Sunday, August 09, 2015

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9, 2015): Time to Grease Your Muffler Bearings

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 9, 2015): Time to Grease Your Muffler Bearings:
Q: Name part of a car. Drop the fifth letter. Now reverse the order of the last three letters. The result, reading from left to right, will name a major American city. What city is it?
Safety tip: put wheel chocks in place before working on your car.

Edit: "Safety" hinted at the part of a car being used for safety. The other hint was "chocks" which, if you break it into parts, sounds like c-hocks = "Seahawks".
A: SEAT BELT --> SEATTLE

167 comments:

  1. 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.

    You 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.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Funny story. Brings back memories of my grandfather, who kept an electric space heater (with exposed and not well-screened resistance elements) next to the shower/ tub. This in the days before ground fault interrupt circuits.

      Even as a little kid I knew that was dangerous, and always unplugged the thing. Unless electricity is a myth, though gramps never fried.

      Delete
    2. Maybe the root problem is the anaerobic fermentation of all that kimchi. The fans just blow the dephlogisticated air around. ;-)

      Delete
    3. I enjoy grandfather (and grandmother) memories!

      The story headline also doubles as my clue (but you knew that, right, ecoarcHitect?)

      Delete
    4. I fear the clue flew over my head - Sunday is not a day for hard thinking, that's why we have football. Of course it's not Sunday any more, but I've still missed it.

      Delete
  3. Will said on the radio that the last puzzle's answer, BUNNY HARE / HONEY BEAR, only got seventy answers sent in, and he didn't list any alternates he accepted. I did not send in the silly HERRING HOG, but I didn't get the accepted answer. So although I feel a little better about not getting a puzzle that was tough (and maybe a little unfair), I am glad about getting this week's puzzle, which will settle a bit the compulsion, thwarted last week, that I get to send in the answer every week.
    ---Rob

    ReplyDelete
  4. This week's challenge should be rather easy for the alertest among you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Ron. Reading your post, I got it right away. It just came to me.

      Delete
    2. PJB, reading your post about how reading Ron's post led you to the answer, in fact led me to the answer. Go figure.

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Charles' comment seems to have been vaporized by the author, or the blog administrator, or ... aliens from another planet?
      Anyway, wanna guess what my mechanic was gonna charge me for replacing the harrlisbgru on my Rabbit? Outrageous!

      Delete
    2. Your (bunny) Rabbit. . .not your Hare? That was my first car. What model year?

      KC, for sure. {Did you know all this?}

      Delete
    3. I had a '79 Rabbit. It was the last car I owned that I could play shade tree mechanic without all kinds of fancy electronics. With a couple of "creative" repairs, involving Duct Tape and bailing wire, and replacing failed sections of the wiring harness I kept it running for 14 years.

      Delete
    4. I also had a '79 Rabbit. It was a great car with good oomph in the mountains. Sold it for $1200 to a Japanese fellow in '93. It was still running great. With two kids we needed a bigger car. There was duct tape involved in the Rabbit to keep it running like a Hare.

      Delete
    5. The running joke in our family is that the Rabbit took my family (of five) to Israel and England on vacation. It held together so long, we could afford the trip.

      Delete
  6. Since we're not going to lose sleep over this puzzle, some additional possibilities for the on-air puzzle, but only giving the first 2 letters - since there's no pressure of being live on-air.

    "For each word given in this week's puzzle, think of another word starting with the same two letters that can follow it to complete a familiar compound word":

    bl
    ch (second part is 2 words, but ties in to last week's puzzle)
    ha
    li
    ma
    pa
    sh
    sh (there are 2 options)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. blue-blooded
      church choir
      hard-hat
      lip-lock
      lo long-lost
      mad-man, mad Max, Mad Magazine
      PayPal
      short-sheet, ship-shape.
      flip-flop
      pot-pourri

      Delete
    2. ch chopped chicken liver

      Delete
    3. Pawpaw?
      Ham-handed?
      Flim-flam?

      Delete
    4. Ron got most of my intended answers, remember these are supposed to be compound words, so church choir isn't quite right, that's 2 separate words, like tall tale.

      And I had lifeline, but life-like is good.
      I was thinking man-made; madman works, not so much Mad Max or Mad Magazine (both of which I enjoyed very much)
      flip-flop was intended, I like flimflam and flea-flicker.
      and I had shoeshine for the sh.

      Still don't have the "ch". And I will add:
      gr
      wo

      Delete
    5. great-grandparent, granddaughter, grandson, grandmother, grandfather.

      wo word woman

      Delete
    6. Ron comes up with good (often better) answers than I intended. I was thinking chinchilla (second part is 2 words), greengrocer, and woodwork.

      Delete
  7. The spell check in the puzzle submission does not like a one word name for the car part with a fifth letter.

    ReplyDelete
  8. From last week's blog:

    skydiveboy Sun Aug 09, 06:07:00 AM PDT

    I am still almost sleepwalking after getting up to take a whiz. I have to walk past my computer where I saw the puzzle and got the answer in a whiz, but that should not surprise anyone.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just to the left of the muffler bearing lies the house not. Can't possibly do without one of those.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Even my Short-Snouted Pug got this one. Woof! I am glad we are in agreement that last week's puzzle was a new low. Nowhere were we told the answers are to be phonetic!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spoonerisms are often phonetic, as Will's example light rain./ right lane illustrated. But there was a zoo low.

      Delete
    2. Right. Spoonerisms are frequently phonetic. Will Shorts always describes Spoonerisms incorrectly as being the switching of the initial consonants. This is how they often are, but they can be several other ways of switching the sounds as well. He doesn't seem to understand this.

      I still have never heard of a honey bear. If someone can show me a list of animals that includes one I might feel better about this phony puzzle he slipped us. If I have time later I might stop by our zoo and see if they have one. I can't wait for "the call" so I can turn down the chance to play the stupid on-air challenge. As I see it the only reason for listening to the NPR Puzzle is to have fun here on Blaine's excellent blog. Too bad we can't also have decent NPR puzzles too. I think this week's is lousy too, even though it is stated properly.

      For a real puzzle, again, I would suggest the CarTalk Puzzler. It is another good one after the bogus one from last week.

      Do I sound a bit critical? I didn't mean to.

      Delete
    3. No internet there? Here you go:

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_bear

      Also, my profile picture at the end of last week was of a honey bear, aka kinkajou.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    5. Re: "zoo low" is an example of an ecoarcitectism, rotating one (or more) of the letters in the phrase:

      ex. new low becomes "zoo low."

      Delete
    6. SDB: Too bad Car Talk is just repeats. I liked their puzzles. I cannot stop laughing about your plan when NPR calls you.
      Delete

      Delete
    7. I just finished checking out all three of those lists and do not find them at all convincing.

      Delete
    8. Honey bears prefer their grapes sweet, I believe.

      Delete
    9. Thanks WW for the "ecoarchitectism" neologism. It's not so much that the "N" was rotated, it was poorly designed (sound familiar?) and fell over with a thud.

      Delete
    10. I liked it!

      And I promise to remember the 'H' in ecoarchitectism" next time.

      Delete
    11. Or a "I" (not a sans serif font one), if the H falls over with a TIUD.

      LegoIonest,HWrote"THUD"ButThenTheHFellOverWithA...Well, YouKnow

      Delete
  11. Sad to hear of Frank Gifford's death. My dad admired him a great deal.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Word Woman,
    Yes, Frank G. was unusual in that he was a former athlete (and a great athlete at that) who became a football announcer who did not "color" but play-by-play (on Monday Night Football, in the footsteps and voiceprints of the estimable Keith Jackson).

    Regarding skydiveboy’s August 9 at 11:22 comment, above, in which he waxes “unintentionally critical” about Will Shortz’s NPR challenges:
    skydiveboy is too modest to mention that he is an amazingly clever puzzle creator himself. Want proof?

    I have been privileged to post several of his excellent creations (on my weekly puzzle blog, Puzzleria!) which he has graciously provided to me. His puzzles appear on the following editions of Puzzleria, beginning in August of 2014:
    Aug. 1, Sept. 26, Nov. 28 (and, in 2015): Jan. 23, Feb. 20, March 20, Apr. 10, Apr. 24, May 15, June 5, June 19 and July 31. And I may have missed a few.

    This week’s NPR puzzle is relatively easy , especially relative to last week’s offering from Will. This ought to give you time to check out skydiveboy’s puzzles on Puzzleria! The archive is on the very bottom of the page. Thanks. (And thanks to Blaine for allowing me to link!)

    LegoTheProofIsInThePuzzling

    ReplyDelete
  13. From last week's thread:

    Within the replies to this week's puzzle, I posted on Aug 09, at 05:14:00 AM PDT:

    I think most people will solve this puzzle the same way I did; -- working backwards!

    And outside those replies, SuperZee posted on Sun Aug 09, at 05:21:00 AM PDT:

    Interesting that you say that EaWAF. I'd started looking at a list of cities, but nothing clicked as I went down the list. Then, when I started thinking about my car, it did.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  15. At least I can get some rest tonight having solved the puzzle so quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Guess I was guilty of tmi, so I think I'll just sit tight and wait for other people's hints.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks, Charles. You made my heart sing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Charles and RoRo, both beautifully suttle (sic) and fun clues.

      Delete
  18. Thanks, Charles. You made my heart sing.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I guess you learned your lesson, Charles.

    ReplyDelete
  20. and there were 5,342,213 correct answers this week Will..... including my two year old.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Ain't seen no blue skies here for some time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Salsero64, I read your clue and boing I had the answer.

      Delete
  22. Salman Rushdie felt right at home in this city.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Most of the bosses I've ever had are quite adept at floating upstream, which is why they're in charge and I'm not. It's a mystery.

    ReplyDelete
  24. EPA's to blame, in large part. Doesn't get much worse than that, and in Colorado of all places. Pristine waters no more!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. EPA was the proximate cause, of course, but abandoned mine waters held in tunnels, ponds, etc. around Silverton have been running into the river system for decades. Also, the naturally occuring ferricrete deposits add some iron and other toxic material. A creek doesn't get a name like "Cement Creek" for no reason.

      There is a very long back story here; the Gold King Mine incident just painted it "danger cone zone orange."

      Delete
  25. EPA was complicit, don't you think, by not jumping on the owners and operators of the abandoned mines? The damage is so visible for so long. There is an old sediment pond from an abandoned mine in Kentucky called "Ketchup Lake." Nuff said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Named for my favorite vegetable!

      Delete
    2. The part I am still sorting out is how the "Las Animas Stakeholders Group" appears to be the decision makers in declaring National Priorities List (Superfund site) status. Townspeople, business owners, and the EPA all were part of the group. For a good history of the relationship between the EPA and the Silverton community, see the first cited link over at PEOTS.

      We could also continue this discussion over there, eh?

      And I agree, Ruth, Ketchup Lake--uggh!

      Delete
    3. Maybe we could get our Secretary of State and his wife to do a PSA, or fund the clean-up?

      Delete
    4. Ketchup in Kentucky, mustard in Colorado. . .con di ment more? Relish figuring a way out of this major environmental pickle.

      Delete
    5. I don't have a clue about that Col. Mustard. Maybe I'll look in the library. Meanwhile, someone pipe the lead away, please!

      Delete
    6. @jan, re: PSA: 57 ways to leave your toxic waste ( clean ) ?

      Delete
    7. I was going to post a new condiment, but I don't relish the thought of spreading dishcord. I seem to be in a bit of a pickle. Olive ya wondering if that is just sour cream on my part or perhaps a pimento of my visit here.

      Delete
  26. If the dam which was supposed to hold these wastes back was improperly built, can the contractor be prosecuted for weir fraud?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SuperZee, it's a very complicated web of water from surrounding mines (like the Red and Bonita Mine) linking the whole Cement Creek area via adits, ponds, and tunnels. Many of the mines have not been worked much since the 1920's, before any regulations. Mine wastes were simply left as is when the mining stopped. There is now much finger pointing between the current mine owners.

      It's also an area that is naturally high in iron, sulphates, and acidity in the volcanic caldera deposits and ferricrete.

      Or, it just occurred to me, maybe you meant "weiner" fraud and were making a joke. . .

      Delete
    2. NVM. . .Ha! Just looked up "weir" and you were making a weir fraud joke. . .I missed it the first time, SuperZee. Good word play, sir!

      Delete
    3. NVM: very appropriate this week. Or any week.

      Delete
    4. Dam! Isn't it true that great mines leak alike?

      Delete
    5. I thought I would aditus and iron while the strike is hot..

      Delete
    6. ecoarchitect, often it's AWM, yes?

      sdb, had I edited I may not have adited above. . .

      Delete
    7. ecoarchitect, often it's AWM, yes?

      sdb, had I edited I may not have adited above. . .

      Delete
    8. AWM: Association for Women in Mathematics? Angry White Male? Animal Waste Management?

      Not sure what you were thinking I was thinking for NVM, I only had one direction.

      Delete
    9. ecoarchitect, I was thinking AlWays Mind (the opposite of NeVer Mind) since we often do. Except when we don't. . .

      Delete
    10. ahh, got it. Sounds better than animal waste management, which is EPA's territory, one hopes without spills.

      They say fish from the SF Bay are still unsafe because of the mercury from gold mining 100+ years ago. Even with the activity gone the legacy lives on.

      Delete
    11. That does not surprise me. My 2002 Mercury Grand Marquis was recently recalled for having too much Tune-fish.

      Delete
    12. Yes, mining has some nasty byproducts with long-lasting effects.

      In the Gold King Mine situation, in situ remediation 20-30 or more years ago well may have ameliorated this particular mess. The EPA has known since an Animas River spill in 1978 that the Silverton area was a major problem. The EPA made recommendations in the early '90's, and again in 2008 but the Animas River Stakeholders Group said no. I still don't understand that decision.

      We can't afford to NVM when it comes to our environment. I am a solid AWM in this area, especially when it comes to southwest Colorado, a part of our state in which I've spent a lot of time. Sorry to be off topic so much this week but it's near to my heart; the early silence by the EPA was an example of exactly what they recommend NOT be done. {So perhaps I am making up for that ;-) }

      Word "River Flowing" Woman

      Delete
  27. WW - I couldn't resist the opportunity to pun and anagram at the same time.
    Speaking of anagrams - do you know that Word Woman anagrams to Random Wow?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was perfect, SuperZee (well, except for missing it and all).

      Thanks for the Random Wow! Remembering the humourous and wow-full side of things is important.

      Delete
    2. OK, enough mine talk:

      Random Wow of the Day. Her happy persistence over by the porch is especially enchanting.

      Delete
    3. We could always talk about Mein Kampf,

      Delete
    4. I'd rather talk about a newly hatched talking bird, whose under age owner digs coal.
      The bird is the minor miner's minor mynah.

      Delete
    5. :-)

      How about a newsman turned army guy's concentration at college?

      Major Major's major.

      Delete
    6. Actually, that was Bob Newhart's field of study.

      Delete
    7. Ah yes--Catch-22: perfect theme for my soon to be 22-year-old daughter. Thanks, Paul.

      Delete
  28. Charles's comment was removed by a blog administrator.
    Natasha's was removed by the author.
    All's right with Alphabet.

    Whew.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Natasha's were removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Google with a G but what's up with Calico with a C?

      Delete
    3. Paul, I think you were correct with "comment was removed".

      Delete
    4. Natasha,
      You may have forgotten that you deleted two (2) of your comments. Therefor Paul is correct as usual. Now, if it had been Zeke we might be debating this in a different way.

      Delete
    5. SDB: Glad someone is keeping track. The correction should have been "comments were". not just "were". That is what I meant.

      Delete
    6. But you knew what I meant anyway. Right, Nat?

      SDB; Oh! Got it! Comment Creek, right?

      WW: I suppose the CAlifornia LIfe COmpany could enlighten me about minotaurs and/or telomeres.

      Delete
    7. Like plastic tips at the end of shoelaces, Paul. Dang! I'll bet that's where I left my Olivia clue.

      Delete
    8. sdb,
      Oh, don't got it. But you gotta ad(m)it the comment/cement thing was kinda ... well ... not stupid.

      WW,
      LPTATEOS

      Delete
    9. Comment creek, Cement Creek, zeke creek. . . flowing in the right direction?

      All I have for LPTATEOS is L POTATOS anagrammed. . .

      Or something with Looking or Laughing.

      Delete
    10. Short term memory -- it's the first to go!

      Delete
    11. Paul,
      Well I got it now I Googled Cement Creek. I am aware of the Colorado mining disaster, but was not cognizant of Cement Creek. However, we here in Washington State are proud to have a town named, Concrete. I hope that gets me off the hook, or at least into a grey area.

      Concrete is where most of the Robert De Niro/Leonardo DiCaprio film, This Boy's Life, was filmed, which is where it actually happened in real life.

      Delete
    12. I'd never seen nor heard of 'This Boy's Life' before.

      Thanks, sdb.

      Delete
    13. Paul,
      This Boy's Life is a memoir by Tobias Wolff, who grew up in Concrete, WA. The book is excellent and I highly recommend it. The movie is a faithful rendition and very well done in all respects. It is a Hollywood anomaly. I have met a couple of guys who grew up with Wolff and fully corroborate his story as well. I am not a DiCaprio fan, but both he and De Niro are perfect for the rolls they play.

      Delete
    14. Aha, Paul! I remembered: Olivia de Havilland (age 99!) of Gone With The Wind fame: See Atl as in See Atlanta during the Civil War!

      It was a bit of a stretch . . .but I enjoyed her in that role.

      Delete
  29. I will not lose sleep over this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Natasha, touché!

      And, back to the fish discussion--what about pike?!

      Delete
    2. Thanks,WW. I have lectures to write for Monday...no time for this stuff....LOL. Waiting for the phone call from WS.

      Delete
    3. SEATBELT - B; rearrange to SEATTLE

      "Electric fans chopping oxygen molecules" referred to the deflated footballs in the New England vs SEATTLE Superbowl this year.

      "Au contrAIRe" was my oxygen molecule response to ecoarchitect.

      *******************************************

      "LAMWNF" (Laughing At Mountain With No Face)--the NH mountain which lost its famous face due to a rockfall.

      &

      "Over by the hawthorn trees?"

      was a riff off Paul's New Hampshire LFOD (no seatbelts required unless you are under 18.) and Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing.

      ********************************************

      "Charles and RoRo, both beautifully suttle (sic) and fun clues." Well, suttle is pretty close to SEATTLE, yes?

      Charles, we blog regulars all know sdb lives in SEATTLE (and it's on his profile). At first I thought you were miffed with your "sit back" comment but then I realized you were being clever.

      *********************************************
      "What about pike?" referred to Pike Place in SEATTLE.

      Back to a humorous outlook post-Animas.

      Still wonder about MrScience. . .Anyone know?

      Delete
    4. I honestly can't remember. That seems like eons ago.

      Delete
    5. WW: I must confess I didn't get your chopped molecule reference, my invoking football as a "counter to thinking on Sunday" was pure coincidence. And safer to say than, say, church.

      I did add that it flew over my head (Boeing?) and that I "missed" (mist) it. SDB: have all your generations of Seattleites come up with 50 words for drizzle? Or whatever you call that annoying "rain"?

      I also added NVM (nevermind) as particularly appropriate. Nevermind was Nirvana's second album, and some say it launched the grunge rock movement centered in Seattle.

      Delete
    6. And I completely missed the Nevermind album clue, ecoarchitect.

      Delete
    7. ecoarchitect,
      Nope. In fact I don't think any of us had/have a vocabulary greater than 50 words.

      Delete
    8. I was walking down 4th St with an engineer and it started to do that Seattle cloud-weeping thing. I started to pull out an umbrella and she advised "Everyone will know you're from out of town."

      "What about that fellow across the street?" I replied. "Which fellow?", she asked. Pointing, I said "That one, the one who's now ... going ... into ... that ... hotel......."

      Delete
    9. ecoarchitect,
      Actually it had to have been Fourth Avenue. We ain't got no 4th Street. You are forgiven.
      When I first visited Paris, France in 1965, it was raining big time. I got a nice hotel room just one block down the back side of the Arch de Triumph and was not about to spend my first night in The City of Lights inside regardless of the rain. I soon came downstairs to the lobby and was walking to the front entrance when the older woman who perhaps owned the place held out a used umbrella. I stood there in a fine wool suit and thought to myself that I had long ago believed I would NEVER use an umbrella. I smiled, took the umbrella from her outstretched hand and thanked her. It had two or three tiny holes, that made no difference with all the rain that evening, but I was so happy for her kindness and have never forgotten it. I have since bought many umbrellas and always have at least two in my car. I am not an anomaly here in Seattle in this regard either. Umbrellas are sold everywhere throughout the city.

      Delete
  30. SEATBELT - B = SEATTLE

    Easy for me as I live here and am third generation. I got the answer as I read the question. Of course I solved it in reverse order by thinking of my city first and noticing SEAT immediately which revealed the rest.

    ReplyDelete
  31. SEATBELT -> SEATTLE

    > I know someone who's gonna find this puzzle to be a real kick in the pants.

    Our friend in Seattle, skydiveboy. Not a belt in the mouth, but a belt in the seat?

    Seatbelts weren't a part of any car that I grew up with, until my father installed them in our '62 Chevy Bel Air wagon. (They didn't do anything for three kids in the way back, anyway.)

    ReplyDelete
  32. My comment from last Sunday:

    "Donald Trump clue: Matthew 19:24."

    Which is to say, "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

    Which of course refers to the Space Needle in Seattle.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I wrote, "I am glad about getting this week's puzzle, which will settle a bit the compulsion, thwarted last week, that I get to send in the answer every week." And "settle a b" is an anagram of the car part.
    ---Rob

    ReplyDelete
  34. My references to sleep...Movie: Sleepless in Seattle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course. . .Where do you teach, Natasha? I am sure your students are not sleeping through your lectures!

      Delete
    2. LOL...HaaaHaa.I love teaching. Thank you WW. I try to make the classes fun. I work in a nursing department at a college in the SF Bay area.

      Delete
    3. Teaching is a blast. . .and a great array of topics too!

      Is it easier to teach the circulatory system, what with all those hearts left in San Francisco?

      Delete
    4. LOL, WW!! I thought I read that you were a geologist. Is that so?

      Delete
    5. Great field! I once took a geology class at UC Berkeley. Very intense and interesting. Studied geology of bay area. Do you like paleontology?

      Delete
    6. I like fossils a great deal. We talk about them over here fairly often. We'd love to have you join us, Natasha, and Blainesvilleans all.

      Delete
    7. OK ...Sounds like fun. Thanks.

      Delete
    8. Just curious Natasha, do you teach at UCSF? Eons ago I designed the expansion and remodel of the entire first floor for the School of Nursing.

      Delete
    9. Ecoarchitect, I do not teach there. I was asked to teach there but turned it down as had another position. Wow that is amazing what you have done. I will check it out next time I am over there. I do recall being impressed with that area last time I was there. I am honored to meet you\!

      Delete
  35. SEAT BELT(or SEATBELT), drop the 5th letter, B, and reverse ELT to yield SEATTLE.

    My hint: “ALERTEST” anagrams to SEATTLE + R.

    ReplyDelete
  36. SEATBELT-->Seattle.
    My comment that, "looking at a list of cities, but nothing clicked ....when I started thinking about my car, it did." was a reference to clicking a seat belt.

    ReplyDelete
  37. SEATBELT-B=SEATTLE
    Again, thanks Ron. "Alertest" really did it for me. Had a good time in FL, although if you read my posts on Puzzleria!, you know FL was the least of my worries.

    ReplyDelete
  38. My clues
    "Need a little help" phonetically referenced "needle" for the space needle.
    "Turnpike " was reference to Seattle's pike place
    And
    "I said to myself "I think I'll pass". In the end, what a mistake that would have been! Referred to Seahawks mistaken decision to try a pass on the one yard line at the end of the super bowl!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Super Zee, I just received a wire (actually an e-mail) that my daughter in the Peace Corps has been assigned to teach English in a village not far from the Chara Chara Weir on Lake Tana in Amhara, Ethiopia. Two weirs in one week!

    She left for the Blue Nile Falls (Tis Abbai) today.

    ReplyDelete
  40. WW:
    I hope your daughter has a wonderful experience in the Peace Corps. My wife, Joyce, may she rest in peace, was in the Peace Corps in the 60's. She spent two years in Ankara Turkey, teaching English to Medical students, at Hacetepi University.
    (These coincidences are getting a little weir(d).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SuperZee, they are getting a little weird. I am sorry to hear about Joyce's passing but glad she was able to serve in the Peace Corps in Ankara. . .and that you were all able to go to England and Israel together compliments of the '79 Rabbit.

      Zoë seems quite happy in Ethiopia. There are a few images of her group over at the tail end of my blog this week; their enthusiasm is palpable. So glad JFK made the Peace Corps a reality. And that I learned about weirs this week.

      Delete
  41. c-hocks = "Seahawks"
    Blaine, you devil!

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  42. Next week's challenge: This is an open-ended challenge. Take the word EASILY. You can rearrange its letters to spell SAY and LEI. These two words rhyme even though they have no letters in common.

    What is the longest familiar word you can find that can be anagrammed into two shorter words that rhyme but have no letters in common? The two shorter words must have only one syllable. I have my best answer, which I've given to NPR. Next week we'll compare that to your best.

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    1. I have very quickly come up with a word that's one letter longer than the example.

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    2. Blaine, would you object to some of us posting how many letters long our single word is? (I'm now up to 10 letters long!)

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    3. I'm not opposed to people posting the total letters in their single word.

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  44. I'm not even thinking about this week's challenge; totally outside my abilities. No hint, just the truth.

    But I find it just a bit curious that for the 8/9 puzzle, Will noted that the proposer was a friend from the puzzle world, yet the week before, when the proposer was Joe Krozel, Will never mentioned that Joe is a long-time crossword constructor whose work Will has often used in the New York Times. Just keeping the two worlds separate?

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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.