I like to travel to see the world.Q: Name a famous actor — seven-letter first name, four-letter last name. Take four consecutive letters from the first name and three consecutive letters from the last name. These seven letters, in order from left to right, will name something that's often packed nowadays when taking a trip. What is it?
Edit: "See world" sounds like "SeaWorld" which is in San Diego, home of the San Diego Chargers.
A: RICHARD GERE --> CHARGER
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.
Me, too.
ReplyDeletebreakfast
ReplyDeleteI try to make sure to bring this on every trip I take. Unfortunately, on my last two trips (to San Diego and Chicago), I forgot it. It was a truly scary experience.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I thought I may be at a disadvantage here. I just returned from a vacation and have already unpacked.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, I think you have an advantage.
DeleteCilc, oj I ygh tf nezrxh a xaisj ...
DeletePretty easy. I can think of a movie in which the actor used one of these, but not the version meant in the puzzle. ---Rob
ReplyDeleteBrings to mind that old proverb: "The eager beaver always finds the arid branch!"
ReplyDeleteVery easy, out for breakfast and then out for a ride.
ReplyDeleteWell, there went my hint. He who hesitates is lost, I guess.
DeleteDid you dally? Someone had to give that hint, I just never thought it would be me.
Delete^^^Already out for breakfast earlier. No ride, but a swim instead.
DeleteI thought exercising after eating caused cramps.
DeleteIf you get the breathing right, it's not a problem, Paul.
DeleteAs Wally might say to Alice:
DeleteI can see we're viewing this from radically different perspectives.
And that's what makes the world go 'round. . .or something like that.
DeleteThis actor isn't much of a singer, but he tried to wing it I guess.
ReplyDeleteWant to bet they get more than 176 correct answers next week?
ReplyDeleteAfter a couple of weeks of just 100+ entries, I'd wager that's part of the plan, jan.
DeleteEasy one, but after I figured out what the item must be, I began looking with the wrong first name of the actor, but I won't give him a plug. I soon figured that out though.
ReplyDeleteThis list of 1000 actors might be a good place to start... http://www.imdb.com/list/ls058011111/
ReplyDeleteA well-to-do puzzle to be sure.
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteThe compliment Will paid to David Lefkowitz wasn't the most obvious on-air hint. It wasn't even the second most obvious.
ReplyDeleteIs it really an item or what Trump hopes to do to Hillary?
ReplyDeleteIf she gets the chair, the only thing I can think to say is: more power to you.
DeleteBonus Puzzle, somewhat related:
ReplyDeleteName a famous actor, 7 letters first name, 7 letters last name. Remove 3 letters in order, to name a famous movie character.
Clues only please until Thursday, we don't want to confuse SDB.
; why not?!
Delete2 reasons:
Delete1) I gotta go back to that damn list Curtis linked to, this time with a different sieve
2) he's convalescing, for crying out loud! Have some compassion, Woman!
Or you could try this list. . .
DeleteWonderful bonus puzzle, ecoarchitect. You have a puzzler’s knack.
DeleteI would bet a dollar note that our pal skydiveboy will not be confused by your fine puzzle, and would bet an even bigger amount that he will solve it posthaste. As for a hint, I don’t think I need to say a thing.
As for Will’s offering, I predict 500 correct entries. A word in the title of one of the actor’s movies appears in the title of one of our Puzzleria! puzzles this week.
(There are four intentional hints in this post, three of them for eco’s bonus puzzle.)
LegoWhoPrefersPuzzlingAPumaAndBewilderingABeastToConfusingAGreatCatLikeskydiveboy
The first 3 letters of the "famous movie character" and the "famous actor" are the same as the first 3 letters of the thing "that's often packed nowadays when taking a trip."
DeleteWW, lego. ron:
DeleteYou're all #1 in my book!
Back atcha, Paul.
DeleteYou have an actual book, though?
No, but I actually read one ... once ... I think ...
DeletePaul,
DeleteI am concerned! You claim you have no actual book, but you also say you did read one once. Was this the book you once read?
LegoWhoHasBeenCalledMoreEvilThanABollWeevil...AndWorse!
I knew GUNther MOLL was famous; but I didn't know he was an actor. Wait! That doesn't add up. Guess I'll get no mercy from the Blainiacs for that reversal. Still, if one is going to pack these days. . .
ReplyDeleteI'm very grateful for WW's link - that should empower me for future puzzles too. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteBeing the firstborn child in my family, I had no problem with either puzzle, this week's or the bonus. Call me if anyone else gets the answer.
ReplyDeleteI might hazard a guess that some folks might dodge the hard work of going through all the possible actors/actresses and items they usually pack in order to solve this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThis is outrageous stuff.
DeleteIf you're traveling to Western Europe, be sure to pack KETCHUP. They put mayo on everything. SKETCH HUPP was a great actor in his day.
ReplyDeleteIf you're traveling to Western Europe, be sure to pack KETCHUP. They put mayo on everything. SKETCH HUPP was a great actor in his day.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle reminds me of a vacation I took to Washington state many years ago. I had taken a tour of the U.S. Navy ship yards near Seattle and when the tour was over I asked the tour guide, Tina, where the Officer Candidate School was and, she just laughed. She said there was no OCS in the state of Washington. I felt like Pee-Wee Herman :(
ReplyDeleteThe actor in question is certainly a gentleman, or he played one on film anyway. I keep thinking of the name "Ranger Billy" for some strange reason. Must be something in that name...
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: Roy Orbison
ReplyDeleteDead giveaway!
DeleteI don't know, I think he's still rockin'.
Delete(So's George)
Liked the empty chair. . .
DeleteEnjoyed it allover. Allover, yes, you read that right.
DeleteThanks Paul! I listened over and over and now have it on order. A real treat.
DeleteGeez, it took me until now to solve the Sunday puzzle, but having done so, and thanks to ron's hint above, I also finally got eco's Bonus puzzle.
ReplyDeleteBut for the life of me, I can't figure out what Lego's four hints are that he mentioned midday-ish on Sunday. Perhaps that's because I know just about ZILCH re the movie character her/himself?
ViolinTeddy,
DeleteThe beginning of my Sun Jun 05, 11:41:00 AM PDT post reads:
"I would bet a dollar note that our pal skydiveboy will not be confused by your fine puzzle, and would bet an even bigger amount that he will solve it posthaste. As for a hint, I don’t think I need to say a thing."
The first half of the first sentence contains an anagram clue to the movie character, the second half contains an allusion to the movie character. The second sentence contains an allusion to the actor. The rest of my post contains a hint to Will's puzzle that was just a shameless attempt to get people to visit Puzzleria!
LegoWhoWillStoopToAnyDepthsToIncreasePuzzleria!Traffic
Thanks, as ever, for the explanations, LegoPuzzleriaPusher, although I can still only GUESS as to which words refer to the character, and which allude to him and the actor (I assume there's a quote from a movie?) Although now I'm mixed up between the NPR puzzle and the eco bonus puzzle, but it's too late to think straight!
DeleteProselytize onward, ye who stoops to all depths!
Dick Cheney, Tyra Banks, the Staple Singers, and Tracy Fraim? Am I getting any closer?
ReplyDeleteDick Cheney, Tyra Banks, the Staple Singers, and Tracy Fraim? Am I getting any closer?
ReplyDeleteLet it ride on my Visa card.
ReplyDelete'Visa card'?
DeleteWhat kind of clue is that?
Actually "ride" is the more important part.
DeleteFinally figured out what's what.
ReplyDeleteI got this in about two seconds after the whole question was done being read. Way, way too easy - especially with the heavy hint to packing nowadays. A terrible puzzle, frankly. Call me if you need help.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Ryan. There must be a more balanced clue between TMI this week and NEI (as in "household item" with the camera puzzle of recent weeks) or even SMI (somewhat misleading information).
DeleteSkydiveboy, have you checked out this story yet?
ReplyDeletejan,
DeleteNo, I had not heard this one, but it does remind me of hearing about some guy a long time ago who jumped with a cat that hung on and scratched him.
It does not state what year the jump was made; just in the sixties. This indicates he was most likely jumping an eliptical Paracommander, which means the opening would almost certainly been very easy and staged. Not as described in the article. A reserve is usually designed to open much quicker. A Tandem reserve is designed to also open slower, due to the opening altitude being considerably higher than for a solo skydiver, and the higher forces incurred.
My cat died several years ago, but he never skydived, although he did have cat droppings.
The late Dean Potter had a BASE jumping dog, named Whisper. Talk about raining cats and dogs!
DeleteI hear they're airdropping a mobile operations center, medical supplies, etc., in your neck of the woods this week, drilling for The Big One: Cascadia Rising
DeleteThe military jumps with dogs sometimes.
DeleteMost people don't realize we are in a more vulnerable quake area than California. This is why I have no-fault insurance.
There was a skydiving fatality Friday just North of Seattle. The reporting has all the usual nonsense and is not to be believed. Parachutes do not collapse on themselves. It was a typical type of landing miscalculation that is now the major cause of skydiving fatalities. The equipment is far safer than ever, but many skydivers have an ingenious way of discovering new ways of killing themselves. The ground doesn't care.
If you're dropping too fast towards the ground do you soil yourself?
DeleteDepends!
DeleteEasily twenty years ago, I went to an air show at the local AFB, and they had a segment where at least 100 paratroopers jumped from, one or two C-130's. It was pretty neat but I thought to myself that this just seemed too risky, for peace time.
DeleteSure enough, probably ten guys suffered broken legs and other various injuries. It was, for one thing, too close to the runway! Some actually landed on it. I always felt bad for them!
68Charger,
DeleteThank you for a very interesting story. Now, please allow me to do the same for you. The definitive WWII novel is probably not one you have even heard of. It is James Gould Cozzens's, Pulitzer winning masterpiece, Guard Of Honor. It is one of the most amazing books I have ever read. It is not at all what you could possibly imagine it to be. It is a big book and almost nothing happens, but you simply cannot get enough of it. Actually there is one thing that does happen, and it is far into the book where something similar to what you posted above happens. This is not a book about battles and blood and gore, but about getting into the personalities and motivations and thinking of its characters of all ranks. Cozzens always said he would be a far better writer than Hemingway, and this book proves it. Your library should have a copy, or can obtain one on loan for you.
Skydiveboy,
DeleteThanks for the heads up on that book, I hadn't heard of it! I'm always in for WW2 stories. I just read a couple of reviews of the book online and it sounds pretty good!
The last book I read was "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand. That was a good read, too!
Our newspaper had a story today recalling 'Operation Cobra' that occured a month or so after D-Day. That was a fascinating story, especially as told by Ernie Pyle.
Thanks again!
I read Unbroken too, but thought it, and the movie too, way over the top and unrealistic with a proselytizing drug to sell.
DeleteI don't recall Operation Cobra, but you will love Operation Mincemeat. I also highly recommend reading about Lord Dowding who commanded the Battle Of Brattain. He also had to battle Churchill, and had he not been successful, I hate to think of the consequences. He also is known for his contacts with the departed in ghost form. Not a joke. He felt those experiences were more important than his war contributions. He thought it was important for him to lecture about them after the war, but it brought him much criticism. People who do not keep an open mind about that which they do not know are a vexation. Have you met my younger brother? Well, more about that later.
At a friend's urging, I once read Charles Lindbergh's autobiography.
DeleteDuring his famous flight, he interacted with ghosts.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
(I just made that up.)
sdb: I don't understand "would" be a better writer.
DeleteWhat's not to understand? He didn't say it at the end of his life.
DeleteEase up! It would be something one would expect fom a young writer, but you did say "Cozzens always said" indicating he may have made the claim into seniority.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOne blogger among us cannot help but give away part of the answer in their screen name. Can you guess which one?
ReplyDelete... in his or her screen name ...
DeleteYeah, I'll admit it; my screen name is a giveaway. Most folks pack a Curtis when they travel.
DeleteCurtis,
DeleteIn this episode of Columbo, auto dealer Hayden Danziger, played by Robert Vaughn, packed a Curtis Key Clipper on his Acapulco cruise. It figured into the plot... Danziger also packed heat, of course.
LegoWhoIsSorryHeCannotFindAYouTubeClip
Huh. Apparently WordPack is a thing.
DeleteNice connection Lego to one of my favorite 70's programs. Except the lounge singer's never-ending "Volare" makes my teeth shake.
DeleteThere is a lousy version on Youtube, looks like someone was filming their TV. There's a better version at http://www.cda.pl/video/2119025f, except it's badly overdubbed in Polish. Reklama zamknij!
LegoMyColumbo: My wife and I own the complete original Columbo on DVD, so I know that episode. Few fans know that he had a first name other than Lieutenant. Trivial Pursuit wrongly claimed it was Phillip, but they did that so they could catch other game manufacturers plagiarizing their questions. In reality, in one episode, Columbo briefly flashes his police ID card to reveal his first name as Frank.
DeleteForgetting to pack this item is so annoying. Getting to the airport without your passport? Even more annoying. Leaving your phone in your friend's car (the individual that just dropped you off curbside)? I think swore. Out loud. Not in my most quiet voice. Trying to contact said friend without my phone? I felt like a little kid that lost my Mommy!
ReplyDeleteI once dropped my wife off at the airport, and when I drove away, my car started beeping. The warning light on the dash complained that there was no key. No key? So, how did I drive to the airport? Easy: my wife had her spare key in her purse, which was now on its way through Security with her. Wireless electronic key, of course. If the engine stopped on the way home, I'd be stranded. Made it back OK, though, and found my keys where I'd left them.
DeleteConfucius is known to have said, "Man who loses key to girl's apartment; get no new key."
Deleteclotheslover,
DeleteGood to see your post. Missed your insightful comments. Drop back by over at Puzzleria! We'll keep the welcome mat out for you.
LegBodette
YES INDEED, CLOTHESLOVER!!! (I don't know if you will even SEE this post.) WHERE have you been? The last we ever heard from you was before Thanksgiving (over on Puzzleria) and I've actually been worried about you ever since! (i.e. did you return safely from the professor's house for the holiday, etc.??) PLEASE do rejoin us on Lego's blog!!! : o ))
DeleteI did similar. Dropped my rental car off, on Maui, without turning in the wireless key fob. Found the key as I was putting myself back together after clearing TSA. Called the rent-a-car people, they were nice about it and told me that as long as I FedEx'd the key back to them from the Mainland, they wouldn't charge me for a lost key.
ReplyDeleteThis must be a common problem for them...especially with customers, who like me, don't have cars with this feature.
The item is often not packed nowadays.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I like totes understand, jan.
DeleteRichard Gere > CHARGER
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
“Easy one, but after I figured out what the item must be, I began looking with the wrong first name of the actor, but I won't give him a plug.”
Your charger may not do you any good if you don’t have the proper plug and adapter.
Richard Gere, charger
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “A well-to-do puzzle to be sure.” Well-to-do as in Rich.
RICHARD GERE
ReplyDeleteCHARGER
My hints: “eager” anagrams to “a GERE” and “arid branch” anagrams to “ban + RICHARD”
Eco's Bonus Puzzle: CHARLIE CHAPLIN. Remove “PLI” to obtain CHARLIE CHAN. “Charlie” “Chan” “Chaplin” & “charger” all begin with the same 3 letters: “CHA”
I wrote, "Pretty easy. I can think of a movie in which the actor used one of these, but not the version meant in the puzzle." The "pretty" was an allusion to _Pretty Woman_. In _First Knight_ he played Lancelot, and he rode a charger. ---Rob
ReplyDeleteRICHARD GERE, CHARGER
ReplyDelete> Want to bet they get more than 176 correct answers next week?
Gere is known as an advocate for human rights in Tibet.
> The item is often not packed nowadays.
Phone chargers are the number-one item left behind in hotels.
RICHARD GERE >>> CHARGER
ReplyDeleteThe breakfast references were to Gere's middle name of Tiffany, a la "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
On the Sunday program, Will explained that the brinksman tennis player SURGES ahead at the end to win the match, after Rachel had introduced the segment with a reference to 'the sport of GENTLEMEN' (I think Will put her up to
ReplyDeleteit). But I think we can all agree David conducted himself as a gentleman and a scholar. Hear, hear?
The password for the comment I decided needed encoding is GEAR. Does 'outrageous stuff' qualify as a cryptic clue for GEAR? I realize it's pushing the envelope a bit. Think about it, cryptic experts, and let me know.
Yes, puzzlelady, Roy Orbison is a definite giveaway.
Here's Roy in a tough spot, and no one's bailing him out.
What was that song Wilson Pickett used to sing ... about the astronaut?
Richard Gere
Not SURGES -- CHARGES! He actually said CHARGES.
DeleteI can't believe I did that!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy comment: ". . . the answer to this one will be difficult to avoid!"
ReplyDeleteavoid = dodge = Dodge Charger (Not necessarily a '68!)
This puzzle answer was a treat and a curse at the same time! I wanted to reply more often but felt guilty for not recusing myself (world's smallest violin plays)!
DeleteNot being an officer or a gentleman, I decided to have a 'little' fun! How many times will this happen?!
"out for breakfast and then out for a ride." Like WW I alluded to "Breakfast at Tiffany's". R-I-D-E are the letters left over and out. I also asked Paul about his dally, a poor homophone for Gere's support for the Dalai Lama/ Tibet.
ReplyDeleteBonus Puzzle: Charlie Chaplin - pli = Charlie Chan. I could only guess that SDB came up with "charger" and initially thought Charlie would be the first name intended. Hence I didn't want to confuse him further, and didn't want the bonus puzzle to give away the weekly.
My 3 hints for ecoarchitect's nifty Charlie Chaplin/Charlie Chan puzzle, and 1 hint for Will's NPR puzzle:
Delete"I would bet a dollar note..."
"DOLLAR NOTE" anagrams to OLAND and TOLER. Warner Oland portrayed Chan in 15 movies; Sidney Toler portrayed Chan in 22 movies.
"...and would bet an even bigger amount..." The character f Charlie Chan was created by Earl Derr Biggers.
"As for a hint, I don’t think I need to say a thing." Charlie Chaplin didn't do talkies.
As for Will’s offering, a word in the title of one of the actor’s movies, Jackal, appears in the title of one of our Puzzleria! puzzles this week: "Media Jackal Morsel: Chickens in the kitchen?"
LegoWhoseDreamTicketIsTrumpVentura
Chaplin did a few talkies, starting with "The Great Dictator" in 1940. Of course he will be remembered for his silent movies.
DeleteThat is what we refer to as a "gentle correction." Thanks, ecoarchitect, for setting the record straight.
DeleteLegoWhoSometimesTalkiesTooImpulsively
Just my little effort to defend Chaplin's later life; he was vigorously attacked, investigated and smeared by the FBI in the 1940's for his political views. And banned from this country in the 1950's. Seems to be a pattern, MLK, Muhammad Ali, etc.
DeleteOf course he wasn't perfect, especially his taste for underage wives and girlfriends.
My hints were, he can't sing, as in music movie of Chicago, the play, and he tried to wing it, as in Debra Winger, An officer and a gentleman.
ReplyDeleteOne of my comments referred to hazard and dodge, alluding to The Dukes of Hazzard, which featured a Dodge Charger.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if the actor were Nicolas Cage, then the thing you’d have to pack would be cola-age. On so many flights these days they don’t even stock aged cola – so if you want it you have to bring it yourself.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you looked at actresses instead of actors, and what you were looking for was where she lived and worked (phonetically), and it was a three-four word instead of a four-three word, you’d have Aliwood from Natalie Wood.
Just sayin’
RICHARD GERE, CHARGER
ReplyDeleteI referenced "An Officer and a Gentleman", "Pretty Woman", and "American Gigolo", and I even went there with a gerbil reference.
For CHARLIE CHAN, CHARLIE CHAPLIN, I referenced Chan's "Number One Son". I also mentioned 68charger having an unfair advantage because of his/her screen name.
ReplyDeleteI think I hear the world's smallest violin playing again...
DeleteIf it's any consolation, I didn't submit an answer this week.
DeleteThat would be, I THINK, a 1/16 size fiddle?
DeleteMy clue - what Trump wants to do with Hillary- is "charge her" with a crime.
ReplyDeleteThis week's Puzzleria! has just been uploaded.
ReplyDeleteIt features two great puzzles composed by regular commenters on Blainesville, Chuck and David.
Chuck created a quite clever "Pardon The Interruption" puzzle, and David has graced us with a wonderful "Rip-Off" of Will Shortz's Charger/Richard Gere puzzle, but with a geographical twist.
And that is just two of the eight puzzles on P! this week.
To access Puzzleria!, go to Blaine's PUZZLE LINKS in the right margin near the top of this blog, and click on "Joseph Young's Puzzleria!"
LegoIsGratefulToChuckAndDavidAndToAllWhoVisitUsAtPuzzleria!
Next week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Andrew Chaikin of San Francisco. Take the word baci (Italian for "kisses"). You can rearrange the letters to "I C A B" — which sounds like a sentence, "I see a bee."
ReplyDeleteNow, think of a unit of measurement. Rearrange its letters and read them out loud to form a sentence complimenting someone on their appearance. What's the word, and what's the sentence?
I think everyone will agree that this is a hard one!
DeleteNot if you're a fan of William Steig's C D B!
DeleteI think I understand and have solved the puzzle; however, I believe it is flawed.
DeleteBe careful what you say, Paul; Will Shortz might sue you!
ReplyDeleteIsaac Asimov included this puzzle’s concept in one of his short stories.
ReplyDeleteI find something is missing in action videos these days.
ReplyDeleteThe modest response would be, "Oh, you see any?"
ReplyDeleteI thought it would be difficult, but I figured this one out in about a minute. Back to bed; I'll think of a hint later.
ReplyDelete