Sunday, October 27, 2024

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 27, 2024): Where in the World?

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 27, 2024): Where in the World?
Q: 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?
I've heard of REED PARK, but I'm not letting any DEER have the keys to my car, red jacket or not.

Edit: I was originally focused on BAY as a sound that canines might make. I was almost ready to dismiss the idea when I saw a (now deleted) comment about Sherlock Holmes which immediately made me think of The Hound of the Baskervilles and thus the answer.
A: HUDSON BAY --> HOUNDS, BAY

136 comments:

  1. Has your cat ever brought up a hairball? Then you've heard your Kitty Hawk.

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    1. I have an answer that might work if we're somewhat generous.

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    3. Oh jeez.
      I had a completely different, rather more obscure connection in mind, but obviously you (Lancek and Blaine, both) are right. Sorry!

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    4. He who never sins may also fail to do any good.

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  4. I'm afraid if I say the name of the cartoon, it will be too easy for people, but this reminds me instantly of this cartoon.

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  5. Shore's Gallop seems like a lovely place, but alas, it doesn't exist.

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  6. I just got it. I actually had the first word quite early but for some reason didn't think of the second. And I should have for reasons that would be TMI.

    Nice Puzzle.

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    1. I like to avoid blanket statements, but you make a good point.

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  7. I really don't think narrowing down the continent would have made this too easy. Sheesh! The globe is a big place, while this particular place feels closer to home.

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    1. Also, the second word is a synonym of a word I would more than likely choose when describing what the animals sometimes do.

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  8. So we don't anagram both words, only the first?

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    1. That's how I'm reading it, even tho' I don't have the answer yet

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  9. I got it now. I'm just glad there's no place (as far as I know) called Oscar Strand

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  10. See if you can think of an obsolete transportation device.

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  11. When I hear the word for the thing that the animals do, I usually associate it with a different species within the same genus.

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  12. I can think of so many musical and literary hints, all of them TMI.

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  13. There's a post somewhere above that took me right there, though I did already have the second word.

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  14. If you change "some animals" in the puzzle statement to the singular, there's another answer that uses the same second word.

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    1. Considering we started with the whole globe, the two places are rather close.

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    2. Yep. As I noted below, I found that one before rethinking and getting the correct answer.

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  16. I found a historically important geographic location, in two words, which anagram into the name of an animal and an organization associated with it.

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  17. I discovered the answer with some duckduckgo searching.

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  18. There is a city of LOVES PARK too, but you don't want VOLES driving your car either.

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  19. Similar places have been used in other puzzles.

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    1. There was a puzzle about Mobile Bay on September 9, 2018, and a puzzle about Chesapeake Bay on December 25, 2022.

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  20. Discovered while looking for something else.

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  21. Question: Does the first word remain one word when it's rearranged?

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    1. Yes, but the instructions are not clear on that point. I've been trying to think of alternate solutions in which the first word splits into multiple animal names. No luck so far.

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    2. Thanks! I may give it a rest for a day. Sometimes the answers pop in to my head as I'm waking up in the morning.

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  22. The second word is musically associated with a kind of melon.

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  23. ONAGER COUNTY doesn't work at all ...

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  24. There's a nature preserve that qualifies without any anagramming.

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  25. I live in the small Jasper community known as EAGLES CIRCLE, but you don't even need to scramble the letters.
    pjbHasNoIdeaWhatTheAnswerCouldBe,ButHeDoesHaveTheAboveMentionedFactoid

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  26. Okay, I finally got it about 10 minutes ago. It is a bit difficult to clue this without TMI. In elementary school we all saw a film made in this region. I have actually seen it several times since, in its existing form, and I can honestly say that the subject of the story was a real bad ass. It holds up.

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  27. I think my dad had one before I was born.

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  28. My answer meets all requirements but this is a strangely-worded puzzle.

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  29. The picture Blaine presented us with reminds me of a detective series. --Margaret G.

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  30. Musical Clue: I Wanna Dance with Somebody

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  31. Is a half moon another way of saying half assed?

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  32. I didn't clearly hear the plural this morning and came up with something that works for a certain critter in the singular. Fortunately, I realized my error and got a viable answer that isn't necessarily singular.

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  33. Interesting twist to this puzzle.

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  34. I'm expecting a low response rate this week. 150 for the over under?

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    1. Really? Since I got it so quickly (<15 minutes), I am expecting a pretty high number!

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    2. Took me all of 10 minutes, and I was sleepy on Sunday morning.

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  35. 48 comments by Monday afternoon makes me think it will be low. But I could be wrong. Seems tricky on a few levels. But it might appear plain to some.

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    1. I didn't get the answer until Tuesday evening. I didn't exactly spend 60 hours thinking about it, either. Just popped into my head. I'm sure I considered and passed over the place on Sunday. Not sure why I didn't see it the first time. I can see why it was a quick solve for some.

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  36. I just solved it. Now, think of an animal associated with this place, change one vowel to another vowel, and rearrange the result to get a different animal.

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    1. (Don't answer until Thursday as it will give away TMI!)

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  37. I'm surprised that this one seems difficult, although it did take me until Sunday afternoon. My only clue is that it led me to do two brief biographies on two fairly interesting persons associated with the area.

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  38. I think I finally found the intended answer. I can explain more on Thursday, but I had the thing the animals sometimes do first, but it took me a long time to find a location that used letters that anagram into what was needed.

    In the meantime, I found two alternate answers that meet the criteria of the puzzle. One led me to discovering an animal I have not encountered in person. The other is a bit of a stretch, but does meet the criteria. I'm going to submit all three, and we will see if Will reads either alternate.

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    1. I am reasonably sure Will does not see the submissions unless a minion passes it on to him. Last week I submitted Custer, Wyoming as an alternate answer and it was not mentioned. I would send it in though.

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    2. What kind of car does Donald Trump drive?

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    3. Well, first I think it should be pointed out that there are no photos to my knowledge of him driving behind the wheel of a licensed vehicle. Second is that even if the above us false whatever vehicle DJT takes up space in would have to qualify as a Clown Car. Third, this is an insult to honest clowns everywhere.

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    4. A very thoughtful response. My answer was: An old Rambler.

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    5. I thought that was a self admission by Steve Martin.

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    6. Not into pop music. I thought the Almond Brothers were nuts.

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    7. LOL. That really cracked me up.

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    8. Keep pecan, there's more to follow.

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    9. I read once that the Almond Brothers hid their money in their sneakers. They called them cashews.

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    10. But come on, it was just peanuts.

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    11. Almond on the edge of my seat with these nutty jokes.

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    12. "They're braziliant!", said Phil & Bert.

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    13. That's because we're in macadamia.

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  39. Replies
    1. please cover your mouth and turn your head when you snooze.

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  40. Definitely a challenging puzzle. I found the wording of it to be a little vague, like a gray area that needed clarification. Anyway, I thought of something that a certain animal does (not the intended one) that I was going to clue, because it would relate to a certain famous person formerly associated with the first word of the answer, but when I put it into Google, it took me right to that person and thus TMI…..oh well.

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    1. I will agree with you that it was worded rather strangely. By referring the planet Earth as a "globe" I immediately thought this rather weird and thought it might refer to something one might find printed onto a globe, like the one in my living room. And, no, I did not bother to go look at my globe, but instead returned back to bed.

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    2. "Our globe seen by God is a transparent law, not a mass of facts."
      Ralph Waldo Emerson

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  41. Does anyone else here have rain forecast for Halloween night besides me? West Alabama's supposed to get it tomorrow.
    pjbPlansOnNotAccommodatingTrick-Or-TreatersHere(NotWeather-Related,WeJustHaven'tBoughtAnyCandy)

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  42. I always go swimming in Khar's Bight!

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  43. HUDSON BAY; HOUNDS & BAY

    I discovered the answer with some duckduckgo searching. Two hints here: (1) Henry Hudson, the European "discoverer" of the Hudson River and HUDSON BAY. (2) I used duckduckgo to find things on eBAY.

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  44. On this week's Puzzleria!, our good friend Plantsmith has created a "spooktastic" puzzle. It is in his "Garden of Puzzley Delights" feature. It may scare the Daylights outta you... but Delightfully so! Plantsmith has composed a frightfully fantastic poser (titled Hal: “Oh! Wendy!”) about two children (munching their sweet Halloween haul in an attic) who are interrupted by an eerie sound!
    Plantsmith's other trio of posers in the package are titled:
    ~ “Heavenly Evenrude!”
    ~ “Economy of letters,” and
    ~ “Hens in a tent?”
    We shall upload this week's Puzzleria! very soon, this afternoon.
    Also on our menus this week:
    * a timely Schpuzzle of the Week titled "Four such newsy surnames!
    * a Suffragator Cave = (Voter Beware") Hors d’Oeuvre titled " ‘Tis nearly time to vote,"
    * an Instrumental Slice of puzzle titled "Lyricists Lewis and D____,"
    * a “Not-This-Sentence” Dessert titled "Shifting an 'artifactual' synonym," and
    * eleven Riffing Off Shortz Slices titled "Hounds bay, does Hudson bay?"... including one riff submitted by a fan of Puzzleria! who is also a fan of ghosts, goblins, and werewolves, and a half-dozen riffs submitted by Nodd, riff-master extraordinaire.
    Visit us this week on Puzzleria!... You'll be "Puzzley-Delighted!"

    LegoWhoSuggestsTheOnly"ComingOut"MoreScaryThanHalloweenGoblinsTonightIsAReallyScaryOutcomeNextTuesdayNight

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    1. On Tuesday will voters be treated, or tricked?

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  45. Last Sunday I said this is a strangely-worded puzzle. I stand by that statement. Notwithstanding, the correct answer is Hudson Bay --> hounds bay.

    But there’s an interesting side bar. Wikipedia lists a small, natural bay in Newfoundland called God Bay. This gives rise to a possible alternative answer: God Bay --> dog bay. Rather strained but a curious coincidence.

    Happy Halloween, everyone!

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    1. I did come across Dog Bay early in my searching. However, since the puzzle indicated "some animals" in the plural, I figured the singular dog would not qualify.

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  46. HUDSON BAY → HOUNDS BAY at the moon now and then...

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  47. Hudson Bay I wrote: “Shore’s Gallop seems like a lovely place, but alas, it doesn’t exist.”
    Crito’s ultimately deleted comment of “It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to work out the answer to this one.” can refer to The Hound of the Baskervilles, although apparently the intended connection was more obscure (bloodhounds?). My comment referred to the horse from “The Adventure of Silver Blaze.” Another anagram of “hounds” is “unshod,” which reminded me of the horse tale.

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  48. Hudson Bay/hounds bay

    Henry Hudson, while searching for a Northwest Passage, discovered the bay which bears his name.

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  49. HUDSON BAY —> HOUNDS + BAY

    Strangely, “hounds” came first to me almost immediately, then “Hudson” right after. But then I stalled, focusing on “Hudson River.” A short while later “Hudson Bay” popped into my head. The TMI I referred to was that for six years I lived in Canada.

    The obvious literary hint was Doyle (or something related), clearly TMI. But popular musical hints associated with “hound” abounded, too: Mamie Smith, Robert Johnson, “Big Mama” Thornton, Rufus Thomas, Elvis, Clapton, and others, although all were almost certainly TMI. And that’s not counting the classic songs with “Bay” in the title and lyrics (e.g. “Moonlight Bay” and Otis Redding's [“Sittin’ on] The Dock of the Bay”), which were also—and obviously—TMI.

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  50. HUDSON BAY (HOUNDS sometimes BAY)

    > I like to avoid blanket statements, but you make a good point.

    HUDSON's BAY point blankets, made by the HUDSON's BAY Company in colonial Canada, were traded to First Nations people in exchange for beaver pelts. Short black lines, called points, were woven into the edges of the blankets to indicate the size of the blanket (easily visible in folded blankets stacked on a store shelf).

    > If you change "some animals" in the puzzle statement to the singular, there's another answer that uses the same second word

    An animal can bay. "Animal" anagrams to "Manila". Manila Bay is also a place.

    > I found a historically important geographic location, in two words, which anagram into the name of an animal and an organization associated with it.

    Scapa Flow, in Scotland, was the UK's main naval base during the First and Second World Wars. "Flow" anagrams to "wolf", and "Scapa" to "ASPCA", which has advocated for wolves (which also bay).

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    1. I shopped at The Bay, aka Hudson's Bay, and probably purchased a blanket there.

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  51. I wrote, "There's a nature preserve that qualifies without any anagramming." That's Roaches Run, a name that made me and my siblings giggle sixty or so years ago.

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  52. I said "Think of an animal associated with this place, change one vowel to another vowel, and rearrange the result to get a different animal." My answer: Beluga~~Beagle

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    1. I thought bear --> boar, but no rearranging is required.

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    2. Nice one, Dr. K. I'd love to go on a polar bear/beluga whale adventure.

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    3. My thought was moose --> mouse, but also no rearrangement.

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  53. Another non-answer as the animal is singular and doesn't require rearranging is Seal Beach.

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  54. Hudson (hounds) Bay.
    When I commented in Crito's thread, I was thinking of the Fox Chase neighborhood in Philadelphia, but that has more wrong with it than the rearrangement being a non-rearrangement.
    I thought Crito was thinking of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and I'll bet that's what Blaine and Lancek thought, too. After Crito clarified, I did a little research. "Never sins" is an anagram of Inverness, as in Sherlock's Hound's-tooth Inverness Cape.

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  55. My comment about being reminded of a certain cartoon was the Simpsons. Evil boss Mr. Burns often tells his assistant to "release the hounds" on an unwelcome visitor and has a button that he can press labeled "The Hounds" to let the dogs out.

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    1. The cartoon I thought of was Huckleberry Hound.

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  56. My hint: The second word is musically associated with a kind of melon, as in, "Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow ....")

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  57. Hey folks, haven't posted in a while, although I do check in from time to time. Anyway, I got the call! Tune in Sunday morning to listen to me try not to make a complete fool of myself.

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    1. Congratulations! Good to hear from you again!

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    2. Wow, that's great, jsulbyrne! Congrats!
      We shall be listening. You will do Blainesville proud!

      LegoWhoKnowsThatjsulbyrneIsNoFool(NotEvenAn"Incomplete"One)

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    3. That's cool! Best of luck!

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    4. Congratulations! I guess I can stop waiting for the call now...

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    5. I just saw this. Congratulations!

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    6. Congrats, jsulbyrne! How did it go?

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    7. Recording went well. Lots of fun. Today happens to be my 50th birthday, so playing helped offset some of the existential dread.

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    8. I'm looking forward to hearing it on Sunday.

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    9. Happy Birthday and many happy returns!

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    10. Happy birthday! How about a sneak preview of next week's puzzle?

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    11. Happy Birthday! I loved my 50th BD anniversary. My dad would have turned 117 today had he lived.

      As to revealing the upcoming puzzle: Please don't.

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    12. congratulations! and happy birthday!

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    13. Congrats and happy birthday to you! Fifty is nifty!

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  58. I knew the one I sent in wasn't the answer. But I did like MANILA (animal) BAY

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  59. I submitted:

    HUDSON BAY, HOUNDS BAY

    Alternate #1a

    SUGAR LAND (a city in Texas)
    The argus is a type of pheasant. While they generally prefer to remain on the ground and run when threatened, they can and will fly in some situations. When they fly, they then need to LAND. Therefore, they sometimes land, and become a valid answer to this puzzle.

    Alternate #1b
    SUGAR LAND
    Gaurs ((rhymes with powers) are a type of bovine found in India. They are quite large and strong, and are the animal shown in the Red Bull logo. They will, sometimes leap into the air while fighting for a mate. When this happens, they then LAND.

    Alternate #2
    CEDAR POINT (multiple locations, including in Ohio, Staten Island, NY, and elsewhere)

    A CADRE of puzzle solvers will sometimes POINT at the map and exclaim, “I can’t believe Will wants us to search the entire world for this location! Couldn’t he at least narrow it down to a continent?”

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  60. I got distracted again today.

    I sent in: HUDSON BAY >>> HOUNDS BAY.

    Before I solved it I thought it might end with SHORE or SHORES, but gave up on that rabbit hole. After I solved it I thought of TAR PITS >>> RAT SPIT, but it doesn't follow the wording.

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  61. "See if you can think of an obsolete transportation device'
    I tried to put two clues in one sentence.
    The phrase"you can" is kinda, sorta, suggestive of "Yukon"
    The obsolete device is the Hudson motor car.

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    1. You reminded me that I did post a hint:

      "I think my dad had one before I was born." A Hudson. If I had said he drove one, it would have been TMI.

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  62. In my hint I made reference to Sherlock Holmes. I was thinking of Mrs. Hudson, his landlady, but of course Blaine thought of the Hound of the Baskervilles and removed it! (Correctly!) Doh.

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    1. So many connections to Sherlock Holmes! It's elementary.

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  63. HUDSON BAY, HOUNDS BAY

    My musical clue was I Wanna Dance With Somebody, because in the bio pic of Whitney Houston, Whitney's mom was played by ANGELA BASSETT.

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  64. Hudson Bay, hounds Bay. My "half assed" comment was a reference to the Halve Maen, the Half Moon, which was Henry Hudson's ship that sailed up the Hudson River. At some point he discovered Hudson Bay and was later mutinied by a crew who was sick of him and sent adrift with son and a few others. After that he was never heard from. Another interesting person associated with Hudson Bay is the famous Nanook. Nanook of the North. Even though he was played by Inuit actor Allakariallak, the movie realistically depicts the struggle for existence that was the Inuit life. Anyone who can carve an igloo in about an hour, complete with ice windows is a bad ass as far as I'm concerned. Like Henry Hudson, Allakariallak met an unknown fate. It was commonly thought that he died of starvation, but later speculation suggested tuberculosis as a probable cause of his death.

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  65. Fun puzzle - I initially was going down the path of MEWS and looking for first words that worked, but to no avail, until i got to BAY and HUDSON BAY. My clues: “wording was vague like a gray area” was referring to greyhounds. And then I was going to provide “ROAR” as a clue of something certain animals may do (though not the intended one) - this would have been clueing for Katy Perry’s song, as Katy Perry was born Katheryn Hudson and then changed her name so as to be confused with the actress Kate Hudson. Incidentally, any baseball fans watch the World Series and see Yankees hometown boy Anthony Volpe hit his grand slam on Monday night……off of Dodgers pitcher Daniel HUDSON? Quite the coincidence.

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  66. I understand the difference between a bay and a howl. However, bay is not the first word that comes to my mind when I think of hounds. I am more likely to use howl, even if it's incorrect. Haha!

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  67. R.I.P. 399

    I guess you suffered a grizzly death.

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  68. This week's challenge comes from listener Mark Maxwell-Smith. Name a place where experiments are done (two words). Drop the last letter of each word. The remaining letters, reading from left to right, will name someone famously associated with experiments. Who is it?

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  69. Not much of a challenge. Finding a non TMI clue will be harder.

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  70. About 300 correct entries this week.

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  71. Great work on air, jsulbyrne!

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  72. Thankfully the election is to end Tuesday evening, not that it will in fact though, as it will drag on and on in one form or another, and we all know this unless we are paying no attention at all, but I see no way this would even be possible.

    Anyway I would like for us to examine whether or not the media have been "fair and balanced" in their coverage. A balance scale will be both fair and balanced when actually used when a like amount is placed on either side. But what about when a greater amount and a lesser amount are being weighed. The scale will indicate being fair, but is it also balanced? No, it is not. Now, back to the media. What in the world do they mean by being "fair and balanced?" To me it means they must make allowances to make the scale read the same on either side. Is that not skewing the truth? Balanced to my way of thinking indicates a belief that both sides of the scale must read out equally. But how are almost any issues going to actually balance out using that definition?

    Why are all controversies being reported as to having equal arguments? Is it fair to argue that transgender children and their families are treated fairly by society when they obviously are not? How about the way the poor are treated by society compared by the rich? Not to mention how some groups are treated in a court of law compared to another. I think our media are more than overdo for a radical reconsideration of how reporting should be done.

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