I accidentally focused on the letters in the second syllables; I was way off.Q: Think of a popular singer whose first and last names each have two syllables. Drop the second syllable from each name and you'll be left with the piece of a toy. What singer is this?
A: DOLLY PARTON, DOLL PART
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.
Sterling silver.
ReplyDeleteOver 1700 correct entries last week
ReplyDeleteI guess there's no singer named LeVar Gomez.
ReplyDeleteLady Gaga
DeleteExcellente Paulo.
DeleteThe correct answer utilizes part of the SECOND syllable of the singer's surname...
DeleteNo, but there is a Leroy Gomez who enjoyed some fame in the 1970's and appeared on "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" with Elton John.
DeleteThe wording threw me. Although, there's no reason it should make the puzzle harder -- it just kind of distracted me.
ReplyDeleteSame here.
DeleteI have an answer, but I don't really like it. The answer I have so far would require a phonetic interpretation, which the puzzle did not state. I'm going to keep looking.
ReplyDeleteWe may have the same answer. I question the syllabication.
DeleteThe answer I have is completely literal, not just phonetic. The first syllables are spelled exactly as in the first and last names of the singer.
DeleteSpectacular !
DeleteSame, Al
DeleteJAWS, we may have the same answer. So far I have found only one singer where you sort of get a "piece of a toy" with the first and last names' first syllables—except, for each, you really need to add the first letter of the second syllable in order to get that piece of a toy.
DeleteBy any chance, does your answer involve a toy that in some instances becomes a collector's item?
One AI immediately gave me the answer I settled on, another floundered. I find this puzzle unsatisfying, at best, because I've never heard this usage as a piece of a toy. I would have preferred a puzzle that named a toy (rather than a piece), with the answer Tina Turner (teeter).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA different singer with a two syllable first name and a two syllable last name, sings a song written by this popular singer.
DeleteAnd the first syllables of that singer's name made for a very nice puzzle of the past.
DeleteMy answer wouldn't apply on a Sunday.
ReplyDeleteMy answer, which I'm very confident is the intended one, does not require any questionable or unusual syllabification, and pronunciation isn't really relevant.
ReplyDeleteI do wish Will had used the puzzle last week.
The syllabification, while obvious, will probably be challenged by some as against the rules.
DeleteOh yeah.
DeleteOkay, fair enough.
I guess I'm the only one who didn't notice the problem.
Hm. Finally found an answer, but the syllabi(fi)cation is wrong in both names.
DeleteRudolfo, absolutely right.
DeleteCoffee ☕
ReplyDeleteFrom the French perhaps?
DeleteRadio Flyer
ReplyDeleteReveling in a pretty quick solve and comprehension of Blaine's clue -- a rarity. :)
ReplyDeleteRearrange to get two opposites.
ReplyDeleteDoes a karaoke machine qualify as a toy?
ReplyDeletePaul, even if it does, what would be "the piece?"
DeleteI know.
DeleteI ran into that one too.
It could be an alternative solution, so I won't say anything direct, but then again I won't say Paul's idea is bad.
Paul, I believe what you might be thinking of is MIKE JACK for Michael Jackson. That almost sounds perfect, but lucky I found another answer that must be the intended answer. Still, Paul, I see what you're doing.
DeletepjbDoesn'tThinkAnyoneHereIsEligibleForABoobyPrizeWithThisPuzzle
The hints I've been able to decipher all seem to concur I have the intended answer. But, oh, the syllabification...
ReplyDeleteI now have an answer that meets the criteria of the puzzle, but I'm pretty sure it is an alternate answer, and not the intended one. Reasons for me feeling that way include that the top songs for the singer contain lyrics that I would not expect to hear on NPR, and that while this singer does meet an easily defined criteria to be "popular," I doubt many listeners would have heard of this person.
ReplyDeleteI now have the intended answer. A lookalike of this singer once appeared on the cover of a magazine, and that magazine featured a puzzle by Will Shortz.
DeleteTV clue: Star Trek: Enterprise
ReplyDeleteI listened to the on-air puzzle segment again. The first time Will gives the challenge he says "a piece" and on repeat he says "the piece." The latter sounds so odd.
ReplyDeleteHis brain is scrambled eggs.
DeleteToday is my grandma's birthday. Last week was my dad's birthday.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should use that as an excuse to move some furniture.
DeleteDolly Parton was born on January 19. That is my dad's birthday.
DeleteI think this is a clue, eh?
ReplyDeletePost #2, Syllabication aside, this is not a well-worded puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThe singer’s middle name is a book.
ReplyDeleteBy changing the final letter of the singer's first name, you can rearrange all 3 names to get something you would never hear from the singer.
DeleteRemove letters from the ends of a popular singer's first and last names that, in order, spell a word often paired with another word. (This other word can be divided into a two-word "no-no" regarding females that may be imparted to males of all ages...) The result is a piece of a toy.
ReplyDeleteLeroyGomez
I don' t usually mind easy puzzles, but this was so easy a puzzle that I wanted to cry out.
ReplyDeleteWell, it isn't Courtney Love!
ReplyDeleteI understood that reference.
DeleteBut, maybe it could be?
DeleteApparently, for this bunch, it was an "if you know, you know" - Courtney Love's band, Hole, recorded a song called "Doll Parts".
DeleteIt's off brand.
ReplyDeleteNot another math puzzle! is Domenico Modugno 2 syllables?
ReplyDeleteIn the answer I have, the even letters of the name, in order, are a slang phrase for an expert in something...
ReplyDeleteA recently added post is TMI.
ReplyDeleteCalm down, Karen.
DeleteSome day, you will ache like I ache.
DeleteGreetings fellow bloggers….I’ve been working at this all day hoping the singer’s genre is one I know, follow and enjoy (ie, not rap, jazz, country, etc). I finally have the intended answer, which wasn’t so straightforward for me!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all my apologies to Blaine and Dr. K, and Skydive Boy and everyone else at Blainesville whom I must have confounded. I wrote my comments thoughtlessly and with imprudent haste. I hadn't realised that I was giving information away when so doing. Sort of like Mr Magoo when he gets in his old model T and just runs through stop signs and drives in the oncoming lane. I promise I will edit my comments more appropriately in the future. I guess I was too chicken to come forward earlier. Now to the business at hand. This puzzle is not suitable for reverse engineering. That is, it's not solvable by thinking of a toy piece first and then adding the necessary syllables. It is most practically solved left to right. This singer was ironically told at one time by a studio exec. not to sing for lack of talent. But since then has succeeded in at least two different markets.
ReplyDeleteCinema clue: Kate McKinnon.
ReplyDelete(referring to her turn in _Barbie_!)
DeleteSolved it on my way to work this morning.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to solve the puzzle and understand Blaine's clue. And "piece" is a good description here.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at the UMKC Conservatory, a giant monstrosity with two theaters at 4949 Cherry. I would pass by a fire extinguisher with the words "hose valve" written on top of its glass encasement. Every time I glanced at it, I would see where someone had taken a magic marker and added an acute accent to the word hose, making it Hosé. This same person added a z to the word valve, thus rendering it Hosé Valvez. I believe this puzzle demonstrates that same level of disrespect.
ReplyDeleteIs it fair to characterize Ethel Merman as a high octane singer?
ReplyDeleteNot any more.
DeleteSpeaking of which, I'm amazed that, almost 30 years after it was banned in auto fuel, aviation gasoline is still leaded.
I’ve arranged enough lyrical sheet music to know this puzzle requires a loose interpretation of syllable division rules, but it’s cute, so I can live with it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, drop the third letter in the singer’s first name and rearrange to get a relatively obscure entry in a famous duo’s filmography.
Happy Year of the Snake!!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness President Trump saved us from that awful Freeze plan. Whose stupid idea was it anyway?
ReplyDeleteI think Trump is playing Jenga with the country.
DeleteMake America Gag Again
DeleteR.I.P.
ReplyDeleteAll Things Considered
NPR just announced that due to concerns re: the new Trump administration they are discontinuing their afternoon news program. This may be a bit of an overstatement, as they are only changing the name in order to reflect our new reality. It will now be called: Awful Things Considered
Not your funniest joke, SDB.
DeleteBut, perhaps prescient, as today we learn that the FCC is investigating NPR and PBS, though more for their commercial sponsorship messages than for their content.
On The Mediarecently aired a show on the repeated attempts to defund public broadcasting.
I prefer to listen to the WEAKENED EDITION.
DeleteA looooong time ago I was driving my son to day care and listening to NPR on the way. Which prompted my son to say "When I get to Dolly's [the name of the proprietor of his day care] I'm going to tell everybody about National Puppet Radio."
DeleteI also submitted Dolly Parton/Doll Part as an answer but really hoped someone on this site would come up with a better answer. JAWS, you're our only hope.
I like "National Puppet Radio". When I left Bell Labs to go to PA school, my young niece was initially excited by my career change, less so when she later learned that I was not going to be a magician's assistant.
DeleteOf course when you need a break from the news programming you can always listen to The Splattered Table.
DeleteAnd jan, I am relieved to know that it was not my funniest joke. Not sure I can post that one here. It is a medical joke too, but also a bit off color. I just go where the words take me; not looking for a cheap and easy off color laugh. I only think of it as perhaps my funniest because it is 3 puns. And you are welcome to email me @ Jonathan Swift.com, or something like that, for the joke, if you get my meaning.
Joseph Goebbels would be proud of our new FCC führer.
DeleteWorking on it eight hours a day and still can't figure it out.
ReplyDeleteHaha
DeleteAn answer finally came to me. It’s trivial but it does the job (and is consistent with the posted hints).
ReplyDeleteThis singer occasionally goes into detail about how big they are in some places.
ReplyDeleteDOLLY PARTON; DOLL PART
ReplyDelete"Coffee ☕" refers to a cup of Joe as in "Jolene," one of DOLLY PARTON'S most famous songs.
I thought you might have been referring to hair style with “coif-y”
DeleteLorenzo, I like that too!
DeleteDOLLY PARTON >>> DOLL PART
ReplyDeleteDOLLY PARTON (—> DOLL PART)
ReplyDeleteMy reply to Nodd’s comment about the singer’s middle name being a book was a hint that included the middle name: “By changing the final letter of the singer’s first name, you can rearrange all 3 names to get something you would never hear from the singer."
—> Dolly Rebecca Parton —> change y to e —> a deplorable concert
I solved this almost immediately, but I didn’t think the answer was right because the syllabification is wrong. “Dolly Parton” is properly syllabicated Dol-ly Par-ton, not Doll-y Part-on. I’d like to hear if Will has something to say on Sunday about this obvious error.
Don't hold your breath on that happening. Several years back he presented us with a puzzle having to do with a word in 3 syllables. We were to go by those syllable breaks to solve it. Well, one of the breaks was wrong and I was the only one here to mention it. No one else either noticed or seemed to care.
DeleteDOLLY PARTON → DOLL PAR(T). The "T" is part of the second syllable "TON"...
ReplyDeleteI wrote, “Sterling silver.” Stirling silver is sometimes stamped with the numerals 925, meaning 92.5% silver with the remainder other metals. 925 sounds like “Nine to Five,” a big hit for Dolly Parton and a movie she was in. Obscure enough for you?
ReplyDeleteOur good friend Violin Teddy, one of Puzzleria!s "Most Valuable Puzzle-maker-players," once again takes center-stage on this week's Puzzleria! She has created another "Strad-Steiff Subleties" baffle-fest! this time it's a nine-puzzle virtuoso masterpiece titled "Transporting parts of speech." (For example, the sentence:
ReplyDelete'“After you scale a mountain, you may weigh less the next day when you climb onto your scale contains two "scales" — one of them a verb, the other a noun.
We'll upload Puzzleria! later this afternoon... as soon as possible.
Also on this week's menus:
~ a Schpuzzle of the Week titled "MacBeth, Red King of Scotland,"
~ a Ruthlessly Yankee Hors d’Oeuvre titled "Fish parts depart from two pelicans,"
~ an Unmerging A Merger Slice titled "Pronoun emerges synonymous,"
~ a Piscine Parts Dessert titled "Fabrics non-fishy and fishy," and
~ 14 riffs of this week's NPR puzzle titled "Deep-sixing of end-parts leaves Doll Part."
That adds up to 27 puzzles! (You can do four-a-day on Thursday-through-Wednesday, but taking a three-a-day break on Sunday... a day of rest when the next NPR puzzle is uploaded from NPR and Blaine/s Blog... making it just another day of "pleasurable work!")
Lego...
My clue was: "I do wish Will had used the puzzle last week."
ReplyDeleteDolly's birthday was January 19th.
DOLLY PARTON -> DOLL PART
ReplyDelete>> Is it by chance one in a quintet?
> (Maybe a nonet?)
Hinting at "9 to 5".
> U
Sounds like "ewe". DOLLY PARTON was the namesake of the first cloned mammal, a female sheep (because it was cloned from a mammary gland cell).
> Rearrange to get two opposites.
Dally and pronto (opposites as imperatives)
I thought about posting that I thought this was a baad puzzle, but thought it might be TMI.
DeleteDolly Parton, doll part
ReplyDeleteI don't usually risk alluding to joke answers until I'm reasonably sure what the real answer is.
ReplyDeleteI'm reasonably sure the real answer is Dolly Parton (however you slice it).
I don't expect any prize.
"Mic jack" was kind of silly; everything's pretty much wireless anymore, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWfD9HPzznk
And I'd never heard of Leroy Gomez before. In making up a name, I gravitated to the short, rather than long "e" sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ToR4JqQHw8&t=27s
DOLLY PARTON -> DOLL PART
ReplyDeleteMy clue it's off brand relates to my work in MARKETING.
We like to make fun of her Theme Park, Dollywood, as being off brand because of its hours open, which should be 9 to 5, but are instead 10 to 6!
Clotheslover reminded us that another singer with two-syllable first and last names had recorded one of Dolly's songs (Whitney Houston, I Will Always Love You). That reminded me of a clever puzzle of the past, which replaced the (correct) second syllables of her names with an "e" to get a well-known national landmark. Loved that one.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to Iris explaining "Well, it isn't Courtney Love!" I didn't catch the reference, but I'm assuming it's naughty.
ReplyDeleteOh, hi, Lancek. Not naughty; Courtney Love's band, Hole, did a song called "Doll Parts." It's the one wherein she sings "Some day, you will ache like I ache."
DeleteExcellent! I knew Courtney Love was the lead singer of Hole, but I wasn't familiar with any of their songs. The "naughty" speculation was based on her reputation. The fact that it stayed posted all week suggests that the song was unfamiliar to Blainesvillians.
DeleteWell, maybe jsulbyrne, Spanky FcFarland, and Word Woman knew.
DeleteYes - see my comment above. I took that chance.
DeleteSo, at exactly 3:00pm, I had a call from my (midwestern) area code that said "Probable Spam" on my phone. I ignored it for those reasons, not thinking about what time it was. I've always assumed that a call would indicate it's something NPR associated in the caller ID. Did I screw up? Please tell me I didn't screw up.
ReplyDeleteYou can probably exhale. My call came from area code 202.
DeleteWhen I've gotten The Call, it's been closer to 3:20 ET. There was nothing to indicate any association with NPR, but not tagged as probable spam. Don't count on seeing a DC area code, though.
DeleteI got the call once, but it was 15 years ago, a lifetime ago in communications technology. It came in at about 3:15pm and was from NATL PUBLIC RADIO in area code 202, or something like that.
DeleteDolly Parton; doll part. My clue -- The singer’s middle name is a book. (Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier.)
ReplyDeleteMy clue "Radio Flyer" was a reference to the little red wagon. In 1967, Porter Wagoner introduced singer Dolly Parton on his TV show. She became part of a well-known vocal duo with him from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.
ReplyDeleteBlaine, with alternate syllabification the leftover letters are LYON, also pretty far off.
ReplyDeleteDolly Parton was the answer I had in mind, but I agree with Dr. K, the syllabication is Dol-ly Par-ton, not Doll-y Part-on (see my comment above, where I said you would need the first letter of the second syllable of each name to get the "piece of a toy"). Unsatisfactory.
ReplyDeleteMy post above - “Greetings fellow bloggers….I’ve been working at this all day hoping the singer’s genre is one I know, follow and enjoy (ie, not rap, jazz, country, etc). I finally have the intended answer, which wasn’t so straightforward for me!” ……… The “Greetings” was for “Helllo….Dolly”; “working all day” was a reference to “9 to 5” (like some others did); and the genres included “not rap” which is Parton backwards, which is why I said “not straightforward”! Crito - I thought your wish for this puzzle last week was due to all of the presidential “pardons”!
ReplyDeleteMy clue "Star Trek: Enterprise" was in reference to one of that show's stars, actress Jolene Blalock. "Jolene" was one of Dolly's hit songs.
ReplyDeleteI was working on the answer for eight hours a day--i.e., 9 to 5.
ReplyDelete"Finally found an answer, but the syllabi(fi)cation is wrong in both names" Ya, that was DOL-LY PAR-TON, which fails to answer the puzzle. I was hoping the puzzle had an actual answer, but the closest I got was DUST SPRING.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, a different puzzle: Trump is blaming blacks etc, for the plane crash. I have seen only the one video, but it looks like the helicopter came nose first into the side of the airliner. If so, the helicopter crew would be at fault, though we don't know why. Can anyone shed any light on this?
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/HLkF-C6NPL0 -- 1/29/25 Plane Crash with Black Hawk Helicopter Explained
DeleteInvestigations take time, but will shed much light on what happened. Please be patient.
DeleteSure, but it's fun to speculate. Accidents like this almost always have multiple causes. I'm betting the NTSB finds fault with both the chopper pilots (flying too high and too far west, failure to identify announced traffic, failure to see and avoid) and with the controller (failure to note the chopper's deviation, failure to recognize the conflict). The real question for me is whether they'll call out the systemic failures, like understaffed towers, overworked controllers, and the acceptance of dangerous shortcuts to keep the air traffic moving.
DeleteI watched a new movie on DVD just now that only today came in at the library. I was fairly sure it would be good from the cover and brief description, but it turned out to be much better than I expected. I highly recommend it to all here.
ReplyDeleteThe Old Oak is a 2023 drama film directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty. It is a co-production between the United Kingdom, France and Belgium.[1]
After its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 29 September 2023, by StudioCanal. The film was nominated for Outstanding British Film at the 77th British Academy Film Awards.
Premise
Pub landlord TJ Ballantyne, living in a previously thriving mining community in County Durham, struggles to hold onto his pub and keep it as the one remaining public space where people can meet in the town. Meanwhile, tensions rise when Syrian refugees are placed there, but Ballantyne strikes up a relationship with one of the refugees, Yara.
My comment/clue "Solved it on my way to work this morning." was an oblique reference to Dolly Parton's workplace comedy "9 to 5".
ReplyDeleteDolly Parton --> doll part
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed the “deadline post” yesterday. I was quite busy and then proceeded to forget all about it. Anyway, last Sunday I said, “Syllabication aside, this is not a well-worded puzzle.” If my answer is the intended one, it seems like many others here feel the same way. Even if the toy is a dollhouse, speaking of the “doll part” of a dollhouse is rather clumsy.
My AI came up with Tina Turner. This gives teeter-totter.
ReplyDeleteVery clever I think. Many sites list these as outdoor toys. I like this answer better than Dolly. No pronunciation problems
I asked DEEP AI. It said,
Delete'The singer you're thinking of is "Adele." If you drop the second syllable from both her first and last names, you get "Ad" and "Le," which sounds like "all," a piece of a toy, specifically a "doll."'
I pointed out that Adele has only one name.
'I apologize for the confusion. The singer you are looking for is Justin Timberlake. When you drop the second syllable from each name, you are left with "Just" and "Tim," which can refer to "disc" and "ball," which are toy components. Thank you for your patience, and I appreciate your clarification!'.
Gosh, Crito. Perhaps there is still hope that AI will not render obsolete those of us with UI (Unartificial Intelligence)!
DeleteLegoWhoHasSI(SuperficialIntelligence)
Intended answer: DOLLY PARTON => DOLL PART
ReplyDeleteI had clued:
A lookalike of this singer once appeared on the cover of a magazine, and that magazine featured a puzzle by Will Shortz. The lookalike appeared on the March/April 1982 cover of GAMES magazine, which actually contained more than one puzzle by Will Shortz, but that would have been a little too obvious.
Alternate answers: Playboi Carti (Play Car) - he is in the Billboard Top 100, so therefore it is reasonable to say he is popular. However, his lyrics are generally not something I would expect to hear on NPR, since they are R-rated. And before you complain that a play car is not "part of" a toy, it is part of a Hot Wheels racing set that comes with two cars.
Michael Jackson - (Mic jack) - My kids had a toy karaoke machine, which did include a standard jack for a microphone.
You delivered on your promise. And I think you are right that his lyrics (X-rated as often as R-rated) will never be heard on NPR.
DeleteI Will Always Love You was written by Dolly Parton, but made more famous by Whitney Houston who also has a two syllable first and last name.
ReplyDeleteI am beginning to think things may be getting back on a more congenial track. NPR is reporting that even ICE officers are going to church now.
ReplyDeleteName a part of the human body in seven letters. Add a B and rearrange the result it to get another part of the human body.
ReplyDeleteNot very satisfying puzzle.
DeleteThis is this week's NPR puzzle.
DeleteYes, it is.
DeleteLOVE your comment, skydiveboy (and they are also going back to school).
ReplyDelete