Q: Take the name of a fish. Add the name of a mammal. Rearrange all the letters to get the name of a reptile. What is it?The first letter of the fish and the first letter of the mammal end up together in the name of the reptile.
A: SALMON + TIGER --> GILA MONSTER
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.
I have an answer, but it relies on a fish with an obscure name, so I know it isn't the intended one.
ReplyDeleteIf only "at" were the name of a fish then "gorilla" and "alligator" would work. 😉
DeleteIs that an Axolotl?
DeleteThe fish and mammal that I have are common. The reptile is commonly known, but I don't think I've seen one in the wild. I have seen lizards and rattlesnakes, since I live in Colorado, and often visit desert areas of Colorado and Utah
DeleteWhat vets would attempt to do if they were into crypto.
ReplyDeleteGot it, but I can't think of a hint that would pass muster.
ReplyDeleteI have it. Good clue Blaine. My answer fits your clue. Everyone will have to go beyond 3 and 4 letter animals.
ReplyDeleteCute puzzle. Glad I woke up to hear it.
ReplyDeleteHappy Father's Day, dads!
The words can also be rearranged to form an oxymoron. Nice clue, Blaine.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's a twist!
DeleteIf a twister lifts you up and bears you away to a colorful, magical land, I suppose you could call it a “genial storm”. Just watch out for lions and TIGERs.
DeleteRelocated emus' humps.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to AbqGuerilla?
ReplyDeleteAnyway: Samuel Seabury Playground.
Musical Clue: Jerry Garcia
ReplyDeleteI have the answer, but can't see how this is a clue for it.
DeleteWell, I will further explain sometime Thursday. I am terrible at giving clues, however this one does work, and not by too many degrees of separation.
DeleteWhile walking past the Massachusetts State House this morning, I was reminded of the Sacred Cod and tried to make cod work with crocodile. Alas, lorice sounds more like a rejected Dr. Seuss creature then a mammal.
ReplyDeleteWe do have alligators here in the semi-arid desert of Colorado: Colorado Gators
ReplyDeleteSpelling is definitely important in this one.
ReplyDeleteGot it. Will this puzzle lead to another debate on pronunciation?
ReplyDeleteI suspect you may be surprised to learn the reptile's scientific name.
DeleteAnd that scientific name anagrams to a hatred of certain hirsute features.
DeleteNot surprised to learn the scientific name. I think amused is a better description.
DeleteWW, I do think the scientific name has a lovely 2-word anagram worthy of Michelangelo, but, um, isn't your anagram a little incomplete?
DeleteLancek, you are correct! I left off one letter in the anagramming. The proper anagram, as you say, works better. More Thursday.
DeleteMy pronunciation reference was, of course, to the pronunciation of Gila Monster, which is correctly pronounced HEE-la, but many people, when they first see it, apply phonics, and try to pronounce it as GHEE-la, or ZHEE-la.
DeleteThe scientific name is heloderma suspectum, which helps eliminate the pronunciation issue.
Solved. Think I'll make a souffle omlet for breakfast to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteDOG + GNU ~ DUGONG
ReplyDeleteSCHNOODLE + THRIP ~ HECTORS DOLPHIN
Don't fit the right categories but still worth knowing
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ReplyDeleteI see what you mean, now.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteInterestingly, one of the animals in the puzzle helps name an animal in a class different than its own.
ReplyDeleteBy the looks of the blog today, seems like many may be suffering from reptile dysfunction,
ReplyDeleteThat made me giggle.
Delete[Insert inappropriate one-eyed trouser snake joke here.]
DeleteGot the answer. Puzzle not that clear, I guess on purpose.
ReplyDeleteFor me, that was part of its charm.
DeleteI have the answer, and agree with Natasha. No clue here. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret!
Delete
Delete"Yesterday I witnessed 2 robbers escaping from Rite aid. They almost crashed into my car. No police showed up at the scene." This is the post I deleted.
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ReplyDeleteI was in my second armed hold up 1/25/2019 6:00p to 7:00p Pawn shop hold up. I loved it so much. I know it sounds unbelievable, but I love excitement and being retired is a huge bore. Here is the rest of what I posted to my computer notebook/ calendar.
DeleteJust home after leaving the Friday evening wine tasting at the Holman Road QFC. As I turned from Aurora onto N. 107th I parked beside the empty, former glass shop so I could walk down to the pawn shop and see if the guy I saw at 4pm with the probably stolen TV had pawned it there. I stopped about 15 feet inside the entrance to see a TV that looked like what I would upgrade to, although I would not deal with a pawn shop. It did not have the name, but the remote was there, upside down. I picked it up and saw it is a Visio.
This is when it gets interesting.
At that moment a twenty something black guy in a mask and hoodie came running in directly to the counter directly East in a direct line from the front door and past where I was standing. Their cash register is also there and two employees were standing there and this black guy had an automatic black pistol out and stuck it right over the counter in their faces all the while yelling, "Give me the money! Give me the money!" over and over.
I was unarmed and knew that if he shot them, which it looked like might happen, he would kill me on the way out, so I turned and quietly walked back and out the door and tried calling 911 on my phone. I had trouble with the phone and it took at least three minutes to get to them. It is all on store video and the cops have already seen it. The guy had entered the store right behind me, coming from the South and I had not noticed, but it is clearly on the videos.
It was all great fun as I love excitement, but it is now time for dinner.
1/25/19 7:59p
I discovered from a business owner further up that block that there actually were two robbers. The second one was in the alley in the getaway car. 10/11/19 7:35p
Anyway I'm glad you were not harmed.
Natasha: Why do you keep deleting your posts? Now no one knows why I posted my reply. This is what I replied to:
Delete"Yesterday I witnessed 2 robbers escaping from Rite aid. They almost crashed into my car. No police showed up at the scene."
I have been wondering that same thing for a long time now; I'm glad someone else finally asked....re why Natasha keeps deleting her posts.
DeleteHi SDB and Violin Teddy, I deleted the post as I decided it was not relevant to this site and people may not want to see it. I apologize. Thanks for posting details SDB. Glad you were not hurt too.
DeleteSkydiveboy has been whining for years about Natacha's removing her posts.
DeleteIt is not now, nor has it ever been, any of his business.
It is certainly not his place to repost something she decides to remove.
Sorry, Natasha, not Natacha, of course.
DeleteMendo: I can understand why it can be annoying if one posts a reply and the original post has been deleted. I seem to do that to SDB more often and it can be disheartening.
DeleteThere is at least one post above that may, IMO, be TMI.
ReplyDeleteLegoAskingBlaineIfHeAgrees
Hmm, I can't tell whether the fish, mammal, and reptile must be one word each—a deliberate obscurity, or might someone clarify?
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding of the wording, we are seeking three separate words.
DeleteThere's nothing in the puzzle to indicate that all the animals have single-word names. If any have spaces, you would just ignore them.
DeleteOne of my clues last week said that puzzle was an odd choice for June. My clue this week isn't.
ReplyDeleteDoes the reptile need to be current or may it be extinct?
ReplyDeleteWill didn't say
DeleteHint: If you add the letter Y to the reptile's name, you can rearrange the letters into a totally different fish and mammal.
ReplyDeleteWow nice!
Delete(Except: there’s no such thing as a fish.)
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DeleteWoops, it *is* a fish. Dangerous too ...
DeleteI think you mean: it would be a fish, if there were any such thing.
DeleteHuh ... maybe we have two different solutions ...
DeleteNo, I'm sure we have the same one. I was just (a) making a joke, and (b) giving a small clue.
DeleteClever
DeleteIf you add Y: STINGRAY + MOLE
DeleteYeah, that was my answer too -- the "no such thing as a fish" was (partly a joke, as I said, because I think that's very funny and also a very good podcast, and also) partly a clue, since the cartilaginous fishes and the bony fishes do not really form a natural kind. (That's why zoologists say there are no such things as fish -- because all those things we call 'fish' don't really form a taxon.)
DeleteHow about this?: Same puzzle, except
ReplyDeletefish + mammal ~ bird
Equals what?
Deletedarter [any small brightly coloured North American freshwater fish of the genus Etheostoma and related genera: family Percidae (perches)] + pig = partridge
DeleteImpressive.
DeleteI love how the easier puzzles inspire really good alternative answers and variants here at Blaine's blog.
... Yes ... and now PARTRIDGE can be decomposed back into two related animals ... though one of those words is obscure/archaic.
DeleteI can't say what they might be.
Delete... PARTRIDGE ~ PARD + TIGER Just saying ... PARD is apparently archaic for LEOPARD
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis actually got me to the solution, and I honestly have no idea how anyone is solving this directly (which just leaves me more impressed with everyone here).
DeleteJG,
DeleteInteresting post. I have been reluctant to reveal how I solved it. I am frequently amazed at how quickly some here on this blog solve the ones I have difficulty with. I don't consider myself to be among the best at solving these kinds of puzzles WS presents us with. But this week I got up in the middle of the night to read the description for our current offering and then returned back to bed thinking I would later on need to slave through lists in order to solve it. However, I began thinking of reptiles and when I came upon the answer creature I thought I detected the letters for the fish. I then figured out the remaining letters, but it took me a minute to see the mammal it spelled. So, I was surprised that I got the answer in bed without a list, so I have to say I kinda like this puzzle.
I thought of a judge, Agent 99, a contributor to numerous medical breakthroughs, and Sesame Street.
DeleteTo be fair, with more time I maybe could have solved this directly with a good list as I already had the fish as one of my few possibilities (simply because I don't know much about fish), but man are people here fast!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteTo everyone's relief, my ill-gotten answer was not the winner this week.
DeleteThis is a sly puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThere are a little more than 3 animals involved in this puzzle.
ReplyDeletePi=3.14... is a little more than 3. There was a tiger in The Life of Pi.
DeleteFunny- thought you meant salmon as in run of salmon more than one. 2+ many >3.
DeleteCurses, foiled again! That's it for me this week
ReplyDelete1962.
ReplyDeleteIsn't nature amazing?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the allure of people still wanting to view the wreck of The Titanic? And, paying up to $250K to do it??
ReplyDeleteI would have been curious, too, but only up until the time that they first found it. After that, I would have been happy just to use remote vehicles to continue only photographing it, and then leaving it at that.
Maybe they are just wanting to participate in a depth defying adventure.
DeleteOn the other hand I can see your point. They could have stayed home and simply read the liner notes.
DeleteI had for a long time thought billionaires might be subhuman.
DeleteI question whether some of them are playing with a full deck.
DeleteI suspect fo'c·'sle agree.
DeleteEspecially given the current wave of billionaire politicians.
DeleteIt should be a stern reminder.
DeleteMy concern is what happens if 45 takes the helm again.
DeleteThat would be off the charts.
DeleteHis continued appeal is hard to fathom.
DeleteAtoll deep-ends on your point of view.
DeleteEven considering all the in-depth charges that have recently surfaced?
DeleteWell I guess you could say he is in a deep state.
DeleteHeard an interview on NPR with David Pogue, a journalist who's been on the submersible. The good news: there are water-soluble links holding sandbag-like weights to the craft, so after 14 hours, even if everyone aboard is disabled, it should bob to the surface. The bad news: they can't open the hatch from inside. It's bolted on from the outside. If the support ship can't find them before the oxygen is depleted, they're out of luck.
DeleteIt's ironic that it appears that the same thing that sunk the "unsinkable" Titanic appears to have sunk the Titan submersible: Not an iceberg. Hubris.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis was not a scientific exploration "for all mankind". It was a joyride for billionaires. Who will pay the U.S. and Canadian governments for the rescue/recovery costs?
DeleteIt takes your breath away.
Delete🎵 The legend lives on from The White Star Line on down, of the big pond they call the Atlantic.
DeleteThe Atlantic they say, never gives up her dead when the public won't leave things alone... 🎵
Don't give up your day job. LOL
DeleteMany of the NPR Sunday Puzzles were created by Mike Reiss, a producer and writer for “The Simpsons”. Reiss took a trip to the Titanic on the Titan submersible last summer. Per the New York Times:
DeleteHe said that passengers were required to sign a waiver that mentioned death three times on the first page.
Passengers on his 10-hour journey — a trip than can cost up to $250,000 — were composed but excited, he said. Sandwiches and water were available on the vessel, but he recalled being told that many passengers did not eat during the journey because of excitement, and that the rudimentary toilet on board had never been used.
It sure doesn't look good for them, but I keep hoping for some good news...
DeleteHas the Titanic now been reduced to a skeleton crew?
DeleteCNN reports tapping sounds can be heard in the area.
DeleteFred Astaire died years ago.
DeleteI am laughing so hard at the immediate above....though not at the sad situation, of course, which has brought this discussion about.
DeleteFinally got it! Apparently this week I wasn't in a rush. Debated between cluing the fish and the mammal; went with the fish, in the end.
ReplyDelete(I see that several others also hinted at 'Salmon' Rushdie below!)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOne of my clues last week was just "SOS". For this week, drop the last letter.
ReplyDeleteSOS is timely this week too, in view of the Titanic story.
DeleteFinally! The reptile was one of the first I'd thought of, but rearranging to get the fish and mammal took me way too long. Along the way I did come up with a rather twisted alternate answer. More on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteLegislative, Executive, Judicial
ReplyDeleteIt can be said the reptile and the mammal share similar coloration patterns, and the fish shares a similar color, too.
ReplyDeleteNo hint here, but I must say that this was a satisfying puzzle. It was difficult enough without being impossible, the individual animals are well-known, and the puzzle's instructions were well-written. I also liked that there was a connection between each word (all animals, of different types), as opposed to three random things. Kudos to Joe Becker for discovering the connection and writing this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteTortitude, I agree. Finding the connection between the three animals was a fun solve. It was just the right measure of difficulty.
DeleteThis evening, on NPR’s Today Explained, there was a lengthy segment (Childproofing Pornhub) on the horrors of Pornography and The Children! Oh my God, the children, how do we protect them? Well not a word was said about the ultimate pornography: WAR. But, putting that interesting point aside for a moment, it did remind me of my sexual awakening one evening in the kitchen as my mother was again attempting to make a dinner. I was not quite yet even a teenager, but she without prompting, suddenly decided to enlighten me on where babies come from. No, I did not ask, nor do I recall ever asking or even wondering, but here it was in all its embarrassing details about to be revealed to me at my tender age and assumed innocence. All she said however was that a woman becomes pregnant when a husband and a wife (his I assume) loved each other. What a disclosure! But why did she not even mention the stork? I was already way ahead of her shocking revelation because I had seen cartoons on TV with Storks carrying babies to their waiting mothers. Why can’t parents discuss storks with their children? Even today I still do not fully understand how it is storks manage to enter the hospital’s maternity ward.
ReplyDeleteThere's also 2011 movie about an animal that might prove useful.
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle for me. Solved it Tuesday night after giving it moments of thought each day, I am not in a rush to solve these puzzles, and if I get the answer, I get a nice "aha" feeling. No lists used, nor did I use paper and pen, which makes it tougher to anagram when there are more than a few letters to keep track of. It was good exercise for the brain. BTW, I have not eaten one of these creatures yet.
ReplyDeleteElon Musk has declared that "cis" and "cisgender" are henceforth considered slurs on his Twitter platform.
ReplyDeleteHarking back to last week's blog, I wonder how he feels about "dire straights"?
What a drag.
DeleteThe reptile is in the title of a popular children's book.
ReplyDeleteYeah; that's what my first clue was about.
DeleteFun Puzzle. Took me a bit to solve, which I like.
ReplyDeleteMusical Clue: ZZ Top
We are pleased and proud to ballyhoo the puzzle-making debut of our friend ViolinTeddy on this week's edition of Puzzleria! She calls her puzzle-package "Strad-Steiff Subtleties" – a triple-allusion to Violin-crafter Antonio Stradivari (Strad), cuddlesome Teddy Bears (Steiff), and her own knack of crafting "cuddly"-yet-subtly-crafty puzzles. Join her this Midnight PDT as she leads us on an "Odyssey into the Oddity of Words" – one that challenges you with twenty perilous puzzles of epic proportions!
ReplyDeleteOur menus this week also feature:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week regarding Supremacy at sea and elsewhere,
* a Vesuvian Hors d’Oeuvre by puzzle-maker who earned a Magma cum laude in volcanic chemistry,
* a puzzle slice about a colorful, quotable future-Hall-of-Fame skipper-in-a-flivver...(and-perhaps-with-flappers!),
* an Indochinese Dessert about Sippable and “spoonerizable” beverages, and
* a dozen riff-offs of this week's NPR Puzzle brought to you by Tiger Woods, Salmon (sic) Rushdie, and the mysteriously mixed-up Mister Logan... including one terrifically nifty riff by our friend Jeff Zarkin whose artistry appears regularly on Puzzleria! in his "Jeff Zarkin Puzzle Riffs" feature.
That adds up to 36 puzzles!
LegoWhoNeverReallyDidAnythingMuchAlasWithHisEarnedDoctorateInVolcanicChemistry!
Looking forward to it, VT & Lego!
DeleteI get embarrassed, actually, at Lego's effusive compliments! I am sitting here hoping that my attempt isn't too EASY for everyone.
DeleteSalmon + Tiger --> Gila Monster
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Interestingly, one of the animals in the puzzle helps name an animal in a class different than its own.” I was thinking of the Tiger Shark where a mammal helps name a fish.
SALMON + TIGER = GILA MONSTER
ReplyDelete"Cute puzzle. Glad I got UP to hear it."
>>> SALMON swim UPstream. This time of year, I enjoy watching the bears catching SALMON on the webcams at Katmai National Park, Alaska.
>>> I saw many Gila monsters in the mountains around the U of AZ and at geologic field camp near Tombstone, AZ. I always thought they were cute.
"And that scientific name anagrams to a hatred of certain hirsute features." >>> Heloderma suspectum almost anagrams to "repulsed mustaches." I realized I left out an 'O' when checking for anagrams. Oops! It actually anagrams to "supermodel mustache."
"Isn't nature amazing?" >>> In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, nature was able to Heal A Monster.
>>> Another anagram of the scientific name is "homemade sculptures," a less awkward phrase.
DeleteSALMON + TIGER -> GILA MONSTER
ReplyDelete> Whatever happened to AbqGuerilla?
> Anyway: Samuel Seabury Playground.
The terrific kids' book, GILA MONSTERs Meet You at the Airport, opens with the protagonist declaring, "I live at 165 East 95th Street, and I'm going to stay here forever." (His parents plan to move Out West with him.) I checked Google Maps: there's no such address, just the Samuel Seabury Playground there. ABQ is undoubtedly one of the airports GILA MONSTERs meet you at. But I do wonder what became of AbqGuerilla, an erstwhile Blainesvillager.
>> Got it. Will this puzzle lead to another debate on pronunciation?
> I suspect you may be surprised to learn the reptile's scientific name.
Heloderma suspectum. The first two syllables of the generic name are pronounced like the first word of the common name, coincidentally. (Heloderma = "warty skin".)
> One of my clues last week said that puzzle was an odd choice for June. My clue this week isn't.
GILA MONSTERs Meet You at the Airport was a Reading Rainbow Book. (LeVar Burton!) Rainbows are appropriate for Pride Month.
> One of my clues last week was just "SOS". For this week, drop the last letter.
When Standard Oil was broken up, Standard Oil of New Jersey adopted "Esso", the phonetic pronunciation of the parent company's initials, as its brand (to which its sibling companies objected). Esso used to advertise, "Put A TIGER In Your Tank!"
> Legislative, Executive, Judicial
SALMON P. Chase served as a Senator, Treasury Secretary, Chief Justice, and Governor of Ohio. Slacker!
Pack den Tiger in den Tank! is how I mostly remember that slogan because I was living in Germany back then.
DeleteOmg, I traveled in Denmark & Sweden back when those billboards were everywhere ... I imagine the Swedish was "kom med en tiger i tanken" ... 1965
DeleteGILA MONSTER >>> SALMON & TIGER
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"For a change I think it's great!" Or maybe Tony the Tiger does.
SALMON + TIGER —> GILA MONSTER
ReplyDeleteHint: “The words can also be rearranged to form an oxymoron.”
SALMON + TIGER —> GIANT MORSEL
SALMON(fish)+TIGER(mammal)=GILA MONSTER(reptile)
DeleteI stumbled upon that oxymoron by accident and didn't even realize that was it! I had actually considered seeing how many "logical-sounding" anagrams I could make from GILA MONSTER, and then posting clues for them here, but then I changed my mind. Blaine was bound to figure out what I would be doing, and thus remove them immediately. Some of my favorites include:
TORN "L" IMAGES=Slightly damaged pictures of what distinguished Laverne's dresses from Shirley's.
LEGIT RANSOM=What a kidnapper considers an agreeable amount of money for the safe return of the one who's been kidnapped.
IT'S A MONGREL=Answer to the question, "What's a shorter way of saying 'animal of mixed background'?"
ALMOST REIGN=To very nearly become king?
STRANGE LIMO=A big long automobile one has never seen around here before.
STARING MOLE=A small burrowing mammal that's just looking at you, and it's kinda spooky.
A STRONG LIME=A pungent citrus fruit.
GRATIS LEMON=A free citrus fruit.
MARGE ON LIST=One of the Simpsons is included.
GIRLS ON TEAM=Players who just happen to be female.
MATING ROLES=Animals' functions in the breeding process.
IGNORES MALT=Forgets one of the main ingredients used in making beer.
MARGOT'S LINE=Whatever actress Robbie has to say in a film.
SORTA MINGLE=To socialize a little at a party.
You get the idea.
pjbIsAGreatLINGOMASTER
Wow. A seemingly comprehensive list. Cranberry, I'd be surprised if you left any out!
DeleteLO STREAMING!=Behold how most people get entertainment via social media nowadays!
DeleteMINERS GLOAT=What happens when underground workers survive a cave-in, are rescued, and they don't end up like poor Timothy in that creepy story song from 1971.
GONERIL'S TAM=A Scottish bonnet worn by one of King Lear's daughters.
GNOME'S TRAIL=What you must follow when you need to know where the Travelocity mascot went.
NO GRIM TALES=Only upbeat, happy stories must be told.
SOLE MIGRANT=The only settler.
NO LARGE MIST=Only a little fog.
MONTREAL GIS=Soldiers from part of Quebec.
MORTAL SIN, E.G.=Gluttony, for example.
GETS MORAL IN=What Aesop eventually does in all his fables.
LONER STIGMA=The shame of being a recluse.
STRONG EMAIL=Powerful communication online.
MANGER I LOST=Integral part of a Nativity scene yours truly has misplaced.
TO "MEAN GIRLS"!=May be said when toasting the early film(or later theatre)work of Tina Fey.
LOG IN STREAM=A piece of wood floating in a small body of water.
REGIS, LAMONT=A legend of daytime TV introduced to a 1970s sitcom character.
MERLIN'S GOAT=A farm animal owned by a legendary sorcerer.
MALONE'S GRIT=Sam the bartender's determination.
pjbSays:"(Snarl)IGot'Em!"
SALMON (fish) + TIGER (mammal) → GILA MONSTER (reptile)
ReplyDeleteGILA MONSTER (SALMON, TIGER) Eggs are Gila monsters preferred food, hence my souffle omlet reference.
ReplyDeleteGila Monster>Salmon and Tiger
ReplyDeleteAlthough Gila Monster was one of the first reptiles I thought of, for some reason the rearrangement to salmon and tiger escaped me for far too long.
As I continued my search, I noted that the puzzle statement asked for the, “NAME of a fish,” and the, “NAME of a mammal,” rather than a, “KIND of Fish,” and a, “KIND of mammal”. So, I began to expect some misdirection, which led to my alternate solution.
The alternate reptile is a Chameleon, which rearranges to:
NEMO the NAME of a cartoon fish in the movie, Finding Nemo, and
LEACH the last NAME of the character Archie Leach (played by John Cleese) in the movie, A Fish Named Wanda Archie is human and therefore, a mammal. I especially liked the fact the mammal’s name came from a movie with the word Fish in its title. More misdirection. Or so I thought….
And for those who aren’t fans of John Cleese movies, let me point out that Archibald LEACH is the birth name of another mammal, better known as Cary Grant.
Great alternative! Whenever Will says "Name a...", the ambiguity between 'the word by which it's usually called' and the thing's actual name, if it has one, always occurs to me. I love that you made use of it!
DeleteI agree, Crito. SuperZee's alternative answer is not only really clever... it is a work of genius!
DeleteLegoBelievesThatSuperZee's"NemoLeachChameleon"DeservesToBeMentionedOnAirThisSundayAsAVeryWorthyAlternativeAnswer!
Thank you both for your comments. I can't remember when having a demonstrably wrong answer was so much fun - or so well received.
DeleteWaiting now to see how (and if) Will reacts to it.
I wrote, “I have an answer, but it relies on a fish with an obscure name, so I know it isn't the intended one.” That’s SLAKE, MINK / MILK SNAKE. A slake (also splake) is “a hybrid fish that results from the crossing of a male brook trout and a female lake trout.”
ReplyDeleteSALMON + TIGER = GILA MONSTER
ReplyDeleteMy (admittedly bizarre) clue was:
ReplyDeleteRelocated emus' humps,
That's another anagram for "Heloderma suspectum".
SALMON + TIGER = GILA MONSTER
ReplyDeleteMy Musical Clue ZZ Top was because of their song Poke Chop Sandwich, and because within GILA MONSTER, the SALMON letters are sandwiched between the GI-TER Tiger Letters.
1962. Bobby Picket's "Monster Mash" on billboard top 100.
ReplyDeleteGila Monster- salmon/tiger.
I also got salmon and tiger to make gila monster. My comment about spelling dealt with both the pronunciation of "gila" as "hila" and the fact that "salmon" is pronounced "sammon." Therefore one needs to know the spelling rather than just the phonetics in order to solve this puzzle. (Not that anyone on this blog would not know the spellings!)
ReplyDeleteGila monster (salmon, tiger)
ReplyDeleteBut not unexpected. At those depths, there are no small failures. The good news, for their families, is that there would have been no suffering. When a hull implodes, the pressure wave sweeps through the hull all but instantaneously.
ReplyDeleteSalmon, Tiger, Gila Monster. Hint -- "I thought of a judge, Agent 99, a contributor to numerous medical breakthroughs, and Sesame Street." SALMON P. CHASE; Barbara Feldon and her "TIGERS" commercial; HELA cell line; Cookie MONSTER.
ReplyDeleteNice work to everyone who got this. I tried IGUANA with GNU and .....nope. And ALLIGATOR with GOAT or GAR....nope. Then TORTOISE with OTTER AND SOI (fish) and thought I had it.
ReplyDeleteNice! That's a valid alternative answer.
DeleteHollywood is already searching for a writer, that is not striking, who will write their upcoming movie: Twenty Thousand Leaks Under the Sea
ReplyDeleteWell...I got ISO/OTTER/TORTOISE. Admittedly, I had to Google to confirm if Iso is a fish, and it is! So....my hint about Jerry Garcia was aimed at the album Terrapin Station and the song Turtle Love.
ReplyDeleteMy clue...
ReplyDelete"What vets would attempt to do if they were into crypto."
What veterinarians would attempt to do if they were into cryptozoology...HEAL A MONSTER.
Whoa, all the text on the blog in bold looks strange.
ReplyDeleteBlaine's edit included two bolds but only one unbold.
DeleteLet's see if this fixes it?
DeleteI guess not!
DeleteHa! I thought of trying something similar .
DeleteThe sinking of the nameless worn-out fishing boat overfull of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea last week was incomparably sadder.
ReplyDeleteWord. These are fun!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteA Grammar Walks into a Bar Paperback – January 1, 2018
by Robert L Jones (Author), Aaron Herrara (Illustrator)
According to news reports, quoting the leader of the Wagner Group, Putin may be sinking faster than the Titan. If so then it will also be an implosion.
ReplyDeleteThere is an expletive construction that walks into a bar.
ReplyDeleteSo many idiots; so few mini-subs.
ReplyDeleteTLDR-
ReplyDeleteWhen Putin is kicked out of office will he have to give back all the top secret documents Trump gave him? Just asking.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Greg VanMechelen, of Berkeley, Calif. Name a well-known TV character (5,6). Change the first letter of the first name to a Y and read it backward. You'll get a synonym of the character's last name. Who is it?
ReplyDeleteCongrats, ecoarchitect!
DeleteWhat a treasure trove! Except maybe for the subjunctive…
ReplyDelete* A subjunctive suggested it walk into a bar.
The answer gives me a chill, twice.
ReplyDeleteOh that's really nice.
ReplyDeleteI don't know a lot of tv characters, but I know this one and I'm surprised I'd never noticed this! Hmmmm. The first couple of clues I thought of are TMI.
Okay this is obscure enough: homophonic first names of real people.
(And nice job EcoArchitect!)
DeleteCongrats, Eco. Television characters are not my long suit, but this one I knew.
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ReplyDeleteCongrats, eco!
ReplyDeleteGot it! (No one can prove "Omsoy" is not a valid synonym of "Kramer"! 😉)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, ecoarchitect! Solved this on my morning walk. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteThanks for fixing the formatting, Blaine!
ReplyDelete