Sunday, July 07, 2024

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 7, 2024): Camping Trip

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jul 7, 2024): Camping Trip
Q: Think of something in two words (7,5) that you might take camping. The phrase has seven consonants, which are all different and appear in alphabetical order through the phrase. What camping item is this?
You can rearrange the letters to name something archeologists might study.

Edit: CAVEMAN TOOLS
A: CoLeMaN SToVe

143 comments:

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Darn. And here I thought I was being subtle. 🙄

      Delete
    2. I don't think it's TMI. It helped me confirm my answer but didn't lead me there.

      Delete
    3. I'm with WW, TMI. (Although I did already have that answer :) )

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    5. I thought Nodd's clue might evaporate by now but, indeed, your mileage may vary. No worries.

      Delete
    6. It did survive rather a long time, for something that was ultimately deemed TMI.

      Delete
  2. The first four letters name a singer, some of whose songs are most apt.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Replies
    1. Yep. Poor choice for a puzzle.

      Delete
    2. Oh, well, who are we to judge.

      Delete
    3. Right, I wasn't sure till I checked here that I had the intended answer, for exactly that reason.

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The vowels in each word, on the other hand...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Familiar to all campers, including me.

    Rearrange the two words, and get a two-word phrase for prehistoric devices.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blaine, I've got to start by reading your clue first. I always assume it's beyond my skill set, so I jump headlong into the puzzle. In the future, I'll have to look before I leap. Sorry about that.

      Delete
    2. Lancek, would that be déjà clue? ;-)

      Delete
    3. Truly true! (They don't call her Word Woman for nothing.)

      Delete
  7. I have what I believe is the intended answer. As it happens, I will be camping this next week, and will be using this item.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rearrange the first word to get something you might find while beachcombing.

      Delete
    2. Back from camping, and nice wordplay, Nodd! Yes, I was thinking ONE CLAM.

      Delete
  8. Using the 5 vowels, change 2 of them, rearrange and you get something related to last week's puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Rearrange the odd letters of the answer. You get something you might hope to find while camping.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Works nicely for (6,5), though.

      Delete
    2. Oh, rats. OK, rearrange letters 1,2,3,4, 6, and 8 to get something you might hope to find while camping. Sorry.

      Delete
  10. I have 8 of these and used one yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No offense but if you have 8 of them, you are a hoarder.

      Delete
    2. I cannot explain why I have 8 of these until the deadline.

      Delete
  11. I like to relax with a nice white wine while camping. I always carry a Riesling in my REI sling, and sip it in a beanbag chair from my Bean bag.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You can rearrange the letters of the answer to name areas or sections one might explore at the Louvre in Paris, Madrid's Museo Nacional del Prado, or London's National Gallery.

    LegoOilyAndAcrylicDilettante

    ReplyDelete
  13. I like "glamping" - fire up the generator, get the ice maker working, crank up the music, crack a beer. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey TomR - I was thinking similarly, which goes along with the first word in the answer to a multi-word puzzle answer this year.

      Delete
  14. I'm pretty sure I have the second word, but having a heckuva time figuring out the first.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I got it! Will be interesting to learn on Thursday why SDB has eight of these.

      If you rearrange the following letters, you'll get something to eat: 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 12

      Delete
  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zendaya's name is Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman. Her last name is Coleman, and Stoermer sounds like "stove".

      Delete
  16. Here is a sneak peek of the first NPR puzzle challenge on this coming Thursday's Puzzleria!
    Think of the name of a puzzle-maker in two words (3,4) that might enjoy camping. The name has five consonants, which are almost all different and appear in alphabetical order through the name. The two vowels in the name also appear in alphabetical order. Who is this puzzle-maker?
    Sure, it's easy, but the first riff on P! always is. And the answer is always the same. ("Will Shortz" has often been the answer to the first NPR riff. So have Steve Baggish and other names familiar to Blainesvillians.)

    LegoRiffilicious

    Lego

    ReplyDelete
  17. First puzzle I've gotten since my go around with anesthesia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Memory from my surgical rotation many moons ago: the constant beeping of the anesthesiologist's cardiogram monitor, always-present background sound during every operation. Which makes it so eerie when it goes silent during open-heart cases.

      Delete
  18. PS and as a bonus it does anagram to Blaine's clue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you're back and feeling better! I finally figured out Blaine's clue. Funny at first glance I thought the second part was something else an archeologist may study, but it would be gross. 😂

      Delete
    2. Clark: So glad to see you on here.

      Delete
    3. I love Scarlett's misinterpretation.

      Delete
    4. Scarlett, your misinterpretation is fair to middling.

      Delete
    5. WW, is there a clue buried in your comment? Or is that just an observation?

      Delete
    6. Maybe it was a pun on "midden"?

      Delete
    7. Scarlett and jan, indeed, 'tis a pun on midden. It was fun to study middens at U of AZ.

      Delete
    8. Another fun term: coprolite

      Delete
    9. This blog is such a fount of information! I'm always learning something. I really dig it here. 😉 After re-reading my question, I realize I unintentionally contributed to the subject.

      Delete
    10. Scarlett, there are two large data bases about packrat middens if your curiosity abounds:

      USGS >>>

      https://www.usgs.gov/centers/geosciences-and-environmental-change-science-center/science/usgs-north-american-packrat


      and

      U of AZ

      https://tumamoc.arizona.edu/research/collections/paleo-packrat-middens

      Enjoy!

      Delete
  19. My answer dooes anagram to Blaine's clue but with an extra letter. The answer I have makes me think of Woody Allen in Crisis in Six Scenes.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I don't camp, so I don't own one of these items. I do enjoy the outdoors, especially for photography. When we do travel, we tend to stay in cheap motels. Unfortunately for my wife, I seem to have a personality that elicits strange interactions and conversations with motel managers, including ones where they ask me into the manager apartment to solve their technology issues

    ReplyDelete
  21. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
  22. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi, folks.

    During a severe electrical storm just now, our house was struck by lightning. There was a resounding crack when it hit. Lights went out and everything shut down momentarily, but the second floor remained dark after everything else returned to normal. Fortunately, the fuses had done what they were supposed to, and resetting them did the trick.

    Nevertheless, we are shaken.

    I probably don’t need to say this, but there really is no hint here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr. K, glad the fuses did their job and you are ok, if shaken. Take care.

      Delete
    2. Wow! A little too close for comfort. They say lightning never strikes twice. Hopefully that's a true statement!

      Delete
    3. Glad all is now okay, and thank Allah for circuit breakers.

      Lightning frequently strikes twice, and many more times than twice.

      Delete
    4. Amazing! Thank you for sharing that. I'm so scared of lightning, if that happened to me, I 'd be ready for the rubber room! Actually, when I worked at the Western Auto hdqtrs in Kansas City, MO, we would always get lightning strikes because the Western Auto sign on top of the building was a landmark that could be seen for miles. It was high up and naturally attracted lightning. I was in the computer room. That meant that everything shut down! I hope you're safe.

      Delete
    5. Thanks, everyone. It will be interesting to see how well we sleep tonight.

      Delete
    6. Lightning never strikes twice in the same place, because after it strikes, it isn't the same place anymore.

      Delete
    7. Similarly:
      "A man cannot step into the same river twice, because it is not the same river, and he is not the same man." -Heraclitus

      Delete
    8. Speaking of irony, as Jan did below, and rivers, as Paul did above, this morning we awakened to no water in the house. The lightning strike yesterday evidently destroyed the well pump. We are currently--!--attending to the problem, and the pump should be replaced by this afternoon. Never a dull moment.

      Delete
  24. Now that you mention it, jan, it certainly is!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Dewey would appreciate the puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sheldon "Dewy" Coleman Jr. was the last of his family to be CEO of Coleman Corp before it was sold off.

      Delete
  26. Remove three letters and the result will sound like an item that is related to the answer.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I think it would have been better to say it was a 4,5 item for camping, same criteria.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I kept trying to make the 4,5 option work but I don't see a way.

      Looking in my home town I found the inspiration for the 7,5 answer. Even so I am less satisfied with that answer.

      Delete
    2. I think I understand the (4, 5) option Splainit has in mind, but Will would be more likely to say you might take it backpacking.

      Delete
    3. When I backpack, I camp. Ergo sum...

      Delete
    4. The puzzle works just as well for backpacking as it does for tent camping.

      Delete
    5. All true...but I still think Will would have changed the wording for my (4, 5) option. (Mine might be different from Splainit's.)

      Delete
  28. I was able to figure out what the second word was likely to be, but, having never been a camper, was stumped trying to come up with the first word. My husband, who grew up camping with his family, immediately got the first word, so this one was a team effort.

    ReplyDelete

  29. Rearrange the first word of the answer, and get something French.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Merci Dr. K! That confirmed I had the right answer.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I logicked my way into the right answer, but I had never heard of this item! Granted, I've only been camping twice. Quick clue: Santa.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Don't forget to bring this item!

    ReplyDelete
  33. I can hardly wait until the deadline so I can disclose why I have so many of these. I have been laughing about it all day today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not a hoarder; more of a prepper. The Boy Scouts. . . er. . . Scouts have it right.

      Delete
    2. I feel towards the Boy Scouts somewhat similarly to how I feel about the Catholic Church, Mormon religion, and the Republican Party. Sorry if I left out Scientology; my error.

      Delete
  34. ATTENTION ALL PIRATES

    Buckle your swash!

    ReplyDelete
  35. COLEMAN STOVE (7 consonants in alphabetical order: C,L,M,N,S,T,V.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The vowels, on the other hand, appear in reverse alphabetical order -- as they do in "other hand" and "on the."

      Delete
  36. COLEMAN STOVE

    Hint: “Rearrange the two words, and get a two-word phrase for prehistoric devices.”
    —> caveman tools (pace Blaine)

    Hint: “Bean.”
    “Bean” was a nickname of jazz saxophonist COLEMAN Hawkins.

    Hint: “Rearrange the first word of the answer, and get something French.”
    Coleman —> Lancôme

    This week I set a personal record for administered comments--2.

    ReplyDelete
  37. COLEMAN STOVE

    > Poor choice for a puzzle.

    Brand names are inappropriate here, especially if not identified as such.

    > I always carry a Riesling in my REI sling, and sip it in a beanbag chair from my Bean bag.

    Pointing to the inappropriate brand name use. I'm a little surprised this wasn't blogadministered.

    > Ironic!

    COLEMAN is a surname denoting a burner of charcoal. COLEMAN STOVEs, and similar camping stoves, burn propane, butane, petroleum spirits, kerosene, alcohol, and other fuels, but not charcoal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually the real Coleman stoves, lanterns and home lamps burned gasoline. White gas is cleaner and burns best. Propane Coleman products are cheaply made in China crap and will not hold up or keep working properly.

      Delete
    2. I agree that it should have been identified as a brand name.

      In suggesting a 4,5 puzzle, I was thinking "camp stove."

      Delete
    3. I agreed with Tommy Boy's comment, which I believed pointed at the proprietary nature of the answer. Then I questioned our fitness to "judge" -- as in Mike Judge, the voice of Hank Hill, propane purveyor extraordinaire.

      Delete
    4. Chatgpt's answer: Camp Stove and then Coleman stove

      Delete
    5. If Will had been using "camp stove" as the challenge, though, he would have avoided "camping" in the instructions as TMI. That's why I thought he might use "backpacking" for the (4, 5) version.

      Delete
    6. I pasted the puzzle for Chat and then after the first answer I said to think of a brand name. Chat immediated got the answer!

      Delete
  38. COLEMAN STOVE

    My Hint:
    “Follow the yellow brick road.”
    The original white gas Coleman stoves were all made in Wichita, Kansas. The propane stoves and lanterns, along with Toto, are no longer in Kansas now, but in China. They are junk too, and fall apart if you even look at them wrong.

    I also posted:

    “I have 8 of these and used one yesterday.”

    For the last 6 or 7 years now I have been acquiring and restoring old Coleman stoves and lanterns and then selling them on Craigslist. Now I only have 7 stoves because Tuesday I sold a 25 year old brand new, never lighted, 3 burner Coleman stove I got at a yard sale 3 weeks ago for $20 to a guy from an hour’s drive north of Seattle for $225.

    A couple of years ago a woman posted an ad on Craigslist for 3 Coleman lanterns for $15 total. One was a typical 2 mantle green lantern, model 220J, and the other two were single mantle red lanterns, model 200A. I thought the green lantern would be worth the small dollar amount, but could also sell the 2 red, single mantle lanterns for something. Boy was I in for a surprise. After I bought them I did a little research and found that the red model 200A lanterns are prized by collectors. I had a major restoration job in fixing one that was filled with black sludge, but got it all working and sold it for $50. The green lantern went for $80, and the other red lantern I sold for $250. I picked up another single mantle lantern with a green fount and a red lid free, along with another lantern and 2 small 2 burner stoves all free from a retired freighter captain. I discovered the green/red lanterns were only made in 1951 and are prized by collectors. I now have it listed on Craigslist for $500. I hope that explains why I have so many. Oh, and I use them myself too, like I did earlier this week. And this reminds me that I still have the 96 year old Coleman lantern my family used when I was a teenager. It was given to my mother by a friend of hers that belonged to her father but was now never used. This woman knew our family enjoyed tent camping. It still works as well as it did 96 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Our good friend Chuck, a champion-class conundrum creator, is our featured Puzzle-maker on this week's Puzzleria! He is presenting to us a “Double-Conundrumbling” Appetizer titled “A star is born, Bud on a bar?” His doubly-dynamic-puzzle-duo is titled “A star is born, a star is cloned?” and “Beck Bock Busch Bud on a Bar?”
    We will upload this week's Puzzleria! early this afternoon, soon after Noon, Pacific Daylight Time.
    Also on our menus this week are:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Let’s NOT Do Chuck!”
    (Editors's note: “Let’s NOT Do Chuck!” does NOT AT ALL refer to master-puzzle-maker Chuck and his great Conundrumbstruck by Chuck Appetizers this week (which you should definitely try to do!). No, it refers only to the Schpuzzle of the Week, which features “The Name Game,” a novelty hit song recorded by Shirley Ellis in 1964.
    * an “ANTonym + IntERIOR = ANTERIOR Cruciate Ligament Hors d’Oeuvre?” titled “An Anatomical Antonymy”
    * a “Smokey Brrr!” Slice titled “Remember, only you can prevent freezing fingers!”
    * a Town & Country Dessert titled “CapCity BackwardBriefly NickName,” and...
    * ten Riffing Off Shortz And Pitt Slices titled “A Coleman Stove in Monet’s Alcove?”
    Why not stop by for a visit? After the July Fourth Holiday Frenzy, you need to lay back with some soothing-yet-sooth-requiring Puzzleria! puzzles!

    LegoWhoReiterates"Don'tDoChuck"ForTheSchpuzzleButDefinitelyDoTryToDoChuck'sAppetizers!

    ReplyDelete
  40. COLEMAN STOVE

    "The Chronicles of Narnia" refers to C. S. Lewis >>> Camping Stove Lewis ;-).

    "I thought Nodd's clue might evaporate by now but, indeed, your mileage may vary. No worries." >>> Pointing at priming the pump of a COLEMAN STOVE to get the fuel vaporized.

    "Scarlett, your misinterpretation is fair to middling." >>> This evokes a midden as in CAVEMEN STOOL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually the pump is not primed. It pumps air into the fount that contains the white gas. The small wire lever is turned up in order to light the burners. This prevents liquid fuel from entering the generator by blocking the fuel tube at the bottom of the tank. This only allows fuel vapor to enter and prime the generator. After about a minute of burning the lever is now turned down to allow liquid to enter the tube and now turned into vapor in the generator. Now, aren't you sorry you asked? LOL

      Delete
    2. I believe the backpacking Coleman stoves require priming.

      Delete
    3. All of them require priming. The pump pressurizes the tank. The priming is achieved by heating the generator.

      Delete
  41. CoLeMaN SToVe
    Nasty King COLE’s hit song, Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer is especially apt to camping reference.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Coleman stove

    Last Sunday I said, “Merry.” This was intended to evoke the nursery rhyme and thus, the stove’s brand:

    Old King Cole was a merry old soul.
    And a merry old soul was he,
    He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl
    And he called for his fiddlers three.
    Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
    And a very fine fiddle had he,
    Oh there's none so rare, as can compare
    With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Coleman Stove. I clued "don't forget this item" as a shout out to Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable"

    ReplyDelete
  44. In my glamping comment, I ended with Different Strokes for different folks. Wasn't Gary Coleman the Different Strokes kid?

    ReplyDelete
  45. I knew the second word was stove, because a clue somebody left involved anagramming the second word to become "votes." The name Coleman seemed to fit the consonant requirements, so that's what I entered. My hint was Woody Allen in Crisis in Six Scenes which I watched again. I love the scene early in the first episode where he can't start the grill, when he says, "Every mental defective can do this, but I can't." I don't think he could have handled a Coleman stove. Neither could I. I can't handle anything that requires propane tanks, backup batteries or electric cords.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Maybe now the talking heads will shut up re: Biden bowing out.

    ReplyDelete
  47. The AFL-CIO is saying all-factory workers were just trying to give Trump a cochlea implant to improve his hearing.

    ReplyDelete
  48. News is a bit better now we have learned the shooter was a 20 year old man:

    "Pennsylvania voter records listed a Thomas Matthew Crooks with the same address and birth date as a registered Republican, though it was not clear from the records when that was put in place."

    Now it looks like it cannot realistically be blamed on Democrats and he White House.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Realistically!
      Good, that does always work with the FOX News crowd.

      Delete
    2. That is why I used this word.

      Delete
  49. The National Rifle Association was established 150+ years ago to address exactly this sort of crappy marksmanship.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, but if Trump had to be replaced it would be with someone younger, and that would not help Biden. This could be a huge disaster. It reminds me of all the attempts to kill Hitler that failed. Somehow he is being protected I suspect. In some way I suspect he is here to shake things up on the planet and get us headed in a good direction. I know it sounds ridiculous, but so do many other things we do not understand.

      Delete
  50. This week's challenge: This weekend I'm at the 184th convention of the National Puzzlers' League, in Dallas. It's a four-day event of word puzzles and games shared with about 160 fellow enthusiasts. One of these is Sandy Weisz, of Chicago, who sent me this puzzle: Think of a famous actor and a famous actress who co-starred in a classic movie of the past. The actress's first name, when reversed, and the actor’s last name, spelled forward, are similar romantic gifts. Who are these film stars?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not sure that I should be commenting. --Margaret G.

      Delete
  51. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  52. One of my all time favorite movie couples. I've been where one of their most famous scenes was shot many times.

    ReplyDelete
  53. The intern screwed up the answer to the Coleman Stove puzzle by posting last week's answer. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  54. Over 1600 correct entries last week.

    ReplyDelete

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.