Sunday, December 11, 2022

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 11, 2022): Keep Calm and Carry On

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Dec 11, 2022): Keep Calm and Carry On
Q: Many people carry _____ (4-letter word) in a _____ (5-letter word) to make _____ (9-letter word). You can rearrange the letters of the first two words (the 4- and 5-letter ones) to get the last word (the 9-letter one). What words are these?
Actually NOT true for many people.

Edit: Most men don't carry purses and cash is used less often these days for purchases compared to debit/credit/phone transactions.
A: CASH in a PURSE to make PURCHASES

173 comments:

  1. A welcome relief after last week. Should be many correct submissions and not much controversy.

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  2. On a positive note, somebody finally got rid of the "two-week challenge" text.

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  3. Many people love the fall, spring, and summer, but I suspect the fewest love the winter.

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  4. I'm pretty sure there won't be much controversy about the intended answer. There may be more controversy about whether it's true as stated.

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  5. Fewer than 100 correct entries this week.

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    Replies
    1. I wonder if it was closer to 0 or 99. You'd think they could come right out and say it.

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  6. I have an answer that works but I suspect there will be more than one answer that works...

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  7. The on-air player, Dan Peirce of Lincoln, Mass, was amazingly fast!

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    Replies
    1. He sure was. I hadn't even heard of 2 of the board games.

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  8. This feels like a puzzle where there can be more than one correct answer. Even with the anagram requirement, it seems kind of wide open.

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    Replies
    1. I came up with over a dozen silly responses that fit the criteria. Are you chaps sure you have the right one?

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    2. Yes, I'm reasonably certain.

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  9. Any clue I might have this week must pertain to a
    "popular commercial game" NOT mentioned in the on-air segment.

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    Replies
    1. Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my PURSE steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands: But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed.
      That's from OTHELLO.

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  10. I do this virtually all the time.

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  11. Two things associated with the holiday season.

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  12. I cannot recall hearing a better on-air performance. Dan Pierce must have been born with an excellent anagram gene in his brain.

    LegoWhoWishesThatManyOfUsWouldHaveBeenBornWithABrainThatWouldGiveUsABetterAbilityToManageOurAnger#@&%*#%!

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    Replies
    1. Lego: Dan Peirce is the correct spelling, I believe. I researched the name on the internet.

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  13. I carry beer in a cooler so I can recolor bees.

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  14. My clue (and it's not an insult): trash.

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    Replies
    1. "Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; / 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands."

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  15. Let's see. This puzzle is at a 4th grade level. . .

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  16. As several others have said already, I am not one who does what the puzzle says.

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  17. A solution-easy, hint-difficult puzzle today.

    Re: last week's, Molson Ice never hit my radar. When it comes to selling alcohol in grocery stores, Massachusetts has RULES. Replace "you might buy at a grocery" with "you might buy at a packie," and the degree of difficulty lowers significantly for us Bay Staters.

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    Replies
    1. The person that won is from Massachusetts, though. I'm also from a state that doesn't (really) sell liquor in grocery stores, yet at least one other person from my state got it right. So, it was possible to solve it, but it was a bit of an uphill climb.

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    2. Props to the winner for overcoming the Commonwealth's Byzantine regulations.

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    3. I live in New Orleans, where I can, and do, buy beer at the grocery store, but neither Michelob nor Molson's is on my radar. I'm more inclined toward Urban South and Abita.

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  18. Looking at things with nine letters one might make got me nowhere; what does one carry to make cocktails? I took a break and went running with my dog, and wasn't especially thinking about the puzzle when the answer came to me. I love it when that happens!

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  19. Got it. The letters in the final word remind me of another puzzle I've seen recently.

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  20. The speed at which another member of my household got the answer nudged me in the right direction. (And I agree that the savant like performance of today's contestant was quite impressive.)

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  22. I almost wonder if the on-air guest used an anagram app to get the answers so quickly, since most of the game names are common words.

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    1. I don't know. Some people (not me!) are just really fast. To some extent, I wonder if the difficulty of the last puzzle meant that there was going to be a topnotch player. Of course, some good puzzle solvers are not very fast, so the two variables are not necessarily correlated.

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    2. That's certainly possible, Tortitude. The one-air player certainly seemed good.

      This week's puzzle was incredibly easy, I expect a wider range of skill levels for those sending in entries.

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

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

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    1. I suspect I would have gotten the answer eventually on my own, but this clue pushed me over the edge while I was considering possibilities this evening.

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  25. Last week I couldn't buy an answer to the puzzle, and this week I got it on the first read through. I guess we're back to the stupid simple.

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  26. A bit off topic, but I'd like to know how Will selects which puzzles to use. Does he just accept the first good puzzle? Does he wait until a certain point in the week to make a decision? It seems as if even if he gets (say) 10 good puzzles in a week, one makes it on the air and the others are thrown out forever. Is that right?

    I tried twice to send puzzles through the website, and just got an automated response. I think the puzzles were reasonably good, maybe not great. They were short and to the point and the writing was fine, but Will seems to edit the puzzles anyway.

    Is there a best time of the week to send in a puzzle via the submission form? For all I know, Will liked my puzzles (if he saw them at all), but already had a winner for the week. Or maybe they were terrible, but I have no way of knowing that either.

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    1. I can't imagine any scenario other than him having a bank of puzzles, perhaps hundreds deep, that he has developed or collected over the years. I'm sure he has the next many weeks already "penciled in" for the broadcast.

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    2. He seems partial to his puzzle buddies.

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    3. If only he would permanently defer to others (retire), we might get back to some puzzles that it takes you days to solve, instead of minutes. I remember back in the late 1980s when the program started I was pretty much in awe of Will. He served up a puzzle you really had to think about to solve. And from a man who created his own degree @ Indiana University.

      I don't know where the shift occurred, to these silly third grade word plays (I REFUSE to call these puzzles). It's like watching your favorite athlete humiliate himself by staying in the game too long. This is watching Jerry Rice, perhaps the greatest receiver of all time, bounce from team to team in his last few years struggling to be relevant just to collect the check. Most fans just averted their eyes.

      I can't imagine the WS of 1990 is proud of this puzzle today, or most of them this year.

      It just makes me sad to watch.

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    4. @Buck Bard, it's interesting that you would write that. I've only been aware of and playing the NPR Sunday Puzzle since 2019, and these "word plays" are basically all I've seen here. I do remember (and remember enjoying) two counterexamples in my limited time, though:
      - September 1, 2019 (https://www.npr.org/2019/09/01/756361170/sunday-puzzle-pardon-my-french)
      - January 26, 2020 (https://www.npr.org/2020/01/26/799536775/sunday-puzzle-tepees)
      More of these types of puzzles would certainly be welcome. Maybe no one's submitting them.

      What types of puzzles used to appear?

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    5. Two thoughts on your reply. First to your comment "Maybe no one's submitting them." WS has made a career of creating puzzles. He isn't just some guy that does it in his spare time. This is his profession. He does not rely on submissions for the puzzle. Of course, he takes submissions from listeners. But each puzzle has his stamp of approval.

      Second, I can't say I remember specific puzzles. I can only relate my experience through the 1990s where I would try to solve the puzzle over the week. Maybe half of the time I would get the answer by Thursday. The fun was getting the answer.

      Today most puzzles I look at on Sunday morning are solved over my first or second cup of coffee. They're just ridiculously easy. Very few of these dumb word plays that we see today.

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    6. I'm baffled by it too. His guest puzzles, like the one today, can be very challenging. I looked at those questions this morning online prior to their being aired on air. I could only get 3 or 4. I never heard of the others. The only board game I have played in decades is chess, but it was omitted just as was Sh*ts and Bladders.

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    7. I personally would find it hard to come up with novel, interesting puzzles each week, but I suppose that that could be a fair demand of "Weekend Edition's Puzzle Master."

      The guest puzzles are of a different nature, generally being a number of iterations of a simple concept. The concepts themselves would be too simple to base a Sunday puzzle on, and the interest lies in the repetition as some instances may be more difficult than others. I can't imagine any of the individual instances making for an acceptable Sunday puzzle, nor do the Sunday puzzles tend to rely on iteration. (Avoiding iteration does ease scoring.)

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    8. It would be nice if, when WS decides not to use a puzzle, we could receive a form "rejection letter" saying so. That way we could submit rejected puzzles elsewhere, or post them here in case anyone was interested, instead of being precluded by NPR's proviso that all submissions become its property.

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    9. Why would you pay any attention to an "agreement" you do not agree with, or sign?

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    10. You own the copyright to anything you write.

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    11. I think you're right the blanket provision wouldn't be enough to waive your copyright. Though interestingly, the ABA requires that a winning fiction contest
      entrant grants them an exclusive right of first publication of the entry, so I assume they believe that's a valid condition. At any rate, copyright doesn't protect ideas, so NPR could use your puzzle idea without your permission even if you published it elsewhere. I think it would be at least courteous if they would tell you they aren't going to use your submission so you could avoid multiple publication and later rip-offs.

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    12. Nodd and Joshua: It is encouraging to see you take up issues that Will Shortz and NPR have stonewalled me on for 20 years.
      While you are at it, find out how much "public radio" and "contributions from people like us" pay the Puzzlemaster for his efforts.

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    13. @Mendo, I don't have any special access and certainly haven't been playing this too long, so I'm not necessarily in the best position to criticize. Nonetheless, I did submit the below through the "Suggest a puzzle idea" after MOLSON ICE was confirmed as the answer last week. We'll see if it goes anywhere. (I'm doubtful.)

      -----------------------------------------------

      (1/n) I've been listening to and participating in the NPR Sunday Puzzle since my wife discovered it in 2019. It normally provides a pleasant diversion, and I can usually find the answers either on my own or with some scripting.

      Unfortunately, the last few months have shown a rather significant drop in quality and, especially, quality control. I don't know what's going on, but these issues have negatively affected at least me -- and likely other solvers -- who only want fair puzzles and don't like wasting their time. Examples of what I mean:

      - 8/28/2022 (https://www.npr.org/2022/08/28/1119804026/sunday-puzzle-switcharoo): The puzzle was simply misstated, originally asking to shift the wrong letter. A correction was finally posted after (or around when) submissions were due. Will admitted the mistake but seemed to almost express pride that some solvers determined the intended answer anyway. ...

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    14. (2/n=2) ...
      - 10/2/2022 (https://www.npr.org/2022/10/02/1126453619/puzzle-10-02-22): Here we were asked for two well-known brand name products, "one found in the supermarket, one for something used outdoors." The intended answers were MICHELOB and MICHELIN. On-air, Will was forced to admit that alcohol -- and hence Michelob -- cannot be found in supermarkets everywhere. He didn't admit that Michelin is a company name, not the name of a product. In short, neither answer really fit the specification.
      - 10/23/2022 (https://www.npr.org/2022/10/23/1130728805/sunday-puzzle-opposites-attract): This puzzle seemed over-specified to make "Everything Everywhere All at Once" the answer. Cluing a movie that had been out for little more than half a year as "popular" seemed like a stretch; I would have preferred "recent."
      - 11/27/2022 (https://www.npr.org/2022/11/27/1139275402/sunday-puzzle-jokes-on-you): Online we were told to expect a phone call on "Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. ET." Of course, that date didn't exist in 2022. I assume Thursday, Dec. 1" was meant, but it was impossible to be sure and my email request for clarification went unanswered. For those of us who don't always have a cellphone on us, knowing exactly when to expect a call is incredibly important.
      - We used to always hear how many people answered correctly, or at least we were given a rough estimate. This is no longer consistent, and many weeks we have received no such information. Disappointing, as learning (in some sense) how hard the puzzle was was a primary benefit of tuning in. (Plus, knowing there were lots of solvers is really the only way to assess the "fairness" of the puzzle.)

      OK, mistakes happen, but then there was the 12/4/2022 (https://www.npr.org/2022/12/04/1140101541/sunday-puzzle-tldr-challenge) puzzle. We were asked to anagram a "symbol punctuation mark on a computer keyboard" to "get the brand name of a product you might buy at a grocery, in two words." Ignoring the missing "or" between "symbol" and "punctuation mark" in the clue, I went to work. I considered large lists of symbol names, long lists of popular brands, and the complete set of Wikipedia page titles as well as a list of English words. Nothing. Why did I miss the answer of SEMICOLON -> MOLSON ICE? Easy! I'd never heard of Molson as a brand -- it appears to be moderately localized -- and it didn't show up in any of my brand lists. Also, I've never heard of "Molson Ice" as a product, and it isn't a product that justified a Wikipedia page or even inclusion on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Molson_Coors_brands. More relevantly, it's an alcoholic beverage, and after the 10/2/2022 puzzle Will already accepted that alcoholic beverages cannot be found in supermarkets everywhere. Anyone who was aware of that would have naturally assumed that Will wouldn't make that mistake again, that an alcoholic beverage would be clued in some other way than as a "product you might buy at a grocery." Cluing that answer in this particular way strikes me as malicious, as Will would KNOW that that would put it outside the reach of a large number of listeners. I'm not at all surprised that there were fewer than 100 correct answers, though I personally would have also accepted BENDED ARROW -> WONDER BREAD that I know some people submitted.

      All of the above is leaving me less-than-thrilled about continuing to participate in this. If invalid clues based on assumptions that are already known (and declared!) to be invalid will be regularly provided then it's likely that I'll routinely waste significant effort chasing an answer that doesn't really exist (according to the puzzle's precise specifications). Why should I subject myself to that possibility if Will doesn't seem concerned with verifying that puzzles are correct and general in reach?

      Delete
    15. Joshua Green,
      If you do not get a response, by a human, from NPR, I suggest you mail that to them via USPS. It deserves answers.

      Delete
  27. I'm going to call a Spade a Spade, and say I got this one pretty quickly.

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  28. Many carry one without the other

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  29. One would think that a puzzlemaster would know the difference between an anagram and a jumble, which this week's on-air "Battle of the Board Games" involved.
    Then he called this week's puzzle a rearrangement, where anagram was correct in an otherwise OK challenge.
    This after failing to take any responsibility for last week's flop and concealing the actual number of correct submissions.
    Seems like less fun every week.

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  30. My wife, Lois (another pseudonym), got the answer before me and said, "Clark, I'm glad I could relieve you of your weekly angst!"

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  31. I think it would be more accurate to say many people carry the first word, but fewer carry it in the second, and probably even fewer carry it to do the third, most of the time.

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  33. The answer has a connection to a puzzle from earlier this year.

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    Replies
    1. There was a puzzle about Johnny Cash on April 3, 2022.

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  34. Rearrange the 9-letter word, and get two types of trees.

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  35. I'm reminded of a ruptured spleen.

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  36. Earlier, someone suggested that this week’s puzzle was at about a 4th grade level. Here’s a similar one I wrote several years ago that’s more at the Junior High or High School level. I can’t remember if Lego published it or not but if it looks familiar, just ignore it please.

    Fill in the blanks to make a sensible sentence. Add the first three letters of the second missing word to the first two letters of the first missing word to get the third missing word – no rearranging necessary. Hint: all missing words begin with the same letter.

    When they’re interrupted, people _ _ _ _ _ while _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the _ _ _ _ _ .

    When you know the answer, just shout it out. No waiting for a certain day.

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  37. This puzzle may have been easier to solve during the 20th century.

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  38. I sometimes carry pups in a crate to make my cat supper, but I think I'm in the minority on this.

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  39. I feel like a chump for taking so long to solve it.

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  40. True of the late Abe Lincoln, not true of many LATER presidents.

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    Replies
    1. Lincoln's ' pocket contents, at the time of his death, included a 5 dollar bill, Confederate (source: the Library of Congress). Recent presidents (Obama, Clinton) have allegedly had their plastic cards rejected..And George W. Bush, asked his spending habits, told a Spanish language reporter, "No dinero."

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  41. A Pink Floyd song comes to mind. Maybe a Beatles song? And a country artist.

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  42. Replies
    1. An interesting man, and one badass fighter pilot.

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  43. Like so many words, one of these things has many meanings, including a specific meaning for several sports

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  44. As I have posted many times before on this blog, I do not watch TV, but an exception is 60 Minutes sometimes. Well, I just now finished watching and in these troubling times I sincerely hope all of you take the time to go online and watch the third segment they ran this evening:

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cape-town-college-of-magic-2022-12-11/

    The true magic of this segment is not the magic tricks shown in the show, but the magic of the kids. This is really must see TV. Please do watch and enjoy.

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  45. Musical clue: I started with Phil Ochs, then moved over to, uh, someone who shall remain nameless.

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    1. I too started with Phil Ochs, when he believed in, inter alia, Connecticut Sen. Thomas J. Dodd, Sr.

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  46. Maybe this weeks puzzle is easy so as to give us time to work on the Super Mega Crossword pull out section in the NY Times. I think it came out this weekend. Got to find myself a copy.

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    1. This puzzle is crap simply because crap is the vast majority of what we are presented with. It has nothing at all to do with crossword puzzles elsewhere. Defending the poor quality puzzles here is not at all dissimilar to defending Congress for failing to deliver. Submit a quality puzzle and it will almost certainly be turned down, and, as I have posted here before, he turns most down without reasons given. And when reasons are provided they frequently contradict themselves.

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    2. Per the New York Times Games account on Twitter, the Super Mega Crossword puzzle will be out on Dec. 18.

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    3. Looking forward to it, too!

      https://twitter.com/NYTGames/status/1598381054657761280

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  47. Hmmm. Molson Ice is nine letters.

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    Replies
    1. Can you carry sole in a monic to make that…? 🤔

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    2. As long as you do not harm a monic.

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    3. Don't you mean as long as you do not harm Monica?

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    4. We wouldn't want to do that either.

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  48. I finally got it after jockeying for position.

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  49. The Heimlich maneuver has saved many lives in our country, whereas in Germany they were in danger of choking on a recent Heinrich maneuver.

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  50. Replies
    1. Moonslice is one word, not two.

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    2. So is Moonsicle, as you correctly said last week. And WS still gave that one an honorable mention as an alternate answer!! 🤦‍♂️

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  51. musical clue, "You put the lime in the coconut..."

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  52. AUNT ORGAN --> ORANGUTAN
    (I got a bunch of these ...)

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  53. Anyone here know what the difference is between Germany's largest city and a nightclub?

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  54. One was totally bombed without asking to be, and you have
    to ask to get bombed at another

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    Replies
    1. Not the answer, nor even close.
      However, I am surprised you would say Berlin did not ask to be bombed after they bombed London. (The one in England, not the one in Canada.) Bombing cities is a war crime, and we committed them too, but not prior to Germany. Not to mention that Hitler also ordered the destruction of Paris. (The one in France, not the one in Texas.) We firebombed Dresden, Hamburg, along with Tokyo, Japan. And I don't want to bring up our little indiscretion regarding Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All of this was, of course, war crimes against humanity, but at least I could in theory present an argument for bombing Berlin. (The one in Germany, not the one in Eastern Cape, South Africa.)

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    2. One has Berlin sweets and the other has swirlin' beats. (Not likely, I realize, but I kind of liked it.)

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    3. Nice! I thought of the Berlin Wall, but the Spoonerism never occurred to me, I guess because I don't frequent nightclubs, though I used to take lessons at a dance studio where they'd bring out the whirlin' ball during social dancing events. Anyway, yours was a better challenge than this week's puzzle.

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  55. Just going to say it, Will...can we have a 2023 BAN on any puzzles where 'Beer' is considered a 'grocery item' ??

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    1. Octavius, I concur. It has been ale-ing us all. . .

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    2. I think we all agree Will should hop to it.

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    3. He'll probably lag-er at making a change!

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    4. There must be some malternative to this idiocy!

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    5. There is...do the puzzles for fun. As soon as you ruin your fun experience with complaints quit doing them. To quote Oscar Wilde, "Life is too important to be taken seriously"!

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    6. You all are barley touching on this. The yeast you could do is consider reinheitsgeabot.

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    7. What do you mean "do the puzzles for fun"? If we are not provided with fun puzzles, then it just becomes childish and tedious. We are not the problem. The problem comes from the top.

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    8. For everyone's sake, if we don't nip this in the bud, I'm afraid there's trouble brewing.

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    9. We should head that off before it foments.

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    10. Talk about a head of frothy foam...

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    11. To me he appears a bit pale. Ail on Don.

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    12. jan, do we really need a super hero with heal spurs?

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    13. Heard a rumor he's going to announce for Speaker of the House.

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    14. Sneaker on his spouse might be more appropriate.

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    15. This is all beery upsetting to me.

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    16. Wallace! Where have you been?

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  56. This morning on NPR I heard part of a segment about this:

    Last year, the space agency invited people with physical disabilities to apply to become astronauts. It sought applicants who were psychologically, cognitively, technically and professionally qualified to become astronauts, but who had specific physical limitations.Nov 29, 2022

    I can't seem to locate it now, but jan is good at doing this. Anyway they listed the disabilities of those who are involved with some upcoming anti-gravity mission and the last one mentioned was said to have had both his legs and arms amputated. So, of course I had to think of a joke to offend the overly sensitive. I believe I succeeded:

    Why did they agree to take a person with no arms or legs on a space mission?

    Because it was pointed out that the space ship did not have a trunk.

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  57. The big announcement??

    https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-ruthlessly-mocked-major-announcement-about-nfts-1767467

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  58. Many people carry CASH in a PURSE to make PURCHASES.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many people carry NEWS in REELS to make NEWSREELS!

      Some people carry MAIL in a SCENE to make MESCALINE.

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  59. CASH in a PURSE to make PURCHASES

    My Hint:
    "I feel like a chump for taking so long to solve it."
    This is hinting at chump change.

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  60. CASH, PURSE, PURCHASES

    Hint #1: “Many people love the fall, spring, and summer, but I suspect the fewest love the winter.”

    This was an oblique and covert musical hint (categorizing it as one might have been tmi): The song “Our Winter Love” was a 1963 Top Ten hit for Bill Pursell.

    Hint #2: “Rearrange the 9-letter word, and get two types of trees.”

    PURCHASES —> SPRUCE + ASH

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  61. CASH, PURSE, PURCHASES

    > I never have.

    Carried a purse, that is. And, what's cash, again?

    > Two things associated with the holiday season.

    Ivy, bells. IVY BELLS was a successful joint US Navy, CIA, and NSA operation to place wiretaps on Soviet undersea communication cables during the Cold War. USS PARCHE, one of the subs involved, also anagrams to PURCHASES.

    > Musical clue: I started with Phil Ochs, then moved over to, uh, someone who shall remain nameless.

    Ochs sang about dodging the draft by carrying a PURSE, which got me thinking about "A Boy Named Sue", by Johnny CASH.

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  62. Carry CASH in your PURSE to make PURCHASES

    I didn't post a real clue, but I commented:
    I'm pretty sure there won't be much controversy about the intended answer. There may be more controversy about whether it's true as stated.

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  63. Puzzleria! this week presents to you three baffling but Delightfully Puzzley Appetizers created by our good friend Plantsmith, titled:
    1. “Science, Anyone?”
    2. “Mercy me!” and “Shazam!” and
    3. A Murine movie scene, no dry eyes!
    Our menus thus week also include:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Doctor, Lawyer, Indian, Chef,”
    * a puzzle Slice regarding Reindeer Games,
    * a Dessert filled with “Birdy words” & “candy brands,” and
    * a dozen riffs on this week's NPR offering, titled Cash & Carry “Pursechases.”
    We upload Puzzleria! 'round-about just after Midnight, early Friday morning PST.
    Come join us for some, scientific, merciful and murine fun!

    LegoShazzammy!

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  64. CASH, PURSE; PURCHASES

    "Feldspar" Haviland China was made in PURCHASE, NY, in part, due to the supply of feldspar there.

    And you mouthed "Super!?" >>> PURSE your lips, eh?

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  65. cash, purse->purchases

    People carry cash in a purse to make purchases.

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  66. Purse today seems mostly related to an item carried by women, but long ago women were unlikely to have their own money, but were reliant on the money their husband carried in his purse.

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  67. What’s the difference between Germany's largest city and a nightclub?

    Answer: One is known for its whirlin’ ball. The other is known for its Berlin Wall.

    ReplyDelete
  68. cash, purse --> purchases

    Last Sunday I said, “As several others have said already, I am not one who does what the puzzle says.” I do use cash but don’t own a purse, murse or satchel.

    ReplyDelete
  69. CASH, PURSE, PURCHASES

    Are you chaps sure you have the right one? "Chaps sure" is an anagram of purchases.

    I really did come up with a list of silly alternates. Some of the funnier ones include:
    DICE, PURSE, PEDICURES
    CORD, PURSE, PRODUCERS
    EVIL, PURSE, PULVERISE
    RATS, PURSE, PASTURERS
    PICK, PURSE, PICKPURSE
    FOOD, PURSE, SUPERFOOD
    CULT, PURSE, SCULPTURE
    SAND, PURSE, UNDERPASS

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    1. Got any alternatives with a different five-letter word?

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    2. Funny. Jaw dropping. The first is my favorite.

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    3. EaWf, not yet, but I was looking at TRUNK or TRUCK as possibilities.

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  70. The puzzle this one reminded me of was the latest NYT Wit Twister about Cleo the cat. puRCHASEs = ARCHES, SEARCH, CHASER. And PUR+R is something Cleo says.😸

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  71. CASH, PURSE, PURCHASES, as several other people have already pointed out.
    I said that it reminded me of a ruptured spleen. This was a reference to Phil Ochs's "Draft Dodger Rag" (which jan was also reminded of). The refrain starts "Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen, and I always carry a purse." And my reference to Senator Thomas J. Dodd, Sr. (D-CT) in response to jan's post was from the first stanza of the same song, which begins "I'm just a typical American boy from a typical American town. I believe in God and Senator Dodd and keeping old Castro down."

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  72. This week's challenge comes from listener Chip Naharajan, of Philadelphia. If you change the third letter of WOLF to an O, you get the sound made by a dog — WOOF. Name a six-letter animal and change the second letter to get the sound made by a completely different animal. What is it?

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  73. This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Chip Naharajan, of Philadelphia. If you change the third letter of WOLF to an O, you get the sound made by a dog — WOOF. Name a six-letter animal and change the second letter to get the sound made by a completely different animal. What is it?

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  74. Another beer-related puzzle!

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