Sunday, October 24, 2021

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 24, 2021): A Pair of Menus

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 24, 2021): A Pair of Menus
Q: Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove five letters. What remains, in order, is a three-word phrase you might see on a restaurant menu. What phrases are these?
I'm going to have to chew on this one for awhile.

Edit: "À la mode" translates literally to "in the fashion". Chew sounds like (Jimmy) Choo who is known for his fashionable shoes. And "choo choo" is the sound a train makes which leads to Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
A: A(irp)LA(ne) MODE --> À LA MODE

206 comments:

  1. 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.

    You 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.

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  2. Almost 800 correct responses last week. Will acknowledged his mispronunciation of Maya Angelou's surname (but didn't pronounce "Theron" right).

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    1. Yes, I was happy to hear Will note the Maya Angelou correction.

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    2. Something like "Sorry, listeners" would have been in order, though. I didn't hear Will say that.

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    3. True. It would have been a new high on Angelou.

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    4. Since your starting with things other than clues, I'm assuming no one has gotten the answer yet for this week's puzzle. I'm going back to bed to sleep on it. (Not the bed, the puzzle!)

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    5. It looks like Blaine may have it. . .

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    6. With regard to not pronouncing "Theron" right, I'd add that no self respecting Afrikaner would Anglicize it to sound like "Thair'-in". Sorry Charlize, you and I both know it's "Ta-rawn'".

      And while I'm at it, that other Afrikaans word is pronounced "a par' tate", not "a' par thide'" or "a par' tide". Enough already.

      Don't get me started on how NPR reporters routinely butcher "Johannesburg".

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  3. I have an answer; unfortunately, it goes from a three-word computer menu phrase to a two-word restaurant menu phrase. Ironically, it fits Blaine's clue (if it is a clue). In any case, I'm still chewing.

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    1. I also got a 3-word laptop phrase that led to a 2-word food item (but the 2 words had to be reversed). Back to the drawing board...

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  4. I have an answer, but I'm pretty sure it's not the intended one.
    First, it's not great -- although the 3-word phrase certainly could appear on a restaurant menu, I've never seen it, and it wouldn't surprise me if it never actually *has* appeared on a menu.
    Second, for my answer a better puzzle would have asked us to remove *3* letters from a computer menu 2-word phrase. (Using a slightly different phrase.)

    As often happens to me, now that I've got an answer that meets the conditions, I'm having a hard time getting motivated to find the intended one. Maybe when people start posting tantalizing clues I'll get inspired!

    Oh, I guess I'll give an indirect clue to my answer: Truth and logic, classical and non-classical.

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  5. I'm done chewing, and it's a delicious puzzle. The fact that you can switch the three and the two in the the directions and still get a credible answer is a nice dessert! (I hope Lego enjoys all the food imagery.)

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  6. Music Clue: Steve Miller Band.

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  7. I have a "speculative" answer. The two-word laptop menu
    phrase is often written as one word...

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    Replies
    1. When you get it, there’s no mistaking the intended answer. No ambiguity on this one. and no hint in this post, either.

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  8. Surprised at only 800 responses last week. I thought Asma Khalid did a good job as host although she didn't get a chance to do a singing hint.

    No answer yet for this week but it usually takes me a day.

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  9. Certain food items come immediately to mind....

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  10. Oh I have it now.

    I had a disadvantage compared to many (most, I dare say) listeners. One word summarizes my disadvantage, and that word often appears very close to the three-word phrase on the restaurant menu.

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  11. Sweet puzzle.
    Needs a movie clue, but the ones I thought of would likely be TMI.

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    Replies
    1. We could just start suggesting movies. If any of them are TMI, we would be off to a Rocky start!

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  12. I wonder if I am at a disadvantage, since I'm using a Mac. I don't have the answer yet. I do know that menu terms vary quite a bit between the Mac OS and Windows operating systems. I'm also not asking anyone to say anything about this, in case that would be TMI. Just sharing a thought.

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    Replies
    1. That appears to be the case, but the menu item is on other Apple devices.

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    2. I now have the answer. I think celebrating a nephew's birthday this afternoon, and being outside, not on a device, helped clear my mind. I guess it was good for me to disconnect for a while. I should probably do that more often.

      As for my thought above, I will wait until Thursday to share whether or not I was at a disadvantage.

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  13. Easy. Rearrange the 5 letters to get something that happens to some food.

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    Replies
    1. Took me a minute to unscramble the letters to match this. Maybe I'm a little green at this.

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  14. les mots francais peut-etre? Je n'ai aucune idee

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  15. Never had, nor even used, a laptop
    Since that is specified, this puzzle has nothing for me.

    WS did admit a little "trick" was necessary to get last week's, and posted this today:

    "Challenge answer: Charlize Theron --> Charles I, throne"
    where the i becomes an I.

    One of the easiest on-air "puzzles" ever.

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  16. Meh. Ok puzzle. Listing the resume of the puzzle creator in the puzzle on the NPR site was a bit odd.

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  17. Got it! This puzzle might've been more appropriate next month, or maybe in March.

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    Replies
    1. Or even more so in August (for reasons that must remain obscure until Thursday).

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    2. The American Dairy Association created a "Remember the A La Mode!" month in August 1959 to urge people to eat more ice cream with their pie.

      http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/remember_the_a_la_mode_pie_a_la_mode/

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    3. Nice. And I was thinking of Thanksgiving pie / Pi Day.

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  18. Kinda like COVID, i can see a few variants to this puzzle.

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    Replies
    1. Agreed. I see at least 2 valid answers.

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    2. In the spirit of transparency, that wasn’t the gist of my post/clue.

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    3. Snipper, ah. I'll see your spirit and raise you a ghost (given the season and all).

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  19. Couldn’t think of it. Went for a little ride. The answer came to me. It will for you, too.

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  20. I am sad to announce that I just now sent the following letter to the letters editor of the Seattle Times:

    Dear Seattle Times:

    In more than 75 years of newspaper reading I have never been more shocked by a front page headline than I was Saturday. (October 23, 2021) Shame on you for printing this:

    Neither carrot or stick is helping with Seattle Schools' busing woes.

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  21. I don't know how I am going to be able to solve a puzzle that requires specific knowledge of laptop computers. I have never used one. And BTW, I can't even recall what a restaurant menu looks like.

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    Replies
    1. Sdb: I have a laptop and doesn't help me. Would you like to borrow mine?

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    2. Yes, but please don't send it via USPS, as it will not get here on time due to the "improvements."

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    3. SBD,
      If you are having memory problems now, how will you be 7 years from now?

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    4. What is so special about "7 years from now?"

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    5. Well I am hoping by then we might be finished with this pandemic and the restaurants will be open and thriving again. But that is asking a lot considering all the idiots taking up space on our planet.

      Actually I have dined 4 or 5 times now inside a restaurant.

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    6. Do you have a smart phone, SDB? It has menus, too.

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    7. jan,
      I think that is what some may call it. I am not one of them however. I rarely use my Android cell phone because we do not get along well. I already did take a look though, and again after your above suggestion, but no joy.

      Delete
  22. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  23. Unless I have a 3AM "AHA" moment, this is it for me this week.

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  24. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  25. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  26. Finding the answer was very hard.

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    Replies
    1. Finding the answer is like Finding Nemo. "Airplane mode" contains the word "Nemo" in consecutive letters.

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  27. Wow! Can you believe I had the right two-word phrase, right out of the gate—only that I didn't make the connection because I wasn't familiar with that three-word phrase, at least not in that context? Some of the clues posted above encouraged me to take yet another look at the two-word phrase, and…at long last…voilà! (And I don't have the "disadvantage" some folks seem to have alluded to!)

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  28. I haven't had to use this computer menu item in a couple years.

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  29. Don't forget the best part of the meal.

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  30. I'm so frustrated trying to solve this one, I could just scream!

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  31. I finally solved by working backward. I almost had the 3 word answer this morning, but after tweaking it a bit the 2 word answer came without looking, but just thinking a minute. Not a bad puzzle after all.

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  32. Apparently, John "Prine" was a fan of this three-word phrase.

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  33. I just got it! What I didn't realize is that little clues were in abundance all around me: I heard the Byrd's sing one of their hits on the radio, I'm watching a movie with a (lesser known) female 80's star whose initials are J.W. I'm re-reading a novel by Philip Roth about someone who would probably use this laptop option if he had lived in the right century (and been smart enough to use a laptop). Oh well, I'm getting carried away. I must try to stay grounded. When do we eat?

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  34. I have the answer, but I do not see what it has to do with chewing. Yes, you could be chewing food at a restaurant, and you could even be chewing food while using your laptop, but that's all.

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  35. Not just laptops. Portable devices of all kinds.

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  36. definitely not the ans. for al you LISP fans CAR(loadmodule)

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  37. Students of alternative prairie management strategies have said as much.

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    Replies
    1. I shouldn't have posted this but since I did, here's the explanation. This is a reference to the debate among prairie ecologists and agronomists over the comparative effects of burning versus mowing on restored prairie ecosystems: "ERR PLAINS MOWED." As Casey Stengel used to say, you can look it up: https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/910/200320.pdf;sequence=1.

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  38. I’m a bit of a tech troglodyte (I used to tell my students I was “somewhere between low-tech and mid-tech”; on the other hand, one of my colleagues prided himself on being “no-tech”), but I’m pretty certain that my laptop does not have this “phrase.”

    So to solve the puzzle, I had to adopt a novel and somewhat aleatory procedure:

    First, I laid my head down to sleep.

    Then, I had a bizarre vision.

    Finally, I thought of a President.

    Et voilà!

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  39. Oh, finally! I just knew that the restaurant menu phrase had that third word, but there are a couple of other computer terms that could come before it that just wouldn't fit. I hate having the unsolved puzzle hang around in my mind, but I was beginning to think that for me this one would be up in the air until Thursday. After a wider search, I found that although there is no fitting phrase on my laptop, indeed I found it on another device.

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  40. There's a connection to last week's answer. [But isn't there always? See Scalia's comment about "curbstone philosophers" in his concurring opinion in California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Dillingham Construction, NA, Inc., 519 U.S. 316 (1997).]

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    Replies
    1. I've already mentioned that obvious joke "Remember the A La Mode." And, as it turns out, Charles I's last word was "Remember."

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  41. I wonder if any laptop owners use a stylus to pick the menu option

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  42. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  43. I could have used my cell phone for this puzzle too.

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  44. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  45. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Ohh - but the melody is so haunting.

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    2. I guess “asking Alice” was TMI since Jefferson Airplane wanted us to do that.

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  46. It's a Windows thing. Mac users are too smart to need it.

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  47. I'm surprised nobody has posted the old "e" clue this week.

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    Replies
    1. I think you just did. Shorter path than usual!

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    2. Yup. I'd say 3 steps, more or less.

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  48. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  49. a glimmer of hope appear through the artic fog

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  50. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    Replies
    1. next time I'll use prime factorization instead or cintued fractions

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  51. Perhaps Blaine was just expressing a need to ruminate about the puzzle for a while, or he posted a nice NPR-related chewy clue.

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    1. I think so too. Perhaps he's pasta that by now dough.

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    2. There might be a couple reasons...

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    3. Don't leave me hanging, Blaine.

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    4. so that eliminates paste values from the menu

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    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    6. Maybe Blaine did not write it. There could be an impasta.

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  52. Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    2. The only Duluth as far as I am concerned.

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    3. Had a great time there once. So close to superior. ;-)

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    4. I'm a bit of a homer and get excited when people have been here. I live close to the lake and get excited when others enjoy it too.

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    5. loop, I enjoyed Duluth on my way from St Paul to Two Harbors on Lake Superior. I had just dropped off my daughter at Macalester so it was a bittersweet time. Lake Superior seemed quite oceanic and rock hunting was fun.

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    6. My wife has taken up rock hounding with our two pups in the last year. Who knew that greatest gift I could give was a rock tumbler? Foolish me.

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    7. Now that's True Grit. Did you get the National Geographic tumbler? I found some cool Lake Superior agates at various shore stops.

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    8. Oddly enough it was the NG tumbler and we are on the final tumble as we speak. We've split the basement between my guitars and her finds. No rock and roll in this house, it's rock and rock. She's cooler than me.

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    9. It's not the woman I married. I was supposed to be the nerd...

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    10. I'll take your word for it.

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    11. Anyway, pie à la mode was invented in Duluth at a Superior street restaurant.

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  53. Every laptop has this function. And I believe there is only one answer. Not ambiguous at all.

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    1. I have two legitimate answers.

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    2. My laptop doesn't offer this option, but four of the five letters removed are alphabetically sequential, but not in alphabetical order before removal.

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    3. For my response, which matches multiple comments made elsewhere, the removed letters are not alphabetically sequential. So, you clearly have a different answer from me.

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  54. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  55. I’m guessing that it was too obvious for most here to note that 3 of the removed letters can be added back to make a four word menu item.

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  56. Replies
    1. Now I've seen everything. One 70's movie referencing another.
      pjbEatsLightning,CrapsThunder,AndWillProbablyNeedABiggerBoat,Too

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  57. The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that a spent shell casing taken from "Rust" director John Souza's shoulder is believed to be a "live round" fired by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western that ended in tragedy last week.

    The above is a cut and paste from USA Today. Talk about lousy reporting. How could a "shell casing" have entered the director's body? No way.

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    Replies
    1. Good point. So much for competence.

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    2. I think they corrected that statement later.

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  58. As to the cause of Brian Laundrie's demise, and if it was intentional on his part, the coroner said you didn't have to have forensic training to see right through Brian Laundrie.

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    Replies
    1. I've got a bone to pick with you over that comment SDB.

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    2. TomR,
      No problem, but I believe they have all been well picked already. Just in time too.

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    3. They might've found the remains quicker if they had a skeleton crew. (Too soon?)

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    4. Did you not see my post from last week?

      skydiveboy Fri Oct 22, 10:38:00 AM PDT

      What I find interesting is that after he first went hiking in that wilderness park, even though every spare cop and method was put to the task of locating him, they failed. But all it took in the end to find him was a skeleton crew.

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    5. My apologies SDB. I missed that part of the thread last week. I just skimmed the comments and got only the bare bones. :) Will try to be more careful. By the way, if you took all the bones in your body and laid them end to end...... you'd be dead.

      Delete
    6. And they would never again come together to meat.

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    7. Come and whisper in my ear, "Give us dirty Laundrie!"
      pjbKicks'EmWhenThey'reUp,Kicks'EmWhenThey'reDown,Kicks'EmWhenThey'reStiff,Kicks'EmAllAround

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    8. And, PJB, you must have missed what I posted 5 or 6 week back:

      skydiveboy Sun Sep 19, 11:03:00 AM PDT

      In case you may have missed my post Friday:

      Utah police have released the full bodycam recording of Gabby Petito and her fiance, Brian Laundrie being pulled over a month ago. The tape is 1:17:38 long. This is a rare instance of police airing dirty Laundrie in public.

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    9. Some survivalist. Tried to hide out inside an alligator. That may not be news; but, it does make for a somewhat predictable end.

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    10. Suicide by crocodile. I suppose fenestration was not an option in that location.

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    11. Like in the movie "Texas Chainsaw Fenestration"?

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    12. GB, Your above post just made me think up this: A specific tribe of North American Indians could be described as a mass o' Cree.

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  60. power was out 14 hrs sun. getting ther compters back up was very hard had toreset modem and couldn't find thepassword what a cheesy excuse for ot sloving the putz. I I give up absum abesse afui

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  61. la vie quotidienne -vendredi
    jour numero un
    A/C estimator 1 was going to show up but we had to cancel as D le chat went to the vent supposedly for the last time but she got a steriod injection and kept one of her 9 lives. I guess she won't be returning punts for the Seahawks

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  62. la vie quotidienne saemdi-
    next A/c man showed up. he stayed almost 3 hours. gave us an estimate for instalation that was very high about4 times what we expected

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  63. la vie quotidienne lundi jour 4
    A/C man 3 showed up he had an entierly diff rec which was 1/3 less than prev guy also wanted to replace and install new combustor.

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  64. la vie quotidienne mardi jour 5
    audi ann svc rougemond werkshop. I walked home about 9+ miles. ELST mostly paved which caused my hip to hurt at 2.6 miles took me 4.1 hours to do what google estmated as 3.1 hours

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  65. la vie quotidienne mercredi jour 6
    A/C man 1 showed up he had a 3rd rec system
    no price yet
    daisy refused to eat the cat food with the steroids in it
    "I picked a bad week for doing puzzles" $ about 8x higher than estimated

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  66. la vie quotidienne jeudi
    rien rien a rien quoting Edith

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    Replies
    1. a la mode I had hence all the pi refs that got deleted but no idea what the original phrase was

      Delete
  67. My two answers:

    BALANCED MODE, A LA MODE
    "Meh. Ok puzzle. Listing the resume of the puzzle creator in the puzzle on the NPR site was a bit odd." >>> Odd instead of even as in the two sides of a BALANCED equation.

    AIRPLANE MODE, A LA MODE Likely the preferred answer...but I think BALANCED MODE is equally valid.

    "Snipper, ah. I'll see your spirit and raise you a ghost (given the season and all)." refers to SPIRIT AIRLINES.

    "Don't press." >>> DePeche MODE

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  68. AIRPLANE MODE -IRPNE = A LA MODE

    My Hint:

    “Don't leave me hanging, Blaine.”
    I wasn’t sure this post would survive. I was hinting at my photo where I am hanging by my feet from the leading edge of a Cessna 170 above Issaquah, Washington. Who needs an inversion table when a perfectly good airplane is available?

    Last moment hint: i.e. NPR
    i, e, n, p, r These are the 5 discarded letters in the puzzle and look what they anagram to.

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  69. AIRPLANE MODE —> À LA MODE

    My hint (a covert music clue):

    First, I laid my head down to sleep. —> (on a) Pillow

    Then, I had a bizarre vision. —> (that was) Surrealistic

    Finally, I thought of a President. —> (Finally = Third...President) Jefferson

    Et voilà! —> ( ~ à la)

    —> Surrealistic Pillow + Jefferson —> Jefferson Airplane —> Airplane Mode

    —> À La Mode

    N’est-ce pas?

    There is no “Airplane Mode” as such on my laptop. Instead, to achieve the same result, you have to disable two other functions, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the effect is the same.

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  70. From "e", I have two sequences:

    e, Euler, Euler equations, airfoils, airplanes, airplane mode, a la mode

    e, Euler, Euler's identity e^{i π} + 1 = 0, π, pie, pie a la mode, a la mode, airplane mode

    For the Euler equations and application to airfoils, see https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/eulereqs.html

    Thanks to Howie Roark for the pointer to "pie."

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    Replies
    1. My idea was simply that e and pi are the two most famous transcendental numbers, so e goes directly to pi, then pie. When I noted that there were 3 steps, more or less, it was just another clue. Pi is a little more than 3, and e is a little less than 3.

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  71. Airplane Mode --> A La Mode

    Last Sunday I said, “Couldn’t think of it. Went for a little ride. The answer came to me. It will for you, too.” My little ride was taxiing down the runway to get in line for takeoff. One of the first things the flight crew tells you is to put all electronic devices into Airplane Mode.

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  72. I wrote, “I was beginning to think that for me this one would be up in the air until Thursday.” “Up in the air” was my hint.

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  73. AIRPLANE MODE => A LA MODE
    "disconnect for a while" is because you use airplane mode to disconnect from cell service and wifi.

    The movie Rocky has a theme song titled, "Gonna Fly Now."

    And yes, I was at a disadvantage. The old mac I'm using does NOT have a menu item called Airplane Mode.

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  74. AIRPLANE MODE, A LA MODE

    > Don't forget the best part of the meal.

    As they say in Texas, "Remember the A LA MODE!"

    > This, this, or this.

    "Emerald piano", "lemonade pair", and "redone Impala" are all anagrams of AIRPLANE MODE.

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    Replies
    1. So are:
      A MODERNA PILE
      A DEMON, A PERIL
      I RAPE MONDALE
      MAIDEN PAROLE
      LIME ON PARADE
      POLE IN A DREAM
      ELOPE IN DRAMA
      I PONDER A MEAL
      PANDORA? ME LIE!
      MEDAL IN OPERA
      RE: ANIMAL DOPE
      A. A. MILNE: "PEDRO"?
      DROP MAE A LINE
      READ A NIL POEM
      RIDE ON, PAMELA!
      AMORAL, IN DEEP
      DEAR PAL O' MINE
      NO DIME, A PEARL
      IN REAL POMADE
      A LEPER DOMAIN
      A PILE? DREAM ON!
      NO, A MERE PLAID
      NE'ER A DIPLOMA
      LAME PORN IDEA
      A LEADER, NO IMP
      PLEAD NO, MARIE!
      A LAD ON "EMPIRE"
      A LIE? PARDON ME!
      IDEAL PRO NAME
      ADELINE: A ROMP
      REPLIED, "MOANA!"
      O, RIPE MANDELA
      IMPALED ON EAR
      OPEN MAIL, DEAR
      RELIED ON A MAP
      OLD PEAR, I MEAN
      EMAIL? NO, PADRE!
      A RAD LEMON PIE
      A DOPE IN REALM
      PEE AIR, OLD MAN!
      PAINED MORALE
      O, AND I'M A LEPER!
      I'D LEARN A POEM
      OPEN-AIR MEDAL
      O, A PRIMAL NEED
      pjbIs"AMale,NoPride"

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  75. AIRPLANE MODE — A LA MODE

    My clues:

    “Can you believe I had the right two-word phrase, right out of the gate—only that I didn’t make the connection…”
    In an airport, you often have to shuttle from one gate to another to make a connection between flights.

    “At long last…voilà!”
    (Obviously, «à la mode» is French.)

    “Mon général.”
    A reference to Charles de Gaulle—and the Paris airport named for him.

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  76. Our friend Plantsmith has harvested a “Mixed Halloween ‘boo-quet’ bag” filled with four sweet puzzles on this week's Puzzleria! They appear in his Garden of Puzzley Delights feature.
    We upload Puzzleria! in the wee hours of Friday, at Midnight PDT.
    Also on our menu:
    * a “Bona fidiom” Schpuzzle of the Week,
    * a puzzle involving “smart, punchy hipster jive,”
    * a Dessert that asks what educated fleas do, and
    * a handful of riff-offs of the fa-fa-fa la mode NPR puzzle

    LegoDelightfullyPuzzley

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  77. AIRPLANE MODE (remove: IRPNE) → A LA MODE.

    My “speculative” answer:

    ALARM DECODER(remove: RDECR) → A LA MODE.

    The only 3-word restaurant menu phrases I could think of at first were “A LA MODE” & “A LA CARTE.”

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    Replies
    1. A further "speculative" answer: an ALT-A CHARACTER (remove: THACR)→ A LA CARTE or ALFA CHARACTER (remove: FHACR)→ A LA CARTE.

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  78. I thought that Blaine's post about chewing might be referring to the full title of the latest book by Roy Blount Jr.

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  79. Yes, what do you make of Blaine’s “chewing” clue?

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    Replies
    1. I've added my explanation to the original post.

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  80. Airplane Mode -> A la Mode

    My TV Clue (The A Team -- a farce, seriously) was removed by Blaine.

    The letter count of (The A Team -- a farce, seriously) is (3 1 4 1 5 9), which was meant to imply Pi, my favorite thing to eat A la Mode.

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  81. I noted early on that the puzzle works when you switch the three and the two in the instructions. Starting with the laptop computer menu phrase CHOOSE A NETWORK, you can delete 5 letters to get CHOOSE TWO, which appears on many menus above the list of side dishes. I believe that it appears more commonly these days than A LA MODE, since you can rarely find an apple pie dessert that doesn't come with ice cream by default.

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    1. Lancek—When I did the same, that is, reversed 2 and 3 in the instructions, I came up with “macOS Big Sur,” which, when the 5 letters ”OS and “Sur” are removed, leaves “Mac Big." Reverse them, and you get "Big Mac." Obviously wrong on a number of counts, but interesting.

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  82. My comment about being so frustrated I just want to scream, was a nod to "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream." Also, my music clue, John Denver wrote "Leaving on a Jet Plane".

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    1. I got the first clue it was critical in confirming a la mode instead of a la carte and one of the few dessert clues that didn't get bounced. saw a bunch of altitude clues but they went right over my head . prob because I haven't flown for biz since '15 and my laptop's battery has to be tethered to an outlet now.

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  83. My clue that mentioned COVID and variants to the puzzle was a reference to the Delta variant, as in Delta Airlines’ airplanes. My follow up to Word Woman - “in the spirit of transparency” was also referencing Spirit Airlines for its airplanes. Nice puzzle.

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  84. Airplane….A La Mode
    I wanted to post the movie clue, “Surely….don’t call me Shirley,” one if the running gags in Leslie Nielson’s movie, “!Airplane,” but was afraid I’d earn a DBA.

    Having seen today’s comments, I’m surprised by the lack of references to this movie.

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    1. I actually had an inadvertent reference to Airplane " "I picked a bad week for doing puzzles" cf Robert Stack's "I picked a bad week to quit sniffing glue", etc
      this was entirely by accident as I did not solve this puzzle even though I had the a la mode. Question is, Ii it had been kicked out would I have then solved the puzzle?

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    2. Ralph earned a DBA for posting "Surely this puzzle can’t be serious."

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    3. AIRPLANE MODE, A LA MODE
      I so wanted to say something related to the movie, but I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't be a dead giveaway. So I referenced Arlo Guthrie, who sang "Coming Into Los Angeles"(1969), which mentions a "big airliner" in line 2.
      pjbFiguredSteveMillerWasWayMoreObvious,IMHO

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  85. BTW It was Lloyd Bridges, not Robert Stack.
    pjbHasProbablySeenTheFilmMoreOftenThanBirdHas

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  86. Balanced mode is one of the battery options for most laptop computers. Fun playing with y'all.

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    1. Mister Re..., yes! I use BALANCED MODE on my laptop with much more regularity than AIRPLANE MODE (especially since March 2020).

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  87. The Byrds' song: Eight Miles High (about a jet ride over L.A.)
    Lesser known 80's star: Jenny Wright from the 1986 movie Out of Bounds ("Wright" as in Wright brothers, as in airplane).
    Finally, The Plot Against America. A novel by Philip Roth that imagines America under President Charles A. Lindbergh, flying ace and later Hitler supporter.

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    1. Actually it was London ("Rain gray town, known for its sound"), not LA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kAfeHTrNOY

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    2. Oh, very good. Thank you.
      I must have mis-associated it. The "rain gray town" lyric I must have heard as "same gray town" and taken that as a reference to smog.

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    3. Ah, mondegreens. My sister was convinced that the Gentrys were singing "Keep on dancing, dancing in a frying pan."

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  88. Does META stand for Mark's Excellent Tax Advantage?

    LOAD MORE TIME

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  89. This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from Michael Shteyman of Freeland, Md. Think of a popular tourist attraction in two words. The second, fourth, and sixth letters of the second word, in order, spell the first name of a famous author. The last four letters of the first word spell the author's last name. Who is the author, and what is the tourist attraction?

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