Sunday, October 05, 2025

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 5, 2025): This Singer is Going Places

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Oct 5, 2025): This Singer is Going Places
Q: Think of a famous singer. Replace the last three letters of the first name with an E. Also replace the last three letters of the last name with an E. The result will be a world-famous location. What singer is this?
"Not Again."

38 comments:

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

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  2. I’ve eaten lunch looking at the place.

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  3. Rearrange the first five letters of the singer’s last name to get something that often emanates from the location.

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  4. Cleveland rocks! ... Cleveland rocks!

    (Also, Go Wolverines!)

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  5. Why does Will never check to see if he's used a puzzle previously?

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    1. Also Mike Reiss, who has authored some clever (and original) puzzles.

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    2. I should add that I don't believe Mike Reiss would ever deliberately steal someone else's idea. Sometimes stuff gets into our memory banks and can emerge later as an original thought.

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  6. Was Stondyl Hengles the original lead singer of Spin̈al Tap?

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    1. No one knows who he was or what he was doing.

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  7. Rearrange the letters of the singer’s name, and get a two-word phrase for a group that is a matter of some interest to the location.

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  8. The singer performed at the location.

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  9. There’s a problem with this puzzle, besides that it’s been used before.

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  10. Today I learned that Colonel Lawrence E. Roberts of the Tuskegee Airmen was born in the Vauxhall section of Union Township, NJ.

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  11. It's Will's prerogative to use whatever puzzle.

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

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    2. I just wish he would check so that he could get the original author right. This is a clever puzzle, and Peter Collins deserves the attribution.

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    5. At least it's not like the CATE BLANCHETT/CARTE BLANCHE puzzle. As I recall, that one was used on THREE separate occasions! Only one more time now, I guess...
      pjbDoesn'tFeelSoBadNowAboutSomeoneElseAlsoNoticingThe[WALGREENS/ALGREEN]PropertyAndSubmittingItBeforeHim!

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  12. thought of the answer while doing some calf raises...

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  13. While thinking of something to say
    About the challenge we had today
    It became clear to me
    We have nothing new to see
    And hope the next one is harder to play

    Cheers!

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    1. A PuzzleMaster, name of Shortz,
      Used ideas from his many cohorts.
      With some puzzles the same,
      Still, 'twas all in the game.
      Should be a matter to decide for the courts!
      pjbHasNeverEverBeenToNantucket,Though

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  14. This puzzle is like somebody associated with the place.

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  16. I've been fortunate enough to travel a bit internationally, and I've seen a few famous places. One of my favorites involved dragging my wife around London on the Tube and double-decker buses to visit Abbey Road. That's a fair distance from the location in this puzzle, which I've never visited. And, honestly, I've lost interest in visiting it over the last few years.

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  17. Regarding repetition of NPR puzzle challenges:
    About four years ago I began typing into Blaine's great search engine the answers to any puzzles I intended to send "Willward." This practice, once in a blue moon, revealed that I had composed a puzzle that some other composer had previously composed and that Will Shortz had already featured on NPR.
    For example, I have a nephew who married a New Zealander. They live in New Zealand. I noticed that "New Zealand" is a homophone of "Gnus Eland," and composed a puzzle accordingly. When I typed "New Zealand Gnus Eland" into Blaine's search engine, it tested positive!... "Darn! It was used as an NPR puzzle challenge on March 21, 2010!" After a bit of "Duck Duck Googling," I discovered that Will Shortz himself had composed it! I felt bad of course that "my" GNUS ELAND puzzle would not grace the National Public Radio airwaves. But I also felt good that I had created the same puzzle Will himself had created! So I posted "my puzzle" on Puzzleria!, with an explanation of its genesis, exodus and nexus to the Puzzlemaster.
    That said, since it seems that many Blainesvillians have either solved or already knew the answer to this clever NPR puzzle, here is Puzzleria!s current Schpuzzle of the week (that tested negative when I typed its answer into Blaine's "Supercharged" Search Engine!
    Schpuzzle of the Week:
    Salability and one silly syllable

    Name a popular author whose works appeal especially to one particular literary audience.
    A single syllable in the name is also popular with this audience.
    Who are the author and audience.
    What is the syllable?

    Note: Please do not post your answer before Wednesday afternoon. Thank you.

    LegoWhoUrgesAllNPRPuzzleSendersToOccasionally"Rev"Blaine'sPowerfulEngine

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

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    1. In all fairness, if I recall correctly, the original puzzle was "what place is this?" not "what singer is this?" 😉

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