Sunday, September 24, 2017

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 24, 2017): What to Name the Baby

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 24, 2017): What to Name the Baby:
Q: Think of a familiar 6-letter boy's name starting with a vowel. Change the first letter to a consonant to get another familiar boy's name. Then change the first letter to another consonant to get another familiar boy's name. What names are these?
Don't worry; even if you don't have the answer now, you still have until Thursday at 2:59 pm ET. But don't wait any longer than that. And especially don't go on vacation.

If you were to submit your answer at 2:59 pm, you'd be just in time. The last time this puzzle was used (July 27, 2014), I was on vacation.
A: AUSTIN, DUSTIN, JUSTIN

244 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. Definitely a repeat puzzle.

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    1. I'd have a question for Will:

      Why don't you use the SEARCH function on the NPR Sunday Puzzle to see you presented this puzzle already?

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  3. A possibly fantastic and obscure musical clue for the answer I got (and I bet there are other answers): Jacques.

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  4. For some reason, the answer just came to me in a flash shortly after reading the puzzle on NPR. No thinking, no research, no nothing. Who knows how the mind does stuff like this?

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    1. Same here. Let's start a club.

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  5. This one is a repeat. I used to know twins with two of these names.

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    1. Golly, I just checked to see when this puzzle was presented the first time, and was shocked to see how recent it was. Will!!!!

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    2. Rob, I concur. Glad to see you are taking advantage of Punctuation Day!(!!!)

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  6. Must be the familiarity of knowing 3 guys with the names. In this case, I had a big crush on one, I work with one, and am neighbors with another one.

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  7. He can't seduce me with this one. I've solved it once before.

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  8. AR,IN,MN, and OK have cities or towns with one of the names.
    Another state has cities with two of the names.

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  9. I can think of a few current notable MLB players with these names. (No, I'm not going to keep puzzlery out of sports or sports out of puzzlery.)

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  10. Anyone else getting spam emails after submitting their answer? Anywho, the initial letters spell the name of a host of a podcast that I enjoy. Back to my Sunday chores.

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  11. After the Beatles split up, John Lennon recorded a number of records with a group called the Plastic Ono Band including himself and Yoko Ono among many others who came and went. They had a number of charted hits including Give Peace a Chance, Instant Karma (We All Shine On) and Imagine to name a few.

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  12. As Yogi would use to say, "It's deja vu all over again".

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  13. Is there a limit?

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  14. And here I thought last week's was easy.
    Willy may have avoided his alternate answer bugaboo by prefacing all three names with "familiar."
    Without that I have a few possibilities and am looking forward to others.
    Is it OK to post answers that are not familiar?

    "Do you have a question for Will? "Nope." LOL

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  15. I have the same answer as last time, but also with a forth name as well.

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    1. I have a fifth not so well-known name.

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    2. I even have a sixth name...

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    3. SDB: Did you mean "forth" or "fourth".

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    4. I meant fourth, but now I also have six.

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    5. SDB: Thought there was a hidden agenda. BTW there were lots of people at American in Paris Wednesday, contrary to my previous posting last week. Sat right in first row behind orchestra conductor. Was great performance. Need to see Red Shoes.

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    6. Watched Jewels @ PNB last night in second row.

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    8. SDB: I have never seen Jewels. I just read the reviews of PNB. How great that you saw it. Hope the SF Ballet performs it sometime.Kyra Nichols from NYC Ballet used to dance the prima role. I used to see her in ballet classes in Berkeley. Her mother was the teacher.

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    9. It was very good, even though it had a lot of dancing.

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    10. But what was I do do? I had already paid for my ticket and come. They should have warnings.

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    11. The costumes must have been dazzling. I need to see that ballet. I read articles today about the PNB costumes with all the jewels.

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    12. Yes, the costumes were outstanding. My only fault was the inclusion of combat boots.

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    13. Wow,I would not like combat boots either.

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    14. Well they had to have them with the fatigues.

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    15. Now i need to study what this ballet is about. Fatigues??

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    16. Methinks SDB is fatigued, and is in the army mess confusing "ballet en pointe" with "infantry on point". Both can lead to shooting pains.

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    17. eco: Just what is the pointe of your post. Never abandon your post. Post no bills. Is it postage or dotardism? I look forward to your next post. Eat Post Toasties.

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    18. Good point eco.keep me posted.

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    19. Perhaps sdb is a little off balance from all those pirouettes.

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    20. Perhaps you are right. Today I was down on the waterfront and slipped on a wet pier.

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  16. I think the old word DOTARD in a way applies to this puzzle.

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  17. Last time there were two answers, one with a fourth variant, though two of the names might not be well known. I listened to that show again, and WS haughtily said there was only "one good" answer.

    Maybe WW can come up with another novel puzzle to keep us entertained?

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  18. When I first heard the new Puzzle, I thought it was a rerun. I think I know what happened. They were all so discombobulated from the lone Deplorable in the audience being picked at random out of 1500+ entries that they fumbled the key to the New Puzzle box.

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    1. I'm thinkin' that the only GB with a right to post this would Gordon Brown.

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    2. I think,in the future,WS should ask the winner (he/she) to state exactly what time and date he/she submitted his/her answer. It would be nice to know if the selection was truly random and justifiably his/hers due to randomly being selected.

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  19. In my life, I have also known men with these names, though one insisted his given name was unsuitable and preferred "Bubba" instead... Whatever.

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  20. An interesting connection for the three names in 2014.

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  21. This puzzle should have been given the boot the first time.

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  22. Someone might suggest WS use "Google." A Google search under "NPR Sunday Puzzle [each of the 3 names]" would allow Will to quickly spot that he recycled this puzzle.

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    1. Yeah, that confirms my answer. Thanks, saukriver!

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    2. You can also search directly on the NPR site (It shows up at the bottom of the site on my phone.)

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  23. Musical clue: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme

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  24. Three dotards walked into a bar. Do you know what the bartender said?

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    1. "Mr. President! Will other members of your Cabinet be joining you?"

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    2. Hey, give him credit! He was able to unite the millionaire football players with the billionaire football owners.

      I hope the Nobel Committee is watching.

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    3. I thought the joke ran:
      A narcissist, a racist and a misogynist walk intp a bar.
      The bartender says, "Your usual Mr. President?"

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  25. Ken Burns's film is doing a marvelous job of confirming what I always knew—that their was no Hue for US to Nguyen in Vietnam.

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  26. Oh my, How about 4 letter boys names.. first one starting with a vowel, and the next two with a Consonant?
    EARL, CARL, JARL? (yeah Jarl is a friend of mine from Sweden) Please get a bit more creative WS?

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  27. Since we seem to be going minimalist on this, how about 3 letter names, one starting with a vowel and repeatedly changing the first letter to a consonant.

    I get Ian, Dan, Han, and Van, Any others?

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    1. Nope, nothing comes to mind.

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    2. Ean is the Manx and Gaelic spelling of Ian so Ean, Dan, Han, Jan (!), Pan, Van. . .

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    3. And, say this carefully, Pan is the god of flocks.

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    4. Man, short for Emmanuel, as Man Ray, e.g.

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    5. WW - That makes me feel sheepish..

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  28. Odd he would repeat one. Has he before?

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    1. I can't cite statistics on how often repeats happen. I'm guessing once every 12 - 18 months, we get a repeat. And, that is just a guess. Anyone else with a good estimate, or hard statistics for that matter, should feel free to chime in this issue.

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  29. Did anyone else see the clevernest in Blaine's clues? Good one Blaine.

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  30. I agree, Garry. Blaine is a master clue-giver.

    For those who have solved this week's NPR puzzle, here is a pretty challenging puzzle that appears on this week's Puzzleria!
    I am curious to see how many Blainsvillians can solve it. If you do solve it, please do not reveal the answer, either in this blog or on Puzzleria! until Wednesday 3PM Eastern Time.
    Feel free to give hints, however, either here or on Puzzleria! (You might, for example, reveal other words that possess the same unusual property, like "court" or "breaths.")
    And, as always, we welcome you to visit us at Puzzleria!

    Blaise & Claire & Emmy & Lenny:
    Fashion designer and socialite Claire McCardell invites a life-of-the-party yet groan-inducingly “blue comic” named Lenny Bruce to her dinner party. The result is:
    “Claire’s jaunty, corny, salty party guest spouts blueness, annoys.”
    Pascaland Emmy Noether were mathematical giants from different eras. The following sentence is likely true:
    “Giant Emmy learned giant Blaise’s point theorem, soon schooled allies, also friends.”
    All twenty different words in bold italics above share a very unusual property in common. (The two blue sentences contain 21 words, but “giant” is repeated.”)
    What is this unusual property?

    Thank you.

    LegoTheCuriousChallenger

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    1. Can I give you a targeted response?

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    2. And isn't there an answer in your question?

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    3. okay, I see I only meet you half way....

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    4. Now THAT’s a puzzle. I hope WS is paying attention!

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    5. Poorest triune tween saint Pierre Adrien, hairnet veined, toiled Pernod sauteed parrots, earned stained hearse.

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    6. Thank you, Buck Bard.
      Bravo, eco, since you met me more than half-way. You are really lightning quick! I plodded along when I composed this puzzle. I especially like "poorest" and "hairnet." I wonder how many words with this propery exist. My guess is less than 200 but, of course, it depends on what you deem allowable.

      LegoWhoPrefersToThinkOfHimSelfNotAsAPoetButAsA"DoggerelMonger-el"

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    7. Glad I could assist (a near perfect word, if I do say so!) with your excellent puzzle, it is tough going.

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    8. eco,
      "Assist" is indeed beautiful, callipygian even!
      By itself, you could argue it could submiied to Will Shortz as a stand-alone NPR puzzle, although its fate would likely be rejection based on grounds of "vulgarity."

      LegoWhoHasInstalledALaZBoyInHisCar

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    9. Word Woman,
      I haven't really installed a LaZBoy in my car. 'Twould not fit, and 'twould likely make it stall.
      'Tis merely a hint.
      Amazingly, a hint to my "Blaise & Claire & Emmy & Lenny" puzzle appears in Blaine's green-shaded box at the top of the this week's blog page!

      LegoAddsThatTheWord"Blaine"AlsoSharesTheProperty

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    10. Whom did you collude with on this inventive puzzle?

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    11. Thanks for that time-tested hint, Blaine. In retrospect I wish I had colluded with ecoarchitect and you. I would have had a much broader palette of words to work with!

      LegoAlsoThanksBlaineForHisClairvoyantVisualClue

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    12. Though as a sentence it makes little sense, "Sporty teevee court haunts Shiite Ariadne; argued dainty troupe causes dirty sheet count" gives you more words for your puzzle submission.

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    13. Don't have time to come up with clever sentences today, but some words that I think fit the pattern include calliope, choosey, forwent, hoarse, moonset, oriole, peewee, sweaty, wreath.

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    14. Excellent, jan. Especially impressive about your collection is the word-length. "Calliope" is 8 letters, plus three 7's, and nothing under 6!
      Which leads me to ask, what is the longest word with this property?
      Also, the facility with which you, eco and Blaine have cranked out qualifying words (most of which I had not come up with) leads me to revise upward my estimate of how many of such words exist, from under 200 to under 300.
      Can any of you computer programming whizzes out there add any clarity?

      LegoWhoWouldAddSomClarityIfHeCouldOnlyUpdateAndRebootHisAbacus

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    15. "Calliope" is the longest word I found, with my embarrassingly inefficient awk script and the Moby word list of common words.

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    16. "Calliopes" has 9 letters - I couldn't resist. I have no computer programming capacity, and the words I come up with were from the processor in my head (usually while reading):
      -weakness, chairs, chains, and haunts
      or using combos at http://www.crosswordnexus.com
      - riant
      or variants of others
      - doing, faint, taint, paint

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    17. I'm very impressed, eco! The Moby list of common words omits many plurals (including "calliopes"). Their list of single words includes it, but also includes so many "words" that most of us wouldn't identify as such that I didn't want to use it.

      Lego, I was particularly pleased that "calliope" appeared, after your use of "callipygian" to describe "assist". Same root, of course.

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    18. This puzzle has destroyed an entire day of work for me..... :)

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    19. Lego: You managed to make my mid-term studies a bit less stressful with your puzzle. Do these words (mostly) qualify? And yes, I skipped dinner...

      chard, doughs, breads, curry, gravy, broiled, chopped, brownies, apples, plums, pluots, spackle, crackle....if only I had a DietCoke, or rootbeer!

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    20. ...meant to type sauteed, not chopped. Even though eco used it already.

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    21. Clotheslover,
      Lego should type for himself but, as I started, you've only solved half the puzzle.

      Ron, I'm not sure what you're thinking, but it's not working for me.

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    22. Thanks, eco, for your help. It is true, clotheslover, that you have found the key to my puzzle but, as eco noted, you have turned it only halfway in the lock. Still, your list of all-edibles is impressive, including, as it does, the two 8-letter soft drinks with which you wash it all down. (eco's "sauteed" BTW, is similar to his "perfect" assist word.)
      And yes, cl, we do gather that you were perhaps a bit peckish when you posted your comment.
      It is also true that ron's two words (violets and seaways) do not share my intended "unusual property." However, as often is the case when ron posts answers to my puzzles on Puzzleria, what he comes up with, although not what I intended, is very often more clever and creative than my "official" answer. I suspect that is also likely the case with the puzzle I posted here.

      LegoWhoBelievesThereAreGreenCheesesInTheCratersOfTheMoon

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    24. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    25. Allow me please to reprint ron's explanation of his "violets, seaways" answers. He posted it earlier today on Puzzleria! It is actually pretty ingenious IMHO:
      I thought the "unusual property" was that each word could be anagramed into two other words: Claire's = cars + lie, jaunty = jay + nut, corny = cry + no/on, salty = sly + at, party = pry + at, guest = get + us, spouts = toss + up, blueness = bus + lense, annoys = son + any, etc. [also = a + sol]
      I was going to post: Cain (I can) violets (solve it) seaways (was easy)...

      As I noted above, ron is a creative solver.

      LegoWhoIsAFanOfUnintendedPuzzleConsequences

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    26. Thanks for the explanation, Lego, but your puzzle is much harder.

      Many words can anagram into 2 words - Donald (don, lad or and, old); Hillary (hill, ray); lambda (am, bald); please (see, lap); harder (had, err); broiled (red, boil) - I could go on and on and on, and often do.

      Sweaty here, wish I were purring in sweet Siena.

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    27. So what’s the answer? (It’s Wednesday night...)

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    28. Here is the "official answer for the record" that I shall be posting on Puzzleria! later this evening:
      Answer:
      They are "zipper words." That is, the odd-numbered letters and even-numbered letters in each word can be "unzipped" to spell out smaller words. Or, in other words, the letters of he two smaller words can be "zipped up" in an interlocking of "zipper-teeth" letters to form the bigger "zipper word."
      Claire's = cars + lie;
      jaunty = jut + any;
      salty = cry + on;
      salty = sly + at;
      party = pry + at;
      guest = get + us;
      spouts = sot + pus;
      blueness = buns + lees;
      annoys = any + no's;

      giant = gat + in;
      Emmy = em + my;
      learned = land + ere;
      Blaises = bass + lie;
      point = pit + on;
      theorem = term + hoe;
      soon = so + on;
      schooled = shoe + cold;
      allies = ale + lis;
      also = as + lo;
      friends = fins + red;

      LegoThanksAllForParticipating

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    29. In any of the words, the odd letters and even letters can be separated to form legitimate words, for example "Blaine" becomes ban (odd) + lie (even). I only liked "assist" because it broke into something I do at my desk all day long.

      Clotheslover found some terrific answers, but only the odd letters formed new words, which was the path I started on before realizing the intricacy of Lego's puzzle. Of course Ron's answer is technically correct, but all answers would have to anagram into two words.

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    30. Thanks for recognizing my solution. I had considered posting GAIN (I can) VIOLETS (solve it) SEAWAYS (was easy).

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    31. Wow! What a great mind you have Lego! I'm super impressed with this puzzle. Thanks for sharing it! I am looking at words in a whole new way.

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    32. Ahhh, once again I lost by over-complicating my theories!

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    33. By George, Lego, it was a Pearle of a puzzle. But I couldn't see the sheerness of your LaZBoy clue?

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    34. Thanks to all for the kind words.
      My "LaZBoy clue" (which appeared in one of my sign-offs in this thread) was not really much of a clue at all, more like pseudo-clue-noodling on my part:
      "LegoWhoHasInstalledALaZBoyInHisCar"...
      "His Car (CarHis)" zips up into "Chairs." a LaZBoy is a type of easy chair. I (mis)interpreted Word Woman's comment (Lego?) as questioning that weird sign-off. But it was more likely a comment on my garbled text and syntax in that Monday 5:30 PM comment.

      LegoWordWoman!

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  31. I couldn't help noticing that Mendo Jim so far has not found time or inclination to Hue in on last night's segment of Ken Burns's Vietnam War film. Perhaps he just didn't feel he could Nguyen us over this time.

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    1. That was one depressing episode. I'll have to watch tonight's episode sometime tomorrow.

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    2. I cannot argue with how anyone is affected by this film, but for me it is all the same, and no longer depressing, but beyond that. I served in the army voluntarily from 1963 to 1966. I did not join for patriotic reasons. I have no pride in my service. I always believe I should feel shame, but I don't. I have finally figured out that is because I did not join at a time when I expected I would be stationed in Vietnam. I also had the choice of choosing to be stationed in Europe, which I did choose. I can only guess at what I would have done had it been a couple of years later in the war. My heroes of that time were those who refused to go. They demonstrated true courage because they did not have to make that choice. They made a decision based on reality, reason and humanity, or at least I like to believe they did. War is wrong.

      For me the most moving part of this film is on a very human moment in it where a VC soldier is captured and shown shaking with uncontrollable fear with the understanding that he may be murdered at any moment. I also see him as someone who, like myself, had no interest in war, but was most likely forced into service. And now look how that turned out. I feel his pain acutely. He is my brother, and I am greatly disturbed by his pain. I know that will not go down well with some who served in that war, and I am glad of this, because perhaps it will be on their mind long enough for it to finally sink in to why they had no business being there or doing whatever they did. War is wrong.

      The problem I see in this documentary is how it mostly focuses on our side and how it affected those of us who were involved, but very little attention is paid to those who had no choice in this horror—those who resided in that country and had no choice but to endure. I find it absurd that I should be expected to feel more sorrow for those who had no business being there, and had the choice to refuse, instead of those who we inflicted our horror upon. War is wrong.

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    3. Well said, SDB. We are alarmingly consistent in our inability to see the world through any lens but our own.

      Iran, after 25 years, overthrew a brutal regime that we installed. This is no excuse for the replacement regime, but 37 years later we are still punishing them for taking hostages.

      We don't understand that Russia, having lost between 15 and 20% of its population in World War II, might be a bit squeamish about its borders. The US lost about 0.3%, and "only" 2% in our most horrific Civil War. Again, this does not excuse Putin's nor Stalin's behavior, merely tries to put it in context.

      Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Grenada, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, the list goes on. We invade to protect our "interests", and/or because we don't understand the circumstances in that land.

      Tonight's episode also reminded me that Nixon did not win the 1968 election cleanly, he committed treason by secretly conniving with the South Vietnamese leader to not go to the Paris Peace Talks, which may have been the difference in an election he won by only 0.7%. We'll never know, but Humphrey's push towards peace did give him a big rise in the polls.

      In 1980 Reagan's people did actively collude (thank you Blaine) with the Iranian Revolution to prevent the release of those same hostages until after the election in return for weapons. More treason. Quick aside, several years ago one of my clients - whose uncle was a high minister for Khomeini - told me he heard about the negotiations directly from his uncle.

      With George W's friends suppressing votes (and a friendly SCOTUS) and Trump similarly stealing in 2016, can it be that it's been 65 years since a Republican legitimately replaced a Democrat as POTUS?

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    4. eco,
      Yes, and I have no doubt all this is fully covered in our nation's high schools.

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    5. Yes, it's been covered up to now.

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    6. I can't agree with SDB's statement that very little attention is paid to the Vietnamese experience of this horror. While I haven't been keeping track of the comparative amounts of screen time, the filmmakers have given us lots of commentary from a number of Vietnamese, both North and South, and not just to discuss military matters. And while I felt that the filmmakers were being far too circumspect to avoid commentary about our side's motives or the quality of our acts during the first few episodes, they have been fairly straightforward in detailing the pointless savagery and stupidity of the war from 1965 forward; their analysis of just whose bodies made up those body counts is as shocking now as it was the. If that doesn't cause you to feel something for the people who we were killing and terrorizing, then I don't know what to tell you.

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    7. as it was then.

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    8. There is some good attention paid to the VC, but so far no one person on that side has been followed to his death on the battlefield. Burns does this fairly well for our side, but in my opinion it also should be done on the VC side, especially when our side was a criminal adventure and theirs was citizens of Vietnam legitimately defending their country. We had no right to make war on that country in order to help the French or for any other reason. We frequently acted with outrage when citizens behaved in ways appropriate to their situation. I would have liked to have more attention paid to how those living there felt. I still think it is a very well done film; those are just my criticisms.

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    9. So far I have "liked" this documentary a lot. For all the info that is out there, they are doing overall a pretty good job.
      To do this justice, it could be a longer series much like that BBC, WW2 series, "World At War".
      Like I said before, thank God that war is over.

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    10. I used to think it was a cliche when people said “Those who don’t understand history are doomed to repeat it.” In today’s flag-waving frenzied culture it’s easy for me to see how wars start, and they all start the same way. Hubris.

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    11. It seems people just don't want to learn from the past, especially these days.

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    12. Speaking of learning from the past.

      "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The rest is history.

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  32. ecoarchitect: I agree.
    skydiveboy: You write "I know that will not go down well with some who served in that war, and I am glad of this, because perhaps it will be on their mind (sic) long enough for it to finally sink in to why they had no business being there or doing whatever they did."
    If you are referring to me, I am not surprised and you are of course wrong.
    You do, however, need to say it outright so that I can respond.

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    1. I was not referring to you or anyone specific.

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  33. Fun fact: these names all provide the beginning syllables of the titles of some hit songs (if you use a somewhat loose definition of "hit") of recent (if you use a somewhat loose definition of "recent") memory.

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    1. Austin, Just in Time and Dust in the Wind (I said "hit," I didn't say "good").

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  34. Yesterday, the freezer section in my two year old refrigerator went out & ruined a lot of food. I had to spend most of yesterday afternoon & evening buying extra coolers & dry ice to try & save as much as I could.
    I was sure mad that a 2 yr old fridge would go down like that. I was also mad that it won't be looked at until sometime tomorrow morning.
    One good thing though, was that I was home to prevent a real "disaster". But, the biggest thing that tempered my anger was thinking about all the poor people that have been hit by all the terrible hurricanes lately. No water, sewer, electricity or A/C,. It puts all my troubles in perspective. Just the fact that I could get in the car, get the dry ice, and save some stuff sure makes a bitter pill, not so bitter. I just can't imagine all the suffering the folks who had to endure from the hurricanes had or will have to go through.

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    1. Yeah, sometimes I get really pissed at something and then step back and say, “Wait a minute. The San Andreas Fault didn’t open up today, so it’s a good day.”

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    2. 68Charger:
      Maybe, after Trump finishes saving Puerto Rico next week, he could fly over your house and drop an ice cube or something. Just a thought.

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    4. I hope a no-fly zone will be in place by then!
      He'll probably just say "let them eat cake"!

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    5. Well, the repairman showed up to fix our 2 year old refrigerator.  He pulled up in an official looking vehicle but... upon answering the door he was armed only with a portable electric drill & a cell phone.
      After an exhausting 30 minute diagnosis, "Gomer" declared a freon leak necessitating a compressor replacement. It was amazing how he was able to diagnose a bad compressor with just a Phillips screwdiver attachment on that drill. 
      "Gomer" then lamented that it would take six days for the part to arrive. After some heated phone exchanges with the warranty provider, I decided to go to Mt. Pilot and buy a new fridge. 

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    6. That is a long time to have to wait for this Gomer to arrive. Did he come all the way from Puerto Rico?

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    7. You may be on to something. He mentioned being caught in a whirlpool & General E Lectric had to rescue him!

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    8. They may tag him for replacement.

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    9. I can run the Space Shuttle with my DeWalt cordless and grit. What more can you ask for? :)

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    10. Eureka lot! Kenmore bad puns be possible? I'm Tappan a bad idea, might make Miele down and cry.

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    11. Jeffrey Dahmer would never put up with service like you experienced when his refer went on the fritz. But then he did have a Coldspot.

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  35. I wonder how accurately the number of viewers can be determined.

    Never having seen more than 5 minutes of "Big Bang Theory," it may be unfair to say that there is not much of a mutual group of fans for it and this documentary.

    I think that there are many similarities between this film and the war itself.
    I hope to keep a little more wakeful tonight.

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    1. I've seen precisely one episode of Big Bang Theory. I was on a plane, and it was showing on one of the in-flight channels. I was sufficiently unamused to never bother watching it again.

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    2. I have a relative on that show.

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    3. Does he or she make a million bucks an episode?
      Some do.

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    5. one of the few shows I watch. But then again, I’m an engineering geek.

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  36. Have the rulers of Saudi Arabia lost their minds? If women are allowed to drive where will it all end? If a donkey was good enough for Mary, then nothing else is necessary to say on the matter.

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    1. Don't throw away those donkeys yet! It won't be official until June, 2018.

      Delete
  37. This took me longer than it should have. Maybe I was the only one still stuck, but if you take two of these names, you may associate them with a five letter name which when repeated with two letters in between, may remind you of another five letter name.

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  38. I am anxious to help out by making a cash donation from my Social Security retirement income to the Top One Percent Relief Fund, but I am having trouble locating their website. Are they in such dire straits they cannot even afford a website? If you know how I can find them, please help. Their plight breaks my heart.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Top One Percent are so out of touch that they don't realize that websites are a major form of communication in the 21st Century. They do all their "important" communications at high-end country clubs.

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  39. All three names appeared together in a headline earlier this year.

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  40. Will’s intended answer: Austin, Dustin, and Justin.

    Alternative answer, which admittedly doesn’t pass the, “familiar,” test, but which includes four names in the set: Carley, Earley, Harley, and Marley.

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  41. AUSTIN, DUSTIN, JUSTIN

    "312,000, 192,000, 684,000" The numbers refer to the relative popularity of the names (over 125 years) as shown in this chart.

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  42. > Tommy Boy had a brilliant 7-word clue the last time this was used, which I won't post now, since it's searchable.

    He wrote, on July 27, 2014: "News flash. It's mighty dry in Texas." In other words:

    JUSTIN DUSTIN AUSTIN

    > All three names appeared together in a headline earlier this year.

    Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas are hottest on tour coming into Austin

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    1. Tommy Boy's "Just in: Dust in Austin" was indeed brilliant!

      Where is Tommy Boy, btw?

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    2. Or AbqGuerilla, for that matter?

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    3. Or Enya and Weird Al Fan? Gentlemen?

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    4. Or skydiveboy? {It's been 56 minutes, after all :-)}.

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    5. I'm here. I posted at noon, seconds after getting bumped and having to try my post again. Not the first time this has happened.

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  43. Austin, Dustin, Justin

    Last Sunday I said, “After the Beatles split up, John Lennon recorded a number of records with a group called the Plastic Ono Band including himself and Yoko Ono among many others who came and went. They had a number of charted hits including Give Peace a Chance, Instant Karma (We All Shine On) and Imagine to name a few.” “Plastic” as in that famous one-line quote from the movie The Graduate, “Plastics.” Of course, the movie starred Dustin Hoffman.

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  45. AUSTIN, DUSTIN & JUSTIN also GUSTIN, HUSTIN & RUSTIN are boy's names

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My hint:
      "This puzzle should have been given the boot the first time." Justin western boots.

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  46. I wrote, "A possibly fantastic and obscure musical clue for the answer I got (and I bet there are other answers): Jacques."

    "Fantastic" was there for opéra fantastique, and Jacques is Jacques Offenbach, who wrote the exemplar of the form, _Tales of Hoffman(n)_, hinting at Dustin.

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  48. AUSTIN>>>DUSTIN>>>JUSTIN + (not so familiar) 4. GUSTIN, 5. RUSTIN, Rustin Parr was a serial killer who murdered on “orders” from the Blair Witch., 6. YUSTIN, Russian for Justin...

    AUSTIN POWERS
    DUSTIN HOFFMAN
    JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE (BIEBER)

    Second answer:
    EASTON>>>GASTON>>>BASTON

    Third answer:
    EARVIN>>>GARVIN>>>MARVIN

    As many noted, this puzzle was previously offered by Will on July 27, 2014. See puzzle & answer HERE.
    To read all the comments posted on Blaine's Blog for that puzzle, click HERE. See my hint post, “News flash: Putin's insult unites pundits,” and then my post July 31, 2014 at 3:00 pm EDT: All the words in my News Flash: “Putin's Insult Unites Pundits,” contain the letters “-ustin

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  49. Darvin, Earvin (as in Magic Johnson), Garvin and Marvin also came up in the 2014 original airing of this puzzle, though they don't all fit the familiar criteria.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Last night Ken Burns decided to ignore the research that FBI agents on the ground played a pivotal role in the shooting by the guardsmen.

    He also chose to further the myth that returning troops were routinely abused and spat upon. I got a lot of free drinks instead and it has always seemed to me that there would have been many broken noses or worse if such had happened; again research says not.

    He also gave Agent Orange, a subject I am interested in, under five minutes.

    The "Barbarella" references and showing only a smiling Jane Fonda cavorting around Hanoi is insulting to her and us. I would have returned to Viet Nam and gone with her if I could.
    I still read posts about her long disproved "treachery" in interviewing POW's. Google "fonda hanoi snopes" for the story.

    Thanks to Blaine for allowing us to express our views.

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    1. I would agree with you on those observations, and add a few others as well, but all in all I still think this is a good film. I don't think it possible for a film on something this important to be perfect.

      Even when I returned by jet from my Army tour in Germany in August 1966 at the main New York airport, whatever its name was then, we had no contact with civilians at all—and we weren't even returning from a war zone. The spitting, etc., on returning soldiers was, and still is, another example of the propaganda Big Lie.

      I wish he had shown the thousands of UofW students who came marching from the university down the I-5 freeway where they exited and continued down Fifth Avenue to the U.S. Courthouse, where they were met by hoards of police, some of whom violently attacked reporters and news photographers. I witnessed this in person. They were hoping for the order to attack the peaceful demonstrators. One news photographer on the roof of the main Seattle library building located just across the street from the courthouse, where the demonstration terminated, was threatened to stop filming or he would be thrown from the roof to his death.

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    2. JFK has been JFK since early December, 1963, just a few weeks after his assassination. We'll have no idle, wild speculation about that event!

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    3. That means JFK missed flying into or out of the airport named for him by just a month. He should have stuck around longer.

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    4. Wow, I hadn't realized it was that fast. Several schools around the country were named after JFK on November 26, 1963!

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    5. Wouldn't you Love to know which airport he flew into last?

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    6. Still hard to imagine using a 707 to go 35 miles from Ft Worth to Dallas.

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    7. ... so I guess Tom Price and Steve Mnuchin have a long legacy of extravagant travel expenses behind them.

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  51. My hint was about as cryptic as I could make up. Halloween referred to the movie villain Mike Myers, which also happens to share a name with the actor (and I'm using actor in the loosest possible way) who starred in the Austin Powers movies.

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  52. I have some sad news to report. My one and only nephew, James Mason Berry, was killed in a car accident in Tuscaloosa today. He was heading home from school when he got involved in an accident with a semi truck and a dump truck. He didn't make it. My mom was inconsolable when she first heard the news. If I don't post about next week's Sunday Puzzle, you'll know why. RIP Mason

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    Replies
    1. So sorry for your loss, Patrick.

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    2. What a sad time for your family. My condolences.

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