Sunday, May 12, 2019

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 12, 2019): More Ways to Get From Here to There

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 12, 2019): More Ways to Get From Here to There:
Q: Think of a 6-letter conveyance on wheels. Drop the first letter. Add a new letter at the end. The result will be another 6-letter conveyance on wheels. What conveyances are these?
I doubt I'll be using either of these conveyances this Mother's Day.
A: BOXCAR --> OXCART

147 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. Another crappy puzzle this week to go along with the weather in the northeast. Happy mother’s day to all.

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  3. I am reminded of another famous conveyance.

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  4. Easy, this week!

    Get your motor runnin'
    Head out on the highway
    Lookin' for adventure
    And whatever comes our way
    Yeah Darlin' go make it happen
    Take the world in a love embrace
    Fire all of your guns at once
    And explode into space...

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  6. I was thinking of posting "50 Mt" last week, to hint at Tsar Bomba. I could use a much smaller number this week.

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    Replies
    1. Exact or inexact it all comes to the same thing.

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  7. Take out the least common letter in the first word, rearrange the rest, and you get an animal. Take out the least common letter in the second word, rearrange the rest, and you get a job title.

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    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    2. The specific species is tmi for me.

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    3. Yes, please remove your post, Unknown.

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    4. Thanks, Unknown (but it’s still there).

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    5. (Just hit delete beneath your post, Unknown. Only you and Blaine can do that; Blaine is likely busy for Mother’s Day.)

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    6. I tried that. Yo Blaine. How do I delete this? I am new here. Hope you had a nice Mom's day.

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    7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    9. Oh for the love of God. How obtuse can I be?

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    10. Do you get a badge for most comments removed by the BA?

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    11. BAdges? We don' need no steenkin' BAdges!

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    12. Don't you have to go to Wisconsin to be a BAdger?

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    13. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.

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  8. Imzduvz ua ga xkajequ, hzkx kwn rqgp zxhmkem.

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    1. "Parking is no problem, once you find reverse."
      PARK > CRAP

      -- Sharky's security certificate has expired! I used https://www.cs.du.edu/~snarayan/crypt/vigenere.html instead.

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  10. It's not hard to guess how the author of this puzzle came up with the idea.

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    1. Paul - To answer your question from a few weeks ago, I don't know how the photo (taken in Positano) was removed from my Google profile but (obviously) I was able to restore it.

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    2. Very often that approach is extremely helpful. I’ve solved quite a few that way.

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  11. Lame puzzle. I figured this one out in about six seconds.

    Took me another thirty seconds to convince myself the puzzle could really be this simple, but I'm stubborn like that.

    Musical Clue: Bob Dylan

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  12. Once again it would be premature to nominate the puzzle author for Secretary of Transportation.

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  15. A 60s tune by a certain duo comes to mind.

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  16. RIP Peggy Lipton:

    https://www.npr.org/2019/05/12/722590154/peggy-lipton-star-of-the-mod-squad-and-twin-peaks-dies-at-72

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    1. Never watched either show. Guess Lipton wasn't my cup of tea.

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    2. That comment was not unexpected. We were Mod Squad fans in my house.

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    3. She was an icon! I had forgotten that she was Rashida Jones mother.
      My older sisters always watched "Mod Squad"!

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    4. Ditto, Doris (Mary Ann Kappelhoff) Day. Whom I will remember as the inspiration for Matthew Kaslow's 1989 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest entry:

      As Wilbur, long obsessed though unfamiliar with pointilism, escorted his wife, Katy, into the Modern wing of the local art museum, he exclaimed jubilantly, 'Kay, Seurat! Seurat!' to which she replied yawningly, 'Whatever, Wilby, Wilby.''

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    5. Good one Jan! I've got to be careful and avoid a Doris Day earworm!!

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  17. There are two (2) answers that work. I got the first one while still in bed this morning, and I had to check its validity of the second conveyance online because I never had heard of it. I knew it was not likely to be the intended answer, so kept looking until I found the other answer.

    Here is a hint to my alt answer: A VW car.

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    1. I'd never heard of the VW, but I think most can muscle their way through to the other conveyance.

      You can also take another VW vehicle, remove the first letter and add a new letter at the end, to get something that is self-propelling but not a conveyance.

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    2. Oh, but I think you have heard of the VW vehicle. I am referring here to my alt answer, not the intended answer.

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    3. Nope. And please, I beg you. Iguana rhymes with Ivanka. I ask you, sir, haven't we had enough?

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    4. sdb - This is an answer to your alternative. A Tiguan is a vehicle and an iguana moves. An iguana is self-propelling but not a conveyance (well, maybe unless you a dwarf and live on the Galápagos...

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    5. geofan - I know, but that is not the VW conveyance I was alluding to. That being said I want to thank you for mentioning dwarfs, whom I believe to be the most overlooked members of society.

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    6. I'll take credit/ blame for the Tiguan/ iguana sub-sub puzzle.

      My response to SDB's original sub-puzzle involves another auto brand, which is well known. The VW in that was unknown to me, but I don't pay a lot of attention to cars and their talkers.

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  18. Has anyone else here noticed that the spineless Democrat Party leaders are doing their very best to insure DT is re-elected? They never seen to learn.

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    2. Yes, but not upsetting enough, if you get my drift?

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    3. I think they are mistakenly taking too much from the failed Clinton impeachment - that was a case about nothing, at least nothing that most people cared about. Or even want to think about.

      Not sure why the Dem's are treating them equally; Dinky Toadstool has done things that people do care about, and Mueller indicated his investigation was stymied by lack of cooperation and evidence destroyed.

      I recall Watergate hearings going full bore in the summer of '73, more than a year before the Judiciary Committee voted on Articles of Impeachment. At the start of those hearings only the best and brightest (mostly hippies and John Conyers) were calling for Nixon's removal.

      The Dem's can create a special committee, which is more likely to have enforceable subpoena power, without necessarily going to full impeachment. Unfortunately things take time, and we didn't have a corrupted Supreme Court....

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    4. It doesn't matter what others do. What matters is what Democrats do. But this never happens because Democrats are such wimps. We did not elect them to be wimps. They need to stop worrying about reelections and do their job, which is to take care of our nation. They are not doing this, and they never will. We are fucked!

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    5. skydiveboy...exactly why my man Denny Heck needs to go. He campaigned on, "Give Congress Heck", and he as you stated has been a wimp. A huge wimp.

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    6. That is why we need to get $$$$$ out of politics as much as we can. We tend to get stuck having to vote for the candidates that are presented to us from the primaries. Many voters do not take the primaries seriously. And then there are the idiots who will vote for a Republican because they don't like the Democrat. So then we get a person who they believe is likeable and of course goes on to vote against everything we care about. The system is about what the party stands for, not the individual. But, ignorant Americans are so proud to tell us they are Independent, and then wonder why nothing is working as they would like.

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    7. Hey I read this blog to my granddaughter. Peggy Lipton was a drop dead gorgeous iconic California
      surfer girl of the 70's. My first wife looked just like her. Ihave picts to prove this. Her daughter is on "the Sitcome Arts and Recreation- Rashida Jones . Her dad was quincy Jones and of course you know he was from Seattle, and he also produced "Thriller" for Michael J. and was his producer for several years. RIP. A wonderful Net flix bio on Qunicy,

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    8. I meant first husband not her DAD. LOL. That would have been sick. Hey I heard that Insley has a magic robot suit???

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  19. I stumbled on this exact puzzle (technically, its inverse) while trying to solve WS' puzzle from 3 weeks ago. So I immediately knew this week's solution.

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  20. Non-musical clue: Blackbird.

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  21. -$546 and falling, all self inflicted, too.

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  22. I am wondering if the word 'conveyances' could be considered to have a double meaning in this puzzle? You know one with more than one driving meaning? Could jalopy and Alopyk be considered? Jalopy being an old beater that is a hand-me-down and Alopyk being a delivery service using motorcycles on wheels.

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    1. I like the creative thinking, we need some entertainment on an easy puzzle.

      But the website is https://alopeyk.com/; it's an Iranian company, so it doesn't quite work. The translation from Farsi script to our alphabet can vary - there are a few variations on Google's translation of the site.

      Disturbingly, the website opened just fine yesterday, but isn't working today. Are the low forces already in action?

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  23. BANGER (British old car) → Car Hire ANGERS

    Jalopy = Bagnole in French → Agnolet

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  24. I can only think of one reason why Donald Trump has yet to invite Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Pol Pot and Augusto Pinochet to the White House. They all are deceased.

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  25. Add people to get kids' books.

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  26. Easy for me this week. And it feels familiar.

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  27. Too bad some of y'all feel the need to over hint or post the actual answer, thereby getting blog administered. Some of the same names oft-times. What's wrong with you?

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  28. To start with, neither of these conveyances would be great in an earthquake.

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    1. Please offer us a link to a site that lists wheeled conveyances which would be great in an earthquake.

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    2. Is that on the Richter-shaw scale?

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    3. When there is an earthquake where you reside all are at fault.

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    4. How small an earthquake could you even feel if you were driving in a car? As long as you're not on (or under) an elevated roadway, or in a garage or next to a building, you'd probably be fine.

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    5. WW, the Richter-shaw scale? A great pun, but nevertheless, shame on you! You truly are Word Woman.

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    6. Yes, Clark a pseudonym, I live by the PC code, "Pun Correct."

      jan, if that elevated roadway portion was in an earthquake, it might become a sway-way.

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    7. I've only felt a few small quakes, including the 2011 one near DC. I doubt I'd have noticed anything if I'd been driving.

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    8. I've only felt an earthquake once while driving, and then while I was stopped at a light; and I needed to confirm that is was a quake and not my shaky old car. But I'm usually not in a vehicle when earthquakes hit.

      I know someone who was on an SF city bus when Loma Prieta hit, and she didn't feel it. If it's a small earthquake (>~3.0 on the Richter-shaw scale) you probably won't feel it if you're walking outside. If you're inside the first thing you notice is the sound, especially in wood frame buildings which squeak and/ or thump.

      I think one of the conveyances would work quite well during and after an earthquake.

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    9. I ran Richter-shaw scale by a Vietnamese fellow who says foreigners back in Viet Nam pay $200 for a short rickshaw ride.

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    10. I felt a small one while on my waterbed years ago. I also felt a small one while sitting on a porcelain stationary conveyance. Another time I was standing in the entrance area of a large supermarket talking with a Seattle cop they hired to watch the doorway when a fairly large earthquake began and shook the building a fair amount. The store suddenly came alive with people scrambling to protect themselves and the cop and I stood there quietly continuing our conversation. After several seconds one of us said something about it just being an earthquake and then we laughed a bit.

      We are constantly informed to duck and cover in a quake, but I don't buy that advice in most cases. I an sure it is best to exit to the outdoors ASAP unless you happen to be in a very secure quake reinforced building. After the big one comes, and you manage to survive, you won't be able to reenter your home to gather all the supplies you have dutifully been hording in your basement for this very occasion. April Fools! Mother Nature wins again.

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    11. I don't think a passenger in a rickshaw during an earthquake would feel it as the two bumpy motions would likely cancel each other out.

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    12. I can't count how many earthquakes I've felt, but most have been either sitting at home or in my office, or laying in bed. Once in a restaurant, once in a movie theater.

      Most occur without having time to really do much, except cringe. The only large one I've been part of was Loma Prieta in 1989, and that lasted about 15 seconds or so. Memory lane: I was on the phone with a landscape architect who was also in SF, and the conversation went something like:
      ME: Hey, you feel the earthquake?
      LA: Sure do.
      ME: It's getting stronger.
      LA: Sure is.
      ME (as filing cabinets are flipping and ceiling panels drop): I'll call you later!
      LA: Okay!
      ME (ducks under desk after noticing light fixture swaying and quickly concluding that death by 2x4 fluorescent trough fixture is not a dignified way to go).

      But being indoors on the downtown streets of San Francisco was safer than being outdoors, the streets were littered with broken glass, old cornices and decorative concrete and terracotta elements that had an unfortunate separation from their facades.

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    13. Moonquakes in the news this week. "Rover" has 5 letters, so it's out. The Chinese robot rover, "Yutu" had 6 wheels but only 4 letters, so that doesn't work, either.

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    14. Neither the streets of San Francisco (that might make a good title for a TV show) nor the streets of downtown Seattle would be safe for numerous reasons, such as tunnels for all kinds of things that may collapse and gargoyles falling. In Seattle it would also be unwise to stand beside the Space Needle during a quake. It has only fallen over once so far, but you never know. Our cranes are not even safe when it is calm in Seattle. It is better to just stay home and watch Judge Judy.

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    15. SDB: But Judge Judy has a new hairdo and I do not approve.

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    16. Natasha:
      Who are you to judge Judy?

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    17. She is a valued member of the viewing audience, without whom Judge Judy would cease to exist. And wouldn't that be shame?

      And SDB, tunnels are actually pretty safe places to be in an earthquake, they move pretty much uniformly with the ground, and are unlikely to rupture unless the fault line happens to run across the tunnel. Buildings are pushed from the ground but sway freely in the air, much more likely to collapse.

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    18. I was thinking more of the utilitarian tunnels. You, being an architect, would know more about this than I who do not have tunnel vision.

      If Judge Judy suddenly ceased to exist, wouldn't we quickly descend into uncontrolled chaos?

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    19. "That's great, it starts with an earthquake" is the first line of R.E.M.'s It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). R.E.M. had another song early in their career called Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)

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    20. SDB: Guess I should not criticize. People may not like my hairdo either.

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    21. Natasha:
      If you read my post above to you, you may notice that it may be read with different interpretations and was meant to be humorous and not a rebuke.

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    22. SDB: Yes, I knew that but I rethought my posting something unkind.

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  29. PS, for those of you who found this puzzle easy, I have not.

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    1. Clark: I was just lucky to look at a list of 6 letter vehicles that was easy to browse.

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  30. It seems to me that it's about time we have a war with Iran. After-all it has been a long time since we overthrew their democratically elected leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh, the 35th prime minister of Iran, who held office from 1951 until 1953, when his government was overthrown in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état orchestrated by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency and the United Kingdom's MI6. Yes, it had everything to do with oil. And it gave us Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and an elite combat branch of the Imperial Iranian Army. But who doesn't love torture and despotism?

    Now I want you all to keep in mind that neither our government, nor the British failed empire would ever stoop so low as to interfere with another country's democratic election. Unless, of course, it suits our corporations.

    What are you waiting for? Come on patriots; get your flags out and hang them from your cars and houses to show your full support for our right to control others as long as it serves our corporations. The oil, no matter where it now rests, belongs to us. After all didn't Henry Ford invent the automobile? (Note: No, he didn't.)

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    1. I don't think this one has anything to do with oil, or ideology. This is strictly Wag the Dog, only to divert political energy away from the investigations.

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    2. And John Bolton's psychotic obsession.

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    3. What is wrong with this country that dt gets away with crimes?

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    4. 1. BOXCAROXCART

      2. Lotus ESPRIT → Austin-Healey SPRITE

      3. VW TIGUAN → Alfa Romeo IGUANA.

      Yes. Cars do “convey” people!

      Rob's BOXCAR -X yields COBRA & OXCART -X yields ACTOR.

      My clue: “EXACT OR INEXACT”... “XACTOR” anagrams to OXCART.

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  31. Replies
    1. BOXCAR, OXCART

       “3.96” = “A high-roof boxcar is 13 ft 0 in (3.96 m) in height.”

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  32. BOXCAR & OXCART (Intended answer)

    ZIPCAR & IP CART (Alternate answer)

    My hint to my alt answer was "A VW car." The car is the Golf and an IP Cart is a collapsible golf cart.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6z_QO4zYKY

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  33. BOXCAR, OXCART

    > I was thinking of posting "50 Mt" last week, to hint at Tsar Bomba. I could use a much smaller number this week.

    Bock’s Car was the B-29 that dropped the 21 kt Fat Man bomb on Nagasaki.

    > Non-musical clue: Blackbird.

    The SR-71 Blackbird was developed from the CIA’s A-12 OXCART.

    > Add people to get kids' books.

    The Boxcar Children is a classic. Ox-Cart Man won the 1980 Caldecott Medal.

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    1. "86" referred to Jan's "blackbird" clue. Project OXCART was the name given to the program that led to the "A-12" reconnisance jet , which was the forerunner to the SR-71 Blackbird.
      An A-12 is parked on the deck of the USS Intrepid museum located at Pier 86 in NYC.

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    2. The OXCART/A-12/SR-71 linkage was the other conveyance my comment referred to. Although it had wheels, it is hard to think of an SR-71 as a wheeled conveyance.

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  34. Camper ---> Ampere
    Ampere is a unique type of car.

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  35. Boxcar → Ox cart

    Resistance is utile! - Fremont California has a box(c)ART program where local artists paint otherwise banal utility boxes.

    I thought SDB's VW was the Amarok → Chevy Camaro, a popular "muscle" car.

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  36. BOXCAR, OXCART
    My 60s song I alluded to was Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe". Babe was Paul Bunyan's blue ox.

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  37. cranberry has contributed another of his amazingly ingenious Cryptic Crossword Puzzles to this week's Puzzleria! which I just now uploaded.
    There are nine other puzzles also, including one involving a movie star and director, one involving an eminently anagrammable U.S. city, and one involving a mental challenge.
    But, to be honest, cranberry's cryptic crossword, with its clutch of clever clues, is more like more-than-a-score-of-puzzles in one!

    LegoCryptomaniacal

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  38. RIP Tardar Sauce, bet you're still not smiling.

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    1. Gee: Peggy Lipton, Doris Day, Tim Conway, Grumpy Cat. Not a good week for celebs. Not to mention I.M. Pei and Herman Wouk, though 102 and 103 must be a lot even in cat years.

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  39. A friend of mine that I used to work with, once told me of a story from when he was a kid.
    He lived near some RR tracks close to a train switching yard, where the trains usually ran slow, at first.
    One day he thought it would be fun to jump a slow moving train and see what would happen. He jumped into an open boxcar and for the first few miles everything "went according to plan". After those few miles the train started to pick up speed. Fortunately, the train slowed down about ten miles away and he was able to safely jump off. He had to walk home but except being late for dinner, all went well. He said it was kind of fun, but he never did it again!

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  40. This week's challenge: Name a profession in 13 letters that is associated with a particular 5-letter country. The letters of that country appear in left-to-right order, although not consecutively, in that profession's name. What is it?

    Hint: The profession is a single word.

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  41. Replies
    1. This is a tough one, both to solve and to clue. I have what I'm sure is the intended answer, along with two others that work, clumsily.

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    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  42. My clue "Will he sing a country song?” referred to Boxcar Willie (will he)

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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.