Q: The name of what country contains a deodorant and an air freshener in consecutive letters?I'm just going to keep quiet and say I agree.
Edit: The additional letters are SH ("keep quiet"). And in French, "d'accord" means I agree and it is pronounced similar to the capital of Dhaka.
A: BAN + GLADE (+ SH) = BANGLADESH
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.
Rearrange the letters of the products. You get an entity and an adjective usually not applied to that entity.
ReplyDeleteWith one notable exception.
DeleteMusical Clue: The Beatles
ReplyDeleteWhich EP?
DeleteIs that supposed to be one and the same name, a name shared by both the deodorant and the air freshener? If so, then I will "keep quiet" and "agree" with your clue.
ReplyDeleteMy answer is two different products, made by two different companies.
DeleteGot it. I haven't used either brand. I wonder if that is only because I haven't been to that country. 🤔
DeleteRemove the second letter from the air freshener, anagram the letters remaining from both brands, and get something you hope you won’t need.
ReplyDeleteAs I posted on last week's puzzle blog, I WOULD have been the one playing the NPR Sunday Puzzle on air with Will Shortz this morning - 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?
ReplyDeleteHowever, 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 - congrats!
I know how you feel. My call came when I was on jury duty and couldn't respond. Oh well.
DeleteI've added that number to my contacts, and set a distinctive ringtone!
DeleteMay I ask which time zone you refer to?
DeleteI realized I was saying "wrong number" when I got afternoon calls several times that horribly mangled my name, which usually means a nuisance call or the Red Cross wanting my blood. I added the pronunciation to the puzzle mail-in form & in 2016 got the call with my name perfectly pronounced.
DeleteI hear Aridfebreezeistan is lovely this time of year.
ReplyDeleteLOVE THIS!
DeleteI believe it's spelled Arridfebrezeistan (double r, single e) and it's next door to Secretairwickland. 😉
DeleteConditions have improved greatly since the truce with Axerenuzitia.
DeleteThe names of the deodorant and air freshener seem to overlap.
ReplyDeleteNot in my answer, they don't. Although, at first I wondered if the name was one and the same. But then I don't think "Ivory Coast" is the intended answer. (That country is more commonly referred to as Côte d'Ivoire anyway.)
DeleteI took another look and found the intended answer. Thanks, Wolfgang.
DeleteKaty Perry
ReplyDeleteThat is tmi.
DeleteApparently Blaine didn't think it was tmi.
DeleteBen's 'Beatles' hint immediately made me think of George (the quiet Beatle - sh) and his concert for Bangladesh. Then I thought about his Dark Horse record label. (Concert for Bangladesh was released on Apple, but i found that out later.) Googling 'dark horse' led me to this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KSOMA3QBU0
The BANGLES HAD some success with something related to Egypt, also, as I recall.
Such a scentsible puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt kinda stinks.
DeleteIt had me sweating.
DeleteEast and West, now only West. I don't believe many people in the country use both products.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI have the answer. I started with MONACO, Air Freshener ONA worked, but not CO...
ReplyDeleteI take that back. CO = Coconut Oil.
DeleteMona could work. Remember the old commercials with the shared medicine cabinet?
DeleteHappy Festival to all those who celebrate today. MEOW!
ReplyDeleteI recall seeing a guy from a part of the country on TV pretty often a while back.
ReplyDeleteCute puzzle, but I was never in jeopardy of missing this one.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI won a contest for Worst Body Odor. No one else came close.
ReplyDeleteThis country benefited from MSG.
ReplyDeleteJust a month ‘til the Fourth of July. I can hardly wait.
ReplyDeleteAs a young man, I left the my produder's job at a record label to work as a stevedore during my middle years. Right after that... well, it's probably best to be quiet about that!
ReplyDeleteLegoSharingEmploymentHistory
Lego, "pro-duder" like at a western U.S ranch? ;-)
DeleteThanks, Word Woman. Over on Puzzleria!, our friend ViolinTeddy is constantly posting corrections to my many gaffes. Could this perhaps be the record label to which I alluded?
DeleteLegoTypographicAndPhonographicErrer
Not the best puzzle ever, but cute.
ReplyDeleteWasn't aware that the deodorant was still being made. Haven't noticed it in a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I thought of the country I may have been rocking the deodorant.
ReplyDeleteAnother instant get (I don't get that many). Shhh!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteName a country that contains a body part and a tree in consecutive letters.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteHouse courtesy rules include not answering puzzles until Thursday afternoon.
DeletePhilippines: lip, pine
DeleteSure, let's use a puzzle featuring a product that emits VOCs like formaldehyde .
ReplyDeleteDebbie Downer
DeleteBut the product may have an important role during this public health emergency.
DeleteDo you think the VOCs are a big enough problem that we should ban Glade?
Deletejan, I'm not sure about that. They are banned in my home. I'm very sensitive to air fresheners and can't stay long in rooms where they are used. {Unless, perhaps, you're just having fun with the word play ;-)}. WW/DD
DeleteI am happy to solve this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHappy is glad, which is in Bangladesh.
DeleteThe loopholes in the hint turn out not to be important.
ReplyDeleteI got the air freshener right away...I was able to figure out the deodorant from there once I thought of a country containing the air freshener.
ReplyDeleteChange one color in the country's flag and you will have the flag of a different country. Interesting. MEOW!
ReplyDeleteNot quite correct. Those who've solved this puzzle can look up the country's flag and will notice a slight off-centeredness. Your different country's flag has NO SUCH off-centeredness.
DeleteHowever, if you change TWO COLORS in the country's flag, then YOU DO get a different country's flag including the off-centeredness!
Enough of this colorful dialogue!
DeleteTo "Big Bang Theory" fans: Boy, would I have been a terrific guest on one of Sheldon Cooper's "Fun With Flags" webcam episodes!
DeleteWhat's the record for puzzles ideas submitted to Will, with none ever being used? I'm up to 4 now...maybe they're all bad ideas....
ReplyDeleteMaybe being a seven year-old is an advantage to having a puzzle aired. I submitted a puzzle about a year ago and said they could use it if they solved it correctly. I never heard back from them. I thought the "Puzzle Master" would at least give it a try. The recent GUAM Puzzle was a great disappointment because it did not have a unique answer, yet there was no mention of the other correct solutions. This is not the first time this has happened. Number Puzzles are the most difficult for regular NPR listeners to solve based on the number of correct answers revealed.
DeleteI created and submitted the GUAM → MAUI puzzle, and while there might be lesser-known islands that also technically work (eg. CAT → TAE, like you mentioned), I couldn't find another pair of commonly-known islands that fit the puzzle. Let me know if you thought of any.
DeleteOK Blaine. We all appreciate everything you do, and again, many thanks for allowing us to express our differences of opinions. I'm sure there are other island solutions. Maybe a computer program can find them with little effort. Too bad Will Shortz doesn't give credit for perfectly good alternative solutions. Stay well and thanks again. MEOW!
DeleteVandal,
DeleteI have sent more puzzles I have created directly to Will than I can count, but only two have been used so far, although he has said he is considering some. I just a few days ago sent him a puzzle that is similar to this one, but better and not as easily solved, which he has told us here he tries to do. Lego will be using it soon. It involves a very well known island that is not found on the usual online lists. This makes it more didactic, which I like. Also, as I have posted here in the past, he has dumbed down my puzzles that he has used. Keep trying, but expect to be disappointed.
This week's puzzle was way too easy and I solved it without getting out of bed in about 5 minutes. I didn't expect this either because I do not buy or use products such as these and thought I would have to use lists, but both brand names came to me right away.
SDB ( or anyone that knows), beyond the on-air acknowledgement, does the puzzle submitter receive anything?
DeleteI submitted one several years ago. On air acknowledgement was all I got. And yes my puzzle was seriously dumbed down.
DeleteBlaine,
DeleteYes! My first was the December 29, 2019 Justin Trudeau puzzle. I received nothing from NPR, but some flak from blog posters, the one that stands out in my mind is:
cranberry Sun Dec 29, 02:33:00 PM PST
SDB, you are an enigma unto yourself. Here you are, constantly complaining that the Sunday Puzzle is much too easy most weeks, and then your latest submission turns out to be the easiest puzzle you've ever actually created yourself. Familiar with the word "irony", by any chance?
Will Shortz does not ask if he may dumb down our puzzle submissions; he just does it and have to deal with the flak. It does seem to me that when NPR uses one we created, we should at least get a lousy pin or T-shirt.
I submitted the one that involved changing BOY BAND to BOB DYLAN, or vice versa. I thought it would be clever to say something along the lines of "you wouldn't expect one to use the music of the other", because I don't think any boy band has ever sang any of Dylan's songs(they're such different musical styles anyway), but he cut that part out. I think it really lost something as a result. Be happy you only get on-air acknowledgment.
DeletepjbGotThisWeek'sFastAndWithoutConsultingAnyListsWhatsoever!
If it makes you feel better, I've submitted like 12 different puzzles at this point, to no avail. I've tried different levels of difficulty, different kinds, themes, even tested them out on friends. Alas. So I might hold the record for most/least Vandal. Which, in it's own way, is its own reward. The lesson all along was the friends we made along the way... :P
DeletePercy,
DeleteSince we are on this topic let me show you one I sent Will and was rejected and Lego ran last week on Puzzleria! Then tell me why he would not use this puzzle.
Think of a four-syllable word for color. Insert an “s” in the middle. You can now break the result into three new words. One word is a synonym for ranch.
The other two words are animals (mammals) you would find on that ranch.
What are these words?
Answer:
pigmentation + S = pig men station (Station is what a ranch is called in countries such as Australia and New Zealand.)
Very nice observation. I surmise WS did not choose this because 1) men are animals? 2) the npr puzzle is US-centric … unless mentioned explicitly nomenclature from other countries is not considered… I would have had no idea of station being ranch but I admit I am not that good!
DeleteWell, Sarma, I have to disagree with you on both points. Men are indeed animals and mammals. The puzzle is frequently not at all US-centric, and when it is not, it is not usually mentioned in the presentation. As to station being a synonym of ranch, look it up online. Also I have known this fact for around two thirds of a century. (The last century, in case you are wondering.) Why does Will Shortz have to know everything? He didn't know Mexicans consider "beaner" to be a slur. I defended him on that point BTW. I prefer my puzzle creations to be didactic if possible, and I am not at all concerned with what WS may or may not know. Many of his puzzle offerings are filled with facts/persons I have no knowledge of at all. There is more to the world than what exists within our borders, and most of it is far more interesting.
DeleteYou do make some convincingly good points!
DeleteIs Florida a country?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSorry.
DeleteAnother Kahn job from Will.
ReplyDeleteThe great architect, Louis Kahn, designed the nation's capital building complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is described as his greatest work.
DeleteOne of the first World Series games I remember was the 1968 World Series.
ReplyDeleteDetroit vs. The Saint Louis Cardinals.
I was 6, and I remember, as I and several other kids were waiting for the bus to take us from Ottawa Valley school to our various homes in the Detroit suburbs, Mt. Clemens to be exact, one of the women in the office would tell us the score over the intercom so we wouldn't miss a minute. One of my more pleasant memories. Detroit won!
I think. I was only 6.
Oh, one last thing, the nickname for the St. Louis Cardinals was either the Cards or the Redbirds.
ReplyDeleteBlaine: i enjoy this blog since I discovered this a few weeks ago….I am still puzzled about your connection to NPR.. whether you work for NPR… how can you get answers to ALL puzzles instantly! And how can you monitor to remove posts.. do you have a staff… is it not possible you are not free on a given Sunday… I am dying to know..
ReplyDeleteI have no affiliation with NPR. I'm just a fan of Will Shortz and the Sunday puzzle. I do not get any inside information on the puzzle or the answer. I get up every Sunday and wait for the puzzle to be posted and then do my best to solve the puzzle, find/create some appropriate artwork and then post a comment or hint to show I have the answer. There have been a small number of times where I have been stumped and had to post the puzzle without a hint, but I usually come back shortly after when I've figured out the answer. If I'm away, I'll still try to post using my phone but if we're of somewhere with no signal (eg. camping), I have a scheduled placeholder post. Certainly I can't be checking post constantly but I try my best, especially on Sunday morning to be on the lookout for spoiler posts.
DeleteGood work Blaine. Do you remember the math puzzle maybe five years ago that asked for the probability of having a false positive laboratory specimen result with certain given parameters? If so, please post the date of that puzzle. It would be a good puzzle in this COVID-19 era. Thanks.
DeleteThat doesn't sound like an NPR puzzle (since Will prefers word puzzles). But it is a topic that is often discussed in statistics/probability courses.
DeleteBlaine,
DeleteWOW! I found the puzzle thanks to your Puzzle Labels at the top of the web page. It wasn't about false positives, but still a probabiity problem worth reading again. It's the Puzzle from July 4, 2012. I wonder if WS attempted to solve this one? This type of brain exercise is extremely healthly and helps us avoid our dotage. It's a pleasure to be part of this creative group of followers. MEOW!
Ah! That was a GeekDad puzzle, not an NPR puzzle. Those were a lot more math oriented, which I enjoyed.
DeleteThere is a good clue on here.
ReplyDeleteIt's time for another number sequence puzzle. Find the missing number in this series:
ReplyDelete80 60 7 10 20 17 ???
This is the one WS would not accept. The solution will be easy to some and impossible to others. Please don't spend too much time thinking about it. Best wishes to all. MEOW!
BONUS: Provide the next two numbers in the series.
Got it from a concrete clue on this blog.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw Rickster's clue ( thank you) about Kahn job I thought of Louis Kahn the architect of the Parliament building in Bangladesh. Kahn was known for working with concrete, hence my clue.
DeleteBlaine: thanks for answering my questions.. kudos to your acumen and dedication..
ReplyDeleteGot it! And I'm posting from an airport...thrilled that travel restrictions have been loosened a bit.
ReplyDelete(That is, I was glad[e] not to be dealing with a travel ban.)
DeleteDid anyone else notice WS skipped the Taipei item in the on-air challenge about world capitals? (It's still in the transcript.)
ReplyDeleteNo clue here…unless Tai and Wan are brand names I haven't yet heard of. 😏
Oh, and he skipped the Bucharest item as well.
DeleteMy guess is that he didn't skip them, but that they were edited out.
DeleteInteresting they should still be in the transcript, though.
DeleteI'm surprised you have not noticed this before. It is common for some of those listed not to have been aired. I do not know if they are edited out, or just not used.
DeleteI don't normally pay much attention to that. It's just that when WS omitted the Taipei item, it instantly crossed my mind whether he had decided to do that on the fly because of the easily volatile political dimension. But of course it may have been quasi-random—maybe he had intended all along to use 10, and had brought 12 just to be "safe."
DeleteI am reasonably sure it is the latter. Always better to have more than fewer. Sometimes only 4 or 5 are aired. However when he skips over one it could be an edit out or he changed his mind in the middle of the recording session.
DeleteYep, better than to run out out of material. 😎
DeleteThe name of each product can be pared down indefinitely, by removing a letter from one end or the other, always leaving a valid English word.
ReplyDeletea cheers episode comes to mind perhaps
ReplyDeletesame deodorant different country, one of these things is not like the other no wit sti me top lay ou rga me
DeleteAh, I am in my element with this puzzle!
ReplyDeleteAt first I tried to make elan musk work.
ReplyDeleteQ: What does a beginning law student smell like?
DeleteA: One-L Musk.
i'll bet there is a three-L musk.
DeleteBy George! I think I got it!
ReplyDeleteI've gotten two answers but only one of them is the intended.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you my alternative answer because it has the same deodorant as the intended one..
ReplyDeleteYour mother should know about both of these products
ReplyDeleteA dozen students who feel they were unjustly expelled from a Florida clown school for repeatedly acting like a bunch of Bozos are suing for immediate reinstatement.
ReplyDeleteALBANIA >>> ALBA, NIA
ReplyDelete"Ah, I am in my element with this puzzle!" Al, Ba, Ni (and A) >>> Aluminum, Barium, Nickel
Puzzleria! this week features a nifty, "alphabet-shify," fifty-fifty-chance-of-solving" puzzle created by our friend Rudolfo that involves liquid measures and electical circuits. It appears in his always-challenging an intriguing "Puzzles Rudolfo" feature.
ReplyDeletePuzzleria! is uploaded weekly in the wee hours of Friday morning, just after Midnight Pacific Daylight Time.
Also on our menus this week are:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week involving inventors, governors, novels and more!...
* a "Sinfully Sinless" Slice-of-Puzzle about a heaven-bound train,
* a Dessert about a handful of athletes organizing a game of pick-up street hoops, and
* eleven riff-offs of this week's "underarm-up-in-the-fresh-air" NPR puzzle.
So, stop by and visit this week's Puzzleria! to scarf down some of Rudolfo's "shiftiness" and other mystifying labyrinthine niftiness!
LegoWhoWondersWhatWeOughtToDoFirst:BanishBanOrGetRidOfGlade!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete"...alphabet-shifTy"..., not "shify"!
DeleteLegoWhoBelieves"Shify"(WithoutThe"T")MayBeShorthandSlangFor"Chiffon"OrWhatAdamSchiff'sCloseFriendsCallHim
Bangladesh = Ban & Glade
ReplyDeleteBANGLADESH —> BAN, GLADE
ReplyDelete“Remove the second letter from the air freshener, anagram the letters remaining from both brands, and get something you hope you won’t need.” BAN + GADE —> BANDAGE
BANGLADESH (BAN, GLADE)
ReplyDelete> Which EP?
Bangladesh used to be known as East Pakistan.
> The name of each product can be pared down indefinitely, by removing a letter from one end or the other, always leaving a valid English word.
BAN -> AN -> A, GLADE -> GLAD -> LAD -> AD -> A. Other parings work, too.
True, but it should be pointed out that there were not two Pakistans. IN 1947 when India split to create Pakistan it was split in an unworkable way with most to the West and a smaller part to the East.
DeleteBan & Glade — Bangladesh
ReplyDeleteI will say this puzzle has given me some ideas for puzzles that start with "Take the name of a country." I might actually start submitting them, so…give it a couple of months…who knows…. Anyway, thanks, Ben Bass! 😃👍
BAN, GLADE → BANGLADESH. My clue said that I remember a guy from part of the country appearing often on TV a while bs, referring to the 60’s “Man From Glad” commercials.
ReplyDeleteBANGLADESH → BAN + GLADE.
ReplyDeleteBAN + GLADE.
DeleteI wrote, “Rearrange the letters of the products. You get an entity and an adjective usually not applied to that entity.” That’s BAD ANGEL.
ReplyDeleteI thought Blaine's word "silent" might have referred to the opposite of Bang in the word Bangladesh.
ReplyDeleteI though it referred to what was left after you removed BAN and GLADE from BANGLADESH: "SH".
DeleteJan: You are probably correct. Clever
DeleteBANGLADESH, BAN + GLADE
ReplyDeleteMy musical clue was the Beatles. Because Beatle George Harrison produced the Concert for Bangladesh when I was a kid.
That was my answer as well. My alternative answer was ALBANIA <<<<<BAN and ALBA
DeleteBangladesh --> Ban, Glade
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Just a month ‘til the Fourth of July” with lots of fireworks and firecrackers that go Bang.
Ban, Glade, from Babgladesh. My clue was the nickname for the Detroit Tigers: The Bengals.
ReplyDeleteWatching the Cliburn Competition now. Semi-Finals
ReplyDeleteAnd they're allowing Russians to participate? How unsupportive of Ukraine.
DeleteWhat's the classical music equivalent of "sportswashing"?
DeleteOnly one American in the Semi Finals. Not sure how politics and the arts relate. An ethical issue.
Deletehttps://cliburn.org/official-cliburn-statement-regarding-russian-pianists-participating-in-screening-auditions-march-6-12/
DeleteNatasha,
DeleteThanks for posting that. I agree with it fully.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/arts/music/cliburn-piano-competition-texas-ukraine-war.html
DeleteI cannot access NYT articles any more. I am supposed to get ten free each week or month, but It keeps blocking me with a statement that I have reached my limit. And they are right; I have reached my limit!
DeleteI just got it free today for awhile.
DeleteBangladesh (Ban, Glade)
ReplyDeleteI just now came across this headline:
ReplyDelete"Uvalde's school district police chief said he intentionally left his radios behind when responding to the mass shooting because he thought they would slow him down"
Isn't it wonderful to have so much time to come up with an excuse like this to explain why you are a coward and failed to do the job you were both trained and paid to do? It also makes us wonder just much slower could he have been?
BANGLADESH, BAN(deodorant), GLADE(air freshener)
ReplyDeletepjbNeverRealized"ALBANIA"WouldMakeAGoodAlternativeAnswer,ButItDoesMakeSenseNowThatHe'sLookedUpBoth"ALBA"And"NIA",AndBothActuallyExist!
I would say that anyone who uses products such as GLADE in order to improve their room odor doesn't know beans about achieving results organically.
ReplyDeleteI just now failed to get the answer to an archived WORDLE. I had all but 2 of the letters. There were no vowels (aeiouy) The answer was SBJCT. WTF?
ReplyDeleteWhoa!! Archived WORDLE puzzles are available again!? Could you please show me where before the NYT shuts that one down AS WELL!!??
Deletehttps://mywordle.org/
DeleteSDB: Have you watched the Van Cliburn Competition? I am addicted.
DeleteNo, not this year. I would like it better if it had less piano playing.
DeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Theodore Regan, of Scituate, Mass. 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?
ReplyDeleteSolved it. Waiting for Blaine...
ReplyDeleteThere is an unfortunate connection between the person and the capital.
ReplyDeleteIndeed there is. An inconvenient reminder.
ReplyDeleteThere was a biopic about this person which never mentioned the connection to the capital. Oh well, good old Hollywood.
DeleteAgreed. AND it's too easy.
ReplyDeleteMy heart just isn't in this one.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow
ReplyDeleteToo bad Don Alonzo Joshua Upham and Don Alonzo Watson were 19th-Century Americans.
ReplyDeleteMike Donilon is a senior advisor to President Biden, and was born in the 20th Century, and Thomas E. Donilon was National Security Advisor to President Obama.
DeleteLisa Bonet works if you don't flip the halves.
DeleteRemember, it's just the last name.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTake the last name of a famous 20th-century American. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th letters, in that order, name a European capital.
ReplyDelete