Sunday, November 05, 2017

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 5, 2017): Fall Back to a List of Directors

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 5, 2017): Fall Back to a List of Directors:
Q: Think of the last name of a famous film director. The first two letters and last two letters in order spell a word. And the remaining letters, rearranged, spell a synonym of that word. What film director is it?
I have two answers -- a third if you want to include an Academy Award winning composer.

Edit: Along with the Huston family, the Coppolas are notable for having three generations of Academy Award winners: grandfather Carmine Coppola (best score), father Francis Ford Coppola (best film, director, screenplay and writing) and daughter Sofia Coppola (best screenplay).
A: (Francis Ford / Sophia) COPPOLA --> COLA + POP

117 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.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is more than one correct answer.

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    1. I have THREE correct answers, all film directors.

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  3. Great job, Janice! I was disappointed that they cut out your Beatles performance!

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  4. I did not know that the name also denoted an article of clothing. I tried to find a picture of the director wearing it, but failed.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. You can see the star of one film wearing it.

      Congratulations Janice, great job.

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    3. And, while we're at it, there is a character in one of his movies who shares something with him.

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    4. Nobody needed a clue this week, so I didn't worry that those few of you who have watched "Cotton Club" more than once (hey, I like the tap dancing and Bob Hoskins; I can now just stand Richard Gere, but it may take another twenty years to be able to bear watching Nicolas Cage) might have remembered that Trigger Mike Coppola, the real name of a real gangster, shows up at the end to light Lucky Luciano's cigarette.

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  5. Solved this one quickly, despite still being tuckered out from yesterday's 7-mile trail run. That "extra" hour helped.

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    Replies
    1. Tucker: The Man and His Dream, directed by the elder Coppola (1988)

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  6. Philippines.

    Great job, Janice. Too bad they cut Will's "wow."

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  7. Great job Janice. As skydiveboy predicted in last week's comments, the taping seemed smooth and glitch-free. So was your perfomance. They did edit out Will's "Wow!" response to your NPR station personalized license plate, alas, and your (we're sure fine) rendition of "Yellow Submarine."
    Strawberry Fields Forever
    Taxman (Each non-Ringo Beatle was an axman.)
    Yellow Submarine
    Lovely Rita
    Eleanor Rigby
    You (and your worser half Lorenzo) did Blainesville proud.

    LegoSings"WeAllLiveInABlainesvilleBlogmarine..."

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    Replies
    1. Of course, other answers are possible:
      Something
      Tomorrow Never Knows
      Yesterday
      Let It Be
      Eight Days A Week

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    2. Savoy Truffle
      Tell Me Why
      Your Mother Should Know
      Lady Madonna
      Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey

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    3. I wasn't awake to hear it, but just read what the on-air puzzle was. Boy I would have been screwed if it had been me....both on the football ones and the Beatles ones. The only song (or was it an album?) I could think of was St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. And for football, only Touchdown....geez.

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Nice, Nick. That could have been a part of the puzzle's wording, and would have eliminated multiple answers.
      LegoWhoIsProSynonym

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  9. Very nice performance, Janice. Another rung in the Blainesville ladder. And there were none of the sound problems you mentioned.

    No clue this week. Too easy already.

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  10. Lucky me! The very first name that came to mind is the answer. Cheers and happy Sunday!

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  11. Replace the third and fourth letters of the director's first name with a single, different letter and you'll get yet another synonym for the others.

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    Replies
    1. I agree it's a synonym for one of the others, but I'm not fully convinced the first two are actually synonymous. Of course, I don't have an advanced degree in enigmatology.

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    2. Will Shortz doesn't either. He has a mere B.A. in Enigmatology from Indiana University, a JD from University of Virginia, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Wabash College. Dr Pepper is a soft drink, which is the same as soda, or pop, or soda pop; but it's not a cola, or a root beer. Orange Crush is soda, Grape Nehi is pop, and 7-Up is the uncola; they're all soft drinks, just like Coke, Pepsi and RC are.
      Cola is pop; pop is not necessarily cola.
      The prosecution rests.

      Why, y₀?

      ...where ignorance is bliss,
      'Tis folly ...

      By-by.

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  12. When you get the answer fast, things go better. Hope the answer doesn't create a generation gap.

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  13. As a side tangent, does anyone ever wonder about the parenting skills of these Hollywood types?

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    Replies
    1. Curtis, I'll give you an aside or a tangent but I must draw the line at a side tangent.

      That is all.

      Except for this: Name a famous
      director. Take the first and last 2 letters in order to name a body part. Rearrange the remaining letters to name another body part.

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    2. WW: an actor too, no longer in the limelight?

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    3. eco, you got it!

      {At least there were no extra letters this time; I need to beta test these puzzles ;-)}

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    4. WW, I was about to put the same extra puzzle on as you did above, but you beat me to it!!

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    5. VT, thank you for CC:ing me on that. . . ;-)

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    6. Word Woman, in her 11:06 AM comment, just scooped my best Shortz Riff-Off for this week!

      LegoBackTheTheDirectorialDrawingBoard

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    7. Yes, eco, I do. Not a prime minister but a prime-time minister like Jim, Jimmy or Pat!
      Just when I think I've come up with an original riff-off puzzle I find that there is really nothin' new under the sun... that both Word Woman and ViolinTeddy (both esteemed Puzzlerians!, BTW) have gathered their considerable but nimble gray matters into nimbus clouds only to rain on my ego-trip parade! Perhaps Pat or one of the Jimmys could pray my gray away.
      Can I get an Amen?

      lEgoLaments:"EtTuWordWoman?EtTuVT?"

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  14. Surprised today's quiz wasn't offered in June.

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  15. I didn't find this week's puzzle to be particularly taxing.

    I just really want to find a clever way to rephrase the puzzle so that the answer can be Rob Reiner, with "rear" and "hiney" being the synonyms...somebody wanna help me make that happen? :P

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  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  17. As any hint would be superfluous, I'll just say that it clearly can't be Ang Lee.

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  18. A proposition one cannot decline.

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    Replies
    1. Nor a bid one could reject.

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    2. Also, hanging ten is not among Charles's pastimes.

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  19. How about Dick Cheney and George H.W. Bush, both acting Presidents? ;-)

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  20. I believe this is a census puzzle due to low response last week. If only 52 listeners the show might be canceled.

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  21. I solved it quickly on Thursday last week. I found two alternate answers today; one is a bit shaky.

    Good job, Janice! I also thought it went well. Please let us know if you get ALL the promised swag. I still have not, and don't think Lego has either.

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    Replies
    1. SDB did you CALL the station and tell them that nothing had come? I had to do that (the first time; the second time everything showed up on its own.) Somebody at NPR Weekend Puzle (or whatever it's called) has really messed up, that is for sure.

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    2. I got the Scrabble right away. I have no use for it, and hope to post it for sale on CL, if I can ever get around to it. The pin did not come until after I sent emails and phoned my local station. It then was sent, but I have never received the X word book, or whatever it is. I don't want it, but I'm very disgusted that so many of us do not get what is promised. If they can't even get this easy task done right; what else are they doing wrong?

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    3. I gave my second crossword book away as a b'day gift to a friend who loves crosswords. I'm glad you at least got the pin---that seems to be what everyone most wants!

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    4. Also, if you know any families with kids, the Scrabble game would make a wonderful Xmas gift!

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    5. I realized I mis-stated above...I called NPR itself (the person who had first phoned me; this back in Sept. 2012) when nothing had arrived, not a local station.

      Delete
  22. Will the on air puzzle be as easy? They are going to get over a thousand correct responses. The 52 solvers are the real team. Congratulations Janice!

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  23. About prizes: When I won a few months ago, the lapel pin and the Scrabble game came quickly. I didn't get the crossword book for a month, and so I wrote to the NPR staffer that had called me the day before the big call. I had kept her e-address. She said that the crossword book came independently from another source, and to keep in touch and let her know if it came or did not come. I wrote a month or so later to say it had not come. After that another Scrabble game came. When that happened, I reported it and reported no joy on the crosswords. A couple of weeks later, the crosswords came. This would not have happened if I had not kept writing. ---Rob

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  24. I doubt a new deluxe Scrabble game would increase the enjoyment we have gotten from the old for 40+ years.
    Copies of every volume of New York Xwords would be unwanted paper.
    There was a nice dictionary up until recently, now gone from the list.
    So as Will shorts his public on the puzzles, NPR shorts them on promised prizes.
    A nice prize would be an explanation of today's inclusions and edits of Janice's singular effort.

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    Replies
    1. Well, Jim what is cool about the new Scrabble is that it's on wheels, so you can have fun spinning it around for each player.

      ANd as I pointed out above to sdb, I used my second crossword book as a gift.....I assume we all have at least one friend who also loves crossword puzzles.

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  25. You have two answers -- but do the two directors have the same last name?

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    1. I have three answers, and they have nothing in common. The first is the obvious intended answer, and the two others are not as obvious. No name similarity at all.

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  26. Thanks everyone for the compliments. And yes, I was surprised they edited it so well.......except they did delete one whole category and I think they just couldn't clean it up enough.

    The deleted category was "Vegetables" -- one for each letter of the word STYLE. I said "Tomato" for "T" and Will corrected me and said that it was really a fruit. . But then I said "Edamame" for "E" and he questioned whether it was a vegetable. Really?! He grew up on a horse farm, but I grew up on a corn and soybean farm, so he challenged the wrong person on that one. However, alas, it ended up on the cutting room floor anyway.

    Yes, I'll let you know if and when I get my loot.

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  27. P.S. I finally made my own "name", so now Mrs. Lorenzo (Janice) is "Chanteuse".

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    Replies
    1. Reading your interesting post just now I played along and hit on spinach, turnip, yam, leak and endive. I would probably have hung up the phone if I had been asked a football question.

      He may have grown up on a horse farm, as you say, but he probably does know which one of the following is a vegetable: Horse or horseradish. I feel I have to cut him some slack once in awhile.

      You done us proud.

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    2. When I saw the veggie category on the PUzzle webpage, I had thought, too, of spinach, turnip, and yam, but lettuce and eggplant. Eggplant IS a vegetable, right?

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    3. I thought egg plant is where babies come from?

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    4. "Chanteuse" is a very stylish name.
      A tomato may be a fruit, and a turnip may be a root vegetable, but a leak is neither.
      "Lateral" was quite impressive.
      I didn't think of Tigris and Euphrates until just now.

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    5. You caught my leaky proofreading. I, of course, meant LEEK.

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    6. What you meant depends® on whether you use auto-correction or auto-protection.

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    7. I auto-know that by now.

      Now you have me wondering if Trump could reprimand the White House chef for preparing leeks.

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    8. Lettuce pray that he does, and may NPR's Martha Radish break the story.

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    9. I agree. Now we just wait and see what turnips.

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    10. Go ahead, root around some more.

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    11. Well I just feel a bit sorry for the pour guy having to curry all that cabbage around. Maybe he'd feel butter if he confessed.

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    12. If anyone mustard the will to leek they'd cut his celery, endive heard they'd pepper spray and beet him.

      Olive for the day that we squash this prostituting pea nut (ewwww!) and end this mad caper. Shallot every happen? I don't carrot all what it takes.

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    13. He probably earns a good celery.

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    14. I am sure he can come up with some acceptable half baked excuse for his master.

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    15. You're in all the latest stews, eco.

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    16. A soup-er hard task that leaves me chili.

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    17. Have you seen the new hand signals required while riding a bicycle?

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    18. WW - Don't you mean?:
      Urine all the latest stews.

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    19. eco - Do you deposit your earnings in a savory and hope they'll mushroom?

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    20. sdb, I was going for the subtler approach to live streaming.

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    21. Yes, but I cannot understand why his parents named him Hose Knee Mubarak. Do you think there may be a connection?

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    22. Jan: are you suggesting this is the penalty women get for sitting down on the job?

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    23. Perhaps a sit-in would be in order. Or should that be a sit down strike? Please stand up and rise to the occasion.

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    24. And remarkably, after Jan raised the lid on the topic, we went down the same drain.

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  28. Alternate Puzzle: Take the first name of a famous actress. Replace the last letter with a different letter, and then add two more letters to the beginning of the name. The result will be the name of a film in which this actress starred. Who is the actress and what is the film?

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  29. This puzzle reminds me of the favorite dirty joke of an ex-prez.

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    Replies
    1. You just don't want to be the butt of that joke.

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  30. FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA > COLA & POP

    Alternates:

    Charlie Chaplin > chin & lap

    John Waters > wars & et (Middle English, from Anglo-French -et, masculine, & -ete, feminine, from Late Latin -itus & -ita) Wars tend toward the masculine side.

    Blaine’s composer hint must be Carter Burwell > bull & wer (Old English wer man, husband)

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  31. COPPOLA -> COLA, POP

    > I Googled the director's last name, along with the two words, and found a disturbing image in pink.
    > Cylindrical. That's the last straw. But it's no use whining.

    This is just wrong!

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  32. Francis Ford Coppola, cola, pop

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  33. Three film directors with same last name:

    1. Francis Ford COPPOLA → COLA = POP

    COPPOLA
    = A CAP

    2. His daughter: Sophia COPPOLA.

    3. Eleanor COPPOLA, wife of Francis Ford.

    Two more film directors with different last names:

    4. Alexandre ROCKWELL → ROLL = WECK (bread roll).

    5. John D. HANCOCK → HACK = CON

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  34. COPPOLA >>> COLA POP

    Coppola could refer to either Francis Ford or Sophia, both directors, as well as to other Coppola relatives as others have noted.

    "Phillippines" refers to the former "PopCola Panthers" professional basketball team who played in the Phillippines.

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  35. So I guess there are at least a Coppola answers.

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    Replies
    1. That's where I used to go to see the Mets...

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    2. I'll always think of the Jets & Joe Namath playing there, too!

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    3. Another image of "Broad" way Joe always stays in my mind.

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    4. Eco - Good thumbnail picture! I was going to expound on Broadway Joe until I saw that!

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    5. Broadway Joe--quite the gam-er. Never saw that before.

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  36. So Trump is in Chine meeting with their leader again, as he did several months ago at the White House and Mar-a-Lago. And like I posted back then, the result is just another case of: He said; Xi said.

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  37. Francis Ford COPPOLA, COLA and POP
    In my hints I referenced Coke(Things go better with Coke)and Pepsi(The Pepsi Generation). I gave both equal time.

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  38. Late to post again, but COPPOLA/COLA/POP. My "Cheers!" comment refers to the Coppola Vinyard in Sonoma County. One of the best wineries in CA in my opinion. In fact, some of the wines there are absolutely delicious and delightfully affordable.

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    Replies
    1. We all knew you would get the correct answer...
      After all:
      Clothes Lover's Obviously THE SOLVER!

      LegoSaysOkaySo"OS"Ain't"SO"...ClothesEnough!

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  39. Next week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Steve Baggish of Arlington, Mass. Take the name of a U.S. state capital. Immediately to the right of it write the name of a world capital. If you have the right ones, the name of a U.S. state will be embedded in consecutive letters within that letter string. What three places are these?

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    Replies
    1. Two different state capitals work.

      A similar puzzle: Take the name of either of two U.S. state capitals together with the name of either of two other U.S. state capitals. The name of a U.S. state will be embedded in consecutive letters within that letter string.

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    2. You're way ahead of me on this one, jan.

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    3. Indeed, saying the final syllable of one of jan's states is a nice mnemonic for recalling its capital.
      It seems that Steve Baggish's puzzle also might have read:
      Take the name of a U.S. state capital. Immediately to the right of it write the name of a country. If you have the right ones, the name of a U.S. state will be embedded in consecutive letters within that letter string. What three places are these?

      LegeographicallyFickle

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  40. This puzzle reminds me of last night when I couldn’t decide what I wanted dinner.

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  41. You can rule out Massachusetts and Mississippi as the embedded state names.

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For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

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