Sunday, April 03, 2022

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 3, 2022): Celebrities of the Past

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Apr 3, 2022): Celebrities of the Past
Q: Name two well-known celebrities of the past who had the same six-letter first names and the same initial in their last names. What follows that initial in one of the last names is a criminal activity. And what follows that initial in the other name is the result of that criminal activity. What celebrities are these?
The first celebrity I had in mind wasn't that far off, but as a result it took me quite a while to get there in the end.

Edit: I first thought of George Burns which coincidentally had BURNS and URNS. In the end we all turn to ASH but we can all hope we take as long as George Burns to get there.
A: JOHNNY CARSON, JOHNNY CASH --> ARSON, ASH

193 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. Here’s the answer: [Nope, not really.]

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  3. Replies
    1. So, puzzles should not be too easy, or use anagrams or use the names of celebrities people here have not heard of.

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    2. They should at least be slightly clever. Elegance is to strive for.

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  4. Rearrange the letters the names don't share to get a musical instrument.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Jan, Add a letter to your answer and get a sexual answer. Devil that I am!

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    3. Jan, Change the first letter of the musical instrument and you get another sexy answer that in some cases is also a crime.

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    4. Technically they share all but one letter.

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    5. What's more, the instrument figures prominently in the work of both celebs.

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  5. The first criminal activity that came to mind solved it.

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

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    2. My criminal energy must be different. This criminal activity was only the fifth that came to mind. (And no, the "fifth" is not a clue about bootlegging during prohibition.)

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    3. My now-removed comment stated that it was also the first criminal activity I thought of. Plus, I had a bit of trivia that was deemed TMI.

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  6. Musical clue... Oops, no, that would really be TMI!

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  7. I am not super-familiar with either celebrity, but one of them may at some point have come across someone who had committed that criminal activity.

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

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  8. Same initial in their last names?
    I thought your middle name had the initial

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    1. Does "same initial in their last name" mean THEIR LAST NAMES BEGIN WITH THE SAME LETTER?

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    2. Ron--Yes. The puzzle could have been better worded. It probably should have read "the same initial letter."

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    3. Thanks. I have the answer now.

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  9. A bit bleary from last night's UNC-Duke game. Pretty easy puzzle, though. Considering a hint...

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    Replies
    1. It was a great game.
      Oh, I just realized! my condolences on your brother's final game of his final Final Four!

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    2. A great game, yes, one for the ages. But my brother?

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    3. O-K I got. As I said, I am still a bit bleary.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Just made a very interesting discovery about the birth name of the younger celebrity!

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    1. Then you have a different answer from mine. Mine kept their birth names.

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    2. Interesting! I would say that it's a "yes-and-no" situation for both of mine.

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    3. I thought I would add my own clarification here. You can look up both celebrities on Wikipedia, and in both cases you'll see their birth names and the years of their birth. Now, the "born" name of the younger celebrity is just first and middle initials! He would get his first name, which is the same as the first name of the elder celebrity, later. The names by which they are known, that is, their NICKNAMES, are slightly longer than their actual names!

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    4. Yep, that was the discovery: Johnny Cash was born J. R. Cash. Who knew?

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  12. At last, a quick answer. I can go back to bed with a clear mind. No clue, just how one of these names was the first one that I thought of.

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  13. I Googled and Googled, but for the life of me, I couldn't find any past (or present) celebrities with last names like Pfraud and Ploss.

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    Replies
    1. Clark Rockefeller would have the right answer. AND he would know ALL about the celebrities in question.

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  14. It’s hard to believe that anyone here hasn’t heard of these celebrities.

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  15. I'm thinking maybe we should start a collection of the lousiest puzzles that have ever been put out on this show. We could call it "The worst of Shortz".

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  16. This week's puzzle is a very nice bit of wordplay with (most likely) a unique answer, a strong comeback after last week's ambiguous challenge. It was nice to hear alternate answers being properly acknowledged on a Sunday morning!

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    Replies
    1. Lancek, I agree on both of your points.

      It is clever, cute, and creative ~~ the C^3 Shortz trifecta. Congrats to ecoarchitect, aka Greg VanMechelen, on another Sunday puzzle.

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    2. I echo Word Woman's and Lancek's kudos to eco for giving us another excellent NPR puzzle to enjoy.

      LegoEchoesEcoKudos

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  17. where is the puzzle on NPR? they still have last weeks up

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    1. I always link to the puzzle in my post just before the question.

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    2. Just wanted to see how many correct answers, given the rare occurrence of multiple correct (Shortz correct, that is) answers

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    3. I see bird's point. If I navigate to the main NPR Sunday Puzzle site, there is no link to this week's puzzle. The top link is still last week's puzzle.

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    4. Same here. Thank you to Blaine for posting the correct link.

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    5. I just now took a look, and I found the same thing; last week's puzzle. So I then pulled up yesterday's Sunday Edition and scrolled down to the puzzle part and clicked on it. It brought up the current page. I have no idea why it is not working both ways. You may submit either way, as I did yesterday and received their reply.

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  18. Think of two celebrities with the same first name and last name beginning with the same letter. Insert three letters after the first syllable of each last name to get a state trooper and a young caddie.

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  19. Replies
    1. One might practice an art.
      One might also practice law, and perhaps sue someone.

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  20. If I have the right two names, the last name of the celebrity with the resulting crime is NOT in the correct form.

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  21. This was a good one to solve backwards. Thinking of possible crimes got me to the answer.

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

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    1. Hmmm. Well, in any case, I'm a fan of both celebrities.

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  23. "...celebrities of the passed..."

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  24. One of the answers would have been easier to solve a couple of months down the road.

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

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    Replies
    1. Wow, first time Blaine has ever thrown me out of the bar, as far as I can recall....

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    2. Weird sensation, isn't it? As if Blaine thought you'd had a dozen drinks but you thought you only had 2.

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    3. Hey, I still don't see what's wrong with my clue. But it's Blaine's pool. We all just swim here!

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  26. Anagram the first celebrity's last name to get something seedy.

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  27. If a certain individual gets away with the crime, the result might be the second celebrity's whole last name.

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  28. If you change the first letter of one of the surnames, you get the surname of a past actress, and if you change the first letter of the other surname to a different letter, you get the surname of a past poet.

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  29. Great to hear a host who seems to actually enjoy the NPR puzzle time. Ayesha Rascoe puts people at ease and makes it a fun segment once more. Welcome to the fold, Ayesha!

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  30. Weren't Agneta Kjaywalking and Agneta Kjail in ABBA?

    (Jaywalking is a pretty serious crime in Sweden.)

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  31. Ah yes, Bob Smurder and Judy Skilled, great gumshoe duo.

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  32. Ya gotta give credit to Will for checking the other answers submitted last week and allowing many of them.

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  33. Needed to read the puzzle correctly, then got answer quickly.

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  34. Jackie Agrandtheftauto always gets snubbed at the Oscars, and I'm pretty sure I saw Jackie Athirtyyearsinthepen open for Bob Seger

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    1. Curtis, ~~~ Elegant and Sassy both ~~~ The perfect combo in my Book.

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    2. And here I was thinking of Jean d’Stealingamouthfulofbread and Jean d’Fiveyearsforwhatyoudid-Therestbecauseyoutriedtorun

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  35. Wallace Stevens lent his incomparable genius to this puzzle.

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

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    1. It's too easy to break these ciphers to figure out the key.

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    2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nye
      https://stephenking.fandom.com/wiki/Carrie_White

      ...and don't forget the man in 557619.

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    3. Uh, Blaine, could you please explain how you so quickly cracked Paul's cipher? Now that he's given us the key, I see that his message started with "Ye", which would not be easy to guess.

      P.S.: To those who don't know, Paul's post which Blaine deleted, was "Ae rim xje ivaynt fw i gtidzven atkqsp, skrbi, qr giwggsj.", and the Sharky's Vigenere Cipher key to crack it was "Carrie".

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    4. There are automated solvers that make short work of Vigenère ciphers revealing both the key and the plaintext.

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    5. I knew about the automated solver Blaine linked to; in fact, that's the very tool I used when encoding. Originally, I hadn't even thought of Carrie White or her connection to arson; I was playing off a "cash and carry" pun.

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  37. Slightly rearrange the letters of the city of the first celebrity’s birth, and get a kind of alcohol.

    Anagram the town of the 2nd celebrity’s birth, and get two kinds of bodily organs.

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  38. This puzzle has at least one deep-cut references to one of the celebrities’ performances

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  39. Solved, no clues here.
    pjbAtLeastKnowsOneOfTheTwoCelebritiesDressedMuchSnazzierThanTheOther

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  40. Well, this time last week I was at a charity event bidding for a dinner in my favorite musician's home after which we would co-design me a new custom set of eyeglasses. Thinking that I could carry evening's worth of conversation about design, I dove right in. Rather than seeing the auction end in a state of euphoria, my state would have been best described as discouraged - I was only a quarter million shy of the winning bid.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. I was just a little shy of CASH.
      My favorite musician, as has been made known here, Elton JOHN.

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  41. I turned 77 today. I grew up during the time of white dog turds. I wonder how many here even know what I am talking about. Before I got out of bed this morning I coined a puzzle and emailed it to Will. When I returned home from dinner out with a friend this evening he replied with an indication that he may use it. Not a bad day.

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    1. Many happy returns.

      I, for one, have no idea what they are. Sounds like some form of Kryptonite for dog walkers - and thus to be avoided.

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    2. SDB, Happy Birthday. 77 is still better than 83 and 1/2. The only time I ever saw white dog turds was when they weren't picked up and "Stuff" began to grow on them.

      GB, I've never encountered Kryptonite while walking my dogs. I would have known if I had.

      CAP

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    3. Happy Birthday, sdb, and many happy returns!

      Lucky 7s!

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    4. Thank you.

      To answer GB's question. This hearkens back to the days when we fed our dogs table scraps instead of IAMS. These would frequently include dog bones which dogs loved to chew on. The bones contain calcium and since there were no little plastic bags back then and our dogs ran free, as did us free range children, our pets were not taught to pick up after themselves. Therefore most front lawns were the recipients of little gifts which when not soon removed would likely turn white. The question of why was occasionally asked by some of us curious kids and the answer to: What is the white stuff on dog sh*t? was usually: It's dog sh*t. This was true, but not satisfactory as an answer to your chemistry teacher. Now people never seem to feed their dogs table scraps. I have repeatedly tried to give leftover porterhouse steak bones and meat to some of my neighbors who have dogs, but they do not want them. Those who have taken them later tell me they made their dog ill. A young couple without children, but have a Siberian Husky, moved in next door to me during the pandemic and never walk their dog as the other neighbors do, but keep him in the house or back yard. He told me (not the dog, the owner) it would make his dog sick to eat leftover meat and bones. So now I sometimes take this a block away to the cemetery for the coyotes. They love it. Now days the closest thing I have seen to white dog turds is white chocolate. I say this because white chocolate is a scam and there is not any chocolate at all in it. In fact you would be more likely to discover trace amounts of chocolate in a dog turd than in white chocolate because someone may have dropped an M&M in the table scraps given to a pet dog.

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    5. Down Clark, down Clark, I said SIT.

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    6. A belated happy birthday, SDB. And congrats on getting WS interested in your puzzle. That's a nice birthday gift. Fingers crossed it will air!

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  42. This puzzle would have been more appropriate a couple of weeks from now

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  43. This is a clever puzzle and was fun to solve.
    As mentioned by several folks above, it was sadly a little too easy to do so.
    I have a hunch that eco provided Will with a somewhat different version and the latter simplified it.
    Leaving out the crime reference and stating that the two words that come after the last names' initial letter have an interesting relationship would have added challenge.

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  44. I kept trying to figure out the second part to Stuart Whitman...I just could never find a celeb named Stuart Whack

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  45. I never heard of either of these people, and I am sure they never heard of me. Just kidding, of course they heard of me.

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  46. Anyone watching the Ben Franklin documentary on PBS?

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    1. Recording it. Will get around to watching eventually. Why?

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    2. jan, think of where we are...and it may come to you ;-).

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    3. AE, Thanks for letting me know. I do not watch TV, but will watch this tonight. Is there a special KEY I need to know about, or will the station STRING me along?

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    4. Caught the first half tonight. Worth a watch. Second half tomorrow. Course, we know how it turns out. The spooky thing is that the issues are the same ones as today. We learn almost nothing.

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    5. I don't know about that. I saved a penny once.

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    6. What this country needs is a good 5-cent nickel.

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    7. It's a good thing I did too. Had I got there much later I'm sure someone would have flushed the urinal before I could save it.

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    8. The penny; not the urinal. I'm sure it was saved already because there was a string of rosary beads lying next to the penny.

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    9. Ah, yes. Alex Trebek used to love pronouncing the name of a certain poet.

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    10. Saving pennies makes cents.

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  47. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. ...

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  48. We have had a spike of 26.1% new covid cases in Lane Conty Oregon by last Sunday, 2 weeks after spring break. Wish I had been wrong.

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  49. Interesting NYT crossword and Wordle today…..

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    Replies
    1. But Will Shortz maintains that he never does that on purpose!

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    2. Ah, jan, you may have misheard. Will Shortz said he never does that on porpoise.

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    3. Wish I’d done the crossword first….

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    4. Just curious - Anyone doing Semantle?

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    5. I gave up on it once I discovered what an ordeal it was when done solo. And since I usually do wordle, worldle and similar timewasters at 3 in the morning, that's the only way I could do it.

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  50. AE,
    I watched the full 4 hour Ken Burns Ben Franklin documentary. Like other Ken Burns presentations I found it interesting and enjoyable, but he seems to see everything through rose colored glasses, and glosses over negative facts, or ignores them completely. Kinda like the crap we are taught in junior and senior high school, but with more information.

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    Replies
    1. I fell asleep everytime I tried to watch it. Not happy he was a slave owner.

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    2. Natasha, I certainly see your point, but don't you get a little tired of watching Mister Rogers and Mother Theresa documentaries? And perhaps I should mention that my parents also had 3 slaves while I was growing up. Two of them were my younger brothers. On occasion they were the recipients of corporal punishment too.

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    3. Sdb:How did you know what I watched? I also watch Jeopardy. Watched Dropout on Hulu. A relative is the set producer. Have you seen it?

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  51. Who's Running the World? Biden, Putin and Xi were arguing about who is in charge of the world? US, Russia or China? With no conclusion, they turned to "Narendra Modi," the Indian Prime Minister and asked him, who's in charge of the world. Modi replied: *All I know is:...*

    1. Google CEO is an Indian.
    2. Microsoft CEO is an Indian.
    3. Adobe CEO is an Indian.
    4. IBM CEO is an Indian
    5. TWITTER CEO is an Indian
    6. Net App CEO is an Indian.
    7. MasterCard CEO is an Indian.
    8. DBS CEO is an Indian
    9. Novartis CEO is an Indian.
    10. Diageo CEO is an Indian.
    11. SanDisk CEO is an Indian.
    12. Harman CEO is an Indian.
    13. Micron CEO is an Indian.
    14. Palo Alto Networks CEO is an Indian.
    15. Reckitt Benckiser CEO is an Indian.
    16. IBM CEO is an Indian.
    17. Britain's Chancellor is an Indian.
    18. Britain's Home Secretary is an Indian.
    19. Britain's next Prime Minister will be an Indian
    20. Ireland’s last Prime Minister was an Indian....
    and the American Vice President is Indian.
    So who's running the World?

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  52. The puzzle still has the one from March 27 on the website. Any sense why last week's puzzle isn't up there?

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    Replies
    1. As I posted here days ago, you can find it via Sunday Edition.

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    2. That was quick, Blaine. Are you hovering over your blog kids today?

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    3. Usually it is linked from both the Weekend Edition Sunday page and from the Sunday Puzzle page.

      This week it appears the website intern forgot to update the second location, but rest assured I check both places and if I find the puzzle, I'll always include it with my post.

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    4. SDB, just happened to be strolling by at the right time. :)

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  53. JOHNNY CARSONARSON

    JOHNNY CASHASH, the “result of” ARSON.

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  54. Johnny Carson & Johnny Cash >>> ARSON & ASH another lame puzzle.

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  55. Johnny Carson (arson), Johnny Cash (ash)

    Last Sunday I said, “One of the answers would have been easier to solve a couple of months down the road.” Johnny Cash was married to JUNE Carter Cash.

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    Replies
    1. I thought his wife was named Petty.

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    2. No, no, I’m sure you’re thinking of Tom Petty. Different genres.

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  56. Johnny Carson/Johnny Cash; Arson/Ash

    I find it ironic that Johnny Cash, who was known as (and sang about being), The Man in Black, is in this week’s puzzle, and Will Smith, who was so much in last week’s news, starred in Men in Black.

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  57. JOHNNY CARSON, JOHNNY CASH

    > Together six times (plus one more).

    JOHNNY CASH appeared on The Tonight Show with JOHNNY CARSON six times between 1964 and 1985, and they both appeared as guests on The Bob Hope Show in 1970 (along with Nelson Rockefeller, Richard Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower, and the West Point Glee Club!).

    > Rearrange the letters the names don't share to get a musical instrument.

    Horn.

    > Alex Trebek used to love pronouncing the name of a certain poet.

    Rrrrobbie Burrrns.

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  58. I wrote, “Here’s the answer: [Nope, not really.]” Younger puzzlers might not get the reference, but Ed McMahon used to start “The Tonight Show” with a booming introduction, “Heeeeeere’s Johnny!”

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    Replies
    1. I thought your clue was a nod to Carnac the Magnificent.

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  59. I wrote:

    Wallace Stevens lent his incomparable genius to this puzzle.

    which is a bunch of unrelated references to fire and ash.

    First there is the passage from "Credences of Summer" that I have quoted here before:

    Let's see the very thing and nothing else.
    Let's see it with the hottest fire of sight.
    Burn everything not part of it to ash.

    Then there is "lent," which begins with Ash Wednesday.

    Finally there is "incomparable," a synonym for "matchless."

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  60. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  61. JOHNNY CARSON, JOHNNY CASH => ARSON, ASH

    You can anagram CARSON to something seedy: ACORNS.

    Like many, I solved this by looking at crimes. I searched for "list of crimes" and arson showed up early in the first link, since they were listed alphabetically.

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  62. JOHNNY CARSON/CASH

    My hint: change the first letter of one celeb’s last name to get the last name of a past actress; change the first letter of the other celeb’s last name to get the last name of a past poet.

    (GREER GARSON; OGDEN NASH)

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  63. Johnny Carson & Johnny Cash (arson & ash)

    I posted on Sun Apr 03, at 06:13:00 AM PDT:

    I'm thinking maybe we should start a collection of the lousiest puzzles that have ever been put out on this show. We could call it "The worst of Shortz".

    During the latter years of "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson", repeats were introduced by Ed MacMahon with the words "Stay tuned for an outstanding entertainment program: 'The Best of Carson'".

    Now, some celebrities noticed that episodes of the show having themselves as a guest had yet to be shown as one of those "Best of Carson" repeats. They formed a club called the "Worst of Carson". Two celebrities that I know of who spoke of this club and admitted being members of it were Charles Nelson Reilly and David Brenner.

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  64. My hint "Mmm Fried Chicken" refers to the Johnny Cash song lyric from Sunday Morning Coming Down.

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    Replies
    1. I made a similar reference when I noted how nice it was to hear alternate answers properly acknowledged on a Sunday morning. But I thought the cinematic Clue of the Week came on Tuesday from Unknown: several lines of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Subtle and sweet.

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  65. JOHNNY CARSON, JOHNNY CASH, ARSON, ASH.

    I think this was the first week Blaine ever kicked me out of the Pool! The Musical Clue I posted was Ricard Wagner, because of his master work "The Ring."

    I thought it was evasive enough -- if you figured out Johnny Cash, then "The Ring" implied "Ring of Fire" and "Fire" implied Arson and Ash.

    But Blaine thought it was too revelatory. I'm sorry, Blaine -- I'll behave better in the future.

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    Replies
    1. Actually the connection I made was Wagner → Ride of the Valkyries → Apocalypse Now helicopters scene → Arson

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    2. Oh, Blaine. I'm really busy with work these days. And now I'm going to have to watch a two hour movie, once again? #TeamNibelungen

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  66. This year's Oscar Awards production was a bit like a Batman movie production, with all its Sock! Kapow! Boff! and Biff!...
    But, forget all that Boff! and Biff! Instead, how 'bout some... Baff?
    To wit, how 'bout some GB's Bafflers on Puzzleria!?
    Our friend GB will help us vanquish those murderous exclamat!on marks and replace them with murderously mysterious ?uestion marks. How? Well, with his heaping helping of five puzzling masterpieces of "Baff-film-ment" on this week's Puzzleria!, uploaded early Friday just after Midnight PDT... kinda like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show!"Great Scott!
    GB's five Bafflers feature 1. blade-wielders, 2. MacGuffins, 3. body parts, 4. Aeschylus, and 5. a Best Picture Oscar.
    Also on this week's menus are:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week about Dawn's rosy fingers,
    * a Cakey Slice of puzzlement about "Wedding bells and whistles,"
    * a Dessert slice about "Trimming one letter from a tree," and
    * nine riff-offs of our friend Ecoarchitect's fine five-alarm "burning ring of fire" NPR puzzle, including one barn burner ignited by our sent-from-puzzle-maker-heaven friend, and master puzzlesmith, Plantsmith.
    Drop on by... we'll have a few "Baffs."

    LegoWhoIsAFanOfGB'sFabulousBafflers!

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  67. Not Chris Islander and Will Islap. Go figure.

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  68. My clue was: "One of them may at some point have come across someone who had committed that criminal activity."

    That was a reference to Johnny Cash performing at Folsom Prison. On that occasion, he could have come across an inmate who had committed arson.

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  69. JOHNNY CARSON, JOHNNY CASH ~> ARSON, ASH

    "Cute" ~ Well, it is cute!

    Thanks, Greg.

    And, of course, the reference to the Ben Franklin documentary was to Ken BURNS.

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  70. JOHNNY CARSON, JOHNNY CASH —> ARSON, ASH

    Hints:

    “Slightly rearrange the letters of the city of the first celebrity’s birth, and get a kind of alcohol.” Johnny Carson was born in Corning (IA) —> corn gin

    “Anagram the town of the 2nd celebrity’s birth, and get two kinds of bodily organs.” Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland (AR) —> gland and skin

    Besides the obvious connections between Carson and Cash—the trivial one of their first names and the more substantive one that Cash appeared several times on Carson’s show—there is also an odd coincidence: Johnny Cash was once jailed overnight in Nevada, where his cellmate, a lumberjack, posed a threat to The Man in Black, refusing to believe who he was. So Cash sang his songs much of the night but never did convince the man of his identity. Fortunately for Cash, the threatening cellmate fell asleep. The Nevada municipality? Carson City.

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  71. Replies
    1. Everyone is so excited about KBJ getting affirmed, but I see it very differently. I have nothing against her, and I wanted her to be affirmed, but I did not want her to be the nominee. She is not a liberal, and her appointment was Biden's best chance of getting a liberal on the court. I agree with getting a negro woman on the court; it needs to reflect the people, but I also see how this will only rile up the bigots even more, and is another step toward a major civil war.

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    2. I meant to also mention the close vote, with only 3 Republicans voting yea. Democrats have contested nominations of extremely questionable candidates in the past, but I do not recall Democrats ever nominating someone who was of questionable qualifications. The Republicans are rapidly succeeding in destroying our so called democracy. I see nothing to celebrate about.

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  72. Johnny Carson, Johnny Cash->arson, ash

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  73. JOHNNY CARSON, JOHNNY CASH, ARSON, ASH
    pjbNeverFellIntoABurnin'RingOfFire,Luckily

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  74. My post -“Ya gotta give credit to Will for checking the other answers submitted last week and allowing many of them.” - made reference to words related to cash, such as “credit” and “checking”(account).

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  75. After this there'll be room for 25 more comments before the "Load More..." bugaboo. I suggest that anyone wishing to start a new "thread", use NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb 27, 2022): The Oscar for Best Animal Goes To...

    That one has room for 29 more comments before hitting "Load More..."

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    1. Reminds me of the old one about a cop who sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks what the drunk has lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes the policeman asks if he is sure he lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, and that he lost them in the park. The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, "this is where the light is".

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  76. The Academy has banned Will Smith from attending the Oscars for ten years.

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    1. Not much of a penalty. The fun part will be when he shows up and they try to enforce it.

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    2. I suspect no one on this blog has been to the Academy Awards in the last ten years.

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    3. You're probably correct. Then, one never knows. Ask around. Actually, the penalty was probably about right. If someone pitches a fit and disrupts a commercial establishment, banning for a time is the solution. In Smith's case, the real effect will be more subtle. Will his participation in a movie make it less likely to receive awards (and thus $$) - or more likely? That might be a behind-the-scenes calculation producers are going to be making. In the end - Who in the real world gives a flying sardonic?

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    4. I do. He should have been arrested on the spot by the police who witnessed the incident.

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    5. I agree, SDB. I read that the police were backstage and did not witness the "slap".

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    6. Oh really? Do you believe they were not watching it all on TV monitors behind the curtains?

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  77. Hey, can you reupload every single Windows Movie Maker add-ons?

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    1. Sorry, my ISP stopped supplying webspace for the files. I tried using Google Drive but it kept complaining about the installers being executables.

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    2. I have relatives who have been to the Emmy Awards and one who won an Emmy for Set Design.

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    3. Blaine, why not to use Mediafire?

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  78. This week's challenge comes from listener Ari Ofsevit, of Boston. Think of a 5-letter word with an "L" that is pronounced. Add a letter at the start to get a 6-letter word in which the "L" is silent. Then add a new letter in the fifth position to get a 7-letter word in which the "L" is pronounced again. What words are these?

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    1. Has this puzzle been used elsewhere? Somehow it sounds familiar. Anyway, I put it together pretty quickly. Could be an easy win.

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  79. My mind is in a state of 3589 on this one.

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