Been there, done that.Q: Name a famous sports figure of the past (5,4). Change the third and fourth letters of the first name to a single D, and you'll have the nickname of another famous American of the past. Who are these two people?
A: LARRY BIRD, LADY BIRD (Johnson)
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.
33-1.
ReplyDeleteWow I think I get that clue!
Delete36.
36+1, no?
DeleteHmmmm.
DeleteWell, not the way I was thinking, but... maybe I get it.
Love this clue, Dr. K. 26-6 is better though : - )
DeleteI guess I misunderstood the clue!
DeleteI thought the 33 was Larry, and then subtract one to get Magic Johnson.
My 36 was along different lines: LBJ was the 36th POTUS.
And thus LBJ’s “plus one” would be a reference to his wife.
DeleteRemove the final two letters from the sports figure and rearrange. You get an important asset of any community.
ReplyDeleteMy wife would agree, Rob.
DeleteExcellent! Totally agree.
DeleteNice, Rob!
DeleteWill should have saved this one for next month.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReplace the last two letters of the ACTUAL first name of this famous American with an 'e.' You will get the first name of the sports figure's father.
ReplyDeleteRearrange the letters of the other famous person's last name to describe something typical of many take-out restaurants.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that my comment was even more deserving of Blaine's. Sorry.
DeleteOn the NPR website, the puzzle does not include the letter lengths of the sports figure’s names.
ReplyDeleteIt also instructs us to submit answers by "by Thursday, February 6th at 3 p.m. ET". Well, I tried...
DeleteI didn't need any coffee to get this one.
ReplyDeleteThe sport can be found on many lists. Not bocce!
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked there wasn't a gunfighter named Bad Ruth
ReplyDeleteTyping this with my non-dominant hand.
ReplyDeleteGot it. To clarify, the 3rd and 4th letter are changed to a single D, not a double D. That is ABCDE would become ABDE.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to replace both letters with a D (ABDDE), which doesn't seem to work.
Thank you for the clarification, JAWS. That directions should be re-worded to include that, otherwise...
Delete"The" directions. Oh well.
DeleteOH!!! It actually does work, but these look way, way too obscure....
DeleteBunny Bell -> Buddy Bell
Terry Long -> Teddy Long
Until the answer came to me a second ago, I was trying to do something with Teddy Bear.
DeleteUnknown - Bunny Bell was English, not American, so that answer does not qualify.
DeleteFor Terry Long/Teddy Long, it's a bit of a stretch to say that "Teddy Long" is the nickname of Theodore Long, but that is technically correct (the best kind of correct). As for famous...
Upon further review, the puzzle does not actually state that the sports figure is American, so my previous comment is overturned. Unknown, you have an alternate answer.
DeleteYes it does, by referring to "another famous American".
DeleteAlso, unknown's Bell answer goes the wrong way. The sports figure's name gets the letter replacement
DeleteMany thanks, I couldn't figure it out. So now: Name a famous movie acting person of the present (5,4). Change the third and fourth letters of the first name to a *single* D, and you'll have the name of a not-that-famous musical artist (the google tells me).
DeleteI think this is similar, if not the same as another puzzle, 3 or 4 years ago? It almost had me grounded.
ReplyDeleteYes. This is a familiar puzzle.
ReplyDeleteSeems familiar to me too.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBand-Aid
ReplyDeleteI'll just say of the recent past in reference to the sports figure.
ReplyDeleteI had to wince when Will asked the on-air contestant, "Who is the chief executive?" Especially after that disgusting Elon Musk visit this week. Ol' D.T. got dissed.
ReplyDeleteLecher
ReplyDeleteThat's a wide territory.
DeleteNote the sports figure’s initials (oops, out of order!). Also, there is another famous sports figure of the past who could have had the same nickname as the famous American.
ReplyDelete+They're getting too easy. Except for the brand names, which I never do.
ReplyDelete"Getting?" LOL Shortz has been dishing up childish simple word play (I refuse to call them puzzles - it's degrading to puzzles) for a long time.
DeleteI hope it's Brett Hart, or Bret Harte. Anyway, I'm escaping the cold by traveling South, over the Gulf of . . . America in a few days.
ReplyDeleteVanilla
ReplyDeleteA contemporary and rival of the "famous sports figure of the past" had the same surname as the other "famous American of the past."
ReplyDeleteLegoWhoCannotFindPastEvidenceOfThisWeek'sNPRPuzzleOnBlaine'sHelpfulSearchEngine
I can tell!
DeleteLancekWhoDeletedHisSimilarPostAfterFindingSuchEvidenceAndSuspectsLegoMightDoTheSameIfHeDoes
Lego, Blaine carefully nixes those links of similar puzzles until after the Thursday deadline. It's easy enough to unlink the past puzzles for a few days.
DeleteThis puzzle uses the phrase "of the past" a lot.
ReplyDeleteCould mean they've "passed", or just "passe".
DeleteThis puzzle is similar to a puzzle of the past. There was a Lady Bird Johnson->Larry Bird, Magic Johnson puzzle on June 13, 2021. Also, Larry Bird might not be considered "of the past" because he is still alive.
DeleteFor those who may have already solved this week's NPR challenge: Below, I have reprinted a puzzle appearing on the current edition of Puzzleria! about an event that happened less than a week ago:
ReplyDeleteUppercase Hors d’Oeuvre
Brow-furrowing headline
Name a headline you might have seen earlier this week, in 12, 3, 6 and 4 letters.
All three letters of the second word would be UPPERCASE letters, whether the other three words in the headline were or were not written in all-capital letters.
What is this headline?
LegoWhoNotesThatIfYouActuallyDidSeeThisHeadLineLessThanAWeekAgoThenLegoIsNotNearlyAsCleverAndOriginalAsHeLikesToThinkHeIs!
A hint to my immediately-above puzzle:
DeleteThe three-letter second word in all-caps is not really a word, but rather a number. As spelled, however, it is a homophone of a five-letter verb ending in "s".
The three longer words are on the map.
LegoLegalBrief
A rare opportunity to verb a number! Your hint confirms that I have it right, although this pleases me not. I'd have preferred that the first word would have exchanged positions with the third and fourth.
Delete
DeleteOf course...
Very cute, lego! I had struggled with your puzzle prior to the hint, mainly because so many 3-letter government agencies had been in the news that week, some of them in confirmation (12 letters) hearings.
DeleteThanks and congrats to Xrysostom, Dr. K and Lancek for their perception and kind comments.
DeleteMy answer, as they figured out, was:
"Philadelphia LIX Kansas City" (Philadelphia (LICKS) Kansas City" (licks)
LegoWhoAdds"...InSuperBowlLIX"
a movie
ReplyDeleteHere's another challenge from the news: Think of a 3-word phrase used to dismiss idle threats. Delete two Roman numerals and rearrange the remaining letters to get an actual threat that will probably not be dismissed.
ReplyDeleteI should probably add that the 3-word phrase is (4, 2, 5).
DeleteTALK IS CHEAP minus I, C --> KASH PATEL
DeleteSo easy! I thought this would be hard for me as I do not follow sports and know very little about its stars, although some names are impossible to not hear of. But what I did was make some correct assumptions about the name to be changed and then simply went through the alphabet in my mind to see if anything popped up. When I came to the initial letter I got the answer right away. Clint Eastwood comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteA pretty recent repeat! But I'll refrain from making any rude gestures.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, NPR doesn't give the 5,4 clue. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDid "Fat Albert" ever go by "Mad Albert?"
ReplyDeleteA recent post here got me to the answer.
ReplyDeleteI was among the folks who misread the puzzle statement and was looking at people nicknamed Teddy, Maddy, Daddy, et al. Was listening to some music when I saw the correct puzzle statement.
ReplyDeleteAn aha moment soon followed.
Be bop classic.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone noticed the ridiculous price of eggs recently?
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: "Marrakesh Express"
ReplyDeleteRalph Houk - former mlb manager. Too easy.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to posting (or not posting) the puzzle on the website, perhaps the NPR intern could be assigned the task of checking against former puzzles.
ReplyDeleteI paid $12 for a dozen large white Englander eggs yesterday. ‘Course I live on Cape Cod where things are always a bit pricier, but no omelets on MY breakfast menu for a while!!
ReplyDeleteIt’s a result of the bird flu, which even His Majesty Trump has no control over.
But the Department of Health and Human Services is hard at work, directing the CDC to take down all flu vaccine campaign materials from its website. Care to bet on whether we try to duplicate Operation Warp Speed if the virus affects more than a few poultry workers?
DeleteI predict people will be scrambling to find eggs this Easter.
DeleteThe way prices are going, egg farmers will have to be on the lookout for poachers.
DeleteI need more puzzles/brain teasers every day to keep from going completely insane these days!!!!
ReplyDeleteOkay, Diz, here's a puzzle I like. It's not in the Will Shortz NPR style -- more mathy -- but maybe some others here will like it.
ReplyDeleteI deal from the top of a shuffled ordinary deck of cards, turning them face up one at a time. When I get to my first ace, I designate the next card as the 'chosen' one, but I don't show it.
Which is more likely: that the chosen card is the two of hearts, or that it's the ace of spades?
Comment: of course, it's possible to calculate the answer by 'brute force', but it's not easy! But if you think about things the right way, you can figure it out basically without any calculation at all.
Well first off we know one ace has already been revealed, but we know nothing about how many 2's may have been revealed, so there is a one out of four chance the ace of spades has already been revealed, but no info on the two of hearts.
DeleteAll that red herring stuff being said I suspect the odds are 50/50.
DeleteAn ace has already been revealed, so that counts against the ace of spades. On the other hand, the deuce of hearts might be in the pile already discarded, whereas we know the ace of spades isn't.
DeleteDo those balance out exactly?
I agree with everyone else that the probabilities are equal. It can be shown with probability, or we can show that Crito's intuition is correct.
DeleteImagine we first pull out the 2♡ from the deck. Now shuffle the remaining cards and place them in a line face up. Make a note of the first ace. Now imagine randomly placing the 2♡ anywhere in the line. It could go before the first card, between the first and second, or after the last card. That's 52 spaces where it could go. But only one of those is directly after the first ace. So the probability is 1/52.
Now repeat this process but this time take out the A♠. Shuffle the remaining cards and again lay them in a line. Make a note of where the "first" ace is currently. Again there are 52 places where the A♠ could go, but the only one that will satisfy our conditions is if the A♠ goes right after the first ace. So again that's a probability of 1/52.
The probabilities are equal so either case is equally as likely.
As for whether the A♠ could go anywhere before the "first" ace, yes it could. It would then become the first ace and wouldn't match our desired outcome of being directly after the card we initially designated as the "first" ace.
This would be true regardless of the card we chose to be after the first ace. We could have picked any of the 52 cards, done this experiment and each card would have the same 1/52 probability of being the card after the first ace.
Bravo, Blaine.
DeleteMy answer is pretty nearly the same. Suppose I'm dealing (I won't let anyone see the cards as I turn them over, including the first ace), and we ask Blaine which of the 2♡, A♠ is more likely to come after the first ace... but then when I get to the first ace, we ask SDB which of those two cards is more likely to be the bottom card in the deck.
(a) Obviously, the answer SDB gives should be the same as the answer Blaine gives. Those cards can't be more likely to be in the one position than the other!
(b) Also obviously, SDB has to say 1/52. Before the deal began, obviously that was the chance for each, and nothing has changed.
(a) + (b) entail the answer.
The following comment has nothing at all to do with finding the correct answer, but I just found it interesting.
DeleteI usually solve Wordle after midnight and did so last night. On a table beside my favorite living room chair is a deck of Bicycle playing cards that are sitting face down and not in their box. I occasionally pick these up to practice fans and one handed shuffling and a few other magic tricks. I know this deck is always fully shuffled. So after midnight before I retired for the night I thought I would take this deck of cards and take one at a time off the top just to see which ace and deuce came up first. I did not do this to prove anything, but just out of curiosity, and it proves nothing. So here is what I found in order:
2 of Clubs
6 of Diamonds
Ace of Spades
Queen of Spades
Ace of Hearts
Jack of Clubs
7 of Hearts
Ace of Clubs
6 of Hearts
5 of Diamonds
Queen of Diamonds
4 of Spades
8 of Diamonds
10 of Diamonds
2 of Hearts
It proves nothing, but I found it interesting.
I finally found out what DOGE stands for:
ReplyDeleteDonald's Obnoxious Ghastly Egomaniac
Makes sense!
DeleteDOGE = Dog Shit. Any reader of Blaine's knows that e is the universal clue and in this case stands for excrement.
DeleteDOGE also stands for cryptocurrency scamming, since there was already a DOGE coin on the market years ago, the price spiked once Elon made his announcement, and as usual everyone else was holding the bag as the price fell back towards its actual value, which is bupkis.
DeleteMost excellent! Also reminds us of a favorite Indian food.
DeleteAs a Boomer who was launched just a tad before Sputnik, I have a problem with the descriptor "of the past" as it's often used in the Sunday Puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHere is another interesting thing with card shuffling. If I were to give a deck of red backed cards to one person, or group, and a deck of blue backed cards to another person, or group, and ask them to go into another room and decide among themselves which deck will be riffle shuffled at least 7 or more times and which deck will be manually arranged to appear to be randomly shuffled and for them to write which is which by color on a piece of paper and that they will not compare the 2 decks face up, and then return and fan them out in a row for each deck and ask me to identify which was shuffled properly and which manually, I will be able to get it right immediately each time. This is not a magic trick. Do you know why?
ReplyDeleteThe manually sorted deck will be more, “regular” in its sequencing of numbers/faces than a truly randomly shuffled one. A randomly shuffled deck will have “pairs” (i.e. two of a value adjacent) the manually sorted deck won’t.)
DeleteThat is the right idea, but it is more obvious than that. There will be some long groups of the same color cards too. To the human mind it just will not look random when it actually is and they will over think it if they are trying to make a deck look to be randomly shuffled.
DeletePrecisely. Random numbers are not uniformly distributed… and uniform distribution isn’t random.
DeleteBtw, in the pre desktop computers with their PSEUDO random number generators, we used to use the phone book for random numbers. Go to the non business listings, pick the last name of the first person to walk by (I.e. SMITH) and read down the last digits in a series of phone numbers. Either that or a set of 20 sided (isodecadedral) dice.
The point in my opinion is that life is not really as it appears to be and how we think it is. I no longer believe in coincidences.
DeleteZee, interesting. Are the final digits all equally probable? For business numbers they wouldn't be -- that's why you said "non-business listings".
Delete(Icosahedral, by the way -- and who had icosahedral dice in the pre-PC days?)
Correct, businesses often bought, “premium,” numbers, ending xx00, because they were more memorable. And then bought sequential numbers, xx01, xx02, etc. As these numbers would be listed together, in the phone book, they were non-random. Personal/home numbers tended to be issued sequentially….but were shuffled when listed alphabetically by owners name, making them random.
DeleteBe careful when seeking equal probabilities in random sequences. In a sufficiently large sample, digit frequency will approach equality, but over a smaller sample, a uniform distribution indicates non-randomness. Randomness requires each sequential event be independent of the preceding events.
Consider drawing lots numbered 1-10. If lots are not reused, every number will be drawn once within 10 tries. Since the last number drawn is, “forced,” as a result of the prior draws, it is not random. On the other hand, if the lots are re-used, each draw is independent and random…but 10% of the time the same number will be drawn on two sequential draws. The result is a random, but non-uniform, distribution.
Years ago, 20 sided dice (sorry about the spelling) were used in statistics and probability courses. I had a set of three (red, white, yellow?), souvenirs from a grad school course, taken back when Nixon was president.
SZ, Are you speaking of decimation, which is one in ten, and not the way this very old word is now daily being misused by the ignorant media?
DeleteNow this just got me to thinking about my most aggravating mispronounced word, ARCTIC. Should I begin mispronouncing ARTICAL as ARCTICAL, just to get even? Will I burn in Hell as a result? Just asking.
SDB - I was merely following up on your point that random distributions need not APPEAR uniform.
DeleteConsider tossing 6 coins at a time. Over the long run one would expect the cumulative numbers of heads and tails to be equal, and that tosses of 3 heads and three tails would be most common.
However, tosses of 6 heads (or 6 tails) will happen and are no less random than any other outcome.
At the other extreme, a gambler who watches a roulette wheel and notices that 17 hasn't come up in a while and bets on it, "Because it's due...," is expecting randomness to produce uniform results OVER THE SHORT TERM, and is forgetting that the wheel has no memory and that each spin is independent of all that have gone before it.
SZ, I know. I was just taking the opportunity to rant about my disgust with the media misusing our language.
DeleteTo SuperZee: except when it doesn't https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwtcFPlVXN0
DeleteItaly - Statistics presumes honest roulette wheels. Rick’s operated differently.
DeleteIS, That reminds me of June 2nd, 1995 I think it was, and I was driving back to Seattle from the Phoenix area. I stopped at some wide place in the road in North Nevada for gas. The only thing there that I recall was a modern building with a gas station, café and casino. The gambling area was small and included a roulette game where several people were playing. I stood and watched for several minutes and one number kept coming up frequently. I should have bet on it, but I am not a gambler and did not think it would keep hitting on that number. It really seemed strange.
Delete"I knew the game was rigged, but it was the only game in town" kind of town?
DeleteLP/EP
ReplyDeleteElvis Presley covered L,Loyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy".
DeleteLady Bird's actual first name was Claudia.
Lloyd
DeleteBREAKING NEWS!
ReplyDeleteElon Must has made an offer to the mayor of Tampa, Florida to locate some of his businesses to Tampa if they will change the name of their city to TampaX.
LARRY BIRD, LADY BIRD
ReplyDelete"I didn't need any coffee to get this one." As in no JOE was needed. LARRY BIRD's full name is LARRY JOE BIRD.
"Vanilla" refers to French Vanilla as in LARRY BIRD's nickname of "The Hick from French Lick (Indiana)."
Larry Bird, Lady Bird Johnson
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Band-Aid.” Band-Aids are made by Johnson & Johnson, evoking Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson.
LARRY BIRD & LADY BIRD JOHNSON
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"Clint Eastwood"
His movie, Bird.
LARRY BIRD → LADY BIRD
ReplyDeleteLarry Bird >> Lady Bird
ReplyDeleteI’d initially misread the puzzle statement. When I saw the correct puzzle statement, I happened to be listening to Queen’s recording of Radio Gaga. From there it was a short trip to Lady Gaga and Lady Bird, and on to Larry Bird.
Puzzleria! is proud to present this week a four-ply Appetizer that is the brainchild a talented puzzle-maker who is truly a great friend of Puzzleria! He has prepared a "Pleasingly Palatable Four-Ply Appetizer” titled “A Foursome of Terrific Riffs...” – that is, riffs of recent NPR challenges from December 29 (Bobby Jacobs), January 5 (Joseph Young), January 19 (Sandy Weisz) and February 16 (Jim Vespe).
ReplyDeleteWe shall upload P! this afternoon very soon.
Also on this week's P! menus are:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled "A fish acquired, a babe retired,"
* a "Howdy Hors d’Oeuvre" titled “U say farewell & I say O hell!”
* a Wide World Of Motorsports Slice titled “The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat,”
* an All In The Family Dessert titled "Informal family-unit immunity," and
* ten riffs of this week's Riffing Off Shortz And Vespe NPR puzzle titled "Dribblin’ Larry, Lyndon’s Lady" – including six from Nodd and one from Plantsmith.
Puzzleria! is a veritable "Riff Fest" this week!
LegoInvitingAllToComeFeastOnSomeTerrificallyTastyRiffs
Dr. Awkward said he wasn't going to use any rude gestures. That comment got me straight to bird.
ReplyDeleteMy musical clue was "Marrakesh Express." That song was on Crosby Stills and Nash's first album. David Crosby was originally with the Byrds. (I was going to use the song "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," also on their first album, but the lyrics contain references to birds, flying and lady.)
I believe Dr. Awkward is female.
DeleteMy apologies. I made an assumption based on my backward upbringing. I'm reminded of the old riddle...How can the surgeon claim that's their son, if the father died in the car crash?
DeleteNo worries. I remember that riddle "of the past." My kids got the answer right away.
DeleteAnd as an aside, calling LARRY BIRD "of the past" is odd since he is not "of the passed."
Good point -- that riddle is... passé!
DeleteAs Scarlett highlighted by using singular 'their' in the statement of the question -- back when it was a tricky riddle, that kind of usage would have been quite striking and I think would have given away the answer.
There are many possible solutions to the riddle if you ever watched Jerry Springer or Maury Povich. ðŸ¤
DeleteCorrect on both counts—I was referring to flipping the bird, and I am a Genuine Female Doctor (but the literature kind, not the medical kind!).
DeletePerhaps then you might be able to prescribe an effective treatment for my dangling participle.
DeleteA teaspoon of hysteron proteron should do the trick.
DeleteIs that a preposition?
Delete"Bebop Classic" refers to "Ladybird" by Todd Dameron, who wrote it in 1939. He and Fats Navarro did a great version of it.
ReplyDeleteTadd Dameron. Can't blame spellcheck for that one.
ReplyDeleteMy clue was:
ReplyDelete"The sport can be found on many lists. Not bocce!"
"LISTS NOT BOCCE" is an anagram of "BOSTON CELTICS".
The 2021 version of this puzzle also referenced a rival with the same last name as the sports figure as part of the puzzle, which led me to take down what I had thought was an original comment. It must have been lodged in my memory.
ReplyDeleteAlternative person solution:
ReplyDeleteJAMIE FOXX ~ Jade Foxx
My clues - 1) reference to the sports figure’s initials though out of order, were LJB (Instead of LBJ) and 2) reference to another famous sports figure of the past who could have had the same nickname as the famous American = Sue Bird of UConn and WNBA fame (perhaps she should be Lady Bird?)
ReplyDeleteDOG-E reminds us of a favorite Indian food: CUR-E
ReplyDeleteLARRY BIRD —> “LADY BIRD” JOHNSON
ReplyDeleteSorry that I’m a little late to the party, but it’s been a busy day.
Hint: 33-1.
This is actually a 2-(or maybe 3-)part hint:
1. 33-1 was Larry Bird’s 1978-79 Indiana State University basketball team’s record at the end of the season. ISU had been undefeated until it lost the Championship game in the NCAA Tournament, aka March Madness, against a different Johnson, not Lady Bird (of course) but Magic Johnson and Michigan State, 75-64.
2. 33 was also Bird’s college and pro jersey number (as well as Magic’s college jersey number).
(3. 33-1 could also be 33 minus1, or 32, Magic’s pro jersey number.) Does this count as a hint?
Bird’s and Magic’s college and pro jersey numbers have all been retired by Indiana State, Michigan State, the Boston Celtics, and the Los Angeles Lakers.
For Vandal in Seattle: Thanks for the kind words and, yes, 26-6 was better (though I still can’t figure out how 6 teams managed to beat MSU that year). Another pair of stats I recall from that banner year are 25-7, my alma mater’s record, and 101-67, the drubbing it took from MSU in the Final Four semis.
Living where he does, Jan didn’t surprise me by solving it first. But as an aging hoopster, I would have been disappointed had I not quickly followed suit.
(3) sure does count as a hint -- I got it! (As I noted today above)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDr. K, you refer to yourself as "an aging hoopster." Does that mean you played (and perhaps still play) basketball competitively?
DeleteLegoWhoIsAnAgingHoopsterWhoAsACollegeSophomore"Played"DuringTheLastTwoMinutesOfABlowoutGameAgainstTheAlMcGuireCoachedMarquetteWarriors(NowKnownAsTheGoldenEagles)WhenLego'sCoachJimSmithWhoHimselfPlayedBasketballAtMarquette"EmptiedTheBench"SoThatAScrubLikeLegoCouldSayThatHe"Played"AgainstMarquetteAtTheMeccaArenaInMilwaukeeAndAlsoCouldSayThatHeSaidABrief"Hi"ToMilwaukeeBuckLewAlcindorInStreetClothes(WhoWasLeavingTheMeccaWhereTheBucksPlayedAndHadJustPracticed)AndWhoAfterTheGameShookTheHandOfMarquetteStandout Dean"TheDream"Meminger(EvenThoughLego'sDadLikedToJokeThat"ByTheTimeJoe(Lego)GotIntoTheGame'DeanTheDream'HadAlreadyShoweredAndDressed!"
Lego, no, there are no more competitive games for me. The last I played in was almost 15 years ago when I played on a team that included my son's college coach vs. my son's varsity team. Since then, I content myself with daily shootarounds on my driveway court.
DeleteSo easy, I am not even going give my answer. It's as it was the last time we had this very puzzle. Aren't we entitled to more original, challenging puzzles? Quality assurance, please!
ReplyDeleteLARRY BIRD -> LADY BIRD (Johnson)
ReplyDelete> This week's puzzle is a version of one from a few years ago.
On June 13, 2021.
> The famous American of the past shares a last name with a major rival of the sports figure.
Earvin "Magic" Johnson
LARRY BIRD, LADY BIRD (JOHNSON)
ReplyDeleteYes, this puzzle was a repeat from a few years ago, though I liked the setup of the older one a bit more.
My clue LECHER was a bit of misdirection.
I wasn't referencing LECHER as in being LECHEROUS
Rather, LECHER is the French verb meaning TO LICK. And Larry Bird famously hailed from FRENCH LICK, INDIANA.
My clue "Typing this with my non-dominant hand." references Celtics at Portland, 2/14/86, when right-handed Larry Bird decided to switch hands for fun and earned a triple-double, scoring 47 points while shooting almost exclusively left-handed. C's won 120-119 in overtime.
ReplyDeleteLARRY BIRD, LADY BIRD(Johnson)
ReplyDeletepjbAndMomAteOutWithMiaKateEarlierThisEveningAtCrackerBarrel,BTW
This week's challenge comes from Chad Graham of Philadelphia. Think of two classic music artists with multiple top 40 hits. Their first names are near-synonyms. And their last names are both game pieces. Who are they?
ReplyDeleteFirst two I thought of.
DeleteI can see why....
DeleteI can come up with a third with a little stretch.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOh, C'mon!
ReplyDeletehm yeah, maybe too easy. I'll see if I can think of a clue, for the main post on this puzzle.
ReplyDelete