Q: Take the phrase EASTERN TIME. Change one letter and rearrange the result to name a place that observes Eastern Time.Could it be in the 410 area code?
Sunday, September 21, 2025
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 21, 2025): ET Phone Home
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 21, 2025): ET Phone Home
67 comments:
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.
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I have an answer that works, but "place" is sufficiently ambiguous that I'm not certain. Tough to clue. Perhaps there's more than one answer....
ReplyDeleteDr. K - I have an ambiguous answer, too. I wonder if we have the same idea
DeleteCurtis, my "ambiguous" answer hits close to home. I'm now sure it's not the intended answer, but it does satisfy the puzzle's criteria. The intended answer, which I later got, used to hit close to home.
DeleteIn the inimitable words of Emily Litella, "Never mind."
DeleteI was mistaken. Mea culpa.
I don't know if ambiguity is going to be the problem this week. I would think it's easy to get thrown off by a false assumption.
ReplyDeleteI've just realized that ambiguity is very relevant! But it will not interfere with solving, at all.
DeleteI wonder if the ambiguity I have in mind is what anyone else mentioning ambiguity here has in mind.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I tried to check my initial effort with pen and paper I found an error - and now I have several possible places. Hmmmm.
DeleteDramatic irony
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteBlaine, I didn't think I was giving TMI. I was trying to think outside the box
DeleteNever, ever, think outside the box.
DeletePart of my answer is connected with last week's puzzle.
ReplyDeleteMore than 1300 correct entries last week
ReplyDeleteI have an unsatisfying answer that doesn't involve changing a letter.
ReplyDeleteBut it's kind of cute?
DeleteI have photographs of myself, standing in that location
DeleteOh, man, I understand Blaine's clue!
ReplyDeleteFor me, that's a record, getting it this fast.
At first, having an answer that worked (yes, a valid solution but one that turned out to be incorrect), I thought Blaine's clue was tmi. Now, having the correct answer, I am back in the usual position of not understanding it. Oh well...
DeleteFor purely personal reasons that should not be tmi, I associate this place with the Warren Commission Report.
Rearrange the even letters of the place. You get something to wear.
ReplyDeletePlus the letter that's changed in "Eastern Time"?
DeleteWith Dr. K's additional letter, this clue works for my answer.
DeleteMine too.
DeleteDitto
DeleteLOL! Thanks for this effort. I apologize for misleading you. Dumb me, I meant ODD: Rearrange the odd letters of the place. You get something to wear.
Delete"In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over what I considered to be an odd number."
Delete--Steven Wright
EVEN, ODD, what's the difference anyway?
DeleteI am sure I have the answer, but heading out to go camping again in Eastern Oregon, which is neither the place nor a hint.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to visit the one county in Oregon that is on Mountain Time? 😀
DeleteThat is odd, but no, much closer. The Deschutes River State Park where it flows into the Columbia River.
DeleteIt just made me think of this puzzle, that's why I asked. 😜
DeleteThere is a kind of roundabout clue in SDB's plans! Although I guess he'd have to have a slightly different plan for the clue to be a good one. (And it's very roundabout -- I don't think you can get from what SDB said to the answer, but only see the connection if you already know the answer.)
DeleteI am up to 5 alternate answers. One of them stretches the "observes" requirement a lot, but it otherwise meets the criteria of the puzzle. I think one of my other four, since it also does not involve changing a letter, is likely the same as Jan's. What I do not have is something that strikes me as the intended answer.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteSorry, I did not think that was TMI in any way.
DeleteChange one letter of the answer and you might find an imaginary place where certain officials congregate.
ReplyDeleteWe have the same answer.
DeleteA main street in many eastern cities would get you there.
ReplyDeleteHello to all--Long time reader, first time writer.
ReplyDeleteWith apologies to Bennett Cerf...
There is a fine fellow named Blaine
His Blog has achieved some fame
The members are quick
With a clue and a quip
And solve puzzles lickety-split
And for me, as usual, I am stumped.
Cheers to all. Fare thee well!
The Larch
Welcome to Blainesville, "The Larch!"
DeleteDandy limerick!
LegoWhoPrefersTheLarchToTheHorseChestnut
Lego's too polite to point out that the last line of a limerick rhymes with with the first two.
DeleteIf my answer is the intended one, I'll set the over/under at 100 this week. Judging from the comments, I think I have the same answer as Dr. K and Nodd, but maybe not as Crito and Blaine.
ReplyDeleteI have the same answer. I'll explain my clue after the Thursday deadline. Ambiguity? I accept what Will is doing.
DeleteBlaine, sly misdirection there! Love it.
DeleteYeah, the amendment to Rob's 'even' clue tells me I have the same answer as you. But Blaine's clue is not exactly easy to understand, even if you have the answer.
ReplyDeleteI don't get all the clues here, though, so it's quite possible there's another convincing answer.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteCalm down, Karen. No one's getting that reference here.
DeleteBut the Internet...
DeleteAfter wasting an entire day thinking about this off and on, I finally have an answer I really like.
ReplyDeleteActually it starts off as a as a limerick but it's not a limerick because the last couple of lines or maybe even three they don't work at all for a limerick the first and second and fifth lines have to rhyme and the second and third lines rhyme with a different rhyme
ReplyDeleteMore like limeWRECK (rimshot)
DeleteSeems like there may be more than one answer key to this one......and perhaps a bit risky to provide a musical clue to this one. (never mind the ambiguity of the puzzle already)
ReplyDeleteThere is a hint on air.
ReplyDeleteI have a local obscure answer, which I'm sure is not the intended one.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify: My first answer was wrong. I’m sorry if in my haste and zeal I misled fellow bloggers. That incorrect answer required that two letters be changed, not one, something I did not recognize until later when I had thought about it further. However, I’m certain my subsequent answer is the intended one.
ReplyDeleteAs for “ambiguous”—the word of the day—I stand by its conventional definition, “having more than one possible meaning.” The word “place” in the puzzle’s wording is clearly ambiguous.
Yes, I seem to have a gift for oxymoron.
DeleteOkay, solved it. The answer is not ambiguous, for certain. Surprised that Blaine is clung towards Maryland, when - - did you know that it's possible to make OHIO into a palindrome? Especially parts like CINCINNATI?
ReplyDeleteI finally solved it, too. I have to say, this was the first time I used to Bananagrams tiles method, and it did work. And I understand Blaine's clue. Now to find one of my own....
ReplyDeleteActually, I let working it out with tiles stand as my clue.
DeleteDid you perhaps see my Sunday afternoon comment, before it was removed?
DeleteYes. The idea of using tiles was helpful. The rest of your deleted comment was absolutely not TMI.
DeleteThanks, I felt the same way, and was surprised to see it was removed. Hopefully, we will find out more on Thursday.
DeleteSounds like there are lots of plausible answers. Here’s a clue for mine: M
ReplyDeleteI found an "all-ages manufactured home community" that works ... prolly not the intended solution though ...
ReplyDeleteI now have two answers to this week's puzzle and I believe they are both perfectly acceptable and I'm not sure I will be able to post on time on Thursday because I'm working all day to get this cell phone of mine to work and stay on it for some reason all of a sudden it's working but I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or the next day it's totally unpredictable but I will try
ReplyDeleteIf I were to head up 95 and buy 8 trees from Hanscome's Christmas Tree farm in Yarmouth, ME, and then transport them via ferry to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, for replanting, would the trees then be observing Atlantic Time? Yarmouth, MA, is closer, but it lacks a tree farm. Plus, Massachusetts trees wouldn't meet the crtieria.
ReplyDelete