Q: Think of a famous living singer. The last two letters of his first name and the first two letters of his last name spell a bird. Change the first letter of the singer's first name. Then the first three letters of that first name and the last five letters of his last name together spell another bird. What singer is this?I'm not sure he'd like having his first name changed to that.
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Remove a letter from the last name and add a different letter at the end to spell the last word of a band name.
ReplyDeleteI read this at first as "brand name," but it didn't matter.
DeleteNice wordplay, Lancek, and good delivery.
Delete👏
DeleteWrite down the names of the two birds involved. If a letter repeats, remove all instances of that letter. You are left with a word describing a degree of heat.
ReplyDeleteHa! I guess those of us who sometimes have to ponder Blaine's clues will have an easier time this week.
ReplyDeleteI had a little clue involving today, but I think it's arguably tmi. Jan said at the end of last week's thread that it's an appropriate day, and I agree, but I'm worried about adding anything to that.
I'll say that aspects of this very wordplay have appeared in the on-air puzzle, and also were suggested by a Blaine's Puzzle commenter in the past.
Let me relay what NPR posted: This week's challenge comes from Mike Reiss, who's a showrunner, writer, and producer for "The Simpsons."
ReplyDeleteThis actually functions as a hint.
DeleteOr two.
DeleteSeems like it's been a while since the correct answers submitted exceeded 2000. Maybe half that this week? We'll see. (Good one, Blaine.)
ReplyDeleteBlaine, what more can we say?
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle has been around the block before.
Got it. As always, tough to come up with a non-tmi hint...
ReplyDeleteRearrange the letters of the first name to get something a superstar may wear on their head.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was on my way to solving it, but even though I have something that works for the first part of the puzzle, recent hints are telling me I'm on the wrong path.
ReplyDeleteNow that I have the answer, I believe it's safe to divulge that I was unable to find a bird matching the _AYEWTON template. Danke schoen, again, jan.
DeleteThat was my first thought, too, and I was kinda bummed that it didn't work.
DeleteI solved this puzzle while cleaning the bathtub.
ReplyDeleteI like this one, and I love Blaine's comment.
ReplyDeleteEasy solve for me since I’m a bird nerd.
ReplyDeleteIs this what a bird nerd looks like? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gc4QTqslN4
DeleteNo clue here (and no offense intended).
I love this!
DeleteThat's not a link, Zeno.
DeleteI used the link posted and it worked.
DeleteThe moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn...
ReplyDeleteSadly Pluto is no more
DeleteA literary hint: Thomas Pynchon.
ReplyDeleteHariña.
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ReplyDelete5280
ReplyDeleteMusical Clue: The Girl Can't Help it
ReplyDeleteI love your clue but I doubt that too many people will get it but that’s water under the bridge
DeleteThe Doors
DeleteAre these bird names read left to right in order, or are they anagrams?
ReplyDeleteBIRD, not DIRB
DeleteThe Puzzle Answer has a relationship to the show itself
ReplyDeleteI believe that's where Leo was headed.
DeleteA perfect Sunday puzzle.
DeleteAnd where jan was headed at the tail end of last week's post.
DeleteThis is an appropriate day for this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteCinematic clue: little Ricky Schroeder.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard Will say the puzzle I thought it was going to be a difficult one for me to solve, but my mind directed me immediately to the answer and I went back to sleep.
ReplyDeleteIf we go with the original first name as Blaine suggests, I don't think the change of its first letter is very flattering.
ReplyDeleteOh, that was Blaine's point ...
DeleteThis thread is pointless.
DeleteNorwegian Wood.
DeleteYeah, this one is for the birds.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the very basic answer you might expect.
ReplyDeleteFor some, it may be an Olympic effort to come up with the singer's name.
ReplyDeleteI got the answer on my third try.
ReplyDeleteLiterary clue: I'm thinking of an author whose name is seasonally appropriate.
ReplyDelete"Bird" can be ambiguous - hard to know if this puzzle will involve a big bird, small bird, or some combination thereof. Anyway, there seems to be a strong connection to a recent puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle. Congratulations Mike Riess!
ReplyDeleteThe answer only just came to me this hour.
ReplyDeletepjbBelievesMentioning"SesameStreet"MightBe[TMI]Here
Yesterday, December 8th, was the 45th aniversary of John Lennon's assassination. I wanted to go to New York, but I have a cold, and it was 27° in NYC. So, where do the ducks in Central Park go in the winter? Do they fly south to the tropical climes to be with the other birds?
ReplyDeleteIs this a "Catcher in the Rye" reference? Or is this an example of great minds paddling in the same pond?
Delete(I don't see any directions to Three Mile Island in Musinglink's post or my response, which does not contain any clues that I am aware of, but I will accept being blasted with a thunderbolt from Blaine if there is.)
At any rate, the answer provided by AI was "Just like rich Manhattanites, some go south for the winter and others find snug retreats in town, followed by lots of details that New Yorkers might recognize.
Sometimes, birds get tired of the long trip south each winter. I heard of an old buzzard who decided to save his strength and fly commercial. He'd heard about how bad airline food was, so he packed a good supply of roadkill in his suitcase. As he was boarding, the gate agent offered to check his stinking bag for him. "Oh, no," he replied. "It's carrion."
DeleteWow! I've arrived!!!!
Deletejan-
DeleteYour joke reminds me of a true story I believe I posted on this blog several years ago. In March 1999 2 friends and I arrived at Seatac airport with our luggage in order to fly to Amsterdam to begin a month's vacation driving all over Portugal and Spain. Just before leaving the house with my luggage I had a thought and grabbed my deteriorating rubber chicken my youngest brother had given me several years before. It had been hanging on a nail by my washer and dryer and I think the heat was causing the rubber to begin to show its age. When we made it to the check in counter to check in our luggage the attendee asked me about the rubber chicken and I told him it was my carrion. I then dropped it in a waste container on our way to the loading area.
ChatGPT got it again. This is happening too often.
ReplyDeleteBut ChatGPT often gets it wrong. Just the other day, it hallucinated a well-governed United States:
DeleteG. Elliott Morris, of Strength in Numbers, asked ChatGPT to fact-check an article for him.
The AI flagged "Multiple factual impossibilities":
- “The current Secretary of Defense is a former talk show host for Fox News."
- "The Deputy Director of the FBI used to guest-host Sean Hannity’s show.”
- “Jeanine Pirro is the U.S. District Attorney for DC!”
ChatGPT suggested:
Since none of these statements are true, they undermine credibility unless clearly signposted as hyperbole, fiction, or satire.
If they are intentionally exaggerated, you might rewrite as:
"To illustrate the point, imagine a world where..." or "It can sometimes feel as if..."
When I asked, ChatGPT told me that the intended answer is Kiki Williams. It brushed off the worry that KIKLIAMS can't be made into a bird by changing its first letter, admitting that this is true but informing me that there is no singer who meets all the criteria, so this was close enough.
Delete(In case you're wondering: there is a singer named 'Kiki Williams', but I don't think anyone would say she's famous. She's well below a real estate agent with that name in my Google search.)