Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any outright spoilers 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. Thank you.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 14, 2016): The Cat's Away...
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 14, 2016): The Cat's Away...
I'm unable to post the puzzle this week, but I didn't want to leave you without a place to post comments on the puzzle. Somebody help me out by posting a copy here. Then feel free to add your *hints*.
Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any outright spoilers 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. Thank you.
Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any outright spoilers 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. Thank you.
232 comments:
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.
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Next week's challenge, from listener Kenneth Low of Monterey Park, Calif.: Take the name of a country. Among its letters is the name of part of the human body, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters in order, reading left to right, will name part of an animal's body. What country is it?
ReplyDeleteHere's Blaine's 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.
Thanks for taking care of that formality' WW.
ReplyDeleteOf course. Now if I could just solve this part-y puzzle.
DeleteHave a good vacation, Blaine!
ReplyDeleteOne of those puzzles where at the end, once you solve it, it just seems as if the answer is so easy as to have just been given to you. ---Rob
ReplyDeleteA plausible clue indeed.
DeleteWell played.
DeleteSEYCHELLES This has SHELL + EYES. Remember "a body part" just like "a fruit" can be singular or plural if the body has two or more of those parts. Oh, there is an extra C, you say! Well the SHELL must be a C(SEA)SHELL.
ReplyDeleteApproaching this puzzle backwards made it a lot easier.
ReplyDeleteAh! You don't get it, do you?
ReplyDeleteBut Maizie does.
DeleteYes, sometimes using circular reasoning is apt. So apt.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSo, is it all about signaling and agents?
DeleteAnother summer rerun. Anyone remember this from some years back?
DeleteAre you saying WS presented us with this poor offering once before? What a surprise. This hasn't happened in weeks.
DeleteJust another grand day in Paradise, listening to Pearls of Wisdom celebrating the big VI IV....
Deleteeco, have a resplendent trip around the sun!
DeleteEach trip usshers another.
DeleteAh! I'm always quiet for the difficult puzzles, but listened to this puzzle on my run along the East River this morning. Solved it! Was really on the go.
ReplyDeleteI printed out my country list, took careful aim at each one in turn and the answer hit me rather forcefully.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry Jan, this is a real giveaway clue. I just had to google your hint and there was the answer.
DeleteFbve wff hig un krkc ti sr xiex tm mmgxdy zk osa? Ahdf xfvs roet vms rsosa coxd Affgjl livfiip, 11tfwpafq?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeletePaul, I can never figure out your coded responses. I tried the answer country as the key in a Vigenère cipher, but no luck.
DeleteJan: the key is the name of a singer known for an eighties song that prominently features the capital of the answer country. Without decoding it (and thus giving away the puzzle answer), Paul's comment laments the duration of time it took to solve the puzzle, and then questions the search methods of the prior commenter.
DeleteMy answer has a different name of a singer with a song featuring the capital of my answer country. Hope you reveal answer on Thursday.
DeletePaul, it says a lot about the importance of smooshing.
DeleteThanks Enya
DeleteThis is about as tough or easy as last week, which, BTW, seems to have fetched pretty small turnout.
ReplyDeleteI knew mica (ising glass, e.g.) but it is a pretty rare word nowadays.
Not so rare to me, MJ. But, then, I must go right (MUSCOVITE) away.
DeleteYou Ukraine girls really knock me out!
DeleteWW: I thought about your unfair advantage first thing last week.
DeleteYou should see when geologists short sheet beds with sheets of mica!
DeleteThat rocks.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI know the puzzle is easy, given the finite number of countries and the easy availability of country lists. However, I'm happy that the Sunday Puzzle ran my puzzle!
ReplyDeleteAny easy puzzle is not necessarily a bad puzzle, in my opinion. In other words, I liked it, even though it only took about a minute for me to solve it. What it lacks in difficulty, it makes up for in, I don't know, charm, I guess. The main gripe I have is the angst I'm experiencing trying to think of a hint I can deliver without putting my hoof in my beak.
DeleteCloven-hoofed fits, Paul, especially if you have a toothache.
DeleteOr you could sip a Jambu Juice, I suppose.
WW, your comment is as unsearchable as hen's teeth.
DeleteAh, Nirvāna.
DeleteNot anymore!
DeleteKen: We at the Society To Reduce Anagram Puzzles appreciate your entry.
DeleteSpoonerize the capital city of that country (as it is known there); the first word is another body part.
So, what's the story on Blaine?
ReplyDeleteAt least he isn't missing anything.
I got the answer quickly when I realized one of the two words had to be GUN.
ReplyDeletePUZZle can be solved by finding part of animal's body first.
ReplyDeleteAnd I guess it goes without saying that the puzzle can be solved by finding part of the human first.
DeleteAt first I thought the parts of human body were jumbled in the country's name. So that would explain why the part of hb had to be found first.
Deletepart...not parts
DeleteThe following fifteen puzzles are based on names of other countries, nations, or geographical regions. Here I refer to them as "regions"; although most are countries, some have disputed classification. How many can you solve? Blaine's standard reminder applies: so that others may also enjoy these puzzles, please don't post answers. I will provide hints for anyone that asks for them when replying to this thread, and I will reveal the answers in a few days.
ReplyDeleteName a region…
1. Among its letters is the name of a human body part, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name a profession. What is the region?
2. Among its letters is the name of a type of garment, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name an industrial chemical commonly used in the laundering of the garment. What is the region?
3. Among its letters is the name for an ideologically united group of people, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name a type of weapon that the group might use. What is the region?
4. Among its letters is a slang term for a group of educated people, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, answers the question of where they might be found partying. What is the region?
5. Among its letters is the name of an operation that a computer might carry out, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name a possible empty result of that operation. What is the region?
6. Among its letters is the name of a system for representing numbers, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name the symbol for a chemical element of the periodic table often used in a device that outputs a number. What is the region?
7. Among its letters is the name of a substance in geology, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name a technology company that has its origins in the geological sciences. What is the region?
8. Among its letters is the name for a type of body of water, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name an American city that is known for having droughts. What is the region?
9. Among its letters is the name of an emotion, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name something that this emotion usually affects. What is the region?
10. Among its letters is the name of an architectural feature, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name the two-letter country code for a country with about 3.5x the population of the region. What is the region?
11. Phonetically among its letters is the name of a well-known fictional character, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, will phonetically name a well-known biblical character. What is the region?
12. Rearrange its letters to name a single member of a common toy in two words. What is the region?
13. Rearrange its letters to name a unit of time and a substance often used to measure it. What is the region?
14. Rearrange its letters to get a two-word phrase for ordinary undergarments. What is the region?
15. Reverse the order of two letters in the middle. The result can be split into a two-word command that indicates a well-known musician should start playing. What is the region?
Pisk wa ehbv kotzs, VI?
DeletePaul: unfortunately your message is too short for me to figure out the key, but I suspect it contains the abbreviated form of a sport that this week's answer country is known for. I can't get the rest of the key, though. If "VI" is PC, then the key contains gg (or possibly begins and ends with a g), but I can't make that work with the sport abbreviation.
DeleteIf you're asking for a hint to one of the above puzzles, you'll have to ask again. You can even encrypt it with the same key if you like, but a longer message will ensure I can crack it.
As a starting point, all fifteen answers are present on Wikipedia's list of sovereign states. These puzzles were crafted incidentally in the process of solving the main NPR one, so I'm confident everyone else in the blogosphere can solve them as well.
DeletePerhaps I should also cross-post the other puzzle I put on Lego's Puzzleria, as it seems to belong here:
"Advance the first letter of a country by one place in the alphabet and rearrange to get a common English word synonymous with what needs to be done to solve this puzzle. Curiously, there is a sense in which this country has another person stuck in the middle of its family lineage. What is the country?"
I would be interested to know if anyone has solved this yet, or if hints are desired.
I assume "a" isn't a body part, after "chin".
ReplyDeleteActually it seems that the first syllable of the answer is familiar in this realm.
Blaine's title proves prophetic.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't solve this you probably failed in your schooling.
ReplyDeleteOr at least a naughty student.
DeleteI only have number 13. They're tougher than I thought.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJust got number 15. I see why I have yet to get PC's Puzzleria! submission.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to help out. You mentioned on Puzzleria! that you can't view the hints on your Kindle, so I've uploaded an extended version to Pastebin. I will post hints for my country puzzles tomorrow.
DeleteCreative, clever, and obscure hints are always fun, and anyone is free to post such references to these puzzles to indicate they have the solution.
When asked if I am still waiting to receive my Deluxe edition of Scrabble and the puzzle book, I can only say yes I am.
ReplyDeleteTomR, I posted a very similar comment and was asked to remove it. But I hope you get your Weekend Edition tie pin soon!
DeleteJan- are you still waiting for your prizes too? How long does it take? I didn't see your comment that was removed, but I don't know how you would google off of mine. I did receive the pie tin, er tie pin, er lapel pin.
DeleteI got my prizes within a couple of weeks of my win. The pin came separately from the other swag.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Blaine is vacationing in this country?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to post hints to my puzzles; the amount of text requires it be split into two posts. But every time I post the second half, the first half (that I've already posted) disappears! Blogger be cray-cray. I don't know what to do at this point.
ReplyDeleteSolution: made it fit in one with a little text compression.
DeleteBoy howdy, the mice are playing.
ReplyDeleteAnd hovering too.
I will point out the human body part is not exclusive to humans.
ReplyDeleteAnd the animal body part is not exclusive to animals.
Delete"Hot chicks" populate the country.
DeleteLego'sOneWonderfulHint
The gentlemen doth protist too much, methinks.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's stating the obvious that humans are animals, some more than others.
And women are persons, too. This seems to fit here.
DeleteIf one is charitable one would say the reporter was thinking only about singles play, and that the short shrift was given to doubles tennis, not women's tennis. Reginald Doherty won gold in the doubles in 1900 and 1908, but of course you knew that.
DeleteVenus and Serena have only won the single's gold once - slackers.
Speaking of slackers. Michael Phelps hasn't won a damn thing today. What gives with that?
Deleteeco, yet the internet is rarely charitable. Charity never begins at 140 characters or sound bites, I suppose.
DeleteSDB: Michael Phelps is certainly puzzling [rim shot].
DeleteWW: I suppose that's true of the discourse of all persons - I wonder how our ancestors sent angry diatribes in smoke signals? Are you sure you women want to be included in the "persons" group?
eco: I agree. Can you even remember the last time he competed? Pathetic!
DeleteDye-a-tribes, smoke signals---hmmmm. . .
DeleteLet me get back to you on the "persons" group question.
Un-diet-tribes tend to be thin natives who are indigenous to where they live and yet they feel right at home.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHorses have both.
ReplyDeleteSome more than others.
DeleteWe might debate this Thursday, MJ.
DeleteHover over each puzzle for a hint. For mobile, see this for all hints.
ReplyDeleteName a region.
(1–11) Among its letters are ___, reading from left to right, although not necessarily consecutively. Cross out these letters. The remaining letters, in order, are ___.
1. A human body part; a profession
2. A type of garment; an industrial chemical commonly used in the laundering of the garment
3. An ideologically united group of people; a type of weapon that the group might use
4. A slang term for a group of educated people; an answer to the question of where you might find these people partying
5. An operation that a computer might carry out; a possible empty result of that operation
6. A system for representing numbers; the symbol for a chemical element of the periodic table that is often used in a common device that outputs a number
7. A substance in geology; a technology company that has its origins in the geological sciences
8. A type of body of water; an American city that is known for having droughts
9. An emotion; something that this emotion usually affects
10. An architectural feature; the two-letter country code for a country with about 3.5x the population of the region
11. A well-known fictional character; a well-known biblical character (both phonetic only)
(12–14) Rearrange its letters into ___.
12. A single member of a common toy in two words
13. A unit of time and a substance often used to measure it
14. A two-word phrase for ordinary undergarments
15. Reverse the order of two letters in the middle; the result can be split into a two-word command that indicates a well-known musician should start playing
What are the regions?
Clearly I'm in the pocket of Big Undergarment (or Comfort-Fit, if that's your style).
Delete"In the pocket of Big Undergarment?" Ooh la la.
DeletePlannedChaos:
DeleteYour brief comments are always appreciated.
I believe the correct response is, Brevity has never been my strong suit.
DeleteIt has severely impacted the sole of my wit.
DeleteBut, there are boxers in this year's Olympics!
DeleteThe IOC is rampant with naked greed, and the news has not demurred from airing dirty laundry.
DeleteWhile all this is true enough, you must admit the IOC did not skimp on the Speedos. My screen was bulging with them.
DeleteI have a confession to make…
DeleteI was tuning my guitar's G string at Long John Silver's, when in the corset of business I was told they were no longer stocking my favorite meal, cod pieces, but that I could bikini available appetizer I wanted. They even offered to whip something up on the girdle. But instead, in a slip of judgment I garterbelted the server and socked the waitstaff, and in the hustle and bustle I purloinclothed food from another plate.
All nickered out and not wanting to linger, I exited on the doublet and stashed the booty in my Toyota Cami's trunks in a brassiere attempt to skirt the law. But their corsage of union suits chased after me and I had the groin suspicion I was hosed, so I started legging it, pantying for breath.
Once in custody, my lawyer advised I keep my mouth zipped shut. At the trial I stated it was thong to do what I did and I was negligee of their policies, but that I would never again tear at the fabric of society. The judge dressed me down, but because of my remorse I got a suspenders sentence with 300 hours of community cervix.
So in other words, they crotch ya with your pants down.
DeleteI guess you were a late bloomer.
DeleteI plead the (Abercrombie &) Fitch. One thing's for sure, we're all Jockeying for attention.
DeleteYou really are tu tu much.
DeleteDid you hear the hoof-hoof joke about the interrupting cow? It caught the housewife in her muumuu.
DeleteNo, but it does make me think that COWBOY is an oxymoron.
DeleteI'm Calvin Kleined to stop, but this is too much pun.
DeleteI heard that Kelvinator.
Delete...but I don't want to steer you wrong.
DeleteI fear we may have lost the thread.
DeleteI heard the housewife's favorite band was the Beastiality Boys.
Delete…aaand, now I'm on a government watchlist.
Don't needle me with that old yarn.
DeleteYou're just being crochet-y.
DeleteMaybe we should quilt while we're ahead.
DeleteI already did. Your beastiality post reminded me of an incident near Seattle about eleven years ago and I was going to post something about it, but when I Googled it and it came up right away I was surprised that it indicated there was a video of the incident, but it is way too graphic and disgusting to link here. I found the short video and now can't get it outta my mind. It has something equestrian to do with a man and the word zoo.
DeleteDarn, I didn't mean to embellish on Simplicity itself by sewing discord or getting unseamly. If I got down on you and ruffled feathers with that lambasting, it's only because this conversation is zigzagging awl over the place, really bobbin and weaving. Let me change my tack. I may be biased, but I've got a stitch in my side from what I gather are your custom-tailored ranterings, a patchwork appliquétion of talent that has got me hooked on your notions. I should call it a knit.
DeleteTrue story: I spent too much of my weekend extracting a dead rat from my sewer.
DeleteBut I pleat that we selvage some dignity here; I gusset is forgotten we darted across this pattern April 10+. Gents, we must think of WW (and the other non-persons), we don't want to haberdasher hopes or make her seamstressed.
If we goudet's on this again we'll end up in a bind, eventually holding signs that say "Have needlework for food".
Some thoughts this beautiful Tuesday morning :
DeleteHoping the rat was in your sewer not your sewer/sewist, eco.
Hmmm, "Will needle work for food?"
Here at Blaine's: fruit of the loon.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYes, the rat was in my sewer. Un rat d'égout dégoûtant!
DeleteNouveau casse-tête: penser à un terme de 5 lettres pour quelque chose autour de la maison. Ajouter une lettre à l'avant et à l'arrière du mot, et le résultat est de savoir comment vous pourriez vous sentir à propos de cette chose. Les deux ajouts sont des lettres consécutives dans l'alphabet.
Just for you, eco:
DeleteRATATOUILLE RECIPE
Ingredients
1 medium size rat cubed.
1 onion, sliced thin.
2 garlic cloves, minced.
5 tablespoons olive oil.
1 3/4-pound eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
1 small zucchini, scrubbed, quartered lengthwise, and cut into thin slices.
1 red bell pepper, chopped.
3/4 pound small ripe tomatoes, chopped coarse (about 1 1/4 cups)
eco, en français?
DeleteLe puzzle est en français, mais pas moi. Si je devais en France, je ne serais pas sur Internet.
DeleteOui, oui, oui, mais est la réponse en français?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOui, bien sûr.
DeleteAnd SDB, just for you
DeleteJe n'ai rien. Conseil?
DeleteLa réponse est dans cette chaîne si vous regardez attentivement.
DeleteI should note that my French is extremely limited, though I think I would have an excellent career as a comedian in Paris. Every time I said something people would laugh.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIl n'y a pas de comptabilisation pour le goût. (better)
DeleteSauf Julia's
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMy friends laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well they're not laughing now!
DeleteNew puzzle: Name a celebrity chef whose last name is a word for something that might be done while preparing a meal.
DeleteMartha could trip while holding a pot full of meat and vegetables, flinging the contents against the wall and creating... Stew art.
DeleteBaaaaad, jan.
DeleteAllow me to reword: Name a celebrity chef whose last name is a word for a procedure that helps prepare certain kinds of meals.
DeleteEco: I'm trying to solve your puzzle. Are the intended answers both English words?
I have an answer, but am not certain it is correct. To find out, I have Vigenere enciphered the sentence in the next paragraph. If I am correct, you will be able to read the sentence using your seven-letter word as the key. If, when decoding, the cipher returns gibberish, that will mean I do not have your intended answer. Please let me know what the result is. Thank you.
Vh a xpf jwtrds jfj "Hrtzr Nwelfd Trme Mbdwff huueebwl" fpc e xghd mlyxz.
PC: my intended answers are French words, so I think your cipher wouldn't work so well. But now I'm curious about your solution, you English pig-dog!
DeleteWW is 80% of the way there - not bad!
I can think of several chefs who can fill the bill of fare.
DeleteEco: Ah, well then I won't worry about solving it. My English answer (which seemed questionable to me) is TABLE, STABLER.
DeletePC - I came up with the puzzle and I can't speak enough French to get my face slapped, so you can solve it too. You just have to seek it out.... and use Google Translate, er, Duckduckgo Translate, to verify.
DeleteIt will all make sense Thursday.
How's everyone's progress with the fifteen region puzzles? Would anyone like me to dole out more clues?
DeleteAn orchestra conductor.
ReplyDeleteAn Alabama quarter.
Well I got number 11, but they sure are tough.
ReplyDeleteNumber one just came to me!
ReplyDeleteNumber 12 just came to me!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete^ (Blogger problems)
DeleteNumber eight just came to me!
ReplyDeleteWell, I got two of them. Daylight come and me wan' go home.
ReplyDeleteI got two more. I think ecoarchitect just dropped a hint for one of them. Does that mean the system is rigged?
ReplyDeleteA few more clues, PC, if you please. BTW I've solved your P! submission.
ReplyDeleteWhat specific ones would you like clues for? I'll be happy to oblige. :)
DeleteI already have numbers 1, 8, 11, 12, 13, and 15. Seems like the toughest part is looking up the regions and trying to find words inside them. I hope you have some easier clues for the rest.
ReplyDeleteClues for the remaining region's names.
Delete2: Religious, and would place well in the "smallest population" rankings, if only it had a fixed population; 3: warmer than the name implies; 4: sounds like a place Michael Jackson might have liked; 5: known for geology that many osculate; 6: I could go for a bite; 7: shares a maritime border with the nation known for flat pack furniture; 9: an island country with about 0.1% the population of the USA; 10: I once ziplined between this country and the only other country it borders; 14: a hotbed of religious tensions and disputed statehood.
I got two more. I think ecoarchitect just dropped a hint for one of them. Does that mean the system is rigged?
ReplyDeleteAny hints I dropped on PC's puzzle were purely unintentional and likely incorrect.
DeleteI've solved #1 (2 answers), 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13 and 15.
Shouldn't #5 be in the category of "rearrange letters"? I don't think the operation result is in order left to right.
DeleteI've also added #14 to my list, and maybe #9, but it doesn't make sense.
Eco: You are correct about #5. The operation is in order, but the remaining letters have to be rearranged to get the empty result.
DeleteI may have a couple of answers, but I'm having trouble parsing one of them out. I just figured out the other one. I now have number five.
ReplyDeleteI now have number four.
ReplyDeleteI now have number six.
ReplyDeleteI've made some progress, but the clues are tough. How am I supposed to know where you ziplined once? Got anything else, PC?
ReplyDeleteI think his operative clue was "the only other country it borders". There aren't that many countries, like Canada, that only border one other country.
DeleteAlso, AFAIK they are the only two countries that have a zipline between them.
DeleteBoth Haiti and the Dominican Republic fit into this category. This got me to thinking that technically neither of them is an island country since they border each other and therefor are not individually surrounded by water. But they are not technically peninsulas either.
DeleteIf you feel the need Wikipedia has a list of countries that border only one other country. Haiti and Dominican Republic are there, as is PC's intended.
DeleteIt lists the Vaticano too, but I always considered it a crime; not a country.
DeleteMalaysia is also listed. Is that a country entirely populated by ill people?
Historians report Jimmy Carter holds this opinion, even though he never used that word.
DeleteDidn't he also lust in his heart? I always try and do my lusting in the bedroom. I guess I just prefer a more orderly life.
DeleteGrowing up I was very naïve. I always thought a concubine was a coterie of Cuban confidence men.
DeleteI'm not really an expert on geography so much as on wordplay, so if you could do a little less on populations, that would be fine.
ReplyDeleteProblem is, the wordplay is already given in the puzzle, and the first round of hints focused on the wordplay, so now all I'm left with is hinting at the country names themselves. You're also free to ignore any hints you don't find helpful. The two times I mentioned populations was to provide an additional check for the puzzle solver that they had the right answer.
DeleteHere are how many letters are in the country names.
Delete2: two words, four and three letters; 3: seven letters; 7: six letters; 9: eight letters; 10: eight letters; 14: nine letters.
I will publish the answers tomorrow at 3PM ET.
I have number two.
ReplyDeleteI have number seven.
ReplyDeleteTHAILAND > TAIL & HAND
ReplyDeleteMy Hints:
“So, what's the story on Blaine?” Story = tale > tail
“Or at least a naughty student.” Naughty is hinting at tying knots.
Thailand, hand, tail
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I printed out my country list, took careful aim at each one in turn and the answer hit me rather forcefully.” “Aim” as in an anagram of Siam. “Hit me rather forcefully” – banged into me – as in Bangkok.
I wrote, "One of those puzzles where at the end, once you solve it, it just seems as if the answer is so easy as to have just been given to you." This had two clues: "at the end" is the tail; and "to have just been given to you" is "handed" to you. ---Rob
ReplyDeletewww.nobleworkscards.com/1689-bangkok-funny-cartoons-merry-christmas-card.html
ReplyDeleteSDB, to make a link clickable, wrap in the following HTML:
Delete<a href="www.nobleworkscards.com/1689-bangkok-funny-cartoons-merry-christmas-card.html">Clickable text goes here</a>.
which, after publishing, becomes this:
Clickable text goes here.
Oh, hilarious BTW.
DeletePC was correct about Murray Head for the first keyword, and the second does indeed contain "gg": wagging the dog.
DeleteThanks for the key, Paul. Makes sense now.
DeleteANSWERS:
ReplyDelete1. France, face, RN (registered nurse)
2. Holy See, hose, lye (ingredient of soap)
3. Iceland, clan, IED (improvised explosive device)
4. Netherlands, nerds, the LAN (Local Area Network, a reference to LAN parties); (sounds similar to "Neverland")
5. Ireland, read, nil (zero); ("geology that many osculate": kissing the Blarney stone)
6. Hungary, unary (base one), Hg (mercury, used in thermometers)
7. Latvia, lava, TI (Texas Instruments)
8. Poland, pond, LA (Los Angeles)
9. Maldives, mad, lives (being angry usually affects the lives of others)
10. Portugal, portal (sounds like porthole), UG (country code for Uganda)
11. Mongolia, Mogli (Mowgli from "The Jungle Book", Noa (Noah)
12. Myanmar, army man (singular of army men)
13. Honduras, hour, sand ("like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives")
14. Palestine, plain tees (t-shirts)
15. Norway, "now, Ray" (Ray Charles)
Advance the first letter of a country by one place in the alphabet and rearrange to get a common English word synonymous with what needs to be done to solve this puzzle. Curiously, there is a sense in which this country has another person stuck in the middle of its family lineage. What is the country? Answer: Suriname, ruminate; there is an "I" in the middle of "surname" (family name).
Name a celebrity chef whose last name is a word for a procedure that helps prepare certain kinds of meals. Answer: Bobby Flay (to remove skin).
For #1 I also had B(ah)RAIN, an AH is, of course, an Architectural Historian!.
DeleteNice puzzles PC, good that the actual answer was fairly far back in the alphabet, forcing you to go through a long list. I started my search at "S", figuring Ron had made it through Seychelles without any luck.
After I was chided for my "Yes I am" clue (which I deleted), all I had left was a reference to the Weekend Edition Thai pin.
ReplyDeleteWhen I Google "Yes I am", this is at the top of the list, followed by a lot of Melissa Etheridge links. If I try "yesiam" I get a lot of links for "India's Biggest Reality Show, but at the bottom of the first page, lo and behold!
DeleteOf course, the last few times I've tried entering "thailand", the drop-down menu of suggestions prominently features "Thailand zipline", so go figure.
THAILAND >>> TAIL, HAND
ReplyDelete"You dont get it, do you?" referred to Udon Thani, a city in Thailand.
THAILAND >>> TAIL, HAND
ReplyDelete"You dont get it, do you?" referred to Udon Thani, a city in Thailand.
THAILAND >>> HAND/TAIL
ReplyDeleteMy comment in last week’s blog, “Even with the right country you can still miss the answer,” was based on there being two letters “A” in THAILAND . If you use the first “A” making the word HAND you will miss the answer as the remaining letters spell TILA , not TAIL . My later comment, “…approaching this puzzle backwards made it a lot easier,” addresses this issue and the fact that the TAIL is the part of an animal that goes over the fence last.
I got Honduras [banana republic] and then Hungary [tally]. I wonder if they have Macdonald's (sic) in Honduras. Day-o.
ReplyDeleteThen I got France ["can't speak enough French to get my face slapped"], then Latvia [capital: Riga].
I also got Holy See and finally Portugal, but didn't bother to make up hints.
I didn't make much progress with the celebrity chef puzzle. At a certain point I just didn't Kerr anymore.
Puzzle redux: I wrote "Just another grand day in Paradise, listening to Pearls of Wisdom celebrating the big VI IV". The same puzzle was used October 22, 2000; Pearl Jam has an album 10/22/00, a live concert recording at the MGM Grand in Paradise, NV (part of Las Vegas). Celebrating was not for me: according to James Ussher the world was created on Oct 22, 4004 BCE, so the puzzle was on the planet's 6004th birthday. SDB may recoil; I'll take any excuse for cake and ice cream. And yes, the VI should have a line over it, but I have no idea how to do that here, and cut and paste from Word didn't work.
ReplyDelete..."failed in your schooling" referred to Singapore swimmer Joseph Schooling, who won the 100m butterfly last week. 3 others, including Michael Phelps, got the silver as they were in "tie-land".
Thai people call their capital Krung Thep; spoonerizing yields "tongue crep". I only used the body part, the full spoonerism sounds like a brunch from hell.
"The gentlemen doth protist too much, methinks" - many little critters in the Kingdom Protista propel themselves with tails, often called flagella. Protists are not animals. I resisted using the term flagellation, too obvious a clue.
Bonus Puzzle (en francais): I wrote about my sewer rat "Un rat d'égout dégoûtant!". I noticed that both words had "égout", which is French for sewer, and "dégouté" is French for disgusted. My knowledge of this, my puzzle clue, and my correspondence in French with WW was only possible with Google Translate. Know that you will be assimilated!
eco, I was not at all dégouté by your puzzle. Quite fun! Interesting that dégouté is the antithesis of taste.
DeleteI must protest (protist?) as to Ussher's date, though. Since an exact date for the beginning of earth is so very critical, I believe it is October 23rd, not 22nd. I only know this because we geologists use it as an occasion for drinking beer together every fall.
"Tie-land" was an inspired clue.
Must be something we can do with Loch-te?
I honestly do hope Blaine and family are having a Great Vacation (look carefully at the picture Blaine posted).
ReplyDeleteFunny that Blaine's default image was a spoiler in a way, since it prominently features a tail.
DeleteTHAILAND, TAIL, HAND
ReplyDeleteMy compliments to PlannedChaos' challenging puzzles, too.
Thanks for indulging me. I had a lot of fun playing with you fine folks this week.
DeleteTHAILAND
ReplyDeleteTAIL + HAND
Just a few of PC's challenges:
-1. FRANCE>>>FACE + RN (Registered Nurse)
-11. SAHARAN (a region)>>>HAN (Solo) + SARA (Biblical Sarah)
-13. HONDURAS>>>HOUR + SAND
-15. NORWAY>>>“NOW, RAY (Charles)!”
My Monday hint:
ReplyDelete"Hot chicks" populate the country
("Hot chicks" = "Babes") in (Thailand = "Toyland")
LegooglesDollsInToyland/Tieland
Something seems to have sent us over the posting limit.
ReplyDeleteLoch-te: Maybe dye his hair. Or shave it.