Take the name of a different animal, drop the fourth letter and you get another synonym.Q: Think of an animal in which the singular form of the female and the plural form of the male sound like synonyms. What animal is it?
A: DOE (dough) and BUCKS.
For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.
You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't assist with solving. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the deadline. Thank you.
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
ReplyDeleteWhen I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
I bet I have the right answer.
ReplyDeleteI have one and that's enough.
DeleteThe real puzzle: What is the case for the "g" in gerbil being hard? The caller threw down the gauntlet (hard g) on that one and I don't think they are right...
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Will was certainly right when he noted that people challenge him on pronunciation all the time.
DeleteSurprised Will did not respond to the caller about the disagreement.
DeleteAbsolutely. We once had two gerbils, soft g, named Simon and Garfunkel, hard g. Simon was the one on the left.
Deleteon a related note, what is the case for people who pronounce the acronym for graphics interchange format (hard G) with a soft G, like the peanut butter, yet still seek gainful employment in the world of digital marketing? asking for a friend.
Deletearticle on GIF
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_GIF
"Hard" and "soft" aren't actual phonological properties, so it might come down to personal preference. The contestant's understanding of "hard" appears to be plosives and affricates (plosive + fricative), which would include the /ʤ/ of 'gerbil.' Perhaps "soft" for the contestant would then include 'g' fricatives such as our old friend the /ʒ/ in the second syllable of 'garage,' the /ɣ/ in lots of non-English words ('amigo'), and the /j/ often found in northern European words like the Swedish word for Sweden ('Sverige') or 'geardagum' and 'gefrunon' from the first two lines of the original Anglo-Saxon Beowulf text.
DeleteAgreed. The "G" is as soft (not hard) as this puzzle is easy (not hard).
ReplyDeleteQuasi-literary clue: Anne Boleyn.
ReplyDeleteWhoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
DeleteBut as for me, hélas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about:
Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.
I agree. There are two animals that use the same terms for their respective genders that fit the puzzle criteria.
ReplyDeleteClark, there may very well be more.
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: Woody Guthrie
ReplyDeleteIn a strange twist I can find at least six solutions
ReplyDelete10 for me.
DeleteI have 13 animals, all with the same singular & plural forms...
DeleteI came up with 10.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSignificantly more. I was surprised at how many animal pairs take these names.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you, but two answers to a puzzle that could be found on any list is enough for me. By the way, is there an animal with the plural form of the male "Plethora". Now that would be fun to play around with.
ReplyDeleteThat's the kind of puzzle I like...solved before getting out of bed. Might have to go watch the Simpsons now.
ReplyDeleteGood one. 😏
DeleteTo be fair, Will will have to accept quite a few answers as correct. I wonder if he will acknowledge them all next week.
ReplyDeleteThink of the foundations of impressionism.
ReplyDeleteInteresting origin of why the word for the male animal is commonly used to describe the intended synonym. If nothing else, I learn a lot from researching Will's puzzles.
ReplyDeleteI found a list where the terms apply for 10 different animals. For some of them, multiple terms are listed for the same animal.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why or when this was pulled but I had commented that I was wondering if Homer Simpson would trend this Mother's Day.
DeleteHomer is known for saying D'oh! (DOE).
Many Mother's Day cards start with "Dear Mom" (DEER)
And, of course, one can BUCK the trend.
Admittedly, this week's NPR puzzle is on the easier end of the spectrum.
ReplyDeleteHere are a few from the current Puzzleria! that may be more challenging for all you brilliant Blainesvillians:
Schpuzzle of the Week:
Let’s coin a minty-fresh new word!
Let us coin a seven letter-word that consists of alternating vowels and consonants. We shall define it as “central part” or as “midsection.”
What is our word?
Hint #1: In a sense, the coined word is a four-letter word.
Hint #2: The word is an anagram of the a word in the title of a 1976 movie and the first name of a co-star in that movie.
Hint #3: “That was _ _ _ _ _ _ _, t’was but a minor scuffle!” (The coined word is an anagram of the letters in the blanks.)
Hint #4: You can rearrange the seven letters of the coined word to get a fruit and a shoe size.
Hint #5 (courtesy of geofan): ROT5 the last letter of the coined word to get one of (currently) 118.
Rolling Rocks From One’s Bladder Dessert:
Gallstone operations remove rocks
The name of a rock group followed by the name of its lead singer form a kind of operation.
What operation is this?
LegoWhoSuggestSThatIfYouStillRequireASixth(Giveaway)HintForTheSchpuzzleThereIsOneByLegoLambdaThatInvolvesTwoMinnesotaTwinsManagers
Nice one, Nodd. Rearrange the two-word brand name, and get a phrase for a rough street performer, which in no way, shape, or form that I can see is related to the two synonyms in the puzzle's answers.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that there are names for males and females of jellyfish, termites, lobsters, and others. My favorite: Seahorses - seamares and seastallions
ReplyDeleteTerrific song by Truckstop Honeymoon called "Seahorses".
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpW57VeiksE
Great song. Thanks so much for posting.
Deletehttps://www.npr.org/2010/08/27/129451917/truckstop-honeymoon-takes-mardi-gras-to-kansas
DeleteIs one of them a monotreme?
ReplyDeletePatty or Perry? Tikal or Knuckles?
DeleteAnd a nice riff on your end, Dr. K, of course.
ReplyDeleteOne of the above comments reminded me of that puzzle where Blaine obliterated a comment of mine (rather than just blog-administrating it).
ReplyDeleteIf you replace the first letter of the synonym that sounds like the female animal with the first letter of the male animal, then you get a word. If you replace the first letter of the synonym that sounds like the female animal with the third letter of the male animal, then you get another word. These words might seem familiar.
ReplyDeleteReplace the D in dough with B to get bough. Replace the D in dough with C to get cough. There was a bough, cough, dough puzzle on June 14, 2020.
DeleteImagine a James Leo Herlihy character found with no I. D.
ReplyDeleteI got just 1 answer so far. Will keep looking.
ReplyDeleteChange the first letter of the female word to a different letter. (If you add another letter to the end of that, you'll have the offspring of another kind of animal.) Remove the last letter of the second word. You'll have someone that is somewhat associated with a long running TV show.
ReplyDeleteNow change that first letter to something else, but keep the last word in its original form. You'll have two words associated with someone else who is strongly associated with that same TV show.
I was wondering. Out of all the animals that fit this puzzle's parameters has anyone found male and female animals with names other than the usual suspects that have reccuring names?
ReplyDeleteClark, two of the animal names surprised me. Nice to have some surprise today.
DeleteWW, the two I got use the same means of locomotion.
DeleteWhen you change that letter, you get a word that is often used as a substitute for the word you changed the letter of. That word has been in the news a lot lately.
ReplyDeleteWe have been told many times that the PM never hears about alternative answers found by the NPR staff that deals with submissions.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle may put some strain on that policy.
As mentioned by others, there were some nice surprises.
Look in the mirror dude.
ReplyDeleteOnly half the usual comments. Skydiveboy and Jan must have gotten a room elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteJan has been out of town since yesterday morning, but I commented at the end of last week's blog, and this puzzle isn't worth much comment.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteHere is a dumb ambivilant clue. Oh, never mind.
ReplyDeleteOr does it?
DeleteIf names of bygone compact cars could be considered synonyms, falcon and tercels would work.
ReplyDeleteJust realized that I never hit enter Sunday. I'd been tempted to post a musical clue, decided it would have been TMI, came up with something else - which I've now forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI'm told loss of memory is the second sign of old age, and I cant remember the other one.
The other one is leaving out a step in a routine action and not realizing it till two days later. (I know from personal experience.)
DeleteIdiotic puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI am now back home from either New Zealand or camping on the Deschutes River in Eastern Oregon. I can't remember which it was.
Our friend Nodd is the featured puzzle-maker on this week's edition of Puzzleria! His "Nodd Ready for Prime Time" five-puzzle package is titled "The workaday world, sound of music(als) and triple TV trivia..." a Pentathlon of Primo puzzles!
ReplyDeleteWe upload Puzzleria! at around Midnight tonight, PDT.
Also on our menus:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled "Idioms, idiocy & dunces in D.C."
* an Hors d’Oeuvre regarding “Uncertainty about a “certain person” named Gregory,
* a Geography Slice about U.S. states with shared letters and and shared shapes,
* a “Dessert puzzle starring Farrah, Sarah & Dolly,” and
* a dozen riff-offs of this week's "Sears DoeBuck" NPR Puzzle, including one by our friend Plantsmith (whose "Garden of Puzzley Delights" is a mainstay of P!) and two by our friend Tortitude (whose "Tortie's Slow but Sure Puzzles" is also a Puzzleria! mainstay).
That is 21 puzzles!... Pace yourselves, solve three-per-day.
LegoGivingThe"Nodd"ToTonight'sPuzzleria!
BUCKS, DOE (DOUGH) are the animal pair for the following animals:
ReplyDeleteANTELOPE,
CARIBOU,
CHAMOIS,
DEER,
GERBIL,
GOAT,
GUINEA PIG,
HAMSTER,
HARE,
KANGAROO,
KOALA,
MOUSE,
RABBIT,
RAT,
SQUIRREL,
WEASEL
"Breaking news" >>> Money market funds tend to "break the BUCK" during times of low interest rates or high risk since investors tend to sell their funds for higher-yielding or safer investments.
I will bet you some dough, a few bucks, that there are others.
^^^is the animal pair
DeleteMy SITE (see below) gives:
DeleteCHAMOIS as DOE & BULL
GUINEA PIG as SOW & BOAR
DOE & BUCKS → DOUGH & BUCKS = MONEY (Monkey, drop the k)
ReplyDeleteThere are at least 13 animals for “DOE & BUCKS.” See: THIS LINK. →
Antelopes, deer, gerbils, goats, hamsters, hares, kangaroos, koalas, mice, rabbits, rats, squirrels, weasels...
DEER >>> DOE >>> BUCKS + ten other animals
ReplyDeleteA much better and more interesting puzzle could have been made from this history:
“Sears, Roebuck and Co commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck ...”
Something like:
Think of a major retail company in 4 words. The first 2 words are the founders’ last names. Change the first initial of the second name to a different letter and you will name both the male and female names of several animals.
Answer:
Sears, Roebuck and Company. Change R to D to show DEER and other animals’ gender names are: DOE & BUCK.
I wrote, “Think of the foundations of impressionism.” I meant one of the founders if not the founder of impressionism, Monet, which is pretty close to money.
ReplyDeleteDEER; DOE (DOUGH), BUCKS. My hint noted that changing one letter and removing another would form ROEBUCK, part of a brand name where you could use dough and bucks.
ReplyDeleteMy reference was to change DOE to JOE, as in JOE BUCK, sportscaster, and guest host for Jeopardy! My other reference was to change DOE to HOE, referencing Ken Jennings' infamous "What is a ho(e)?" answer on. Jeopardy!, as well as the big BUCKS he won.
DeleteDoe, Buck, Dough, Bucks.
ReplyDeleteGERBIL
ReplyDeleteOr any of the 10+ other animals where the male is a buck and the female is a doe, with “bucks” and “dough” (a homophone of “doe”) both being slang synonyms for money.
My clue:
One of the above comments reminded me of that puzzle where Blaine obliterated a comment of mine (rather than just blog-administrating it).
That was the puzzle where the answer was WOLFGANG PUCK. The “above comment” I alluded to was the one posted by Buck Bard. “Buck,” of course, could have been seen as too much of a hint by Blaine, just as he thought “Wolfgang” was too much of a hint in the context of that earlier puzzle.
buck, doe->bucks, dough
ReplyDeleteThe animal is a deer.
A bit late today.
ReplyDeleteI sent in DEER as my primary answer but listed 9 other animals in my submission as valid alternative solutions. My list significantly overlapped the other lists posted here.
I imagine Will will mention some but not all of the possible answers.
Whoa!! Where did my post go?? I posted the answer at about 12:06 PM PDT.
ReplyDeleteAnyone see it?
Blaine…?
Wolfgang, I saw it! I was going to post "I guess the Buck stops there" in response but it was oblierated.
Delete^^^obliterated
DeleteThank you, WW! Why would it be obliterated, though—it was way past 3:00 PM EDT (12:00 PM PDT).
DeleteJust posted it again. See what happens…!
DeleteWhy, what do you know—my original answer post just magically reappeared!
DeleteBlogger auto-moderated it into the SPAM folder. I unmarked it so it would get posted.
DeleteNo hints posted, so nothing to reveal. I'm guessing over 2500 correct answers this week, maybe over 3000. I wonder how many people listen to the puzzle segment every Sunday?
ReplyDeleteMy blog administered comment had said I expected over 2000.
DeleteSo here is my answer again…
ReplyDeleteI submitted GERBIL, since that came up in the an-air puzzle. It could have been any of the other 10+ animals where the male is a buck and the female is a doe, with “bucks” and “dough” (a homophone of “doe”) both being slang synonyms for “money.”
My clue:
One of the above comments reminded me of that puzzle where Blaine obliterated a comment of mine (rather than just blog-administrating it).
The “above comment” I alluded to was one posted by Buck Bard. The puzzle where Blaine completely removed a comment of mine was the one where the answer was WOLFGANG PUCK. Blaine felt the very presence of the name of Wolfgang was TMI. I thought Blaine might find the presence of “Buck” TMI here as well.
Blogger thought it was SPAM; I restored it.
Deleteok
DeleteI sent in Kangaroo, Rabbit and deer. The all use DOE and BUCKS
ReplyDeletedoe (dough), bucks (money)
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed (then forgot about) the deadline. I was getting my first crown. Trust me, I’d rather have been here.
Last Sunday I said, “Musical clue: Woody Guthrie.” He wrote the famous song, Do Re Mi, about dust-bowl migrants coming to California only to find they needed dough (Do Re Mi) there, too. Another, easier musical clue would have been The Sound of Music which includes the song Do, a deer, a female deer, but I decided that was too easy and would have been axed by Blaine.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBetween cooking, chores and an extended session at the gym, I never got around to posting this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteThe musical clue I considered, but abandoned as probable TMI was, "Am I hearing a song?" which, would have lead to, "The Sound of Music," and the song lyric. "Doe a deer, a female deer..."
But having convinced myself that weas likely TMI, I demurred.
As a result I have had the song circling in my brain for five days.....an earworm of epic proportions.
Deer/Doe/Bucks/Dough/Bucks/Money/Monkey.....
My clue, "You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
ReplyDeleteWhen I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES." was a reference to the musical "Cats" because my first thought after coming up with the answer was the musical "DEER Evan Hansen"
DOE, BUCKS(deer, though these terms can be used for other animals), DOUGH, BUCKS(slang terms for MONEY)
ReplyDeleteNow that I think of it, I probably could've hinted at a couple of game shows coming to mind, those being "Tic Tac Dough" (TMI, of course)and "Press Your Luck"(where they play for "big bucks").
pjbKnowsAroundHereTheBlogAdministratorIsThe"Whammy"
Harakiri is gut wrenching.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from Mike Reiss, who's a writer/producer for "The Simpsons." Name a place in Europe in nine letters. Swap the third and fourth letters, then the eighth and ninth letters. The result is two words describing what this place famously does.
ReplyDeleteShocked that there were only 500 correct answers this week!
ReplyDeleteDuring the on-air puzzle, when Will asked about recording tape, I flashed back to my high school AV squad's 2-inch open-reel video tape recorder and said "Ampex". Memorex came later, I think.