Reread it again and realized something about the second brand.Q: Think of a two-word brand name for a food item that is marketed as upscale. Remove the last two letters of the first word and the first letter of the second word. Read the result from left to right and you'll get a one-word brand name associated with the budget-conscious. What is it?
Edit: I initially thought both brands were food related. Trying to work it backwards, as a result I got nowhere. It was Scarlett's one word "Clue" that led me to Colonel Mustard and then Grey Poupon.
A: GREY POUPON --> GROUPON
Well, it's not Hicko-arms. Is it?
ReplyDeleteMichigan
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's Hau-uisine?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe perfect comment for you, Scarlett.
DeleteDrat! I like it, but it just gave it to me.
DeleteNo worries Blaine. I thought it was my finest moment, but that's a low bar.
DeleteScarlett - It was indeed a fine moment. I'm sorry if my reply made it seem like TMI.
DeleteLorenzo, the irony of all ironies is that I did not see that connection when I posted. That makes it an even finer moment than I thought! 😂
DeleteHa! Missing that moment does make it all the sweeter!
DeleteYes, Scarlett, you really hit it out of the ballpark.
Delete
ReplyDeleteThe upscale name is close to the name of a serious medical condition.
This upscale name is mentioned in a lotta rap songs as a symbol of luxury.
ReplyDeleteSolved before the puzzle even aired. First upscale product that came to mind.
ReplyDeleteThought it had to be Lucky Charms. What's more upscale than a pot o' gold? Gotta use Pepsi instead of milk, though. That's a movie clue, BTW.
ReplyDeleteA syllable of the food brand sounds like something you might have if you eat too much of it.
ReplyDeleteThe first syllable of Poupon sounds like "poop". If you eat too much Grey Poupon, then you will have to poop. It might even turn your poop gray. Then, you will have "gray poop on" you.
DeleteWonderful wordplayful hint, Bobby.
DeleteLego"WhereverIsHeardAMusturdinglyWord..."
MCMLXV, XLVII, don't let this cloud your judgement....I think.
ReplyDeleteI had some of the food item at brunch.
ReplyDeleteRearrange the upscale item’s letters to spell a palindromic beverage and something many may wish they were as the new year approaches.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nodd. I was beginning to despair. Upscale? Moi? After all, I'm a hot dogs and pizza guy.
DeleteI'll drink to that!
DeleteAs I feared, it did take me a while. Intellectual rust just makes me mad.
DeleteBut I 'm not a mean old man, so here is one of life's fundamental verities: You really shouldn’t keep money in your nose.
Or, rearrange to get another upscale brand, and what you may face is you buy too much of it.
DeleteWell that's really great, Dr. K, but now that you have informed me I have been storing my money incorrectly, how about letting me in on how to store it properly?
DeleteI would tell you, but you'd have to pay through the nose.
DeleteMakes cents to me.
DeleteI knew something about this smelled a bit, Doc. Nothing to sneeze about when big bucks are involved.
DeleteI showed up my doctor's appt with a carrot in each nostril and a celery stick in each ear. When I told him I didn't feel well, he said "Your problem is you're not eating properly."
DeleteThat must have felt like breath of fresh air.
DeleteYes, after that I was able to veg out and relax.
DeleteNice puzzle, Dan Ezekiel! I'm never quite sure about the spelling, but that doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteI can think of a lot of high end foods generically but no brands come to mind.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThe good news…now I’ve solved it.
DeleteThe bad news…your comment, IMO, is TMI.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL.
I will have a few things to say about this product come Boxing Day. It would be TMI now though.
DeleteGiven that the puzzle states that the food item is marketed as upscale, I don't see how my comment was TMI.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI may post a humorous reply story if you report this after the deadline.
DeleteSorry, Blaine.
DeleteWasn't your offense apologizing in the first place?
DeleteI thought of an answer immediately. Seemed easier than usual. I had to check that the second part was a brand name. . We’ve been using generic of the up scale product - good old Aldi.
ReplyDeleteAll this talk about food makes me hunger for a bialy. (Not to be confused with Marvin Gaye's hit song "Makes Me Wanna Challah.")
ReplyDeleteDijon and Bialystock are sister cities. And the bialy, not surprisingly, is from Bialystock.
DeleteLego's puzzle from last week should've been this week. I can't solve this one, and we shouldn't have to put up with this sort of thing on Christmas week.
ReplyDeletepjbIsn'tImpressedByWillShortz'sChoosingAPuzzleBySomeoneWhoseLastNameIsABookOfTheBible...BigDeal!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOh dear—I think I mentioned a Forbidden Word! I will confine myself simply to saying "Gertrude."
DeleteHappy to see, Dr. A, that someone took my suggestion about a namedrop…
Delete"I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me."
DeleteNot having any luck with this one...how "upscale" is the upscale food item? So many highly expensive foods do not have brand names associated with them...
ReplyDeleteSplainit, I agree, ie. Beluga Caviar, Maine Lobster, Omaha Steaks etc.
DeleteYou know this.
DeleteAlthough marketed as upscale, this brand is not all that expensive. I think the second brand name is more likely to deflect solvers.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRearrange the one-word brand name to get a certain budget-conscious African animal who might use this brand.
ReplyDeleteI have two solutions...
ReplyDeleteBelated for last week, the A- grade was to recognize that you needed to use “place on earth” rather than “a place on earth” to get to the answer. For this week, the grade for the puzzle isn’t so clear - in some ways, it’s good enough to deserve an A, in other ways, an E.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else experiencing deja vu?
ReplyDeleteAre you referring to an on-air puzzle from several years ago, maybe?
DeleteMaybe. I don't think it was on air, but I think I've seen this one before. I really don't know where though.
DeleteOnly where fine, upscale products are sold, probably, right?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThanks, that got me to it!
DeleteYou know what happens when you assume. . . .
DeleteI give up on this puzzle. By the way, Happy Chanukah to those who celebrate it. And Merry Christmas to the rest.
ReplyDeleteSame to you and yours, Clark.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThat joke just rolls right along. But, under 50 here...🙋♂️
DeleteFirst time I've ever been 'comment removed'. My apologies.
DeleteMaybe a little namedrop instead?
DeleteHm. I could see that I was not going to solve this, but Google just announced its supposedly fantastic Gemini 2.0 AI ... so I gave this puzzle to the AI ... And it solved it instantly. And then ... it astounded me by asking for another puzzle!! So I gave it one of my exploratory drafts ... and it completely failed. Just saying ... Merry Christmas!!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I tried just now with incorrect response twice.
DeleteChatGPT got it right away.
DeleteActually, it's more complicated: ChatGPT got it right away when I just opened another window on my Chrome browser and queried it. But when I tried it in an incognito window, it fumbled the answer, like it usually does. This behavior was repeatable. Obviously, I've been doing a lot of searches on the brand name in my browser lately. It appears that that information hangs around and gets used somehow by ChatGPT. Good old Big Brother!
DeleteSo, Blaine. How are these comments not TMI? They seem to point exactly where to find the answer? Just curious.
DeleteProbably Blaine is doing other things.
DeleteBut... I just tried ChatGPT and wow, spectacular failure. It told me the answer is "Caviar Delight", which I could make into "Cavelight", which is a lot like the store KMart.
I already had the answer, but I don't like the brand name puzzles so I'm not participating. But Merry Christmas to all!
p.s. There are definitely *other* hints on the page that seem like TMI to me.
DeleteKept looking for Orviledenbacher's at the Dollar Store but to no avail.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking through a lot of lists of brand names, I think I finally have the answer. I've used one, but not the other.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but that's definitely over the line.
DeleteAgree
DeletePuzzles aside, Merry Christmas to all here!
ReplyDeleteTo all those who celebrate, Merry Christmas!
ReplyDelete"[A]nd on earth peace, good will toward men."
Thank you, and the same to all. But isn't that supposed to be "To men of goodwill?"
DeleteKJV, Luke 2:14. There are of course many translations.
DeleteHappy Christma-kwanza-nukah!
ReplyDeleteI haven't celebrated Christmas for many decades now, but today I couldn't resist the nostalgic temptation to recreate the centerpiece of our childhood dining table each year at this time. What we did was to highly polish a 1940s era hubcap and line all around it perfectly cooked asparagus spears each pointing towards the center with our homemade sauce in the hub. It was quite a sight to see, and I will never forget how my mother would always exclaim, "There's no plate like chrome for the hollandaise."
ReplyDeleteCall me Scrooge, but I think you just made that up.
DeleteIndeed! Here are 25 Hollandaise Jokes". Twenty five is far more joking about hollandaise sauce than one really needs on Boxing Day. But there you go.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLet's try that again....
DeletePynchonesque, sdb…reminded me of the lengthy narrative digression in Pynchon's Gravity’s Rainbow that culminates in “For De Mille, young fur-henchmen can’t be rowing.”
I've not read Pynchon, nor heard that one before, but I love it. Thanks for posting it.
DeleteAs to Paul's post. This is a fragrant case of character assignation and an attempt at defecation of my character.
Grey Poupon/Groupon
ReplyDeleteSanta's winkin'... Yule lights blinkin'... Nodd has been thinkin' up challenging puzzles galore as gift to us this holiday season!
ReplyDeleteYes, our friend Nodd is featured on Puzzleria! this week. His "Nodd ready for prime time" features five fantastically formidable-yet-fun challenges, titled
* Cinematic Hamlet,
* Roll-calling names,
* Brain food,
* Smart talk, and
* "Random House at Poetry Corner," by the ever-popular poet "Anna Graham."
We will upload Puzzleria! about an hour or so from now... around noon or a tad later PST.
Alkso on our menus:
~ a Schpuzzle of the Week titled "Firs, refrains and a phrase,"
~ a A 1940s Hors d’Oeuvre titled "Noel and Film Noir,"
~ a Just Another “Phrase-This-Time-Of-Year” Challenge! Slice titled “Often is heard, seldom is heard,”
~ a Canton-Cooperstown Dessert titled "Christmas carol, gay apparel," and
~ 16 "Grape Groupon" Riffing Off Shortz And Ezekiel Entrees (including two by a great friend of Puzzleria and six by Nodd (!) titled “Grape-upon-grape-upon-grape-(but-not-drupe!)” is a “group”?
That's 25 holiday-themed puzzles.
Come oin us for the holidays!
LegoLambda!
1. THREE FIFTY (bakery) →
ReplyDeleteTHRIFTY (car rental)
2. GREY POUPON → GROUPON
While I would have LOVED for there to have been an alternate answer available, THREE FIFTY is a bakery that's not available nation-wide, but only available in Washington D.C.
DeleteI believe that for an answer to be valid, it ought to be available nation-wide.
GREY POUPON —> GROUPON
ReplyDeleteMy reply to Nodd’s anagrammatic “pop/younger” hint was first to thank him—he had sent me on my way to a solution—but also to smuggle in two hints of my own: Moi and hot dogs.
“As I feared, it did take me a while. Intellectual rust just makes me mad.”
rust + mad—> mustard
“a mean old man…” —a lyric from the Beatles’ “Mean Mr. Mustard”
“one of life’s fundamental verities: You really shouldn’t keep money in your nose.” —another nod (Nodd?) to the Beatles’ “Mean Mr. Mustard,” in particular the lyric “Keeps a ten bob note up his nose”
And “namedrop” is an anagram of “pardon me.”
Grey Poupon…Groupon
ReplyDeleteThe iconic, “Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?”, commercial first aired in 1981.
GREY POUPON, GROUPON
ReplyDelete"Michigan" In 2016, the manufacture of GREY POUPON was moved to Holland, Michigan.
"Ha! Missing that moment does make it all the sweeter!" As in Miss Scarlett and Colonel Mustard in the boardgame Clue. Fun clue, Scarlett!
Thanks Word Woman. Totally unintentional, but it turned out to be fun!
DeleteGREY POUPON >>> GROUPON
ReplyDeleteGrey Poupon in our country is not the same as it is in France because ours is now produced in Canada and not with the same recipe. I use Beaufor that contains white wine for Dijon mustard. I think it is much better. Make sure it contains wine though. Some Beaufor does not contain wine.
"When comparing Grey Poupon to "Beaufor" mustard, Beaufor is generally considered to have a more intense, robust flavor with a sharper mustard bite compared to Grey Poupon, which tends to be milder and creamier; many food critics consider Beaufor to be a higher quality "true" Dijon mustard, while Grey Poupon is seen as a more accessible, milder option."
I have a couple of humorous Grey Poupon stories, but I will have to find the time later.
GREY POUPON; GROUPON. My hint – Rearrange the upscale item’s letters to spell a palindromic beverage and something many may wish they were as the new year approaches. (POP, YOUNGER)
ReplyDeleteGrey Poupon, Groupon
ReplyDeleteI wrote: "MCMLXV, XLVII, don't let this cloud your judgement....I think." As best as hubby and I could figure, that was a 1965 Silver Cloud Rolls Royce in the commercial. So I translated 1965 and 47 (atomic number for silver) into Roman numerals. And added 'cloud' in there for good measure.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote "Rearrange the one-word brand name to get a certain budget-conscious African animal who might use this brand." Groupon can be rearranged to 'poor gnu'.
I wrote, “The upscale name is close to the name of a serious medical condition. Gray Baby (poupon is “baby” in French) Syndrome is a life-threatening condition that can occur in infants, a toxic reaction to the antibiotic chloramphenicol.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you clarified. I'm embarrassed that I thought you meant grey poop which is a symptom of some health issues. 😂
DeleteGREY POUPON -> GROUPON
ReplyDelete> Thought it had to be Lucky Charms. What's more upscale than a pot o' gold? Gotta use Pepsi instead of milk, though. That's a movie clue, BTW.
In Where's Poppa?, besides preparing Ruth Gordon's breakfast of Lucky Charms and Pepsi, George Segal croons "Louise", a la Maurice Auguste Chevalier. Maurice GREY and Auguste POUPON were the Dijon moutardiers who created the brand in 1866.
> I'm not sure I'd consider the food itself to be high-end, but it was marketed intentionally, and effectively, to create an association with high income. [Deleted]
In a 2018 paper, Bertrand and Kamenica noted that in 1992, the brand most predictive of income in the U.S. was GREY POUPON.
> Or, rearrange to get another upscale brand, and what you may face if you buy too much of it.
GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow's wellness and lifestyle brand, and PENURY.
>> Is anyone else experiencing deja vu?
> Are you referring to an on-air puzzle from several years ago, maybe?
From January 27, 2019:
On-air challenge: I'm going to read you some famous advertising slogans, past and present. Each contains the advertiser's name, but anagrammed. You name the advertiser.
. . .
7. Pardon me — Do you have any YOUNGER POP?
(Nodd alluded to this anagram.)
>> I think it is safe to assume most kids these days have never seen the iconic commercials associated with the food item.
> You know what happens when you assume. . . .
This ad ran during the Academy Awards show in 2013. A 6-year old then would still be a kid today.
My clue - “the grade for the puzzle isn’t so clear - in some ways, it’s good enough to deserve an A, in other ways, an E.” - not clear was referring to it being gray; and the A vs E was a reference to gray vs grey (which is the spelling used for Grey Poupon)
ReplyDeleteThe difference? "Gray" is a color, while "grey" is a colour.
DeleteI mentioned that I was never quite sure about the spelling, but it doesn't matter (since the last two letters of GREY are dropped).
DeleteSo once upon a time a long time ago when I was working as an outside salesman for an acquaintance of mine who had inherited a franchise business from a very wealthy woman who owned a huge mansion on the shore of Lake Washington, I had one of those ad lib moments I love. She had died and although they were unrelated she left the business and more to my friend as he had been working for her. He was having trouble making the business work and asked me if I would help.
ReplyDeleteThe mansion was using the basement as the business office and warehouse. The product was a new type of restaurant table light that ran off liquid fuel containers which had to be replaced, and that was where the income really came in. Soon he had to move out of the mansion into a new location, but I would have to drive to and from this mansion about once a week while he was still operation from that location.
One hot summer afternoon I had to go there on the very narrow street which was lined with several of these extremely huge lakeside mansions. When it was time for me to leave I had to turn my car around carefully and drive back out the only way in. As I was doing this suddenly a Lincoln Town Car driven by an older woman who lived in one of these mansions was coming toward me going in the opposite direction. We both had to go very slowly and carefully in order not to collide. As she and her car came side by side with mine I motioned for her to stop by rolling my driver side window down. She looked at me with a questioning expression and I asked her, "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?" She was completely taken aback by my question and replied, "Yes, but why..." And then she finally got the joke and could not stop laughing for a moment. Fortunately my friend and another employee were standing outside by the road and heard the whole thing and were also laughing. (True story this time.)
Great story! Reminds of my late jokester brother. Someone pulled the same stunt on him, and he played right along by replying "But, of course!" The giggly girls in the limo got a big kick out of it.
DeleteI love it when these opportunities unexpectedly pop up providing the possibility to be creative and use my sense of humor. They are priceless.
DeleteSome years after that happened I invited a wealthy friend to the French movie, The Red Violin. It was playing at an independent theater in a part of town with lots of local cafes and shops. After the film ended my friend suggested we go across the street and have a bite to eat at a small restaurant. During the repast he mentioned something about buying something expensive, but did not know what he wanted. I immediately suggested he buy an old classic car. He liked the idea and was thinking of a Rolls Royce, as I knew he would. I suggested a 1950s Mercedes Benz 300 limo. They are similar in size, but he knew nothing of this vehicle. I told him I would look into it for him, and the next day I located one in Eastern Canada for sale. I downloaded some photos and he wanted it as soon as I showed them to him. This was a car I had long desired, but was not in my budget.
He ended up flying me to check it out in person and bring it back if it looked good. I ended up bringing it home to Seattle and he and I used it often. He also let me use it on my own too. I do not remember now where I found a tiny jar of Grey Poupon, but I did, or I may have seen it in his house and snatched it to put in the glove box in case someone asked if we, you know the question, but it never happened. I don't think this jar even contained an ounce of mustard. It must have been some kind of advertising gimmick. The opportunity never arose, but at least we were prepared. Later he bought a 1954 Bentley.
I can't think of a higher honor than being instrumental in Blaine's solving the puzzle. I just tore my rotator cuff patting myself on my back.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Scarlett, that is quite a reversal of the usual dynamic and a feather in your cap.
DeleteI was stuck early on, but by the time I got to the blog, your comment had been removed, so I had to look elsewhere for inspiration.
Fortunately, I found it.
Lol, well deserved! (I tend to stay away from Blainesville until I either solve the puzzle or give up and need some inspiration. Of course, Blaine does not have that luxury. :)
ReplyDeleteI got Scarlett's clue exactly the same way Blaine did!
ReplyDeleteWho ever considered any mustard high end? However, who
ReplyDeletewould have known in advance that ketchup would have become known as a health food? Obviously, I didn't get the answer this week.
I solved it pretty quickly while still in bed. I first thought it might be difficult for me because I do not purchase most stuff other people do. I think I first thought of Smithfield Ham. Then I thought of Dijon mustard and solved the puzzle without knowing until I googled the second part. I had never heard of it. This happened to me a week or two back too as I recall.
ReplyDeleteHere is my favorite Dijon salad dressing. I do not follow it to the letter, but use much more garlic and always experiment. It really is good.
ReplyDelete1 large clove garlic, peeled & minced. (I use several)
1/8 teaspoon salt (I, of course, use more)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (I use Beaufor brand)
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste
In a mortar with a pestle, mash the garlic with the salt until they form a paste. Do not skip this step! Transfer the paste to a small bowl and add remaining ingredients, whisking them until the dressing is well combined. So good!
GREY POUPON --> GROUPON
ReplyDeleteI posted a clue Sunday which was tmi. Sorry, Blaine!
As a runner up, I’m surprised no one suggested Canada Dry --> Canary.
ReplyDeleteCanada Dry has been marketed to an upscale group since forever. For example:
https://www.canadadry.com/about “Often called the champagne of soda, it was marketed toward the refined crowd for many decades.”
And while there are several Canary brands, this one, featuring a variety of cleaning products certainly seems associated with a downscale consumer: https://www.canarycleanco.com/products/canary-fresh-and-clean-bundle
I didn’t send it in, but it seems to fill the bill pretty well. Sorry this is so late but we had out of town company all week.
Chuck, it's a decent runner-up for sure. And you did let the Canary out of the bag. (Mixing my metaphors like mixing Canada Dry with alcohol.)
DeleteI've never heard of Canary, but it's definitely not for a budget- conscious consumer...
DeleteWhat was Scarkett’s one word clue that helped Blaine!
ReplyDeleteClue
DeletePuzzle Gang, I have a general question. I have submitted some puzzle ideas via the NPR website, but never gotten a response. Is there a different way to submit?
ReplyDeleteI ask in part because I submitted the this week's GREY POUPON/GROUPON puzzle exactly in November 2021 and got no response. Maybe I should send it elsewhere, but I see no contact info for Will Shortz on the web. Thanks in advance for any ideas!
This week's challenge comes from listener Bobby Jacobs, of Richmond, Va. Think of a famous singer -- first and last names. Use all of the first name, plus the first three letters and the last letter of the last name. The result, reading left to right, will spell a phrase meaning "punctual." What singer is this?
ReplyDeleteEasy
Delete