Q: Take the last name of a famous 20th-century American. The 5th, 6th, 7th, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd letters, in that order, name a European capital. Who is the person, and what capital is it?Change one letter in the capital and rearrange to get a country. Repeat the process to get an element. Repeat the process one last time to get some gemstones.
Edit: BERLIN --> BRUNEI --> ERBIUM --> RUBIES
I had to change the book cover I originally used because it featured pictures of Lusitania, JFK and the Berlin Wall. Oops!
A: LIN(d)BER(gh) --> BERLIN
Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any hints that could lead directly to the answer (e.g. via a chain of thought, or an internet search) before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET. If you know the answer, click the link and submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.
ReplyDeleteYou may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't give the answer away. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the Thursday deadline. Thank you.
There is a historical connection between the American and the city.
ReplyDeleteI'd give that one a 6 out of 10.
DeleteTomorrow
ReplyDeleteYes. I just edited the Wikipedia entry to correct the direction.
DeleteEasy. There are only 14 six-letter European capitals.
ReplyDeleteShould we just get RID of the MAD guesses?
DeleteI am guessing you SAW that WAR?
DeleteLONDON is calling. Then again, NASSAU has gone funky. But VIENNA waits for you.
DeletepjbBelievesItMightBeBetterInHAVANA-NA-NA-NA...
As posted on last week's thread:
ReplyDeleteThere is an unfortunate connection between the person and the capital.
It's a plot! I'm angry!
DeleteNow, now. No need to wax wroth.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteNice choice of photos, Blaine.
ReplyDeleteOops, now I have to change it. It might be too late if it has been cached.
DeleteBlaine:
DeleteNow that I am up and awake I see you have changed your hint image from what you first presented. Your sign now is a bit thinner in what it delivers.
I'm reminded of a classic MGM film, but naming the star might be TMI.
ReplyDeleteI know of what you speak. I saw it just a couple of weeks ago.
DeleteThe wording of the puzzle all but gives it away anyway.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even have to get outta bed to get this one right away.
ReplyDeleteThis person has a not so unfortunate connection to another European capital. Interesting that the puzzler is from Scituate, Mass. There is a famous lighthouse there that I've been in.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got to college, a descendant of the famous person was in my Freshman Dorm.
ReplyDeleteThe last five letters of the name, minus one, describe an object that figured prominently in a significant event of the 20th Century, but actually this week's puzzle could have saved a step simply by referencing another famous American of the same century.
ReplyDeleteHint: Not Skopje
ReplyDeleteNFPA -- Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteNational Fire Protection Association? Anyway, take two letters out of the capital city and you have yet another European capital.
ReplyDeleteI guess the Lisa Bonet puzzle was TOO easy.
ReplyDeletetoo small a search space to make this a worthwhile puzzle.
ReplyDeleteBrevibacterium linens. MEOW!
ReplyDeleteJan, Many thanks! MEOW and PURR!
DeleteKitty Cat, you haven't yet revealed the meaning of your hints. Was this one, as I suspected, a play on "limburger" vs. "Lindbergh"?
DeleteI found the answer electrifying. I also found it, once again, on the map on my kitchen wall.
ReplyDeleteThis is unacceptable
ReplyDeleteEnextwoeleven
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSorry!
DeleteWill there be an Independence Day puzzle next Sunday? WS usually picks a puzzle recognizing National Holidays.
ReplyDeleteThere is a famous Australian who (sadly) shares something in common with this famous American. Strangely enough, they also share the same nickname. And if you take the Australian's last name, there's that same European capital again, only this time in order (though also with an extra letter somewhere in between).
ReplyDeleteEminem likes it too, although I can't tolerate his music.
DeleteNice hint!
DeleteBlaine, "Change one letter in the capital and rearrange to get a country." Change even another letter and you get another country on a different continent.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, even the Britons remember it!
DeleteThis has to be an easy one, I got the answer two weeks in a row then I noticed I was off on one digit on the auto fill phone number I've been submitting...maybe I've gotten the call but to wrong number!! OMG
ReplyDeleteNew Englanders can appreciate the pronunciation of this city's name in a certain 20th-century song.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteTMI?
DeleteI was lucky; the first capital I thought of led me to the answer.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't the Muggles see them?
ReplyDeleteDoes Will have a plot against clever puzzles?
ReplyDeleteThe NPR Sunday Puzzle has turned in to a real cat-astrophe! MEOW!
DeleteGood one, trickster. I get it. I thought it would happen in 2016.
ReplyDeleteA famous 20th century American made a famous statement about the capital.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a Member of CC GOQ who made the city famous.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteHmmm.... Didn't even have to name it; just mentioning the category was TMI, apparently!
DeleteJohn F. Kennedy said, "Ich bin ein Berliner." This is commonly misunderstood as him saying, "I am a jelly doughnut!"
DeleteBobby, I was there drinking a Berliner Weisse and saw him hold up a jelly doughnut in his left hand, while pointing to it with his right index finger. Full disclosure requires me to also mention that I may have dreamed this.
DeleteThe Preppy Handbook.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThree Mile Island
DeleteI wonder if Will Shortz has some principle that guides his selection of weekly puzzles.
ReplyDeleteIf he does, then i have never discovered it or heard him discuss it.
This one is embarrassingly easy.
And Blaine offers three anagrams to try and make it palatable.
I liked the good humor of the on air player, letting Shortz off the hook after offering her two things she didn't like.
So much for his having backup games.
Wolfgang are you paying attention?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI am now. Oh well; been there before.
DeleteOne of the conference rooms in my office is named for this person.
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to be a rocket scientist to get this one.
ReplyDeleteW. C. Handy
ReplyDeleteDid someone say Kokomo, IN?
ReplyDeleteIt was unfortunate about the famous person's politics.
ReplyDeleteI'm switching to something else. As I was walking my two dogs AM, one dog pooped three times and the other only once.I told my self one pooped three times more than the other. This was correct, then my head asked how can can it also be said that if one pooped three times and the other one zero times, that there was still a three times difference.
ReplyDelete"Aha" said the rational(?) side of my brain, "This is a conflation of facts.I wondered if I could turn it into a puzzle. No clues, just how my mind wanders during the day.
Clark,
DeleteWhile I understand your desire to get to the bottom of things, I think it is time to get your mind out of the gutter. Is one of your dogs named, Toulouse?
Clark, It works because 0! = 1. And I always cover up my poop so my owner doesn't have to carry plastic bags for me. MEOW!
Delete3 - 0 = 3 and 3 - 1 = 2. Two unique solutions. MEOW!
DeleteClark, It works because 0! = 1. And I always cover up my poop so my owner doesn't have to carry plastic bags for me. MEOW!
ReplyDeleteYou can verfiy this by applying the G-Function:
DeleteΓ(x)=∫∞0tx−1e−tdt.
How appropriate for the Sunday Puzzle this week. I can't say more without giving away to much information. Thanks for the clever tip Clark. MEOW!
The capital makes me think of an animated film, or maybe a marsupial.
ReplyDeleteBerlin WALL-E? Berlin wall-aby?
DeleteYou can verfiy this by applying the G-Function:
ReplyDeleteΓ(x)=∫∞0tx−1e−tdt.
How appropriate for the Sunday Puzzle this week. I can't say more without giving away to much information. Thanks for the clever tip Clark. MEOW!
But, KC anything times zero is still zero. SDB, No but they are corgies.
ReplyDeleteI know that, but one sounds too loose to me.
DeleteTrue. But when we define 0!, the answer is 1. Here's why:
Delete1! = 1
2! = 2 X1 = 2
3! = 3 X 2 X 1 = 6, and so on.
1! = 1 X (1-1)!
1! = 1 X 0!
1! = 0! = 1
Quod Erat Demonstrandum. MEOW!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteA new Tom Cruise movie came out. Reminds me of an old one.
ReplyDeleteLeo, I hear you loud and clear! MEOW!
DeleteDid someone say Brooklyn, NY?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Delete3 - 0 = 3 and 3 - 1 = 2. Two unique solutions. MEOW!
ReplyDeleteA recent Jeopardy! controversy comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteBlaine is working very hard to keep our comments in accordance with the blog rules. I appreciate that very much. Maybe we should take a break from posting more comments about this week's Puzzle solution to give Blaine a well deserved break. Hopefully, more challenging Puzzles will come in the future. But in the meantime, I enjoy reading all the comments from this great group of people.
ReplyDeleteAn alpha cat?
DeleteLOL
DeleteI am reminded of a common word that rhymes with elephant.
DeleteI've now reached a point in my long life where I am admittedly unsure of myself. Perhaps you may be of help. Would I be risking accusations of being politically incorrect if I refer too Rudy Giuliani as Caramel Head? Please chew that one over before you answer.
ReplyDeleteCarmel head! So those were the brown streaks running down his sweaty brow.
DeletePS I thought they must have been chocolate!
DeleteNo. His entire head, face and bald head are caramel color. I noticed it in a photo in the news online yesterday after the hearing ended.
DeletePsychiatrists who deal with those who commit mass shootings inform us that they are rarely suffering from mental illness. (The shooters; not the shrinks.) However the Republicans keep on pushing this dead end solution of passing laws to take guns away from those who are suffering from mental illness. Doesn't this mean that guns should be taken away from Republicans who hold elective office?
ReplyDeleteHAPPY BIRTHDAY DONALD & STO LAT. MEOW!
ReplyDeleteTake a two-word name for a fictional alloy. Move the fifth letter of the first word, then reverse the order of the two words, to get something shiny you can sink your teeth into.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTMI @musinglink?
ReplyDeleteIf you think so I'll erase it.
DeleteI trust Blaine. And I finally got the answer from your clue. I had read the puzzle incorrectly but I knew the person from your clue.
DeleteAt very least, it gives a strong hint to the person's gender.
DeleteWell, I'm glad it helped somebody, but honestly, I was way too oblique
DeleteIt was way too oblique I mean
DeleteHow many Basis Point (BPS) increase tomorrow morning? Will it be 50, 75, or 100? If it's too high, I may have to switch to dry cat food. > ^.,.^ < ME-AOW!
ReplyDeleteA higher federal funds rate would cool inflation, which would slow the rise of the price of cat food. The risk, of course, is recession. How are you at mousing?
DeleteCan you say stagflation?
DeleteI remember gasoline rationing in 1973. But we still had cat food! For those younger people, it's a much different country now. Is the USA still the "Land of Plenty"? Thank you Leonard Cohen for reminding us.
ReplyDeleteThere were calls for rationing in 1973 (and 1979), but it wasn't actually imposed. Some states had odd/even date restrictions on buying gas, based on license plates numbers. The price of a gallon of regular gas went from 38.5¢ in May, 1973, to 55.1¢ in June 1974.
DeleteWe haven't had gas rationing since August 15, 1945.
DeleteAnd, anyway, that happy "Land of Plenty" horse pucky only applied to able-bodied straight white males, And largely because we were still the only intact manufacturing economy after WWII.
DeleteYes, Jan. I remember the long lines at gasoline stations in 1973 and the great dispute about the last number on license plates. Was "zero" was an odd or even number? It is an even number, but many could not be convienced, and sometimes fights broke out. I hope we never go back there again.
DeleteWikipedia's featured picture for Wednesday (!) reminds me of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, another blast from the early 70's past.
DeleteI don't think we had gas lines until 1974.
DeleteThanks for sharing, jan!
Ya don't need no fancy college degree to solve this one.
ReplyDeleteWe don't need no education... All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
DeleteYes indeed, 38.5 cents per gallon of gasoline back in 1973. My 1968 Pontiac 400 ran on high octane gasoline back then, and it was affordable on my salary. How are people managing now at over $5.00/gallon? Buy an Electric Vehicle? I don't think so at those prices. And how will there be enough eletricity to charge those EV car batteries? Hello?
ReplyDeleteHalf a buck a gallon was not really such a big deal back then. The shortages were though. It never stopped me from driving as much as I desired, and that was a lot, as I love to drive. I also did not experience much trouble filling up either. We have always had cheap gas in this country compared to most other countries. But then, cheap gas is more important to Amerikans than affordable health care.
DeleteIf God wanted us to have assault weapons we would have been born with them.
ReplyDeleteI think I may have been a bit hasty there. That is why He created gun shops. I knew God is a Republican.
Seriously though, if you think Congress is going to pass meaningful gun legislation any time soon, you must not be paying attention. They will pass something, and we will be told how it will bring change, but this is a lie. There is no way they will pass a ban on assault weapons, and that is the ONLY thing that will actually improve things. I will be very surprised if the bulk of any money provided does not go to mental health concerns, and that is a red herring. Mental health is rarely involved in mass shootings. I suspect it may be involved in a desire to run for public office as a Republican though.
GOP commission refuses to certify New Mexico primary vote.
ReplyDeletehttps://news.yahoo.com/gop-commission-refuses-certify-mexico-004011875.html
This is our sorefeeable suture. And it doesn't leave me in stitches.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) interest rate increase will be announed in 90 minutes (2:00 PM EDT). Let's hope for the best.
ReplyDeleteIt kind of reminds me of Jeremy by Pearl Jam!
DeleteHope is not a strategy.
DeleteSDB: We'll find out soon. Right now, the DJIA is up 0.56%, but that could change quickly.
DeleteBetween hope and a strategy, my hope is for a strategy.
DeleteLet's hope so.
DeleteA 0.75% increase, the greatest single interest rate increase since 1994 under "Slick Willie". But the big difference is a gallon of regular gasoline back then was only $1.65, and now the same gallon costs over $5.00, an all time record high!
ReplyDeleteNot sure what point you want to make about interest rates and politics, but I would advise caution. The President doesn't set rates; the Fed does. In 1994, the Fed chair was Alan Greenspan, appointed by that commie pinko, Ronald Reagan. The current chair is Jerome Powell, hand-picked by the socialist Donald Trump.
DeleteThe Fed has one tool, the federal funds rate. Lower it, and you get more inflation. Raise it, and you get more unemployment. Do you want lower mortgage and credit card interest rates, or do you want your stocks to do better?
The federal funds rate isn't the economy. Neither is the stock market.
jan - Great post! However, I don't think you should be so easy on Ronald (Traitor) Reagan.
DeleteIf low interest rates yield more inflation, how did we have low interest rates and low inflation for 20-30 years?
DeleteInterest rates were practically zero in an attempt to stimulate the economy and help get us out of the Great Recession of 2008. It now appears the Fed kept them low a bit too long, thinking the creeping inflation was just "transitory".
DeleteMaybe this will help clarify things.
DeleteThe ornithology lab of my Alma Mater, Cornell University, has created a fun and educational app called Merlin Bird ID. It’s available for free wherever you get your apps.
ReplyDeleteIt helps you identify birds by their songs. Just turn on the mike function to get a sound sample and the app does the rest.
You might enjoy playing with it.
Isn't that what Jeffrey Epstein said?
DeleteChuck, That would be W2CXM. Nice!
DeleteMerlin is a great app. Lots of info, including samples of songs and calls. I like to annoy territorial males in my area by playing the songs of competitors.
DeleteOf course, this works both ways. I once read about a couple of birders in England who were thrilled to get owls to respond to their nightly calls, until their wives got to talking and realized they were calling to each other.
LINDBERGH, BERLIN
ReplyDelete"Tomorrow" points to Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
I removed "too small a pool/pond" referring to the small choice of 6-letter European capitals. I thought "pond" might too obviously point to Charles Lindbergh flying across the Atlantic Ocean.
Our friend Chuck (who posesses a lightning-quick puzzle-making mind) has created a quartet of stikingly clever puzzles for your solving enjoyment. They will be featured on this week's Puzzleria! (which we upload in the wee hours of Friday morning just after Midnight PDT).
ReplyDeleteChuck's four puzzles are titled:
1. “Claustromania!”
2. “Bug, grub, gambling, troubador,”
3. “Repetitive-letter reptile,” and
4. “Gaming and gumshoe.”
Also on this week's P! menus are:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week in which we ask you "put on your recording engineer's hat, step into our soundproof recording studio booth, and... mix vocals, drums and guitar,"
* a puzzle about artistry and “tumbling downhill on a level playing field,”
* a "Get in “shape” Dessert puzzle that requires stamina, “paish”-ence, and
* ten riff-offs of this week's “Lucky Lindy/Ich bin ein ‘Limburger’” NPR puzzle (including five created and contributed by our friend Ecoarchitect).
So, drop on over to Puzzleria! and get "Conundrumbstruck by Chuck!"... and solve all "Sweet Seventeen" of our stumpers.
LegoLindyLundyLandyLendyLondyBlondie
Charles Augustus Lindbergh & Berlin, Germany
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"Blaine:
Now that I am up and awake I see you have changed your hint image from what you first presented. Your sign now is a bit thinner in what it delivers."
The correct pronunciation of BERLIN is not BUHR-LYNN. It is: BEAR-LEAN. The Berlin icon is a silhouette of a standing bear who is thin. word URSINE is of or relating to a bear or the bear family (Ursidae). "Your sign" sounds like ursine. And "a bit thinner" is lean.
Charles LINDBERGH → BERLIN
ReplyDeleteBlaine's “change one letter & anagram” → BERLIN → BRUNEI (country) → ERBIUM (element 68) → RUBIES (gemstones).
LINDBERGH, BERLIN
ReplyDelete>> Tomorrow
> Yes. I just edited the Wikipedia entry to correct the direction.
Monday was the anniversary of Lindbergh's ticker-tape parade up Fifth Avenue in NYC (from the Battery to City Hall), which Wikipedia had previously described as going down Fifth Avenue.
> It's a plot! I'm angry!
In The Plot Against America, Philip Wroth (haha) has Nazi-sympathizer Lindbergh beating Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election.
> That's the spirit! [Deleted]
Lindbergh named his plane The Spirit of St. Louis.
> A recent Jeopardy! controversy comes to mind.
On June 3, a Jeopardy! clue incorrectly referred to Uniondale, NY, as Garden City. Lindbergh's famous flight departed from Roosevelt Field airport, parts of which were in each town.
> Naming a certain pastry might be TMI. [Deleted!]
Ich bin ein Berliner.
> Wikipedia's featured picture for Wednesday (!) reminds me of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, another blast from the early 70's past.
Written by Richard Bach, a barnstormer like Charles Lindbergh. (And not necessarily a comment on Blaine's deletion of my pastry post.)
CHARLES LINDBERGH, BERLIN
ReplyDeleteHint: “W. C. Handy”
Handy composed and recorded the song “St. Louis Blues,” a few years before Lindbergh’s pioneering 1927 transatlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis. (There are as well other songs with “St. Louis” in the title, composed and/or performed by, among others, Duke Ellington and Steely Dan.)
My reply to Jan not to “wax wroth” was in reference to Philip Roth and his novelThe Plot Against America, in which Charles Lindbergh is an important character.
Back to the hearings…
LINDBERGH — BERLIN
ReplyDeleteMy clues:
Nice choice of photos, Blaine.
The photo (collage) Blaine posted originally had JFK in it—who, of course, was famous for his line "Ich bin ein Berliner."
– Did someone say Kokomo, IN?
– Did someone say Brooklyn, NY?
There was that popular WWII-era song, Hot Time in the Town of Berlin (When the Yanks Go Marching In). The patriotic lyrics contain references to Kokomo (I am guessing Kokomo, IN) and Brooklyn.
The lyrics also contain a reference to Michigan, but I didn't post "Did someone say Michigan?" because Lindbergh was from there.
Going back to JFK: I almost posted "Did someone say 'jelly donut'?" because, in German, a Berliner (as in the JFK quote "Ich bin ein Berliner") can also be a 'jelly donut.' I didn't post it because, when I googled "jelly donut," the first hit that came up contained references to names for it in several languages, including the German Berliner.
I also posted this spin-off puzzle on Sunday here, on this blog:
DeleteTake the last name of a famous 20th-century American. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th letters, in that order, name a European capital.
I was going for (Sydne) ROME. Apparently, though, Blaine thought the post—coming from me—was a bit too much of a giveaway…it got obliterated.
Skydiveboy noticed, and posted "Wolfgang are you paying attention?" To which I replied: "Oh well, been there before." That was a reference to a Puzzle Blog thread from September 2021 (Who is it?), where the name of Wolfgang Puck was part of the puzzle answer, and Blaine thought the very presence of my name would be TMI. Apparently Blaine now thought my name was too German not to conjure up the thought of Berlin.
I actually misread your spinoff. I thought you were thinking of Milton Berle --> Berl(in).
DeleteHmm…add to that he was born Milton Berlinger, and I sort of see where you are coming from.
DeleteWolfgang,
DeleteActually I was wondering if you had deciphered my hint. I figured you would probably be the only one here who might have got it, but I wanted to not be too obvious by asking outright.
I did conclude that the European capital to which you were referring was Rome, but through Caesar Romero.
DeleteSDB, if you are referring to your "thinner" hint—no, I didn't get it. Too obscure for me!
DeleteWolfgang,
DeleteThe "thinner" part is only an embellishment to the "your sign = ursine" main part of my hint. I knew it was obscure, which it should be, but I thought there was a small chance you might make the connection.
Sunday morning I wrote, "My heart just isn't in this one."
ReplyDeleteSee:
https://hmsc.harvard.edu/carrel-lindbergh-perfusion-pump
Lindbergh, Berlin
ReplyDeleteHow many more times do we need Will to give us a puzzle tee-heeing at Nazism and terrorism? This is utterly shameful.
I wrote, “There is a historical connection between the American and the city.” Lindberg and his wife visited Germany a few times in the thirties and hobnobbed with German officials, giving him a chance to praise the Nazi government and the Luftwaffe.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think in reality it was to assess the German air force. Göring presented Lindbergh a medal which Lindbergh took as just another award. This was very galling to many, as was Lindbergh's fascination with Hitler. Lindbergh was also a eugenicist, an ideology which he cane to appreciate in the years before the war when he was assisting the French cardiologist Alexis Carrel. Carrel told Lindbergh that after seeing so many defective hearts, which included Lindbergh's sister-in-law, he concluded that all men are not created equal. This was not lost on Anerica Firster Charles A. Lindbergh
ReplyDeleteCharles Lindbbergh, Berlin. My clues:
ReplyDelete1. The last five letters of the name, minus one, describe an object that figured prominently in a significant event of the 20th Century. (B-e-r-g, as in the iceberg involved in the Titanic sinking.)
2. The puzzle could have saved a step by referencing another famous American of the same century. (Irving Berlin.)
Lindbergh, Berlin
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, ”The first four letters of the world capital are the first four letters of the last name of another famous 20th century American,” however Blaine deleted my post. C’est la vie. Anyway, Milton Berle is who I was thinking of.
Lindbergh, Berlin
ReplyDeleteI really did have Pete Lindbergh in my Freshman dorm, but haven't been in touch with him since. I guess The Lindbergh Baby was his Uncle?
My clue was "not Skopje," because the answer is not Skopje!
Lindbergh/Berlin. My hint was a really lame nod to "Mugglesee Lake" in Germany. But, Muggel is spelled differently and I am terrible at clues. My first hint about Pink Floyd(The Wall) was not Blaine approved.
ReplyDeleteCharles Lindbergh & Berlin, Germany. My hint was NFPA which was correctly identified by musinglink as "National Fire Protection Association". Sparky the dog is their mascot. Sparky is also the nickname for Charles Shultz, creator of Charlie Brown, who both share Lindbergh's first name. And Charlie Brown's dog, Snoopy, flies a Sopwith Camel airplane against the German Red Baron. This also ties into what Lindbergh was famous for - aviation. I guess all that was convoluted enough to get through Blaine's filter. :) -- Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteCharles Schulz not Shultz! MG
DeleteCharles Lindbergh->Berlin, Germany
ReplyDeleteWhen Rob said there is a historical connection between the American and the city, I replied that I'd give that one a 6 out of 10, my reference was to "a 6" = "a six" (an anagram of Axis) = the city being one of the Axis capitals eventually and historically.
ReplyDeleteA powerful observation.
DeleteSpeaking of observations. From my vantage point in Tralfamadore I found the congressional hearings today more compelling than the Watergate hearings.
Delete(Charles)LINDBERGH, BERLIN(Germany)
DeletepjbAlmostConsideredUsing"NoMoreWords"Or"TakeMyBreathAway"AsHintsInSomeContext,BothBeingHitSongsByThe80sPopGroupBerlin,ButItProbablyWould'veBeenTMI
Say hi to Billy Pilgrim for us, Skydive. Interesting reference to the Watergate hearings, because I watched the Watergate hearings all Summer long. Either '73 or '74. That was also the time when I was hero worshipping Charles A. Linderbergh. I loved building model airplanes when I was a kid, and I especially loved the Spirit of St. Louis. I loved the way the struts came down to the bottom of the fuselage at a 45 degree angle. I loved how the landing gear hung straight down and the two struts that connected the wheels to the underside of the fuselage. I loved WWI biplanes and their complicated wrigging. Naturally, I loved snoopy and his Sopwith Camel. So called because part of the Vickers guns (the forward fixed machine guns at the pilot's eye level. The Camel had two) were covered by a metal coating that gave the impression of a hump. I have to admit that my models were sloppy. But I would sit and doodle pictures of biplanes: Fokker D-VII's, Camels and the Spirit of St. Louis, though it was completely different. There was no front windshield. Lindbergh had to use a periscope to see forward! Nowadays all pilots depend on their instruments to do their seeing. And also autopilot. Skydiveboy probably knows all this. I got this puzzle in a few minutes.
ReplyDeleteBilly asked me to say, Hi. Montana said, Hi too. I built a balsa Sopwith Camel way back in the day. Did you take a close look at my photo where I'm hanging by my feet from the leading edge of a Cessna 170? When I was stationed in Germany in the Sixties I would sometimes see a German pilot fly his red Fokker Dr.I triplane from my office window. He would do aerobatics and it was a duplicate of the Red Baron plane. I love doing aerobatics.
DeleteDidn't get to post yesterday; had an unplanned dental visit.
ReplyDeleteLindbergh/Berlin
The classic MGM film I referred to, as Musinglink recognized, is, "Meet me in Saint Louis."
Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic in the Spirit of Saint Louis
I wrote...
ReplyDelete"New Englanders can appreciate the pronunciation of this city's name in a certain 20th-century song."
In "We Didn't Start the Fire," Billy Joel places the stress on the first syllable of the city's name in the line "Dylan, BERlin, Bay of Pigs invasion." (Oh, the lengths to which poets go for trochaic tetrameter!) Similarly, we locals pronounce Berlin, MA, and Berlin, NH, with stress on the first syllable.
My hint: "There is a famous Australian who (sadly) shares something in common with this famous American. Strangely enough, they also share the same nickname. And if you take the Australian's last name, there's that same European capital again, only this time in order (though also with an extra letter somewhere in between)."
ReplyDeleteLike Charles Lindbergh, Alice Lynne "Lindy" Chamberlain also lost a child. She's the woman who was wrongly convicted in the early 1980s when Australian authorities refused to believe that a dingo really did eat her baby.
That is no surprise. My teachers would never believe a dingo ate my homework either.
DeleteTwo M&M workers were rescued from a vat of chocolate in Pennsylvania. Now, where have I heard that before?
ReplyDeleteReminds me of:
ReplyDeleteMan dies after falling into chocolate vat | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com › us-usa-chocolate-death › ma...
Jul 8, 2009 — A man fell into a vat of hot melted chocolate and died on Wednesday at a factory in New Jersey, a spokesman for the local public prosecutor ...
Coincidentally I was thinking of this yesterday evening. I thought it odd at the time that anyone would make a chocolate bar that large with only two nuts.
It was actually his wife.
DeleteAnd she fell into a vat of polycarbonate.
No it was not.
DeleteNEW YORK (Reuters) - A man fell into a vat of hot melted chocolate and died on Wednesday at a factory in New Jersey, a spokesman for the local public prosecutor said.
The 29-year-old man was among four workers on a platform above the vat who were dumping in pieces of solid chocolate to be melted down, said Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.
“He somehow slipped and fell into the vat,” Laughlin said. “Inside the vat, he was hit by a piece of equipment called the agitator that’s used to stir, and that killed him.”
Laughlin said the vat at the Cocoa Services Inc plant in Camden was around eight feet deep.
“At this point there’s no suggestion of foul play,” Laughlin said, adding that the man appeared to have died instantly from the blow to the head from the agitator.
But his wife? What happened to his wife?
DeleteWhat are you talking about?
DeleteI'm talking about an old joke where the vat held optical glass instead of plastic.
DeleteI guess I chose the wrong audience.
Yep.
DeleteShe was related to one of your skydivers.
DeleteYou may remember what happened to her when she backed into your drop plane's propeller.
Well I remember the lame joke about the woman who backed into a propeller. Disaster. But I don't see the connection.
DeleteI did mention that it was an old joke.
DeleteGet ready for the new puzzle.
Was the January 6th insurrection a Capitol offense?
ReplyDeleteWhen I am in email annoying popup ads appear to the right side of my screen. I always ignore them with disgust, but I just now took a closer look at one I have frequently seen before. It is a photograph of a young American man dressed in camouflage fatigue uniform and he has an intelligent look on his intent face. A closer examination reveals him to be perhaps of Mexican descent due to his black hair and complexion. Clearly this is a recruiting ad paid for by our military industrial complex. It is targeting minority citizens who may feel they have little future in civilian life. It is both clever and devious. In large print letters it says:
ReplyDeleteGET EXPERIENCE IN OVER 130 FIELDS
WHAT YOU LEARN HERE WILL LAST A LIFETIME
My first thought after reading the above enticement was, "Yeah, Flanders for instance, not to mention Gallipoli or Tarawa"
The real reason for Biden's capitulation to Saudi Arabia's MBS
ReplyDeleteTrita Parsi
MSNBC
June 18, 2022
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/biden-s-saudia-arabia-trip-looks-it-ll-be-terrible-n1296410
This week's challenge comes from listener Peter Collins, of Ann Arbor, Mich. Think of two famous people — one from business and one from entertainment — whose last names are anagrams of each other. Now take their first names, drop the last letter of each of them, and put the result together, without rearranging, and you'll get the full first name of a famous fictional character. Who are these people?
ReplyDeletePut one letter between the two first names to get the first two names of someone whose last name is composed of two common words.
ReplyDeleteMore than 2400 responses last week.
ReplyDelete