Sunday, August 27, 2023

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 27, 2023): A Seriously Bad Effect

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Aug 27, 2023): A Seriously Bad Effect
Q: Think of a noun in six letters. It sounds like a two-word phrase (2,6). And the thing named by the noun can have a seriously bad effect on what's named by the phrase. What is it?
I would not eat them here or there. I would not eat them anywhere.

Edit: I would not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am. That anagrams into the answer.
A: MIASMA --> MY ASTHMA

213 comments:

  1. Did Will discuss the body part of BUCK TEETH actually being a condition?

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    1. No, but he did mention the answer as not being something you'd expect to hear on NPR. He also mentioned the alternate MUSTACHE --> THE MUCOSA

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    2. 136 correct answers, pretty low on average.

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    3. I was quite surprised by the 136, especially since at least one of those must have cited the mucosa. I wonder how many thought of the answer but then dismissed it as too unlikely.

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    4. I submitted a third answer last week, which also had a somewhat risque second part: PERT CHINS -> SPHINCTER

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  2. Yeah, this question is badly confused -- the noun doesn't have any effect on the phrase.

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    1. It also hinges on pronunciation, yet again.

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    2. When I read the answer I had to look up the word because it isn't one I use. I would call it obscure. Anyway it did include the word "harmful."

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    3. Yes, obscure word to me also.

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  3. Aw, man, another pronunciation debate‽ No wonder I haven't figured it out yet!

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  4. A PIRATE who steals pies will have a bad effect on the bakery's PIE RATE, the amount it charges for a pie. No clue here.

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    1. I remember hearing a similar joke several years ago. It had to do with a business enterprise established by a couple of female relatives of the founder of one of the 13 original colonies -- their marketing strategy, in particular.

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    2. ARMADA OUR MUDDA makes good pies. A group of pirate ships is an aaarmada.

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    3. Jan, once you get it (I know you will), you may realize you’ve already provided a nice accidental clue here.

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    4. PILAFS yields PI LAUGHS.

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  5. The wording of the puzzles lately is just in the ter-let (as Archie would say).

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  6. We've all seen how those sealed bags of snacks the airlines give out become tautly inflated at altitude, because of the reduced cabin pressure. The same thing happens to the gas in you lower intestinal tract. That's why ASCENT has a bad effect on your ASS SCENT. (Still no clue here.)

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    1. Adam Sandler would be so proud.

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    2. Some of us were able to graduate from junior high. Others perhaps not.

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    3. Wow, sounds like a personal attack.

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    4. Yes, it does. And on behalf of all the well-behaved middle schoolers who aren't as potty-mouthed as me, I demand an apology!

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    5. Yea a little over the top. Sorry about that. It is just that the more Adam Sandler i watch the more i am offended. That with all the Lume deoderant adds that work on your "butt crack" and your "privates" i am tired of being surrounded by this body part. It just won't go away.
      But i guess his new movie- featuring his kids- is really great.

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    6. And unfortunately i still have that Elephant joke stuck in my head.

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  7. Yes, pronunciation is a huge factor this week. And wording. Well, and everything.

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  8. I might be missing something, but it seems to me that this puzzle is well-formed, with a clear answer, and with no pronunciation problems. I don't understand Blaine's hint, though.

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    1. Keep trying, runon. Blaine's hint, as often happens, is cleverer than the challenge itself. I agree with you that any pronunciation issue in this case would be pretty nitpicky. As for the wording...well, it's a tough one to word. The meaning is clear enough.

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    2. Indeed, you're right, Lancek! I guess all it took was some degree of confidence that I had the same answer. Nice clue, Blaine!

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    3. I probably heard the first word spoken by someone from the UK, but that might potentially work with their pronunciation of the second phrase anyway.

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    4. Hrmph. Found a goodenuff solution - but I don't pronounce the word that way, and I am more puzzled by Blaine's clue.

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    5. I always thought it was pronounced "MEE-AZ-MUH" with a long E sound. I suppose if you were Irish it would have a seriously bad effect on "me asthma".

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    6. Hi degree stool => Theodor Geisel

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  9. I don't see what the problem is with the pronunciation. But I do not understand the second (last) part of the puzzle.

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    1. I guess I now see the connection of the last part of the puzzle, but is a bit obscure and unnecessary to the puzzle in my opinion.

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    1. I agree, Natasha. Blaine's hint is, as usual, masterful and amazingly prompt!

      LegoWhoNotesThatBlaine'sClueIsReminiscentOfASimilarlyMasterfulPuzzleComposedByPlantsmithThatAppearedOnPuzzleria!SomeTimeAgo

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    2. Blaine's clue did not really help me solve the puzzle. I just found out where it came from. I guessed correctly.

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    3. ??? A clear and present danger.

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    4. Is this like that joke about the pregnant lady in a coma who woke up to find that her baby girl -born while she was in a coma-had been named by her brother.
      Oh God no she said-What did he name her.?

      Daniece- came the reply.

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  12. Just got it. It came, unbeckoned, in a flash. Rearrange the 2,6 phrase, and get an archaism and half of a well-known popular music group.

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  13. Used logic to find the answer in a few minutes.

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    1. No, Chat box was not asked until after I solved the puzzle. It could not solve the puzzle. I like to ask it though for fun. Amazing how conversive it is.

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  14. Noun again I solve these puzzles quickly.

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  15. I donut solve quickly some of the time. I never heard of that noun for today's puzzle.

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  16. The noun reminds me – a little – of a Southern city.

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  18. Think of a 3 syllable noun that you might use to privately refer to an overweight relative.

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  19. While I am a third generation citizen of Seattle, my father was born in 1908 on a farm owned by his father in Iowa. I am sure it was not a large farm, but a farm none the less, and I do not believe my father enjoyed it much. However he did have an Arabian horse to ride to his one room school house, and he told me he always won impromptu races with his peers. He also told me he was not strong enough to hold the horse back if it wanted to run wild. He said his father was able to rein him in when required. My father seemed to look upon his father as an heroic figure due to his great physical strength. And I am not saying my dad was not strong; he in fact was. However he was weak in other ways. My father was a racist. I suspect it was probably because he had no contact with other races in rural Iowa back so long ago when he was born in the farm house.

    Anyway I was just sitting outside in my back yard and remembered my father telling me just one time about a man his father hired to help out on the farm with his son. My dad said this boy told him he enjoyed eating the testicles of the steers they castrated. My dad did not talk much, but he told me this kid told him, “They’re larapin.” I could tell my dad thought this word was funny, and I also somehow discerned that he was looking down on these people as being inferior to his family. I knew it intuitively, and he seemed to expect that I too would find it not only funny, but an indication of the inferiority of the people who would use such a word.

    I instantly knew the strange word was indicating that the body part was delicious, but never looked it up until a few minutes ago. I looked it up because it just occurred to me that I really should, and how easy it would now be with the internet. Here is what I found:

    “Larapin is an old word that describes food that is so delicious you are lost for words. I grew up hearing my Mama using this word as her go-to description to determine how good the food was…or if it was worth the calories.”

    I also remember my father being transfixed by Paris, France. When I was living in Germany in the 1960’s, I vacationed in Paris in 1965. When I returned back home in August 1966 my dad never even asked one question about what I thought about my time in Paris. So I never got to tell him how much I enjoyed escargot.

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  20. Here are a few I've found: IMPACT --> I'M PACKED, BEMIST --> BE MISSED...

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  21. Still working on this. But, thinking about the anti-government protests in Thailand a couple of years ago, a TYRANT could have a bad effect on a THAI RANT.

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  22. Okay I've decided my earlier judgment was too harsh. I was being nitpicky, and my nitpicky objections don't really get in the way of the puzzle or its answer. Same with the pronunciation issue -- there are definitely accents and dialects in which the puzzle doesn't work, but I'm pretty sure people with those dialects will recognize that there is a mainstream American one in which it does work.
    So I guess I should give a hint... Well, some people like to give the same hint over and over, but this one is not as hard as the mango/pear one!

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  23. Today I learned that I’ve been pronouncing this word the British way my whole life, at least according to google. This is ‘amortize’ all over again…

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    1. I too learned I've always read this in the UK pronunciation. I say read because I don't think I've ever actually said the term out loud.

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  24. I may have the answer, in which case, this is yet another bogus puzzle, as the connection between the noun and the phrase has been disproven.

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    1. In fact, the connection is so famously disproven that a journal article on the subject in 2000 jokingly uses the noun as an initialism in its title.

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    2. I would argue that it's still an effect. It just goes by a different name.

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  25. Last night I finally understood Blaine's clue! Nice one, Blaine!
    Not impressed though, with this week's puzzle and answer!

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  26. We have a cromulent little puzzle, and here comes science to show that the premise is wrong. Next thing you know, they'll prove that driving convertibles won't make me more attractive.

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    1. On the They Might Be Giants album , the song Why Does the Sun Really Shine?, this line occurs:
      "The sun is a miasma
      Of incandescent plasma"
      And, and a convertible might be a Mazda Miasma, errr, Miata

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    2. Surprising they haven't come out with an electric version yet, just a Mazdagascar.

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  27. It seems as if many who comment here have solved this puzzle. So, here is Puzzleria's current...
    Schpuzzle of the Week:
    We’re missing the link between Jaguar & Bee

    What is the sixth creature in this series? Explain why.
    1. Abe (honest emancipatory creature);
    2. Babe (crib creature);
    3. Boa (constricting creature);
    4. Bat (nocturnal ecolocating creature);
    5. Bee (buzzy apian creature);
    6. ?
    7. Jag (short for “Jaguar,” a car named for a feline creature)
    8. Ape (simian jungle creature)
    9. Cob (“swanny” cygnine creature)
    Hint: “bay (equine creature)” may be substituted for “Bee (buzzy apian creature)” as the fifth creature in the series.

    LegoWhoAddsThatEcoarchitech'sFourteen(!)"Econfusions"OnThisWeek'sEditionOfPuzzleria!AreAlsoWellWorthCheckingOut

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    1. Puzzlerians post their answers On P! beginning at noon on Wednesday PDT. Please do not post answers here (or on P!) before that time. Hints, however are always welcome.

      LegoWhoThanksBlaineForLettingMeOccasionallyShareMy"SchpuzzlesOfTheWeek"OnHisAmazingBlog

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    3. This type of puzzle boggles my mind and makes me crazy!

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    5. Natasha: Puzzleria!

      LegoWhoWelcomesAllToVisitPuzzleria!

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    6. Lego: Thanks. I found it on another computer. Not showing up on my laptop for some reason. Strange.

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    7. Lego: Wow, just realized you sent me the link.
      Thanks.

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  28. Whew, finally got it after some serious lucubration. I was beginning to think I knew nothing!

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    1. I disagree. You know plenty Dr A, and thanks to you, I just added lucubration to my vocabulary.

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    2. My clue: "You know nothing, Jon Snow." A different John Snow famously questioned the miasma theory of disease.

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  29. Replies
    1. Your post does contain a colonel of truth.

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    2. There's mulch more to this story...

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  30. Just curious, regarding hurricane Idalia, I don't live near the coast, but how do you reliably know if you are clear of a storm surge ahead of time?

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    1. NatashaTue Aug 29, 03:23:00 PM PDT
      @68Charger: I spoke to my friends in Orlando today and they just listen to the news as far as I know. They do not think they are in danger and are staying put.

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    2. Well, the National Hurricane Center is warning of 10-15 foot storm surge between Aucilla River and Yankeetown. (I don't make up these names.) So, if you're in that area and less than 15 feet above the high water line, I'd say you're not clear.

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    3. Looks like Pepsi-Cola might get a little watered down...

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    4. Fortunately, not too many people live in the Big Bend area of Florida. (Such a more attractive description than the Armpit or Crotch or others I might make up!)

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    5. My 4- and 6-year old granddaughters are always declaring that the floor or sidewalk cracks or the area under the monkey bars is lava. So I decided to re-read John McPhee's The Control of Nature, and talk with them about dealing with real lava. Terrific book. Reading about saving an Icelandic harbor from lava, or Los Angeles from boulder-filled debris flows, or the Mississippi/Atchafalaya basin from flooding puts a little wind and rain in perspective.

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    6. Yes, jan, we wouldn't want you to taint the conversation.

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    7. Jan, I noticed this morning, on Flight Radar, that the Navy was moving out their P-8 Poseidon jets from Jacksonville to out west, maybe Texas. There were about six of them flying single file.

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    8. Natasha, sounds like your friends will do ok!

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    9. 68Charger: Thanks. I hope so. There are hotels they can go to that are 3 miles away, if necessary. Can bring their cat Cuddles too. I have relatives in Orlando also..Veira..etc. We shall see.

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    10. A WC-130J Weatherbird out of Keesler AFB in Biloxi is the only thing flying around there now.

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    11. Friends are fine. Just raining in Orlando.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. It's not just writers. How are those actors not members of SAG-AFTRA?

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    4. Jan, deleted my posts. you may want to do same.

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    5. I deleted as not relevant to this site.

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  33. Hmm, plenty of disappointment in the comments, with an obscure first word, an obscure connection to the phrase (that may or may not be legitimate), and a pronunciation that you may or may not recognize depending on where you first heard (or saw) the word (that some have never used). I'm not particularly optimistic here.

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    1. And those are its good points...

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    2. Joshua Green – I too have been thinking that the word with the properties you listed should be unusually interesting. Lacking an “unbidden flash” (Dr. K) and unwilling to commit to “serious lucubration” (Dr. Awkward), I’ll have to wait until Thursday to learn the identity of this remarkable word.

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    3. This word was used in a New York Times article last month. That should narrow it down a bit.

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    4. Fair enough—and I do have a bone to pick with the puzzle, but I'll wait until all is revealed.

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    5. I didn't get it either. How ancient a word are we talking about? Oh well, I know I'm asking for TMI.

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    6. Charles Darwin used this word.

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    8. Ancient words might also be in Hebrew? Shalom. Adonai. Selah.

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    9. Plantsmith, Please delete your 3:08 AM post

      LegoMonitoring

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  34. While I do not recall ever using this word myself, I have always known it and heard, or read, it over the years. So I am surprised so many here are unaware of it.

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  35. Amazing insights of Governor Desantis this A.M.
    "Do not go outside in a storm."

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  36. Silly me, I thought it was pronounced differently. But I finally got it right. -- Margaret G.

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  37. I wasn't able to solve the puzzle this week but I was one of the 135 buck teethers last week. I spent about half the day Sunday on this week's puzzle and then stuck a fork in it. I did come up with an 8-letter word that otherwise fit the conditions of the puzzle: Inaction.

    As in, "inaction" can have a seriously bad effect on "in action."

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  38. I'm guessing over/under about a 250/350 spread. Without Blaine's clue, I don't see how anybody could get this.

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    1. As usual, I didn't understand Blaine's clue until after I'd found the answer.

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    2. Focusing on "seriously bad effect" helped me solve this without Blaine's clue.

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  39. MIASMA, MY ASTHMA

    "Yes, pronunciation is a huge factor this week. And wording. Well, and everything." >>> Pronunciation as either ME-asma or MY-asma added to the confusing wording. Also, as jan noted, the connection between the noun and the phrase has been disproven. See MIASMA THEORY.

    I was not thrilled with the puzzle as a whole. A small amount of research shows the inaccuracies in the puzzle. Please, NPR, do better.

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  40. MIASMA, MY ASTHMA

    Loved Blaine's clue, which I took to refer to SAM-I-AM as MIASMA read sideways.

    And, yes, I've only heard the British say "My Asthma" the way that Mary Springhorn, of Bellingham, Washington intends for us to hear it.

    Everyone over here, who speaks proper English (i.e. American English) says "MEE-AZ-MA"

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    1. I live "over here" and speak American English and have always heard it pronounced MY AZMUH.

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  41. Our friend Plantsmith always has a knack for coming up with original puzzles in his "Garden of Puzzley Delights" feature on Puzzleria! This week, he has concocted a delightful word-search gem titled "What's My Line?" which challenges you to find 19 hidden words all associated with a certain profession. You can try solving it tonight, beginning around Midnight Pacific Daylight Time.
    Other conundrums you'll find on this week's Puzzleria! are:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week about the “coulda-been-but-never-was Lake Verput,”
    * an Hors d’Oeuvre titled "Behind bathroom doors, under the hood,"
    * an Entrepreneurial Slice about Broadcasting and "getting stung,"
    * a Dessert about creatures that perform on command, and
    * eleven riff-offs of this week's NPR puzzle titled “Miasma has ‘mushroomed’ my asthma!” (including two riffs penned by Ecoarchitect).
    Drop by for a visit to Plantsmith's Garden, then stick around for our other sticklers.

    LegoWhoIsHappyToAnnounceThatThisWeek'sAnswerIs"Yes!"ToTheQuestion"GotAnyBotany?"

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  42. MIASMA >>> MY ASTHMA

    My Hint:
    "Charles Darwin used this word." He used it while he was writing while on the Beagle.

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  43. MIASMA -> MY ASTHMA

    > In fact, the connection is so famously disproven that a journal article on the subject in 2000 jokingly uses the noun as an initialism in its title.

    Shrewsbury S, Pyke S, Britton M. Meta-analysis of increased dose of inhaled steroid or addition of salmeterol in symptomatic asthma (MIASMA). BMJ. 2000 May 20;320(7246):1368-73.

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  44. Miasma/My asthma. The music people I mentioned both sang songs about something in "the air". I figured the 2 word part was either 3 or 4 syllables, so I searched for 6 letter words with 3 syllables, and came across the word miasma rather quickly.

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    1. My response of "Who?" referred to The Who's Pete Townshend, who worked with Thunderclap Newman of "Something in the Air" fame.

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  45. MIASMA —> MY ASTHMA

    Hint: “Rearrange the 2,6 phrase, and get an archaism and half of a well-known popular music group.”

    MY ASTHMA —> THY + MAMAS (and Papas)

    Solving this involved no one else’s hints or clues, just an alchemical concatenation of some reasoning and a bit of serendipity: Sunday afternoon, I was sitting in my den and had been pondering, without much success, 2-syllable, 6-letter words with syllables that might serve as homophones for all or part of the 2,6 phrase. I decided to put the puzzle aside and retreat to my library to read, but just before I got up from the couch, I thought, “What if it’s not a 2-syllable, 6-letter word but a 3-syllable, 6-letter word?” I then stopped thinking about the puzzle, moved to the library, sat down, and before I even started reading, the word just popped into my head. A “Eureka!” moment if there ever was one.

    It’s a word I’m familiar with and have spoken (and almost certainly written). I think it was Jan who alluded to miasma theory, which through the late 19th century was the prevailing theory of illness until germ theory replaced it. Among the notable writers who used it in their fiction were Hawthorne, James, and Wharton.

    A comment for Dr. Awkward: Isn’t “lucubration” also the name of a character in The Godfather?

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    1. Dr. K, I was thinking of miasma theory too—see my "John Snow" clue above! And yes, I believe that character sleeps with the fishes...

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  46. Ok, I'm going to call this what it is...a stupid puzzle. I can't say I think of "my asthma" as a phrase. Next!

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    1. Yep, that's my objection too. I was lucky to solve the puzzle; I assumed we were looking for a common recognized phrase (like, say, "it factor"), not two random words put together...in the words of Rex Parker, there are some serious "eat a sandwich" vibes here.

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  47. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miasma

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  48. Like all baby boomers I'm familiar with Dr Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham, and Sam I am. But I focused on the title not the character. I totally missed it. I'll have to learn to rightly interpret Blaineisms, as I'm sometimes dependent on them.

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  49. Sorry late. MIASMA “can have a seriously bad effect on” MY ASTHMA.

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  50. I tried several ideas with MY as the 2-letter word, and I think ASTHMA came to mind after staring at the "breathing problem" clue before Blaine deleted it, but I still couldn't put it together. Now, I have just a couple of thoughts:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seqaTuXkqFI

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imFOrbIwV04

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  51. It seemed obvioius that the two letter word was "my". I changed it to "mi" and looked up six letter words starting with mi. took a couple of minutes. I knew Blaine's clue source but did not connect Sam I am.

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  52. I thought Blaine's clue might refer to the stink of rotten eggs.

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  53. miasma --> my asthma

    Last Sunday I said, “The noun reminds me – a little – of a southern city.” Miami shares _some_ of the same letters even if not in the right order.

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  54. Late last night I emailed this puzzle I had just coined. I awoke this morning to his rejection. I am curious what those here think of it.

    Spoonerize the name of a well known film critic. Switch the order of the two words to describe a fair complexioned Irish girl.

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    1. You might have to slightly mispronounce the critic's first name (the first vowel sound) after the names are spoonerized, but I like it.

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    2. I enjoyed the puzzle, but it's not a "slight" mispronunciation. It really isn't accurate, in my book. Just cute.

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  55. I got miasma and My asthma after nearly giving up...my barely-a-comment-comment was "whew" after saying I finally got it - I was taking a nice deep breath of relief.

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    2. WW, you're quick. I thought better after sending the post. Delete yours and lets forget about it.

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    3. Cap, sorry to be MIA in a MIASMA of things including a new fence, new car battery, and some xeriscaping.

      I'm thinking Sunday will be oh so good.

      Will delete now.

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    4. WW, Thanks. There had been some criticism before.

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  58. Has anyone stopped to consider that Mitch McConnell may have just seen a deer?

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  59. I came here fully prepared to see a word I hadn't though of or, perhaps, had never heard before.

    Seeing the agreed-upon answer of MIASMA -> MY ASTHMA, I'm still in shock. A term referencing a largely abandoned medical theory that one would have no reason to come across in recent times is already pretty harsh — I wonder if age may be a significant advantage here — and WIkipedia's page on it doesn't even contain the word "asthma." This wasn't even in a category of nouns I considered. While it's hard to be confident that I've never heard the term, I certainly can't distinctly remember hearing it. (My wife, an Occupational Therapist, thinks she's maybe heard it before, but she can't remember anything about it.)

    As frustrating as I find the above, my disappointment is focused more on the two-word phrase. The first word being MY, that should refer to the speaker, either Will or Mary Springhorn. Why should we be expected to assume anything about the speaker's medical condition(s)? Though it likely wouldn't have helped had I included them, I did explicitly reject "MY" expressions for exactly this reason.

    In short, I had no chance of solving this, I consider it at least somewhat unfair, and I'm seriously impressed by all of you that solved it.

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    1. I just now did a search for MIASMA on NPR and: "2,058 results found in 59ms".

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    3. Maybe I don't listen to enough NPR, but then many of the uses I'm finding with a similar search aren't clearly related to the use here. And yes, asthma is pretty common, and I used to suffer from it, but I don't recall "miasma" ever being mentioned in relation to it, at least around me.

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    4. Looking at some more of the links, I see that this terminology has come up in some reporting about the wildfire smoke and similar that we've been experiencing lately.

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    5. Not a gamer myself, but, the game Miasma Chronicles was released earlier this year. I work with a couple of diehard enthusiasts.

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  60. Joshua: Perhaps this puzzle was written centuries ago when miasma was accepted prior to germ theory. Malaria means bad air because in those days it was assumed the air was the cause of the disease. As a nurse, I was annoyed at the misinformation the is the basis for this puzzle. I am surprised I solved it quickly having never heard of that term before.

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  61. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/02/bad-air/618106/
    I think this is a good resource for this puzzle.

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    1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030698771000349X
      This article supports your point.

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  64. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory

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    1. Proud parent of cats: Thank you so much. I liked your posts. I really missed that word miasma in my science and nursing training for some reason. I learned something new and got to do a little research of the literature. I humbly thank you and appreciate your knowledge.

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  68. Miasma; "my asthma" - change the "a" in "miasma" to an "o" and anagram to get "mimosa"

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  69. Don't mean to rub it in but glad I didn't pull Grays Anatomy off the shelf. Used to have a book by Peter Huber called Junk Science,about tort lawyers and questionable cause and effect theories in liability cases. Maybe instead of Gray we should brush up on Anatomy of Melancholy and the four humors. History of science is a valid topic and miasma is a perfectly good word I've used esp on writing. I think of it as a kind of synonym for swamp gas, and associate it with UFO theories and certain catastrophic presidencies. Plus the fact "gaslighting" was the most commonly used word and most common social practice recently has left me feeling queasy all week. I reached for a can of O2 oxygen first time since the pandemic. More McDonalds farm questions is my desire.

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  70. There is an instance of Miasma that NASA refuses to discuss!

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  71. I'm kind of in the middle on this one.
    I said very early on that the noun (miasma) doesn't really affect the phrase (my asthma). But then later I decided this was a nitpicky complaint, which didn't interfere with the solving of the puzzle. But then I guess Jan had the same complaint. And even if it is nitpicky, I don't like NPR propagating or relying on bad medicine, as it were.

    But I'm surprised that some Blaine puzzlers find the word 'miasma' obscure. It doesn't strike me as exotic at all -- maybe a bit old fashioned... but don't we like old fashioned words here?

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  73. R.I.P Jimmy Buffett. I toast you with your favorite drink.

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    1. I'm enjoying a couple hours in Margaritaville as well. Feeling sad today.

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  74. Given the number of people on this blog that didn't get the answer, and the above average number of people that are on vacation heading into Labor Day Weekend, I think there is a good chance of less than 100 correct responses.

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  75. I feel so lucky to be on this blog with some of the smartest people around.
    It reaffirms my faith that there is intelligent life online, after all.

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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.