Sunday, May 29, 2022

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 29, 2022): Be Right Back

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 29, 2022): Be Right Back
Q: Take an abbreviation found in text messages. Reverse the first two letters, and the result sounds like something else often found in text messages. What are these things?
I might say something else used in text messages. And again, I question the pronunciation.

Edit: Apart from variations in the first vowel sound (EE, IH, UH?), I've always seen the M sound included as part of the second syllable, instead of the first. Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A: OMG --> MOG --> EMOJI

119 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. Also, do you think the intern could correctly spell GUAM? (It's currently spelled as "Gaum" on the NPR Puzzle page)

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    1. Now they ought to fix (also on the NPR web page) "Take a (sic) abbreviation found in text messages. ..."

      LegoWhoInAnPreviousLifeWasAEditor

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    2. Hopefully adding an emoji wasn't too revealing 🤷‍♂️

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  3. While certainly not the intended answer, IDK works.

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    1. This was my first thought too, and honestly, I'm still laughing about it too hard to come up with the "real" answer.

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    2. LOL also, as in: oll be back.

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    3. I thought of this also but considered discretion the better part of humor. However, my puzzle-hating wife cracked up at your answer. She thanks you.

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  4. Several answers come to mind, some more "innocuous" than others.

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  5. CULA, "See you later alligator" produces UCLA! There are several answers...

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    Replies
    1. TY (thank you) --> YT (you tube)

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    2. For a while, I was stuck on TFW (That Feeling When ...) and FTW (For The Win), but both are too obscure and don't fit the "sounds like" criterion.

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

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  6. I may have misunderstood, at first.

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  7. Nice puzzle, especially coming from a 7-year-old!

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  8. If I have it correct, the abbreviation itself can be the thing found/used in text messages.

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  9. I was resolved to mind my own business, but a seven year old kid getting access to this kind of thing. I'm flabbergasted.

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  10. At least three possibilities come to mind even though I rarely text and even more rarely use code.. I'm sure there are more than a few good answers - considering this is a "sounds like" puzzle. A tip of the hat to the seven year old. However, if my guess is the intended one, it's too bad he recognized it as something often found in text messages.

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  11. Listen Bilane, Gaum is accepted. This is the new NPR.

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  12. There goes the internet, I got the answer with the first abbreviation I thought of.

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  13. After reversing the letters, add a letter at the beginning to name a source of irritation. And congrats to Charlie for accomplishing something many of us -- me included, to date -- have been unable to achieve. :)

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  14. Take the “something else.” Replace the most infrequently used letter in it with another infrequently used letter. Rearrange. You get something often worth a look.

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    1. Or replace that original infrequently used letter with yet another infrequently used letter, rearrange, and get something it's good to have.

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  15. A perfect puzzle for a 7-year-old. No clue here.

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  16. Cute puzzle. There will probably be many correct answers this week, but as I'm not a big texter, it took a while.

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  17. A Nobel Prize winner comes to mind.

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    1. I wonder if we're thinking of the same one?

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    2. Jan, I just saw this.

      If we are thinking of the same person, maybe it will make sense if I say I’m trying to say who he is without saying who he is.

      Or…one of this person’s favorite sentences is from St. Augustine.

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  18. An abbreviation to a phrase I would never use. Instead, I will go with SMH = MSH ("a message").

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  19. I use both constantly, although I'm not 7 years old—can't be wholly a generational thing!

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  20. I have an answer, that even fits Blaine's clue, but it can't be right. Sent it in anyway.

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

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  22. Wow! There is a connection to the last puzzle.

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    1. Isn't there also a connection to one we had earlier too?

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    2. Wow=OMG. Maui and Guam have the initials M and G, which are in OMG.

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  23. Wikipedia says the pronunciation is correct.

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  24. Slept like a teenager until 10:21 a.m. Stormy here. Thought you might enjoy this colorful talk. I like "Drake's Neck."

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  25. I do not text except at gunpoint. So I have no idea what most of the texting abbreviations are, but I believe I may have found the answer. NEweigh it works for me.

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    1. Curious about what you text at gunpoint?

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    2. That probably explains why I'm not progressing on my texting ability.

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  26. Now you have all solved this one I will post again what I posted at the end of last week's blog in case you missed it:

    skydiveboy has left a new comment on the post "NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 22, 2022): A Pair of Islands Puzzle":

    Joseph Young, a.k.a. legolambda, is now running a puzzle I coined and sent to Will Shortz 2 weeks ago, but he declined to use with no reason given. He emailed:

    Hi Mark,
    Thanks. That's pretty cool wordplay.
    I don't think I can use it on NPR ... but I appreciate the offer.
    --Will

    Use the link to Puzzleria Blaine has provided upper right and see what you think.

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    1. Good one! (Not sure I should say much else.)

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  27. I'm not certain how to do this. If the text abbreviation is ABCD, do we form BACD, or are the first two reversed letters supposed to form the word sound?

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    1. It's the whole result (BACD), not just the first two letters reversed.

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  28. A William Steig book comes to mind.

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  29. The pathway this must have taken to get to us is beyond odd.
    I had a lot to do today, so maybe I will spend some time on it later.
    I texting the same as emailing? Or Blog commenting?










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    1. I think texting, emailing, and blog commenting (and tweeting, etc.) are distinct but not different.

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    2. The modified text message can phonetically be two answers

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  30. The answer I've come up with seems oddly juvenile for NPR and Will but maybe that's why he made a point of saying the author was a 7-year-old?

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  31. Anyone see any meteors last night?

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  32. Verdict has been reached in Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial and to be read @ 3pm Eastern time.

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  33. Not a lot of comments this week. Hard to imagine.

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  34. The understanding shared by most people on this thread seems to be it was actually that seven-year-old who authored this puzzle. That's not what I understood. My understanding is it was that gentleman by the name of Christopher Raymond who came up with the puzzle, although he used an observation made by his seven-year-old son.

    With that said: I think I have the intended answer, per Blaine's clue. The abbreviation doesn't seem texting-specific to me, though.

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  35. "At least three people are dead and multiple people are injured following a shooting at the Natalie Building at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, according to police."
    One wonders why Ted Krews wasn't there with a gun to control the door.

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  36. I was looking at some photos of Windsor Castle and noticed it is not surrounded by water and a drawbridge. Was it demoted?

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  37. Because this is "Blaine's Puzzle Blog," here are a pair of pertinent puzzles pulled from the present Puzzleria! (Give answers if you like.):
    ENTREE #1
    Take the first and last names of a puzzle-maker.
    Anagram the first four letters to spell the name of an Indonesian island.
    The next four letters, in reverse order, spell a biblical land west of Nod.
    The remaining letters, in reverse order, spell an abbreviated form of a major U.S. city.
    Who is this puzzle-maker?
    What are the island, biblical land and U.S. city?

    ENTREE #8
    Take the first name of a female character on a past popular sitcom and an adjective that describes a male character on that same sitcom – an adjective that might also describe patriotic birds or a bad tire.
    Swap the first letters of the first name and the
    adjective, resulting in a new first name and four letters that can be rearranged to spell the surname of the person possessing that first name.
    Who is that person (who also happens to be a puzzle-maker)?
    What are the female character’s name, the adjective describing the male character and the name of the sitcom?


    LegoWithApologiesToBlaineAndHisWonderfulFamily!

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    1. Entree #1:
      The puzzle maker is our own formidable Blaine Deal. The Indonesian island is Bali, the Biblical land is Eden, and the major U. s city is L. A.

      I’ll leave Entree #8 for another of our formidable Blainevillians.

      Nice puzzle, Lego!

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    2. Thank you, Dr. K.

      LegoJustAnother"Formidabbler"InPuzzleMaking

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    3. Merci beaucoup, Crito.

      LegELainmbda

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  38. Ok, I'll say it. What's the Deal, Blaine?

    Will miss our puzzle revelation today. Headed to the hills in Silver Plume and Georgetown, CO. Rock on!

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    1. Fine, but you were not the first. Last week I posted:

      "Congrats Blaine! And I know it's an easy one, but at least it is also geographical, and even Joe Biden said, "But look, look. Here's the Deal...""

      Delete
  39. Our friend GB, whose excellent word puzzles appear regularly on Puzzleria!, is presenting us this week with a truly memorable and timely "GB's Bafflers" feature. It showcases four challenging D-Day-themed puzzles that draw respectfully from facts surrounding participants in World War II.
    We upload this week's Puzzleria! just after midnight PDT, in the wee hours of Friday morning, June 3, three days before the June 6 commemoration of D-Day.
    Our menus this week also feature:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week that will be tougher to solve than a "thumb in the eye,"
    * a World Leaders Slice that involves "title-holders, hyphens and homophones,"
    * a Dessert about a shipwreck, and the prayer of a drunken sea captain in its wake, and
    * nine high-falutin' FYI'in high-flyin' Wi-Fi riff-offs of this week's NPR puzzle inspired by a seven-year-old lad from Poughkeepsie named Charlie.
    Why not join forces with us for some D-Day reflection and text-message riffing?

    LegoProvidingD-DaylightfulPuzzlesCourtesyOfGB

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  40. 1. FYI → WIFI (text) or (What I Find Interesting)

    2. ETA → TEA (gossip)

    3. EOD (end of discussion) → OED (Oxford English Dictionary)

    4. LOL → OLL (online love)

    The “blog administrator” removed this one:
    5. MEOG (Middle Earth Online Game) → EMOJI!!!

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    1. In my opinion, OMG → MOG → (E)MOJI does not work...

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    2. ron, I completely agree with you and am surprised so many here don't.

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  41. NVM = Never mind & VNM = VENOM

    My Hint:
    "Isn't there also a connection to one we had earlier too?"
    Snakes On A Plane was the answer May 8th this month.

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  42. OMG -> MOG (emoji)

    "Well, there goes the internet" A reference to George Takei's Ohhh, Myyyy, There Goes the Internet!

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  43. OMG -> MOG ("Emoji")

    >> A Nobel Prize winner comes to mind.
    > I wonder if we're thinking of the same one?

    I'm going with Peter Higgs.

    > A William Steig book comes to mind.

    CDB!

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  44. OMG —> EMOJI


    (This first hint piggybacked on Rob’s.)
    “Or replace that original infrequently used letter [in the “something else,” i.e., “emoji”] with yet another infrequently used letter, rearrange, and get something it's good to have.”
    —> Replace the “j” in “emoji” with an “x,” rearrange, and get “moxie.”

    “A Nobel Prize winner comes to mind.”
    —> Samuel Beckett—and Waiting for Godot —> O My God(ot)
    For Jan: The sentence that Beckett so admired from St. Augustine was “Do not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the thieves was damned.”
    Were we thinking of the same Nobel Prize winner?

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  45. I wrote, ‘Take the “something else.” Replace the most infrequently used letter in it with another infrequently used letter. Rearrange. You get something often worth a look.’ Substituting V for J and rearranging yields “MOVIE.”

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  46. OMG --> EMOJI. My clue: After reversing the letters, add a letter at the beginning to name a source of irritation. [SMOG] As an additional clue, I included a text version of a smile emoji.

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  47. FYI — YFI (sounds like “WiFi”)

    The most fitting alternate answer I had was ACE — CAE (sounds like “k,” SMS shorthand for “okay”). The trouble with ACE is that it can stand for some 157 different things. Some of them are quite innocuous (e.g., “Awesome Cool Epic”), but others include references to marijuana as part of a joint, or even the joint itself. Anyhow, things like “Access Control Entry” don’t strike me as SMS-specific, so I discarded the ACE answer altogether (although I thought “CAE” sounding like “k” was a better result than “WiFi”).

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    1. Other options I was considering included:

      RUOK: Are you okay?
      UROK: Sounds like “you rock”

      S4L: Spam for life
      4SL: (Sort of) sounds like “4SALE”/“for sale”

      SPST: Same place, same time
      PSST: Sounds like an interjection to get someone’s attention

      UKTR: You know, that’s right
      KUTR: Sounds like “cuter”

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    2. The "MOG" one was completely lost on me! I just wasn't familiar with it. I would have dismissed it as not matching the pronunciation anyway.

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  49. We abbreviate "Are you well? to RUL, and frequently use URLs in texts. No call (or smiley face) 4 me this week.

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  50. My answer: AFK (Away From Keyboard) ==> FAK (which most people will pronounce as "fack", which is how many pronounce FAQ, the Frequently Asked/Answered Questions list)

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  51. It took me until Tuesday, then it occures to me that OMG works as emoji. Udh!!

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  52. I am in the minority in that I came up with FYI-Wifi. Reading the responses, it does seem that OMG-Emoji is the correct answer though!

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  53. It seems to me that several of the alternate answers are far better than the one most here believe is the intended answer.

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  54. I had another answer.....ETA>>TEA sounds like the letter "T" which occurs frequently in any message.

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    1. That was my thinking, too. Was it you who commented, "I'll drink to that?". If so, your comment verified that we had the same answer.

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  55. I think the variation in the pronunciations of emoji have to remove it as the front runner without a modification in Will's hint.
    I like the common abbreviation ETA morphing to Tea, meaning gossip, even more common in texting.

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  56. It is now being reported that this afternoon there was a shooting at a burial service in a Racine, WI cemetery for a young black man killed by police. Apparently 5 persons were shot, but no confirmation of severity so far. I suspect if they apprehend the shooter he will have a strong defense by saying he was only obeying the biblical command to let the dead bury the dead.

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  57. OMG (Oh My Gosh, Oh My God) – MOG (Emoji)

    Last Sunday I said, “A perfect puzzle for a 7-year-old. No clue here.” This was not a complaint, just an observation.

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  58. I'm not sure what the question is about "emoji" ... That is a Japanese phrase, "e moji", which means "picture character(s)". The "e" is pronounced "eh" and not at all "ee". It appears in other Japanese words for picture artforms "sumi-e" and "ukiyo-e". My solution to the puzzle was and is: IMHO and MIHO ... MIHO *sounds like* "mijo", meaning something like "my dear", undoubtedly found in text messages.

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    1. And we are supposed to know this?
      We say Toy-ota, but it is actually Tow-yoh-tah. We say Kigh-oh-tee rather than Koh-yoh-tay for coyote. But that is Spanish.

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    2. Yeah, shouldn't the question be what the pronunciation is *in English*? The puzzles are in English, and original language pronunciation should not be relevant unless Will explicitly specifies that it is.

      The OED gives /ᵻˈmoʊdʒi/ (that is a short 'i', as in "issue") and I think contemporary American very often puts a long 'e' at the beginning:
      /iˈmoʊdʒi/

      (I still had no trouble getting the intended answer, by the way, and I'm not really complaining; just agreeing with those who have some questions about the pronunciation.)

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  59. This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Ben Bass of Chicago. The name of what country contains a deodorant and an air freshener in consecutive letters?

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  60. Got it. Waiting for Blaine...

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  61. Gee, I wonder if they are going to change the puzzle today.

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  62. Besides the deodorant and the air freshener, something to promote peace and quiet.

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  63. When you get to the heart of the matter, some things make me happy. Others, not quite so much.

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  65. By the way - I WOULD have been playing the NPR Sunday Puzzle on air with Will Shortz today - if I had not missed 2 successive calls from "NATL PUB RADIO, 202-513-2135" at 4:45 & 4:46 PM on Thursday!!! As you may imagine, I am frustrated and disappointed beyond belief... Will I ever get another call to play?

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  66. Oh man, Encyclopspedia, what a feeling that must be!
    I'm sorry, and I hope you *will* get another call.

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  67. Well, I can say Bill Hokum from Kauai played much better and answered much faster than I would have with this week's puzzle. I guess it just wasn't meant to be for me this time, but it was meant for Bill, the retired flight attendant - well played, Bill!

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  68. "Jeff Zarkin Puzzle Riffs" is our main event on this week's Puzzleria!
    We upload Puzzleria! in the wee hours every Friday, just after Midnight PDT.
    Jeff (you many know him by his screen name "SuperZee") has concoted a pair of brilliant posers titled:
    1) "Bird is the Word" (in you must divide a BIRD into four letters that are not B I R and D), and
    2) "Name the Numbers" (which involves four numbers, including the number 3, Hank Aaron's uniform #44, and two other numbers whose difference is 44).
    Also on our menus are:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week titled "Hanging (from) arts and aircrafts
    * a Puzzle Slice about a "very very very 'big house,' "
    * a Dessert Slice about "Fighting fires with fire... hoses," and
    * eleven riff-offs of this week's "Bilbolicious" NPR puzzle, including one created by ecoarchitect and two inspired by skydiveboy.
    Drop by for some fun with numbers, words, birds and Bilbos!

    LegoWhoAlwaysWasAFanOfNumber44

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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.