Q: Name a person in 2011 world news in eight letters. Remove the third, fourth and fifth letters. The remaining letters, in order, will name a person in 2021 world news. What names are these?Really? We've only had about 10 days of news in 2021 and you can easily Google newsworthy names of 2011. I guess Will is starting the year with a "gimme".
A: BIN LADEN --> BIDEN
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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 comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteToo easy. Give this one to the kids who couldn't read or didn't watch television before 2011. They might be learning more history remotely or in home school than they did before Coronavirus.
DeleteI used to live in Montclair, NJ, and know Nick Lewis, today's winner. Way to go, Nick!
ReplyDeleteBoth persons were at least part of the same story. One much more notably so.
ReplyDeleteJoe Biden was in the situation room when the operation to take out Osama Bin Laden was executed. He is on the left hand side of the famous picture.
Delete....and yes, this is sort of a gimme.
ReplyDeleteI don't like one of these people.
ReplyDeleteIt's tough to have someone like that as a namesake.
DeleteEasy. See THIS WEEK'S CARTOONS.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember the TRIAL UMP of 2011?
DeleteThe NFL replacement refs were in 2012 though
DeleteExcuse my while I put on my tin foil hat
ReplyDeleteWill did not pack a surprise with this one.
ReplyDeleteSealed, but not with a kiss.
ReplyDeleteI was in the middle of a conversation with one of these people when a blind dog walked into my leg.
ReplyDeleteDon’t give those people ideas!!
ReplyDeleteLightning
ReplyDeleteEasy, but surprised that conspiracy nutjobs haven't gone wild with this yet...
ReplyDeleteActually, they did, mostly on right-wing AM radio. In an angry, resentful way. They also had a lot of fun with another more popular name at the time.
DeleteThe three letters removed are an abbreviation that applies to the 2011 name.
ReplyDeleteThat was the first clue I thought of, too, being in a certain profession. Like a walk in the parc.
DeleteMy first instinct was right. Anagram the 2021 name and you'll get something associated with John Lennon.
ReplyDeleteGreat one! You radical, you!
DeleteUse Dr. K's clue to find a popular crossword answer.
DeleteOno!
DeleteAnd then insert two letters into the midst of that word to get a word I associate (correctly or incorrectly, I'm not sure) with the 2011 name.
DeleteAnd add to Paul's word the periodic table symbol for a metal, rearrange those letters, to get a geologic term.
DeleteI’ll provide the link on Thursday.
DeleteJoe Jacobs would like to have a few words with you.
DeleteItalo Svevo, on the airline?
DeleteOr something associated with a fortune cookie.
DeleteJoe Jacobs was the boxing promoter who, when he was given the chance to go see the Cubs play the Tigers in the World Series on a cold, rainy day, said "I shoulda stood in bed." Referring to all the John and Yoko comments rearranging Biden to read "in bed."
DeleteWW -- apologies for not responding to your question but I still can't figure it out. Same for you, alternate WW.
A clue might be found in Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteMy mouth is agape. Highly uncharacteristic of WS to select this puzzle IMHO.
ReplyDeleteIMHO, I just think it's inappropriate. Kind of like the idea that what many people were wishing for in December of 2020 were "bonus" and "raise."
DeleteAgreed.
DeleteThis same association could have been made ten years ago, along with a complementary bit of word play that was even more obvious.
ReplyDeleteAh, that's what I was thinking -- but then the way I was going to clue it seemed like TMI. Yours is good and safe.
DeleteAnyway it made me think of Skydive Boy.
About a 5 inch difference.
ReplyDeleteThis is abhorrent. Another example of the absolute tin ear that Shortz has demonstrated lately.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, in a sense that's what WE accomplished.
ReplyDeletePS. Hooray for US(A)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRearrange the letters to give an acronym for what many of you may be using right now.
ReplyDeleteMy just-preceding post was incorrect, even though some may have thought of the Watergate plumbers.
As an avid tennis player and fan (and parent of a couple of US Open ball persons), suffice to say I’ve been lobbing in requests for puzzles that take longer than a few seconds to solve. The ease of recent puzzles is growing old on me.
ReplyDeleteOne of these, is not like the other.
ReplyDeleteWell, that was a little too easy.
ReplyDeleteWhy do we even bother?
ReplyDeleteOne wore an anagram of the first name.
ReplyDeleteChange a letter in the first name of the 2011 person to get the name of somebody associated with the 2021 person.
ReplyDeleteChange the S in Osama to a B to get Obama. Joe Biden was the vice president of Barack Obama.
DeleteSuper easy...was pretty much the first names I thought of.
ReplyDeleteJill Lepore has a piece in The New Yorker, "What Should We Call the Sixth of January?" She talks about "insurrection", "sedition", etc., but Peter Sagal, of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me", referred to that date as December 37, 2020. I believe he intended it as a way to keep all the bad shit happening in last year, but I think it nicely echoes the way Chinese democracy activists (have to) refer to the Tiananmen Square massacre as May 35.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we should make that mistake here though. We need more truth and transparency; not more obfuscation.
DeleteSomewhat surprisingly Arnold Schwarzenegger has come out with a video statement on the "Trump failed" presidency and him being "the worst president ever."
As it turns out, the lyrics to ‘Candle in the Wind 2021’ can be directly inspired by a 2011 parody of same.
DeleteHere's a link to Schwarzenegger's video that SDB referred to.
DeleteThankyou. Very good.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeletePredicting 4K+ answers this week. The on air puzzle was quite different - no specific correct answer except for the state capital question.
ReplyDeleteOK, here's a little something:
ReplyDelete> Find a word ladder 10 steps long leading from TRUMP to BIDEN, using only common words.
(A "common word" is one that even I know.)
Rudolfo, I may have to tell Legolambda on you. They're already doing that on Puzzleria! this week.
DeletepjbWonderingIfLooseLipsSinkShips,DoLoosePostsBustGhosts?
What is Legolambda?
DeleteGood question. We've been wondering about that too for years now. LOL
DeleteOK, I found the Puzzleria ask - great minds run together - couldn't see that it was answered. datagenetics and ceptimus-rare as usual used words I have never heard of; ceptimus-common gave a much longer solution than my own program.
DeleteLeg o lambda is a cousin to Rack-o-lambda.They both have the same surname.
DeleteWonder why he hasn't been here to defend himself?
DeletepjbWonderingWhereforeArtThouLego?
Rudolfo,
DeleteI am Legolambda, and I run the blog "Puzzleria!
Please drop by sometime, maybe make a comment there.
I have lately been posting a preview of each week's Puzzleria! here on Blaine's blog. I upload Puzzleria! in the wee hours of every Friday morning, so I post the preview of it here on Thursday.
Last Thursday, I posted:
On tonight's Puzzleria! (which will be uploaded this night at midnight PST) we will feature five fantastic puzzles created by our friend geofan in his recurring "Worldplay by Ken Pratt" puzzle package.
The first of geofan's five puzzles is a timely challenge which asks the solver to create the shortest possible word ladder from TRUMP to BIDEN...
I agree with you, Rudolfo, that great minds think alike. The TRUMP to BIDEN word ladder is an excellent puzzle idea. geofan, and you, both deserve to be congratulated for coming up with it.
Leg-o-LambdaWhoHas(AsPlantsmithNoted)ACousinNamedRack-o-LambdaAndAnEvenCrazierCousinNamedWackoLambda!
The irony of the last few days is impossible for me to ignore. In 1812 when our capital was attacked we had no means of addressing the public, then came WWII, but we were soon informed by President Roosevelt in a most eloquent way as to our future. Now we have the most serious attack on our so called democracy perhaps since its inception, and both our president and vice president have been curiously silent and missing from action. Yet we have now been informed by a most eloquent address by, of all people, an immigrant from
ReplyDeleteAustria, Arnold Schwarzenegger who is himself a Republican. Why are Trump and Pence still in power?
60 Minutes last night and this:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT5kafhG3Qw
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor a treat scroll to the bottom of this link and watch:
ReplyDeletehttps://archivestoriesparis.wordpress.com/janet-flanner-collection/
A couple days later and I'm still mad. To do this puzzle at this time is just heinous.
ReplyDeleteShortz needs to go. Now.
Folks, Shortz ain't Trump, so put your anger where it belongs. WE"RE ONLY TALKING PUZZLES HERE,NOT OUR DEMOCRACY!
ReplyDeleteExactly! Will Shortz is not one of the Deep Lorables. Almost all his puzzle offerings are disappointing, but that does not rise to the level of insurrection; only a cause for circumspection. So let's take this conversation in a more productive direction sans finger pointing.
DeleteWith respect, I disagree. Shortz has shown an astonishing lack of tact and respect both on this puzzle and in the crossword (remember when he allowed a slur in the puzzle and said he never heard it?). It's not a threat to democracy, but it's a failure to do the job with competence. At this point I'm tired of hearing apologies and excuses. I'd like to see someone else in charge.
DeleteI do not do crossword puzzles, but I do recall the nonsense over the term, "beaner" used in baseball, which I do not watch or play either, but have heard that word used as I was growing up to refer to getting hit on the head. I never heard it used to describe Latinos. But even if it is used that way by some people, I don't think it is worth getting upset about. It depends on the context in how it is used. To imply Will Shortz was using it in some kind of derogatory way is absolutely absurd. I think we should focus our attention to the difficulty of the puzzles along with other quality issues, not political correctness hysteria.
DeleteSDB, my wife said about you, "He's so clever." Since she said it, it must be true! She's always been a woman of discernment.
DeleteClark, Your wife is so perceptive. LOL
DeleteI remember way back in my TV watching days when Paul Hogan would invite us to visit Australia by promising they would throw another shrimp on the Barbie for us. I can only imagine how offended Ken dolls must have been.
DeleteThis is reminding me of my neighbor who gave his pet parrot away when it said, "Polly wants a cracker."
DeleteSDB, Well inter species is one thing, but interracial? Gee, what's next?
DeleteWhen I hear the term interspecies I immediately find myself thinking of James Carville and Mary Matalin. Interracial usually gets me thinking of Fords and Chevys at the Indy 500. As for what's next, how about interviewing at a nudist colony?
DeleteMay I do the interview with my clothes on?Its just my voyeurism speaking.
DeleteSure. I usually do mine that way while watching through the hole in the fence. Oh voy!
DeletePerhaps you were confusing interview with enterview. You don't want to make the mistake of confusing peeking de-fense with a picket fence, not to mention the Peking Defense. If the late Yogi Berra were alive today I suspect he might say, "It's deja vu all over again. Haven't we beaner before?"
DeleteHey, Natasha, checking in with you . . .
ReplyDeleteWW: So sweet of you. Hope you are fine.
DeleteCome back Natasha, and participate.
DeleteSdb: Tks
DeleteHi Natasha, glad to hear your voice!
DeleteI'm ok, such as it is these January days.
How about you?
DeleteVery busy with school prep. Are you teaching? I wonder why social site parler pronounced the way it is. Supposed to be names from French parler. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteYes. Lots going on here also with our students. Having lots of work is good now.
DeleteI am not wanting to give that platform any oxygen.
Anyway, welcome back, Natasha!
I understand. Probably good idea.
DeleteThanks.
Ww: tks for making me feel welcome.
DeleteOf course! I understand.
DeleteWW: I am surprised at your reaction to bullying.
DeleteSupport for the one bullied is necessary, but is only half the battle.
WW: My surprise is turning into dismay. Please reply.
DeleteWe are so surprised this day,
Deletebeing treated to his dismay,
——From such a dimwit
——and true hypocrite
for this astonishing display.
Someone yelled "You're fired!" in the wrong theater.
ReplyDeleteOSAMA BIN LADEN, BIDEN
ReplyDelete"Lightning" -- In ancient Roman religion, a BIDENtal was a sacred spot erected on the location where LIGHTNING had struck.
My add-on puzzle >>> BIDEN >>> BED-IN >>> BEDOUIN + Ag = BOUDINAGE >>> "a structure which is sometimes present in metamorphic rocks apparently as a result of tension and in which a competent bed is thinned and thickened so that it resembles in cross section a string of sausages" Hence, my follow-up LINK comment.
Bin Laden & Biden
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
Delete"One wore an anagram of the first name."
Bad Linen
BIN LADEN —> BIDEN
ReplyDeleteMy hint: “Anagram the 2021 name and you'll get something associated with John Lennon.”
Biden —> Bed-in.
During the past week’s events I’ve been reminded of Goya’s etching, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters.
Bin Laden>>>Biden
ReplyDeleteMy comment, “Sealed, but not with a kiss,” was a reference to the US Navy SEALS who killed Bin Laden.
A dead giveaway.
DeleteBin laden--Biden.
My lips are sealed.
Osama BIN LADEN, assassinated May 2, 2011. (-NLA) → Joe BIDEN, certified President-elect by congress, January 7, 2021.
ReplyDeleteI wrote, “The three letters removed are an abbreviation that applies to the 2011 name.” BIN LADEN is NLA, No Longer Available.
ReplyDeleteBin Laden, Biden
ReplyDeleteWe feature on Puzzleria! this week three great, fun and creative puzzles composed by our friend Plantsmith in his recurring "Garden of Puzzley Delights" puzzle-package. They involve:
ReplyDelete1. a Poetry Class Assignment,
2. a fictional Christmas character, and
3. a fruit, a duck, a warning, and two guys named John Ross and Patrick.
Other items on our Puzzleria! menu this week are:
* a Schpuzzle of the week challenging you to find a three-word phrase that has been in the news lately,
* a puzzle featuring a Marvel Comics convention and an attendee dressed as a Spiderman nemesis,
* a spoonerizable Dessert involving movie posters during the Roaring 20s and a headline likely seen in newspapers 50 years earlier, and
* nine riff-off puzzles of Michael Shteyman's NPR puzzle.
We upload Puzzleria! tonight in the very wee hours of the morning, at midnight Pacific Standard Time.
Join us!
Speaking of this week's NPR puzzle, here is my version of it that appeared on the January 30, 2015 edition of Puzzleria!:
Political Slice:
Button heads
Change one of the letters on the first word of a U.S. campaign button. In the midst of the second word add a block of three letters and split that result in two. The resulting three words name an issue discussed during one of the debates leading up to the election.
What are the words on the button and the issue?
Answer:
OBAMA; BIDEN;
OSAMA BIN LADEN
(see the Katie Hamm question about four-fifths of the way into the debate.)
LegoLambdaBeenLaudin'AllTheCreativeContributorsToPuzzleria!
BIN LADEN-BIDEN
ReplyDeleteBin Laden, Biden
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “A clue might be found in Las Vegas.” I was thinking of the raiders that killed bin Laden and the Las Vegas Raiders.
Goodbye BIN LADEN, a wonderful little ditty by Martin Short (see Youtube), numerous variations by others.
ReplyDeleteFor 'Candle 2021' may I suggest:
Goodbye Donald Trump,
Though you never completed your wall
You had the mind to disgrace yourself
Inciting treason on the Mall
MAGAs crawled out of the woodwork
As you pounded into their brain
That you could still win the election
If only the electors would say your name
And it seems to me, you told a lie
If you said anything at all...
(additions welcome)
Now say bye and have a nice crawl.
DeleteWhile you bawl. Past the mall.
My clues -
ReplyDeleteI’ve been lobbing in requests for puzzles that take longer than a few seconds to solve. The ease of recent puzzles is growing old on me.
“Been lobbing in” sounds like Bin Laden.
Growing old was reference to Biden.
What do you make of Blaine’s clue? Anything other than the obvious.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I was just ranting. No hidden clue.
DeleteOh I see. Was was not sure.
DeleteBIN LADEN, BIDEN
ReplyDeleteI recently mentioned here a personal reminiscence of my encounter with Janet Flanner in Paris in 1965. I am now reading her 1972 book, Paris Was Yesterday 1925-1929. It is mostly a compendium of her Letter From Paris pieces published in The New Yorker Magazine during that period.
ReplyDeleteI want to share with you her beginning piece which begins the chapter: 1929.
1929
Harry Lehr (1869—1929)
The recent death here of Harry Lehr, Gilded Age court jester to the Four Hundred, passed unnoticed in the Parisian papers. Though an expatriate in France for almost a quarter of a century, he lived out all those years as a New York legend. Years ago he had given a dinner in Manhattan in honor of a monkey. This had given him no social standing in France. Later he married a rich American wife. In recent years he lived in her superb eighteenth-century private hotel in the Rue des Saints-Pères, whose park was illuminated at dinner parties by a pair of theatrical spotlights, operated by liveried servants, which relieved guests of the necessity of appreciating the shrubbery on foot. Mr. Lehr passed his time in a routine that consisted of alternating isolation and tea parties. He had matured in Baltimore at a period when buggies were the rage. Though vehicles altered, he did not change, and in Paris rounded out his life by starting each afternoon in his wife’s limousine for what, to the end, he called his “buggy-ride in the Bois.”
Although he was for more than a decade one of the most familiar luncheon figures at the Ritz, his recently slender personal finances no longer warranted an expenditure for what was still the breath of life to him—observation and conversation in a smart public place. An emissary of his family was therefore dispatched to warn Ollivier, the maître d'hôtel at the Ritz. The reply remains the most gracious personal tribute to Mr. Lehr’s many years abroad. “Monsieur Lehr,” said Ollivier, “will continue to be, as he always has been, welcome at the Ritz, where I shall be honored, in the future, if he would consider himself as my guest. Please inform Monsieur Lehr that his favorite table by the window will be reserved for him tomorrow, as usual.”
This week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Gerry Reynolds of Chicago. Name a national landmark (6,3). Add the name of a chemical element. Rearrange all the letters to name two states. What are they?
ReplyDeleteI believe I have solved it.
ReplyDeleteThe monument was originally known by a different name.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete