Sunday, February 12, 2017

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 12, 2017): Having Fun in the Kitchen

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 12, 2017): Having Fun in the Kitchen:
Q: Name some things commonly seen on a kitchen table. Switch the positions of the fifth and sixth letters of the word, and read the result backward. You'll name two things commonly seen in a kitchen. What are they?
For us, practically everything ends up on the kitchen table, but maybe the rest of you have a "normal" amount of stuff to consider. It's all relative.

Edit: Well, perhaps I have everything but the kitchen SINK? My other hints were rest as in NAP and relative as in KIN.
A: NAPKINS --> SINK, PAN

154 comments:

  1. Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any hints that could lead directly to the answer (e.g. via a chain of thought, or an internet search) before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET. If you know the answer, click the link and submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

    You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't give the answer away. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the Thursday deadline. Thank you.

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  2. I propose a paddling for any who found this puzzle unsolvable. ---Rob

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  3. As it turns out, my hopes were not dashed and I got the answer on the first try.

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  4. I am pretty sure I have the answer, but I am not sure what it is.
    Do I have one? Do you have one?
    A Google search doesn't help.

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    1. Hard to decide whether to Reply or Delete.
      I was looking for one thing when the clue was two.

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  5. I believe the answer could also be one thing seen in a kitchen.

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  6. Reminds me of something my mother used to say:

    "Mabel, Mabel, strong and able, Keep your elbows off the table"

    If there's a hint in that, It's unintentional.

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    1. Name some things commonly seen on a kitchen table, especially at breakfast time. Move the fourth letter to the beginning of the word and put it in its spelled-out form. You'll name two things Mabel commonly plopped upon the table... until Paul's mother told her to cut it out!

      LegoWondersIfCarnacEverOpenedTheEnvelopeAndAsked"WhatDoesAMexicanChefUseBesidesElPotElPanAndElDish?"

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  7. Marcy San at WH invokes the kamikaze. She knows her tables.

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  9. Wowza. I got the answer before I was finished eating breakfast.

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  10. Upon further reflection, it's interesting to think about how the "commonly seen things" on my table would be infrequent and quite unsavory on other tables across the world.

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  11. A word of advice to members of the Trump household (towerhold) who may be feverishly attempting to solve this difficult challenge. The item found on a kitchen table is not panties. Now please solve this so you all can get back to coming up with the simple answer to our problems with North Korea that has eluded the rest of us.

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    1. Trump says "All options are on the table."

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    2. Thus, it may take awhile for Trump household to solve.

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    3. Natasha: You misread the puzzle, and are thinking it's the 6th and 7th letters to be switched, which yields "Snoti Poll A".

      Misspelling notwithstanding, that's something on the Trump table.

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    4. Clever interpretation of my post, Eco!!

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  12. I guess with almost 300 "correct" entries it was just too much trouble for WS to acknowledge equally correct answers.

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    1. What other "equally correct answers?" We debunked the PRUNELLA/RAPUNZEL answer (L does not make a Z by adding a stroke) and the ALADDIN/PALADIN answer (Paladin is not a fairy tale figure). WS would not stoop to such a low as to accept such "alternative facts" oops, I mean "alternative answers."

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    2. According to my research paladin is a character in King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table which Wiki categorizes as: "Genre Fairy tales
      Folklore".

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    3. PALADINs were warriors of the FRENCH Court of Charlemagne. "Tales of the Paladins once rivaled the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in popularity. They were not part of King Arthur's knights. See Wikipedia Paladin HISTORY. The Paladins were part of FRENCH folklore and romance, but were never "fairy tale figures."

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    4. I thought Rudyard Kipling was a pal o' Din.

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    6. How can you add 1 stroke to make a D into a P, or vice versa? Seems more like stretching the curve.

      I also think the PRUNELLA/ RAPUNZEL was a bit of a stretch, but it was so darn clever.

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    7. Extend the vertical line in D downward to make a P.

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    8. Thanks, eco! If upside-down alarm clocks are OK, surely ITALICS BRING ZEST. . .

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    9. Yeah, PRUNELLA/RAPUNZEL was my answer. Sometimes I make these things harder than they have to be. Not this time, though. BTW I argue that neither a FROG nor an OGRE suggest a "person" in fairy tales. Certainly not a frog.

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    10. It was NEVER a question of a "person" but of a "fairy tale figure." See the ORIGINAL CHALLENGE, which asks: "What two fairy tale figures are these?"

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    11. Then why did WS say person today?

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    12. ron:

      Paladin - Wikipedia
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paladin

      By extension "paladin" has come to refer to any chivalrous hero such as King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. Paladin ... Round Table in popularity. The paladins ...

      Etymology · History

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    13. WS said "person" because he is unable to read his own Challenge correctly:"Name a prominent figure in a fairy tale. Write this in all capital letters. Add a stroke to one letter and rearrange the result. You'll name another prominent figure in a fairy tale. What two fairy tale figures are these?"


      What "Paladin" has come to mean "by extension" does not change the facts or become "alternative facts" as I suggested earlier; the HISTORY remains the same. Paladins are FRENCH advisors to Charlemagne and were never advisors to King Arthur and they were never "fairy tale figures."

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    14. Apparently many believe paladins are though and that is good enough for crappy WS puzzles in my opinion. I am reminded of one WS did a few years back where the answer was three words formed where there were syllable breaks, but one was NOT where there was a syllable break and no one but me said anything about it. Sloppy puzzles deserve sloppy answers.

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    15. I think 'PALADIN' is a pretty good answer.

      The Chanson de Roland includes paladins, and although it isn't a paradigm of a fairy tale... it sure isn't history. I suspect that the huge majority of everything ever written about the Charlemagne/Roland paladins is legend rather than history. "Orlando Furioso", for instance.
      And, the knights of the round table are very closely related to the French paladins, via Malory's "Morte d'Arthur", which stirred some French style into the traditional Arthurian legend.

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    16. And while we're on the subject, I do think changing an L to a Z is a bit odd, but I think it is acceptable for solving a poor puzzle such as this one.

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    17. Thanks, sdb.

      Speaking of knights, I am tutoring a Viet Namese high school student on Parzival . Tough reading and comprehending the translation from the German if English is one's original language.

      And the tangents. . .

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    18. Is it difficult to parse? I value your opinion.

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    19. You must have to glance a lot at a dictionary.

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    20. The dictionaries and atlases are the most used books in my tower, I mean in my house.

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    22. Speaking of dictionaries and other hard copy reference books, I think it would be well for us to be aware of the necessity of their importance in this age of computerized information. There are times when computers are simply not enough and perhaps not even available.

      Such is the case at our Thanksgiving holiday when I pull out all the stops in order to celebrate and rely HEAVILY on my hard copy recipe books in order to succeed in having the extravagant meal I desire.

      My microwave is situated high up on the top of my refrigerator where I sometimes find it difficult to reach. Therefore when about to prepare for a Thanksgiving dinner a sumptuous Swanson's Hungry Man Turkey Dinner I stack several of my hard copy recipe books in front of the fridge and step upon then in order to more easily insert my meal, with all the trimmings, into and then out of, the microwave.

      There is nothing like a fine home cooked meal.

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  13. The two resulting things are also commonly seen in Word Woman's geology texts.

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    1. Now that I think of it, there are quite a few geological terms found in the kitchen. Plates, bowls, basins, ranges come to mind.

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    2. How about Mesa, as in mesa-nry?

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    3. Mesa made me think of mensa and that we should nominate Trump for membership.

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    4. The only qualification for membership in Mensa is having an IQ in the top 2 percent. No nomination required.

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    6. I doubt he can get in on his own. But he tends to win nominations!

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    7. Natasha, I think you may be missing something here. There is no way anyone can become a Mensa member other than by having an IQ in the top 2 percentile. You cannot buy or talk your way in. You also cannot be refused if you qualify. Many prisoners are members. He could win the Miss Amerika pageant and two dozen Academy Awards and still not get in unless he is in the top 2 percent.

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    8. I agree with you. He shows an amazing degree of evil cunning. Having a high IQ is no indication of integrity or morality. He is an example of the most vile example of humanity.

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    9. ^^^^^^^ jan, geologic maps rock.

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    10. SDB,
      Glad you agree. I like "most vile example of humanity". Is that from Shakespeare or did you invent it? Why the spelling "Miss Amerika"? Have I missed something? Queen Victoria would have been a match for DT.

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    11. Natasha,
      Thank you. I came up with it on the spot, but cannot answer as to whether or not the Bard said it first, but now having just re-read it I am sorry I did not phrase it better. I should not, and was unaware to, have used the same word twice in the same sentence. Perhaps it would have been better had I said, He is an example of the most vile attributes of humanity. I used the K in America to show my disrespect for both the pageant and the country I was born into and despise for its hypocrisy and tyranny and failure to provide for its citizens which it shows little or no respect.

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    12. I entertained the idea that Amerika was an "alternative fact".

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    13. Well I would not say it isn't.

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  14. Must be a census puzzle today. Not sure how common one of the answers is.

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  15. As Mr. Shortz said, this week's puzzle "is an easy one, but it's pretty."
    Alas, I was at a distinct disadvantage because, as Blaine suggested, the surface of my kitchen table resembles the interior of Fibber McGee's hall closet.

    LegoWhoIsPainfullyAwareThatAClutteredClosetOrKitchenTableIsTheSignOfAClutteredMind...ButHeDon'tMind

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  16. I'm so proud of myself that I'm grinning from ear to ear & look so smugly self satisfied that I'm afraid someone will take issue with it.

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  17. Lego--there was an article in The Utne Reader in 2001 titled "In Defense of Clutter"; it could have been called "In Praise of Clutter." It featured Piaget's story how he was grateful the one time he actually lost a paper in the mess that surrounded him, since the paper was not that good and deserved to be lost.

    None of which offers any clues to the answer to this week's puzzle, which is still a little hazy.

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    1. Excellent obsevation, Henry. Like Piaget I have lost a paper (actually many a paper) within the claws of my clutter, and most all of them were worthless and deservedly lost.

      So far, the two Ripping Off Shortz puzzles I've composed for the February 17 Puzzleria! both involve stuff on tables, but not kitchen tables.

      LegoWhoHadHadJustSettledHisBrainsForALongWinter'sNapWhenUpOnHisDeskThereAroseSuchAClutter

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    2. ...that you sprang from your bed to see what was the mutter? [i.e. what we all do on these blogs.]

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    3. A cluttered desk and rimless eyeglasses make for a dangerous combination. (Bad hombres?).
      I once took my glasses off while on a phone call, then spent ten minutes gingerly frisking piles of paper looking for them.

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    4. I dropped an overly obscure hint: hazy ≈ indistinct ≈ in the sink. A book of riddles I read in elementary school thought those two words sounded similar enough to qualify for a "what's the difference between" riddle; I'm not so sure.

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  18. Drawing on an earlier comment by Jan:
    Willowware, or something like it?

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  20. Here is a sneak-preview sampling of a puzzle we will be running on Puzzleria! this Friday:

    Name something crane-shaped sometimes seen on a big fat Greek wedding reception table. Change one letter of this word to a “y”, add a few spaces and an apostrophe, and read what you come up with backward. The result is what something else on the table might say if it could talk.
    What are these two things on the table?


    Please do not post your answer (either here at Blainesville or on Puzzleria!) before Wednesday, February 22 at 3PM Eastern Standard Time. Feel free to give hints, however.

    In the meantime, please enjoy the seven Puzzleria! puzzles we uploaded this past Friday.

    LegoWhoBelievesThat"TableTalk"BecomesMoreInterestingWhenThingsOnTheTableBeginTalking

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  22. When sitting at the table at any meal, it is always good to follow proper table manners.

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  23. President Trump’s embattled national security adviser Michael Flynn has resigned.

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    1. I count 23 cabinet and cabinet-like positions, and with DT and the VP that leads me to:

      25 fatty kleptocrats, slopping on the floor,
      One got caught lying, now there's 24.


      To be continued....

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    2. OK, continue, but please do it QUICKLY!

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    3. Dear Mike Flynn,
      Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

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    4. No one says that Vladimir Putin doesn't know how to take advantage. Now that he has the goods on the American president, he's decided to ignore the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that Ronald Reagan signed, and deploy two battalions of SSC-X-8 nuclear-armed ground-launched cruise missiles in Europe.
      In the 1980s, the U.S. based nuclear Pershing II Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles and Ground-Launched Cruise Missiles in Germany, England and Italy, to counter similar weapons deployed by the Warsaw Pact. This was back when U.S. and Soviet tanks faced each other across the inter-German border, and NATO planners joked that a tactical nuclear weapon was any one that exploded over the Federal Republic of Germany, and that German villages tended to be located an average of 10 kilotons apart. Reagan and Gorbachev understood the looming threat of World War III, and decided to get rid of the weapons that made hair-trigger decisions the norm.
      Under the treaty, the U.S. destroyed 846 missiles that we'd bought and paid for, and the USSR scrapped a thousand more. Inspectors on both sides verified compliance, the wall came down, the USSR dissolved, and WW-III didn't happen.
      And now that the U.S. president can't say a word about his Russian puppet master, the Russian cruise missiles are back. Unopposed. Are we feeling great again yet?

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    5. I have no doubt Vladimir Poo Tin can, and most likely is, play(ing) Donald Trump like Joshua Bell plays the violin.

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    6. It's been about three weeks into the new administration and it seems things just keep spiraling out of control.
      These seem like very dangerous times. With all of Trump's antagonistic tendencies and inability to get along with even those in his own party, it seems like a logical time for him to deflect public opinion, perhaps 'a fire at the Reichstag'?? 
      I also worry about a foreign leader seizing on weakness, someone like Putin. He could do something bold in the Ukraine to test Trump.
      The past weeks events could even be a diversion for Trump to keep our attention from something even more important happening in the world.

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    7. Trump is a dictator and the sooner he is dealt with the better!!

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    8. Natasha - You are right about Trump, but the scary part about replacing him is that his successor, Pence, shows no sign of independent thinking. He scares me almost as much...

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    9. Natasha: Мы сожалеем, что вы так думаете. Все работает, как мы ожидали. Агент Блондинка делает именно то, что мы хотим.

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    10. Товарищ поздравления!

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    11. 68Charger,
      And Ryan would be even worse!

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    12. Trumptransition: Агент Блондинка пешка и будет в ближайшее время мата. Жаль, что Джеймс Бонд не работать для нашего лидера.

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    13. OMG SDB. I did not know your were working with trumptransition! Mon dieu!

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    14. Perhaps there is a way to put the democrats in considering that the treasonous group that is in charge now should be removed from their jobs.

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    15. Trumptransition и у меня обед в башне Трампа каждый четверг. Икра и водку.

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    16. All I can say about this is "бесплатно мелания!"

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  25. Happy Valentine's Day!

    "Thirteen Lines to Make Your Valentine's Day More Romantic," written by sixth graders
    :



    1. Are you a magician? Because every time I look at you, everyone else disappears.
    2. My doctor says I need some Vitamin U.
    3. Are you a camera? Because every time I look at you, I smile.
    4. If you were a vegetable, you'd be a cutecumber.
    5. Are you a parking ticket? 'Cause you've got fine written all over you.
    6. I bet you play soccer, because you're a keeper.
    7. I don't have a library card, but do you mind if I check you out?
    8. Is there an airport nearby or did my heart just take off?
    9. Are you a campfire because you're hot and I want s'more.
    10. Can I follow you home? Cause my parents always told me to follow my dreams.
    11. Do you have a name or can I call you mine?
    12. Know what's on the menu? Me-n-u.
    13. I wanna live in your socks so I can be with you every step of the way.

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    1. Those are all clever, but they are not representative of sixth grade humor, and I believe they were all coined by adults. That is not to say sixth graders are not repeating them however.

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    2. They all come from sixth graders in a School in your area: Lakeside School, which I attended way back when.

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    3. Call them up if you want to verify their 6th grade students authored those 13 lines.
      206-368-3600.

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    4. Thanks, ron. This made my (and, I'll bet, others') St. Valentine's Day.
      * Did I just win the Lottery? Cause you look like a million dollars.
      * You have a face that could restart a thousand stopped clocks.
      * Did you just treat me to an orange soda? Cause I'm having a Crush on you.

      LegoWhoIsNotSmarterThanASixthGrader

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    5. I live walking distance from Lakeside and have friends who were students there and friends who teach there and I know many who attend are creative and highly intelligent, but Bill Gates and Paul Allen (as you know; both grads) could not even coin those lines. I have no doubt that students all over repeat those lines though after they have been exposed to them by adults.

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    6. “The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.” -Daniel Boorstin

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    7. I hope you have discovered by now that Merriam-Webster dictionaries have never included the common word: gullible.

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    8. What did the 6th grader know, and when did he know it?

      After we learn that we can discuss the Valentine's Day lines, which to me sound like a parody of what you might have heard in a 70's roller disco.

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    9. eco:
      What is not generally known is that most of those kids in that Lakeside sixth grade class went on to lucrative jobs writing jokes for Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. It is unusual for that many comedy writers to emerge from one sixth grade class.

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    10. eco, some things are best unseen.

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  26. Here is a geographical puzzle I just now came up with that you might enjoy.

    See if you can locate a large geographical place on Earth that by name indicates it could be a maudlin place of royal proportions. Hint: It is in three English words.

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    Replies
    1. The answer to my puzzle above is:

      Queen Maud Land

      Queen Maud Land is a c. 2.7 million-square-kilometre region of Antarctica claimed as a dependent territory by Norway. The territory lies between 20° west and 45° east, between the British Antarctic Territory to the west and the Australian Antarctic Territory to the east. On most maps there had been an unclaimed area between Queen Maud Land's borders of 1939 and the South Pole until June 12, 2015 when Norway formally annexed that area. Positioned in East Antarctica, the territory comprises about one-fifth of the total area of Antarctica. The claim is named after the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales.

      Delete
    2. Thanks, I'd never have found that one!
      Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica - where do they go?
      Wonder no more!!!
      It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life.
      The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.
      If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried.
      The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:
      "Freeze a jolly good fellow."

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    3. That explains why there are so many ice holes in the Antarctic.

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    4. Ha, ha! That was actually the last line of the joke, I just left it out!

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    5. I hadn't heard that one before. I like it.

      The puzzle was easy to make, but not easy to solve. I am reading a newer biography of Roald Amundsen published in 2012, but not as good as The Last Place On Earth, by Roland Huntford, which is one of my all time favorite reads. Anyway, as I was reading a few nights ago, I came across a reference to Antarctic geography and reached for my huge world atlas by the chair and when I happened to notice the name, Queen Maud Land I saw a puzzle right away. I figured no one would solve it though. Thanks for trying.

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    6. It's amazing that people like Amundsen would explore places like the Antarctic but, what gives them the drive go through with it? Plus, what motivates their team to go along with them? 
      There was that story from last year about Henry Worsley who died trying to ski across the South Pole. It was for charity but there's got to be a better way to raise money or have fun.

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    7. Well I don't know about all explorers, but Amundsen was bi-polar. I know this because he was the first to reach the South Pole and then the first to reach the North Pole.

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  27. Bonus puzzle riffing of the PM (and even easier):

    Name something you have in the kitchen, change the first letter to another letter, reverse the word to name someone in the news.

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    Replies
    1. Surely you mean "change the LAST letter..." See below.

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  28. These are better than some of the lines I have been getting lately which makes the question"Are you smarter than a 5th grader (or 6th)?" not just relevant to TV.

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  29. I have been absent for a while. Need you guys to keep me awake and on my toes. WW, I am going to visit my Smith family in May for Reunion.

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    Replies
    1. Good to see you back, RoRo! My dear friend, Mary, from Colorado is coordinating the reunion for the Smith College class of '83. She alternates daily between hair pulling and sympathetic joy.

      Looking forward to tales from Northampton in May!

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  30. So Puzder had to bow out due to hiring housekeepers who were in this country illegally and he was not paying the taxes he was required to for them. I want to state here that I have never hired a butler, or manservant, or housekeeper, or driver who was not professionally trained in Great Britain and here on a visa with a green card. Never! Now if I can swear to that at my income level then why couldn't Puzder with all his wealth?

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    Replies
    1. If he hired documented workers and paid decent wages he would only be very wealthy.

      Delete
    2. But eco, Don't you realize that if the lower classes were paid higher wages and had health care and proper schooling for their children that it would complicate their lives beyond their abilities and they would then become unhappy? The result of that would then spill over into our houses being somewhat neglected.

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  31. I have found the Crimea River(cry me a river), but that's four words. May be too maudlin.

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    Replies
    1. I assume you are posting re: my geographical puzzle above. It is not a body of water, or a river, but a large land mass. I think should you discover it you will be pretty sure you have the right answer.

      Delete
    2. NAPKINS >>> SINK, PAN

      "jan, geologic maps rock." refers to the origin of the word napkin from the Latin "mappa" and then the English "map."

      Delete
  32. I cannot put into words how sad I am to hear that the venerable New York Times is "failing." However I was pleased to hear the repeated assurances that Trump did win the election.

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    1. I thought I was watching a Nixon press conference.

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    2. Also glad that his administration "is running like a finely tuned machine".

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    3. It was not even close to a Nixon conference, or any other given by a U.S. president. It was what one might expect to hear from a highly paranoid tyrant who is under attack. I don't think even Omar Qaddafi was that outrageous. I am now left wondering if Washington D.C. doesn't have an outside bean market.

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    4. I just can't see this going on for four years.
      Also, when I see him getting all worked up at these 'news conferences' I wonder if he is close to having a meltdown or even a stroke!

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    5. 68Charger: Trump said "fine tuned machine".
      I was so irritated at his ignorance of the English language when I heard that.

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    6. Natasha - Yes, you're right about 'fine'! Almost as soon as I posted it I realized my mistake!! I did think that, if confronted, I would immediately fess up :)
        I'm still shaking my head over that 'news conference'. When it first came on I almost turned the station thinking it was just Donny confirming another cabinet position.
      As soon as I saw him going off script, I thought "this could be worth watching". What a display by a lunatic it turned out to be!

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    7. 68Charger...Glad to get your message. It seemed that the news programs made the same error ...finely...instead of.. fine. As a teacher,I am used to critically reviewing written and spoken English. So many errors on the news stations and other places. Not sure what is being taught in English classes these days. I turned off the broadcast as get physically ill when I see this abomination for a President.

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  33. In last week's page, I posted the puzzle as written on the NPR website, saying: "Here is today's puzzle, which Will says is easy (yes) and pretty (OK). I have added a word for clarity: Name some things commonly seen on a kitchen table. Switch the positions of the fifth and sixth letters of the [plural] word, and read the result backward. You'll name two things commonly seen in a kitchen. What are they? ---Rob"

    Will later said the puzzle more clearly on the air ("Think of a word for some things..."). I inserted the "[plural]" because the way the website read, it seemed as if there could be a number of different things seen on a kitchen table, not one thing seen multiple times. I saw a subsequent comment that my addition made it a give away, so I deleted my post, and I apologize if this gave anything away.

    Anyway, I wrote above: "I propose a paddling for any who found this puzzle unsolvable."

    I was going to post, "I propose a paddlin' for any who found this puzzle unsolvable," but I felt sensitive given the above that perhaps that would have drawn too much attention to the dropped G. Drop a G from "spanking" and anagram. ---Rob

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  34. NAPKINS NAPKNIS SINK PAN

    Last Sunday I said, “As it turns out, my hopes were not dashed and I got the answer on the first try.” Not dashed as in not sunk --> sink.

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  35. Bonus Puzzle: recipe becomes Spicer. I think he's pretty fried already.

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  36. NAPKINS>>>NAPKNIS = SINK + PAN or a “SINK PAN” (reading backward).

    My hint: WS would not “stoop to such a low” = “sink to such a low”

    Eco, didn't you mean “Change the LAST letter of something found in the kitchen and read the result backward?” RECIPE>>>RECIPS = SPICER, (backward)(Sean)

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    Replies
    1. I read from right to left, in the hope the country goes the same way.

      Delete
  37. NAPKINS, SINK, PAN
    I'm still wondering about the maudlin geographical area.

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    Replies
    1. I would suggest looking at a large globe or atlas.

      Delete
  38. As per my comment above, I think sinkpan as one word represents an item in the kitchen.

    By the way, Chuck's clue about Dash had me thinking about salt and salt shakers! (Before I solved).

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    Replies
    1. Snipper, I also thought sinkpan was one word. I thought napkins was the other word. Puzzle worded poorly, I think.

      Delete
  39. Once again I find it is Thursday evening and I have neither received, "the phone call," nor remembered to post here at 3:00 EDT.
    By now, the solution is well and truly known, so I will merely refer back to my post of last Sunday and my expectation that people would clean up on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  40. I was unable to post at 3:00 p.m. because our new electronic medical record system crapped out yet again, and we were forced to revert to stone knives and bear skins. For the past 4 years, we had a perfectly good EMR system, eClinicalWorks, but our new corporate overlords decreed that we switch to theirs. If anyone here is considering buying an EMR, know that medicine isn't worth practicing if it means using Allscripts. :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jan, that sounds like a major drag. Sorry.

      Any connection between EMR (Electronic Medical Records) and the upside-down world of EWR (Newark Liberty International Airport)? ;-)

      Delete
  41. Marcy at WH invoked the kamikaze. Kamikaze, gentle breeze, whipped up into typhoons on two particular instances. These typhoons did sink much of Kublai Khan's navy. Many of these inadequate ships had flat bottoms similar to Sanpans. Flat as a pan, sink.

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    Replies
    1. Remember those bigger than life size naked Donald Trump statues a few months ago? We have one here in Seattle. I remember Trump had a flat bottom.

      Delete
  42. This picture gave me an idea. You'll notice Andy has Donny's back. What if a whole bunch of us chipped in twenty bucks apiece to buy "the king of debt" his very own (free and clear) island, on the condition that he stays there?
    I'm thinking about Niulakita. I wonder what the Tuvaluese would want for it. Remember, it's a full 15 feet above sea level (at some point).
    Think about it. We'll work something out.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Puzzleria! is up early this week. Just uploaded it now. A dozen fine puzzles for you to enjoy.
    We feature an great Cryptic Crossword puzzle created by Patrick J. Berry (screen name, "cranberry"), plus eleven more, including:
    1. a mess of Shortz Riff-Offs,
    2. a Presidents' Day puzzle,
    3. a puzzle with an NPR conection, and
    4. (for Dessert) a puzzle with a solution you can feed to your four-legged friends.
    Click on "Joseph Young's Puzzleria!" in Blaine's PUZZLE LINKS.

    LegoYourTwoLeggedFriend

    ReplyDelete
  44. NAPKINS/SINK,PAN. While in Johannesburg, I asked my waiter for extra "napkins" and he looked at me with such embarrassed befuddlement until my Dad quickly corrected him saying "Serviette's". Of course, I didn't realize he thought I was asking for 'Maxi Pads', until I was corrected. My Dad said, 'Unless, maybe he thought you were asking for diapers'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Both items seemed like inappropriate table topics at the time, but I still laugh whenever I picture that waiter's face.

      Delete
  45. Next week's challenge: This is a spin-off of my on-air puzzle. Think of an article of apparel in five letters. Change one letter in it to name another article of apparel. Change one letter in that to name a third article of apparel. Then change one letter in that to name a fourth article of apparel. The position of the letters you change are different each time. What articles are these?

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    Replies
    1. It's going to be hard to avoid giving away the answers. One of my words didn't exist before 1950.

      Delete
    2. Alau, hmfz mv nmmu cmrmql aeucaj momk ion.

      Delete
    3. @jan, unfortunately the former was not much used after 1970.

      Delete
  46. I always considered this to simulate jet lag

    ReplyDelete

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