Sunday, October 19, 2025

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 19, 2025): Getting Out of Jail

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 19, 2025): Getting Out of Jail
Q: Think of something to drink in two words. Rearrange the letters to spell a famous prison and a means of getting out of prison. What words are these?
You can also rearrange the letters to get a cookie and a storage container.

Edit: Gingersnap, Silo
A: SINGAPORE SLING --> SING SING, PAROLE

115 comments:

  1. Bingo! Not among the most difficult of puzzles.

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    1. BINGO NOT AMONG is an anagram of the name of the bartender credited with inventing the drink in question. I'll take a chance and guess that ZenoCosini also knows the name of the bar.
      And I wonder if Clark knows anybody who bakes the kind of cookies Blaine refers to.

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  2. Rearrange a block of five letters from the drink. You get something connected to the name of the prison.

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  3. Events at the prison were front page news in a prior time.

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  4. Remove one letter from the means of getting out of prison and rearrange to get a two-word phrase describing another means of getting out.

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  5. 453 correct entries last week.

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  6. Got it with the second prison I thought of. It's taking me much longer to think of a non-TMI hint.

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    1. The letters for one of the ingredients of the drink appear in the drink name, and in the name of the prison, in the same order.

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    2. Of course, this referred to gin, as "ing" appears multiple times in Singapore Sling.

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. A nice bit of wordplay! Not as straightforward as most anagrams. I liked Blaine's comment.

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    1. I'll piggyback on Blaine's comment to say you can also rearrange the letters to get a two-word phrase for something we are all doing on this blog.

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  9. Wow, I was completely wrong about the source of one of the two expressions. In a way the history is the opposite of what I'd always assumed.

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    1. I'd always assumed "Sing Sing" was a slangy alteration of "Ossining", but in fact Ossining changed its name from "Sing Sing" because it didn't want to have the name of a prison!

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  10. Remove a letter from the second word of the drink. Rearrange to produce something you'd likely see in and around the prison.

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  11. I have a bad feeling about this puzzle.

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  12. There will be a barrage of correct answers, probably between 1327 and 1361.

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    1. Barrage is a band that played a rendition of Sing, Sing, Sing. 1327 to 1361 is a record prime gap. The word "gap" is in Singapore.

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    2. This is similar to a puzzle 2 years ago this week. The puzzle on October 22, 2023 was Singapore->sing, opera.

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  13. I was hoping that the means of getting out of prison would be "slowly chipping through a wall, and then sliding through a sewer pipe into a local stream."

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  14. Cute puzzle and not a repeat. Well, sort of.

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  15. I should know better than to try a puzzle while half asleep at 4 AM. I can now spend the rest of the day doing what I do when happy.

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  16. Natasha, this post is mostly for you.
    Last night I attended the season opening night of The Pirates Of Penzance. It was completely sold out and well done. It had never before been performed at Seattle Opera. During the 26 minute intermission I happened to run into our new General and Artistic Director, James Robinson. He is the fifth in its 61 year history. He was mingling among the crown and I walked up and asked him why the Seattle Opera would stoop so low as to use a pirated copy of the libretto. It took him a moment to catch on to the joke, but he liked it.

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    1. SDB: Thank you for the tale of your encounter with royalty. It takes most people a lot of courage to pull that off to someone of his stature. You were pulling his leg wooden or real, I think. You need to watch the Chopin Piano Competition in Poland that is on as I write this. It is amazing although no one reaches the level of Van Cliburn IMHO. At least not yet. Tomorrow is the final day and winners will be announced. I liked playing Mozart Concertos.

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    3. SDB: I got a nice response from ws to my email telling him I had a similar problem. He was so helpful to me. I understand what he has gone through. I am fine for now and waiting for test results.

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    4. Different strokes for different folks.

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    5. Not sure that is what my slurred speech was due to. Neurologist waiting for more tests. Jury still out.

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    6. SKB: Nothing to joke about. Hurtful.

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  17. This puzzle is very hard if you've never heard of the drink. I made lists of prisons and 'means of getting out' off the top of my head - my lists included the correct answers! But there are so many possibilities for 'something to drink in two words' that making a list is impractical. Even when I put my correct answers into the Internet Anagram Server, it gives over 100 answers, and I didn't recognize any of them as something to drink. However, there was a clue above that helped me narrow my search for drinks, and from that list, I recognized the correct answer.

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    1. I had meant to say that Internet Anagram Server listed over 100 2-word anagrams, none of which I recognized as a drink.

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  18. I am reminded of the title of a popular movie I did not see, but if I were to say more it might be TMI by half of those here.

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  19. Trump owns 15 golf courses worldwide, so it's not surprising that some are near prisons and other sports venues.

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  20. Obviously I cannot say if the drink in question is a caffeinated beverage or an alcoholic beverage...but it's one of the two.
    pjbHasHeardOfTheDrink,ButHeHimselfWouldNeverDrinkIt

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    1. That narrows it down pretty dramatically, even disqualifying your own eponymous juice.

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    2. When asked, “Is that a yes or a no?”
      He answerd, “Yes, it is.”
      “Yes, it is what?”
      “It is yes or no.”
      “Which is it?”
      “Which is what?”
      “Which is it, yes or no?”
      …….

      With thanks, for the inspiration, to Abbott and Costello’s, “Who’s on first.” IMO, the funniest comedy skit of all time.

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    3. I did get bogged down in "your own eponymous juice." ;-)

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    4. "I don't give a darn!"
      "What?"
      "I said, I don't give a darn!"
      "Oh, that's our shortstop!"
      Still hilarious, whether he said it with the R in the word or with the M(y'all know which word I mean!).
      pjbNotTryingToSoundLikeRhettButlerNearTheEndOf"GWTW",ButYouGetTheIdea

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  21. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  22. I'm thinking of a nearby landmark...

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    1. (the Sydney Opera House, where I am lucky enough to Sing on the regular)

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  23. I'm right behind Will on this one.

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    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  24. I read the puzzles online and don't listen to the show, but did anyone on the air mention the inappropriate (and hilarious) alternate answer for on-air challenge question number 2 this week?

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    1. A girl's got to make a living...

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    2. It might be worthwhile to remember the segment is usually recorded off line on the preceding thursday. That being said, we here in Seattle are used to having to put up with whores of a different color. Yet we mostly all believe all whores are equus, but must be bridled in. Aside from that they reign here in Seattle.

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    3. Jan was the first to comment on this alternate answer, but he was so quick with his post that it wound up at the end of last week's thread.

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  25. A girl's got to make a living...

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  26. Fun puzzle - I'm always amazed at how someone comes upon this wordplay! Anyway, for the two word drink, the first word ends phonetically with something related to a drink, and the second word, when used in a different context, is often followed by a word that can also be related to a drink.

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  27. So is the famous prison also the means for getting out? Or does the drink anagram to two different things?

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    1. The number of letters in the name of the drink equals the number of letters in the prison, plus the number of letters in the means of getting out.

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  28. I have imbibed of the thing to drink in its probably most appropriate ambience.
    Possible military clue "shoulder arms".

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  29. The means of getting out also anagrams into a different drink

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  30. I went to school not too far from the prison.

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  31. Notwithstanding the popularity of The Pirates of Penzance, does anyone here know why it is that it is so rare to find a British pirate, and that those few there are seem to be incapable of behaving as acceptable pirates in the first place?

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    1. I suspect it may be due to their difficulty pronouncing their R's.

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  32. My cookie fell into the dirt. I'll probably eat it anyway.

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    1. Only copy from the best, per my AI advisor.

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    2. TomR. Using AI is , in my opinion, cheating. I tried using AI to solve this puzzle and it couldn't do it. By using my own brain after getting some sleep, I got the answer. If you go to AI to get an answer, honestly your brain will suffer from disuse.

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    3. I just asked ChatGPT. It kept getting excited because the ideas it was trying *almost* worked. Then, finally! It told me:

      🔑 Real answer (confirmed classic riddle):

      Drink: "Peach Brandy"

      Rearranged letters:
      → Alcatraz (famous prison)
      → Break (means of escape)

      ✔️ All letters used.
      ✔️ Two words: "Peach Brandy"
      ✔️ Rearranged: "Alcatraz Break"


      I didn't have the heart to tell it.

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    4. Go home, Chat GPT, you're drunk.

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    5. CAP - I was making a joke to Blaine about AI. I don't use it ever, on purpose, although I see Google is folding it into their tools. I don't see any reason to search the internet for answers to the Sunday Puzzle. I have enough crossword puzzle books and Scrabble games to last, dare I say, a lifetime? Some weeks I don't come up with an answer, especially when they are a bit obscure (Seychelles anyone?) and I am fine with that. I do like to have the diversion to ponder when I can't sleep or while out walking, instead of stressing about environmental collapse, societal dysfunction, and a guy who epitomizes unbridled greed. For the record, I have never, so far, engaged with Chat GPT or the like, on purpose. But that stuff is everywhere.

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    6. ChatGpt got the answer immediately. I already solved the puzzle.

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    7. I wonder if it got better as time went on and more people asked. It produced useless nonsense when I experimented with it.

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  33. You may ride through the prison while enjoying the drink in the dining car to the cadence of the rails.

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  34. SINGAPORE SLING; SING SING, PAROLE

    "I have a bad feeling about this puzzle." As in "I have a sinking feeling about this puzzle. The name of the prison, SING SING means "sinck sinck," which translates to "stone upon stone".

    "Cute puzzle and not a repeat. Well, sort of." SING SING repeats ;-).

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  35. SINGAPORE SLING >>> SING SING & PAROLE

    My hint:
    "I am reminded of the title of a popular movie I did not see, but if I were to say more it might be TMI by half of those here."

    I wanted to hint that half of the name of the prison is the full title of a popular movie I never saw, but I thought it might be TMI.

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  36. Singapore Sling>>Sing Sing, Parole

    The June 19,1953 executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, at Sing Sing Prison, were front page news.

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  37. I wrote, “Rearrange a block of five letters from the drink. You get something connected to the name of the prison.” That’s OPERA and SING! SING!

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  38. Thinking about Singapore Slings led to Sir Stamford Raffles, the British colonial administrator who engineered the acquisition of Singapore. The Singapore Sling was created at the Raffles Hotel, named after him. And when Paul opened the first comment on this site with the word “Bingo!” I assume that he was also thinking of raffles, which is why I wrote “You win the prize!”

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    1. Turns out Paul's clue was even cleverer than I thought. But we were both in the same part of the hotel, even though I didn't recognize the bartender.

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  39. SINGAPORE SLING —> SING SING + PAROLE

    Hint: “Benny Goodman” (removed at Jaws’ suggestion)
    —> “Sing, Sing, Sing (with a Swing),” a Goodman song from 1938

    Afterwards for a hint I considered “Louis Prima,” who wrote “Sing, Sing, Sing,” but thought better of it.

    Hint: “rearrange the letters to get a two-word phrase for something we are all doing on this blog”
    SINGAPORE SLING —> PARSING LINGOES

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  40. SINGAPORE SLING, SING SING, PAROLE. Remove one letter from the means of getting out of prison and rearrange to get a two-word phrase describing another means of getting out. PAROLE – L = A ROPE

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    1. Hey Nodd - I thought you were thinking of "a pole"! (to vault over the wall)

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  41. Singapore Sling->Sing Sing, parole

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  42. Singapore Sling, SIng Sing, parole.

    I wrote: Remove a letter from the second word of the drink. Rearrange to produce something you'd likely see in and around the prison. That would be "prison signage."

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  43. We feature this week on Puzzleria! one of the "youngest yet pioneeringest guest puzzle-making stars" that has sparkled in the vault of our heavenly eleven-and-a-half-year-old blog, namely Mathew Huffman. Along with skydiveboy (Mark Scott), SuperZee (Jeff Zarkin), cranberry (Patrick J. Berry), geofan (Ken Pratt) and others, Mathew was one of our earliest guest-puzzlers. His "Mathew Huffman's Conundrum Sets" made a whole lotta noise and generated a whole lotta puzzling joys back in those early days. So, we have "drumbeaten a path" through our archives and "paradiddle-plucked out" a quintet of puzzles "pounded out" by this gifted young man, whose latest "Conundrum Set Appetizer" we have labeled "More Matthew Huffmania!"
    We shall upload Puzzleria! very soon this very afternoon... You have been warned!
    Also on our menus this week:
    * a Schpuzzle of the Week titled Surf ‘n’ “Sand ‘n’ Swimsuits,”
    * a Decade-In-Rear-View Hors d’Oeuvre titled “Welcome All Whizzes of Pop-Quizzes,”
    * a Syllabic Synonymatic Slice titled “Competitor Deo Omnipotenti,”
    * a Zigzaggy Slalomy Dessert titled “Lose a letter, gain a syllable,” and
    * ten riffs of Will Shortz's current National Public Radio puzzle challenge (composed by Palo Alto's Dan Pitt) titled “It’s a Singapore Sling Sing-Sing Thing” (including six by Nodd, one by Plantsmith and one by a contributor and friend of Puzzleria!)
    Hey, that's a total of 19 puzzles!
    Lego(CertifiedHuffmaniac)

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  44. Sing Sing
    Singapore Sling
    I couldn't solve this
    Guess I'm a ding-a-ling 🤷🏼‍♀️

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  45. Singapore Sling, Sing Sing

    I clued that I'm right behind Will on this one because I live in the Lower Hudson Valley of New York State.

    Will lives somewhere near Pleasantville, NY, or at least that's where his Table Tennis Club resides. That's about 20 minutes up the river from me.

    And then Sing Sing is in Ossining, NY, about 10-20 minutes up the river from Will.

    Which is why I wrote I'm right behind Will on this one.

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  46. SINGAPORE SLING --> SING SING, PAROLE

    > Musical clue?
    Sing! Sing!

    > Trump owns 15 golf courses worldwide, so it's not surprising that some are near prisons and other sports venues.

    Trump National Golf Club Westchester is just a couple of miles from SING SING, and a couple of miles in the other direction from Will Shortz's Westchester Table Tennis Center.

    > Again!

    In Will's New York Times Crossword on Monday: 2D: End of some sentences: PAROLE

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  47. Singapore Sling, Sing Sing, Parole

    Earlier this week, I posted “I went to school not too far from the prison.” Sing Sing is in Ossiniing, NY. Cornell University is in Ithaca, NY. Not exactly next door neighbors, but in the same part of the country.

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    1. I was at CCNY (City College of New York) less than 35 miles from Ossining.

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  48. My clues - "....for the two word drink, the first word ends phonetically with something related to a drink" as "pore"="pour"......, "and the second word, when used in a different context, is often followed by a word that can also be related to a drink."... as in, "shot" which often follows sling for a slingshot.

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  49. How did I miss Singapore Sling but manage to come up with Bourbon Stout? Boron (defunct minimum security prison) and Bust Out.

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  50. My reference to "shoulder arms" was meant to suggest a soldier would "sling" his rifle over his shoulder.

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    1. Except that is not what shoulder arms means. It means to rest a rifle against the (right or left) shoulder, supporting the butt with the hand on the same side. "Right shoulder arms." or "Left shoulder arms."

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  51. SINGAPORE SLING=SING SING+PAROLE
    pjbHasNeverDrunkSuchAnAlcoholicBeverage,NorHasHeSpentAnyTimeInPrisonWhatsoever!

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    1. I've also never imbibed a Singapore Sling, and never been to prison (or even arrested!)

      But I have indeed been to Ossining, NY. Terrific Peruvian Food there!

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    2. As an Ossining resident, I had an unfair advantage. The first prison that came to mind.

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  52. This week's challenge comes from Donn DiMichele, of Redlands, Calif. Name a famous current American singer. Replace the last name with a colloquial term for a person from the place where this singer was born and raised. Say the result out loud. Phonetically, you'll get a form of singing the singer doesn't usually do. Who is the singer and what is the kind of singing?

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  53. Over 500 correct entries last week.

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