The new 6-letter part can also be rearranged to get the last name of an actor whose first name starts with the same 5 letters as the author or athlete.Q: Think of a well-known author whose first name is nine letters long, and last name six letters. Change the first letter of the last name and anagram those six letters to spell a word. Now read everything together — the author's first name plus the anagram with a letter changed of the last name — and you'll get a certain professional athlete. Who is it?
Edit: Charl(ize) Theron
A: CHARLOTTE BRONTE, CHARLOTTE HORNET
I will refrain from any comments about last week's puzzle, other than saying solving this week's was made much sweeter.
ReplyDeleteOnly 43 correct submissions last week!
ReplyDelete42 would have been so much better. I shouldn't have submitted this week (I rarely do).
DeleteI shouldn't have submitted, either. The odds were so good this time, and I still didn't get "The Call."
DeleteI have it. Fairly easy...
ReplyDeleteIn the broadcast Will gave us extra info to solve this puzzle than is in the written puzzle above.
ReplyDeleteInstead of "professional athlete", on air he said, "a member of a certain professional sports team". I wonder why the different wording?
DeleteI suspect it was an honest mistake by a scribe trying to be helpful. They really ought to change it, though. If I were Peter Collins, I'd be upset.
DeleteMember of a certain professional sports team is better phrasing, IMHO.
DeleteClarification was necessary for me.
DeleteBoot me if you like, but I heard that to mean "any member" of the team/
DeleteI generally solve the puzzle based on this blog before the audio is available in the Mountain Time Zone. While the extra info was nice, I solved it without the on air wording
DeleteThe on-air wording makes it a lot easier to zero in on, although I was thinking that way anyway.
DeleteIndeed, the way Will phrased it on air got me there quickly.
ReplyDeleteOn-air puzzle player had a rough go today.
That was a tougher on air puzzle today. Some of them I got right away, but I was struggling with a few of them. I felt bad for her when pop-rod came up, because it led to two terms she wouldn't know as well.
DeleteWill's verbal explanation definitely makes it a lot easier than the textual discussion of the clue.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. It almost appears that whoever wrote the text for the website did so without knowing the answer to the puzzle.
DeleteAh! I appreciate finishing the puzzle on Sunday morning. Starting with professional sports teams helped me solve.
ReplyDeleteSo the first name of the author and athlete are the same?
ReplyDeleteIn a manner of speaking, yes.
DeleteThe author has been the subject of puzzles here previously.
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteI liked hearing the puzzle on air. The last name of the athlete can be rearranged into something recently gotten by somebody with the same first 5 letters as the author and the athlete.
ReplyDeleteNice!
DeleteConfirms my answer. Thanks!
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DeleteI initially misread this clue. I'm not sure it's fairly phrased, but I now I agree that (in some sense) it fits my answer.
DeleteThanks, Bobby!
DeleteAnyone who can figure out how "Donny & Marie" could be construed as a hint deserves a prize. But don't expect it from me, because I'm cheap.
And so was the captain of the Wager. The Wager, by David Grann, is the title of the hot book, just out that everyone is raving about, and I am about to finish reading today.
DeleteBeautiful hint, Bobby.
DeleteLegoWhoApplaudsBobby'sHintGivingAsWellAsPuzzleMakingSkills
I second Lego's comment—because your hint "confirms" my answer. Thanks! (I still don't get some of the other clues posted here.)
DeleteYour "first-five-letters"" observation also applies in the case of a person connected to another puzzle involving the same author.
Delete"Air" sounds like "Eyre". Charlotte Bronte created Jane Eyre. "Hornet" is an anagram of "throne". King Charles III took the throne.
DeleteI really don't speak "Sports". I am however, fluent in "Books", and that was a good advantage in helping me solve this. My answer was verified by Google.
ReplyDeleteGot the puzzle quickly, with one of the first authors I thought of.
ReplyDeleteWith the nice weather today, I might go for a bike ride. However, with holiday weekend events happening, traffic could be a problem, and if I can't dodge an SUV in time, I could end up in the hospital or morgue. It's so sad that I have to worry about things like this, and can't just enjoy the day.
So please, if you encounter bicyclists while driving, please share the road graciously.
Dodge, the car company, currently sells an SUV called the Hornet. Also, there is a quote in Jane Eyre, "a bicyclist makes her own path."
DeleteI really did think about going for a ride, but really did have concerns about motor vehicle traffic, and ultimately did something else.
FWIW, AMC made a little piece of crap called the Hornet in the '70's, A lot of government entities bought 'em because they were cheap. And uncomfortable. And poor handling.
DeleteI wonder how long a model has to out of production before its name can be re-used by another maker.
Dodge must have been pretty sure that almost no one remembered the AMC Hornet before they settled on that name for their Alfa Romeo re-branding.
DeleteNot an author that was coming up in lists I found, but there are only so many nine-letter first names. Interestingly, when I was entering my answer a correction was automatically made.
ReplyDeleteSurely there will be more entries this week!
ReplyDeleteCooking fans will find this puzzle to be a piece of cake.
ReplyDeleteStrike one letter of Dr. Awkward's critter and rearrange to get a town in Denmark.
ReplyDeleteThe way that Will phrased the puzzle on the air really did make it much easier.
ReplyDeleteGood clue, Blaine.
ReplyDeleteThe subject of Blaine's clue has also been a puzzle answer, and relates to a different clue here as well.
DeleteJan, I found the previous puzzle answer. Not sure of the other clue you mention though. thanks.
DeleteTake the 9-letter surname of one of the main characters of the author's best-known book. Add a 6-letter word relating to that other clue here I just mentioned. You'll get the former "full name" of another group of professional athletes, whose current "first name" was also a fairly recent puzzle answer, and whose current "last name" also relates to that other clue!
DeleteI followed every bit of that, jan. You got game!
DeleteThen you're a better man than me. I wouldn't have bothered!
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DeleteNice spinoff puzzle, jan. Actually, the "current 'last name'" was something I had found on the professional-athletes side, only that I was unable to find an author to complete that potential answer. Thanks for not letting my initial effort be completely in vain! :)
DeleteThankfully the answer is not Westbrook Pegler. Armistead Maupin would have been okay though.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteARMISTEAD MAUPIN="IS A MAN I DREAMT UP"
Delete(not my own anagram, BTW, but this is the main thing I remember, if anything, about the author)
pjbAlsoKnowsTheFakeName"AlanSmithee"CanBeArrangedToSpell"TheAliasMen"...Coincidence?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI thought of a 1990 movie, Arachnophobia.
ReplyDeleteChat GPT's answer, which is obviously rubbish:
ReplyDeleteAfter considering various possibilities, one potential solution is:
Author: "Vladimir" (nine letters)
Last name: "Nabokov" (six letters)
If we change the first letter of "Nabokov" to "M," we can anagram the resulting six letters to spell "VANBOM." Combining "Vladimir" and "VANBOM" yields the name "Vladimir Vanbom."
As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, there is no professional athlete named Vladimir Vanbom. However, please note that the landscape of professional sports can change over time, and there may be new athletes who have gained prominence since then.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSo glad to see that ChatGPT is unable to count.
DeleteI tried Chatgpt later today and was surprised.
DeleteThere's a Pixar reference in here somewhere
ReplyDeleteThe author may have suffered from something that can be caused by something that sounds like something the author's name also suffers from.
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle answer is obliquely appropriate for Memorial Day.
ReplyDeleteThe author's first or last name would had to have been substantially different for this puzzle to have worked in earlier periods of this century.
ReplyDeleteLego – Have you noticed that your on-line handle has several letters in common with an athlete with a connection to this week’s puzzle?
ReplyDeleteI had not noticed that, Lorenzo. You seem to be very knowledgeable about sports! I did just now check a roster, however, and I see what you mean.
DeleteLeoLamba
Musical Clue: Monie Love
ReplyDeleteBreaker 1-9, we got church bells at 3-8. Stay safe and keep the shiny side up.
ReplyDeleteWonder what Smokey would think, good buddy?
DeleteI've seen pilot kitsch that says "keep the pointy end forward and the dirty side down".
A pilot I watch on YouTube closes his videos with "keep the blue side up."
DeleteI'll plant you now, and dig you later. As Sanford and/or Townsend sang, "Don't let the screen door hit you on your way out."
DeletepjbOnceSawSmokeyPutOutADistantFire
There were some very lucky fans yesterday at the Indy 500. I still can't get over the wreck that sent a tire over the racetrack's fence narrowly missing some fans. In fact, while watching it live on TV, I thought at first that some people were actually injured or killed. Fortunately, the tire missed the stands but hit a Chevy Cruze in a parking lot.
ReplyDeleteIf I were the owner of that Chevy Cruze, I might have asked if I could keep the tire and wheel as a souvenir!!
Wasn't he great in "Caddyshack"?
DeletepjbCan'tExactly"BeTheBall",ButHisBellyIsRound,SoThat'sGottaAccountForSomething,Right?
Waukegan.
ReplyDeleteChatgpt is good if phrase the question differently.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was on the wrong track, because the answer I found has one letter altered in a certain way, which I thought would affect the validity of the answer. Then again, Blaine's clue works for my answer. Some of the clues people have been posting are compatible as well, although there are many other clues I am not getting. I might end up submitting my answer anyway. If it is not the intended answer, maybe it will get an honorable mention as a good alternate answer. Hope everyone is having a good Memorial Day.
ReplyDeleteFred Flintstone
ReplyDeleteWill Shortz says: "Change the first letter of the last name and anagram those six letters to spell a word."
ReplyDeleteBlaine says: "The new 6-letter part can also be rearranged..."
There is an important difference there, one which Wiil Shortz apparently will never learn.
The wording Shortz used on the air and that on the website are still confusingly unalike.
It seems like he is using a 4 or 5 man team with little to show for it.
RIP to all who have died in war.
I should add that Will's "famous" island that we all should know is STROMboli, not StromBOLi.
DeleteMJ - Indeed!
DeleteThe city with a name associated with the author doesn't have a pro team in that sport.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to learn what became of that championship team.
DeleteI find it somewhat surprising that an apartment building collapsing in Davenport, Iowa is all over the news, when davenports are collapsing all over the country due to obesity.
ReplyDeleteJoyce Davenport isn't collapsing. And Frank Furillo isn't obese.
DeleteWho are they?
Deletejan, Can a urologist successfully treat pea gravel?
DeleteGrandpa Theodore finally passed away and the family got together for a little Ted talk where we all decided Human Composting would be acceptable since he was already used to soiling himself.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeletePart of both first names is related to a well-known consumer brand headquartered in Asia.
ReplyDeleteIn a sick sort of way isn't it odd we now find ourselves where we need to be concerned more about Artificial Intelligence, rather than Artificial Stupidity or Actual Stupidity? But is there really any meaningful difference? In other words, are they not all the same in the final tally?
ReplyDeleteArtificial Intelligence concerns me to the extent it may reduce the need for, and thereby reduce our capacity for, individual thinking, in the same way as calculators have reduced our ability to do math manually or in our heads. Artificial Stupidity concerns me to the extent it may be used to deceive people into thinking they are communicating with a person when it's really a bot.
DeleteActual Stupidity of the kind one encounters in everyday life concerns me the least, because I have found that in practice what is called intelligence or stupidity is usually just a difference in experience or skill set. No doubt an urban dweller usually would do better on a current events test than a rural subsistence farmer in an isolated area, but would have little success in trying to make a living from nothing more than a plot of land. So who is the more intelligent?
change a letter in the six letter word and rearrange to get the name of a city. This city reminds me of a president which is connected to the puzzle's answer in a separate way.
ReplyDeleteCan someone tell me the best way to submit a puzzle to be considered by Will Shortz?
ReplyDeleteYou do it via the same link as submitting a puzzle answer, but instead choose to suggest a puzzle idea.
DeleteThank you Blaine
DeleteOur friend Ecoarchitect, designer of often-impossibly-tricky puzzles, is our guest-puzzle-maker on tonight's edition of Puzzleria!
ReplyDeleteEco, in his recurrent "Econfusions" feature, has this time concocted “A Dirty Dozen D-Day Mis de-eds” (plus a Bonus Puzzle!) to help us commemorate D-Day.
We upload Puzzleria tonight around Midnight PDT, or earlier, in the wee hours between Thursday and Friday.
Also on this week's menus are:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week entitled “Christopher Columbus Combs,”
* a puzzling Hors d’Oeuvre about "Making midnight snacks from scratch,"
* a Slice of Puzzle life that involves CL, FL ,T, H... but not TH,
* a A Dickens Of A Dessert titled "Calculator clickin’s, what the Dickens!"
* and ten riff-offs of this week's Charlotte's-Web-Hornets'-Nest NPR puzzle, titled The “Brooklyn Brontësauri!”
Come get Econfused, "Christopher Columbussed," Calculator-CLicked, and even CLeveland-Cavaliered!
LegoWhoWasAFiveTimeAllStarPowerForwardOnTheBrooklyn Brontësauri(ThosePunyCharlotteHornetsWereNoMatchFor Us!)
Neither Red Smith or Ray Scott could have crafted a more inspiring valediction.
DeleteCHARLOTTE BRONTË, CHARLOTTE HORNET
ReplyDeleteWill's on air clueing of any team member vs a specific athlette got me right to CHARLOTTE HORNET.
Although, to be picky, what do we do with the accented Ë in the switch?
^^^athlete
DeleteCHARLOTTE BRONTE → Professional Athlete: a CHARLOTTE HORNET.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte Brontë >>> Charlotte Hornet
ReplyDeleteThis is a very poorly written puzzle and I am surprised I was able to solve it because I have never heard of the Hornets. When I figured out the answer I had to verify that I actually had it. How can a Charlotte Hornet be "a certain professional athlete?"
CHARLOTTE BRONTË -> CHARLOTTE HORNËT
ReplyDelete> The author has been the subject of puzzles here previously.
On September 28, 2014, e.g..
> The subject of Blaine's clue has also been a puzzle answer, and relates to a different clue here as well.
On October 24, 2021.
The other clue is Bobby's.
> Take the 9-letter surname of one of the main characters of the author's best-known book. Add a 6-letter word relating to that other clue here I just mentioned. You'll get the former "full name" of another group of professional athletes, whose current "first name" was also a fairly recent puzzle answer, and whose current "last name" also relates to that other clue!
The NBA's Sacramento Kings used to be the NBL's Rochester Royals.
> The author may have suffered from something that can be caused by something that sounds like something the author's name also suffers from.
Brontë may have died from dehydration caused by severe morning sickness. Dehydration can also be medically induced by diuresis. That's no umlaut over her final ë; it's a diaeresis.
> Wonder what Smokey would think, good buddy?
I'm surprised Blaine allowed your CB hint.
CB radio - Church Bells at 3-8 (her age at death). I guess I am just living right.
DeleteCharlotte Bronte --> Charlotte Hornet
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I thought of a 1990 movie, Arachnophobia.” The spiders led me to Charlotte’s Web which led me to Charlotte Bronte (there just aren’t that many 9, 6 authors out there). After the letter substitution and anagramming and you get the Charlotte Hornets, a professional basketball team.
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ReplyDeleteCHARLOTTE BRONTE --> CHARLOTTE HORNET. My hint was: Cooking fans will find this puzzle to be a piece of cake. A charlotte is a type of bread pudding also referred to as an "icebox cake."
ReplyDeleteDonny and Marie had a hit with "Deep Purple"; Deep Purple had a hit with "Hush"; and
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=298z6jtdtZc
Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte Hornet
ReplyDeleteCHARLOTTE BRONTË — CHARLOTTE HORNET
ReplyDeleteMy hints:
“I thought I was on the wrong track, because the answer I found has one letter altered in a certain way, which I thought would affect the validity of the answer.”
That was the diaeresis atop the e in “Brontë.” Obviously, that diaeresis needed to go for “hornet” to be spelled right. At first, instead of “one letter altered in a certain way,” I wanted to say, “one letter containing a diacritical mark.” On second thought, that reference seemed like TMI already.
And, obviously, the diaeresis wasn’t that critical!
Next, I picked up on Bobby’s observation that the author and the athlete had the same first five letters in their first names. I noted that “this also applies in the case of a person connected to another puzzle involving the same author.”
That was this puzzle, Go Ahead, Make My Day! The answer there consisted of CHARLes Bronson and CHARLotte Brontë.
Finally, as I hinted in jan's spinoff puzzle, I had set my eyes on “Baltimore Oriole” as an athlete at first, but I was unable to find a well-known author to complete that answer.
(What I meant was: “Finally, as I hinted in my reply to jan’s spinoff puzzle,….”)
DeleteCHARLOTTE BRONTË, CHARLOTTE HORNET
ReplyDeleteHInt: “Waukegan” (Illinois) was the birthplace of Jack Benny, whose “valet” was Eddie Anderson, popularly known as “Rochester.” Rochester was also the name of a principal character in Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre.
“Reader, I married him.”
Chatgpt got the name right away. I had already solved the puzzle.
ReplyDelete"The author's first or last name would had to have been substantially different for this puzzle to have worked in earlier periods of this century."
ReplyDeleteThe Hornet franchise moved to New Orleans in 2002. A new Charlotte NBA franchise, the Bobcats, began two years later. In 2014, the New Orleans Hornets became the Pelicans and Charlotte took back the Hornets name.
My clue, Fred Flintstone, was in reference to the Bronto burgers he liked to eat. Bronto - Bronte - that's just how my mind works. :-)
ReplyDeleteI was trying to use Cleveland Amory, but couldn't make anything.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte Hornet would have worked for the on air clue if she was the mascot. Nope, that's Hugo apparently.
The generic athlete does fit.
It seems skewed if we are expected to follow the instructions carefully, when they are not written that way.
My clue was:
ReplyDelete"Surely there will be more entries this week!"
Charlotte Bronte's second novel was Shirley. Tip of the hat to Airplane!
"Looks like a picked a bad week to quit sniffing glue!"
DeleteIn the words of the immortal "Jive Dudes":
Delete"See dabroada gettyackem(sic)...lays 'em down a smackem-yackem! Ooh, got to be!"
pjbThoughtBetterOfFirstAsking"YaEver...SeenAGrownManNaked?"
My hint: The puzzle answer is obliquely appropriate for Memorial Day.
ReplyDeleteOne of the early stars of the Hornets was Alonzo Mourning.
good old Charlotte Rodent!
ReplyDeleteI was out of town yesterday and didn't get to post my answer Charlotte Bronte/Charlotte Hornet.
ReplyDeleteThere was another had an interesting (and probably TMI) relationship between last Sunday's puzzle and Memorial Day Weekend. In addition to Sunday having been the day of the Indianapolis 500, it was also the day of NASCAR's Coca Cola 600, run at the Charlotte, NC racetrack .
Sadly, Charlotte Brontë's last words, were: "Please pass the Stromboli!"
ReplyDelete"This woman has to be gotten to a hospital."
Delete"A hospital...what is it?"
"It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now."
pjbCouldn'tResistTossingInAnother"Airplane!"Reference
CHARLOTTE BRONTE, CHARLOTTE HORNET
ReplyDeletepjbSaysYouJustHaveToThinkOfA(LongEnough)FirstNameThat'sAlsoACityName,AndTheRestShouldFallIntoPlace
CHARLOTTE BRONTE, CHARLOTTE HORNET
ReplyDeleteMy musical clue was Monie Love. Because Monie Love's biggest hit was "It's a Shame," but the lyrics start out saying "my sister, my sister."
And we all know that CHARLOTTE was one of three writer-sisters.
The singers spouse was also a well known singer.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOoops. Right answer, wrong puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Chicken Yakitori and never eaten Chicken Cacciatore (but heard of it).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I usually say "eLECtoral".
Thanks, Crito, but you may want to remove that.
ReplyDelete