I can't be the only one that is having trouble in clueing the answer to this puzzle. That's assuming you aren't already having trouble in hearing the distinction between an unvoiced and voiced dental fricative.Q: In English the two-letter combination TH can be pronounced in two different ways: once as in the word "booth," the other as in "smooth." What is the only common English word, other than "smooth," that ends in the letters TH as pronounced in smooth?
Edit: I wasn't sure if the intended answer was WITH or MOUTH (verb). I had to work to not include WITH in my clue. And often when you MOUTH something, you don't use your voice. I agree there can be other valid answers like BETROTH, BEQUEATH, etc.
A: MOUTH (verb)
This seemed too easy; it makes me wonder if I am just wrong or if there is not just one such pronunciation. For the answer I got, if you rearrange the odd letters, you get an inclusive word.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't fit mine (unless there's some over-my-head meaning of 'inclusive' involved). But if you perform that operation on mine, you get a really appropriate word!
DeleteI think it's entirely possible there's more than one. I wonder what makes Will confident that there is only one.
Rob, I think we have the same answer.
DeleteMe, too. Nice clue, Rob.
DeleteI think I know what word you mean. Mine is simpler and more common. Has the underlined th per Merriam-Webster, also.
DeleteNot a great puzzle this week, IMO.
I now think my answer as described above is not the intended. There is a word that is more common and fits Blaine's clue, whereas my answer described above does not. (I can't claim I figured this out myself; someone else suggested it.)
DeleteI've got two answers, but no clues.
ReplyDeleteBlaine, I bet we could get around the problems if only we were all present in one physical place! I'd like to see how people pronounce various words, actually.
ReplyDeleteI have two words also. Do I send in both or have to choose one?
ReplyDeleteI am hesitating whether or not to wrap my head around solving the puzzle this week.
ReplyDeleteI have two words so far that meet the criteria of the puzzle. However, in both cases, Webster's online dictionary gives two pronunciations--both of the TH pronunciations. It will be interesting to see how this gets handled next week.
ReplyDeleteI have five answers. I'm not going to submit an answer this week. I'm going to submit a paragraph, explaining all of them. A couple of them can be argued that they are not as "common," but they are completely reasonable. More on Thursday or Friday.
DeleteJAWS,
DeleteYou have it right, but have yet to discover one more legit answer word. The intended answer is not as common, to my way of thinking, as the other 3 common words, and the 2 less common are obviously not the intended answer.
My immediate answer, I hate to admit, turned out to be wrong. I am hoping that the correct answer will be noncontroversial.
ReplyDeleteI now have a noncontroversial answer that fits Rob's clue., Not a very satisfying solve this week.
DeleteI have an answer, but it's disputable. I'm always reluctant to go with my first answer in a case like this.
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling there would be some measure of disagreement over pronunciations.
ReplyDeleteAnagram both of my answers together to get a word related to Blaine's "clue" and a description of much of this blog.
ReplyDeleteI do have one, but I'll have to see whether or not it conforms to any of the hints here.
ReplyDeleteI sent in one of my words because it seemed much more common. Besides, for the word LOATH to end in a sound like SMOOTH you have to add an E at the end.
ReplyDeleteNo, look it up. Loath (adj.) can be pronounced with a voiced -th. It's the second pronunciation, but still.
DeleteSo, TMI!
DeleteHow is it TMI Jan? I think you have the wrong word if your so worried.
DeleteI'm with Musinglink. Dictionaries list the valid pronunciations as "voiced" and "unvoiced." There are a number of words where this is true, making this a shit puzzle. It's all going to ride on what they think is most "common."
DeleteI hate to be pedantic, but I think there will be quite a few alternative answers this week. I have one that can be pronounced either way.
ReplyDeleteDr, Awkward, If the word is LOATH VS.LOATHE, I'm LOATH to say I think you're wrong.
DeleteI've found a few whose ordinary spellings end in 'e' but have alternative spellings without the 'e'. But I don't think those count, since the alternative spellings would not be common.
DeleteLotta TMI above!
DeleteI couldn't possibly comment at this stage—but I do have receipts!
DeleteThis puzzle forced me to check my lifelong pronouncing of words.
ReplyDeleteIf it's any consolation (and it isn't), "smooth" used to have an e at the end. And one o. So there, or ereth? Why not, it has a voiced th!
ReplyDeletePalindromically yours, Knilgnisum.
I have *an* answer, but I don't know if it is the one they are going for. I sent it in anyway. :/
ReplyDeleteAh, I see. I checked a certain word in the OED and found that it always ends with θ. But Merriam-Webster does offer the ð ending.
ReplyDeleteYeah that makes sense -- I use only the θ ending for this word but I'm pretty sure I've heard the ð ending used by other Americans.
Although, if I anagram that one along with my own answer, I don't get any word at all, so I think Jan has yet another. Oh and I still don't have the one that Rob clued.
DeleteCrito - I think we may have the same word.
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ReplyDelete"There are thirty six thousand feathers in a Thrushes throat. "Repeat 5 times quickly.
ReplyDeletePart of my answer reminds me of custom cars.
ReplyDeleteExcept that, as I commented above, the answer I had is probably not the intended.
DeleteHorrible puzzle. Too much is left to one's own pronunciation and what Dan considers "common". The puzzle and its answer must be explicit and unambiguous.
ReplyDeleteGiven the vagaries of pronunciation, perhaps we should all exercise some discretion in mentioning actual words.
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to wait for Will to give the answer. In the meantime, I feel like I'm developing a lisp. 🤓
ReplyDeleteA lisp is all in the lips.
DeleteWho was the sadist who put the "s" in lisp?
DeleteMeredith Willthon?
DeleteTill There Wuth You. Theventy Thickth Tromboneth...
DeleteRon Howard would love you.
DeleteStephin Merritt formed a band, some time in the 90's, called The Sixths. Their first album was called "Wasps Nests", and their second was "Hyacinths and Thistles".
DeleteHahaha!
DeleteThe puzzle creator’s assertion that there is only one common English word that ends with “th” as pronounced in “smooth” is simply wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree, largely because too many dialects muddy the waters.
DeleteWell, I have an answer, but I'm gonna wait before I send it in. Hint: It's the second entry and the first pronunciation, according to Webster's 11th. The diacritical symbol for voiced th, in Webster's, is a line under th. That's the first pronunciation for this word.
ReplyDeleteHuh.
ReplyDeleteI just discovered an unexpected answer. It's got the final ð phoneme as its first pronunciation in the OED, for both American and British. Anyway it's quite surprising to me, but I trust dictionaries on questions like this.
Maybe some other Blainesvillains have it -- I don't see any obvious clues to it here. But now I'm not really surprised that Jaws has five answers, and Chuck is most definitely right that Dan Asimov's (and Will's) assertion that there is only one common one is simply wrong.
Oh, as for a clue: I will bet my word is more common than any that anyone else has found, unless someone else has found this one :)
I think that this is the word I have.
DeleteI have one answer which I'm certain is correct, yet I think isn't your answer. I have a second answer that works for me, and I think that may be yours as well. At least that's the story I'm telling myself.
DeleteI think this word is one of several potential answers I have in mind...which may point to issues with the phrasing of the puzzle.
DeleteHm? My common-word pronunciation list gives a unique answer. Btw it also shows a fair number of pairs where adding an E at the end changes θ to ð, e.g. BATH-BATHE, CLOTH-CLOTHE, TEETH-TEETHE.
ReplyDeleteDan Asimov is quite an accomplished academic. Maybe he's related to Isaac Asimov?
ReplyDeleteMy answer is incredibly common but I may very well not have the intended answer, and I would rather not leave a clue for fear of TMI or having an incorrect answer.
ReplyDeleteMy answer is very common. My friend Ruthie came up with the word I did, plus another that fits the assignment, but is less common.
DeleteEasy
ReplyDeleteHi to Dan from another Berkeley resident.
ReplyDeleteThis should be a 2-week challenge.
ReplyDeleteThe answer to the 2-week challenge on August 25, 2019 was "mouth".
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ReplyDeleteArrggg. I found an answer that fits the puzzle in that the first pronunciation in M-W fits, but I fear the alternate pronunciation is more common in the U.S. It does not fit the anagram clues above. I have not submitted as I am not yet married to the answer.
ReplyDeleteIf it's the first pronunciation in M-W, it's pretty likely that it's the most common pronunciation in the US. Merriam-Webster is, after all, a US dictionary!
DeleteAgreed. I submitted it, but still not married to it.
Delete*snorfle* Peace be unto you
DeleteWatson, Crick, and Franklin
ReplyDeleteI solved this one at the kitchen sink.
DeleteSo, the word I came up with is not UNcommon; it's a word everyone on this blog would know, but it's not a word that I find is commonly used in general everyday conversation.
ReplyDeleteCourtney - My word is very common, known to everyone, and is used quite frequently in everyday conversation.
DeleteOkay, then I definitely don't have the same answer. Gotta think on it some more!
DeleteI have 5 common words that work perfectly. I do not understand why some of us, after finding an answer that works, will still look further. I am sometimes one of those who do though.
ReplyDeleteI kept looking, because the puzzle says that it is a "common" word. I have used all five of the words I found, some more often than others, but my usage is not a good gauge for whether something is common. I was hoping to hit one and have a eureka moment, but that did not happen.
DeleteJAWS, I suggest you send in what you have found and do not wait for a eureka moment. I will say more tomorrow.
DeleteLast week I was watching a King Coleman YouTube video of him restoring an old and rare Coleman lantern. He lives up on Vancouver Island in the country commonly known as Canada, that we are about to invade and conquer. I am certain God will be on our side in this coming war, but I digress.
ReplyDeleteThis guy has numerous YouTube videos where he shows how to restore old Coleman lanterns and stoves, and he knows what he is doing, which some others who have videos do not. Anyway, as he was finishing up restoring this old lantern he said now all he had to do was put on the (blank word here) as he was rotating the lantern on its base. I heard him pronounce the blank word above so that it rhymed perfectly with Dr. Jekyll. Instantly I wondered what in the world he was talking about. I soon found out as I watched him stick on a reproduction decal. You say deck-all, and I say dee-cal, and I say, "Let's call the whole thing off."
I now have 6 words that work.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you're not one of those who look further after finding an answer that works!
Deletejan, I already admitted I am one who sometimes does.
DeleteOf course. Just kidding.
DeleteKidding!? On a serious blog like this! I would never stoop so low as to kid. It is too hard on my knees.
Deletejan, you are right about something else you posted.
DeleteThere are going to be some surprises this coming Sunday. Stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteVery common, but hard to clue. Blaine, if "Fresh Prince" is TMI, take this down.
ReplyDeleteTink of all de languages zat have neigher θ nor ð ! English is tough on wose folks! Can you find a meaningful - albeit useless - English phrase consisting of 2 one-syllable words whose sounds differ only because one has θ where the other has ð ?
ReplyDeleteI think the word that Will is looking is not just common, but short as well. I turned myself towards a web sit that gives examples of how to pronounce words. If I'm wrong, my forehead will the first I slap...no others.
ReplyDeleteI still don't have it, but thinking about this puzzle makes me think of the scene in My Cousin Vinny where Joe Pesci refers to his nephew and friend as "yutes" and the judge is perplexed.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone found more than one word that has the wanted pronunciation and no secondary or alternative pronunciation?
ReplyDeleteLorenzo,
DeleteYes, and I will post more after the deadline, or you may email me for further clarification, I believe you have my email address.
Thanks, my friend. I’ll wait until Thursday and see what I can come up with. So far, I have a couple of words that, to my knowledge, are always pronounced as wanted, but according to Merriam Webster have a second acceptable pronunciation.
DeleteLorenzo,
DeleteI misread your post and now have to say I think all 5, yes, now 5, have 2 pronunciations. It depends on what lexicon is used, as some do not agree with M/W. Dictionaries do not make rules, but simply report usage. For example look at how DECIMATE is now used the total opposite of its original meaning, which is how I think of it.
Well, what do you know?
ReplyDeleteI’m sure I now have the intended answer. Finally.
Out of sheer desperation and a fleeting hope that thinking outside the box might work, I checked the word—could it possibly be that?—in Merriam-Webster online and then confirmed it by consulting my hardcover M-W 9th edition. (I’m assuming it’s the same in the latest Revised Edition, too.)
To my surprise, I’ve been pronouncing it according to the secondary pronunciation--the "th" as in "truth"--all of my life. And I’d wager many of us here have as well. But the primary, preferred pronunciation is indeed the "th" as in "smooth."
Imagine that.
I agree with Nodd that Rob’s answer, which was my first guess, is not the intended answer. Similarly, based on common pronunciations, I also came up with one or two others I thought might work, but M-W's preferred pronunciation in each case was like the “th” in “truth." Only the secondary pronunciation was like the "th" in "smooth."
So, at long last, here's an oblique musical clue: George Harrison.
I came up with a solution quickly yesterday morning, but after reading the early comments, I doubted myself. Now I'm confident again after reading this, Dr. K.
DeleteAnything to alleviate the collective anxiety, Scarlett. And remember: Merriam-Webster is Will's final "authority."
DeleteMy oblique Bible clue: Ruth
DeleteDr. K - How would you answer the question I posted late yesterday?
DeleteNo, Lorenzo, I have not found any such word. They all have a secondary, alternative pronunciation.
DeleteI think I found the same word but I have never ever pronounced it with a voiced th, nor has anyone I know.
DeleteI posed the question because “smooth”, the example in the statement of the puzzle, does not have an alternative pronunciation according to MW. This property, I think, may be why the puzzle states that there is only one valid solution. (If so, I have not yet found it !)
DeleteLorenzo, that's a good point. Perhaps Will should have specified that his intended answer had no alternative pronunciation. In any case I'm sending in the answer I referred to above, which also has the second, alternative "th" pronunciation, but I now acknowledge that it may not be Will's intended answer. It's even entirely possible that despite the reassurance I seem to have provided Scarlett, she and I may nevertheless have different answers. I'm looking forward to what I hope is Will's clarification on Sunday.
DeleteThank you, Dr. K. I believe I have the word & you're EXACTLY correct in your description about pronunciation. I also think I have your GH clue as one of his songs (although I had never previously heard of that song, before).
DeleteEarlier in my search, I though the word might be 'youth' the way Cousin Vinny pronounced it, here (22sec mark) https://youtu.be/Hu8tX2BAD1k?si=HJvjxYRer_pvX0tw
DeleteOn variant pronunciations...
ReplyDeleteMerriam-Webster's own guide to their spellings and pronunciations says, "All of the pronunciations recorded in this book can be documented as falling within the range of generally acceptable variation, unless they are accompanied by a restricting usage note or symbol or a regional label." I didn't see anything that indicated that the order in which pronunciations are listed had any significance at all. (Of course, I may have missed something! Big book.)
As far as I'm concerned, any reasonably recent dictionary attestation of an 'accepted' voiced final 'th' should qualify the word as an acceptable answer to this puzzle.
It's clear that it was just a mistake to claim there is only one (other than 'smooth'), but to my mind this mistake makes the puzzle a little more fun! I bet we get some good answers here, including at least one, I'm pretty confident, that's more common than the intended answer. (I have another thought about that common one, which I'll share on Thursday.)
It also occurred to me that pretty nearly every word of English is currently 'mispronounced' by the standards of the days when it first showed up in the language. There are some words that many of us would say are mispronounced by a lot of quite competent American English speakers -- think of Jimmy Carter's pronunciation of 'nuclear'. Oh, and computer people say 'router' to rhyme with 'outer' and probably a lot of non-computer people do too when they're talking about the wifi hardware device; that still sounds wrong to me, because the verb 'to route' in this sense is homophonic with 'root'. But surely when enough of us 'mispronounce' a word, that pronunciation becomes correct. So, uh. Yeah not sure what my point is in this last paragraph, but you see how it's relevant.
IMHO, if a listener submits a puzzle claiming there's only one English word that's the correct answer, it's the job of the Puzzle Mmmaster to make some effort to confirm that.
ReplyDeleteIf he is informed by the NPR staff. He is not a mind reader.
DeleteNo, I believe that Will selects each week's puzzle himself. Given that, it's up to him to verify the claims of the listener who submits the puzzle, before presenting it on air. It's surprising how often we amateurs find valid alternative answers to his puzzle.
DeleteYes, of course he picks the puzzles himself, but he does not see the answer submissions we email to NPR unless someone sends them to him, and I do not believe that is how they usually operate at NPR. I see it as a flaw in the system. They are sloppy. I had to almost beg them to finally send me my pin, and Lego has never received his Scrabble game from them, and there are many other cases like that.
DeleteAMEN! Puzzles that claim something like "there is only one" should at least have an attempt at verification. I recall the puzzle from a few years ago that involved connecting states, and while the puzzle stated they thought there was only one, there were at least a couple dozen.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqkaBEWPH18
ReplyDeletePaul, that was good, but what followed on my computer screen is even better in my humble opinion. I hope this link works:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP--_Z_fNjE
Until I watched that video link I posted above, and then researched further, I had not heard how Trump apparently stinks to high heaven. I have personally experienced this type of thing involving two persons in my life. The first was a man whose body odor was so repulsive he could stand in the open airplane hanger door of a large building and cause me to feel ill although I was fifty feet away from him. He was a first jump student who I was scheduled to take, but I refused due to the overwhelming smell that really did make me feel sick. The second was after I retired and worked part time at a magic shop and another employee had stomach stench that was beyond what I could tolerate. I know this may sound like hyperbole, but it is not. So I am surprised more has not been reported on our Effluvium In Chief before now. Perhaps he douses with Chanel #2.
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DeleteThis puzzle was a real challenge for me; perhaps it was for all of you too. Looking forward to the big reveal.
ReplyDeleteOh, well, sure -- it's a flaw in the puzzle, and ultimately WS takes responsibility for it, I agree. (In chess puzzles it's called a 'cook', but I don't know why, when there's more than one valid answer, and it's considered ruinous to the puzzle.)
ReplyDeleteI'm just saying it didn't detract from my own enjoyment of it, and indeed the Blainesville discussion has, I believe, been enhanced by this flaw. I'd be quite happy to have a cook once every month or two, if it has such interesting ramifications.
What is the difference between the Russia/Ukraine War and Los Alamos?
ReplyDeleteHere is my puzzle hint for this week:
ReplyDeleteDr. K owns pets that informed me of the intended answer, as did WS himself.
It’s a gift. LOL.
DeleteI thought you would get that. LOL
DeleteI have nothing to contribute to this discussion (I can't even tell whether my submitted answer is one of the half dozen correct ones) other than to say that every time I hear the word "fricative" I think of Daffy Duck.� There is no clue here.
ReplyDeleteYou and me both, Bub. :)
DeleteSufferin' fricative!
DeleteWell, no one seems to have grabbed onto:
ReplyDeleteWhat is the difference between the Russia/Ukraine War and Los Alamos?
So, Let's try this one:
How does the packaging on a SNICKERS® Chocolate Bar differ from Donald Trump?
One really satisfies?
DeleteNo, Scarlett, they're both Spoonerism jokes I made up.
DeleteOne's a candy wrapper.
DeleteThen the other must be a randy capper. MAGAnificent solve, Dr. K.
DeleteNow, can someone sole the other one?
Solve the other one.
DeleteOne's a land grab, the other's a grand lab.
DeleteHey there, Blainesvilleans. I wasn't trying to ghost you. This puzzle has left me a little frustrated, that's all. I have been looking at two "finalists" but I don't feel like submitting either as the answer, because, unlike in the case of "smooth," Merriam-Webster (online edition) has the voiced-fricative pronunciation first but does specify the voiceless-fricative one as an alternative. I guess I am posting to show I am able to not inadvertently share TMI. ;)
ReplyDeleteWolfi,
DeleteTake my advise and submit them all in one submission. I know something you don't. More domani.
You been talking to WS again, sdb? :) Also, post my submission, I thought of an answer that only violates the "common English word" clause of the puzzle but is otherwise a sure thing IMO. Maybe others thought of it too. I'll share it after 3:00...
DeleteWolfgang – I agree completely! My two “answers” also have voiceless-fricative alternatives. So, either the claim that there is a unique solution to the puzzle is incorrect, or there is a word that eludes most, if not all of us on the blog.
DeleteMOUTH (verb form)
ReplyDeleteAlternate answer: BETROTH
"Watson, Crick, and Franklin" points to "Elementary, my dear Watson" and then to "Alimentary, my dear Watson" as in the MOUTH being the beginning of the alimentary canal.
"I solved this one at the kitchen sink." as in lip sync and MOUTHing the words to a song or other soundtrack.
MOUTH is the intended answer. However there are other equally viable answers too. LOATH, WITH, BETROTH, AND BEQUEATH all qualify and Will Shortz agreed with me when I emailed him about this. I did not discover BEQUEATH myself, but another blogger here did and I decided to email WS about this word too, and he replied that it did also qualify.
ReplyDeleteBoth BETROTH & MOUTH work with Rob's hint: BOTH & HUM. So I could not tell which answer he was referring to.
MY HINT:
Dr. K owns pets that informed me of the intended answer, as did WS himself. I meant I got the answer straight from the horse's MOUTH. Dr. K owns horses.
I submitted “with” and “betroth”, both of which have alternative pronunciations.
ReplyDeleteMy first guess was "betroth," as I think Rob's was, and then I came up with "bequeath, both of which also have alternative pronunciations.
DeletePuzzleria! this week is proud to celebrate the return of Master Cryptic Crossword Crafter Patrick J. Berry (aka his screen name "cranberry"). The spotlight is on the 38th of Patrick’s tricky cryptic mystifying mind-defying masterpieces to grace the cyberpages of our blog. We are calling it “Back in Black? Patrick’s ‘Back on Track!’” As have many of Patrick's cryptic crossword puzzles, this one has a theme: a rock group "stranded" on and "island" in the center of the crossword grid... with 9 of the puzzle’s 34 clues (26.5%!) all contributing to the theme. It is a work of both wordplay and art!
DeleteAlso on our Menu this week:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Huck & Jim, Paul & Babe, Nessie”
* a Full Service Hors d’Oeuvre titled "Purveyors providing provisions"
* a Q & A Slice titled “Blue prince, bloop rinse, time table...”
* a Destructive Dessert titled "Bio-logical fallacies," and
* a whole mess o’ riffs o’ this week's NPR puzzle titled “You’re allowed to mouth your smooth answer aloud!”
So, why not join us for some Cryptic Crossword Puzzling fun and games!
LegoWhoHopesToUploadThisWeek'sEditionOfPuzzleria!AsSoonAsPossible!
WITH
ReplyDeleteNo, not Will’s intended answer, but one of several valid ones.
As for my “oblique clue: George Harrison,” Harrison wrote “Within You Without You.”
My Bible clue was Ruth. When I decided the answer to the puzzle had to be "with", I thought of Ruth who told her mother-in-law "Whither thou goest, I will go." I realize whither in this instance means wherever, but it was the first thing that came to my mind that sounded like the word "with".
DeleteI wondered about that. All I could think of was Keats's "She [Ruth] stood in tears amid the alien corn."
DeleteI wrote, “For the answer I got, if you rearrange the odd letters, you get an inclusive word.” BETROTH yields BOTH.
ReplyDeleteI took SDB's advice and submitted "with" and "mouth (verb)," adding that the first was "the much more common of the two."
ReplyDeleteFor both "with" and "mouth verb," Merriam-Webster (online edition) has the voiced-fricative pronunciation of the TH sound first and the voiceless-fricative second, unlike "smooth," for which it only lists the voiced-fricative pronunciation.
So, as Lorenzo suggested, either the puzzle's claim is incorrect, or there is another word most of us haven't thought of.
BETROTH, LOATH Also (found later), BADMOUTH, BOOTH, MOUTH
ReplyDelete> Anagram both of my answers together to get a word related to Blaine's "clue" and a description of much of this blog.
TOOTH, BLATHER
I submitted BETROTH, but I think the intended answer is more likely MOUTH, as a verb.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMouth, when used as a verb.
ReplyDeleteI submitted Mouth, second entry in MW's 11th Ed. Verb transitive. The first pronunciation is mauð, the second is mauth. MW's uses the with an underscore for the voiced th. I used ð. But the voiced th is listed first.
ReplyDeleteMW's uses "th" with an underscore to indicate the voiced th. There. Damned spell check!
DeleteFrom The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary online (Carnegie-Mellon University):
ReplyDelete[where multiple pronunciations were given, I have picked one]
BATHE B EY DH
BREATHE B R IY DH
CLOTHE K L OW DH
LATHE L EY DH
LITHE L AY DH
LOATHE L OW DH
SEETHE S IY DH
SHEATHE SH IY DH
SMOOTH S M UW DH <<
SOOTHE S UW DH
SUNBATHE S AH N B EY DH
SWATHE S W EY DH
TEETHE T IY DH
TITHE T AY DH
WITH W IH DH <<
I submitted "with."
ReplyDeleteI went with, with. I had been mispronouncing it all my life
ReplyDeleteloath, betroth
ReplyDeleteSorry I’m late.
The puzzle creator’s assertion that there is only one common English word that ends with “th” as pronounced in “smooth” is simply not credible. To make such a sweeping assertion one would have to have considered every word in the English language and carefully pronounced and/or researched each one that ends in “th.” Plus, there is no general agreement as to which words are common and which words aren’t?
Besides the intended answer – I think I know what it is – loath and betroth also work. Pronunciation puzzles are always fraught with controversy.
I thought at first it was LOATH, but I had the internet bot pronounce it for me and learned thereby that I had simply been mispronouncing it all these years. Back to the drawing board, I settled on BETROTH, which matched both Rob and the bot, and I had no desire to look further. I was, however, intrigued by all the comments from Blainesville.
ReplyDeleteIn spoken speech, I try to maintain the unvoiced-voiced difference between "loath" (unvoiced) and "loathe" (voiced). As I've mentioned to sdb, I regard that distinction as sacrosanct, like the denotative one between "uninterested" and "disinterested."
DeleteI didn't labor too much on this one, went with "birth" as in "to birth a child," as opposed to my date of birth. Maybe I've been mispronouncing it?
ReplyDeleteI had "mouth", which I figure is the intended answer, but later I started checking and discovered, as many others here have, that "with" has a voiced pronunciation.
ReplyDelete(In my own case, I think it might depend on whether there is a voiced consonant coming right after the word 'with'.)
My answer was Sooth
ReplyDeleteI think that makes you a soothsayer.
DeleteI submitted MOUTH (transitive verb) but considered WITH and MOTH, which I pronounce with the dental fricative thingy, words I didn't have a week ago.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I chose mouth because it had the voiced th as first pronunciation. I may have considered with or moth but it seemed like mouth had more possibilities as a voiced th. Maybe a good clue would have been Milli Vanilli.
ReplyDeleteQ: a meaningful - albeit useless - English phrase consisting of 2 one-syllable words whose sounds differ only because one has θ where the other has ð ?
ReplyDeleteA: ðaɪ θaɪ !
Lol.
DeleteI can think of a use for it.
Did anyone think of SUPERSMOOTH? Not a great solution, but it's in the MW.
ReplyDeleteOh that's really nice. Well done.
DeleteAlthough, maybe not common.
I informed Will Shortz of RESMOOTH and UNSMOOTH which he rejected as being basically the same as smooth. I fully agree with him on this too.
DeleteSmoove!
DeleteI read somewhere that this puzzle was unfair to people in certain Italian communities, as they pronounce 'with' as 'wit.' Same variation with the word mouth.
ReplyDeleteJust a comment. There is no exact” rhyme for SMOOTH in English—and the phonetic forms for SMOOTH and MOUTH are different. The th endings are represented differently in phonetics.
ReplyDeleteI submitted:
ReplyDeleteBETROTH (MW shows both pronunciations)
LOATH (MW shows both pronunciations)
RESMOOTH (MW shows one pronunciation)
ULTRASMOOTH (MW shows one pronunciation)
UNSMOOTH (MW shows one pronunciation)
MW above refers to Merriam Webster's online dictionary. I see SDBs post above that Will is rejecting resmooth, ultrasmooth, and unsmooth. When found resmooth, I wondered if that was the intended answer, since it has its own listing, and is clearly noted as having only one pronunciation.
I did not have WITH or MOUTH on my list, because I normally pronounce those "the other way."
Overall, this is once again a puzzle that leads to arguments on pronunciation. Feh!
I agree....to me, the end of the noun 'mouth' sounds exactly like the end of 'booth.' But I suppose that if one makes it into a verb, then the 'th' of 'mouth' will sound like that of 'smooth', as in 'mouth off.'
DeleteYou don’t have to believe me: you can google the 2 phonetic forms for the words.
ReplyDeleteI think this puzzle had problems, in that while anagrams, geographical areas, puzzles which include math are fairly consistent as to answers, pronunciation can be far more difficult because people may pronounce various words very differently.
Ain't thath the troot!
DeleteDiz, could you just give us a link?
DeleteAs many people have pointed out, Merriam-Webster does give the ð as final phoneme for the verb 'mouth'. So does the OED. And here is a Cambridge dictionary site that gives only the voiced fricative ending for the verb ‘mouth’.
I submitted BETROTH
ReplyDeleteExcellent.
ReplyDeleteI submitted WITH but parenthetically mentioned BETROTH and the verb MOUTH as other possible solutions. I thought of/stumbled across UNSMOOTH after submission but I see others also thought of that and sdb said Will had nixed that one anyway so no regrets here...
ReplyDeleteChatgpt's answer was "With". Pretty good solve!
ReplyDelete