This puzzle shouldn't require much more than a list or an atlas.Q: My friend Penelope, who is from La Jolla, went on a world vacation. She stopped in Santa Rosa, Toronto and Casablanca. What European capital did she also visit?
Edit: The word "REquiRE" also starts and ends with the same two letters.
A: AMsterdAM follows the same pattern as PEneloPE, LA jolLA, SAnta roSA, TOronTO and CAsablanCA.
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.
Funny thing, from last week, after I posted my IL-LI clue I thought your "I guess I'll just be content..." was a similar cryptic clue, the b-e contents.
DeleteI thought that the relative that Blaine had to ask for help about Billie Eilish was Grammy.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteClue confirms my answer.
DeleteHere's a hint: almost an emordnilap.
DeleteGot it from your clue. No idea how it connects to the prompt tho.
DeleteI am sorry about this. I knew that my anagram hint would not give it away, but I stupidly did not expect that the limited number of capitals could each be tested. Apologies.
DeleteBlaine is usually scrupulous about not giving away additional information, but this week he had no choice. Will this one be more challenging on Oscar day?
ReplyDeleteAs I enjoy my onion bagel with a schmear, my sense is there will be lots of correct entries this week.
ReplyDeleteTo be candid: Not too difficult, so, yes, many answers this week. Also the setting for one of the world's great books.
ReplyDeleteActually, if it's the one I'm thinking of, I think the country in general was the setting but a different town. Take the A train, then take the A out.
DeleteBack in the "old days", I used to like listening to this country's shortwave broadcasts.
ReplyDeleteI posted on Sun Feb 09, 06:52:00 AM PST on last week's thread,
ReplyDeleteBesides that ONE European capital, I counted 4 other world capitals that Penelope might also visit.
Somebody answer the phone!
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else come up with two in Europe?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteNaaah. Just one. Being consistent with logical pattern in the puzzle, just one.
DeleteAs a David Bowie fan, yes I did.
DeleteGot it. Next.
ReplyDelete~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Billie Eilish won 5 (five!) Grammys this year (not 4 as Will stated in the puzzle segment this morning.) Her brother, Finneas won an additional 5 Grammys for production work on her songs/albums:
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/5-grammy-billie-eilish-bad-guy.html/
Her brother's birth name is actually Finneas Saelish.
DeleteActually I just found a third one.
ReplyDeleteThree European capitals? I don't think so. Not even two.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteRon, that definitely deserves a BA! Please delete.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYou're BAtting 2 for 2.
DeleteI have two different answers and two different analyses to arrive at those two answers. I did not realize I was giving away one of those answers.
DeleteI'll be curious to see your analyses, but I'm pretty sure what you gave away was the intended answer. It is a simple solution.
DeleteIn that interpretation I find 2 other world capitals, neither in Europe. In a broader reading I find 7 additional capitals, 1 in Europe.
You are so right Jan. People should think before they publish.
DeleteAt then end of last week's blog, I named the two non-European countries whose capitals might also be on the list, but Blaine deleted those posts. I guess five names are OK, but two more are too many.
DeleteIf I answer this puzzle in English, I get one answer. But if I answer it in the respective country's language, I find two equally valid answers to this puzzle.
Deletegeofan, I concur.
DeleteDid James Bond lead someone on a wild goose chase in this capital?
ReplyDeleteNow, I have a Muppet Show ear worm.
ReplyDeleteLet me just say that the fact that Lisa Bonet ate no basil provides no help whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteWill we have a near all-time low in answers this week?
ReplyDeleteDamned if I know!
DeleteEco: I think this is the easiest puzzle in years and will have lots of correct submissions.
DeleteNo, eco, I believe that Will will be flooded with answers.
DeleteShe should of stopped in Florida too.
ReplyDelete"How sweet it is!" in the words of the late, great Jackie Gleason.
DeleteYes and after that on to the coast of England might be a good stop.
DeleteNot one
ReplyDeleteAnd certainly not 100
Delete2.5?
DeleteNow you're just letter woman.
ReplyDeletePenelope couldn't find the US Embassy there.
ReplyDeleteIt's in the Hague.
DeleteWould George be her travel buddy?
ReplyDeleteYes, but this post might not last long.
DeleteAt first I thought there were way too many answers, then my wife pointed out I had missed the word EUROPEAN.
ReplyDeleteI then found three. But the one I'm sending in lead to this clue: 2 old time actresses, Irene Dunne and Peggy Wood.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHumm...Peggy Wood and Irene Dunne. The only thing I got was "The Clinging Vine," from the 20's and I Remember Mama. What do I do now?
DeleteYou have the right association, but if I say more, I'll probably be deleted.
DeleteCorrection...four.
ReplyDeleteCorrection ...leads
It could be argued by some that the intended answer is, in fact, incorrect. In that case, either there is no answer, or my above post gives the alternate (and correct) answer.
ReplyDeleteMusical Clue: Billy Ocean
ReplyDeleteI solved it, but my reason for why is really dumb. Am I overthinking it?
ReplyDeleteRR, oh my!
ReplyDeletePenelope's last name is Press, and she went to see her favorite author in this city.
ReplyDeletePenelope Press is also known as Penny Press, the name of a crossword magazine company. I went to Penny Press in Connecticut to see Peter Kanter, the author of the Penny Press books. Soon after that, I watched the movie "The Fault in Our Stars". In the movie, Hazel Grace and Augustus went to Amsterdam to see their favorite author. His name was Peter. It reminded me of going to Penny Press to see Peter Kanter. When Penelope "Penny" Press went to Amsterdam, she saw her favorite author, Peter.
DeleteThat deserves a NewCranberry Medal for "a random string of events that no one but you would have come up with because they were completely unrelated." (with credit to Buck Bard)
DeleteDid I detect a reference to a French-language song writer in one of the posts above?
ReplyDeleteNe me quitte pas
DeleteSorry, but I couldn't help but think of Mr. Interlocutor Don La'Mahn recently laughing hysterically with his end men. Guess he foresaw an Elite Puzzle with geography, maps, spellin', readin', and all that.
ReplyDeletePesky journalists force the GOP to come up with new ways to steal elections.
ReplyDeleteI hear she only stopped in this city briefly on her way to join the Syrian resistance.
ReplyDeleteOur Narcissist-in-Chief is acquitted...
ReplyDeleteYou mean the Commander-in-Tweet?
ReplyDeleteMy former boss named his baby Penelope. My office mate and I reveled in asking how Penn-A-Lope was doing.
ReplyDeleteI will tell you another Texas anecdote so mi ti me. . .
Nothing brings me joy like discussing the Classics and Ancient Greeks with intellectuals and pronouncing them all with appropriate flourish:
Deletesew-CRATES
THUCK-a-dides
a-WRIST-o-fanes
and on and on....
My mother tells me that, back when she was a neonatal nurse, a patient called her daughter "fem-a-lee" because that's the name she saw on her bassinet in the nursery.
DeleteMy late father used to pronounce "envelope"(on-vuh-lope or en-vah-lope)as "envelop"(en-veh-lup, stress on the "en"). Drove my mother crazy.
DeleteI meant "vuh" with a U for both correct pronunciations. Disregard the "vah".
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHey, Chuck, your telephone is ringing!
DeleteFar be it for me to sermonise, but I believe any educated person should be able to solve this one easily.
ReplyDeleteSdb:So you are a church leader?
DeleteJust call me the prodigal son. Well not so much a leader as a temperate.
DeleteYou sermonise, I surmise?
DeleteDidn't I say I don't?
DeleteYou don't sermonise, I surmise.
DeleteThe last two weeks have been a little disappointing here at Blainesville.
ReplyDeleteThe old advice remains the best: If you want to
solve it on your own, wait until you do before you come here. Then it is fun.
If you want help, come first and don't worry about it.
I just listened to last weeks answer's "best song of the year" and wonder vaguely about the competition..
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWe all have splinters in the windmills of our minds.
ReplyDeleteSome of us tilt at those windmills.
ReplyDeleteIn case no one else here was watching the Oscars tonight, last week's answer sang during the "In Memoriam" segment. BTW Congrats Sir Elton and Bernie!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteRIP Kirk Douglas
ReplyDeleteLovely city! I suggest she go to a museum while she’s there.
ReplyDeleteIf Penelope is so inclined, she could visit an historic synagogue or botanical garden, too
DeleteYou know me as WW, but, this week MM will do.
ReplyDeleteSee, you're really letter woman.
Delete;-)
DeleteC, u r ok.
U 2, kid.
DeleteI wonder how recently John Travolta has been to this city...
ReplyDeleteThe city has something that sounds like part of a TV show; one of the actors has a strong association with that city. There was also early influence from the Ottomans. I can say no more.
ReplyDeleteCan't. . .or won't?
Delete... and the first part of the first name of another actor -- a spice girl? -- is not something particularly associated with the city.
DeleteIf it's the one I'm thinking of, there is another semi-regular actor on the same TV program associated with another European capital.
DeleteToday we went to see the movie "Parasite" and thought it was very good! The movie was well written using a nice mix of drama, humor, and suspense. At times it reminded me of some of Hitchcock's movies.
ReplyDeleteMy only complaint was that it was done in Korean with English subtitles, a minor inconvenience, though.
@68Charger...As a former grad with a degree in Film, I found myself watching this movie without missing a beat. I forgot I was watching the subtitles. It is by far, one of the best films I've ever seen. Glad that you enjoyed it! Kudos to the Director Bong Joon-Ho!!!
DeleteAs I watched it I kept thinking "no wonder this won big at the Academy Awards"!!
DeleteStart to finish, I solved this puzzle fast.
ReplyDeleteWordsmythe here, I am having the ubpleasant experience of transporting my bicycle on Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, that is) regional rail. Hold it, the neanderthal conductor has to validate my transit pass. See, they don't like it you bring a bicycle onboard, so they get a little edgy. Even though I am a regular Septa rider and am at least generally grounded in regional rail etiquette. Okay, neanderthal is too strong, so I'll just say edgy conductor. In a certain European capital, bicycles are not a problem. They pull many out of the river every year.
ReplyDeleteBuddy, this was one easy puzzle!
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Capitol Steps are getting some competition from the Founding Fathers.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant!
DeleteWell done!
DeleteThat is clever and to-the-point. Any idea who wrote and/or sings it?
DeleteThe brownshirts at the White House also want to know.
DeleteGreat clip, jan! These sentiments were expressed 100 years earlier (1920) HERE.
DeleteJust an early plug for tomorrow's Puzzleria! (see Blaine's PUZZLE LINKS):
ReplyDeleteWe're featuring another amazing Valentine's Day Cryptic Crossword Puzzle created by cranberry. Fun cluing, great fill, lots of letters that cross. Check it out very early on Feb. 14.
LegoWhoAlsoChallengesAnyBlainesvillianToSolveAReasonablyToughToSolve"SchpuzzleOfTheWeek"OnTomorrow'sPuzzleria!
ReplyDeleteAMSTERDAM
Each name begins and ends with the same two letters.
> She could also have visited the capital of Bahrain. [Deleted]
Manama
> ... or Burkina Faso. [Deleted]
Ouagadougou
Blaine, could you explain why pointing to Manama and Ouagadougou (which fit the same pattern but aren't valid puzzle answers) was too revealing, but Unknown asking, "Would George be her travel buddy?" wasn't?
> ... and the first part of the first name of another actor -- a spice girl? -- is not something particularly associated with the city.
I was under the mistaken impression that Rose Marie was one word. Anyway, AMSTERDAM is known for tulips, not roses.
AMSTERDAM
ReplyDeleteMy clues—“To be candid” and ”the setting for one of the world’s great books”: ”candid”—>”frank”; Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl was set in Amsterdam.
1. AMSTERDAM (SMART DAME), Netherlands. The first two letters are the same as the last two letters in the same order in each of the cities and the name: Penelope, La Jolla, Santa Rosa, Toronto, Casablanca.
ReplyDeleteTwo world capitals: Manama, Bahrain, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Warsaw (doesn't work, letters reversed), Poland.
2. OSLO, Norway. OSLO uses only letters from the cities visited: SANTROCBL(J) and no other European capital fulfills this condition.
My first thought had been that the European capital city had to have a vowel as the second letter and had to end with the same vowel; this gave me Valletta, Monaco & Belgrade. I assumed that those of you who had found 3 answers had found these 3 answers.
This accounts for my deleted posts.
This was one of those weeks when I thought I had the answer – but many of the comments here didn’t seem to match. Even more confusing, I had three potential solutions.
ReplyDeleteI observed that Penelope, Santa Rosa, Toronto, and Casablanca all have three repeats of a single vowel. European capitals sharing this feature are TBILISI and BRATISLAVA.
Similarly, La Jolla has three “L”s. Using triple consonants as the criteria, adds BRUSSELS to my list of potential solutions.
Unable to decide between them, I made a single submittal, with all three.
From the other posts, I see why I didn't get a phone call. Well done to those of you who came up with the corect solution!
DeleteAlso feeling nostalgic this week.
DeleteI think eco's clue was for the Dick Van Dyke show, which features DVD as well as Maury AMSTERDAM, and don't forget Jerry Paris who acted and directed and lives on as bearing the name of a well-known European capital but not as useful to us as Maury AMSTERDAM. AMSTERDAM phone!
ReplyDeleteAmsterdam
ReplyDeleteWill we have a near all-time low in answers this week? 2 meters below sea level, Baku is the only world capital at a lower elevation. I suspect we will have many correct entries.
The city has something that sounds like part of a TV show; one of the actors has a strong association with that city. There was also early influence from the Ottomans. I can say no more. "The Dick Van Dyke Show" starred Morey Amsterdam. Rob Petrie tripping over or stepping aside the small ottoman was a feature in the show's introduction. Sadly with her passing, we can say no Mary Tyler Moore.
World capitals that start and end with same letters.
Manama
Ouagadougou
I thought others might have a broader definition of capitals that repeat the first 2 letters. European capitals with starting letters repeated.
Ljubljana
World capitals with starting letters repeated.
Caracas
San Salvador
Abu Dhabi
Funafuti
Dodoma
Antananarivo
How about Ljubljana?
DeleteRead carefully.
DeleteLjubljana is the capital of Slovenia. The l and the j are repeated. What'd I miss?
DeleteOh, it was listed. Well I got your Dick Van Dyke clue!
DeleteI suggested that she *go* to a museum. The Van Gogh would be an excellent choice!
ReplyDeleteAmsterdam
ReplyDeleteAll of the cities Penelope went to have the same first 2 letters and last 2 letters.
Realizing the answer was "Amsterdam", reminded me of "the old days" (1960's thru early 2000's for me), of listening to Radio Nederland on shortwave radio. It was very easy to pick up "Radio Nederlands", in English, on SW radio. This was because they had a relay station in the Caribbean that made reception as easy as picking up a local AM radio station. In fact, quite a few European stations had strong signals. Half the fun of listening to them was actually the search in finding them. For better or worse, though, the internet has almost made SW Radio a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteHaving seen and enjoyed "Parasite" as others have, I can say I am comfortable with a bit of foreign language now and then. So I am a bit surprised that no one seems to have put forth Warszawa as an alternate answer to this week's puzzle:
ReplyDeleteWarszawa (disambiguation)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Warszawa or Warsaw is the capital of Poland.
AMsterdAM because the first 2 letters are the same as the last 2 letters and in the same order.
ReplyDeleteMy Hint: Far be it for me to sermonise, but I believe any educated person should be able to solve this one easily."
Sermonise and educated both have the same quality as the puzzle demands.
I just got back home from a dental appointment, which is why I am posting late this week.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5gluwb (10:00 - 10:40)
ReplyDeleteDid Penelope get an athletic scholarship to a prestigious university in our nation's capital?
Bohemia is neither a capital nor a country.
Same goes for Holland.
Holland Taylor played matriarch to 2.5 men.
James Bond always seems to be leading someone on a wild goose chase somewhere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y79O2Q0eO5k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVDByyjG7cY
Timothy Dalton once took Anthony Edwards on a field trip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL6IFeBek7Q&t=2724s
Anyone can see; nothing really matters to me.
I noted that, as a David Bowie fan, I had found a second European capital city that met the criteria: Warszawa, the Polish name for Warsaw and also the title of an instrumental track on Bowie's album "Low."
ReplyDeleteIn another post, I suggested that Penelope was only stopping in Amsterdam briefly on her way to joining the Syrian resistance, which is headquartered in the city of Azaz.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I had thought that the distinction was that the place-words contained no e's, whereas the name (of a person) 'Penelope' has three e's and e's are reserved for pEoplE. So -- considering the city and the political subdivision of which it is a capital (Santa Rosa, Sonoma County [county seat]; Toronto, Ontario [provincial capital]; Casablanca, Morocco) the capitals and the political subdivisions of what they are capitals of each contain no 'e'. With this model, Bratislava, Slovakia; Moscow, Russia; and Madrid, Spain comply (but not Amsterdam, NEthErlands, nor ValEtta, Malta). Furthermore, this pattern follows Blaine's hint: "a list or an atlas".
ReplyDeleteThen a deleted hint here gave away what is a simpler answer, and probably the intended one: first two letters = last two letters [of the city]. Occam's razor wins. So:
AMsterdAM (for the English names)
or also WArszaWA (for the native-language name of city).
However, with Amsterdam there is the problem that although the "constitutional capital of the Netherlands" is Amsterdam, all the branches of Dutch government (hence also foreign embassies to NL) are in The Hague [s'Gravenhage/den Haag]. So from this standpoint then there is either no answer, or WARSZAWA as in Polish is the single answer.
'The Hague' vs 'Amsterdam', what a confusing way to govern.
DeleteI think it is important for us to remember that Holland is simply the word these simple tulip growers use to say haul earth. Hauling earth, a.k.a. land, is what they had to do in order to keep the ocean at bay. Otherwise we may never have had what has become known as a Dutch Treat. Now a Dutch Treat, you must understand, is where both the land and the sea pay an equal share in their collective bargaining as to how they are going to get along. Now do you sea how simple this is?
DeleteAmsterdam
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “This one’s so easy it needs no clue. Nevertheless, it reminds me of when I used to get mad at my pet.” But my post got busted by our favorite Blog Administrator in Chief. A thousand pardons. And there was such a great tag line waiting for today: “Dam hamster” :)
My clues -
ReplyDeleteAs I enjoy my onion bagel with a schmear, my sense is there will be lots of correct entries this week.
Onion and sense share the same property. Similar to how sky dive boy clued.
Snipper, are you trying to schmear me?
DeleteNo - Schnipper just thinks “great minds think alike”.....and so do ours!
DeleteI came up with Amsterdam as being the answer immediately, or more accurately, it was the first city I thought of. I awoke to have a brief chat with Mother Nature, read the puzzle, did not write it down, but returned back to bed. So, I had no idea what the puzzle was really about, which is what do these words have in common. I happened to think of Amsterdam first only because it happens to be a hub city for some airlines. I doubted that was going to work and then thought it might have something to do with the cities ending in a vowel. I fell back to sleep and when I eventually got up I got the answer fairly quickly.
DeleteNow, as to Amsterdam. What a horrible city! Can you imagine the cacophony that goes on in a major city with almost a million residents all wearing heavy wooden shoes? Don't even think of going there. You won't even be able to find a store that sells shoelaces.
AMSTERDAM(The first two letters in order are the same as the last two letters.)
ReplyDeleteI, too, used a reference to Morey AMSTERDAM. The late actor/comedian starred as Buddy Sorrell on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" in the 1960s. Had I not quickly noticed autocorrect meddling in that last sentence, it would've come out "Duck Can Duke"! LOL
William Barr's admonition to Donald Trump to stop tweeting was either:
ReplyDelete1) An honest statement to remind 45 that the Department of Justice will act independently and based solely on the established law of the land.
2) Yet another deflection to distract the mass of people from that fact that 4 career DOJ prosecutors have quit, and hide the fact that the Attorney General and DOJ are once again abiding with Trump's commands - peremptorily reducing convicted criminal Roger Stone's sentence, who doubtless has a lot to say. All the while giving 45 a little wink to not worry, though they probably coordinated this "bold" rebuke in advance to give cover.
If you believe #1 I've got a great bridge for you.
Regarding William Barr, not that I have any pity for him, but I think the wear and tear of working with Trump is apparent in the pictures of him taken on his first day with Trump versus yesterday!
DeleteAMSTERDAM.
ReplyDeleteMy musical clue was Billy Ocean, due to his song "Red Light Spells Danger" and Amsterdam's famous Red Light district.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW66keO8Iew
For those Blainevillians who long for challenging puzzles, there are three especially challenging puzzles on Joseph Young's Puzzleria! that was uploaded abou an hour ago (see Blaine's PUZZLE LINKS).
ReplyDeleteThe three puzzles are:
1. Patrick J. Berry's (cranberry's) Valentine's Day cryptic crossword puzzle.
2. A "Schpuzzle of the Week," that is a "combo platter" of Kepler and Galileo.
3. A Riffing-Off-Shortz puzzle (Entree#1) that involves a seven-stop world tour by a 1970's supergroup.
If you hanker to chew on some tough but satisfying "mystery meat," visit our Puzzleria!
Anyone who can solve even one of the three puzzles listed above deserves a lapel pin!
LegoLamentsALackAlasOfPinsOrTieTacksOutToPass
I commented that Blaine was USusally scrupuloUS about not giving extra information, but that he had no choice this week (as he had to spell out La Jolla). It was a fitting puzzle for Oscar day, as the fame of fighter Oscar De La Hoya probably exceeds the fame of the California city, leading many NPR listeners astray.
ReplyDeleteOops. Sorry about the unususal spelling in that post.
ReplyDeleteOh, to be young and in Amsterdam. Commie pinkos!
ReplyDeleteI too came up with Amsterdam, but at first I had thought it was Warsaw. It took a moment to realize that the last two letters were reversed at the end of "Warsaw" vs the beginning.
ReplyDeleteRIP HQ
ReplyDeleteFor those who were wondering why I had counted 4 other national capitals, I had unfortunately turned to Wikipedia's List of national capitals, which included two cities which are not exactly the capitals of any actual country. Besides (and in fact, before) the listings of Manama of Bahrain and of Ouagadougou of Burkina Faso, it lists in the same box with El Aioun (declared), Tifariti (de facto) of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Azaz(listed after Jamestown) of the Syrian opposition.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: What familiar 10-letter word contains a silent B, E, and O — not necessarily in that order. And those three letters don't have to be consecutive in the word.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I don't have to endure this! --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteOver 800 correct responses this week.
ReplyDeleteThe answer seems to be calling to me.
ReplyDeleteThe "o" in "thumbdrive" is so silent, you can't even see it there.
ReplyDeletejan, wait, (wait, do tell me) -- I spot it!
DeleteIs there any word in which B is silent other than:
ReplyDelete(a) immediately following an M as in lamb and climb, or
(b) being followed immediately by T as in debt and doubt?
Bdellium.
Delete