This was extremely easy.Q: 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?
Edit: In other words, it was a cinch (like a belt). Also, if anyone did a reverse image search on the picture, you'd see I had to crop out a Taco Restaurant logo.
A: TACO BELL → COAL BELT
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.
I won’t be submitting an answer this week – I wrote the puzzle. I’ve enjoyed the work of many people, at Blainesville and elsewhere, for a long time – since the postcard days. Now I hope you enjoy mine.
ReplyDeleteI got my lapel pin 15 years ago so the use of this puzzle on NPR kind of closes the circle for me. I’ve submitted a handful of puzzles to Will before, but this is the first one he’s selected for use on the show. You might think it’s too hard, too easy, or just about right. In any case, I hope you have fun solving it.
Congratulations on getting your puzzle on the air!
DeleteThanks, Chuck. 'Twas an easy and enjoyable puzzle.
DeleteCongratulations Chuck. I've submitted about 10 puzzles to Will, none have been used. He is a tough cookie, that one.
DeleteAlso, happy birthday to Plantsmith!
Good job, Chuck. Now you deserve a pin for each lapel.
DeleteCongrats. Chuck!
DeleteBack at you Ben.
DeleteOoooh dirty.... I kid. Good job!
DeleteCongrats to Chuck. I have not solved his NPR puzzle yet but I am having fun trying. For me, anyway, it is not an easy puzzle. I am working on riff-off puzzles for this Friday's Puzzleria! (I always reprint Sunday's NPR puzzle on P!, along with a handful of riff-offs)
DeleteBut there will also be a second puzzle on this Friday's P! that was composed by Chuck. You'll find it in his recurring "Conundrumbstruck by Chuck!" feature. It is, IMHO, also an NPR-caliber puzzle.
LegoOnBoardTheChuckBandWagon
My birth year boasts the first drive through bank. from -where else-Sweden. I hope Ben your birthday dinner was better than mine. Me at Culvers.
DeleteI did well. Kids did take out sushi which we ate at a picnic table on a cool June night. It was nice.
DeleteI wish you another great (and puzzle-filled) lap around the Sun, Plantsmith.
I think I've got it. No clue, not yet, anyway.
ReplyDeleteFirst: Thank you, Chuck, for the puzzle. Yes, it was fun. Second: Thanks to Jan's comment at the end of last week's thread, I'm reasonably certain I do have the correct answer. Third, a clue: Angels.
ReplyDeleteRemove the first and fifth letters from the restaurant. Rearrange. You get one word for another place.
ReplyDeleteRemove the first, second and fifth letters from the restaurant. Rearrange. You get an instrument.
DeleteI have it as both the above clues fit my solution...
DeleteAn afterthought: if you omit the first and fifth letters as Rob indicated, it can be anagrammed twice more to a type of insect as well as a brand name of medication.
DeleteI guess it is not Out back.
ReplyDeleteI think the hard part for Blaine was finding his graphic.
ReplyDeleteBoth parts of the two-word name are associated with Santa Claus.
ReplyDeleteHo, ho, ho!
DeleteNice clue!
DeleteDoes this place serve phở?
ReplyDeleteNở.
DeleteBut I think you can get a Coke.
DeleteNở.
DeleteThen, I’ll have to go with one of the alternates.
DeleteI don't know if you can find phở in a chophouse. A chophouse is not a karate studio, but I suppose somebody could be wearing a black belt there, anyway.
DeleteMusical clue: Ohio Players, FIRE! -on both accounts...
ReplyDeleteI don't have the answer yet, but as I was looking I found 2 current political answers:
ReplyDeleteOlive Garden anagrams to either ORANGE DEVIL or GENERAL VOID
I thought he preferred Burger King.
DeleteAlso, I Love Danger.
DeleteI know the DC Elders renamed 16th St. to be BLACK LIVES MATTER Plaza. Which, with the bold yellow paint, was a fun joke.
DeleteBut wouldn't it be better to rename the 1400-1500 block of New York Avenue NW as "I'm With Stupid" -- because it's shaped kind of like an arrow, no?
No, Plantsmith. He prefers Bunker King.
DeleteI don't need this. I've got my niece's birthday to attend today.
ReplyDeleteIn the fair's fair category: Four years ago, a radio network produced and aired an in depth profile of a county in the subject area. The county was said to be the deepest of its political color of any county in the U.S. The profile was reasoned and instructive, and it included several on-location interviews. The network leans to the opposite end of the political spectrum. Sort of a know your opponent analysis to a degree which is rare. A clue? Well, the county has the same number of letters as the restaurant. I remembered that program when I arrived at a solution to this Puzzle. Political oil on the water instead of petrol on the flames. Quaint.
ReplyDeleteIf you change the 5th letter of the restaurant to N, then you can rearrange the letters into the name of a famous person in literature.
ReplyDeleteLancelot
DeleteWord Woman, are you still having your meeting next week?
ReplyDeleteUnsure as yet. I will know Wednesday if we will make the trek.
DeleteBut, certainly, I hope some folks from Blainesville may gather.
I emailed you about the meeting.
DeletePartially connected to a recent puzzle.
ReplyDeleteRailfans might know of a tie between the two.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard the term for the place before. Something about it reminds me of the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHow about Cat Ballou for a musical clue?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI explained it below. Nat KING COLE sang the title song as he appeared numerous times during the movie.
DeleteI just saw that, sorry.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteBlaine and everyone else, I am so sorry. I was in the process of sending my submission to NPR and when I hit send I saw it came up here. I have no idea what happened, but I really am sorry. Blaine, much to his credit caught it before I could finish my own deletion. How do you do it, Blaine?
DeleteI was wondering if the pandemic just had you losing track of the day of the week. :)
DeleteLOL. I am getting older, but I don't believe I've lost my marbles yet.
DeleteI truly am confused as to what just happened. Since I am a firm believer in the theory that there are no accidents, I must take full responsibility and blame for what happened.
I also have been wondering how you solved this one so quickly. I was going to give up as I never eat in chain establishments, and don't even know the names of many of them and don't care to know. But you know how it is with us puzzlers. We are a hopeless lot.
SDB - While you are atoning for one error, you may want to think about the way you attacked one of our long term regulars, ecoarchitect. He was so hurt by your behavior that he hasn’t logged on here in a month.
DeleteSZ - I think you have it backwards. He has been attacking me for some time now, and I had had enough, especially with the Joseph Mengele comparison. You also do not know about what was said in private emails. I would also add that he intentionally hurt me several times with some of his posts and my "behavior" had nothing to do with his slinking off in shame when I called him out on it.
DeleteI can only comment on what I saw...and add that the person who reaches out first with an olive branch, will always be remembered for the act of kindness.
DeleteYow. I think I missed this fight. How could I log on here weekly and miss a spat acerbic enough to lead to someone comparing another to Joseph Mengele? Wh'appen?
DeleteAnd I can only tell you that I kept trying to do that, mostly by ignoring his insults and hinting that I could respond in kind, but he kept upping the derision. He made several accusations about me that I did not respond to although they were all false, but I knew there would be no point.
DeleteIf i had been up at 1:30 am i might have seen it. Alas.
DeleteReese Witherspoon has a new book out.
Okay, I was able to put away another puzzle, with thanks to Chuck for the fun Wordplay.
ReplyDeleteWhich gives me six days left to open up my chain of ANGRY YIDDISH fast food breakfast joints, called RAGE LATKES.
Grand opening this Sunday in the GREAT LAKES region.
Gevalt!
DeleteI thought your chain would be The REGAL STEAK.
DeleteI don't eat meat, Ron.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletei think they have those Latkes- at Katz's Deli. Also called Latkes Diablo served with a habanero infusion.
DeleteWell, this cat is so far gone we can't even find the bag.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway: Same "restaurant," different jumble with the phonetic result that Abu Abbas never had time to consider.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one who's having difficulty with this one. Usually by this time of the week are complaining about the puzzle being too easy. At which point I start calling myself stupid.
ReplyDeleteSuch was the brilliant subtlety of Blaine's non-TMI comment of last week that I am loath to take this week's comment at face value. If it does have hidden relevance, I have yet to figure it out. Also, I'm not sure "extremely easy" is literally applicable! The answer is at least halfway obscure.
ReplyDeleteEasy...cinch...belt...okay. At least I was right about assuming it had some relevance! TLI.🙂
DeleteDoes the restaurant have an apostrophe? Is that too much to ask?
ReplyDeleteYou would probably have to ask for one; and then there would be a surcharge.
DeleteAsking is always okay. Providing useful answers is frowned upon.
DeleteI'm too cheap for that. Just got the answer. I got so excited I almost hacked up a lung.
DeleteWell done, DSB77! I'm afraid that you can ask anything you want around this crowd, but in return, instead of actual answers, all you get is encrypted snark (also known as "ranks".... )
DeleteOr I guess the Cryptic Crossword crew would call it "broken ranks" or something?
DeleteThe clincher.
DeleteStill can't get it. Not doing any better on Puzzleria! either.
DeleteIf you can't figure out Puzzleria!, I can find you an intro to the owner.
DeleteThe restaurant also anagrams into a restriction imposed on on-line casinos.
ReplyDeleteRegards.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI should have gotten this sooner, except I have never eaten at this food chain, so it completely fell off my radar.
ReplyDeleteThere is one particular "large area" of the United States that you could anagram until the cows come home and still leave many restaurant-worthy names undiscovered. I wandered aimlessly there for too long before looking at the hints.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteReally?!? Hmmm....
DeleteGot it now! Honest mistake, I swear. Never heard that term for the area and thought I was being silly. Had no idea I was actually on the right track after all!
DeleteMusical Clue: "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREUrbGGrgM
Which is, in fact, also a movie clue!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThree Mile Island
Delete"Qualified Immunity" sanctions Police Brutality. The Press never mentions this...
ReplyDeleteMan,I keep missing the clues that Blaine deletes before I can see them!
ReplyDeleteTo see all comments, as posted, check the, “Notify Me,” box, but you may then see some spoilers....
DeleteI'm 0 for 2 with my postings. Sorry, Blaine. I'm bordering on getting a cold shoulder. At least.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTMI
DeleteBlaine, you move too fast for me. Seems a dishonest man can't get a break!
ReplyDeleteMissed the show this week. Late to the party. Need to crack this fast.
ReplyDeleteSurprised to see only 200 answers last week.
Musical clue: "Gentle On My Mind".
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThree Mile Island, me thinks.
DeleteI didn't think it was that obvious but deleted it anyway.
DeleteYou definitely got the answer!
ReplyDeleteSad to say, no trek east for us this June.
ReplyDeleteWW , if you had made that trek would birding had been a part of it?
DeleteQuite possibly. Are you a birder?
DeleteThings here in Seattle with the protesters became totally peaceful after the mayor had all the police disappear. Why didn't they understand before that it is the police that cause the rioting? Anyway this does not seem to please our Criminal in Chief in Washington D.C.:
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2020/06/11/trump-demands-seattle-officials-take-back-cop-free-protest-zone/
How far are you from CHAZ- Capitol hill Autonomous Zone? Trump is on his way to save you from radical leftist Insley.
ReplyDelete7.7 Miles. I have told you before where I live and that it is less than 2 miles due East from Carkeek Park and Puget Sound.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteUp the Rebels. And. . . . how many electoral votes does CHAZ get?
ReplyDeleteHello, good citizens of Blainesville.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's Thursday, but it's time to don our Sunday best, because I've unearthed another missive from Pope Guglielmo.
Hear ye hear ye.
It seems our MendoJim may have unsettled our dear PuzzleMaster last week, who can solve and craft alike, but seems to have his chalenges penetrating Blogspot.
(Don't we all...)
So a missive was sent by the Pope, Saturday night, yet I did not unearth it until just now. It seems He has been lurking in these parts, so please sit up straight and mind your manners.
It reads:
Hi Ben,
Thanks for posting my note on Blaine's blog yesterday.
I've tried to add a post myself this evening (in response to Mendo Jim), but it keeps getting rejected. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
Hate to see this go to waste, tho. Can you post it for me?
--Will
And then, after a few choice words I shant repeat about our beloved MendoJim, he continues:
Just to explain: Entries for my weekly challenges go to NPR in Washington. I live in New York. I have no way to see them.
The "Weekend Edition" staff member who oversees the puzzle segment constantly changes. I must have worked with 50+ NPR editors over the years. Often these seem to be newbies. As the lowest people on the staff, they get assigned to handle the lowly puzzle. (That's my impression anyway.) Sometimes they're assiduous in poring through the entries looking for alternate solutions. Other times not.
Last week someone told me about Tate's and Senefed, which I thought were legitimate, so I mentioned them on the air. This week no one said anything about "two on one."
That doesn't matter, because (as I said) I wouldn't have accepted this anyway. I might have mentioned it as an "almost" answer, if there'd been time.
Hope this clears things up.
--Guglielmo (my name if I were ever pope)
So now we have a partial explanation. Still no verdict on the time of day we should submit, but we have begun to move closer to The Truth.
Yours in puzzling,
Ben
How about the May 10th puzzle (The TOYOTA COROLLA puzzle) where I submitted TEN alternate answers? Will mentioned none of them and he probably wasn't even informed of them.
Delete"And then, after a few choice words I shant repeat about our beloved MendoJim, he continues:"
DeleteUnless he asked you not to, you should.
Ben: If you won't, he should.
DeleteMore needs to be said on the subject, especially in light of Shortz's recent claims.
Thanks for sharing, Ben. Puzzling fellow, this Will.
Delete@ron, The puzzle submission page asks you to restrict to one submission. Perhaps they rejected your other 9.
Any last minute hints on this week's puzzle would be very much appreciated :).
ReplyDeleteI'll be happy to offer a "dead end," so as to not waste your time.
DeleteI spent a bit of time thinking about the THOUSAND LAKES area and its relationship to any STEAKHOUSE, but my meat search was not fruitful.
Think fast. 3 approaches.
ReplyDeleteTACO BELL >>> COAL BELT
ReplyDeleteMy Hints:
“I have never heard the term for the place before. Something about it reminds me of the pandemic.” If they serve beer Corona would be one choice.
“How about Cat Ballou for a musical clue?” Nat KING COLE sang the title song while he appeared at times during the movie.
I decided not to use COAT, which is an anagram TACO, as a hint.
It tool me way too long to solve this than it should have because I was looking for a “restaurant chain,” not a drive in joint.
That's a Jane Fonda film clue two weeks in a row (after The China Syndrome last week).
DeleteTACO BELL—>COAL BELT
ReplyDeleteAbout my “angels” clue: An allusion to the “Honky Tonk Angels”—Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, and Loretta Lynn, the “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” If I had identified it as a musical clue, I was pretty sure it would have been removed by a blog administrator as TMI (an abbreviation necessarily absent from last week’s puzzle clues).
P. S.: Following up on one of Rob’s posts: If you remove letters 1 and 5 from the restaurant’s name and anagram, you get in addition to “locale“ the following two words: “ocella,” which is a kind of butterfly, and “Ocella,” which is a generic brand of oral contraceptive.
TACO BELL -> COAL BELT
ReplyDelete> Both are associated with health hazards. [Deleted]
E. coli and black lung, e.g.
I protest this deletion. Chain restaurants in the news for health problems include McDonalds (1982), Jack-In-The-Box (1993), Burger King (1997), KFC (1999), Sizzler (2000), Wendy's (2006), Taco Bell (multiple), Jimmy John's (multiple), Frederico's Mexican Food (2013), Chipotle (multiple), Subway (2020), Olive Garden (2005), Country Cottage (2008), Habaneros (2003), China Buffet (2001), Chi-Chi's (2003), etc., etc.
> Both parts of the two-word name are associated with Santa Claus.
(Don't think I deserve coal in my stocking for my first comment.)
>> But I think you can get a Coke.
> Nở.
Taco Bell was bought by PepsiCo, whose fast food restaurant division became Yum! Brands, which still has a lifetime contract with Pepsi. No Coke.
> Railfans might know of a tie between the two.
Taco Bell founder Glen Bell (yes, it's named for him) was a railway enthusiast who, in the 1970s, opened the West Side and Cherry Valley Railroad, a narrow-gauge tourist line in Tuolumne, CA. His steam locomotives ran on coal.
(I'm surprised that skydiveboy didn't pick up on "tie" as a railroad pun. He must've gotten sidetracked.)
> Musical clue: "Gentle On My Mind".
By Glen Campbell. The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour was a 1968 summer replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which was pretty campy. If you remove "camp" from "Glen Campbell", you get "Glen Bell".
(Is it ironic that the guy who was famous for "Gentle On My Mind" went soft in the head?)
TACO BELL, COAL BELT
ReplyDelete"The clincher." pointed to clinker, a mass of incombustible matter fused together, as in the burning of coal.
Until I read "How to Boot a Steam Locomotive" 30 years ago, I thought clinkers were only the result of burning coal.
DeleteAh, yes. A friend wrote a Master's thesis on clinker so I learned A LOT about coal clinker. I want to spell it with a K, though.
DeleteMy grandfather used to talk about working as a breaker boy for pennies a day.
DeletePaul, very interesting. Thanks for the link.
DeleteI wanted to turn BREAD BASKET into BASKIN ROBBINS, but couldn't quite make the anagram work.
Yes WW , getting back to your birder question.
DeleteI am a novice birder.
Such an interesting pursuit. I am a novice, as well.
DeleteTACO BELL → The Appalachian COAL BELT.
ReplyDeleteRob's “word for another place” → LOCALE.
Charles' “instrument” → CELLO.
Bobby's “person in literature” → LANCELOT.
Dr. K's “insect” → OCELLA (butterfly).
Taco Bell>>>Coal Belt.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Taco Bell is no longer owned by Pepsi (it’s now owned by Yum Brands) you can only get Pepsi brand drinks there, which made my reference to getting Coke there more enigmatic than intended. My reference was actually to coke, the refined coal product used in steel making.
When Jan pointed out that you can’t get Coke at Taco Bell, I referred to an getting an alternate, without using the word cola, which as an anagram of coal I was afraid would earn me a, “…this comment has been removed…,” for my efforts.
Actually, SuperZee, I thought your little toss-off reply, "But I think you can get a Coke" was the best snark of the week. It's easy to ignore as irrelevant if you don't know the answer, and it's easy to miss even if you do, despite the immediate connection to coal. It was something of an homage that Blaine left it up and nobody cried TMI.
DeleteLance,
DeleteThanks so much for the comment. You made my day.
I submitted TACO BELL, COAL BELT.
ReplyDeleteMy musical and film clue was The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREUrbGGrgM
The lyrics tell the story of Virgil Caine, who lived in Tennessee, but is serving on the Danville Train in the Civil War. Tennessee and Virginia are the two ends of the Appalachian Coal Belt.
I included the video, because the song is sung by The Band's drummer, Levon Helm. Levon had a minor film career, as he was asked to play Sissy Spacek's father in Coal Miner's Daughter.
Ben
Great bio of him- "I'm not in this for my health."
DeleteGreat drummer. Anyone who can sing and play drums is drop dead genius.
Bruce Springsteen described The Band as having "two of the best white soul singers to have ever lived," referring to Rick Danko and Levon Helm.
DeleteThis is a great moment with Levon Helm in a great movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMSGB98sJEs
DeleteThe title of Puzzleria's "Riffing Off Shortz And Graham" puzzles early tomorrow in the really wee hours is "Run for the border, loosen your belt."
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget to check out Chuck's second puzzle on tomorrow's Puzzleria! It is a really nifty puzzle titled: "Mamas & Papas, Marimba? & Grammys."
LegoWhoAddsThatYouAlsoDoNotWantToMissPuzzleria!s"SchpuzzleOfTheWeek"Titled"FourOnAMatch"(It'sAboutTennis)
I spent way too much time playing with GREAT PLAINS, which might be the ideal 11-tile Scrabble rack. There are more than 400 two-word anagrams, including such promising restaurants as PEASANT GIRL, LEAPING TSAR, GRAIN PLATES, and TRIANGLE SPA, not to mention such one-word ristorantes as PANGLITERA'S. Alas, no chains.
ReplyDeleteI really thought, briefly, that Blaine's "extremely easy" comment was hinting at GREAT PLAINS.
DeleteIt was a *cinch*
DeleteBTW,
DeleteQ. Do you know where the Great Plains are!??
A. They are at the Great Airports!
That's funny. When I just now read the question I did not read the answer, but immediately thought that they are parked at the Boeing Renton Plant, South of Seattle. Then I saw your answer and laughed.
DeleteGlad you liked it!!
DeleteTaco Bell--Coal Belt.
ReplyDeleteThe above mention of Reese Witherspoon, who starred in "Walk the line." As June Carter Cash- the coal miner's daughter.
Never heard this term before.
Taco Bell, Coal Belt
ReplyDeleteI don't mind telling you that these puzzles are very easy. I wouldn't complain at something a trifle more difficult. If you've ever heard the BBC's "My Word" program from decades ago when we still had the vestige of a holistic tradition, you'd know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteThat is scholastic tradition. Even the default spell checker is stupid.
ReplyDeleteJust got the call from Weekend Edition that I was the puzzle winner this week.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Will you tell them who you are?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis is Matt M. from Bethpage, NY. Any suggestions what I should ask Will, if they offer me the opportunity?
DeleteCongratulations, Matt from Bethpage! Glad to see the Guyland REPRESENTING!
DeleteCongratulations! And good luck.
DeleteYou won't be unknown any more.
A bunch of us here have played before, Matt. So you'll get good advice here -- that you likely don't need. You will do well, I'm sure. The only thing that helped me -- listen to two or three previous segments and pay attention to what they ask and how the contestant sounds when they answer. When it comes to the puzzle part, take a breath and make certain you pace it well. If you answer too quickly, you may sound cocky. And if you take too long, well, they may edit those out anyway. So don't sweat it. Have fun!
DeleteCongrats, Matt from Bethpage, Unknown no more! Before I was jan from Cambridge and jan from NJ, I was jan from Massapequa.
DeleteI kind of miss the Massapequa Jan.
DeleteHow so? (I haven't lived there for 50 years.)
DeleteJust saw this, Matt M. Congratulations! I look forward to hearing you Sunday.
DeleteThanks for all the advice and good wishes! - Matt
DeleteMatt from Bethpage, Mazel Tov! I got the call about six years ago and here is one piece of advice that helped me that I have not seen yet. Have a paper and pencil at the ready, I was able to quickly write down the phrase I had to look for a solution in and it helped immensely. Best of luck, and yes, love to see the Guyland represented as well!
DeleteMatt here. Just finished recording the segment with Lulu and Will. The suggestion of having a pen and paper hand was crucial. It was a fun experience. I needed a couple of hints, but I got all the answers. And I did not resort to the cliche of saying I was "relieved" when it was over. Now I have a head start in figuring out this week's puzzle. Thanks guys!
DeleteWell, I figured out the answer to next Sunday's puzzle. I won't spoil it for anyone. - Matt
DeleteGlad for you that the taping went well, Matt. If you've solved next week's puzzle, who knows, maybe you'll play on-air twice in two weeks.
DeleteLegoAirApparent
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI got TACO BELL, COAL BELT maybe late Monday night after giving it about 20 minutes, or so. As I have with every puzzle answer for the last few years. With 3 wrong answers in about 2 years. I have to admit that I do feel a slight satisfaction at arriving at the correct answer. It kind of hits you in a way that you know it's right. But have I really, truly expanded my knowledge or even increased my brain power in any way? Does it matter? If you are content with solving puzzles that only need a database to solve and perhaps a touch of Asberger's syndrome, then you're in hog heaven. Whew-wee I can get the name Alice Munro out of almost the same letters as the name Len Cariou! Same vowels, anyway. Here's the point: we are living in a very unsteady and mutable time. That is the things that we know and are comfortable with are going to change. Some definitely need to. How many African-Americans are on this forum? How many ever play the Sunday puzzle? Folks, this is a miniature Klan rally.
ReplyDeleteAsperger's
DeleteKlan rally.
DeleteI wouldn't be welcome at a Klan rally because of my race.
DeleteI wouldn't be welcome at a Klan rally either. Then again, I've never been.
DeleteKlan rally? Nope, not for most of us here, I believe.
DeleteWhat an odd observation.
We Blainsvilians (Blainiacs?) may be clannish, and stick together as puzzle and wordplay lovers, but we are definitely not Klannish.
DeleteI'm working on my caper toss.
DeleteI'd be much happier with the Klan if they would (a) ditch the hoods and robes (b) stop the obsession with blacks and Jews and (c) spend the bulk of their time together solving puzzles and word play.
DeleteTime to move on? Too?
DeleteHave you tried Prevagen? It is supposed to help.
ReplyDeleteKlan Rally anagrams to RANKLY ALL. How fitting
ReplyDeleteSorry , but if you google “coal belt” and it doesn’t directly come up, then it doesn’t really exist.
ReplyDeleteAppalachian Coal Belt – US of Energy 2.0
Deleteusofenergy.com › region › appalachian-coal-belt
The Central Appalachian Coal Belt, which contains parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, is the middle of the three basins that comprise the ...
If you click on my COAL BELT above, it comes to that.
DeleteMy parents purchased their house November 1942 before it was finished. It is in the NW part of the city in a 5 square block planned neighborhood called Wedgwood. It cost $6,000. They wanted to buy a house in an even better neighborhood, Laurelhurst, that was asking $7,000. There was no way they could afford it. Their mortgage payments were $25.
DeleteIt was, and still is, a dream neighborhood where everyone knows all his neighbors and people do not tend to move on. It was a significant and rare, attraction, as I grew up, if a police car drove up the street. All N. Seattle neighborhoods had, and they are still on the books, covenants restricting Negro, Asian, Jewish and perhaps other people from purchasing homes therein. That part was not at all idyllic, at least as I look back on it now. Otherwise it was, although boring at the same time. And BTW my best friend back then was a boy whose father, but not his mother, was Jewish. I wonder how they got in. Maybe because he was a prominent Democrat who had connections and I recall meeting our governor at their house one time during an election.
Anyway each house had an attached garage with a small wooden removable panel that faced into the basement and it was used to transfer the coal that was delivered by truck to the garage into the basement. I do not remember if we had to do that task or if it was done by the delivery man.
I was still very young when my parents had the coal furnace converted to oil and only have vague memories of the coal period. It seems so long ago and not really of this lifetime.
Wikipedia has an interesting "List of belt regions of the United States"
DeleteMendo Jim, check out Wikipedia's LIST OF BELTS.
DeleteI wonder why they don't include the Leather Belt?
DeleteHey Mendo Jim and Ron -
DeleteDid you notice that when you follow that link and click “Coal Belt” from the list, it takes you to a page not titled “Coal Belt “ but instead “Coal Region” (and not sure that page even has a Coal Belt reference. It’s actually the only Belt on the list that this happens for.
Forget it, Snipper, it's Shortztown.
DeleteThanks skydiveboy and Ron. My point is that the answer itself doesn’t come up at the top of the google search, and when it does, it’s referred to as the Appalachian Coal Belt or Central Appalachian Coal Belt - - not “Coal Belt”. Which is also why several other bloggers haven’t heard of it. (In contrast to Rust Belt).
ReplyDeleteWell, as I said yesterday in my noon post, I never heard the term either. I had to google it to make certain it might work, and while it did not come up at the top, it did appear further down. Maybe this Sunday's offering will be about suspenders.
DeleteI am somewhat surprised no one mentioned Kohl's department store.
ReplyDeleteThe term Coal Belt is a contrivance, I think. The boys up at Black Diamond or Lonesome Pine are likely to use the term Coal Fields. As your token Deplorable, even I had never heard the term Coal Belt, same as our favorite Seattleite. The term Coal Belt is probably used by the same people who think the region is pronounced App-uh-lay-sha. In that vein, my reference to the county in my post earlier is Buchanan County, Virginia. Buchanan likewise is generally mispronounced.
ReplyDeleteI guess I could go with "Coal Fields," but I really prefer Sally Field.
DeleteCoal belt? What is that? I'm a coal cracker. I was born in Scranton and grew up in Hazleton and that is the Pennsylvania Anthracite coal REGION. Not called the coal belt.
ReplyDeleteAbout 30 years ago I was with a bunch of old hippies who mooned the klan on Juneteenth. All the police in their riot gear on big black horses just died laughing.
ReplyDeleteIt was great fun.
d.e.
So I assume it was riotous laughing?
Deleteriotless.
DeleteAlong with horsing around?
Deleteriotless.
ReplyDelete