It's not Massachusetts = MAQ: There is a standard two-letter abbreviation for an English word that has an unusual property: The first letter of the abbreviation is the second letter of the word. And the second letter of the abbreviation does not appear in the word at all. What's the word, and what's its abbreviation?
Edit: This was a hint to the REDSOX = RX, DOSE puzzle from not too long ago.
A: Prescription, Rx
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.
Thanks for the shoutout, Blaine. Settling into retirement in our new home.
DeleteE.H.
ReplyDeleteThis one came to me immediately... Easy one, even my dog had the answer this morning!
ReplyDeleteReally? Then your dog should send in the answer, when it's finished drinking from your toilet.
DeleteHey, that was pretty funny! Though I had to wait quite a while to get the joke.
DeleteDid anyone see Nicole Cliffe's profile on Alanis Morissette this week? I thought it was fascinating.
ReplyDeleteYep...
DeletePRESCRIPTION -> RX
DeleteI originally wanted to reference the song "Not the Doctor", which was a little oblique. After I posted, I remembered the album was called Jagged Little Pill, which was a little more on the nose than I wanted.
“Pound” and “lb.” have been mentioned in last week’s comments. That doesn’t work, but it got me to thinking about irregularities in abbreviations, and painstaking review of an appropriate list got me an answer.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTMI
DeleteSorry about that. Overexcited
DeleteI don't think you need a Ph.D to figure this out.
ReplyDeleteNo, but an MD might help...
DeleteIs anyone else having trouble submitting the answer on the npr website?
ReplyDeleteYes. You just have to resubmit the answer and make sure hit their catcha icon just right.
DeleteEric via JJ.
ReplyDeleteI am now wordsmythe.
ReplyDeleteIt just took longer than usual. It probably needed something to pep it up.
ReplyDeleteThings are different today.
ReplyDeleteIt's a mystery.
ReplyDeletePretty easy one today. The NPR web site is probably slow because so many people are submitting their answers. The answer came to me as my wife was listing all my faults and what I should do to correct them.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a rather junky puzzle. Or should I have said trashy?
ReplyDeleteHm, I wonder if there's more than one answer... or maybe I'm just being obtuse? Some of the clues commenters are giving I don't get at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I would have said that my answer was strictly speaking an abbreviation of the long word. It's in the same family as abbreviation, and I think it's fair to count it -- I'm not really complaining about Will's puzzle so much as wanting to see if others thought the same.
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DeleteI think I can give a clue here that Blaine will accept, and it's even an actual reply to your post!
DeleteIf you look up not the word, but the abbreviation only in the dictionary, it will show the foreign language word from which it was derived and which, curiously, is spelled identically to another common English word.
While this other word does start with the abbreviation's first letter, like the word for which the abbreviation supposedly stands, the second letter occurs nowhere in this other word either!
That is definitely the answer that I have, yes. And the explanation for the second letter of the abbreviation is interesting, too.
DeleteBut do you think that's the one everyone is giving clues to?
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ReplyDeleteMaybe I've been reading too much William S. Burroughs.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way I know of to look this up. The answer just came to me as I was drying off after a shower.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I thought of a false answer: its first letter does not appear in the word, and its second letter is the first letter of the word. But this false answer led me to a valid answer, which often appears in the same text.
ReplyDeleteI got that one also.
DeleteI have a too-obvious musical clue.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you could even get away with naming the show it's from.
DeleteThe musical clue I thought was too obvious was Blue Oyster Cult's (Don't Fear) The Reaper. In the classic More Cowbell sketch on SNL, Christopher Walken utters the line, "I got a fever...and the only prescription...is more cowbell."
DeleteAnd here I was thinking you were referring to "A Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins.
DeleteIt’s a small thing, but . . .
ReplyDeleteMy advice: Don't drink black coffee on an empty stomach! Ugh! :( Or try to solve the puzzle before coffee.
ReplyDeleteMusical clue "The Searchers"
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten the name of this 60's British group, but not there #2 hit--"Love potion number n ine."
DeleteIt is funny-I thought Rx had to do with the Rexall drugstores of my youth where I could get a nickle coke, but it apparently means recipe.
After a pause, NPR accepted my two answers.
ReplyDeleteレクサス
ReplyDeletetmi for me (even in Japanese)
DeleteWW you may be correct. When I translated the word it immediately refocused my attention even without doing any further research and I got it moments later.
DeleteHow about a word whose abbreviation ends with the last letter of the word and the first letter is not in the word.
ReplyDeleteTwo letters?
DeleteI think it was mentioned on-air today.
DeleteThis is variation on a previous Sunday Puzzle theme.
ReplyDeleteWhile comments are not supposed to give away the answer, I am some strange "already got it" clues.
Sorry, "seeing some."
DeleteAnother musical clue: The Rascals.
ReplyDeleteEveryone needs it once in a while. MTFBWY.
DeleteFor those who cannot solve or don't want to solve this week's puzzle, you can still win a lapel pin. Fill a bag with 26 Scrabble tiles, A through Z. Take one tile out. Take another tile out and place it next to the first.
ReplyDeleteThe odds are 1 in 650 (or about 0.154%) that you are looking at Will Shortz's intended answer.
Those odds are probably better than getting the call and claiming the lapel pin!
LegoWoRequestsThatBrainyBlainesvilliansCheckHisMath
Your math is correct, however you've incorrectly used the term "odds" as if it were a synonym for probability. In mathematical terms, odds has a distinct meaning that shouldn't be used interchangeably with probability. Both are ratios expressing likelihood, but where a probability is the ratio of *favorable* outcomes to *total* outcomes (e.g. 1 in 650), odds are the ratio of *favorable* outcomes to *unfavorable* outcomes (e.g. 1 to 649 in favor). Or more often we want the odds against an event (e.g. 649 to 1 against).
DeleteAnother example, flipping heads is a probability of 1/2, but odds of 1:1 in favor. But you wouldn't be the only one that has used "odds" incorrectly. I see it often in the media and even on lottery sites.
Thank you, Blaine. Your blog has always been informative as well as entertaining.
DeleteFake news is bad, but so is fake word usage. I stand corrected.
Lego'sWhoseOddsOfWritingEvenThisVeryCommentFlawlesslyIsRoughly1to99InFavor(WhichIsAprobabilityOfOneInOneHundred...Right?)
If you do the same thing with a full Scrabble set in the bag, the probability that you'll be looking at Will's intended answer is 1/165.
DeleteI think Charles means 1/1650
DeleteI think if I ever won, and the phone rings sometime around 3 p.m., and they tell me all the junk ( oops! Sorry, trash) I get for solving their stinking puzzle, I'll just pass and have 'em donate money to my local NPR affiliate. It's pledge week anyway.
ReplyDeleteThis week's CARTOONS!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSarah H. Sanders, where are you?? Come back Sarah H. Sanders!!
DeleteWait, wait, what am I saying. Stay away Sarah!!
I know number(NO), ounce(OZ), and pound(LB), but sadly I've been unable to find the intended answer. Therefore, this puzzle sucks. Called it!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteRead William S.Burroughs or see a croaker!
DeleteFor some this will be easy to solve, but for others it will not. Not because they are not familiar with the abbreviation, but because they have no use for it in their lives. I never would have solved it without using a list. Here is my hint: 60 Minutes.
ReplyDeleteI had started perusing lists, but then the answer popped into my head.
DeleteI had to laugh when I read that! The biggest problem I had with this week's answer was trying to post something that would not get "the big hammer"!
DeleteI forgot I had posted a hint: 60 Minutes. All their commercials seem to be drug ads. It is the only TV show I watch.
DeleteThis was the week not to be hammered, eh?
DeleteSDB: If you watched other TV shows you'd see they ALL are overrun with drug ads. But it's not like that's dangerous or anything.
Deleteeco: I knew watching TV is dangerous, but I had no idea it was more so if there are drug ads. That's morose.
DeleteAnd more dose.
DeleteOh deer; more does.
DeleteJust ram-p up the doesage. OR watch this classic 6 seconds.
DeleteI initially read it backwards as the first letter of the word was the second letter of the abbreviation and the first letter of the abbreviation didn't appear anywhere in the word. I found a solution for this alternate puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI read it correctly, but then I would discover my mind had turned it around, and I would go back and read it again, and it would do the same thing. Usually I find I have missed something in my initial reading of a puzzle, so I have learned to read them several times to hopefully avoid this problem.
ReplyDeleteI kind of quibble withe Will's rules/construction of the question, but I got the answer last night
ReplyDeleteI suspect we have the same quibble...
DeleteThe Queen had her own supply.
ReplyDeleteRailroad Crossing
ReplyDeleteWow, have any of you guys ever tried LISTENING to the puzzle?!? Foolproof way to avoid misreading.
ReplyDeleteOr am I perhaps just mishearing your comments
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI hope all those with ankle sprains last week are on the mend!
ReplyDeleteMost, if not all, of us will have one of these at some point in our lives. So it is written...
ReplyDeletePeople who receive this item in their profession capacity today rarely perform the act upon which the abbreviation is based. Doing so was more common in the past.
ReplyDeleteMusical Clue: Buchanan Brothers
ReplyDeleteScribbled on a pad
ReplyDeleteRich, have you bothered to read Blaine's standard reminder posted above?
DeleteBlaine didn't monitor that well this week. At least 2 if not 4 other "clues" in here that gave away the farm
DeleteI read the disclaimer but thought this was compliant (especially having seen other posts). No harm intended.
DeletePRESCRIPTION → Rx (usually written ℞ )
ReplyDeleteDid You Know?
The "R" in "Rx" stands for the Latin word recipe, meaning "take," and the first doctor to use "Rx" used it as a verb with the same meaning, "Rx two aspirin" being equivalent to today's "Take two aspirin." (The word recipe had had the same function from the 13th through the 17th centuries.) Those two letters were a 19th-century take on a 16th-century symbol, the letter R with a line through its slanted leg-the line signaling that the "R" is functioning as an abbreviation. It wasn't till the early 20th century that "Rx" came to be used as the noun we know today. As for the noun "recipe," it followed the same trajectory, referring to a medical prescription for about 100 years before it developed its connection with cooking in the early 17th century.
Deadline this week is Wed. July 3rd at 3:00 pm EST.
DeleteI wrote that I got to thinking about irregularities in abbreviations, and this meant the ones from other
ReplyDeletelanguages. I looked at a list of countries, that my review, which I called “painstaking” in my hint
(PAINStaking), got me SPAIN and ES. But I bet Rx is the expected answer.
Hmm, I thought your pains-taking was a too obvious clue for what opioids are supposed to do.
DeleteLOL! I was careful not to give away a clue to Spain, little realizing that there was TMI for Rx.
DeleteRx > PRESCRIPTION
ReplyDeleteI missed hearing the deadline is today.
How did I miss that also?
DeleteRx, prescription
E.H. = Eye of Horus >>> "Among several alternative theories, however, is the belief that the Rx symbol evolved from the Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol associated with healing powers.
PRESCRIPTION > Rx. I kind of disagree that this is an abbreviation for the WORD Prescription but clearly its an abbreviated form of the definition of sorts. Oh well. I turned it in. Assuming that if I haven't been called by now, I won't be.
ReplyDeleteFrom last September:
ReplyDelete"Q: Name a major professional sports team. The first and last letters of the team's name specify something that is an anagram of its interior letters. What team is it?"
The answer was Rx (Redsox) with dose in the middle.
Happy Independence Day to all. I think President Whats-his-name may end up with more egg on his face than usual.
"It's a mystery." The Sunday Night Mystery Movie Series in the 1970's (I think NBC then ABC) rotated among Columbo, McCloud, and MacMillan and Wife (before women were considered people). The first episode of Columbo, aired in 1968 before the series, was titled "Prescription: Murder". Small irony, that episode was on TV yesterday.
ReplyDelete"the answer popped into my head." I worried this might be too obvious, but perhaps Blaine is cutting us slack for this "Celebrate and Honor Dinky Toadstool" Holiday.
I hope to see many of you tomorrow in Washington D.C. for the wonderful reelection parade. I will be on the lookout for those wearing NPR lapel pins.
ReplyDeleteSDB: Be sure to frame your invitation.
DeleteLooking forward to tomorrow's, bound to be impressive, D.C. Mall extravaganza!!
ReplyDeleteThe "Blue Angels" are going to perform in Kansas City this weekend and usually they arrive a few days early to practice. Watching the local news today, it appears they did arrive here, but then head to D.C. (tomorrow?) for the flyover . So, either late Thursday or early Friday they head back to KC for their usual routine.
DeleteI wonder how much extra $$ it costs for all that travel??
They will be in my thoughts & prayers. I will be praying they all crash into the Trump Hotel.
DeleteThey come here every August for their shameless warmongering that is also harmful to our environment. I am not saying they are not fun to watch, but I am completely against what they stand for.
Aside from all that, my point is how much that diversion will cost!!
Delete68C: You inspired the entire Photoshop Division here at Ecoarchitect Corporate Headquarters to put down their work and create Dinky Toadstool's Dream.
DeleteThe cost goes up each year since it began April 1946.
DeleteThe good news is there may be a lot of VIP seats available. Another embarrassing moment for the man who embarrasses all of us.
DeleteAnd a well placed lightning strike would convince me to go to church.
If anyone here does get a VIP invite, and you do attend, PLEASE WEAR CLINTON & OBAMA BUTTONS.
DeleteThanks Eco, just trying to help! I liked your submission, too!
DeleteSDB - I guess there is a lot of "overhead"... I wonder if there will be a lot of coughing during his speech??
I doubt it. He usually snuffles.
DeleteSDB: Why do you hate watching The Blue Angel?
DeleteSDB. Our house in so. Seattle is just east of Boeing field and we could usually get to see practice runs over the house. Very impressive. Won't be seeing that this year. However- guess what here in Atlanta they are producing a Betsy Ross t shirt in protest to KAP and the banned sneakers. Cool huh? Hope to get the yard sign this week. Lets see is it Insleeee?
Deleteeco: What is lube angle?
DeleteI grew up (well I tried anyway) in Wedgwood and saw them as far back I my memory goes. Not the T shirts; the Blew Angles.
SDB: lube angle sounds like a car talk term. Funny coincidence, I decided to retire this morning.
Deleteeco: Nope. You're thinking of lube dangle. It's why grease monkeys wear baseball caps.
DeleteDid you go to Les Schwab, Goodyear or Firestone?
None of the above, I went to a local, family-owned place 2 blocks from my office.
DeleteBerkeley doesn't allow corporations in its borders - the Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, and Barnes & Noble all went out of business, while the local businesses nearby continue to thrive.
Did they ban firecrackers too, and just allow sparklers?
DeleteLong time reader of this blog, first time commenter. I too thought of Prescription, but dismissed it as the answer because of the fact that the R technically stands for "recipe." I'm just wondering if anyone else thought of FX for "effects" or if I'm crazy?? I did not submit an answer at all because I was really uncertain but I was definitely leaning towards "FX" rather than "RX"...
ReplyDeleteWelcome and congratulations for coming out of the shadows.
DeleteOthers alluded to the issues with the wording of this puzzle; I had a discussion with an English major whether Rx is actually an abbreviation, but we couldn't come up with a better term.
Given the predilections of the puzzlemaster I strongly suspect Rx is the right prescription.
I say good on ya for coming up with a fine alternative answer, maybe even a better one.
DeletePrepare yourself to be ignored by Will Shortz.
Post here all you like, we are in need of new blood.
Welcome, Courtney. Stay tuned for more special FX in DC tomorrow.
DeleteFX and RX were my submissions.
DeleteRX appears in my dictionary.
FX does not.
Two too-obvious musical clues that weren't mentioned:
ReplyDelete"Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills" (Ray Stevens)
and
"Coconut" (Harry Nilsson)
The other abbreviation hinted at above was qd for "daily." It derives from the Latin "quotidie" which is cognate to French "quotidian." The abbreviation qd often appears on an Rx slip (take 2 tab qd).
ReplyDeleteI thought of Aq for water (latin aqua).
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to the upcoming holiday but I still wonder how all the fireworks affects most returning war veterans.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I have lit my fair share of fireworks over the years, but I have quit shooting them the last 4-5 years, mostly because of their cost and the potential hearing loss!
Any more though, I have thought more and more about what our veterans think of all the flashes and noise on a typical July 4th night?
Last year we went to my nephew's July 4th party which is about 40 miles north of us, almost a straight shot on the highway. It's legal to light fireworks there but I had more fun last year just watching everyone else "lighting up".
The kind of creepy part though was the drive home on the highway. There were so many fireworks being shot off that I had to be extra cautious to keep my eyes on the road and not watch all the near by action!!
The "big" thing around here seems to be mortars, M-80's and those things that involve dry ice. The latter sounds like dynamite going off.
It was neat to watch but I couldn't help but wonder what our returning vets think or do on this holiday??
Not being critical, just wondering...
Not to mention all the pets, like my dog, who hate all the noise.
DeleteYeah, them too!!
DeleteYa all just a bunch a mortar forkers.
DeleteAncient Greece was highly competitive and the citizens of Athens would Plato win.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Greece, I just learned about the Evzones. Anyone know a lot about them? Those shoe tassles are quite funky.
DeleteNo, but the rumor about Trump being confused about our holidays and pardoning Turkey is fake news. A load of Instantbul.
DeleteThey always say, clothes make the man.
DeleteI understand Trump wants as many weapons as possible to participate in his parade tomorrow, but no pens.
ReplyDeleteNatasha, this one is for you: "Summer"
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
DeleteRon; so nice of you. Wonderful dancing! Inspied to take class.
DeleteЭто именно то, что вы можете ожидать, если решите присоединиться к нашей победившей команде. А также вы получаете билеты на лучшие места для просмотра выступлений нашего лидера.
DeleteTrumptransition2016: Happy 4th of July!
DeleteImportant News: A Special July 4th Guest Appearance Announced by the RNC.
ReplyDeleteDue to a fear of sagging public approval and a small crowd size for Donald Trump's July 4th EgoBoost at the National Mall, a special celebrity appearance has just been announced!!
I'm there now and not many people. I can't even find Roy Moore. I suspect the parade is going to tank.
DeleteRoy Moore? He was banned from The Mall.
DeleteReally! What instrument did he play?
DeleteHe tried to play his organ in front of an unwitting 13 year old girl.
DeleteDidn't that organ have stops?
DeleteWas it a virtue so so performance?
DeleteIt was a pipe organ. Okay, now this is getting creepy.
DeletePerhaps he was just trying to guitar without using violins.
It could have been a breach of contact.
DeleteI thought you'd pick a bass comment; Roy Moore did piccolo road.
DeletePerhaps a judge will order him to conduct prison time orchestration?
Pathétique Sonata followed by Fanfare For The Common Deviate. But I suppose chambers music would be more fitting.
DeletePictures at an Exhibitionist?
DeleteEnema Variations and Pavane pour une infante défunte
DeleteI guess Donald Trump relies too much on the teleprompter.
ReplyDeleteHis knowledge and recap of history regarding George Washington and GW's role during the Revolutionary War needs a little tweaking.
One of the best kept secrets of the Revolutionary War is how General Washington managed his resources. As you know it was extremely difficult for our country to find funding sufficient to compete against the British army which was flush with cash. Now, getting back to that well kept secret, we are now privy to recently released alt facts indicating General Washington used frequent flyer vouchers for most of his troop transports.
DeleteI wasn't one of those "millions of millions of people" watching Trump on television yesterday, but today I watched the bit where he talked about the airports being taken over and not one of the expressions on the faces of the idiots in the background changed an iota.
ReplyDeleteSo scary and sad. Yet we see this all the time!
DeleteAnother little known fact regarding the Revolutionary War has to do with the famous photo of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River. They were unsure if the picture would even turn out because they used a Polaroid Land Camera.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if there is a list of qualifications to be President? Perhaps there should be an application process and a citizenship exam. DT has the audacity to blame the rain and the prompter. Wow!
ReplyDeleteUS Constitution, Article 2, Section 1:
Delete5: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
No IQ test, no morality checks, no consideration of criminality or competence.
The US Constitution is remarkably concise and brief, especially compared to the California Constitution which is a train wreck of words and clauses.
Thanks Eco. That explains a lot about our current situation regarding our president.
DeleteNot many today are aware that were it not for cases of tiny bags of dry roasted peanuts Washington's army most likely would not have survived the winter at Valley Forge.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: When you remove the last letter from Germany, Sweden or Somalia, what remains is a native of that country. What country, if you remove its last letter also leaves a native, but only after you rearrange its remaining letters?
ReplyDelete