Sunday, January 23, 2022

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 23, 2022): Wondering What To Do in your State Capital?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 23, 2022): Wondering What To Do in your State Capital?
Q: Name a state capital. Take the last two letters of the city's name and the first two letters of its state's name. Then rearrange these letters to name an activity closely associated with this city. What is it?
Was I the only one that initially thought Will had misspelled the activity?

Edit: Honolulu was one of the first state capitals I thought of, but thought the activity would be a luau... After trying some other capitals, I circled back to hula.
A: HonoluLU, HAwaii --> HULA

205 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anagram the last THREE letters of the state capital and the SECOND letter of the its state and you have the activity you are referring to...

      Delete
    2. Ron, see Rob's and my comments below.

      Delete
  2. Remove the first letter of the state, double one of the remaining letters, rearrange, and get another activity associated with the state

    ReplyDelete
  3. Still no word about who will be the new Weekend Edition Sunday host.

    ReplyDelete
  4. For the answer I got, I don’t know that the activity is so much associated with the _city_, but it is with the state overall. Take the last three letters of the city, and the second of the state, rearrange, and you get another activity associated with the state.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't know about that. Thanks, Rob, not only did I learn something new today, I know I have what seems to be the intended answer. 😀

      Delete
  5. Close to 1400 correct responses last week.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Personally, if I were in Talahassee I would do this.

    ...and no anagram needed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was the first thing I thought, as well.

      Delete
    2. I actually did this! I don't think I'm alone.

      Delete
    3. I also thought of that one and laughed. Before that I wondered how they taco in California.

      Delete
    4. Down on Mission Street they taco and burrito very well.

      Delete
    5. Same! I liked the idea of tacoing, also!

      Delete
  7. I expect it's not MOANing (more than one state qualifies for this one). --Margaret G.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Blaine I had the same stream of consciousness as you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sarah mentioned that Will has been doing the WESUN Puzzle segment for 35 years now. Getting a little stale, I'd say.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jan, I must agree, it is rather STALE after 35 years.

      And on the Wordle front, STALE is my go to starting Wordle Word. Imagine my surprise when, one day, the first 4 letters turned green. STALK was a 2-step solve.

      My mom, at 91.5 years young, is now a confirmed Wordle fan as well. It's fun to compare notes on Wordle and then @Jeopardamy.


      Delete
    2. After 35 years (1800 shows?), Will Shortz and his current sidekick (#10?) read off their (cookie cutter? cue cards to:
      Ignore at least one alternate answer (for the hundredth? time) that at least needed discussion.
      Give easy on-line posers, but wouldn't let a 35 year player chances to answer them.
      Propose a sophomoric "challenge" for his (millions of?) loyal listeners to waste time on.
      And hope they will not notice his new clothes.

      Delete
    3. Me too, WW! Stale or steal! Sometimes tales.

      Delete
  10. Prime puzzle for those who use lists.

    Do we have any drunkards from Madison??? LOL!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheeseheads could be drinking today. Check with Lego.

      Delete
    2. A memory:
      Thanksgiving Day. I am in fourth-grade, just turned age 9 in late summer. After Thankgiving dinner at our aunts' house, we retire to the "TV room" to watch our beloved Green Bay Packers battle the dastardly Detroit Lions at Tiger Stadium. (Over the past few years, my father has implanted fandom of both the Packers and the Milwaukee Braves into my heart.)
      The Packers lose 23 to 10.
      Later, in the lower berth of my bunk bed shared with my brother, I replay (not instantly, though, that happened later, thanks to this guy) the game over and over in my head, sobbing silently, my pillow dampened with my pain.
      Fast-forward to last evening:
      No tears. Disappointment, but no tears. Aging "wisens" one, but also wizens and desiccates. I'll save whatever tears I have left for when I'll really need them.

      LegoWhoCongratulatesThe49ersOnTheirWellDeservedWin

      Delete
    3. I remember that game. Packer backs and receivers were taking a beating. Later I read that late in the game in the huddle Bart was trying to come up with something. He looked at Max McGee. It was reported that Max said something like, "I'd like to help you out, Bart, but. . . ."

      Delete
  11. Blaine,

    You weren't the only one. A different activity came to mind as well.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I was bowled over by how easy this one was...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Connection to a previous puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have a funny story about this state capital.

    The on air player, an architect who painted postcards during the pandemic, inspired me to send some snail mail to friends and family to celebrate Groundhog Day on 2-2-22. At first, I thought it could be our own ecoarchitect, until I learned he is from CT not CA.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ho hum. If you take this puzzle with a wink, I can think of THREE states that don't even require anagramming.

    (With a salute to STRAP!)

    And I'm not even smoking a Little Rock of Crack!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Funny enough to share here….- I just realized that yesterday I dropped my son off back at college in a state capital that, following this procedure, yields a well-known performing artist.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is the closest thing to a freebie as I’ve ever heard Will use. Hardly a puzzle at all. No clue.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Tacos in Sacramento, anyone? It beats kaka in Kansas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, I actually checked to see if Sacramento was famous for its tacos.

      Delete
    2. Really? Wow, could have been worse than three-mile island!
      Has Lego ever been to Baton Rouge?

      Delete
    3. Just ask Sac Tacos. (At least as of last summer, when it was noted here that "Sacramento" anagrams to "tacos" and "ramen", you could get ramen tacos there, though they're no longer on the menu on the website.)

      Delete
    4. Neat! I learned something. Thanks.

      Delete
    5. The verb "taco" refers to folding.

      Delete
  19. As I went through the list of possibilities, I thought of a lot of jokes, some of which are referred to above. I'm refraining from sharing them here, because every one of them narrows down the remaining possibilities. I can wait until Thursday.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The beginning of the answer provides a handy musical hint.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'll have to lay down and think about this one.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I am up… hoping I will awake!

    ReplyDelete
  23. There actually is a Lego convention in LA but it's in New Orleans.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Clarification, please; are the last two letters of a two-word name the last letter of the first word and the last letter of the second word or the last two letters of the second word? I have several potential answers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's the two letters that are together in the word, e.g.
      Santa FE, NEw Mexico

      Delete
  25. This activity connects M*A*S*H, Ed Sullivan, and a bunch of other shows

    ReplyDelete
  26. If you were just now listening to the NPR news update and heard that Jean-Jacques Savin, a 75-year-old French adventurer who was attempting to row across the Atlantic Ocean solo, had died, you may be wondering how they know he did not make it. They found his scull.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Poor Michael Rockefeller, they shrank his.

      Delete
    2. Musinglink,
      I suspect you may have misunderstood my joke.

      Delete
  27. I suppose if one is skiing in Vermont they might veer...but the correct answer is a lot more clear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On to the next state, then…hmm, no, that doesn't strike me as an "activity closely associated" with that city. 🤓

      Delete
  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  29. This puzzle is so old, it’s ancient

    ReplyDelete
  30. Though I was slightly loopy from too much caffeine this morning, the answer wasn't too elusive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Loopy like a hula hoop...and I tried to echo the final syllables of "Honolulu" in "loopy" and "elusive."

      Delete
  31. Blaine, if the "misspelled" activity were the one looked for, the puzzle would have been a good one to air last weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  32. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Had a great time this past October visiting parts of this state, and participating in this activity. As well as the activity I think Blaine alluded to above. They pretty much go hand in hand.

    ReplyDelete
  34. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  35. The capital has a lake in it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honolulu has Lulu in it. Lulu Garcia-Navarro was in the puzzle about Lake Lugano on June 21, 2020.

      Delete
  36. Let's make a deal: you'll move my assets if I show you how to move yours.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Are there a lot of bad drivers in the Green Mountain State for all the VEERing they do?

    ReplyDelete
  38. A nostalgia TV channel aired quite a coincidence to this puzzle today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On MeTV, I caught part 3 of the Hawaii episodes of "The Brady Bunch"

      Delete
  39. I think the unintended answers, and the related posts here, are more interesting and entertaining than the intended answer. (Not a comment on the activity itself, but on the wordplay required by the puzzle.)

    ReplyDelete
  40. Solved it very easily after consulting a state capital list. BTW My own state capital of Montgomery won't get you anything anagram-wise, per the instructions. You might misspell a Stooge's name, but that's it.
    pjb'sClue:MarisaTomei

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HONOLULU, HAWAII, HULA
      Marisa Tomei stays in shape by using a HULA hoop.
      pjbThinksIt'sDefinitelyWorkingForHer,Too

      Delete
  41. I briefly spaced out and was thinking that Reno is the capital of Nevada -- activity closely associated with this city: "NONE"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That may be better than the intended answer!
      pjbSaysWhatGoesOnInNevadaSoundsLikeARealGas!

      Delete
    2. A friend of mine taught American folklore--the culture of state fairs and that sort of thing. She told me that when Indiana had a contest for a new license plate slogan a few years ago, one wit submitted "INDIANA--BRING SOMETHING TO DO."

      Delete
    3. That may also explain why NBA players refer to Indianapolis as "Nap City."

      Delete
    4. Italo Svevo, I like the license plate slogan game. Here's a few:

      NEBRASKA: At least it's not as long as Tennessee

      TENNESSEE: We're longer than Nebraska

      OHIO: If you were in Japan, you'd be saying hello

      Delete
    5. ARKANSAS: Thank God for Mississippi

      Delete
    6. ALABAMA: Say what you want about us, at least we're not Florida!
      pjbBelievesOneMustStartWithOne'sOwnHomeStateAndWorkBackward(JustKidding!)

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. I agree with skydiveboy. Way too easy! (Chris1995's hint, that is. One might argue that the puzzle itself is too easy, but I'll leave that particular debate to others.)

      Delete
  43. One wrong answer I thought of is PierRE, SOuth dakota, but I don't think Pierre is well known for ROSEs.

    And, as for bird's note that you can use TrentON, NEw Jersey to get NONE, observe that Blaine pointed out (in a different context) that you can also get NEON.
    If you know Trenton, you know that NEON may be an appropriate reference, because of the "TRENTON MAKES" sign on the Lower Trenton Bridge. (But, then again, NEON is hardly an "activity," which is what the clue calls for.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. While the sign was made of neon lights for decades, the lighting was replaced with LEDs in 2017-18.

      Delete
    2. A lot of people have been fleeing to Florida.

      Delete
  44. I know the sign: Trenton makes, the world takes. I see it every time I ride the SEPTA regional rail into Trenton.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Wonder where the State College kids HANG out in Raleigh.

    ReplyDelete
  46. just came here to say "NOMAAAAH!"

    ReplyDelete
  47. All the young dudes should get this one.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Blaine, are you contemplating the design of this year's XMASLE puzzle for next December?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, got it... I didn't catch the wordplay.

      Delete
    2. That's why I added "December" at the end. I awoke this morning thinking you might do a series of Xmas Wordle type puzzles this year, but adding LE to Christmas was not obvious enough. I also thought you might not have thought of this yet.

      Delete
    3. All I can say is whack perky light pleat humor :)

      Delete
    4. Well, when you think about it, what else is there to say?

      Delete
    5. I wonder whether Wordle will continue to be popular by December. Twitter has already suspended the account of one killjoy who, annoyed by people posting their Wordle accomplishments, created a bot that sent them a mocking reply, along with the next day's target word. No clairvoyance needed; you can always get the next day's challenge by setting your system clock to the next day's date. But it's really more trivial than that: If you examine the Wordle web page HTML source code, you'll find that every time you access it, you download the complete ordered list of all the 5-letter target words! Given this lack of subtlety, I wonder whether interest in the game will evaporate in the face of hacks yet to come.

      Delete
    6. I have no doubt the world would be better off sans Twitter. I don't participate. But could I now live without Wordle?

      Delete
    7. While I have learned that the Wordle list is accessible, I have not taken any steps to come across it, because I am enjoying the once a day game. If it really does have a list of 2500 words, that's almost 7 years before it loops around or peters out.

      Delete
    8. I second that emotion! But as for "peters out." I suspect the first 5 letters of that are not on the list.

      Delete
    9. "Peter" is on the list. Last Friday, the word was "prick". Took me 6 guesses, because I didn't think they'd go NSFW on me.

      Delete
    10. jan,
      I forgot that. I also got hint, but was unsure if it would be accepted. I think I got it in 4, but how can I check to be sure? I solve most in 3 or 4 guesses.

      Delete
  49. I have yet to play wordle. Does it require an app?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wordle does not require an app.

      Delete
    2. I have a friend who always solces in 2.

      Delete
    3. Natasha, I do not believe that is possible, even if one were to use a beginning 4 vowel word. I have not tried that tactic, and do not want to either.

      Delete
    4. I believe her. She is highly regarded in academic and nursing community. Would not make it up. I will see what else I can find out from her. She said it happened 3 times.

      Delete
    5. Well that changes things. If she has only played the game 3 times it is possible, but not impossible.

      Delete
    6. I do not know the details. But I agree.

      Delete
    7. She did say Wordle 222 2/6, third time's a charm.

      Delete
    8. Could you clarify that please?

      Delete
    9. SDB: That is the way it was written. I assume it meant she got the answer in 2 tries for each day and that was 2 out of 6 tries a day.

      Delete
    10. ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      This is the picture she posted.

      Delete
    11. I really cannot tell from that.

      Delete
    12. SDB: She has not answered my question yet. She liked my congrats on fb to her post. I think the white squares might be standing for black. I see what you mean. I will ask her.

      Delete
    13. I just asked her. I think the white stand for grey.

      Delete
    14. I thought that, but is she saying she has not played since those three games? Has she only played those 3 games? Is she done with Wordle now? Too many details missing here.

      Delete
    15. SDB: I hope I can find out. She is not being clear that is for sure. I do not want to bother her as she is a very busy nurse etc.

      Delete
    16. SDB: She just told me she played only 3 times. She said she plays a lot of scrabble.

      Delete
    17. It would still be interesting to know what word she began with. Did it contain 4 separate vowels?

      Delete
    18. I will ask her. She may not want to reveal this.

      Delete
    19. SDB: I noticed that 222 meant the test number#222 for yesterday, not that my friend got the answer in 2/6 tries for three games.

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes, please remove your post.

      Delete
    2. I know rules is rules, but for a gimmie puz like this one, on Wednesday afternoon nobody is likely to need a hint.
      Curious though if you two had to look it up just to see what the hint was. It meant nothing to me.

      Delete
  51. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Solved wordie.in 4 steps today. Yaaa.

    ReplyDelete
  53. I agree with JAWS and SDB above - Wordle is fun just as it is. Got it in 3 today. Only the second time I've ever done that. Funniest thing - I got no letters on the first line. All solving was on lines 2 and 3.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congratulations Chuck! That is amazing. I have two words I always use to start the puzzle. Helpful so far. Do you have a system?

      Delete
    2. I think it actually may help if the first guess comes up blank. I too have had that happen at least twice and got the answer in 3.

      Delete
    3. I just did today's and got the answer in 4, but just as easily could have got it in 3 as I already had all but the beginning letter and had 3 good options. Not the first time I have had this happen, nor the second either. My record is not all won in either 3 or 4 guesses, with one in 6 due to the above problem. Before today I was mostly winning in 3 guesses.

      Delete
    4. Correction: My record is NOW all won in either 3 or 4 guesses. Damn spellcheque.

      Delete
    5. SDB, I know what you mean. I had it pretty much nailed after 2, but realized there were 3 possible words at that point. My second try was the correct one. Matching no letters on the first is actually very helpful for me, since it eliminates five common letters. I've already developed a standard second guess if nothing matches on the first.

      Delete
    6. I just now did the July 10th Wordle and should have solved it 2, but I chose the slightly more obscure word of the two choices. To me, winning in 3 instead of 2 in a case like this is equally satisfying. Kinda like tossing a nickle in the air and no matter which you call it lands on its edge, not that this actually happens you comprende.

      Delete
  54. Re: WORDLE. If you like it so much, play WORD MASTER. Same game, also free, and can be played any number of times per day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Part of the appeal of Wordle, to me, is that everyone is trying to find the same word. I have a group of friends where we are all trying to backsolve each other's guesses, which is a whole different game.

      Delete
  55. https://octokatherine.github.io/word-master/

    ReplyDelete
  56. Honolulu, Hawaii/HULA. Went to Maui in October. Wore a lei, participated in a luao, and practiced my hula moves.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Puzzleria! this week features five fantastically sparkling puzzle gems created by our friend GB.
    They are titled:
    Brumal “backwords,” "Casual country," “Europopulation", "Hippocampus life," and "LogoLambda."
    We upload tonight at Midnight PST, in the very wee hours of Friday morn.
    Also on our menus this week:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week involving a creature, creator and hit song;
    * a puzzle about the impact an imp-sized implement might have,
    * a Dessert that gives you "all the colors of the campfire," and
    * a mess o' riff-offs of this week's Vacationing in Hulaluau, Hawaii NPR puzzle.
    Come join in the fun!

    LegoWhoPrefersTheBigIslandOverHonolulu(ButWhoAlwaysWasFondOfLuluGarciaNavarro)

    ReplyDelete
  58. FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY; TREK

    I said I had a funny story about this state capital. It starts out funny, anyway.

    A dear friend, Lisa, from my junior year "abroad as a geologist" at the U of Arizona bet me 5 cents that the capital of Kentucky was Louisville. I said Frankfort. We walked over to the student union from our edge-of-campus Manzanita dorm to find a US map on the wall (weird concept now, going somewhere to find a map!). She paid her bet with a clever drawing of Kentucky with 5 pennies attached to it and writing "The capital of Kentucky is Frankfort" 5 times. We laughed a lot over that state capital trek late one Arizona night.

    Lisa died of unknown causes at age 49; the head coroner for the state of Oregon told her husband he could not tell him why/how she died. I am happy to have known a little piece of why she lived. She was the friend who hopped on a plane from Oregon to help me with my family. I didn't ask. She was just there.

    Frankfort, Kentucky, brings wonderful memories of Lisa to my mind. The funny story at the origin makes me smile now and I miss her. I'll be sure to bring 5 pennies to leave in Frankfort when I get there eventually on a geologic trek.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Touching story. Remarkable how meaningful the smallest details may become.

      Delete
    2. WW: Thank you for sharing. I was so touched by it.

      Delete
    3. Italo Svevo and Natasha,
      thank you for reading about my friend, Lisa, and for sharing your gratitude with me.

      Delete
  59. HONOLULU, HAWAII -> HULA

    > Nothing easier!

    Nothing -> zero -> circle -> hoop -> HULA hoop

    > Still no word about who will be the new Weekend Edition Sunday host.

    ... to replace [Hono]Lulu.

    > Sarah mentioned that Will has been doing the WESUN Puzzle segment for 35 years now. Getting a little stale, I'd say.

    Like a 35-year old bagel -> circle -> hoop -> HULA hoop

    ReplyDelete
  60. HONOLULU, HAWAI’I → HULA
    My hint was: “The beginning of the answer provides a handy musical hint.” The reference was to Don Ho, “Hawaii's Ambassador of Aloha to the world.”

    ReplyDelete
  61. HONOLULU, HAWAIIHULA. See the Kuhio Hula Show on the beach in Waikiki, Honolulu.



    “I was bowled over by how easy this one was...”
    Honolulu is known for the HULA BOWL. Until this year it has always been held in Honolulu. This year it was held in Orlando, Florida.

    ReplyDelete
  62. HULA <— HONOLULU, HAWAII

    If you remove the H from hula, double the U (which yields the same result as adding the final letter of the city), and rearrange, you get LUAU.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Honolu(lu), (Ha)waii ==> HULA

    I had mentioned a connection to a previous puzzle. With last week's Jenny/Kenny/Lenny puzzle, I had mentioned in the discussion of Wordle that I know someone that went from the MST to HAST time zones. Hawaii, of course, is in the Hawaii Aleutian Standard Time (HAST) zone.

    ReplyDelete
  64. I wrote "Let's make a deal: you'll move my assets if I show you how to move yours." The first clause is a not too subtle reference to Monte HALL, another way to pronounce HAUL, which is another way to rearrange LU and HA. I dropped another hint along the same limes with "you'll move" which was meant to evoke U-HAUL. Then I ended with a sort of reference to HULA. Lot of work for an answer we all knew already.

    ReplyDelete
  65. My blogs:

    - Funny enough to share here….- I just realized that yesterday I dropped my son off back at college in a state capital that, following this procedure, yields a well-known performing artist. - This was in reference to Providence, Rhode Island = Cher.

    - Blaine I had the same stream of consciousness as you! - This was a reference to streaming service Hulu (and that i too first thought of Luau)!

    ReplyDelete
  66. If you fly from San Francisco, CA to Tokyo, Japan, but stop for a day or two in Honolulu would that be considered a lei over?

    ReplyDelete
  67. Hawaii, Honolulu, HULA

    Anagrams, whatever.

    From my chair, I prefer
    FLEEing Florida & Talahasee or
    The NEON of New Jersey, Trenton

    Those are better answers.

    ReplyDelete
  68. My post was "I'll have to lay down and think about this one." I was hinting at a Hawaiian lei". (Like Blaine and others, I initially thought of luau.)

    ReplyDelete
  69. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Yup, Honolulu, Hawaii = hula.
    Aloha.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Honolulu, Hawaii…Hula
    A magnum of wine is 1500 ml. My post of 1500 was a reference to Magnum, PI, both versions of which have been filmed on Hawaii, home to Honolulu.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Letter 3 is significant. L = 50 in Roman numerals. Hawaii is the 50th state.

    ReplyDelete
  73. I think I am sorrier about the end Amy Schneider's amazing run on Jeopardy than I was about Matt Amodio's.
    We do have matchups on future tournaments to look forward to.
    It has been pointed out that they both lost to librarians from Chicago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel bad about the end of Amy Schneider's run. I think she was amazing and humble. I wonder how she knew all that information.

      Delete
    2. I live near Oakland. I may run into her.

      Delete
  74. I'm with Word Woman. I sent in Trek/ Frankfort Kentucky. I thought it was clever and was pleased to learn about all the Star Trekking in KY.

    ReplyDelete
  75. I do not get most of news via Yahoo News, but I do take a look there. I find it both surprising and revealing that nothing at all was mentioned there either yesterday or today regarding Justice Breyer stepping down from the Supreme Court (of political hacks). And they call themselves a news source!

    ReplyDelete
  76. Honohulu, Hawaii --> luha --> hula

    Last Sunday I said, “This is the closest thing to a freebie as I’ve ever heard Will use. Hardly a puzzle at all. No clue.” One wonders if this is still supposed to be the Sunday Puzzle segment.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Do they grow dill in Springfield?

    ReplyDelete
  78. My clue was:
    "I am up… hoping I will awake!"

    I was just trying to make a natural-sounding sentence using only letters from the Hawaiian alphabet. I'm sure others can do better than I did!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, lackanookie is really a Hawaiian word?

      Delete
    2. I suspect you're more likely to hear it in a Catholic seminary.

      Delete
    3. No "c" in Hawaiian!

      "Lauwiliwilinukunukuʻoiʻoi" is the state fish, but Will would probably say it's not 'common'.

      Delete
    4. Huh? What happened to humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa?

      Delete
    5. I always learn so much on this blog. ;)

      Delete
  79. I guess people who ogle in Baton Rouge, Louisiana don't comment about it in this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Finally I managed to solve Wordle in 2 guesses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congratulations!which one? Genius

      Delete
    2. Day 28 (Original Date: 7/17/2021)
      You Win!
      Correct Answer: *****.
      ⬜🟨🟩🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      Delete
  81. Whole lotta snow here in New England! We've got about 8 inches in Rhode Island and expecting at least that much again by nightfall. Also very windy -- it's an actual blizzard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup. Nothing flying into or out of any of the airports between Philly and Boston (except for the rare charter or bizjet).

      Delete
  82. Replies
    1. I just did today's, and my starting word came up all black, but I still managed to solve in 3 guesses. I am still leading by 3 guesses in the statistics.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. My extended family was discussing the relative merits of a vowel-forward strategy versus a consonant-forward one. I shared my view that a luck-forward plan is best.

      Delete
    4. My niece sent me a copy of this image. I said I didn't recognize it since it's not in color-blind mode, and why is he giving me the finger?

      Delete
  83. Play as many WORDLES in a row (one after another) as you wish HERE.

    ReplyDelete

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.