NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 22, 2013): Character with All Five Vowels Puzzle:
Q: The name of what character, familiar to everyone, contains each of the five vowels (A, E, I, O and U) exactly once? The answer consists of two words — eight letters in the first word, four letters in the second.
Anyone else feel they spent a lot of time poring through long lists of movie, cartoon or literary characters before finding the answer?
Edit: The clue to the character was obviously at the end...
A: QUESTION MARK
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.
Yes, Blaine, I went through those same lists. You always find the answer in the last place you look. Why is that?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletejan, I guess you went through those lists twice.
DeleteI don't know why the system has been duplicating my postings like that. Happened last week, too.
DeleteNSA isn't perfect.
DeleteIn searching for the answer, I came upon a quote by Lucretia Mott, "What does woman want, that she does not enjoy?" Therein lies the truth.
ReplyDeleteLucretia Mott, would work if she was "well known."
DeleteAnd if she were a "character" instead of just having it?
DeleteJutchnbev, thank you for saying that so eloquently!
DeleteAt the end of last week's blog I posted:
ReplyDelete"That was easy. Now I can go back to bed."
When I first read the question I thought this was going to be a major time waster, but then I got the answer right away. Native American Indians may also welcome and find it easy.
It seems to me Will had a puzzle going way back that has much in common with this one.
ReplyDeleteWhat if, rather than a soliloquy, Hamlet was actually addressing a familiar character from another of Shakespeare's plays?
ReplyDeleteTo be continued...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt would have ruined the meter, so it was dropped. Great clue!
DeleteGetting back to last week's puzzle -- just thought I'd dash off a note about George H. W. Bush, a Vice-President between Ford and Gore; he briefly assumed the duties of the President when Reagan had surgery, which left him with what?
ReplyDeleteA poor memory.
DeleteMusical clue: A whole lot of crying.
ReplyDeleteBK,
DeleteIn that same vein, A musical clue from Pontius Pilate, Marc Antony, et al: "Rev. I, Acts V"
(Incidentally, I always enjoy your posts, here and on the Rex Parker blog.)
Lego...
Sorry, I goofed. The musical clue above should read, of course, "Rev. I, Acts X"
DeleteTypo Lego...
jan,
ReplyDeleteAre you confusing Vice-President Bush with Chief of Staff Alexander "I am in control here" Haig?
You must mean Alexander The Grate.
DeleteNope, different surgery. Haig just assumed that he assumed the duties of the President. And you know what happens when you assume...
DeleteAs I recall his comment grated with a lot of people. Hence, Alexander The Grate.
DeleteJan
DeleteYou get fired. That's why AH needed an asbestos suit.
MORTIMER MAUS, a well-known Disney character! See:
ReplyDeletehttp://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:300px-Mortimer_Maus.jpg
We all know well that guy who comes each Dec. 25 --
ReplyDeletethat NICHOLAS DUDE
comedian guys
DeleteWay to go sometimes y
DeleteZeke creek, so good!
DeleteI checked to see that it can't be googled easily, so this comment should be safe, but I remember seeing this one indirectly on final Jeopardy.
ReplyDeleteShould be obvious, but Final Jeopardy! involves written "answers" in the form of a question, ideally with the punctuation at the end.
DeleteBy "being googled easily" I meant that one couldn't do an exhaustive search of Final Jeopardy! answers (lists exist!) and look for the 8-4 one-of-each vowel pattern.
I swear we used to have an owl in the neighborhood that knew the name of a former president of China.
ReplyDeleteWho b dat, SBD? I remember my favorite, Done Shopping.
Deletethat was my inquiry SBD
DeleteTake two characters from science fiction, one from Greek mythology, and anagram.
ReplyDeleteQuark/E.T./Minos
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTMI
DeleteHave I seen this character on TV?
ReplyDeleteDepends. How much TV do you watch? But, probably yes.
DeleteThis character has been around for a long time. I remember seeing this character on "What's My Line?"
DeleteI have seen this character in several films.
DeleteI've seen this character in several Bugs Bunny cartoons!
DeleteThat sure brings back memories.
Delete... from a few months ago.
DeleteHistory doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.
Delete~~S.C./M.T.~~
I love that quote, but, like many attributed to Twain, no one seems to be able to find it in any of his writings. It sure sounds like something he'd say.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteWhen I saw "History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes," I was going to post: "Could this be just a rank misquote?" Then I had second thoughts that it might just be too much of a giveaway!
DeleteYou brilliant bastards. I laughed out loud when I got the answer.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's what the message on my answering machine from Quentin Terantino is about. Odd title for a movie, though.
DeleteSometimes the answer is right in front of your nose...and still you don't see it...Brilliant, indeed!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSorry, just a little too much revealed in how this was presented.
DeleteYeah, maybe I could have phrased that one better, Good call, Blaine.
DeleteBut, obviously, not to everyone, Curtis ;-).
DeleteDoes anyone here know if they have wolves in Virginia?
ReplyDeleteI'm a frayed knot.
DeleteYes jan, and neckties are like the ocean. High tied and low tied. Have you knot noticed?
DeleteReminds me of a different character from Batman......
ReplyDeleteAnd you probably don't mean David Niven's batman.
DeleteI must be too young because I had to look him up and realized that you are quite the joker.
DeleteCombines elements of a recent puzzle
ReplyDeleteI notice this character shows up more frequently in Spanish-language media.
ReplyDeleteThe character is a notorious flip-flopper.
DeleteThat would make this character a good politician, then, Zeke.
DeleteThis character is demanding, always on the Far Right, answers to no one and frequently hangs out with a Right leaning Separatist.
ReplyDeleteAlways exhorting people to doubt leftist rhetoric.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteGood clue, but with a few too many details that could reveal the answer.
DeleteUh-oh... Blaine terminated your comment with extreme prejudice. Next come the enhanced interrogation techniques!
DeleteHe could be water bored.
DeleteBad move. Maybe he should stick to chess?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteOne of my favorite bumper stickers is:
DeleteSO MANY IDIOTS! SO FEW COMETS!
Wher are you, Blaine?
Delete"Blaine! Come back!"
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWW
DeleteHow about the post right before that too?
Was headed there next. . . .thanks, Blaine!
DeleteOK, we don't have to wait for Blaine. David & Word Woman, please delete your posts, which reveal the answer.
ReplyDeleteMea Culpa, Jan and SDB! Truly didn't know til after. I am so sorry!
DeleteCulpa accepted (by me, anyway). That said, it is an intriguing coincidence you've uncovered.
DeleteIn so many ways, Jan. More later. Your clues are now revealing such deep brilliance!
DeleteI feel like the veterinarian guy...and hope not to be ostracized...or ostrichsized ;-)
The veterinarian guy is still lurking about, waiting for someone to leave one of these "obvious" blogs up long enough for me to read it. Is there an elephant's graveyard where they go to die?
DeleteAnd no, I don't feel ostrichized, though I am ostrich - sized, from sitting before this screen waiting for inspiration to leap from a meme or two.
That was a great movie! Auntie Meme.
DeleteMrScience, glad you have resurfaced! Were you lost in the wild? Welcome back!
DeleteNo MeMe here (see below). No man is an island. I feel for the Pakistani people...AND I would love to take a look at the rocks on the newly surfaced island.
Well if they already paved it over you won't be able to see the rocks.
DeleteI'm donne.
DeleteI'm going with "Austin Powers" and assuming Will miscounted where the space was.
ReplyDeleteIt can't be a miss count. Counts are always male.
DeleteI need another hint. Hints having to do with pop culture are welcome. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, this character can be found throughout pop culture.
DeleteAre they a villain, a hero or neither?
DeleteWell, think of a character who tends to frequently get under the skin and irritate people.
DeleteDoes he live in the northwestern U.S.? ;-)
DeleteI would say more Northeastern.
DeleteThis character can be extremely intimidating and people are known to try and deal a death blow.
I have been working on this most of the day and I am more confused than ever. So this character is from the Northeastern United States and a human male?
DeleteI don't want to give it away, but this character has much in common with Jean Valjean.
Deleteanna:
DeleteIn the mortuary business they have a saying: "You have to think outside the box."
Re: Jean Valjean: now we are all miserable. . .
DeleteMore or les.
DeleteMostly les. . . Les Moore.
DeleteI knew a guy named Les Moore. . . Parents with a warped sense of humor.
At school we all called him by his middle name, Iz, short for Izzy.
DeleteKnowing how humor doesn't always work well in print, I have been wondering if anyone caught the humor in my post way above: To be continued...
DeleteI did. In fact, I was going to post exactly the same line.
DeleteInteresting and good to know. It would be a shame to waste that one.
DeleteI'm beginning to think it is not a person at all.
ReplyDeleteNow that's an interesting thought. Or maybe I should say intriguing.
DeleteAs someone with all 5 vowels in my own name, you'd think I'd have solved this by now. Too bad "Superman Lois" doesn't make sense....
ReplyDeleteA difficult vowel movement?
DeleteOf course they never really did film what actually went on in that phone booth.
DeleteEric, or does it?
DeleteI am actually relieved you don't have the answer yet. . .
Anna and Eric,
ReplyDeleteIf one part of this character’s name were spelled the same as the name of a character who cropped up in a previous NPR puzzle, the result would be a crop of what Libby, Del Monte or Green Giant might call Ma's Quiet Corn… because all the ears would have been given up for lent.
Libby Lego…
Libby Lego,
DeleteI agree with Will Shortz on this one; I know the answer but have no clue what your post means. Oh well, gives us something to ponder until tomorrow.
Wondering Word Woman
Wonderfully Wondering Word Woman,
DeleteWelcome to my world! I am routinely flummoxed by the flummery posing as clues on this blog, even when I know the answer. So, I can relate to you, Will, Anna, Eric, SDB… well, maybe not to SDB who is, like our too-clever-by-two-thirds cluery and this week’s puzzle, scarcely scrutable.
As for the flummery I’ve perpetrated this week, my previous musical clue and the clue just above share two threads in common.
When cluing, I am motivated by a fear of giving a giveaway. Don’t want Blaine to off/ice/ax my post, so try to keep my clues once or twice removed from googlability. (Although I must admit our beloved blog administrator has been very polite in his green-boxed blue-penciling of over-divulgent posts this week.)
Puzzles. We take pleasure in concocting, cluing, chewing on, savoring and solving them. That’s why we’re here.
Labyrinthine Lego…
Labyrinthine Lego,
DeleteYour flummoxing and flummery brought to mind the grains of sand which move by the process of saltation along the base of a recirculating flume in the sedimentation lab. When one looks at the grains of sand, they move with a decidedly jumping over each other movement as they go with the flow...The grains all get there eventually but the path is not a straight line. It reminds me of your concocting, flying, chewing on and solving puzzles description.
wwww (still clueless but enjoying the ride ;-))
If you lengthen that piece a bit you could turn it in to your professor as a sandpaper.
DeleteYou could consider your post a rough draft.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnna, if you need a pop culture reference, lets go back to the 96th comment, okay?
ReplyDeleteI've read all the comments at least 10 times over and I still can't figure it out. I've slept on it and still nothing. This is going to drive me nuts until Sunday. I'm sure it's obvious, but I just can't seem to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteanna, When I am having trouble figuring out a puzzle I try to find another way of thinking about it.
DeleteNo need to wait until Sunday. At 3pm EDT tomorrow, the answer will appear here, without, uh, doubt.
DeleteDon't let this puzzle drive you into a state of querulousness!
DeleteJan, and extremely rarely, sooner ;-).
DeleteAnna, we are all a little bit nuts here, even when we know the answer. As my daughter says, "Go do something else, it'll come quietly."
anna:
DeletePeople believe there are only two types of people. Those who are good at solving puzzles and those who are not. This is not true.
The truth is there are only two types of people, but the first is people who have good memories and the second is. (Damn!) I'll get back to you later.
As diligent as Blaine has been, the answer has appeared a couple dozen times in the blog this week already. Its absence would be so conspicuous that eliminating it completely would instantly give it away.
DeleteTMI jan
DeleteYou said the same thing about Natasha's comment yesterday, but Blaine let it go. I think I'm being very careful.
DeleteI know. We all have our own ideas about what is a giveaway, but I think yours is even more of one. Think about what it says.
DeleteJust figured it out. These clues didn't help at all. Don't let them veer you off track, Anna. (No hidden meaning in there - just being direct. Seriously, Anna, ignoring the entire thread will help IMO.)
DeleteI can't believe yesterday came and went and none of you nerds acknowledged the holiday. A belated Happy National Punctuation Day to all!
Jsulbyrne, history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
DeleteNerd Woman
Did you see how they want you to celebrate? Meatloaf again? The (Rocky) Horror!
DeleteEat, meet, loaf...our next, or maybe first, gathering.
DeleteIf you can't beat (meat) 'em, join 'em.
It took me this long, but I beat the deadline. I must ask, does that mean I lack character?
ReplyDeleteDubious at best.
DeletePre Doobies, methinks, Zeke creek. Anna, if you pull together Bob K's musical clue, Ben's reference to the numbered comment, and Pre-Doobies ~~ you're there! That's as pop as it gets 'round here. (Good luck)
DeleteThanks all for your hints and help. At this point I'll think on it until the answer comes out tomorrow. There are too many hidden meanings and I think I'm more confused despite the good intentions. Until tomorrow when I realize it was so obvious and I've just been over thinking it this whole time. haha
ReplyDeleteObfuscation: it's what we do best here, Anna.
ReplyDeleteAmazed to see the new island that rose up on the coast of Pakistan after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake. No man is an island. . .especially here.
I have on occasion thought (warning, snark ahead) that some of us may consider ourselves an "I" Land.
DeleteNote to anna: if you are new here, you might not realize that several comments regarding this week's puzzle appear at the end of the previous week's thread (because we are way too impatient to wait for Blaine in the Pacific time zone.) I, for one, posted a comment which I thought gave away the whole game, but it has stayed up. Nothing like a positive appraisal to get a positive response!
Bob:
DeleteI am NOT impatient!!! I would come and scratch your eyes out for saying such a thing except I bit all my fingernails down waiting for the puzzle to show up.
After careful thought, I have come up with a "thing" (arguably a character) familiar to everyone that otherwise fits.
ReplyDeleteYes, I feel like I am so close and I know what it should be, or rather represent, but still I've hit a wall. Oh, well. I should be doing my homework anyway instead of working on this.
DeleteThis character's name was in the title of a movie that came out last year.
ReplyDeleteThe Bollywood film: ?: A Question Mark.
DeleteI'm pretty sure this character appears in the bible, and in more than one Shakespeare play.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess "gasoline pump" is off base, notwithstanding it technically qualifies.
DeleteI think a gasoline pump factored into Richard III where King Ricky said "horsepower, horsepower, my kingdom for more horsepower."
DeleteAnd be sure to bring thy fountain pen with ye.
DeleteGot it. Sky dive, you're my new hero. Brilliant comments!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteHappy Mountain Day, RoRo! Hope you are out riding your bike, picnicking and picking apples. We have missed you all week but I especially miss you today!
ReplyDeleteShould I be looking at this puzzle through the eyes of a prisoner?
ReplyDeleteloop! You've got the answer and you probably don't even know it.
DeleteWhat I meant is that you used the answer at the end of your post. :)
DeleteThanks. I was aping your Jean Valjean hint, only a bit more simplistically.
DeleteQUESTION MARK
ReplyDeleteWildest week for me on Blaine's Puzzle Blog.
First I add a ? To the S.C./M.T source for the quote about history rhyming (which I most assuredly would not have done knowing the answer).
On Tuesday, I wrote "Happy National Punctuation Day! I plan to sit a spell and ponder orthography...no emoticons needed." I was talking with a slightly older friend about NPD and my new blog and she mentioned ? of the Mysterians (who I had not heard of by name) and then saw David's post! I was so focused on the new blog (think Grammer Girl (thanks, Jan!) meets I F______ Love Science) that I didn't realize question mark was the character! Oh, the irony!
Eric and Anna, I was glad I hadn't spoiled the fun for you.
Well, two good things: we now have another nickname for skydive boy (Question Mark) and a way to indicate TMI without saying TMI: ?
Oh, and I had thought until Tuesday that the song called the greatest Rock and roll song ever by John Lennon was titled "Nine to six tears."
First I add a
Yikes! Grammar. . .
DeleteWas "Nine to six tears" a sequel to "Working Nine to Five"?
DeleteA few days in the oil biz, but not very many. :-)
DeleteRegarding “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme” -- S.C./M.T.?..
DeleteNo question about that. Indeed, on this week's blog it rhymed with mystery.
Mystery-loves-company Lego…
History mystery ~ I like it, Lego.
DeleteSee what you missed, jsulburne, and how you were part of it. ;-)
QUESTION MARK ? In this case a rather questionable character too!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read the puzzle question (in the middle of my sleep cycle) my initial reaction was that this could be extremely difficult to solve. I then noticed that it does not in any way define this character, such as being famous. Also just the way it is constructed made me think it might be a keyboard character rather than a person or entity, and from there it was obvious.
My Hints:
“Native American Indians may also welcome and find it easy.”
As in the old cliché: “How.” No question mark in this case.
“It seems to me Will had a puzzle going way back that has much in common with this one.”
We actually had a few recent puzzles with something in common with this one, but I was mainly referring to just a couple of weeks ago when the answer was Marc Antony and I said it was way back referring to his pre-dating our calendar. I did this in order to not make it too obvious.
“I swear we used to have an owl in the neighborhood that knew the name of a former president of China.”
President Hu. Pronounced, who. No question mark.
“This character is demanding, always on the Far Right, answers to no one and frequently hangs out with a Right leaning Separatist.”
Questions demand answers. Look on your keyboard and you will see this character at the far right side. Also a question mark is usually at the far right end of a sentence. Questions don’t answer, at least in most cases. The Right Slash character shares the same key as the Question Mark.
“I don't want to give it away, but this character has much in common with Jean Valjean.”
They both are considered troublemakers and they both completed long sentences.
> You always find the answer in the last place you look. Why is that?
ReplyDelete1. Because the question mark is at the end of the sentence.
2. More generally, because once you find it, you stop looking.
> What if, rather than a soliloquy, Hamlet was actually addressing a familiar character from another of Shakespeare's plays?
Like, say, Marc Antony, from the puzzle 2 weeks ago:
"To be, or not to be? That is the question, Marc."
> Getting back to last week's puzzle -- just thought I'd dash off a note about George H. W. Bush, a Vice-President between Ford and Gore; he briefly assumed the duties of the President when Reagan had surgery, which left him with what?
A semicolon.
> I've seen this character in several Bugs Bunny cartoons!
E.g., I mentioned "What's Opera, Doc?" back when we were talking about Maria Callas.
> Always exhorting people to doubt leftist rhetoric.
"Question Marx!"
> Next come the enhanced interrogation techniques!
> Bad move. Maybe he should stick to chess?
In algebraic chess notation, "?" denotes a bad move.
> No need to wait until Sunday. At 3pm EDT tomorrow, the answer will appear here, without, uh, doubt.
I didn't think I could get away with saying "without question".
My biggest regret this week: not being able to think of a clue for "eroteme".
Come on, Scarlett, you have to decide! Is it Rhett or Rick?
Deletejan, Didn't Robin Hood lead an eroteme?
DeleteSometimes. They were swordsmen, too, when they buckled on their swash, I guess. Little John is usually pictured with a staff, which I'm always confusing with Donatello's simple wooden bo. Did Friar Tuck also use nunchuks, or was that the guy in the blue mask? I can never keep them straight,
Deletejan, look at the clothes they wore. I doubt if anyone could keep them straight. Not even Maid (or is that Made?) Marion. :_)
Delete"The ultimate in puzzles!" Because most puzzles end with a question mark.
ReplyDeleteand
"Musical clue: A whole lot of crying." - My gentle reference to 96 Tears, the hit for Question Mark and the Mysterians.
Bob, I thought the ultimate in puzzles referred to the penultimate question: "Why are we here?"
DeleteThank you also for 96 Tears. I can listen to the song now with a whole new viewpoint, knowing it is not Nine To Six Tears ;-).
If "Why are we here?" is the penultimate question, what is the ultimate question? Perhaps, "Why is there something instead of nothing?"
DeleteNot as easy to suggest what the antepenultimate question might be. Perhaps, "Where are we?" or "Who are we?"
:>)
All I know is, 'antepenultimate' is my new favorite word.
DeleteAnyone up for antepenultimate frisbee?
DeleteEnjoyed your questions, Bob. Of course, our ultimate answer is to solve puzzles ;-).
Sing along: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqjhCgLzaCs
DeleteI guess that's a squid pro quo.
DeleteJan, FY Niece, there's a fascinating article in brownalumnimagazine.com about the Brown Center for Vision Research. It describes Michael Paradiso, Professor of Neuroscience, and the team's research into vision as a key to helping people with dyslexia, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, blindness, strokes, schizophrenia and autism by stimulating other parts of the brain. Interesting stuff.
DeleteThe Blained clue on Tue Sep 24, 10:37:00 AM PDT:
ReplyDeleteFeel the love for the character whose group is receiving national attention today.
Thought I'd throw in the answer to the NYTimes crossword contest, too.
The "querulousness" remark was made in hopes of starting a synaptic misfire resulting in query-lessness as a subliminal prod.
Say what?
DeleteI had no idea I had revealed the answer until I just got here to find out what this week's solution was. I never submitted anything this week.
ReplyDeleteI apologize to you all. I'll try to not to do it again, but being an idiot...
Completely honest mistake, David. I can, uh, relate. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy original, deleted clue referred to the character not appearing in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, since that title does not contain a question mark. My intent with that clue was to misdirect folks into looking at cartoon characters not appearing in the film.
ReplyDeleteMy second clue about Spanish-language media referred to the fact that Spanish typically uses an upside-down question mark at the start of a question, therefore doubling the frequency which it appears in any written media in that language.
I got it with a little more than an hour to go before 3. (Or did I?) I knew it was going to be something really simple . Thanks everyone for all the hints that now make complete sense until next week. Looking back my favorite hint was definitely Jan's that said, You always find the answer in the last place you look. Why is that?
ReplyDeleteSending you an Annagram to say "Brava for you!"
DeleteAnd it worked CJI. I also recall a commercial with dancing gasoline pumps. Dunderhead that I am when I go sleepless, I looked at my keyboard at two in the morning, said "question mark" to myself and said' but all the letters aren't ZZZZZZZ' So that was the end of that. SDB, I loved your right wing separatist clue.
ReplyDeleteAsbestos suit fits the bill.
ReplyDeleteMy inquiry SDB is my question mark.
There are flip flop question marks in Spanish.
Dubious at best is questionable.
And my favorite zekecreekism: way to go sometimes y. Why indeed?
DeleteFellow Blumberjacks and Mellow Blumberjills,
ReplyDeleteMy two clues explained:
I said that my musical clue and my “Ma’s Quiet Corn” clue share two threads in common -- Marc Antony and anagrams.
1. In the musical clue from Pontius Pilate, Marc Antony, and (other Roman characters): “Rev. I, Acts X" The letters within quotation marks anagram into “XCVI TEARS,” twhich is he Roman numeral equivalent of ? and the Mysterions’ hit single “96 Tears.”
2. If one part of this character’s name (Mark) were spelled the same as the name of a character who cropped up in a previous NPR puzzle (Marc Antony in the “arc antonym” puzzle), the result would be a crop of what Libby, Del Monte or Green Giant might call Ma‘s Quiet Corn… because all the ears would have been given up for lent. “Ma’s Quiet Corn” anagrams into “Question Marc,” and “all the ears would have been given up for lent” echo his oration, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”
Fun blog this week, and fun puzzle.
Glad you solved it, Anna and Eriic, no help from me, of course!
Unhelpful Lego…
Sorry to hog blog space but in the post above “XCVI TEARS, twhich is he Roman numeral equivalent..." shoud read “XCVI TEARS, which is the Roman numeral equivalent ..." (My typing is lacking and my browser won't let me preview and edit.)
ReplyDeleteJust curious, did anyonr else, as I did, submit your answer to NPR like this?
"QUESTION MARK?"
Lego ellipsis
Wow, that was beautifully buried, Lego ellipsis.
DeleteI went for an interrobang "QUESTION MARK?!"
Now to change my photo to the logo I came up with Tuesday...
My reference to a batman character referred to the Riddler, whose outfit was full of question marks.
ReplyDeleteShoot, I am still trying to figure out how "Marcus Antonius" is the opposite of the curve?
ReplyDeleteMarcus Antonius was my 7th grade Latin teacher, and he never graded on a curve! He was such a stickler that he once made me write "Romani ite domum" 100 (OK, C) times on the blackboard, just because of a minor error in grammer that Word Woman put me up to.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Jan, that was pre " Life of Brian," I presume.
DeleteA minor error which I put up to you ;-). JK. You're never truly prepped without a smile. Sing it now...
I know, I know we are close to the magical 200th comment. But, we are smart people, we can figure it out.
True story: During the Falklands/Malvinas war, the destroyer HMS Sheffield was lost after being struck by an Argentine Exocet, To keep up morale while the crew awaited rescue, a junior officer led them in singing "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life" from the final scene of that film. You were expecting selections from "HMS Pinafore", maybe?
ReplyDeleteArrrrrrrrrrrrrrr they all right now?
Delete