Sunday, August 11, 2019

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 11, 2019): Insert an E

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 11, 2019): Insert an E:
Q: Think of a common 5-letter word. If you insert an E after the second letter, you'll get a common 6-letter word. If instead you insert an E after the fourth letter, you'll get another 6-letter word. And if instead you insert an E at the end, you'll get still another 6-letter word. What words are these?
You can anagram the 6-letter words into two other 6-letter words, starting with the same letter. One has to do with words and the other with a certain sport.

Edit: The anagrams were PARSES and PASSER
A: SPARS --> SPEARS, SPARES, SPARSE

187 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. I posted on last week's blog on Sun Aug 11, 06:32:00 AM PDT:

    What's that website where you enter a word and it returns an MD5 hashing of that word? I'm thinking that one of us who has an answer could post the MD5 hash of it and see if anyone posts a different hash!

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    1. I answered this on last week's post, but this wouldn't work well. First there are sites that can do a reverse MD5 hash lookup of common words and passwords. My second thought was to have people hash "blainesville-xxxxx" but some enterprising person could easily write their own program to hash all the 5-letter words using the salted version and do their own reverse lookup.

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    2. ... just did this in Excel. So, no we can't just use a plain or salted MD5 hash. But I wish there were some way to do this.

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    3. W srhg Izotbp gggzb'h sogh lq kszphp wzkz qcxapql.

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    4. Hmmm...., What about a double hash? We could have people do an initial hash of their word, (let's say it hashes into "xyz...zyx"), then we have them hash "xyz...zyx-xxxxx", where "xxxxx" was their original word? Do there exist any ways to do a reverse MD5 double-hash?

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    5. Same problem. If you can define a function f(x) as complicated as you like, someone just needs to run a finite list of 5-letter words through it and they have all the possible outputs to check. Right?

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    6. On the other hand if someone didn’t want to be given then answer they wouldn’t have to go to the trouble.

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    7. @Paul, are you suggesting a Vigenere cipher? They aren't secure either. Which comment are you referring to?

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    8. Not to be giving away the means by which determined programmers could grind out all possible answers, but isn't a lookup possible already? It seems that that same guy who's willing to go through all that trouble just to see what other readers of this blog have found need only to go through their own complete list of valid 5-letter words and for each one, lookup the results of 2nd place, 4th place, and end insertions of the letter E and print all possible solutions to this week's puzzle!

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    9. Many of these puzzles can be solved with a few formulas in Excel. That’s not news.

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    10. I thought this was a "Puzzle Blog" not a "Computer Resolves All Problems"?

      Using your brain and thinking the puzzle through is so much more fun. Or perhaps I am simply rationalizing my lack of programming skills.

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    11. I find a tremendous amount of pleasure in learning new ways to apply logic and creative tech solutions. It’s just a different variation on the puzzle.

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    12. I do too, but the pleasure is greater using an internal algorithm.

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    13. Nice insult. It clearly takes no “internal power” to change the perspective of the challenge into finding patterns in datasets and then developing the logic in a simple tool that wasn’t really designed for it to solve for that. I bow to your superior intellect.

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    14. Wasn't intended as an insult, I have sometimes used computer resources to solve these puzzles. But for me the satisfaction is greater when I don't.

      To each their own - now using gender neutral terms mandated by my fair city.

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    15. How are they going to humanage this?

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    16. My next-to-last career involved coding, so I appreciate the opportunity to solve puzzles by exercising rusting skills.

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    17. They have some humaneuvers s/here that can't be peopletioned. Please don't pile on the personure!

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    18. How are Theybrews dealing with this? And are those who oppose this protocol theypishly going along anyway?

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    19. It's a decision that will go down in theirstory.

      And perhaps soon other slow-witted governments and their citizens will follow suit. Berkeley initiated curbside recycling in 1973, 15 years later Seattle figured it out. Berkeley first proclaimed Indigenous People's Day in 1992; it only took Seattle 22 years to do the same.

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    20. We're a little slow up here. We get caught up in process. We still haven't embraced the Trump administration. However we are growing the Amazon.

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    21. I know Vigenere ciphers are far from secure, especially the way I do them, with spacing and punctuation unaltered. I strongly suspect Blaine cracked the one I posted above; Planned Chaos (remember him, anyone?) used to solve them routinely. I only use it when I have concerns that my plain English hint might be too revealing. I don't really understand hash functions, and can't be bothered to (as, I'm sure, most readers here simply disregard my Vigeneres).

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  3. STRAP cannot agree with the use of anagrams, and may organize a strike!

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  4. Clues for the five letter word will be confusing. Some will see it as a noun, others as a verb.

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    Replies
    1. All the words, except the one ending in e, can be viewed as either a noun or a verb.

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  5. Replies
    1. Did you see article about Seattle is now 5th most expensive city in U.S.? Just behind Brooklyn. Not sure I can afford to move back there. Thankyou Amazon.

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    2. No, I didn't see that one, but Brooklyn is not a city.

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    3. Manhattan was one. SF two. Three Honolulu. four. Brooklyn. Right a burrow.
      BTW That was a good read--"Here we are briefly gorgeous". No waiting list in Georgia.
      THX

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    4. Of course Manhattan is also not a city, but a wonderful cocktail, not to mention part of New York City.

      Glad you enjoyed the book. I doubt it will be as popular in Georgia as here. KUOW-FM and host, Bill Radke, did a two part interview with the author on The Record. You can easily find it online I think. It is an amazing interview, which is why they did it in two parts, instead of cutting it down to fit.

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    5. Not a burrow. Or a burro. A borough. [Insert can't tell ass from hole in the ground joke here.]

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    6. All you have to do is assk.

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    7. In Berkeley I suppose that will get a big theyhaw.

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    8. Could not a borough also be a burrow? Probably not.

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    9. And not a Barrow, either (now a Utqiaġvik). Say that 5 times fast.

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    10. Brooklyn was an independent city until January 1, 1898. In the 1890 census, it was the fourth most populous city in the U.S.

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    11. That, that, that, that, that.

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    12. Yeah, sdb, but you wrote it, not spoke it...;-)

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    13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    14. Are you sure it isn't Saskatchewan?

      https://www.motor1.com/news/305293/assman-denied-vaniy-plates/

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    15. But how many burros does it take to dig a burrow in a borough?? Like 6 or seven?
      Yes Saskatchewan--In the news...again.Tragic. It is a proud family name as I recall.

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    16. It takes an assembly of assistant assayers assessing assiduously, and assertively their assignments.

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  6. The longer I do these puzzles the more tired I get of constantly fighting to get the answer. I think I’ll spend more of my time looking for that project car I’ve always wanted. Searching for an AMX, but there aren’t many of them around.

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    1. I saw a nice one on Auto Trader for $46,000. It was garaged for 34 years. Only 12,000 miles. A beautiful copper color paint scheme, and a hemi. But really 46 K for a Gremlin? I always wanted a XKE Jag 12 cylinder.

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    2. Also I think it was the 67" that had the 6 splined driveshaft with the positraction differential, new that year. Classic.

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    3. What is the maneuver called in Gladiatior where the soldiers move to center and put their shields over their heads as a defensive maneuver? I love that movie.

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    4. I have no idea as I do not watch movies like that, but in Berkeley wouldn't it be a theyeuver? In Seattle it would most likely be called Bumbershoot.

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    5. Wiki:
      In Ancient Roman warfare, the testudo or tortoise formation was a type of shield wall formation commonly used by the Roman Legions during battles, particularly sieges.

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    6. Yes in the movie I think it is the Testudo formation they used to defeat the mercenaries. I remember when Bumbershoot was free.

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    7. I too remember when Bumbershoot was free, and I didn't care for it then either. YUK!

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    8. Right, and I attended the opening night performance of Rigoletto at McCaw Hall Saturday.

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    9. We had a friend in N.W.Chorale we saw there once or twice, She is now retired. Not to date myself, but I saw Jimmy Hendrix once in 69?? at the Civic Center I believe.

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  7. I can only see one possible answer...

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  8. I found one answer in addition to the intended one, but since the 5-letter word ends in "e", two of the 6-letter words are the same, and they're not common.

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    1. jan, we've always thought you were uncommon.

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    2. "Rare" also means "not well done".

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    3. Good point. Though I guess now, with your move to eastern MA, you may often be on common (Boston Common, that is).

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  9. "MDS hashing?" That whole discussion is gibberish to me.
    While I do use some of the myriad lists available on line when I get stuck on one of Will's posers, I had no idea there are those here who go that far.

    It is hard to believe fewer folks sent in answers to "hi-hello" than to "wizard."
    If the number given for this week is legit, then it should be lower than both of those.

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    Replies
    1. Note that it is MD5 (five, not S), but otherwise I agree, see above.

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  10. Bonus Challenge, very timely:

    Think of a 7 letter word meaning "oversee." Move the 3rd letter to the 2nd position and the result will be a 2 word phrase associated with balance. From that move the 7th letter to the 5th position and the result will be something you can "see over" your head this week before Thursday.

    Hint: the moved letters are "e"

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    Replies
    1. I have it. Will post Thursday when the stars are aligned...

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  11. Blaine's sports mention made me think of the old track and field dilemma. Good catchers and few and far between.

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  12. Change that conjunction to a verb.

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  13. A lucky guess led to a simplifying assumption that significantly reduced the list of possible words.

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  14. This was a challenge. Every time I came up with a word that worked for the first condition (an added e after the second letter), the second condition (an e after the fourth letter) wouldn't work and the word would be out of contention. I finally found a word that held up against all conditions, so at last, victory!

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  15. I never quite understand how my brain works when it comes to puzzles, but once I give up fighting it, and let it be, the answer seems to jump out at me from an empty head with little if any thought.

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  16. This puzzle is like a puzzle an appropriate number of weeks ago.

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    1. The strike, struck puzzle was 10 weeks ago on June 2. This puzzle involves spares. In bowling, a strike or a spare knocks down all 10 pins. Also, "appropriate number" contains the word "ten".

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  17. Speaking of sports:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B09og6jAf_I/

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  18. There is a small roadside store in Mendocino County called The Rock Shop and it has been there for as long as some of its rocks.
    For the first time in 30+ years, I stopped in last week coming back from the Bay Area. I think I recognized some of the merchandise, but the proprietor assured me that he was the son of the guy I used to see there.
    An American classic business.
    I bought a baseball-sized geode for $18 that had a 90% chance of success.
    Chipping away for a few days cracked it this afternoon and revealed a beautiful quartz interior that sparkles like the night sky.
    Whee! OT, but no hint.

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    1. Do you mean the little red shack on 101 between Hopland and Ukiah? I've been meaning to stop there for decades - on the way up I'm usually in a rush to get to a meeting, and it's almost always after hours on the way back.

      You've now inspired me to leave early on one leg of the trip.... I may be going that way this week.

      Is there no hint in your story?

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    2. Actually, it's south of Hopland, just north of the big rock where kayakers ply the rapids.

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    3. I have no idea how to reply to that post.

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    4. eco: Yes, that's the place. Access is a little easier northbound. I think the old highway is his parking lot.
      You'll like the place. Buy something.

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  19. The answer words have various connections with certain cnidarians.

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  20. I finally figured out this puzzle early Sunday night! Glad this one is out of the way!

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  21. Not sure I'm going to get this one. Dead ends everywhere I turn and the thought of just poring over word lists turns my stomach

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  22. I consider this a film puzzle because it requires you to...
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    (wait for it)
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    move "e"s.

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    1. And, since one needs to add e's to the word, this puzzle ought to put one...
      .
      .
      .

      at ease. . .

      (An aside: is there a word for a vertical ellipsis?)

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    2. Thanks, jan. I was hoping for something more exciting like a hedera.

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    3. I thought it was a medical code for colonoscopy.

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    4. Fleuron, the horticultural dingbat also called a printer's flower. (Formerly known as prints?)

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    5. Ha! The genus and species for ivy is Hedera helix so there's that connection to the punctuation.



      And, perhaps some may need an IV for a colonoscopy, bringing that connection full circle, too.

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    6. Thanks, jan, just saw your post. Fleuron, fka prints--wonderful!

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    7. I thought Hedera helix was that messianic male Bene Gesserit in Dune...

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    8. I recently had a colonoscopy - mostly fine results but my doctor said I should be sure to chew my nuts well. Now I have a back problem.

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    9. I suspect your doctor has left himself open to tubular litigation.

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

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  24. If fewer people embrace the concept of celibacy, how can it multiply?

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  25. Yes, I was able to narrow it down to just a dozen, and from there it was easy to weed through the extras and point one out. --Margaret G.

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    1. I had guessed that one of the six-letter words ended with rse (something someone posted reminded me of "scarce", and while that wasn't right, it put me in mind of the sound you'd get with "rse"). There were only 12 words on "bestwordlist" which fit this description, and from there it was easy to (s)PARSE through the SPARES and SPEAR(s) one out. --Margaret G.

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  26. (my comment was in reply to Lorenzo's Aug 11 post - for some reason my post went to the end of the posts instead of under his) --MG

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  27. I have relied on this formula numerous times to solve for the answer:
    xt+1 = kxt(1-xt)
    You see,
    x = Number of letters the answer requires
    k = # of which Sunday in the month the puzzle falls on
    t = Minutes past the hour that the puzzle was / is posted on the NPR website.

    This equation makes sense out of chaos.

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    Replies
    1. Most of the hints on this blog make chaos out of sense.

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    2. 68C: thanks for the picture, my father worked at that IBM location in Endicott in the 50's and 60's.

      I'm pretty sure he's in that picture, he's the white guy with short-cropped hair, white shirt and dark tie and pants. You can't miss him.

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    3. Yeah, but the real question is, do you miss him?

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    4. ECO - Did he really work there? That's pretty cool if he did. Now is he the guy with the pocket protector?
      I wonder how much data those tape reels actually held, using that "current" technology?

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    5. Per Wikipedia: "Early half-inch tape had seven parallel tracks of data along the length of the tape, allowing six-bit characters plus one bit of parity written across the tape. This was known as seven-track tape. With the introduction of the IBM System/360 mainframe, nine-track tapes were introduced to support the new 8-bit characters that it used. Recording density increased over time. Common seven-track densities started at 200 six-bit characters per inch (CPI), then 556, and finally 800. Nine-track tapes had densities of 800 (using NRZI), then 1600 (using PE), and finally 6250 (using GCR). This translates into about 5 megabytes to 140 megabytes per standard length (2400 ft) reel of tape."

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    6. So maybe I've got more processing power in my shirt pocket than there is in 68Charger's picture and maybe jan's better at math than me. So what? Is there a win-win here?

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    7. Jan - Very interesting, just think, if someone would have had a modern thumb drive and its hookups, they could have ruled the world!

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    8. Eww. Could've been worse, I suppose. Whenever I asked to borrow a ambulance patient's finger to apply a pulse oximeter, if they didn't extend the middle one I always thanked them for their choice.

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    9. You must have been one of the pioneers of digital medicine, and that's nothing to turn your back to.

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    10. I worked for ADP in the Bay Area in the early 70's. There was a large computer room 370 I think, tape library, 80 column punch cards with no ink (reading them was a skill). I ran Apple's payroll and when they went public (IPO), it blew up the system - data field exception - we could not process payroll numbers in excess of 9,999,999.99 - I wished I worked for Apple that night.

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  28. Nietzsche? Used to play linebacker for the Packers, right?

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  29. I'm not using lists or programs to figure this one out. Like Eco I enjoy solving with just brain power. SO here's my current methodology - think of a five letter word to which you can add an e to get a valid six letter word. I started by eliminating all the letters which would probably not be the last letter, including e. That whittles it down to what, about 200 words or roughly the equivalent to Trumps total vocabulary. I shall persevere.

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    1. I think you have a good idea but I'm afraid you are overestimating DT's vocabulary.

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    2. TomR: I whittled it down to even fewer options by rationally guessing what the last 2 letters might be. That left only 7 or 8 common words, and a few obscure ones.

      I think Lorenzo and Margaret G used the same approach, and I hope I don't earn my BA for this.

      And DT has the bigliest and best words ever. None of us knew COVFEFE before, right?

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    3. TomR: I used your approach in reverse--thought about 6-letter words (ending in e) that remain valid words when the e is removed. That got me to the "best words" a bit quicker.

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  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. Finally solved it, with just a little time left before the deadline.

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  32. Try dropping the first letter of all the words.

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    1. I agree with Mendo Jim, Charles.
      Also, drop the first two letters of the six-letter words (one of these 4-letter results will need to be capitalized).

      LegoWhoAddsThatIfYouDropTheDropTheFirstTwoLettersOfTheFiveLetterWordYouWillProduceTheFirstWordInTheTitleOfMoreThanOneExcellentPoem

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  33. Too hot here in Texas to think about solving this. I'm going to the air conditioned bowling alley.

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  34. Replies
    1. I guess Schitterbomb wanted to stay a-head of the rest of the water-parks.

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  35. I am afraid that is getting to be old news around here. It was sure sad and horrifying when it happened. What people don't like to hear or talk about is that the poor little kid was decapitated in the accident.
    I guess the ironic thing is that this is what happens when regulations are relaxed in favor of self regulation.
    People don't seem to learn.
    I am very leery of another popular amusement park in southern Missouri that is promoting a soon to be built water ride that is supposed to be the tallest drop in the western hemisphere. It will be at Silver Dollar City which is a regionally popular amusement park in Branson, MO. that almost everyone around here has gone to at one time or another.
    I haven't been up there in a few months but the last time I was, that ride was still standing. They are waiting for court cases to be finalized before demolition can begin. It's spooky driving near there because you can see that ride from five miles away. As you approach it, you can't help but think of the pain and horror that occurred there.

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    1. I like how the amusement park operators and unqualified ride designers got off because of prosecutorial misconduct.

      Caleb Schwab, the kid who was killed, was the son of state legislator Scott Schwab, who sounds like a real piece of work. He also somehow manipulated the rules to get a higher settlement than Kansas laws allow....

      But my question is whether he has since, or now that he is Secretary of State (following the proud tenure of Kris Kobach) changed his views on regulations, or does he figure he has 3 more kids, and what are the odds?

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    2. So Schwab has Les kids. Now he's tired.

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    3. Eco- Yeah, that's what I've wondered from day one. Since it was Elected Official Day, I also wonder how many of those officials fast-tracked those weaker regulations. Plus, they witnessed the seeds they showed.

      Sorry about the broken link, I was in a hurry and didn't double check its placement.

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  36. In court they'll probably try to blame it on the kid, saying he went down head first.

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    1. If you watch the video you'll see it wasn't that kind of ride. They put 4 people into a raft (with seat belts) and send it on its way.

      In early testing a lot of sand bags gave their lives as the rafts flew off the watercourse and crashed upside down on the ground. So they built a cage around the jump section, basically a series of upside down U-shaped poles that held some kind of netting.

      From what I can tell the kid's raft flew in the air, and he got decapitated by one of the poles. Ick.

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    2. Did that video discuss the injuries that the fellow riders incurred on that fateful ride? What I remember was one gal had some serious injuries that have taken a long time to recover from.

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    3. Yes, eco, but he still went down head first.

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    4. This has been a bizarre week in the news, with all the killings going on. Yesterday, practically up the street from that water park, some guy went in to a nearby hotel and said he killed his wife and wanted to go down the street and kill shoppers at the nearby mall. The police were called and after a brief shootout he was shot and killed. All the local TV stations carried it live (after the initial shooting) that guy's body was still in the street for at least an hour.
      BTW, this afternoon, police found the wife's body somewhere in Arkansas. What a crazy week or two we've had, nationwide.

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    5. The heat of August usually raises stress and tension - riots are often summertime fun. But on the good news side warm air is less dense, so bullets fly faster!

      Now if we could only get people to be less dense.

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    6. Perhaps dense people should be deeply boroughed.

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  37. I inadvertently ordered a dish that had one of the words in its description on the menu.

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    1. And were you reminded of your mistake hours later?

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    2. From what I have read, some people cannot sense (or possibly synthesize) this odor, so do not detect it.

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  38. SPARS > SPEARS > SPARES > SPARSE

    My Hint: FDR
    Refers to the Depression era song, Brother Can You SPARE A Dime? FDR’s likeness is on the modern dime.

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  39. SPARS -> SPEARS, SPARES, SPARSE

    > I found one answer in addition to the intended one, but since the 5-letter word ends in "e", two of the 6-letter words are the same, and they're not common.

    SHAVE -> SHEAVE, SHAVEE, SHAVEE

    St. Baldrick's would like them to be common.

    > I wouldn't touch that one with a ten-foot pole.

    SPARS and SPEARS are long poles.

    >> I inadvertently ordered a dish that had one of the words in its description on the menu.
    > And were you reminded of your mistake hours later?

    Refers to the odor of urine after eating asparagus SPEARS.

    I wish Will had used one of the words in a crossword this week, so I could have posted "Oops, he did it again", sneaking in a Britney hint.

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    1. jan and sdb, a rare double gun jump!

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    2. ...Or the server's clock is a bit slow.

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    3. It was my error. I was having trouble seeing the digits on my atomic clock. As soon as I hit Publish, I realized my mistake, but it was too late. I'm sure it has something to do with the meteor shower though.

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  40. SPARS, SPEARS, SPARES, SPARSE

    "nada" = "In numerical analysis and scientific computing, a SPARSE matrix or SPARSE array is a matrix in which most of the elements are zero."

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  41. SPARSSPEARSSPARESSPARSE.

    Blaine's PARSES & PASSER.

    ECO's Bonus Challenge: OVERSEE = PRESIDE → x players PER SIDEPERSEID , meteor shower and a daughter of Perseus.

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  42. Spars, spears, spares, sparse

    Using my small noggin I started with the last 2 letters, and what would fit both ---4e5 and ---45e. I guessed 5 = S, and from that 4 would likely be R, as there aren't too many ---4se words out there with 4 as anything else, except A, but that would require ---aes, not likely. There are only a few common ---rse words.

    I am not averse and do not want to appear coarse to those who use computer programs to find a course through word lists, I just prefer thinking about patterns. And I am an incompetent programmer.

    From the previous week: I wonder if there is more than the 1 answer I have so far.... Are there any spare solutions?

    "STRAP ... may organize a strike!" I'm lucky if I bowl a spare.

    Bonus Answer: preside → per side → Perseid meteor showers, peaking Aug 11-13, though the near full moon affected visibility. Anybody take a shower this week? As usual Ron quickly solved this timely puzzle.

    I'm still amazed that most shooting stars are the size of a grain of sand. On the other hand, given that the 17 meter rock that exploded over Russia 6 1/2 years ago was "30 to 40 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima" maybe it's better that shooting stars are mostly small.

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  43. I submitted SPARS → SPEARS → SPARES → SPARSE. And I did not post a clue because I was SPARING you.

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    Replies
    1. Yes birthday Gemini brother. Sparse clues this week.

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  44. Original word: Spars (leading to spears, spares, and sparse.)

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  45. The answer words have various connections with certain cnidarians.

    Cnidarians are jellyfishlike creatures, many of which have stingers like SPEARS. Included among them is the Portuguese man-of war. A man-of-war has SPARS, SPEARS (weapons), likely SPARES (e.g., of cannon) and if in the doldrums, the winds are SPARSE (both for the cnidarian and the naval varieties).

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  46. I wanted to post this clue, but I refrained... "Her mercies are few when she combats with sharp objects." In other words Her SPARES are SPARSE when she SPARS with SPEARS

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  47. I also thought of the dropping-the-first-letter hint, but thought it might be TMI for Blaine.

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  48. Are some showers meatier than others?

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  49. My hint about going to the bowling alley referred to a "spare".

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  50. At first I looked at lists of six letter words ending in e and gave up. Then I thought of stars, stears, stares and starse (which I could not find in dictionary). Then spars came to my mind and voila! Did not take but a few minutes on sunday morning. Then I saw that the clues matched my answer.

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  51. Spars, spears, spares, sparse

    There are a lot of sports words in this puzzle. Spars, spears, spares, passer, and pars are all used in different sports.

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  52. My clues -
    - solving w little time left before deadline was with “time to spare”.
    - my menu item was asparagus spears.
    Sorry Jan - I thought you were referring to the “other exit”. Yes, I did experience that, as always!!

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  53. My reference to the Gremlin 68" driveshaft or drivespear. The Gladiator defense move involved shields and spears held overhead.
    The AMC Gremlin was one of the ugliest US cars ever produced.

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    3. When I finally figured out what the answer was, I remembered Buck Bard's clue about "looking into AMX's" and realized he might be referring to the American Motor's Javelin, the forerunner to the AMX.

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    4. Yes Buck's cogent clue worked for me, which is why I mentioned the Gremlin and not the Javelin- the second ugliest car ever produced in America-by AMC. So gross. I t looks like a cockroach with four wheels.

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  54. Blainesvillians:
    There is a wonderful Cryptic Crossword Puzzle featured in this week's Puzzleria!, created by cranberry (also known as Patrick J. Berry). Patrick's cryptic crossword puzzles are amazingly clever and fun to solve.
    Just click on "Joseph Young's Puzzleria!" in Blaine's puzzle links.
    Thank you.

    LegoCryptically

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  55. Replies
    1. He was always a strong screen presence but I have never watched "Easy Rider" from start to finish. I have tried, but never was able to get into it.

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    2. When you throw your Black humor in the Hopper it isn't worth a Nichol, son.

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    3. You think you've got the right but I think you've got it wrong; what a pity you don't understand.

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  56. This week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Tyler Lipscomb of Hamden, Conn. If five = four, six = nine, and seven = five, what does twelve equal?

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