.
As it turned out I was born without wisdom teeth anyway much to my delight. If I did have wisdom teeth, they would need to put me under in order to extract them because Novocain does not work on me and I stopped using it in my teens. It feels the same with or without for me, but now I don't really mind dentists.
I hope you feel better soon.
No wisdom teeth but much wisdom SDB!
DeleteThank you, feelin much better! I still have two remaining so I don't predict, although some friends who think I talk too much would like it, having my jaws wired shut anytime soon.
How do you know? Did they send you a wire?
Deleteno they dropped me an invisi-line.
DeleteWell, brace yourself.
Deletehttp://www.miguelmllop.com/stories/stories/dedaumier.pdf
DeleteTo paraphrase the last posts I made in last week's thread, before I found the expected nine-and-six-word-phrase, I had first found an eight-and-six-word-phrase which worked just fine, except for the first word being only eight letters long where the puzzle calls for nine. The nine-and-six-word-phrase which I've submitted uses the same second word of six letters.
ReplyDeleteI had also noted that the second word repeats a letter, but both phrases first words repeat the same letter.
And then I posted this:
───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───
═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══
───┼───┼───┴───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┐
───┼───┼───────┼───┴───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
───┼───┼───────┼───────┼───┼───┴───┼───┤
───┼───┼───────┼───────┴───┼───────┼───┤
───┼───┼───────┴───────────┼───────┼───┤
───┼───┼───────────────────┼───────┴───┘
I think I've explained how these letter rearrangement diagrams work enough times now.
Is there any reward for the early puzzle solvers?
ReplyDeletekudos
DeleteWorms. See earlier puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to Lorenzo's and other's answers, there is a second answer. The people who use the second place probably use it more often than they use the first place.
ReplyDeleteI was ridin' with my buddy, Mitch this morning, and we came up with this conclusion, "You all just keep us laughing." Have a great weekend and don't panic. :-)
ReplyDeleteRidin with Mitch refers to Mitch Ryder.
DeleteSock it to me baby.
Laughing refers to laugh in.
Once again sock it to me.
Panic refers to getting them in a wad.
If you shoved your shirts into your grandfather clock (pity the pendulum!), you'd have a clockwork locker, which almost works.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised we've gotten this far with no "coming out of the closet" cracks.
Maybe we have been too busy trying to crack the puzzle.
DeletePity the pendulum? For the love of God, Montressor!
DeleteA beruffled duffel didn't work any better than a ruptured spleen or being the sole support of my poor old invalid aunt.
DeleteBut 27 8X10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back did the trick.
Guess where I spent eight and a half minutes of my time this afternoon?
There's only one 's' in Montresor. I didn't know that, but I do now.
> Guess where I spent eight and a half minutes of my time this afternoon?
DeleteIn Mr. Peabody's Way-Back Machine?
Set the dial for Stockbridge, Massachussetts, c. 1967, Sherman.
DeleteMassachusetts. It's gotta be my keyboard's fault, right?
Delete@Jan:
DeletePicking out your clothes?
The answer reminds me of a question posed to the audience on the Tonight Show by the host, Johnny Carson, and there was an applause meter to tally the audience response which had two intended answers, however a third possibility was added at the end which got a big laugh and a spike in the meter, which was an obvious glitch.
ReplyDeleteThey went off the deep end.
DeleteSolved it in a brief amount of time.
ReplyDeleteHere were some of my non-answers: clothier's closet, shrinkage hanger, overstudy vestry, raincoat's carton, container's carton, reshaping hanger. I do know the correct answer, however.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a cashmeres recess, wardrobes drawer or laceworks locker. None of these the correct answer either.
DeleteAlso a coveralls alcove.
DeleteOne of Charles answers seem to be more than a possibility!
DeleteI was thinking the same thing. Torchy subject.
DeleteBut does it meet the "common phrase" test? It's a 'no' for me.
DeleteWW
DeleteCommon, you say? Some things I just don't share
Ron you dashed my hope chest. Had my heart wet on shrinkage hanger.
"Common" is in the eyes of the beholder!
DeleteYes, and, as my beekeeper friend says, the Queen Bee hopefully stays out of the eyes of the beeholder.
DeleteThose critters in The Wizard of Oz -- did they live in an apey aerie?
DeleteYes, except when busy with spelling bees.
DeleteI keep imagining Will in his Puzzle Master super-hero outfit: cape, tights, shorts on the outside, Shortz on the inside.
ReplyDeleteThat's no nut boy, that's Captain Nice.
DeleteI can truly say, Jan, that I have never imagined that super-hero outfit.
DeleteSorry to post so late, but I've been down the shore with my gal Adelaide for the last few days (She's very attractive!), and haven't needed any storage spot for clothes anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhen I travel, I always pack my clothes in a versatile valise.
ReplyDeleteHow about a UNIVERSAL VALISE, good for all types of clothing.
DeleteI like to use my totem tote, especially when not counting letters.
DeleteSo many posts. So many clues. Seems kinda sketchy to me.
ReplyDeleteUNDERWEAR DRAWER
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"The answer reminds me of a question posed to the audience on the Tonight Show by the host, Johnny Carson, and there was an applause meter to tally the audience response which had two intended answers, however a third possibility was added at the end which got a big laugh and a spike in the meter, which was an obvious glitch."
The questions were, How many men in the audience wear briefs? and How many men in the audience wear boxers? The joke follow up was, How many rough it? Someone yelled which caused the needle on the meter to spike and got a huge laugh.
It could also be a DRAWER DRAWER.
I was sure the "boxers vs briefs" punchline was "Depends", which I think is funnier.
DeleteThis was many years prior to Depends.
DeleteI once heard an historical account that explained that underwear was developed, in the days of coarser fabrics and poorer hygiene, to protect your clothes from body and your body from your clothes.
DeleteMust you be so bawdy?
DeleteCharles' clue: "wardrobes drawer" certainly works.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAt the risk of appearing disagreeable I will now state that I do NOT agree. Whoever heard of the phrase, wardrobes drawer? I am sure even Ward Cleaver would have never uttered this term.
DeleteKnock it off, will ya, SDB?
DeleteWally, go mess up your room, will ya?
DeleteAS the resident Ward here, I feel I must step in to provide a quote from Ward Cleaver, "You know, Wally, when I went to high school, we used to have to wear a collar and tie to school everyday." We may never know where he stored them, but it was probably in a wardrobe of some sort.
DeleteThank you for having the last word Warden Ward.
DeleteWith all those robes, I thought Ward was a judge. . .and that he wore only a collar and tie under those Ward Robes he stored in the drawer.
DeleteAll I can say is that if you have an opinion contrary to mine, you may "draw" your own conclusions.
DeleteLet's just call it a drawr, as they say in England. Clusions may be pro or con.
DeleteAnd Word Woman: Even Robespierre would cringe at that post.
SKB: Google "Wardrobes drawer." it's out there? By the way, were you called???
DeleteProve it. I did not find it via a Google search.
Deletehttp://www.google.com/search?q=wardrobes+drawers&biw=1098&bih=872&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=r4zpUbDXIafxiwLkz4HYDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CHYQsAQ
DeletePhotos of wardrobes and drawers prove nothing. There is no such phrase or term, wardrobes drawer. It makes no sense. Wardrobe drawers would make sense, but does not satisfy the puzzle as presented. Wardrobes drawer is nonsense.
DeleteIt's certainly more generic than "underwear drawer," which I will concede is likely the intended answer.
DeleteWar of the Drobes?
DeleteWardrobe malfunction?
Robes Pee-er?
That's all I've got.
Benmar, you certainly like using the word, certainly. Try using it correctly for a change. No matter what you say, wardrobes drawer is not a phrase or a term and you have not found it anywhere. Now you even have me wondering what in the world you mean my 'generic."
DeleteInstead of WORKPLACE LOCKER, why not try DAYWORKER DRAWER?
DeleteSKB: "MY GENERIC" ???
DeleteCut back on the amphetamines.
underwear drawer
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I think Will has a vested interest in the answer.”
Underwear --> shorts --> Shortz :)
Chuck
> Were the maquis commandos?
ReplyDeleteI would have bet that the term "going commando" dated back to WWII, but it seems to have started around 1974, with reference to Vietnam War troops.
I would have bet skydiveboy's "in case I was in a car accident" was an obtuse reference to an age-old maternal admonition.
DeleteNope. That is a true story. I thought about reporting this to the dentist, but let it go and then soon found he was no longer using her. I never asked why, but I didn't feel I needed to. I have never been one to suffer fools gladly. However, I do find it amusing when I notice a fool seems to be suffering me when I make a disparaging remark regarding his foolish remark or statement. How could I be so foolish as to not trust everything I come across on the Internet? is a fine example.
DeleteWho said "obtuse references" and "true stories" were mutually exclusive?
DeleteYep!
Well Bradley Manning and Edward Snowdon come to mind.
Delete"I've been down the shore with my gal Adelaide for the last few days (She's very attractive!)"
ReplyDeleteAdelaide, Australia, Down Under, underwear
attractive, having drawing power, drawer
UNDERWEAR DRAWER
ReplyDelete"Under 2000 entries" referred to Underwear. I was a week too early with the Adam's Underwear joke.
Inspector Trousseau is Clousseau's twin and has a thing for underwear.
My son and his friends still refer to the "Captain Underpants" Book Series on occasion. It makes me wonder why underpants is so much funnier than underwear. . .
In Great Britain all you have to do is say nickers to get a laugh.
Delete"Flip/flop words" referred to flip flops = thongs = underwear.
ReplyDelete"Any reward for early solver" - "reward" = drawer backwards.
I submitted Workplace Locker, which seems a more common phrase than Underwear Drawer. That's a matter of opinion, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteKen, I disagree. But, I'm not going to get my undies in a bunch about it.
Delete@ ken
DeleteI guess work uniforms are morecommon if you don't wear...nevermind I don't want to know.
Underwear drawer
DeleteMy clues were obvious about dig deep and not sharing. I had a pair from Atlanta Underground when it first opened that advertised the place. Underground U......s TMI? LOL
"Workplace locker" was my alternate answer. Jan seemed to give a clue for it 10 minutes after that posting. Google and Bing searches confirm that it is in common usage and thus within the rules although it trails in popularity.
DeleteI posted on Sun Jul 14, at 08:59:00 AM PDT:
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase the last posts I made in last week's thread, before I found the expected nine-and-six-word-phrase, I had first found an eight-and-six-word-phrase which worked just fine, except for the first word being only eight letters long where the puzzle calls for nine. The nine-and-six-word-phrase which I've submitted uses the same second word of six letters.
I had also noted that the second word repeats a letter, but both phrases first words repeat the same letter.
The first answer I thought of was WARDROBE DRAWER - which works just fine except for WARDROBE having just eight letters.
In the expected answer, UNDERWEAR DRAWER, you see two repeated letters in the first word; the R which is repeated in DRAWER, and also an E. WARDROBE repeats only the R.
Now, here's the diagram I posted explained:
UNDERWEAR
───U───N───D───E───R───W───E───A───R───
═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══
───┼───┼───D───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───D
───┼───┼───────┼───R───┼───┼───┼───┼───R
───┼───┼───────┼───────┼───┼───A───┼───A
───┼───┼───────┼───────W───┼───────┼───W
───┼───┼───────E───────────┼───────┼───E
───┼───┼───────────────────┼───────R───R
DRAWER
UNDERWEAR DRAWER
I've heard that C. S. Lewis's original working title for the Chronicles of Narnia was "The Lion, the Witch, and the Underwear Drawer."
ReplyDeleteVery common and very silly, but for long journeys they had the desired extras.
DeleteI was reaching when I mentioned the torchy subject. Torchy is the classic comic from illustrator (drawer) Bill Ward. Torchy is often scantily clad (various kinds of underwear). A reach for sure.
ReplyDeleteStackable basket works
ReplyDeleteNew puzzle is up:
ReplyDeleteNext week's challenge from Gary Alstad of Tustin, Calif.: Think of a three-syllable word in four letters, add two letters and rearrange everything to become a two-syllable word in six letters. Then add two more letters and scramble them to get a one syllable word in eight letters.
There are definately multiple answers to this one. No clue what I should use for a hint. It will be interesting to see what others come up with and what Will's answer is.
DeleteYes, there are all sorts of answers. I'm not smart enough to find all of them.
DeleteMore than one answer? I'm incredulous.
DeleteI can confirm that there are multiple answers.
DeleteAfter I had the first set, I took the final word, and used a scrabble site to find six letter words within it that also contained the four letter word. There were at least ten, and I liked a couple of them better than my first choice.
So even without trying more than one word for the first and last in the set, there are at last ten answers to the puzzle.
@dumpsterdivelad, are you making sure to keep two syllables in the 6-letter word?
DeleteThere's probably some debate too on whether a certain 6-letter word is 2 syllables or 3 syllables. I just avoided that by reversing it.
DeleteBlaine, I rechecked all ten 6-letter words for syllable count. Eight are just fine, but two must be crossed off. Thanks for the heads up.
Delete--DDL
I am convinced I found the first two parts (or maybe I just like them) but the third word is eluding me. I am zoning out.
ReplyDelete