Sunday, September 29, 2019

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 29, 2019): E, E, I, O, U

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 29, 2019): E, E, I, O, U:
Q: Think of a word that has five vowels — two E's, an I, O, and U. Curiously, every vowel except the "I" is pronounced like a short "I." And the "I" in the word is not pronounced at all. What word is it?
I can't claim that this word describes me. And I question the second syllable as my dictionary says its a schwa sound, not a short I.
A: BUSINESSWOMEN (when pronounced 'biz-nis-wi-min)

177 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Best to not be a schwa sticker.

      Delete
    2. Schwa sticker, schwa stickler.

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    3. I concur with the Schwa problem.

      But while my kid enjoys the dreaded Nickelodeon show Henry Danger (avoid it at all costs), there is a terrific performance by the American uber actor Michael Cohen as Schwaz.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sxN7ntw0Wk

      Delete
    4. Blaine I was going to say Movie "9 to five" for a clue but that is TMI right??

      Delete
  2. I'm sensing a bit of bad luck with this one.

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  3. Something fishy about this puzzle...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with this statement, since that's the first thing I thought of.

      Delete
    2. I don't think it's what you're thinking, if what your thinking is what I'm thinking it is.

      I think. Not sure if I am.

      Delete
    3. I know the connection your hint is making and it is clever, but there’s an offensive and juvenile incarnation as well.

      Delete
    4. That's what I thought you were thinking, and when I initially posted the clue I considered making a statement that it wasn't that, but I wasn't awake and it got too long. Though not nearly as long as all this. Ah well, too PC or not PC?

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. But coiffeuses may be involved.

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    2. (Although Will's on-air wording implied the vowels are not consecutive in the word.)

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    3. It's just my compulsiveness that keeps me looking for more of these.

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    4. Will did add the comment, "they [the vowels] are all separate" the second time he read the puzzle.

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    5. I guess I was a little overindulgent with my housewives clue. I will have to reconfigure my picturephone to capture new undiscovered country...

      Delete
    6. unforgivener. Not sure that is a real word, but perhaps it should be.

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    7. Directed by John Huston Jr. and starring Burt Lancaster Jr and Audry Hepburn 2nd. I suppose.

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  5. My answer seems to jibe with the hints given above, but I count not just one but two schwas, according to my lexical bible.

    LegoSchwimmingWithTheSchwarks

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  6. It probably all depends on how you pronounce the schwas. Let me just say - IF all the vowels (except for the silent I) are pronounced as a short I, then I would still understand the word, and relate to it.

    --Margaret G.

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  7. One word sums up my feelings about this puzzle:

    Tediousness.

    ReplyDelete
  8. If you’re from Boston this one is right out the window.

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

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

      Delete
    2. Some people just cannot take a hint.

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    3. SDB: So you saw the pacific ballet and did not tell me! Wonder what exquisite performance you saw. I watched Great Performances: The Riddle of Bach last night. You might like it.

      Delete
    4. Natasha:
      If I didn't tell you, then how do you know I saw it? You must have read my post to you in last week's blog that I addressed to you. Below is a cut'n'paste of it:

      skydiveboy Sat Sep 28, 10:16:00 AM PDT

      Natasha:
      Pacific Northwest Ballet had their opening night of the new season last night. It was amazing!

      https://www.pnb.org/season/carmina-burana-agon/

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    5. SDB: I overlooked that it was to Natasha. I thought it was to someone else. Will have to look again. Thanks for letting me know. I saw the musical Anastasia in SF. It was spectacular. Wonder if it has been to Seattle.

      Delete
    6. SDB: Did you post about the ballet twice? I swear I saw it posted to someone else. Maybe I am losing it. Overwhelmed with all this teaching this semester.

      Delete
    7. Natasha:
      No; just once. Don't worry about it. By the time they lock you away you will not care anyway.

      Delete
    8. Wow! I wish I had your discipline.

      Delete
    9. Michele: Did you lose weight?

      Romy: Actually, I have been trying this new fat free diet I invented. All I've had to eat for the past six days are gummy bears, jelly beans, and candy corns.

      Michele: Wow! I wish I had your discipline.

      Delete
  10. Having lived in the Boston area during the "dawt-cawm" bubble, I can attest to this "finnettick fact".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meant to reply to Buck Bard's hint... Sawrrie!

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  11. I thought "interminably" should be NO END.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But the answer did remind me of an old song I haven't heard in 40+ years.

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  12. Dorothy Baker, huh? I always knew The Wicked Witch Of The West had a real name.

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  13. Clue: there are a lot more of these now than before. Of course, I may have come up with a different answer that doesn’t fit some of the above comments. Still has the schwa problem, though, according to my dictionary.

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  14. Will waited too long for the fitting day for this puzzle.

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  15. Once again we have a puzzle that could have been fairly challenging, but WS feels the need to add one more clue that makes it just silly. As far as I can tell there is only only word in the normal English language that meets one of the criteria. Why?

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  16. I worked hard to solve this puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All I've got is Old MacDonald and the farm.

      Delete
    2. I remember getting up early on Saturday mornings in the 1950s and watching "Modern Farmer" on TV. You?

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    3. No, I never saw that show. We got our first TV in the 1960's.

      Delete
    4. Are you speaking of Mr. Green Jeans and Captain Kangaroo?

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    5. No, an obscure documentary series show about farming that for some reason aired at 6:00 a.m. or so on Saturday in the NYC market.

      We had a black and white set in the 50s, but didn't get a color one until after I went away to college in 1970. My brother, an ascetic even then, didn't approve, and was home when the guy came to install the new set. At one point, nature called and the installer asked, "Do you have a bathroom?" "No," my brother replied, "It was a choice between a bathroom and a color TV, and we went for the TV."

      Delete
    6. I'm interested in hearing from you on Thursday.

      I also grew up in the New York City area in the 1960s and know the show of which you speak.

      But I have an answer to the puzzle and do not see how it relates to that show, yet it relates to the clues Lego and Jan have left above.

      Looking forward.

      Delete
    7. Only tangentially related the puzzle. Mostly just riffing on Word Woman's farm reference.

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    8. Just a walk down memory lane. Did they have Howdy Doody on the East Coast?

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    9. So this mystery word is pronounced differently in Bawston? Am I getting warmer?

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    10. I never got to see that show "Modern Farmer: but I have watched Modern Family a couple of times. Onl y a couple of times. This is not a clue BTW as right now I am SOL.

      Delete
    11. If I remember correctly, they eventually shortened the title of that show to Maude.

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    12. And SDB do you remember J,P. Patches and Gertrude in Seattle? I believe this was a local thing according to my wife and I never saw it growing up in Stumptown.

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    13. Of course, but I was too old for that show although I sometimes saw my younger brothers watching it. I had Howdy Doody and Sheriff Tex, but preferred drama shows or stand up comics. I loved westerns.

      Delete
    14. Jan, were you perchance throwing back to "Agriculture USA," a little oddball kids game/quiz show that broadcast in the New York City Market at about 5:30am on Saturdays, during the 1960's, while we were all waiting for the *real* cartoon lineup to begin?

      Delete
    15. No, I'm sure the show was called "Modern Farmer". Maybe a USDA product? Anyway, I was half alluding to the business aspects of farming that it featured.

      Delete
  17. I hope Will did not find this a "challenging challenge."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In all seriousness, I found it a puzzling puzzle for a while ... until the breakthrough.

      Delete
  18. One answer has 4 short I's identically pronounced, a silent I, and no schwas, as per WS' wording, and no adjacent vowels, as per WS' oral hint.

    At least one alternate exists, with two short I's and a schwa, but it does not meet the all-vowels-separate hint, and two vowels are merged into the schwa.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I just solved it. I would tell you how, but it might give too much away.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Bonus ANAGRAM Puzzle (are the mighty falling?):
    Name a word some people in Washington use to describe themselves. Move the first letter 2 places back in the alphabet (e.g. A → C) and rearrange for a word many others use to describe them. What are the words?

    As always, clues are welcome, but do not give the answer until Thursday 3 pm EST.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I got a very interesting, D.C.-specific answer that probably isn't what was intended. Is one of the words politically incorrect?

      Delete
    2. I hope there's more than one answer. My answer isn't "politically incorrect" in terms of offending a certain group of people.

      I look forward to your alternate Thursday.

      Delete
    3. When you say: "Move the first letter 2 places back in the alphabet" do you mean C becomes A?

      Delete
    4. As in many people in Washington consider themselves CORRECT; change the C to an A and others consider them to be a REACTOR?

      Delete
    5. "Move the first letter 2 places back in the alphabet (e.g. A → C)"

      Delete
    6. If I move an A 2 places BACK in the alphabet, I come up with Y. If I move an A 2 places FORWARD in the alphabet, I come up with a C.

      Delete
    7. So which is it? Move a letter 2 places BACK or FORWARD in the alphabet?

      Delete
    8. In my alphabet the first letter is A, the last letter is Z. A is the front (most forward), Z as the end (furthest to the back). Is that not how you think of it? 2 letters back = A → C.

      Delete
    9. I like the answer that I've come up with, but I'm certain there are alternatives, and it's bugging me...

      Delete
    10. In the alphabet debate, I agree with Ron's model. But of course, for eco's bonus puzzle, one must use eco's model.

      IMHO, it is less ambiguous if one uses "earlier" and "later" in place of "front" and "back."

      Delete
    11. So, according to the ECO model, if people in Washington consider themselves REAL, the others would consider them LATE,, changing the R BACK to a T?

      Delete
    12. This is changing the 18th letter of the alphabet (R) 2 letters BACK to the 20th letter of the alphabet (T). You must be joking...

      Delete
    13. eco must have obtained a bad batch of weed because most people would consider moving an A to Z going backward. Most of the books I read go from left to right and consider it moving forward.

      Delete
    14. Most books have the last page towards the back.

      Delete
    15. Exactly. And one reads ahead and forward in order to get there.

      Delete
    16. I think you and Ron have the wrong perspective. If the puzzle were posed from the point of view of the reader your interpretation might be feasible. However, the puzzle clearly says move the letter back and makes no inference of repositioning yourself. The letter A is not in back of the letter C.

      I even gave a simple example for those who are backwardly challenged.

      I will add the clue that both words are appearing in common parlance and in the news, especially the second word. And they have more letters than any examples proffered so far.

      Delete
    17. When you count backward, do you say 1 2 3 4 5 … ?

      When you recite the alphabet backwards, do you say A B C D … ?

      But we are all glad you unambiguously stated A → C in your clever puzzle.

      Delete
    18. geofan: You nailed it! When they nailed Jesus to the cross do you suppose they..... Oh well you can hammer that one out yourselves. (And, NO! I am not saying Jesus was just having his nails done.)

      Delete
    19. Right, but is the I pronounced as a schwa?

      Delete
    20. OK, I now have an answer with which I am satisfied, despite any Left-Right ambiguities. My alternative will have to wait for the deadline.

      Delete
    21. Geofan, SDB, etc. At the risk of belaboring the point, you are still treating this from the perspective of an outside viewer, which is not what "moving the letter" is, it's what moving the viewer does. If you had a stack of letters and the task was to move a letter back, it would not go forward in the alphabet.

      That's my final comment on this, I look forward to alternative answers. I think eighdreeun has it, Jan may have an advantage for this puzzle.

      Delete
    22. This is my final comment on this subject: This goes for everyone, remember you do not see the world as it is, you see the world as you are, and some people are bassackwards.

      Delete
    23. My grin-worthy alternative:

      Many a pol considers themselves a REPRESENTATIVE,

      But there are those who would disagree, and call them an
      INVETERATE PEST

      Delete
    24. Interestingly, I hadn't thought of PATRIOT/TRAITOR. The answer I liked was ELECTED LEADER/GLAD REELECTED.

      Delete
  21. Political clue: Hillary and Her Servers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I submitted BUSINESSWOMEN.

      My clue, Hillary and Her Servers, related of course not to email servers but to the many BUSINESSWOMEN who served on her campaign, and were tossed back into the government and private sectors, while we had to watch F%^&face Von Clownstick commit epic graft and drive this great nation into the dirt.

      Delete
  22. Well, I still haven't gotten it,but at least I've learned what a schwa is. I can guess a few ways that that word must end but that's about it.

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  23. By the way Schwa happens to be the first 5 letters of my last name.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you related to the famous tire dealer whose first name is Les?

      Delete
  24. I think this puzzle is truly beautiful, although the beauty might be somewhat dependent on the i of the beholder. Ask ten people on the street to pronounce this word, and 9 of them will pronounce it exactly as described. I can't imagine anyone pronouncing the EEOU vowels as schwas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Word Doctor: How do you pronounce a schwa?
      Lego: Uh... a what?
      Word Doctor: Close, but no cigar.
      Lego: I thought you told me to stop smoking cigars.
      Word Doctor: It's a figure of speech. Doctors don't dole out cigars to patients simply because they answer questions correctly.
      Lego: I am well aware that "Close, but no cigar" is a figure of speech.
      Word Doctor: No, I meant the schwa. It's a figure of speech.
      Lego: How do you figure?
      Word Doctor: Just try to pronounce the "u" in "figure" or the "i" in "cigar."
      Lego: You mean "ŭ"? And "ĭ"?
      Word Doctor: Not even close. Here, try opening your mouth and saying "Ah!"
      Lego: Ah!
      Word Doctor: No. Try saying it with less enthusiasm.
      Lego: Ah.
      Word Doctor: Not quite. Less than that.
      Lego: uh.
      Word Doctor: Almost. Try one more time.
      Lego: ə
      Word Doctor: Bingo!

      Lego:There'sNoSchwaIn"Bingo!"

      Delete
    2. Schwa schwagger there, LegoDialoguer.

      Delete
  25. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Sorry Blaine. Did not think that was a clue.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  26. The vibrant colors of autumn are here!

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  27. Regarding the merger of "short I" and schwa in different dialects of English, see here .

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  28. I love family reunions where I get to reconnect with all my uncles. I get such a natural high that the aunts look like humans.

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  29. What's worse that ants in your pants? Uncles.

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  30. I just realized that I am not sure what letter is being called a schwa.
    Maybe different ones by different posters.
    Maybe being specific would give it away.
    Tired old puzzles anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I'm sure no one here will care that I am preparing a Greek pasta dish for dinner this evening, but for me it will be a feta accompli.

    ReplyDelete
  32. BUSINESSWOMEN

    > I don't know about Duckduckgo, but you could search Google or Yahoo for an example.

    Businesswoman Marissa Mayer was an executive at Google and Yahoo.

    ReplyDelete
  33. BUSINESSWOMEN → (bĭz′nĭs wĭm′ĭn) (no schwa ə sound)

    My “housewives” clue was meant to suggest a plural compound word referring to females using only the vowels EEIOU...

    My dictionary gives each vowel (e,e,o,u in the answer) the sound of the “short ĭ as in pit,” no schwa (ə) BUSINESSWOMEN.

    ReplyDelete
  34. BUSINESSWOMEN

    "The vibrant colors of autumn are here!" Businesswomen Grace Hanson and Frankie Bergstein start a company called Vybrant (with a Y) in the "Grace and Frankie" Netflix series. Any other G and F fans out there in Blainesville?

    ReplyDelete
  35. I wrote, “Will waited too long for the fitting day for this puzzle.” Exactly one week before, 22 September, was the annual American Business Women's Day.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I had in mind:

    BUSINESSPERSON

    or

    BUSINESSWOMEN

    ReplyDelete
  37. Businesswomen.

    I couldn’t say how i arrived at the answer because it was inspired by my better half, a businesswoman.

    ReplyDelete
  38. BUSINESSWOMEN

    alternate answer (some vowels together): EGREGIOUS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In these parts, at least, this isn't an answer. The first E in EGREGIOUS is totally a Schwa, and the second is pronounced as a long E.

      Delete
  39. Businesswomen - let's not schwabble about pronouncements.

    "Something fishy about this puzzle..." Juveniles who thought this was a reference to women might not be mature enough to remember the puzzle from September 10, 2006, which a lonely blogger titled "O as in FISH," alluding to GHOTI as a means to spell fish. Interestingly there were 0 comments - was Blaine typing in the wind? - and the puzzle was posted on Friday, September 8 - was he Blainevoyant?

    Bonus Anagram (UGH!) Answer (STRAP apologizes, but couldn't resist with the timely circumstances): Patriots → Traitors

    Jan had an advantage with the local football franchise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is Blaine Blainevoyant?
      No. He is, in fact... Will Shortz!
      Just ask Clark a pseudonym how this could be possible...
      Blaine Kent resides in the fictional American city of Blainesville, where he works as a censor for the Daily Post-it. To protect his privacy, this mild-mannered comment-bleeper changes into his cruciverbalist-matrix costume and uses the alias "Puzzlemaster" whenever he pings his pong or purveys his weekly posers.
      In his persona as "Puzzlemaster" Blaine has many foes, including:
      * Mendo Jim, his archenemy and Blainesville resident curmudgeon,
      * ecoarchitect, anagram-pooh-pooher and founder of S.T.R.A.P. (Society To Repress Anagram Puzzles),
      * and Seattle-based skydiveboy-genius, who finds the Puzzlemaster's challenges to be such a snap that he solves them while still lollygagging in bed Sunday mornings – before he can even yawn, stretch or rub the sleep from his wise eyes!

      LegoLuthorDastardlyInventorOfSecondRatePuzzlesThatRiffOffThePuzzlemaster

      Delete
    2. And nary a businesswoman in the bunch!

      Delete
    3. Take my word for it, Word Woman, this is one bunch you are better off not being in.

      LegoWhoObservesThereIsAnEssInBusButNoBusInEss

      Delete
  40. Businesswomen

    Egregious is almost a solution, but the second e is pronounced like an e.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Answers for eco's Bonus Puzzle (in decreasing order of relevance):
    POLITICOS => SOLICITOR
    REPORTERS => PROTESTOR
    REDSKIN (member of DC football team) => KINDEST (well, at least some are...)
    MIGRANTS => ORGANIST (as in National Cathedral)

    ReplyDelete
  42. I guess I disagree with the construction of the puzzle and perhaps even with how some people pronounce the word!

    ReplyDelete
  43. According to Wikipedia:

    The first confirmed use of ghoti is in a letter dated 11 December 1855 from Charles Ollier to Leigh Hunt. On the third page of the letter, Ollier explains, "My son William has hit upon a new method of spelling Fish." Ollier then demonstrates the rationale, "So that ghoti is fish."[3] The letter credits ghoti to William Ollier Jr., born 1824.

    However, some people still give the credit to George Bernard Schwa.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe Paul is clairvoyant. Check out the first "Riffing Off Shortz And Baker" puzzle on tomorrow's Joseph Young's Puzzleria!

      Leghoti

      Delete
  44. When I searched for BUSINESSWOMEN, I was soon led to Liliane Bettencourt and Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, prompting my comment about being "worth it".
    In another comment, "breakthrough" was intended as an allusion to the "glass ceiling".
    I recall that "cosmetics" and "cosmos" have the same root.
    "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
    Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."(Provided you're guaranteed 15 drachma and hour or 1,000 a month, whichever one works for you.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "an hour", not "and hour"

      Delete
    2. Beauty is truth, truth beauty: The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows, nor eyelashes... no false (fake) eyelashes nor eyebrows.

      Delete
  45. I posted on Sun Sep 29, at 06:15:00 AM PDT:

    I'm sensing a bit of bad luck with this one.

    Some people have what is called "triskaidekaphobia", meaning fear of the number 13 or a perception of 13 as being bad luck. I counted exactly 13 letters in "businesswomen".

    ReplyDelete
  46. Ghoti came to mind as soon as the puzzle was stated, giving me 6/13 of the answer.
    The silent "i" also seemed familiar.
    Are there other examples of an "o" pronounced as a short "i"?
    Of a silent "i"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 5/13, but this isn't a math puz.

      Delete
    2. Parliament has a silent I.

      Delete
    3. Some people actually pronounce the i, making business a 3 syllable word, though the middle syllable is pretty quick off the tongue.

      Some words have a silent "i", but typically in conjunction with another vowel - cruise, fruit, suit, etc. Seems to be most common where u and i do get along.

      Can you say the i is silent in "said". It's certainly not pronounced. But it doesn't create a long a sound like laid, maid, paid, or raid.

      Then there's the notion than an i modifies another consonant, but is itself not pronounced....

      Delete
    4. I searched for words with silent i. Business was listed as the only word with a silent i.

      Delete
    5. "parliament" has two schwas → (pär′lə-mənt).

      Delete
  47. I had thought BUSINESS and WOMEN separately but didn't connect the two into one word. Was I being sexist or didn't think that a specific word needed to be used to underline that women are equally important in the business world? Forgive the run on sentence.

    ReplyDelete
  48. jan:
    On your recommendation this evening I checked out a copy of the Daniel Ellsberg book, The Doomsday Machine, you highly touted. I am now reading the introduction. It reminds me I knew President Eisenhower gave authority to his top generals to launch a nuclear strike should they feel the need without his permission. I learned of this decades ago. It still shocks me. As was Ellsberg, I too was cleared for all levels of classified material above Top Secret. That does not indicate I was privy to what he was, nor what anyone else was with high clearance. It only means that we were cleared in case it was necessary for us to receive such information. The government operates on a need to know basis. I sometimes had the need to know as an intermediator.

    Daniel Ellsberg in his latest book is telling us, with great detail, what Noam Chomsky has been warning us for years now. He, Edward Snowden, Noam Chomsky and a few others of like mind and courage are my heroes.

    Interestingly, I met Daniel Ellsberg October 21, 2002, almost 17 years ago. He is the real deal, make no mistake. Listen to what he has to tell us at our peril.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Thanks for recommendation. I am afraid to read this though I need to. I have long admired Ellsberg. I did read the attachment about Cuba Crisis. How little we knew at the time. I was 12,and remember little, but do remember being terrified. I am reading Vuongs book of poetry BTW.

    ReplyDelete
  50. I submitted businesswomen. Only one I found that met all the tests.

    ReplyDelete
  51. jan, and others too, have you heard of Boriska Kipriyanovich? He, and others like him, are here to warn us of what happened on Mars long, long ago. Of course you will most likely find it too outrageous to pay more than scant attention to, but I hope you will be more open minded and go beyond this easy way out of dealing with our reality.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am now reading the beginning chapter in this amazing book. Much I have read so far I already knew, but I also knew most do not know about this. I then began thinking of how few copies are in the Seattle Public Library.

      Total Copies: 15

      Available: 11

      On Hold: 5

      Ocean Vuong's book, On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous tells a different story. The library has many hundreds of copies of this book which are all checked out and many hundreds of holds placed. I am not in any way saying this book is less important than Daniel Ellsberg's, as I consider them both important. Both deal openly with what is truth. What I am concerned about is the lack of attention paid to what directly affects the likelihood of our continuing as a viable species on this planet. We must pay attention to what affects us most directly. We are not doing this.

      Delete
    2. I'm all in favor of keeping an open mind. Just not so open that your brains fall out.

      Delete
    3. And just who gets to decide for the rest of us exactly where that point is reached?

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    4. A prophet is never welcome in their own country.

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    5. Don't profit or don't plan it?

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  52. This week's challenge: There are two answers to this one, and you have to get them both. Name two tasty things to eat, each in 8 letters, in which the only consonant letters are L and P.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Do you get extra points if in addition to the two foods, you come up with a drink?

    ReplyDelete
  54. If you eat too many tasty things, you could get indigestion. Alka-Seltzer's ad jingle used to start, "PLOP, PLOP, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is..."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And here in Hotatlanta they have Goody's Powder.

      Delete
  55. Eating too many tasty things could also lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Better take a POLYPILL.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Nice to be living in New York in October.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am heading there Wednesday. Lets see---chestnuts?

      Delete
  57. SDB What are those doughnuts they have in Seattle.? Oh yeah "Top Pot"?

    ReplyDelete
  58. Did Jeffrey Dahmer like to eat pale people? Oh, only 8 letters? Both of these items are song titles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks fir the ear-worm. Now I’ll be hearing Sheb Wooley’s 1958 song, ”Purple People Eater,” all day.

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CwRejDrFwqM

      Delete
  59. Very clever! I like it HAHA

    ReplyDelete

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.

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