Sunday, November 10, 2019

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 10, 2019): Five Letter Antonyms

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 10, 2019): Five Letter Antonyms:
Q: Think of two five-letter words that are opposites. One of them begins with E, the other ends with E. Drop both E's. The remaining eight letters can be rearranged to spell a new word that is relevant. What are these three words?
The hardest part is coming up with a clue that is relevant.
A: ENTER, LEAVE, RELEVANT

113 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. Those of us who are old enough may find this puzzle easy as duck soup.

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  3. If the puzzle is written out with proper grammar rules, the answer is obvious.

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  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWwgrjjIMXA

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    Replies
    1. https://www.britannica.com/science/levanter

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  5. I think Will should have said: "What are these two words?"

    I see Will went with UE for last week's puzzle although he has one too many Ds and not enough Ts.

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  6. Put together two familiar names in the publishing trade to get a musical clue.

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    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Publishing

      +

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Press

      =

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1eU_lDQaVM

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  7. What germane clue can I provide without giving away the answer? And, BTW, this is one of those puzzlers where I just groaned when I found the answer...

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  8. After submitting my answer, the response I received back included a form of one of the answers.

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  9. This reminds me of the first nose joke one of my sons pulled on me when he was a young teenager. It was the start of a whole series of nose jokes through his adolescence....and I was the butt of each!

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  10. Don't forget that tomorrow Mercury acts, well, very mercurial.

    But unlike the mercurial stable genius (who has no horse sense), do not look directly at the sun without protective filters. Even with them Mercury is too small to see. A pinhole projector might work, but won't be impressive.

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    1. Mercury's (formerly hydrargyrum's) atomic number is AT. How's that for cross-pollinating with last week's puzzle?

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    2. One of the many things I thought was fascinating about the 2017 solar eclipse was how, at its peak, Mercury could be seen almost right next to the blacked out sun. And this was in the early afternoon!
      Unfortunately, around here tomorrow, we are supposed to have overcast skies, with a chance of rain.

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    3. Thanks 68C, I didn't know the little white dot +/- 2 moon widths to the lower left of this photo I took was Mercury. But that's the location per the sky charts.

      Clear skies here, no rain or fire in the forecast. I've got my solar shades ready, but they only have 2x magnification, probably not enough to see the little orbiting orb today.

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    4. eco, that's an impressive white dot.

      No Hg sightings here either due to snow.

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    5. Eco: Great picture! Prior to the peak of eclipse, I made a bookmark on my phone to "Heavens Above" so I could capture the moment. So, at the right time, I was able to grab a screenshot of what was happening.
      WW: All we've had today is rain, turning to light snow, and 19° right now. Oh well!!

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    6. Clear and sunny here, temps in the 60's. It's why we tolerate fires, earthquakes, traffic, bad drivers, and outrageous housing prices.

      Maybe I saw a speck of little Mercury, hard to tell. Definitely not dramatic.

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    7. It would've been fun to try and spot Mercury.
      I'm afraid that today, this is as close as I will get to see Mercury or a sunset!
      Yesterday it was a sunny 60° day!

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    8. Jan - That was a neat picture! Hope that person's telescope won't need an expensive fix.
      Looking at the sun incorrectly can have serious side effects!

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    9. During the eclipse I saw websites with pictures of what happens if you point a digital camera at the full sun.

      Good news: no need for an expensive fix.
      Bad news: need for an expensive new camera.

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  11. Wonder if a 5th grader can answer this.

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  12. If I'm not 'eager' then I'm 'blase,' especially from all the 'algebras.'

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  13. Is UE in the mw online dictionary?

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    1. No it is not! However, while the online Merriam-Webster dictionary does list VIEW as being one syllable, its audible rendition has a slight two syllable sound, as do some of the others.

      Anyway I don't care what WS says; I like my solution best.

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    2. me too. Was that you who took out the Baby Trump Balloon?

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    3. No, it twern't me. It is fake news anyway. The Baby Trump Balloon burst because it was so full of sh*t.

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    4. I agree with SDB that VU = view. UE = u-ey or uey. Click on either one for reference.

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    5. SDB: The posting of the answers on NPR did not give the words the letters represented. Could one just have sent in UE and been counted correct? Good you believe in your answer?

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    6. "uey" four matching dictionaries. Click on euy.

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    7. UE = uey was my SECOND answer. I submitted both answers, one with "uey" and the other with VU = "view."

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    8. The other thing I find interesting is that Will kept saying "sounds like", and VU sounds like view, even if it is not how I pronounce view. It does not sound at all like PANORAMA.

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    9. SDB: Was the rule that it had to be 2 syllables?

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    10. He never mentioned syllables until this morning. All he said was "sounds like."

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    11. My understanding is that "phonetically" means each syllable has a separate sound so each letter must then have a separate sound. VU blends into one phonetic sound while UE is two distinct phonetic sounds matching the two distinct letters.

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    12. Phonetic (Merriam-Webster): using a system of written symbols that represent speech sounds in a way that is very close to how they actually sound

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    13. representing each speech sound with a single symbol

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    14. WW. Thanks for illucidation of this muddy puzzle.

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    15. Good news. Baby Trump balloon slasher in custody.

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  14. Borrowing from last week's puzzle, I'd say this week's sure was EZ.

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  15. I think Will was just flat-out wrong in his answer for last week's puzzle.

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  16. Remove the second letter of one of the 5-letter words and rearrange to get something that contains the other 5-letter word with a letter at the end.

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  17. Some people own a mountain. Others ____ a ____.

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  18. Replies
    1. Enter-leave-relevant
      "song leaving on a jet plane."

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  19. Not much to say about this easy puzzle so I am just going to go.

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  20. There's a whole lotta relephants in the circus.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, and someone who takes care of them is a Pachydermatologist.

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    2. Only if they have skin in the game.

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  21. I'm afraid to even wade into the comments this week.

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  22. Since we are in our fourth week without a challenge, I figured this sentence might help pass the time. It may have been around for years, but I never came across it.

    Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.

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    Replies
    1. A bit quicker, and certainly more enjoyable than getting exercise.

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    2. One of the best short pangrams. I also like "Sphinx of black quartz: judge my vow."

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  23. Some of the clues here, including Blaine’s image, really had me barking up the wrong tree, but the only relevant word I could come up with had 4 letters and they were all from the same word!

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  24. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  25. In last night's Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions semifinal game, in the category FAMOUS AMERICANS, the $1600 clue was "This New York Times crossword editor graduated from Indiana with a degree in enigmatology (the study of puzzles)".

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    1. I got that on my third guess.
      This is going to be a good finals.
      I am rooting for Joaquin.

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    2. Just seeing if you were paying attention, i.e. I meant Francois.

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  26. ENTER, LEAVE—>RELEVANT

    JM’S BIO: One of many biographies of Julius—“Groucho”—Marx is entitled Hello, I Must Be Going.

    I thought any direct reference or even oblique allusion to Captain Spaulding or Animal Crackers might be TMI.

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  27. ENTERLEAVE
    NTER+LEAV → RELEVANT

    Will should have said: “What are these two words?” as he had already given us the third word: RELEVANT !

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  28. I wrote, “If the puzzle is written out with proper grammar rules, the answer is obvious.” Using the word “relevant” as a textual element would require quotation marks.

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  29. Enter, Leave → Relevant

    STRAP is taking a vacation" or going on leave
    "tomorrow Mercury acts, well, very mercurial" as in it will quickly enter and leave the sun's sphere.

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  30. I'd like to put together a justification for EXUDE & STORE, but I'm not that handy.

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  31. Am I really the only one that tried to make ERECT and PRONE work? Especially after reading comments by Blaine, Sheep Launcher, and Eco...

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  32. Some people own a mountain. Others RENT a VALE.

    RENT and VALE derive from the respective four remaining letters after dropping the two Es and rearranging.

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  33. Enter, leave->relevant

    The relevant word is "relevant".

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  34. ENTER + LEAVE, RELEVANT

    "Whoosh" refers to the LEVANTER wind, another anagram of RELEVANT. I think Paul was also hinting at the wind with his Bob Dylan clue.

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  35. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. I am pleased and proud to announce that SuperZee has generously contributed a package of five excellent puzzles to tomorrow's edition of Joseph Young's Puzzleria! (see Blaine's PUZZLE LINKS).
      As is my weekly ritual, I plan to upload Puzzleria! at midnight, tonight, Pacific Standard Time.
      Thanks, SuperZee!

      LegoSaysThatLookingForSuperZee'sPuzzleria!PuzzlesOnTheWebIsWellWorthTheEffort

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  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  37. Here is a repost of my earlier typo laden mess.
    Enter/Leave...Relevant
    My comment about being too busy to come up with a comment was because I didn't know if I was, coming or going.
    My, "duck soup," comment, which several Blainesvillians recognized, was a pointer to the Marx Brother's classic movie, "Duck Soup." In the courtroom scene, Groucho and Chico's wordplay turns the challenge, "...that's irrelevant into an elephant. It can be seen here.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddhrz0XKySQ

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  38. Shouldn't Trump be sworn in if he is going to tweet during hearings?

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  39. It looks like Edwards has won re-election!

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  40. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  41. I'll wait for Blaine to post the new puzzle. I wouldn't want things to get out of control.

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  42. This week's challenge: The city of Mobile, Ala., has the interesting property that the name of the city has exactly the same consonants as its state (M, B, and L), albeit in a different order. What is the next-largest U.S. city for which this is true?

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  43. All in all, pretty easy. No clue here.

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  44. This puzzle gives us something to think about. But the answer is not Chula Vista, California.

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    Replies
    1. I have the answer...but there was not a lot of thinking involved.

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  45. Really hard to come up with a clue. Maybe after a quick shower and teeth brushing.

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For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't assist with solving. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the deadline. Thank you.