I was sure the answer was going to be NICAR/AGUA, but sadly NICAR didn't become WATER.Q: Think of a well-known international location in nine letters. Take the first five letters and shift each of them 13 places later in the alphabet. The result will be a synonym for the remaining four letters in the place's name. What place is it?
Sunday, January 12, 2025
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 12, 2025): Rot-13 International Location
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 12, 2025): Rot-13 International Location
80 comments:
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ReplyDeleteOh, yeah.
ReplyDeleteTry to be indirect this week. I'm tired of wielding my blog administrator power.
ReplyDeleteBlaine, I'm in a similar position vis-à-vis an organization I head. Yesterday, I was reminded of Mel Brooks' pronouncement, "It's good to be the King." Not really.This week, I'll do my best.
DeleteA surprisingly fast solve here. Hardest part was counting through the alphabet, while still in bed, to verify my guess.
ReplyDeleteIt was the second place I thought of.
DeleteThe little circular key next to the question might have provided you a short-cut!
DeleteSuperZee probably had it solved before I created the image and posted the puzzle.
DeleteI actually had one of those miracle solves, and posted a comment, which I then realized was TMI and deleted, on last week’s page at 5:08 PST.
DeleteSometime, you just get lucky.
Me too.
DeleteMe three. First place I thought of, one in the news lately. If that's TMI, Blaine, let me know. Lots of things have been mentioned in the news lately.
DeletepjbWondersIfOneOfHisPuzzleIdeasWillBeUsedNext(HeIsAnotherPuzzlerian,YouKnow)
It is.
DeleteRearrange the letters of the location and you get a word for a native of another international location.
ReplyDelete... Or where you might see a fish on the wall.
DeleteOnly 583 correct entries last week.
ReplyDeleteBlainesvillians rock!
ReplyDeleteLast week, LEGO.
This week, ECO.
Who’s next?
And Bobby the week before that!
DeleteBefore solving, I questioned the wording a bit; now I see it as very clever.
ReplyDeleteYeah same here -- I was primed to complain!
DeleteI've seen others refer to puzzles as elegant but I never have until now. I love the simplicity of this one. Like Blaine, I also looked for foreign words like agua.
ReplyDeleteGot it. I also have a guess about the nature of the already removed comment.
ReplyDeleteRearrange the location name to get a two word description for a debt collector.
DeletePardon my ignorance? What is the meaning of international location? Anything outside of US? A location shared by different countries? Or something belongs to all like North Pole or Equator?
ReplyDeleteYes, something like that. 😜
DeleteIt doesn't belong to all.
DeleteThanks!😊
DeleteIronic chortling here.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteNot being a geography expert, I thought this one would be hard. But it really wasn't.
ReplyDeleteWhat an appropriate, and useful, illustration, Blaine.
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle, ecoarchitect!
ReplyDeleteFirst time I can recall it my first guess.
ReplyDeleteGood puzzle. I have it...
ReplyDeleteMusic clue: September
ReplyDeleteEWF, TS, or someone else?
DeletePeter, Paul, and Mary.
ReplyDeleteEcoarchitect's puzzle doesn't suck.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTMI please remove so Blaine doesn't have to
DeleteYes, TMI. I was able to solve based on the clue.
DeleteClever puzzle indeed…..I’d give a good clue but I don’t want to risk being censored, given the trend of late.
ReplyDeleteThank you ecoarchitect. Lovely puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThere are also online Rot-13 calculators, e.g.
ReplyDeletehttps://cryptii.com/pipes/rot13-decoder
So it's A = N, B=O, C= P, etcetera? Because I would think A=M, B=N, C=P, etcetera. So which is it?
ReplyDeleteThat is c=o.
DeleteIt's the former. It's symmetric so A=N and N=A.
DeleteThanks, I listened to broadcast late.
DeleteNo "R."
ReplyDeleteThe place has something in common with a lot of the answers to recent puzzles.
ReplyDeleteI am new to these puzzles .. it took me a while to arrive at the answer
ReplyDeleteSarma, that's cool. You certainly don't have to solve them before you get out of bed. 😉
DeleteThank you
DeleteVery nice, Sarma.
DeleteI understand very few of the clues here! But I do understand the ones about timeliness.
Clever puzzle.
ReplyDeleteA few puzzlers always get it quickly while for others it's not easy being a solver.
ReplyDeleteI finally have it. I had rejected my first guess as impossible, based on Will's instructions. Blaine and others made a different assumption and were obviously correct to do so.
ReplyDeletePDB Eco. Pretty damn brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle would be legendary except for one small problem.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. If I catch your drift, perhaps think deeper?
DeleteYes and No.
DeleteAh, intrigue.
Deletecoke jr
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle, Eco! But hard to clue without drawing the ire of Our Fearless Leader, Blaine.
ReplyDeleteAnyone try the new Orange Cream Coca Cola yet?
ReplyDeleteit's awful, tastes like chemicals
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteBeats me!
DeleteThat's TMI if you're a fan of a certain music group.
DeleteQuite searchable, hence tmi.
DeleteThink of the twelve-letter screen name an excellent puzzle-maker. Shift the first three letters 10 places later in the alphabet (A=>K, B=>L, C=>M, etc.). The result will be the twelve letters that are missing from:
ReplyDelete"_ __ ! This person is an _________ not only of beautiful buildings but also of beautiful puzzles!
LegoWhoCongratulatesMrVanMechelenAndInvitesBlainesvilliansToTrySolvingNineMoreOfEco'sPuzzlesThatAppearThisWeekOnPuzzleria!
Donovan and Aretha
ReplyDeleteLiterary clue: I'm clutching my pearls! (Dr. K might get this one...)
ReplyDeleteClutching my pearls here.
DeleteShift the eighth letter of the international location 7 places earlier in the alphabet. Then change the order of the resulting eighth and ninth letters. Reading left to right you should get two synonyms (or a common two-word phrase).
ReplyDeleteI'm stunned at myself for having stumbled upon the correct international location on my FIRST GUESS! [That's not a clue of any kind, because I am terrible at clues, especially the confusing type we are meant to give on this blog.]
ReplyDeleteI can't even give a clue for this without making Blaine use his admin powers. I'll just leave it there...
ReplyDeleteI've spent all day searching every nook and cranny on the globe and cannot come up with the answer.
ReplyDeleteRickster. Moi aussi
ReplyDeleteLikewise
DeleteThe second five letter word was the reason we named our first rescue dog "Nita."
ReplyDelete