A typo was introduced when the city name was registered; if that hadn't occured, it wouldn't be composed of 13 unique letters.Q: The city of UTICA, NEW YORK, when spelled out, contains 12 letters, all of them different. Think of a well-known U.S. city, that when its name is spelled out (including the state), contains 13 letters, all of them different. Your answer doesn't have to match Will's.
Edit: While the name is derived from Fort Caspar and Lt. Caspar Collins, it is officially named "Casper" due to a typo occurring during the official registration.
A: CASPER, WYOMING
Following Paul's suggestion at the end of last week's thread to be systematic, I've got it.
ReplyDeleteGot it with some Google sleuthing, and confirmed with Blaine’s clue. Back to bed.
ReplyDeleteLike David, I learned something from Blaine’s hint.
ReplyDeleteHere’s one of my own: Rearrange the city’s name, and get an informal term for something you’d rather not get into.
Does it HAVE to be EXACTLY 13? Cause I've got an answer that's 14 unique letters!
ReplyDeleteI have a 12.
DeleteExactly 13.
DeleteB+
Delete13 letters, huh? I suppose that rules out Big Flats, New York since it has 15 letters.
ReplyDeleteI would argue the "well-known" criteria knocks this one out. I was not familiar with it, and I'll bet that a majority of Blainesville has not, either.
DeleteAppropriate for the season!
ReplyDeleteWill does like to choose timely challenges.
DeleteI have a "not so well-known" city...
ReplyDeleteWhy does the answer have to include the State? It is not mentioned in the formulation of the challenge. My answer is just the city.
DeleteSince Will's example provided both city and state names, his wording "Think of a well-known U. S. city" is, in context, ambiguous as he makes no mention of "state." Like Blaine, however, I had to assume he meant city and state, and others seem to have come up with the same answer. But if you have come up with a 13-letter city that solves the puzzle's criterion as stated (rather than just implied), I would send it in.
DeleteI’m reminded of a famous piece of mid-19th century advice.
ReplyDeleteLike ron, I have a not-so-well-known city. I'll keep searching. (My city has a much better known namesake in another state with roughly 20 times the population.)
ReplyDeleteAh. Okay, my not-well-known city was not ron's.
ReplyDeleteBut now I have the one everyone else has, and presumably the intended one.
Let's see, a clue so obscure it couldn't possibly give anyone useful info...
Well, there's a very relevant town in my state.
No ginmills here.
ReplyDeleteWell it clearly isn’t a city in Indiana, but you might find some people there who could sort this out.
ReplyDeleteAs for last week’s puzzle, my clues “….three or four in a row” included two crew references - “oar” and “row”. And ever there was a drink to be served with a certain something, it would be this - a “twist” (for a screwdriver, of course).
The town I am thinking of offers ghost tours this time of year.
ReplyDeleteSeattle offers them all year long.
DeleteLiterary clue: almost C. S. Lewis, but not quite.
ReplyDelete(Prince Caspian, that is!)
DeleteReminds me of my comment a while back: What do these people have in common?: Spiro Agnew, Fidel Castro, Curtis Lemay, Franz Joseph, Harvey Milk ... also dermatoglyphics and uncopyrightable
ReplyDeleteA very friendly puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNice. Good clue.
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DeleteWell played Nodd!
DeleteAn anagram of the city/state would be like examining certain members of the same species of flora.
ReplyDeleteI believe I have the same city as you!
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle is a good one and fairly easy to analyze. The name of the state is intended as part of the answer, so I isolated the states with no repeating letters. At first, I forgot the state that was the answer so I came up with a couple of lame answers that now I'm certain we're not intended. Then I checked again and added the missing state and the answer appeared as if from the ethereal. Does anyone remember Tim Kazurinsky's character from SNL, Havnagoodtimewishinyouwerehere?
ReplyDeleteI wonder why WS left out under and rearm in the online quiz to the winner this morning.
ReplyDeleteNice, I was among many who visited this city for an event in 2017, and never knew the factoid about the city name.
ReplyDeleteSame here! Maybe our paths crossed.
DeleteThe NPR puzzle had an interesting host today.
ReplyDelete"Interesting host" contains the word "ghost". That is like Casper the Friendly Ghost. Also, "interesting" ends in "ing", like Wyoming.
DeleteThe answer does not yield much of a cuteness payoff this week, so I thought I would offer some. I solved a cryptic crossword many years ago that involved using a 13-letter word comprising half the letters in the alphabet to code certain entries. The word was “lumberjacking.” When I told a friend how rare it must be to find such a word, he replied with a wry smile, “Oh, I don’t know; it reminds me of another.”
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it's necessary to mention what the other word is, but it was famously used by Samuel L. Jackson to describe snakes on a plane.
DeleteHuge respect to Mr. Shailesh Dubey playing today's puzzle, on air. He did a terrific job....and in what I believe must be his second language. Well done, sir.
ReplyDeleteOne thing's for sure: Trump didn't discuss the dimensions of this community's solid waste disposal site at his latest rally.
ReplyDeleteBilly Casper was one of Arnold Palmer's toughest rivals in the 1960s--I still remember how heartbroken I was when Palmer lost a seven stroke lead over Casper in the final round of the 1966 US Open.
DeleteBut Trump didn't mention Billy Casper in his remarks last week, even though his physique is much more like Trump's than Palmer's. Instead he decided to focus on Palmer's junk, which is the explanation for my obscure clue. (Once burned, twice shy.)
In addition to the clue I provided this morning, here’s another: “Remove a letter and you have something people enjoy eating.
ReplyDeleteActually, you don't have to remove a letter. Just rearrange the city name and you get something good to eat.
DeleteYou can also remove two letters and rearrange to get something to eat, but opinions differ about how good it is.
DeleteI found two in the same state. One of them is the intended answer, but I got the alt first.
ReplyDeleteHave you noticed that Donald Trump uses walls in order to keep people apart, and that Kamala Harris uses Walz in order to bring people together?
ReplyDeleteBuild that Walz!
DeleteA hint: Non-complementary beverage and food ordered at a restaurant, preceded by...
ReplyDeleteLego(NoNotPrecededBy"Lego!")
Found one answer, but it might not be as "well-known". Can't find anything else, though. Plus there's so few states that match the criteria, let alone with the city added.
ReplyDeletepjbWondersIfThisIsThe"Timely" AnswerThey'veDiscussedEarlier?
CASPER, WYOMING
Delete(I knew that's what it would have to be!)
pjbIsGoingOutToJim'n'Nick'sToEatThisEvening,BTW
Yes, timely, again!
ReplyDeleteI would say rearrange the city name, but that would be going too far.
ReplyDeleteShe used to be nice to me, but now she never calls.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why.
DeleteThe city is the first name , almost, of a former cabinet member.
ReplyDeleteI beg your pardon, but I think you are mistaken.
Delete... and relevant to their successor's successor.
DeleteTouché.
DeleteWow, good connection, Jan.
DeleteLess "almost" if its name had been registered correctly.
DeleteFinally found the right city. I have heard of it. It just didn't seem to be as well-known to me, and took me a long time to find it. No hint here.
ReplyDeleteWe've already been told the answer doesn't have to match Wills. We've been told the state name is included with the city. There are 50 states of which a finite number are spelled with no repeating letters. Those finite states are spelt (or spelled,) with 13 or less than thirteen letters. Take 13, subtract the state's number of letters, and you have the number of letters in the city's name. Hope that is not TMI, Blaine. Let me know.
ReplyDelete1995 in film.
ReplyDeleteOr 1997.
DeleteI have one answer, which I thought of spontaneously (without searching lists) and which I'm almost sure is the intended one (and which most of the hints others have offered agree with), but I also found another in a different state from that one, and two more in yet another state (no hints for those two).
ReplyDeleteA hint for my second one (the single one in another state): VII beats III. (I hope not TMI.)
DeleteBeverly Hillbillies.
ReplyDeleteTFG
ReplyDeleteTFGYK
Imaginary post election comment from the future:
ReplyDelete"While Donald Trump failed to win a second term at occupying the White House, it must be pointed out that he ultimately went on to found the Palmer Institute, which is frequently described as an institution where hands on procedures are the norm and the eyes always have it. So, in the end, perhaps he did indeed rise to the occasion. In future we intend to enter into a lengthy discussion on this achievement. Of course it will be in digital form. In the meantime we hope to revel in the strength of Donald's convictions."
You mean campaigning and polling for 2028 isn't yet underway? Egads!
DeleteHe was famous for riding on buses. Sadly, he died after being hit by a taxi :(
ReplyDeleteGot my digital "I voted" sticker today. 250 more postcards sent out this week. And I convinced my nephew to vote. Small things. Any small wins for you this week?
ReplyDeleteWW good on you doing postcards. I am doing a nonpartisan service by guarding the only ballot drop box in this rural south central Pennsylvania county. Did one 4 hour shift and am signed up for another. It's very basic - checking that voters have signed and dated their outer envelope and insuring that they are only dropping off their own ballot. Here in PA you can not drop off anyone else's ballot. It's all clearly stated in the instructions, but some folks were not aware of that stupid rule. I only had four incidents, and three were no problem once the law was explained, but one dude had his wife's ballot and he was not very accepting of the "rules." He argued with me until the armed guard (it was a secure county building) stepped forward to say - "It's the law." Then the dude looked at me and said, fu*%ing democrat. I don't know why he thought I was a D. Was it the crossword puzzle I was doing? Was it the fact that I was abiding by the "law."
ReplyDeleteTrump has awakened a segment of society that was better left sleeping.
TomR, good on you for guarding the ballot box.
DeleteRules/laws are for Democrats?!
I was going to guard our drop off box too, but it was too time consuming, so I just put a padlock on it so no one can put in fake ballots. Do I get a gold star?
DeleteLock him up!
DeleteI've sent about 15,000 texts to get prospective Dems to register to vote in the past 6 months, but I wouldn't call that any kind of win. My personal small win this week was passing my flight review, after 40 years off.
ReplyDeletejan, congrats! That's exciting!
DeleteThank you for warning us, jan.
DeleteWill you please fly us to Canada, if needed?
DeleteCanada isn't nearly far enough, not that they've any reason for having us.
DeleteIf you haven’t solved this puzzle yet, you may be in for a rude awakening on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteBlaine’s wording of the question says (including the state). On radio and on NPR’s web page there is not anything stating as such, except for the example of Utica, New York. All week I was solving for a city only answer ( I now have one), but am now confused as I see Blaine’s wording is different than NPR’s. Thoughts and thank you!
ReplyDeleteWill used the phrase "when spelled out" for Utica, New York and again for the second city so the assumption is he meant with the state. I don't know why what he would have used that phrase unless perhaps he was expecting something like St. Louis to be Saint Louis?
DeleteYes I added the wording about including the state name, but feel free to interpret it differently. Will says your answer doesn't have to match his so if you have a well known one that is 13 letters "when spelled out", submit it.
Blaine, thank you! I now have the city and state answer too and will enter it.
DeleteDonald then became a bit calmer
ReplyDeletewhen he spoke about Mr. Palmer.
— And he made such a fuss
—at the size of Arnie's penis,
You could hear the crowd start to murmur.
When the shooter's bullet caused a minor nick to Trump's anatomy, it was the first time I did not cringe at hearing someone say: "...ear regardless..."
ReplyDeleteIt was obvious to anyone within earshot that the injury was not serious.
DeleteI had to sleep on it but then I got it.
ReplyDeleteCasper mattresses
Delete"... 13 letters, all of them different" A new version of https://claude.ai was just announced ... its solution to the puzzle: PHOENIX, ARIZONA . Still safe so far ...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYeah, so close. 14 letters and 4 of them duplicates, so only 10 different letters. So much for rush to publish AI.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCASPER, WYOMING
ReplyDelete"No ginmills here." The town of Bar Nunn is just north of CASPER, WYOMING.
Vote! Vote! Vote!
BRIDGEHAMPTON (13 letters), (New York)
ReplyDelete2. If you include the State, there is CASPER, WYOMING (13 letters)
Ron, those were the two I entered as well. Bridgehampton was in the news recently as it was home to the last Kmart prior to its closing.
DeleteCasper, Wyoming
ReplyDeleteA mid-19th century catchphrase was, “Go West, Young Man.”
To me, Wyoming epitomizes the romance of The American West.
Casper, Wyoming and alt answers: Custer, Wyoming and Richmond Texas
ReplyDeleteCASPER, WYOMING
ReplyDelete> I would say rearrange the city name, but that would be going too far.
A PARSEC is very far.
>> The city is the first name , almost, of a former cabinet member.
> ... and relevant to their successor's successor.
The Secretary of Defense after Caspar Weinberger was Frank Carlucci. After him came Dick Cheney, who grew up in CASPER, WYOMING.
>> 1995 in film.
> Or 1997.
Starship Troopers was filmed in Hell's Half Acre, just outside CASPER, WYOMING.
Jan,
DeleteMy list of Secretaries of Defense shows William Howard Taft IV as a 60 day acting Secretary following Carlucci, so I figured you were referring to the first of the William Howard Taft line who was involved in the Teapot Dome scandal which involved
an oil field just north of Casper, as I understand it. A little too indirect, perhaps ?
I thought at first thought that SDB's comment "I beg your pardon,..." was aimed at me, then decided he was referring to Nixon's pardon of Weinberger from prison. I haven't figured out the rest of his comment "but I think you are mistaken" yet.
Without "but I think you are mistaken" it might have been TMI.
DeleteAh, so. Thanks for the clarification.
DeleteTo Ben’s comment about being ghosted, I responded “I wonder why” suggesting the state WY. I did not add that it was a sad state of affairs, which might have been TMI.
ReplyDeleteCASPER, WYOMING
ReplyDeleteHint: “Rearrange the city’s name, and get an informal term for something you’d rather not get into.”
Casper —> scrape
As others have noted, the fact that only a few states—9 in all—lack repeated letters made the puzzle easier.
I replied to Rudolfo's comment about an event in 2017. I assumed he was referring to the total solar eclipse that was beautifully visible from Casper, Wyoming. I too was there, and when I said "maybe our paths crossed" it was a reference to the path of totality. (As a side note, that was the 4th of the 5 total solar eclipses that I have been lucky enough to travel to. All were awe-inspiring, humbling experiences.)
ReplyDeleteNice pair of hints, Rudolfo and Scarlett.
ReplyDeleteCASPER, WYOMING
ReplyDeleteI hinted that She used to be nice to me, but now she never calls.
She used to be nice to me= "FRIENDLY"
but now she never calls.= "GHOSTING"
CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST was a show from my youth.
Thank you, Lorenzo, for your compassion!
I also found Richmond, Texas... but not well-known.
ReplyDeleteMy hint for Casper was:
"there's a very relevant town in my state."
Oddly, there is a Wyoming in Rhode Island.
Re: Blaine's typo comment, info from online: The settlement was originally named Platte Bridge Station, but when formally founded in 1888 it was named *Caspar* ... after Lieutenant Caspar Collins, who was killed by Native Americans in 1865 while trying to rescue a wagon train. But, the person who formally registered the town's name misspelled it "Casper", and nobody ever bothered to correct it! Meanwhile, the names "Caspar" and "Gaspard" are related, both coming from the Persian name "Jasper", which means "keeper of treasure".
ReplyDeleteOur good friend Bobby Jacobs takes center stage this week on PUzzleria! with his always-entertaining "Puzzle Fun by Bobby Jacobs." Bobby's latest mysterious masterpiece is a "Numismatically Monetary Appetizer" twofer titled:
ReplyDelete* "Money Made of Many Miscellaneous Metals," and
* “The Sounds of Science”
Also on our menu this week:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled SCH: A Wintry Wiceconsin (sic) “Where?”
* an Anagrammatic Adjectival Hors d’Oeuvre titled "The good the bad & the middling,"
* a Scrunchy Slice: titled “Big Mac, please... hold the plate, hold the paper!”
* a Domestic Dessert titled "Appliance from the past,"
* a whole mess of riffs of this week's "Casper" the friendly ghost "Wyoming" NPR puzzle.
We shall upload Puzzleria! later this evening.
Thank you.
Lego...
Casper, Wyoming
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “An anagram of the city/state would be like examining certain members of the same species of flora.” Casper Wyoming anagrams to “comparing yews.” My second clue was: “Remove a letter and you have something people enjoy eating.” Take the “S” out of Casper and you have caper. Actually, you don’t even have to remove a letter, just rearrange the city name. Capers are wonderful with bagels, cream cheese and lox.
Casper, Wyoming. I just narrowed down the states with no repeating letters (there are nine) and went from there. I made a reference to an incidental SNL character, Havnagoodtiim, who said "Who was Casper the Ghost before he died?" It was the only funny thing about the segment. Also, Casper the Ghost and Casper, Wyoming are both -er instead of -ar.
ReplyDeleteCasper, Wyoming
ReplyDeleteCASPER, WYOMING
ReplyDeleteCASPER, WYOMING"
ReplyDelete("A well known U.S. city whose name, when spelled out, has 13 letters, all of them different."--->
Casper, Wyoming
My first clue - ‘ Well it clearly isn’t a city in Indiana, but you might find some people there who could sort this out.’ - if you re-sort the Pacers, you get Casper.
ReplyDeleteMy second clue - ‘if you haven’t solved it yet, you may be in for a rude awakening”….as in Casper Ruud, a top men’s tennis player.
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ReplyDeleteI said in my post about the other ones that I found (besides Casper, Wyoming) that a hint for the second one I came up with is that VII beats III.
ReplyDeleteThat second one I that found (not well known, as skydiveboy noted) is Richmond, Texas.
VII beats III is a reference to the Earl of Richmond, having defeated Richard III, and then becoming Henry VII.
By the way, the third and fourth ones that I found are Fabius, New York and Ischua, New York. These are towns, which in New York State are the next subdivision below a county, and hence hardly count as municipalities, although the Town of Fabius includes a Village of Fabius (which is a tiny municipality) and the Town of Ischua includes a hamlet called Ischua. (And in case anyone was wondering, as I was, Ischua is pronounced ISH-way.)
I had come up with Beulah, Wyoming.
ReplyDeleteCasper, Wyoming. Ghost tour seems apt.
ReplyDeleteI'm commenting one last time to note that the two towns at the ends of U.S. Route 1 were tempting possibilities: Key West, Florida and Fort Kent, Maine. I hopefully considered both before finally getting to Wyoming.
ReplyDeleteI greatly appreciate the Blainesville site for the Thursday answer and also the early comments warning when a puzzle is problematic. I have commented when I thought I could add to the discussion. For a while now, the site has felt like an unwelcoming inner circle forum and now it has deceptive pop-up advertising. I still appreciate the Thursday answers, but I'll just read them with Firefox incognito mode.
Dan,
DeleteFor awhile I felt that the Blainesvillains er, I guess I mean mean Blainesvilleans were a bit clannish, but I've since decides, no, they are a lot clannish. But so what? That doesn't bother me. I'm just pleased to have a small toehold in with a group that does, often, such high level wordsmithing (my personal interest).
Dan Axtell, I'm hoping you'll see most Blainesvilleans are not the mean, mean type. I use Firefox too and it cuts out a lot of nonsense.
DeleteDan, btw, the two towns at the ends of U.S. Route 1 Key West, Florida and Fort Kent, Maine is a great observation!
DeleteQuester,
DeleteWe're not at all clannish. In fact I am sure we would all love to sit down together with you and enjoy some great craft beers along with good conversation. Of course we would expect you to pick up the check though. LOL
Sounds good. As long as you agree to teach me the secret clan handshake.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I cannot do that. The bastards haven't even taught it to me yet.
DeleteSince we have a Fearless Leader, I prefer to think of us as a Cult and not a Clan, until our benevolent overlord Lord Blaine proclaims us otherwise.
DeleteCute new puzzle this week (10/27). Relevant to my own life.
ReplyDeleteI has not been posted yet.
DeleteI just read it online shortly after 7am each week (Central time for me)
DeleteThis week's challenge: Name a place somewhere on the globe -- in two words. Rearrange the letters of the first word to name some animals. The second word in the place name is something those animals sometimes do. What is it?
ReplyDeleteThe link Weekend Edition Sunday still shows
ReplyDelete"Sunday, October 20, 2024". Could you please post the link YOU'RE using?
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/27/nx-s1-5163447/sunday-puzzle-name-the-category
DeleteThank you, but could you now post for us whatever link you used to find THAT link?
DeleteEvery Sunday, if the main NPR site hasn't yet updated, I simply google "NPR Sunday puzzle." This week, this site popped up at 7:02am:
Deletehttps://www.npr.org/2024/10/27/nx-s1-5163447/sunday-puzzle-name-the-category
Crito, I assume you are not asking me, but if you are, I use Google. I google "npr sunday puzzle" every Sunday morning if the puzzle is not updated right away at 7am. Some link will usually be listed in the returns from Google saying it was posted "16 minutes ago" or whatever, indicating it's the new puzzle.
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ReplyDeleteThe list I sent Will of alternates:
ReplyDeleteBig Flats, New York
Bucksport, Maine
Lynchburg, Texas
Climax, New York
Richmond, Texas
More than 1100 correct entries this week, BTW.
ReplyDelete