Q: Name a food dish in 10 letters. The last syllable consists of a consonant and a vowel. Change that syllable to a single consonant sound and you'll name another popular food item, in two words. What foods are these?This puzzle is making me really hungry.
Edit: Searching through images of Italian food to find one I liked, but without fettuccine, made me very hungry. In addition, the country of HUNGARY forms somewhat of an equilateral triangle with ITALY and GREECE.
A: FETTUCCINE (feh-tuh-CHEE-nee), FETA CHEESE (feh-tuh CHEEZ)
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.
I first thought of tortellini becoming torte (some Roman numeral), but a Roman numeral starting with two L's? Nah!
ReplyDeleteI think there is a 50-50 chance that you can find a Roman numeral starting with two L's! :-)
DeleteI have an answer, but it's way too uninteresting.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle is making me hungry.
ReplyDeleteBut, quesadilla and quesa dip is so close!
ReplyDeleteOlive Garden
ReplyDeleteAnagrams to "I love danger"
DeleteI have an answer that works "phonetically."
ReplyDeleteAgreed, the puzzle mentions adding a consonant sound so I think it must be the intended answer.
DeleteDoes anyone have an answer that works? Is the puzzle worded correctly?
ReplyDeleteNot I, but did you notice both Blaine and JAWS posted the same clue?
Delete
DeleteNot without allowing a shortened form of the first food, and changing the pronunciation of one of its letters to create a single word for the second food.
Mine is not a clue, just a comment that thinking about all of this food is making me hungry. I hadn't spotted that Blaine also posted the same thing. I still don't have it.
DeleteActually, after I solved it, my comment was a hint..
DeleteI've solved the puzzle and I'm certain I have the intended answer. The puzzle is, dare I say, kinda corny?
DeleteThere is a connection to the last puzzle.
ReplyDeleteFettuccine starts with Fe and has the letters of tin in it.
DeleteI figured you were connecting feta cheese and Tina Fey's Greek heritage.
DeleteAlthough I seem to have come up with the same solution as RG and Ron, this puzzle leaves an odd taste in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteI just got it. But it was difficult to understand.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I have the same answer as Blaine, but I don't understand his clue.
ReplyDeleteI think I understand RG's clue, but I would have said... Godfather Pizza!
Well, I learned much about the 24 consonant sounds, but I've yet to find the answer to this somewhat
ReplyDeleteconfusing puzzle.
ReplyDeleteLink appears to be broken above. Try this:
https://englishphonetics.net/english-phonetics-academy/the-24-consonant-sounds-in-english-with-examples.html
This is beginning to have the feel of a puzzle that comes up shortz, as in "I should have said..."
ReplyDeleteSure are a lot of Italian dishes that seem close.
I am weaning myself from the "Notify Me" club, since it clutters up my new email program.
The low comment amount here this Sunday p.m. seems to be the lowest in many, many years.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this is a badly worded puzzle. The last syllable obviously involves a phonetic change. The only answer I can find involves a (questionable) phonetic solution, with a change in the initial (not just last syllable) letters.
ReplyDeleteIf you, or a loved one, are enjoying this puzzle please let us know, because we are not.
ReplyDeleteI do not even understand the rules of this puzzle. I gave up long ago.
ReplyDeleteSame here.
DeleteOK, the hints here were helpful, and I have a guess. It's not entirely satisfactory, but it's good enough to submit.
ReplyDeleteI'll second Dr. K's unintentional hint; this puzzle requires some thought.
Joshua—Thanks for the acknowledgement. Just to clarify, though: That comment of mine--11:57 a.m. PST--which you referred to, did indeed include a hint, but it was not unintentional. I tried to be as oblique as possible to avoid removal by Blaine. More on Thursday.
DeleteAh, sorry about that. I guess I misinterpreted your 12:23PM PST comment. At any rate, nice (oblique) clue.
DeleteOn the other hand, I'm no longer sure that my (our?) answer fits all the clues here, and it definitely doesn't fit one of the concrete claims. Maybe this answer is wrong.
DeleteI can see how the sequence of comments generated some confusion. My 11:18 comment was a response to clotheslover's first question at the top of the thread. It concerned an answer I was trying to make work but couldn't. And then the correct answer--I'm reasonably certain it's Will's intended answer--just suddenly came to me (hence, my 11:57 comment with the oblique hint). Further clarification Thursday.
DeleteThe multiple references to Italian food pointed me toward FETTUCCINE and FETA CHEESE. I'm skeptical that I would have found these on my own, and I wasn't entirely convinced that the middle syllables were identical, nor was I sure that FETTUCCINE was a dish on its own. Still, it was good enough to submit, though I'm still eager to see the same-spelling solutions that some claimed to have.
DeleteIt appears that I misunderstood Dr. K's clue (and also was mistaken in thinking that it was accidental). When I wrote that this puzzle requires some thought, I meant that you should use your noodle.
I've solved the puzzle and I'm certain I have the intended answer. The puzzle is, dare I say, kinda corny?
ReplyDeleteReminder -- you only have until Thursday at 3pm.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJudging from Blaine's very clever hint, I have the same answer he does.
DeleteI kinda like the puzzle.
A few observations about its wording:
* I believe the word "sound" is unnecessary (and perhaps even a tad confusing).
* Removing the clause "in two words," paradoxically, would make the puzzle easier to solve.
* Note that the first food is a "dish" and the second food is a "popular item."
LegoWhoSuggestsThatOneGoodWayToObserveMartinLutherKingJr.DayIsToGoToThisWeek'sPuzzleria!AndSolveThe"IHaveADream"PuzzleCreatedByBobby...Jacobs
Hmmm, then I think I have a different answer. Which would explain why I don't understand Blaine's clue!
Deletebig night
ReplyDeleteApart from the connection to Italian food, the last name of Big Night star Stanley Tucci is hidden in the word "fettuccine."
DeleteConfused here. Is the two-word food a phonetic pronunciation, or is the spelling exact?
ReplyDeleteIn the solution I'm going with, DSB77, the spelling is exact.
DeleteLegoWhoObservesThatTheFoodDishAndFoodItemMightBothBeDescribedAsLipSmacking
Hmm, mine is not an exact spelling...
Delete@Courtney, nor is mine.
DeleteNor mine. In mine, the second food is not spelled the way the first is -- the word 'phonetically' should be in there somewhere.
DeleteI'm sticking with my answer. Once I apply the consonant change, my second word "sounds like" a food, but is not spelled correctly. It's 2:22pm on Thursday. Not much more thinking I can do on this.
DeleteKept trying to make Caesar Salad work somehow, then eventually I understood it.
ReplyDeleteCaesar Salami
DeleteCæsar Salad, 10 letters...
Delete"Dish" - pffft. That's a stretch.
ReplyDeleteI concur with Buck Bard.
DeleteI hate to miss out on a clever puzzle. I've had an answer since Sunday morning that fits the instructions and somewhat fits Blaine's comment, but it's absolutely trivial. Since then, there have been several posts that don't jibe at all with my answer, especially Lego's comment that he kinda likes the puzzle. Is it possible that the answer would be the same if the instructions simply said to delete the final vowel? If so, Blaine should delete this. If not, I guess I'll keep looking.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLancek, In the answer I got, simply deleting the final vowel wouldn't work. But deleting the final vowel and replacing the consonant to the left of it with a different consonant would work.
DeleteLegoWho"KindaLikes"ThisPuzzleBut"GoesAltogetherGaGa"OverAllTheEnigmaticMumboJumboHeHimselfCreates!
Thanks, Lego; that means I'll keep looking for the better answer (although at this point in the week, I'm not feeling confident about finding it). I'll hang on to the trivial answer until Thursday, since I do think it's a legitimate alternative.
DeleteI am now second-guessingly not so sure I have the intended NPR answer. And, I am wondering if I perhaps misconstrued Blaine's hint: "This puzzle is making me really hungry."
DeleteMy answer is neither a "slam dunk" nor an "Aha, I solved it!" It does fulfill the puzzle's requirements but the food dish is a bit iffy, although it does exist.
LegoLessConfidently
Will the real Tom Brady show up tonight?
ReplyDeleteI hope not! Two edged sword there!
DeleteIf they make it to the Super Bowl maybe the Chiefs can beat him!!
I read this morning that he has a standing 10 year offer from Fox Sports for 375 million$$ to do commentary work. Why is he still playing??
DeleteWell, sour grapes! I am not sure about my answer, but they are both plausible. I have eaten the 2nd item, not the first; however, it sounds delicious. Mine is an exact spelling, no phonetic business here.
ReplyDeleteIn my answer, the dish needs something, maybe a pinch of salt. I believe everybody here has eaten both items at some point in their lives. The phonetics are like cra-cra-crazy!
ReplyDeleteBuck, believe it or not, your advice helped. I finally have the answer.
DeleteI like the answer (and the foods!) better than the wording of the puzzle. I also have a few quibbles about the puzzle itself.
Quibbles with puzzle wording - I feel like that's been happening a lot lately.
DeleteI know we're not supposed to give the answer, but it's clearly watermelon / water melt, a frozen concoction that turns into water when heated.
ReplyDeleteMy only answer, so far, I don't think is the intended because: (1) both foods are two words (puzzle implies first food is one word); and (2) the first food might not be a food "dish" in that you probably wouldn't prepare it yourself unless you were a hard core foodie.
ReplyDeleteMy hint for this answer is that the first word of both terms describes something you might do in a food fight. (My answer is not phonetic.)
Finally, if like me you are tired of working on this puzzle, here are a couple easier food puzzles you might want to try:
(1) what is a good food item for an NFL player to have on hand?
(2) what kind of food, spelled backwards, describes a feeling that leads some people to eat too much?
(1) Following up on the Brady subthread: avocado ice cream!
Delete(2) Regnuh?
Sorry, try again!
DeleteCorrect!
DeletePork rinds, because it's pigskin?
DeleteGood guess. If you want a hint, my answer involves a pun.
DeleteI guess this puzzle is all about the fauxnetticks
ReplyDeleteTwo great cuisines, but I'm not going to suggest which is greater, 'cause if you slip on a grater, you could get sliced to ribbons.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThanks, it is.
DeleteI just looked up the second word and I see now that it is definitely a hint. Nice!
DeleteU2
DeleteA MAGA hint, for sure.
DeleteIt will be very interesting to see the expected answer. My answer has the second answer being 'phonetic'.
ReplyDeleteDid Rev. Spooner die of cancer? Or did he choke on a tuna fish sandwich?
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you ask the mayo clinic, they may hold the answer.
DeleteMan, I just solved it. Tip of the hat to Buck Bard! It really is a cute puzzle, and it's all about the audio. As Will says, "...you'll name another popular food item, in two words." I urge those who have iffy answers to keep trying; it's worth it.
ReplyDeleteI think that by now the answer many of us have come up with is no longer subject to debate but is an accomplished fact.
DeleteMy (new) answer only works phonetically, in that several letters in the second food are different from those in the first if both foods are spelled correctly. I'll be interested to see if it's the one you allude to. I notice both foods are often found in salad recipes.
DeleteI finally came up with an answer, but I sure don't like it. I hope there is a better one.
ReplyDeleteI am now sure I do have the intended answer, but I cannot believe Will Shortz accepted the wording of the presentation. It would have been much better had it been worded better.
DeleteI'm not far behind you, and I agree. I don't like it, and the wording of the puzzle could be improved.
DeleteI agree that the wording of the puzzle leaves much to be desired, although I did find the transformation of one "food" into another to be satisfying.
DeleteThe names of the foods share a common etymology.
DeleteWow, I never would have guessed that. You are one sharp guy!
DeleteJan, this makes me feel like I have the correct answer, but my second food item is phar from phonetic.
DeleteI think George Santos is by far the most respectable of all Republican office holders. He alone admits he is nothing but a liar and a charlatan. Why won't the rest of them step forward and admit it too?
ReplyDeleteHe's the Socrates of the GOP!
Delete(And I should know.)
As per sdb's post last week, the other potty members won't come clean because they're flush with cash and not disposed to reveal facts their donors aren't privy to.
DeleteOutHouse measures must be taken.
DeleteAgreed. However, purging Congress of liars would tank the government.
DeleteSo what? Let them take the plunge.
DeleteWhatever happens, I expect George Santos to fully back them up.
DeleteSantos is circling the drain and on the brink of elimination.
DeleteFinally figured it out. As with most puzzles, mileage may vary depending on how particular your pronunciation is. Otherwise, solid puzzle.
ReplyDeleteMerriam-Webster says the first two syllables the two words are the same.
DeleteOED agrees, for US pronunciation; one vowel is differs slightly between the two, for Brits.
DeleteDefinitely the same in standard American English by rule.
DeleteThe OED, because it's the OED, offers US and non-US pronunciations of one of the words.
I'm especially sensitive to these kinds of variations after spending much of the winter break listening to Molly of Denali podcasts in the car. As much as PBS tries, they're not going to force my Bostonian vowels to make Molly and Denali rhyme. I'm in Denali denial.
OED techs must be wondering why searches for this word are spiking.
DeleteThat's awesome, jsulbyrne. Have you seen this? (Jeez I hope I did the html right for the link.)
DeleteI hadn't watched that yet. Thanks!
DeleteIt stared with "awreddy." While not a pronunciation specific to Boston, newscasters don't miss that /l/. That nudged the gates open just wide enough for "Hampshuh" to come tumbling through.
This just happened to show up in my Twitter feed. It's as if we purposefully want everyone to mispronounce the names of our towns.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv29cD__X_I
And these are only the -ham towns. Good luck with Billerica, Woburn, Cochituate, Berlin, the -ster towns, et al.
DeleteSmart Sister's husband for the first one, my husband for the second.
ReplyDeleteFETTUCCINE (fÄ•t′É™-chÄ“′nÄ“) → FETA (fÄ•t′É™) CHEESE (chÄ“z) !
ReplyDeleteAs I posted on day-1: I have an answer that works “phonetically.”
FETTUCCINE & FETA CHEESE by rotating the N to a Z to get Feta Cheeze.
ReplyDeleteMy Hint: "A MAGA hint, for sure." I posted this clue late in order for it not likely to be removed. It is referring to cheese grating and ribbons of pasta. It backs up jan's hint above.
FETTUCINE —> FETA CHEESE
ReplyDeleteHint: “I just got it. But It was difficult to understand.”
—> i.e., It was Greek to me.
I had first been working with MARGHARITA —> MARGARINE. It satisfied a number of the puzzle’s criteria but failed others. Then, in a bolt from the blue, the correct answer came to me.
And, of course, an “accomplished fact” is a “fait accompli,” pronounced properly in French as “fèta compli.”
Best I could come up with was Limoncello/Lemon Jelly but I'm not confident even though it seems to have matched RG and Ron.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to learning what other folks came up with...
Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Patrick J. Berry...
ReplyDeletePatrick J. Berry?!
Yes, our friend Patrick (also known by his screen name "cranberry") pokes another of his legendary cryptic crossword puzzles "outta-the-park" on this Friday's Puzzleria! It is his 29th such "humdinger" on our blog.
We upload Puzzleria! during Friday morning's wee hours, just after midnight PST.
Our menus this week also include:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “As the sun set we sat by the sea, now we eat,”
* a Slice of Puzzle that involves sports, fear, medical care and acronyms,
* a Dessert Slice about a fictional tiger’s friend and a “fat cat,” and
* nine riff-offs of this week's NPR puzzle, titled "Fettuccini? Feta cheese? Fait accompli!"
But forget all that fancy "fettuccini, feta," froufrou French zinfandels and other such foofaraw! Grab a brewski and a brat! Come "play ball" with us... we challenge you to avoid getting "tripped-up" by cranberry's latest "round-tripper."
LegoRoundingTheBases
Fettuccini – Feta Cheese (Chiz)
ReplyDeleteMy clues we:
1.Olive Garden anagrams to I Love Danger – Fettuccini Alfredo has been called Heart Attack on a Plate and you can have it at Olive Garden.
2. Dish – pfft. Fettuccini is a dry, plain, pasta noodle – you need to add a sauce to call it a dish, like Alfredo or Carbonara.
3. Tom Brady – the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of all time) = goat cheese (Feta)
Thanks to jan's hint about ribbons, I got to FETTUCINE and FETA CHEESE but didn't post a hint. It is a confusingly worded puzzle.
ReplyDelete^^^FETTUCCINE
DeleteFETTUCCINE, FETA CHEESE
ReplyDelete> Two great cuisines, but I'm not going to suggest which is greater, 'cause if you slip on a grater, you could get sliced to ribbons.
The word FETA (φÎτα) comes from the Italian fetta, or "slice". FETTUCCINE is Italian for "little ribbons".
> U2
"You" in the post above is a hint, too: FETA is made from ewe's milk.
> Did Rev. Spooner die of cancer? Or did he choke on a tuna fish sandwich?
Was it a neoplasm or a pleonasm, a linguistic redundancy, like "tuna fish" or FETA CHEESE?
(I found Spooner's obit in the New York Times -- he died in 1930 -- but it shed no light on the cause of death.)
You mean it led no shight?
DeleteI submitted: FETTUCCINE/FETA CHEESE. Other answers I thought of, but didn’t bother submitting:
ReplyDelete(1) DUCK SALAMI/DUCK SALAD. Not sure the Duck Salami’s a “dish,” but you can find recipes for it online so I’d argue it qualifies. It’s two words, but the puzzle doesn’t say, though it implies, that the “dish” has to be one word. My hint for this answer was “something you might do in a food fight,” i.e., duck.
(2) NACHO CHILI/NACHO CHIP.
My riff-off puzzle was: what is a good food item for an NFL player to have on hand? ANSWER: SPARE RIBS
The trivial answer that I came upon first was PIZZAROLLI. Change the LI to L to get PIZZA ROLL. This was obviously pretty lame, especially since they are basically the same dish, but it kinda fit Blaine's clue (rolli, really?). I'm glad that all the pronunciation posts kept me looking, as the real answer is pretty neat. Really.
ReplyDeleteHey legolambda, what was that solution you were going with in which the only spelling change was with that last syllable?
ReplyDeleteIt's a fair question, Enya_and_WeirdAl_fan.
DeleteHere is a "log" of my sorry solving process:
My answer was initially going to be:
POTATO CHILI/POTATO CHIP... which, alas, I eventually noticed has not 10 but 11 letters!
(Same problem with GEMOA SALAMI/GENOA SALAD)
But I persisted, and scrambled to salvage my "CHILI becomes CHIP hypothesis"
ONION CHILI becomes ONION CHIP became a possibility.
SALSA CHILI becomes SALSA CHIP became a somewhat more realistic possibility.
I couldn't come up with any other CHILE to CHIP ideas.
CORN CHILI probably exists, as well as TORTILLA and TACO chili, but they are either too short or too long.
So, I concluded that my CHILI to CHIP idea was just plain wrong!
Then,I considered QUESADILLA/QUESA DIP (The "LL" is Spanish is considered to be one consonant). But, alas, when I googled QUESA DIP, I discovered there is no such thing... It's QUESO dip!
Eventually, Only after I belatedly came to understand that the puzzle's wording "you’ll NAME another popular food" meant that the answer was phonetic, did I finally hit upon FETTUCCINE, FETA CHEESE!
LegoWhoHadAn"Uneven"SolvingWeek
I did finally come up with FETTUCCINE and FETA CHEESE, after the multiple references to phonetics in the comments. In my submission, I had also noted that it was disappointing that the puzzle description did not state that it was a phonetic result, since normally the puzzle will specify that.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I doubt that the intern will pass along my feedback, but I'm also sure that if I didn't say anything, then no one would know.
I eventually got to FETTUCCINE/FETA CHEESE, like most of you.
ReplyDeleteIs fettuccine truly a dish, or just a type of pasta? I guess "a type of pasta" would make the puzzle too easy to solve. In any case, Stouffer's and Lean Cuisine, both owned by Nestlé, sell "Fettuccini Alfredo" with an "i" instead of an "e." I wonder if WS will accept "Fettuccini."
I wonder how many listeners will get this right. I'm predicting somewhere around 750 or so. Too bad that we're not given that exact number anymore.
Fettuccini is not a word. Linguini has an I at the end and it is pronounced as a long E, as is Spaghetti. Fettuccine has an E at the end and it is pronounced as a long A.
DeleteIt took me way too long to solve this puzzle because Will did not follow precedence. In the past he has always stated if a puzzle was phonetic. Although I looked at numerous Italian foods, including Fettuccine numerous times, I did not solve it until Tuesday when I was shopping and by coincidence happened to stop in order to think what I might have forgotten, and I happened to be standing by a cooler shelf that had prepared Fettuccine Alfredo. That caused me to take another look at the word and I got the answer. I have other problems with the wording too, but basta!
Fettuccine, like Spaghetti, are really not dishes, but ingredients similar to rice or potato, but Americans are too lazy to specify what they mean when they use those terms. In Italy a person would say what exactly he meant by Fettuccine or Spaghetti, etc.
Agreed, the puzzle was not linguinistically accurate.
DeleteFettuccine, Feta cheese
ReplyDeleteFETTUCCINE, FETA CHEESE
ReplyDeleteI wrote Reminder -- you only have until Thursday at 3pm, hinting at Tick Tock Tick Tock.
Because this summer there was a very popular Baked Feta Cheese Pasta Recipe that every teen I've ever heard of was making, based on a Tik Tok video.
It's a surprisingly good recipe done in a 25 second video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb-W7VKvjpw
And, hey, it got my daughter to cook dinner, so it can't be all bad.
There is a reason why Feta cheese is Greek. Have you ever seen in a Italian restaurant? Of course not.
DeletePass for me.
OK i'll try it,but why not a Mozarella brick instead of Feta?
DeletePass on the Cabbage steaks. Have you tried them? I like the Tortellini idea.
DeleteCambridge dictionary:" Fettuccine: long, narrow, flat pieces of pasta." Not defined as a dish.
ReplyDeleteMW dictionary: Fettuccine: also : a dish of which fettuccine forms the base
DeleteMerriam Webster gives the dish a nod:
Delete"Fettuccine
noun
fet·tuc·ci·ne ËŒfe-tÉ™-ˈchÄ“-nÄ“
variants or fettuccini or fettucine or fettucini
plural in form but singular or plural in construction
: pasta in the form of narrow ribbons
also : a dish of which fettuccine forms the base"
But, the lack of proper phonetic phrasing in the clue does not pass muster with me.
Hey Natasha, we posted at about the same time...
DeleteHey Word Woman, Thanks for letting me know. Have a nice day!
DeleteTerrible wording. I knew something was amiss! Of course Fettuccine and Feta cheese works phonetically. I tapped out after coming up with Lemon curry/lemon curd. And yes, I had to google lemon curry. It's a thing.
ReplyDeleteWith all the pasta references this week, Blainesvillagers might be interested in Dan Pashman's Sporkful blog series, "Mission Impastable". He decided to invent a (badly needed?) new pasta shape and get it produced and marketed.
ReplyDeleteHow about Pasta Santos? No matter how careful you are it never comes out al dente, but just lies there with a limp, toothy grin.
DeleteServed with baloney sauce and meant to be consumed with a large grain of salt.
DeleteYes, but even then it is rather difficult to swallow.
DeleteEach serving has a day's worth of dietary fibber.
Delete...which quickly turns into excrement.
DeleteOnce again, potty politics at work.
DeleteSlightly off the subject, but interesting just the same:
DeleteMailer listened to Mark Rudd, head of Columbia's Students for a Democratic Society, describe police efforts to allegedly falsify evidence, and, on his fifth bourbon, the author told the student rebel, "I know that cops create evidence. They've done it to me. All cops are psychopathic liars. Your fight is to show that the people who run the country are full of shit." Norman Mailer.
MAILER A Biography, by Hilary Mills, Page 325.
Very true. A mass infusion of polyethylene glycol is in order.
DeleteMy mind went directly to the Fun Run episode of The Office in which Michael Scott "carbo-loads" by eating a plate of fettuccine alfredo immediately prior to running a 5K. He then labors through the race before vomiting at the finish line.
ReplyDeleteMy clue ("Godfather Pizza") was for Al Pacino, whose actual given name is 'Alfredo' -- and of course Fredo is a character in those movies too.
ReplyDeleteWith my entry - I guess this puzzle is all about the fauxnetticks - I hinted at the spelling change for this puzzle, and at the f and tt of fettuccini
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother and great aunt were high school teachers and were both interested in challenges, including puzzles of all kinds. They gave me little things to figure out and then larger ones and, later, books. Two of my favorite teachers had similar interests and continued developing mine. "Scientific American" magazine subscriptions were favorite gifts and I think the great puzzles there determined my expectations for the pastime.
ReplyDeleteI think the main expectation I had, and have, is that a puzzle must have a satisfying, unarguable and hopefully elegant solution (or sometimes, solutions). No matter how long it took find it.
It has taken me twenty years or more to realize that the NPR Sunday Puzzle by Will Shortz seldom meets that expectation.
This week's offering was not a bad puzzle, nor a dishonest one, but was simply lazy, poorly thought out and somewhat insulting.
Lucy van Pelt is not despicable for her annual place kicking
trick, but just showing who she is, like the scorpion wanting a ride.
Charlie Brown, on the other hand, is sad for his continuing to trust.
The "Puzzlemaster" doesn't always disappoint, but too often to deserve the title. And too often to expect otherwise.
So, belatedly, I will try more consciously to expect otherwise and hope to be surprised.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey Blainesvillians, sorry about my radio silence. I was busy with stuff left and right. And, obviously, I didn't get the answer. Usually, if I don't get it the same day, I disengage, because I just don't have, or am not willing to give, more time.
ReplyDeleteI did zero in on Italian "dishes," except for tortellini, which could not have been the answer after it was mentioned on this blog, and not blog-administrated.
So there I was, looking at the likes of cannelloni, tetrazzini, minestrone—and, yes, fettuccine. My "problem" is that I know some Italian, and think of the words the way they would be pronounced in Italian. Therefore, and because Greek food is not "popular" with me, I didn't make the connection with feta cheese.
So…I don't feel shame(d) for not having solved this one. Better luck this coming Sunday! :)
Wolfgang,
DeleteI too did not spend much time on this puzzle. And, I would probably not have solved it because, like you, I have an annoying habit of pronouncing Italian words “correctly.”
Amazing. RG gave the clue "Olive Garden" while Crito gave the clue "Godfather Pizza." As naïve as it was, I interpreted these literally as referring to Italian food, and that led me to the correct answer (or maybe a very popular wrong answer).
ReplyDeleteFETTUCCINE and FETA CHEESE
ReplyDeletepjbWondersIfTheLatterMightBeUsedInARecipeForTheFormer?He'dEatIt!
Bazz fazz! With Superzee, I am still woking on LEMONJELLO
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAlso TMI, I think.
DeleteGot it. Waiting for Blaine...
ReplyDeleteThat was quick.
ReplyDeleteBasketball drill?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Delete140 correct answers this week.
ReplyDelete