I can't give a hint that doesn't give it away.Q: 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?
Edit: If I did give a revealing clue, someone would say it was TMI (too much information) but that abbreviation would also be too revealing. Bonus hint. In one of my replies I said "Cool".
A: THREE MILE ISLAND, ÎLE = ISLAND
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.
Almost 800 correct responses last week.
ReplyDeleteAre the words "second" and "third" in the right order here?
ReplyDeleteI believe so.
DeleteStrange. I have a pretty easy solution in which the last x letters of the third word are a French translation of the second!
DeleteCool, I'm going to have to work on your bonus puzzle!
DeleteIf I'm right about the real answer, they involve the same number.
DeleteThree of spades. The French, who do not pluralize the suits when naming cards, might prefer two of spade. In either case, I think those work as right answers to the wrong puzzle!
DeleteWhile America burns, Trump has China on the brain
ReplyDeleteTHE 100,000 DEATH TOLL.
DeleteI'm not a Republican, but I approve this message.
DeleteLife imitates art.
ReplyDeleteJust got it. Cool puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Dr. K.
DeletePuzzle-maker Scott Weiss of Walkersville, Maryland deserves kudos. And so does Blaine for coming up with another one of his beautiful-as-usual hints.
(No intentional hints in this comment)
LegoWhoDoesn'tEvenDeserveSudokus
It’s satisfying to understand one of Blaine’s clues so quickly.
ReplyDeleteBlaine's right. It's hard to come up with a clue, but here's a musical one: Elton John.
ReplyDeleteElton had a single, withheld from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, about his sexual escapades in Alaska. It was called "Four Inuit Night."
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI have two answers...
DeleteI am steady against the ups and downs of life.
ReplyDeleteI’m with Lorenzo - it’s great to understand Blaine’s clue so quickly. Interestingly, you can count on this “something” being found in a place which also has a French connection.
ReplyDeleteGreat clip-art, Blaine.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to need another cup of coffee for this one.
Take the first letter of the three words. Advance each letter one in the alphabet. You get the first three letters of a six-letter word used frequently in current news reports.
ReplyDeleteIt's a noble puzzle, for sure.
ReplyDeleteThink of a familiar three-word phrase. 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 an abbreviation of the third word. What's the phrase?
ReplyDeleteThis was the Sunday Puzzle's "This week's challenge" of January 12, 2020.
DeleteVery nice, Rob. You just created one of the "Riffing-Off-Shortz-And-Weiss" puzzles that I am preparing to feature on the June 5th edition of Puzzleria! Great minds think alike, I guess.
DeleteHere is a hint for "our" puzzle:
Genesis music video that was ubiquitous on MTV in the early 1990s.
LegoWhoBelievesItWouldBeACakewalkForRobToBeginHisOwnPuzzleBlog!
Wow, right you are Dr. K. My brain has officially turned into bubble gum. 'Tis perhaps high time I took a break from all this puzzle stuff.
DeleteLegoSufferingFromFourAndAHalfMonthTermMemoryLoss
I'm impressed with your operation, Lego. You are clearly way more coordinated than I am.
DeleteThanks for your comment, Ben. But I have read your excellent posts... And I see by your mental outfitness that you are a coordinated cowboy.
DeleteLego-Lambda
Thanks Lego. Coincidentally, "Streets of Laredo" is my favorite song about the streets of Laredo!
DeleteDr. K, your reference may itself reveal too much information.
DeleteJan, Do you mean the musical clue? I wasn’t sure myself. Do you think I should self-censor?
DeleteNo, the reference to the previous puzzle. See your first comment that week.
DeleteI just now learned that my first comment on Sunday that week was removed by a blog administrator. When I posted the answer that Thursday, I referred to the comment unaware that it had been removed. (But all's well that ends well: It was just a few moments later that I received the call.) In any case, I'm not sure I understand the concern, but I do think we are unlikely to see a certain abbreviation this week.
DeleteThe puzzle on that date had a similar mechanic to this one and your comment is actually the answer to this puzzle. So as soon as it was pointed out above, I deleted it retroactively.
DeleteThanks, Jan and Blaine. I could not recall the entirety of the comment, but mystery now solved and I, for the moment anyway, no longer count myself among the ranks of the nonplussed.
DeleteAre we to ignore a hyphen again this week?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteRelated to the puzzle's logic (but no hint):
ReplyDeleteFraternal twins in German are "zweieiige Zwillinge," or "two-egg twins." So the last two letters of the number form the first two letters of the next syllable. As it is a compound word, the next syllable in the German word corresponds to the next word in the literal English translation.
Not to mention that it contains five consecutive vowels: "eieii," in a vague compliment to MacDonald.
42 - 1
ReplyDelete--Margaret G.
Yes,yes,that works
DeleteI just got it while making a sandwich.
ReplyDeleteWas it bologna?
DeleteNo it must have been foie gras.
DeleteOoh, I finally caught on to Blaine’s hint
ReplyDeleteToo tough to follow my puzzle last week, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteAn array of ingredients, BirdQueen? Musically speaking, of course.
ReplyDeleteI usually don't check in here until I have a solution and am looking for confirmation. Just as usually, I don't get Blaine's hint. This time, however, I needed look no further. Clever.
ReplyDeleteHere is one of the Riffing-Off-Shortz-And-Weiss puzzles that will appear on this Friday's edition of Puzzleria! (Give hints if you wish but no answers please until June 8.)
ReplyDeleteThink of an unfamiliar three-word phrase for a handful of prosthesis-like props (including two spares) perhaps used by actress Kristin Bauer van Straten in a “Seinfeld” episode. The first word in that phrase is a number. Let’s call that number “x.” The “x” letters of the second word of the phrase (if you delete the apostrophe and insert an “i” in the middle, making it x+1 letters) spell a French translation of the third word. What’s the phrase?
LegoWhoFindsItIronicThatSomeCommentersWhoTryToHelpBlainePoliceGiveawayHintsMayRequireBlogAdministrationThemselves
Lego when you submit a puzzle to NPR do they tell you if accepted or is it just," gone with the wind"?
DeleteNPR usually, but not always, sends you an automated response. It is supposed to forwarded on to Will, who will contact you if he accepts it.
DeleteThanks.
DeleteAt Red Box today. Another movie on Robert the Bruce? Enough already.
DeleteNo clue from me, but, hon-hon-hon.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Pennsylvania native helps.
ReplyDeleteYeah, a similar something involved a Quaker
DeleteI finally came up with a solution, but it doesn’t seem to gibe with most of the clues. Then I remember Ron posting that he has two answers.
ReplyDeleteBack to the drawing board.
The significance of Blaine’s clue just hit me. Were I wearing a hat, I’d be taking it off to salute him. Well done sir, well done.
Delete(I’m still trying to understand some of the other comments - and come up with one of my own, but the bar has been set very high.)
The answer to this week's puzzle is interesting because a certain notorious person in the news has a (little?) hideaway whose pet name has that same French thing going on as the puzzleapuzzle. Skydive it would know what I mean, especially if he's so hooked on Death in Venice.
ReplyDeleteAre you referring to a place that recently burned to the ground?
DeleteWill Shortz occasionally stops in to Blainesville (with a frequency he would never divulge, of course).
ReplyDeleteIt is worth considering whether he realizes how often more care his contrivances are given here than they deserve.
This week's is a good example.
I am thinking that his April Fools' Day joke of a few years back would be welcome.
I submitted my solution yesterday, but still can't seem to come up with a hint that won't give it away, but when I do come up with one I'll post it, but don't hold your breath.
ReplyDeleteMusical Clue "Old MadDonald had a Farm" EAAIO?
DeleteThere's almost a connection to the March 22, 2020, puzzle.
ReplyDelete7920
ReplyDelete3 miles is 15840 feet, which is 7920 times as long as 2 feet, like the "two left feet" puzzle. Also, the Three Mile Island incident happened in 1979, and it is now 2020.
DeleteInteresting clues and puzzle. But the "French" part of the puzzle seems unnecessary. The phonetic pronunciation suffices as a synonym, the way I see it, or hear it.
ReplyDeleteIt works as a puzzle either way, but I think it is far more elegant as presented.
Deletei heard i-5 is shut down through the city and Macy's was looted at Bellevue square?
DeleteI-5 was closed early Saturday evening due to protesters.
DeleteThe protesters are peaceful. The protesters are not the ones creating the destruction. It is just like 21 years ago when WTO was here in Seattle and out of state anarchists came and created destruction and the police did nothing to stop it.
The police are also causing much of the violence by their behavior, as they have always done in the past. Yesterday our mayor and chief of police gave a press conference where they kept patting themselves on the back for how good a job they are doing. The police have been turned into a paramilitary army that is trained to use violence to control anything they do not agree with. It just keeps getting more and more out of control. You would think by now those "in charge" would have figured out that having police show up at peaceful protests in riot gear only creates problems.
I just now watched this 2 minute video that I found on the Seattle P.I. website that shows the police starting the violence against peaceful protesters. There have been 1,200 complaints filed in the last 3 days against the Seattle police.
Deletehttps://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/gv0ru3/this_is_the_moment_it_all_happened/
The battle in Seattle. WTO.
DeleteThese magnesium flash bombs are like smoke bombs?
DeleteYour Federal tax money at work with the result of militarized police forces all over the country.
DeleteYou know if the boys in blue got 'em, they're gonna use 'em.
I expect videographers will be taken out by
police snipers some day soon.
I-5 has now been closed again in both directions due to protests.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt’s taken far longer than usual to come up with an appropriate comment. I wonder, did Mr. Spock have this problem?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSorry, but no.
DeleteIt was somewhat refreshing today to see our dear president come out and decry looters and looting. He even went further, saying he was going to ignore the Posse Comitatus Act, and send in the troops.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I am having with all this is that I don't recall him saying if he is doing this in response to all the corporate looting of our treasury or the rather minor looting of a few corporate stores in some of our cities.
The looting has been neither minor, nor confined to a few corporate stores. The blight wrought by this sort of destruction can last for decades Does this black life matter? I think it does. https://youtu.be/Tgu_FoJbs4s?t=1410
DeleteAnd I say, "Shame on that selfish, narcissistic, Black woman who is nothing more than a throw back to the 1950's and 1960's when many Black citizens of the South decried what Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks and many others were doing to stop the White oppression and police violence. She obviously does not care a hoot for younger generations as long as she can get her dollar spray bottle of toilet cleaner. And she is certainly old enough to know better.
DeleteI also believe most of the destruction was perpetrated by anarchists and Right Wing White Supremacists who infiltrated the peaceful demonstrators, just as they did here in Seattle. This has become common practice ever since WTO in 1999 Seattle.
I had a realization Saturday afternoon, as I heard there was a curfew being enacted on Seattle by our Mayor. I wondered why. I knew there were protests, but did not know that they were as large as they were. So I turned on my TV and saw what was happening downtown. I watched it all evening and what I saw was WTO happening all over again. I hated to see the trashing of businesses, but I then began to understand that had it not been for the infiltrators creating their destruction I probably would not have really known what was happening. The peaceful protests that happen from time to time do not really seem to effect positive change or stop wars. Maybe this will be more effective, but I am still against rioting.
On the other hand I do want to thank you, David, for making me aware of Michael Knowles, who I can see is an up and coming replacement for the expiring Rush Limbaugh.
God Save Our Corporations!
Between the months of Covid and now the riots and continuation of racism (and the inappropriate response of the "Orange One" to it all)...am I the only one who's feeling helpless?
ReplyDeleteAfter listening to this morning's news I am getting a strong feeling that Trump is now attempting to turn the country into Tienanmen Square.
DeleteClark: We must vote! I am helpless with this puzzle. That is enough for me.
DeleteNatasha, If you are having trouble solving this puzzle it may be that you are misunderstanding it. Read it carefully.
DeleteOk. Tks sdb. I really enjiy pnb online ballet class. Great school.
DeleteI've been feeling helpless since January, 2017
DeleteIf i could only understand Blaine's clue, i would not feel so blue.But then again. What's new? How about you?
DeleteNatasha, certainly I plan to vote. On Inauguration my wife and I plan to drink champagne one way or another...hopefully in celebration not drowning for our sorrows.
DeleteC-A-P... My plans for January 21st are slightly different. Champagne if it's the end of the tRump era, bourbon if it isn't.
DeleteI prefer single malt scotch
Delete😀
DeleteAs a diversion from all the grim news, I enjoyed watching the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon over the weekend. Cool how they recovered the Falcon 9 booster rocket on their oddly named autonomous spaceport drone ship, "Of Course I Still Love You". (It's sister ship is "Just Read the Instructions".) No one else is currently using reusable booster technology like that, but I understand the Chinese are working on it for their Long March 8 rocket. Thinking of a fleet of similar autonomous recovery ships, with names like "Greed", "Envy", "Sloth", etc.
ReplyDeleteNo Coke, Pepsi.
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: Eminem - The Who - Joe South (What label are they not on?)
ReplyDeleteThere's a real musical clue that's a dead giveaway if the artist and/or song were mentioned. It was about this "name of something"
ReplyDeleteI have seen a couple of photos showing some police in riot gear at demonstrations taking a knee. Are they doing this to show solidarity with the protesters, or are they just practicing their kneeling technique?
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are the Knights who say "Knee."
ReplyDeleteThe thing that this puzzle describes got featured in at least one of the X-Men movies. Musical clue: Smashing Pumpkins
ReplyDeleteTHREE MILE ISLAND
ReplyDeleteMy musical clue: Elton John—>His 1975 #1 song was “Island Girl.”
On a more personal note, I lived for 6 years in Montréal, situated on the Île de Montréal, but there really wasn’t a way I could think of to turn that fact into a clue.
THREE MILE ISLAND >>> ILE DE FRANCE
ReplyDeleteMy Hint: "I submitted my solution yesterday, but still can't seem to come up with a hint that won't give it away, but when I do come up with one I'll post it, but don't hold your breath." (I'll is a homophone of Isle.)
Not in French, SDB!
DeleteI know that, Ben. That is why I did not say it is a homophone of Ill. That would be sick.
DeleteThat should be Ile.
DeleteTHREE MILE ISLAND
ReplyDelete>> This was the Sunday Puzzle's "This week's challenge" of January 12, 2020.
> Dr. K, your reference may itself reveal too much information.
The prophetic Dr. K posted the answer to this week's challenge nearly five months ago. Pointing there was TMI.
>> Being a Pennsylvania native helps.
> Yeah, a similar something involved a Quaker
Fukushima.
> There's almost a connection to the March 22, 2020, puzzle.
Colleen McCullough wrote The Thorn Birds. The governor of Pennsylvania at the time of the TMI accident was Dick Thornburgh.
> As a diversion from all the grim news, I enjoyed watching the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon over the weekend. Cool how they recovered the Falcon 9 booster rocket on their oddly named autonomous spaceport drone ship, "Of Course I Still Love You". (It's sister ship is "Just Read the Instructions".) No one else is currently using reusable booster technology like that, but I understand the Chinese are working on it for their Long March 8 rocket. Thinking of a fleet of similar autonomous recovery ships, with names like "Greed", "Envy", "Sloth", etc.
... The China Sin drones.
[Sorry.]
[Actually, no, I'm Fonda shaggy dog stories and bad puns.]
> Musical clue: Eminem - The Who - Joe South (What label are they not on?)
"8 Mile" minus "I Can See Fo[u]r Miles" minus "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" = Three Mile (Island Records)
1. THREE MILE ISLAND (TMI).
ReplyDeleteÎLE = ISLAND
Of course Blaine's clue, TMI, abbreviates “Too Much Information” as well as “Three Mile Island.”
2. TWO ON ONE, the “3-word name” for a kind of INTERVIEW.
ON = ONE (pronouns)
On ne sait jamais = One never knows.
Sorry, but NUMBER one in French is UN (masc) or UNE (fem).
DeleteOn (French) properly translates as we - as in the phrase, "Ici on parle anglais," or, "Here we speak English."
SuperZee, I'm guessing if you are a French speaker (I am "passable") then you know that ON is *way* more complex than you write here.
DeleteIn fact, ON does translate to ONE in many circumstances. You will have to trust me on this -- I have about ten family members who are native French and actually ran my alternate answer by TWO Parisiennes before typing it here!
Read this, for example:
https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-grammar/understanding-french-on-subject-pronoun/
And, if we are going to get super-Frenchy on this, then ON and ONE are a better answer. As has been noted, the proper spelling of "island" in French is
ÎLE and NOT ILE.
I won’t argue with a family of French speakers, but I have never seen a one franc note or a unicycle described with on...
DeleteLanguage is so much fun...
As is puzzling, with Blaine and our merry bunch.
See you Sunday!
Until then, bon chance,
"On" is NOT the number one, but the pronoun "one" and it's bonne chance.
DeleteMerci
DeleteSorry about the bon/bonne. Auto mangle strikes again. (It kept trying to insert bonnet.).
Anyone care for a bonbon?
DeleteAbsolument! As Ron noted above, ON is never used in French as the number one. But it is used as the pronoun ONE, as in ONE should never divulge the puzzle answer before Thursday at 3pm!
DeleteHere is the relevant paragraph from the French language page I linked to above:
On is the Impersonal French Subject Pronoun for One
This is what you probably learned in your traditional French book. And it’s not wrong. Traditionally, “on” means “one”.
However, when was the last time you used “one” in English? Heck, I am even having a hard time coming up with an example here!
When one is polite, one shouldn’t scratch his hair with a fork.
Quand on est poli, on ne devrait pas se gratter les cheveux avec une fourchette.
Nowadays, it’s much more likely that a more direct style would be used: “don’t scratch your hair with a fork” (ne vous grattez pas les cheveux avec une fourchette), “you shouldn’t scratch your hair with a fork” (il ne faut pas se gratter les cheveux avec une fourchette)….
And, although I'm now beating a Cheval mort, I went into Google Translate and asked it to Translate English to French. Here is my English:
DeleteONE should never divulge the puzzle answer before Thursday at 3pm!
Here is The French Reply of Le Google:
ON ne devrait jamais divulguer la réponse du puzzle avant jeudi à 15h!
QED
Ben -
DeleteIf you really want to know who uses "One" you probably have not seen the play: Butley, by Simon Gray. I highly recommend it. You can watch the film version that stared Alan Bates in the title role:
Butley movie review & film summary (1974) | Roger Ebert
I don't think my link works, but you can google it. Or this one seems to work:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwix_OrpxOnpAhUVJDQIHZwSAzAQwqsBMAJ6BAgbEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F120256609&usg=AOvVaw3za2H86ns33Py-sJdwE3t8
Three Mile Island.
ReplyDeleteThree Mile Island was often referred to as TMI, which has become a common abbreviation for Too Much Information, and appears to have been the basis for Blaine’s initial comment.
My question, had Mr. Spock ever had similar problems was a reference to his intellect. I don’t recall him ever having too much information and suffering data overload.
THREE MILE ISLAND. There is, in fact, a second ALTERNATE answer that works -- TWO ON ONE.
ReplyDeleteSee my comment to Ron, above
DeleteI beg to differ. See above.
Deleteis this different from a menage a trois? Sorry.
DeleteAnd where did you meet Jaco? And don't you have a birthday this weekend?
DeleteWow. Now I feel like I'm being stalked.
DeleteYes, my birthday is this weekend. And yet Will didn't call, he didn't write, nothing. Sigh.
And I will tell the Jaco story but right now my wife is ordering me to clean the attic. And she is meaner then the bouncer who "bounced" Jaco to his death.
You, me and Prince- what a band. I understand.
DeletePlantsmith -- I had no idea that you were also a member of the club. It's the sexiest of all birthdays.
DeleteYou, me, Prince, Tom Jones, Anna Kournikova, Liam Neeson, Emily Ratajkowski. And, of course, Thurman Munson.
Happy almost birthday!
Three Mile Island
ReplyDeleteThe last 3 letters of "mile" are "ile", which is French for "island".
We feature two wonderful "Worldplay" puzzles on tomorrow's Puzzlera!
ReplyDeleteThey were created by geofan (Ken Pratt), an extremely creative constructor of entertaining and educational puzzles.
Drop on by. Puzzles are us.
LegoWhoAddsThatThrereAreATotalOfFourteenPuzzlesOnTomorrow'sPuzzleria!(SeeBlaines'sPuzzleLinks)
THREE MILE ISLAND, ILE
ReplyDeleteEasier than I thought.
Three mile Island. My mention of Robert the Bruce also the "Earl of Carrick" was a riff off of Birdwoman's reference above.
ReplyDeleteThree Mile Island, ile = island
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I am steady against the ups and downs of life,” like an island is stable against the ups and downs of tides.
My clue
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, you can count on this “something” being found in a place which also has a French connection.
This was referring to Dauphin county, where Three Mile Island is. Dauphin was the eldest son of the King of France.
Face the Fire, Dan Fogelberg
ReplyDeleteIn 1970 my high school class toured TMI while it was under construction. One thing we learned is that it was 100% safe!!
ReplyDeleteOkay, kids, Blaine is our High Priest.
ReplyDeleteBut I have received a missive from the Pope himself, which I shall relate as a loyal servant.
The words from on high read as follows:
NPR handles the entries to my puzzle challenges -- I never see them -- and no one at NPR told me about TWO ON ONE. So it wasn't possible for me to consider your alternative.
However, just for the record, and sad to say, I don't think I would have accepted your solution.
First, the puzzle said the answer is a name. "Two on one" is a phrase, not a name.
Second, the puzzle said to take the "last 'x' letters" of the second word. You took the entire second word. So, clearly, you couldn't have had the intended answer.
And, finally, "on" is not a standard translation of "one," although I see how it could be interpreted that way.
For the record, the circumflex on the "i" in "ile" doesn't matter. It's the letter "i" either way. The same would be true for any diacritical mark.
If NPR had told me about TWO ON ONE, I would have mentioned it during my puzzle taping, because the alternative is interesting and close. But the taping for Sunday's broadcast was done about two hours ago, so it's too late. Sorry!
Please feel free to pass these comments along to everyone at Blaine's Puzzle Blog.
- Will Shortz
Cool! Mega cool!
DeleteHow did you get in contact with His Holiness, The Puzzlemaster?
I blow three tufts of smoke from my chimney and, if so inclined, he sends a carrier pigeon.
DeleteI have long suspected this was the case, and I believe I posted here recently that Will most likely does not see the entries. I don't think he has the time, and how would it even be done long distance?
DeleteBen, now you've probably ruined Mendo Jim's day, but yesterday you made mine because your post caused me to again watch my copy of Butley. It is only 2 hours 9 minutes, but it goes by so quickly, and what is one to do when one is hunkered down in one's house?
Well said doesn’t come close, but it’s the vest I can go on, “short,” notice.
Delete"NPR handles the entries to my puzzle challenges -- I never see them -- and no one at NPR told me about TWO ON ONE. So it wasn't possible for me to consider your alternative."
DeleteDoes the "Pope" really intend to say he has never seen any answers in all the years and never asked to be informed of alternative solutions?
Maybe even to infer he never knew there have been other possible responses to his decrees
(uh,answers)?
Never heard of a Ford Pinto or just happened to think of Tate's?
To coin a phrase, that is (papal) bull.
Unless Ben made it up, Will Shortz has just lied to us very much in the fashion of Donald Trump, a man of whom I believe the PM thinks highly.
Ruined my day, skydiveboy? It didn't improve it much.
Mendo Jim:
DeleteI think you are being very unfair, especially when you accuse Will of being in the Trump camp. In response to a puzzle suggestion I sent him the first week of April of this year he replied with the following which made mention to my email tag line that I have used ever since Trump took office. My tag line is: He is not my president!
April 7, 2020
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the NPR puzzle -- cute.
I'm not sure I love it quite enough to use it on the air.
But I appreciate the offer.
Hope all's well
--Will (who shares your sentiments about "our" president)
So I think it is time for Ron to head to New York's Lower Hudson Valley, where Will and I both live, for a respite. We can sign up for a special game at Will's Table Tennis club.
ReplyDeleteIt shall be a death match that goes by the name "TWO ON ONE"!
(We'll probably get creamed.)
If you reread my post, I did say a TWO ON ONE was "the 3-word NAME" of a kind of INTERVIEW. Just like a "one on one" is the NAME of a type of interview.
DeleteI did catch that, Ron. Kind of a pre-emptive strike against Will. And I agree with you.
DeleteI wrote to Will that I thought TWO ON ONE is also a name, as in if I said let's play TWO ON ONE, as in a game of basketball. A noun as far as I can see, certainly a name to my ear, and a phrase I have used.
I agree that THREE MILE ISLAND is *more* of a name, but I think it is a less perfect answer because the French word for ISLAND requires an accent circumflex over the I. But then again Will is a Crossword Editor In Chief and Crossword rules usually allow a word like GARCON or (almost every month) ELAN to be used without their accents, so in his world an accented I or E or C is interchangable with the neutral one.
That ESAI Morales sure has a natural ELAN. Whereas I find SELA Ward to be a bit BLASE.
Blaine, you did give a hint although most likely unintended. It is in your picture collage. The round of brie cheese could be taken for the popular brand: ÎLE de France. It didn't get me any closer to the answer, but I did notice it after solving the puzzle. I love brie, but there are better quality brands than that ubiquitous one.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Chad Graham, of St. Louis. Name a well-known restaurant chain. Rearrange its letters to name a large area in the United States. This area has a two-word name. What is it?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI protest this deletion. I've found at least 16 different restaurant chains that meet the same description.
DeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Chad Graham, of St. Louis. Name a well-known restaurant chain. Rearrange its letters to name a large area in the United States. This area has a two-word name. What is it?
ReplyDeleteJust over 200 correct responses this week.
ReplyDeleteWow. And how many of those were Blainesville regulars?! --Margaret G.
DeleteThe NPR website identifies today's on-air player as being from Auburn, FL, but she's actually from Auburn, ME.
ReplyDeleteSame thing, basically.
DeleteThere is no Auburn, FL.
Delete