Q: Name a national landmark (6,3). Add the name of a chemical element. Rearrange all the letters to name two states. What are they?Bonus Puzzle: Take the name of the state you might visit to see the landmark and the chemical symbol of the element. Rearrange to name two types of passenger vehicle.
A: HOOVER DAM + TIN = VERMONT, IDAHO
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.
I solved it, but have not got a hint yet.
ReplyDeleteWrite the abbreviations of the two states together. Insert a space. You get an abbreviation having to do with distribution of fifteen items.
ReplyDeleteI've solved it also, no hint.
ReplyDeleteThe Nation Landmark is in neither of the two solution States...
Delete36,280 days (99 years, 3 months, 29 days).
DeleteP.S. I can't understand any of the musical clues.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteLet's try again... My wife and I motorcycled to this landmark while on vacation several years ago. Both the ride and the landmark were spectacular.
DeleteDoubly appropriate Music Clue: America
ReplyDeleteAh Leo....I was leaning towards Bernstein's America , now I get it.
DeleteThanks, Leo
DeleteYou're welcome, Liz. Maybe I should have gone with Elton John?
DeleteNo, the lyric 'Oz never gave anything to the Tin Man'immediately came to mind
DeleteCurious, why Elton John?
DeleteGreat. Now I want ice cream for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteActually my breakfast includes classic items from both states.
Delete����
DeleteSorry, that was supposed to be a "thumbs up" emoji. Guess that's not allowed.
DeleteI can solve it. Peel back the layers and you can, too.
ReplyDeleteCheap TRUMPet.
ReplyDeleteI've been to one state--often--but not the other and also had a funny experience at the monument.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing, but in your experience at the landmark, did something go the wrong way?
DeleteIn a way, yes, but perhaps not what you mean. I'll explain Thursday.
DeleteSame concern here
DeleteA little rusty at this but I got it.
ReplyDeleteLove Shack. Tin roof rusted.
DeleteHottest summer
ReplyDeleteListen!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGeez, tmi, let folks have the fun of figuring it out!
DeleteI enjoyed this puzzle.
Me too. I don't mind taking it down.
DeleteNot very anagrammy. Is that better?
DeleteDDX, thanks and yes!
DeleteFirst and last, same name, same date, years apart.
ReplyDeleteExcellent clue!
DeleteThank you. Good on you for understanding it!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDon't even think about doing it!
ReplyDeleteSomewhat appropriate this week, maybe, I hope.
ReplyDeleteYes. I think Will thought that the Bin Laden / Biden puzzle would be an appropriate reference to this week's transfer of American power, but some of us thought it was not. This week he got it right.
DeleteTake the same landmark, add the name of a different element, and rearrange to get the same two states, plus an actor.
ReplyDelete... or take the same landmark, add the name of a yet another element, and rearrange to get the same two states, plus a medical problem.
DeleteWould the medical problem be some sort of obstruction?
DeleteNo.
DeleteAnd another: Take the same landmark, add the name of a different element, and rearrange to get the same two states, plus a description of events in the U.S. Capitol on 1/6/2021.
DeleteWord Woman: Is one of the words of foreign origin? Having made an unwitting error in nomenclature earlier, I hope I'm not giving too much away.
DeleteDr. K., well, sensu stricto yes, but so many English words do have foreign origins, yes?
DeleteWell played.
Delete"‘[T]is a consummation / Devoutly to be wished."
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteTMI, ron.
DeleteI don't think this gives anything away.
DeleteWord Woman, the element I thought might be a solution to your puzzle was protactinium, which anagrammed with Hoover Dam yields Vermont, Idaho, and "ciao Trump" ("ciao" in the sense of "goodbye").
DeleteThe landmark can be rearranged into a state capital and the second half of a state.
ReplyDeleteHoover Dam->Dover, Homa, the second half of Oklahoma.
DeleteJanuary 16, 2021 version of Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson is worth a look.
ReplyDeleteCan we just give a clue for the element?
ReplyDeleteThe element is not Praseodymium, Ytterbium, or Ununquadium. Only 115 more to consider. Hope that helps.
DeletenOr Pandemonium...
DeleteI just wanted to use the word CAN.
DeleteI have been to both states, but have never been to the monument.
ReplyDeleteUsually, after I get an answer, I can see how the puzzle maker came up with it (for instance, with last weeks puzzle, I remember seeing Obama Biden campaign signs and noticing the it was close to Osama bid Laden). But I can't see that this week.
ReplyDeleteWe already have three references here to "monument". May be, but the problem statement says "national *landmark*". I had to look 'em up ... AFAICS, "landmark" is indeed correcter.
ReplyDeleteLeave it to Beaver.
ReplyDeletenope
DeleteI think I have the landmark and one state. Now I'm stuck
ReplyDeleteNo, I’m the promiscuous one.
ReplyDeleteBlaine's clue helped me find the element.
ReplyDeleteThat must then mean it is the "element in the room" everyone else is avoiding.
DeleteBlaine, it is a rather small pool. . .
DeleteBlaine is our fearless leader. A small misstep doesn't faze me. But I have a degree in Chemistry, so I can "see things"....
Delete'Twas the carpool (!) not the chemistry pool to which I referred.
DeleteWait. Can Blaine get Blainesmacked?
DeleteYes, but if you do it too much you'll get carpool tunnel syndrome.
DeleteCrito--touché!
DeleteSee, I *thought* you'd like that one.
DeleteAlso...
THANK FREAKING GOD.
It happened. It's over.
It's over.
Yes, Crito, 'twas a really smart, great-sounding turn of phrase.
DeleteAnd, yes, I hope this new beginning stays smooth as possible.
Seems like some elementary math would be helpful. Take the electoral votes of one of the states and add twice the electoral votes of the other state and what do you get?
ReplyDeleteSnipper, quite the range of answers. . .
DeleteMe too. First landmark that came to mind. Then all there was left was to think of an element that would work, and voila!(no clue here)
ReplyDeleteSo nice for the 92-year old, early birthday present of the on air puzzle! Hope my brain is as sharp at that age...but I did solve the puzzle two weeks in a row which is good for me....
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought he did well for any age.
DeleteMartin Luther King would also be 92 this year if he had lived.
ReplyDeleteThis is not our first 6 3 landmark puzzle.
ReplyDeleteOnly one pair of state names contain GOLD. For that matter, only one pair of state names contain LANTHANUM.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHaven't checked out LANTHANUM yet, but there are WAY MORE than just one pair of state names that contain GOLD. The G and O could come from GeOrgia, or OreGon, or even WashinGtOn; and the L and D could come from DeLaware or fLoriDa, or MaryLanD.
DeleteI've now also noticed that while NorTH cAroLiNA gives you all of LANTHAN, the U and M can come from MissoUri or MassachUsetts.
DeleteWa, thank you! Time to get my computer adjusted.
DeleteHow is Bellingham this week? I saw a ditty last week on Taylor Fish farm on Chuckanut Drive. Whenin school i could never afford to go there. It was a segment on Goeduck sushi.
DeleteI'm giving up on this one. I'm starting to ruin my week. However there are other "elements like earth, fire and water (in ancient times) See you folks next week.
ReplyDeleteClark: I agree with the first part.
DeleteEven though I usually skip any work on anagrams, this one seemed pretty straightforward and I thought I had it.
Clark,
DeleteDon't give up yet. Begin with the landmark and use a bit of logic and then consider the elements after you have narrowed the states down.
DeleteTry reading the clue again. I heard it wrong and then read it carelessly.
Good advice from sdb.
DeleteAgree to disagree, I guess. Some of us here think this puzzle sucks while others think its a darn good puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIMHO, darn good puzzle.
DeleteIf you solve it, it's an effin' good puzzle.
DeleteForgot to tune in to the puzzle yesterday. Yet to listen, but read the puzzle her and got the answer.
ReplyDeleteThe puzzles becoming harder or easier is a subjective opinion but Blaine's clue this week is definitely way less obscure than usual.
Blaine's clue this week is easier to figure out than usual, but I don't think it does much to lead someone to the answer.
DeleteYes, I seldom understand Blaine's clues even after I solve the puzzle.
DeleteI finally listened to the on air puzzle and I have to say Ross Jackson of San Jose was amazing. Celebrating 93 this week and solved most of the puzzles in a blink!
ReplyDeleteSharp as a tack.
DeleteSorry to be a bit of a “spoiler” but based on past comments here from those who have been fortunate to get “the call”, I’m betting that there was some serious editing done for the 90+ on air puzzle
ReplyDeletePlayer.
Hmmm, not necessarily. He was sharp and the phrases were all quite familiar.
DeleteI just listened to it again, and I do not think it was edited. Mine was not edited. He was mostly forceful in his responses; not in a questioning tone. He seemed to me to be very self assured.
DeleteI too have gotten the call too and the gentleman was spot on. He played quite well. They edit out very little and I believe It is based on how the contestant plays. If playing well or not so well they go through a different amount of questions. On this one I’d say they used quite a bit of them.
DeleteWhen I spoke with one of the minions before my recording I asked her if it would be edited if necessary. She said yes. So, I was surprised when I first heard it on air that Sunday morning that it had not been edited at all. The best part for me is that I actually got a laugh out of Will by a quip I made in answer to one of the host's questions to me prior to the challenge.
DeleteListening back to mine, it seemed as though I was almost edited out completely.
DeleteWhat is all this worry about editing? I just want the phone to ring.
DeleteNow that we have Covid 19 vaccines this pandemic is just a phase.
ReplyDeleteLapel Pin Bonus:
ReplyDeleteIs it only on-air Puzzle players that get Weekend Edition Lapel Pins? I.e., are there other portions of the show that give them?
What do they look like? There are very few images online and there are two different designs.
Tenuous bonus bonus:
Do you remember the context of the last time this week's element was used on the Puzzle? Careful, only yes or no are allowed until Thursday.
I found two times it appears in the take-home puzzle, and once in the on-air one.
DeleteThat must have taken a lot of research.
Deleteis there an answer to my question in there?
I found three other on-air ones.
DeleteI've never heard of lapel pins being given for anything but the on-air puzzle. So, even though they're called "Weekend Edition Lapel Pins", they seem to apply only to one segment of Weekend Edition Sunday. Though I wouldn't be surprised if interns get them, too.
DeleteYour thoughts on the inauguration today?
ReplyDeleteI cried. It was a joyful relief.
All the best to President Biden and Vice-President Harris and to our country. Finally!
Hear, hear.
DeleteJohn Legend: Now there’s someone his alma mater can be proud of.
DeleteI think it totally appropriate for us to take joy in Biden/Harris taking the White House today. I think then we should be realistic and understand that the damage Trump and those who enabled him have done will haunt us for a very long time to come. To now sit back and fantasize that we can soon continue where we left off four years ago is insane. He packed the courts from the Supreme Court all the way down. That is power. The country is split from the Senate all the way down to the lowest level of our society. We are now just beginning what will become a very long struggle just to get even half way back to what we considered normal four years ago. Our leaders will not change things for the better unless we make them. We should have learned this lesson a very long time ago.
DeletePoor W.B.--he was timid, but she wasn't. But then (some say) she went crazy and changed completely.
ReplyDeleteBefore it was the Hoover Dam it was known as Boulder Dam. Which anagrams to Bolder Maud, a reference to Maud Gonne, the woman whom W.B. Yeats worshipped, but was unable to win. She instead threw herself into the cause of Irish nationalism; wits said at the time that "Maud Gonne has gone mad." She also married John MacBride, later one of the martyrs of the Easter Rebellion, whom Yeats despised for how he had treated Maud and went out of his way to denounce in "Easter 1916," while still celebrating his sacrifice for Ireland. As Yeats famously declared about the uprising, the rebels whom the British had executed, and the impact of the British Empire's brutal response: "All changed, changed utterly."
DeleteHoover Dam + Tin = Idaho & Vermont
ReplyDeleteNot Mobile Bay—we did that one already
Hoover Dam + Tin>>>Vermont + Idaho
ReplyDeleteIn 2017, my wife and I flew to Las Vegas to join a tour of the Grand Canyon. After the tour, we returned to Las Vegas and rented a pair of motorcycles so we could do additional exploring. Over the next two days, we rode some 500 miles through spectacular scenery and rode to and over Hoover Dam.
It was one of our more memorable rides.
HOOVER DAM + TIN (element 50, symbol Sn) → VERMONT + IDAHO.
ReplyDeleteBlaine's Bonus Puzzle:
NEVADA + SN → SEDAN + VAN.
Jan's challenge:
NITROGEN (-NIT) → Seth ROGEN
STRONTIUM (-NTI) → TUMORS.
I still don't see how this gave anything away from the original puzzle.
HOOVER DAM + TIN —> VERMONT + IDAHO
ReplyDeleteThe “funny incident” I mentioned that took place at “the monument”—my mistake, I should have said “the landmark”—occurred about 40 years ago. My wife and I were on a cross-country camping trip, and it was late June or early July, about 3-4 weeks into the trip. As we were leaving the immediate vicinity of the Dam after a visit, I made a sharp turn a bit too fast, a jar of Vaseline in the glove compartment tumbled onto the floor, and the cap popped off. In the desert heat, the Vaseline had completely liquefied, and it poured rapidly out of the jar like water. I had never seen that happen before and have not seen it since. Needless to say, it was a mess to clean up. A bit earlier, just before we left the Dam and so that I could determine the outside temperature, a ranger had directed me to an outdoor thermometer in a window louvre on the back of the government building—in the shade—and the temperature was 102°. Subsequently, it was so hot in the Nevada desert that, with the engine temperature increasing (and the car did not have a/c), we used the old trick of turning the car’s heat on to maximum to cool the engine—which worked—but the extraordinary thing was that the maximum heat blowing full force out of the vents was cooler than the outside air coming in through the open windows. In effect, air conditioning, of a sort.
I wrote, “Write the abbreviations of the two states together. Insert a space. You get an abbreviation having to do with distribution of fifteen items.” That’s “v tid,” prescription talk for taking five pills three times a day.
ReplyDeleteRob,
DeleteThis was my favorite clue this week.
Golly, thanks.
DeleteHOOVER DAM + TIN -> IDAHO + VERMONT
ReplyDelete> Somewhat appropriate this week, maybe, I hope.
After Trump's election, my first reaction, thinking of a recent visit to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, was: well, maybe we had to get through Hoover in order to have FDR, but what a cost! Nicholas Kristoff thinks Biden might be Rooseveltian.
> Take the same landmark, add the name of a different element, and rearrange to get the same two states, plus an actor.
Nitrogen, Rogen.
> ... or take the same landmark, add the name of a yet another element, and rearrange to get the same two states, plus a medical problem.
Strontium, tumors.
>> Do you remember the context of the last time this week's element was used on the Puzzle?
> I found two times it appears in the take-home puzzle, and once in the on-air one.
November 5, 2017: Name a well-known nationality. Drop a letter, and the remaining letters in order will name a metal — one of the elements on the periodic table. What is it? Answer: Nationality: Tibetan. Remove the Greek letter beta, and you're left with tin.
July 31, 2016: Name something seen in a kitchen in two words. Its spoonerism is an article that's worn mostly by men. What is it? Answer: Pie tin; tie pin.
June 30, 2019 (on-air): True or False? Tin is the only 3-letter element on the periodic table. (True)
Jan, for a while now, I’ve been thinking of Biden as Roosevelt redux. I’ll have to read Kristof’s article. Thanks for the heads up.
DeleteJan, I have fond memories of the puzzle of 11/5/17. We got the call that week and my wife Janice played on the air.
Delete
ReplyDeleteHOOVER DAM + TIN = IDAHO, VERMONT
"Listen!" >>> When a bar of TIN is bent, the so-called "TIN cry" can be heard as a result of twinning in TIN crystals. This trait is shared by indium, cadmium, zinc, and frozen Hg.
"Don't even think about doing it!" was meant to ward off anyone who pointed toward a HOOVER vaccuum.
"And another: Take the same landmark, add the name of a different element, and rearrange to get the same two states, plus a description of events in the U.S. Capitol on 1/6/2021." >>> HOOVER DAM + ANTIMONY = VERMONT, IDAHO, ANOMY
IMHO, Blaine's "Rearrange to name two types of passenger vehicle." leads fairly directly to VAN and SEDAN and then to NEVADA and Sn. It's a cakewalk from there to the HOOVER DAM.
Hoover Dam, tin->Vermont, Idaho
ReplyDeleteHoover Dam + Tin = Vermont + Idaho
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I can solve it. Peel back the layers and you can, too.” Let’s see. “I” for Idaho. “Can” as in tin can. “Peel” for Montpelier, Vermont.
Not bad, as anagrams go.
ReplyDeleteToday, 1/21/21, backwards, is ....
And tomorrow and tomorrow and... for a while.
21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century
DeleteAuspicious. And my birthday.
DeleteWell, let the liquor flow.
DeleteYes, sir.
DeleteDr. K, here's to a luminescent trip around the sun!
DeleteHey, Doc, something tells me, perhaps your keen insight and knowledge, that you're probably older than 21. Right?
DeleteThank you, Word Woman. And, Wordsmythe, I’m not sure about the keen insight and knowledge part, but it did strike me a few years ago that I could no longer say I was pushing three score and ten.
DeleteThis week's Puzzleria! will be uploaded tonight at Midnight PST. It will feature three challenging puzzles by our friend Bobby that involve "Countries and Postal Codes." They appear in his recurrent Puzzleria! feature "Puzzle Fun by Bobby Jacobs."
ReplyDeleteBobby's puzzles are always fun, of course, but also educational.
Also on Puzzleria!s menus this week are:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week that is, literally, easy money,
* a Puzzle Slice that may require you to "thumb through to 'miss' in the thesaurus,"
* a Dessert consisting of Zodiac creatures and a musical instument, and
* six "elementary" yet "landmark" riff-offs of this week's NPR puzzle.
You are all always welcome to drop by and sample our wily wares at Puzzleria!
LegoWhoWroteThisModestCoupletAboutBobby'sFeatureThisWeek:GlobalNationsNoMatterHowLandlocklockedOrCoastal/MightHaveTiesToACodeInTheU.S.That'sPostal
HOOVER DAM + TIN <==> IDAHO + VERMONT
ReplyDelete---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommendation: Select, Copy, and Paste the text below into a simple text editor with fixed pitch font. It will make the letter rearranging very clear.
HOOVER DAM + TIN
...... ... . .I. I
...... D.. . ... D
...... .A. . ... A
H..... ... . ... H
.O.... ... . ... O
...... ... + ... +
...V.. ... . ... V
....E. ... . ... E
.....R ... . ... R
...... ..M . ... M
..O... ... . ... O
...... ... . ..N N
...... ... . T.. T
Blaine's clue on his puzzle blog: Bonus Puzzle: Take the name of the state you might visit to see the landmark and the chemical symbol of the element. Rearrange to name two types of passenger vehicle.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My answer to that: NEVADA + SN <==> SEDAN + VAN
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommendation again: Select, Copy, and Paste the text below into a simple text editor with fixed pitch font. It will make the letter rearranging very clear.
NEVADA + SN
...... . S. S
.E.... . .. E
....D. . .. D
.....A . .. A
N..... . .. N
...... + .. +
..V... . .. V
...A.. . .. A
...... . .N N
I am beginning to believe President Joe Biden may be able to unite our country. His name anagrams to: Be Joined.
ReplyDeleteBiden and Harris together anagram to Hired Brains.
DeleteMy clues-
ReplyDeleteSeems like some elementary math would be helpful. Take the electoral votes of one of the states and add twice the electoral votes of the other state and what do you get? - 4 (Idaho) + 3 (Vermont) + 3= 10 (which some people pronounce as “tin”)
My breakfast included Vermont maple syrup and hash browns (from Idaho potatoes).
I got Hoover Dam and Vermont and then stuck. Oh well
ReplyDelete<<< Oh, Bernie!
ReplyDeleteWW, did you hear the story on NPR about Bernie wearing mittens to the inauguration? They were knitted by a second grade teacher in Vermont, 4 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI did. He was smitten with mittens.
DeleteYes, I did. I've been having a little fun putting him (with a puffy coat and wool mittens) in places I enjoy.
DeleteYou can too!
What a fun website. It gave supported my fantasy of personal power!
DeleteHOOVER DAM+TIN=IDAHO, VERMONT
ReplyDeleteDrop the N from DONALD TRUMP, rearrange the rest, and you get DUMP OLD RAT.
Wouldn't it be better if you were to change the N to an F?
DeleteHuh? FLUMP DOTARD? DUD PLATFORM? DAFT OLD RUMP? DUMP FAT LORD? PLOD MAD TURF? MAD TURD FLOP?
DeleteDo you think being dyslexic might have something to do with my not enjoying clam music while eating oysters?
ReplyDeleteWell, I missed the answer this week -- guess there was a vacuum in my head
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge is a spinoff of my on-air puzzle, and it's a little tricky. Think of a hyphenated word you might use to describe a young child that sounds like three letters spoken one after the other.
ReplyDelete"Spinoff" could be considered a clue in itself.
ReplyDeleteGot it, but not sure how to "clue" it. Maybe later, when Blaine's posted.
ReplyDelete