The last name can also be rearrange to name a place where another related game is played.Q: Name a famous person in history (5,4). The letters of the last name can be rearranged to name a popular game. And the letters in the first name can be rearranged to name an action in this game. Who is this famous person?
Edit: The game of "Marco Polo" is played in the pool.
A: MARCO POLO --> POOL, CAROM
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.
And kudos to Lego for submitting this week's puzzle.
DeleteI solved it right away, but not with the intended answer at first. Will explain Thursday.
ReplyDeleteThis one is going to take some searching.
ReplyDeleteKudos to Lego.
ReplyDeleteNice one lego. It's not the Dalai Lama, nor Usain Bolt, but it's easy enough...
ReplyDeleteI suspect notorious Welsh whipmaster Gwins Flog is not the intended answer.
ReplyDeleteNor is Cameroonian gamer Recso Ngop.
DeleteCopy two adjacent letters from the first name and insert between the first and second letters of the last name. Drop one other letter from the last name. Now replace the last two letters of the first name with a man's first name to name a fictional character.
ReplyDeleteSee my reply to Noah, below.
DeleteI have a possible answer. If it’s correct, giving hints will be more difficult than usual.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Lego!
ReplyDeleteI’ve solved it. Lego thanks for a great puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNot a Luce.
ReplyDeleteThat's where I started. Colonel Mustard wasn't much help.
DeleteNice....how many for Lego now?
ReplyDeleteSix? Seven?
Drop the first and last letters and rearrange to get a means of transportation.
ReplyDeleteSeveral, actually.
DeleteRearrange all letters to get an ad for a soft drink
ReplyDeleteWell, Legolamed, you almost had me by the...
ReplyDeleteRearrange to get an event we wanted to attend back in the day.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle is sticking with me.
ReplyDeleteI do like this puzzle, but is anyone else having a sense of deja vu? Not just the person or the game (both of which have certainly appeared before), but the same combination of the game and the action. In any event, I don't mind re-experiencing the epiphany so that other listeners can experience it for the first time.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. --Margaret G.
DeleteEzekiel 37?
DeleteSee my reply to Plantsmith, below.
DeleteA solid submission by our own Lego if I must say. Though isn’t Lego a game? I tried making Lamda Lego work but struck out. Anyway, it felt good to solve this one so quickly.
ReplyDeleteIs it taking NPR a long time to send their verification email?
ReplyDeleteNot for me. Got it right away.
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DeleteAt first I read this as using all 9 letters to rearrange for a popular game. Now that I've re-read and understand, I'd say that using all 9 letters could help you find your way to a game related to the 4-letter game. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteYes, I see that.
DeleteI wasn't bored by this question.
ReplyDeleteInstant solve for me.
ReplyDeleteBonus challenge - repeat a letter in the first name and rearrange the 6 letters to get a lesser known game.
I am almost sure this is a repeat of a puzzle from years ago...maybe as far back as the postcard days.
ReplyDeleteIt pre-dates Blaine's blog.
DeleteI used to play _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, but a tragedy occurred.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Lego.
ReplyDeleteTwist!
Great job, Joe. A perfectly straightforward solve-at-home Sunday Puzzle. No having to go around in circles on this one.
ReplyDeleteDoes Blaine's picture contain a hint?
ReplyDeleteI think it does, or at least a path to the answer.
DeleteActually, I get two clues from it.
DeleteOr, repeat a letter in the first name and rearrange to get the name of a major corporation.
ReplyDeleteOr the name of a car. Or repeat a different letter in the first name, rearrange, and get the first name of a renowned writer.
DeleteNow I’m missing a Häagen-Dazs flavor from my youth.
ReplyDeleteMusical Hint: Can’t Find My Way Home
ReplyDeleteNPR Puzzle Time Code: 804.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of games involved here.
ReplyDeleteThere is a game called polo. There is a game called pool. There is a game called Marco Polo that you play in the pool.
Deleteits also a name for the name of a game and also a game for the game of that name
ReplyDeleteLego: Please tell us that you warned Will that this was a repeat puzzle, very easy, that there might be two answers and that the answer itself is a third game.
ReplyDeleteI know everybody expects me to be a jerk in my comments, but I have to say the the two current media masters of puzzles should do better than this.
And how can last week's small number of 153 correct responses be believed?
My observation is that geography puzzles cut the expected correct responses by half, and international geography cuts them by half again. Consider the low total for Orleans/Salerno!
DeleteIt's too bad because if Will had used a puzzle I sent him a couple of months ago that he said he liked and had printed out, but hasn't used yet, we would have had three (3) geographical puzzles in a row! I knew it was too much to hope for, and hope is not a strategy, but can be a tragedy if no further action is taken and we simply rely on hope. (Yes, my last sentence is also a slam on the unfortunate title of a book by Barrack Obama that I think would have been better named: The Mendacity of Hope.)
DeleteThe way I got last weeks answer was to look at the comments. The comment with the name Dolores in it made me think of the only two I knew, Del Rio and Hope, Bingo the answer.
DeleteWhat an awful thing to say.
Delete"We are the hope we are waiting to see." Audacity of Hope. Great Book
That does sound like a low number MJ. Maybe he dropped a zero. 1153?
Delete“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
DeleteThat perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all - E.D>
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours.”
Delete― Noam Chomsky
I prefer this, which is not relying on hope to solve our problems while we do nothing but rely on hope. Chomsky has always warned us that it is up to us if we are going to survive or not. And he is not advising us to rely on hope, but to act. What disgusts me are the timid people who rely on nothing but hope while they refuse to become involved in making things better.
You might find this interesting reading too:
Deletehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2018/09/27/five-ways-leaders-can-stop-relying-on-hope-as-a-game-plan/#2064fc496beb
Another Forbes article: THE BEST & WORST COUNTRIES TO RAISE A FAMILY. See where the U.S. ranks...
DeleteEven Canada came in #19.
DeleteI guess Norway is not counting Anders Breivik.
DeleteOh yeah! Nothing like that would ever happen here.
DeleteYes but hope is the fuel that drives the action. If you don't believe something might work--why try. Chomsky says the same thing i think.
DeleteChomsky is saying what he always says, and that is to get involved in making change happen and not to depend on hope alone.
DeleteNoam Chomsky has for many decades lectured all over the world. He has not lectured on having hope, but on taking responsibility for what is happening in the world and doing something about it, or suffer the consequences.
DeleteLets see Chomsky or Obama? Well....
DeleteWhat do you mean by that? Obama was a failure as a president and a corporate tool.
DeleteSee the entire list of country rankings of best & worst countries to raise a family HERE.
DeleteObama's failings:
-War on whistleblowers
-Criminalization of dissent
-The total surveillance state
-The poverty draft
-Corporate casino capitalism
-Allowed a Corporate coup d'état
-Psychology of permanent war
-Created the DRONE instant-kill list
-Treated public as a community of consumers, not as a community of citizens that need to be fully informed for Democracy to work
And don't forget that he campaigned on single payer healthcare, but as soon as he took office he took it entirely off the table. He then gave us a joke. If he had hoped to pass it then why didn't he work at it? Oh, maybe it had something to do with accepting campaign $$$ from the health care industry. Gee I never thought of that.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe perfect is the enemy of the good. I'll take Obama over Bush, McCain, Romney, or Trump.
DeleteWell of course! But that does not make Obama or Clinton good leaders of the country. They both screwed us over big time. Ronnie Reagan was even far worse, and we are still suffering from what he did to us, although he has continued to be revered by many ignorant people as a hero.
DeleteI am with Jan on this ,one.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteRon where do you get this stuff from-psychology of permanent war?
DeleteI left out a few, e.g.
Delete-The militarization of the police across the country
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Delete"Obama was a failure as a president and a corporate tool."
DeleteCome on, jan, you must know I am not suggesting we not vote for Biden. We have no other choice now that we have lost another opportunity to elect a progressive. But that does not mean we should stop telling the truth of what is happening in our country that is being destroyed from within by its inhabitants who do not care enough to educate themselves as to what is really happening and is important.
DeleteMaybe we should save the negative talk for after the election, when it won't help dissuade people from voting for the lesser of two evils.
DeleteIsn't that the way we usually do things? Let's put off the truth just a little longer...
DeleteIt's a legitimate argument, but I do not agree with it.
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ReplyDeleteWell, when I was a kid, my mom and dad had all these fold out maps of everywhere in the world. I think they got them from Nat'l Geographic. I was fascinated old sailing ships, Viking long boats and frigates and so forth. I memorized all the routes of Magellan, Drake, Columbus, etc. I studied all the islands in the Pacific and all the seas, so I've always had places like Cape Horn and the COGP in the back roads of memory ever gentle on my mind. Song lyrics also.
DeleteThis puzzle was last presented on my birthday anniversary several years ago.
ReplyDeleteYou've mentioned past lives before, so this hardly narrows things down.
Deletejan,
DeleteI disagree because I am older than Will Shortz and was born, this incarnation, prior to NPR. However I do find your logic interesting.
Since you ask though, I would suggest you might find the well documented and researched story of James Leininger worth taking a look at, both via Google and the book, Soul Survivor, that describes this boy's past life memories of being a U.S. fighter pilot who was shot down by the Japanese during WWII.
SDB: Interesting story. Not sure what to believe. I believe my own psychic experiences though.
DeleteNatasha:
DeleteSome will argue otherwise, but I do not consider James Leininger's past life memories to be psychic at all. They are simply strong memories of his most recent, previous lifetime here due to his traumatic demise during the war. This is not uncommon. Barbro Karlén is another example. She was previously Anne Frank and reincarnated in Sweden, but I believe she now lives in North Caroline prior to living in California.
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DeleteReported to be the last words of the person: "Yesterday I couldn't spell game. Now I are one."
ReplyDeleteOne in the other
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWhen I try to clue this, I get lost quickly.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you're clue-ten intolerant.
DeleteBut i am sure you know other terms for "playing in the groove," that may be TMI. Esperanza Spalding plays like this. But i have a tendency to drag a little.
DeletePerhaps a Trumpism would be appropriate here?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteToo much of a clue. Also, I misspelled the name
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThree Mile Island, sir.
DeleteAgree
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWe usually have martinis on Fridays, but instead we are having them tonight. If it wasn't for the comic pages being in color, I might not even realize that it is Sunday Puzzle Day! What a world.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAssuming Blaine rolled the red dice he certainly won that battle.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Lego! You got another of your great puzzles(whether original or not)used by the PM. Bravo! It was also an easy one for me! First name I thought of!
ReplyDeleteSwordfish
ReplyDeleteI do see your point.
DeleteA most inane puzzle. I got it fast.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed squandering a good chunk of my youth playing this game, and even one a couple small tournaments about 25 years ago. And, yet, I didn't know this particular term...
ReplyDeleteObviously, I can't spell today. Won, not one
DeleteNot to worry; we all do it here. A won ton is not the same as one ton. :=)
DeleteDaniel 5:27 (Good News for the Hard of Hearing Edition): Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found one ton.
DeleteWaist not; wanton not.
DeleteNot knowing the term probably explains why you you only won a couple of small tournaments and no more in the past 25 years! Man, I couldn't ignore the jab!!!
ReplyDeleteClark, he "one" them, and they were not "won" as you assert. (I too cannot resist a jab now and then.)
DeleteI haven't won any tournaments in 25 years because I haven't entered any in 25 years
DeleteWon cannot be too safe in this world.
DeleteAt least I never lost my shirt playing the game
DeleteSuperman’s friend.
ReplyDeleteAw. I was clever enough to solve the problem but not clever enough to post a clue that was not obvious.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all who commented on my puzzle, both positive and "less-than-positive."
ReplyDeleteSince it was not much of a challenge for many of you, I know I owe y'all one. I'm positive it's a puzzle nobody's posed before. And, I suspect it may be tougher to solve than my current gamy one.
It appears as the current "Schpuzzle of the Week" over on Puzzleria!
It reads:
Take a familiar proverb. Replace one word with an antonym. Replace two words with homophones.
At the end of this result add a popular one-word newspaper name, like “Journal” or “Tribune,” for example. The result will be a more positive proverb.
What's the familiar proverb?
What's the more positive proverb?
LegoWhoNotesThatOnly4.2%OfTheWordsInThePostAboveAreActually"Positive"AndNotesFurtherThatBeforeSubmittingThePuzzleToNPRHeTypedItsAnswerIntoBlaine's"SearchThisBlog"BoxAndGotNoResults("ItWasJustThatTheTimeWasWrong")
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DeleteLego, that "proverbial" puzzle is very clever. Even the answer is clever (and mathematically true).
DeleteI finally figured out the actual answer, Lego, but I needed your hint on Puzzleria. It is, indeed, very clever!
DeleteThank you, geofan and Lancek.
DeleteLegoWhoNotesThatHePlansToPresentFourMoreVeryCleverNewPuzzlesCreatedBygeofanInHisRecurringWorldplayFeatureOnThisFriday'sPuzzleria!
Jackie Gleason
ReplyDeleteGleason played Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961), which might also make you think of Fats Domino, which might lead you to a "bone yard".
DeleteYes Paul with Paul Newman, but what is a," bone yard."?
DeleteBoneyard is a term used in dominoes, not pool.
DeleteReferring back to my Ezekiel 37 hint, above.
DeleteI'm worried I'll get in Trouble if this clue is too obvious...
ReplyDeleteThis clue could have been a liTTle biT more subTle.
DeleteI'm pretty sure I knew this famous person's name long before I actually knew who the person was.
ReplyDeleteChange the middle letter in the first name of the answer to a different letter. Read the result backwards to obtain another name relating to a general puzzle-solving principle applicable to this and most other puzzles.
ReplyDeletePithy and sharp observation, geofan.
DeleteLedgeo
Well, well, my dear legolambda, alias Joseph Young. A little detective work has revealed that you, Joseph Young, were "randomly" selected as the NPR puzzle winner two years in a row. Once on June 13th, 2013 and again on June 29th, 2014.
ReplyDeleteThe audio is available online.
What are we to think? Huh Blaine?
Huh, Joey?
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DeleteMy dear Wordsmyth,
DeleteI, Joseph Young, alias legolambda, did indeed play the on-air puzzle on 6/13/13 and 6/29/14. (You failed to mention 5/21/17.)
I am painfully aware that playing on-air in 2014 and 2017 deprived two deserving puzzle-solvers of an opportunity to play on-air (most likey more proficiently that I!) and to procure the coveted lapel pin holy grail (see 0:17, 0:55, 1:19 and 1:40).
I feel guilty about that. My only excuse is that I was blinded by the likelihood of being able to shamelessly plug my puzzle blog over the airwaves to a national audience of puzzle aficionados.
(I got "the call" once subsequenty, but politely declined, as I would do again if called a fifth time.)
LegoLambdaSaysThatIsWhatWeAreToThink(ButIsUnclearAboutHowMySelfCenteredBehaviorInvolvesBlaine(WhoWouldSeemToBeAnInnocentBlogstander)
I just went back and listened to the above-referenced three NPR on-air segments. The reason: to obtain an idea of Joe Young's use (if any) of any regional version of US English. This might give some insight into solving some of his puzzles.
DeleteOnly a couple of quirks struck me, but nothing really stood out. What did strike me is that on the NPR segment, about 99 % of the words are from the host and WS and 1 % by the guest of the week. Of course, a part of that results from the need for WS to set the puzzle, while the guest only says the solution word. The host's practice of "priming" the guest with the answer is rather annoying, but understandable in view of the fact that "the clock rules all" in broadcasting.
On the 2017 segment, I serendipitously noted that Mark Scott/sdb was the guest on the following week's segment. Listened to it also, for the same reason.
DeleteThis is known as puzzleorwinnors guilt.
ReplyDeleteHope this is OK to do--I want to wish Blaine's blog fan and puzzle solving participant-- mathematics student Bobby Jacobs, University of Virginia's Putnam math competition winner as an undergraduate and now completing his Ph.D. in math at Virginia Commonwealth University---a very happy, wonderful birthday to this kind young man who is always good to everyone, sees the positive, and loves to do math and NPR Sunday puzzles. He loves this group of fun, fantastic, brilliant, kind people, and I thought it would be a great surprise for him as my birthday present to Bobby to wish him Happy Birthday here. Wishing infinite joys to you always Bobby and a super day! Glad you got to do the answer to this week's puzzle!
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Bobby!
DeleteHappy Birthday!
DeleteHave a great birthday, Bobby. Your future seems very bright.
DeleteLegoWhoHopesToPresentSomeExcellentPuzzlesThatBobbyHasCreatedOnFutureEditionsOfPuzzleria!
Thanks, everybody!
DeleteThank you, wonderful Word Woman, outstanding Blaine, and beloved Legolambda! I am grateful to you for your kindness to Bobby. Bobby's dad passed from cancer. This fantastic group is like a kind, welcoming family and brings much joy in this journey of life through happiness of puzzle solving and great people. May all the best flow your way always. Sending gratitude, Eileen
DeleteAnd back your way, Bobby and Eileen. Goodwill found!
DeleteO.k. That is a somewhat noble answer. But I was also calling into question NPR's system of selecting winners as well. Interesting how NPR has no qualms about letting same winners play multiple times.
ReplyDeleteHow does NPR randomly select their winners? Some SQL software I presume, or is that dated?
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DeleteWordsmythe: I wrote to NPR about this a few years ago about selection of the winner, this is the response:
Delete"I had a long chat yesterday with the newsroom executive who oversees the puzzle and we discussed in detail the process. As you can imagine, the switch to online entries has made the process a bit more complicated than in the postcard days, and more than one system has been used, but always in a best-faith effort to make the selection a random one. The process has changed in recent months; the current system is not the one you describe. And I am satisfied that it is indeed random, with every correct entry given an equal chance of being drawn. I hope that is helpful.
Thanks again for reaching out.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Jensen
Ombudsman
http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/"
So they say.
ReplyDeleteMARCO>>>>>CAROM
ReplyDeletePOLO>>>>>>POOL
AS I said earlier,this puzzle is a rerun
I wrote: “NPR Puzzle Time Code: 804.” This refers to 804 weeks before this week’s puzzle was aired, it was also aired on 3 April 2005. Nonetheless, Lego, rediscovering it made for an excellent puzzle. I have looked at this name and never seen the connection; please tell us how it came to you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rob. Those words are kind and make me feel a bit better.
DeleteI am ashamed to say I did not realize Marco Polo was a game (played in a POOL!) until I saw this commercial.
It was easy to see, of course, that "Polo" anagrams to "pool" (a game my late father loved and excelled at, as did my father's father, who died before I was born and was proprietor of a pool hall in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin).
Just for the heck of it, I checked to see if "Marco" had any anagrams... "Carom!" Bingo! (I rejected "macro.")
LegoWhoLamentsAlasThat"Bingo"AnagramsToNothingFamiliar
Check out BoingBoing
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMARCO POLO (—> POOL + CAROM)
ReplyDeleteMy clue: “Rearrange to get an event we wanted to attend back in the day.” —> A cool prom
Piggybacking on SuperZee’s clue: an anagram of the major corporation--“Aramco"--is “Camaro.” And if you duplicate the letter “c” (instead of “a”) and rearrange, you get Cormac (McCarthy).
MARCO POLO; POOL, CAROM
ReplyDelete"Twist!" refers to the last name of POLO already being a game.
"One in the other" >>> One will often hear kids yelling MARCO POLO in the POOL.
Marco Polo & carom
ReplyDeleteI at first was thinking polo was the game. Then I remembered we were to rearrange the letters.
MARCO POLO: POOL, CAROM
ReplyDelete> Several games involved, actually.
Polo, and Marco Polo, e.g.
>> Drop the first and last letters and rearrange to get a means of transportation.
> Several, actually.
Besides "carpool", there's also "Polo car".
> Does Blaine's picture contain a hint?
The crease in the Risk board (near the top) runs right from Venice to China. The subject took a less direct route.
>> I am almost sure this is a repeat of a puzzle from years ago...maybe as far back as the postcard days.
> It pre-dates Blaine's blog.
April 3, 2005. Listen at 6:18.
"This challenge is from Don Lemke, via the Internet: Think of a famous person in history with five letters in the first name and four letters in the last. You can rearrange the letters in this person's first name to spell a term used in a certain game. And you can rearrange the letters in the last name to spell the game in which this term is used. What are these terms? What famous person is this?"
Marco Polo>>>>>Pool/Carom.
ReplyDeleteMy initial, erroneous, thought was Clare Luce>>>>Clue/Clear (as in clear a suspect) which is why I’d commented giving hints (aka Clues) would be more difficult than usual.)
After rethinking, and discovering (!) Marco Polo I noted that if you add a letter to the first name and rearrange, you would get the name of a major corporation ARAMCO.
MARCO POLO → The game: POOL. Action in the game: CAROM.
ReplyDeleteThis is a repeat of the NPR Challenge given April 3, 2005:
This challenge is from Don Lemke, via the Internet: Think of a famous person in history with five letters in the first name and four letters in the last. You can rearrange the letters in this person's first name to spell a term used in a certain game. And you can rearrange the letters in the last name to spell the game in which this term is used. What are these terms? THE ANSWER: MARCO POLO... CAROM and POOL.
The winner: Sue Marsh from Bells, Tenn.
Some people need to get their clocks fixed...
ReplyDeleteMarco Polo->pool, carom
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that polo, pool, and Marco Polo are all games.
What does Blaine’s clue refer to?
ReplyDeletePerhaps loop?
DeleteWhere is loop, the blogger?
Mr. Duluth. . .
DeleteHi loop. Glad you checked in. How are things on the Duluth office of Blainesville?
DeleteBusy,it's been unusually warm this summer. Lots of outdoor projects getting done.
DeleteMarco Polo, Pool.
ReplyDeleteMy hint about "playing in the groove" is also playing in the pocket. Above the Red Die may represent the cue ball in Blaine's clue? But actually IHNI.
MARCO POLO; POOL, CAROM
ReplyDeleteI clued something about GETTING LOST when trying to clue this puzzle, because the game MARCO POLO is played in a POOL and the goal of the game is to NOT BE FOUND by the blind chaser, who keeps calling out MARCO. But you knew that.
My clues:
ReplyDelete“A solid puzzle...” referred to the solid colored balls on the pool table.
“It felt good to solve....” referred to the felt table used in pool.
The Trumpism I referenced was “little Marco” ( for Rubio, not Polo!).
In responding to Jan’s question about Blaine’s picture of the Risk board, my reference to a different path was referring to the Silk Road.
My case is being proven here by those, like myself, who pay attention to past episodes of the NPR puzzle broadcast.
ReplyDeleteThey repeat their puzzles, so why would they not repeat their winners?
Why would they not have a "short list" of past winners that they call upon? I think they were hinting at it a few weeks ago when they admonished their listening audience for not answering their phones!
Look, fraud exists! The 1919 World Series, Charles Van Doren and the quiz show scandals, payola in the 1950's, Pete Rose, Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman!
I SUBMIT THAT THE NPR PUZZLE IS RIGGED!
How often do we hear in the news about confidential data being lost?
Thousands, millions of names and personal information being "mishandled" and passed around to other companies?
It happens.
Joseph Young and Mark Scott, both expert puzzlers, being selected multiple times at random? Come on!
If Young felt so "guilty" about being chosen, why did he not refuse the third time in 2017?
Feeling guilty is a luxury, my friends, THE GAME IS RIGGED!
You sound like backers of a certain president, Wordsmythe.
DeleteI think if Mark Scott had been chosen multiple times I would know something about it. And I won't even mention again that I still have not received all my swag.
DeleteI would love to hear skydiveboy play on-air again. He did very well answering Will Shortz's challenge puzzles during his 2017 appearance (his sole appearance, I believe) and was a very entertaining guest. (He even made Will chuckle!) But, because I consider skydiveboy to be my friend and know that he is a good guy, I doubt we will hear him again over the NPR airwaves. That is because he has a sense of fairness and of "doing the right thing." He probably would reason that he has "had his turn," and I assume he would not want to deprive others of an opportunity to play on-air.
DeleteLegoWhoBelievesskydiveboyHasScruples
Do they have shots for that? '17 must have been a red letter year. Your humble token Deplorable was chosen "at random" for September 24 - out of 1500, so they say. That's what prompted me to ask the question about selectee geography a few weeks back, Lego. NY, MA, CA, WA, OR seemed to be regulars. Then again, there has been Pearisburg, VA, and Pfafftown - just over the hill here - since. And, of course, Chapel Hill. I doubt the game is rigged. A lot of repeat submitters, this guest guessed. I concur with my Yankee colleagues, Wordsmythe. Just enjoy the game. Now there's my full 2-cents worth.
DeleteTomorrow's Puzzleria! features four fine puzzles created by our friend geofan. They appear in his consistently great "Worldplay by Ken Pratt" package.
ReplyDeleteAlso on tomorrow's P! line-up are a whole wheelbarrowful of Riffing-Off-Shortz-And-Young" puzzles (that have NOT EVER PREVIOUSLY appeared on NPR!), a Schpuzzle of the Week, a tasty puzzle slice and, to top it all off, a Dessert.
Note:
TOMORROW'S EDITION OF PUZZLERIA! WILL NOT BE POSTED UNTIL LATER FRIDAY MORNING, SOMETIME BEFORE NOON
Lego(AlsoKnownAsThatFraudCharlesVanDoren)ShamelesslyShilling
Having, in a prior life, designed random inspection protocols for employees entering government facilities, I fail to see the issue.
ReplyDeleteThere are many high quality random number generator programs. Using one to select a day (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Wednesday, or Thursday), hour, and a minute is a trivial exercise. Use the random numbers to pick a time. Then go to the list of emails, in the order received, and review the submittals received after that time until a correct answer is found. Winner!!!
So much easier than cheating.
Ah, but randomly selecting a day, and then randomly selecting a time, is NOT the same as randomly selecting an entry, unless the submissions of all entries are evenly distributed. If most entries come in on Sunday and Monday, e.g., (which you'd expect if the challenge is easy), then those are the WORST days to submit an entry. The only fair way to select a winner is to randomly select one from all the entries submitted.
DeleteIt is equally easy to assign each entry, as received, a serial number, and then pick a random number from 1 to X....
DeleteI used to play water polo until a tragedy occurred- my horse drowned.
ReplyDeleteThat is so sad! Was it due to the heavy rein?
DeleteI was struck this week by the similarity between polo mallets and golf clubs, polo shirts and golf shirts, and Polo and Golf both being VW models. And who can forget Lincoln's (another car!) second inaugural, "With mallets toward none..."
DeleteNow, I like that one! I also should confess that I used think mallets were small shopping centers.
DeleteAt least I didn't think it was:
DeleteWith Alice toward none; with chastity for all
Carom got me thinking of Carob (‘missing’ as in the m), promoted as the ‘healthy’ alternative to chocolate back in the day. Haagen Dazs, which was sold in health food stores prior to landing in your local supermarket, discontinued the flavor in 1976.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't they just have the Miami-Dade County Department of Elections choose the winner?
DeleteLOAD MORE TIME STRIKES AGAIN!
ReplyDeleteDo we really need more TIME STRIKES?
DeleteMy personal chef says it's thyme.
DeleteMARCO POLO, POOL, CAROM
ReplyDeleteGEICO would have made a great TV clue, now that I think of it.
My "read backwards" bonus was:
ReplyDeleteMARCO, change R to C => MACCO. Read backwards is OCCAM as in Occam's razor.
Well aren't you sharp!
Deletesdb, see above comment by Lego
Deletegeofan:
ReplyDeleteRazor = sharp