Seems like Will is stuck on a theme...Q: There is a politician today, sometimes known by his or her full three-word name, whose initials are also the initials of a popular chain of restaurants. Who is the politician and what's the restaurant?
Edit: We've had several recent puzzles relating to stones which was a hint to rock. In addition, there's that saying about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
A: Hillary Rodham Clinton --> Hard Rock Café (HRC)
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.
TMI, Will Shortz.
ReplyDeleteIt was a steep climb but – in the end – not all that taxing.
ReplyDeleteChuck
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete962.1806
ReplyDeleteThat's some fine, seminal research right there, Bob K.!
DeleteWord Woman, you can dress some people up, but you can't take them out.
DeleteSince this puzzle is so LAME I am not about to post a hint—it does not deserve one. However, I will post a puzzle I made up and submitted via proper protocol, June 4, 2012, and received the computer reply from NPR. I don't think this is one of my better efforts, but certainly better than what we have this week.
ReplyDeleteWill,
Here is another puzzle suggestion I just came up with. Hope you like it.
Think of a popular food item these days. Remove one letter and you will come up with the last name of a prominent government official. What is the food item and who is the official?
RENDANG, a popular Indonesian item. Remove an N and you have Carlos DANGER, aka Anthony Weiner, the former New York congressional representative.
Deleteron:
DeleteIt is not an anagram, nor is it a former government official, nor a minor official, but an official in the current administration.
I was having fun. How about GROUSE, a popular food item and Peter ROUSE, Counselor to the President?
DeleteDefinitely better, ron. I might grouse a bit about grouse being a popular food though. And Peter Rouse, of course, is not a government official.
DeleteA U.S. Senator, Mike LEE of Utah, or a Congressional Representative, Barbara LEE of California, surely are government officials. And the LEEK is quite a popular food at the moment...
Deleteron, are you trying to make the puzzle difficult, or are you just having a bad day? It is really very simple. I designed it so Will might decide to use it. Keep in mind that the puzzle as stated above was sent in over one year ago. Now, go to your liquor cabinet and pour yourself a drink and get back to it. (This is a really big hint, ron. Don't let it go unnoticed.)
DeleteI am just playing and having fun with it. How about former Cabinet member, Secretary of Energy, Steven CHU and that ever popular fresh water game fish, the CHUB?
DeleteOf course, it could be the Italian bacon PANCETTA and the former Secretary of Defense, Leon PANETTA?
DeleteNot so hard, huh? So, now you solved it, how, in your opinion, does it compare to this week's puzzle?
DeleteInteresting you mention chub. Chub salmon are returning upstream just a mile west of my house as we speak (okay, type then), but I wouldn't eat chub salmon if you gave it to me. I want the good stuff. Now, excuse me while I snack on some pancetta.
DeletePanetta's first name also works as:
Deletestart with a food
remove a letter
get a name
I had actually figured it out earlier, but your "cabinet" clue just about confirmed it. This week's puzzle is way too easy, "lame" was, I think, your word. Your puzzle was definitely better, but has the drawback that there are "multiple" answers. I was just having fun with the anagram answers...Don't Chu on any chub; I'm with you in that respect.
Deleteron,
DeleteThanks for the feedback. I was thinking earlier about coming up with something about Chu with another Chu and then Chu Chu indicating a train, but gave up on it. I guess I will need to train harder.
So here is an easier one I came up with yesterday, since we are into middle names:
Think of three cartoon film stars with the same last names and all six of their names (first and last) begin with the same letter. Then think of a famous politician of the twentieth century who also was frequently called by his three names, and his middle name begins with the same letter as the six initials mentioned above and it rhymes with their last names. This should be very easy.
Chums, I always thought it was chum salmon? Does it taste really awful?
DeleteRon, it was like watching a cat play with a mouse before finally doing it in.
Canned salmon is chum.
DeleteHow much chum could a...?
ron,
DeleteI forgot to mention that all four are rats.
Richard Milhous Nixon.
DeleteOf course! And I do hope you realize, as I'm sure you do, that this was not intended as a serious puzzle.
DeleteAs a point of interest, there is no such thing as a mouse. Field mice are not the same thing. Mouse is a euphemism for rat. Mickey Rat somehow just doesn't make the grade, I guess. Walt Disney was indeed a master at putting lipstick on the proverbial pig.
20th Century politician, frequently referred to by all 3 names {or initials}
DeleteRearrange the middle name and put another letter in front of it to get the last name of another politician
Drop one letter from THAT name and rearrange to get a food item
My chums, F&J, have figured it out already
Mouse is a euphemism for rat.
DeleteNot that I think you can't.
Prove it.
As Bart would put it , "Babs Boxer can eat my boxers." Now that's a popular dish.
DeleteAnd, zeke, as Blake would put it, "Opposition is true friendship
DeleteAh, the subtleties of Play-Dough and Plato...and Puddingstones.
Delete'Puddingstones' wasn't all that fascinating (I did google it) ... so I guess I'll revert to "true friendship' ....is that a problem?
DeletePaul,
DeleteI don't know if I can easily provide you with the kind of proof you are asking for. I tried and found the online info mostly misleading. The best link I found so far is:
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Mouse_vs_Rat
I only scanned through it, but did not find exactly what I was looking for and have found in years past.
Basically they are calling field mice by the name mouse and rat as bigger. When I researched this years ago it was easy for me to find reliable sources that insisted that there is no such thing as a mouse, but only field mice, etc., and that the word mouse was a euphemism for a rat that was no longer, in most cases, than five inches. I have had plenty of first hand experience with both of these and they are very different.
The reason I researched this long ago is that I had a landlord who was unable to solve the recurring problem of rats entering the house I was renting. One day I showed him a dead one that was outside on the lawn and he tried to tell me it was a mouse. As if it mattered anyway. It was clearly a rat and I was having none of his bullshit and went to the trouble of proving it to him. He never tried that one again. Sorry I have no idea where I found better info on this before, but I am not too surprised as I have found other subjects that are impossible to prove on the Internet. Lots of great information here, but also some extremely false info too.
Wait, the rat/mouse thing isn't serious, is it?
DeleteEven your link above noted the genetic differences (even a different number of chromosome pairs).
My field isn't mouse, but Rat and mouse genetic sequence database similarities and differences are important tools in basic biomedical research.
Put another way: they're the same inasmuch as humans are euphemisms for disagreeable chimpanzees.
Paul, true friendship--no problem at all.
DeleteConversations change so quickly around here it makes my head spin...
Another take on puddingstones on 11-12-13 blog (inadvertently coinciding with National Indian Pudding Day -- thanks, Jan).
Delano >> Mondale >> almond
DeleteF&J would be Frank and Joe. The word 'chum' always reminds me of Chet Morton.
The Blake quote is from the same work that gave Jim Morrison's group it's name, and Tigrett & Morton got the name of the chain from a Doors album, so maybe it goes back to 300 East 5th Street, Los Angeles, if Wikipedia is tto be believed, but Wikipedia is an unreliable source (I know that for a fact, having read it in a blog comment).
I don't think you can buy a Ghostburger at Kuma's Corner in Chicago anymore, but I think you can get a Wineburger at Harvey's in Phoenix.
Caspar isn't a ghost; you're probably thinking of Casper.
Caspar is a carol king.
Harvey isn't a ghost either, and I'm afraid I've forgotten what the dormouse said.
Ah, the continual march toward ever cleverer clues.
ReplyDeleteHillary Rodham Clinton
DeleteInitials: HRC
Restaurant Chain: HARD ROCK CAFÉ
The word "continual" contains the letters CLINTON. Which Clinton? The next word "march" contains the letters and initials: HRC.
As for ("steep") HARD ROCK CLIMBING, I decided to defer to Chuck's great clue above.
As the Mayor of Toronto has definitely HEARD OF CRACK, the phrase "intended for him" must be FOR CRACKHEAD, and the Hepburn apparel must be CHARADE FROCK.
I just can't think of a musical clue. What's music got to do with it, anyway?
ReplyDeleteHow about one of Tina's earlier hits "Your love is funkier than a mosquito's tweeter" (no not twitter) That would fit Would also fit but I doubt this politician said it to the spouse
DeleteJust listened to Nina Simone's version. Food for thought. Google probably pointed me to it because I've been listening to some of Nina's other stuff recently. Really liked 'Love Me Or Leave Me' with that ... baroque (I guess) ... stuff in the middle.
DeleteIt's a second hand commotion.
ReplyDeleteIs there one of these in Flint, Michigan?
ReplyDeleteNope. Nor in Boulder, Colorado.
DeleteFriends in New, Montana, were into this place. I never really got into it, though.
DeleteIt's a bit difficult to believe there isn't one in Arkansas' capital.
DeleteAre there any of these in New Hampshire, Granite Falls, NC, or Hudson, WI?
DeleteJan, not enough interest in this in Arkansas.
DeleteLibertarian Math Professor, plans are afoot to build restaurants in Rhyolite, Nevada, and Quartzsite, Arizona. Limey! Plans to build one in Marble, Colorado, fell through due to too much stress.
There may be one of these restaurants in Branson...NOT!. If there is, it would be ironic. Then again, maybe geography WOULD make Branson just as appropriate as the other locations.
DeleteAlso, I know of another food outlet that shares a characteristic with the answer that would be appropriate to patronize after dining at Will's intended answer.
WW,
DeleteI beg to differ and to defer. I defer to your superior knowledge regarding the subject matter of this (and a certain recent) NPR puzzle. Both have been right up your gravelly alley.
But I must also differ with your contention that there is “not enough interest in this in Arkansas.” Nearly a half-century ago, a pioneering Arkansan whose surname contained a word related to the second word in the restaurant chain broadcast a nightly show also related to this second word. OKAAY?
LithoLambda…
LMP,
Does your food outlet share the initials of another pioneering broadcaster, a “storied radio” guy now “resting” in peace? GOOD DAY?
LegolAM/Fmda…
LithoLambda,
DeleteGlad you have resurfaced aagain! Yes, indeed, I see your point though I was referring to the little part of the clue modifying said second word. (& trying to deflect from things Arkansan).
Well, gotta get some zz's.
Word Womaan
LMP,
DeleteWhat was the food outlet you alluded to? My guess was Planet Hollywood (a theme restaurant chain, like the HRC). Planet Hollywood shares initials with Paul Harvey, a “storied radio” guy now “resting” in peace who was known for his “That’s the rest of the story” segments and “GOOD DAY!” sign-offs.
WW,
Resurface? As in floor care? (See aspirin-pain/cleaning-care 9/29/13 puzzle.) Doth thou perceive me as some kind of grinding/buffing floor maintenance machine? Or perhaps a U-boat, alligator, shark, whale or turtle? Or maybe one of those toy plastic brick-building-block pieces that get swallowed down deep in your shag carpet only to resurface at inopportune times of barefootedness?
For the record, the pioneering Arkansan whose surname contained a word related to “ROCK” was Clyde CLIFFord, a KAAY (AM-1090 in Little Rock) DJ who spun hard rock records on his Beeker Street broadcast in the 1960s-1970s.
AlligatoLambda…
AlligatoLambda,
DeleteIn answer to your many, many, many questions, I do (all of the above). ;-)
I bow to your remarkable, pahoehoe memory also.
In a while, Word Woman
WW,
DeletePahoehoehoe, Merry Christmas! Had to google “pahoehoe.” Dictionaries were feckless. Learned a new word. Thanks (also learned “pudding stone” this week, which was in my dicionaries). I’m ashamed, though, that pahoehoe baffled me. Spent some time in Hawaii, around the Kona Coast. Don’t think I encountered pahoehoe but did see a lot of black lava-formed rock alongside the 30 miles of Highway 19 connecting Kailua-Kona with Hapuna Beach, where I once (and once is enough!) nearly drowned.
LegoLava…
LegoLava,
DeleteI thought your 'aa' in your clue referred to the Hawaiian lava which makes you say aa when you step on it! (Imagine you might have said same after nearly drowning!) I have not been to Hawaii yet but my brother and his girlfriend invited me to join them in Kauai for a week in a house right on the beach in January. I am quite excited! Looking forward to checking out the sharp and ropey lavas for myself.
I have a suggested question for you: Did you grow up in Arkansas and do you know the Clintons? My friends from Little Rock swear everyone from the state knows everyone else.
Word (I have been to the beautiful Ouachitas) Woman
Everyone in Arkansas does know everyone else, but perhaps not in the manner you are thinking.
Delete"Know" does have two meanings.
DeleteAt the very least.
SDB,
DeleteThanks for putting in your two biblical cents-worth.
WW,
Regarding KAAY and “aa”: I became familiar with the term “aa” literally only hours ago when googling “Hawaii black lava rock.” Your, problem, WW, is that you know too much. I visited your “partial ellipsis of the sun” blog. Very intelligent, entertaining, creative, lively and well done. People here on this blog should check it out. (BTW, I approve of the creative PEOTS title for your blog, if you want my two non-biblical cents-worth.)
I spent about four Christmas vacations on the Big Island… didn’t miss the snow at all. You’ll love Hawaii, especially in January, and especially with digs right on the beach! (Perhaps “digs” means something else to you geologist-types.) Just avoid the riptides. That’s what almost did me in. Aa!!
Never been to Arkansas, nor visited the Ouachitas, nor visited any political wife cheatahs like this week‘s answer‘s bubba-hubby. As a journalist in Wisconsin and Minnesota I have met with and interviewed Tommy Thompson, Jesse Ventura, and Paul WellSTONE (who is likely another future puzzle answer, if this rocky trend continues).
Regarding your prediction of next week’s puzzle answer that you posted below: If Will comes on the air in few hours and asks “What familiar saying includes the last names of a former Loyola Marymount basketball star, former Cubs and Chisox pitcher and a former Formula One race car driver?” we will then all know you are indeed clairvoyant and will dub thee “Nostra-WordDame-us.
Lego…
Oops!
DeleteLL,
DeleteMany thanks for your kind words about Partial Ellipsis of the Sun. Your writing, Lego, flows like lava, so I truly appreciate your kudos.
I am growing fonder of the PEOTS title. Now, Google actually recognizes it (and doesn't ask "Did you mean Ellipse?")
I imagine most crossword folks know aa. The Hawaiian name is so descriptive. Geology is resplendent with fun, noisy, and pun-able words.
My daughter is in college in St. Paul (Hi, Peter, and hi Loop in Duluth; we miss you!) She is happy about everything Minnesotan except the weather...Yes, she may well join us in Kauai. We will avoid the riptides though I do plan to swim whenever possible.
Ah, yes, the mystery of not knowing!
Again, thanks for writing and for reading.
WW
PAST - PRESENT - FUTURE
ReplyDeleteI posted on Sun Nov 10, at 06:49:00 AM PST on last week's thread:
ReplyDeleteI thought of the correct politician almost immediately. However, I then tried entering that politician's initials, followed by "Restaurants" into a search engine. The restaurant chain did not come up.
Alternate puzzle: Name TWO current politicians who are politically opposite each other, but who are both known by just their first & last names and they SHARE the same two initials. (They both have middle names, but few know what they are, unless they look them up.) Then name a popular restaurant chain in four words, whose first and last words share the same common initials of the politicians and with the in-between words both being minor. (In the lists of restaurant chains, the first and last words will have their initial letters capitalized, but the in-between words will be entirely lowercase.) Who are these two politicians and what is the restaurant chain?
Reminds me of the Waltons.
Deletegoodnight Tom boy
ReplyDeleteSomething keeps reminding me of The Flintstones
ReplyDeleteEven with your clues this answer isn't easy.
ReplyDeleteComments on this blog get funnier and funnier. You could almost say they are . . . . No, can't say that, yet.
ReplyDeleteKudos - I enjoyed your comment.
DeleteIs one opening soon in Broken Bough, OK?
ReplyDeleteHugh, well, OK, your clue put me to sleep...
DeleteFrom his post, I can see that Hugh really cares.
Deletewhen I get my razor back from Remington I'll be going to the grand opening in Harlem. gotta look my best you know.
ReplyDeleteThis was the quickest I've solved a puzzler.
ReplyDeleteRearrange the name of the restaurant chain to get a phrase indicating that the intended recipient is the mayor of Toronto.
ReplyDeleteVery funny! I cracked up laughing.
DeleteOr maybe something Hepburn wore in a movie?
DeleteThat's also funny, but you could have shown her some slack.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHILLARY RODHAM CLINTON >>> HARD ROCK CAFE
ReplyDelete"Well" referred to Wellesley College, Hillary's alma mater.
Clues about sleep referred to the lullaby "ROCK-a-bye, baby."
"Fine seminal research," "Puddingstone," and "Indian Pudding" referred to the Seminole Indian tribe who purchased Hard Rock Cafe.
"Friends in New, Montana were into this place. I never really got into it, though," was a nod to Newmont Mining & Hard Rock Geology. We Soft Rockers in the oil biz are an entirely different breed. "Sentimental/sedimental reasons" also referred to this type of geology.
Rhyolite, Quartzite (without the S in the town), and Marble referred to those rock types. "The plan to build one in Marble, CO, fell through due to much stress," hinted at limestone metamorphosing into marble under heat and pressure.
"Hugh Really Cares" has the same initials as HRC.
Next Week's Puzzle Answer: "A rolling stone gathers no moss."
Uttering prophesies now? Clearly a Word Woman ahead of her time! (By about a minute, the past 2 weeks)
DeleteMea culpa. The clock on my new computer is off (How can this happen when I live so close to the official clock in Boulder?!) ;-)
DeleteWWV = Word Woman Variation?
DeleteHillary Rodham Clinton and Hard Rock Café.
ReplyDeleteEnough heartburn for everyone!
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, HARD ROCK CAFE
ReplyDelete> Turns out that years ago, this politician was the commencement speaker at a local college graduation, and I was part of the security team.
Hillary spoke at Drew University, in Madison, NJ, in 1996. I'm on the Madison Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and was standing by next to the podium at Mead Hall during the commencement.
> Now, my favorite Greek restaurant chain is Scylla and Charybdis.
A cafe between a rock and a hard place.
My comments and hints:
ReplyDelete"it was fascinating to read about the restaurant chain." -- Hard Rock was first opened in London, is now owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida! Who knew? Well, you guys probably did, but I didn't.
"962.1806" -- At first I had 962 - 1806, but then I was horrified to see that Googling that went directly to the Holy Roman Empire, or HRE, (which was in existence from AD 962 to AD 1806). which I considered close enough to HRC to serve as a marker.
"Comments on this blog get funnier and funnier. You could almost say they are . . . . No, can't say that, yet." Can say it now: Hillaryous, or hilarious.
I didn't know either. I guess it was a Seminole moment.
DeleteBob, I also very much enjoyed your Hillaryous remark.
DeleteNot sure I would have gone all the way to "horrified" about HRE though. Maybe disappointed, surprised, or even "Oh, rats!" ;-)
I posted here on Mon Nov 11, at 06:02:00 AM PST:
ReplyDelete.
.
.
Alternate puzzle: Name TWO current politicians who are politically opposite each other, but who are both known by just their first & last names and they SHARE the same two initials. (They both have middle names, but few know what they are, unless they look them up.) Then name a popular restaurant chain in four words, whose first and last words share the same common initials of the politicians and with the in-between words both being minor. (In the lists of restaurant chains, the first and last words will have their initial letters capitalized, but the in-between words will be entirely lowercase.) Who are these two politicians and what is the restaurant chain?
Joe Biden, Jeb Bush, and Jack in the Box.
I figured John Boehner for the Republican.
DeleteHillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Rock Cafe
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, ”It was a steep climb but – in the end – not all that taxing.” Steep climb as in up a hill. Taxing as in hard.
Chuck
Razor back in Harlem would be her rake of a hubby, Billy.
ReplyDeletewell I figure Tina's mosquito song was about as "hard" rock as they come. Although Hillary might have said something like that to Bill. We all speculate that she hit him with something hard since the picture in the paper after the Monica story hit showed one side of his face seemingly slightly more swollen than the other
DeleteWhen my son was a high school junior, we took him and 2 friends to Spain over spring break. Naturally, their favorite restaurant was the Hard Rock Cafe in Madrid.
ReplyDeleteMy clue: past-current-future, all abt. Hillary!
ReplyDeleteMy hints:
ReplyDelete"Surprised no musical clue" = rock
"I bet..." = casino
"I made a reservation..." = seminole indian connection
Next week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Steve Baggish of Arlington, Mass. Think of a word meaning "quarrel" in which several of the letters appear more than once. Remove exactly two occurrences of every repeated letter, and the remaining letters can be rearranged to spell a new word meaning "quarrel." What are the two words?
ReplyDeleteI think PC might be familiar with one of these terms.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBtw, in an earlier post above are two phrases I did not think I'd see linked: Skydiveboy (SDB) and biblical two cents worth ;-).
ReplyDelete