Since we've had this puzzle before, I've got nothing further to add.Q: Take the name of a well-known actress — four letters in the first name, nine letters in the last. Insert a letter between the second and third letters of the first name. Remove the last two letters of the last name. The result is a two-word phrase that means "freedom."
Edit: Nothing = Blank
A: Cate Blanchett --> Carte Blanche
Since we have solved this one before, everyone has a free hand to say whatever he/she wishes...
ReplyDeleteHere'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.
DeleteYou 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.
Not quite an Uptown girl.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo here is a riddle for you:
ReplyDeletePete and Repeat were sitting on a fence. Pete fell off so who was left? . . .
The previous puzzle to which Blaine and ron are referring was given just three weeks after a puzzle which was curiously similar to last week's puzzle, the answer to which would have sufficed as an answer to last week's puzzle!
ReplyDeleteThat is a fascinating observation, EaWAf....I looked it all up and found exactly what you are talking about. Further, the prior "similar to last week's puzzle" had an ADDED requirement that last week's didn't, i.e. last week's puzzle was easier. I agree with posters below that dear Mr. S needs to start using an intern or a search engine to remember what kind of puzzles he has already posed.
DeleteHow easy! And how timely! I am thinking of a Xmas tune.
ReplyDelete---Rob
A retread of a previous puzzle so it took less than 5 seconds to solve.
ReplyDeleteFrom the tail-end of last week's blog: mudcracks.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that this actress played a character in her theater career whose first name is the same as second word in this answer.
ReplyDeleteAt Waffle House today we had an outage so we had to fall back on auxxiliary power. As said before I still have to pay my bill.
ReplyDeleteShe also played a person with the same first name, though a different spelling, and WS could probably recycle another puzzle taking apart that person's last name.
ReplyDeleteSo here's a new puzzle to keep us off the streets:
A girl's name in 5 letters is a synonym for a boy's name in 4 letters. Name the names. The names are both well-known, and neither is normally identified with the synonym (like Olive might be).
eco, how rib-like of you!
DeletePopular across the pond?
DeleteI hope I am not giving these away too early, but I am assuming you want to hear possible answers...
DeleteABIE & ABBEY.
And, of course, BELLE & BEAU.
WW: so far as I know the names are not particularly more popular across the pond - the boy's name is pretty popular throughout the English speaking world. The girl's less so, but it is still well-known; you would know an American singer with that name.
DeleteRon: I should have said the etymology of the names is not related to their synonyms - so Belle and Beau are out.
I will also say that in my answer they only have 1 letter in common. Bonus hint, this was inspired by a recent WS puzzle.
"Pond" pointed to my possible predilection, eco. I see it's not what you were thinking, though. . .
Delete4 x 4. could be Barb and Brad.
DeleteBrad and Peg (or Rod) might work, but Barb seems closer to Spike. Brad, Rod and Spike might be manning a new Peyton Place, eh WW?
DeleteFar too exciting!
DeleteAlley / Lane?
DeleteJK
Not my intended, but pretty good. E is shed in Ally's I can think of - Sheedy, Mcbeal.
Deleteeco, Lynne and Lynn was my first thought. ("Linn" being a waterfall or the pool of water at the base of a waterfall).
DeleteI said
DeleteJK
didn't I?
Rowling, Rowling, Rowling?
DeleteI didn't get the JK reference, so chose to ignore it.
DeleteWW, Lynne/ Lynn is kinda cheating. Like Drew/ Drew....
eco, yet it meets all your criteria, yes? (Don't go all WS on us. . .)
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Deleteeco,
DeleteYour comments have been duely noted.
Very sadly. I lay down my croquet mallet, gladly.
DeleteCroquet can be a violent and wicket game.
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DeleteLAURA, ANISE & HERB.
DeleteMARK & PATSY
DeleteSALLY & JOSH
DeleteRon, as is so often the case, is the big winner of the bonus challenge - nice job. I'd like to think this puzzle was a little harder than the NPR fare.
DeleteThis came to mind after the Ryan O'Neal puzzle a few weeks ago; thinking about Paper Moon, where they were always looking for patsies/ marks.
Paul: Sally & Josh as a variant of joke or wit is pretty good, though I couldn't find them together on thesaurus.com, I think they are slightly different versions of joke.
Mark and Patsy show up together as synonyms for dupe, fall guy, pawn, victim, and butt of joke.
Sure this may be a recycled puzzle, but it is clever. However, if you type the well-known actress and the two-word phrase together into a search engine such as Duck Duck Go or Google, a germane YouTube video crops up.
ReplyDeleteWe have five fresh puzzles at Puzzleria! this week, including an excellent offering from skydiveboy that will test your "eyesight" (no, not your nosesight or earsight!)...
Also on P! this week: puzzles about 1. Science & Entertainment,2. Sports Bars, 3. Wild West and Medieval Warriors, and 4. Santa's Workshop.
LegoJumpOnOverToPuzzleria!ForASpellThenJumpOnBackToBlaineville
Thanks for the video link... I've had my laugh for the day!
DeleteI solved and submitted on this one the first time around when still living in the USA so this time around I don't feel too bad at not being able to submit from my now Gozo Island home. However I would have preferred a new challenge even if only to submit in spirit.
ReplyDeleteI've not played the puzzle long enough for me to have heard this one before, but I easily got it in less than five minutes. I was really impressed with her portrayal of a well known musician.
ReplyDeleteBlaine,
ReplyDeleteI was hoping you would have discovered by now that there is a long SPAM post at the very end of the comments week before last.
Thanks SDB. I wasn't fooled into thinking that I too could win $66 million in the lottery. Now if they promised they could get me chosen to play on the air, I might have bitten. :)
DeleteBlaine,
DeleteI think you perhaps read a little further than I did. I have no patience with that stuff. I have recently received a couple of spam emails informing me that Bill Gates has left me some money. I find this rather amusing since I met Bill Gates when he made his Tandem skydive. He is not known as a big tipper either.
As to this week's puzzle, I am keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that WS will use the Sarah Bernhardt puzzle next week. I think most of us enjoyed it the last couple of times he used it.
I see I'm not the only one who noticed Will did this puzzle already. I only had to see "4 letters in the first name, 9 in the last" to get it. It may be worded slightly different, but it's the same puzzle. A little lazy, WS.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that the PM credited a different source for the puzzle the first time around.
ReplyDeleteThis time it was Adam Tolin (?), instead the Simpsons' dude.
I am sure Dr. Shortz will explain exactly how this retread slipped by him.
I say give the guy a break. He once stated on the show that he didn't keep a computer data base of puzzles and answers and he didn't even use paper files. It's all from memory. After this many years and puzzles, I think the occasional lapse will inevitably occur.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure of his puzzle prowess, but it takes only a few seconds to type "npr puzzle [answer]" and see the previous puzzles pop up in both (evil) Google and (angelic) Duckduckgo.
DeletePerhaps WS/ NPR should have an intern check these things.....
And both the NPR website and this blog offer search functions.
DeleteMaybe WS does not care if the puzzles are recycled.
DeleteHe apologized on air once before for a repeat, noting that he can remember puzzles that he's created, but not always those that are submitted.
DeleteWith 20+ years of puzzles I can appreciate that. But I can't understand not doing a quick computer search/ check.
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ReplyDeleteI submitted my formal complaint, typewritten and double-spaced.
ReplyDeleteIt just occurred to me. Enzo is an anagram of zone. DUH!!
ReplyDeleteIn Pushing Tin, Cate Blanchett plays Connie Falzone, wife of Nick "The Zone" Falzone. Their favorite restaurant is Enzo's
DeleteHope everyone on the west side of the pond had an enjoyable Thanksgiving and "Giving Tuesday." I'm sure many of you pledged your support to your NPR affiliate that carries the program that features this puzzle. You may have even used a credit card to pay your pledge.
ReplyDeleteCATE BLANCHETT --> CARTE BLANCHE
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly this is exactly the same answer as it was twenty-one months ago when WS used it. Some things never seem to change.
Cate Blanchette
ReplyDeletecarte blanche
There’s really nothing to say except that everything’s easier the second time around.
I said, "I am thinking of a Xmas tune." And that is a carol, and _Carol_ is her most recent movie. ---Rob
ReplyDeleteHere is the link I alluded to on Sunday, the one you get by putting Cate Blanchett and Carte Blanche into a search engine.
ReplyDeleteLegoPuttingTheCartBeforeTheWhiteHorse
Cate Blanchett portrayed Kate Hepburn in "The Aviator".
ReplyDeleteI also noted you could take a"part" the latter's name, He(-p)(+art)burn to get heartburn, which could recycle the Sarah Bernhardt syllable flip puzzle from mid May 2014, coincidentally a few weeks after the Blanchett puzzle.
CATE BLANCHETT (+R – TT) = CARTE BLANCHE = “FREEDOM” or “UNCONDITIONAL AUTHORITY,” “a free hand” to do whatever one wishes. [My hint: “a free hand” = “carte blanche”]
ReplyDeleteThis SAME CHALLENGE, by Mike Reiss, writer for The Simpsons, was given on April 27, 2014.
CATE BLANCHETT/CARTE BLANCHE
ReplyDeleteI was completely mesmerized by her portrayal of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. It was just so interesting to see her portrayal of him, as my clue suggested.
Five fresh new unrecycled puzzles have just been uploaded at Puzzleria! Please feel welcome to stop by and have some fun while waiting for Sunday morning's NPR offering to roll around again.
ReplyDeleteP!'s offering this week involve:
Hooking Up, Bikes And Butts, Business News, Power Of Three, and, to top it off, a Grand Slam Dessert.
LegoNoRecycler
Next week's challenge:
ReplyDeleteName a state capital. Drop one of its letters. The remaining letters can be rearranged to name of another major city in the United States. What is it? There are two different answers, and you should find both of them.
Not sure I agree with the terms of this puzzle.
ReplyDelete