Sunday, September 03, 2023

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 3, 2023): Strumming on the Old Banjo

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 3, 2023): Strumming on the Old Banjo
Q: Name certain musical instruments (plural). The first, third, fourth, and fifth letters spell something that holds the things named by the last five letters. What instruments are these?
I'm pretty sure I saw this on an episode of Star Trek.

Edit: In the original series, Dr. McCoy was known as "Bones". There was also an episode set at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. In the Next Generation, Cmdr. Riker was occasionally seen playing the trombone.
A: TROMBONES --> TOMB, BONES

188 comments:

  1. At the end of the day, Will S. had the last word.

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  2. This was a clear, interesting, unambiguous puzzle. Thank you, Cap. The word for the things held also designates a musical instrument.

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  3. Anagram to get the two sides in many fictional battles.

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  4. Blaine's comment raises an important planetary problem.

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  5. Congrats, Clark, for another Cap conundrum!

    Musical hint: Dylan.

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  6. I expect a lot more than 120-ish correct answers for this one.

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  7. Congrats, CAP, on yet another puzzle in such quick succession!

    Everyone, see Salem, Mass. already gearing up for Halloween!

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  8. Jimmy Buffett, not enough trips around the sun. A life well lived.

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    2. He couldn't have lived a fuller life. Fins to the left!

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  9. My preferred type of puzzle! Thank you, CAP. I am reminded of the book: "Horse" by, Geraldine Brooks.

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  10. Replies
    1. OMG, this comment wins the understatement of the entire internet this week.

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  11. I have in mind a rather patriotic clue.

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    1. I have in mind a numerical clue Blaine would not allow.

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    2. Jan, if I’ve understood you correctly, adding 34 and posting that numerical clue might also result in removal by Blaine.

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    3. 17(76) trombones led the big parade...

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  12. Yes, after the last two weeks, it is a much easier one. Too bad I had trouble with the instrument in band class at school.
    Still can't play it to this day.
    pjbPrefersListeningOverPlayingAnyway

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  13. Got it. While working on the puzzle, I stumbled across two "not quite" alternate answers. I might play around with them to see if I can spin something into a new puzzle. No clue here.

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    1. I thought of "stand-up basses", which actually kinda works on a summer Sunday, and harkens back to a couple of weeks ago.

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  14. No plural, I l know, but I think a good name for that case that protects your cell phone would be an xlop.

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  15. rhymes with one of my favorite singers

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    1. One of the greats, and nice to listen to after dark

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  16. Replies
    1. A hint tailor-made, so to speak, for Margaret G.

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    2. LOL! --Margaret G. the unknown

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  17. My favorite puzzles are the ones that make me think, "Why didn't I notice that before?" This one is a good example.

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    1. Thanks, Chuck and Rob. Even though I know the answer, some of the clues are beyond my understanding.

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    2. My favorite puzzles just make me think. And then there's this one.

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  18. I was among the 125 entries from last week. Thanks for all your help friends!

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  19. A nice puzzle for lads and lassuses

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    1. Yeah, a simple Google search displays the answer. I'm shocked it's been up for 3 days now.

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  20. Congratulations CAP! Fun puzzle.

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  21. Replies
    1. Another musical clue: Leo Kottke
      Zevon and Kottke are two of my favorite songwriters/musical artists.
      And Clark a pseudonym is fast becoming one of my favorite puzzle-makers!

      LegoNotesThatThisPostedHintWasMadePossibleByAPuZZleDraftedByThe"LawFirm"OfShortZ&SchwartZ

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  22. Fun puzzle! As a musician myself, this one is at the top of my list!

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  23. Today is my birthday. They mentioned my birth year, 1993, on air. However, this is not a good puzzle for a birthday.

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    2. Happy 30th birthday, Bobby!
      The prime facors of 30 (2, 3 and 5) are three early consecutives digits in the Fibonacci Sequence!

      LegoWhoNotesThat"PuzzleFunByBobbyJacobs"WillBeOurFeaturedAppetizerInOurSeptember15thEditionOfPuzzleria!AndTheImageThatWillAccompanyIt WillBeABirthdayCakeFrostedWithAnImageOfTheLogoThatBobbyCreatedFor"PuzzleFunTopped"WithACandleShapedLikeOneOfThosePrimeFactors!(AndThat'sAnExclamationPointNotAFactorialSign)

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    3. Happy 30th, Bobby!
      I almost didn't think I'd make my 30th, as it was during the Y2K hysteria. Imagine a mere switch from 19 to 20 being a matter of life and death! How silly!
      BTW Here's a musical clue I thought of earlier:
      Rearrange the letters in the instrument(still plural)to name two different rock groups who, to the best of my knowledge, never used the instrument on any of their recordings(I know one definitely never did).
      pjbAlsoKnowsOneOfTheseGroupsIsMuch,MuchCloserToHisNeckOfTheWoodsThanTheOther

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    4. Happy Birthday, Bobby, and many happy returns!

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    5. For some 30 is a tough transition. But then my grandson- who just turned ten has been worried about being in the "double digits." Well i guess we don't have to worry much about the triples, but they say if you are in good health at 65 you have a 30% chance of making it to 90.

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    6. Thanks, everybody! I am now 30.

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    7. Tomb would be more appropriate for a death day.

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    8. TROMBONES, TOMB and BONES
      TROMBONES is an anagram of the rock group names BOSTON and REM. The latter was formed in Georgia, which is next door to my home state of Alabama.
      pjbAlsoFoundAnotherAnagramOfTrombones:"NoMoreBTS",WhichWouldBeQuiteTheAnti-K-PopMessage!

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  24. While quickly trying to take notes while listening to Will this morning, I missed a couple of key points in the challenge. Anyway, I found out that a stringed instrument is also called a chordophone. I initially thought I had the answer in that a cord holds (in the sense of "tethers") a phone. Of course, I'm showing my age in that I'm even thinking of phones with cords.

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  25. The fact that I live in New Orleans is a clue to each part of the puzzle.

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  26. As with most other puzzles, prior knowledge helps.

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  27. I'm still not sure I understand Blaine's clue. I know I've seen all three things (instrument, holder, held things) on episodes of Star Trek.

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    1. I think I understand it. It clues precisely one of the three things, in a cute, indirect way (remember: Blaine will never give a hint that has more than a .00001% chance of leading anyone to the answer).
      But I could well be wrong about what Blaine had in mind.

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    2. I think I understand it too. My 5:59 AM comment reflects my understanding.

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    3. Actually, Blaine's clue led me directly to the answer. I have an advantage: marriage to a trekkie. I probably can't say more without giving it away

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    4. Curtis, maybe a former Denver restaurant will come to your mind as well. . .

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    5. WW, I'm aware of a current Denver restaurant that is adjacent to my answer. I don't eat out often, so I'm not sure I know the former restaurant.

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    6. Because of my wife's fondness for TOS & TNG, the first thing I thought of when I saw Blaine's hint was Cmdr Riker's trombone

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  28. I prefer to drink coffee inside.

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  29. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  30. Once I figured out the instrument, I started searching the internet for a clue to post, as I am wont to do. I very nearly made a fool of myself! I came across some realistic images, but upon closer examination, I thankfully realized it was someone's great sense of humor. Like George Washington once said, "You can't trust everything you read on the internet."

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    1. Aw, c'mon, everyone knows that was Abraham Lincoln!

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    2. I just double checked, and it was actually Ben Franklin.

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    3. Well, of course it was. The Internet uses electricity, which Franklin invented with his kite. By Lincoln's time, that had all been forgotten.

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    4. Along the same lines, found on another platform:


      Enjoying Labor Day? You need to thank our greatest living president, Gerald Ford, who literally invented Labor Day to give his employees at Ford Motor Co. a day off after the first football weekend.

      That’s why he invented the car and won the biggest landslide ever. Thank you sir!

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    5. Thanks for that interesting trivia. But I thought it was Governor Tennessee Ernie Ford that invented Labor Day at the state level, and that's why he sang "Sixteen Tons".

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    6. He tried singing "Fourteen Thousand Five Hundred Forty-Five Kilograms", but that ruined the meter.

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  31. I found the video of Blaine's clue.

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  32. I finally got one! I can only hope if I get the call I have an easy on air puzzle like today's!

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  33. From the English Ska Band, The Specials, to Rudy Giuliani:

    Stop your fooling around,
    Time to straighten right out.
    Better think of your future
    Else you'll wind up in jail, Rudy.
    A message to you, Rudy.

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  34. A certain 12-stringer would know the answer to this.

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  35. Ah, I just got wind of the fact that CAP drummed up another good puzzle that doesn’t string us along with poor wording. Getting down to brass tacks, the keys to this puzzle will determine whether you solve it.

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    1. I agree CAP, good puzzle. Clear and non-dubious.. instructions. IMHO NPR puzzle should be intriguing, tantalizing, even tricky, and ultimately rewarding cognitive workout. And fun. It doesn't have to be Blockchain complex .You achieve that balance,I think. Kudos.

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    2. This puzzle is none of those things. It's an insult.

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  36. The on-air puzzle skipped "8. Unofficial modifications to a game". Answer is H.R. What is it?

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  37. Took a little longer than it should have…sometimes one just can’t see the forrest for the trees.

    We’ll done CAP!

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  38. Congrats, CAP! It's nice to have an easier puzzle every so often.

    My hints: 1) Take a word that rhymes with the last five letters, and place that word after the container. You'll have a related compound word.
    2) 40

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  39. We can't take puzzles like this for granted

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  40. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  41. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  42. If the Burning Man festival were any worse, it would not be like the instrument, but like the other thing, only made of sticky mud.

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  43. https://youtu.be/ySnVGI6pOVk?si=XuIze5AoXkjAJYpu
    Click on this link and listen to this airhead Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell.

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  44. Can play happy tunes like Old McDonalds Farm, or sad, like Tichbornes Elegy.

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  45. Well it is back to school time, so a 3rd grade puzzle might be appropriate. I'm not a fan of these 30 second solves.

    Musical clue (like you need one): Van Halen's album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

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    1. I don't know if you have watched that show -"Are you smarter than a fifth grader.?" But the answer is no.

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  46. Over/under is 1,300 this week.

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  47. When Attila was in Italy what did he have in common with baseball?

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    1. A spoonerism comes to mind, but I don't know if that's what you are looking for.

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    2. Yep. And that is the hint I left out here, but included in my submission to Will.

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    3. This puzzle struck me as a little out of left field and off the wall, so I looked it up and found Atilla did swing into Italy and fight some pitched battles by hitting specific locations, but ultimately failed to knock it out of the park when he balked at invading the capital.

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  48. Replies
    1. Not sneaking in. I have been avoiding this week because I am so tired of WS giving us childish puzzles. I emailed the one above to him last night, along with a hint that dumbs it down, because I know he would have added it anyway. I received his rejection when I got up this morning. He said it is cute, but he does not think he can use it on NPR. I did not include the hint here because it is easy enough to solve without it.

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    2. And yet you still engage with him and send him fan mail. I mean puzzles. He just wants attention, like some other former president. When he was younger he cared. Not so much now.

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    3. Honestly, skydiveboy I think it must be personal.

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    4. clotheslover,
      I can't say it has not crossed my mind, however he has used a couple of mine in the past. I made up another one last evening and emailed it to him, and received his rejection this morning. I probably will post it here tomorrow.

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  49. Three days and I've come up empty.

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    1. It's hard to find a list of musical instruments that doesn't include this one.

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    2. @rickster Do you mean after three days you haven't got the answer? You might want to get checked for a stroke.

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    3. Nah, rickster is not at all clueless.

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    4. That clever rickster, posting an elegant hint posing as a lament.

      LegoNotesThatOfCourseHeHadToWaitTillTheTimeWasRight

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  50. Blaine's graphic was a clue in itself

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  51. TROMBONES; TOMB BONES

    "Pinniped"---> This refers to walrus, which is close to Bill Walrous, a famous trombonist (who played the trombone sequence in the Star Trek episode Blaine noted).

    "Nah, rickster is not at all clueless." I believe rickster is referring to Jesus Christ who left the tomb empty after 3 days. Great clue!

    Curtis, Cafe Nepenthes on Larimer Street was a frequent Denver hang-out in the early '80's.

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    1. Rickster's comment was, indeed, a classic. The ideal post is one that has a surface meaning that totally obscures the underlying connection to the puzzle. I'm sure more of Blaine's would fit that description, but he must deal with the complication that everyone knows his post must have a hint in there somewhere.

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  52. TROMBONES → A TOMB holds BONES.

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  53. trombones

    Last Sunday I said, “Unknown.” Of course, I was thinking of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

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  54. Trombone – r >>> Tomb and Bones

    The comment that, “…sometimes one just can’t see the forest for the trees,” was a pointer to DeForest Kelley, who played Dr. Leonard (Bones) McCoy in the original TV version of Star Trek, and in several Star Trek movies.

    Re: SDB’s challenge, Attila had the Huns roam; baseball has home runs.

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  55. TROMBONES —> TOMB + BONES

    Musical hint: “Dylan” —> “Tombstone Blues,” from the album Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

    Hint: “As with most other puzzles, prior knowledge helps.” —> Jack Teagarden (1905-64) is generally regarded as the first great jazz trombonist, but before jazz, there was Arthur Pryor (1869-1942), who was not only the trombone soloist with the John Philip Sousa Band but also, to quote Wikipedia, “a trombone virtuoso.” Allmusic.com’s assessment of Pryor is even more categorical: “Arthur Pryor was arguably America's most important non-jazz trombonist of the early 20th century.”

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  56. Our friend Tortitude – a puzzle-maker who has both endless aptitude and an engagingly clever attitude – has selected a sextet of her perplexingest posers for us to to ponder on Puzzleria! this week. They appear in her "Tortie's Slow but Sure Puzzles," and feature a British songbird, a merrymaker, names-within-names, a mammal-spawning name-in-the-news, a catchphrase from TV-past, and a timely geopolitical poser. You may be slow to solve this sextet, but you surely have at least a chance... and you also surely shall have fun!
    We upload Puzzleria! tonoght around Midnight PDT, more or less, on the Thursday-Friday cusp.
    Also on our menus:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Werewolves of London? Nashville Cats?”
    * a Climatological Hors d’Oeuvre that poses the question: “Do Poles weather Polar climes?”
    * a Kirschwasser Slice titled “Doggerel’s metrical paws,”
    * a Dessert regarding the “Bore of Babbel on” and the French Expressionism Décapité, and
    * a dozen riffs of a "Superpuzzleman's" puzzle, titled “Trombone me up a memory” of Tombstone Territory...
    That's 22 puzzles!

    LegoWhoDescribesTotitudeAsA"SlowButSure"PuzzleMakerWhoIsAmazinglyQuickWitted!

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  57. After solving, I immediately thought of OS, so I posted a link to a clip of the OSmond Brothers demonstrating their multi-instrumental skills. Only one trombone appears, briefly, in that clip, but multiple saxophones are featured more prominently, and SAXOPHONES was a bit of a steppingstone for me in the process of solving. Coincidentally, the clip was from 1976.
    Wolfgang noted that my hint had nudged him in the right direction, but that comment seems to have disappeared. (I'm afraid I'm unable to fathom his other comment about Stevie Wonder and Manhattan Transfer.) Blaine allowed my comment and link to stand, however, so apparently they didn't violate the HOUSE RULES.
    As Roger pointed out, Will did not use "8. Unofficial modifications to a game" on the air. He substituted "operation for someone who has difficulty walking", instead. Blaine used to refer to his "house rules" as his "standard reminder", so I posted HEED REMINDER. I don't know if Blaine would have deleted HIP REPLACEMENT from this blog or not, but I guess Will can make whatever rules he wants in his own house.

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  58. TROMBONES -> TOMB, BONES

    > I wonder whether players of an early version of these instruments develop a condition related to a recent puzzle?

    Okay, I know that's a trumpet, but it sure looks like a case of sackbut cheek to me.

    > Anagram to get the two sides in many fictional battles.

    MEN vs ROBOTS

    > I have in mind a numerical clue Blaine would not allow.

    I don't think "76" would be in the Spirit of allowable posts.

    >> A nice puzzle for lads and lassuses
    > A controversial clue.

    It's time to bury Lassus Trombone. (In a TOMB, with BONES?)

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    1. I guessed that your unposted numerical clue was “76,” and I suggested that another number, 110 (i.e., 76 + “34”), should also perhaps remain unposted because the first two lines of “76 Trombones” from The Music Man are “Seventy-six trombones led the big parade / With a hundred-and-ten cornets close at hand.”

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    2. I replied to your "76" hint with "T," referring to "trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool."

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    3. I was on the same page, it seems, with 1776!

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  59. Trombones, Tomb, Bones.

    I posted the Specials A Message to You Rudy because it features the trombone so beautifully.

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

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  60. I said Jimmy Buffett had too few trips around the sun. Seventy-six, to be exact, which made me think of "76 Trombones" from "The Music Man".

    My Warren Zevon clue was about the disturbing lyrics of Excitable Boy: "he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones."

    Also found a picture of a 1988 penny, Abe with a trombone. In the process of figuring out it was a joke, I learned that there really was a trombonist named Abe Lincoln (1907-2000).

    R I P. Jimmy, Warren and Abe

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  61. Ironic that Jimmy B was 76 and passed right before this week's puzzle.

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    Replies
    1. And I'm still having trouble believing he's gone. :(

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  62. I wrote, “The word for the things held also designates a musical instrument.” The bones, or rhythm bones, are a folk instrument, a pair of animal bones struck together.

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  63. Trombones (tomb + bones).

    I wrote:
    "1) Take a word that rhymes with the last five letters, and place that word after the container. You'll have a related compound word."
    Stones -> tombstones

    "2) 40"
    OK, so this is pretty obscure, but I recently read that the Tom Waits album Swordfishtrombones recently turned 40 (10 years older than Bobby! Happy Birthday to both!).

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  64. This is what I emailed to Will:

    Hi Will,

    When Attila was in Italy what did he have in common with baseball?
    Hint: The answer is a 2 word Spoonerism.


    Answer: When he was in Italy he was a Rome Hun, and baseball has a home run.

    Thanks, Mark.
    This is cute, but it doesn't feel like a puzzle for NPR.
    I appreciate the offer, tho.
    --Will

    This is a typical rejection. What I do not understand is, why is it not NPR worthy? If Will finds it cute, why would NPR listeners not also enjoy it?

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    1. That's what you were going for? I thought you were going to say something like they both had balls, which NPR would never allow, or maybe that they both had strikes (Since the Huns would strike their enemy when attacking).

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  65. TROMBONE~TOMB~BONES"
    Can play joyful, like Old McDonalds Farm, or sad like Tichborne's Elegy."
    Perhaps in the jazz culture of New Orleans the trombone's versatility of expressing emotion is best appreciated. Old McDonalds Farm was the recent NPR Puzzle answer to the source of the lyrics E,I,E,I,O. Tichborne's Elegy is an Elizabethan Martyr's poem . (I don't know of any musical setting of it, but would love to hear one)
    The Elegy has the alliterative line "I trod the earth and knew it was my tomb."

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  66. My clue: "I prefer to drink coffee inside."

    As opposed to drinking tea in a garden. Jack Teagarden was a prominent jazz trombonist in the 1920s and 30s.

    Also, in response to Word Whisker's Jimmy Buffett shout-out, I wrote: "He couldn't have lived a fuller life. Fins to the left!"

    Curtis Fuller was another great jazz trombonist. "Fins" was meant to elicit thoughts of dorsal fins, and from there Tommy Dorsey.

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    1. Loved your "76 Trombones" hint, too! This born-and-raised Florida boy has been grieving all week...

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    2. I was young when my family moved to Florida in 1961, and I'm still here, searching for my lost shaker of salt.

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  67. TROMBONES --> TOMB, BONES. My hints: (1) "At the end of the day, Will S. had the last word." (Shakespeare's epitaph ends, "cursed be he that moves my bones.) (2) "Blaine's comment raises an important planetary problem." (DeForest Kelley --> deforestation.)

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  68. There is a Zooarcheologist in the book, "Horse" by, Geraldine Brooks. The study of ancient animal bones is so fascinating. Trombone/tomb/bones .

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  69. Trombones = tomb, bones. Leo Kottke ( a certain 12-stringer) has a few humorous stories of his early days playing the trombone. 30 to life is too f*****g long for Danny Masterson. He hasn't been a sexual threat in the last 20 years! As in the case against Cos, they allowed new evidence that was not allowed in the first trial. We are too punitive. Four or five years would have been enough. Then again, those rapes were pretty brutal. Despite othe celeb degenerates, like R. Kelly and Jared Fogle, and that ax kid from Jimmy Kimmel, the actor that Masterson most reminds me of is Bob Crane, of Hogan's Heroes. Crane had this porn side hustle that consumed him and probably led to his murder in 1978. But if he had lived, or if his porn fetish was somehow revealed, it would have wrecked him like DM's kinky sex/rape fetish.

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    1. You have mentioned your opinion on this matter a couple of times. He couldn't Hyde behind the Scientology walls forever. He raped 3 women, and is being held accountable.

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  70. Trombones -> Tomb, Bones

    I posted the musical clue Rush. They put out an album in 1991 titled Roll the Bones.

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  71. Cool news! My puzzle was the Puzzle of the Day on Alexa today. I didn't realize it, but i had a typo (usually I'm more careful than this, but guess I need ViolinTedditor or Lego!):
    1. Coach potato description (4 letters - supposed to be "couch potato")
    2. Lethal or fatal (6 letters)
    3. Commit an immoral act (3 letters)
    4. Aspen, elm, or oak (4 letters)
    5. Type of animal, like bat, cat, or rat (6 letters)

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    1. Final answer is five letters, and ends with an "h."

      Don't think that anyone here will struggle with this. Puzzle of the Day tends to be on the easier side of things.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Puzzle of the Day is a game you can play through the Amazon Alexa devices (Echo, etc.). Thursday is the day where there's a user submitted puzzle.

      The idea is to answer each individual piece, and then putting those words together will lead to a common theme. So, maybe the individual answers would be red, blue, yellow, green, and white, and the final answer would be colors.

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    4. Congrats, Tortie! I don't have any of those devices, so can't play the game....

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    5. Let me add my congrats, also, Tortie. This is something to be proud of!

      LegoWhoIsWellAwareOfTortitude'sPuzzleMakingProwessBecauseOfHerHistoryOfWonderfulPuzzleCraftSheDisplaysOnPuzzleria!

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  72. Danny Masterson film festival at my apartment starting at 7:40 EST. "Puff, Puff, Pass" followed by "Bridge to Nowhere."

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  73. Sorry I am late to the party. I mentioned that Salem, MA was gearing up for Halloween already. Halloween does invite "spooky" associations involving tombs and bones.

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  74. My clue was: Sad.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQeezCdF4mk

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  76. https://youtu.be/BHgGYW7-Oto
    Star Trek link to Trombone

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  77. My clue about The Who referred to their instrumental track "Cobwebs and Strange", which had Who frontman Roger Daltrey on the trombone.

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    1. All of you, easy or not easy, all I care about that it was enjoyable making it up and sharing it with you and to see you working on it. Thanks

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  78. This week's challenge comes from a frequent contributor, Joseph Young, who conducts the blog Puzzleria! Name a creature that has a world capital in its name. Replace the capital with another creature and you'll get another world capital. What is it?

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    1. Congrats, once again, Lego!

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    2. Thanks, jan.

      LegoHopingThisOneIsFairButABitOfAChallengeAlso

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    3. Or, working backwards, find a world capital with a creature in its name. Replace the creature with another capital and you'll get another creature. Not that I have any idea of the answer.

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    4. I've gotten close with a few answers but at the moment I'm feeling rather stupid

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    5. I got it. Awaiting the new page.

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  79. Over 1400 correct answer this week.

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  80. The answer to #7 in the on-air puzzle could have been sweeter.

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  81. Unlike Lego's challenge, which couldn't be sweeter! Excellent wordplay, and surely free of controversy.

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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.

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