NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 7, 2013): Country Mix-up: Q: Rearrange the letters of INDIA + BELARUS to name two other countries. What are they?The capitals of the resulting countries are about 3,000 miles apart, and neither contains the letter "E".
A: LIBERIA + SUDAN
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.
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.
And each of the capitals contains the same number of letters.
DeleteI can't hold a candle to JS2, but we are very similar.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChange one letter in one of the answer countries to name something that you might find in a homophone of its capital.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a news snippet I saw about Stonehenge.
DeleteIf you add 4 A's to INDIA + BELARUS, you obtain A LEAN SAUDI ARABIA.
ReplyDeleteThe answers do not include the USA although there is no denying some connections here.
ReplyDelete1 continent!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call this an "indirect" hint. This puzzle is alreaady easy enough. Do we really need to make it easier?
DeleteAgreed. A simple list will serve quite well. There aren't too many countries as the answer pool.
DeleteBy definition, how can this be interpreted as anything but an INDIRECT hint? Even Blaine isn't biting yet!
DeleteTherefor solving this puzzle (I use the term loosely)depends on how one deals with incontinence.
DeleteYou're in trouble?
DeleteYou're in town?
DeleteUrine stinks!
DeleteUrine luck if you happen to get the call this Thursday.
DeleteWord Woman:
DeleteYou got it all wrong. Urine Town should be spelled, Pissburg. And wasn't that the hometown of Willa Catheter? This blog should get a Peebody Award.
Heavy analogies SDB
DeleteWell, when one has a load... But enough of all this urinalysis.
DeleteThe fact that there are a finite, known and relatively small number of states, countries, state capitals, world capitals and the like make things easier for the puzzle makers and us, the puzzle solvers.
ReplyDeleteChuck
Not much shaking here. I guess I am free to go home and take a foam bath.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, if the countries (their capitals) are 3000 miles apart (per Blaine's clue), isn't it likely that they would be on the same continent???
ReplyDeleteNot really.
DeleteIf the capitals of two countries are 3000 miles apart it's "likely that they would be on the same continent"? Are you on crack?
DeleteIf not crack then perhaps a fault line.
DeleteYou just spoiled my opportunity to make the origin clue more challenging. John Brown: do you have Harper's Ferry kin???
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWMLW channel 48 in Milwaukee and AM 900 KKRT in Wenatchee. Not quite 3000 miles but pretty far all the same.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the answer is BLAINE RADIUS!
ReplyDeleteIsn't that circular thinking?
DeleteYes it is circular as the answer could also be NEBULA'S RADII.
DeleteRadical, Ron! I kinda like A SNIDE BURIAL. Some of the others are not suitable for this blog, but very funny.
DeleteThe former President never watched cartoons.
ReplyDeleteThat was a teaching of his.
DeleteThat was Noam Chomsky's job.
DeleteGood one Leo, Although I will pour myself a drink and spare everyone the reply it begs for.
DeleteQ: Chomsky? Noam?
DeleteA: Hardly, he's just an acquaintance.
Change one letter and rearrange to get a region in Italy and a mountain range in South America.
ReplyDeleteYes, I always thought there must be many people in Peru named Andrew because I was often advised that I must see the Peruvian Andes.
DeleteYes. Change the B to a G to obtain LIGURIA + ANDES.
DeleteAt the end of last week's thread, after announcing and quoting this week's puzzle, I then posted something similar to this:
ReplyDelete─┬──┬──┬──┬──┬──+──┬──┬──┬──┬──┬──┬──┬──
═╪══╪══╪══╪══╪═════╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══
─┼──┼──┼──┼──┼─────┼──┼──┴──┼──┼──┼──┼──┐
─┴──┼──┼──┼──┼─────┼──┼─────┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
────┼──┼──┼──┼─────┴──┼─────┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
────┼──┼──┼──┼────────┴─────┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
────┼──┼──┼──┼──────────────┼──┴──┼──┼──┤
────┼──┼──┴──┼──────────────┼─────┼──┼──┤
────┼──┼─────┴──────────────┼─────┼──┼──┘
────┼──┼────────+───────────┼─────┼──┼──+
────┼──┼────────────────────┼─────┼──┴──┐
────┼──┼────────────────────┼─────┴─────┤
────┼──┴────────────────────┼───────────┤
────┼───────────────────────┴───────────┤
────┴───────────────────────────────────┘
Now my post on Thursday won't look quite as nice as the above, but it shouldn't look too bad!
Wonder if Will would accept Israel n Dubai ?
ReplyDeleteI would be a bit Dubaius.
Delete+ Dubai israely not a country...
DeleteYes, but you can always Tel Aviv.
DeleteThere you go, talking Meir off. ;-)
DeleteYou mean, like a Nutty Yahoo?
DeleteShall we Begin this again? Only 9 Prime Ministers of Israel to go.
DeleteDave Taylor, so good.
DeleteAs long as we Sharett.
DeleteWW: Yigal, are we Allon board?
DeleteYes, Sharon share alike.
DeleteWell, being that my name sounds so much like Rabin, it would be a Shamir for me not to weigh in. I Blevi remember an old song from the 50s or 60s named "oh Meir Israelite" Any body eshrekol?
DeleteRoRo, appreciated dearly. Eh, who'd a thunk it?
DeleteStay cool y'all; we're in our prime!
Lee could.
DeleteYasser, that's my Bibi. Nasser, I don't mean Mapai.
DeleteThat'swan song I sing every morning to my grand sons while we eat fishy chipts and pancakes with Kairo syriap
DeleteYour are a peer amid the unrest.
DeleteWhere is ABQ?
DeleteLast I heard he was visiting the peer amids of Egypt with Carmen Sandiego.
DeleteLwszbzvtxg hux iawjxf, fni pww'le nie gjqprjwaz abqrpvft nebgrxzxtbb, eyb uczxbumaz sqsj kpct rvy'o fzewja vnom gs gpwxt yf mztkhge oic xccbvgo svbf. Oy ljrav tahx hon qj czdrkqrrpx.
ReplyDeletePaul,
DeleteIf you're gonna post a Vigenere Cipher on Blaine's Puzzle Blog, and the key is neither the answer, nor its ROT13, nor the answer spelled backwards, nor its ROT13; THEN AT LEAST GIVE US A CLUE AS TO WHAT THE KEY IS!!!
BTW, you never DID explain the crypto-post you made on Sun Jun 09, at 03:47:00 AM PDT:
Zae fhfk lbmxqzxul xmmawda wvwe bal szaplj owgasuv? Vhf fpxf tq ikyszoxk la nhye m zxswhiga oazw?
John Brown asked someone earlier "What are you on crack?"
DeleteMy question for you, "What are you on crack codin'?"
Curious here also.
Zbprk uhne cgm l mgt zcos Rcmexou,
DeleteHhu pifrtkspd zu zlr-ulz Tbkxcl;
Baz nse xgcy ot zbp prgcy
Pxupzkkj bts jomoaot,
Mz hk yutd, "O'rf arkym zn zu Mtbkxcl."
Just the 2 countries would be too short (unless you remove spacing/punctuation: then short keys can be reasonably secure.)....Paul's key is a longer key phrase that is a clue/description of the answer...and is long enough that I lost patience with cracking it...so, bravo!
DeleteLimericks, on the other hand...ah, don't want to say too much, as you never know who's listening, and I don't want to end up in prison! =)
Sun Jun 09, at 03:47:00 AM PDT: Smith
DeleteMon Jul 08, 11:28:00 AM PDT: The lovely continent of Africa
Tue Jul 09, 12:11:00 PM PDT: gulag
The letters can be rearranged to form the name of a country and a noun that describes all of us when we post to this blog.
ReplyDeleteNIUE & BAD LIARS.
Deletecountry: BERUNDI
Deletenoun that describes us when we post: ALIAS
It's BURUNDI.
DeleteAh, the joys of transliteration! I, like ron, thought only BURUNDI was correct, but a bit of Googling shows that BERUNDI, although mostly used in the past, is also acceptable.
DeleteWell then perhaps there are two and they are the BARE UNDIES.
DeleteOr maybe that should be the BEAR UNDIES.
DeleteSadly, both countries have suffered from devastating civil war violence in recent years.
ReplyDeleteCan't you narrow it down a bit more? (Sarcasm intended)
DeleteWhy don't you just say, Tennessee and Kentucky?
DeleteTen Ken.
DeleteSimon Saiz Ken Ten.
DeleteSimon Says Ken Ten refers to Simon Kenton. It meant nothing to the puzzle, except that I was just having fun. :-)
DeleteOh, by the way Kentucky and Tennessee are countries to us Hillbillies.
DeleteTentucky and Kennessee, Zeke? Tentucky those toes and Kennesee the result?
DeleteCaint, I'sa gots dunlops disease. :-) jes kiddin.
DeleteOne answer country and its capital have Latin American roots.
ReplyDeleteWhat is that from which you may take away the whole and yet have some left? This is taken from a great website which I am indicating here for those who don't know about it: futilitycloset.com
ReplyDeleteThought the first one was obvious, but then I lacked an "S". Still got it in time.
ReplyDeleteBELARUS + INDIA >>> SUDAN + LIBERIA
DeleteMy clue: "Simple list"~~the first letters in the two-word phrase point to Sudan and Liberia.
SUDAN & LIBERIA
ReplyDeleteI considered posting that I would prefer living in my car rather than living in one of these countries.
My car is a sedan, (similar to Sudan) but this puzzle did not need any hints and several give-away hints were already posted.
Liberia, Sudan
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “The fact that there are a finite, known and relatively small number of states, countries, state capitals, world capitals and the like make things easier for the puzzle makers and us, the puzzle solvers.” “And us” anagrams to Sudan.
I wrote a little program that searched my list of countries for names that had between 4 and 8 letters, were comprised only of letters contained in the string “indiabelarus” and that weren’t India or Belarus. There were only 13 so the final look-through for the right pair was easy enough to do manually.
Chuck
Hmmf! I had posted a comment Sunday morning, on the previous week's thread, not an uncommon action, and now it appears to be gone. I didn't think it was too giveaway, something along the lines of, "We are free to have divided opinions about this," with "free" pointing to Liberia and "divided" to the fact that Sudan was recently divided with the creation of South Sudan.
ReplyDeleteSo was I deliberately censored, or just hit by an internet gremlin?
> Change one letter in one of the answer countries to name something that you might find in a homophone of its capital.
ReplyDeleteSedan, Car Tomb
> One answer country and its capital have Latin American roots.
Well, Latin (Liberia) and American (Monrovia), at least.
From my gmail trash, my rejected comment:
ReplyDeleteFor July 7 - This is similar to what Click and Clack call "giving the Puzzler the summer off."
OK, got the answer, everyone will have the answer in two minutes. Hard to give a clue for a puzzle like this, but we're free to say we have divided feelings about it.
Africa the continent. Obviously the odds are 5000 - 1 to be called, so John Brown, go back to KS or Harper's Ferry or rehab. or whatever!
ReplyDeleteINDIA + BELARUS
ReplyDelete─I──N──D──I──A──+──B──E──L──A──R──U──S──
═╪══╪══╪══╪══╪═════╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══
─┼──┼──┼──┼──┼─────┼──┼──L──┼──┼──┼──┼──L
─I──┼──┼──┼──┼─────┼──┼─────┼──┼──┼──┼──I
────┼──┼──┼──┼─────B──┼─────┼──┼──┼──┼──B
────┼──┼──┼──┼────────E─────┼──┼──┼──┼──E
────┼──┼──┼──┼──────────────┼──R──┼──┼──R
────┼──┼──I──┼──────────────┼─────┼──┼──I
────┼──┼─────A──────────────┼─────┼──┼──A
────┼──┼────────+───────────┼─────┼──┼──+
────┼──┼────────────────────┼─────┼──S──S
────┼──┼────────────────────┼─────U─────U
────┼──D────────────────────┼───────────D
────┼───────────────────────A───────────A
────N───────────────────────────────────N
LIBERIA + SUDAN
I can't hold a candle refers to candelabra which Liberace would use as he plays Johann Strauss II's Blue Danube. Sudan has as its major river the Blue Nile which is very similar.
ReplyDeleteThat was the teaching of his refers to the previous comment of a former president not watching cartoons. My reference ties to President Monroe of whom the capital of Liberia is named. Teaching refers to doctrine in particular the Monroe Doctrine.
I hope that I am not being too vague, but I don't want to risk going to give away route.
"The answers do not include the USA although there is no denying some connections here." referred to Monroevia and other US influences in Liberia; "no denying" referred to "denial" = the Nile.
ReplyDeleteNew puzzle is finally up:
ReplyDeleteNext week's challenge from National Puzzle League members Patrick Berry and Todd McClary: 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?
I don't think the Puzzle Master needs any help with this one.
ReplyDeleteIs Will coming up Shorts?
ReplyDeleteI'd've thought someone with your handle could spell that better...
DeleteTouche
DeleteSuperZee, since you brought up the French word, Happy Bastille Day!
DeleteJan, I'd've looks so cool. Touche´!
I've thought of a beautiful answer, only this phrase is eight and six. The six letter word has a repeated letter, but that same letter is repeated in the first eight-letter-word as well.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait!! I've found the expected answer and it uses the second six-letter-word of my eight-and-six phrase above.
DeleteOf course, that same repeated letter I mentioned in my above post IS ALSO repeated in the first nine-letter-word of the phrase I found.
www.solverscrabble.com really disappointed me on this one.
DeleteThe second word can be pronounced in either of two ways -- the "right" way for this puzzle, and another. Use the other, and you'll describe a person with an odd hobby.
ReplyDeleteI had to flip/flop the words to solve this one.
ReplyDelete───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───
ReplyDelete═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══
───┼───┼───┴───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┐
───┼───┼───────┼───┴───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
───┼───┼───────┼───────┼───┼───┴───┼───┤
───┼───┼───────┼───────┴───┼───────┼───┤
───┼───┼───────┴───────────┼───────┼───┤
───┼───┼───────────────────┼───────┴───┘
My post on Thursday won't look quite as nice as the above, but it shouldn't look too bad.