Q: Think of a popular commercial name that ends with the names of two male animals one after the other. If you have the right commercial name, its first six letters can be rearranged to spell the name of an N.F.L. team. What is this commercial name?If you change the fifth letter in the commercial name to an H and rearrange the letters, you get a part of the lower body.
Edit: Hamstring
A: INSTAGRAM --> STAG, RAM --> GIANTS
I'm thinking of a place whose name more famously denotes a different place. This place connects the commercial name and the NFL team, but only via another 'denotes a different' connection.
ReplyDeleteAnother nice one from Lego. My first guess at the NFL team was wrong, but it was close enough.
ReplyDeleteGood clue
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ReplyDeleteGreat clue, got me right to it.
DeleteUh-oh!
DeleteChatGPT got it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Chat GPT will play on-air with Will and Ayesha.
DeleteKind of reminds me of a certain songwriter.
ReplyDeleteThere's a nice tie-in between Lego's latest Sunday Challenge and one of the offerings on this week's edition of his Puzzleria! blog.
ReplyDeleteIs it fair to call that clue a stretch?
ReplyDeleteI sure love a puzzle that's snack-y like this one...a little brain teaser that doesn't take too long to solve and is satisfying. Unfortunately, it look me longer than I would have liked because I tried to solve it with the commercial name, but then decided to work it the other way with the NFL teams. Gemini failed.
ReplyDeleteI solved this one rather quickly and, I gotta say, I kinda like this puzzle compared to some recent offerings. Nice one Lego (isn't that a commercial name too?)!
ReplyDeleteYeah, same here. It took some effort to solve, but wasn't seemingly impossible. Good puzzle, Lego!
DeleteRearrange to get a test I've done.
ReplyDeleteI solved it, and then I fed the puzzle into ChatGPT. ChatGPT got it. I have heard Will say, years ago, that using any reference or web page is completely acceptable in coming up with an answer, but maybe Will will have to start checking to see if AI can solve the weekly puzzle before announcing it.
ReplyDeleteRearrange the even letters of the commercial name. You get an insect.
Re-arrange those letters and you get an extinct drink.
DeleteSort of extended puzzle: If you figured out my songwriter hint above, try to think of a word I almost used in my hint that would have (accidentally!) been TMI. Extra connection: one of the hints on this week's blog.
ReplyDeleteI've solved Lego's, but I can't figure out your songwriter. I am therefore deprived of the fun of trying to figure out the TMI word.
Delete:(
I can think of a particular cover of a particular song that connects two of the three discovery words in Lego's puzzle. Probably unrelated to your songwriter though.
A hint upthread largely influenced my answer.
ReplyDeleteAdd a pronoun to the name and rearrange to get a school-related word.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Joe!!! Another notch. As a puzzle writer, myself, I find it tougher and tougher, though not completely impossible) to write one that Chat can’t solve :(
ReplyDeleteBlaine's clue reminds me of last week's puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIf you substitute a letter for one of the first six letters of the commercial name and rearrange, you get something interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe animals faced each other in basketball--men's and women's--last year.
ReplyDeleteFairfield University Stags vs. University of Rhode Island Rams
DeleteThere's also a relation to Blaine's clue and one of the on-air puzzle answers.
ReplyDeleteThis week when I submitted my answer via the old NPR form I received their automatic reply immediately. I am still waiting for their reply from last sunday. So, I have to wonder if they actually received it.
ReplyDeleteLots of fun, Lego! Thanks for a new way to think about this word.
ReplyDeletePenelope: "They don't know what they're looking at."
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DeleteIf the University at Buffalo's men's sports teams are nicknamed the Bulls, shouldn't the women's sports teams be nicknamed the Cows?
ReplyDeleteIt's no doubt the reason the Chicago WNBA team is called the Sky.
DeleteBullets
DeleteI like it! Probably not a good idea for Chicago, though.
DeleteThe Washington Bullets eventually came to the same conclusion and renamed themselves the Wizards. Which drew some sniping from those who thought it was in poor taste to choose a title that the Ku Klux Klan also used for its leaders. But after nearly thirty years of mediocrity no one really cares anymore.
DeleteI was living in DC at the time. The team solicited recommendations for new team names, so I submitted a proposal--including a logo design--for the Washington Control. Seemed like a good idea at the time as collective-noun nicknames such as Heat and Magic had gained traction by then. Given how "Washington control" is now being wielded, I'm glad owner Abe Pollin ignored me.
DeleteI had to kick myself this one took me so long.
DeleteI didn't come up with the answer until Tuesday night. Better late than never! (Thanks for the mental workout, Lego -- I solved it while working out the rest of my body at the Y. :)
DeleteMixed signals: Blaine's post asks "What is this commercial name?" But when Will poses the puzzle he asks "What team is it?" [The transcript, just to confuse things further, quotes Will to say "So again, a popular commercial name. It ends with the names of two male animals, one after the other. And if you have the right commercial name, the first six letters can be rearranged to spell the name of an NFL team. What team is?" Maybe if they paid those interns more they wouldn't keep making mistakes when transcribing the puzzles.]
ReplyDeleteI am assuming that the powers that be will accept either the "commercial name" or the "team name." But I'm listing both just to be on the safe side.
Not a clue here. But I happen to be at an event tonight in Tarrytown NY at which Will Shortz himself is speaking. If anyone else is here please holler!
ReplyDeleteAlso, GREAT puzzle, Lego! Mindful, entertaining, thematically appropriate.
Solved it while driving. Finally getting a chance to comment here. A tame puzzle.
ReplyDeleteCouldn’t solve this puzzle this morning, so I put it down and went to the gym. Couldn’t solve it this afternoon, so I did some chores and made dinner. Couldn’t solve it after dinner, so I sat down with a book. BANG, no lists, no pen and paper, and the answer popped into my head.
ReplyDeleteAh, the mysterious ways of the human brain.
Thanks Lego, for a fun puzzle.
I think this is the first time that I actually found Blaine's hint to be an actual hint.
ReplyDeleteD.M. and B.F.
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ReplyDeleteI guess "unitary executive" means the other two have to do whatever the one says. Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer, etc.
DeleteYeah. In trying to decide I thought maybe Superior Executive Branch might be the ticket. Another way to look at it is that all 3 branches have abdicated their responsibilities.
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ReplyDeleteAs Clarence Darrow said, “I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.”
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ReplyDeleteWhat gets me is how diligent and concerned the Republikuns are with protecting our elections from fraudulent overthrow. They believe the only persons who should be allowed to overturn an election are the nine members of the Soupream Court.
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DeleteWell then perhaps he got his wish fulfilled. And now NPR is dipping deep into their jar of turd polish.
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DeleteThank you, Roger, for revealing your bigotry for us all to see.
DeleteSo says the guy who agrees with murdering those who express a contrary political opinion.
DeleteThank you again, Roger, for revealing how ignorant and shallow minded you are for all of us to see.
DeleteSmall minded people want our world to be like a game of Go, where all the pieces are either black or white. Should someone introduce a green pebble then there would be no end to the commotion. Well, the world is not like a game of Go, but instead a canvas of infinite possibilities. Only a fool would want to have it otherwise.
DeleteINSTAGRAM >>> STAG & RAM & GIANTS
ReplyDeleteINSTAGRAM; STAG, RAM, GIANTS
ReplyDelete"Lots of fun, Lego! Thanks for a new way to think about this word." I enjoyed a new and fun way to think about this social media platform.
INSTAGRAM (STAG, RAM, GIANTS)
ReplyDelete> Rearrange to get a test I've done.
GRAM STAIN
Instagram (stag, ram, Giants)
ReplyDeleteI wrote: Kind of reminds me of a famous songwriter.
This is referring to Buck Ram, who is most famous for writing songs for the Platters. I almost wrote something like, “There’s a thread connecting this answer to a famous songwriter” to refer to the buckram fabric, but then I remembered Threads, which is related to Facebook/Instagram and realized that would be TMI. Blaine’s hint was “hamstring” (string/thread).
Instagram (stag, ram)->Giants
ReplyDeleteINSTAGRAM>>STAG, RAM, GIANTS
ReplyDeleteIt took me close to 13 hours before I realized I’d been putting the em-FAH-sis on the wrong sih-LA-bul.
I wrote "Penelope: 'They don't know what they're looking at.'" Thinking of the Giants led to the Meadowlands. Googling that word turned up Louise Glueck, who published a book of poems based loosely on "The Odyssey" titled "Meadowlands." This quote from that book seemed to be a good description of Instagram.
ReplyDeletePuzzleria proudly presents a Triple-Threat Appetizer entitled "Riffs & Summits" on this week's edition, composed and contributed by a loyal Puzzleria!n. You shall be treated to a trio of posers titled:
ReplyDelete* “Remote, Remoter, Remotest,”
* “Who You Gonna Call?” and
* “Who’s Minding the Store?”
We shall upload these gems and other puzzling nuggets very soon, this very afternoon!
Also on our menus this week are:
~ a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “BowldlERISing Shakespeare,”
~ a Hellenistic Hors d’Oeuvre titled “‘Twas a Byzantine Buzz!”
~ a “Here’s Where The Story Ends” Slice titled “Curtain comes down on a corp,”
~ a “Nearly Midnight Or Noon Dessert” titled “Some Numbers So Summable,” and
~ a dozen “Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees” titled “Grassland & Gridiron Head-Butters.”
So join us, why don't you, for some “Riffs & Summits,” “BowldlERISation,” “Byzantine Buzz!” “Down-coming Curtains,” “Some Summable Numbers,” and “Head-Butting Riffs!”
LegoLambdaRambdaStagmaStigmaGiganticTitanicAtlanticSpecificDogmaticPhlegmaticEcstaticSocratic!
My thanks to all those on Blaine's wonderful blog who sent congratulations and kind words my way regarding this puzzle.
DeleteLegoWhoseHeartWasWarmed
Instagram (stag, ram), Giants
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Congrats, Joe!!! Another notch. As a puzzle writer, myself, I find it tougher and tougher, though not completely impossible) to write one that Chat can’t solve :(“ I did not post a clue. Congrats again, Joe.
I wrote: "Blaine's clue reminds me of last week's puzzle."
ReplyDelete'ham'string/Bacon
INSTAGRAM, GIANTS.
ReplyDeleteI told Lego his puzzle was Mindful, entertaining, thematically appropriate to spell out META, the owner of Instagram.
It seemed prudent to start with 6-letter NFL teams, of which there are nine. Oddly enough, three of them (Giants, Saints, Titans) can be rearranged to begin with INSTA-.
ReplyDeleteAnd one of them (TITANS) can be anagrammed to a product that many of us old folks use daily (STATIN)
ReplyDeleteINSTAGRAM, GIANTS, STAG, RAM
ReplyDeletepjbSolvedAnotherGreatPuzzleFromLego,ButThey'reAllGreatWhenYouCanFinallySolveThem!
Does it not seem odd to some here that more attention is being paid to the shooting death of a nasty, vile hatemonger than is ever paid to the shooting deaths of innocent school children that happens so often in our country that defends the proliferation of firearms designed to kill humans? And this pretend outrage is primarily expressed by the Republican politicians who are most responsible for it. Where is the outrage? Where are those who have the courage to stand up to this onslaught? We love to hear how courageous we Americans are, but I have yet to witness it.
ReplyDeleteINSTAGRAM (stag, ram, Giants)
ReplyDeleteMy clue: Add a pronoun to the name and rearrange to get a school-related word.
Add "MINE" and anagram (not Instagram) to get MAINSTREAMING
Did anyone decipher Crito's cryptic posting that began the week?
ReplyDelete"I'm thinking of a place whose name more famously denotes a different place. This place connects the commercial name and the NFL team, but only via another 'denotes a different' connection."
The best I could come up with is Neverland, perhaps more famously denoting Michael Jackson's place. Instagram could connect to TikTok, which could suggest the alligator that stalked Captain Hook, but I don't recall giants being among the mythical creatures that inhabited Neverland. Crito?
Oh right!
DeleteThe first Instagram photo ever posted was of South Beach Harbor at Pier 38. Of course, there's a more famous 'South Beach' in Miami. The San Francisco one is right next to the home of the San Francisco Giants, which of course are not the NFL Giants.
So obvious in retrospect!
DeleteI wonder: Could Mandrake (the Magician) be a future puzzle?
ReplyDeleteI am reminded of a recent controversy...
ReplyDelete(['gram] cracker barrel!)
DeleteMy clues - "I solved this one rather quickly...." as in "insta-ntly" and "I kinda like this puzzle", as in a Like on Instagram.
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge comes from Bob Weisz. In a certain classic film, the protagonist uses two weapons. The name of one of these has 10 letters. If you take its first letter and last six letters, you can rearrange them all to name the other weapon this protagonist uses, in seven letters. What weapons are these?
ReplyDeleteGot it in one.
DeleteI wasn’t as fast as Jan, but I got there without any help.
ReplyDeleteOnly 276 correct entries last week
ReplyDelete