NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 8, 2015): Actor Becomes On-Air Contestant:
Q: Name a famous actor — using both first and last name. Drop the first two letters of the first name and the last two letters of the last name. Then put a Y between what's left of the two names. The result, reading from left to right, will identify who might solve this challenge and play puzzle on the air with me next week.
Or take the letters that remain in the actor's last name, add a letter before and after to name where you might see the actor today.
Edit: The answer to my hint was the TV show,
BONESA: RYAN O'NEAL --> ANYONE
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.
Did this puzzle sink to a new low? I don't think so. Faraway better than some others.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, the puzzle can be a major source of joy and pain.
DeleteInteresting fact: This actor also had a history of glove use.
ReplyDeleteAnd he's not Michael Jackson.
DeleteMy clue doesn't fit O.J. either.
DeleteRecycling my comment from the end of last week's blog, Solving this puzzle was easier than coming up with a, hopefully not too revealing, clue - Cassius Clay.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete'Tis a fine puzzle. A person who shares one of the actor's names, first or last, appeared in a recent Puzzleria! Blog puzzle (one from a month ending in "-ber").
ReplyDeleteLegoGraspingAtEveryOpportunityToShoehornInSomeShamelessPuzzleria!Plug
I am gathering books to ship to the town of Shende, Ethiopia, near Lake Tana, where my daughter is serving in the Peace Corps. If you had but one book to send to the community of emerging readers, what would it be? My daughter's students, 3 classes of 65 each, are 9th graders learning English as their second language. Amharic is their native tongue.
ReplyDeleteSince it is very expensive to ship there, I want to gather books that will, hopefully, be well-loved. They are currently reading at about E.B.White's "Charlotte's Web" level.
The kindergartners I teach on Fridays and their families are helping. Their 5-year-old jaws dropped when they heard the community's whole, brand new library had only 30 books.
So as not to take up Blaine's blog space, feel free to leave your suggestions on my blog Partial Ellipsis of the Sun.
Thanks, in advance, for your recommendations. If you have other questions, you may also reach me via my gmail account, wordwomans. **WW**
Sorry WW, could not get a reply posted to your PEof the Sun Site. " The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 (Paperback)
Deleteby Christopher Paul Curtis (shelved 5 times as 5th-grade-reading-list)
avg rating 3.92 — 47,264 ratings — published 1995
and
A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1)
by Madeleine L'Engle (shelved 5 times as 5th-grade-reading-list)
avg rating 4.03 — 665,735 ratings — published 1962
I've read both, and highly recommend them. Thanks for what you're doing here!
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1)A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1)
by Madeleine L'Engle (shelved 5 times as 5th-grade-reading-list)
avg rating 4.03 — 665,735 ratings — published 1962
Want to Read
Rate this book
Both good choices. Thanks, Wordnerd!
DeleteGreat observation, Blaine!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a classic example of a puzzle that's easier to solve backwards. Start with the part of the answer with the y in the middle, and use that to build the actor's name.
ReplyDeleteCurtis, That was my procedure exactly!
DeleteOkay, gang. I realize that Blaine probably does not appreciate it when I do this, but I shall now reveal my answer! And, so, Blaine, please poise your pinkie on the “dispose” button, for possible removal of my comment “by the blog administrator.”
ReplyDeleteThe actor in my answer is this guy!
LegoWhoDoesn’tGiveAFigWhoCriesOverSpiltBeans!
Absofigginlutely magnificent!
DeleteNice, Lego!
DeleteIsn't that what I said?
DeleteWe all get a turn, er, right? ;-)
DeleteI have another one: the actor PATRICK MATHIS. This yields TRICKY MATH, something that might solve the weekly challenge.
DeleteThanks, all. And I like "tricky math," ron, especially so as this puzzle follows on the heels of last weeks paTRICK Y MATHis puzzle!
DeleteAnd on the "All-Killees Heels" of TRICK or treat to boot!
Speaking of scary Halloween stuff, Rae Dawn Chong's actor-dad, "Pops" Chong might have been a possible alternative answer had Will run this challenge a week or two earlier.
Lego?APsycho?N'est-cePas?Que'est-ceQueC'est?
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ReplyDeleteAs I posted much earlier this morning at the end of last week's blog:
ReplyDeleteskydiveboy Sun Nov 08, 05:42:00 AM PST
I never could stand this lousy actor.
Since then I have listened to the on air puzzle and don't understand why, as his last question, WS did not ask: "What some may call the new puzzle offering."
So, how many actors can we strike off our lists? Two, three, half a dozen?
DeletePaul,
DeleteAre you really suggesting an actor's strike?
No. And while I'm at it, BOGUS would not have fit the constraints of the on-air puzzle. Just sayin'.
DeleteBut Paul, I was thinking more along the lines of BS.
DeleteWell, in that case, actors and actresses should be free to exercise their craft ...or not.
DeleteWhy have I never noticed this peculiarity before? It's about one of my favorite movies; this actor starred in it, and it had a surprising connection to politics a dozen or so years before the movie was released.
ReplyDelete---Rob
Could there be more than one answer? I have one that works (except for the "famous" part) but seems unrelated to the clues posted above.
ReplyDeleteThere is no definitive answer.
DeleteHere I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.
I am not digging for a second answer, but gosh, it would be fun if there were more than one. ---Rob
DeleteRob, I now have two, both with the same last name, one of whom might be called "famous."
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLorenzo, Rob & Paul,
DeleteI would argue that the “alternative answer” (Solution B) might actually be a better choice than the one (Solution A) that Blaine and most Blainesvillians seem to be hinting at, even though I would put my money on Solution A being Will’s intended answer.
There are actually three Solution Bs, all involving actors with the same name except for a minor spelling variation:
Solution B1 (the one Will ought to accept as correct) involves a deceased actor who was indeed a “famous actor” IMO. I am only a casual follower of cinema and TV, for example, and I have heard of him/her. She/he has done more than a score of films and lots of TV.
The surnames of Solutions B2 and B3 are spelled differently from B1, but this variation does not affect “the result, reading from left to right, (that) will identify who might solve this challenge and play puzzle on the air with (Will) next week.” That said, neither B2’s nor B3’s actors seem sufficiently “famous” for Will to accept them as correct.
Why do I believe that Solution A, not Solution B1, is Will’s intended answer? Because Solution A’s one-word result is quite broad and the actor is quite famous. Solution B1’s two-word result, although more specific, elegant, fun and interesting, would seem to better describe the puzzle creator than the puzzle solver. Also, B1’s actor is less “famous” than A’s.
LegoBelievesAlternativePuzzleSolutionsAreFun,NotFaultyPuzzlemaking
Lego, are you headed back to your Blood Typo Routine?
DeleteWW, AB, I'm positive
Lego: Now that I finally got Solution A, I agree entirely with your comments on the various solutions, including that Solution A is probably the intended answer.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if WS accepted last week's answer without the parentheses.
ReplyDeleteOn the air WS said the correct answer was 9 + 9 / .9. Online the parentheses are in the answer. That is the correct answer. Any thoughts???
ReplyDeleteNatasha, you've seen and heard people talk and use "air quotes?"
DeleteMaybe they were "air (parentheses)."
(Word Woman)
Both are the same, but different calculators handle them differently. Only a parent would care. (A parent he says!)
Deletesdb, Yes I know. I tried that. Since the parentheses were shown on the website, I just wondered if they had to be in the submitted answer.
DeleteIt's an order of calculation issue. If you (and your calculator) follow the convention of Multiply/Divide before Add or Subtract (with the mnemonic My Dear Aunt Sally) 9 + 9/.9 = 19 as 9/.9 = 10. However, with parentheses, you perform the operation inside the parentheses first so you get the intended answer as 18/.9 = 20.
DeleteSuperZee, I do not think submitted answers were deselected if they did not have the parentheses. I was wondering what others on here thought.
DeleteI'm sorry, but I don't love this actor, either.
ReplyDeleteYep, I Don't Love this puzzle either..Sorry!
DeleteJan, Yes, not me either really, but this actor does co-star in my #1 favorite comedy movie of all time and is perfectly cast in it! I watch it once a year on average, and every friend who has not seen it, loves it the first time watching, and some go buy the DVD to show others! Can anyone who also got the intended answer to this puzzle guess 'HINT' at the movie title here without naming it! Cheers!
DeleteIf your favorite comedy movie is what I'm thinking of, there's something there that really bugs me. I only liked one movie this actor starred in, and thought his co-star really stole the show.
DeleteBy Jove ecoarchitect, I believe you know this movie! Your 'clues' above show this well. Also, a line of dialog near the end of this movie, references another earlier more famous non-comedy movie staring this same puzzle answer actor! That's all folks!
DeleteAlso, the co-star who "really stole the show" has the same initials as the answer to Blaine's puzzle addendum at the top of this week's blog. (The co-star's 1st initial goes at the beginning and the 2nd initial goes at the end.)
DeleteTruth be told I never cared for the movie you're thinking of, sorry. The "stealing" co-star was from another movie, easy enough to guess which.
DeleteThe co-star in this comedy, is the living definition of multi-talented. When in High School, the co-star and another jewel of a singer were in choir together. The thought of what their performances must have been like is enough to send chills down my spine.
DeleteLorenzo, I have the feeling there may very well be more than one answer to this week's challenge.
ReplyDeleteI just got done finding an answer by brute force. I think it gives nothing away to say that although this actor has a long list of stage, movie, and television credits, I don't recall hearing his/her name, and in fact the first movie role mentioned in his/her Wikipedia entry is one he/she didn't get!
But the name meet's Will's requirements. Now I have to test it against Blaine's additional requirement.
It seems to me that Blaine misstated his hint slightly. Or we either have different actors or answers to what Blaine is thinking.
Deletesdb: Blaine's hint was perfect for the actor I submitted.
DeleteMy error!
DeleteI read Blaine's hint backwards, thinking he meant the two last letters that were removed. I was adding a letter to the beginning and middle of them to come up with the place I thought Blaine meant, and perhaps where I would prefer. I had to Wiki to discover the place Blaine means. I don't watch TV.
SDB: I could not imagine you did not have the right answer.
DeleteI knew I had the right answer as soon as I got it. The only role I would even consider seeing this actor play would be as the rear end of a pantomime horse.
DeleteBob K: After modifying my original "solution" (i.e., same last name but different first name), I have an answer that fits perfectly with your comment, including the Wikipedia observation.
DeleteI figured the puzzle out yesterday. It took another day to figure out Blaine's hint!
DeleteUsing the same hint - come up with something of which Winnie the Poo would like.
I feel sorry for this actor, as he has had someone close to him go to join the other angels in Heaven.
ReplyDeleteExactly fifteen years from now, NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin will ask Will Shortz, “Okay, Will. What is next week’s puzzle?”
ReplyDeleteWill will respond with the same puzzle he responded with this morning: “Name a famous actor — using both first and last name. Drop the first two letters of the first name and the last two letters of the last name. Then put a Y between what's left of the two names. The result, reading from left to right, will identify who might solve this challenge and play puzzle on the air with me next week.”
Note: Although recycling of NPR puzzles is at present only sporadic, by 2030 the NPR puzzle will be in the middle of its second decade of a 5-year-cyclical schedule of repeated challenges. Also, by 2030, the nature of Will’s puzzle audience will have shifted dramatically...
Indeed, shifted so dramatic that nearly 100% of his audience will no longer be human!
Thus, the actor this time is not this guy, this week’s 2015 answer. No, the correct famous actor in 2030 will be the grandson of Gloria Anne Borger, who in 2015 serves as chief political analyst for CNN. Her grandson's surname is Borger also. His parents, who were big fans of Apple computer products, named him Mac.
LegoButHadColeYounger’sGreatGreatGreatGrandsonNicBeenWill’sChoiceForThe”FamousActor,”AHologramOfABaseballLegendWouldBePlayingOnAirWithWillAndRachelIn2030!
Only a nonlawyer could even guess the correct answer...
ReplyDeleteI just came up with an interesting alternate answer which has to do with football.
ReplyDeleteTom Brady =====> my bra?
DeleteGood one, Jim.
DeleteLegoDidNotRealizeMr.BradyWasACrossDresser
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DeleteWill’s puzzle this week was really obscurely cloudy, but it does end with a silver lining, as will become clear below.
ReplyDeleteI made no progress whatsoever on this Shortzian challenge until – aha! – I realized Will was looking not for the actor’s stage name but for her/his birth name (Cary Grant = Archibald Leach; John Wayne = Marion Morrison; Judy Garland = Frances Gumm, etc.). I discovered, however, that many people (including those who contribute to the Charles Boyer Wikipedia entry, seem unaware that the great French actors’s parents named him “Omsk” after his maternal great-grandfather’s Russian hometown. Charles Boyer’s mother’s maiden name was “Dive,” so his birth certificate’s surname reads as the hyphenated “Dive-Boyer.” When he took to the stage “Omsk Dive-Boyer” gave way to “Charles Boyer” and the rest is histrionic history!
And so, congratulations, skydiveboy. We all anticipate listening to you on-air with Will and Rachel next Sunday!
LegoPleaseBehaveYourself!
NOT A CLUE: So I'm looking for an actor whose birthname was Ansmart Pantsor ?
DeleteWill’s puzzle this week was really simple, for those of us who know that Katharine Ross’s close friends and relatives call her “Kat.”
ReplyDeleteErgo, armed with that knowledge, any beginner could solve this one!
LegoWondersIf”Kat”EverPerformedAtThisTheater
legolambda, I'll just die if I don't solve this puzzle...
DeleteIt's been several months since I last posted a note here and I have now been living on the tiny (twenty-six square mile) Mediterranean Island of Gozo for three months. Unfortunately, and although I continue to solve the weekly puzzles, NPR's submission form change now prevents me from submitting entries. They get rejected due to the phone number here having only eight digits and no area code. I did send a request to NPR begging a submission form revision but, so far, to no avail.
ReplyDeleteAnyway a little about my new home; Gozo (also known as Għawdex) is part of the Republic of Malta and contains some of the oldest known Megalithic Structures on earth, predating Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids by circa one thousand years. The major one of these structures contains upright stones seven meters tall and weighing in excess of fifty tons. The culture, language and architectural styles have been shaped by the many invading forces which have conquered and ruled the Island over many thousands of years. These have included Phoenicians, Romans, Moors, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, Knights of St. John, French and British.
This is also believed to be the Island (described in Homer's Odyssey) on which the shipwrecked Ulysses was washed ashore on his return from the Trojan Wars and then held captive by the Nymph Calypso before being freed following intervention by the god Mercury.
The major economic drivers are agriculture, fishing and tourism. Here life is quiet and pastoral. It also provides, despite its small size, for great hiking and climbing opportunities.
I hadn't checked the Englishman's blog in a while. Didn't realize you had moved. Good to read your post!
ReplyDeleteDid you ever consider the possibility that England may have produced more than one ex-patriot?
DeleteToo bad you can't send in answers anymore. That's got to be the worst downside to traveling abroad.
ReplyDeleteReally? I always thought it was the rough toilet paper.
DeleteSorry for any confusion, but I am not the owner of the Englishman Solves Blog. It's by co-incidence that we have the same Handle and Love for Puzzles. Thankfully and because the British were the last to rule prior to Independence the toilet paper here is not quite as rough as in other foreign lands. The non standard phone numbering system of no area codes and use of eight digits is bugbear for all kinds of international email communications which require use of phone information.
ReplyDelete7/21/69.
ReplyDeleteElegant clue!
DeleteThis clue includes both an obvious and subtle element,
DeleteTake the name of a movie (or maybe it was a film--debate begins Thursday at 3 PM) in which this actor starred, add two letters, and you have the tagline of another movie (this one was definitely a movie) in which this actor starred
ReplyDeleteFor crying out loud, I'm sorry, but I'm drawing a blank for clever clues. Excuse me, I have to shut the water off.
ReplyDeleteDon't force it.
DeleteOne of this actor's movies had one of my favorite reviews ever. Need to see if I can find the exact quote by Thursday, otherwise you will be stcuk with a paraphrase.
ReplyDeleteSeems like an abundance of tips, clues and hints above.
ReplyDelete"A Dutch Swop" Is one of my favorite movies! It starred Lane Anroy, and the multi-talented Rabbi Tara Sanders.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of the actor, but got the answer. Each an every person can get this answer.
ReplyDeleteBetter late than never? After reading all the comments here, I realized that I previously had a somewhat plausible but incorrect answer. Now I know the intended answer. In fact, I said I got my previous answer by brute force, which was true. If I had gone two items down on my reference list, I would have had this correct answer.
ReplyDeleteSo, Lorenzo, you saw what I saw on Wikipedia, but, wrong person.
And knowing the answer to Blaine's secondary hint makes me think Will might have had his timing slightly off!
Bob K: I believe this is the intended answer (that Lego referred to as Solution A)
ReplyDeleteAnother puzzle that should be a natural for RoRo, rightright?.
ReplyDeleteOnly if RoRo decides to take them letters and rorotate 'em to get the answer.
DeleteSo I had it narrowed down to two possible solutions, submitted my final choice today and I’m not sorry about it, either.
ReplyDeleteA participant here might never have solved last week's antique math puzzle no matter how long he or she worked on it.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who tried has solved this one.
Supplemental puzzle:
ReplyDeleteRemove the first 3 letters of a famous 20th Century politician's first name and last name, and you get something that aligns with their nickname.
I don't think WS would use this on-line until NPR gets a late-night puzzle..
Not without a good stiff one first.
DeleteThey're all good ;-).
DeleteFunny coincidence: just before ecoarchitect posted, I'd been following a train of thought through cyberspace from Sedlec to baculum.
DeleteIt's a hard road to follow. . .
DeleteDid the politician go straight to hell?
DeleteNo, but he went to the dogs...a little Cocker Spaniel as I recall..
DeleteHe did have a checkered past.
DeleteBack to square one.
DeleteWe've been talking about an ossuary over at PEOTS. Have any of you visited this intriguing place?
Not that specific one.
DeleteWhat was it like to be in an ossuary?
DeleteThe real question is where in an ossuary do they wash the bones?
DeleteAnswer: In the scullery, of course!
It was like being anywhere else for me. It was in Porto, Portugal.
DeleteI've toured the catacombs in Paris and Rome, but I don't think that's quite the same.
DeleteI also had a spring break job cleaning out and prepping the graveyard areas under Westminster Hall in Baltimore, most famous as the burial ground for Edgar Allan Poe. I came within inches of accidentally uncovering Annabel Lee, but that's another story. WW: guess that makes me a name digger, not a name dropper.
In the early 19th Century most people couldn't afford a proper burial, and they would deposit their departed into whatever crypt they could break into. Among my jobs was to clean out the crypts, not of the piles of bones (we estimated about 100 in the one of a Revolutionary War General and his "blessed" wife), but the miscellaneous beer bottles, flags, and other detritus over the last 100+ years. Not quite an ossuary, at least not formally.
And in other name dropping, I was digging in the graveyard when someone ran up saying Reagan had just been shot. All I could think to say was "Okay, I'll dig faster."
Namedigger eco, we are all ravenous with curiosity to know if your paths ever crossed with our own famous Baltimorean, RoRo.
DeleteGreat Reagan quip, too.
I lived in Baltimore many years ago, haven't even set foot in Charm City since 1987 or so.
DeleteBut Baltimore's other famous citizen, John Waters, did sign a book "To a fellow Baltimoron". Then he asked me out. I was honored in an odd way (my then girlfriend much less so), but I have since learned that he would ask out any guy that can stand, and perhaps some that can't.
eco,
DeleteWe will all now promise not to ask if you tested the Waters. :-)
Or tasted them.
DeleteI will say he is one of the funniest people I've ever met, a quick and incredible wit. He was at City Lights Bookstore in SF (of Lawrence Ferlinghetti fame) to sign books, but no one else was there to meet him (I was just walking by, maybe they didn't advertise).
So I "had" him all to myself for an hour and a half. I guess I could have had him for a day or more....
He is known for having an incredible Halloween party at his mansion each year. I understand the Hors d'oeuvres he provides are also excellent and there is lots of goblin. Again I was not invited.
DeleteJokes like these sort of get you right where you live.
ReplyDeleteHappy Veterans Day, everyone! Support the troops!
ReplyDeleteSecond Supplemental Puzzle (it's what I do):
ReplyDeleteRemove the first 3 letters of the first name of another 20th Century politician, and you get the name of an actor. Not sure of the fame-quotient, I've heard of him, and that's something.
And if that's too easy:
Take the first 3 and last 3 names of another politician (note I didn't specify 20th Century) to get the name of a former television comedy show.
ecoarchitect, many are name-droppers. You are confident enough to be a mere letter-dropper. And, so glad you are not an I-dropper. . .;-)
DeletePerhaps another puzzler enjoys rehashing movie-oriented oblique nonsense. Looking over virtually every single tawdry opinion rarely yields an epiphany.
ReplyDelete(No criticism intended)
DeleteNone taken; I'm not piphed off anyway.
DeleteNotice I carryout everything. Consciously letting up everywhere serious. Patience, intention, listening, laughter. Jelly!
DeleteOops, forget listening.
Delete...and add humorous.
DeleteMake no bones about it.
DeleteYes! That's exactly what I meant!
DeletePretty hilarious! I love just such goofy, oblique talk! This has every applicable notion some will eventually regret!
ReplyDeleteThen how about this riddle from my grandfather (1883-1971)!
DeleteQ: Why is a mouse when he spins?
A: Because the higher they fly, the fewer they is up there!
Enjoy....
Some others divulge obvious information!
ReplyDeleteInitial letters often verify everyone's truth hiding in sentences.
ReplyDeleteI think sentence forming underlines new nuances, yet each verse eventually needs the hilarious oddity under grand humour. I absolutely meant to end really rigid irrationality because life's experience all together, is tumultuous.
DeleteI am waiting for the call today as I fall into that cohort.
ReplyDeleteRYAN O'NEAL -> ANYONE
ReplyDelete> I'm sorry, but I don't love this actor, either.
Love means never having to say you're sorry.
> 7/21/69
A newspaper moon landing story.
> Don't force it.
O'Neal's partner was Farrah Fawcett.
> Another puzzle that should be a natural for RoRo, rightright?.
R.O.
anyone
ReplyDeleteRyan O’neal
Last Tuesday I said, “So I had it narrowed down to two possible solutions, submitted my final choice today and I’m not sorry about it, either.’ The tagline to the movie, Love Story, is: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
Ah, where do I begin?
ReplyDeleteFred Williamson. It's not beyond the realm of possibility.
Alan Alda. Dean Jones. Sean Lennon (yes, he has a few acting credits under his belt, and yes, there are some people named Lenn).
What if Marisa Tomei has an actor brother named Evan? Or how about the Dicker family? They can't all be furriers, and being located in Beverly Hills, one or another of them just might have caught the acting bug. Jean or Joan or who knows who. Of course, if they'd chosen careers in medicine, they might be doctresses ... but I digor. Some male relative of Debbie Harry, named after his father, perhaps?
Sean Young. Alan Young. OK, I'm going too far out on this limb.
If I were the NPR employee assigned to screen submissions, I'd be very suspicious of those naming Shadoe Stevens. Probably all from the same source. Mama Mia! It's just a lapel pin; you'd think we were playing for money, Signor Furbo!
Now that I think of it, if I were an NPR employee, would I be eligible to play? But I'd still be someone, right? Just checking.
Bottom line, I'm not an NPR employee and I believe I'm eligible, so I might have submitted an answer and I might be playing on the air on Sunday. But I didn't and I'm not.
If I had, what actor's name would I have submitted? Probably the same as Ed Allen.
Disregard the fifth segment, above. Shadoe Stevens doesn't work at all.
DeleteBut I insist that Ed Allen does (well, maybe except for the 'famous' part).
Ryan O'Neal > ryANYO'NEal > ANYONE
ReplyDeleteRyan O'Neal ---->> ANY ONE
ReplyDeleteMy clue Cassius Clay (aka Muhammad Ali) was intended to double barreled. In addition to referring to O'Neal's time as a boxer, it was intended as a tribute to O'Neal's co-star in “Love Story”, Ali McGraw.
As to secondary puzzles, O'Neal's co-star in “What's Up Doc?” was Barbra Streisand. She and Neal Diamond (a gem of a performer) met at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn – where they were both in the chorus. I can only imagine what their performances might have been like.
And as a final piece of name dropping, chess champion Bobby Fisher, was at Erasmus at the same time – and Barbra is reported to have had a crush on him....
I wrote: "Why have I never noticed this peculiarity before? It's about one of my favorite movies; this actor starred in it, and it had a surprising connection to politics a dozen or so years before the movie was released."
ReplyDeleteThe movie was _Barry Lyndon_, and the title is composed of the first names of Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson, presidential candidates for 1964.
---Rob
Hmmm... do you suppose Kubrick was referring to Johnson's anti-Goldwater "Daisy" ads when he had HAL sing "Daisy" as he was being disassembled in 2001? We know he'd learned to "love the bomb" a few years earlier.
DeleteRYAN O'NEAL, ANYONE
ReplyDeleteI got to ANYONE straight away. It took a little longer to get to RYAN O'NEAL; my ossuary or "church of bones" post referred to his recurring role in the program Bones.
Ryan O'Neal/anyone
ReplyDeleteMy clue:
"A Dutch Swop"/anagram of "What's Up Doc?" is one of my favorite movies! It starred Lane Anroy/anagram of Ryan O'Neal and the multi-talented Rabbi Tara Sanders/anagram of Barbara Streisand.
Maverick Nonsense:
Notice I Carryout Everything. Consciously Letting Up Everywhere Serious. Patience, Intention, Listening, Laughter. Jelly! (NICE CLUES PHILL J) I then realized I forgot the H and added an extra L. But hilariously, it was pointed out to me.
I Think Sentence Forming Underlines New Nuances, Yet Each Verse Eventually Needs The Hilarious Oddity Under Grand Humour. I Absolutely Meant To End Really Rigid Irrationality Because Life's Experience All Together, Is Tumultuous.
(IT'S FUNNY EVEN THOUGH I AM TERRIBLE AT IT)
My first thought had been that the answer would be "Lucky" someone, but that was an obvious dead end. After a bit, I thought it might be "Tricky" someone, which led to the plausible Patrick O'Neal. But as comments continued to pile up, I took a second look at my list of actors, and there was Ryan O'Neal. I believe that was before the answer was spelled out in yet other comments.
ReplyDeleteI think Patrick O'neal is an excellent answer. Never occurred to me. One of those faces that makes one say "oh, that's what's-his-name."
Delete"As usual, the puzzle can be a major source of joy and pain." was a reference to Farrah Fawcett Major's relationship with Ryan O'Neal. Married, divorced, and together again (joy) and the allegations that he beat her - pain.
ReplyDeleteTo Barbara Streisand, I didn't care for What's Up, Doc (ratoig's sidebar), but did like Paper Moon, where co-star Tatum O'Neal stole the show while stealing from their victims.
Secondary puzzles: Remove first 3 letters from first and last name of Richard Nixon and you get ... Tricky Dick!
Remove first 3 letters from Lyndon Johnson and you get the amazingly talented Don Johnson.
Take first 3 and last 3 letters (why did I write names?) of Benjamin Harrison to get Benson.
My posting was an acrostic – a group of words or phrases, typically arranged vertically, whose initial letters spell out something meaningful. I like to use acrostics in sending invitations, announcements, etc., highlighting a person’s name or an event.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, the acrostic spells out Paper Moon and Love Story, both movies in which Ryan O’Neil prominently appeared.
The following posted responses were also couched as acrostics (were there others that I missed??):
clotheslover: Nice clues Phil J!
patjberry: Phil J’s got the answer!
patjberry: So do I!
patjberry: I love this
clotheslover: IT'S FUNNY EVEN THOUGH I AM TERRIBLE AT IT
RYAN O'NEAL. AN + Y + ONE = ANYONE “might solve this challenge and play puzzle on the air...”
ReplyDeleteBlaine's clue: On the TV series BONES, he plays Max Brennan.
My clue: “a nonlawyer” anagrams to Ryan O'Neal + w.
RYAN O'NEAL, ANYONE
ReplyDeleteMy football idea was former athlete/actor JIM BROWN. Follow the instructions, and you get MY BRO.
Sink and faraway were clues for fara fawcett.
ReplyDeleteTips was clue for tip oneill.
"rorotatem" was clue for Tatum O'neal.
I visit here occasionally on Thursdays when need-for-sleep trumps puzzle pride. I like the real answer this week. I got stuck on Tim Allen. "My all" just doesn't work. I'm sure Will appreciates his unruly fanbase, but any enigmatologist would be just fine without us.
ReplyDeletePurely for documentation purposes, I note here that my entry 3 weeks ago was:
Many passersby say they really enjoy my crazy holiday display.
It's a pretty good end-run around the problem of needing a non-s plural for flowing prose that wasn't used by any other entries mentioned.
One of my favorite all-time movie reviews was for "Love Story". It was written by, I think, Joseph Morgenstern of Newsweek, now with the Wall Street Journal. It went something like (I can't find the exact quote) "Take the story of a boy and his dog, kill off the dog, and you will have tears rolling down every theater aisle in America."
ReplyDeleteAnyone is not true in my case. I was picked a year ago and amazingly, got called again one month ago. When I told them I had been on, they booted me, saying you have to wait two years. They should have vetted me before calling. Richard McCurdy
ReplyDeleteNo, I think they got it right. If you were on you would be an ANYTWO. You can't have it both ways.
DeleteA belated thought. If a Blainsvillian was selected, we'll have to see if there is an actor named Sam Friendly. (Or Tim, Tom, or Jim.)
ReplyDeleteNext week's challenge: Think of a word that contains three consecutive letters of the alphabet together — like CANOPY, which contains NOP. Change these three letters to one new letter to make a synonym of the first word. What words are these?
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ReplyDeleteAnother one RoRo is sure to get.
ReplyDeleteJudging by my lack of puzzling prowess in this case the worst won.
ReplyDeleteI got the answer pretty quickly, but logging onto the NPR website on my iPad, from my hotel, nearly got the better of me.
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ReplyDeleteThank you, All of the Above. Got it, and Mister Ed says please stop now.
ReplyDeletebk. Not meaning to steal the show or nothin', but neigh.
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