Q: Think of a six-letter word for something you might wear. Insert an "O" in the exact middle, and you'll get a phrase meaning "Not aware." What is it?A Rubik's Cube
A Rubik's Cube is 3 x 3 x 3 which is 27. The 27th president was TAFT who shares the same 3 consonants (in order) as the answer.
A: OUTFIT --> OUT OF IT
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.
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ReplyDeleteDum dee dum
ReplyDeleteWell that took about 10 seconds.
ReplyDeleteWhat an ordeal.
ReplyDeleteMom liked lego's hint best.
DeleteThe six letter word isn’t always a noun.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete767 correct responses last week.
ReplyDeleteTowel
ReplyDeleteTowel = Nudist outfit
DeleteNudist outfit = out of it
Talk you
ReplyDeleteI think my GF will have an easier time with this than me.
ReplyDeleteI think so. My DW solved it before Will's second reading.
DeleteDW = Dishwasher? Dear Wife? Deep Water? DW is a new one to me. Hoping for the middle term. :-)
DeleteHah! Dishwasher is the first thing I thought of too.
DeleteAnd I thought Dear Wife (Hamilton lyrics on my mind)
DeleteAs always, there are a number of fortuitous comments here...
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: Led Zeppelin.
ReplyDeleteTake the first four letters of the thing you might wear, rearrange, and you get a beloved and reviled food.
ReplyDeleteI love spam.
DeleteThe week-long challenge is pretty easy, but I am impressed by how many names Will came up with for that on-air puzzle. After about fifteen minutes of straining to come up with another, I managed to get YAM (cellist).
ReplyDeleteActors and Actresses--adrenals, cable, cairns, cartels, clarets, clove, coldly, crestal, dearly, elide, jangle, joists, presells, register, roomer, saints, satins, sear, sera, stains, stenos, stones, tired, tried.
DeleteSome without rearranging--thanks, crock, troth, sparker.
I could almost hear members of this community saying "Hold my coat" as soon as I posted my comment. FloridaGuy has a good list (although I might need to look some up later). Here's another actor: ARRIVED.
DeleteI came up with THANKS.
DeleteMost of the famous people were not contemporary. In fact all but one were dead.
Reminds me of an egg-timer. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteClever puzzle, by James Matthews of Little Rock, with nice homophonic wordplay.
ReplyDeleteHint: A Texas city.
LambLad
Rubik and his cube. What an invention
ReplyDeleteIt was his birthday last Monday on the 13th.
DeleteRubik and his cube. What an invention
ReplyDeletei csn think of a person who exemplifies this phrase
ReplyDeleteI think I know who you mean.
DeleteTook awhile to pen this answer.
ReplyDeleteI was in 6th grade in 1970 and ended the decade in college.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago a doctor asked me if I had done any (street) drugs. I looked at him and said, "I am a product of the Seventies". He got it. In HS, kids would come back from lunch reeking of pot. I attended Indiana University, at the time, the #1 party school. It was almost a challenge to see how out of it one could be.
DeleteI started PA school 20 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe two of you are making me feel old.
DeleteMy college graduation was in 1969.
You are old. Me, too. My college graduation was in 1974.
DeleteSo, PA school was for a second career. What was your first?
DeleteYou're asking me to explain my clue before Thursday?
DeletePretty quick solve. I checked my answer in a dictionary. I can find the “something you might wear” at a store in the city near me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lacek that the on air questions were clever but haven’t tried to think of others.
I've found a few:
DeleteADRENALS (actor)
REFERRED (athlete)
Some need no rearrangement:
SCURRY (athlete)
THANKS (actor)
But, as I noted at the end of last week's blog, I thought the names Will used on air were pretty stale. How many people under age 50 are going to think of Ava Gardner or Marilyn Monroe if you say "actress"? (And why are we still saying "actress", for that matter?) How many remember Patsy Cline, or even Ross Perot?
Good ones Jan! The “scrambled” athlete is among my faves and someone my son “worked for” while playing.
DeleteNice clue! Took me a second.
DeleteAgree with Jan on age of famous people.
DeleteReferred is a nice clue!
Sometimes this is my preference.
ReplyDeleteI found this one pretty easy. But, it's so easy, just not aware of a hint I can provide.
ReplyDeleteI think I've solved it!
ReplyDeleteThere is a phrase for what you might do to this puzzle. The first letter of the first word of the phrase and the words after the first word of the phrase can be anagrammed into the answer.
ReplyDeleteFigure it out. Fitout->outfit
DeleteSadly, I am not aware of the answer.
ReplyDeleteDisregard previous message.
ReplyDeleteI must have glossed right over it the first time. What a long list of articles of clothing!
ReplyDeleteYou might have solved it sooner if you had looked for the answer in a list of the articles of impeachment.
DeleteThat? I haven't worn one of those in about a year.
ReplyDeleteI've got it, but can't think of a clue, can you?
ReplyDeleteMovie clue "Pretty in pink"
DeleteMy clue: e
ReplyDeleteCareful!
DeleteThanks Ben, now I have it! Hopefully without giving too much away, I have a chain beginning e; Euler's number (2.71828...); Leonhard Paul Euler; etc. Is that what you have? It does occur to me that there might be more than one way to go.
DeleteNope, my chain goes from e to Wile E. Coyote, but if I tell you more, then Blaine will delete me....
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ReplyDeleteTMI
DeleteWith a little effort, anyone can sew a silk purse purse out of this sow's ear!
ReplyDeleteMy sister in law is highly attentive when it comes to matching shoes and handbag.
ReplyDeleteShe is never out of it when she puts together her outfits.
DeleteAnother disappointing "challenge" that didn't.
ReplyDeleteExcept for the fun Lulu's Lake poser, the average solution time over the last ten has been in the well-under five minute range.
I think skydiveboy needs to give us Will's email addy so we can make sure he gets our alternative answer submissions too.
If the PM he does not attribute a puzzle (i.e., give credit for it), does it means he made it up on his own?
And, since I can't remember a time when he has attributed the on-air part, does that mean he makes all those up himself?
MJ:
DeleteI'm beginning to fear you're suffering from Shortz Derangement Syndrome.
Not to be confused with Shorts Rearrangement Syndrome. Although there may be a connection.
ReplyDeleteYou should talk.
DeleteMy clue: Chicken.
ReplyDeleteIs there such a garment as a rolled overcoat?
ReplyDeleteJean Paul Sartorial.
ReplyDeleteOne thing you don't see in the South is socks with sandal - a Northwest regular look.
ReplyDeleteShame on you for disclosing our shame! :-)
DeleteI recently bought sandals ( here in PA) intending to wear socks with them until my adult daughter said " you are NOT going to wear socks with them , right?
DeleteD e figure in Seatte.
DeleteAt the opera? Sandals and socks?
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ReplyDeleteFrances McDormand won Best Actress Academy Award for her role in the movie Fargo. My question is: Was she Best actress in a leading role, or best actress in a bleeding role?
ReplyDeleteIt certainly isn't a merkin, that would be silly.
ReplyDeleteI think I have the answer but don't get the "e" comment?
ReplyDeleteWe've come a long way since I was growing up. Back then it was Officer Friendly. Now it is Officer Niehold.
ReplyDeleteOUTFIT, OUT OF IT
ReplyDelete"Took awhile to PEN this answer." refers to Urban OUTFITters which opened in 1970 across the street from the University of PENnsylvania.
My alma mater and the year of my graduation.
DeleteMy father's snd lots of relatives too.
DeleteAnd..
DeleteDr. K, do you remember the opening of the store in 1970? Did you go?
DeleteNo, I neither remember nor attended, and if the opening took place after May 1970, in the summer or fall, I was no longer on campus.
DeleteOUTFIT —> OUT OF IT
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: Led Zeppelin —> ”Dazed and Confused” (from self-titled debut album) —> out of it
I think someone posted the word “daze” early on as part of a comment but I don't see it now, so the comment must have been removed.
I guessed that was the song you meant
DeleteYes, the 'daze' was removed by an administrator. It surprised me that your clue remained. BTW, the movie, "Dazed and Confused" is spot on.
DeleteOUTFIT >>> OUT OF IT
ReplyDeleteoutfit, out of it
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I think my GF will have an easier time with this than me.” She’s considerably more concerned with wearing the right clothes – let’s say an outfit – to various social gatherings than I am.
Outfit >>>>> Out of It.
ReplyDeleteOutfit is one of those maddening English words that can either be a noun or a verb.
My guess for Ben's chain starting with e was e; Euler's number (2.71828...); Leonhard Paul Euler; Paul Euler, III (L. P. E.'s father, a pastor); pastor; reverend; reverie; out of it. I was so sure that this is what he had in mind. But, as Ben promptly posted, I didn't even get the second term right!
ReplyDeleteSomething you might wear: an OUTFIT.
ReplyDeletePhrase for “not aware” → OUT OF IT!
My clue: “fortuitous” contains the letters of “out of it” + rus.
I submitted OUTFIT, OUT OF IT.
ReplyDeleteMy Clue:
e
As in Wily E. Coyote
Who kept after the Road Runner, relentlessly
Using the supplies of Acme
Acme is the "best," the A Team.
A-Team TV Show was directed by Hollywood vet Carl Franklin
Carl Franklin also directed the thriller Out of Time, Starring Denzel Washington.
Out of Time, Outfit, Out of It.
OUTFIT, OUT OF IT
ReplyDelete> Lance's bean curd [Deleted]
Anagram ITO TOFU
> I started PA school 20 years ago.
I left Bell Labs and got OUT OF I.T.
Did you know the (recently, sadly) late great Ron Graham?
DeleteNot personally.
Deleteoutfit, out of it
ReplyDeleteMy hint on Sunday was "A Texas city."
ReplyDeleteLaredo is a Texas city. "Streets of Laredo" is a beautiful song. It is a song that includes one of my all-time favorite lyrics: "I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy..."
But, forget cowboys! Think skydiveboy instead!
Tomorrow's Puzzleria! (see Blaine's PUZZLE LINKS), which will be posted in the Friday's wee hours, will offer a "hot" puzzle by skydiveboy, the latest gem in his recurrent "skydiversions" feature...
Plus a whole mess of other puzzles.
Join in the fun.
LegoLambdaAndHisCowboyOutfit
Then there's Allan Sherman's version.
DeleteOr the Smothers Brothers version.
DeleteThanks, jan and FloridaGuy.
DeleteOr, the Smothers Brothers version more accessibly...
LegoWhoLamentsThatAmazonWantsToRuleTheWorld
There are probably 30 covers of that great song (AKA Cowboy's Lament) on YouTube.
DeleteThe line before the "outfit" one varies between "...Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay." and "...Wrapped in white linen and cold as the clay." I've always much preferred the latter.
Looks like I need to make an addition to my list of misheard and misremembered lyrics. I recalled the lyric as, “... white linen as cold as the grave.”
DeleteMade sense to me....
My clues -
ReplyDeleteI checked my answer in a dictionary. I can find the “something you might wear” at a store in the city near me.
This was referring to the Urban Dictionary and the store “Urban Outfitters”.
Re: "I can think of someone who exemplifies this phrase." DT
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly who came to mind.
DeleteThis is such a great group of fun and brilliant people. Have you thought of organizing a Zoom meeting so everyone can talk and meet each other?
ReplyDeleteWith much thanks,
Eileen-NPR Sunday puzzle fan
Eileen, go for it!
DeleteHello, Word Woman,
DeleteI might do this! It would be fun to meet everyone!
Wishing you a wonderful week and maybe see you and the group on Zoom soon!
Outfit: out of it
ReplyDeleteMy clue "sometimes this is my preference" referred to staying "out of it" when tensions/fighting is occurring. (I can't say I always prefer to wear an outfit during this quarantine period, when I can be in pjs...)
OUTFIT, OUT OF IT
ReplyDelete"How does one get out of this chicken outfit?"
What do you call a one legged female pirate?
ReplyDeleteIlene?
DeleteArrrrrlene. . .
DeleteARlene.
DeleteOf course. Sorry, it's late.
DeleteYes, but it's not ARmageddon.
DeleteThe pirate's sister insisted all armament was for her sons to be happy.
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DeleteThe literate pirate said articles made him laugh.
DeleteAnd I suppose the one-legged female pirate pianist played an arpeggio?
DeleteWhen the pirate's ship caught fire his wife said it was arson.
DeleteAnd after they suffocated in an inert gas atmosphere, they were argon.
DeleteAs soon as the pirates were arrested they set sail.
DeleteThey engaged in silly wordplay when young, but now they're armature.
DeleteIt was during a tropical storm that the pirates were arraigned.
DeleteBetter:
DeleteThey engaged in silly wordplay when young, but now they armature.
The pirates said they were a happy lot, all except for the surgeon who was arborist.
DeleteWhen one pirate son murdered his brother they said it was arcane.
DeleteThe way to Davy Jones' locker is through ardor.
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DeleteEveryone agreed the funniest pirate on board was ArcadIan.
DeleteDisagreements were flaring aboard the pirate ship to the point where the captain had to send the engineer down with a torch in order to make certain tempers arcweld.
DeleteThe pirate said armistice for sale
DeleteWhen the pirate captain entered the crew's quarters he sensed things Aramis.
DeleteAnd the pirate kids in the back of the boat shouting, "aargh we there yet?"
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: From listener Dominick Talvacchio of Chicago. Think of a common two-word phrase for something you experience in a desert. Rearrange the letters to get a single word for something you should do in the desert as a result.
ReplyDeleteJohn Jacob Astor had a large one.
ReplyDeleteNot according to Madeleine Astor.
DeleteAnother five second non-challenge.
ReplyDeleteComing up with an acceptable clue will be far more difficult.
Trink coca cola für die kleine und die grosse durst.
ReplyDeleteIsn't "Die, gross Durst!" what people shouted at Robert after they learned he was a serial killer?
DeleteThis is another one of those puzzles that some people will solve in two seconds, - and STILL be angry at themselves for NOT having solved it in less than one second!
ReplyDelete