Where's a careless intern when you need them?Q: Think of a word that can go before "table" to make a familiar phrase. Move the last letter to the front, and you'll have a word that can go after "table" to make a familiar phrase. What phrases are these?
A: CRAPS TABLE --> TABLE SCRAPS
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.
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.
Well there is always a "tool's table" and an "alt's table"...
ReplyDeleteTake the first word, change two consecutive letters within it, and you get something used on that table.
ReplyDeleteOr take the first word, change two consecutive letters in it, and you get where you might find the second word.
DeleteOr take the second word, change two consecutive letters in it to yield an implement used at the original table.
DeleteWell done. Did not help solve but verifies my answer!
DeleteI know this group mostly likes word puzzles, but if you are mathematically inclined, try this connect-the-dots puzzle
ReplyDeleteDid you find this one on Futility Closet?
DeleteThat intern isn't offering an iota of help this week.
ReplyDeleteBahahahahaha!!!!
DeleteThis came to me pretty quickly. Can't decide if I should hint one way or another.
ReplyDeleteI am not proud of the most recent (within the past week) evidence of this, but I am beginning to believe I may actually be clairvoyant!
ReplyDeleteLegoWhoSeesTheFutureSeizesThePresentAndSneezesAtThePast
Got it. Nice puzzle, good degree of difficulty.
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday from sunny Denver!
15th century
ReplyDeleteI found a reference to the 14th.
DeleteYou always were ahead of your time.
DeleteIf you guys would just sleep in on Sundays, you too could get the answers in bed.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Blaine's link will fill any time left over this week.
WW started the blaming the "intern" years ago. Who knows? Lack of openness is not the best part of the enterprise.
I got it quickly in bed too. Now I'm wondering how many here felt it was much easier to solve than they first expected.
ReplyDeleteThat's what Stormy said.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteCute, but I want to know: Did it come easily?
Delete(Edited)
DeleteTook a bit of work but I tumbled to the answer fairly quickly.
Takes me back to a good time woman I used to know. Has since changed her name.
Didn't have to burn the candle too far down.
Congrats Brisco on a great job, you can now add sung on national radio to your resume. I noticed the "intern" omitted two of the on-air challenges on the website, __ eat ___ and __ versus __.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of interns, their afterlife doesn't look so good.
Thank you, sir. I was waiting for __Sally__ so I could sing some more.
DeleteAl Green, Wilson Pickett, or Lou Reed? All good choices.
DeleteReally glad he didn't offer __Joey__, arguably the worst song in history. For those who want to suffer click here. But I warned you.
Brisco, do you remember what day/ time you submitted your answer? There's some question here about their selection method.
I had problem proving I was not a robot when submitting answer. First time I had to identify buses and cars in pictures. The pictures were blurry and I had to try numerous times to get it right. Almost gave up. Wonder why so complicated this time.
ReplyDelete"The pictures were blurry" is just what a robot would say!
DeleteMaybe I am really a robot. Experience "Does not compute".
DeleteI wasn't even asked if I am a robot. The first time in many months I have not had to prove it.
Delete"I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry, and that's extra scary to me. There's a large, out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside. Run, he's fuzzy, get out of here."
DeleteThis was the first time I had to identify pictures of buses and then cars when I kept failing. I began believing I was a robot and almost did not submit. I still might be. How can I really know?
DeleteLook at yourself very carefully and see if you can locate where batteries may be installed. It will most likely be in an area that is less obvious to those looking at you.
DeleteSdb: Where are your batteries?
DeleteDon't worry, Natasha, Captcha's days are numbered.
DeleteJan, What will replace them? I really am annoyed at the pictures. I tried about 10 times to pass the robot screening. I almost was going to write NPR and tell them not to discriminate against robots who play the Sunday puzzle and send them my answer signed A.Robot.
DeleteNatasha,
DeleteSorry to take so long to answer your question. They were in the charger, so I couldn't. Oh, and you really don't want to know where they are now.
Natasha, once AI gets rid of the need for people, there won't be any need for Captcha.
DeleteJan, True. I still think of 2001 A Space Odessey and Hal.
DeleteTwo unused clues in the On Air Challenge this week. Both are pretty easy.
ReplyDeleteOn-air challenge: Every answer today is a familiar three-word phrase or title in which the first and last words are the same. I'll give you the middle word (and a clue, if necessary). You tell me the phrase.
Ex. AFTER — Repeatedly --> TIME AFTER TIME
7. CITY — State capital north of Austin, Texas
10. JAMES — 007's introduction
I apologize for not coming up with this one last week, but better late than never.
ReplyDeleteBush sat down to dine.
Twas to be a fine time, not
A fête worse than death.
No need to apologize for not posting it.
DeleteBonus puzzle riffs are hard this week, I only have one that ties the on-air to the weekly, but giving it might lead to clues about the actual puzzle. So how about a creative challenge?
Rewrite a Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa) carol or song for these times. For example:
I saw Mueller indict Donald Trump
Underneath the RICO Act last night.
He didn't see Bob sneak
Through his files to have a peek
Trump thought that he was safe
With a complicit GOP.
Then, I saw Mueller convict Donald Trump
After an embarrassed Stormy fight.
Oh, what a shout of joy and cheer,
Will erupt when we hear
Mueller’s jailing Donald Trump tonight!
Of course it need not be political, but they are the grift that keeps on grifting.
A day and in danger
DeleteNo fib for his bed
The little Lord Trumpus
Laid down his air head
The drones in the sky
Looked down where he sat
The little Lord Trumpus
On the people he shat
The prattle is flowing
The Idiot awakes
The little Lord Trumpus
All lying he makes
I hate thee, Lord Trumpus
Tweeting from on high
And stay from my sight
Till morning and die
Be from me, Lord Trumpus
I beg thee to flee
Far from me forever
And leave us I pray
The Little Trumper Boy.
ReplyDeleteA shitstorm on Twitter
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
Bob Mueller's on a witch hunt.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
There's no collusion here.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
It's all just so unfair.
A Grumpy Trump Dump, A Grumpy Trump Dump, A Grumpy Trump Dump.
Global warmings a big big hoax
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
Makes 'mericans look like jokes.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
Right now we need more coal.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
Let those old smoke stacks roll.
A Grumpy Trump Dump, A Grumpy Trump Dump, A Grumpy Trump Dump.
Vlad Putin he is my friend.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
The EU we will upend.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
Macron and Merkel have had their day.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
...as well as pathetic Theresa May.
A Grumpy Trump Dump, A Grumpy Trump Dump, A Grumpy Trump Dump.
I am the greatest prez.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
That's what the whole world sez.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
President Xi gives me my due.
A Grumpy Trump Dump.
Netanyahu, he likes me too.
A Grumpy Trump Dump, A Grumpy Trump Dump, A Grumpy Trump Dump.
"Have A Holly Jolly Festivus",
Deletesung to the tune of "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas", by Burl Ives
Have a holly, jolly Festivus
It's the best time of the year
I don't know if there'll be prison time
But have a cup of cheer
Have a holly, jolly Festivus
And when you walk down the street
Say hello to friends while you can
And everyone you meet
Oh, ho the missles are stowed
Hung where you can see
Kim Jong waits for you
Kiss him once for me!
Have a holly, jolly Festivus
And in case you don't fear
Oh by golly have a holly jolly Festivus
This year
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI’m preening for the White Christians
DeleteJust like the ones that used to own
Where the brown folks scurry and black folks worry
To see white hoods on the throne
I’m preening for the White Christians
With immigration laws I write
May their wrath be what I incite
And may all the Christians here be White
Great idea for a creative challenge, eco. You are the master at coming up with these! It has sparked clever lyrics galore. (But should "preening" be "pining"?)
DeleteLegoThinksWhoThinksThatPeacocksPreenWhileParrots(AndEvergreens)Pine
Preen: (of a person) devote effort to making oneself look attractive and then admire one's appearance.
DeleteI'm staying with it. I only spent 15 minutes writing it, too lazy to do more.
Though after thinking about my church clients - who are mostly white and very decent people - the first lyric could be "I'm preening for far Right Christians".
Tweet dream Trumpy
DeleteTweet dream Trumpy
Tweet dream Trumpy
How long must I scream
Dream Trumpy got me screamin' tweet screams the whole day through
Dream Trumpy got me screamin' tweet screams night time too
I hate you and I'm screaming at you but that won't do
Dream Trumpy help me stop my screamin', you can't make my dreams come true
I stand corrected, eco. Sorry. You are not at all lazy, and need no editor!
DeleteLegoWhoIsPining(ButNotPreening)ForTheFjalcons
No problem Lego, that was the hardest word for me. Unfortunately for all I have several songs in the works, including "O little Trump in Washington", "Silent Night, Stormy Night", "It's beginning to look a lot like Prison", and ...
DeleteWe three kings of GOP are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
With no reason, we love treason
Following Donald’s star
O star of TV, star of Fright
Star of Hating, Nazi Right
Copping, feeling, voter stealing
Guide us on thy Loveless Fight
Once a spy in the KGB
With a tape of Him and pee pee
Mine forever, I hold the lever
He owes His wealth to me
Sycophants to offer have I
Fox News shills to sing praises high
Bloating, bleating, lies repeating
Worship Him, and ethics descry
Votes are mine, from the Senate floor
Moron extremists that we adore
Judges, Agents, Cabinet Heads
That’s what the Right Wing stands for.
O star of TV, star of fright
Star of Hating, Nazi Right
Copping, feeling, voter stealing
Guide us to our Nation's Night
All of these are GREAT!
DeleteICE scheming for a White Christmas
DeleteJust like the ones Trump used to know.
Where cops are wishin' more children be missin'
Or fear slay shots in the ghetto.
ICE dreaming of a White Christmas
With every Illegal's deport they write
May their days be scary with fright
And make all our Christmases be White.
With Brexit coming next Spring, and apologies to Allan Sherman:
DeleteGod bless you, British gentlefolk,
Let nothing you dismay.
Ms. May has done a rotten job,
So, what is there to say?
Let's hope next May is better,
And good things will come your way,
And you won't have a feeling of dismay
Next May.
After two years in office, the Trump Clan gave to me
DeleteTwelve Russian Mobsters
Eleven killed at temple
Tenth Percent happy
Ninth Circuit hatred
Eight hours TV
G7 attacking
Six thousand falsehoods
Five friends in jail
400 orphan kids
3K Maria dead
Two nitwit sons,
And a Pres-i-dent named Pelosi
We want it to end on a happy note, don't we?
Similar puzzle: Think of a word that can go before "table" to make a familiar phrase. Now spell that word backwards, and you'll have a word that can go after "table" to make a familiar phrase. What phrases are these?
ReplyDeleteFlower POT TABLE → TABLE TOP
DeleteNot bad, but not the answer I had in mind. My solution does NOT require an extra word before it. Hint: It's one of two things that don't wait for anyone.
DeleteHard for me to say the table + word is a familiar phrase, but I might change.
DeleteSTATS TABLE → TABLE STATS
Delete"POT TABLE" can stand on its own. The POT need not contain flowers...
I'm pretty sure E&WAF's intended answer was TIDE TABLE and TABLE EDIT - time and tide wait for no (wo)man - and "I might change" = edit.
DeleteMy first thought last Sunday was SHOP TABLE >>> TABLE HOPS - what a waiter or gadfly might do.
Waiter, there's a gadfly in my soup!
ecoarchitect, you're correct. My intended answer was indeed TIDE TABLE ==> TABLE EDIT (something an HTML programmer might have to do). As for ron's alternative answer, I think the plural, POTS, would be better suited. Oh, question for HTML programmers: Say you're in the middle of a table and you need to bring it to an end instantly - even if you're several nestings in, - what IS the proper HTML code for executing a proper TABLE STOP?
DeleteGlad I don't have to figure out that one.
ReplyDeleteI’ve come up with what I think is a solution, but I can’t make heads or tails of the comments posted above. At worst, I’ve come up with an alternate.
ReplyDeleteOh, and a clue, Abbott and Costello.
I get the point.
Delete"Careless Intern"
ReplyDeleteWorst. George Michael song. Ever.
The "before" word comes in a longer and shorter version: only one of them works.
ReplyDeleteIt's not:
a side table.
or tea table.
Just back from decorating my front yard evergreens with a smocking gun. . .
ReplyDeleteWhere there's smock there's ire.
DeleteTo Kill a Smocking Bird
DeleteThis morning, Joe and Mika sure had a good laugh over that tweet!
DeleteHeadline in today's WaPo: "U.S. embrace of fossil fuels at climate-change conference spurs mockery on world stage".
DeleteThey misspelled smockery
Eco- - I didn't see it, but do you think it was on purpose??
DeleteWhat were they smocking!?
DeleteThey didn't actually post "smockery", but it's a good word, right up there with covfefe. Eugene Robinson has an op-ed "What has the president been ‘smocking’?"
DeleteAll his tweeting is nothing more than a smock screen.
DeleteThat's still pretty good though!
DeleteTrump takes his seat at the idiot's table. (See what I did there?)
DeleteTrump Boasts That His Impeachment Will Get Higher TV Ratings Than All Other Impeachments.
DeleteHow many would go to his Incarceration Ceremony?
DeleteChris Hedges on the Cult of Trump.
Deleteron,
DeleteThanks again for another must watch Chris Hedges video. He is the only one who is telling it as it actually is these days. Of course Noam Chomsky is still doing the same, but his advancing age is getting in the way. Shame on NPR for no longer including these canaries in the dark coal mine that is now our home.
Musical Clue: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
ReplyDelete"Mongrels who ain't got a penny
DeleteSniffing for tidbits like you on the ground"
Mongrels sniffing for tidbits paints an image of dogs hunting for table scraps.
After discarding several near misses like "tools table" and "end table" the (or an) answer finally came to me. It seems consistent with many but not all of the hints above. Nice puzzle that does not involve lists or anagrams.
ReplyDeletePensées et prières, encore.
ReplyDeleteThe Mango Menace, ( aka the Tangerine Terror) is such a smock.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the deal with these brand logos using deceased spokespeople in their ads? I see Jimmy Dean being used on TV ads lately and at the store today, I saw Arnold Palmer on a lemonade box. Plus, I hear James Coburn's voice at the end of a popular restaurant's TV commercial. Oh well...
ReplyDeleteDead people are much easier to negotiate with.
DeleteI guess that's it!
DeleteThe Arnold Palmer lemonade and iced tea mix was on the market long before his death. He was even in a commercial (not for that - for something else) where he was seated at a table with Kevin Nealon and someone else. And he says to a waiter. "I'll have another 'Arnold Palmer'". Kevin Nealon replies "...and I'll have a Kevin Nealon."
DeleteOh shoot! I initially had a different answer provided by a fellow blogger above. This realization sparked my interest in coming back to this puzzle and finding the intended answer.
ReplyDeleteGlad to have improved your chances of getting the call this week.
DeleteGeminids meteor shower this week, likely originating from a Palladian asteroid, not a comet from the Oort cloud.
ReplyDeleteBest viewed through a Palladian Window.
Deleteeco,
DeleteThis is very disturbing. I want to know how it is you were able to obtain a photograph of my breakfast room.
SDB: Maybe you use the same interior decorator as my scullery maid did for her breakfast room?
DeleteBack to the Geminids, Google has an absolutely adorable series of doodles today explaining how they work. Duckduckgo, nothing.
Isn't it worth giving up our privacy and being harassed by advertisers to get those doodles?
eco, I prefer my doodles to be labradoodles.
DeleteLooking forward to the peak of the peak of the meteor shower just before dawn tomorrow.
Maybe we'll find a labradoodle to join us.
eco,
DeleteYou said "interior decorator." Did you mean inferior decorator?
Interior/inferior desecrator is our term of choice.
DeleteWell, no one could accuse Trump of being an inferior desecrator.
DeleteBigliest desecrator ever!
DeleteDidn't he once say: "The manner in which I treat women is so bigamy!"?
DeleteOrwellian
ReplyDeleteCRAPS TABLE >>> TABLE SCRAP
Delete“15th century” >>> A synonym for table scrap is ort, a word first used in the 15th century.
“Orwellian” makes me think of Ortwellian and George Orwell’s Animal Farm and of animals eating table scraps or orts.
CRAPS TABLE → TABLE SCRAP
ReplyDeleteRob's Challenge: CHIPS are used on a CRAPS TABLE.
My challenge: A SCOOP (from SCRAP) for Craps is an implement used at the Craps Table.
Eco's SCRAP HEAPS (from CRAPS).
CRAPS TABLE >>> TABLE SCRAP
ReplyDeleteAbbott and Costello’s 1941 hit movie, Buck Privates had a scene where Bud tried to teach Lou to play craps. It can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIYTQ8vkKaI
I wrote, “Take the first word, change two consecutive letters within it, and you get something used on that table.” That’s CHIPS on the CRAPS table.
ReplyDeleteCRAPS TABLE, TABLE SCRAP
ReplyDelete> Now comes the shitstorm...
So, I might not be polite...
> That intern isn't offering an iota of help this week.
Refers to Blaine's SCRAP of a clue when CRAPS appeared in the puzzle last year.
>> 15th century
> I found a reference to the 14th.
CRAPS derives from the dice game, "Hazard", mentioned in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
> Geminids meteor shower this week, likely originating from a Palladian asteroid, not a comet from the Oort cloud.
(Named for astronomer Jan Oort, BTW.) OK, that's a long way to go to get to "ort" = TABLE SCRAP. Speaking of which, Will's New York Times crossword this Tuesday was on the theme of composting TABLE SCRAPs, even though he says he doesn't do that.
<— Speaking of table scraps here and in The NY Times, I changed my thumbnail to the logo for the organization Slow Food, which encourages growing, cooking, and composting food s l o w l y; hence, the gastropod (decked out for the holidays).
Deletehttps://www.slowfoodusa.org/
In response to Jan I wrote: I'm not betting on it... a too obvious reference to craps table.
DeleteYou might like the Gastropod podcast, which my wife sometimes follows, WW.
DeleteThanks, jan. The Gastropodcast (sic) looks intriguing.
DeleteCRAPS TABLE & TABLE SCRAP
ReplyDeleteMy Hints:
“I got it quickly in bed too. Now I'm wondering how many here FELT it was much easier to solve than they first expected.” A craps table is covered with felt.
“Cute, but I want to know: Did it come easily?” The initial letters of the 4 words in the last sentence (Did it come easily?) spell DICE.
Isn't there a "come" bet on a craps table, too? Too lazy to Google it.
DeleteI was initially thinking end table den but Lorenzo set me straight (thanks!). So I clued “oh shoot” for shooting craps and used “spark” (ed) in “coming back” since phonetically “spark” is craps backwards.
ReplyDeleteCRAPS TABLE, TABLE SCRAP
ReplyDeleteEasy puzzle, I thought(once I'd solved it, of course).
Table Skid turns out to be a thing, at least in the Thingiverse. It's an uncommon term compared to Kid's Table, but I did find one at this odd website:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3013191
I didn't submit (my lapel gleams already), but I do wonder if anyone else came up with this highly dubious alternative.
I came up w that one too but google wasn’t very convincing that it was valid!
DeleteEvery time I listen to Chris Hedges and think he has topped himself and he will not be able to do better, he proves me wrong.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj1-47VqgOs
Excellent. Try this: Noam Chomsky - Best Speech in 2018.
DeleteI'm sure if we just rearrange the deck chairs everything will be all right.
DeleteMy comment about a "good time woman" who has since changed her name, is a reference to the Rolling Stones Song that was considered the predecessor to "Tumblin'Dice". ....and the natural location for tumblin' dice is a craps table.
ReplyDeleteGood New Yorker xword this week, Patrick Berry! Not enough attention has been given to the fact that Fred from Scooby Doo wears an ascot. What was the point? I don't recall it ever factoring into the gang's mystery solving. Did the men of Williams College in the '60s and '70s all wear ascots?
ReplyDeleteBush Sr. Made a Killing - 50 Miners Buried Alive - Greg Palast
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gregpalast.com/poppy-strikes-gold-bush-sr-made-a-killing-50-miners-bur...
I remember that story from his book, which has an enormous array of dark stories. Here's the full link.
DeletePalast is also a good speaker, presenting here last summer with Jello Biafra, though I could have skipped him.
I think your link is missing something as it is the same as mine. Do not confuse this with the missing link, however. Lincoln was lanky, by the way.
DeleteTHIS WEEK'S CARTOONS (sorry, a little late)
ReplyDeleteI liked the one of Trump painting himself into a corner the best!
DeleteHere are a few of Trump's favorite things!
DeleteAnother Legolambda puzzle this week! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This challenge comes from Joseph Young of St. Cloud, Minn., who conducts the blog Puzzleria. Think of two words meaning "certain groups of females." If you have the right ones, you can rearrange all the letters to name a famous novel by a female writer. The title has 13 letters in total. What novel is it?
I got this with pretty good speed.
DeleteMe too.
DeleteI have an answer I'm unsatisfied with that has me asking if the two words are both nouns.
DeleteThanks, jan, for posting my puzzle for the earlybirds in Blainesville (many who are still nestled in their nests) and congrats on your, and Berf's, early solvation. Paul, I am certain, will also soon find a satisfactory answer.
DeleteLegoWhoLamentsThatMembersOfTheSocietyTo'RadicateAnagramPuzzles(STRAP)WillNotBeHappy
Not my favorite author.
DeleteOnce I realized they were two separate words, I solved this readily. I initially was looking for a two-word phrase.
DeleteAn alternative title for Solzhenitsyn? Embrace your feet! Don't get left behind!
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: "Everyone knows it's Windy".
DeleteExactly 600 responses this week.
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle Lego.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Lego! But, I'm afraid you are right and that the members of STRAP will greet this puzzle with titanic indifference.
ReplyDelete