Sunday, May 04, 2025

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 4, 2025): Rhymes with Spain

NPR Sunday Puzzle (May 4, 2025): Rhymes with Spain
Q: There are four countries whose names have one-syllable anagrams that rhyme with "Spain." What are they?
Check your globes; I think you could fly in a straight line over all 4 countries.

Edit: I assume you'd fly in a plane to chain the countries together. Here's a great circle route from Niamey, Niger to Shenzhen, China.
A: NIGER (reign), IRAN (rain), NEPAL (plane), CHINA (chain).

194 comments:

  1. I’ve got a 5th, but it’s arguable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suspect we have the same arguable 5th.

      Delete
    2. If you're suggesting "Spain" as the 5th, then I may have to decide if I'm disappointed in or in awe of both of you. Or will I?

      Delete
    3. Paul, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed in me. My initial enthusiasm for this “arguable fifth” has waned for several reasons. While the four correct answers are all common nouns, this one was a proper noun, medieval, and, worst of all, slightly misspelled. And not knowing it, I can’t speak to Lorenzo’s answer.

      Delete
    4. Dr. K, you actually do speak to my answer.

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Trying again, some interesting etymology here.

      Delete
  3. Over 600 correct entries last week

    ReplyDelete
  4. I suppose it could depend somewhat on what "straight" means on a curved surface, but I think one would have to be a very foolish or stupid person to disagree with Blaine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From what I can tell, his observation holds true both on a globe (where a straight line means your compass heading stays constant) and on a Mercator projection (where a straight line isn’t the shortest distance unless you’re perfectly aligned with the poles)

      Delete
    2. A path on the earth that maintains a constant compass heading is called a ‘rhumb line’. For instance, a line of latitude, like the Tropic of Cancer, is a rhumb line. But latitude lines are not great circles (with one notable exception!) so they do not trace the shortest surface path between two points. (This is why when you fly somewhere in the northern hemisphere your flight always goes north of your origin latitude and destination latitude.)

      Mercator projections do, in fact, represent all earthly rhumb lines as straight map lines. They do not represent great circles as straight lines, except for longitude lines and the equator.

      I think you’re right that you could draw one rhumb line through the four countries.

      Delete
    3. That’s some cool info Crito, thanks for sharing! Rhumb lines vs. great circles is a new concept to me. It seems odd that your compass heading (usually) has to vary in order to travel the shortest distance, but the more I think about it the more sense it makes (especially when thinking about travel near those pesky poles).

      Delete
  5. Rearrange the second letters of the four countries. You get a determination important in many legal cases.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Interestingly, only one letter is common to all four.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  7. I don't understand the procedure. Are just supposed to words that rhyme with Spain hidden in the names of these countries? For instance, if the we was a country called Abstainia, would we pull out the word stain? I don't get these rules at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, you have to anagram the whole name of the country, and get a word that rhymes with 'Spain'.
      E.g., if (only) there were a country called 'Elbina', you could anagram it to make 'Blaine'.

      Delete
    2. Okay, so we just narrow down the search to countries with five letters? Okay, thanks. See you in Nalibe.

      Delete
    3. Rhyming words don't have to have the same number of letters.

      Delete
    4. Not necessarily, Musinglink.

      Delete
    5. Gotcha. I figured it out. I was stuck on Bahrain, brain and Estonia, stain. The straight line thing helped, also.

      Delete
    6. Three of the countries have the same number of letters.

      Delete
  8. Pretty close, anyway, Blaine. I tried using a nice internet tool and got close -- I'd have to pick exactly the right cities to be sure it can be done.

    Paul, 'straight line' surely means a great circle. (If they were on the same line of latitude, I could see that interpretation too.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, great circle and I found two airports that work.

      Delete
    2. Oh, nice!
      Doh. I was thinking I had to put in four airports! Wow that was dumb.
      Okay now I'm going to look for two airports :)

      Delete
    3. Ah, got a great circle! I had to put in one of the intermediate airports to be confident. (The tool I used doesn't show country borders.)

      Delete
  9. Can you clarify? Are the countries each only one syllable? Or is one syllable within the name of a multi syllable name anagrammed that rhymes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anagram the whole name of the country, and get a word that rhymes with 'Spain'.
      E.g., if (only) there were a country called 'Elbina', you could anagram it to make 'Blaine'.

      Delete
    2. Crito has a great explanation above. 😜

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. That's how I started: What country does Blaine anagram to? Of course, as usual, this got me nowhere.

      Delete
  10. So can there be letters left over?

    ReplyDelete
  11. At least 10 people ought to be able to solve this week.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Got it! Now to think of a clue.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Seen on a flashing road sign today:

    Slow down you must.
    Arrive safely you will.

    May the fourth be with you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Today’s NYTimes puzzle page also had fun with today’s date.

      Delete
    2. Do celebrate May 4th. There is no try.
      pjbOnlySawTheTrilogyAsAChild,AndDoesNotReferToTheFirstFilmAs"ANewHope",ThankYouVeryMuch

      Delete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  15. All right, got it! I was at first bogged down with Bahrain, brain, Estonia, stain. But indeed there are four countries that work with all the letters. Not a bad puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Took only a few minutes of looking at a world map. It's taking me longer to figure out a clue...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm going to give a supplemental puzzle as my clue. Take the first letters of the four countries. Rotate one letter 90 degrees. If you started with the countries in the correct order, you will have the answer to this supplemental puzzle.

      Delete
    2. Responding to JAWS, I'm told that the material scientists at the computer maker were constantly reminded of this.

      Delete
    3. JAWS, I had figured out what word your supplemental puzzle is, verified by Nodd's answer. However, I;m in the rather nasty condition of having three of the countries, but unable to find the fourth, try over and over as I did. Given that I now am sure what the initial letter of that fourth country SHOULD be, I still can't find it. Thus, the scream of frustration that you hear....etc etc

      Delete
    4. Gee, ViolinTeddy, I have a guess as to which one you are missing, but I can't say, because that would be TMI. I will say good night, and good luck. Perhaps after a good night's sleep, the last one will reveal itself.

      Delete
    5. I suspect there is a hint in your last comment, JAWS, however I have yet to figure it. Perhaps after said good night's sleep?

      Delete
    6. Yippee, JAWS, I just got it! And I can see why you coudl guess which country I was missing. I had failed, until a minute ago, to realize a particular rhyming word!

      Delete
    7. Glad to hear you figured it out!

      Delete
  17. Interestingly, the names of the four countries share a feature that the Spain-rhyming anagrams do not have.

    ReplyDelete
  18. AL-BLAINE-IA. Not a clue, just an (imaginary?) land.

    ReplyDelete
  19. There are famous song lyrics that lend themselves to this puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  20. You can anagram the first three letters of all four countries to get the full names of two of them, with one letter left over.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your hint helped me finally realize what the (fourth) rhyming would should be, but in so doing, when at last I had my fourth country, I realized that there have to be TWO leftover letters for what you suggested (the arithmetic doesn't work out otherwise.)

      Delete
  21. Not relevant: some other country name anagrams:
    algeria ~ regalia
    angola ~ analog
    bermuda ~ rumbaed
    burma ~ rumba
    burma ~ umbra
    israel ~ serial
    italy ~ laity
    laos ~ also
    mali ~ mail
    micronesia ~ acrimonies
    oman ~ moan
    persia ~ aspire
    persia ~ paries
    persia ~ praise
    peru ~ pure
    serbia ~ rabies
    tonga ~ tango
    yemen ~ enemy

    ReplyDelete
  22. It does not work if you spell Spain correctly, but may with other countries sans anagraming. Easy puzzle and I solved it in bed a couple of hours before it even aired.

    ReplyDelete
  23. [CB Radio Chatter near Rome]
    Yeah, breaker one-nine
    This here's the Holy Roller
    You got a copy on me Holy Roller, c'mon?
    Uh, yeah, Ten-Four Holy Roller, fer sure, fer sure
    By golly it's clean clear to The Fisherman's Friend, c'mon
    Yeah, its a big Ten-Four there, Holy Roller
    Yeah, we definitely got the Pearly Gates, Good Buddy
    Mercy sakes alive, looks like we've got us a CONCLAVE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Breaker one niner. Sediagester here. I think Holy Roller's new handle should be C.W. Skydiveboy. Over, good buddy.

      Delete
    2. Yeah, good buddy. Better make sure there are no Smokeys in your back door. You don't want to have to deal with a Kojak with a Kodak. Steer clear of them bubblegum machines, and we'll catch you on the flipside. Keep the bugs off your glass, and the Smokeys off your...tail. Good numbers to you and the Bandit. Cranberry down, Cranberry gone, Cranberry out!
      pjbWillSoonBeEastboundAndDownThisWeek(HeadedToFlorida!)

      Delete
  24. I enjoyed this puzzle.

    Never been to any of the four countries, but I've experienced all four of the things that rhyme with Spain.
    (Never been to Spain, either!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ....but I've been to Oklahoma 🎶

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. And I suppose Rex Harrison would call it a Four Poster.

      Delete
    4. Never been to any of the four countries, either…but yes, I have been to Spain—three times! 😁

      Delete
    5. I can't see any of these countries from where I'm now sitting. How much help can that be?

      Delete
    6. Ah Spain. They say the ladies are insane there, and they sure know how to use it. Well, I've never been to England, but I kinda like the Beatles.
      pjbAlsoKnowsNeedles,BecauseThat'sWhereSnoopy'sBrotherSpikeLivesInCalifornia

      Delete
    7. I had to do little to solve this puzzle.

      Delete
  25. A word that describes the countries contains one of the words.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Other countries are foreign, which contains "reign". This was in the on-air puzzle.

      Delete
  26. If I have the right answer, two of the countries' anagrams have something in common.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you mean "rain" and "reign" starting and ending in the same letters (and being homophones)?

      Delete
  27. Is there a country by the name of El Bani? 🤔

    ReplyDelete
  28. It'd be nice if Ammon were somehow part of the answer.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Kudos to the on-air contestant who was pretty sharp with the on air game - I'm sure he'll solve this week's "challenge" as will anyone with half a Bahrain. Though I have to admit it is a pretty creative puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Did we resolve the issue of no submission confirmations being sent? I haven't gotten one in several weeks since using the new submission procedure and form. What's the story? And thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chuck, after you submit, this comes up on the screen (not as a separate email) under “This Week’s Challenge” and the puzzle’s wording:


      Thank you
      The form was submitted successfully.

      Delete
  31. Okay here is the new puzzle offshoot. I just measured the distance between the 4 answer countries with my sewing tape measure on my living room world globe. It measured at almost exactly 10 inches. So now I want to see, given that information, who can figure out the circumference of my world globe first. My Bitcoins are betting it will either be Blaine or Bobby.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting puzzle. My compliments. I have a solution based on an assumption of direction of travel, crude measurements, and non-mathematician conversions and calculations. My $$ would be on Bobby for accuracy, so I'll hold up posting for now. (Hint: A little more than three times a famous comedian's age.)

      Delete
    2. Speaking of crude calculations, that would be a little over one-third of the famous individual's age.

      Delete
    3. It could vary depending on exact endpoints in the countries, but I come out with 34 5/8" for the diameter, making it a globe with an 11" diameter.

      Delete
    4. I wondered about the exact cities, too, but factored in that the most common globe diameter manufactured is 12 inches. Hence, my 37.7 inches circumference guess.

      Delete
    5. I probably should clarify by saying I did not pick specific points, but just running the tape over the globe so it would form a route beginning in one country and ending in another and passing over part or more of the 2 countries in the middle, so it will have a little wiggle room. I cannot measure the diameter, so let's stick with circumference. Now, none of those answers are close to what I get.

      Delete
    6. In other words, I am not measuring from where a plane might take off and land from, only the tape measurement from between the 2 start and end countries while crossing over the 2 in the middle.

      Delete
    7. I’m estimating SDB has an 18inch diameter globe, circumference ~54 inches.

      Delete
    8. Correction. 56.5 inch circumference

      Delete
    9. Since everyone is firing away, my solution was 13.89 inch circumference. Probably 14". That's a little over one-third of Jack Benny's accepted age.

      Delete
    10. If 10 inches is the length of the minimal great circle route that touches all four countries, I get a circumference of 59.77 inches for SDB's globe. But I'd also note that we can all find the circumference of the Earth, so this is certainly all TMI (or at least more TMI than my earlier post, that I deleted, giving the minimum distance I've been from any of the countries).

      Delete
    11. This is very weird, how different the answers are.
      My estimate is very close to Word Woman's. I get 36 inches for the circumference. (Actually my calculation gets 34.5, but I suspect globes might come in nice tidy circumferences.)
      I just took the circumference of the earth, divided it by my great circle route, and multiplied by 10.

      Delete
    12. Oh, so my answer is almost exactly the same as Blaine's, that's encouraging. (I was thrown by his mentioning the diameter.)

      Delete
    13. I just measured it and SuperZee is closest so far.

      Delete
    14. Do you mean 13.89 (~14) inches in diameter?

      Delete
    15. ^^^ My question was to Cloak'n'Dagger.

      Delete
    16. Following that route would be no picnic for us aliens.

      Delete
    17. Obviously there are many great circle routes that pass through the four countries. Blaine and I, and I bet WW too, use... let's just say largish airports as our termini, which is why we got very similar answers. I can see how to shorten the great circle route by quite a bit, which makes SDB's 10 inches a significantly smaller proportion of the circumference of the globe.

      All of this does indeed give some info about the answer, but so does Blaine's original hint! But for this reason I'll refrain from further contribution on the topic until Thursday.

      Delete
    18. Be prepared to show all work on Thursday.

      Delete
    19. All this speculation about the size of one of SDB's balls is unseemly.

      Delete
    20. I believe the word you are searching for is elephantiasis.

      Delete
    21. My AP Bio teacher in high school was dyslexic and constantly mispronounced terms. My lab partner and I compiled a dictionary of Russo-isms. He once described "eh-LEFF-en-tee-A-sis" a disease caused by a filarial worm that caused great swelling of the lower extremities. "Isn't that elephantiasis?", I asked. "The two diseases are similar," he replied.

      Anyway:

      There once was a man from Devizes
      Whose bollocks were different sizes.
      One was so small
      It was no use at all
      But the other won numerous prizes!

      Delete
    22. “Balls,” said the Queen. “If I had two, I'd be king.” The King just laughed, not because he wanted to but because he had to.

      Delete
    23. WW, this is in reply to your question. Yes. However, I reached that after making an initial incorrect assumption, I think. So strike it. I'd explain, but avoiding challenge solution details would probably make that too difficult before Thursday. If I remember to do it, I'll explain my initial calculation element then.

      Delete
    24. Looking forward to all these myriad calculations! Much more fun than the news.

      Delete
    25. I have been holding out in case Bobby wanted to post an answer, but since he hasn't I will now reveal the circumference of my world globe. It is 51 inches. Here is how I measured it. I taped the beginning edge of my cloth type tape to a longitudinal line at the Equator. I ran it westward along that line back to where it met the starting point. Now I must confess that I am unsure of the accuracy because, since I was going westward, I expected to lose an inch when I crossed the International Dateline, but that did not occur.

      Delete
  32. When asked point blank whether he supported the Constitution, Trump said “I’m not sure, I’m not a lawyer.”
    Neither am I, but I think I remember his taking an oath in January to that effect. But I’m 78 and may be losing my hearing.
    He says the Constitution has many “nuances.” And he has Bondi & MTG searching thru the Constitution for other nuances, like “habeas corpus.” But they may need to call in Rubio & Vance to translate.
    C’mon people: English is the official language of the U.S., so what’s all this Latin shit?
    Ain’t America great? Any moron can become President.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting you state English being the official U.S. language, when until Trump just declared it so, we have had no official language. But that may not suit his whims at the moment.

      Delete
    2. Neither does Mexico (something I learned watching Jeopardy the other night).

      Delete
  33. Take the fourth letter from each country and arrange to spell the hero of a colorful novel.

    ReplyDelete
  34. The swallows are about to return to capistrano, as they always do in late March. In the meantime cardinals have been migrating to the Vaticano.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Every day there is more tarriffying (sic and sick) news.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You ain't seen nuthin' yet. This is just the prelude. It is not the tariffs or Doge or Trump that is the problem. The problem is human stupidity, ignorance and greed.

      Delete
  36. Our president has renamed the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf. I’m betting he renames Lake Ontario to Lake Rochester next

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, let's focus on all his diversion tactics instead of the real problem.

      Delete
    2. Agreed. We’ll never notice all of the policy nitwittery if we we just focus on the dumb Trumpism of the day

      Delete
  37. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Is it a coincidence that child abuse declines during a conclave?

    ReplyDelete
  39. I wonder how long it will be before 45/47 credits his tariffs for the fact we’re now making Popes in America….

    ReplyDelete
  40. Why is NPR repeatedly saying Pope Bob/Leo is the first American pope? He is NOT. Francis was first. America is not a country.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Common, if imprecise, usage. Citizens of the United States are commonly referred to as Americans.

      Delete
    2. Of course, because what else can they call us when we have never named our country? The BBC is not saying Leo is the first American pope, but the first North American pope. Most in our country are oblivious to how insulting it is to Americans in all the rest of the Americas to insist they are not also just as much Americans as we are. It is bullying, like Trump does. I too am offended by our arrogance.

      Delete
    3. And, just to stir the pot further, Mexican Spanish-speakers commonly refer to residents of the US as "norteamericanos," even though, strictly speaking, residents of Mexico and Central America would also qualify. Canadians are commonly called "Canadienses." Don't know whether residents of South America use the same terminology.

      Delete
    4. Have you ever read, “A Country With No Name: Tales from the Constitution,” by Sebastian De Grazia? Fascinating!

      (And North America is similarly imprecise, as by geographic convention it includes everything from Panama, to the North Pole…including Canada and Greenland!)

      Delete
    5. ... and a corner of Iceland. (There's a footbridge there on which you can walk between the continents)

      Delete
    6. In Argentina (and I assume lots of other South American countries) they call us "estadounidenses".
      Can't see it catching on here though.

      Delete
    7. Yes, America is a country. We have a Gulf of America, and it refers to America the country.

      Delete
    8. Whatever we may feel about a pope from the U.S., there are several of us here who are now in the shocking position of being older than the pope.

      Delete
    9. (How do you say, "Okay, Boomer" in Latin?)

      Delete
    10. Having seen "Conclave", I note that "Leo XIV" anagrams to "Olive X", and wonder whether that's their other papal name?

      Delete
    11. SZ, I just put a hold on it at the library.

      Roger, I hope you are joking?

      Delete
    12. Jan - I'm still trying to get over the fact President Obama was born after my Bar Mitzvah!

      Delete
    13. He probably waited so as not to spoil your party.

      Delete
  41. NIGER (REIGN),

    CHINA (CHAIN),

    IRAN (RAIN),

    NEPAL (PLANE)


    This was a fun, not too difficult, challenge.

    And it wasn't a repeat!
    And it wasn't a repeat!
    And it wasn't a repeat!

    ReplyDelete
  42. CHINA, NEPAL, IRAN, NIGER (chain, plane, rain, reign)

    > You can anagram the first three letters of all four countries to get the full names of two of them, with one letter left over.

    CHINA, NIGER, and pi.

    > If 10 inches is the length of the minimal great circle route that touches all four countries, I get a circumference of 59.77 inches for SDB's globe.

    From the northwestern corner of NEPAL, on the border of CHINA, to the northeastern corner of NIGER (passing over IRAN), the great circle length is 4,166 miles. If the circumference of the Earth is 24,901 miles, the circumference of skydiveboy's globe is 59.77 inches.

    > Following that route would be no picnic for us aliens.

    From east to west, you'd pass through CHINA, NEPAL, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, IRAN, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Chad, and NIGER. The first letters of those countries anagram to "ALIENS PICNIC".

    ReplyDelete
  43. China (chain), Iran (rain), Nepal (plane), and Niger (reign)

    Re: Etymology. While most English words rhyming with Spain are spelled --ain or –ane, reign comes from the Anglo-French regne, in turn coming from the Latin regnum.

    Re: SDB’s globe. An on-line air-mile program estimated the distance from Niger to Nepal as 4750 miles Shifting that program’s route by eye indicated a 4750-mile route could reach from Niger to China while crossing Nepal and Iran. 4750 miles in 10 inches made the scale of SDB’s globe ~475 miles/inch, and it’s 24,900-mile circumference ~52.4 inches. Assuming a 18-inch globe, I guessed 56.5 inches. Later, I searched Amazon and found that Replogle markets, 16-inch diameter, “Adult Globes,” (i.e., 50.25-inch circumference). Since SDB has measured his globe at 51 inches, I should have stuck with my original estimate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe you meant Norman French?

      Delete
    2. Different sources identify the source language differently, although they all acknowledge reign is not from an Indo-Germanic root. My point is that English has many, “loan words,” and that some of them came with spellings which are, “foreign,” to English. My favorite example being Ocean, (also from Norman/French), and its rhymes Lotion, Motion, Notion, Potion, Ration, Station, Vacation, ……

      Delete
    3. Yes. I saw a really interesting YouTube video about English plurals where it contrasted mouse and mice, goose and geese, with moose and mooses. It told why we don't say meese instead of mooses. Well, because by the time we discovered the moose, one the North American continent, the s had taken over as the plural indicator in most words. The sound changes within the word (goose, geese, mouse, mice) had become obsolete. A matter of timing. I think Norman would sort of qualify as Germanic, since the Normans descended from the Norse. Anyway, a word like reign goes back to Latin and ultina to Sanskrit.

      Delete
  44. China & Iran & Nepal & Niger
    chain & rain & plane & reign

    ReplyDelete
  45. I wrote, “Rearrange the second letters of the four countries. You get a determination important in many legal cases.” That’s HEIR.

    ReplyDelete
  46. CHINA IRAN NEPAL NIGER. My hint -- Interestingly, only one letter is common to all four.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Iran->rain, Niger->reign, Nepal->plane, China->chain

    ReplyDelete
  48. China — chain
    Iran — rain
    Nepal — plane
    Niger — reign

    I wrote: Is there a country by the name of El Bani?
    "El Bani" anagrams to…Blaine! 🤩

    ReplyDelete
  49. Spain: Nepal, Iran, China, Niger. Plane, rain, chain, reign, respectively.
    HABEMUS PAPAM !!!

    ReplyDelete
  50. Our good friend and master puzzle-crafter Chuck, aka Chad Graham, has provided us with a four-course puzzle feast in his always popular and puzzling "Conundrumstruck by Chuck!" feature.
    It is a "Lightning Round Appetizer" titled:
    * "Cutting-edge car, or cutting-room floor?"
    * "Alphanumeric Botany;"
    * "Summer-Campy Lyrics;" and
    * "Natural look down, Man-made look up."
    You can see them (and perhaps solve them) a bit later today, when we upload.
    Also on our menus this week:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Tell the secret? Rat?”
    * a Child’s Play Hors d’Oeuvre titled "Vowel times 2, then anagram too!"
    * a Not-So-Hungry Slice titled "The all-you-can’t-eat menu,"
    * a “Be Patient, then Pounce” Dessert titled “Be patient, then pronounce!”
    * and a whole mess of riff-offs of this week's NPR challenge (including six composed by Nodd), titled "The Rain & Reign in Spain stay Mainly on the Plane & island Chain."
    So, come get "Conundrumbstruck... try catching some of "Chuck's Lightning in Bottle!"

    LegoElectrifying!

    ReplyDelete
  51. I asked Google for a map of Asia and Africa, and was able to hold the straight edge of an envelope up to the screen and intersect Niger, Iran, Nepal, and China in that order from left to right, so I figured I'd have to be some sort of NINCompoop to question Blaine's finding any further. I didn't arrive at them in that order. RAIN came first, without the help of a list. CHAIN was near the top of the list I used, but by the time I got down to the Ns I guess I was getting weary; I saw PLANE, but not REIGN. I forget how I actually did come up with REIGN, but I think it was after dabbling with the notion that SPAIN might be considered a rhyming anagram of itself. The "10 people" I suggested would have no excuse for failing to solve were those who were paying close enough attention to the on-air puzzles (10. REIGN UNDER). NEPAL and NIGER: 1)both start with N, 2) are landlocked nations, 3) do not end in AIN; but I can't attribute my relative difficulty in finding them to any single one of those factors. The only country I can see from my porch is the USA; I figured that must be obvious.

    ReplyDelete
  52. NEPAL, CHINA, NIGER, IRAN. I clued that I had never been to any of them, but I have indeed experienced CHAINS, REIGNS, PLANES, and RAINS. Nice Puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Guess who just got the call! Go ahead - guess!

    ReplyDelete
  54. CHINA, IRAN, NEPAL, NIGER —> CHAIN, RAIN, PLANE, REIGN

    Sorry I'm a bit late to the party. Another one of those days.

    The “arguable 5th,” as Lorenzo will no doubt attest, was GUINEA —> GUAINE. The medieval figure of Arthurian legend was Sir Gawain, sometimes spelled Gwaine
    (but not Guaine).I

    In any case, nice puzzle, especially the homophones.

    And congrats, TomR! I'm looking forward to Sunday.

    ReplyDelete
  55. China --> chain, Iran --> rain, Nepal --> plane, Niger --> reign

    Last Sunday I said, “There are famous song lyrics that lend themselves to this puzzle.” “From My Fair Lady, “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.”

    Good luck TomR!

    ReplyDelete
  56. JAWS posted the following clue: "Take the first letters of the four countries. Rotate one letter 90 degrees. If you started with the countries in the correct order, you will have the answer to this supplemental puzzle." Nodd jumped in with "30?"—which is the atomic number of zinc. I added "I'm told that the material scientists at the computer maker were constantly reminded of this," a reference to the sign "Think" that Tom Watson posted in the workplace even before National Cash Register renamed itself IBM.�

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Watson posted "Think" at while he was in sales at NCR, and took the motto with him when he started IBM, but NCR was never part of, nor forerunner of IBM. NCR was part of AT&T in the 1990s.

      Delete
    2. I suppose that it's neither here nor there, but my brother has worked for IBM for 44 years now, ever since getting his Ph.D at Caltech. It's most unusual these days for ANYone to have held only ONE job their entire working career. He says the IBM Watson building is way too huge (i've been there, years ago) to walk, now that he has foot problems...so they let him continue to work from home.

      Delete
  57. "Medieval" prompted me to take the THEGN off-ramp. By the time I got to GHENT I realized how completely lost I'd gotten.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This was supposed to be right under Dr. K's comment, above.

      Delete
  58. I had posted:

    I'm going to give a supplemental puzzle as my clue. Take the first letters of the four countries. Rotate one letter 90 degrees. If you started with the countries in the correct order, you will have the answer to this supplemental puzzle.

    The solution, of course, was ZINC (rotating the N for either Nepal or Niger to get the Z). ViolinTeddy had then commented that they were missing one, and I replied, "Gee,..." guessing that Niger(reign) was the missing one, since it is the least obvious.

    Of course, I called it a supplemental puzzle, because Zinc is available in the vitamin/supplements section.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Feel free in future, Jaws, to use the pronoun 'she' for me! You were so correct in having guessed that Niger was the country I'd been missing. I had actually consulted a "rhymes with Spain" list, and not only did they NOT have 'reign' in it, they were also missing "mane" and "wane.' So not much of a trustworthy list.

      Delete
    2. ViolinTeddy - I will endeavor to remember to use she/her pronouns for you. I have shifted to using they/them more often, especially when discussing someone that I do not know what pronouns they prefer, or when I am deliberately obscuring gender, such as when discussing candidates to hire into a vacancy.

      Delete
  59. I was going to post (earlier in the week) that this puzzle has a connection to the (May 4) on-air puzzle, but then I decided that that was likely TMI.
    The connection is that REIGN (the anagram of NIGER) was in one of the pairs of words in the on-air puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  60. CHINA=CHAIN, IRAN=RAIN, NEPAL=PLANE, NIGER=REIGN
    pjbAlwaysThoughtWeWereACountry(Strange!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No one has ever said we are not a country. We are a country without a name. Our name is not America.

      Delete
  61. This week's challenge comes from Greg VanMechelen, of Berkeley, Calif. 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?

    ReplyDelete
  62. Very nice.
    I like the open-endedness of "a potential partner", and also I always like the ones that make you think, "Funny I never noticed that before" when you get 'em.
    No clue here, I'll come up with one for the next thread.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Very nice.

    (There is a clue here. A synonym would never fly.)

    ReplyDelete
  64. Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Nice! Eco, as a puzzle maker, is without equal.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Congrats, Eco! Nice puzzle and, not incidentally, one of my favorite singers.

    ReplyDelete
  67. I have an answer that seems timely but I’m not sure about it – not sure what a “potential” partner is supposed to mean.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nodd, I first came up with a "timely" answer as well, but the intended answer turns out to be unequivocal.

      Delete

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.