Q: Name a famous singer past or present. Remove the first and last letter from the first name and the result will be a potential partner of the last name. What singer is this?Little did I know that my first guess was close.
A: GLADYS KNIGHT --> LADY, KNIGHT
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.
One of my favorite singers and a youthful winner…
ReplyDeleteGot it! I also love this singer.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the news is so upsetting you think the end times must be near.
ReplyDeleteRemove the first and last letters from the singer’s last name, and you get what those potential partners might wish to be.
ReplyDeleteClever puzzle, Eco! Also, nice work with the on-air puzzle, TomR.
ReplyDeleteThe singer, like many others, began singing with family members.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have an answer but I'm not completely certain. Here's a clue: Amtrack?
ReplyDeleteYou’re probably on the right track. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun.)
DeleteOkay, thanks. Here's another, much more vague clue: a fairly late Twilight Zone episode.
DeleteThat works.
DeleteIn a way, all clues are musical clues this week. But here's a musical clue:
ReplyDeleteIt's not Pete Seeger, and it's not either of two singers you might closely associate him with, although in quite different ways.
Without their first letters, the potential partners are potential opposites.
ReplyDeleteBut only with some unscrambling
DeleteHence "potential."
DeleteRemove first letters of first and last, and get (sounds like) a popular weekly event.
ReplyDeleteCool hint!
DeleteCave
ReplyDeleteWhen the puzzle aired, it was not repeated. That led me down the wrong path, as I was trying to remove letters from last names, instead of first names. Once I read the puzzle, and started over, it did not take long to find the answer.
ReplyDeleteI have found two different books, by different authors, that use the partner and the last name as the title.
DeleteHooker
ReplyDeleteWoo Hooo
ReplyDeleteI have been learning a lot about the struggles in this singer's life that I just never followed at the time or even knew about until now. And there are some interesting ones. All right, here's another clue: Mildred Pierce (the 2011 remake with Kate Winslet).
ReplyDeleteRemove the first 2 letters and the last letter of the singer's first name. Switch the first 2 letters. Then, remove the first letter of the last name. You will get another pair of partners.
ReplyDeleteBobby, I hope we're both right. Your "riff" on the original puzzle certainly applies to the answer I submitted. If anyone else here can top the answer I came up with(which I think is quite logical), I'd love to read it this Thursday.
DeletepjbIsPrettySureHisIsTheIntendedOne(MadeSenseToHim,Anyway)
Day, night
DeleteWe have a huge library of vinyl albums (including this singer) we've collected over many years. In fact, we've kept a ledger of how much was spent on each one. Someday we'll cash in (or most likely cry over how much we lost).
ReplyDeleteHi folks. Thanks for the good luck wishes. The category was pretty easy and the editing made me sound better than I actually did. I got thrown by the Batman , Ben Afleck clue because I immediately thought Adam West, which I knew was not right, but he is Batman to me. And Sabrina Williams and Edgar Allen are real people somewhere.
ReplyDeleteJust FYI - the call came at around 3:50 eastern time, so I am guessing I wasn't the first choice, just the first to answer the phone from an unknown number (with a 202 area code). Since it was my second time, I doubt I will ever get picked again.
I will have two Weekend Edition lapel pins. Are they worn one on each lapel, or one above the other?
Well done! Out of curiosity, did you submit via the embedded submission form, or the old link that's still on the main puzzle page where you pick your station and get a confirmation email.
DeleteI'm wondering if both are considered valid or not.
I submitted on a one-line form that was different than I usually see. And I didn't get a confirmation email.
DeleteAnd Blaine, it didn't indicate my station, in fact the intern asked me what station I listen to and I had to look it up in the checkbook because I kept thinking KUNM, but knew that was wrong.
DeleteI noticed also that Will did not repeat the puzzle. I always write down quickly the first part, then wait for the repeat to make sure I have the second part right. But THOUGHT I remembered it correctly, so got the answer quickly.
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy Mothers Day to all moms!!
And congrats to TomR—good job!!
Of course Will didn't repeat the puzzle--isn't that what commenters here have been complaining about so loudly? Will heard us and acted accordingly.
ReplyDeleteBjörk Guðmundsdóttir?
ReplyDeleteI think I have an answer in which the famous singer's past mother is implicated. But I don't know if I'm right
ReplyDeleteHas this singer every played in Vegas?
DeleteIn 1987 Mother's Day was on May 10th. It was a very busy day at the skydiving center in Issaquah, and I watched as a regular jumper I knew fairly well fell to his death from about 10,000 feet agl. I saw where he landed and located his body and soon realized it was Mother's Day. I borrowed a cell phone from an EMT I think it was and called my mother to let her know I was okay in case she heard something about a skydiving death there via the news, but she hadn't.
ReplyDeleteRenée, my second-youngest sister, was killed in the early morning of Mother's Day, May 12, 1991, by a man trying to rob her. She was away from home, those of us that were home got the news just before we were going to leave for a Mother's Day picnic. My son was six, almost seven, and he learned right along with the rest of us.
DeleteJust over ten years ago, I told the story at a Story Slam, and you may listen to it here:
https://youtu.be/eIvIrf5cH_I?si=FeduHGQ6DjLET2P6
Iris, thank you for sharing the link. You were very brave to tell your story. I'm sitting here with a box of Kleenex after listening. God bless you and your family. 💔
DeleteIris, I will watch it later when I have time, out of respect for your sister, and of course, you and your family. I hope it helps telling your story, as I suspect it does.
DeleteI hadn't *planned* on sharing it here, but skydiveboy's story lined up with it. Scarlett, thanks. The theme of that Story Slam was "Love Hurts".
DeleteThanks for sharing your Mother's Day stories, both skydiveboy and Iris Corona.
DeleteIris, That is quite a story, not one anyone would want, but things happen and for you to have the courage to tell it I think is wonderful in its own way. Thank you.
DeleteWell played, TomR! And I'm hoping to nail down the answer to this puzzle in the next few hours. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the answer yet, but if/when I do, I probably won't submit because who wins three times? Anybody? Anybody else be a two timer?
DeleteI have been on twice, in about 2013 and 2018. I still send in entries, but each entry says that I decline being called since I have scored twice already.
DeleteCongrats again, TomR! I didn't hear this morning's program until just now.
DeleteI've got two lapel pins, but I'm not saying I'd decline a third. Gotta have something to show for all the time I put into this!
BTW, Over 1000 correct entries last week.
I think Lego was on 3 or 4 times.
DeleteI was on twice also...Sept 2012 and Dec 2016. Like TomR, I haven't anticipated ever receiving the call a third time.
DeleteThe odds of your getting a third call are exactly the same no matter how many times you have won in the past.
DeleteActually, to get a third call, you have to have been called exactly 2 times in the past.
DeleteThink of another possible partner for the first name with the ends removed. Remove the ends from that name, and think of a partner for what you have left. Add a letter to each end of that to get the mononym of another singer.
ReplyDeleteNice!
DeleteLADY→TRAMP→RAM→EWE→JEWEL is the sequence I had in mind. I wish I had articulated it more clearly, but I'm glad Lancek was able to enjoy it.
DeleteI enjoyed it as much as the original puzzle! I hope others enjoyed the satisfaction of solving it.
DeleteReminds me of Prokofiev’s triple love, reportedly not in the sea.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to go down a rabbit hole, consider the possible consequences of driving too fast for drizzly conditions.
ReplyDeleteYour CAR might do a 180 on a SLICK road, unless GRACE prevails. (No reason to wait until Thursday on this one.)
DeleteAfter rereading how the puzzle is worded, I do think I have the right answer.
ReplyDeleteBut, then again?
ReplyDeleteUntil recently the most dangerous and stupid and mindless stunt available to almost any person to partake in was Bungee Jumping. No safety back up; no oversight; no common sense involved. But Hark! The Trump (mis)administration has now presented us with a new, and far more dangerous one. What is that? you may ask, and I am happy you did. It is intentionally flying either in or out of Newark, N.J. Happy Days Are Here Again! Updates expected shortly; stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteShortz botched the answer to last week's puzzle. He said "Iran which rhymes with rain, Nepal which rhymes with plane, ..." That is, he said "rhymes" instead of "anagrams".
ReplyDeleteI think that was understood, Roger. Kinda like a given, since he already stipulated that requirement.
Deletethe Gang's all here!
ReplyDelete(cf. "Ladies' Night" by Kool & the Gang)
DeleteMy own musical clue, which I might wind up having to explain later: Van Morrison
ReplyDeleteArgh, I’ve got some funny wrong answers, but I’m too nervous to share them before finding the real answer lest I accidentally spoil something. A mistake I’ve definitely made before.
ReplyDeleteAh, I just figured it out! So now I can confidently share the spoiler-free fact that I made myself giggle imagining an album of duets by Marty Craft and Peggy Bacon.
DeleteIs that album on the same record label as the one by Tony Off and Tina Out? My favorite was recorded by the great Freda Green. She used to sing with the John Susanna Band.
DeletepjbWouldNeedVanMorrisonExplainedAsAClueInThisContext,ComeToThinkOfIt
I briefly considered Peggy Lipton as an alternate answer for those who sip tea with their eggs. She put out a 1968 album that was worth buying for the cover photo.
DeleteThink of a singer past or present. Remove the first and last letters of the first name and you'll get a type of song the person might be likely to sing.
ReplyDeleteMy intended answer here was MARIAN ANDERSON.
DeleteOur friend Greg VanMechelen (Ecoarchitect) has again given us an excellent NPR puzzle challenge. If you have solved it, you may also want to try solving the current Schpuzzle of the Week on Puzzleria!:
ReplyDeleteTake a three-word term that describes a fictional character whose first name is an anagram of a biblical book. Replace the second and third words with a two-syllable synonym of the three-word term. Replace the middle letter of that synonym with a Latin pronoun. The result is a female personification considered as the source and guiding force of creation. What are this three-word term, its synonym and the female personification?
LegoWhoProvidedTheFollowingHintInTheEarlyWeeHoursThisMorning:TheDonkeyBrayedAPain-filled"Hee-Haw!"AfterSteppingOnAThornInThePasture
A long journey best traversed backwards, but it's worth it! I didn't notice the hint until after I'd solved it.
DeleteNice wordplay work, Lancek. ViolinTeddy posted on Puzzleria! that she too solved it "by going backward."
DeleteLegoWhoNotesThat"GoingBackward"SeemsNotToBe"ADrawback"
Think of tunes by VM, specifically one that was a tribute to another musical artist. This may already be TMI, but more certainly would be.
DeleteNo Information Here.
ReplyDeleteCHATGPT tried a few, coming up with some actual word pairs, but it admitted that they didn’t make much sense. (Bruno Mars was my favorite)
ReplyDeleteEventually it told me that the best one is:
✅ Usher Raymond
• First name: Usher
• Remove first and last letters: she
• Last name: Raymond
"She Raymond" — That sounds like "She + Raymond", a couple. “She” being the potential partner of Raymond.
That seems to fit the riddle best.
✔️ Final Answer: Usher Raymond
Take the name of a car that anagrams to an omen for these times. Any guesses?
ReplyDeleteNo anagramming needed, but Stephen King's Christine comes to mind.
DeleteAlfa Romeo --> amoral foe?
DeleteAnother no-anagram notion: Fiat.
DeleteHow about KIA?
DeleteTech lover?
DeleteI wonder if Joseph Young's Puzzleria! might be relevant at this point in time.
DeletePuzzleria!, as you know, is always relevant, topical, and informative.
DeleteYes, of course Puzzleria! is always relevant; what was I thinking? At this point in time, however, I believe it's safe to note the relevance of Appetizer #1 to Cap's puzzle.
DeleteI still don't want to spoil anyone's fun by spelling it out, but the word GULL seems somehow relevant at the moment.
Homophone of car component.
DeleteClark and Chuck both begin with an "C" and end with a "k". Both have composed puzzles (not just one puzzle, but puzzles) that Will Shortz has featured on NPR as the Sunday Challenge.
DeleteClark's riff (posted above in his Tue May 13, 01:27:00 PM PDT post) reads:
Take the name of a car that anagrams to an omen for these times. Any guesses?
Chuck's Appetizer (one of four that appears in his "Conundrumbstruck by Chuck" feature in the current Puzzleria! which I uploaded on Thursday, May 8) reads:
Think of a famous car that was once thought to be ahead of its time, a forerunner of things to come.
But rearrange its name and find that, disappointingly, it was no leader after all. Name the car.
LegoWhoConcludesThatChuckAndClarkAreGreatMindsThatThinkAlike!
Last night I read a short story by Kurt Vonnegut that he wrote in 1950. It is about AI, and I think everyone here would enjoy reading it, especially since it was written 75 years ago.
ReplyDelete"EPICAC" is a short story in the book Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut. It was the first story to feature the fictional EPICAC computer later used in Vonnegut's novel Player Piano in 1952. It was published on 25 November 1950, for Collier's Weekly, and reprinted in the February 1983 PC Magazine. Wikipedia
A belated compliment, Eco, for a very nice and carefully worded puzzle. I considered it briefly on Sunday with no idea of what to look for. I revisited it today from a fresh perspective, and solving it turned out to be a satisfying endeavor. (No intentional hints here.)
ReplyDeleteDid I miss it, or has Trump not set a date for National Book Burning Day yet? I sure wouldn't want to miss it.
ReplyDeleteSuperZee,
ReplyDeleteI just picked up the book you suggested at the library: “A Country With No Name: Tales from the Constitution,” by Sebastian De Grazia? Fascinating! It looks like I will enjoy it. Thanks.
There is some familiarity with this week's puzzle (though not a repeat). Noah - I can't believe it but I said the same two (made-up) answers to my wife on Sunday morning - Peggy Bacon and Marty Crafts (too funny). And Roger - I'm with you on how Will described last week's answers.
ReplyDeleteI submitted a non-made up "alternative" which, I think, works perfectly.
DeleteI love it, great minds think alike!
DeleteTrump is now in Saudi Arabia and the first thing he has done is to show how anti woke he is. Then he thought he was in his next stop and said, "My favorite TV show has always been Welcome Back, Qatar.
ReplyDeleteFinally I think I have the intended answer. My hint: William Jefferson.
ReplyDeleteGLADYS KNIGHT; LADY and KNIGHT
ReplyDelete"Cave" is a small Missouri (MO) town. Ms. Knight signed with MOtown Records.
How could Blaine have let that one slip through ?!😀
DeleteHey Paul, are you saying my hints are perhaps too obscure? 😉
DeleteGladys Knight
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Sometimes the news is so upsetting you think the end times must be near.” Or nigh as in Knight.
GLADYS KNIGHT —> LADY + KNIGHT
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought it might be Fiona Apple —> ion (as in the lithium-ion battery) + Apple, but even though “potential partner” may have been in the ballpark—loosely—I decided to keep working on it.
Hint: “One of my favorite singers and a youthful winner…”
—> Yes, Gladys Knight is one of my favorites. Btw, Scarlett, I don’t have any of her LPs, but I do have many of her original 45s with the Pips.
—> About “a youthful winner”: In 1952, when she was 8, Gladys Knight won First Prize on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour. What followed after she was declared the winner provides a snapshot into the good, the bad, and the ugly of race in the early ’50s. Here’s a YouTube link to Knight’s account of the experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyBRazHhl-o.
Gladys Knight >>>Lady Knight
ReplyDeleteGladys Knight achieved fame singing with her brother, Bubba, sister Brenda, and cousins Eleanor and Willian Guest. The group took the name, The Pips, honoring another cousin, James “Pip” Woods who served as the group’s manager.
Gladys Knight > lady knight
ReplyDeleteGLADYS KNIGHT. My hint was William Jefferson, referring to Pres. Clinton’s nickname and “Bubba” Knight, Gladys’s brother and Pips member.
ReplyDeleteOn this week's Puzzleria!, our great friend and master-puzzle-crafter Jeff Zarkin (aka SuperZee) has supplied us with a sextet of baseball-themed stumpers titled:
ReplyDelete~ “It’s deja vu all over again!”
~ “Ground rule double-redundancy”
~ Blonde in the bleachers
~ “Athletics: Title Cash!”
~ “Cincinnati Reps?” and
~ “King Roy? Prince Al?”
These "diamond-gems" are set in SuperZee's always provocative and popular "Jeff Zarkin Puzzle Riffs" package of puzzles.
We shall upload Puzzleria! sometime soon this very afternoon.
Also on this week's menus:
* a timely papal Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Pale hose, pale haze: The ‘choose’ of the Fisherman,”
* a Vehicular Hors d’Oeuvre titled “Streetcars, stages, trains & rafts,”
* a Jane “Austentatious” Slice titled “Genuine master of novel arts?”
* an Interrogative Dessert titled “What Is This Question?” and
* 10 riffs of Ecoarchitect's NPR Challenge Puzzle titled “(G)Ladys of the (K)Night”..., including six riffs from Nodd, one from Plantsmith and one from Thomas Rymsza, who appeared on NPR with Will Shortz this past Sunday.
So, step up to the plate, dig in with your spikes, take a few uppercuts at our special deliveries of these puzzling eephus pitches! You're a Hall-of-famer if you hit any of 'em outta the Park!
LegoWhoNotesThatJeff's“CubicZarkinia”PuzzleGemsAreInfinitelyMorePreciousThanCubicZirconia!
GLADYS KNIGHT
ReplyDelete> Very nice. (There is a clue here. A synonym would never fly.)
I couldn't have said this puzzle was a pip!
> Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate.
"Happy" as in "glad" as in "GLADYS.
> Hooker
A lady of the (k)night.
Alternate answer: JAY-Z and A, Z.
ReplyDeleteI think it works, too.
I'll give it an A. (That was also the comment I was going to make about Lego's Schpuzzle above, but I was worried it might be TMI.)
DeleteNot bad.
DeleteGLADYS KNIGHT.
ReplyDeleteMy clue "No Information here" was a shout out to Monty Python and the Knights who say Ni, a favorite of my youth.
You must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with ......a herring!! 🤣
DeleteMy first clue was "Woo Hooo", my feeble attempt to duplicate the Pips in Midnight Train to Georgia.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote "We have a huge library of vinyl albums (including this singer) we've collected over many years. In fact, we've kept a ledger of how much was spent on each one. Someday we'll cash in (or most likely cry over how much we lost)." That was my nod to Heath Ledger, the star of the movies, The Dark Knight and Knight's Tale.
Gladys Knight->lady, knight
ReplyDeleteGladys Knight. Lady, Knight. My first clue was Amtrak, then I switched it to "a late Twilight Zone episode",which is In Praise of Pip, the idea was to relate it to (Gladys Knight) and the Pips. I also gave another clue relating to Mildred Pierce. The connecting fact was chicken and waffles, a Southern combination, which was Mildred Pierce's specialty (in the 2011 remake), and also a business venture for Gladys Knight.
ReplyDeleteI can't hear this name without remembering a silly joke Johnny Carson made many decades ago during his monologue: "It's eleven o'clock. Gladys Knight, do you know where your pips are?"
ReplyDeleteI didn't get Gladys Knight , but Mariah Cary whose mother was Elizabeth knight who was a well known opera singer and taught Mariah to sing So, I got ARIA CAREY
ReplyDeleteTypo, It should be Elizabeth Carey
ReplyDeleteVan Morrison's highest charting (Billboard) single was Domino, tribute to Fats. What are the spots on dominoes called?
ReplyDeleteGLADYS KNIGHT, LADY, KNIGHT
ReplyDeleteThe spots on dominoes are indeed called PIPS. So are the guys who sing backup for Ms. Knight.
pjbNeverHadToTakeTheMidnightTrainToGeorgia,ThoughHeLivesInAlabama,SoItWouldn'tBeSuchALongTripAnyway
Was I alone in recalling Holmes and Watson in The Case
ReplyDeleteOf The Five Orange Pips?
ReplyDeleteI was surprised there weren’t more musical hints of artists who have been “knight”ed.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy hint was "Reminds me of Prokofiev’s triple love, reportedly not in the sea."
ReplyDeleteOne of Prokofiev's more popular pieces is the suite from The Love for Three Oranges, and oranges, except navel oranges, have pips. (Like SuperZee, I had recalled Sherlock Holmes's The Case of the Five Orange Pips.) When I said "reportedly not in the sea," I was taking a cue from cryptic puzzle-type clues, with "reportedly" meaning "sounds like" -- so "reportedly not in the sea" would sound like "not naval."
Nicely done. I'd not caught the cryptic clue.
DeleteThe difference between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump is that one has a problem with Falun Gong and the other has a problem with fallin' dong.
ReplyDeleteCould be trouble.
ReplyDeleteThat's a F-86 and a B-47, USAF planes from the '50s, back when you couldn't be accused of plotting an assassination for taking pictures of seashells.
DeleteI'll just say 93^2-2.
DeleteThis week's challenge comes from Steve Baggish, of Arlington, Mass. Name a popular magazine. Rearrange its letters. Then add an O at the end and you'll name a prominent subject in this magazine's new issue. What magazine is it? Hint: You don't need to read this magazine in order to guess the answer.
ReplyDeleteSuper easy.
DeleteThanks, Jan. One of the first magazines that came to my mind! --Margaret G.
DeleteAgreed. Easy.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs the Irishman said to the podiatrist "Me fate is in your hands."
ReplyDelete