Q: Think of a famous male singer of the past with two A's in his name. Drop both A's and the remaining letters can be rearranged to name a popular make of automobile. What is it?Take a model of that automobile, drop all A's to name a sports figure.
A: RAY CHARLES --> CHRYSLER
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.
Remove two consecutive letters from the car’s name. Rearrange. You get a fruit.
ReplyDeleteGreat!
DeleteHey! The e-mail sender works again!
ReplyDeleteCool.
DeleteYay, "notify me" rocks!
DeleteI thought "notify me rocks" was a hotline for geological discoveries.
DeletePaul, oh, it is!
DeleteNot working on my system.
DeleteThat's too bad. Without the notifications, it's like having a conversation where the other person isn't listening in real time. Hope it clears up for you soon.
DeleteWhile I seem to be receiving notifications, one that I received over an hour ago has not turned up yet on the blog. Strange.
DeleteRearrange the name and get a two-word phrase describing what one should not do in an automobile.
ReplyDeleteOver 2600 correct entries last week.
ReplyDeletePretty easy. One of my favorite singers and the first concert I ever saw. Just back from the Emergency Room at the local hospital for my better half. All is well.
ReplyDeleteBest to you and your better half, Dr. K.
DeleteThank you, Nodd.
DeleteDr K, glad all is well.
DeleteThank you, Word Woman.
DeleteGoodness! That's no way to start your day. Glad to hear all is well.
DeleteThanks, JayB.
DeleteDr. K, glad for the happy ending. Best to both of you.
DeleteLorenzo, thank you for the good wishes. I received the notification a good 2 hours ago but am now just seeing it on the blog.
DeleteHope your wife is okay; on the mend. That's incredible you saw this singer in concert, in his prime.
DeleteThanks, Vandal in Seattle. She is doing well, and both of us are grateful for the kind words.
DeleteCame to me quickly. The question was "Does the answer include the first & second name of the singer or just the last name, like SINATRA?"
ReplyDeleteClever on air challenge this morning.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Will is still struggling a bit with his speech.
Yeah, he might never sound completely normal again. It's cool that the stroke didn't interfere with his being a Puzzlemaster. I wonder if he can play table tennis.
DeleteOMG, do you mean we could get *worse* puzzles?!?!?
DeleteTwenty-five
ReplyDeleteA singer associated with the male singer had the same surname as another famous musician.
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle is good, and Blaine's follow-up is even better. In fact, it is surprisingly perfect.
ReplyDeleteMan, ChatGPT and Gemini were terrible at this puzzle. They chose names with more than 2 A's, dropped other letters, and rearranged them nonsensically. I learned Frank Sinatra rearranges to Toyota and Nat King Cole rearranges to Volvo.
ReplyDeleteBy sheer coincidence, Will chose to use my puzzle during the same week that I’m on Joe’s Puzzleria. Twice lucky! Anyway, hard or easy, I hope you had/have fun solving it.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Chuck!
DeleteCool, good job, Chuck! I like it.
DeleteChuck is an expert puzzlesmith who has contributed scores of gems, like his latest NPR challenge, to Puzzleria! over the years. I am grateful to him and all other puzzle-crafters who share their creativity on P!
DeleteLegoConundrumbstruckByChuck!
So Chuck, you are in reality Chad Graham of Philadelphia???
DeleteYes, I really am.
DeleteTake a food that connects February 11th with September 16th. Drop the last letter and rearrange to get something relevant to this week’s puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThis guy knew how to "wear it well".
ReplyDeleteThis singer is a lifelong favorite of mine, which would be a big hint if you knew me, but you don't.
ReplyDeleteThere's irony here as well as a clue!
DeleteLove this clue. Pays to know your lyrics.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYou give your hand to me, and then, you say goodbye
DeleteAnd then, I watched you walk away beside the lucky guy
I know you'll never know the one who loved you so
No, you don't know me
Aaron Deale sang at my bar mitzvah party.
ReplyDeleteWho is Aaron Deale? Or am I missing an obvious joke?
DeleteDrop two a's and rearrange. Think Back to the Future
DeleteOhhh! That third A threw me off. I thought he just had a really great bar mitzvah!
DeleteI’ve owned five vehicles from this brand, one of which is the one alluded to by Blaine.
ReplyDeleteNot that it matters, but I just remembered having owned 3 more cars from this brand, making 8 total.
DeleteIt’s clearly not Sonny Bono. Anyway, building on Blaine’s clue (and perhaps Dr K’s?), this singer has teamed up with another singer who shares the same surname as Blaine’s sports figure.
ReplyDeleteSnipper, there is a connection between the surname you’ve referred to and the first name of the famous musician in my hint. But if I say more, it might be TMI.
DeleteI'll be thinking of the singer this summer in particular!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, yes.
Delete(and every Olympic year since Atlanta.)
DeleteGot it.
ReplyDeleteIn the history of the automaker, I have found at least three model names that share a name with a movie. There are probably more, but I'm going to stop looking.
DeleteI solved the puzzle by writing down car makes, placing the letters in a circle, and adding two different A's at random points. When I got to Chrysler, the name Ray Charles practically jumped off of the page, because of some lucky placement.
DeleteAs for model names that match movies, I had first thought of 300. Right after that, I thought of the Chrysler Concorde, but a quick check revealed that Concorde was part of the title of one of the Airport movies. That then led to finding the Chrysler Conquest (movies in 1938 and 1983), and then Crossfire (1947 movie). After that, I stopped looking.
Combine the singer's surname with the surname of another famous male singer of the past to get a reference in the Gilligan's Island theme.
ReplyDeleteOK. Think of an English word with two A's in it. Drop both A's and the remaining letters can be rearranged to name a popular make of automobile. (This appears to have a unique solution.)
ReplyDeleteI hope it's not MAGA.
DeleteGood question ... But no, my computer is blissfully unaware of MAGA.
DeleteJust joking. I do have your answer, Rudolfo, and it might well be unique. It's a nice extension of Chuck's challenge.
DeleteOoh, I just got this. Nice one, Rudolfo.
DeleteIn the early-to-mid 90s, I owned three different 80s vintage used cars made by this manufacturer. Two of those three were totaled by other drivers. And one had probably had its odometer rolled back (there were scratches on the 9 of the 90,000). Nonetheless, those three cars all ended up being money pits for me.
ReplyDeleteI too had three different cars from that company around then. I loved them all. One talked to you, It said "Your key is in the ignition" or "your headlamps are on." One day all the rear washer fluid spurted out, and it said, "Your rear washer fluid is low." I loved that car, though. In pre-GPS days, it gave me something to swear at. Glad all is well, Dr. K.
DeleteThanks, surferwoman.
DeleteGot it. Now I've got an earworm.
ReplyDeleteUse Blaine's hint on another model and name a nasty thing to do to someone.
ReplyDeleteI believe this famous male singer of the past would really groovily dig the songs of a female singer of the present.
ReplyDelete"Of the past" covers a lot of ground. But, over 500 years?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOh-oh. Is NPRs email notification down, just when Bloggers' 'Notify Me' is operational again?
ReplyDeleteThe King of Pop Michael Jackson's name has 2 A's in it, but I see no way to bring a car out of that.
ReplyDeleteThe King of Pop is like King Charles, which is like Ray Charles. I used the words "see" and "bring", which is like a Chrysler Sebring.
DeleteNeither.
ReplyDelete(I mean, neither of those choices.)
ReplyDeleteUpdate. I finally got NPR notification of submission.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletejan, kinda sneaky!
ReplyDeleteTest
ReplyDeleteI rebooted my computer, but Notify Me is still not working.
ReplyDeleteTry another browser? I use Duckduckgo.
DeleteOkay, here it goes, but I seriously doubt it will work.
DeleteDDG did not work either.
DeleteMaybe if you clear cookies in your browser, and then re-check the Notify Me button?
Delete(Not that I had to do that. I just posted this morning as always, and it worked fine.)
DeleteSo Jan, in some twisted way are you telling me he has a middle name too?
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid Blaine might not allow me to shed more light on this.
ReplyDeleteOK, I wasn't aware the question was a "no no". Sorry
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle as stated (and posted) doesn't specify first and/or last name, so any clarification would provide additional information.
ReplyDeleteThen there are singers with one name, a pseudonym as I do. Oh well, other things to do this week.
ReplyDeletetest
ReplyDeleteChat surprised me.
ReplyDeleteFinally got it. I kept ignoring the car name, thinking it just couldn't possibly work.
ReplyDeleteWait, what did Will say?
ReplyDeleteThought I was going to be outfoxed by this puzzle, but I got it!
ReplyDeleteHere's a mini clue: Lido
ReplyDeletetesting
ReplyDeleteNo matter what I try I cannot get Notify Me to work. Ugh!
DeleteI tried posting from my cell phone, but Notify Me still does not work.
DeleteWhich browser are you using? I have no problem with Chrome on my iPhone.
DeleteFirefox on my PC and Google, I think, on my Android phone.
DeleteIt's working fine on my Windows 10 PC running Firefox 125.0.2, too.
DeleteWhy me?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNot to mess around, but I've solved this puzzle before.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to narrow it down somewhat:
ReplyDeleteDEAN MARTIN-A's=MINT NERD
MARVIN GAYE-A's=GRIM ENVY
pjb'sPlayingHis"A"GameThisWeek
Singer has a hit song which is on point.
ReplyDeleteMy dad owned a car dealership for this maker, so a quick solve for me. Musician also shares a song title with Elton John, so really a no brainer.
ReplyDeleteToday is the birthday of another singer/musician who did a few things with the singer in question.
ReplyDeleteThere are at least two prominent musicians who did some things with the singer in question and whose birthdays are today.
DeleteI meant Willie.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8A9Y1Dq_cQ
The other was Duke Ellington.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYJkD3pkNE
In inimitable Willie fashion, the Red Headed Stranger also has a 2nd birthday on April 30th because the doctor who delivered him on the 29th officially registered his birthday on the following day as the 30th.
DeleteI tried to work this puzzle from car brand plus A's to get singer and came very close. So, I don't know because was near perfect, but not fully perfect.
ReplyDeleteDid you solve last week's puzzle? I am wondering because your post was deleted, which indicates you had solved it, but you did not post after the deadline with anything, including what your deleted post was.???
DeleteSDB, I had said, I got it...Gee! Too much of a clue Gee Whiz!
DeleteAnyone else annoyed at CBS for cutting short the Billy Joel concert?
ReplyDeleteI saw Christie Brinkley on YouTube. Lovely.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy father bought his cars with this brand from a race car champion who owned the business.
ReplyDeleteDr K I want to add my also being happy things are going well with your lives again.
ReplyDeleteThank you, sdb.
DeleteSwap the names to get the creator of a wreck of a different car.
ReplyDeleteFascinating what you can do with a totaled car, a paint gun, and 10 gallons of primer.
DeleteNo, he made it from fiberglass.
DeleteIt’s a ghostly work. When I saw it in person, I sent a photo to a friend who’s a car aficionado, and he, extraordinarily, was able to correctly identify the year, make, and model.
DeleteThe make of *that* car is fully contained in the name of another male singer of the past. (Even when you drop a couple of A's)
ReplyDeleteI attended an open-air concert of that singer at one time while on vacation. I didn't drive that make of car to get there, though. I don't think anyone would have. More on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteNice. My wife and I went to a Bruce Springsteen concert about a week ago. No clue here. No A's in his name and he's still rocking at 70 something. Pretty fun...
DeleteWell, now Notify Me has decided, without my doing anything more, to suddenly work again.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteNice : - )
DeleteCome on, that's a bit Three Mile Island.
DeleteBlaine's hint even has the correct capitalization! Impressive.
ReplyDeleteI was alluding to that fact in my Sunday post, but I tried to avoid providing TMI.
DeleteA spin-off puzzle (of sorts): Think of a male musical artist of the past with 2 A’s in his name. Leave the A’s in, rearrange, and get a term for some natural phenomena.
ReplyDeleteRAY CHARLES - AA = CHRYSLER
ReplyDelete"Twenty-five" >>> Chrysler was founded by Walter Chrysler on June 6, 1925.
Ray Charles >>> Chrysler
ReplyDeleteRAY CHARLES (- 2 A’s) —> CHRYSLER
ReplyDeleteHint: “A singer associated with the male singer had the same surname as another famous musician.”
—> Raelettes member Margie Hendrix
Yes, my first concert, in late 1966 or early 1967, was Ray Charles and the Raelettes at Philadelphia’s The Arena.
Ray Charles…Chrysler
ReplyDeleteIt was a shock when I realized how many Chrysler vehicles I’ve owned since 1968, when I bought my first car Two Dodge Darts, a Plymouth Valiant, a Plymouth Reliant, two Dodge Caravans, a Chrysler Concorde, and the one Blaine hinted at, a Chrysler LeBaron. Of them, I'd have to say, the LeBaron, a red convertible, was my favorite,
Our friend geofan (Ken Pratt) is our featured guest puzzle-maker on this week's Puzzleria!, which will be uploaded later today. Ken has created six puzzles: three titled "Work & Play," "Add an R," and "Two X’s," and three others that involve pairs of U.S. states.
ReplyDeleteWe upload Puzzleria! later today, before midnight.
Also on this week's Puzzleria! are:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Onward Dominican soldiers?”
* an Hoppy Hors d’Oeuvre titled "Sterling stout or crude brew?"
* a Limberer Limbs Slice titled "Extending more so from the torso?"
* a Zoological Dessert titled "Shift 2 letters, add 1 syllable," and
* a dozen riffs of Chad Graham's NPR puzzle composed by Nodd, Ecoarchitect, Plantsmith and yours truly.
That adds up to 22 puzzles!
So, come join us for some "geofantastic" puzzlecraft and riffs galore!
LegoWhoIsProudToPresentPuzzlesComposedByGeofanChadGrahamNoddEcoarchitectPlantsmithAndManyOtherMasterfulPuzzleMakers
RAY CHARLES (-A, -A) → CHRYSLER.
ReplyDeleteI wrote, “Remove two consecutive letters from the car’s name. Rearrange. You get a fruit.” CHRYSLER – SL rearranged = CHERRY.
ReplyDeleteI was happier with, “Take a block of letters out of the car’s name. You get another singer.” That would be CHRYSLER – RYSL = CHER, but I thought it might be TMI in looking at lists of cars. What do you think?
I think you're right, Rob. Probably would have been considered TMI for the reason you mention...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRAY CHARLES--CHRYSLER
ReplyDeleteMy clue was "Here's a mini clue: Lido". Minivans really took off with Chrysler and Lee Iacocca's (Chairman of the Board of Chrysler 1979-1992) actual first name was Lido.
ReplyDeleteWhat'd I say?!?! Ray Charles, Chrysler.
ReplyDeleteMy hint: "Take a food that connects February 11th with September 16th. Drop the last letter and rearrange to get something relevant to this week’s puzzle."
ReplyDeleteThe Super Bowl (this year) and Mexican Independence Day, clearly those are connected by GUACAMOLE! Which you can rearrange, minus the E, to spell GLAUCOMA, which *may* be what blinded Ray Charles.
I got an earworm of "I Can't Stop Loving You," Ray's pioneering foray from R & B into Country Western. while working this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI think Ray would have dug some of the cuts on Beyonce's album Cowboy Carter, esp. her rendition of "Jolene".
Ray Charles, Chrysler
ReplyDeleteEnglish word with two A's. Drop both A's and rearrange to name a make of auto. ASEXUAL => SEXUL => LEXUS
ReplyDeleteRay Charles, Chrysler.
ReplyDeleteI wrote Singer has a hit song which is on point, which is Hit the Road, Jack
RAY CHARLES, CHRYSLER
ReplyDelete> He made a commercial for a competitor.
[When we see it, we want it]
> Combine the singer's surname with the surname of another famous male singer of the past to get a reference in the Gilligan's Island theme.
He was born Ray Charles Robinson. The song mispronounces their plight as "like Robinson Caruso, as primitive as can be".
> "Of the past" covers a lot of ground. But, over 500 years?
Sorry to be flip, but Chris gonna find RAY CHARLES
> Swap the names to get the creator of a wreck of a different car.
Charles Ray sculpted a Pontiac Grand Am out of fiberglass.
Ray Charles, Chrysler
ReplyDeleteMy hint: Anyone else annoyed at CBS for cutting short the Billy Joel concert?
Billy Joel sang a duet with Ray Charles titled "Baby Grand" but it was about a piano, not a Chrysler Grand Caravan
RAY CHARLES, CHRYSLER
ReplyDeletepjbGotTheRightOneBaby,Uh-Huh!
Once, while on Johnny Carson, Ray Charles explained how he came to own all of his master recordings, and quoted his mother, who told him “If you don’t ask, the answer is always ‘no’.” Not only was he a genius, his mother was one, too.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhat was Dan Blocker's response when his doctor told him he had only about a month to live?
ReplyDelete"They shoot Hosses, don't they?"
DeleteGood guess, but nope.
DeleteMy clues: “It’s clearly not Sonny Bono.”- was riffing on “sunny” and “ray”. “Anyway, building on Blaine’s clue (and perhaps Dr K’s?), this singer has teamed up with another singer who shares the same surname as Blaine’s sports figure.” - this was referring to Etta James (though not related to LeBron) .
ReplyDeleteI was alluding to James —> Jimi Hendrix, same surname as Margie Hendrix, one of the Raelettes.
DeleteWell, it's official. You'll all get to listen to me solve the on-air puzzle this Sunday. I got the call at about 3:34PM on Thursday, and for at least three distinct reasons I almost missed it.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
DeleteCongrats and thank you for the anecdotal data!
DeleteOh nice, we all look (or listen) forward to it!
DeleteCongrats!
DeleteMazal Tov!
DeleteThanks all. It is, of course, completely random who gets called, and this week it did take me some scripting to get the answer, so I offer my congratulations to everyone who found the answer directly.
DeleteCongrats, Joshua Green! I might have missed the call for real—yesterday was crazy busy.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my "clue" was:
I attended an open-air concert of that singer at one time while on vacation. I didn't drive that make of car to get there, though. I don't think anyone would have.
That was an open-air concert Ray Charles gave in the Biarritz, France area in 1988. Of course it is hard to imagine anyone would have driven a Chrysler then and there. 😏
Yeah, I could easily have missed it as well. Things that could have ruined it:
Delete- I forgot to forward calls to my desk phone. I remembered and corrected that around 2:00PM.
- Right at 3:00PM I got pulled away from phone to a sudden meeting. Fortunately, it didn't go terribly long.
- Around 3:30PM I had reached my normal limit for waiting, and I was walking out of my office when I happened to hear the phone ring. This is why I wanted to share the time with everyone.
Joshua, did the call come from a NY area code, like 212 ? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think to write the number down, but I don't think it began with 212. I'll try to remember to check my phone log on Monday.
DeleteThat would also be good data to have for this crowd. Way back when (don't remember exactly) someone put the number for their Call here so I added it to my contacts. It would be a shame for my phone to screen out that call as junk. (I try to remember to turn that feature off on Thursday afternoons. ;)
DeleteThe call comes from NPR in Washington D.C. as I understand it. It would not come from New York. Area codes 202 and 771 are most likely. Especially 202.
Delete702 seems right.
Delete702 is Los Vegas.
DeleteSorry, mixed things up. I meant 771. I'm pretty sure what I saw began with 7.
DeleteYour phone would have the phone number stored. If not, you should be able to see your call records in your online account.
Delete@Wolfgang, I forwarded the call from my cell service to my work line. It's possible that my desk phone has stored the number, but I won't be able to check that until tomorrow.
DeleteAll, I checked my phone records. The call came in on Thursday at 3:28PM (gee, I must have been talking longer than I realized) from area code 734.
DeleteAdditional details:
During that first call I spoke with one of their representatives. She asked me a few questions, and then she asked if I had a cellular phone. Upon answering in the affirmative, I was informed that I was to download a specific app and call them from a quiet location with good Wi-Fi on Friday at 3:00PM for the actual recording. (Instructions were emailed to me.) I downloaded the app that night and convinced myself that it worked.
On Friday I went over to my local Chick-fil-A with paper and pen and made the call from the back of the kids' area, enjoying the quiet, the Wi-Fi, and an Oreo milkshake. I got to chat with Will and then Ayesha a bit before the more formal recording and a little after. I noted that Will sounded better than he had, and he mentioned that due to his marriage he now had two houses, which I considered quite convenient since (as he noted) his original house had far too many steps for his condition. (Sometimes things just work out.)
Then the main recording. It obviously started out well, then crocus (which I wasn't familiar with) came and knocked me off my rhythm. More questions came, some going better than others, but they mercifully edited out the actual final one in which Ayesha and I both struggled to find CARNATION. (No excuses for that one.)
Overall, I found the experience more fun than I had expected, and I'm happy to bow out of submission for now to let others have that opportunity, at least until I'm ready to win more puzzle books and games.
Thanks Joshua. So much vital and intriguing information. 734 is Ann Arbor Michigan, ostensibly. And the call came in around 3:30 p.m Fascinating. You focus like a laser, or should I say crocus?
DeleteCongratulations, Joshua!
ReplyDeleteHappy Star Wars Day to all!
Thanks!
DeleteCongrats, Joshua Green!
ReplyDeleteMay the 4th be with you to all.
Thanks!
DeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Jim Bricker, of Wayland, Mass. Think of three common six-letter words that have vowels in the second and fifth positions. The last five letters of the words are the same. Only the first letters differ. And none of the words rhyme with either of the others. What words are they?
ReplyDeleteI found two answers.
ReplyDeleteImprecise… vowels “only” in second and fifth positions? Or vowels can be there in other positions too… I hate such ambiguity
ReplyDelete