Q: Name certain female animals. Insert a T somewhere inside the word, and you'll get a synonym for this animal's offspring. What animals are these?Of course I appreciate this puzzle along with all the puzzles created by our esteemed LegoLambda.
A: DOES --> DOTES, FAWNS
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.
Movie clue: Spider-Man
ReplyDeleteOver 600 correct entries.
ReplyDeletecute-cute! Thank you, LegoLambda!
ReplyDelete--Margaret G.
I wanted to say something clever about this puzzle, but came up two letters short.
ReplyDeleteGot it. Now for a clue……
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI do not think this was the answer as it was not am explicitly female animal nor was the answer a synonym.
DeletePre coffee, I couldn't solve this, but now I have. In other news, Gizmo from Big Bear Valley finally fledged in her um, unique way.
ReplyDeleteOops, my bad—a British word meaning “expensive”
ReplyDeleteBragging about my bad ideas always gets me into a mess.
ReplyDeleteI was apologizing for making a stupid mistake before my first cup of coffee.
DeleteI meant no offense, Diz. "Bragging About My Bad Ideas" reduces to BAMBI; and Fawn (Hall) & Ollie (North) got themselves into a fine mess in the 80's, not unlike Stan & Ollie in the 30's.
DeleteI don't get a single one of the clues so far. I mean, except mine. I guess that's good! They can't be TMI.
ReplyDeleteI see what you did there.
ReplyDelete1942
ReplyDeleteConfirms my answer! Great.
DeleteConfirms mine as well. Thank you, Scarlett.
DeleteAha!
DeleteI have an answer. When I came up with it, it seemed too simple, and I dismissed it, thinking at best that it was an alternate answer. But now, I have been able to match it up with a couple of clues above. So, maybe I do have the answer.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the answer I have works for both males and females of the animal. So, I'm still looking.
JAWS, we may have the same answer (but maybe not).
DeleteIn any case, I think that my answer, given the puzzle's precise wording, would be ultimately disqualified on two counts: I used a word that applies to both males and females, not just females, and that is in the singular form, i.e., a certain animal-, not animals--to which I added the "T."
The answer works, but given the puzzle's wording, it is admittedly weak.
The quest continues.
keep in mind offspring can be plural
DeleteIn the wording of the puzzle, the use of “certain female animals” and “this animal’s offspring” is inconsistent.
DeleteI have found the intended answer. What is interesting to me is that the 1942 clue works for both the intended answer, and the answer that Dr K and I both came up with. (At least, I think Dr K and I found the same not quite right answer. More on Thursday/Friday for that.)
DeleteAs for the not quite right answer, besides the connection with 1942, I will note that this was a challenger.
After you add the T, to get the synonym, you can remove the T and rearrange to find related writings.
ReplyDeleteYou can also add a T into the animal's name to get another word.
ReplyDeleteSo, what is stopping you?
DeleteAdd a T into "deer" to get "deter".
DeleteVery neatly crafted puzzle, and, coincidentally, less than 500 km from the next stop in the Odyssey. IF my guess is correct, that is. That's not so much a hint as an inside sports observation Homer might have made recently.
ReplyDeleteGreat minds thinking alike!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I got it--now I can drift off to sleep this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI finally got the answer. I didn't follow my own advice to always read the question carefully. I actually had the answer all the time, but failed to realize it. Ha ha on me.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe it took me so long, I should have solved this before midday. (Pardon my French.)
ReplyDeleteThe universal clue: e. This time it fits phonetically between two parts of the answer to form a musical clue.
ReplyDeleteDuh! To quote Bugs Bunny; "That's all, folks!" : not a clue, I just can't figure this one out.
ReplyDeletePorky Pig said "That's all, folks!"; Bugs Bunny said
Delete"What's up, doc?". If you're going to quote a Warner Bros. cartoon character, get it right!
pjbAlsoKnowsElmerFuddWasVoicedByArthurQ.Bryan,NotMelBlanc
BTW This was not a clue either. I also haven't figured this one out.
DeletepjbHasJosephYoungCurrentlyPackagingHisNextCrypticCrosswordForPuzzleria!RightNow,SoHe'sALittleDisappointedInThisWeek'sPuzzleFromHim(AtTheMoment)
Well, cranny, to be exact Porky Pig said, "Abbadee, abraded, abbadee, that's all, folks."
DeleteAbraded?
DeletepjbDoesn'tThinkThisWasAn"Exact"Quote
Well, it's not an exact quote.
DeleteI think you eventually found the answer, Cap, but I had to chuckle when you began your lament with "Duh!" If you had only Homerized it to "Doh!" you would have been right there.
Delete🤦🏼♂️
ReplyDeleteJan, what's the imoge
Deletei.e emoge
DeleteThought it was a facepalm emoji.
DeleteJan, All I can is woops!
DeleteI once tried, in lieu of spelling out my email address, using Looney Toons characters' catchphrases: "Suffering Succotash!" "Despicable!" and so forth. Suffice it to say, this only created greater confusion.
ReplyDeleteConfusion is not the worst thing; it can produce great results. I offer as Exhibit A: https://archive.org/details/looney-tunes-s-1953e-06-duck-amuck (please excuse the wait until the cartoon starts). Keep at it, just like Daffy did, no matter how confused you may feel, and all will become clear.
I did something similar 30 years ago. I addressed my correspondence to Games magazine using fingerspelling. It was returned as undeliverable.
DeleteIf I have the right answer (and it seems to fit a number of the clues others have posted), the puzzle works just as well in the singular (i.e., a female animal instead of animals) as in the plural.
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle is just sloppily stated. There's another sloppy feature of it that nobody has mentioned yet. I find it annoying but apparently it doesn't bother others. I won't say anything explicit about it till Thursday.
ReplyDeleteCrito, If you have time, please contact me at jrywriter@aol.com. Thanks.
DeleteLegoWhoHearsTheSoundsOfOneHandClappingAndOfASecondShoeDropping
I'm at such a dead end with this one I bet I don't even believe the answer when it's revealed on Thursday. I will believe how it's explained to be "sloppy", though.
DeletepjbHasAWeddingToAttendSaturday,SoHeDoesn'tNeedThis
Well, I have an answer, however...This answer is not perfect but I will give a clue or two. Only pertaining to my particular answer, if it doesn't seem worth exploring, then my answer is probably wrong. So there. Here goes: the animal I came up with is one that I don't think any culture anywhere has ever eaten. Second clue: The movie Frantic, with Harrison Ford.
ReplyDeleteThat is NOT the answer I have at all. You're sure the baby name can be a synonym?
DeleteI don't claim to be right. I am still considering other possibilities.
DeleteJust as a followup to my own comment and to Splainit, or anyone else. Has anyone ever eaten this animal, adult or offspring? If so, how did it taste? Don't say like chicken!
DeleteSeriously, share your culinary experiences. But NO TMI.
The animal is definitely eaten, but may be difficult to find in your local supermarket.
DeleteThank you. That's a claw. A clue! That's a clue!
Delete"The Andrews Sisters" Too Cute.
ReplyDeleteI got the answer with the first animal I tried, but didn't realize it was the answer until much later.
ReplyDeleteYou and me both, as I posted yesterday.
DeleteJan and SDB, Ditto to the second power
DeleteI'm surprised there haven't been any noteworthy musical clues offered up as yet here......I can think of a few.
ReplyDeleteMe too, but so far all the one's I've thought of are TMI.
DeleteI was thinking of one whose first syllable phonetically is the female animal (ie, the answer) and whose last syllable in their name is a different animal altogether.
DeleteItalo and I both posted similar musical clues on Sunday, though neither of us explicitly said so.
DeleteI bet my husband a dollar he can't get the right answer.
ReplyDeleteWOW! Perhaps you should change your handle to Riskter.
DeleteThis is a clue concerning myself.
ReplyDeleteWell, it took a while, but I got it. Lego, that was a challenge. I would think there won't be too many correct submissions this week.
ReplyDeleteHoly Cow (NOT A CLUE!) I tried again tried with the first animals I thought of and the answer just popped into my head!
ReplyDeleteI doubt that. It's not exactly like the name "Jason Bateman" not appearing in any "famous current actor" lists, and then it just pops in your head. This is terms for animals we're talking about. You pretty much get what you get in those lists. I can't see myself having this answer "pop into my head". Hasn't happened for me so far at least.
DeletepjbIsNotDisappointedInLegoForThisOne,ButMaybeHeShouldBeDisappointedInWhichever[NPR]MinionHelpedSelectThisOneFor[WS]ToUse
cranberry, when added the T to the name of the female animal I got something, at first that I didn't realize was a word that was a synonym for the offspring, but it was! It was literally the first animal that had earlier come to mind. It took time for the aha moment to occur.
DeleteSure. We'll see just how easy this answer could've "popped into my head" on Thursday.
DeletepjbPrettyMuchHadAn"Aha,Life'sTooShort"Moment
In my younger years I tried Square Dancing, but I could never get the moves down. And did not know my left foot from the right.
DeleteI haven't gotten this puzzle either, Cran. Oh, well...
DeleteForgot to post a hint. It's an OK puzzle, Lego, but not my favorite. Wording issues. More Thursday.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I'd have said "... a synonym for a word for this animal's offspring."
DeleteExactly.
DeleteCuriously, the Merriam-Webster online thesaurus lists neither word as a synonym for the other, although I had no problem making that connection when I solved the puzzle. I liked it, Lego.
DeleteOTOH while the clue could be worded better, a number of us still got the intended answer, much like how we can read slightly scrambled English in some cases. https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/you-can-read-scrambled-words-certain-conditions.htm
DeleteIsn't a little ambiguity what differentiates a puzzle from a question?
DeleteI am big;; you itty.
DeleteDOE; DOTE/FAWN
ReplyDelete"Forgot to post a hint. It's an OK puzzle, Lego, but not my favorite. Wording issues. More Thursday." As in I'm not FAWNING over it.
jan's wording of "a synonym for a word for this animal's offspring" was exactly what I was thinking.
DOE +T >> DOTE, synonym for FAWN or,
ReplyDeleteDOES +T >> DOTES, FAWNS
When I said I WANTED to say something clever but was two letters short, it was because DOTE + FAWN, rearranges to WANTED plus FO. Crito’s comment, “…wanted, of course…,” was a more elegant expression of the same thought.
I’d considered posting, “I have a musical clue, but I don’t like the sound of it,” but thought it TMI. Snipper’s comment on the, “…noteworthy absence of musical clues…,” squared that circle, and avoided the dreaded DBA.
Now, if I can just get rid of that ear worm…
I thought you were referring to the comment "Oh dear," two letters away from a homophone of "deer."
DeleteThat's right -- that's what I was going for, too. I was just hiding the anagram "wanted of".
Deletefawn & doe & dote
ReplyDeleteFor those who remember the classic clue “e” – it applies here. If you insert it between “does” and “dotes” it reads phonetically as “doazy doats.” This is the second line of the 1944 song “Mairzy Doats,” a lyrical celebration of phonetic ambiguity.
ReplyDeleteLancek, my mom loves singing this song still. I always thought the lyrics were "Mares Eat Oats." Thanks for the scoop!
DeleteSame here, Word Woman!
DeleteLittle lambs eat ivy
DeleteI'm here to report that Mom also thought it was "Mares Eat Oats." She never heard of "Mairzy Doats" either.
DeleteWedding bells will be a-ringin’ on this week’s edition of Puzzleria! Our friend Patrick J. Berry (aka “cranberry”) and his clan are about to celebrate a very merry fairytale marriage of his cousin’s son, which will take place, according to Patrick, “at some kind of castle” in the heart of Alabama. To celebrate, Patrick has baked up a very special “Trying the Knot”ty Cryptic Crossword Appetizer” for us titled “Merry Marriage Day, Berrys!” — his 39th Cryptic Crossword to grace the cyberpages of Puzzleria!
ReplyDeleteWe will upload Patrick’s ceremonial, matrimonial, magnetic, enigmatic, cryptic artistry very soon, this very afternoon!
Also on our menus this week:
~*~a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “What a name in a novel became,”
~*~a World Altas Hors d’Oeuvre titled “Geography by the numbers,”
~*~a Bad Odds Slice titled “One life-saver vs two deadly quavers,”
~*~a Double-Named Nation Dessert titled “Sundering Redundancy!” and
~*~10 Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees titled “Fawnzie dotes & dozy dotes...”, six of them composed by our friend Nodd.
You are all invited to our weekly “wedding” of “conundrummery” and “funnery!” Hope to see you there!
LegoNotesThatWeMayAllJoinInTheCelebrationOfTheBerryFamilyNuptialsInAbsentiaByEnjoyingPatrick’sMystifyingMindDefyingMasterpieceOfCrypticWordplayfulnessOnPuzzleria!
The correct answer (unsubmitted): DOES AND DOTES (<— FAWNS)
ReplyDeleteMy “crazy” answer (submitted) HEMBRAS (female alpacas or llamas) —> “HEMBRATS”
I am aware that the latter was neither lego’s intended solution nor even a valid alternate one. In fact, I have it on the highest authority that's the case. What in particular disqualifies “hembrats” as part of the answer is that it is not even a word, only a coinage. Nevertheless, I liked the answer so much when I thought of it that I stopped trying and submitted it.
But afterwards, learning the error of my ways and feeling challenged, I subsequently discovered the intended answer: DOES + T—> DOTES (a synonym for FAWNS)
I’m wondering, were there any comments that alluded, obliquely, of course, to the old song, “Mairzy Doats”?
Congratulations to all those who correctly submitted.
I kiddley divey did -- see above.
DeleteThank you. And I always like reading YOUR comments/ clues.
DeleteSo you did.
DeleteHere's a YouTube link to the 1944 #1 hit version by the Merry Macs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbMFZHWHoVM
Enjoy.
Thank you, Diz. And I, yours.
DeleteWe used to sing that song in third grade--and I hated it. Why were we singing a bunch of nonsense syllables?
DeleteThen, a few years later, I finally realized what the song meant (I was one of those slow children you see warning signs about). But I still hated that song.
Also my reference to Andrew's sisters who also did the Mares eat oats song.
DeleteMy answer, which may or may not be the intended one: DOES (DOTES), FAWNS (DEER)
ReplyDeleteI wrote: Pre coffee, I couldn't solve this, but now I have. In other news, Gizmo from Big Bear Valley finally fledged in her um, unique way.
I got up a bit late on Sunday, and didn’t have time to get my coffee before the puzzle. I wasn’t in shape to think of a bunch of female animals. But when I came back from getting coffee, I opened Connections, and saw that DOE was one of the words, and that works! Gizmo was an eaglet, and is now a juvenile eagle (eagle -> eaglet, doesn’t quite match the puzzle).
Re my hint: To the Brits, something expensive is “dear.” I get this from reading of British detective fiction!
ReplyDeleteLots of….
ReplyDeletedeer, doe, dote, fawn
ReplyDeleteDOES (DOTES = FAWNS)
ReplyDelete> Thought it was a facepalm emoji.
As in "Doh!" (Sounds like "DOE")
DOES, DOTES, FAWNS.
ReplyDeleteMy clue was to REMOVE the T and rearrange, get "related writings."
DOES -> ODES, which often fawn over their subjects.
My clues - "....haven't been any noteworthy musical clues" was getting at the musical notes Do Re Mi etc, and also the "musical" The Sound of Music (as SuperZee appropriately pointed out above). The "I can think of a few" (and the follow on clue) was referencing "Do"ja Cat (and I also considered "Ray" Charles, along the same themes. Jan - I enjoyed your Bart Simpson-esque "Doh" emoji!
ReplyDeleteThe sloppiness I had in mind and mentioned is indeed the one Word Woman and Jan together also mentioned a couple of days ago. Animals’ offspring cannot have synonyms. Animals never have synonyms. Only words (and things made of words) have synonyms.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don’t believe that the word ‘fawn’ that’s a noun for a young deer has the same meaning as the word ‘fawn’ that’s a verb. So ‘dote’ is not a synonym for the word meaning a young deer.
But, as Italo Svevo noted in that same thread, this sloppiness didn’t get in our way! So this isn’t a serious complaint.
Thank you, Crito. It may not be a serious complaint, but it is a legitimate one. Getting honest feedback like this from you and others can only make me a better puzzle-maker!
DeleteThanks also to all who commented, complimentarily or otherwise, on my puzzle
LegoWhoAlsoThanksBlaineForGivingUsThisWonderfulForusForOur"SelfExpessions"
LegoWhoAlsoThanksBlaineForGivingUsThisWonderfulForumForOur"SelfExpessions"
DeleteMy clue was 1942 (the year the movie "Bambi" was released).
ReplyDeleteI also commented on what I assumed was Crito "fawning" over Lego.
Scarlett - I thought the 1942 reference was to the year the Von Trapp family arrived/settled in Vermont.
DeleteInteresting, I did not know that. My clue confirmed a few other posters (Natasha, Dave and John). JAWS also mentioned it. I wonder what 1942 meant to them?
DeleteAnyway, it's on my bucket list to visit their lodge in Vermont.
I never even considered the word "fawn" as a verb. I thought I was getting nowhere because a lot of female animals were listed as either cows or does. While I knew "does" could be made into "dotes", I actually looked it up trying to find a noun meaning animal offspring. I also couldn't remember a time before this week when I was unable to solve one of Lego's puzzles that had been selected as a Sunday Puzzle. Obviously I should've checked the synonyms for dote, but instead I checked the definitions, and never even saw the synonyms listed anywhere, or I'm sure I'd have seen it. Sorry about that. As Lego had posted earlier, I've got another cryptic crossword on Puzzleria! this week, and we're attending a family wedding Saturday night. You'd think I were the groom, the way I seemed so nervous as to let Lego's puzzle bother me! BTW My cryptic is going to be a good one, so y'all should really check it out!
ReplyDeletepjbFeelsLikeADeerCaughtInTheHeadlightsRightNow
I wrote "I'm glad I got it--now I can drift off to sleep this afternoon." A double clue: "drift off to sleep" suggests doze/does, while "this afternoon" is an oblique reference to "The Afternoon of a Faun."
ReplyDeleteIf I had posted: Nijinski, I suspect it would have been deleted.
DeleteI gave a similar clue: "Can't believe it took me so long, I should have solved this before midday. (Pardon my French.)"
Delete"before midday" --> "prelude to the afternoon"
The composer Claude Debussy was French.
My movie clue of Spider-Man was a reference to director Sam Raimi, as in "do-re-mi"
ReplyDelete"I bet my husband a dollar..." Dollar = buck, as in male deer.
ReplyDeleteI believe the whole point of the "Mares eat oats" song is that it sounds like nonsense but it also means "mares eat oats and does eat oats..."
ReplyDeleteIf the words sound queer
And funny to your ear,
A little bit jumbled and jivey
Sing “Mares eat oats
And does eat oats
And little lambs eat ivy”
https://allnurseryrhymes.com/mares-eat-oats/
(I guess I should note that in the classic version, that last bit, that I italicized, is sung slower and with very clear articulation of the words."
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember that "All in the Family" had a similar problem with the phrase "Gee, our old :La Salle ran great" from the show's idonic song "Those were the days"
ReplyDeleteiconic
ReplyDeleteThe intended answer was does => dotes, synonym of fawns. Like others, I actually had the right word early on, but did not connect it for some time. I struggled with the phrasing, and "a synonym for this animal's offspring."
ReplyDeleteWhile working on it, I came across EAGLE => EAGLET, which, as I noted doesn't quite work (unless you decide that EAGLET is a synonym of itself).
Then, the 1942 clue was posted. It was, of course, a reference to when Bambi was premiered. However, it is also when the HMS Eagle was sunk, so it worked for the other answer I had. I knew EAGLE could not be right, because the reference to the bald eagle Gizmo taking flight stayed up for way too long, and would have been TMI, obviously. Weird coincidence, though.
This week's challenge comes from Evan Kalish, of Bayside, N.Y. Take a child's game, in eight letters. Change the sixth letter to 'ch' and, phonetically, you'll have a popular animated children's character. What are the game and the character?
ReplyDeleteHuh.
DeleteNot difficult; kinda cute, not great.
I have a clue idea but I'll save it for Blaine's thread -- it needs a little work to avoid being TMI.
Easy.
DeleteYawn
Delete