The anagram of one of the words makes me want to cry.Q: Think of a word that means "to come before." Replace its last letter with two new letters to get "someone who comes after you." These two words are unrelated etymologically. What words are they?
A: PREDATE --> PREDATOR
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 week's CHALLENGE will not require a long, protracted effort to solve it.
ReplyDelete“to come before” = PREDATE
Delete“someone who comes after you” = PREDATOR
My hint: “PROTRACTED” = PREDATOR + CT
“Predator” anagrams to “teardrop” which is probably what makes Blaine want to cry.
I thought Blaine's anagram hint might be RED TAPE.
DeleteIf I were more skillful at anagramming, I might have a reply to Blaine's hint.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAn anagram of the other word might make you scream. Or cry.
DeleteHere's a harder anagram:
Name a fictional character in books and films, 6 letters first name, 7 letters last. This character is well-known for his/her occupation. Rearrange the letters to get the real name of an actor, 7 letters first name, 6 letters last, whose most famous television role was in the same occupation.
I can't say the actor is well-known, but his character, and certainly the TV show, are well-known.
I echo zeke's sentiment. Sure, RED TAPE is an anagram of PREDATE (even the Seattle dimwit* got that!), but a well-known television role played by a not-so-well-known actor has me baffled. Please, adeptest anagrammer of all, enlighten us!
Delete*SATIRE
Careful Paul, I TASER!*
Delete*More satire; even a Seattle dimwit can anagram.
When I wrote "An anagram of the other word might make you scream. Or cry." of course I meant red tape.
DeleteI'm debating sending the character/ actor quiz to Mr. Shortz, so I might get my 2 seconds of NPR fame and my 2 weeks of Blainesville scorn.
OK, I'll consider myself under ARREST.
DeleteWell, while you're deciding on whether to send it in to NPR and WS, we here at Blainesville are fully prepared to turn your next two weeks into BlainesVILE scorn just to make you happy, Eco. You can then invite us all to a Barbie Q with Ken as long as you don't skimp on the shrimp. And any information on how Ken's assignment surgery is coming along? (God, it was a boring week for the puzzle, wasn't it? We are now reduced to this silliness.)
DeleteFunny, Paul, as I at first considered using ARREST in my response to yours, but for the lack of an R. R we now going to get along now as Rodney requested? Better yet, let's all go on a little R&R.
DeleteNo point parroting what Blaine says.
ReplyDeleteRearranging one of the words will name a characteristic of several prominent Hollywood actresses.
ReplyDeleteChuck
Good one, Chuck.
DeleteIn my younger days, the first word was synonymous with a few stiff drinks.
ReplyDeleteNow there's an ap for it.
DeleteAn old cartoon and my son... since abbreviations are words.... aren't they? :-)
ReplyDeleteIt is easy for me to understand why the creator of this pathetic puzzle is "a FORMER writer for The Colbert Report." I guess he's now back at his day job at FOX News.
ReplyDeleteJust horsing around. Take what comes before and subtract two letters it beomes what comes after.
ReplyDeleteOn last week's thread, after quoting the new puzzle, I replied on Sun Aug 31, at 06:07:00 AM PDT:
ReplyDeleteHmm,.... I've thought of a word that means "to come before", to which I can replace its last letter with three new letters to get "someone who comes after you - to punish you!"
skydiveboy,
ReplyDeleteI respectfully disagree that this puzzle is “pathetic.” Kind of easy, yes, but still kind of clever. Not as clever as your puzzles, of course!
One of the great things about Blainesville is that when Will proffers a too-easy puzzle, the clever commenters here (like, this week, for example, ecoarchitect, zeke creek, and Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan, and Blaine himself along with this week’s legion of other anagram creators) post similar but more challenging puzzles.
I’ve thus far whiffed on eco’s and zeke’s puzzles this week, but EaWAf’s offering reminds me of the answer to one of last week’s Puzzleria! puzzles, the one involving Toto and, especially, Tonto. Tasty challenge, EaWAf; I enjoyed DEVOuring it!
My feeble offering:
Think of a word that means "those who come before you." Replace its last five letters with one new letter to get "those who come after you." These two words are related etymologically. What words are they?
LegoWebeloWhiffer
Lego,
DeleteWell that is just my opinion. I don't see anything at all clever in this one. For me it is a huge disappointment similar to not having a puzzle for the week. But I agree with you that it is this blog that makes listening to the NPR puzzles worthwhile. Were it not for Blaine's, I doubt I would even bother with them anymore.
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DeleteThose in Tennessee should do ok with this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Blaine’s anagrammatic clue:
ReplyDeleteI recall an episode of “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show” in which the lovable Frostbite Falls, Minnesota “moose” (actually, an elk) slips on a banana peel planted by Boris and Natasha on the instructions of the dastardly Mr. Big.
Thus, “what came before” was a “mild elk slip” and “what came after” was a “elk-slide limp,” with the “p” in “slip” being replaced” by the two new (but not necessarily different) letters “e” and “p.”
This must be what Blaine, our “Fearless Leader,” had in mind with his ingenious clue: “The anagram of one of the (phrases) makes me want to cry…”
Over “spilled milk,” of course!
I realize this post will necessarily be “removed by (our beloved) blog administrator” because it spills the beans, so to speak, on Will’s intended answer. But I still had fun writing it.
LegoLambavinov
What kind of grass are they feeding the cows back there where you live, Lego?
Deleteskydiveboy,
DeleteGrass!? You gotta be kidding, right? We stopped feeding grass to our bovines decades ago. My neighbor, Milt Spilk, is a typical dairy farmer in these parts. His cows do not graze at all. He feeds them instead troughfuls of baked beans.
Milt admits this exclusive and steady diet of legumes inhibits their milk output somewhat, but it does also dramatically increase their methane output. He says he wants to do everything he can to promote climate change.
LegoBeanSpiller
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DeleteReminds of Shakespeare. Didn't Macbeth have a problem with meThane? And I can just hear one of those cows crying, "Legume tit, you're herding me!"
DeleteAll I remember about Macbeth is that the copse comes after him. Doesn't it (they?) ?
DeleteYes, that's the thicket!.
DeleteU thease!
DeleteU Thant!
DeleteMovie Clue: a movie with two synonyms for directors, or at least, two who came before.
ReplyDeleteAdd one letter to the second word, and you'll get a word used frequently during the 2008 financial crisis.
ReplyDeleteHallalujah! It's NOT friggin' pop culture!
ReplyDeleteI'd tell Blaine to take his anagram clue back for a different one, but he'd only get a portion of his money back.
ReplyDeleteHi, Nick.
DeleteGreen Bay Packers fans once rated Brett Favre the top pro quarterback. Now, not so much.
LegoTwoBitsBack
Bart Starr.
DeleteI've been on some of those on-line hook-up sites, and the second word is generally what I encountered.
DeleteUncle John:
DeleteI did NOT mean to hit on you! I was merely attempting to engage in polite conversation. [(not that there's anything wrong with) SATIRE]
This is a Pauling!
DeleteYeah, I think it's kinda catchy.
DeleteThe catch of the day.
DeleteWell, in the final analysis, I figure we're all dorcs.
DeleteDorcs? Do you mean Scrod swimming backwards?
DeletePrecisely.
DeleteReminds me of a school of fish that failed because they SAT around all day. They floundered.
DeleteWith what was the headmaster of this school occupying himself?
DeleteHe was a bit of a Cod, and got fired for sending Hake mail.
DeleteOr was he a bit of a cad, and got sacked for sending a wee bit of hoke mail, whatever that might be?
DeleteHe was quite pisced off and made no bones about it.
DeleteI think he acted the way he did just for the halibut. Or maybe he had mental tilapia.
DeleteI don't think so. From what I understand he felt it deeply in his Sole. This is what I was told by Phil A. And this was backed up by Annett.
DeleteSpeaking of fishing, there is nothing to compare with the Spanish flamenco dancers as they castanet.
DeleteLOL, Paul. I used to be on UDATE, I eventually learned why the veterans of that site called it "ZOODATE".
DeleteThe answer came to me in the kitchen while cooking while listening to some Little Richard on the radio. I was cutting veggies and sliced my finger, which was aggravating because I was so busy I couldn't spare a moment. My wife was no help. She just told me to stop using the knife, and instead, use the contraption I bought off the TV that cuts the veggies when you slap it.
ReplyDeleteIn about a half-hour or less, 3 p.m. EDT, we will begin revealing the answers to last Friday’s three puzzles on our Puzzleria! blog site.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, on that site last Friday I made a kind of New Year’s (and-two-thirds) Resolution to stop droning on and on and on when I make blog comments and posts. I bet Blaine (and many Blainesvillians) wish that resolution would pertain to this site also.my comments on this site also. But it doesn’t look like it does.
LegoLambdrone
Droning is a big problem in the Mideast too.
DeletePlease, skydiveboy, don’t you go judging everyone from the Midwest by using me as a yardstick. (Actually, I stand about two yardsticks… but nobody can stand me around these parts.)
DeleteMost Midwesterners are laconic Gary Cooper types. They are God-fearing, child-rearing and no-male-earring; ice-fishing, hot-dish-dishing and no hip-swishing; mosquito-slapping, maple-syrup-tapping and leg-hold-trapping; beer-drinking, right-thinking and bratwurst-linking; deer-hunting, pigskin-punting and “uff-da”-grunting; lutefisk-loving, screaming-liner-gloving and snow-shovel-shoving; Commie-hating; fishhook-baiting and double-dating; silent-suffering, Thanksgiving-turkey-stuffering and golf-course-duffering; church-going, lawn-mowing and line-toeing; second-guessing, in-layers-dressing and passive-aggressing; dollar-stretching, walleye-catching and “Yah, you-betcha-ing;” weather-griping, stereotyping (Hey, maybe I am a typical Midwesterner, after all!), and smile-from-that-face-wiping; lake-swimming, hedge-trimming and high-beam-dimming; cheese-head-wearing, cross-bearing and Jell-o-salad-sharing; and dream-broken, expression-oaken and short-spoken…
Most Midwesterners would have stopped their post at “…Gary Cooper types.”
Lego-on-and-on-and-on…
Thank you, Lego, for giving me a much greater appreciation of Seattle.
DeleteAnd, speaking of Gary Cooper, a.k.a. Marshal Will Kane. Did you know his parents were from England, where they sent him to school in Bedfordshire as a child? Due to The Great War his mother finally brought him back to Montana, but he lived as an adult in Hollywood, California, where he was known for chasing women, but not for being particularly bright. Friendly Perversion, (sic) does not sound like a Midwestern title for a movie to me. I always enjoyed him in his films, especially High Noon, which was ridiculous as a Western, but actually written as a put down of the McCarthy Black Lists. I always have wondered if Gary Cooper understood this—most people didn't and still don't.
That movie was before my time - but I will rent it on Netflix and see it with that in mind
DeletePREDATE & PREDETOR
ReplyDeletepredate --> predator
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Rearranging one of the words will name a characteristic of several prominent Hollywood actresses.” Predate becomes red pate or redhead like Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman and Emma Stone.
Chuck
PREDATE -> PREDATOR
ReplyDelete> Movie Clue: a movie with two synonyms for directors, or at least, two who came before.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura starred in "Predator", and went on to become governors.
jan,
DeleteThat was a very clever movie clue. Bravo! (I was not clever enough to figure it out.)
Lego...
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ReplyDeleteFrom my comment at the end of last week's thread: "I do want to go back to a comment I made on August 14," a nod to PRE-DATE.
ReplyDeleteTennessee referred to the Nashvillle Predators.
ReplyDeleteNext week's challenge: Think of a word starting with T. Drop the T, and phonetically you'll get a new word that's a synonym of the first one. What words are these?
ReplyDeleteIf it's what I think it is, I think I'm disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI can immediately think of at least 3 words that would work. What a mess!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe this puzzle is for real.
ReplyDeleteThere are several possible answers, but I see one that's the likely intended.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly you can change the "t" to another letter and get another synonym!
No s***?
Deleteperhaps.
DeleteThere's a musical clue from a discussion on this blog this past spring.
you could also change the first sound of the t-less word and get yet another synonym.
DeleteI might be willing to argue that you could drop the first sound altogether and still have a synonym. But I'd need to think about that. I'll get back to you.
DeleteIf you have ever been curious about Burning Man on the playa near Reno, NV, I am now a burner and wrote about it here: PLAYA-BLE. My coolness factor has gone up with those in their 20's/30's as well as my hippie friends in their 50's/60's. . .
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOk, two questions:
ReplyDeleteBlaine, why have you not yet updated your puzzle blog page with this week's puzzle, complete with an all new link to a new discussion thread for this week?
...and...
How come the most recent post before this one is from over four hours ago!!?? I should NOT have been the FIRST person here to have asked Blaine that previous question!!
If I may ever so gently venture an answer to your second question: If Blaine has not yet updated the blog page, why would we think that he was monitoring comments asking why he had not done so? :>)
DeleteYes! Where is everyone this week? I certainly hope that they are not working through the only list I can think of for this puzzle, which consists of 70 pages of very small type!
DeleteBob K,
DeleteI just finished my dinner and after reading Enya's above post was thinking of a response, but you must have read my mind because I was going to post something similar.
Stella! Shane! Elaine!* Blaine!!
ReplyDeleteLego!
(* a "The Graduate" reference)
I sure hope a predator didn't get Blaine.
ReplyDeletePerhaps he went on strike with all the other underpaid workers.
ReplyDeleteI think it could be more serious than that. Yesterday I picked up a book I had requested at the library. The title is, "We'll Meet Again" by Dame Vera Lynn. It is a memoir of her war years. At the top of the front cover are the letters, ISIS. I asked the librarian if I should be afraid. She just laughed. But remember what happened when President Bill Clinton uttered those same letters when he said under oath, "...what is is."
DeleteThen again, California could have simply slipped off into the sea.
DeleteAnd they spent thousands on signs!
DeleteMa cousin sez the word is TAINT, but that ain't right...
ReplyDelete'tis so
Deletetwas my thought also
DeleteSo, just out of curiosity, I wonder if the low volume of comments on this week's puzzle relates to the difficulty of the puzzle or the absence of Blaine. I didn't find the puzzle terribly difficult, so I suspect the latter.
ReplyDeletePuzzle. CHECK. Hike. CHECK.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I was able to figure it out and clear my mind before roamin' off into the woods.
I have an answer. I don’t like it all that much, but it’s the only one I have so I went with it. I think the puzzle clue could have been worded better.
ReplyDeleteChuck
I too finally have a solution that fully meets the requirements. It's much better than my initial answer that involved a word from pop culture and its etymologically related near synonym.
ReplyDeleteI went around and around on this longer than I should have but I think I am now to where I really like my answer ! (and betting Blaine's away until Thursday...)
ReplyDeleteWow! Three solutions out of the blue in one day. The answer, my friends, must be blowin' in the wind today.
ReplyDeleteAll snappy repartee and giggles aside, has Blaine ever checked out for an entire (or the better part of a) week before? Anyone heard from him? Although I've never met him, when someone disappears like that I get concerned.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Ruth. I was thinking similar thoughts, but wasn't sure how concerned to be.
DeleteSending out all good thoughts to you and your family, Blaine.
DeleteEverything is fine. I just got busy on Sunday, never figured out an answer and then forgot to put up a post. Thank you for all your concern. Now I need to go back and read these comments to see if I can actually figure out an answer. It'll be a good test of whether any clues give it away. :)
Delete