The first country I checked was MADAGASCAR and for once, that isn't the answer.Q: Think of a country. Embedded in consecutive letters is a well-known brand name. The first, second, eighth and ninth letters of the country, in order, spell a former competitor of that brand. Name the country and the brands.
There have been several NPR puzzles involving MADAGASCAR (MAZDA/WANDA, MADE A GAS CAR, MAZDA/GAS CAR) which was a hint towards car brands.
A: SAUDI ARABIA --> AUDI, SAAB
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.
So simple it will most likely bring tears to the eyes of someone we all know.
ReplyDeleteWould someone please post a link to the online puzzle. I can't find it this week! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI don't believe it is up yet. I've looked at all the places it should be. It will eventually appear on the page I linked above. When it is finally posted on the Sunday Edition page, I'll update the link.
DeleteLike me, it ain't quite up yet.
Deleteokay, the link is updated
DeleteAnagram the country and get a land mass, another country, and mental territory.
ReplyDeleteI must have the right country as this works for me.
DeleteAnagram the country and get a continent,vocal piece, and a beer.
DeleteI got it so quickly, that I'm so happy with no complaints.
ReplyDeleteI sent in last weeks form.
ReplyDeleteHint: The Country is NOT "FlowerBox"
DeleteThat sows without gaying.
DeleteMargaritaville?
DeleteI thought of writing an elaborate essay about my answer but decided to keep it short.
ReplyDeleteI think skydiveboy is an appropriate hint for this week.
ReplyDeleteEven leaves you with a purdy song. How sweet.
ReplyDeleteEasy puzzle. Just what I needed.
ReplyDeleteTake the country. Remove all letters that are repeated in it. Rearrange. You get a word for what a guy does with a cudgel.
ReplyDeleteAdd back one of those repeated letters and rearrange to get a kind of theater.
DeleteHint: MAILBOMBS
ReplyDeleteSolved backwards - now I it's my turn to feel sheepish.
ReplyDeleteThat seemed like the easiest way.
DeleteNo guessing needed there.
DeleteSomeone at NPR seems to be on vacation, it was important to listen as the puzzle aired live. Easy enough! (I submitted an answer, but as of right now the puzzle still isn't up.)
ReplyDeleteI think I overheard a sad story about these brands...
ReplyDeleteI think I heard the same story!
DeleteIn fact, it was an audi-ble saab story!
DeleteDid you brake down in tears?
DeleteI wrote to NPR about the problem.
ReplyDeleteAnd now the puzzle is posted
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DeleteAnagram the brands to get a town in Italy.
ReplyDelete. . . Or a city and something volcanic.
DeleteOr the title of a famous opera and the name of an indigenous people of Kenya.
DeleteI'm flumphloxed.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletegeofan, I left that vague on purpose.
Deleteor a village in Eastern Poland...
DeleteWW, also an animal cadaver in another language.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletegeofan, thanks!
DeleteI can get something volcanic by anagramming just one of the brands.
DeleteIs that TMI?
Guess I'll find out.
Paul, JTRAOI for me.
DeleteI find it amusing that a non-anagram puzzle prompts us to give all these anagram clues. We might be anti-STRAP* (thanks, eco!) after all.
Delete*Society To Reduce Anagram Puzzles
I said the brands anagramed to the title of a famous opera and the name of an indigenous people of Kenya.
DeleteI was referring to AIDA and SUBA.
I don't get good vibes from this country.
ReplyDeleteMy first run through didn't turn up the easy answer found by others.
ReplyDeleteSince the PM specified consecutive letters for the first brand, but not even "in order" for the second, I think I will hang it up.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWell hell, he did say "in order." My bad.
DeleteMaybe I'll start over.
Yep, that did it.
DeletePretty good puz, which I made tougher on myself than necessary.
I first thought it might be the picturesque country of Agfaland, but not enough letters.
ReplyDeleteScandalous (cough).
ReplyDelete(As in the VW emissions scandal, in which a number of Audi models also were implicated.)
DeleteTwo and half weeks ago (17 days) a condo collapsed in Florida. Every day since, including today, this story is still the lead in many NR hourly news headlines. Who is running NPR now? This is not news folks. We deserve more.
ReplyDelete18 days now and I woke up to NPR still running this tired old story as its lead "news" item. Haiti came in second. No wonder Americans are so ignorant.
Delete19 days today and I awoke to the same "news" story leading the NPR headlines.
Delete20 days now and I just heard it again as the top story in the news headlines.
DeleteOne of the brands offered a poetic-sounding product. The other offered one that less directly evoked a literary quality.
ReplyDeleteSaab once manufactured a cool sports car, the Sonett.
DeleteThe Audi Quattro, which is close to quarto, was a popular model.
Did you have to have a poetic license to drive it legally?
DeleteYes, without a poetic license you were ode of luck.
DeleteThe meter's running....
DeleteThen Leaves of Gas...
DeleteTook me about 2 minutes of looking at a world map to crack it. However, I will not be entering this week, because I will not be reachable on Thursday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteTake away the letters for the two brands. The remaining letters, in order, sound beautiful.
There is another country whose 1,2,8,9 letters also spell a brand of the same thing.
ReplyDeletenot sold in USA though
DeleteI guess not. But I think it may have bigger worldwide sales than the answers to Will's puzzle.
DeleteI see one of us made the New Yorker. Congratulations PJB.
ReplyDeletePlease cite reference. Would like to read it.tks.
Deletepjb has mentioned before that this is another pjb. This one lives in Georgia whilst the Blainesvillean lives in Alabama.
DeleteWW: THANKS FOR UPDATE.
DeleteNatasha, you are welcome!
DeleteIt must be Patrick D. Berry of Athens, GA. I've said many times I'm from Jasper, AL. I have submitted my own cryptic crosswords to Puzzleria! Legolambda will vouch for me on that.
DeletepjbIsARankAmateurWhile"PDB"IsARealPro!
BTW This Pat Berry solved it!
DeletepjbSaysWhyCryIfI'mHappy?
Since I have a professional interest in Thomas Pynchon as well as an amateur’s interest in puzzles, any article entitled “Patrick Berry Is the Thomas Pynchon of Crosswords” is bound to grab my attention. For those on the blog who may be interested as well, here’s the link: https://observer.com/2015/12/patrick-berry-is-the-thomas-pynchon-of-crosswords/
Delete139273 is a related brand.
ReplyDeleteThe letters at positions 1, 3, 9, 2, 7, 3 in Saudi Arabia spell Subaru, a car brand.
DeleteWith one exception, all the letters in the brand names are contained in the answer to a recent puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI have a bit of an advantage this week.
ReplyDeleteMy father and I could have said the same thing. Dad owned one brand’s product and I owned products of the other brand.
DeleteI work for Saab (the aerospace/defense company, not the defunct auto division spun off in 1990).
DeleteThen who is watching the factory?
ReplyDelete" Vandelay. Wait a second. Mr. Pennypacker, if you're here, and Mr. Vandelay is also here, then who's watching the factory?"
Delete"The factory?"
"The Saab factory...?"
" Jerry, that's in Sweden."
When I was a kid in Brooklyn, I used to mispronounce the name of the country so that the brand was very obvious.
ReplyDeleteI think your kid pronunciation may have been more correct than what we commonly hear today.
DeleteFred S.
ReplyDeleteSanford or Silverman?
ReplyDeletepjbIsThinkingInTermsOfNBCBackInTheDay,OfCourse
Fred G. Sanford. . . The G stands for "Got the answer."
DeleteNo big dummy, you.
DeletepjbIsNotComingToJoinAnyoneNamedElizabeth,Though
A little hair of the dog to get things figured out. Ruff night.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky to live overseas as a kid because my father's employer, Hughes Aircraft, had a contract with one company involved.
ReplyDeleteThere is an obscure connection to what is about to happen in Japan.
ReplyDeletePerhaps obscure, but still an interesting connection, Apple Picker. Nice hint.
DeleteLegoWhoNotesThatTheApplesHeWouldPickAreAmbrosiaEarligoldAkaneOpal&Arkansasblack
I agree 125%.
DeleteThis comment resonates with me.
DeleteRemove the first vowel of the nations capital and the remaining letters will anagram to name a mythical monster.
ReplyDeleteThey will also anagram to name a (non-mythical) singer.
DeleteOr a fictional detective.
DeleteThe mythical monster is a Hydra, anagrammed from Riyadh minus the "I".
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ReplyDeleteI think TMI.
Deletestill stuck? call AAA
ReplyDeleteNeither company is based in the country, but there’s a connection between the county’s economy and both companies’ products.
ReplyDeleteI applaud the current removing of Confederate Civil War statues that endorse slavery and racism as well as exalting traitors, but the removal of the Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea statue is absurd in my opinion. I took a look to see what all the fuss is about and while I do find it odd that she is depicted in a somewhat crouched position, that hopefully has a reasonable explanation. What came across to me is that this statue only shows 3 people, yet there were 30 or more on that expedition, including her French Canadian husband Toussaint Charbonneau. Instead of finding offense at her somewhat unequal depiction I think it is amazing that she was portrayed at all, above any of the other participants. I can also understand that the artist must have been aware that she was not an equal member and to have her likeness appearing to be on the same level as the leaders would also be presenting a false impression. George Drouillard was the most proficient hunter and almost certainly the most valuable member other than Lewis and Clark, but even he was not included in the statue.
ReplyDeleteThanks SDB for your analysis of the statue issue. It definitely made me think about the nuances of tearing down monuments
DeleteI gave this statue more thought during the day and think her posture probably was a subtle reminder that she knew how to dig up edible roots which kept them alive and going when there was no game to hunt. Rather clever if that was the intention of the sculptor. But now Lewis and Clark will go on in the memories of most citizens, but Sacajawea is far less evident.
DeleteName a country; take the 1st, 2nd, 8th and 9th letters to form the name of another country.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTMI
DeleteSDB,
DeleteIt could be Vatican City. Don't take the bait, let's just see what happens. No need for you to get into trouble over my remark
"Red badge of Courage."
ReplyDeleteI got the answer pretty quickly, although I first tried to convince myself Niua could possibly be a competitor in tomato sauce for Ragu...
ReplyDeleteToday's Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) website has features an interesting place (The Center of the World) and a man who should be of special interest to a regular here.
ReplyDeleteAnd Today Is Bastille Day "Allons enfants de la patria, La Jour de le goire et arrive......"
DeleteAddendum: Those the only lines I remember
DeleteI have both read Dickens's Tale of Two Cities, (don't Spoonerize it!) and visited the location of the Bastille. Who among us doesn't enjoy a good slice of life story?
DeleteSpeaking of Bastille Day and NPR...
DeleteMajor General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette is a statue in the southeast corner of Lafayette Square, in Washington, D.C., near the junction of Pennsylvania Avenue with Madison Place and close to the White House.
DeleteSurely we can find some reason to remove this statue.
Clark: xheck spelling.. gloire not goire.
Deletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R7aiN5sPzLQ
Oops..check
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThanks, jan, for sharing that clip from This American Life. It's worth a listen!
DeleteI forgot to suggest following the links.
ReplyDeleteA profile of Will Shortz:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/15/will-shortz-new-york-times-crossword-editor-interview
All the Shortz articles I have read seem interchangeable.
DeleteWell, maybe not.
Is our Sunday Puzzle the "radio crossword?"
Do "...'Human-made puzzles have perfect solutions.'?”
Half of his staff (of five) are female.
Well, keep in mind that it is not a novel, but a Shortz story.
DeleteMy wife's cousin had her kid's 13th birthday party at the Westchester Table Tennis Center about 10 years ago. When we visited them a couple weeks ago, she showed me the photo she took of them with Will, very sweaty after a game.
DeleteSAUDI ARABIA>>>>AUDI & SAAB
ReplyDeleteSAUDI ARABIA >>> AUDI & SAAB
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"So simple it will most likely bring tears to the eyes of someone we all know."
Audi Cornish used to host the NPR Sunday Puzzle. She pronounces her name differently though.
SBD,
DeleteHA HA, I beat you by a minute. For once, I've been quicker than you!
Cap,
DeleteLook at the time stamp. He who laughs last...
SDB,
DeleteI thought I sent it at 11:59. Second to you ain't bad.
SAUDI ARABIA —> AUDI, SAAB
ReplyDeleteMy clue: “Anagram the country and get a land mass, another country, and mental territory.” —> Asia, Aruba, id
SAUDI ARABIA → AUDI & SAAB (competitor until 2012)
ReplyDeleteThis is the third puzzle that Will has used the word “Brand” for a MAKE (or MODEL) of car!
SABAUDIA, a village in Eastern Poland as well as a town in Italy.
Our friend Plantsmith has baked up a quartet of very tasty puzzles for this coming week's Puzzleria!
ReplyDeleteThey are titled "Barristers, barometrics, Sporty Spice, the Sun & other shiny objects," and are featured in his recurrent "Garden of Puzzley Delights" puzzle-package.
We upload Puzzleria! every very-early-Friday at Midnight PDT.
Also on this week's menus are:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week about a novelist "who wrote the book of love, above, or below, depending on your perspective"
* a Slice of Puzzle that asks, “What’s the best ‘antonym’ of ‘synonym’ ?”
* a "miracle of the non-lyrical" Dessert puzzle
* and nine riff-offs of this week's NPR puzzle that we call, “International Battle of the Brands.”
Join us please for a "delightfully puzzley" experience!
LegoWhoConsidersAudisAndSaabsToBeShinyObjectsBeyondHisReach
SAUDI ARABIA -> AUDI, SAAB
ReplyDelete> Anagram the brands to get a town in Italy.
Sabaudia.
SAUDI ARABIA — AUDI, SAAB
ReplyDelete– It was important to listen as the puzzle aired live.
– It's worth a listen!
"Audi!" is Latin for "Listen!"
(Then again, "audire" means "to hear," as some people seem to have hinted in their posts.)
– I submitted an answer, but ….
"I s.a.a.b…."
Saudi ArabiaAudi, Saab
ReplyDeleteI solved backwards and began to feel sheepish as Saab backwards spells baa.
I enjoyed Pandemonium’s comment about having had an unfair advantage, which I assume means he has owned either an Audi or a Saab. Similarly, my dad owned an Audi and I twice owned Saabs.
I also liked Apple Picker’s comment relating the 4 ring Audi logo with the 5 rings of the Olympic symbol. I was tempted to say his comment rang a bell, but said it resonated with me to avoid the potential TMI of rings.
I believe the 4 ring logo came about after Horsch merged with DKW. If you want to see what a beautiful car looks like, Google Horsch cars.
DeleteThat should read: Horch.
Delete"Horch!" is one way of saying "Listen!" in German. Which circles back to the Latin translation, "Audi!"
DeleteThat's the story behind the Audi brand name.
August Horch (12 October 1868 – 3 February 1951) was a German engineer and automobile pioneer, the founder of the manufacturing giant which would eventually become Audi.
DeleteOriginally August Horch was employed by Karl Benz before moving on and founding his own automobile company. He called it A. Horch & Co. in 1899 and the car a Horch when it debuted in 1901. After a few years he left that company he founded and went on to found another company and again called the car a Horch. There was a legal dispute which he lost and had to rename his cars, and he called them Audi. It was just a Horch of a different color. These were impressive automobiles and I would gladly give up my Boy Scout Fire Starting Badge to own one of the early models.
DeleteNo, I've never owned either brand/make. My advantage is that I work for Saab (the aerospace/defense company, not the defunct auto division spun off in 1990).
DeleteSaudi Arabia, Audi, Saab
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “With one exception, all the letters in the brand names are contained in the answer to a recent puzzle.” The recent puzzle answer was Addis Ababa. Only the “u” in Audi is missing.
I wrote, “Take the country. Remove all letters that are repeated in it. Rearrange. You get a word for what a guy does with a cudgel.” That’s “drubs.”
ReplyDeleteSaudi Arabia. Saab Audi.
ReplyDeleteAlso, though it was cancelled because of "TMI," this also yields Basra, a town in Iraq, Sabra, a native born Israeli and Arabs. If you eliminate letters 2,3,4,5, 10 and 11.
Blaine's clue had "car" in it. Wonder if intentional.
ReplyDeleteYes. he had "gas car" in his clue!
DeleteI knew they were car brands from Blaine's clue.
DeleteI solved it quickly before looking at Blaine's clue. I would have thought that it was TMI.
DeleteFor next week's puzzle I'm guessing the answer will be SACRAMENTO, MADAGASCAR, MAZDA or another car brand. Good chance, right?
DeleteSaudi Arabia (Audi, Saab)
ReplyDeleteSaba is a volcanic island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saba
ReplyDeleteFenton Hardy was a fictional detective, as were his two boys, Frank and Joe.
Did you forget Oliver?
DeleteI thought of Oliver afterward ... also Andy.
DeleteAnd Rob.
DeleteHardy also is the name of the singer I was alluding to.
DeleteSaudi Arabia - Audi & Saab - my clue: “There is an obscure connection to what is about to happen in Japan”
ReplyDeleteThe Olympic Games are about to happen. The Olympic logo and the Audi logo resemble and the obscurity is both the fact that the Olympic logo gained prominence at the 1936 Berlin games and the Audi logo was formulated in the 1930’ies, AND that there’s been a trademark case brought on by the Olympic committee, however Audi won.
Wow. If life gives you apples, make applesauce.
DeleteSAUDI ARABIA >>> AUDI, SAAB
ReplyDeleteI thought of writing an elaborate essay about my answer but decided to keep it short. >>> "essay" >>> S. A., short for SAUDI ARABIA.
". . . Or a city and something volcanic" >>> Dubai, aas (geofan, I thought pointing out a plural gave away a likely "S.")
"Fred S." >>> Frederick SODDY experimented and wrote extensively on radioactivity.
Saudi Arabia- Audi/Saab
ReplyDelete"Red badge of Courage"
Audie Murphy had a starring role in this 1951- version.
If I remember to do it, the next time we have a puzzle that requires perusing a long list of choices I will go in reverse alphabetical order. Probably won't do any good, but it would have helped this time.
ReplyDeleteIt is too bad nobody bothered to follow my link to the Parachutist's Hall of Fame, not even the db himself.
How would you know that?
DeleteSeptember 4, last year I sent this puzzle I coined to Will:
ReplyDeleteThink of a famous person whose first name is a homophone of a car. The last name is a homophone of the model of a different car. Who is this person and what are the cars? A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and/or spelling
Answer: Audie Cornish and the cars are Audi and the Rolls-Royce Corniche.
His reply:
Hi Mark,
That's cute.
I wouldn't assume everyone knows the Corniche, tho. (I didn't.) And the answer might be too insider-ish anyway, being as it's about an NPR personality.
So I'd have to say no. Sorry!
But I appreciate the offer.
--Will
Why does Will have to know the answer for it to be a good puzzle?
That's interesting reasoning. Lulu wasn't too inside to be a part of the Lake Lugano puzzle last year. And, unless I am badly mistaken, Audie was the solution to a puzzle several years ago. I recall it to be an anagram. I think it was when she was leaving the Puzzle as a regular. I tried to lay my hands on it, but no luck with a quick search. Now, as to the "why" part of the reply - that's a different matter altogether.
Delete^^^ And it was upon the occasion of Audie's arrival.
DeleteMany thanks, Ma'am. Tempus does fugit.
DeleteYou are welcome. Indeed times flies.
DeleteI thought to follow it up with
"Musa sapientum fixa fructum, et fugit velut."
(Fruit flies like a banana), but Google translate had big troubles with that. I ought to have known...
This afternoon as I was driving home from the super market for some unknown reason the very old idiom, "I'm free, white and twenty-one" popped into my mind. I had not heard it in a while, but I grew up hearing it frequently for decades. It got me to thinking, why are we now hearing all the time about how Caucasians are unaware of our White Privilege? Who are they kidding? We've always been fully aware of our White Privilege. I sure have.
ReplyDeleteSAUDI ARABIA, AUDI and SAAB
ReplyDeletepjbSaysHeMentionedCryingEarlierBecause"SAAB"SoundsLike"Sob"!Boo-hoo!
Saudi Arabia/Audi/Saab
ReplyDeleteThe news from Saudi Arabia is rarely good. I have never had a warm fuzzy feeling that this would be a great vacation spot.
Indeed. Just spotted this warm, fuzzy article about an Israeli cyberweapons manufacturer providing the Saudis with the tools to crush dissent.
Delete((The story caught my eye in part because the name of the company, Candiru, is the name of a fish described as the only vertebrate endoparasite of man -- it allegedly swims up the victim's urethra and lodges there.)
SAUDI ARABIA --> AUDI, SAAB
ReplyDeleteMy hint was MailBombs, because if you take the 1st 2nd 8th 9th letters of that hint, you get MaBS.
And MBS is the fascist dictator of Saudi Arabia.
This week's challenge: From Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn., who conducts the blog "Puzzleria." Take the name of a flower that has a common girl's name in consecutive letters inside it. Remove that name, and the remaining letters, in order, sound like another girl's name. What flower is it?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, again, Lego! How many times have your puzzles been used?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSema and Rory?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI'm sure this isn't the intended answer.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI disagree, but OK...
DeleteOk, so that puzzle took all of a minute.
ReplyDeleteThe author of books about a crawfish was proud of her work.
ReplyDeleteA little spring in her step?
DeleteNot too hard. Waiting for Blaine...
ReplyDeleteI think I've got it (assuming it is that flower's real name).
ReplyDeleteOver 1600 correct responses this week.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete