This may start a debate on spelling. Anyone going to argue for the original Dutch?Q: Using only the letters in the phrase RIDE ON — repeating them as often as necessary — you can spell 1) the one-word proper name of a famous fictional animal, and 2) a word for what kind of animal it is. What's the name of the animal, and what's the word?
Edit: In the earliest known printing of A Visit from St. Nicholas, the given names of Santa's seventh and eighth reindeer were, in fact, Dunder and Blixem from the original Dutch for thunder and lightning. Later printings had this as Donder and Blitzen. It was the song that made Donner the popular spelling.
A: REINDEER, DONDER (or DONNER).
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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ReplyDeleteI can go from breakfast to the solution in five steps.
ReplyDeleteA humanitarian could get there faster.
DeletePerhaps, but half the fun is in the voyage.
DeleteOver 1200 correct responses last week.
ReplyDeleteIf you accept slang, I have a (wrong) four-letter name and four-letter animal type, and the words are the same. I think I have the real answer, but the named animal not the most famous of all such animals.
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DeleteI also thought of a 4 letter answer where the words are the same, and pretty sure it's not the intended answer, but I don't think it's slang and technically I don't think it could be considered wrong either.
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ReplyDeleteBlaine, I saw your deletions at the end of last week's thread and accordingly deleted my comment above.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSolved it like lightning.
ReplyDelete[clap clap clap clap]!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteYou can get a related answer in 26 letters if you start with RIDE ON + H.
ReplyDeleteOops...make that RIDE ON + HT.
DeleteThis is easy; don't take a pass on it
ReplyDeleteHa!
DeleteHe he he!!
DeleteJeremyC, I had solved this when I read your post. Thank you for confirming it.
DeleteCanonical
ReplyDelete(You can’t just make willy-nilly additions.)
DeleteI'm reminded of an old joke, but there isn't any way to refer or even allude to it any further without giving everything away.
ReplyDeleteA certain Coltrane might know.
ReplyDeleteI'll use Elton again: Madman Across The Water.
ReplyDeleteNice, but quite peculiar in a funny sort of way!
Delete"DONNER Pour DONNER"n'est-ce pas?
DeleteAntipasto
ReplyDeleteCarex Buchanii
DeleteOnce again, the puzzle has lost its appeal to me by not being challenging enough.
ReplyDeleteC. Everett Koop
ReplyDeleteSoylent Green
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, I got mine from Amazon.
DeleteWonder if mom and pop shops, like Hugh Verdant, carry this also?
DeleteThat was just Soylent, Paul. Different ingredients.
DeleteOh, that's right, ingredient χ was banned by the government, for some reason.
DeleteEspecially in χcago.
DeleteA "chi" sometimes appears as an "ex", and sometimes it just disappears. I've even found it masquerading as two lumps of coal (��). That's fine, because with a little imagination you can string a few of them together like so:
Delete����������
and you've got a coal train.
Questionable ;-).
DeleteSolved!! Throwing a party to celebrate!!
ReplyDeleteI’ll probably take a pass on the party, but what’s on the menu?
DeleteI think Timothy will be there, but only briefly.
DeletePacker snackers all around!!!
DeleteI'll bring the gyros.
DeleteGyros are a variation on the Turkish doener kebab.
DeleteI thought about alluding to the Donner Pass Rest Stop on I-80 just west of Truckee, California on the way to Tahoe, but decided that this was both in bad taste (no pun intended) and, worse, too much of a giveaway. Same for wisecracks about "finger food."
Musical clue: Sam Cooke, or Leos Janacek.
ReplyDeleteOh snap! I thought of another sweet musical clue while cleaning the bathroom.
DeleteMy granddaughter questions "fictional"
ReplyDeleteDoes her name begin with V? --Margaret G.
DeleteGreat hint, Pickledill, and great follow-up comment Margaret G.!
DeleteLegoWhoBelievesSuchClevernessAsThisIsAdmirable
Seven is my lucky number.
ReplyDeleteLess is More
ReplyDeleteI really wanted the answer to be DINO the DINOSAUR from the Flintstones, but I think I was just being bad.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe local bus system here is called Ride On. This entity and the fictional animal have a similar raison d'être, and it is not a dried grape.
ReplyDeleteI hope I can give a hint that does not reveal the answer.
ReplyDeleteI like it.
DeleteYes, quite clever clue, Bobby. I agree with Word Woman and Dr. K.
DeleteLegoWhoIsEnviousOfCleverClueGivers
"Reveal the answer" is like the deer, veal->revealed puzzle 2 weeks ago. A reindeer is a type of deer.
DeleteVeal is not venison.
DeleteThis may be the youngest on air participant I've heard. Nice to see the puzzle has a following among youngsters.
ReplyDeleteAgree, so refreshing!
DeleteRaining in Berkeley today. But no thunder or lightning.
ReplyDeletejan,
ReplyDeleteYesterday I attended my first Zoom event. I wasn't expecting much, but it was outstanding. I kept thinking of you, and what you might get from watching it, and decided I would provide a link that will work for a few days. It is free and the main speaker is Yvonne Kason, a Canadian M.D. NATASHA, you should watch it too as it has an answer to your question.
https://www.facebook.com/Spiritual-Awakenings-International-108897750891232
When you open it, click on the video picture of Kimberly Sharp Clark near the top of the page and it will begin.
Thanks, watching Yvonne Kason now. Is that the one I should watch?
DeleteIt was about NDEs. Not what I have had. I forgot to tell you that II now recall I hear voices calling my name like they are in the room but no one there. Similar to your experience in a way. I tried finding you on google but nothing I culd send you a message. I used to go to a hypnotherapist. I was more psychic than she was. But she did have some psychic energy.
DeleteNatasha,
DeleteYes, that is the one. Watch the whole thing and near the end in the question and answer part it will have some advice for you.
You are overthinking how to obtain my email address.
SDB: I will check again near the end. I have suspicion that they are phonies. She laughs a lot about her experience. I find my experiences very serious and spiritual.
DeleteNatasha,
DeleteI suggest you watch the entire thing from the beginning. She is not a phony.
SDB: I watched her from the beginning. I like Dr. Kerr and his use of reverence. That is the very word to describe how I feel about my experiences. Thanks so much! Made my day. Will follow them.
DeleteNatasha,
DeleteI believe you watched the wrong video. The Dr. Kerr video is NOT the one. Watch the one above that begins with Kimberly Sharp Clark, as I posted above.
Again I solved this one while still in bed, and quickly too. At first I was overthink it and trying to make Orion work, but then it came to me. Too easy!
ReplyDeleteBut we're your eyes closed?
DeleteYes.
DeleteAgain, reminds me of a scene from National Lampoon's Christmas vacation.
ReplyDeleteWinner, winner, chicken dinner
ReplyDeleteIf I have the right answer, then Robin Williams made a joke in one of his movies (Mrs. Doubtfire?) using this proper name though in a different context.
ReplyDeleteAnother film, but yes.
DeleteHey, Doc K, you strike me as something of a pop-culture maven. Long live pop-culture and it's Mavens!
DeleteWordsmythe: And so, here's a pop culture clue: "Tequila."
DeleteI hate it when I'm not getting the answer and so many of you say how easy the puzzle is.
ReplyDeleteC a p, when that happens to me I put the puzzle aside for awhile and take a walk. The answer often appears although sometimes it takes a longer percolation period (per per?)
DeleteClark, sage advice from WW. I used to advise my students similarly: do something else, then revisit. You'll have a fresh pair of eyes. And I feel your pain: I had the same problem with last week's puzzle, solving it only, so to speak, at the eleventh hour.
DeleteC a p ...he is not the Star , someone else has the spotlight.
DeleteThanks guys...I'll sleep on it.
DeleteDespite the apparently easy appeal of the fictional name, it may help instead to concentrate on the kind of animal first.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I got what I think is the correct answer by figuring out the animal first; otherwise I'm not sure I would have come up with the name on its own.
DeleteSame here!
DeleteI used a list of fictional animals. Was easier.
DeleteThis puzzle was all-consuming—and I mean all.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was all-consuming—and I mean all.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was all-consuming—and I mean all.
ReplyDeleteThat comment was worth being on here three times?
ReplyDeleteHope I'm not giving anything away here by saying it's an appropriate time of year for this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteCranberry, during your brainstorming last week, did you come across a song title that literally gives the answer away?
DeleteI have no idea what you're referring to, Howie. Just contributing to the conversation. So sue me.
DeletepjbIDon'tLikePinaColadasEitherIfThatHelps
Reference was to "Donner Pour Donner" (Give to Give), a duet by Elton John and France Gall.
DeleteAbe Lincoln would likely not have gotten this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are four acceptable "intended" answers to this week's NPR puzzle, two which also work if the the phrase RIDE ON were replaced by the word DRONE.
DeleteLegoWhoObservesThatAnAuthorneOnceWrote"TheHouseOfClarkMarkDanJuneJenniferJeremyAndJohnAllen"
lego: Welcome to the alternative answer brigade.
DeleteI am not sure what you mean by '"intended".'
It was pretty straightforward figuring out what the PM seems to want (confirmed by the flood of hints), but you say you believe that he has three other answers he will accept. There is even an included sub-set.
To be honest, I can't come up with all three.
Blaine's hint may account for one of them (leaving out your sub-set), however.
I look forward to discovering how all this works.
I'm not Smiley today. RIP John le Carré / David Cornwell.
ReplyDeleteRIP.
DeleteTMI. Blaine ? ! ? ! ?
ReplyDeleteHallo--almost all posts contain this!
ReplyDeleteR.I.P. Doug Scott
ReplyDeleteA relative?
DeleteNo. He was British and one of the world's premier mountaineers. Look him up.
DeleteIn the annals of extinction stories, few birds have achieved the fame of Martha, the last passenger pigeon. Much less known is the equally tragic saga of Irene, the last dodo. Ride on, girl!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWrong, but too close. Please delete.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteToo easy- and spelled wrong.
ReplyDeleteBlaine?
ReplyDeleteThere is a connection to my home city here in Western New York State!
ReplyDeleteIs the connection via a company that shares a name with a famous actress?
DeleteIt is not, it is related to one of our local sports teams.
DeleteI think I finally got it as I backed off and got on with my life. The thing that confused me at first was my assumption that I had to use all the letters for both the proper name and the animal.
ReplyDeleteHuzzah!
DeleteThanks WW
DeleteGood news.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the middle of the night, I came up with a better answer. At 1 AM, I sent it in.Animal was the same, but the proper name was much better.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle reminds me of Raphael’s painting of Saint George and the Dragon.
ReplyDeleteThat is for you to figure out, or wait 2 more days.
DeleteYou never said if you watched the video I suggested. Not the one you mentioned with the doctor you like.
SDB: I think I did watch Yvonne Kason. Will look again. Busy with semester grades now. I think I know the Raphael connection. I looked up the history of that painting. very interesting. TKS.
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DeleteMysterious stack of ungraded papers appears...
Deletejan - are these like the fantasized ballots??
Deletejan:no stack of papers. All work sent on email or on canvas due to zoom classes. Never met students in person.
DeleteAl Jarreau.
ReplyDeleteCCCP is for cookie! That's good enough for me!
ReplyDeleteShouldn't have accepted those cookies, eh?
ReplyDeleteWent down a rabbit hole researching why we call them computer cookies. Learned about magic cookies, zombie cookies, session cookies, Lou Montulli, Netscape and more but I'mstill not satisfied where the term "cookies" came from. I know what they are, but why "cookies?" Blainesville programmers, any ideas?
It always seemed like a natural term to me. A little something left behind, like for Santa Claus, or a lagniappe. Do British programmers call them "biscuits"? And like the real things, too many aren't good for you.
DeleteBritish programmers "aren't good for you" or did you mean cookies are not good for us?
DeleteToo many cookies aren't good for you. British programmers are OK. Alan Turing started it all.
DeleteYes, and I heard Alan may have had just one apple too many.
Deletejan, well that makes sense.
DeleteI might have gone with mints instead. If you mints (sic) words, is that pillow talk?
Vladimir Putin sometimes will Minsk his words.
DeleteI always assumed it came from 'fortune cookie' somehow. A little message hidden away, kinda thing.
DeleteBut I think that's just an assumption or impression, not based on any real information about the history of the term.
Randall Munroe points out that there were
ReplyDeletemore Trump voters in California than Texas,
more Biden voters in Texas than New York,
more Trump voters in New York than Ohio,
more Biden voters in Ohio than Massachusetts,
more Trump voters in Massachusetts than Mississippi, and
more Biden voters in Mississippi than Vermont.
What did Gerald Mander say?
DeleteThe link above got messed up: https://xkcd.com/2399/
DeleteNorth Dakota all red.
DeleteNot all, just 2-to-1 (235,595 to 114,902).
DeleteAh, I see. Thanks.
DeleteCan anyone explain why it is that such a large percentage of the citizens of a remote and isolated state as North Dakota can be so intelligent, informed, intellectual and savvy? NOT!
DeleteEast coasters, how's the snow?
ReplyDeleteStill coming down; expecting 13 inches in Boston by the time it stops this afternoon.
DeleteThe National Weather Service is reporting freezing fog here currently. Never saw that before. Hope it's not like this next week; I don't know how the traffic would get through.
DeleteMy ex wife did too, but all she ever got was 9.
DeleteFreezing fog sounds quite ominous. Hope it clears soon.
DeleteMinimal snow in the DC area - but some patches of ice remains on secondary roads. It all should melt in an hour or so.
DeleteSeven or eight inches here in Rochester, NY! They grow us tough and hardy!
DeleteMy mom near Hartford, CT, reports 15".
DeleteHere in Philly, we got various amounts. South Philly got 3", various other parts got around 5". A rainstorm followed and caused some havoc but otherwise it's pretty under control. Nowhere near the massive amounts in other parts of the state.
DeleteAbout a foot in Rhode Island. Really nice, powdery snow! This weekend I'll break out the skis.
DeleteIn the Birmingham/Jasper area, our forecast calls for snow flurries overnight with frigid temperatures.
ReplyDeleteDonner is a Reindeer
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
“This puzzle reminds me of Raphael’s painting of Saint George and the Dragon.”
One is slaying a dragon and the other is a draggin’ a sleigh.
DONNER, REINDEER
ReplyDelete> I pass.
As in the DONNER Pass.
>> I can go from breakfast to the solution in five steps.
> A humanitarian could get there faster.
A vegetarian eats vegetables. A humanitarian....
My sister-in-law once dated a guy who was a descendant of a Donner party survivor. I was grateful he didn't share any old family recipes.
> Soylent Green
... is people! Yet another DONNER Party reference.
>> There is a connection to my home city here in Western New York State!
> Is the connection via a company that shares a name with a famous actress?
The de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo is the turboprop version of the DHC-4 Caribou, i.e., REINDEER.
> The National Weather Service is reporting freezing fog here currently. Never saw that before. Hope it's not like this next week; I don't know how the traffic would get through.
Santa would need a REINDEER with a really bright nose to guide his sleigh through this.
DONNER (Donder) → One of Santa's REINDEER.
ReplyDeleteCHEERS!
A great Christmas gift.
Possible animals using the letters of RIDE ON:
DEER, REINDEER, DOE, DODO, ERNE, NENE...
ReplyDeleteREINDEER, DONNER
"Antipasto" often includes olives, as in OLIVE, the other REINDEER.
"C. Everett KOOP" -- An older man named HardKOOP rode with the ill-fated DONNER party.
"Abe Lincoln would likely not have gotten this puzzle." since the original name of DONNER was Dunder. Dunder (meaning thunder in Dutch) was changed sometime in the early 20th century.
REINDEER + DONNER
ReplyDeleteI got this fairly quickly, mostly because when I looked at “rideon” and considered animal types, I almost immediately thought of “reindeer.” Once I realized it was possible not to use all of the letters, the other answer followed easily enough. And the inevitable puns on “party” and “pass” made me realize that allusions to cannibalism could not be far behind.
The old joke I referred to (available in a number of “set-ups”) was the one that culminates in the punch line, “Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear.”
My “pop culture” clue: “Tequila”: The 1958 #1 Champs’ song “Tequila”—originally just a jam session B-side of the record—was released on the Challenge label, owned at the time by Gene Autry, “The Singing Cowboy,” whose biggest hit was “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Don't forget Olive, the other reindeer.
Delete!
DeleteI wrote, “If you accept slang, I have a (wrong) four-letter name and four-letter animal type, and the words are the same.” That’s Dino the dino in the Flintstones, an answer others here made explicit.
ReplyDeleteI wrote, “I think I have the real answer, but the named animal not the most famous of all such animals.” This harks to lyrics of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, “But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?”
Ride On buses and "Donner (or Donder) the Reindeer are both involved in transportation.
ReplyDelete4 solutions:
DONNER + REINDEER
DONDER + DEER
DONNER + REINDEER
DONDER + DEER
DONDER and DONNER mean "thunder" in Dutch and German, respectively. The Sinterklaas legend originated in New Netherland (NY/NJ) and is also continued as the Weihnachtsmann in (mostly northern/Protestant) Germany.
correction:
DeleteDONNER + REINDEER
DONDER + REINDEER
DONNER + DEER
DONDER + DEER
geofan and I were obviously on the same wavelenghth regarding this puzzle.
DeleteOn Sunday I commented: "I believe there are four acceptable 'intended' answers to this week's NPR puzzle, two which also work if the the phrase RIDE ON were replaced by the word DRONE."
They are:
Donder, reindeer (Ride on)
Donner, reindeer (Ride on)
Donder, deer (Drone)
Donner, deer (Drone)
That, to answer Mendo Jim's comment, is what I meant by "four acceptable 'intended' answers."
But now, for something completely different...
Puzzleria! this week features four puzzles wrapped in a "Conundrum Set" by our friend Mathew Hufman. We call them:
"Yuletide yen for planes, tomes & automobiles."
Also on our menu:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week about a "Cape Cod catch," "still-life subject" and "plea at sea,"
* a puzzle about photograpic etiquette,
* seven "Donderful" riff-offs,
* and, for dessert, a "Hanukkah Haiku."
LegoWhoIsADasheringThroughTheSnowInAnEightDeerOpenSleigh
Donner, Reindeer
ReplyDeleteMy five steps:
For breakfast, I had Wheaties.
Wheaties is The Breakfast of Champions.
Champion was the name of Gene Autry’s horse.
Gene Autry sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
Donner was one of Santa’s Reindeer.
There was a family in the Donner Party with the same last name as my family. Don't know if we were related (probably not) but I have a clipping of a reunion that my mother sent me. 'Donner party Decendents plan picnic.' My mother wrote on it, Why weren't we invited?
ReplyDeleteThe Keys?
DeletePerhaps there wasn't enough food to go around.
DeleteThose folks were likely quite chew-sy.
DeleteAnd not a single reference to "Why don't cannibals eat clowns?" >>>
They taste funny.
Donner,Reindeer
ReplyDeleteCarex Buchanii- a favorite reindeer snack food.
Huh? Carex buchanii is endemic to New Zealand, while reindeer are only in the northern hemisphere.
DeleteThat was my conundrum as well.
Deletewell they do fly you know.
DeleteI thought Care Oshimensis would have been too obvious.
DeleteWell, Dahmer was a cannibal.
ReplyDeleteYes, but "Daumer, party of 50" was too close to the actual line from "Patch Adams", which was "Donner, party of 50!"
Delete. . .As Robin Williams held up a skeleton.
DeleteDahmer bit off more than he could chew.
DeleteDonner, reindeer
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said “Winner, winner, chicken dinner,” winner and dinner half-rhyming with Donner.
But, are they half-rhymes?
DeleteMy thinner, inner sinner says no.
DeleteA brand new Randy Rainbow parody song has just been released and is a must see:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.randyrainbow.com/
Brilliant. Thanks, sdb.
DeleteDonner, reindeer
ReplyDeleteLOAD MORE TIME!
ReplyDeleteShould we call reindeer deer? They have bulls and cows, not bucks and does. We'll see if Will will.
ReplyDeleteIn the western world cannibalism comes of tragedy and awful necessity and is not humorous.
Lots of things that relate to tragedy are humorous. That's the nature of much humor. Slipping on a banana peel and falling on your butt isn't funny, except watching it is. Murder isn't funny, but "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" is.
DeleteI suspect many cannibals in South America would disagree. It is simply a matter of taste anyway.
DeleteThere’s an aphorism (attributed to several sources), “Comedy is tragedy plus time.”
DeleteDonner, Reindeer.
ReplyDeleteMy clue was about being bad, because for some reason Santa never comes to visit here.
My spinoff puzzle was that you could get a related 26-letter answer starting with RIDE ON + HT. Using the letters from RIDE ON PLUS HT, you can get RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER.
ReplyDelete