Parallel parking requires you go backwards but if you've gone back more than 3 times, you're doing it wrong.Q: The name of what vehicle, spelled backward, becomes phonetically a four-word phrase identifying another vehicle?
Edit: Three weeks ago we had a puzzle on car makes where one of the answers was SUBARU.
A: SUBARU --> URABUS = "You are a B-U-S"
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.
rare
ReplyDeleteYes. Silly... The answer can be anagrammed to certain national sandwiches!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTo Carole Highland of Ephrata, Wash: Puzzle Creator, I solved with Joseph Young. I knew Joseph Young. Joseph Young was a friend of mine. Puzzle Creator, you're no Joseph Young.
ReplyDeleteCareful what you say about her. I hear she can be pretty tough.
DeleteAh, yes, jan, so much can be known in this digital age.
Deleteeco, I believe I understood the intended spirit of your comment. This is a silly puzzle. Joe's was elegant. They are very different puzzles.
That was uncalled for, ecoarchitect.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure it's not the Chevy Spark...
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I have the correct answer, but if so, I came up with the same puzzle independently a few years ago. However, if I am incorrect, it could seriously impede my ability to arrive at the actual answer. I am sort of conflicted here...
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, sort of, maybe. I thought of a short word for a type of vehicle which reverses to another type of vehicle, and I'm having a heckuva time getting it out of my thought patterns. Comments like ron's (above) don't help any.
DeleteIt's not supposed to help. It's supposed to verify you have the correct answer when you come up with it on your own...
DeletePaul, I think you may be closer than you think.
DeleteI didn't say your comment didn't help me find the answer. I said it didn't help me avoid territory I'd already deemed quicksand.
DeleteAh, Paul, my favorite colloid hydrogel. . .
DeleteThis is great! Now I feel like I know what Bob Dylan felt like.
DeleteMechanic
ReplyDeleteAlternate puzzle:
ReplyDeleteThink of a vehicle. The first three letters refer to a historical person. The remaining letters, anagrammed, form something that person was famous for. What is the vehicle and who is the person?
I won't believe ya in the end.
DeleteI wish today's puzzle was that simple.
DeleteI am not pleased with the answer I got. Is it -partially- phonetic?
ReplyDeleteoui
DeleteWell, OK. But this is a badly-worded puzzle, then, in my opinion. Good thing _that's_ never happened before.
DeleteWW, does this involve certain AWD vehicles common in our fair state?
DeleteCurtis, I knew you'd get there.
DeleteBut, don't tell anyone.
If I found the answer, it's a little contrived
DeleteCurtis, it's a lot contrived, aka "playful."
DeleteNot sure I have the right answer, but I may have mentioned earlier that I once saw a black-and-yellow Smart car with the license plate "CDB".
ReplyDeleteYes, I saw that on BuzzFeed.
DeleteIf I have the intended answer, I can think of no realistic context in which I would utter the four-word phrase.
ReplyDeleteNot even a short one?
DeleteThere's a fairly well-known riddle, with many variations, that starts with the four-word phrase. (If I've got the right answer.)
DeleteYes, jan, you do.
DeleteIn that case, I believe you have a connection to the vehicle in question, right, Word Woman?
DeleteIndeed.
DeleteLorenzo, I agree; I'd never utter this phrase. Reminds me of an old George Carlin routine where he talked about sentences you'd never hear. Example: "Hand me that piano."
DeleteIf you're not one of us lucky ones for whom it came right away; just wait; it'll come.
ReplyDeleteThen you can try solving my incredibly complex and difficult spin off puzzle:
Spell the name of a well known vehicle company backwards to get the name of a well known foreign car.
Didn't we see GM/MG three weeks ago?
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: Weird Al Yankovic
ReplyDeleteThis merits furthur thought.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, eighdreeuhn, at this time of year, thank g_d.
DeleteMy grandfather used to joke, "I can row a boat. Canoe?"
ReplyDeleteI suppose poor or misleading solve-at-home puzzle wording is just the price we pay for playing each and every week – there’s bound to be some. Or perhaps Will was just running out of decently worded puzzles.
ReplyDeleteI recommend following @meganamram on Twitter. One of her recent gems:
ReplyDeleteJared Kushner's only going to get into jail because he's a legacy.
2 Bonus Puzzles:
ReplyDelete1) What unusual property does an Audi and Mercedes have in common with the Toyota Prius? Hint: you don't need to be an expert in mechanics to answer this. And don't blurt out the answer (Ron and SDB!) if you know the answer, instead name another vehicle with the same characteristic.
2) Change one letter in the name of a famous football player to get the name of a country. Who is the football player and what is the country? Try to control yourselves and only give hints, not solutions.
Will Shortz used your second puzzle on NPR many years ago, serenely.
DeleteOh YEAH? Well how about this!?!? YOU posted that same comment on the Puzzleria! blog when Young Lego used the same puzzle.
DeleteSo you're also guilty of re-using messages too! Nyeah!
Gentlemen, gentlemen, surely there is some gray area here. . .
DeleteNot so long as Jan keeps hounding me with facts.
DeleteSpeaking of which, all (except WW) might notice today's Google doodle honors the 135th birthday of Nobel Laureate Max Born, whose most famous quote is "The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world."
Leaving out that inconvenient "oneself is in possession" part, could one say Kellyanne Conway is Born Again?
Bourne, again! is what I say when stuck in traffic, waiting to cross the Cape Cod Canal.
DeleteQuite the identity!
Deleteeco, I did see the Google doodle. Waiting for a duckduckgo quack.
You should register for a Cape Cod Canal tunnel permit, Jan.
DeleteYou are all giving strange hints.
ReplyDeleteAffirmative. It's a strange puzzle.
DeleteWell, I am a hog for a puzzle like this!
ReplyDeleteIs the intended answer a model and make of a specific car, for example, Ford Focus?
ReplyDeleteYou are partly correct, Dave.
DeleteThanks. I'll see what I can come up with.
DeleteAlternate puzzle (that takes WS liberties as well): The name of what vehicle, spelled backwards, becomes phonetically a three-word phrase identifying something that might be a Christmas gift.
DeleteMy answer might be a gift for mares and does, but not little lambs nor kids.
DeleteUh-oh, look's like someone might have taken up the challenge and been dining on ivy plants!
DeleteA: TOYOTA --> ATOYOT = "a toy yacht"
DeleteHow do I send a puzzle idea to Lego?
ReplyDeleteEmail him at jrywriter@aol.com. It's how I give him my cryptic crossword ideas.
DeleteThanks, cranberry. Yes, that is the best way to submit a puzzle to Puzzleria!. And I really do do appreciate puzzle contributions. Thank you.
DeleteLegoWhoLovesCreativePuzzles
Talk about "Fake News!" This morning I found this as the lead-in on the first story in The Seattle Times. I telephoned their office and we had a little conversation.
ReplyDeleteThe tale of a lost ship and a billionaire’s discovery: Jae Anderson of Seattle never knew her father. He died when the submarine USS Indianapolis went down during World War II, and most of what Anderson knew about him was contained in a box holding 50 wartime letters. When a team backed by Paul Allen located the sub’s wreckage last summer, she wasn’t sure how to feel. But now she’s answered a question she’d always had about her father. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)
They've since "updated" the article. They don't identify the ship as a cruiser, but at least they no longer call it a sub.
DeleteThey should have also sent out an online correction. They do this all the time with breaking news, but they have not done an online correction.
DeleteSDB - This reminds me of a local TV news spot that aired here a couple of months ago. A Stearman flying club had their plane making the circuit around here offering a few lucky veterans, flights in their plane. One guy, was a 92 yr old vet who still had his wits and health. I guess he flew P-47's & P-51's during the war. When he flew in the Stearman, he was able to take the controls and fly the plane himself. I was working in the yard when the plane flew over, pretty cool! His flight was covered pretty well on-air, but the internet story mentioned some embarrassing facts.
DeleteThe internet story said that his squadron started in New "Ginny" and moved on to the "Philippians". I was disappointed but still had to laugh. I immediately wrote a nice letter to the TV station & the article was changed in about 10 minutes. The editor wrote me a very short thank you note but it was still aggravating that they could make such a mistake. At least they fixed it!
"Ginny" is a derogatory term for Negro people, if I remember correctly. I think I only, or almost only, heard this word in a WWII movie about Black U.S. soldiers in the South. It was used by the Black SDI to berate the soldiers he supervised and despised. It is a very good film, and I will have to try and remember the title. Well worth watching.
DeleteGot it. "A Soldier's Story" and it stars Denzel Washington. 1999 I think. 5 stars.
Possible Correction!
DeleteI was thinking about that movie and am now thinking I may be mistaken. I am not sure that word was used in that movie, but a worse one that is similar was. They both could have been. Ginny, and I do remember this, is an old derogatory term for Italian immigrants. I think there may be a connection having to do with hair. Thankfully it doesn't seem to be in use today.
I never heard that one about ginny before. No, I just get mad when young reporters have no concept of history. About 10 years ago a local newspaper had a story about a Ham Radio club that was using "morris" code to communicate during emergencies. "Morris" was used several times in the article so it just wasn't researched very well. That kind of thing just bugs me!
DeleteI think it code for time to feed your cat.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCja1WGZx-E
Most local newspapers don't have editors worthy of the name, let alone fact-checkers. At least the New York Times published a column of corrections every day. But, at The New Yorker, it's an art.
DeleteI also think we have to be careful not to fall into the Trumpian trap of sloppily calling media missteps "Fake News", even in jest. This is exactly what this Fascist wants you to do, following a long pattern of dictators.
DeleteThere is a vast difference between making a factual mistake and purposely trying to put forth absolute lies. Trump's intent is to create that false equivalency, so the populace, already overwhelmed with his scandals, corruption, outrages, and assaults against people will become so cynical as to not believe anything.
From dictionary.com: "Guinea "derogatory term for Italian" (1896) was originally Guinea Negro (1740s) and meant "black person, person of mixed ancestry." It was applied to Italians c.1890 probably because of their dark complexions relative to northern Europeans, and after 1911 was occasionally applied to Hispanics and Pacific Islanders as well. New Guinea was so named 1546 by Spanish explorer Inigo Ortiz de Retes in reference to the natives' dark skin and tightly curled hair."
DeleteIt has a hard "g" as in "go" not "gin."
I find this puzzle a little broad. A vehicle can be anything that moves. A skateboard or a personal drone are vehicles. Any make, model, or type of car, truck, airplane, boat, bicycle, or motorcycle could fall into this category. As could any type of remote control toy. Sorry, I think I'll pass on this one.
ReplyDeleteToo bad, Curtis. Bet you know someone who has one.
DeleteIf you don't get the answer right away, a little logic should get you there.
DeleteI'm with Curtis.
DeleteWell I'm sure everyone here will join me in wishing both of you a wonderful future.
DeleteA "vehicle" could be a movie or other artistic medium. Way too broad. With WS every word is significant.
ReplyDeleteOh-- I was on the air w/ Will & Lulu 3 weeks ago. Got my pin, but still waiting for my other promised swag.
DeleteI suspect you may be overthinking this one just a bit.
DeleteWell good luck on that. I am still waiting for the books. I got the Scrabble in about a week or less. I had to ask repeatedly to get the pin, which I wanted because I was offered $100. for it. It finally came and I sold it. I just an hour ago posted the Scrabble game on Craig's List. I never even opened it. I got one reply for it already too, but he lives on the other side of town.
DeleteThanks for JY's email address, cranberry. Just sent my idea to Lego.
ReplyDeleteRoy Moore "would eliminate many problems."
ReplyDeleteIn case you were worried the campaign wasn't weird enough, there's this interview. Roy Moore is hoping for cold weather today, he prefers the teens.
DeleteCreepy. Why set this up anyway? Very weird.
DeleteHoping mom and dad were right there the whole time.
Good ol' Roy puts the fun back in fundamentalist.
DeleteHow would he eliminate many problems? Simple: Get rid of constitutional amendments 11-27.
DeleteAP and NPR calling it for Jones!
Deleteeco: This is for you:
ReplyDeletehttp://lunarlanderdwelling.tumblr.com/
spacious!
DeleteA home that you can thrust.
DeleteThat would make it a launch pad.
DeleteYes, and don't be late for launch. It's gonna be a blast. Oh, and we have a member of the Royal Family here who must leave early. Maybe you will be here in time to witness when we let the Count down.
DeleteMore for an exoarchitect, I think. But mobile homes don't tend to retain their value so well. And I can hear the neighbors: Not In My Blue Yonder!
DeleteAll in all, not quite perfect.
ReplyDeleteOmnibus, which we shortened to "bus," means "all" in Latin. Not much of a clue, but not much of a quiz either.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's now being called for Doug Jones!!!
ReplyDeleteThe write-in votes turned it.
DeleteF*ck Roy Moore and the horse he rode in to vote on.
DeleteShows what can happen when people finally get out and vote!
DeleteI can't wait for the next wave of tweets!
Trump will say Roy Moore came in second, and Doug Jones came in next to last.
DeleteThat sounds about right!!
DeleteThis must send shock waves through out the Republican party. Maybe the Party is over???
It's their party, and I'll laugh if I want to.
Delete:)
DeleteSo far I see a margin of victory of about 1.5% I hope it stays there, at least by that much! I would hate to see a dang recount.
I'm not worried about a recount unless thousands of uncounted ballots are discovered in Roy Moore's saddle bags.
DeleteYou're probably right but I think things will get very ugly before Ol' Roy admits defeat.
DeleteThings are ugly enough: A president who'd all but call a senator a whore is unfit to clean toilets in Obama's presidential library or to shine George W. Bush's shoes.
DeleteOpinion piece in USA Today: "Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom?"
And now, from here on out, everyone else in the country will look at the people of Alabama as a lot smarter than they originally thought!(No they won't.)
ReplyDeleteYou're right, but it is not just Alabama; it is the whole country. Did you notice that only about 40% of the registered voters actually voted? All empires eventually come to an end; usually they self destruct. Of course that cannot ever happen here—we're the U.S.A.
DeleteI just hate to hear people criticize my home state. Almost any time they make jokes about the South, they mention Alabama. You know, there are other Southern states to joke about(I hate to throw them under the bus like this). Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be first alphabetically. They go right to you. Makes me wish this kind of thing were happening in Wyoming. Nothing ever happens there.
DeleteCertainly not in Laramie.
DeleteTrue. Alabama’s no worse than Mississippi.
DeleteI usually pick Mississippi first and Alabama second. It just seems to be the one that comes to me first, but I don't see any difference between either state.
DeleteAnd then there's Nebraska--at least it's not North Dakota.
DeleteAs to Wyoming, I've talked to several Wyomingites who are quite liberal on social issues. Live and let live...
I too consider my birth an accident of random geography. Once I learned about our state's civil rights history and the fact no one else in my family seemed too pleased with having our first black President(gee, I wonder why?), it occurred to me we're definitely an imperfect state. Now that a Democrat has won this race for US Senator, maybe there will be change for the better. As for being born here, I don't know if anyone else has ever given this thought before, but while you're still in the womb, you're never really told where you'll end up when you come out anyway. At least I don't recall any strange God-like voice telling me anything about Alabama before I finally arrived. So if you think about it, when coming into this world, none of us entered our respective home states on purpose.
DeleteWe're all here by accident. Life may never have really been meant to happen on Earth. Who knows?
I know this will not be accepted as even sane, but we do choose our parents, and know where they are living at that time. We also choose our name. I know it may sound crazy due to always hearing otherwise, but I have been doing past life regressions for 25years now and when I heard that this is a common belief in Asia I decided to try looking for how it might work during a regression. It works great. I have since discovered more evidence via the internet. I don't know what the reasons were for you to choose what you chose before deciding to be reincarnated, but I have no doubt you do, and you might want to try a regression to find out.
DeleteIt's not a slow boat is it?
ReplyDeleteThat's not a hint; more of a nudge.
Yeah, nudge, haha, Paul.
DeleteMoore is less.
ReplyDeleteAre those crocodile tears, Roy? Go Cialis and see if she can help.
ReplyDeletePoor Donnie has to cruise The National Mall alone.
DeleteI have not spent much time on this, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteI still don't have an answer, but I don't much care.
On the other subject, I hope we really don't have to look at or hear Roy Moore any more.
I was overwhelmed by this puzzle so did not spend time on it either.
DeleteWhen you hear the answer you will be underwhelmed.
DeleteLast night some of 68Charger's posts did not get posted, and this morning one of Buck Bard's did not post. He was LOLing one of us. Imagine that!
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with blogger?
SDB - Last night I was trying to reply to your posts & they would show up for only a few seconds, & then they'd disappear. Some of those that stayed, took 2-3 tries to get there.
DeleteOh well, I guess you might have seen some of those that quickly went away, though.
This is my first try today, let's see what happens!
I get the posts in my email by checking the Notify me box below.
DeleteNotify me sounds like a great idea. However, I do not remember my pw for that email address and do not want to go to the trouble to get a new one.
DeleteNatasha, if you are commenting here, all you need is to check the "notify me" box just below and to the right of the comment box. You don't need a separate password.
DeleteCheck below here ------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
However, the check me box didn't work so well for Roy Moore.
DeleteThanks, word Woman. I will try that. But I think I need to know my google pw to access the notification. I for got that pw.
DeleteWord Woman, you’re a Smith alum. That’s one of the Seven Sisters, isn’t it?
ReplyDeleteYes, if you please. RoRo and VT, too. Any others here?
DeleteFrom Today's Washington Post---Note the southern end of the Northbound horse.
ReplyDeletehttps://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/12/12132017RoyMooreDefeat-1024x863.jpg&w=1484
Last minute hint: Trees.
ReplyDeleteTrees?
ReplyDeleteWW is a long time pitcher of obscure clues. Her dialog with Curtis on Wednesday is much more direct.
DeleteYes, trees. They are green, branching things ;-). Sometimes there are lots of them together.
Deleteeco, pot calling the kettle black (green?). . .
DeleteNatasha knows to ignore my clues.
DeleteSUBARU >>> U R A BUS
ReplyDelete"silly" and "rare" refers to the silliness of this puzzle and the rarity of ever uttering the "You are a bus!" phrase.
There is a Colorado "Mechanic" called URABUS.
I have a SUBARU Forester (forest green, of course) and was hinting at the State Car of Colorado ;-) to Curtis.
"Yes, trees. They are green, branching things ;-). Sometimes there are lots of them together. " as in "You can't see the Forester for the trees."
"Yes, if you please " refers to the Pleiades or Seven Sisters constellation of the SUBARU logo to which jan was hinting.
Speaking of kettles, are we supposed to know the names of Colorado mechanics???? (smiley thing).
DeleteYes.
DeleteI figured URABUS mechanics might work on URANUS as well.
Btw, "pot calling the kettle black (green?)" was a reference to special green pot in our state (as well as to my car color).
Curtis can likely attest to the abundance of forest green Foresters in CO. I once went back to my car to see 5 green Foresters all in a row. . .
As a proctical matter I'm not sure I'd want to go near your mechanic.
DeleteAnd yes, there are more Foresters than trees around here too. My biodiesel Jetta is also green, at least the small bits of paint visible under the mud and dust.
SUBARU > You are a bus.
ReplyDeleteMy Hints:
“Not even a short one?” Referring to the porn movie Shortbus that presented itself as a legitimate movie.
“If you're not one of us lucky ones for whom it came right away; just wait; it'll come.” Just like when you have to wait for the next bus to come.
SUBARU -> U R A BUS (YOU ARE A BUS)
ReplyDelete> There's a fairly well-known riddle, with many variations, that starts with the four-word phrase.
It starts “You are a bus driver,” continues with a confusing list of stops the bus makes, with various numbers of people getting on and off, and ends with “What color are the bus driver’s eyes?”
> Word Woman, you’re a Smith alum. That’s one of the Seven Sisters, isn’t it?
Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades, the constellation also known as the Seven Sisters. The Subaru logo represents the star pattern.
SUBARU = U R A BUS = YOU ARE A BUS.
ReplyDeleteMy clue: SUBARU can be anagrammed to BAURU(S), Brazil's great sandwiches. I was not referring to a SUB (What do you call a SUB going the opposite direction?)
The Missios puzzle: CHEVROLET, historical person: CHE Guevara, famous for REVOLT.
Many riddles begin: “You are a bus driver...”
SDB's hint referring to the puzzle of 3 weeks ago where, when you drop an E from the given words, you have an anagram of a brand of car. GEM (-E) = GM/MG and BUREAUS (-E) = SUBARU.
I'd never heard of the life-changing Brazilian sandwich. I thought it might have been U.A.R SUB.
DeleteSubaru --> u r a bus (you are a bus)
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I suppose poor or misleading solve-at-home puzzle wording is just the price we pay for playing each and every week – there’s bound to be some. Or perhaps Will was just running out of decently worded puzzles.” Out as in Subaru Outback.
This puzzle takes me back to my Japanese class where a classmate was supposed to say he was riding on a bus and what he said translated to "I am a bus."
ReplyDeleteBlaine:
DeleteI guess you had a lot of fun in that class. Fortunately your teacher must not have been tempuramental.
Subaru = U R a bus
ReplyDeleteNo offense to Carole Highland, but when I wrote "you're no Joseph Young" I was just trying to riff on "You are a bus." I trust cranberry wasn't offended, just filling in the response Dan Quayle gave 25 years ago.
"WW is a long time pitcher..." pitcher = ewer, another reference to "You are"
Bonus Puzzle answers: All 3 autos are Latin words or expressions, Audi = hear, Mercedes = earnings, and Prius = first. Volvo (I roll), Chevy Nova (new), and Vespa (wasp) would have been additional answers.
Dan Marino = San Marino, puzzles from both NPR and Puzzleria! WW commented about the gray area, to which I responded about hounding from Jan. Greyhound, get it?
Nick Missios puzzle: Chevrolet = Che + revolt (anag.) I wrote "I won't believe ya in the end", somewhat homophonic for Bolivia, where Che met his end.
I think xfyre's intended was Toyota = a toy oat? But only mares eat oats and does eat oats.
Ah yes, "gray" area referred to bus rider Rosa Parks' lawyer, Fred Gray.
DeleteOne of the first vehicles I thought of was SUBMARINE. I didn't think that worked, but it was hard to get the SUB/BUS connection out of my mind. Comments by Nick Missios and ron indicated that perhaps I shouldn't get it out of my mind, but I still couldn't see how to make it work until jan's CDB gave it away. I still kept hoping it wasn't so.
ReplyDeleteU R N-2-8-F N Y-S.
DeleteI didn't get the call, but I did get an answer in today - I didn't like it then, and I don't like it much now either. I figured it was a make-and-model, so went with "Suburu G", which translates to "Gee! You're a bus!" I think the U R A Bus is a better answer, though - or at least, cleaner. --Margaret G
ReplyDeleteI always wonder why I don't get any support for my campaign to discover how much we pay Will Shortz.
ReplyDeleteThis week I wonder why we pay him anything.
"Jared Kushner's only going to get into jail because he's a legacy."
ReplyDeleteThe Legacy is Subaru's mid-sized sedan.
SUBARU, URABUS(You are a bus.)
ReplyDeleteOne of Weird Al's earliest song parodies was "Another One Rides the Bus", for Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust".
BTW, SDB, I've never really given reincarnation much thought. It just seemed to me that we just end up where we do at birth at random, that's all. Would be interesting trying to figure out what I might've been in another life, though. Wonder if you were a bus? LOL
I think most people overlook the fact that lack of evidence is not evidence. If more people would do a bit of research, instead of simply buying into whatever they have always heard, we might evolve a little faster. Google is a good place to start.
DeleteBut I am not a bus... What a terrible puzzle.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a better clue would have been “A four word phrase *mentioning* another vehicle”
ReplyDeleteIf "SUBARU/U R a BUS" is really the solution, then this has to be the lamest Sunday puzzle ever... well beneath the established standards of cleverness and classical enigmatology we have come to expect from Mr. Shortz. I humbly suggest this improved version-- Think of a well-known neighborhood; spell it backwards, and you have the initials of a well-known vehicle. What are the neighborhood and the vehicle?
ReplyDeleteDaniel May: I agree with your assessment. At first I was thinking of submarine but stopped after that yielding no results.
ReplyDeleteR U saying submarines are beneath you?
DeleteSDB: I was looking for types of vehicles not names of cars. Congratulations to all her solved puzzle!
DeleteWho not her...
DeleteNatasha: My comment was meant as a joke.
DeleteSDB: I know.
DeleteI figured out that the word "bus" was somehow involved, but I never made the leap to Subaru.
ReplyDeleteDave,
DeleteOne cannot leap onto a sub when it is beneath the surface.
The brother of a friend of mine was flying a plane when he collided with a submarine.
DeleteThat must have been a low moment in his life.
DeleteSpeaking of vehicles, I was flipping through the TV channels this morning and came across the live coverage of the Space X launch to the ISS. That was amazing! It launched without a a hitch and within 6-8 minutes the 1st stage booster returned, making a bullseye landing on a pad not far from where it took off, without even using a parachute. All of this was caught beautifully on camera.
ReplyDeleteIt is supposed to dock with the ISS on Sunday so maybe tonight or tomorrow they may both be visible, either flying together or somewhat close to one another.
I am so embarrassed that it took me til Wednesday to figure this out, since I've owned more than one Subaru.
ReplyDeleteZITI DELIVERY VAN --> NAVY REVILED, IT IZ
ReplyDelete-- Yoda's description of an enemy U-Boat.
OK, I was way off.
The answer to this week's Car Talk Puzzler has been posted. It is bogus. Can you explain why?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cartalk.com/puzzler/vinnie-goombatz-and-247-arm-wrestlers
Because BOGUS is GO backwards inside BUS?
DeleteOK, I'll go read it now.
I got the same answer as Einstein. If you've got 247 contestants in a single-elimination tournament, with no ties possible, it's gonna take 246 bouts to eliminate everyone but the champ. What's bogus about that?
DeleteOK, I've read it and also get 246. I also figure it takes 7 rounds, which may be of more interest to the guy trying to decide how much time it will take. And then there's the issue of tired wrestlers competing with fresh ones, which could be a topic in itself.
DeleteI quit working on this type of puzzle years ago.
DeleteWhen I read this one, however, I thought the bye for the odd man was going to confuse things.
Yes, I miscounted; 8 rounds.
DeleteTo me the puzzle would be fine with the answer being 246 if it had been stated clearly what was to be looked for, as I believe Einstein would have done (not so sure he ever did this though) instead of Tom, once again, over complicating with his obfuscation.
DeleteI read the puzzle as the bartender asking a practical question and expecting a practical answer. If the guy told the bartender 246 he would have been 86'd on the spot.
What I did was to work it backwards:
2 4 8 16 32 64 128 & 256, which = 8.
It doesn't really matter that it doesn't go quite that high; the end result is the same.
"That's two to the fighting eighth power," Yossarian pointed out, "if you're thinking of writing a symbolic poem about our squadron."
Deletejan, That's a major, major, major error.
DeleteI think it also must be considered as to how long needs to be taken between bouts, including pairing up and what to do with an uneven number of contestants at times. I would say either 3, 4 or 6 ______s per hour. More than that and you would have an arms race.
DeleteWe're spending way too much time on questions not asked by the puzzle. Nowhere does it say that more than one match can occur at once, so there's no point in talking about "rounds" versus "bouts". Rather, it says pretty explicitly, "the barkeeper wants to know how many bouts have to be fought", and then, "figuring a bout takes about five minutes, he wants to know at what time he should start the event so that it will conclude before closing time."
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DeleteI doubt we are going to agree on this.
DeleteThe puzzle indicates it begins at exactly 6:30PM. If only two contestants play at a time it could take 20.5 hours with zero time between bouts.
The first guy to sign up was a big, tough guy who knew he was big and tough and liked showing off. That's why he signed up right away. Other tough guys signed up soon after. As a general rule, the tougher guys populated the upper part of the list while the weaklings gravitated to the bottom. When Vinnie decided to scrap the idea of having "rounds" in favor of a one-match-after-another scheme, he also decided to take the contestants in the order they appeared on the sign-up sheet. A wrestler stayed at the table until he was beaten -- kind of a "king of the hill" thing. No matter how tough the guy was, he'd be worn out after half an hour or so of continuous straining. So one by one the tough guys dropped out until the last, average at best, "king" faced the last guy to sign up. The last guy was a "little guy" who had sat next to Vinnie the night before and spouted some B.S. about Einstein, and he walked away with the prize, because his opponent had just endured a few strenuous bouts. Was there a prize? Gee, with so much other extraneous information, there should have been a prize of, say, $813.47 or something. Vinnie was pissed off at the little guy, because he felt like he'd been had, but not as pissed off as the bartender was at Vinnie for talking him into opening up at 6AM!! He'd never, ever opened before noon before. Tom and Ray never for a second doubted that Vinnie was sick that day.
DeleteSo, Davy, when you gonna retire and start collecting that fat CPO pension?
Appendix: The extra half hour in the morning allows time for the participants to assemble, setting up, determining the prize amount, after expenses, etc..
DeleteOh, the right side!?
DeleteThen I guess it was just gas.
Whoa, it is getting rather crowded around here.
DeleteLogically solve the puzzle by choosing a smaller number of participants like 7. Easier to figure out that the number of bouts would be 6. One less than the number of participants. The answer for 247 participants then follows the same rule as for 7 participants.
ReplyDeleteYes, but knowing how many individual one on one bouts does not help the bartender determine how long it will take. It is the number of group bouts he needs to know, along with how much in between time might be involved.
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