Smile? I had a different reaction to the answer that I found.Q: When you get the answer it will make you smile. Name an animal and spell it backward. Now name a variety of meat and insert it inside the animal's name that you've spelled backward. A common word will be revealed. What is it?
Edit: Much like hearing a pun, I had to groan.
A: DEER + VEAL --> REVEALED
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 agree with Will. It did make me smile. I also think he's done this kind of thing before. No clue here. Not yet, anyway, but I don't want to give anything away.
ReplyDeleteI recall this tactic before.
DeleteSocrates founded my line.
DeleteI posted on Sun Nov 29, at 05:11:00 AM PST on last week's thread:
ReplyDeleteMight there be any alternate answers this week? Certainly not one that's as practically put there for us to find as this week's intended answer!
I agree with Blaine and jan.
ReplyDeleteI was preparing to offer "Duck!" [A + CALF(backward)] as a hint, but when I saw jan's "turducken" I figured it would be overkill.
DeleteTake "Sus" (the genus of pigs), spell it backward (!), and insert "ham" (sounds cannibalistic) to get "shamus", a detective. Not the intended answer, of course.
ReplyDeletejan is sus
Deletejan, how did you suss out that answer?
DeleteI have no doubt about Will's intended answer, but I do expect it to be a good week for alternates. The conditions to be met are pretty broad.
ReplyDeleteBig smile
ReplyDeleteAnd why didn't SEA NETTLE merit a shout out?
ReplyDeleteOr SEA CUTTLE?
DeleteBTW, the on-air player was on Jeopardy! in 2008.
ReplyDelete...And I've observed that if you take the on-air players full name, and in the last name insert one letter and replace one vowel with another, you get a famous puzzler from the past.
DeleteOh, right, E&WAf. I thought that name sounded familiar, somehow.
DeleteI did not smile. I groaned.
ReplyDeleteNor did I; in fact, I immediately blurted "Aw, F*** me," perhaps a little louder than I should've...
DeleteSelgi ebn shte lymxuu iu mochecx xrklr lyh dndfm dies e ocoflyeye othm om tele xz ant h doco asclh thy zc qls woa ie latciyrphtp qsc nqiz aixp sq snay, keaprocwg vu yzfv gcnwwviye.
ReplyDeletePaul, for once why can't you just let the puzzle's intended answer, or perhaps the ROT13 of that be the key?
DeleteHvknwzk Z'u n ...
DeleteThe key for my first encoded comment is HALLELUJAH.
DeleteBecause I'm a Grinch, the key for the second is different.
Is PIG meat? U B da judge.
Can MEN be meat? Well, Soylent Green is people.
In case you're interested:
https://versus.com/en/fava-beans-vs-soybeans
Don't get me started on lentils.
"REGIMENT," replied Hannibal Lecter with a wry smile...
ReplyDeleteOn, Comet! On, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
DeleteCertain jokes don't make you smile.
ReplyDeleteIf I have the intended answer, then the picture is a big clue. Which means that I probably have the wrong answer. Because for sure I hardly ever understand Blaine's clues. Even the pictures. And I realize this post isn't even funny, and I'm certainly being long-winded about it. But there you have it. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteThe common word was the title of at least three different TV series.
ReplyDeleteThe common word is apparent...
ReplyDeleteI have four answers using the same animal.
DeleteI hadn't heard of any of the three TV shows until I got the answer and googled it.
Delete"dog is my pilot"
ReplyDeleteAn alternate, NRA-friendly answer involves the same animal.
ReplyDeleteDon't cry because it's over , smile because it happened....Dr.Seuss
ReplyDeleteGetting the backwards animal first would be instrumental to a quick solve.
ReplyDeleteFor a seasoned solver, took perhaps six seconds to figure out the animal it might be. It helped that I was looking directly at this animal as the radio was playing the puzzle segment.
DeleteWas that a Disney film?
DeleteNope, an actual DEER. What can I say -- I live in a Disney film.
Delete(Or maybe an ABC afterschool special?)
The NPR announcer just reported that our governor and his partner "testified positive" for covid-19.
ReplyDeleteOh Jesus.
Delete1 out of 41 persons in Col.
DeleteAnd our Denver Mayor Hancock tweeted asking Coloradans not to travel...while on his way to the airport for a trip to Mississippi. . .
DeleteOptics leading to upticks!
Yeah, Mayor Hancock's behavior revealed the common attitude that the rules apply to everyone else. That seems to be the driving force behind our COVID numbers
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNo smile for me either.
ReplyDeleteBack to the normal schedule, where the answer will be disclosed at 3pm on Thursday, not Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteAWB
ReplyDeleteSome folks contentedly live in a valley all their lives, never reaching for the mountain top.
ReplyDelete2000+ correct entries last week. Predicting less than 500 this week.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing higher--at least 1700.
DeleteAgree.
DeleteThis sounds like a puzzle a year ago.
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle on November 10, 2019 had a similar trick. It mentioned "a word that is relevant", and the word was "relevant". The word "revealed" sounds like "relevant".
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBlaine?
DeleteNPR should monitor it's facebook.
DeleteNPR doesn't have the same rules as we do.
DeleteChris1995, kindly delete your post.
DeleteI suspect that after a couple hours, Blaine went back to bed.
DeleteBLAINE! As soon as you're up and looking all this over, PLEASE NOTICE the post to which Ben, Natasha, jan, Word Woman, and now I have just replied!
Well that ruined it.
DeleteTMI
ReplyDeletethe answer did not make me smile
ReplyDeleteI think it's time for someone else to govern the sunday puzzles
Agreed. I nominate Legolambda, aka Joseph Young, puzzlemaker extraordinaire.
DeleteThe comment above from Word Woman (who guided me through setting up my Puzzleria! blog in 2014) is very kind, and I thank her for it. But I suspect her comment is likely bit tongue-in-cheek.
DeleteSure, we like to gripe about "flaws" we perceive in the weekly NPR puzzles. (That's a part of the snarky fun of posting here). But those puzzles are generally fresh, fun and challenging. That is why we return to NPR and to this wonderful blog week after week. If NPR would stop broadcasting "The Puzzle" I would miss and mourn it, just as I miss and mourn the Tappet Brothers.
Will Shortz has set the gold standard for purveying puzzles. I aspire to that standard, sure. But, as yet, pyrite is really all I have mined.
LegoWhoThinksThatThisWeek'sNPRPuzzleWasSmileWorthyAndWorthwhile
Lego, thank you for your abiding graciousness and modesty.
DeleteAnd I, too, miss Click and Clack and may have mourned almost as much as Ray at Tom's passing.
Oh how funny - I had a completely different answer than the one that was considered TMI here. Yet mine fit the clue, too. I wonder if it would be accepted by Will? --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteWe will likely never know.
DeleteMargaret if you want to Vigenere your alt answer here and post it for me, I can forward to the Puzzlemaster. I'm guessing there will be a handful of alternate answers this week.
DeleteI'm not very familiar with Vigenere, but I've put my alternative answer here. Xwm cfrp M risv ub axbn zs qtxoxrm. Ux'h i vzttc ywqv ttei uoxhf qpsk fnq wbqrv. mmvt jgtkiegly, rnp txo (zppq su ukrt) ur ipk dipham. --Margaret G.
DeleteCute. You have to use Margaret's alternative answer as the key to read her sentence explaining what the word she came up with was.
DeleteI like Margaret's alternative answer, and I like Lancek's, although I believe they both suffer from the same basic flaw.
DeleteM ipoek QTXOXRM uw p arzcw ecacvr. Ilpb Czlx wpqj ko yi dviv (vue tugzl) uw ipgk hq wdukkiyih luvsz'x zvun wtic bnvrq egm gctqvcizv azwlmxj, azh wm xvcavsa zye Eyclgp sqkbmtk oz Jgqjry. Es X eocl xii pod kzsl ihfuf IEQMIAY ecl vvrteea nv wupa uketusc qz fn flt ioi. I flxvq zt osjvzj (ehic bnfusl nwa rrq yhqtx PUK pvj eof TDZQ).
DeleteWill posted here recently that he only knows what the intern de jour happens to send him. He does not see alternate answers most of the time, and most of the interns would most likely not know what they are looking at, but are simply looking for what they were informed is the correct answer.
DeleteThat being said, this particular puzzle can only have one correct answer period, end of story.
Vtxrpizk iw Hvn:
DeleteMrs enf hmwc'b nvadh dn zye nvtiqwaex bmgc "pukh qt r bxecskk"?
I agree this week has one answer.
DeleteLast week had three with two alternates that must have been submitted hundreds of times out of the claimed 2500.
I wish Will would simply admit, if it is true, that he has ordered he is not to be informed of alternate answers.
I am certain Will has not given such an order. I have heard him on occasion discuss alt solutions, a few of which I felt were unworthy of any mention. He explained this well recently and when I emailed him an alt answer I thought should get a mention, he emailed back that he enjoyed it and did mention it the following Sunday. I just wish he would use more worthy puzzles.
DeleteI just got it. Will is very sneaky.
ReplyDeletePS I did smile at first and then I had another emotion.
ReplyDeleteI just got it too. Pretty clever once you figure it out. Not to give anything away here, but if anyone still can't get it, might I suggest reading the text of the puzzle more than once? It should eventually come to you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd just turn off that blinker (aka turn signal) just now.
DeletePM's not having his best couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteTake a generic dessert. Insert a type of meat. Result is a seaside meal.
ReplyDeleteSee August 26, 2007.
DeleteToo baaad...
DeleteI know for a fact Will did that one already!
ReplyDeleteI’ve always found Pei Cobb Freed’s minimalist John Hancock Tower to be a little lacking.
ReplyDeleteREVEALED - DEER, VEAL The Hancock Tower with its slick glass facade and oversized structural silicone glazed openings lacks traditional window REVEALS. When not falling off the building, the glass panes do provide interesting reflections of Copley Square.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for he day. Can anyone think of a possible connection between "Star Wars" and a Harry Belafonte song?
ReplyDeleteWell, he usually sang solo...
DeleteThe answer that I was looking for was:
DeleteYODA anagrams to DAYO!
I can't hear that song without thinking about marked down not quite stale bagels: "Day old! It's a day, it's a day, it's a day old!"
DeleteFun fact: Alan Arkin was a member of the folk Group "The Tarriers," which recorded their version of the "Banana Boat Song" and released it prior to Belafonte's version. It did better on the charts too--back in the days when Pat Boone's version of "Tutti Frutti" also outsold Little Richard's.
The Capitol Steps did a take-off called "Daycare". ("Daycare call, wan' de mom go home."
DeleteI saw Alan Arkin in his Broadway debut, in "Enter Laughing".
Great nuggets, Italo Svevo and jan. Alan Arkin is criminally underrated. My "sleeper" recommendation: the original film version of "The In-Laws" (1979) with Arkin and Peter Falk.
DeleteLegoWhoSuggestsThatTheFactThatPatBoone'sCoverOf"TuttiFrutti"OutsoldLittleRichard'sVersionTellsYouEverythingYouNeedToKnowAboutThe1950s
That reminds me of several years ago when I ran across the word, emetic, and had to look it up. I still am wondering why the dictionary gave Pat Boone as an example.
DeleteBefore the Little Richard cover, Boone covered Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame” (although my old Domino 45’s title reads “Ain’t It a Shame”) and, to sanitize the original, Boone even went so far as to suggest changing the title to “Isn’t That a Shame.” It became his first #1, but as gag-inducing as it was, it did bring royalties and greater recognition to Domino in the “mainstream” audience. Boone’s “Tutti-Frutti” cover, also gag-inducing, did a degree of the same for Little Richard but, needless to say, for the original Black artists the entire ‘50s “cover” industry is--at best--fraught with deep ambivalence.
DeleteI'll be honest: The first thing I thought of was "Man Smart (Woman Smarter)" in the context Leia and Han
DeleteTo Legolambda: Couldn't agree more. My wife and I laugh when either of us mentions the Guacamole Act of 1917. Falk was brilliant but Arkin was even better.
DeleteJust now figured it out. Hard to talk about it without TMI ...
ReplyDeleteYou cold mention a facial organ.
ReplyDeleteI spent entirely too long on this, but finally I am a free man!
ReplyDeleteThis might be my most oblique clue yet. "I am a free man" was a reference to the 1960s TV show "The Prisoner", specifically the opening dialogue:
DeleteNumber Six: Who are you?
Number Two: The new Number Two.
Six: Who is Number One?
Two: You are Number Six.
Six: I am not a number; I am a free man!
Spoilers incoming! In the finale, Number One's face is revealed to be the same as Number Six's, prompting the popular fan theory that the intro dialogue foreshadows the reveal: Number Six asks, "Who is Number One?" to which Number Two does indeed answer, "You are, Number Six."
So that was my circuitous way of indicating that this was another puzzle where you secretly got the answer from the beginning :)
Come January 20th and Trump vacates the White House there be another unnecessary ex Pence.
ReplyDelete1 - 21 - 21 The first full day of a new administration begins with a memorable palindrome
DeleteAnd should we win in the special election in Georgia we may have a new pal in dome.
Delete... which is probably better than a Palin drone.
DeleteWell Sarah is Palin comparison to Mitch.
DeleteAlso, for Ramones fans, Joey's prescient lyric applies at 12:01 am on December 31, 2020, when it is "2020 24 Hours to go...."
DeleteThen again, Joey is probably rolling in his grave, having written his lovely homage "Maria Bartiromo" to the now disgraced financial TV host.
Oh man, that's good Ben -- did you make that up?
DeleteTrying to make Kris Kringle work
ReplyDeleteSBD, Au contraire mon ami, it will be very necessary...but it was a good pun.
ReplyDeleteClark,
DeleteWould you prefer: ...an ex Pence we can afford to ignore?
But he may be a tax-deductible ex Pence.
DeleteWhen I think of Pence, which is not often, I am reminded of what Benjamin Franklin said: "A penny saved is ridiculous."
DeleteThat joke has no currency.
Deletejan,
DeleteI do hope, and assume, when you say, "That joke" you are not referring to my humor, but to its object, our present vice president.
...anyway it is now time to recycle our loose change.
DeleteThe more I think about Margaret G's answer, the better I like it.
ReplyDeleteI hope she sent it in even though it will never pass through Will's firewall time-space chipper at NPR Wesun.
You don't seem to understand that there is only one possible answer to this puzzle, as I posted earlier.
DeleteToo bad you didn't read that sub-thread.
DeleteSome of the most enjoyable parts of this Blog have been when you have to had eat your words. And there have been several.
LOL
DeleteStill LMAO.
DeleteLaughing even harder now.
DeleteDEER, VEAL, REVEALED
ReplyDelete"AWB" = All Will Be Revealed
�� I did not smile when I solved this puzzle as I thought of the inhumane treatment of calves used for veal. (I witnessed this in Sonora, Mexico, tromping around in the desert as a geologist for a barite mapping project. Though I was never a fan of veal, after that experience I could not eat calf.)
Margaret's EPIGRAM (MARE, PIG) will likely not be accepted as we use "meat cut" words like PORK, BACON, etc. instead of PIG. And the word is not all that common. . .but I do like this alternative.
REVEALED
ReplyDeleteREVEALED
ReplyDeleteThis is more a joke than a puzzle and should have been presented around April Fools Day.
It cannot be RESEALED, or any other answer, because the puzzle description says what the answer is at the end. It "will be REVEALED."
DEER + VEAL —> REVEALED
ReplyDeleteLike some others, I solved this “backwards,” i.e., from the word to the animal and meat, and almost immediately in a moment of éclaircissement, when Will’s “trick” from a previous puzzle (see Nov. 10, 2019) came to mind.
My clue: “No clue here. Not yet anyway, but I don’t want to give anything away,” that is, “reveal”
anything.
I do, however, understand the mixed reactions the puzzle engendered.
DEER (Spelled backwards) + VEAL = REVEALED
ReplyDeleteThe Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Like those truths, the solution was self-evident.
Animal → DEER,
ReplyDeleteReversed → REED,
Insert a variety of meat → VEAL → REVEALED
“A common word will be revealed.”
Other answers: re-fished, re-ducked, re-coded, re-chickened out...
What do you make of Blaine’s clue
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that the thought of VEAL did not make Blaine smile either.
DeleteWhat do you make of Blaine’s clue
ReplyDeleteWhat do you make of Blaine’s clue
ReplyDeleteI submitted:
ReplyDeleteUNROBING (ROBIN, GNU);
ANAGRAM (NAG, MARA);
TALIPOTS (LIP, STOAT);
THENAR (HEN, RAT); and
PUCCOONS (COON, SCUP),
deliberately avoiding REVEALED.
I did not submit REGIMENT (MEN, TIGER), NAPALM (PAL, MAN), or RAKING (KIN, GAR) due to their cannibalistic nature.
I could have submitted REBUTTED, RECOCKED, RESAILED but did not because the animal is DEER, clearly the intended answer.
What do you have against cannibals?
DeleteI never actually thought of REGIMENT as being an acceptable answer, which is why I posted it whimsically early in the week. I think we all agree that acceptable alternates should be Thursday posts. Of the alternates I have seen, though, I think REBUTTED checks all the right boxes. It's not just an animal with flesh; it's a meat.
DeleteREVEALED, DEER, VEAL.
ReplyDeleteYes, PLANTSMITH, there was an actual DEER outside my window when the Sunday Segment was on.
They are out looking for food right now.
Also MARGARET I sent your alternate answer to the PuzzleMaster. He was lukewarm on it.
Thanks, Ben.
Not sure I'll mention EPIGRAM on the air, but we'll see.
Anyway, good to know.
That is spooky. I thought you were watching Bambi.
DeleteThat was my clue--Disney--Bambi. Deer/ Revealed.
DeleteLast year my DIL hit one in North Georgia totalling her SUV. I think it was around this time of year. You really have to take them seriously here.
Hey here is a riff off your Uma puzzle. Think of a famous imaginary T.V. personality whose first name is repeated in the second and whose last name begins with a term that could be used for Roger Stone.
DeleteHere i am sitting in Georgia and i just got my mailed absentee ballot for the special election. Gee- should i trust the post office to actually mail it in?
DeleteI prefer to use a drop-off box. Preferably one in a monitored location (I - in MD - used a County CH site, more secure than a school).
DeleteMD (which required an application for the general election) did an excellent job of reporting status of ballots to voters:
Delete1. Application received
2. Ballot being prepared
3. Ballot mailed to voter
4. Voted ballot has been received
5. Voted ballot has been counted and tallied
Voters received a confirmatory email at each of the above numbered stages.
Thanks. I think i can also track it on line to see if it actually makes it.
DeleteThanks for asking him, Ben. I figured it probably wouldn't be accepted, but it made *me* smile!
Deletedeer, veal
ReplyDeleteThe word "revealed" is revealed.
I had considered posting:
ReplyDeleteMusical hint: Händel's Messiah.
"And the glory of the LORD" ... shall be re-veal e-e-e-ee-e-eal-ed"
Beautiful- "And he shall reign -forever and ever.'
DeleteWesley Davis' NPR puzzle did not make me smile, but I still thought it was clever.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of clever puzzles...
We offer 14 fresh puzzle slices on of Puzzleria! menus beginning at midnight tonight PST.
Three of the freshesh are served up by our friend Plantsmith in his recurring "Garden of Puzzley Delights" feature. He has picked for us this week a fragrant "bouquet of long-stemmed stumpers" that involve:
1. a Dr. Anthony Fauci rallying cry,
2. a foul-smelling fruit that transforms itself into a rodent, and
3. a clash of four cinematic masterpieces.
Also on Puzzleria!s menus come Friday's wee hours are:
* A "House of..." what?... Horrors? Cards? Pancakes?... or something else" Schpuzzle of the Week.
* A recipe for "mobster roles" (including lots of pakrika, butter and mayo)
* Eight riff-offs of Wesley Davis' "Revealing" NPR puzzle, and
* A Dessert "about Doughboys and Deerstalkers."
That is 14 puzzles!
Join us, please, for the fun of it.
LegoWhoPrefers"Reribsed"ToRevealed
My clue -,
ReplyDeleteGetting the backwards animal first would be instrumental to a quick solve.
The animal backwards is a reed, which is used on certain woodwind instruments ( the one I used to play.).
I interpreted Blaine’s clue as he instead was ticked off (as in deer ticks).
REVEALED(VEAL inserted into DEER backwards)
ReplyDeleteDeer, re _veal_ed
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Some folks contentedly live in a valley all their lives, never reaching for the mountain top.” Valley --> vale -->veal.
I’m feeling sheepish.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Jared Harvey, of Santa Cruz, Calif. Think of a common word in six letters. Write it in lowercase. If you hold up a mirror at its side, the reflection will show the same word. What is it?
ReplyDeleteOnly a little challenging. Why couldn't he have said, "If you hold up a mirror at its side, the same word will be revealed"?
DeleteGood for you, jan, but I'm still wondering if the answer might contain an l or a t - letters which may reflect into themselves if the font allows it.
DeleteThe individual letters don't have to be mirror images of themselves. The word as a whole does.
DeleteBut if a "t" doesn't reflect into itself, then it's reflection is no letter at all, and hence the reflection of any word containing "t" is no word at all.
DeleteI agree with Jan. A cute little puzzle.
ReplyDelete