Sunday, November 17, 2024

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 17, 2024): An American Author's Body of Work

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 17, 2024): An American Author's Body of Work
Q: Think of a classic American author, whose first and last name's are each one syllable. The last name, when said aloud, sounds like part of the body. Insert the letters "A-S" into the first name and you have the location of this body part. Who is the author?
I had to nix my previous hints.

Edit: Nix --> 86 --> Agent 86 --> "Get Smart" rhymes with the answer.
A: BRET HARTE --> BREAST, HEART

167 comments:

  1. I wrestled for a few minutes with this one.

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    1. You guys have spelling problems, but I guess it's all in the family.

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    2. The only Spelling problem I have is Tori playing anything.

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    3. Oh please. She got her jobs entirely through talent. The fact that she's the daughter of the producer had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

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  3. As I said on the previous week's puzzle, I was unfamiliar with this author until it was an answer on a previous puzzle. And it reminds me of yet another previous puzzle.

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    1. Same here. I had to consult a list. The name was vaguely familiar, but I would not have guessed the author without a prompt.

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  4. The author was born in America, but died in England.

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    1. Yes. That's the answer I have...

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    2. Was the undertaker present at the funeral?

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  5. Delete the first letter of the last name and rearrange the remaining letters of the first and last names to spell something worn on a different part of the body.

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    1. I just happen to have bought a whole bunch of 'cute' such items to wear from etsy. So I chuckled when I anagramed the required letters and saw what the item was.

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  6. What is meant by A-S? A and S? All letters from A to S? Or any letters from A to S? such lack of clarity!

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    1. The letters A and S together. So if the first name was "Grey", you could make it into "Gre-asy"

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  7. Greetings from the left coast, where we are meeting our first grandchild.

    If I hadn't solved this immediately, I would have been mortified.

    No hint yet, but soon...

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    1. Dr. K, congrats on your new grandchild!

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    2. Thank you, Word Woman, but I need some advice. Do you know of some way I can explain to my wife that she can't take him back home with us?

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    3. Dr. K, I do not, unfortunately.
      'Tis a situation I've not been in as yet. Enjoy every minute together now!

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    4. Mazal Tov to Dr. K. and family.

      Re: Taking your wife wanting to tske your grandson home….remind your wife that the best part of grand parenting vs patenting is that 2AM feedings are someone else’s responsibility.

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    5. Thank you, SuperZee. Sage advice!

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  8. This author has been used a couple of times, actually -- but the puzzles were quite different.

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  9. Nice work, CAP, on the new puzzle!

    Your chosen appellation works as a clue for some of us, but not for others. And for you -- once, but no longer.

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  10. Cap, well done! I would suggest a particular item of clothing for you, but I think Blaine would remove the comment as TMI.

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  11. Cute puzzle, CAP. I predict a lot of correct entries. Also, kudos to Blaine for that graphic graphic!

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  12. Nice puzzle, Clark! Take all the letters, including the extra AS, rearrange, and you get two verbs denoting what harsh critics might do with this author's work (or with those of any other author they don't like).

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    1. (That's "all the letters" of the author's first name and last name, of course.)

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  13. Rearrange the first, third, fourth, and sixth letters of the author’s name and you get something the body part does.

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    1. Without rearranging those letters ... oh, never mind.

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  14. This one syllable first and last name author wrote a parody short story based on the work of another author with a one syllable first and last name.

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  15. They've been awfully easy lately. What am I going to do all day? This author has definitely been used before.

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  16. Think of a locale associated with the writer. Rearrange the letters to get 2 items associated with meals.

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  17. Take the author's first name and the first two letters of the last name and rearrange to get something that happens (in part) in the same location.

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    1. LOL! I thought of this clue on my morning run. It's better than the one I offered.

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  18. You need it.

    For some reason, although Will stated this week's Sunday Puzzle Challenge, the author's name does not appear on NPR's website. Congrats anyway!

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  19. I meant "Will stated the author of," the website doesn't show it.

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  20. Add a piece of furniture to the author's last name and anagram to get a cartoonist's last name.

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  21. I also only know this name because it was used once before in the puzzle.

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  22. Finally got it. I do realize this author has been used before. However, I predict a lower number of correct answers (under 500), because even though I have seen the name previously, I did not think of it until prompted by something else. Outside of this blog, and others that regularly play the puzzle, I don't think many folks will solve it.

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  23. And I’m reminded of a certain playing card.

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

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  25. I'm reminded of a TV series that premiered the same year I was married. Not much of a clue, I know, but it's a fact I just discovered.

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    1. Scarlett - The author’s name reminds me of two TV shows, but as one premiered in 1957, I’ll assume you’re referring to the other one.

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    2. That's the year I was born, but I watched reruns when I was old enough. Over and out.

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  26. Nice work, Cap! I, for one, did not solve it quickly but the puzzle offers several lines of attack, which I appreciated...

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  27. I browsed the book section of an ARC thrift store at a nearby location to find the rarer works of this author.

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  28. The author's name rhymes with a TV show.

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    1. Or something you might be concerned about.

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    2. I think the maximum number of correct answers this week will be 99.

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    3. Bret Harte rhymes with Get Smart. This was a puzzle on July 23, 2023.

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  29. As often happens, I went through a long list of possible answer without finding the right one, but when I decided to think about the puzzle again later, it just came to me.

    I've been in the house the author rented for about nine years, in the town I was planning to visit today.

    Congratulations again, Clark a pseudonym!

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  30. I had to read the author’s short stories in HS. Took me exactly 7 seconds to solve.

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  31. But thanks to Nodd for the hairy clue

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  32. I should mention that I’m new to this blog. I was an English teachers for 30+ years, so literature is right up my alley. But I’m TERRIBLE with the math puzzles.😀☹️

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    1. There are a couple of others like you on the blog, Dr. Awkward (active) and myself (retired). Welcome!

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    2. Thank you. I’ve been reading the blog’s comments for years, but never had the nerve to participate.
      And last week’s answer came to me quickly because I live on Cape Cod and fix pan-seared fish all the time.
      But I’m not bragging. You guys are much smarter than I, so it usually takes me a while to get the answer. And your clues are helpful.

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    3. Welcome, Diz! Where are you on the Cape? My family has a place in Brewster.

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    4. Yes, I 2nd, 3rd, 4th and Nth all the welcomes to you are garnering from all our fellow and "feminellow" Blainesvillians, Diz. (What is the origin of that screen name, if you don't mind telling? I came up with my screen name, "LegoLambda," after a quick scan of the Greek Alphabet, then creating a weird "menu item.")

      LegoWhoInvitesDizAndAllOtherBlainesvilliansToDropByAndVistitPuzzleriaAnyOldTimeTheSpiritMightMoveThemToDoSo

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    5. Welcome aboard, Diz! Is it short for "dizzy"? Not that I'm implying anything by that. I hate to think you were a blonde, and took that very personally. Rest assured I do not think hair color has anything to do with brain power whatsoever. But "Dizzy" would be an interesting nickname, especially where Mr. Dean is concerned. I'm sure Lego would know about any baseball-themed nicknames. He knows a lot about baseball, and if you check out Puzzleria! from time to time, you would know that.
      pjbOnlyReallyKnowsThreeStrikesMeansYou'reOut!

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    6. I majored in the Humanities, emphasizing English, Biblical Hebrew, history, and theology on my way to the ministry. Mom started teaching me to read when I was four, so I needed a vocation that embraced a chief avocation.

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    7. Xrysostom:
      Your above post compels me to suggest you run, don't walk, and find a copy of the French movie (in 2 filmed parts) of the great French movie auteur, Marcel Pagnol's childhood memoir. The first one is, My Father's Glory and the second is, My Mother's Castle. These 2 gems follow his written memoir word for word. He also began reading at an early age.

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    8. Wow! I will find these. I admire greatly Pagnol's movie trilogy _Fanny_.

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    9. As do I. In 1912 Daniel Auteuil began making the trilogy over again, and he completed the first 2, but could never get financial backing for César, the third and final one. What a shame!

      He did do The Well Digger's Daughter though, in which he starred.

      Have you watched Jean de Florette & Manon of the Spring? They are outstanding!

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    10. Outstanding, indeed! Have watched them at least three times, and will be glad for another viewing.

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    11. I try to watch them each year, usually in December, the most awful time of the year, in my humble opinion. It is too bad Hollywood does not make quality movies such as these.

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  33. And I think I’ve got the answer to your clue, Dr K.
    You guys are great with the hints!

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  34. My husband and I own a home in Wellfleet, the “elbow” of the Cape—-and the place for the best oysters in the world!

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    1. So, does that make Bourne the armpit of the Cape?

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    2. And thank you for your welcome!

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    3. We've been to Wellfleet often. Love the beaches. Although Humboldt Bay (CA) oysters are some of the best I've had.

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    4. I spent part of my honeymoon in Welfleet. Love those oysters!

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  35. Well, about Bourne: I’ve never actually spent any time there, just cross the Bourne Bridge every time I drive from our condo in W Hartford, CT, to Wellfleet. Is Bourne really worth visiting?

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    1. I've never been there, other than to cross the bridge. Summer traffic makes me sound like an angry evangelical: "Bourne, again!"

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    2. Spent a lot of time on the Cape, but little of it in Bourne. I'm sure it has its lovely areas away from routes 6 and 28, but it just doesn't offer much you can't find in other parts of the Cape more convenient to Wellfleet.

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  36. Sorry, I tend to be a chatterer. I will learn to cease & desist, and you are perfectly free to ignore me.

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  37. Being of an age where we were fed bales and barrels of American and world lit from first grade on, I needed not even a soupçon of the author's legendary luck solve this week's puzzle.

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  38. I’m actually a Victorian Lit (Trollope) scholar, but now & then I will read American authors—just for the heck of it.😁

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    1. I'm partial to red snapper (seared, of course), but sometimes I'll eat flatfish, just for the ...

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    2. Two Victorians on the blog (not me but Dr. A). Wow.

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    3. Yes, hello to a fellow Victorianist—though I focus more on poetry!

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  39. Also, you have to anagram the last name slightly to get it orthographically correct.

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    1. Although "orthographically correct" is not a puzzle parameter in this case.

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    2. Right, I merely emphasized the spelling aspect as opposed to the homophonic aspect. I was not trying to change the rules. I just meant to make it consistent. What in hell is everybody's problem? I DIDN'T vote for Trump. There are you happy now!?!?

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    3. I was commenting only on today's puzzle. Nothing more, nothing less.

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    4. WW, Your post reminds me of Humpty Dumpty statement: “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

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    5. Natasha, I'll agree, except my words were not written/said in rather a scornful tone. They were just written.

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    6. WW, Yes, I know. Glad you pointed that out. I was afraid would be misinterpreted.

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  40. Got it solved right away. BTW My niece Mia Kate was great in "The Nutcracker" earlier today.
    pjbBelievesNoTwoSnowflakesAreAlike(EspeciallyWhenOneIsAChineseAdopteeLikeOursIs)

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  41. At first I was hoping the answer would be Paul Bowles.

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  42. I mourn the passing of Teri Garr, a Names & Fame I did not come up with right away when I got to play the NPR puzzle on the air. I learn more from what I don't know than what I do.

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    1. I noted "Dairy Bar/Terri Garr" as my on-air clue, and clue here, when I learn more, that's to another one on-air that day, with Will & LuLu, "Get Smart/Bret Harte."

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    2. Would you believe... Not getting "Dairy Bar/Terri Garr" on air, I had written, "Missed it by that much," but deleted, decided that was the old too much of a clue trick.

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  43. The 1st, 2nd and 4th letters of the “location of the body part” will give you a potential location of that “location of the body part” ….I know some of you are wired to think similarly!

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    1. Yeah, no anatomist would ever use the “location of the body part” to describe the location of the body part.

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  44. Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. R.E.P., as in 1er Régiment Etranger de Parachutistes, the French Foreign Legion airborne regiment, that played a key role in the generals putsch against DeGaulle return of Algeria to Algerians, and adopted Dumont's "Non, je ne regrette rien" as their anthem. (Piaf dedicated the song to them.) A pretty right-wing association.

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    3. "Non, je ne regrette rien" is a song written by Michel Vaucaire and directed by Charles Dumont in 1956. The song is about the singer moving on from her past and not caring about it. The song's title translates to "No, I regret nothing" in French.

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    4. This has nothing to do with the puzzle, but Linda McMahon, founder of the WWE, for Secretary of Education? And her qualifications are WHAT? She’ll bring dodge ball back to recess? My husband & I have been educators all our working lives—and now this seems like a slap in the face to our lives’ work.
      I want to cry.

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  45. Sorry—I will not injterjemvt such comments again, will save them for another venue.

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    1. If we don't feel free to express our outrage at what is happening to our country, everywhere we can, then we are being controlled by those who are out to destroy our democracy and that plays right into their hands.

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  46. Think of a famous actor whose last name sounds like a fruit. Replace the last name with a different fruit and switch the order of the first and last names to name a beverage in one word.

    Who is the actor and what is the beverage? Feel free to post the answer.

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    1. Switch Apple in for Lemon!
      I keep thinking of pi, irrational as that may be.

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    2. Actually, Crito, I'd say your way of thinking is transcendent.

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    3. Yep. APPLEJACK is the answer. I thought it was too easy to send to WS.

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  47. Replies
    1. No, a different fruit (and get a much better-known beverage).

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Cap,
      No, that is not the answer.

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  48. BRET HARTE; BREAST

    "Fall" refers to Harte's first poem, "Autumn Musings," written as an 11-year-old.

    "I browsed the book section of an ARC thrift store at a nearby location to find the rarer works of this author." >>> HARTE spent part of his life in the northern California coastal town of Union (now called Arcata), a settlement on Humboldt Bay (great oysters!), as a tutor and school teacher.

    "Or rhymes with something you might be concerned about." That's a fret fart, of course. ;-)

    "Yes! And mathematics." This refers to the collaboration between HARTE and Mark Twain on the play Ahsin where AH refers to geometry terms: Cosine = Adjacent/Hypotenuse and Sin(e).


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  49. BRET HARTE → BREAST + HEART

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  50. It's Cryptic Crossword Puzzle Time again on Puzzleria! Our friend Patrick J. Berry (aka "cranberry") has mustered up some of his special "cryptic crossword 'cranberry' sauce" and has whipped up a savory pre-Thanksgiving masterpiece – his 37th serving to appear on P! (And, we are thankful!)
    We will upload Puzzleria! this afternoon, very soon.
    Also on our menus this week:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week titled "Proactivity and the proper noun,"
    * a Rank-And-File Hors d’Oeuvre titled "Alphabetical ordinality ranking,"
    * a Piano Playtime Slice tiled "Composition and misconception,"
    * a Stephen Kingly Dessert titled "Sweetly docile vs. creepily hostile," and
    * ten riff-offs of this week's NPR Puzzle Challenge, titled “The same heart beats in every human breast” (including a half-dozen doozies developed by Nodd, riffmaster extraordinaire).
    So, join us for more "Creative Cranberry Cryptology" and "Terriffic Riffs" galore!

    LegoCropped(LikeAn"EditedDown"Photo)Crept(MovedStealthily)AndShouterOf Cripes!(MildOathAndEuphemismFor'Christ!')

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  51. BRET HARTE (HEART, BREAST)

    > I've been in the house the author rented for about nine years, in the town I was planning to visit today.

    He lived in The Willows, a house in Morristown, NJ, that today is part of Fosterfields Living Historical Farm. I was going to fly us to MMU to visit friends, but found a problem with the plane's ignition system during runup, so we scrubbed our plans. Maybe next Sunday!

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  52. BRET HARTE (breASt, heart)

    I posted that, if you take all the letters of the author's first name and last name, plus the extra AS, you can rearrange to get two verbs denoting what harsh critics might do with this author's work.

    Those verbs would be berate and trash. :)

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  53. The heart is said more often to be located in the chest.

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  54. Bret Harte, breast, heart

    Last Sunday I said, “You need it.” Besides the obvious need people have for a heart, there is a famous song - “You Gotta Have Heart” – from the famous musical, “Damn Yankees.” However, I figured that saying, “You Gotta Have It,” would be too close to the line and Blaine would shut me down.

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  55. I see my nod towards Carson McCullers was deleted. Out of her several novel titles, two have the word heart in them.

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  56. Donald Trump is nominating Travis T. Holmes to head The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

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  57. BRET HARTE --> BREAST, HEART

    I clued to the puzzle author, CAP, that your chosen appellation works as a clue for some of us, but not for others. And for you -- once, but no longer.

    I wrote this because BRET HARTE is from Albany, New York. And Albany is the CAPITAL of New York State, where I was born and live now.
    And CAP was born here too, but I think lives in the Pacific Northwest these days.

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  58. Replies
    1. Ben, I live in Florence, OR, but you may take the kid out of Brooklyn, but you know the rest!

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  59. BRET HARTE —> BREAST, HEART

    Hint: “Actually…”
    My previous comment had mentioned that my better half and I were on the left coast (i.e., California), meeting our first grandchild—all true—and that I would have to work on a hint.
    However…
    I had for the moment forgotten that Harte was associated in several ways with California, including the settings of his two most celebrated short stories, “The Luck of Roaring Camp” and “The Outcasts of Poker Flat.” There is even a CDP (Census Designated Place) named after him in that state. So this “hint” was inadvertent, something I realized belatedly; hence, my sheepish admission, “Actually…”

    Hint: The suggested item of Clark’s clothing I refrained from mentioning explicitly was Superman’s outfit, in particular the “S” on his breast.

    Hint: “A certain playing card comes to mind.”
    —the two of clubs, which figures prominently in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”

    Hint: “Think of a locale associated with the writer. Rearrange the letters to get 2 items associated with meals.”
    POKER FLAT —> PLATE, FORK

    Hint: “Luck may have a lot to do with it.”
    —> Thomas LUCK, the ironically named eponymous character of “The Luck of Roaring Camp”

    Sorry I’m late to the party, but it’s been a travel day.

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  60. My comment was "I'm reminded of a TV series that premiered the same year I was married. Not much of a clue, I know, but it's a fact I just discovered." I was thinking of "Hart to Hart" which premiered in 1979. SuperZee mentioned a show that premiered in 1957. I assume he was alluding to Maverick whose first name was Bret. I was going to respond "Roger that!", as Roger Moore played Bret Maverick's father. Instead I said Over and out.

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    1. That is what I was referring to. Maverick, with Bret Maverick played by James Garner and his brother Bart played by Jack Kelly.

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  61. My hint: Add a piece of furniture to the author's last name and anagram to get a cartoonist's last name.

    Add BED to HARTE to get BREATHED (Berkeley, creator of Bloom County)

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  62. My post - The 1st, 2nd and 4th letters of the “location of the body part” will give you a potential location of that “location of the body part” - was referring to BRA for BREAST. And the “wired” reference was for the wiring in a bra.

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  63. To Dr Awkward: I also like Victorian poetry: especially Tennyson & Browning. Although I am partial to the Romantic poets.
    Still, anyone who reads /likes poetry in this day & age is someone I admire.

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    1. I submitted a long poem I wrote to The New Yorker six months ago on May 15th. I am still waiting for them to read it. I wish it did not take so long to get processed.

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    2. can't go wrong with Tennyson & Browning!

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  64. Ah, clotheslover: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
    But I suspect I am waxing too literary. Promise to think of other comments.

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  65. BRET HARTE, BREAST, HEART
    pjbHasANewCrypticCrosswordOnPuzzleria!WhichSomeOfYouMaybeInterestedInSolving,Perhaps

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  66. This week's challenge comes from listener Greg VanMechelen, of Berkeley, Calif. Name a state capital. Inside it in consecutive letters is the first name of a popular TV character of the past. Remove that name, and the remaining letters in order will spell the first name of a popular TV game show host of the past. What is the capital and what are the names?

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  68. I didn't have to search long for the answer.

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  69. Also the name of the star of another TV show of the same era.

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    1. . . . who is memorialized in a city with the same name as another state capital.

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  70. Rearrange the relevant last names to get something you might need and someone who might provide it.

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  71. Congrats, EcoArchie!
    Heh, yes, easy, and too easy to give away with cute hints.
    But it probably doesn't matter since everyone is going to get this one. Over/under... 1981.

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  72. Never hurts to start with the alphabet.

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  73. BTW: I don’t really mind an “easy” one every now & then.
    And has anyone ever had the experience of wakening in the morning—sort of between sleeping and waking—and you suddenly “see” the answer? Has happened to me a couple times, usually at the 11th hour! Just proves that our brains are not totally inactive when we are semi-conscious.

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  75. "And so it was I entered the broken world
    To trace the visionary company of love, its voice
    An instant in the wind (I know not whither hurled)
    But not for long to hold each desperate choice."

    --Hart Crane, The Broken Tower

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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.