Change the fifth letter of the character's name to an 'O' and rearrange to get something Russian.Q: Name a certain breakfast cereal character. Remove the third, fifth, and sixth letters and read the result backward. You'll get a word that describes this breakfast cereal character. What is it?
A: TOUCAN SAM --> MASCOT
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First cereal i thought of. Made me think of my dad.
ReplyDeleteNonsolvers will be rare.
ReplyDelete"Rare" because I didn't think I could get away with "precious and few" (you know, like the moments we toucans share).
DeleteRhymes with something to wear.
ReplyDeleteSolved it right away, although I never eat cereal, nor ever heard of this one or the character.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Nevertheless SDB as Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) used to figuratively say, sounds like you ate your "breakfast of champions:" today.
DeleteSUNNY JIM was used to promote Force cereal over 100 years ago. But they're out of business, so I guess he was a MINUS.
ReplyDeleteAnd there was a PAC(-)MAN brand cereal, but you would need a MAP to find it.
DeleteRearrange the first three and last three letters of the cereal. You get something mathematicians value.
ReplyDeleteBlaine has a neighbor with a close connection.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, Mikey only has five letters. Anyone know what his last name is?
ReplyDeleteApparently, Mikey is his last name!
DeleteI also learned today that Cap'n Crunch's full name is Horatio Magellan Crunch, that Count Chocula's first name is Alfred, and that the Kellogg's Corn Flakes rooster is Cornelius.
DeleteI've heard the Quaker Oats man is Larry. Not officially or in any marketing but widely known by that name, started by people who work there.
DeleteCame up with it right away...
ReplyDeleteOdd link to the on-air puzzle.
ReplyDeleteAre you referring to where it says to submit your answer by Oct 3rdth?
DeleteOver 1600 correct entries last week.
ReplyDeleteI would expect more than 2,000 this week.
DeleteThe word that describes the character came up quite conspicuously in my Google search. I still figured it out on my own—although I don't think I've ever had that cereal for breakfast. ;)
ReplyDeleteGot it. Now to find a non-TMI clue...
ReplyDeleteRearrange the letters of the describing word to get a reason to send an email.
DeleteMai tai
ReplyDeleteSo what are you aiming at? ;)
DeleteYou'll see 😉.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteProof how easy this puzzle is? Just use your tools.
ReplyDeleteYou and your QUIPS! :)
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteRearrange the letters of the second person to provide this character’s voice, and get something all of us in the wake of Helene here in The Southland could use.
There is a hint in the on-air puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWill Shortz used the word "ascot" on air. Mascot rhymes with ascot.
DeleteStay safe in the hurricane aftermath. This hurricane has a death toll around 30, is it?The only thing we're getting where I live is overcast skies and drizzly rain, on-again, off again. This is one of the rare puzzles that I solved before the segment was over. For some reason this character has been on my mind. Here's the clue:
ReplyDeleteMichael Gubitosi.
Thanks, Musinglink. In SC, the last death-toll figure I read was 24. Six were in our home county, and three were in our hometown. There's work to do but, relatively speaking, we got off pretty easy,
DeleteWow! Dreadful. I didn't know that you lived in the South. This on top of that lightning strike a few weeks ago, I'd say you were paying your dues! Another clue, (a feeble attempt at humor): Is regiteyot anything like sufganiyot?
DeleteWest coast of Florida here. A few drownings in my county. 😔 Don't know the circumstances of each victim, but when they say "get out!", I get out.
DeleteChess. Boxing. Fencing.
ReplyDeleteI thought the wording of the question was kind of odd. Why not just say... ah, I see.
ReplyDeleteinsane acrobat ?
ReplyDeleteLike many others, I’m sure, I kept coming back to the same wrong answer again and again until I stumbled upon the right one..
ReplyDeletePAC-MAN --> MAP ?
DeleteI have more than a couple of these in my pantry right now.
ReplyDeleteI want to take this moment to apologize to the Greater Community of Blainesville. While Mayor Blaine did not remove my comment, I was advised against any further spreading of malicious rumors against cereal characters without basis in fact.
ReplyDeleteWOLFGANG has me QUAKING about my QUIPS, and I should be behaving more responsibly. I want to repeat that there are NO RELIABLE REPORTS about FRANKENBERRY in conjunction with P DIDDY or PUFF DADDY or ANY DIDDY DADDYs whatsoever, nor anyone wearing SEAN JOHN or anything like that. They are all innocent until proven guilty, along with MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, although the cereal SUCKS.
This cereal has always made my mouth feel weird after eating, and turns the milk a very unpleasant color. No, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI am certainly not curious to try it.
DeleteMy cereal character repertoire was limited to three, and only Crackle had enough letters. So I had to do a little research.
ReplyDeleteFirst one I thought of. Got it right away.
ReplyDeletepjbSaysLetOne'sProboscisBeTheGuideHere
cranberry: clever
DeleteThank you, Natasha.
DeletepjbWondersIfThereIsA"Boris"InHerLifeAsWell
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteVery obscure (I hope!) hint: Spencer Brown.
ReplyDeleteI finally got it and so can you.
ReplyDeleteI was certain this clue would have been deleted. Blaine, thanks for letting me get away with it!
DeleteI was driving into the sun on the way to church, with much of my attention on the road and other driver and most of the rest on the coffee that I was drinking and still got it. However, I had my wife double check because I didn't want to focus that completely on removing or reversing visualized letters.
ReplyDeleteTOUCAN SAM —> MASCOT
ReplyDeleteHint: “Rearrange the letters of the second person to provide this character’s voice, and get something all of us in the wake of Helene here in The Southland could use.”
Paul Frees —> spare fuel
Paul Frees was a master impressionist, who, along with Mel Blanc, was known as “The Man of a Thousand Voices.”
It was coincidental (or a case of synchronicity) that cranberry referred to Boris (and Natasha) as it was Frees who provided the voice of Boris Badenov in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
Merely a play on Natasha's name. Didn't even think of Paul Frees.
DeleteTOUCAN SAM(Froot Loops)is a MASCOT.
pjbKnowsJuneForay/RockyWouldOftenSay"ThatVoice...WhereHaveIHeardThatVoice?"AfterPaulFrees/BorisFirstSaidSomething
TOUCAN SAM, MASCOT
ReplyDelete> Blaine has a neighbor with a close connection.
The Maya Archaeology Initiative, based in Walnut Creek, CA, has a toucan on its logo that Kellogg's objected to. They formed a charitable partnership.
Toucan Sam>>Mascot
ReplyDeleteI considered posting, “Musical clue – Tango,” because according to the old song, It Takes Two to Tango while one person can’t dance the tango, two can (Sorry!). But I thought it might be TMI so I took advantage of the fact my Dad’s name was Sam.
TOUCAN SAM (-U, -A, -N) → Breakfast Cereal MASCOT for Froot Loops.
ReplyDeleteTOUCAN SAM, MASCOT manufactured by Kellogg's
ReplyDelete"MAI TAI" >>> The Maya Archaeology Initiative (MAI) is a project of the World Free Press Institute (WFPI). WFPI submitted a trademark application for the MAI logo, a profile of a toucan with a Mayan temple in the background, both encircled by yellowish green light.
Kellogg's objected because the two logos were too similar. This caused a disagreement, which ended with an announcement that Kellogg's and MAI were forming a charitable partnership.
"Mai tai" also anagrams to "I aim at." That prompted my comment, So what are you aiming at?
DeleteAh, I see what you were aiming at.
DeleteIt is our good friend Jeff Zarkin's (aka SuperZee) "turn at bat" on this Thursday's Puzzleria!... and, as usual, he has slammed another homerun! Indeed, it is not a "four-bagger" but rather a "four-times-five-bagger"... that is, it is a score of "Gritty Homony(m) Riffs" in which the solver must "fill in the blanks" rather than merely "round the bases."
ReplyDeleteWe will upload our entire line-up of puzzles soon, indeed this very afternoon.
Also on this week's menu:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “There’s still life in this palette!”
* a Matrimony & Acrimony Hors d’Oeuvre titled “Holy wedlocked, wholly headlocked,”
* a Cacophonous Quatrain Slice titled “Deafening Forestry Fireworks,”
* a “Look, Up In The Sky!” Dessert titled From “Superman” to “uperman?” and
* a dozen riffs of this week's NPR puzzle-challenge titled “You too can be a toucan mascot!”... including a half-dozen created by Nodd, author of Puzzleria!s “Nodd Ready for prime time.”
So, suit-up, don your spikes, shove a wad of chewin' tobacco 'tween your cheek and gums... and step up to the plate!... Jeff Zarkin has clouted for us a puzzle-making Grand-Slam! See if you can at least hit a "seeing-eye single!"
LegoWho(UnlikeJeffZarkin)IsUnlikelyToMakeAnyContact(OfBatWithBall)LuckyIfHeDoesAndLackingAny"ReasonableBaseballChops"Whatsoever(AlthoughAsALadHeAspiredToBeAmajorLeaguer!)
Fruit loops and toucan Sam and mascot
ReplyDeleteDid I miss something?
ReplyDeleteHey, loop, how are ya? Feeling loopy or maybe frooty? 😉
DeleteJust lurking from time to time. Redoing kitchen, working, and pet things. Plus, hawk migration and fall colors. So maybe a little of both.
DeleteToucan Sam, mascot
ReplyDeleteI never cared much for Froot Loops, but since Sunday I've had a craving for Cap'n Crunch, something I haven't tasted for over 50 years.
ReplyDeleteMy comment was "I have more than a couple of these in my pantry right now." I was having fun with the pronunciation of toucan. I have more than 2 cans in my pantry.
ReplyDeleteFruit Loops, Toucan Sam, mascot
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Like many others, I’m sure, I kept coming back to the same wrong answer again and again until I stumbled upon the right one.” Coming back again and again = looping --> Fruit Loops --> Toucan Sam --> mascot.
I wrote, “Rearrange the first three and last three letters of the cereal. You get something mathematicians value.” That’s PROOFS.
ReplyDeleteTOUCAN SAM, MASCOT
ReplyDeleteI had said, "Rearrange the letters of the describing word to get a reason to send an email." TO SCAM. Hopefully, we are all merely recipients of emails intended to scam, and not senders!
Yes, of course it is Toucan Sam — Mascot.
ReplyDeleteMy clue was:
Proof how easy this puzzle is? Just use your tools.
"Proof" and "tools" together anagram to "Froot Loops"—the cereal for which Toucan Sam is the mascot.
I also posted:
The word that describes the character came up quite conspicuously in my Google search.
That would have been the word "mascot." 😉
ChatGPT almost solved it. Was off by one extra letter.
ReplyDeleteTOUCAN SAM"--"MASCOT"
ReplyDelete(Name a breakfast cereal character.: "Toucan Sam" from 'Fruit Loops'. Remove 3rd, 5th & 6th letters. Read.backwards to identify Sam as a "Mascot.
TOUCAN SAM, MASCOT
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that disappointed me with this puzzle -- I think any of my childhood breakfast-cereal-eating friends would call it a CEREAL MASCOT and not a CEREAL CHARACTER.
So when the question is to work on a "Cereal Character's" name, perhaps many puzzle-types would immediately ask "Where's the MASCOT"?
https://www.brainandlife.org/articles/crossword-editor-will-shortz-says
ReplyDeleteCrossword Editor Will Shortz Shares How He's Recovering from Stroke
Thanks for posting this. Good article and good advice.
DeleteRudolfo,
DeleteThank you for posting that link!
LegoWhoIsTryingLikeHeckToPutRudolfo's"PuzzlesRudolfo"BackOnPuzzleria!ButAlasIsNotComputerSavvyEnoughToUploadHisLatestGemOfAPuzzleOntoMyBlog(ButIHaveNotGivenUp!)
Great article. Thanks!
DeleteOrienteering is the sport of navigation, using a highly detailed map. This is popular in the Western hemisphere by those who are interested in the undeveloped outdoors. So now I am wondering if those in Asian countries with similar interests have a sport called Occidenteering?
ReplyDeleteA symphony orchestra is made up of a large diverse group of people who come together in order to present a thing of beauty to a receptive audience. And while it is composed of people of many traits and abilities, it must also be pointed out that one must be at the highest level, and this would certainly be the conductor. Therefor one must also be the bassist.
ReplyDeleteThe answer of course is Toucan Sam, mascot. So this is to clarify my Michael Gubitosi clue on Sunday. Gubitosi is, or was, actor Robert Blake. He was best known for Baretta, 1974-1978 or roughly. Anyway, Baretta had a tritan cockatoo named Fred. This was great for tv since cockatoos have that lemon wedge tuft of feathers on their heads. So, I just figured birds of a feather...Keep your eye on the sparrow!
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: This week's challenge comes from listener Joe Krozel, of Creve Coeur, MO. Think of a place in America. Two words, 10 letters altogether. The first five letters read the same forward and backward. The last five letters spell something found in the body. What place is this?
ReplyDeleteToo easy, I lived there for 23 years!
DeleteCorrection 24 years.
DeleteAlso a place in Australia.
ReplyDeleteOver 2000 correct entries last week
ReplyDeleteI listened to the puzzle in my kitchen. I stood up to look at the USA map on the wall for inspiration. My eyes fell on a place, and from that, the answer came to me immediately. Now to work on a clue to post.
ReplyDelete