Q: 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?I'm thinking of a folk art and antique collector.
A: AMARYLLIS --> MARY, ALICE
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.
This was the first flower that came to me...
ReplyDeleteA popular species of this flower genus is also two women's names.
ReplyDeleteYes, but the name is better known as a species of a different genus.
DeleteYes, but being partial to the Western Cape, I favor the Amaryllis Belladonna.
DeleteThat wasn’t difficult. Dare not give a clue as last time i got TMI’d 😝 But this flower isnt really my cup of tea
ReplyDeleteThe author of some crawfish books was proud of her work.
ReplyDeleteGoriest flora?
ReplyDeleteI'm expecting lots of oracular clues this week.
ReplyDeleteEmmy- and Tony-winning actor Mary Alice portrayed "The Oracle" in The Matrix Revolutions.
DeleteI thought I had an answer (assuming it is that flower's real name), but from the clues posted so far, it looks like my answer isn't the intended answer. Don't look for clues here.
ReplyDelete“If that’s your flower’s *real* name!”
Delete😉👍
DeleteRearrange the flower’s letters. You get a nautical material. There’s another, more obscure answer. For this one, take the flower, remove all repeated letters, and rearrange. You get something associated with doughnuts.
ReplyDeleteGot it. Congrats, Lego!
ReplyDeleteYes Lego, the puzzle master chose wisely this week!
DeleteNice work, Joe.
ReplyDeleteI like the puzzle, and I'm sure I have the intended answer, but I expect some alternate answers and controversy this week. For example, does ROSE sound like ROSE? Do those letters appear "in consecutive letters inside" PRIMROSE?
ReplyDeleteI hasten to add that this is not meant as a criticism of Lego's fine puzzle. The answer to both questions ought to be "no."
DeleteGot it. Now to turn off the light and close my eyes.
ReplyDeleteCute one Lego.
ReplyDeleteNow that I’ve seen pictures of this flower, I need to see if these will grow on my garden.
You could try saying the flower name with a lisp.
ReplyDeleteYes, but try not to spit on everything.
DeleteLike sheet music, for example.
Delete(Amaryllis is the name of the girl in The Music Man who takes a piano lesson from town librarian Marian Paroo (Shirley Jones). Marian's little brother Winthrop (Ron Howard) doesn't want to say hello to Amaryllis because of his severe lisp when he says her name.)
DeleteThere's a bit of a gray area surrounding "girl's name."
ReplyDeleteReplace the first 4 letters with 2 different letters to get another girl's name.
ReplyDeleteI think you've got it.
DeleteThat matches my original answer, but I agree with WW that there likely is an alternate.
DeleteGot it. The name of the flower is also the name of a character in a German children's book. (There is an English translation, but the book is little-known in the U.S.)
ReplyDeleteThe idea came to me just like it happens in cartoons.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Lego.
ReplyDeletePhonetically--and neologistically--the answer could be a certain city's adjectival form describing that city's and its residents' essential quality.
What's up, Doc?
DeleteWW, I will explain Thursday.
DeleteAll of you folks seem to know so much about flowers. Makes me feel like I'm from a different world.
ReplyDeleteNot tough!
ReplyDeleteThere are at least two "legitimate" answers here. Trying to find some flowery prose to describe them.
ReplyDeleteI suspected as much, since the first answer I came up with easily matches some clues above, but others I can't get my answer to match.
DeleteCARDINAL → DINA + CARL ?
DeleteCarl sounds like CAROL, n'est-ce pas?
DeleteOr CORAL if you're Rick Grimes
Deletewhen I used to play 0h on one with my brother when he'd block my shot he would often utter a two line couplet which was a parody of a common religious phrase. the second line was "I'll slam this ball right in your face"
ReplyDeleteA very spyfull name.
ReplyDeleteWW, my initial answer may be one of your two.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I need to reset my mind. Maybe I'll drive around for a bit.
My answer, which appears to match that of Charles, can be rearranged to be an original NFL team owner who is acting funny.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I should note that I should check before posting. It turns out that the New York Football Giants did not join the NFL until 1925, a few years after the NFL officially formed. Sorry about that.
DeleteSo, if you take AMARYLLIS, you can anagram it to SILLY MARA, and the MARA family has at least partially owned the Giants for decades.
The answer can be anagrammed to two girls' names.
ReplyDeleteIn at least three different ways.
DeleteIf you look at the Gibbs garden web site. You may be surprised.
ReplyDeleteNice one, Lego!
ReplyDeleteThis isn't really a hint, but: the flower name's etymology is not at all what I'd assumed it was.
If Blaine is thinking folk art and antique collector, I'm thinking there may be an element of brain behind the conductor in this one. Regardless, good eye, Lego.
ReplyDeleteMusical Clue: The Beatles
ReplyDeleteI expected to see musical clues , but was surprised to see the Beatles.
DeleteYes, there are many possible musical clues, most of which are probably TMI, but "The Beatles" should be sufficiently oblique not to yield an answer.
DeleteYes, it is an around the back, under the stairs, and through the garden gate sort of a clue.
DeleteIf you put a gun to my head, I couldn't tell you the TV show featuring a character that was known by both names in one.
DeletepjbHopesYou'llBeHeadedDownMemoryLaneWithThisClue...OrNot
Cranberry: i found it. Never knew that before. Never watched that program.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHad to delete the duplicates of my post. Not sure why happened.
DeleteNatasha, should I delete my earlier post?
DeletepjbIsWillingToReportAnAccidentOnThreeMileIslandHere
Cranberry, why? I liked it.
DeleteI have two answers. I wonder which one is the intended answer. One of them seems like what Joseph Young would pick. In the other answer, the first girl's name is also a boy's name, and the remaining letters can be rearranged to spell another boy's name.
ReplyDeleteThe answers are amaryllis (Mary, Alice) and chamomile (Mo, Camille). Wondering is like Alice in Wonderland. Mary was married to Joseph in the Bible. Mo can be a boy's name or a girl's name. "Chamile" is an anagram of "Michael".
Deletethe answering machine on her land line said "if you can't think of anything nice to say sit next to me"
ReplyDeleteWe owe thanks to an author who gave us a famous line about another flower that others have copied.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia tells us that the name of the flower comes from the name of a shepherdess in Virgil's Eclogues (from the Greek ἀμαρύσσω (amarysso), meaning "to sparkle").
DeleteVirgil also wrote "manibus date lilia plenis," meaning "give lilies with full hands," to mourn the death of Marcellus, Augustus' nephew. Quoted by Dante as he leaves Virgil in Purgatory, XXX.21, echoed by Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass III, 6.
Let’s hear it for Susan and her sister Black Eyed
ReplyDeleteThere’s a connection to both names and some pottery.
ReplyDeleteIf you substitute one letter with a common vowel you get some tasty candy from an Italian brand.
ReplyDeleteI don't care.
ReplyDeleteI actually have two answers. I think I know which one is the intended answer, due to the specifics of the puzzle's wording. However, they both seem valid...
ReplyDeleteI predict one of those rare instances where WS acknowledges a valid alternate answer.
DeleteI think so, too. Things will likely hinge on "common."
DeleteI have no excuse for spending so much time attempting to make Pillsbury work. Speaking of tempting, I wish I could share some of the doughnuts with you all.
ReplyDeleteI think if there ever has been any doubt, we can now be assured that Lego is stalking us.
ReplyDeleteHopefully this will stem the tide of bad puzzles Will has been petaling.
ReplyDeleteYou're a pistil, SDB!
DeleteStay, men!
DeleteI was going to post STAMEN, but you beet me to it.
DeleteWith fronds like that, who needs anemones?
DeleteMonte Cassino
DeleteI think we should just leaf this where it is…
DeleteI see you managed to get right to the root problem. If there were more time weed compliment you on this.
DeleteCareful, you might find yourself out on a limb.
Delete(I’m getting board by these puns, they’re rather wooden.)
But we love being knotty. And I think your bark is worse than your lumbering prose.
DeleteDon't be a sap. Just go with the phloem.
DeleteThat shows a ring of aged wisdom from someone who has branched out over the years.
DeleteThe anther lieth ahead.
DeletepjbMustParaphraseKermitBySayingIt'sNotEasyHavingAGreenThumb...OrNot!
Steamed hams
ReplyDeleteth clus hr ar way mor intrsting than th puzzil
ReplyDeleteyou certainly are no e e cummings
Deleteand i agree
DeleteAre you saying to solve this challenge will require no ease(E's)?
DeletepjbHopesHisE-RelatedPunDoesNotRevealHisShortCummings!
I have a sticky keeyboard. somtimes I geet no "eee"s and somtimes too many but you(all) are doubtless correct the eonly poom i evere wrote ethat my honors english HS teachers liked was
Deletein days of old when
when men were bold
and knighthood was in flower
a ceertain knight
whose e mind took flight
steppd into the shower
though man will somday turn to dust
this knight's armor turnd to rust
or why I forecast for a living instead of
crative ewriting
adios :-)
Musical (non-Edelweiss!) clue: "So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night."
ReplyDeleteI took piano lessons as a kid.
DeleteYep, that and choir!
DeleteI know CHRYS sounds right, but who's ANTHEMUM?
ReplyDeletepjbWillNowProvideAMusicalClue:EltonJohn
When I first got an answer, this seemed like a very clever challenge.
ReplyDeleteThen I thought one name is either a boy's or girl's name.
Then I realized both names are.
So now I don't know what to think.
I think this may be the wrong answer as the one I have jives with Uncle Fishbag and both are 99.44% girls names.
DeleteI have noticed that almost ANY word (or combination of letters) can be used as a girl's name. No hint intended. But, surprisingly, I backed into the answer this morning, without really planning to.
ReplyDeleteAnd the line between girl and boy names is definitely blurring more every day.
DeleteAnd here's my bona-fides: read the flower name backwards to reveal an impressive display of poor judgement. But be careful; the result might be offensive to a large group of people.
ReplyDeleteSchist!
DeleteNot to me, it isn't; at least it is an indication I have the intended answer.
DeleteWW: don't be so gneiss.
DeleteUF, I like the backwards answer. It's cute. It reminds me of a couple of recent puzzles.
Deletegf, it takes higher grade changes to make me gneiss ;-)
Backwards and forwards together produce some interesting pictures.
DeleteYes. The name of a certain place inspired by this line of thinking contains two embedded names, one within the other.
DeleteKids are for Trix everywhere
DeleteWell, Rosemary does have flowers... but that isn't very interesting.
ReplyDeleteAlso, not sure if Ila is "common enough", though there are lots of famous Ila's in the world...
DeleteHohum , are you new to the blog? Or have I overlooked you.
DeleteHow does one make a hoe hum?
Delete"Have you ever seen a dead body move?"
Delete"No, but I have seen the graveyard shift!"
pjbKnowsIt'sADadJokeBecauseHisLateFatherToldHim...LateLastNight!!!
Also now flowering the Belle Rose.
DeleteAnd yes I have seen a dead body move. But not that far.
DeleteOr as the sign outside the coroner's office read, "Remains To Be Seen."
Delete[rimshot] Anyone here from Colma?
As I have posted here before, I live one block from the largest cemetery in Seattle. They have a huge crematorium and all those who enter are given a warm welcome.
DeleteIf you ever want to enter into a futile argument then I would suggest the topic of cremains which are commonly called ashes. They are actually the ground up bones that were not completely burned. Ask those who insist they are ash, and that they have felt them, what part of the human body produces ash when burned. Ask them if they ever burned a steak and what happened to the ash. You won't win, but you will discover just how stupid some people really are.
"That which remains of a human body after cremation or (transferred) total decomposition"
Delete('ashes', definition 4 in the OED)
Dictionaries document what the usage of a word may be, not its accuracy. Bone fragments cannot be ash no matter what people or dictionaries may say. This is why ignorant people have great power to change the meaning of words. Intelligent, well educated people who use the language correctly have very little power in this regard because they are in the minority. Decimate is a perfect example of how idiots misuse and totally change the meaning of words. If you think you know what decimate actually means I would suggest you look up its original meaning rather than the way stupid people are now using it. Don't misunderestimate the proliferation of made up words.
DeleteWait -- if dictionaries don't tell me the meanings of words, then how can I look up the original meaning of 'decimate'?
DeleteI'm afraid the idiots who changed the meaning of 'ash' returned to ashes in the 13th century; the OED has Old English citations. (Also from the crass modernist idiot Tennyson.)
Sages or fools
Usage rules
Rudely or properly
Regnat vox populi.
After thy burn
What mortal part
Fills thine urn?
Dust thou art.
Let's see the very thing and nothing else.
DeleteLet's see it with the hottest fire of sight.
Burn everything not part of it to ash.
Wallace Stevens, Credences of Summer
The OED is different from other dictionaries in that it works backwards. In other words it begins its definitions of a word beginning with its earliest. Decimate is a military word that refers to choosing every tenth man in a captured enemy unit and executing him. It does not mean to wipe out as it is now, recently being misused. I am sure you can easily look this up.
DeleteNo one has as yet changed the meaning of ash. It has not got to that point yet that I know of anyway, but it may. If people in sufficient numbers keep calling something opposite from its original meaning then that will be what the dictionaries report, because that is what they do.
Hm, Italo Svevo's poem is better than mine.
DeleteHey! You might possibly have *known* Wallace Stevens! Did you ever cross the Atlantic? Anyway you surely had friends in common.
I have some of these growing in the back yard. Never did understand how the plant got it's common nickname though. I just don't see it.
ReplyDelete...and I have an alternate answer that I don't think is the intended answer.
DeleteIf one takes a cryptic-crossword approach and reads "flower" as a "flow-er", i.e., a river, a legitimate alternate answer is WINNIPEG (the "flower") with the two female names PEG (exact) and WINNI (sounds like WINNIE).
ReplyDeleteNice!
DeleteI like the flow-er river idea. How about the Des Moines River which holds both DESS and MOINE?
DeleteTake a river name remove a woman's name in consecutive letters and the remaining letters, in order, identify a type of container.
DeleteBravo. As in, " Rio Bravo."
DeleteBeing a cryptic expert, I have seen the intended answer used in such a puzzle. I just won't tell you the wordplay used.
DeletepjbThinksTheCrypticCrosswordWasInventedByAnnaGraham
The river is the Canadian River in Oklahoma and Arkansas. The woman's name is Nadia and the remaining letters spell, in order, Can.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMort - Sorry: I was not aware that the Thursday rule applies also to "bonus" puzzles that are unrelated to the original "contest' puzzle.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeletePretty sure I found the intended answer.
ReplyDeleteIt is OK, but I much prefer an alternative that Will should allow if he sees it.
I'll send it in.
My profound thanks to all my fellow Blainesvillians who have congratulated me on getting my "flowery" puzzle chosen as the current NPR puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI am aware that many of you would have preferred a more challenging puzzle. So, with Blaine's indulgence, I am posting below what I hope is a more challenging puzzle. Coincidentally, it is the "Schpuzzle of the Week" on the current edition of "Puzzleria!"
(A few of our "Puzzleria! regulars" – all who are brilliant! – have already solved it. But all you Blainesvillians are brilliant also... so, happy solving!)
Name a book in the Bible. Rearrange four consecutive letters to spell an acclaimed author, first name. Last name is a rearrangement of the remaining letters of the book.
Who is this author?
What is the biblical book?
Hint: The name of a different biblical book is the title of a novel by the author.
We post our answers to Puzzleria! puzzles at Noon PDT every Wednesday. That is when you can post your answer to this Schpuzzle – either on Puzzleria! or here on Blaine's wonderful blog.
LegoWhoNotesThatOurFriendPlantsmithHasAlsoConcoctedFourQuiteChallengingPuzzlesThatAppearOnTheCurrentPuzzleria!
Happy solving, indeed! That is an absolutely delightful schpuzzle, Lego, and it made my week.
DeleteLancek - you should try my four on Puzzleria this week.Much easier and i have not solved the above.
DeleteI got the last three, but Appetizer 1 stumped me. Too bad, because it must be the cleverest of the four to involve three words before and after anagramming!
DeleteHere are the first letters for all six words.
DeleteC L O --
F-L-C.
Thanks! I had C-L-O, so F-L-C helped a lot. A little superfluous redundancy there?
DeleteLancek,
DeleteThanks greatly for those very kind words.
And thanks also for checking out Plantsmith's featured package of puzzles on this week's Puzzleria!
Our blog has been blessed with a bevy of guest puzzle-makers like Plantsmith (and Bobby Jacobs whose puzzles will appear this Friday) who volunteer to share their amazing creativity with the rest of us.
LegoLuckyToHaveProlificGenerousAndCreativeCollaborators
LAMENTATIONS → TONI MORRISON LAST NAME is an anagram of "lamentations" minus TION (TONI).
DeleteHer novel: Song of SOLOMON.
Nice work, ron. Not only are you great at solving puzzles, you also have always had an uncanny knack of unearthing alternative answers to puzzles.
DeleteLegoWhoAdmiresron'sWisdomOfSolomon
My son Bobby already solved the intended answer on Sunday, and he noted this morning that the answer also has a connection to a big event today.
ReplyDeleteAmaryllis--Mary is the name and remaining sounds like Alice.
DeleteExplanation on the big event--Wally Funk (who went to space the day I posted)-her real name is Mary Wallace Funk. Thus, the clue to "Mary".
How about a well-known flower whose name consists of 12 different letters?
ReplyDeleteIf Julius Katchen had lived a few centuries earlier...
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAMARYLLIS >>> MARY, ALICE or, with a less common name, CHAMOMILE >>> MO, CAMILLE
"I don't care." refers to Thomas Campion 's "I Care Not for These Ladies" (1601) where AMARYLLIS appears.
"Schist!" refers to the Vishnu Schist. I enjoyed Uncle Fishbag's backwards spelling referral to (SILLY) RAMA, a deity or deified hero of later Hinduism worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu.
The name of a certain place inspired by this line of thinking contains two embedded names, one within the other. >>> SKATE-A-RAMA, KATE, SARAMA
"What's up, Doc?" refers to Doctrine as in Monroe Doctrine as in writer Mary Alice Monroe.
^<<< Image: Fritillaria (such a bold, splashy flower, like Amaryllis)
Two (of many) famous male Camilles:
DeleteCamille Saint-Saëns
Camille Pissaro
AMARYLLIS >>> MARY & ALICE
ReplyDeleteAMARYLLIS —> MARY + ALICE
ReplyDeleteMy tortuous (and perhaps torturous) hint: “Phonetically--and neologistically--the answer could be a certain city's adjectival form describing that city's and its residents' essential quality.”
The city—Amarillo; the adjectival form—“Amarillous” (a neologistic homophone of “amaryllis”), though I suspect that few, if any, from Amarillo have ever described themselves as “Amarillous” (“amorous,” maybe…). To be fair, I did say the answer “could be,” not “is.” And, admittedly, despite appearances to the contrary, there is no etymological connection between “amaryllis” and “Amarillo.” (The “official” demonym for Amarillo residents is “Amarilloan.”)
Two girls’ names into which “amaryllis” can be anagrammed—among others, it seems—are “Irma” and “Sally.”
As for pop music clues, clotheslover’s “The Beatles” (i.e., “Mother Mary”) caught my eye. My reply included the phrase “an answer,” another hint at the lyrics of “Let It Be.”
But as for some other possible pop music artists’ clues, The Monkees (“Mary, Mary”), Jefferson Airplane (“Go ask Alice” from “White Rabbit”), or Arlo Guthrie would likely have received from Blaine the dreaded “This comment….” And artists’ hints from other musical genres, like jazz—e.g., Bill Evans (“Alice in Wonderland”), Charlie Parker (“Blues for Alice”), etc.—might also have been TMI.
As for some of the more obvious literary hints—Lewis Carroll, Gertrude Stein, etc.—most seemed TMI, so I steered clear of them.
As an aside, for some reason I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the etymological fallacy.
Finally, a postscript: It turns out that there actually is an actress named Mary Alice. Who knew?
WW: That’s all, folks!
Would posting hints or other things about Alice have been TMI? That was the name that did not actually appear in the answer, it was only phonetic.
DeleteYou may be right.
DeleteBut having been on the receiving end a few times of "This comment..." I tend toward what may be excessive caution.
Dr. K, I needed a "Dr." for my clue...and you fit the bill!
DeleteWord Woman, if the blog ever gives out a "Clueless" Award, I'm your #1 candidate.
DeleteDr. K, that gives me an idea. We could create a "Clueless" board game modeled after "Clue" centered around words and puzzles.
DeleteWe'll need 6 suspects, 6 "weapons" and 9 rooms. Any ideas?
I'll start. How about Ms. Ana Gram in the Puzzle Study with the Word String?
Other contributions to "Clueless?"
Wanda in the Mazda with the Roman numerals.
DeleteWW and Jan--Interesting idea, with fun possibilities. Unfortunately, I've been out for the past several hours to see Summer of Soul, the Questlove film about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Highly recommended. If you can, by all means see it. But as a result I don't think I'll be able to contribute much until tomorrow. 'Til then...
Deletejan, that's so clueless!
DeleteDr. K, the film footage featuring 52-year-old Harlem Cultural Festival footage from the summer of '69 looks fascinating. Thanks for the suggestion.
And there's no time on being part of the game "Clueless."
How about Ms. Etta Mology (caught) in the Web of Words with the OED?
DeleteMy answers:
ReplyDeleteAmaryllis ==> Mary & Allis (sounds like "Alice")
Gardenia ==> Arden & Gia
Amaryllis/Mary, Allis (Alice)
ReplyDeleteNo clues posted this week, Just kudos to Lego!
Thank you, SuperZee. And thanks to all Blainesvillians who enjoyed this puzzle, even a bit, and expressed their appreciation.
DeleteLegoWhoIsAFanOfSuperZee..."LastInOurAlphabetFirstInOurHeart!"
GORIEST FLORA is an anagram of GLORIA FOSTER who preceded MARY ALICE in the role of Oracle in the Matrix trilogy. No allusion to either Bloody MARY or ALICE Cooper was intended.
ReplyDeleteBy George, I enjoyed Charles's corollary puzzle.
AMARYLLIS -> MARY, "ALLIS" (ALICE)
ReplyDelete> ROSEMARY works, but that can’t be right.
I deleted this on request, but I don’t see how it was TMI.
>> The author of books about a crawfish was proud of her work.
> A little spring in her step?
“Fontenot” is French for “little spring”.
>> A popular species of this flower genus is also two women's names.
> Yes, but the name is better known as a species of a different genus.
Atropa belladonna, the deadly nightshade, not Amaryllis belladonna, is the source of anticholinergic alkaloids that, among other effects, cause dilation of the pupils, producing an attractive and seductive appearance, hence the name.
>> Musical (non-Edelweiss!) clue: "So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night."
> I took piano lessons as a kid.
Like Amaryllis in The Music Man.
> Backwards and forwards together produce some interesting pictures.
sillyrama amaryllis
I wrote, “Rearrange the flower’s letters. You get a nautical material. There’s another, more obscure answer. For this one, take the flower, remove all repeated letters, and rearrange. You get something associated with doughnuts.”
ReplyDeleteThose are AMARYLLIS – MYLAR SAIL
And CARNATION (which yields “toric”) / NATI / CARON (Karen);
AMARYLLIS → MARY + ALLIS = ALICE.
ReplyDeleteAMARYLLIS>>>>>>> Mary and ALLIS (ALICE)
ReplyDeleteAMARYLLIS
ReplyDeleteThe name inside it is MARY, and the remaining letters, in order, sound like “Alice.”
My reference to a character in a German children’s book was about a fairy by the name of Amaryllis in a book by Otfried Preußler, Der Räuber Hotzenplotz (The Robber Hotzenplotz). That book was pretty popular in Germany and elsewhere around Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, spawning two sequels as well as adaptations for stage, audio, and TV.
My initial answer was CLARKIA, with KIA being the girl’s name and the remaining letters sounding like “Claire.”
My hints at that answer were:
“Assuming it is that flower’s real name.”
A reference (by inversion, if you will) to esteemed Blainesvillian Clark…a pseudonym.
“I need to reset my mind. Maybe I’ll drive around for a bit.”
“Reset” as in “clear” (like “Claire”); and “drive around”—well, how about: in a KIA!
My reasons for moving away from the CLARKIA answer were:
1. The name of Kia doesn’t seem to be as “popular” as the name of Mary.
2. One might argue KIA isn’t really “inside” the word CLARKIA.
This week's Puzzleria! promises to be "Riffalicious!"
ReplyDeleteIn his "Puzzle Fun by Bobby Jacobs" feature, our friend Bobby Jacobs "discombobulates" us with terrifically nifty riffs on three NPR puzzles from the recent past. We're calling it: "Three’s Company: A trio of riffs."
You will find Bobby's puzzle mastery uploaded in the wee hours (AFTER MIDNIGHT) of Friday (tomorrow) morning, Pacific Daylight Time.
Also on our menus:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week that advises you that “you have the right to remain slaphappy,”
* a timely Ragtime Puzzle Slice featuring flivver-fixers & domstic-dusters,
* a timely Dessert Slice that involves antlers, and
* a slew of riff-offs of this week's NPR puzzle (an NPR puzzle that my first-grade teacher Sister Mary Alice had easily solved – finding three alternative answers in the process – before she got out out bed Sunday morning to go to Mass!)
So, please join us, and Sister Mary Alice, on Puzzleria! this week. (Sister MaryAlice Will be there chomping on delicious deep dish pepperoni puzzles with unleavened crusts).
LegoWhoAsANaughtyFirstGraderHadTo"TurnTheOtherCheeks"(AllThreeOtherCheeks!)GrudginglyWhenSisterMaryAliceSlaphappilyAdministeredHerBrandOfClassroomDiscipline!
Amaryllis --> Mary, allis (Alice)
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “The idea came to me just like it happens in cartoons,” i.e. like a light bulb, bulbs being the best way Amaryllis plants are propagated.
A few more shaky alternates: BLUET (LU, BETTE) and GARDENIA (ARDEN, GIA). In the latter case, GIA has to sound like GIA, but it does. The three ways to anagram AMARYLLIS into two common girls' names are SALLY + IRMA, MARLY + LISA, and MILLY + SARA.
ReplyDeleteGardenia was my first thought too!
Deleteamaryllis (Mary, Alice) or chamomile (Mo, Camille)
ReplyDelete"Amaryllis" has "Mary" in it. "Allis" sounds like "Alice". "Chamomile" has "Mo" in it. "Chamile" sounds like "Camille".
Amaryllis--Mary is the name and the remaining letters sound like Alice. Explanation on the hint related to the big event--Wally Funk (who went to space the day I posted)-her real name is Mary Wallace Funk. Thus, the clue to "Mary". Actually, my son Bobby thought of that because he knows I think Mary "Wally" Funk is amazing for her positive energy and flight achievements.
ReplyDeleteI think Chamomile (Mo and Camille) is the cleverer answer.
ReplyDeleteDKC gave a hint that I thought Blaine would give the RBA.
When he didn't, I still wasn't sure if he thought it would be a give away to do so or just didn't see it.
Mo is a shortened form of several girl's and boy's names.
Camille is likewise for either.
Will Shortz diminishes the Sunday Puzzle by refusing to embrace alternative answers.
So, the answer I came up with as probably the official one was Amaryllis (Mary and "Allis"/Alice.) But I initially came up with Gardenia (Arden and Gia.) I figured Amaryllis was the intended answer because of the "sounds like another girls name" in the clue. I assumed that meant the spelling of the name was not accurate/common, which worked for "Allis" but not for "Gia."
ReplyDeleteThat wouldn't have been a concern in the case of my initial answer, Clarkia (because "Clar" sounds like but doesn't quite spell the name of Claire). Then again, in the case of Clarkia, the girl's name of Kia kind of is on the outside of the word rather than on its inside.
DeleteA list of flowers was the easy way to get this answer since it started with the letter A. Perhaps would have been better to have made a puzzle where one had to search more if using a list.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Make a puzzle where the answer involves Zinias instead of Amaryllis. Make folks go through the whole list.
DeleteSince we are on the subject of Amaryllis, I really don't see the resemblance to the popular name, "Naked Lady". It does look like a Georgia O'Keeffe painting but not some of her more suggestive art.
ReplyDeleteMort Canard, I don't think it's a great popular name either. I believe the reference is to the amaryllis flower showing up before the greenery.
DeleteAmaryllis - Mary/Allis
ReplyDeleteMy clues:
1) pottery = Mary Alice Hadley is famous for her pottery decor
2) Italian candy brand substituting a letter with a vowel = Amarellis producers of fine liquorice
Amaryllis: Mary, Allis (= Alice). I thought of Gardenia: Arden, Gia -- but didn't think these were "common" girls' names.
ReplyDeleteThe hint "say it with a lisp" gave it away -- but you have to know your old musicals/movies a bit.
Can someone explain Blaine's clue?
ReplyDeleteIf you just leave the original letters (without switching the name phonetically) you get Mary Allis
DeleteThanks Blaine!
DeleteI sure overthought that one. It got me to Googling Arlo Guthrie to see if he collected art and antiques. I soon gave up on that rabbit hole.
DeleteI had already solved it though and gone back to bed.
DeleteAMARYLLIS, MARY, ALICE
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure about the "Mary Alice" character from "Desperate Housewives", as I'd only heard her name referenced on the SNL episode hosted by Eva Longoria. I never really watched DH. So I looked up the name in connection with the show, and found out in the very first episode she shot herself in the head(also, for some strange reason, "Mary Alice" wasn't even her real name, but they just referred to her as such thereafter).
My Elton John clue referenced his song "All the Girls Love Alice", from his 1973 double album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road".
pjbWouldn'tDareHaveOfferedArloGuthrieAsAMusicalClueHere(OrWadsworthMansion,ForThatMatter!)
That's funny , because I thought your Elton clue refered to Amoreena
DeleteAlternate answer: LILAC, ILA and LC (ELSIE)
ReplyDeleteBit of an imprecise puzzle this week IMHO:
ReplyDeleteLikely Joseph Young's Answer: AMARYLLIS, MARY and ALLIS (ALICE)
Alternate answer: LILAC, ILA, LC (ELSIE)
Alternate answer: ROSEMARY, MARY, ROSE (ROSE)
Alternate answer: CHAMOMILE, MO, CHAMILE (CAMILLE)
Alternate answer: BLUET, LU, BET (BETTE)
Alternate answer: GARDENIA, ARDEN, GIA (GIA)
All of these have been mentioned above in some capacity.
Ben, I like all of these, especially ILA and ELSIE for LILAC.
ReplyDelete