I've been waiting for Will to drop a real GEM of a puzzle.Q: Name a well-known city in the U.S. Two words. The second word rhymes with a word meaning "certain stories" — and the first word rhymes with something found in those stories. What city is it?"
Edit: George Edgar Merrick was the planner and builder of the city of Coral Gables, Florida in the 1920s.
A: CORAL GABLES --> MORAL, FABLES
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.
Walking.
ReplyDelete**********************
Hawai'i.
I'm glad Will was sensitive enough not to clue the second word with a phonetic clue - a certain species is happy with that decision. At least not another crappy puzzle.
ReplyDeleteJackson's garages?
ReplyDeleteLike Obama, I want to do some eavesdropping.
ReplyDeleteI got it, while breakfasting on heated toroids. ---Rob
ReplyDeleteA little Preparation H with help with those roids Rob.
DeleteExodus 34:7
ReplyDeleteAll I have is Nathaniel Hawthorne.
ReplyDeleteToo obvious!
DeleteHawthorne wrote House of the Seven Gables, thus, Coral Gables.
DeleteTwin Oaks, Missouri. All JOKES have SPIN!
ReplyDeleteNot exactly a well-known city. Even smaller, but maybe better known, is the Twin Oaks Community in Virginia, based on B. F. Skinner's Walden Two.
DeleteTake the name of a famous movie star. Change one letter in the first name and rearrange. Add one letter somewhere to the second name and viola!
ReplyDeleteTomR - Your beat me to it! I was just about to post a similar comment based on the initials of the city and person. I like your version better.
DeleteViola? A musical instrument, et voilà.
DeleteLast Friday I posed this Bonus Puzzle (with a nod to René Magritte):
DeleteName something you play, reverse the second and third letters and
Take the name of a movie star who just won an Oscar. Remove her last name and... Viola!
DeleteNice nod-to-Magritte puzzle, eco. I like your six bonus puzzles this week also, although I have thus far solved only #2, #5 and #6, and maybe #4.
LegoGettingMagrittyInTheCityAndInsistingThatThisIsNotAPipeDream
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ReplyDeleteFun puzzle! Can't help but think of one of my all time favorite books whose author, oddly enough, shares the name of a U.S. City.
ReplyDeleteBonus Puzzles: All of these are US cities, well-known - except the first - in two words. And the clues below are to the rhyming words.
ReplyDelete1) The first word is slang for a worker, and the second might describe what the worker might do.
2) The two words are synonyms.
3) First and last name of a famous singer.
4) Two parts of the body.
5) First word is a person of a certain ethnicity, and the second is something they avoid
6) First word is what you might do if you got the call, and the second is what you'd do next.
I hope the two words that are synonyms are not Walla Walla, WA.
DeleteI left off the rhyming synonyms: gala = gala.
DeleteGala doesn't really rhyme with Walla, but it's not the answer. I will say that one of the synonyms is most often an adjective, and the other a noun.
DeleteAnd I don't think you'll find the answer to #3.
Check out the THREE acceptable pronunciations of GALA.
DeleteThe one that most closely rhymes is noted as a British pronunciation, and those are no longer admitted to this country.
DeletePAULA-PAULA (from Walla Walla) must be the answer to #3.
DeleteYou will definitely know the singer for #3, long career, gold albums, Grammy winner. One or two songs stand out in popularity.
DeleteI must confess the town (not city) for #1 is relatively obscure.
Its population is around 15,000 (that's a hint), but it is the county seat (another hint). I remember it mostly as the pick up point after an 8 day backpacking trip on the nearby Appalachian Trail (a third hint), where we heard on the radio that Elvis had died (no hint there).
The last (#11) answer to the on air challenge was incorrect. Again Will Shorts is demonstrating American ignorance.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management it is a federal holiday, they merely use a different name than the colonial colloquial.
DeleteAnd yes, sometimes it is taken on different days. Is that your point?
No, that is not my point. My point is there is no such federal holiday. The federal holiday is Independence Day. We are not celebrating the 4th of July.
DeleteSeveral years ago I was standing at the very top of the knoll at Gasworks Park here in Seattle waiting for the Lake Union fireworks to begin in about five minutes. We were packed like sardines in a can and an announcement was made over the PA system that the show would begin in a moment. I heard one of two young women standing right behind me ask the other when the Elliott Bay fireworks would begin. A rather stupid question, since they only are waiting for it to become dark enough. I had a hunch and turned around and said the Elliott Bay fireworks were on Independence Day this year. She asked me when that was. I told her. That is my point.
You answered my question exactly as I stated it: yes, the holiday is Independence Day, and the Fourth of July is a very popular colloquial term. To me that doesn't rise to ignorance, it's merely that pop culture (and TV advertising) have (excused the expression) trumped what is dignified and correct.
DeleteChess Piece was also kind of iffy.
DeleteYeah, I felt rooked by that.
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ReplyDeleteNO. Independence Day is not the correct name for the 4th of July. It is the correct name for a federal holiday that we happen to celebrate on the 4th of July.
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DeleteNot a friend of Jack.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePink houses --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteCoral Gables - Moral & Fables. Pink houses refer to the coral (which houses little coral creatures). Any critique of the clue should go to my DH, who thought it up.
DeleteTara ra boom deaigh
ReplyDeleteTV hint:Rocky and Bullwinkle
ReplyDeleteI am beginning to think that my idea of "a word meaning 'certain stories'" is different than the PM's.
ReplyDeleteEverybody else comfortable with his use of the term?
I wish that I didn't so often get this feeling of unease about the clarity of Shortz's thinking.
I am comfortable with the wording this time. I solved it early this morning while trying to get back to sleep after reading the puzzle on line. I tried to think about it logically, but am not sure that is why I came up somehow with the answer because I don't normally think of this town and it was not what I was looking for. I solved it in under fifteen minutes just by thinking.
DeleteIt is subject to interpretation, I believe. I used lists.
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ReplyDeleteDid not take but few minutes to solve.
ReplyDeleteI have the answer, so I'm quite comfortable with his definition.
ReplyDeleteContinuing with my famous Ohioan theme, may I mention the pride of Columbus, O Henry?
ReplyDeleteF gwfj pgdelm, cokq e lowu ytavd, cie zawi doci sizh tfn vgrflqy urztqvx fwi g wtmqe, iej ttis rmkarz ctu bf zhqq biby lrqwm ivjogtx.
ReplyDeleteYou said it!
DeleteI think that the quotation marks around "certain stories" means that the rhyming word is a synonym for the phrase. It is not.
ReplyDeleteIt would be correct to say it refers to, indicates or identifies "certain stories."
It is hard to say if it was a mistake or if it was meant to confuse.
I wasted a fair amount of time looking for a synonym. Should know better by now.
MJ: I agree with the poor wording of the puzzle. Very disconcerting.
ReplyDeleteIs that similar to disco concerting?
DeleteThe Weather Service is forecasting 18-24 inches of snow for my area tomorrow. The city in question is known for other kinds of disturbances.
ReplyDeleteYep, it's looking like a very white day out there. Guess I'll stay home and make pie...
DeleteWe are poor unfortunate souls...
ReplyDeleteI, too, think the wording of the puzzle is awkward at best and I’m not absolutely sure that the answer I submitted is the intended answer, but it fits really well with Blaine’s clue.
ReplyDeleteDescribing the second word as, "...rhyming with a word describing stories of a certain type," would have been less awkward.
ReplyDeleteHappy pi day, y'all.
ReplyDeleteBest rendition of pi
DeleteCan you identify the mistakes?
If you watched the NCAA women's basketball bracket reveal on ESPN last night, you would have the answer to the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteAnd Coral Gables is a host city to the NCAA women's basketball sub-regional.
DeleteThis week's puzzle is "literary ", so it's hard for me...I'm 74 and I used to read books a lot, all the time, but the world has gotten so awful nowadays I can't even bear to read our local daily newspaper ! (If the line is long at the grocery checkout, I can usually manage half a story in one of those Hollywood scandal sheets near the register while waiting, but it's never very uplifting ! )
ReplyDeleteI would not say there is anything literary about this puzzle. It is no more literary than Breitbart and Fox are news.
DeleteAnd no more literary than the new American Wealthcare act.
DeleteShouldn't that be:
DeleteThe American Health-Dispair Act?
All but the wealthy will despair from the new American Wealthcare Act.
DeleteTo keep your healthcare, you and all American males will be required to purchase prenatal care coverage. Wealthcare is not my term, see THIS.
DeleteAre you sure they weren't just talking about free Natal, South Africa? You don't really think Trump and Ryan et al would actually rob from the poor to give to the rich do you? Just because they have been trying to kill Social Security from its inception does not mean these are evil people, does it? OR DOES IT!?
DeleteI am actually looking forward to the new Republican health care plan; I never liked going to the doctor anyway.
Delete"The American Medical Association has weighed in on President Trump's health care package:
DeleteThe Allergists were in favor of scratching it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.
The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.
Meanwhile, Obstetricians felt certain everyone was laboring under a misconception, while the Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.
Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the Pediatricians said, "Oh, grow up!" The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it.
Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing and the Internists claimed it would indeed be a bitter pill to swallow. The Plastic Surgeons opined that this proposal would "put a whole new face on the matter."
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea. Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and those lofty Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say 'no.' The Otolaryngologists (ear, nose & throat) said the plan stinks, and it doesn't sound so good, either.
In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the assholes in Washington.”
At least the Proctologists took the initiative to asssign their crack research team on it.
DeleteAnd the Emergency Medicine docs declared it dead on arrival.
DeleteI don't think the pulmonologists are holding their breath either.
DeleteThese statements have clearly been doctored.
Delete... and the gynecologists thought it was hysterical.
DeleteHematologists are seeing red!
DeleteMy hand specialist didn't want to comment until she finished her hand job. And the CDC thinks they can work the bugs out. On the other hand my chiropractor just cracked up laughing.
Deletejan was puzzled by the thing.
DeleteI know a dietitian who thinks it's a waist.
Deleteare the Otolaryngologists hoping for a hearing?
DeleteWitch doctors don't think it has a ghost of a chance in the Senate. And my pharmacist says it won't fill the needs of the citizens.
DeleteMissoula doctors couldn't figure how it would pay out, so they sent to Billings.
DeleteRheumatologists want this presented in a joint session. And Orthopedists think the whole thing is broken.
Deletenurses hope to call all the shots.
DeletePharmacists agree that it's all going according to script.
DeleteAudiologists refuse to listen, Physical Therapists say it rubs them the wrong way, Occupational Therapists are sure it won't work, Nephrologists want to flush this out, faith healers say it doesn't have a prayer, and Geriatricians say this is getting old.
DeleteThe coroner said it was DOA.
DeletePlanned Parenthood thought they should abort.
Deleteophthalmologists think dt is seeing his presidency through rose colored glasses.
DeleteThe Coroners Association was more equivocal" "remains to be seen."
DeleteOMG, I thought I was a proctologist and put quotation marks where the colon is supposed to be.
DeleteThe Otolaryngologists can't swallow it.
DeleteThe dermatologists accepted it, warts and all, even the parts that were more myth than fact.
DeleteSo you believe in colonization?
DeleteProctologists have gone about as far as they can go with this.
DeleteThat last entry was a disguised clue to an almost correct answer. We know the right answer is Coral Gables/Moral Fables (ho hum), but I thought that something involving Fort Smith ought to work. Maybe, but "wart" and "myth" isn't it.
DeleteNo, I'm in favor of decolonization. But while we're on the subject of bad jokes involving punctuation, what is the difference between a cat and a comma?
DeleteI assume it has something to do with pause and paws and clause and claws.
DeleteYou assume correctly: one has claws at the end of its paws, while the other has a pause at the end of the clause.
DeleteI had a feline it was something like that.
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ReplyDeleteAny thoughts of a possible author? Maybe Poe’s a guess, though informal – or maybe not.
DeleteCoral Gables / Moral Fables… “oF A possiBLE” (fable), “POE’S A” (anagram of Aesop, who wrote fables), “infORMAL” (anagram of moral).
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ReplyDeleteIs there any way we could build some kind of wall that would keep the undocumented Canadian Geese from entering our country, and make Justin Trudeau pay for it?
ReplyDeleteWe'll take a gander at it, eh?
DeleteThe stories in Hollywood scandal sheets are almost never uplifting...the moral of a fable, even a fable which doesn't "end well" for some (or all ) of the characters involved, TEACHES the reader in one way or another, and education can usually be seen as "uplifting "...I just wanted to sneak that word in somehow !
DeleteHow about Charlotte Amalie, USVI?
ReplyDeleteRhymes with homilies
Said homilies may use (as negative examples)a harlot.
It had been snowing a little bit outside, so I thought I'd go out and take some pictures while skiing. Tough taking pictures on skis when using a microwave as a GoPro.
ReplyDeleteThere could be a distant relationship with Kingston, NY.
ReplyDeleteThe original Dutch name for Kingston NY was Esopus. Esopus is an alternate spelling of Aesop who wrote the best-known fables.
DeleteIt won't be snowing in Florida this weekend, as far as I know. We're headed back to the condo in Ft. Walton for Spring Break. If my nieces spend a lot of time using our Kindles, I may not be doing much in the way of puzzles until we return Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteThe university in this city is more well known than the city itself.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right my friend.
Delete
DeleteCORAL GABLES and MORAL FABLES
"Walking." refers to the Coral Gables city plan of a walkable downtown with all businesses within 2 blocks of the main Street.
**********************
Hawai'i. refers to the "no plastic bags at stores" law currently in effect in Hawai'i and proposed for Coral Gables.
Home of the Hurricanes, Coral Gables.
DeleteA FABLE is a story which may contain a MORAL.
ReplyDeleteThe city is: CORAL GABLES.
My citation of Exodus 34:7 is based on that verse's phrase, “...visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation].”
“Sins of the Father’s,” is a theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The House of the Seven Gables.
CORAL GABLES > MORAL & FABLES
ReplyDeleteMy hint: "Not a friend of Jack." This is referring to the poem used to identify a poisonous Coral Snake from a harmless King Snake. The coral snake is not a friend of Jack.
CORAL GABLES -> FABLES, MORAL
ReplyDelete> Jackson's garages?
Sorrel stables?
> The Weather Service is forecasting 18-24 inches of snow for my area tomorrow. The city in question is known for other kinds of disturbances.
I spent one semester in grad school at the University of Miami. When I arrived, the ABC Movie of the Week (remember those?) was Hurricane. The school football team was the Hurricanes. The student newspaper was The Hurricane. The graduate student newsletter was The Tropical Depression, which seemed appropriate.
> This
"Cargo labels" anagrams to Coral Gables.
That entire top row of labels applies to 45. Can we apply them to him, please?
DeleteGrand Prairie, Texas
ReplyDeletePrairie – Fairy tales
Grand – Wedding band
Last Monday I said, “I, too, think the wording of the puzzle is awkward at best and I’m not absolutely sure that the answer I submitted is the intended answer, but it fits really well with Blaine’s clue.” ...with a GEM on the ring.
I said, "I got it, while breakfasting on heated toroids." That's calor and bagels; anagram. ---Rob
ReplyDeletejan, I hope you didn't take personally my seemingly dismissive question last Sunday. When I wrote, "So, jan, what's your point?" I really meant, "What's the MORAL of your little FABLE?"
ReplyDeleteBonus Puzzle answers:
ReplyDelete1) Front Royal --> grunt, toil
2) Fort Worth --> short, dearth
3) Sioux Falls --> Lou Rawls
4) Key West --> knee, breast
5) New York --> Jew, pork
6) Saint Paul --> faint, fall
"Like Obama, I want to do some eavesdropping.": Gable roofs have an eave that drops. But don't build them out of coral.
DeleteShort stories contain humor...
ReplyDeleteShort Mirth ---> Fort Worth
Coral Gables, Fl
ReplyDeletemoral, fables
Hint: One of my favorite books, Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery(Alabama)
Coral Gables, Florida. Population (2015): 51,117. Nationwide Rank: 746. Well-known?
ReplyDelete“Certain stories” → FABLES. Something found in all "fables" → a MORAL.
TomR. Clark Gable, Clar(k→o) = Coral, Gable+s.
CORAL GABLES, FL; MORAL, FABLES
ReplyDeleteRocky and Bullwinkle would occasionally present the segment "Aesop and Son", where fables complete with morals were illustrated by Aesop telling them to his son, who usually ended up coming up with a better, punny moral.
Well, I figured out why I didn't come up with Coral Gables. It's not in my cities list :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I barely gave this puzzle any effort, and didn't come with Coral Gables either.
DeleteMy clue - "I'm glad Will was sensitive enough not to clue the second word with a phonetic clue - a certain species is happy with that decision" - referred to "gay bulls".
ReplyDeleteYesterday's reply ".... my friend" was referring to mi ami (in French) - for university of Miami in CG.
My hints:
ReplyDeleteAdd zero and subtract one.
[C=100, add zero to get 1000=M;
G=letter #7, subtract one to get letter #6=F.
Coral > Moral; Gables > Fables]
"F gwfj pgdelm, cokq e lowu ytavd, cie zawi doci sizh tfn vgrflqy urztqvx fwi g wtmqe, iej ttis rmkarz ctu bf zhqq biby lrqwm ivjogtx." >>>>>>
"A good puzzle, like a good story, can take your mind off earthly matters for a while, and then return you to them with fresh insight."
"Earthly matters" are "global cares", an anagram of Coral Gables; the Vigenere key involved is the title of a 1995 movie, parts of which were filmed in Coral Gables.
Wasn't it Reverend William Archibald Spooner, who when lecturing on intentional humorous mistakes in language, said, it was time to draw a sign in the land?
ReplyDeleteI believe he was also the one who asked if it was kisstomary to cuss the bride. But then, one mustn't put all one's begs in one ask-it.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletehttp://i2.glitter-graphics.org/pub/2019/2019022fl92ihx0zy.gif
Interesting. Apparently, that is how some people with chronic headaches see colors all the time.
DeleteHappy St.Patrick's Day! See the link above for fun.
DeleteHappy St. Patrick's Day and keep an eye open for the Leprechauns!
DeleteIndeed, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here's to Irish chemist Bob Boyle and Boyle's Law. Must have been fun for Boyle to watch the pot boil. . .
DeleteMust've been a gas...
DeleteBUBBLEICIOUS
DeleteJust got home from the ballet and while driving back I heard that someone unnamed has revealed that all the elevators in the New York Trump Tower have a fifty percent down time!
ReplyDeleteNot quite right: they go up quite dramatically for 1%, stay about the same for 2-3%, and drop perilously for the rest.
DeleteThen then perhaps you will agree with me that quality comforter factories have an extraordinary amount of down time?
DeleteLately the fabricators have been mostly void, full of fluff and hot air, and offering no comfort.
DeleteAny eider why?
DeleteI saw on TV that at Trump Tower, if it doesn't go down after four hours, you should seek help right away...
Delete...or take a side trip to Viagra Falls.
DeleteWhat ballet did you see? I once performed at Carnegie Hall with company. Love ballet.
ReplyDeleteYou can google: Seattle PNB schedule or Seattle PNB Director's Choice and get a full rundown.
Deletetks. The Broadway theme looks great. Wish SF ballet performed something like that.
ReplyDeleteWell, you patrons need to keep them on their toes.
DeleteThat was tu tu much.
DeleteSorry I had been drinking when I posted and was a bit tight.
DeleteThis chat has me in a spin!
DeleteIs that why you uh, pirouette?
DeleteYes, you got the point!
DeleteI don't think Coral Gables is very well known. Maybe NPR staffers vacation there. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe best I could come up with is Corpus Christie --> Corpses, Mystery
My second answer was Seven Palms, California. Psalms/Heaven
ReplyDeleteO Henry penned the G. Caballeros, anagrams: Coral Gables
ReplyDeleteSorry for the super late response
Busy zeke
Next week's challenge: Think of a familiar phrase in the form "I ___ you," in which a four-letter word goes in the blank. Rearrange those letters and you'll get another familiar phrase in the form "I ___ you." Both phrases get more than half a million hits in a Google search. What phrases are these?
ReplyDeleteNot much of a challenge.
DeleteI think I understand what you mean.
DeleteThe short fingered vulgarian was distressed to see that "I garb you" only has 352 Google hits.
ReplyDeleteIn bridge, if I deal you cards, I lead you in bidding.
ReplyDelete