I believe they've been touring since the '50s.Q: Name a popular rock band — one that everyone knows. Add a "B" sound at the end, and phonetically you'll name a place where you might hear this band play. What band is it?
Edit: Clearly the band hasn't been around that long, but U-2 spy planes have been flying since the 1950s and require a special pressurized suit.
A: U2 --> YouTube
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.
How lame!
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I'm reminded of Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteAnd Blake.
DeleteBill Murray.
DeleteSurprisingly, the band’s name has come up in recent news stories..
ReplyDeleteIt will probably take you longer to think of a clue than it will for you to solve this no-brainer puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWow, the answer is right there without being TMI! Clever.
DeleteThanks, WayWordy. I thought it was risky but decided to give it a shot.
DeleteThe on-air player is misidentified on the NPR puzzle page..
ReplyDeleteNot surprisingly, Will did not acknowledge an alternate answer to last week's puzzle.
ReplyDeleteOf all the creative puzzles that get submitted, THIS is the puzzle that gets picked?
ReplyDeleteA clue lies in one of the on-air answers.
ReplyDeletePeople who notice the clue in the on-air answer will have an advantage.
DeleteBUZZZ!
ReplyDeleteAdd a different character to the band and get a different kind of headliner.
ReplyDeleteEasy enough...
ReplyDeleteI have an answer consistent with a comment here but cannot be reconciled with Blaine’s hint
ReplyDeleteBlaine's clue has a devious elegance.
DeleteQuite timely.
DeleteBlaine's clue is also reflected in a listener comment posted above, and is related to a character in a series of comedy films.
DeleteI'm not sure I get Blaine's clue. If he said touring since 1960, I'd get that!
Delete1956.
DeleteOh, yeah, his clue IS extremely clever!
DeleteBlaine gave us a powerful hint.
DeleteLegoPaintingWithShadesOfGray
Ayesha can (and probably will) skip the number of correct submissions again next week. It will be on the high side.
ReplyDeleteSomeone else's music helped me understand Blaine's clue.
ReplyDeleteI think I know what you are talking about but let's check after Thursday
DeleteThere was a story on Weekend Edition this morning about a USAID team helping with rescue efforts in southern Turkey. There's a powerful connection to the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI have an alt-answer. And it's an alt band! Except it doesn't really fit because it isn't a band everyone has heard of.
ReplyDeleteHow Ridiculous. Will there be more than 1,976 correct entries? We may never know, since they don't announce that anymore. I wish they would. It's a great way to evaluate the difficulty of the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletethat was my guess but I don't think you're supposed to give away big hints like that, even if this is an extremely obvious quiz this week
DeleteWhy is it that posting blatant answers here always seems to happen with easy puzzles I have already solved, and never happens when I am stumped?
DeleteThe answer is on my favorite bumper sticker:
DeleteSO MANY IDIOTS; SO FEW COMETS
Lol, I was thinking really hard how your bumper sticker was a clue to "the answer".
DeleteThen it hit me.
I mean, not a comet! Your intention.
Blaine...
ReplyDeleteI realize NPR tries to maximize audience participation, but if the Sunday Puzzle gets much simpler than this we’ll end up with something like, “What is the next highest whole number greater than 20?”
ReplyDeleteChuck, I sure do hope you will post the answer come Thursday. LOL
DeleteThe band’s timely induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is of note.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else annoyed that they no longer say how many people got it right? Several weeks in a row now they aren't saying.
ReplyDeleteYes, see my comment above. I also noted in my response that I would prefer that they resume announcing the total.
DeleteThose numbers were a great barometer of puzzle difficulty.
DeleteThere are probably five people who know why the number is announced or not.
DeleteThe fact that it varies suggests a rule.
Perhaps with the kinds of puzzles we've been getting lately, whatever system they use to tabulate correct answers has become too overloaded to function anymore.
DeleteMaybe no one at NPR can count that high.
DeleteNPR may not count the numbers anymore. Not cost effective to hire all those interns.
DeleteThere is no need to hire anyone additional to count the number of correct entries. Regardless of the method they use to determine the correct answer (but I assume it involves someone reading the emails, but could be using an electronic search for the correct answer terms), the "correct" entrants info must be collected somewhere, from which a potential winner is drawn, and then called. A database is the most cost effective way to do that. an extremely simple query of that database will yield the correct number of entries. It is likely they already capture that information, in order to conduct the random draw. For example if there are 1,976 correct entries, you can use a random number generator, do a little math to make it an integer from 1-1976 inclusive, and then pull up that contestant's info.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJAWS, if the selection is random, how come so many winners are retired Boomers? Wait, never mind.
DeleteAdd an M sound in front of the band name and it will sound like something very powerful.
ReplyDeleteTake something that is not very powerful. Add another consonant whose sound often sounds like the sound of the middle letter. Anagram. You'll get a two-word phrase describing Disney World or the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.
DeleteSpeaking of powerful things, I noticed Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre when she spoke Monday stressed there was “no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity” connected with the objects shot down by the US in recent days.
DeleteMewtwo is a powerful Pokemon.
Delete"she sPOKE MONday ..."
DeleteSTRATUM! STRATUM! STRATUM!
ReplyDelete:) I knew I heard something and figured it was you.
DeletePaul, my neighbors were surely wondering how things were rocking on this morning.
DeleteAs often happens, the puzzle answer came to me while I was preparing for something else.
ReplyDeleteI'm not as much of a fan of this band as many of my contemporaries. I did see them in concert many decades ago, but not at the place in this puzzle's answer.
ReplyDeleteWere y'all also able to brute force this one in less than three seconds?
ReplyDeleteVery first band I thought of. I have never considered the "place" mentioned, a "place" before.
ReplyDeleteThere's a blatant clue above. If I didn't already have the answer, this would point me right there.
ReplyDeleteYep
DeleteMy first inclination was to narrow it down by place. The first that came to mind was the Cavern Club, which led nowhere
ReplyDeleteI started along the same lines, but then used a different approach.
DeleteMe too
DeleteFor the first time since we got Covid, my wife and I have tested negative, so we’re heading out for some celebratory pizza and NY-style bagels and lox. If there’s a hint here, it’s completely unconscious.
ReplyDeleteWonderful news! Thanks for the update. BTW, if you anagram a food that is related to bagels you get a country that may have a connection with the subject of Blaine's clue and others.
DeleteIt might be hard to name a country without such a connection.
DeleteMight be; I don't know how many countries the touring covered.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia gold rush.
ReplyDeleteThis might have been a better puzzle for next month.
ReplyDeleteOr last month.
DeleteNothing changed last month.
DeleteI'd avoid next month, to be brutally honest.
Delete.
I'd have saved it for Halloween.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYes, Halloween, or any time that month.
DeleteAh, I just got two of the clues in comments. Nice!
ReplyDeleteHaving a large number of submissions each week is one measure of the popularity of the Sunday Puzzle segment.
ReplyDeleteAlmost as easy as the Little Rock/Boulder puzzle from several weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteEasier
ReplyDeleteHave the Rolling Stonesb killed
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteMay be TMI
DeleteHave you heard of the new band, CLU?
ReplyDeleteNo, but there's a band that plays at my local pub; they stink.
DeleteIndeed!
DeleteI thought that train would have left the station by now, but so far no one has posted a clue about the colorful connection between the band and Berlin (think 21 years ago).
ReplyDeleteHow about a connection between the band and someone with your first name and the surname of a famous military man?
DeleteGood one! Never knew about him. Learned something new today!
DeleteI met someone last week who never heard of the band. I love Will but I think it's a cavalier statement to make about any rock band except the Beatles.
ReplyDeleteThis was my reaction as well.
DeleteNow what do I do all week with my spare time?
ReplyDeleteGo bowling! :-)
DeleteOr, you could take the skinheads bowling!
DeleteLego&Beethoven
I thought of a real neighborly clue involving the very handle by which I go here, but I'm sure Blaine would zap this post if I tried to use it.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that it is yet another Steve Baggish puzzle. It feels like WS just automatically uses any and all of his puzzles.
ReplyDeleteI may be still fairly new at solving these things, but I can say that the answer is not Van Halen.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, there is a dog named Nugget in the Puppy Bowl. He made me think of last week's puzzle.
Ain't that the truth! Hours ago this morning when I began reading the puzzle prior to its first airing, I saw it was another Steve Baggish disappointment and I groaned out loud before actually getting to the text of the puzzle itself. All his puzzles are awful.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to receive NPR's email acknowledgment of my answer submission. Anyone else not get theirs?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI have yet to receive an NPR acknowledgment also. I guess we will not know if the submission went through or not.
DeleteI received mine right away. 🤷♂️
DeleteSolved the puzzle and sent it in. I didn't get an auto-reply either.
ReplyDeleteAlso -- I LOVE Blaine's clue.
Also -- Musical Clue -- American Top 40
FGP
ReplyDeleteLiterary clue: Julius Caesar.
ReplyDeleteGood one! (That's a hint, too.)
DeleteHamlet, also.
DeleteYes, elegant hint, Dr. Awkward.
DeleteLegoWhoNotesThatHintsLikeThisRootUsOnToVictoriousSolving!
thanks, all!
DeleteSince I was able to find the group's name in just one list(Thank God!), I can honestly say there exists a song title of theirs that I would certainly not be saying after my having searched for the group, unless it were far more difficult than it was. "And that's all I gotta say about that."
ReplyDeletepjbSaysOnToTheSuperBowl(JustHadTwoHilariousAds,BTW)!
BTW Interesting that the on-air puzzle included my first name(Patrick), as well as my main allergen(cat hair).
ReplyDeletepjbHopesJalenHurtsDoesWellInTheGameTonight(FormerAlabamaPlayer,YouKnow)
I get Blaine's clue! Clever!
ReplyDelete92092
ReplyDeleteBREAKING NEWS
ReplyDeleteA giant Mexican piñata has just been spotted flying Eastward over Arizona at approximately 2700 feet altitude.
Nothing to shake a stick at.
DeleteRight, but our government is trying to discover how it aroz.
DeleteI'm sure they'll give it their best shot.
DeleteWith a Corona chaser.
DeleteThat would be a crowning achievement.
DeleteOnly if it makes to Canada.
DeleteIsn't Canada dry?
DeleteAre you Poutine me on?
DeleteNo whey.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf you have solved this week's NPR puzzle, here is just one-of-twenty of this week's Puzzleria! puzzles that may be a smidge more chalenging:
ReplyDeleteSchpuzzle of the Week:
3 pop-quiz geography que?tions:
#1 Colombia, Kenya and Kiribati all share a multisyllabic word in common. The word begins with a vowel. What is this word? (And no, the word is not “alliteration.”)
#2 A country is an anagram of a mid-18th-century European treaty. What is that country’s capital?
#3 What punctuation mark can you spell by anagramming the combined letters of the multisyllabic word in #1 and the capital in #2?
LegoWhoAdmitsThisPuzzleIsNotAllThat"PublicRadioFriendly"
The answer to Puzzleria!s "Pop-Quiz Schpuzzle of the Week" that I posted above is:
Delete1. Equator (The Equator passes through Colombia, Kenya and Kiribati.)
2. Minsk (Minsk is the capital of Belarus, an anagram of Breslau; The Treaty of Breslau was in 1742)
3. Question mark (which is an anagram of Equator+Minsk)
LegoWhoAppreciatesThatBlaineAllowsHimToPlugPuzzleria!OnHisWonderfulBlog
Anyone got a birthday this week?
ReplyDeleteAfraid so. Hope this puzzle wasn't supposed to be my present.
DeleteNo; just wanted to say happy birthday . . .
DeleteHow nice! (Your post wasn't one of your famous veiled hints?)
DeleteHappy Birthday, Nodd, and many happy returns!
DeleteSure it was.
DeleteLOL, at least I figured that much out ....
DeleteIs there a linc somewhere in the hint?
DeleteIt's 4AM and I just finished taking care of the dogs. Two hours ago, I awoke with what I refer to as a middle of the night aha phenomenon in re: this puzzle. If I stop thinking about the puzzle because I've gotten into a rut, my brain continues on its own. Stuff like that never ceases to amaze me. Does that happen to you also? Therefore, I disagree with those of you who consider with those of you who consider this as lame.
ReplyDeleteSome of my best solving happens by listening to the puzzle on air, thinking about it for about 5-10 minutes, and then doing something else if I don't get it quickly. Then the answer tends to pop in my head a while later.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo, a couple of sheep walk into a bar. . . .
ReplyDeleteEwe, that's a good one. Were they on the lamb? Did they wolf their drinks down and get the flock outta there? Did the bartender fleece them?
DeleteSeems plausible, but probably Legolambda and Wolfgang are more knowledgeable.
DeleteYes, but you can always count on sheep to come to your rescue if you are having trouble falling asleep.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDoes insomnia keep
DeleteYou from falling asleep,
A sleep shallow or deep?
Count on sheep who shall leap
O'er the fence and the fescue
And come to your rescue!
LegoLambda
Spoonerise the name of a well known American singer, actress, and television personality of the past to phonetically describe the polishing of an entry way.
ReplyDeleteDinah Shore —> Shine a door.
Deletepretty brilliant.
DeleteAnagram the name to a three-word phrase for a jerk.
DeleteA horse hind?
DeleteYou win the daily double.
DeleteThank you, Nodd. You made my day. Speaking of the day, Happy Valentine's Day to one and all. Time for some early morning exercise.
DeleteGreat to hear you are getting your exercise, after your recent bout with the virus.
DeleteYes, good news. I just tested negative again, so no more tests will be necessary. After this morning's routine exercises, can basketball be far beind?
DeleteI wooden doubt it at all.
DeleteIt’s a-brewin’.
DeleteYou see L.A. at all?
DeleteIf I were good-n-rich...
DeleteIt's not only the kareem of the crop; farmers live there too.
DeleteBall, Wilt? No!
DeleteI remember before the pandemic when I took a day trip by ferry across Puget Sound and on the ferry back I was very hungry, but due to the high prices and poor quality food offered on the ferry I decided to wait until we landed and Dinah Shore.
DeleteHilary Clinton refused to eat at the White House because she didn't like the bill affair.
DeleteIf I recall, there was a great Presidents Day sale that year....all pants half off (sorry)
DeleteLOL. Presumably Hilary could have done what Monica did, but decided not to go down that path.
DeleteClose, but no cigar?
DeletepjbImaginesMs.ClintonProbablyAlsoAtTheTimeHadTheSong"DevilWithABlueDressOn"StuckInHerHead
Sometimes a cigar is just ...
DeleteThis puzzle would have been better timed for earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteDoes a metally cab count as a "place"?
ReplyDeleteThis one gave me no end of trouble until I realized it's not a "B" sound; it's a "bee sound". The answer is "TheBeatlesfeaturingTonySheridanbuzz".
ReplyDeleteFunny it isn't Queenb. Oh, how the mighty have pollen!
DeletepjbRemembersTheirBigHit,"BohemianRhapshoney"
Hey EVERYONE, be sure to read the long interview article published today in The New Yorker. I just finished reading it, and it has a surprise for some who hadn't already figured it out for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe New Yorker Interview
Will Shortz’s Life in Crosswords
The veteran Times puzzle editor discusses his favorite clues, debates in the crossword community, and unexpectedly finding his first serious romance.
By Liz Maynes-Aminzade
February 15, 2023 (TODAY)
Very nice interview. No big surprise ending, but a happy one.
DeleteThanks for "clueing" us in, sdb! I wasn't too surprised. He seems like a good guy so maybe it's overly harsh to say, but the thing that came out to me the most was how much thought and effort he puts into crosswords and ping-pong (the original name for the game) compared with (apparently) the Sunday Puzzle. Sort of sad.
DeleteThanks, sdb. I read and forwarded it to a good friend who's a devoted Times Crossword Puzzle fan.
DeleteI cannot access the article about WS. I was able to copy and paste some of it before I got a message to subscribe. Anyone have a way to view the article free? Thanks.
DeleteNatasha, try googling “Will Shortz New Yorker,” and see if that works.
DeleteIt says my subscription has run out. I managed to copy some of the article before that note appeared. Got as far as the computer made questions.
DeleteYou may be able to access it via your local library's online newspapers & magazines portal. If you can't figure it out try phoning them and asking them to help you.
DeleteWebsite let me in with no subscription. I found two boring subjects and no surprises.
DeleteI could not access the article without subscribing. I figured out how to get the whole article to show, however. I right clicked before the subscribe pop up appeared and clicked on print. I could print it out and also read it at the print site. Now I have a trick for other articles.
DeleteDuangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys who was rescued from a Thai cave in 2018, has died in the UK. · The 17-year-old was found unconscious in his room and died of a head injury.
ReplyDeleteU2, YOUTUBE
ReplyDelete"As often happens, the puzzle answer came to me while I was preparing for something else." I was researching speeches on YOUTUBE to show my speech and debate class this week.
Our friend Ken Pratt, also known as "geofan," is Puzzleria's "Resident World Geography Wunderkind" – a prodigy who has accumulated a prodigious amount of knowledge over the years, and who shares it with us in the form of pleasantly provocative puzzles.
ReplyDeleteThis week, Ken offers us seven world-class bewilderments: five involving subtracting letters from U.S. states, and two others, involving “synonymetry” and “penmanshifts.” The appear in his Worldplay feature.
We upload Puzzleria! in Friday morn's wee hours, just after Midnight PST.
Also on our menus this week:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Sitcom in a can,”
* an Idiomatic Transmission Puzzle Slice titled “Behavior in Bentleys and Buicks,”
* a “Not-A-Hot-Pocket” Dessert Puzzle titled “Converting hot pods into hot rods,” and
* 11 riff-offs of this week's NPR Puzzle titled, alternately, “We’re U2 on YouTu, Brutus on!” and/or “We’re U2 on YouTube, Root us on!”
Note: Our second riff-off entree on tomorrow's Puzzleria! was composed by our friend ViolinTeddy. It is a terrifically ingenious literary riff-off of (Conundrumbstruck by) Chuck's Appetizer #2 that is featured on the current edition of Puzzleria!
That's a total of 21 puzzles. And, that's the fact, Jack, that that's a Blackjack... but even better!
LegoGloballyAceAndFace
U2 + B >> You Tube
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear the name U2, the first thing that comes to my mind isn’t music, it’s the high-altitude spy plane the U-2, built by Lockheed.
The U-2 was headline news in May 1960 when Francis Gary Powers was shot down in a U-2 while flying a photo reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union.
U2 + B → .YOUTUBE
ReplyDeleteBlaine's clue refers to the Lockheed U-2 aerial reconnaissance planes (1955) used for surveillance. Gary Powers was shot down over Russia
in 1960.
U2 >>> YouTube
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"California gold rush." Who were called 49ers, and this group began 49 years ago.
U2 ( —> YouTube)
ReplyDeleteShakespeare —> “To be…” (and there are other Shakespearean resonances)
Blake —> Songs of Innocence and of Experience
U2, YouTube
ReplyDelete> Timely.
Spy aircraft have been in the news lately. U-2s were used to check out the Chinese balloon that was later shot down off the Carolina coast.
> There was a story on Weekend Edition this morning about a USAID team helping with rescue efforts in southern Turkey. There's a powerful connection to the puzzle.
The head of USAID is Samantha Power. Francis Gary Powers was the U-2 pilot shot down over the USSR in 1960. (And, speaking of Samantha, a SAM brought down Gary.)
> How about a connection between the band and someone with your first name and the surname of a famous military man?
The last commander of German submarine U-2, in 1944, was Oberleutnant zur See Wolfgang Schwarzkopf.
>> Literary clue: Julius Caesar.
> Good one! (That's a hint, too.)
I assume Dr. Awkward was going for Et tu -> You, too -> U2. "Bono" is Latin for "good".
> Just wanted to say happy birthday . . .
. . . 2U!
> So, a couple of sheep walk into a bar. . . .
I wondered whether Blaine would allow a two ewe joke?
I enjoyed your joke. The bartender says, "You two again." Or similar.
DeleteI wrote, “Surprisingly, the band’s name has come up in recent news stories.” The U2 spy plane, especially the 1960 incident when the Soviet Union shot one down, has been the subject of background pieces about the recent aerial spy hardware.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteU2 →YouTube. My initial hint was: It will probably take you longer to think of a clue than it will for YOU TO solve this no-brainer puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIn response to others’ comments, I referred to Bill Murray and Hamlet. In “Groundhog Day,” Murray’s character awakens every day to “I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher BONO. Hamlet’s famous soliloquy begins with, phonetically, “tube be or not tube be.”
Commenting on Blaine’s hint, which referred to the U-2 spy plane, I referred to the Austin Powers film series. Francis Gary Powers was shot down while flying the U-2.
In a later colloquy, I said I'd avoid next month, to be brutally honest, referring to the line from “Julius Caesar” in which a soothsayer tells Caesar to beware the Ides of March, and to Caesar’s statement during his assassination, which phonetically is “et tube, ‘rute?”
U2, YouTube
ReplyDeleteU2, YouTube
ReplyDeleteI had said, "How Ridiculous. Will there be more than 1,976 correct entries? " How Ridiculous is a YouTube channel (Austrailian guys, mostly smashing things, or dropping things from the Gravity Tower). 1976 is the year U2 formed as a band.
And I really would like to hear the number of correct entries.
U2 — YouTube
ReplyDeleteMy clues:
This might have been a better puzzle for next month.
Alluding to St. Patrick's Day, and U2's being Irish. Incidentally, a new U2 album, Songs of Surrender, is set to come out next month—on March 17, (kind of) fittingly.
Nothing changed last month.
To my clue above, Crito replied "Or last month," apparently alluding to the U2 song New Year's Day. That song includes these lyrics: "Nothing changes on New Year's Day."
I thought that train would have left the station by now, but so far no one has posted a clue about the colorful connection between the band and Berlin (think 21 years ago).
This one was a bit obscure and far-flung in association, but I couldn't find another way of going there without posting TMI. Berlin's subway (or U-Bahn) system has nine lines, each of whose numbers is preceded by the letter U. Hence the "train" reference. The color of the line U2 is blood orange, which has the color code RAL2002. Hence the reference to "21 years ago." Had I hinted any more clearly at RAL2002, someone might have checked the Wikipedia entry of RAL colors, which specifically mentions the U2 line as having that color.