I'm unable to post the puzzle this week, but I didn't want to leave you without a place to post comments on the puzzle. Somebody help me out by posting a copy here. Then feel free to add your hints as long as they don't give away the answer.
Q: Name a country. The first syllable spells something that people do. The rest of the name is an anagram of where some people do that. What country is it?
A: SINGAPORE --> SING, OPERA
Name a country. The first syllable spells something that people do. The rest of the name is an anagram of where some people do that. What country is it?
ReplyDeleteThis challenge is fairly easy. I will be out of town for the next 10 days and unable to post... See you all in 10 days...
DeleteNot me. I'll leave this for skydiveboy.
ReplyDeleteWhy bother now that everyone has already solved it?
DeleteI wash my hands of this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThat was quick and easy.
ReplyDeleteThe house 5 houses up the street from me that was shot early Thursday morning: six shots, was shot 17 minutes after midnight this morning: 30 shots. It is getting like a war zone here.
Wow. I guess 45 is right about the crime-ridden West Coast. Seriously, stay safe.
DeleteVery frightening, sdb. Indeed, stay safe...hide in your house? (Although even that might not be good enough these days?)
DeleteViolin Teddy,
DeleteI appreciate your comments on the shooting, but I love the excitement. I was outside before any of the cops got there. I just got back from taking an up close look at the house and it is all shot up.
On the subject of shooting a place up, did you notice the story about the rock climber and his plot to shoot up the Smith Rock event?
DeleteNo, I had not heard about that, but just googled it and will check it out. Not very sporting of him, shooting at skydivers is much more challenging.
DeleteLOL. Except if they are doing canopy RW I guess.
DeleteIf what I have is the intended answer, then the syllabic separation is off.
ReplyDeleteSDB, please be safe.
You are correct and correct.
DeleteI imagine it's too late to lobby the producers of The Simpsons to make tonight's opening-credits chalkboard gag ALL SYLLABLES BEGIN WITH A CONSONANT SOUND.
DeleteFollow that rule, and you get an "answer" that seems all too far-fetched. More on Thursday.
DeleteIf you look at where the activity is done within the country itself, you will see why it has a fruity nickname.
ReplyDeleteGot it! While looking through a list of countries, I came across San Marino. There has to be a puzzle there, a la Dan Marino.
ReplyDeleteSee my revealer comment last week.
DeleteAhh, yes. Sorry I missed that. Maybe we should submit it and see if Will remembers it from almost 30 years ago. Shhhh.... It'll be our secret. ;-)
DeleteSurprisingly, there's a San Marino connection to this week's puzzle!
DeleteThe puzzle is easy, once you think of the correct country. A clue that does not give it away appears to be the greater challenge.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Tough to clue, though a friend of mine wrote a book about “where some people do that.”
DeleteI could say that people have done this activity in Arkansas, California, and New York, as well as elsewhere.
DeleteSINGAPORE, OPERA
DeleteThe USPS abbreviations for AR, CA, and NY can be rearranged to spell Canary, as in sing like a canary.
Cute. Done.
ReplyDeleteWhile most of us do this, some are better at it than others.
ReplyDeleteRearrange the letters of the country, and get the name of another country and a word that was a code name for a significant act in that country’s politics.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good one. I had to look up the code name to figure it out; hadn't heard of it before.
DeleteAl.
DeleteRearrange the letters of the country, and get the name of another country and the English translation of a word that was a code name for a significant act in that country’s politics.
DeleteStrictly speaking, Jan, yes.
DeleteInteresting that the winner's surname is "Flood" and he's currently living in Texas. "Texas Flood" was the name of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan's debut album, released in 1983(also a track on the album).
ReplyDeletepjbAlsoKnows,AlthoughManyMusiciansMetTheirUntimelyDeathInAPlaneCrash,VaughanRemainsToThisDay(AsFarAsWeKnow)TheOnlyOneToDieInAHelicopterCrash
Troy Gentry?
DeleteI did not know that. Weird, wild stuff.
Delete(Sorry, I got a Johnny Carson rerun on TV here right now and I just couldn't resist.)
pjbHadn'tEvenHeardOfMr.GentryBefore,AndThusStandsCorrected,OfCourse
Seriously, I've learned over the years that so many musicians have died in plane crashes(Buddy Holly, Jim Croce, John Denver, many members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.), and the only one I'd ever, ever heard of dying in a helicopter crash was Stevie Ray Vaughan. Of course, that's not to say he's been the only one to die this way. I just had never heard of any other musicians also meeting their end like that. Until now. Thanks, jan.
DeletepjbMayAsWellLookUp"CelebsWhoDiedInHelicopterCrashes"JustToMakeSureAllBasesAreCovered
SINGAPORE, SING OPERA
DeletePossible cryptic clue for SINGAPORE:
Perform opera, maybe country(9)
SING+OPERA anagram
pjbMayHaveSeenThisPuzzleIdeaSomewhereElseBefore,ButHe'sNotExactlySure
I am reminded of a plant.
ReplyDeleteAlexandre Le Grand
ReplyDeleteI, for once, like to jam in an acai palm
ReplyDeleteSwine incubators?
ReplyDeleteBOAR BROODERS > ABSORBER / AIR SPONGE > SINGAPORE
DeleteThat should read ODOR ABSORBER in the middle.
DeleteDifferent dictionaries show country’s name syllabized differently. Makes me wonder how the natives pronounce it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like I was accurate about 700-800 correct answers last week. This week, there should be between 1327 and 1361 correct answers.
ReplyDeleteThought about that she said "just under 800" or something to that effect. Good call.
DeleteAnd I doubt Ayesha will get that specific next week. It would violate the prime directive.
DeleteThe gap between the consecutive prime numbers 1327 and 1361 is bigger than any prime gap before it. It is a "senior gap", an anagram of Singapore. Also, a range of positive integers could be called a "posi-range", an anagram of Singapore.
DeleteCosta Rica is not the country -- but it's relevant!
ReplyDeleteWhat about some people who cam from er rooms?
ReplyDeleteComedy duo.
ReplyDeleteOr, aftermath of brokem arm
DeleteThat anagram of the rest of the name? Just keep the consonants where they are and just rotate the vowels!
ReplyDeleteSometimes a simple vowel movement makes all the difference.
ReplyDeleteExtra fiber and lots of water can help too.
ReplyDeleteIs it debatable where the first syllable ends and the second begins? In my mind it is. Sounds natural both ways.
ReplyDeleteI have no syllable quibble on this one. I also think that the first syllable in last week's answer should be "Jack." Shows what I know.
DeleteI wonder if I could have gotten this at Rick's Café Americain?
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I also associate this with tv wrestling.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt brings to mind taking a shower. I also wonder if SDB has his tux handy?
Delete89
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Blaine's cat went away, leaving a mouse on his keyboard. The answer country has an association with a cat.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle makes me think of dancing with a girl with long, raven-black hair.
ReplyDeleteNoah, Ole!
ReplyDeleteSay the word for this well known animal out loud and phonetically it will describe where someone might consider going in order to enjoy ice cream and entertainment. Can you name it?
ReplyDeleteLOL. I'd walk a mile.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWhere might you find this animal?
DeleteNot sure, but they travel in packs.
DeleteIt's the name of a Broadway show.
DeleteOf course.
DeleteThere's a nice unintentional clue in the wording of the puzzle itself!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing your explanation. I don't see the unintentional clue.
DeleteThe phrase "Some People" is also the name of a song!
DeleteI like a simple solve. While I solved this puzzle fairly quickly, before I did, I came across a funny variation on the puzzle, Grenada.
ReplyDeleteWhat do people do? Grin
Where might they do this? ADA (American Dental Association)
I crack myself up.
It looks like the House of Representatives just created another Emmer-gency.
ReplyDeleteMark Meadows just caved!
ReplyDeleteWow. I guess when you are the lord of the flies, you have to expect your supporters to drop like them.
DeleteWell remember the Lord of the Flies's chute may have had a problem causing him to drop dead just like trousers held up by broken suspenders.
DeleteThe art of the deal. I guess he took notes.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMusic clue? Hmmmmm
ReplyDeleteThink of a well known country and add an M at the end. Say the results out loud. It will now sound how a person with a speech impediment might while trying to describe the degree of difficulty to obtain a specific illegal substance.
ReplyDeleteA highly the lassie puzzle, sbd.
DeleteI knew you would solve it.
DeleteMost of Justice Clarence Thomas' RV loan forgiven, report ...
ReplyDeleteAP News
https://apnews.com › article
4 hours ago — All or most of a $267000 loan obtained by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to buy a RV appears to have been forgiven, according to a ...
I clearly remember Barbara Walters interviewing this crook decades ago when he first lied his way to a seat on the Supreme's Court. I wondered then, as I do now, how this creep could afford this luxury. This is similar to how I felt when she first followed and interviewed Trump and I realized she was being conned big time. Sorry, but must leave now as the porcelain Goddess Ralph is calling big time for me to pay tribute.
Yessireee. If that ain't enough to bring on the old technicolor yawn, nothing is.
DeleteFears of up to 16 dead as police hunt gunman in Lewiston, Maine
ReplyDeleteWhere are the Uvalde, Texas police?
What in the h*** gets into people these days??
DeletePeople have always gotten pissed off. People everywhere get pissed off. They just haven't always and everywhere had assault rifles handy.
DeleteRemember, though, that although headline-grabbing, mass shootings account for a tiny fraction of gun deaths. Most involve handguns, and most are suicides.
Well that's reassuring.
DeleteIt should be reassuring. News and social media highlights mass shootings, which are rare and don't kill all that many people annually. Isolated single homicides get reported only locally, if at all, and suicides hardly ever, yet these account for the vast majority of U.S. gun deaths. People associate the high reported number of gun deaths with the widely-reported mass shootings, and get the wrong idea about how to solve the problem. Eliminating assault rifles might affect the number of mass shootings, but wouldn't have much if any impact on the huge number of overall gun deaths.
DeleteWell yea," it if bleeds it leads," but still if your grandaughter is shot at a bowling alley- it will be a big deal for you. I agree with what Chris Rock says on this issue.
DeleteSure, but she is far more likely to be shot by her boyfriend/husband/self than by a mass shooter.
DeleteMy Billion dollar question is: "what makes people snap and go off on these rampages against apparent strangers??"
DeleteGeez, seeing the news about (insert name of City here) today... It's getting way too common!!
DeleteI'm just glad they lowered all the flags to half mast.
DeleteNow that we have a new House Speaker I hope Congress will appropriate funds in order to increase more flag production before it is too late.
DeleteThe Maine shooter has been identified as an Army Reserve sergeant with over 20 years of service. I'm sure the NRA considers him a good guy with a gun.
DeleteFox news still says he was a gun instructor. That has been updated: He has not been a gun instructor.
DeleteFOX does not report fake news!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe other news stations now say he was an instructor...they did not use gun but I forget the term for artillary.
DeleteI lived in Australia for a year in the 90's. They had one such incident and a few since, but somehow they seemed to get a handle on things. Such measures Probably would not fly here.
ReplyDeleteIn my city, Philadelphia, a bus driver was shot along Germantown Avenue and pronounced dead at 10:36 a.m. It's a route I use regularly. Shot from the driver's side, by the way. There was another shooting in West Philadelphia. That's a murder count north of 350. A three-year low.
ReplyDeleteThis is a site that tracks the number of mass shootings in the U.S. There have been something like 569 mass shootings since 2006.
ReplyDeleteAnyway here t'is: https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2022/08/18/mass-killings-database-us-events-since-2006/9705311002/
So, 2,967 deaths in 569 mass shootings since 2006. That compares to 521,995 gun deaths total in that time. Mass shootings are basically a rounding error.
DeleteJan, I doubt that the parents, spouses, and children of these 569 think of them as, “Rounding errors.” They were loved ones, brutally taken from their families.
DeleteOf course, and so were the other half million victims that we never hear about. All I'm saying is that putting all the emphasis on mass shootings distracts everyone from the much bigger problem.
DeleteSINGAPORE; SING OPERA
ReplyDelete"Cute. Done." Short and sweet like a SINGAPORE Sling.
Singapore = sing & opera
ReplyDeleteOur friend Rudolfo is back with an intriguingly Appetizing challenge that involves six-letter words that contain "doubled triplets" – that is, words like "murmur," "booboo," "cancan" and "pompom" (which he has dubbed "XYZ+XYZ words"). You can access this challenge on this week's Puzzleria! which we will upload tonight around Midnight PDT, or perhaps even sooner (it is still Daylight Time, until Sunday, November 5th).
ReplyDeleteAlso on this week's menus:
* a special Halloween-themed Schpuzzle of the Week titled "Confection-collection selection" that gives the thumbs-up to Almond Joy, Milky Way, Baby Ruth, KitKat and Salted Nut Roll... but the thumbs-down to Laffy Taffy, Butterfinger, PayDay, Snickers and Oh Henry!
* an Hors d’Oeuvre titled "Surnames and simians" that involves an actress and a fictional simian,
* a Scary Character Slice that asks the burning question: What do Cyndi Lauper, Paul McCartney, George Clooney and Lady Gaga all likely own?
* a Blankety-Blank-Blank Dessert titled "Aspirations and Ambitions" that requires you to find a trio of missing words, and
* a dozen riff-offs of this week's NPR Puzzle, titled "Arias sung in the Singapore area," including one composed by our friend Ecoarchitect, whose "Econfusions" is featured regularly on Puzzleria!
Drop by, why don'tcha, for some "doubled-triplet tricks" and some selected confectionary treats!
LegoWhoNotesThatHallowe'enIsTheSeasonOfScarySkeletonBonesBonfiresAndBonbons
SINGAPORE (SING, OPERA)
ReplyDelete> Not me. I'll leave this for skydiveboy.
I hate opera (and I considerately try not to sing when others are around). SDB has often posted about opera (as has Natasha, but if I named both of them, it might have been TMI).
> Surprisingly, there's a San Marino connection to this week's puzzle!
The heads of state of San Marino are known as the Captains Regent. One of the Captains Regent in the early 1990s and mid-2000s was Cesare Gasperoni. Besides being the surname of several notable Sammarinese (great demonym!), "Gasperoni" is also an anagram of "Singapore".
SINGAPORE
ReplyDeleteThe intended answer must be that people SING, and some do so at the OPERA.
That is not the correct syllabication, though. That would be sin|ga|pore.
I hinted that, if you follow the proper syllabication and the way the puzzle is worded, you get an answer something along the lines of: “People SIN when they are in the middle of A GROPE.” As I said, though, “that seems all too far-fetched.” :)
Interesting -- I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "Sin·ga·pore".
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAgreed, it does sound more like "sing-apore" when said out loud. "Syllables" reflect hyphenation in writing, though. Point stands.
DeleteNot where I come from. Syllables are sounds, round these parts. (Primarily -- I guess by extension, the spelling thereof.)
DeleteWell it's pronounced "Xin-jia-po" in Mandarin ... where "X" represents "Sh" ... as in "Xi Jinping", "Mr. She". But the name "Singapore" is not Chinese ...
DeleteThe syllables are Sin-ga-pore, anyway:
Delete– howmanysyllables.com
– syllablecount.com
– syllablewords.net
And, and, and….
(See also jsulbyrne's reply to the comment I posted on Sunday.)
SuperZee said different dictionaries had it differently, although I didn't find any that showed the syllabication as Sing-a-pore. Dictionary.com came closest in that it showed the phonetic respelling as "sing-guh-…" or "sing-uh-…." Phonetic respelling is still not the same as the syllables in writing.
Then again, SuperZee also hinted it would be of interest how the locals handle this, in their native language. I guess that contributes to the issue—the fact that this word (proper name) did not originate in English.
Thanks for your input, Rudolfo. I didn't see it until after I posted my latest reply. Interesting observation.
DeleteThat is really interesting -- the name derives from Sanskrit!
DeleteThe OED has SING-uh-por for US English and sing-uh-POR for British. Merriam-Webster has ˈsiŋ-ə-ˌpȯr.
But I will try to remember to hyphenate it between the 'n' and the 'g' in the future!
Singapore -> sing, opera
ReplyDeleteI wrote:
89. Singapore anagrams into "prison age." Alcatraz is 89 years old.
SINGAPORE (—> SING + OPERA)
ReplyDeleteComment: “…a friend of mine wrote a book about ‘where some people do that’.” —> That was the late Dr. Jack Sacher, former Professor of Music, who wrote Opera: A Listener’s Guide.
Hint: “Rearrange the letters of the country, and get the name of another country and a word that was a code name for a significant act in that country’s politics.” —> SINGAPORE —> SPAIN + OGRE
Operación Ogro (English translation, Operation OGRE) resulted in the assassination in 1973 of Spanish (and Francoist) Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco by the Basque separatist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna; English translation, Basque Homeland and Liberty).
I wrote, “If you look at where the activity is done within the country itself, you will see why it has a fruity nickname.” The Esplanade in Singapore has a bulbous concert hall known by locals as “The Durian.”
ReplyDeleteI said Costa Rica is relevant... because 'Costa' anagrams to 'Tosca'.
ReplyDeleteHm, in retrospect that isn't very good :)
Tosca was the first opera I ever saw at the Met. So I like it.
DeleteMy clue was "Alexandre Le Grand" (1830–1898) the inventor of Bénédictine liqueur, an ingredient in the Singapore sling.
ReplyDeleteSingapore (sing, opera)
ReplyDeleteMy clue mentioned Rick's Café Americain which was the bar in Casablanca. The "gin joint " A Singapore Sling is made with gin, and other ingredients. I seem to remember the Singapore Sling as a tv wrestling move, also. Or a wrestler?
ReplyDeleteMy clue was “This puzzle makes me think of dancing with a girl with long, raven-black hair,” a reference to the Tom Waits lyric “Oh how we danced with the Rose of Tralee / Her long hair black as a raven,” from the titular song on his album Rain Dogs, the first track of which is “Singapore”. I knew I wanted to make the Tom Waits reference, but his lyrics are so unusual that I had to make it extra oblique to avoid making it too googlable :)
ReplyDeleteJan: I was feeling leftout when you did not include me with SDB in your tux post. Thanks for the reason and update. I do not attend operas anymore. I have a dear friend who was a diva with the Met in NYC. She lives in Berkeley and commuted! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteSingapore; Opera. Hint -- "I wash my hands of this puzzle." (Soap Opera)
ReplyDeleteI really didn't have an artful clue for this one. But I was trying to inCLUEd a reference to my Prime Meridian" puzzle clue, which referenced Joseph Conrad's novelization of the bombing attempt on the Greenwich Observatory, "The Secret Agent."
ReplyDeleteThree of Conrad's novels, the Shadow-Line, End of the Tether, and his first, Almayers Folly, are stories of determinism and chauvinistic Orientalism focused.in large part on the maritime trade centered in Dutch colonial West Indies and Singapore as a hub of that commerce. (Think prewar Mata Hari, then forming her persona). As a teen in the 1960s I came across a beautiful Random House volume called Conrad, Tales of Land and Sea. All the works referenced above were included (except Almayers Folly/)
Modern day Singapore, under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew and others, is worthy of admiration as what was called in the ''90s "little tigers" for it's financial success Those of a certain age may remember there was a case in that country where a youth was accused of graffiti on buildings and certain luxury cars, and was sentenced to "caning" in the 1990s. About the time the Gingrich Congress passed the Omnibus Crime Bill, a lot of right wing media types and state legislatures (and probably Fox) were editorializing cool, let's pass a "caning" penalty law in the US or our particular state.
It didn't happen. In curiosity from this puzzle, and the horrors of Hamas
I studied up on the medical reprecussions of rattan caning. The
"milder" results can include paralysis, permanent nerve damage, and rupture of internal organs. Then I read some ghastly number like 2,000 prisoners were caned in Singapore prisons last year. I've seen the results of a blogger who was caned 50 or 100 strokes in Saudi Arabia. It was not pretty. Singapore, you're better than this. Please abolish caning.
Conrad was also the author of Lord Jim, about a flawed Western sailor responsible for the negligent deaths of hundreds of Moslem pilgrims. Remember the butterfly collector in Lord Jim? I always thought the story was about empathy and altruism being the necessary evolution to an integrated personality. When asked about his personal philosophy and politics, Conrad compared his views with those of H. G. Wells. He said "Wells is a Socialist who hates humanity but thinks he can perfect it. I'm a Romantic who loves humanity, but in my mind I know humanity will never change."
I didn't even mention my other favorite Orientalist colonialist, Somerset Maugham. But giving more credit to William Wyler than Maugham himself, to my mind, "The Letter" is one of Hollywood's greatest films, and great escapism for a Halloween weekend in a world with too many real horrors.
Bette Davis and Gale Sondergaard embody the scary beautiful.
"... an association with a cat": "Singa Pore" means "Lion City". Singa is a variant of Sanskrit "Simha" = "Lion". The Lion King is named "Simba", which is Swahili for "Lion". "Simha" and "Simba" are variants of the same word, right? Interweb says no, it's just a coincidence ...?!
ReplyDeleteSingapore --> sing + opera
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I am reminded of a medicinal plant.” I was thinking of Ginseng. Well...close enough for rock and roll :)
Earlier this week I posted: "That anagram of the rest of the name? Just keep the consonants where they are and just rotate the vowels!"
ReplyDelete(You might want to select all the text below and cut, and then paste into a text editor with a fixed-pitch font.)
SINGAPORE
____^_^_^
____O_E_A
____
____OPERA
"
Good riddance Robert Card ...
ReplyDeleteI am not without a sense of sadness for that shooter. My original concern was why this person snapped. But as things developed, his suicide was probably best for everyone. Such a sad and horrible ordeal all the way around.
DeleteMy neighborhood again experienced a large number of gunshots at 9:44pm last evening. At first I was unsure if it was the first few shots actually were shots. As their frequency continued and increased I knew they were. This time they were about 3 blocks distant which was why they were a bit muffled. I called 911 and this time the operator was very informative and said they were receiving numerous reports which were giving a good indication where they were coming from. It was obviously gang related.
ReplyDeleteI hate to introduce a trivial point here, because the epidemic of gun violence has swept America, hung her out on the clothesline and beaten the hell out of her, but, R.I.P. Matthew Perry from Friends.
ReplyDeleteThere is an odd coincidence between the death of Matthew Perry and the death of Rodney King. Both of them released autobiographies before their deaths, (R.K.'s in April, 2012, and M.P.'s November of 2022). Both drowned.
ReplyDeleteMany people have expired whilst soaking in their hot tubs, but not by drowning. I have serious doubts that this actor who I am not familiar with drowned in the hot tub. I suspect there may be a bit of a cover up here. I recall several decades ago when it was reported in the news about a couple who were discovered rather dead in their hot tub. It turned out they most likely died from warming frog syndrome. In other words they became too overcome by the heat to extract themselves. Anyway I recall the story because it offered me the opportunity to quip, "The family that soaks together, croaks together."
DeleteSomeone tweeted that Mike Pence should be forced to carry his Presidential campaign to term.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listen Jim Bricker of Wayland, Mass., and it's a little different from the usual. The time 6:29 on a digital clock, ignoring the colon, also reads 6:29 upside down. How many times in a day can a digital clock, ignoring the colon, read the same right side up as upside down? We are not accepting military time.
ReplyDeletePretty easy, but be careful.
ReplyDeleteTo my eyes, a 2 upside down looks more like a 5. The 6 and 9 I can see. I'm not sure of anything right now. I'm going back to bed and sleep on it.
DeleteI understand "upside down" to mean "rotate by 180 degrees," not "look at it in the mirror" (such as the glass surface of the range reflecting the clock above it). You are right, only when you rotate does this upside-down premise work.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWould the digit 1 count, or would it be disallowed since in the digital display, it's the RIGHT SIDE two segments that are active when displaying a 1?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete