Sunday, May 07, 2023

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 7, 2023): Compound Body Parts

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 7, 2023): Compound Body Parts
Q: Think of part of the human body whose name is a compound word (like fingertip or toenail). Add an N and rearrange the result to get another part of the body whose name is also a compound word. What body parts are these?
From the final body part remove any repeated letters (leaving only one instance of the letter). Add "IC" and rearrange to describe the state of some other body parts.

Edit: The resulting anagram is MANICURED.
A: EARDRUM + N --> UNDERARM

129 comments:

  1. Take the first word. Repeat one of the letters in it. Rearrange. You get someone disreputable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice hint! Note that you also get a disreputable airplane.

      Delete
  2. Add a letter to the second word and rearrange to get something we all were and some still are (but not me).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Add 3 letters to the 2nd word and you get a product related to the body.

    ReplyDelete
  4. For some reason, I’m thinking of Stephen Curry.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Easy puzzle. Makes me think of the theater.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, there is "sideburns" which anagrams to "burnsides" no extra N needed...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Millions and millions are spent annually on these two, especially the second one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was worried, but this makes me feel I got it. Thanks!

      Delete
    2. This clue is TMI for the answer I found.

      Delete
  9. Simple. I went to an online anagram server, typed an "n" in the search box, then, one at a time, I added every compound worded body part I could think of after it, clicked, "get anagrams", voila! I solved the puzzle!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Not the larynx, obviously -- but think of parts that have something in common with it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I get the feeling that some people will insist that this puzzle is too easy, and should be thrown away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thrown away, as in an underarm throw. Now that my employer has decided that Thursday is an "anchor day," and I have to be in the office, and Blaine's page is blocked from work, I will not have the opportunity to post on Thursday afternoon, except on rare occasions. So, I'm going back to replying to my own comment to explain any clues.

      Delete
    2. Outrageous! But don't you have cell phone service at work? Or do you work for the NSA?

      Delete
  12. My answer is not fitting any of the clues given here, yet it is definitely 2 body parts, and adding "n" to one and rearranging gives the other.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My answer does not fit the clues on here either and fits the parameters.

      Delete
    2. i.e. last week-isn't using Chat-box cheating.?

      Delete
    3. And both body parts are compound words? I have an answer, and it matches at least one clue above. However, I have not figured out Blaine's clue, despite working with an anagramming site for a while. That makes me wonder if there are two answers out there.

      Delete
    4. Chat GPT failed so far in solving this puzzle.

      Delete
    5. Me too -- like JAWS, I have one that fits several clues (Rob, Pandemonium, Leo, Chuck, Clotheslover), but I don't see how it fits Blaine's, and a few others either also don't match or (just as likely!) are over my head.

      My clue is very obscure -- trying to avoid TMI.

      Delete
    6. I think my instructions weren't very clear. I meant that any repeated letters should be reduced to a single instance. (e.g. MISSISSIPPI --> MISP).

      Delete
    7. Ah!
      Right, we've run into that ambiguity before, I should have tried that.
      Okay that fits mine too.

      Delete
    8. That fits my solution also. Thanks Blaine for clearing that up...

      Delete
    9. Neat clue, Blaine. Greetings from Logan Airport.

      Delete
    10. Does anyone with a pigtail have a giant lip?

      Delete
    11. No, ron, but you might if you call someone's fancy braid a pigtail!

      Delete
  13. I got one body part that definitely is a compound word, but with an "n" added and rearranged gives me a two word body part that isn't a compound word. Anyone else with this problem?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Clark, I do not think you have the correct answer. Mine has a compound word as the second word and also the first word.

      Delete
    2. Natasha,
      Thanks for your response to my question. I just got a much better answer.

      Delete
    3. Cap - I agree with Natasha.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  14. Surprisingly, both body parts are commonly used for the same purpose!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Not surprisingly, the puzzle doesn't work if you use the formal medical (Latin) names of the body parts. But if you place the formal names of the parts one in front of the other, in the given order, the last letters of the result form the name of a body part that lies anatomically between the two.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Take a different compound named body part, add an N and rearrange to get a body part and a name for part of that part.

    ReplyDelete
  17. If a nostril hair can be called a noselash, I have an alternate answer unsuitable for NPR.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like it more than the official offering.

      Delete
    2. Genius! You've wrecked 'em for good!

      Delete
    3. Have I ever explained how a simple noselash transplant can effectively treat minor urinary incontinence?

      Delete
    4. It's really a very minor procedure. A single nose hair is removed from the patient's nostril, and carefully sewn onto the tip of the penis. After healing, the next time the patient urinates, and the last drop or two is ready to drip off and soil his clothing, the little nose hair goes

      S-N-O-O-O-O-R-T !

      Delete
    5. Took me a second and then I burst out laughing. Noselash is going to be my new code word...

      Delete
    6. Is this an outpatient procedure? Does Rogaine also work?

      Delete
    7. Yes; as soon as you mention it to your doctor, they will throw you out as a patient. No, Rogaine barely works where it's supposed to.

      Delete
    8. jan,
      The problem I have with Rogaine is that it does nothing to restore my scalp, but seems to work wonders on the palm of the hand I use to apply it.

      Delete
  18. No "N", but buttcheek and buckteeth make an odd and funny pairing.

    ReplyDelete
  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  20. One of the clues above lead me to the answer. Thanks to you, oh four lettered person.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Finally got Blaine's clue and the preferred answer.

    ReplyDelete
  22. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Necknape only slightly bends the rules.
    Many fortunes have been built on one of the parts.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I can't find anything imperfect about this puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Think of a kind of fish. Add an N and rearrange the result to get a kind of bird.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The kind of fish is German. Fische + n -> finches. Ja?

      Delete
    2. Well actually it's British. Ala fish 'n' chips ...

      Delete
    3. Ah. Got it. Interestingly, haddock + n anagrams to dockhand, which isn't a bird, but someone could make a puzzle out of that.

      Delete
    4. Add an S instead of an N for a special treat.

      Delete
    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  26. Rearrange the letters in the final word and insert a space for a really great workout.

    (I thought of the first word almost immediately yesterday, but the anagram section of my brain must have been on strike in solidarity with the screenwriters, because I had to use an online anagrammer to get the second word and Blaine's hint. Hence my rather tardy submission.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A great workout, huh? I told a buddy of mine, and he was like, "Let's grab our gym shirts!"

      Delete
  27. Got Blaine's clue, and thus I'm certain I have the same answer. Lots of luck to all in radio land!

    ReplyDelete
  28. It's Tuesday and only 71 responses?

    ReplyDelete
  29. I'm keeping my answer a secret for now.

    ReplyDelete
  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I may not be able to post the answer come Thursday as about that time my flight out of LAX I almost missed booking is leaving near that time, and I would not want to waste a trip to New Zealand.

    ReplyDelete
  32. "Fractured Fictitious Titles," another brilliant brainchild of our friend SuperZee, is a 21-puzzle-set we are featuring on this week's Puzzleria! They appear in his recurring "Jeff Zarkin Puzzle Riffs" package. (For example, what is the actual movie title of the fractured title "“Arsonist Destroys Bicycle Seats”?)
    Puzzleria! uploads every late-Thursday/early-Friday at Midnight PDT, more-or-less.
    Also on our menus:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week that is a “goesinta” challenge that involves divisibility by the prime number 29,
    * a Bucolic Hors d’Oeuvre puzzle titled "Tales plucked from the pasture" that asks you to unearth a compound word for a pastoral place.
    * an Astronomical Puzzle-Slice titled "Heavenly geological generation,"
    * a Dessert Puzzle titled "Gallstone operations remove rocks," and
    * 10 confounding riff-offs of this week's compound "antiperspirantympanic" NPR puzzle.
    Come join us, pleaZe, for some SuperSuperPuZeeZeeling fun!

    LegoWhoGrantsThatALot“Goesinta”GivingYouWeeklyPuzzlesButTalentedContributorsLikeSuperZeeAndManyOthersMakeItAllSeemSoEasy

    ReplyDelete
  33. EARDRUM, UNDERARM

    "Ho hum." rhymes with EARDRUM.

    ReplyDelete
  34. EARDRUM + N → UNDERARM (an armpit).

    My earlier attempts:
    I started with “eyebrow” adding an N produced “brown eye,” a body part, but not a “one-word” body part (brown-eyed).

    1. an EYEBROW + N → a BROWN-EYE.

    2. There is KNEECAP + N to yield NECKNAPE.

    There are always Blaine's "manicured" body parts...

    ReplyDelete
  35. EARDRUM, UNDERARM

    Hint: “For some reason, I’m thinking of Stephen Curry.”
    The NBA superstar recently signed a $75 million
    deal with Under Armour.

    And Blaine’s clue, which yielded “manicured,” was “neat.”

    ReplyDelete
  36. EARDRUM + N, rearranges to UNDERARM.

    Underarms are also known as armpits, but I was certain that referring to this puzzle as, “The Pits,” would be TMI. So I wrote of the Theater, where the orchestra plays in a pit.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I wrote, “Take the first word. Repeat one of the letters in it. Rearrange. You get someone disreputable.” That’s MARAUDER.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My reply about a disreputable airplane referred to the B-26 Martin Marauder, which had a reputation among US WWII pilots for being hard to fly.

      Delete
  38. alternate answer: femur; frenum

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow nice! Except... not compound words.

      Delete
    2. Well done! I once wrote a prurient parody of a famous Broadway show tune, but none of it is printable in Blaine's family friendly blog. Took me a while to come up with a quality rhyme for frenum, though, but I did in the end.

      Delete
    3. Ben, Not many people know that term as usually in the longer form.

      Delete
  39. My clue was about the larynx...
    Other parts that have something in common with it are the "axilla" and "myrinx" (armpit and eardrum).

    ReplyDelete
  40. The puzzle on April 11, 2021 was kneecap->neck, nape.

    ReplyDelete
  41. EARDRUM, UNDERARM

    > Surprisingly, both body parts are commonly used for the same purpose!

    You can buy fever thermometers that measure the temperature of both.

    > Not surprisingly, the puzzle doesn't work if you use the formal medical (Latin) names of the body parts. But if you place the formal names of the parts one in front of the other, in the given order, the last letters of the result form the name of a body part that lies anatomically between the two.

    Between the TYMPANUM and the AXILLA lies (part of) the MAXILLA, or upper jaw.

    > I hear ya.

    With my EARDRUM.

    > Have fun down UNDER!

    ...ARM!

    ReplyDelete
  42. EARDRUM, UNDERARM

    My clue was Lots of luck to all in radio land, because the letters LLRL are what drummers call a PARADIDDLE and EARDRUMS are what drummers lose rather quickly, over time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very clever. Actually a reversed paradiddle which is usually written as RLRR LRLL. There is also the inverted paradiddle RLLR LRRL -which works great for Sambas. You are right about the ear drums too- I have had tinnitis for over 40 years. A small price to pay. Emmauel Capalette has a great video on improving paradiddle speed.

      Delete
    2. I've spent a bunch of time of late studying 6/8 Paradiddles, which are RLRLRR LRLRLL. Odd because I'm a bass player, but some of the most interesting rhythms IMHO derive from a 6/8 Paradiddle at its root.

      Delete
    3. 6/8 Afro Cuban stuff is way cool. That is also called a double paradiddle accenting the leading hand. R-R, L-L and there is also a triple paradiddle. RLRLRLLL. etc.
      David Garibaldi did a bunch of Latin stuff when he was with "Talking drums" now back with Tower of Power.

      Delete
    4. Of course it all goes back to the original 12/8 African Mozambique--the root of Jazz etc.

      Delete
    5. I think i told you i was in Dave Friessen- Seattle small jazz ensemble workshop for two years. Big jazz bassist out of Portland and he would come up to the Emerald city every other week and do a workshop with us. He is big in Europe. That would be my dream gig -to get on the Euro summer jazz circuit. He plays a "Hermitage." (sp?)

      Delete
    6. Now Ben i have to ask you as you are a musician- if you spoonerize Drum stick is the result a medical condition and is it treatable?

      Delete
  43. EARDRUM — UNDERARM

    My clues:

    I can’t find anything imperfect about this puzzle.
    Meaning, I find this puzzle to be unmarred—an anagram of “underarm.”

    Let’s grab our gym shirts!
    Not Nike…not Reebok…but: UNDER ARMour. 😉

    ReplyDelete
  44. My clue was Al13. Al being the symbol for aluminum, and 13 the atomic number. Aluminum is an (controversial) ingredient in antiperspirants.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I guess my clue about Superstar made Waywordy squirm and tattle. Even though the main character smells her fingers after shoving them in her armpits, underarm nor eardrum are ever mentioned.

    ReplyDelete
  46. My hint was: Rearrange the letters in the final word and insert a space for a really great workout. UNDERARM anagrams to DREAM RUN.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Eardrum n underarm I am camping in Oregon now my hint was LAX I ALmost... AXOILLA is proper name for u nderarm

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When going to New Zealand? I sent a puzzle to WS. Name a body part. Remove two letters and rearrange remaining letters to get a disease.

      Delete
    2. Not not going to New Zealand.. that was a setup for my hint I am now camping on the Deschutes River where it enters the Columbia River. I thought it was a clever way to hint at the puzzle answer. Jan Jan seemed to get the hint.

      Delete
    3. Can't find Axoilla, but it would be a good name for a simian serial killer.

      Delete
  48. eardrum, underarm

    Sorry I missed posting at the witching hour today. I was in a meeting with my Financial Advisor.

    Last Sunday I said, “Millions and millions are spent annually on these two, especially the second one.” I was thinking of hearing aids, cochlear implants and the like, plus antiperspirants and deodorants.

    ReplyDelete
  49. EARDRUM + N = UNDERARM
    My hint: Add a letter to the second word and rearrange to get something we all were and some still are (but not me).
    UNDERARM + I = UNMARRIED

    ReplyDelete
  50. I only thought of eyebrow and brown eye.

    ReplyDelete
  51. This week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. 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?

    ReplyDelete
  52. Maybe the easiest puzzle ever?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are also multiple correct answers.

      Delete
    2. Multiple names, or just the same names for different animals?

      Delete
    3. Same names, different animals.

      Delete
  53. Wow, this really is a no-brainer.
    Maybe Blainesvillains can hint at the alternative answers that Dr. K has discovered. (I only have one, which I assume is the intended answer -- other homophones are nearby!)

    ReplyDelete
  54. OK, I now have an answer I'm sure enough about that I'm willing to risk pointing out that "the Italian stallion" was from Philly.

    ReplyDelete

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.