Q: Take the first and last names of a major film director. Drop the last six letters of his name, and rearrange what remains. You'll get the name of a major film award -- for which this director has been nominated six times. Who is he and what is the award?Technically, the director has one more name.
Edit: Wikipedia adds his maternal surname (Caballero). Also, I probably shouldn't have used the graphic that I did.
A: PEDRO ALMODÓVAR, PALME D'OR
Riddle me this .
ReplyDeleteOh, I get it. It's what he doesn't say.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOuch! TMI
Deleteoops! sorry Blaine! It was my first time commenting and I might have been too hasty
DeleteOh, I was gonna use OUCH as a clue. And that may be TMI from me. Sorry, Blaine.😪
DeleteI’m just gonna cruise today
ReplyDeleteGot it! But it wasn’t easy. I’m having trouble thinking of a clue that’s not TMI.
ReplyDeleteLa Virgen no less. Good puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKinda busy this morning so I had sardines with my eggs instead of bacon.
ReplyDeleteMoxie and I went running this morning through downtown Dayton; it was very hot and we walked more than ran. In a city park, sitting on a bench, was a disheveled man, complete with big black plastic bag which I assume held his worldly possessions. He was doing the crossword from the newspaper. We need our puzzles!
ReplyDeleteAre we sure we are looking at "only" six nominations? I have a director who perfectly matches the Drop six letters—rearrange—get a major film award terms of the puzzle, but I believe the director was nominated more than six times for that award.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOr perhaps we should qualify—nominated six times in such-and-such century? That would work.
DeleteInteresting, I see exactly 6 nominations for this award in IMDB's page for this director. The first letter of the first name plus first four letters of the last name equals a body part. --Margaret G.
DeleteHmm…we each may have a different answer, then. In my case, it is the first letter of the first name plus the first three letters of the last name that equal a body part. Also, for my director, the first four letters of the first name and the first four letters of the last name anagram to that same award.
Deletesorry - I meant 4 letters total. I think we have the same name. Maybe different sites have different numbers for the nominations for that particular award. --Margaret G.
DeletePhew! Long and winding road to get there. And it wasn’t Picabo Street.
ReplyDeleteI think Wolfy is right about the number of times this director has been nominated for this particular award. We'll have to categorize it to be "as of this century." Also, this is another NPR bring-your-own-punctuation puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhile in a stupor in my hospital bed, I still somehow managed to solve it. Nice puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHint: “Take the surname of one of the directors who’ve won the most of these awards, rearrange, and you’ll get a word for a type of beverage and a term for its generic category.”
What are you doing laying around in a hospital bed? There is no time for that.
DeleteI get who that director is but can't fit it into the rest of the puzzle unless you leave a lot of letters over.
DeleteHe is one of my favorite directors.
ReplyDeleteActually, knowing your taste in films, that might eliminate too many possibilities.
DeleteTroo enuff.
DeleteStill working, but I'm encouraged that all but the last 6 letters of Godard's name anagrams to "Jan clue".
ReplyDeleteDashing!
DeleteLast week I received a quick NPR acknowledgment email after I submitted my answer, but not this week.
ReplyDeleteI have not received an acknowledgement since they went to the new submission system...?
DeleteI'll start by noting an anomaly in the dates of invention of a pair of common household items.
ReplyDeleteCulinary Clue: Soup
ReplyDeleteUsually I get your clues-but not today.
DeleteAn illustrious gentleman.
ReplyDeletePretty good, I liked this one! Started with the award, I think that's easier.
ReplyDeleteNo idea what to give for a clue though.
One likes to do one's civic duty.
ReplyDeleteIn case I've never mentioned it before, now seems like a good time to admit I was nominated for a Razzie. I portrayed a marathon runner in the 2012 Adam Sandler movie That's My Boy. It received eight Razzie nominations, including Worst Ensemble, for which the entire cast is honoured. As backgound talent, I wasn't credited, so perhaps I didn't qualify as actual "cast." However, we did about twelve takes--exactly fourteen years ago tomorrow, by the way--for which I ran up and down Boylston St along Boston's Public Garden. I earned that nomination, dammit! Unfortunately (or, I guess, fortunately), we lost to whichever Twilight movie got released that year. Funny how Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are now considered two of our finest actors.
ReplyDeleteUm -- have you seen Mickey 17?
DeleteAck. Smacking myself in the face for taking this long to come an answer that should have been obvious!
ReplyDeleteIt sure isn't obvious to me. I've been down so many rabbit holes that I'm ready for Thursday. Nice challenge, Bob Weisz; you got me!
ReplyDeleteSame here. Can't wait for Thursday!
DeleteWell, with some additional research I just discovered the answer. I had the award early on, but I had dismissed it as impossible because I had never heard of the director. I'll put this week's over/under at 200 -- and I'll take the under.
DeleteI'm putting it under 150.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYikes! I think I'm the last one here to get the answer. I also had to do some extra research...
DeleteGood call there, JayB. Maybe you remember the joke I made up and posted here way back awhile: Have you heard about the Hawaiian magician who can make cocoanuts disappear? Ask me for the answer in a couple days if you want.
DeleteI'll ponder it. (Quietly. :)
DeleteWell it's Pride month in Seattle.
DeleteThis week I learned about an award that I wasn't familiar with, a director that I also wasn't familiar with, (not much of a movie buff, I guess) and that sometimes mentioning a "face palm" isn't such a good idea. Removed it quickly in a what-was-I thinking moment but sdb must have seen it. I give up on the riddle and my apologies for the TMI slip up, sdb and Blainesville...
DeleteJayB- The magician simply palms them.
DeleteLol, I knew there would be a palm in there somewhere!
DeleteBetween Challenger and Chernobyl.
ReplyDeleteI think correct answers will be around 300. But we shall see.
ReplyDeleteClue: a bridesmaid but never a bride
ReplyDeleteALMODOVAR was nominated 6 times—but never won.
DeleteSheesh, finally solved it. I agree, few corrects expected this week.
ReplyDeleteCinephiles have an advantage for sure. I'm thinking Will might have rejected it as too arcane if it had not been for the beauty of the wordplay.
DeleteThe director is VERY well known and I am sure Will would be surprised so many here are unaware of him.
DeleteAgree -- I'm surprised at how many Blainesvillians aren't familiar with this director. I wonder if they'd recognize a list of the director's films -- I bet they'd know at least a couple.
DeleteOne of my favorite directors. I just saw the most recent film a few weeks ago -- I thought the acting and composition were stunningly beautiful.
I wish I would be able to announce this award (some of you may see what I mean).
ReplyDeleteI've been looking at this for a couple of days, and I'm not getting it. I feel like I'm not getting a joke.
ReplyDeleteAnd after a lot of digging, I have an answer. The person matches the criteria, but I have never heard of them, nor seen any of the nominated films.
DeleteJust realized I haven't given a hint yet.
ReplyDeleteOkay, if nominative determinism were a real thing, this director would have made a lot of westerns.
Okay here is another puzzle you to ponder. I think most of you know by now, I listen to NPR all day. I have said this before. So what is the least likely F word you will hear on NPR these days? Please feel free to post your answer, it will not be deleted or removed by Blaine or Blogger. As an aside, I am now asking myself why it is so many have dirty minds. You all know who you are. (And I join you.)
ReplyDeletefloccinaucinihilipilification
DeleteLOL But, no, it has fewer letters.
DeleteFiretruck. Or was that Soupy Sales? :-)
DeleteEven fewer letters.
DeleteThe word I am referring to is FEWER. You rarely hear it used by those who should know better than to say things such as, "There were less people." I used the word in two of my above posts intentionally.
DeleteI believe it is about time we bite the bullet and force ourselves to ask the question no one wants to ask:
ReplyDeleteIs Wrangler engaged in a program of re-jean change?
The Trump Lament
ReplyDeleteSorry (Iran All the Way Home) Lyrics
[Intro]
Sorry, sorry
Oh so sorry
Uh-oh!
[Chorus]
Iran all the way home (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah da da da da)
Just to say I'm sorry (Sorry, sorry da da da da)
What can I say? (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah ah)
Iran all the way (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Yay-yay-yay (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Iran all the way home (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah da da da da)
Just to say I'm sorry (Sorry, sorry da da da da)
Please let me stay (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah ah)
Iran all the way (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Yay-yay-yay (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
[Bridge]
And now I'm sorry, sorry, sorry (Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry)
I didn't mean to make you cry
Let's make amends (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah)
After all, we're more than friends
(Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Yay-yay-yay (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
[Chorus]
Iran all the way home (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah da da da da)
Just to say I'm sorry (Sorry, sorry da da da da)
What can I say? (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah ah)
Iran all the way (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Yay-yay-yay (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
See pop shows near Seattle
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Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)
Connie Stevens
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Manchild
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[Instrumental Break]
[Bridge]
And now I'm sorry, sorry, sorry (Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry)
I didn't mean to make you cry
Let's make amends (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah)
After all, we're more than friends
(Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Yay-yay-yay (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
[Chorus]
Iran all the way home (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah da da da da)
Just to say I'm sorry (Sorry, sorry da da da da)
Please let me stay (Ooh-wah-wah, ooh-wah-wah ah)
I ran all the way (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Yay-yay-yay (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
[Outro]
Whoa-uh-oh (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Yay-yay-uh-oh (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Yay-yay-yeah (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Ah (Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
(Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
(Goo-ma goo-ma goo-ma)
Let's hear the acetate.
DeleteDid you write that all by yourself?
DeleteI woke up all of a sudden with a vivid image in my head and said to myself, "That can't be!"--which is when I found the answer.
ReplyDeleteMulish mascot
ReplyDeleteThe director could star in a musical.
ReplyDeleteI agree with some posters here — “major film director” sure, but only if you’re a cinephile. Not a household name.
ReplyDeleteNonsense! He is a staple of the film industry, including Academy Awards, which are just a joke, but he has them anyway. Perhaps you just do not watch good movies. JAWS is a perfect example of a crap movie.
DeleteThe subject director's movies aren't blockbusters, but in my view, _Jaws_ is the best monster movie ever made.
ReplyDeleteOne of my faves!
DeleteI do not believe blockbusters are usually good movies, but pandering to the crowd. When I first saw The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, I was amazed at Richard Dreyfuss's acting, but then I saw Jaws when it first came out and wanted to vomit at his overacting and the poor quality of the story and script. However I did enjoy the bit about the Indianapolis sinking. Now that is a story worth learning about.
DeleteYes! Inserting the history of the _Indianapolis_ was essential to the story and a good history lesson for movie audiences.
DeleteThe back story of how Captain McVay was treated by the Navy is just as interesting, and like they treated Captain Crozier. Let's name an aircraft carrier after him.
DeleteDe gustibus and all that. I can enjoy a hot dog with sauerkraut because I don't expect it to be filet mignon. "Jaws" isn't in my top 50 favorite films but I can enjoy watching it even if the plot rests on a number of absurd premises; so does "King Kong," "Them," and plenty of other thrillers that don't take themselves too seriously. And people who know more about movies than I do (Pauline Kael comes to mind) have found things to praise about it.
DeleteAs for overacting, Robert Shaw deserves the award for that (apart from his monologue about the USS Indianapolis, which he wrote in the middle of the shoot) and he's glorious. Part of it is that he was made for bigger-than-life roles like Kong was made for climbing the Empire State Building. As Benjy Stone says in "My Favorite Year": "I can't use you life-size. I need [swashbuckling heroes or Ahab-like maniacs] as big as I can get them!"
The real problem with "Jaws" is that it showed the way for risk-averse taste-free conglomerates to produce the sort of Velveeta™ processed film product that dominates the film market these days. That, and made John Williams a star, but I digress.
PEDRO ALMODÓVAR, PALME D’OR award
ReplyDeleteIt was a sloggy road to get here.
It would be fun to turn the accent mark over the O in his name into the apostrophe in the award, but the accent mark is over one of the removed letters.
Pedro Almodóvar and the Palme d'Or.
ReplyDeletePEDRO ALMODÓVAR —> PALME D’OR
ReplyDeleteHint: What I said about the my presence in a hospital was true, but I had forgotten that hospitals figure prominently in Almodóvar’s films. That was dumb luck.
Hint: “Take the surname of the one of the directors who’ve won most of these awards, rearrange, and you’ll get a word for a type of beverage and a term for its generic category.”
—> Coppola —> Cola, pop
I kinda gave up after failing to find any SAG award nominations for Gaspar Noé.
ReplyDeleteOne of the down sides of a tough puzzle is that we don't get to see the usual facetious answers and near-misses. It's too easy to post TMI when you don't know the real answer. I was going to nominate Oscar Romero. It requires no anagramming, he wasn't a director, and he didn't win any awards, but he was canonized as a saint, and that should count for something.
Delete’Tis “Turtle Time” today on Puzzleria! Our friend, master puzzle-crafter Laura Kozma (aka “Tortitude”) has created a heavenly seven-pack of punch-packing puzzles for your solving enjoyment. The puzzles in “Tortie’s Slow but Sure, Sticky & Tricky Appetizer” are titled:
Delete~ Long-running Radio,
~ American Literature,
~ Twice-Played,
~ “Wand” a Washer?
~ Divine Diva?
~ Pop & Doo-wop, and
~ Meet Hannah Graham!
These Tricky Tortitudinal Treats shall be uploaded very soon this very afternoon on Puzzleria!
Also on our menus:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “A pair of capes and a character,”
* a “No, It Is O Perp!” Hors d’Oeuvre titled “Aquatics and Visual Artistry,”
* a “Roamin’ Numeral Puzzle Slice” titled “Snack on some salads and wraps,”
* a “Just One Solver’s Just Dessert” titled “Backspace! Delete! Transpose!” and
* ten riffs of this week's NPR Puzzle Challenge titled “Pedro couldn’t open 6 Palm Doors!”... including six donated by Nodd, two contributed by Tortitude, and one coined by Ecoarchitect...
Tortie (2 riffs), plus
Eco (one riff), plus
Nodd (6 riffs)... That's just one shy of TEN riffs!
LegoRiffleShufflingAndReadyToDealOutSome"TurtleTimeAces!"
I admit I was surprised no one mentioned adirector being nominated for the Morel Guild (Guillermo del Toro) or P*ss Event (Steven Spielberg).
DeletePEDRO ALMODOVAR, PALME D'OR
ReplyDelete> I'll start by noting an anomaly in the dates of invention of a pair of common household items.
I'll open with the remarkable fact that the invention of the can opener in 1855 came 83 years after the invention of foods in cans, or as they say in French, "Cannes". (I like to imagine people starving while waiting for someone to invent a can opener, but apparently they used a hammer and chisel.)
> Between Challenger and Chernobyl.
1986 got off to an inauspicious start. On February 28, Swedish Prime Minister Olof PALME was shot and killed while walking home from a movie (not an ALMODOVAR film).
> Mulish mascot
PEDRO the burro was the mascot of Boy's Life (now Scout Life), the magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, and of the Philmont Scout Ranch.
When all they needed was an economist. (If you don't know that oft-told joke, I'll be happy to tell it to you.)
DeleteAs the father of an economist, I'm surprised I had to look that one up.
DeleteAlmodóvar is originally from the Spanish region of La Mancha. Which led to my corny clue "I woke up all of a sudden with a vivid image in my head and said to myself, "That can't be!"--which is when I found the answer." That's a reference to "The Impossible Dream," the only song anyone remembers from that show.
ReplyDeleteRemove A and R from Almodovar and rearrange to get Moldova.
ReplyDeletePedro Almodovar, Palme d'Or
ReplyDeletePedro Almodóvar — Palme d’Or
ReplyDeleteHis first Palme d’Or nomination was in 1999, and it was the first of a total of seven. The other six nominations were in the 21st century. That’s why I said the wording of the puzzle should be qualified accordingly.
I think that the confusion comes from the difference between "being nominated," which, like the Oscars™, �can apply to either individuals or films (or dogs--there is a Palmdog award too), and "being nominated for a Palme d'Or," which goes to a single film each year. Six of Almodóvar's films have been nominated for a Palme d'Or ["All About My Mother" (1999); "Volver" (2006); "Broken Embraces" (2009); "The Skin I Live In" (2011); "Julieta" (2016); and "Pain and Glory" (2019)]. Almodóvar has also won Best Director for "All About My Mother" and Best Screenplay for "Volver" and his film "Pain and Glory" was nominated for a Queer Palm.
DeleteI may have missed some other nominations that Almodóvar has received--the Wikipedia page is not that clear. But Bob, Will and his interns got it close to right when they said that Almodóvar had gotten six Palme d’Or nominations; it would have been better if they said his films got six Palme d’Or nominations.
Pedro Almodóvar, Palme d'Or. My clue was La Virgen, no less. During his Acadeny Award acceptance speech, 2000, I believe, he thanked (among others) La Virgen de Guadalupe.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was way above my pay grade! Usually when the answer is revealed, I slap my forehead. But not this time!!
ReplyDeletePedro Almodóvar, Palme d’Or
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Kinda busy this morning so I had sardines with my eggs instead of bacon.” I was busy, i.e., tied up – so Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down comes to mind. And sardines come in a can – much like Cannes.
Sardines come in a can! Why didn't I know that? No wonder I can never find them; I keep looking in the ocean. :-)
DeleteMy clue:
ReplyDeleteif nominative determinism were a real thing, this director would have made a lot of westerns.
Because actually, Almodovar's surname is "Caballero", which means cowboy in Mexican (though more like a gentleman in Almodovar's own Castilian Spanish). Spanish people typically have a lot of names. Pedro doesn't use the very last one.
Interesting that the English Wikipedia's featured article for tomorrow (6/29) is nominative determinism. My pediatrician when I was a kid was Dr. Needles. I once had a Dr, Kwak. I've also known a dentist named Fang, and a gynecologist named Cherry,
DeleteAnd as a child I knew of a Dr. Doctor and an anesthetist, Dr. Ether.
DeleteBetter than Dr. Paine or Dr. Hertz.
DeleteThe two most prominent experts on Taylorism (the process of squeezing as much work as possible out of workers by imposing rigid standards on how each step of a job is done through time and motion studies) in the mid-20th century were named Payne and Swett.
DeleteHumorous, but I suspect that one is actually a joke, and not for real.
DeleteBack in the 40’s, graduate student, Ralph Alpher, and his adviser, George Gamow, were finalizing a paper on cosmology and the formation of hydrogen and helium in the Big Bang. As they were finishing it up, Gamow called his friend, Hans Bethe, and asked him to join the paper as a co-author. When Bethe asked why, Gamow told him, “I just want to see something published by Alpher, Bethe, and Gamow.
DeleteThe paper, known also as the ABC paper appeared in the April 1948 edition of Physical Review.
BTW Another bad surname for a doctor(particularly a dentist)would be Bledsoe.
DeletepjbAlsoThinksBerryWouldPhoneticallyBeAGoodSurnameForAnUndertaker
John Barrymore would beat you out though.
DeleteCranberry, thre's a prominent character in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man named Dr. Bledsoe, who's a university president. It's an ironic charactonym.
DeleteFunny that this is a form of nominative determinism in this week's puzzle as well. My favorite is the fireman Les McBurney, who became famous over a decade ago, but there are so many others in lists online.
Deletehttps://laughingsquid.com/jimmy-kimmel-talks-to-perfectly-named-people/
PEDRO ALMODÓVAR, PALME D'OR.
ReplyDeleteI clued CULINARY CLUE: SOUP
I was going to clue CULINARY CLUE: GAZPACHO
because I just LOVE the Death Gazpacho scene in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. But when I Googled Director Gazpacho that movie scene comprised the first fifty results returned. So I went with SOUP, which is more innocuous.
Seems rather chilling to me.
DeletePEDRO ALMODOVAR, PALME D'OR
ReplyDeleteOne of those rare moments in typing in my answer while submitting it where I was really worried about the spelling of every part of it. Too much of a chance of a typo in this case. Oh well. Didn't get the call anyway.
pjbWouldLikeToPointOutIfYouWereToPerformTheSameOperationOnTheNameOf(Female)DirectorSofiaCoppola,YouCouldSpell"Fiasco"!
My clues: "Snipper says that (amazingly!) you can remove four letters from one of the leading actors in one or more of this major film director's movies, then rearrange the remaining letters in the actor's name, and you can get the name of the same major film award!" The Actress is Rossy de Palma, who appeared in Women on the Verge and several other of his films.
ReplyDeleteMy clue: "I wish I would be able to announce this award (some of you may see what I mean)." was referring to me being a "palm reader" (or a "seer").
By the way, did anyone pursue Spike Lee as a potential answer, where after you drop the last 6 letters, you are left with "SP", which phonetically would yield the Espy award? I know it's not a major film award and the challenge didn't reference phonetics!
I never solved this week’s puzzle, but one of my unsuccessful approaches was similar to your SPike Lee effort. I looked for directors whose names began with ME (Emmy).
DeleteThis week's challenge comes from Andrew Chaikin, of San Francisco. Think of a famous movie star (6 letters, 6 letters). The first name, when said out loud, sounds like a brand of a certain object. The last name is someone who uses this object. What movie star is this?
ReplyDeleteMy word. I think I just solved it from my hospital bed. Even my wife is amazed.
DeleteSorry to hear you're still in a hospital bed. Hope you're better soon!
DeleteThanks, Jan. Probably going home sometime this week.
DeleteDr. K, evacuate that hospital bed sooner than later! Feel better soon.
DeleteThanks, Word Woman. I'm expecting to be back home sometime this week. I couldn't have done it withoiut my better half.
DeleteSolved it, but still working on a clue.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the NPR puzzle page includes this instruction:
"If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, DATE DATE at 3 p.m. ET."
Nicely stated puzzle! X-ray vision not required to see the solution.
ReplyDeleteThe brand has belonged to four different companies.
ReplyDeleteThe star’s last name, minus the first letter, is the first name of another famous movie star.
ReplyDelete