I think Will suffers from memory loss, because we have had this puzzle in the last few years.Q: Name a famous actress of the past whose last name has two syllables. Reverse the syllables phonetically. The result will name an ailment. What is it?
A: Sarah Bernhardt --> Heartburn
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.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy wife claims my posting was too obvious, so it's gone.
DeleteA current comic would work, too.
Did Ned or Warren have TB?
Could an actress with BO win an Obie?
Good call, jan.
DeleteYea, an illin' chillin' puzzle for sure:
http://theboombox.com/julieanne-smolinski-will-shortz-crossword-puzzle-illin/
I would have phrased the puzzle as actor or actress to give us a little challenge...or given a fresh new puzzle for a true challenge.
No ill Will though.
jan,
DeleteHow Shakespearian of you.
TB or not TB? That is the question.
Star of stage and screen, she shares the same first name with my daughter.
ReplyDeleteChuck
I posted the following at the end of our last week's challenge:
ReplyDeleteI was expecting a puzzle. Oh well.
The reason you don't see this actress any more is that it is just too difficult getting her to re-hearse.
Now I realize that this puzzle was used before too.
Other versions:
ReplyDeleteName a famous actor/ actress whose last name has two syllables. Reverse the syllables phonetically. The result will name an historic empire. What is it?
Do the same and get a body part.
Or do the same thing and get a common answer to questioning 3 year olds.
Or, name a famous actor/ actress of the past whose last name has two syllables. Remove the last letter and then reverse the syllables phonetically. The result will name another actor/ actress. What is it?
Why? :-)
DeleteFour nice puzzles. ecoarchitect!
DeleteFour possibly nice answers (without giving your answers away, I hope):
1. Jean 2. Leon 3. Henry 4. DeForest
Lego(?)Lambda
Different names than I have, have to compare notes Thursday.
DeleteI got #1 and #3, and lego's hint for #1.
DeleteI have all 4. Will post Thursday.
DeleteI get lego's clues now. True for my answers to #1, 3 & 4 (though one is spelled differently), and my #2 doesn't match, but there are lots of body parts and perhaps lots of answers. We'll see on Thursday.
DeleteI liked the manor/Norma connection in #1; and #3, in conjunction with some other events of the week, had me returning to the second side of Abbey Road (as do a lot of things, I'll admit).
DeleteMy Dad was a toddler when she died!
ReplyDeleteBack to the hot turkey sandwich, eh sbd?
ReplyDeleteTo some a hot turkey sandwich would be heartburn city
DeleteHer first name wasn't her real first name, anyway.
ReplyDeleteLeo, pesky "H," first and last. . .
ReplyDeleteWW,
ReplyDeleteShe was born with a different name.
Leo, and an "H" figured into her original first name and was added to her last name as well.
DeleteWord H. Woman
And she did it just for the "H" of it.
DeleteYikes! Only added to her last name though. Confused her original first name with another actress.
Delete"Died ____ _____ or eaugd er pubzundeasm er e ______," neosmy dim herrmlkmn.
ReplyDelete"That darn berth is about as comfortable as a coffin," railed the passenger.
DeleteWhat a feeble puzzle. There's no way there won't be a lot of people getting this one.
ReplyDeleteHow will we ever get a leg up on the puzzle competition with this one, David?
DeleteOh boo boo :-)
DeleteShe was known for her rather odd sleeping habit's.
ReplyDeleteNun of the above?
DeleteI believe that would be Mother Theresa.
DeleteBut Mother Teresa needs a subtracted H, not an added one ;-).
DeletePicky, picky, picky.
My bad! I forgot they got the H out of her long ago.
DeleteBut not you, skydhiveboy...;-)
DeleteA little bad will do quite nicely, sdb.
DeleteNo worries; I'm not in the habit of behaving myself. In fact I'm not in the habit.
DeleteI think you are in a habit or two or three, sdb. Just a matter of sorting them out.
DeleteIt very well could be, however I have never been caught in the habit, yet, anyway. I try to make it a habit not to get caught in the habit. And that's the truth. Now you habit it.
DeleteOf course, Paul, if you must wear a habit, get a habit forming one. Unless, of course, obesity is a problem, then it would be best to break the habit.
DeleteFine, sdb, habit your way, for the time being.
DeleteHowever you want to cloak it, Paul.
DeleteThe Mensa Invitational Winners. These are especially for SDB & WW and all punmasters...
ReplyDeleteThe Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
Here are the winners:
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxicaton: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.
(This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and
cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
ron,
DeleteThose are great! I recall reading a few of them before.
Shouldn't #9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late. Actually be: Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running latte?.
Thanks, ron. I enjoyed these.
DeleteI encounter sarchasm on a daily basis.
Sometimes on this very blog.
No! Not here, WW. surely not.
DeleteStarcasm: brilliant banter as in "Blainesville is replete with starcasm."
ReplyDeleteSparchasm: When a rift opens during a disagreement.
DeleteScarcasm: leftover wounds from a sparchasm.
"Darling, I've missed you!" she said
Deleteas she fired the gun a second time.
Snarcasm: Irritating irony
ReplyDeleteSharkasm: marine animal's open mouth.
DeleteTsarcasm: Putin' in a good word for the head of Russia.
ReplyDeleteCarcasm: that sinkhole that swallowed the National Corvette Museum back in February.
ReplyDeleteOK, this one gets my vote.
DeleteSargasm: reaching the climax of this thread.
ReplyDeleteFun while it lasted. . .
DeleteSARAH BERNHARDT>>>HEARTBURN
Delete"Illin chillin'" referred to feeling ill after eating chili and getting heartburn. It also referred to a transplant heart on ice getting freezer burn.
"Getting a leg up on the puzzle competition" was a reference to Ms. Bernhardt's losing a leg.
ron, I did not miss out on your relevant sarcasm.
Sarah Barnyard > Heartburn
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"She was known for her rather odd sleeping habit's."
Sarah Bernhardt was an actress who purchased and slept in a coffin.
Sarah Bernhardt, heartburn
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Star of stage and screen, she shares the same first name with my daughter.” My daughter’s given name is Sara.
Chuck
Chuck, your daughter is in good company. There were 12 Sarahs/Saras at the weekend commencement I attended.
DeleteThe Divine Sarah BERNHARDT
ReplyDeleteThe ailment: HEARTBURN
The SAME CHALLENGE was aired previously, January 4, 2009, and the ANSWER was revealed a week later.
Ecoarchitect's challenges:
1. Marilyn MONROE = Historic Empire: ROMAN Empire.
2. Audie MURPHY = Body part: FEMUR.
3. Bill COSBY = answer to 3 year olds' “Why?” BECAUSE.
4. Humphrey BOGART, remove the T = Greta GARBO.
> A current comic would work, too.
ReplyDeleteSandra Bernhard's pretty close.
My hint: re- my father being a toddler when she dies in the early 1920s.
ReplyDeleteMy hints to ecoarchitect’s four fine puzzles:
ReplyDelete1. Jean 2. Leon 3. Henry and 4. DeForest are the middle names of Norma Baker (Marilyn “Roman,” Audie “Femur,” Bill “Because,” and Humphrey “Gar(t)bo.”
GarboLambda
Great clueing, Lego.
DeleteWord "Stuck in the Middle with You" Woman
My comment was “What a feeble puzzle. There's no way there won't be a lot of people getting this one.” “Feeble” is sort of “Phoebe”, “[t]here’s no way…“ contains “Snow” in the manner of the prior challenge. Phoebe Snow, in her song “No Show Tonight”, wrote the following lyric (or is it lyrics):
ReplyDelete“… I might be Sarah Heartburn …”
I must confess I was thinking of Eddie Regan Murphy, but Audie Murphy is a better answer. I did remove the "of the past" for that and Cosby.
ReplyDeleteAnd I keep thinking that the Bogart ---> Garbo was a puzzler from the past, but that could be my imagination.
ecoarchitect, I had that sense as well about it's being a past puzzler.
DeleteAfter recalling that Will's puzzle had been used before, and also recalling the answer, I decided to look for an alternate answer.
ReplyDeleteHow about (Jean) Tierney becomes Knee Tear?
Phil J, Gene Tierney to Knee Tear: weeping joints?
DeleteI really like this one. It reminded me of a couple of things my Dad used to say:
Delete"Close enough for government work."
and
"Suits me, and I'm particular."
Quite the pronouncement, Sir Paul.
DeleteNext week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website Mathpuzzle.com. The word "sort" has an unusual property: the first letter, S, is found inside the word "first." The second letter, O, is found inside "second." The third letter, R, is found inside "third," and the fourth letter, T, is found inside "fourth." Think of a familiar three-word phrase in 10 letters that has the same property, in which every letter in the phrase is found inside its corresponding ordinal. Here's a hint: It's something most people have, lose and regain. What is it?
ReplyDeleteNext week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website Mathpuzzle.com. The word "sort" has an unusual property: the first letter, S, is found inside the word "first." The second letter, O, is found inside "second." The third letter, R, is found inside "third," and the fourth letter, T, is found inside "fourth." Think of a familiar three-word phrase in 10 letters that has the same property, in which every letter in the phrase is found inside its corresponding ordinal. Here's a hint: It's something most people have, lose and regain. What is it?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete... and, often, lose again.
Deletehwilaws xddzddjt
ReplyDelete