I'm not able to provide a clever clue this week.Q: Name a famous person with the initials M. C. The first initial and last name anagram to the person's field of renown. What is it?
A: MICHAEL CAINE --> MCAINE --> CINEMA
For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.
You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't assist with solving. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the deadline. Thank you.
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.
This person could be an MC, Emcee...
ReplyDeleteWas he in the Godfather?
DeleteCould be one of the SUCKERS OR LOSERS...
DeleteI have the answer, but am a bit surprised at how the puzzle is worded. I also have a hint, but am having trouble figuring out how to word it.
ReplyDeleteI posted on Sunday, Sep 13, 05:58:00 AM PDT on last week’s thread:
ReplyDeleteI find part of this week’s puzzle answer ominous. Do you agree? (Say “yes”.)
mjm?
ReplyDeleteEugene O'Neill, and John le Carre.
ReplyDeleteI think these clues are really like Blaine's usual ones: even if you know the answer you might not see the connection, but when I explain it will be clear I had it. I'll be interested to see if anyone sees the point of the clues.
CINEMA also anagrams to
Delete1. Ice Man, thus Eugene O'Neill, and
2. Came in, thus le Carre (whose Spy Came in from the Cold).
I wish I were able to discern these answers.
ReplyDeleteSometimes my grandson won't let me even hold him, yet other times he's on a tickle me whim.
ReplyDeleteWas Marie Curie uremic? Macdonald Carey creamy? Is Mark Cuban a man cub? As I said, since I was the recipient last week of the dreaded "This comment has been removed by a blog administrator," I may have to go the extra mile before I post a clue.
ReplyDeleteDon't know about Macdonald, but Mariah certainly was in her day...
DeleteYa but, according to the anagram Mariah is in the field of "My Acre".
DeleteSo.....what does M. Canard anagram to?
DeleteCARDMAN
DeleteIt hit me like a wrecking ball when I concluded Miley Cyrus was not the answer.
ReplyDeleteBecause she isn't crumsy?
DeleteI have a clue but it’s not very hot.
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed to discover that she did not discover cerium. Blaine, as usual, did not disappoint!
ReplyDeleteThis one's fairly easy. No clue here. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what this one is about.
ReplyDeleteTake the person’s first name and the first letter of the last name and rearrange. You get two related words.
ReplyDeleteRelated? Like "yellow" and "shirt"? Or does your challenge involve an alternate spelling?
DeletePerhaps a bank and some magic.
DeleteAs noted on last week’s page, I find this a puzzle easier to solve than to create a hint for.
ReplyDeleteI may just go without posting a hint.
I hoped Blaine would post a graphic with hammer pants as soon as I heard the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWho can forget the discovery of the radioactive element Cerium, which was celebrated with a performance of the beautiful aria “La Clams.”
ReplyDeleteThere once was an emcee name Blaine
ReplyDeleteWhose clues are never too plain
But don't fret or fear
The solution is clear
He might just be jerking our chain
You win Blainsville this week!
DeleteThanks! Had fun coming up with the vaguest possible reference to Steve Martin I could think of. Caine did so much good film, but "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" is the one I have on repeat.
DeleteI originally solved for a different profession that this person is not renowned for. But then I got it.
ReplyDeleteThe Jewish Holidays approach and I wish my brothers and sisters CHAG SAMECH. Doesn't take Encyclopedia Brown to determine that MARGARET CHASE Smith, the first Republican Lady Senator from Maine, wasn't Jewish, because duh. I've no clue how to clue this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteL'Shona Tovah
DeleteChag Sameach and Gemar Chatima Tovah
DeleteIf I ever get the call, I'll sing a celebratory song.
ReplyDeleteWell, ding dong!
DeleteReveling riot
DeleteCrazy, I know.
Delete"Reveling riot" is an anagram of "green vitriol", which is an ancient alchemic term for "ferrous sulfate", a chemical that might be administered to someone who's anemic. So that's the method in my madness.
DeleteAnother bit of trivia:
Michael Caine and John Ratzenberger were both in the cast of "A Bridge Too Far".
"Wings of a Dove (A Celebratory Song)" is by Madness, who also have a song called "Michael Caine"
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-m-NxgGLNY
woke
ReplyDeletehomophone for (Herman) Wouk, author of Caine Mutiny
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteParking enforcement and parking tickets were paused here in Seattle due to the pandemic, but now, after some re-training, they are back at it again. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteI believe, as with many previous puzzles, this person has a different birth name that would not work to yield the answer.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, though, if you do the same operation (first initial plus last name) on the BIRTH NAME of this person, you can anagram it to an EXOTIC FOOD and a description of what this person does as a CAREER.
DeleteI had never heard of your exotic food before, but I see that if you remove the first two letters of it, you get another exotic food.
DeleteAnd YOUR exotic food is a sea creature. Change its last letter and rearrange to get another sea creature.
"I've eaten neither whelk nor elk" sounds like Dr. Seuss. Or maybe e.e.cummings if you change it to lower case?
DeleteA TV alien
ReplyDeleteWonder if he's related to WALL-E?
DeleteMore than once, even.
DeleteHe was both Alfie and Alfred Pennyworth.
DeleteWhile my previous post held a (hopefully oblique) clue, I think the musical clue I considered would probably be TMI.
ReplyDeleteI know a song, the title of which is the person's name. Clearly, I can't use that song, or even tell y'all who performed it.
DeleteA LOT more people know of the song, the title of which is the opposite gender version of the person’s name.
DeleteYes, that's good song; I'm referring to one that has the person's full name as its title. Crazy, I know.
DeleteYep, we used to listen to that song where we live..
DeleteThe song "Michael Caine" is by Madness.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-5yn3v3N8A
Images make the individual appear older than 4.
ReplyDeleteI resist anagrams, so I let Google do it.
ReplyDeleteJumble solver helped me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a Trip...
ReplyDeleteThe two main characters in The Trip spend a significant amount of the movie imitating Michael Caine
DeleteYes, but she was only fifteen!
DeleteIs anybody making plans for the fall?
ReplyDeleteOf civilization?
DeleteSeriously. Of civilization?
Deletepi
ReplyDeleteMichael Caine was born on Pi Day, March 14, 1933.
DeleteSecond person that came to mind. The first was Marie Curie, but I got nowhere there. I do think Mariah Carey is creamy, though. LOL
ReplyDeletePractically the same person.
DeleteThe person's FIELD OF RENOWN is an unusual means of identification. I think it was used because the answer is NOT the person's OCCUPATION or PROFESSION... It's like identifying Trump, not as President, but by LYING, his field of renown...
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was easy enough, which means we'll probably spend the balance of week discussing politics. Let's not get too irate. With covid and the fires in my neck of the woods, enough with the stress for now!
ReplyDeleteToo late, Clark. I am already irate, after just getting back home from visiting our redesigned Woodland Park Zoo for the first time in many years. It is somewhat of a maze now and it took me almost half an hour to find the restroom.
Deletesdb: TMI
DeleteOnly if you leave your reply up.
DeleteMusical Clue: Harry Styles
ReplyDeleteAh, visited a serene joint today. . .
ReplyDeleteSince yesterday morning, the NPR Submit Your Answer site does not appear to be working for me - the Send button is greyed-out and inactive. Any ideas on a work-around?
ReplyDeleteWorked fine for me just now. Did you fill in all fields?
DeleteJust tried again and it worked fine. Don't know what the earlier problem was, but thanks Jan.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to get a visit from Sally early tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteBetter take an umbrella or two.
DeleteShe's not here yet, and it looks like she's turned her attention to Mississippi.
DeleteShe is a fickle one that Sally girl. I might see her remains on Friday.
DeleteSally is here.
DeleteI hope all is well.
DeleteBob Seger
ReplyDeleteSorry, should have been Steve Miller.
DeleteThe Joker uses the name Maurice in the song. Maurice is Michael Caines real first name.
DeleteOr Singapore
ReplyDeleteThey like to cane lawbreakers.
DeleteThree-squared. Or three-squared-cubed, depending...
ReplyDeleteLegoWhoAddsThatThreeCubedSquaredAlsoWorks(AlthoughSomeplaceInTheProcessWeMayNeedToAdd2.718...)
Correction to my comment, above:
DeleteThree-cubed. Or three-squared-cubed, depending...
LegoWhoAddsThatThreeCubedSquaredAlsoWorks(AlthoughSomeplaceInTheProcessWeMayNeedToAdd2.718...)
A Little Voice says, "Flawless".
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteNor was he very good at spelling people’s names.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteOnce you've solved the puzzle, take the third letter of what remains from the first name of the famous person after you removed the initial "M," then rearrange those letters to get the first name of another famous person in a completely different field of renown. Then add that letter that you removed from the first name to the field of renown you arrived at in the solution to this week's puzzle, rearrange those letters and beat until stiff (sorry, wrong set of instructions), and you get the last name of a knockoff in the same field of renown as your newly named individual that tried hard to imitate but could never duplicate the accomplishments of the other person. (Sorry for the Rube Goldbergesque clue but it's hard to not give too much away.)
ReplyDeleteUnnecessary explanation: CELIA is Celia Cruz. The Miami Sound Machine never came close to her level.
DeleteThis puzzle is peachy.
ReplyDeleteEven with no clue, you should be able to discern an answer.
ReplyDeleteHerd mentality!
ReplyDeleteI thought I heard (herd) that and realized that I had been waiting for our scientist-in-chief to say that very thing.
DeleteAt times (like this) I wish Blaine's Puzzle Blog had the "LIKE" button option.
DeleteCheck out your AIR QUALITY HERE.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t want to say anything to anyone until after I did it, but I decided that I needed to step up and make a sacrifice for my friends and family. So, I volunteered for the vaccine trials for Covid-19, which apparently were made by a Russian Pharmaceutical company.
ReplyDeleteWell, I received my first shot last week and I wanted to let you all know that it’s completely safe with иo side effects whatsoeveя, and that I feelshκι χoρoshό я чувствую себя немного странно и я думаю, что вытащил ослиные уши.
Touché
DeleteI hear ya, jan.
Deletejan,
DeleteBest post ever. I laughed out loud!
LegoWhoNowFearsHoweverThatjanWillNowWriteInPutinForPresidentThisNovember!
I wish I could claim it was original.
DeleteMICHAEL CAINE, CINEMA
Delete"Ah, visited a serene joint today. . . " as in "Mute in Knee" as in CAINE Mutiny.
I was reading your comment aloud and we were all shouting "how does he know that?" when I read the punchline.
DeleteMuch LingOL!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMichael Caine >>> CINEMA
ReplyDeleteMy Hints:
1. “Parking enforcement and parking tickets were paused here in Seattle due to the pandemic, but now, after some re-training, they are back at it again. Ugh!”
Michael Caine starred in “Educating Rita.” The Beatles did a song: Lovely Rita, meter maid. And re-training = educating.
2. “Too late, Clark. I am already irate, after just getting back home from visiting our redesigned Woodland Park Zoo for the first time in many years. It is somewhat of a maze now and it took me almost half an hour to find the restroom.”
Actually the zoo was closed this weekend due to the bad air quality from the smoke. The Brits call a restroom a loo, and they probably call a restroom at a zoo, a zoo loo. Michail Caine’s breakout movie that really launched his career is ZULU.
3. “This puzzle is peachy.”
Michael Caine’s character in, The Man Who Would Be King was Peachy Carnehan.
MICHAEL CAINE —> CINEMA
ReplyDeleteMy clue: “Since I was the recipient last week of the dreaded ‘This comment has been removed by a blog administrator,’ I may have to go the extra mile before I post a clue.” “Mile” —> Milo Tindle (Michael Caine’s role in Sleuth)
There were many possible musical clues, among them, the Highwaymen, Dionne Warwick, Joni Mitchell, and Madness (most of which were TMI), but the clue I ultimately rejected as TMI was simply “The Band,” the lyrics of whose “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” include the name “Virgil Caine.”
MICHAEL CAINE
ReplyDelete> The person rebelled against his/her original name.
He picked his stage name from a phone booth after noticing The Caine Mutiny was playing at a nearby CINEMA.
>> A TV alien
> Wonder if he's related to WALL-E?
That would be ALF-E, wouldn't it? (What's it all about?)
Not to mention Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler.
DeleteMichael Caine, cinema
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I have a clue but it’s not very hot.” Like a cube. ‘Cause when you anagram Caine, you get An Ice.
Michael CAINE → “field of renown” → CINEMA.
ReplyDeleteMichael Caine>>>>>Cinema.
ReplyDeleteSaying I wasn't posting a clue was in fact a clue.
Michael Caine starred in the 1988 movie, Without a Clue.
(Nice "non-clue clue," SuperZee.)
ReplyDeleteTomorrow's Puzzleria! will be a real treat.
We will present to you the debut of a new feature: "Puzzle Fun by Bobby Jacobs."
Bobby (who posts here at Blainesville under the screen name "Bobby"" is a math whiz who knows his words as well as his numbers. And he creates very clever and challenging puzzles.
As for my "hint" this week, which read:
Three-cubed. Or three-squared-cubed, depending...
LegoWhoAddsThatThreeCubedSquaredAlsoWorks(AlthoughSomeplaceInTheProcessWeMayNeedToAdd2.718...)
Three-cubed = 27 = 9+9+9
Three-squared-cubed = 729 = 9x9x9
So the ellipsis in "depending..." = "on whether you add or subtract"
Nine Nine Nine was the tax plan the recently late Herman Cain proposed.
"Cain," alas and alack, lacks the "e" at the end of Michael Caine's surname. That's why we may need to add 2.718...
LegoEllipsisEnthusiast(AndPartialEllipsisOfTheSunEnthusiastAlso!)
Thanx.
DeleteMichael Caine, cinema
ReplyDeleteI posted my reveal about pi at 3:14.
Micheal Caine.--Cinema.
ReplyDeleteMy inadvertent clue long before i had a possible solution was a reference to the Godfather and Michael Corleone.
I said that images make the individual look older than 4. Images = pictures = cinema. But it was 4 years ago, in 2016, that Maurice Micklewhite legally changed his name to match his screen name.
ReplyDeleteI posted on Sun Sep 13, 06:04:00 AM PDT on this week’s thread:
ReplyDeleteI posted on Sunday, Sep 13, 05:58:00 AM PDT on last week’s thread:
I find part of this week’s puzzle answer ominous. Do you agree? (Say “yes”.)
This was a hint to the field of renown. The phrase “ominous cinema” is a classic example of a phonetic palindrome. That’s a palindrome not by letters, but by the speaking of it, if recorded, being the same if played backwards. I ended my post with another phonetic palindrome: “Say ‘yes’ “.
Sorry for my delay in posting. I am in a car driving through central Pennsylvania right now.
ReplyDeleteMichael Caine, Cinema
...and who knew that his birth name Maurice Micklewhite anagrams to MIMETIC WHELK?
MICHAEL CAINE, CINEMA
ReplyDeleteThe first name that came to mind was Marie Curie, but obviously that didn't work. Not even if you call her "Madame".
ReplyDeleteMy clue:
ReplyDeleteI originally solved for a different profession that this person is not renowned for. But then I got it.
Mcaine anagrams to iceman, but Michael Caine doesn’t play hockey or deliver ice!
Michael Caine (born Maurice Micklewhite): Cinema
ReplyDeleteOh no, RBG died.
ReplyDeleteBut, of course, Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP senators all believe that holding hearings in the last year of a president’s term would deprive voters of a role in the process. Just like they did when Obama nominated Merrick Garland. Right? :-(
Deletejan, Are you calling Mitch McConnell a hypocrite?
DeleteJan, my thoughts exactly.
DeleteYes. With the White House, Senate, and a 6-3 Court, the election is pretty much irrelevant.
DeleteJust how much longer do we have to wait for Trump to tweet something extremely nasty about RBG?
DeleteA coincidence with this puzzle is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born the day after Michael Caine. She was born on March 15, 1933.
DeleteThe Ides of March.
DeleteThe current Justices might just be honest enough to encourage Trump and his dog Mitch to wait.
ReplyDeleteExcept Thomas, of course. And maybe Cavnaugh.
I took a short break from reading this evening and watched "A Room With A View" again. While watching it, it suddenly occurred to me how peculiar it is that Denholm Elliott was never filmed wearing jeans. Perhaps ironic would a better adjective.
ReplyDeleteOld song lyrics have been going through my head:"I'm BIDEN my time,'cause that's the kinda guy I'm".
ReplyDeleteBye, Don!
DeleteI've also been saying for years now that Biden is just biding his time. Now I'm wondering if anyone understood my joke above, or if it is wasted.
DeleteSDB, allow me to explain for you. No one should have to explain their jokes.Denim (Denholm) is what jeans (Actually, dungarees)are made of. Pardon the preposition that ended that sentence.
DeleteClark,
DeleteGlad you got my joke. I knew some old timers would, but I also know most younger people will not remember this great British actor, nor understand that his first name is a homophone of denim. The "L" is not pronounced.
I make up jokes all the time, along with ad-libs, and many will not get the joke because they are completely ignorant of something important in the joke. It may be current events, or famous persons, or historical facts one would expect anyone to know, but they don't. I find it very frustrating sometimes when I have just come up with something truly funny, but it is completely wasted on an ignorant target.
Now, I will not pardon you for ending your sentence in a preposition because it is perfectly proper to end a sentence in a preposition, no matter what Miss Strictland may have mis-taught you in school.
For me,it was my 8th grade English teacher, Miss Brenner. I also had to look up a word she used when I got the giggles in her class. She said, "That will be enough of your perverted sense of humor, Mr. Schwartz. Who knew she'd be so spot on that many years ago?
DeleteIt has long seemed to me that thinking someone's sense of humor is perverted is a form of perversion in itself. Humor is a natural reaction to something and it cannot be controlled or prevented. It is what it is. So I would say Miss Brenner was following society's norm of not allowing people to feel the way they do and be themselves. We will not miss Brenner.
DeleteIts 5781, the Jewish New Year. Let's hope its a happy and sweet one.
ReplyDeleteDream on.
DeleteWhat else is left, but to dream,hope AND VOTE?
DeleteBecome an activist and try to make things better. Hope and dreams will not change anything, and voting is important, but only a first step. We must all begin to take charge of what is happening to our country because it is failing and failing fast.
DeleteAs Stalin may have said, “The people who cast the votes decide nothing; the people who count the votes decide everything.”
Deletesdb: i agree.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge comes from listener Greg VanMechelen of Berkeley, Calif. Take the name of a famous actor — 4 letters in the first name, 5 letters in the last. Spoonerize it. That is, interchange the initial consonant sounds of the first and last names. The result will be two new familiar first names — one male, one female — that start with the same letter ... but that letter is pronounced differently in the two names. Who's the actor?
ReplyDeleteCongrats, ecoarchitect!
Delete(But too easy!)
DeleteI solved it with the very first name that came to mind as I was still reading it.
DeleteIt's a bit iffy, but whatever! Just another interesting factoid - this person has something in common with the previous week's answer, and it's not just that they're both actors. --Margaret
DeleteI had a similar initial reaction.
DeleteAfter eliminating Alan Arkin, Mike Myers, and Nick Nolte, I poured a second cup of coffee. Once the caffeine hit, I saw the light.
ReplyDeleteWell done eco!