The cartoon starring this character had a different name for quite awhile.Q: Name a well-known cartoon character in eight letters. Change the last letter to a U and rearrange the result to make a phrase you might see on a Valentine's Day card.
Olive Oyl was one of the cast of characters in the strip "Thimble Theater". It would be almost a decade later before the character Popeye appeared.
A: OLIVE OYL --> I LOVE YOU
57.
ReplyDeletePretty easy. Searching for a hint that doesn't give too much away.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Easy. But a clue?
ReplyDeleteGot it. Working on a clue...
ReplyDeleteTyping the character's name into a search engine yielded an image that is appropriate for this time of year.
DeleteFrom fewer than 500 correct entries last week, I'm expecting a rebound to more than 1500 this week. No hint needed.
ReplyDeleteThe character predates the character with which it is usually paired.
ReplyDeleteBrutal.
ReplyDeleteMacArthur
ReplyDeleteIt shouldn’t take many synapses firing or gears turning to solve it.
ReplyDeleteThe answer was on the tip of my thumb.
ReplyDeleteThat's putting a bit of a spin it, perhaps to tickle our fancy?
DeleteIt's debatable whether or not an adjective associated with the homonym applies to the character.
ReplyDeleteA notable death of 2024.
ReplyDeleteSometimes more than Mary.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTMI
DeleteWay TMI.
DeleteSuper way tmi. blackdavidw, please remove your post. Thanks.
DeleteBlaine?
DeleteThank you for removing that TMI meltdown, Blaine. Only I am allowed such slip ups. Just for such a breech, Blainesvillians, I'm gonna bust my noggin thinking of the most abstract, obstruse, oblique clue I can possibly think of. You have driven me to an opposite extreme. From now on, my clues will be vague, with a few logical disconnects. Now I see the error of TMI.
DeleteShoulda read the instructions at the bottom. Forewarned is forearmed.
DeleteWhat kind of dip are you serving at your Super Bowl party?
ReplyDeleteA nice smoked delta smelt spread
DeleteJust a simple salad....I know, not typical Super Bowl fare.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI was referring to SPINACH Dip of course!
DeleteThe evolution of the cartoon character is interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe last name of the creator of the character can be arranged to parts of mechanisms.
ReplyDeleteFinally an easy one...
ReplyDeleteRed Auerbach
ReplyDeleteJust an ordinary puzzle
ReplyDeleteHere in Philly, there are more pressing things to do (like Super Bowl parties and such) than this week’s puzzle.
ReplyDeleteChange the last letter of YOGI BEAR to a U and rearrange to get I BEG YOU (with an annoying A left over), which almost works.
ReplyDeleteIt works if the card shows a 3-toed sloth, and the card says, "Ai beg you." :-)
DeleteWhy not "I beg a-you?"
DeleteI thought that Led Zeppelin song was about this character!
ReplyDelete(My hint from two weeks ago really *would* be TMI this week.)
As often happens, the answer came to me in church. The 2nd reading included a hint.
ReplyDeleteWere there more ICE agents attending than usual?
DeleteAnyone else planning on fried chicken for the Super Bowl?
ReplyDeleteOur menu includes: pigs in blankets, egg rolls, veggies, humus, chips, salsa, and wings. So I'd say yes.
DeleteMy son likes biscuits.
ReplyDeleteMy son likes Popeyes biscuits.
DeleteA certain U.S. general comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteExactly 487 correct answers. Out of 487, the same person gets chosen within six months? suspicious. Come on, now. That's a bit sus. Maybe they ought to put a limit on that. Maybe not, I guess, since that would limit the number who enter. Still...
ReplyDeleteNo real reason to let someone win and selected to go on air more than once.
DeleteIt happened to me, too. I played on the air and got my lapel pin a number of years ago. Then I was called again within a year. I told the producer that since I already had my pin, he could choose someone else if he wanted to. He was very appreciative.
ReplyDeleteThat displays a true sense of noblesse oblige. Very nice.
DeleteNovember, 2010, the same person was a winner on WWDTM (taped on Thursday) and a first time entry winner on the Sunday Puzzle.
DeleteThough I commend Chuck for giving up his pin, achievements need recognition.
DeleteEasy peasy. I think this cartoon character is probably older than I am!
ReplyDeleteYup, I just looked it up. Way older than me
ReplyDeleteA character associated with the character has a syllable that sounds like a syllable of the phrase.
ReplyDeleteOlive Oyl is in the Popeye cartoon. The "eye" of "Popeye" sounds like the "I" of "I love you."
DeleteI have spoken to a relative of the cartoonist, a few years ago. She told me some interesting information.
ReplyDeleteThere was a connection to this puzzle a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteI like that one.
ReplyDeleteFascism Clue: TESLA
ReplyDeleteI give this puzzle the highest grade…..for simplicity, that is. It was easy as pie….or piece of cake…..or whatever the expression is. As for the on air contestant, clearly it was not her first time.
ReplyDeleteDearest Odie,
ReplyDeleteRoses are red
Violets are blue
A FUGLIER dog
None could view
Happy Valentine's Day, fugly.
From,
GARFIELD
Nice!
DeleteCuriously, GARFIELD is the answer that DeepSeek comes up with, claiming that when you turn the D into a U, it anagrams into an appropriate Valentine phrase . When I replied that GARFIELU does not anagram into that phrase, DeepSeek went into an infinite loop, agreeing that it was wrong previously, exploring other possibilities, coming up with the same answer, recognizing its new mistake, etc., etc. Amusing, but unimpressive.
DeleteMe too, Nodd.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a football fan, but it doesn't seem that Tom Brady is doing much of a job anchoring the commentary.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Ho hum. Ho hum. Ho hum.
DeleteI can appreciate the character's practical footwear.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe fastest I've ever solved one of these and I forgot to post! Anyone else get a Wes Anderson vibe?
ReplyDelete("Olive," "I love," "Isle of [Dogs]")
DeleteMy Clue: Colonel Mustard, in the kitchen, with the lead pipe.
ReplyDeleteTa-Nehisi Coates: "Race is the child of racism, not the father." Does that mean they don't know who the father is? No clue here, or maybe, I don't know.
ReplyDeleteOLIVE OYL, I LOVE YOU 💘
ReplyDelete"The evolution of the cartoon character is interesting." Evolution evokes EVOO, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for OLIVE OYL.
"Just an ordinary puzzle" As in so so (sew sew) as in Thimble Theatre, precursor to Popeye starring OLIVE OYL.
Happy Valentine's Day Eve, ya clever puzzlers!
OLIVE OYL → OLIVE OYU = I LOVE YOU
ReplyDeleteOLIVE OYL -L +U --> I LOVE YOU
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Here in Philly, there are more pressing things to do (like Super Bowl parties and such) than this week’s puzzle.” Like pressing olives into olive oil.
OLIVE OYL —> I LOVE YOU
ReplyDelete“It shouldn’t take many synapses firing or gears turning to solve it.”
—> “gears” is an anagram of the surname of Popeye’s creator, E. C. Segar.
As for Rob’s “parts of mechanisms" hint, great minds…
OLIVE OYL -> I LOVE YOU
ReplyDelete> A notable death of 2024.
Shelley Duvall, who played OLIVE OYL in Robert Altman's 1980 Popeye.
> There was a connection to this puzzle a few weeks ago.
On Monday, January 20, the New York Times "Connections" game included as a group four words associated with Popeye ("anchor", "forearm", "pipe", "spinach"). I'm sure Blaine wouldn't allow any of those words this week, though I tried my best.
> I'm not a football fan, but it doesn't seem that Tom Brady is doing much of a job anchoring the commentary.
> Forewarned is forearmed.
> My Clue: Colonel Mustard, in the kitchen, with the lead pipe.
> Though I commend Chuck for giving up his pin, achievements need recognition.
There we go.
> My Clue: Colonel Mustard, in the kitchen, with the lead pipe.
Just a red herring to get "pipe" in there. A spurious Grey Poupon reference; I couldn't really call it a galley, could I?; and it was corncob, not lead, of course.
Olive Oyl & change the L to U =>>> I Love You
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"That's putting a bit of a spin it, perhaps to tickle our fancy?"
This hint is so clever I now can no longer remember what I was thinking, but I suspect it may have something to do with itching. Oh, now I recall, it was hinting at spinach.
OLIVE OYL -L + U >>>> I LOVE YOU
ReplyDeleteOlive Oyl first appeared in E. C. Segar’s comic strip, Thimble Theater in 1919. Popeye didn’t appear until 1929. The strip was renamed, Thimble Theater Starring Popeye, in 1931, and was eventually just called Popeye.
OLIVE OYL — L to U — I LOVE YOU
ReplyDeleteThis was the second character I tried, after considering Bagheera — A beer hug. That might be more "original," but in the end, it didn't sound "Valentine-sy" enough to me.
Mathew Huffman's Conundrum Set, we are proud to announce, is again paradiddling its way onto Puzzleria with all its riddling andadditions puzzling quiddities. Mathew's set this time is a Shifty Appetizer entiitled "Elements, Names & Dreamsi."
ReplyDeleteWe shall upload Puzzleria! very soon, this afternoon.
Also on this week's menus:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled "Paws & Claws & Santa Claus?"
* an Uppercase Hors d’Oeuvre titled "A Brow-furrowing headline,"
* a "Compound (Fracture?) Slice" titled “Auto- party” Drinking? No driving!,
* a Divinity Dessert titled "Pinning down a Greco-Roman wrestling puzzle," and
* Ten puzzle riffs of this week's NPR Puzzle Challenge, titled “Riffing Off Shortz And Hartenstein: I love you, Olive! O yu!” (including six riffs from Nodd and one from Plantsmith).
So, come, enjoy some expertly concise and tasty "conundrumming" from Mathew and other performers!
LegoAnAficionadoOfPlannedChaos
I wrote, “The last name of the creator of the character can be arranged to parts of mechanisms.” (E. C.) SEGAR = GEARS.
ReplyDeleteMy clue "MacArthur" was about General Douglas MacArthur who smoked a corn cob pipe just like Popeye. In my reply about Super Bowl food, I said I was having just a simple salad, namely, spinach and olive oil (Oyl).
ReplyDeleteOlive Oyl, I love you.
ReplyDeleteI noted that it was debatable whether or not an adjective often associated with the homonym (olive oil) applied to the character. Apparently the parentage of Swee Pea was never really explained. Was he adopted? Was Popeye the father? While Popeye and Olive eventually married, the virginity of Olive Oyl remains debatable. I think the TMI hint was referring to this with "EV until sweet pea emerged." The EV part was subtle, but the baby's name gave it away.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe my clue of "Sweet puzzle. It is what it is." was deemed TMI. I guess it needs no explanation.
ReplyDeleteSweet pea, you are what you are.
DeleteAnd I yam what I yam. (I was going to clue "sweet potato", but I thought I better not. Besides I learned from Alexa that sweet potatoes and yams are not the same.
DeleteMy clue was 57.
ReplyDeletePopeye once described Olive as being a perfect 57, because her measurements are 19-19-19.
OLIVE OYL → I LOVE YOU
ReplyDeleteI clued TESLA because it's a company that sells EVs (maybe you've heard of Tesla?) and OLIVE OIL is often sold as EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
I clued "Sometimes more than Mary" and, in case it wasn't obvious (to those who knew the answer already), olive oil is often extra virgin, hence more than Mary. (If anyone finds this religiously offensive, my apologies.)
ReplyDelete"Red Auerbach" is a reference to that obnoxious victory cigar that Auerbach would light up when the Celtics had won the game. Elzie Segar, the creator of "Thimble Theater" that gave us Olive Oil, would sometimes put an image of a cigar in the lower right hand corner of his strips in line of a signature.
ReplyDeleteThey are great strips, by the way, infinitely better than the cartoons: long intricate stories, with fantastic characters (Alice the Goon, the Sea Witch, the June Bug), that went places few others (maybe no one) could imagine.
My clues: “ I give this puzzle the highest grade…..for simplicity, that is.”….was a reference to the highest grade of olive oil (extra virgin); “It was easy as pie….or piece of cake…..or whatever the expression is”…….was a reference to olive oil cake (yum); and “As for the on air contestant, clearly it was not her first time.”….was a reference that she was not a virgin. :)
ReplyDeleteOlive Oyl, I Love You
ReplyDelete"Typing the character's name into a search engine yielded an image that is appropriate for this time of year." When I searched the name, one of the prominent images that came up was of Olive Oyl, with a large heart shape pushing out of her chest (because she loved Popeye, of course). Very appropriate for Valentine's Day.
When my wife and I got married some years ago, we did it at a little wedding chapel, with a single witness and "Here Comes The Bride" playing on a boom box. A simple wedding with no big reception has a silver lining: we had three receptions, on this coast and back east (not counting the stop at my wife's workplace for a glass of Cold Duck as we drove off to our honeymoon.)
DeleteAll of which is a long-winded introduction to noting that at our wedding reception organized by our friends here in Los Angeles we had a cake topped with figurines of Olive Oil and Popeye instead of the traditional bride and groom.
We still have those two on a wall shelf in our bedroom, along with various other tchotchkes picked up over the years. Happy Valentines Day to all you couples (and other configurations) out there.
Oyl.
DeleteMy clue, "The answer was on the tip of my thumb", was a reference to "Thimble Theater".
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge: It comes from Jim Vespe, of Mamaroneck, N.Y. Name a famous sports figure of the past. Change the third and fourth letters of the first name to a D, and you'll have the nickname of another famous American of the past. Who are these two people?
ReplyDeleteGot it. Here's a variant (no clue here): Name a famous sports figure of the past. Change the third and fourth letters of the first name to a D, and you'll have two words than can be synonyms.
ReplyDeleteGot it. Waiting for Blaine...
ReplyDeleteThis week's puzzle is a version of one from a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteYeah. The first version had more information -- one piece that was useful for solving, and another that probably wasn't but produced more of a "hey cool!" reaction when you got it.
DeleteOver 2000 correct answers last week
ReplyDelete5,4 name. That wasn't in the printed version.
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.
ReplyDeleteOhhh, so we just omit the third letter?
DeleteYeah, that threw me at first. Not a lot of nicknames with DD in the 3-4 spots...
DeleteThe famous American of the past shares a last name with a major rival of the sports figure.
ReplyDelete