Or change the penultimate letter and rearrange to get a car part. Or change it to a different letter to get a type of truck.Q: Think of a well-known European city in seven letters. If you remove the third letter, you'll get a two-word phrase describing what you must do to win a race. If instead you remove the fourth letter, you'll get a two-word phrase describing what you can't do to win a race. What's the city?
Edit: FANBELT or FLATBED.
A: BELFAST --> BE FAST, BE LAST
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.
Or, remove the third letter, add two letters and rearrange to get another car part.
ReplyDeleteOr change the first letter and rearrange to yield something you hand out...
ReplyDeleteHo hum
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of birds.
DeleteYou're welcome, guys. And I'm at our condo in FL as well! What are the odds?
DeleteChange one letter in the city’s name and you get an adjective that might be applied to an invalid.
ReplyDeleteOr just go back to bed.
ReplyDeleteThe trend of the hints so far completely confuses me.
ReplyDeleteBELFASF > BAFFLES
DeleteIn the on-air "Categories Of Categories" puzzle, the last entry was "Proofreader, Auditor / Board games". Will was going for "Checkers", but my first thought was "Careers".
ReplyDeleteMy alternate answer last week was DIAL. Department of idiots and liars. For some reason it did not make the cut.
DeleteRemove one letter and rearrange to name certain piano keys.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting....nice hint.
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DeleteNice clue, Chuck. Those keys could also be played as heavenly musical instruments.
DeleteI submitted BELFAST.
DeleteThis week I was enamored of Chuck's musical clue, hinting at B FLATS as "certain piano keys."
But I was also terribly saddened that nobody in Blainesville bit on my Cryptic Clue, that those certain piano keys could be "played as heavenly musical instruments."
The heavenly musical instruments were HARPS and I was therefore noting that B FLATS could be played AS HARPS, or actually A SHARPS.
I guess I'm the only musician in town?
Ben
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY !
ReplyDeleteThere should be quite a few correct answers this week. I've been there a couple of times.
ReplyDeleteAbout the posts thus far, to parody STC: "Anagrams, anagrams, everywhere / Nor any spot to think."
Congratulations to Patrick J. Berry on having another one of his puzzles again featured on NPR. This one, as his others, has very clever wordplay, the kind I wish I had come up with!
ReplyDeletePatrick, whose screen name is "cranberry," has an amazingly uncanny facility with words. He always, for instance, excelled at responding to Will Shortz's "Two-Week Creative Challenges," and he is a crafty constructor of Cryptic Crossword puzzles, 15 of which have been featured on Puzzleria!, including his latest in the current edition.
(no intended hints in this post)
LegoNonCryptically
Gracias Arandano.
DeleteHigh praise indeed, Lego. Thanks.
DeleteThe website version doesn't mention the new puzzle being PJB's, though.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why that is? I had to hear it from the PM himself!
DeleteUnfortunately this city reminds me of the orange man in the White House!
ReplyDeleteI got this answer really quickly; it was actually the first city I thought of!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a current diet trend
ReplyDeleteIf you remove the middle latter and rearrange, you’ll get a location of a certain race participant.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure y'all are going to get the answer to this before me. :( --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteOr change all seven letters, remove the fourth letter, then rearrange to get any six letter word you wish.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Best post of 2020 thus far!
DeleteLegoWhoAdmiresAndEnviesBen'sImmenseSenseOfHumor
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Delete-- blush --
DeleteThank you, Lego.
Random question... Has anyone else been on air (I was a few weeks ago, the MAYBE categories) and had issues with their lapel pin arriving safely? My letter arrived as a regular paper envelope, but the corner was ripped (I assume by a USPS sorting machine that didn't like the bulky pin) and it was completely empty. Nothing inside.
ReplyDeleteI don't really care too much, since I don't wear lapel pins, but I would have given it to someone that wanted it. Just wondering if anyone else had the similar issue with improper packaging/lost lapel pins. Maybe I'll let them know that's not the best way to send it...
I think you should ask them to send you another one. I don't recall problems with the pin, but DID have to call a couple of times to get the books/Scrabble set, as no one ever seemed to actually send them!
DeleteI was on in December, after a couple of months I emailed to say I never received the pin, or any books or puzzles. I did get a reply and the pin arrived about a week later. Never received the puzzles, but that is okay, I just wanted to wear the pin with pride. Also, about a week after I was on air,I received in the mail an invitation to join some puzzle group. Little weird.
DeleteI played on the air round June 2008. I did get a bunch of Puzzle Books and a Lapel Pin in the mail shortly thereafter. But I don't know where it is.
DeleteThe reward is neither the pin nor the journey. The reward is getting the chance to turn the tables and waste some of Will Shortz's time for a change.
I was on air exactly 3 years ago. I got the Scrabble game right away, but never received the books of puzzles and games. I had to write and email and phone to finally get my pin. I sold the pin for $100 and the Scrabble game for $25.
DeleteLego tells me he never received his Scrabble game.
When I was on it took about 4 weeks for the lapel pin to arrive. That is the only prize I really wanted. Another month later some puzzle books appeared. Two weeks after that the scrabble game arrived in a box that was six times too large. In those days hey were still offering the collegiate edition of Webster's dictionary as a prize but it never came. I always wondered why someone didn't tell an intern to divide 6 months worth of prizes into 26 appropriately sized boxes and then they'd have them ready to go.
DeleteSDB - do you have a link to the recording of your on air play?
DeleteYes, just google this:
Deletenpr puzzle mark scott
I tried doing a cut and paste, but it does not work that way.
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ReplyDeleteIt can’t have Taken long.
ReplyDeleteLiam Neeson is from Northern Ireland and began his acting career in Belfast.
DeleteI suppose I should have heard of Tates, but Senefed? Google it. A backhanded concession to years of the problem.
ReplyDeleteThen almost the easiest on-air piece ever.
Then a softball from our very own Cranberry.
We pay him for this, you know.
Tates was famous for making compasses...until, due to a manufacturing error, they produced a batch with the magnetic poles reversed. Which is the sources of the phrase, “He who has a Tates, is lost.”
DeleteSorry.
Groan. Just wait awhile. The Tates compass will be good after a time...
DeleteCharles Manson is not Sharon his Tates.
DeleteWW - I’ll keep my Tates compass with my stopped watch. It’s at least correct twice a day.
DeleteNo apologies please, SuperZee. The louder the groan, the more clever the pun! And, if anyone knows about magnetic poles it is Word Woman, geologist extraordinaire.
DeleteLegoWhoseMagneticPersonalityAlasRepelsPeople
Au contaire, LegoSign-Off.
Delete●■●■●
On another note: Naga-1.
Not sure any compass is going to be good for long. (What happens when the South Atlantic Anomaly hits the Great Pacific Garbage Gyre? Or the Bermuda Triangle?) (Do all three form the Great Atlantic and Pacific T company?)
DeleteOn the subject of groaners, Marie Curie was once asked why her lectures drew such large audiences. Her reply, "I'm just a magnetic Pole."
DeleteWhen the audience laughed did she glow?
DeleteAny libraries open in Seattle yet? Here in GA some are opening and i am "dying" to go.
DeleteLibraries, what are libraries?
DeleteNo compass jokes allowed in our terribly polarized nation.
DeleteGot out my Brunton compass (officially a pocket transit) today. Waiting for the poles to change on a lovely, rainy Colorado day.
DeletePlantsmith:
DeleteActually the libraries are still still. I do miss them, but have lots of books to read and hundreds of movies to watch. Right now I am close to half way through a large book I've been meaning to read for some time now. It is the story of two young buds who decide to go on a camping trip that will take a couple of years or so. Along the way they get to travel in boats, on horses, and sometimes on foot. They enjoy sleeping in tents most of the time and do a lot of hunting and fishing along with much drinking and knitting around the campfire at night time. They also enjoy attending lots of "meet and greets" along the way and have all kinds of adventures. Oh, and did I mention that this all takes place just a little over 2 hundred years ago?
Oh Yea Lewis and Clark.
DeleteSo you heard of these guys too, huh?
DeleteYes, I'm now reading "Undaunted Courage' by Stephen E. Ambrose. I've been meaning to get to it for years now, but something else always got my attention and prevented me from reading it.
Here is the funny thing. Right after I posted that above one yesterday I sat down to begin the next chapter, which is, Winter at Fort Mandan - December 21, 1804—March 21, 1805. It is chapter sixteen and begins on page 191. It details how the men wintered with the Indians there and how extremely cold it was. The very first paragraph is only a single sentence, and one of the oddest chapter beginnings I have ever read. Here it is:
It was always cold, often brutally cold, sometimes so cold a man's penis would freeze if he wasn't quick about it.
After I read that I immediately thought, "I bet they had to be careful when they urinated too." Now I was laughing out loud and thought how interesting it was that I only discovered that absurd sentence right after I posted about the book yesterday. Had I read just one sentence further the night before I would have mentioned it then. My life has always been filled with these odd coincidences.
I really miss the libraries too, but am glad I have books here I have not got to yet.
I grew up in Vancouver, Wash. Lots of Land C. history there with Fort Vancouver-etc. I was always amazed they never ate Salmon and considered it only fit for the dogs. Is Fort Mandan where they stole the canoe?
DeleteI don't know anything about a canoe, but I doubt they would have stolen anything from the Mandans. I have long known they hated salmon. Apparently they were feasted by the Indians along the Columbia River who let them gorge themselves on salmon. They then got sick and preferred eating horse meat thereafter.
DeleteThere was a big ceremony a couple of years back-several when the canoe- or a canoe- was returned to the Chinooks?
DeleteThe Mandans were half the continent East of the Chinooks. Don't you know L&C wintered with the Mandans prior to proceeding to the West Coast?
DeleteWell, of course, everyone knows that.
DeleteWell then why are you asking me if they stole a Chinook canoe from the Mandans? Where is the logic?
DeleteHey- don't tread on me.
DeleteThink of a well-known European city in eight letters. If you remove the third and fifth letters you'll get a two-word phrase describing something you don't want to do in a race.
ReplyDeleteAnd, think of a well-known European city in eight letters. If you remove the third and sixth letters you'll get a two-word phrase describing something you don't want to do in a race.
DeleteToulouse-->To Lose
DeleteI don't understand why he keeps dumbing down puzzles like this by informing us it is in 7 letters. There aren't all that many qualifying cities with only 7 letters. I believe the puzzle would have been slightly better had no letter count been provided.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. This was literally the first city came to mind (with 7 letters).
DeleteRemove the middle 3 letters to get a word that describes the winner of a race.
ReplyDeleteThe winner is the best!
DeleteNothing to do with the puzzle, but I was surprised by how differently my wife and I viewed Spike Lee's new 3-minute New York, New York. She really liked it, while I thought the video montage was amateurish, with the mood shifting unaccountably from self-pitying to self-congratulatory. Also, I'm a few years older than Spike, but the music playing in my head as I biked through newly-empty city streets, at least early on, wasn't Old Blue Eyes, but "Waltzing Matilda", from "On The Beach".
ReplyDeleteFor the first time ever I solved this before the next segment started. Now have the whole day and no Indy 500 to watch.
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: Mrs. G.
ReplyDeleteEuropean?
ReplyDeleteGood point.
DeleteBrexit took Belfast out of Europe.
DeleteNo it didn't. It just took it out of the EU. All these countries are European, but not members of the EU:
DeleteAlbania*
Andorra
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bosnia and Herzegovina**
Georgia
Iceland
Kosovo**
Liechtenstein
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro*
North Macedonia*
Norway
Russia
San Marino
Serbia*
Switzerland
Turkey*
Ukraine
United Kingdom (left EU on January 31, 2020)
Vatican City
Iceland is only partly in Europe.
DeleteAs the huge Enya fan that I am, I'm proud to say that as this morning's puzzle was being said, I happened to be thinking of a TV show that aired in Europe over two decades ago, in which Enya happened to mention the city's name.
ReplyDeleteThe show was "Music From The Bridge". In it, Enya mentions that "Nicky's {referring to her producer, Nicky Ryan} from Belfast."
DeleteRemove two letters to get a not uncommon occurrence in that city in the late 20th century.
ReplyDeleteDrop a letter and rearrange to get a place where a racer might stay.
ReplyDeleteDouble the third letter and switch the vowels to get something bipartisan for a change.
ReplyDeleteBall + Fest = Two parties
DeleteThe second word of the first phrase is the shortened title of a long-running film franchise. If you string together the city and the two phrases in order (and add the necessary punctuation/conjunctions), you'll get what sounds like the title of a film in said franchise (subjectively speaking)
ReplyDeleteThe hotel was By George
ReplyDeleteBest we could afford
Don’t take the Titanic
Across the Atlantic
You’ll never make it ashore
What do you get when you cross the Atlantic with the Titanic?
Delete.
.
.
.
Halfway!
(Fozzie Bear)
It tolls for thee.
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to listen to President Trump give his Memorial Day speech today, but my bone spurs were acting up.
ReplyDeleteThat excuse sounds spurious.
DeleteFake news! You are a terrible blogger! What a heel.
DeleteShame on you SDB, your letting your anger get a toe hold!
DeleteOkay, if you say so, Clark, I don't want you to become my arch enemy and destroy my sole.
DeleteOK you win the punning contest, I guess I'll just tiptoe away.
DeleteI guess I nailed it this time.
DeleteCareful, careful, careful, you don't want to get your foot in your mouth.
DeleteWelt said.
DeleteI wonder how many more of these we can cobble together.
DeleteIf eyelet you know, will you stop?
DeleteIf we don’t stop, we might get booted off Blaine’s.
DeleteNaw, we're just a couple of loafers.
DeleteSome of these fall flat.
DeleteAnd others are slippery.
DeleteUgg!
DeleteNo flip flopping
DeleteYeah, that might clog things.
DeleteWhat a croc!
DeleteAnother stiletto sharp witticism
DeleteSeems like I've opened a Pandora's shoe box
DeleteNow you're just pumping it.
DeleteLaugh and complain all you want; just don't mock a sin.
DeleteIt's time we Chuka'd this
DeleteGuys, put a sock in it.
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ReplyDeleteNatasha, I didn't see what you deleted, but I can only think you were trying to (shoehorn) in!
ReplyDeleteClark, I had a spelling error. "All this is clogging my brain." Then noticed SDB used clog and deleted. Tks for asking. Yes and also thought that I was shoehorning and would not be appreciated. I am pretty straight laced about stepping on one's toes.
ReplyDeleteClark: noticed I misspelled nonsense "All this nonsense is clogging my brain." original. Now to my online ballet class where I can learn to keep on my toes.
ReplyDeleteWe had our answer immediately on Sunday. I was amazed how easy it was for me.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBELFAST, IRELAND >>> BE FAST & BE LAST
ReplyDeleteMy Hint: "It reminds me of something that didn't happen this year." St. patrick's Day parades.
To those who've been looking for that post, it was in last week's thread.
DeleteTo that post I had replied:
The thing that didn't happen this year, NEVER HAPPENED in the answer city either. The name of it is the only connection.
My apologies, SDB, I thought you were referring to the Summer Olympics, and the Titanic was the 2nd of 3 Olympic-class ocean liners built in Belfast.
Belfast, be fast, be last
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Remove one letter and rearrange to name certain piano keys.” Remove the e, rearrange and you get B-flats.
I wrote, “Change one letter in the city’s name and you get an adjective that might be applied to an invalid.” That’s BEDFAST.
ReplyDeleteBELFAST
ReplyDeleteThe "Naga-l" (aka Naga-1), a spacecraft, is an anagram of the River Lagan:
Delete"Belfast, Béal Feirste, meaning "mouth of the sand-bank ford" is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast."
BELFAST, Capital of Northern Ireland.
ReplyDeleteTo win, you must BE FAST.
To win, you must not BE LAST.
Change the first letter and rearrange → LEAFETS
BELFAST—>BE FAST, BE LAST
ReplyDeleteMy musical clue “Mrs. G.”—>“Madame George” by Van Morrison, native of Belfast
I realize that as a clue “Mrs. G.” is not only necessarily allusive and oblique (I had thought “Madame G.” as a clue might have been too obvious), but I also realize it’s possibly misleading, as the figure of Madame George in the song is not only not a “Mrs.” and but almost certainly not even a “Madame.” On the other hand, here’s what Van Morrison said about the character of Madame George (as well as some of the other songs from his album Astral Weeks): "It's like a movie, a sketch, or a short story. In fact, most of the songs on Astral Weeks are like short stories. In terms of what they mean, they're as baffling to me as to anyone else. I haven't got a clue what that song is about or who Madame George might have been."
Not familiar with this piece and just watched a weird video of it. When Madame George came on they flashe a pic of Boy George. Is there some connection? Stream of consciousness it would seem.
DeleteThe wee musical genius from Belfast.VM.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no relation between Van's "Madame George" and Boy George.
DeleteBelfast>>> Be Fast, or Be Last
ReplyDeleteMy comment, that coming up with an appropriate clue was a titanic challenge, was a reference to the RMS Titanic, built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
Belfast, be fast, be last.
ReplyDeleteBELFAST -> BE FAST, BE LAST
ReplyDelete> You know what knights say.
"NI" could stand for "Northern Ireland".
My hint about diet trends referred to intermittent fasting
ReplyDeleteTomorrow's Puzzleria! features a "Conundrum Set" by Mathew Huffman consisting of a trio of "filthily lucrative" puzzles.
ReplyDeleteDrop by and frolic in the "dirty money!"
We offer 13 puzzles in all.
LegoAddsThatThe"SchpuzzleOfTheWeek"AsksYouToFindTheTitleOfATwentiethCenturyNovel
I submitted BELFAST.
ReplyDeleteThis week I was enamored of Chuck's musical clue, hinting at B FLATS as "certain piano keys."
But I was also terribly saddened that nobody in Blainesville bit on my Cryptic Clue, that those certain piano keys could be "played as heavenly musical instruments."
The heavenly musical instruments were HARPS and I was therefore noting that B FLATS could be played AS HARPS, or actually A SHARPS.
I guess I'm the only musician in town?
Ben
Yes, i'm a drummer.
DeleteGuitarist.
DeleteI'm a bassist. Sounds like we've got a Blainesville Band in the works. "Take the Last Train to Blainesville and I'll meet you at the station...."
DeleteMusic is always better if it is laden with lots of bad puns...
DeleteI watched one of the Jaco documentaries. Gone at 36 very sad. A tortured life. Where did you meet him?
DeleteMy cousin is a pianist- Kerry McCoy- I could ask him. Have you heard of bassist Dave Friesen.? I took some jazz lessons from him back when i lived in Seattle. He is in Portland. Upright bass dude.
I too am a musician - both career wise and hobby wise! I did understand your clue but failed to comment!
DeleteMy clue -
ReplyDeleteIf you remove the middle latter and rearrange, you’ll get a location of a certain race participant.
You get stable, for a race horse.
I think Charles was thinking similarly.
And Ben, I tickle the ivories but unfortunately didn’t pick up on your clue which was a good one!
"Tickle the ivories". Isn't that an elephant mating ritual?
ReplyDeleteIvory much doubt it.
DeleteThat's the black and white of it.
DeleteVery klavier.
DeleteTusk, tusk....
DeleteWhen I started this punning thread, little did I realize that I was opening such a large trunk!
DeleteIt's a mammoth problem.
DeleteJumbo
DeleteWe will have to move soon, due to lack of trunk space.
DeleteYe gads everyone is trying to out trumpet me!
ReplyDeleteBetter to be out trumpeted than to be out Trumped...I couldn't live with myself
ReplyDeleteWell done everyone! I look forward to tomorrow's challenge, whoever submits it.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Scott Weiss, of Walkersville, Md. Think of a familiar three-word name of something. The first word in that name is a number. Let's call that number "x." The last "x" letters of the second word of the name are a French translation of the third word. What's the name?
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Scott Weiss, of Walkersville, Md. Think of a familiar three-word name of something. The first word in that name is a number. Let's call that number "x." The last "x" letters of the second word of the name are a French translation of the third word. What's the name?
ReplyDeleteSharky's back in business:
ReplyDeleteTfsxrg, idyshi fh fil sinxly lwmu vggetrv.
Vyugcrmwx etwutyy vdiug'l lwfykkw xwaivbgh
DeleteObsi edhmn lwi mxqqggh?
DeleteCyqlstw vywbif hcuq jrnxkm gilgkk lwestm an sh wwvz
DeleteKeyword: SUSPECT (alluding to the SUSquehanna River)
DeleteAh, never made the connection.
Delete