Q: Think of a word with six syllables that's spelled with only 11 letters — and the four middle syllables have the same vowel. What word is it?I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post a hint.
Edit: I was questioning my eligibility.
A: ELIGIBILITY
Sunday, May 09, 2021
NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 9, 2021): 11 Letter Word with 6 Syllables
NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 9, 2021): 11 Letter Word with 6 Syllables
Edit: I was questioning my eligibility.
Edit: I was questioning my eligibility.
148 comments:
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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
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.
Go ahead, Blaine. Your blog, your rules
ReplyDeleteIn that case, the answer is...
DeleteI just love this exchange and also the comments by DDX below... and I think I probably shouldn't say why, until Thursday afternoon!
DeleteYou can clarify by removing the first of the four repeated vowels and then swapping two letters.
ReplyDeleteI think you should be able to post a hint.
ReplyDeleteAnyone can post a hint as long as they follow the rules.
DeleteMore than 2400 correct responses last week.
ReplyDeleteHe shouldn't have given the "B" part of the clue. That limited nationalities to a very short list.
DeleteAs in the movie "Ma Rainey Blues"? Huh?
ReplyDeleteThat was weird.
DeleteI guess that's a bowdlerized version of "Black Bottom."
ReplyDeleteYeah butt...
DeleteThat's not the name of the movie! And Will and the contestant both said the bowdlerized title!
I don't get it. Saying 'bottom' is too racy for NPR now?
When my son was five or so he wouldn't say the word "ridiculous" because . . . you know . . . .
DeleteAnd some Spanish speakers would not use the word "computadora," preferring "calculator" instead. I'm sure there are similar examples from every language on the face of the earth. The number 4 in Mandarin and other Chinese languages comes to mind.
"Ma Rainey's Hued Derriere"
DeleteAutoerotism is a fun word!
ReplyDeleteWhatever makes you happy… 😉
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"not allowed to post that hint..."
DeleteI've come up with an answer where the first five syllables have the same vowel, but it's not a common word (I never heard of it until I saw it in a puzzle-solver word list). So I assume that it's wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe expected answer is much easier, but I believe that you have found a very cool, and surely acceptable, alternate answer.
DeleteTexans should have no trouble solving this one.
ReplyDeleteCertain tragic SciFi characters come to mind.
ReplyDeleteThe doomed "redshirts" from Star Trek.
DeleteA "redshirted" college athlete is one who does not complete for a year, typically for academic or medical reasons. That redshirt year does not count against the student's ELIGIBILITY to compete as a collegiate athlete for four years.
Every person in my household has been vaccinated now - what a relief! Hope you all stay well! --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteMargaret G.--Excellent! In our case, it made possible a first-time-in-almost-two-years visit from our son and daughter-in-law. I hope you also feel an increasing sense of both freedom and relief.
DeleteI hope they open it up to 12+ this week.
DeleteI first came up with a 12-letter word that satisfied the other two puzzle conditons, so I wondered if there were a significant ambiguity in Will's wording of the puzzle that could've yielded this answer. But in the end I didn't really feel qualified to read Will's mind (or anyone else's for that matter). Suffice it to say that Will said what he meant and meant what he said.
ReplyDeleteI thought this week's winners (first-time entrants!) and On-air Challenge participants were delightful.
You took the words right out of my mouth , a delightful duo.
DeleteI thought so too. Not sure why the son didn't get equal billing on the NPR site. I haven't heard of any age restrictions on who can win.
DeleteA 12-letter word that I thought of had not only the middle four, but the entire first five syllables all having the same vowel.
DeleteNodd: On the Sunday Puzzle page, it says, "NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro plays the puzzle with listeners Haneef Pasha and his son Jachobi of Lawrenceville, GA, and puzzlemaster Will Shortz."
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI see; you clicked on the link at the very top of the story. Obviously your navigation skills exceed mine! I wish Jacobi were mentioned without the additional click.
DeleteEnya--There are--at least--two such 12-letter words, so we may have found the same or different ones.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIt might be a good idea to double-check and make sure. Remember, only one entry per person.
DeleteTo all who celebrate: Happy Mother's Day!
ReplyDeleteA certain connection to last week's puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNice news story for Mother's Day: A woman who is a military spouse and a mother of two U.S.-born children was finally reunited with her family in Florida yesterday, after she had been deported under Trump's no-tolerance policy. (SMH that ever happened to her. Military spouses should always get to stay!)
ReplyDeleteYo mama is so supportive of you and your efforts that I wouldn't be surprised if you were incredibly successful as a result.
ReplyDeleteHappy Mother's Day to mothers!
ReplyDeleteSolved the Puzzle. It’s better than watching The Bachelor.
ReplyDeleteEven though my wife and I are fully vaccinated we still don't feel safe enough to travel. I'm not sure what it would take to feel ready to do so.
ReplyDeleteGot the answer AND feel like I can finally post on your blog !! After months of checks for hints here it feels good to be able to be a part of things ;-)
ReplyDeleteWelcome aboard , I went for years before I posted anything here.
DeleteYes, welcome! I'm curious about the hesitancy to post. Should you care to, please let us know why.
DeleteFor me , WW I really don't have a good reason ( part was not be tech savvy) I go back to the days of abq guerilla a blogger you seemed to converse with a lot. ( 10 yrs.maybe)
DeleteWow, that does goes back a ways. I've been participating here since 2013. Glad you are here!
DeleteLet's change that to 8 years I don't think I was on here before you.
DeleteWelcome, Blitheblythe. Glad you posted (and you also, Northeast).
DeleteTo me, Blaine's blog has always seemed like one big family. And Blaine (as we are reminded at the end of each year when he posts his holiday puzzle and family video) is a "family man" par excellence!
True, Blaine's extended "virtual" family (us) may not always be as happy and harmonious as his immediate "real" family appears to be. We can get unruly at times.
But Blaine, like a good father, is vigilant and disciplines (blog administers) when necessary. And yet, he doesn't seem to hover. He just watches over.
Blaine strikes just the right balance.
He is a man of just the right talents.
LegoWithGreatGratitudeToBlaine
Joseph i always knew you were a Saint at heart. Yes Thanks again to Blaine, who has been for many this past darkened year- a light in the shadows.
DeleteIn fact Blaine might also meet the requirements for quasi Sainthood.
DeleteThank you all for this warmest welcome- i did not anticipate this response! I just didn't post as I am very much an amateur, and seeing how fast and talented you all are was intimidating! However, I could not feel more welcome. Thank you all :)
DeleteI wonder if my answer would qualify.
ReplyDeleteI've found two other valid answers, neither of them very common.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteArrrr! I got the black spot! (No clue here.)
DeleteMy hint pointed to the word "legibility" without saying it directly, as a veiled reference to "eligibility." I thought that was sufficiently obscure, but I guess not.
DeleteI thought it was a very clever hint and more than sufficiently obscure, which is what made me "smile". I hope that didn't influence Blaine's decision. I got the answer thanks to the list jan provided a link to.
DeleteProud to have solved this one quickly!
ReplyDelete(A reference to Pride, which points to the LGBT hidden inside "eligibility.")
DeleteI thought it was too easy. After coming up with a long list I decided I better check the puzzle. Hint: Don't waste your time with all those 12 or more letter words.
ReplyDelete4.25
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle is so clever. And Blaine’s hint is perfectly acceptable.
ReplyDeleteMeh. Clever? For me it was just a slog.
DeleteOverall a unique day at the Puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI think the player said it was the first time he heard the show, not the first time he entered.
Mendo: He said last week first time he listened to puzzle was last week.
ReplyDeleteAnd Lulu said something at end of his quiz that people envy him to get on air with one try.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed the guests today, but as I heard it the boy is the one who solved the puzzle, not the father who sent in the answer. Also the father said this was the first time he "heard" the puzzle, not "played" the puzzle, as Lulu said.
ReplyDeleteI was completely blown away by the play, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" being referred to by another name, and only as a movie, when it is a very well known play. What was going on behind the scenes there?
And, while I have the mic, I think this puzzle sucks. We deserve better puzzles, not this lame stuff.
Did anyone else watch Elon Musk host SNL last night? I thought he made Justin Bieber seem normal. And I did not understand what the sight gag, Jacough Bridge (SP?) referred to, and I cannot find any online reference to it or to what skit it was, so I can re-watch it. I now toss the ball in jan's corner to locate a link.
I just listened again to the recording. Lulu said at the end :"...envy him to get on air with one try". I assume that means he never played ...sent in answer...before.
DeleteIt does, but he already had said he had never listened before. There have been several times when the winner was someone who had not entered previously. This is the only time I can remember someone saying it was the first time he even listened, but I could be wrong about that.
DeleteI listened again to the tape and he said it was the first time he ever listened to the program. Anyone can verify by listening to the tape.
DeleteToday, for Mother’s Day, we had a turkey with giblet gravy. Love it.
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to make onomotopoeia work, but with 12 letters (albeit one silent one!), it was out of the running.
ReplyDeleteI too thought of that word. I think it would have made for a better puzzle too. However I do not enjoy this type of puzzle that I find tedious and providing no reward from solving.
DeleteMy answer meets the requirements.
ReplyDeleteThe ELIGIBILITY requirements.
DeleteI have noticed for about a decade now that Parker has become a popular first name for boys. Could it be this is because their parents anticipate their little darling will grow up to become a Valet attendant at a restaurant or hotel?
ReplyDeleteSDB, I truly enjoy your sense of humor. I read your post to my wife and she loved it as well.
DeleteHave a good week,
Beep, Beep!
Cap,
DeleteThank you, and Happy Mother's Day to she who must be obeyed. We who make up jokes and come up with ad libs and humorous observations not only appreciate a laugh, or some other kind of positive feedback, especially during this pandemic, but we probably live for it. I believe it is because God is the Creator, and we, each of us, is to God as a drop of water is to the ocean. In other words, when separated, we each feel somewhat alone and perhaps inferior to our hidden reality. But when any of us is creative in any way we cannot help but feel good about our creation, however small, and want to share it. This blog is a very special and rare place where some of us can contribute and enjoy this way. Blaine is amassing good karma for himself far beyond his understanding, in my opinion, by providing us this release.
SDB,
DeleteI'll bet you watched "Rumpole of the Old Bailey" when it used to be on PBS.
Yes, of course! Sir John Clifford Mortimer was amazing. Did you watch Summer's Lease or Granada Television's 1981 serialization of Brideshead Revisited, based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh?
DeleteWell, my last name is Parker. I hope my sons' don't name their male offspring Parker. He would almost certainly get a job as a valet - Shades of CATCH-22.
DeleteI have heard my daughter say the if she takes the last name of her husband, she might name a male child Parker.
This can only lead to major Major Major problems.
DeleteSDB,
DeleteYes to "Brideshead Revisited". How about the original "Forsythe Saga" and the original "House of Cards". Much better than the American rendition with Kevin Spacey.
I don't think I saw The Forsythe Saga. I loved the original H of C. I love Kevin Spacey's acting, but do not like to watch U.S. remakes of foreign films. I refuse to watch even one minute of The Office, U.S. version. Foreign movies are so much better than most of our junk.
DeleteAgreed
Delete"Eleven letters" has all of its vowels the same, but it is 2 words with 5 syllables and 13 letters.
ReplyDeleteThe 11-letter word "eligibility" starts with "el", like "eleven letters".
DeleteWill I still be able to enter if I'm out of the country?
ReplyDeleteQuite clear to me I have Will's intended answer.
ReplyDeleteThe Harder They Come, The Harder They Fall!
If I'd offered this challenge as a Mother's Day gift, my Mom would say, "I have no son."(well, no eldest son anyway)
ReplyDeletepjbSaysThisChallengeIsVaguerThanMusk'sExplanationOfDogecoinOnSNLLastNight(Really,TheOtherNightByNow)
I’m remembering the post card days, when I would carefully prepare my submittal before dropping it Into the mail.
ReplyDeleteAnd there was a reasonable expectation that it would arrive in less than a week.
Delete4 days really. Those were the days.
DeleteTo think that now it no longer matters if you take that time—4 days—to even solve the puzzle…as long as you submit your answer by Thursday 3pm ET, it still counts.
DeletePierre "Pete" du Pont, former Delaware governor and early dropout from the 1988 Republican presidential race, died on Saturday. I remember him mostly for a line explaining his lack of national success: "My first name reminds people of a French chef, and my last name reminds them of hazardous waste," but I can't find any documentation of that online. Maybe it was said about him, rather than by him? Anyone remember?
ReplyDeleteOf my own near misses, my favorite is BANANANANANA, as in the well-known, "I can spell B-A-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-A. I just don't know when to stop!"
ReplyDeleteLOL
DeleteI honestly need this answer for a school assignment. I’m so stumped any hints?
ReplyDeleteYou are virtually next to the right track. Perhaps if you cast your quest to the universe—which is far, far wider and deeper than just this blog… (sorry, Blaine).
DeletePerhaps if you cast your quest to the universe…
DeleteMeaning, "if you Google it." (Google knows just about everything in cyberspace, the virtual "universe.")
This puzzle didn't require thinking, just a search for an online source for customizable lists of words, such as yougowords.com.
Anyone here with a degree in physics who can answer a question that has been bothering me? It has to do with lemmings being driven for whatever reason to the edge of a lands-end cliff where they plunge to their death in the sea below. My question is: Are they approaching the cliff at terminal velocity?
ReplyDeleteTerminal Velocity isn't what it used to be thanks to the TSA checkpoints.
DeleteOr when changing batteries on your Tesla.
DeleteThat's a shock.
DeleteI hear there's a lot of resistance to that.
DeleteI suppose the lemmings drop end over end.
DeleteThe more important question is can we reach the behavior to "Trumpings"?
ReplyDeleteCheck Spellcheck
DeleteOK..."TRUMMPLINGS" and forgive the typo of "Reach", I meant "Teach"
DeleteIs his chorus line Trumpettes?
DeleteCirrus SR-22 lands safely near Cherry Creek State Park, CO, with a parachute after mid-air collision. No one hurt. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteVery lucky. Judging from the photos on other sites, it's more surprising that the other plane, a large twin turboprop, landed safely, (And very lucky it was a cargo flight; any passengers back there would have been toast.)
DeleteLooks like the Cirrus came down within a few hundred feet, at most, of Suhaka Field, an RC model airplane facility 3 miles north of Centennial Airport (where the Swearingen landed). From the air, Suhaka Field looks like an airport (though with 400-foot runways).
Sounds like both planes were in the Centennial traffic pattern at the time. Failure to see and avoid, I'd bet, is the cause.
Surprised I was able to find this accident reconstruction, with ATC audio, so quickly.
DeleteThat was fast! And you are right about that other plane.
DeleteMy kids and I went to that model airplane field often to watch the planes. The Pope came to a spot just north of there in 1993. Prairie dogs were relocated for his visit.
Just now got home and took a look and listen. I suspect the parachute was manufactured by Strong Enterprises and designed by Ted Strong. As far as I know his company is the only one making chutes for airplanes, but I could be wrong about that. It worked flawlessly. Too bad Ted is no longer here to see it.
DeleteI've got 2 Strong's and they are great. I ship them back to the factory to repack at least once a year. But I think the Cirrus ballistic chutes are made by BRS Aerospace https://brsaerospace.com/
ReplyDeleteDDX,
DeleteI am an expert parachute rigger, but have never seen or packed a chute designed for a plane. So I have a few questions. I am wondering what they are charging per chute for a repack. The postage must be outrageous and I am also wondering how far away from Orlando, FL you are. Any rigger should be able to repack them for you with instructions. Round chutes are the easiest to pack, but there may be several additional procedures after it is in the container for it to work with a plane. Also, are yours for two separate planes? Or tandem?
BTW I live in Seattle and spent two weeks staying will Ted at his place long ago and he spent a night on my couch here. He really was a great guy.
I fly gliders. We just like to defy gravity in different ways. My Strongs are the wearable kind, so I would use them the old-fashioned way: jumping out of an airplane that ceased to fly. I had them packed locally a couple of times but they didn't really get the pilot packed properly and it didn't want to stay packed. Sent it to Strong, they replaced a couple of parts (spring?)and it has been fine since. Packing is about the same price but shipping adds a little more. They have good rates on return shipping so I feel good having them check it out from time to time. At first I thought it was a Cirrus glider which is a model made by Schempp-Hirth, but this Cirrus was a powered manufacturer. They aren't common, but gliders are a good market for them. They were originally developed for hang gliders and ultralights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_parachute My dad grew up in Seattle and spent a couple of years of my infance there.
DeleteIC. I was thinking you had chutes for planes. Ted did a lot of rigs for soaring. I used to repack them quite a lot for sail plane pilots. They are probably the easiest reserves to pack. I am not sure what the problem was that you experiences, but suspect it was a long type pilot chute and the spring somehow got damaged and did not want to stay in position. That could have been easily controlled during the repack if your rigger knew how though. Or, if some pilot chute stitching came undone, he should have fixed it for you. You should not have to send away for repacks. As you know nylon reserves are required to be repacked every 120 days if they are in use. What you probably don't know is that this is an old time requirement that is outdated. As long as they are not mistreated or have become wet they are good to go long after they become out of date.
DeleteELIGIBILITY
ReplyDelete"4.25" is the birthday of Ella Fitzgerald as in ELLAgibility.
ELIGIBILITY
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"Texans should have no trouble solving this one."
The Eyes of Texas are upon you song lyrics.
ELIGIBILITY →
ReplyDeleteLI,
GI,
BI,
LI.
Am I “allowed” or “qualified” to post this solution?
ELIGIBILITY
ReplyDelete> Knock yourself out. [Deleted]
Just trying to be helpful, if pointing people to an easily Googled, 3300-word list can be considered helpful.
> Womply
An NPR sponsor, Womply's inscrutable disclaimer is "Application determines eligibility".
> I've found two other valid answers, neither of them very common.
"Cenozoology", the study of existing animals, disregarding those extinct, and "entozoology", the study of parasites that live inside larger organisms.
There's also ZOONOSOLOGY, the study of animal diseases, which should have been the word of 2020. It's distinctive for having the same vowel in the first five syllables. This was probably the alternate answer referenced by marcus of borg Sunday morning.
DeleteEven more possibly answers:
DeleteAZIRIDINIUM
BIOONCOLOGY
BRYOZOOLOGY
EXOZOOCHORY
IMAGAWAYAKI
OOPHOROTOMY
OSMIIRIDIUM
ELIGIBILITY
ReplyDeleteBuried in my lengthy post on Sunday was the word “qualified,” related of course to “eligibility.” I did see a couple of other posts with “qualify,” one of which was removed by Blaine.
At least two 12-letter, 6-syllable words—“invisibility” and “divisibility”—have 5 consecutive short “i” vowel sounds in the first 5 syllables. And certain other words also ending in “ibility”—e.g., “risibility”—share similar, though not identical, properties.
rinsibility, vincibility, miscibility...
DeleteELIGIBILITY
ReplyDeleteIn the, “Postcard days,” I had to carefully prepare submittals to ensure LEGIBILITY.
I wrote, “You can clarify by removing the first of the four repeated vowels and then swapping two letters.” That gets you “legibility.”
ReplyDeleteLooks like we were having similar thoughts....
DeleteEL·I·GI·BIL·I·TY
ReplyDeleteI posted a couple of oblique references to the state of being "eligible":
– Military spouses should always get to stay!
– Remember, only one entry per person.
– As long as you submit your answer by Thursday 3pm ET, it still counts.
ELIGIBILITY
ReplyDeleteLike others, I also hinted at LEGIBILITY
I wrote Quite clear to me I have Will's intended answer.
I also gave a shout out to my youth. In New York City, there was a theater called the Elgin that became famous for showing a midnight movie, The Harder They Come. It is now a Dance Theater called the Joyce.
Our friend geofan has created four more excellent puzzles exclusively for this weeks's Puzzleria! They deal with
ReplyDelete1. global neighbors,
2. a woman from history with a connection to Canada, and
3. a baroque musical instrument.
4. geofan's fourth puzzle tests your knowledge of French, meat dishes, pirates,and ophthalmology!
You can see these posers early Friday morning beginning at at Midnight PDT, 1AM MDT, 2AM CDT and 3AM EDT... a little less than 12 hours from now.
geofan's "quizzical quartet" appears in his "Worldplay" feature that we have been featuring regularly on P! during the past two years.
Also on our menus this week are:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week in which proverbial wisdom meets fashion sense,
* a bookish "puzzle slice" topped with celebrations, siblings & other sibilance,
* a Dessert Puzzle that involves just four out of fifty-two playing cards.
* and, of course, nine very eligible-for-solving riff-offs of this week's NPR puzzle.
Come help us celebrate our weekly wordplayful feast!
LegoWhoIsAgeofanFan
Eligibility it is. I'm so glad I got it because I haven't been eligible in years.
ReplyDeleteeligibility
ReplyDeleteELIGIBILITY. I found it easily on the Internet so getting the answer wasn't particularly satisfying. It would have been a better puzzle before the Internet.
ReplyDeleteMy clue said that I was not sure why the winner's son, who played on air with his dad, didn't get equal billing as a winner on the NPR site (i.e., in the story that appeared on the Weekend Edition Sunday page for last week, though Jan pointed out that the son was mentioned on the generic Sunday Puzzle page which lists multiple puzzles going back several months.) I said I hadn't heard of any age restrictions on who can win, i.e., the son should have had the same "eligibility" to be a winner as his dad.
eligibility
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Today, for Mother’s Day, we had a turkey with giblet gravy. Love it.” Giblet was the closest I could get to eli-GIB-ility without crossing the line.
This week's challenge: Name a popular singer — first and last names. Change one letter to a "P" and read the result backward. You'll get what many people do around this singer. Who is it?
ReplyDeleteI got it and it's not Lana Del Rey
DeleteHere's another easy one: Name a popular singer – stage name. Duplicate one letter. You'll get what many people do for this singer. 😊
DeleteLately the puzzle is up before the segment airs; are there new rules?
ReplyDeleteThe new rule -- bragging rights if you can guess the puzzle before Will delivers it.
DeleteFor quite some time the puzzle has been posted on the NPR website at 5am PT (8am ET).
DeleteBragging rights are mine, then! 😎
Delete