If you take the last name of one of them, you can rearrange those letters to name another half of a famous duo.Q: Think of a well-known couple whose names are often said in the order of _____ & _____. Seven letters in the names in total. Combine those two names, change an E to an S, and rearrange the result to name another famous duo who are widely known as _____ & _____. Who are these couples?
Edit: (Sam) MOORE anagrams to ROMEO.
A: ADAM & EVE --> SAM & DAVE
I have an answer that fits with Blaine's and Iris Corona's clues, but I wouldn't call the second duo famous. At least, not now.
ReplyDeleteGot it. I agree with Jan.
ReplyDeleteI have a possible answer, like Jan’s, one duo isn’t well known today.
ReplyDeleteAnd, after a second look, fits Blaine's clue.
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DeleteBlaine's hint is clever.
ReplyDeleteKirk and Spock, once again.
ReplyDeleteWhich NPR station do you all listen to which airs the puzzle so early on Sunday morning?
ReplyDeleteThe NPR Sunday Puzzle page sometimes updates as early as 6:00 a.m. ET.
DeleteWell, that’s no fun. The joy of the Sunday Puzzle is listening to Will Shortz & the contestants on air.
DeleteTake a locale associated with the first couple. If a letter repeats, remove all instances of that letter. Rearrange. You get another locale, a title of a famous movie.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOops. I should have said perform the same operations on the shorter name for the first locale and get a completion of the second locale.
DeleteLove both clues, Rob and Lancek.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGot lucky, it was the first couple I thought of. It's taking me longer to come up with a clue...
ReplyDeleteRearrange the letters in the last name of one of the second duo, and phonetically, you get a bird.
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ReplyDeletemy deleted tmi was the tird line of this ditty
Delete'twas in a restaurant that they met,
Romeo and Juliet.
He had no dough to pay the debt,
So Rome owed what Juli et
I've heard of the second pairing, but agree with above comments...not the same level of fame
ReplyDelete452 correct entries last week
ReplyDeleteThere's some nice precision in diction in the wording of the puzzle.
ReplyDeletedo re me fa so la ti do
ReplyDeleteHuh, interesting. I agree, the second of the second isn't famous today. Nevertheless the duo is! Sort of surprising that that's possible.
ReplyDeleteIt is so, so easy. I solved it right after I posted the puzzle on last week's blog this morning, when it appeared on NPR's web site at 3am PST.
ReplyDeletePoached eggs for breakfast this morning.
ReplyDeleteMovie hint - Thor: Love and Thunder
ReplyDeleteA self-description of the second duo phonetically describes one member of the first.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's good! I think I like that at least as much as Blaine's clever clue...
DeleteClever.
DeleteThis was easy enough. Wrapped it up before breakfast.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the second pair is less well-known now. But, I think most folks are familiar with at least some of their work. My hint: Hyundai & Kia
ReplyDeleteHyundai Genesis and Kia Soul, referring to where we find Adam and Eve, and to Sam and Dave’s music genre
DeleteSo much for Rosencrantz & Guildenstern.
ReplyDeleteGot it. I've never met either couple, but I've heard of the Second Couple. And the Second Couple was made even more famous by a Third Couple.
ReplyDeleteSame here Ben on the first couple, though I've come to know some of their family members. Anyway, fun puzzle today......and how about today's Wordle!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt's not a word that I use often. Actually, I have never used it.
DeleteDitto.
DeleteChange one letter (in today’s Wordle) and. add a Y to describe many of us.
DeleteBelieve it or not, I've actually used that word! Then again, I took a class in Particle Physics, once upon a time.
DeleteThe answer has something to do with the last puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIn the last puzzle, you take the numbers from 1 to 9 and Adam (add 'em), subtract 'em, multiply 'em, and divide 'em to get the Eve-n number 2026.
DeleteMovie hint: James Dean.
ReplyDeleteEast of Eden.
DeleteEdible undies (No, not that kind!!)
ReplyDeleteWhy does the puzzle say "often said in the order of". It does not have anything to do with the order of the names.
ReplyDeleteBecause no one ever refers to Hardy and Laurel, Costello and Abbot, Lewis and Martin, or Rossi and Martini.
DeleteIs it a coincidence this puzzle is being used today?
ReplyDeleteMy first duo of course was Ferrante & Teicher, but I was so let down when I counted and discovered there might be too many letters. I guess I was hot & cold.
ReplyDeleteOne of the duos was later covered by a well-known trio in rock, one whose look played a huge part in their fame.
ReplyDeletepjbHopesThisWon'tBe[TMI],JustAFactI'llExplainThursday
Maybe I should get a different phone.
ReplyDeleteBe fruitful and replicate ... and dream of electric sheep.
DeleteADAM & EVE, SAM & DAVE
DeleteSam and Dave's 1968 hit "I Thank You" was later covered by ZZ Top, in 1979. That's the "Little Ol' Band From Texas", with the two guys sporting long beards while the other one, whose surname is actually "Beard", usually has little or no facial hair. BTW Sorry I'm a little late explaining this. I almost forgot.
pjbHasABeard,ButHasNeverTriedToCompeteWithMr.GibbonsOrTheLateMr.HillInThatRespect
Ward Hartenstein, I thank you for the challenge.
ReplyDeleteAnd now for your glistening pleasure, should you have snow on your lawn, here is what I consider to be my most elegant puzzle of late. Will rejected it as being too obvious. I think that is part of what makes it so good. Why has no one noticed this oddity before if it really is so obvious? Hints only please until thursday.
ReplyDeleteThink of a mammal that is common to parts of the U.S. Remove the last letter to name a weapon that could be used to hunt this animal. What are they? Hint: Both words are pronounced very differently.
Maybe Will had not heard of the mammal.
DeleteI'm certain that rabbi is not a weapon, but if it were, it probably would not kill a rabbit.
DeleteRoger, That was what I feared he might reject it for, but I sure did not expect being obvious to be his reason to not use it. Glad you solved it.
DeleteScarlett, Probably not, but who really knows what all the sacrificial animals were back then? Including us humans too. But rabbit is not the answer. :-)
DeleteYou could throw a coat over a coati. Or strangle a boar with a boa.
DeleteI could just pull my badge on a badger.
Deletejan & Crito—Neither coats, boas nor badges are commonly considered as weapons in polite society as far as I can tell, however, that being said, one of you inadvertently is closer than you think.
DeleteNote: When I sent it to Will, I wrote it the same, other than removing the number of letters stipulation. I do not believe in making puzzles too easy by including number counts. I might suggest you read Roger's post above.
You can kill a bat with a bat, but that doesn't work for this puzzle.
DeleteNo, but it is interesting wordplay though. I never think of a bat as a mainstream weapon, although they are sometimes used in that way. I also believe, but please correct me if I am rong, that both bat and bat are pronounced the same; wright?
DeleteYou are correct! Just remember that two rongs don't make a wright, but two wrights can build a plane.
DeleteNow you're speaking planely.
DeleteOh, jeez, I have it.
DeleteI can see why Will said it's obvious! Once you know the answer it really does seem obvious, but... it sure took me long enough!
Just to give evidence that I do have it: this mammal has another name, although I doubt it's better known.
Crito—Exactly! My favorite Steven Wright joke is: "Why do people use shampoo? Why not use real poo?" Sure, it is obvious, but why didn't YOU think of this before? It is so F-ing elegant!
DeleteThis puzzle intrigues me, but I've been unable to solve it. Will should never have rejected it as too obvious!
DeleteLancek—To be fair, this is his response:
Delete"Thanks for the puzzle suggestion -- whose wordplay, I'm afraid, doesn't excite me quite enough for NPR.
"For anyone who knows the animal, the answer is a little too obvious."
I completely disagree with him on this. It is what makes this a great puzzle in my somewhat humble opinion.
Anyway, keep at it and you will solve it.
This must be a great puzzle, sdb! I love examples of wordplay that are obvious, just waiting to be discovered. I am officially throwing in the towel, though. Even having stared at lists of weapons and mammals (and Roger's comment), I'm clueless. You got me!
DeleteTry a short list. Some lists do not show it.
DeleteLancek—When I submitted this puzzle to Will, I included that the mammal is 8 letters. I believe that will make it much easier to solve.
DeleteIt did indeed make it easier to solve. I've seen the animal in the wild. The Wikipedia list of North American mammals has it under a different name.
DeleteBut you could try to drown a tamarin in a tub of tamari.
It was kind of dickish of Will to reject your puzzle.
Deletejan—Yes, there is a different name for this common animal of certain states, but no one uses it; not the common man anyway. Congratulations.
Deletejan—You are right on that note too. I really wanted this one to receive the attention it deserves. No moving letters around; no changing letters; no anagraming; so simple and pristine for a wordplay puzzle. Thanks.
DeleteActually, that was a clue.
DeleteI guess your clue went way over my head. I still don't get it.
DeleteImagine a homophone for the other name of the animal.
DeleteYou're boring me now.
DeleteAll the hints led me to the answer, but I had never heard of the mammal. (I did know the other name.) I now agree with Will that "for anyone who knows the animal, the answer is a little too obvious." The problem is that people who haven't spent much time in the southwest will not know the animal. I actually considered the weapon, but I quickly rejected it as unlikely to yield a word when appended with a letter.
DeleteBy the way, I love jan's hint!
DeleteI now also have it, thanks in part to a particular clue above. The other clues confirm.
DeleteIf you rearrange the letters of the mammal, you'll get a place of confinement and a part of a church.
I thought I had a ringer, but turned out only to have a leaner.
DeleteDid anyone else have a difficult time logging in?
ReplyDeleteBlaine's clue might relate to one half of a clue from a few weeks ago. Only 450 correct answers?
ReplyDeleteI just now solved Monday's Wordle in 2.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing you started with train.
DeleteGood guess. RATIO is my initial word. Same results in this case. I've solved Wordle almost 40 times in 2, but this time was interesting to me because, although I got 4 yellow letters and nothing in green, I found eleven words that fit and I lucked out in choosing the intended one.
DeleteMy wife got it in 1. It's been her starter word since they used the only (I think) anagram of it about a year or so ago. (She got that in 1 since it was her original starter word. I guess she'll want to come up with a new starter word by tomorrow. :)
DeleteI appreciate the replies to my Wordle reference above, though not sure y'all saw where I was going with it. It's fun trying to draw connections from the puzzle masters' arsenal of games to the current week's puzzle. And, btw, where's Lego this week? I always appreciate his unique third- person narrative-styled sign-off!
ReplyDeleteSnipper, do you mean UniqueThirdPersonNarrativeStyledSignOff? ;-)
DeleteWyatt Berry Stapp Earp died this day 97 years ago. (But you all knew that.)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete24 hours, 1 minute early.
DeleteTMI!
DeleteI am so sorry!
DeleteI did think it might be somewhat too much information, but not that much.
Seriously though, I really do apologize.
And, jan, I hope you noticed that my response yesterday to your homophone post was a reply in kind, but I cannot explain more until tomorrow without risking another demerit. Now, back to the news so I can relax.
Last Sunday afternoon, being that it was drizzly and unpleasant outside, I drove to an extremely busy Goodwill store I frequent and was surprised to find something I desired, but did not know actually existed. It was a small, thin cardboard box containing a brand new, never used collapsible, plastic 2 ½ gallon water container designed for camping. I needed something on this order to make it easier for me to obtain water from the Hoh River on the Olympic Peninsula, where I tent camp each summer, and they have no facilities other than 8 free camp spots with a table and fire pit. There is also a pit toilet, but no water other than the river. I pack my large Crown Victoria LX Sport so full that I have no room for a second water cooler, and therefore I was delighted to discover this gem, and for only $3.99.
ReplyDeleteTossing it into my shopping cart I then proceeded to continue on my usual meandering journey through the maze of loaded isles as always. Soon I was parked with my shopping cart in the center of the isle labeled: Tools, which was always overflowing to the point where it was almost impossible to find any small item one might be looking for.
On the other side of this isle the shelves were just as overflowing with home office type junk, and as I was standing there finding nothing I needed I heard a forty-something couple right behind me discussing an item the tall man had picked up and was explaining to his wife that it was a device for putting your coin change in and then put into your rolls.
As I turned and saw him holding the coin sorter I remarked, “Why would anyone with a Rolls need change? I always love it when these opportunities for a clever adlib present themselves.
I looked and now must find myself apologizing once again, as I must admit to a slight exaggeration in my above anecdote. The item I purchased was not $3.99, but a much more reasonable $2.99. I would not want to be one who is known for flaunting his wealth.
DeleteADAM & EVE, SAM & DAVE
ReplyDelete"do re mi fa so la ti do" Regarding ADAM & EVE, the word 'rib' is a pun in Sumerian, as the word ti means both "rib" and "life."
Very impressive, perhaps the only clue ever posted here in Sumerian. Are you an archaeologist?
DeleteWhile we are punning, the Hebrew word for earth, is ADAMAH….And Adam was made from the earth.
DeleteNodd, no, I'm a geologist but archeology is also fascinating to me.
DeleteSorry, but I'm not buying it. I think they are just ribbing you.
DeleteSpare us the puns!
DeleteLooks like someone has a bone to pick!
DeleteThat one cracks me up.
DeleteWe are a pretty cagey group.
DeleteBut some of these should be truncated.
DeleteNodd does seem to be getting to the heart of the matter; or as Alice might say, "getting to the mart of the Hatter."
DeleteAdam & Eve and Sam & Dave
ReplyDeleteMy Hint: "Is it a coincidence this puzzle is being used today?: Sam Moore died just a year and a day before this puzzle aired.
No longer TMI! 😁
DeleteYes! I considered posting earlier, asking if today is really thursday.
DeleteI don't understand why both yesterday and today it shows a second too soon though. Something seems to have changed with Nistime over the last year. Perhaps it is just disgusted with the world scene and not striving for accuracy now.
ADAM AND EVE —> SAM AND DAVE
ReplyDeleteThe “precision in diction” that I referred to was the use of “couple” and “duo.” Try reversing them in the puzzle’s wording, and you’ll see what I mean.
My initial guess for the first couple was Sam and Dave, but I couldn’t get it to work for a second duo. And then the neurons fired and I saw “Adam” in Sam and Dave, and the answer followed.
I wrote, “Take a locale associated with the first couple. If a letter repeats, remove all instances of that letter. Rearrange. You get another locale, a title of a famous movie.” That’s GARDEN OF EDEN / FARGO.
ReplyDeleteAdam & Eve >> Sam & Dave
ReplyDeleteSam & Dave were an R&B/Soul duo of the 60’s and 70’s. Their biggest hit, Soul Man, was released in August 1967.
That was the inspiration for my hint, a self-description of the second duo phonetically describes one member of the first. Adam at one point was the sole man.
DeleteAdam & Eve, Sam & Dave. My hint -- Kirk and Spock, once again -- referred to the Genesis Device from Star Trek II.
ReplyDeleteNow I have learned something I never could understand. That is why the SNL soul man skit was funny, or what it was about. I never heard of Sam and Dave. Not my musical genre.
ReplyDeleteAdam and Eve, Sam and Dave. Sam Moore (anagrams to Romeo, from the Romeo and Juliet clue for "plagued and ague.") and Dave Prater. Among other hits they had, was Soul Man, on Atlantic records
ReplyDeleteADAM & EVE --> SAM & DAVE
ReplyDelete> Poached eggs for breakfast this morning.
ADAM & EVE in diner slang.
> It was kind of dickish of Will to reject your puzzle.
Pecker-y
My reference to the first couple and getting to know some of their family members was referring to the Adam(m)s family.
ReplyDeleteMy mention of Sundays Wordle was because a quark is part of an atom = Adam.
My saying that it’s fun trying to draw connections from the puzzle masters' arsenal of games to the current week's puzzle was referring to Monday’s NYT crossword where the clue for 60 across was “Locale for Adam & Eve”!
And, finally, my asking “Where's Lego this week? I always appreciate his unique third- person narrative-styled sign-off!” was a reference to “third person” in contrast to “first person” = Adam/Eve.
Adam&Eve, Sam&Dave
ReplyDeleteA trio of word puzzles created by our friend and master-puzzle-crafter Matthew Huffman shall take center-stage on this week's edition of Puzzleria! They have been plucked from our Puzzleria! Archives, and are titled:
ReplyDelete* "A well-placed device,"
* "Five words in common," and
* "Mix food to get... more food!"
We will try to upload Puzzleria! as soon as we can, indeed very soon, this very afternoon.
Also on our menus this week:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Was our pup Scottie a 'Rot-ten-weiler'?”
* a Nomadic Hors d’Oeuvre titled “Atilla the tot? Atilla the hum?”
* a “Do me a solid!” Puzzle Slice titled “Don’t know much trig ‘n’ geometry...”
* an “Au Courant” Dessert titled "Colossal creature creates currencies," and
* two-handfuls (10, that is) of Riffing Off Shortz And Hartenstein Entrees (including six composed by Nodd) titled "Smith & Arden, Cooke & Brubeck."
LegoWhoInvitesAllTo"ComeGiveAListen"ToThe"UnbeatalbeBeat"OfMatthew's"ConundrumSet!"
My clue: Edible undies (No, not that kind!!) I was referring to the fig leaves with which Adam and Eve covered their shamefulness. 😉
ReplyDeleteADAM & EVE --> SAM & DAVE
ReplyDeleteMy clue that the Second Couple was made even more famous by a Third Couple was a reference to the BLUES BROTHERS movie, which (as far as I recall) used SAM & DAVE's "Soothe Me" and "Hold On I'm Coming."
I thought it was," Soul Man."
DeleteSorry I’m late with this. Han an ophthalmologist appointment.
ReplyDeleteAdam & Eve; Sam & Dave
Last Sunday I said, “This was easy enough. Wrapped it up before breakfast.” One of Sam & Dave’s lesser known hits was “Wrap It Up.”
It's good he was able to see you.
DeleteSDB, eye see what you did there.
DeleteYou caught me. Is it icy where you live?
DeleteAgain, icy what you did there. 😉 But we don't have as much ICE here as Minnesota.
DeleteI agree, but Minnesota is not a chill place these days.
DeleteTrue!! It's a sad situation there. It brings tears to my ice.
DeleteI've run out of puns for the day so I'm giving it arrest. Have an ice evening!
I thaw what you did.
DeleteIt snow joke! I'm out of puns. ⛄
DeleteYes, there was a flurry, wasn't there?
DeleteAdam and Eve Sam and Dave
ReplyDeleteThanks for playing, everyone. It is a treat to have Will accept a puzzle and to see how it plays out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. I'm always curious how people discover wordplay like this. How did this come to you? And what modifications, if any, did Will make?
DeleteWill added the letter count. I was going for a play on one pair of names with an “and” and one pair with an ampersand.
DeleteSo were you just playing with the letters in one and realized it was a close anagram to the other?
DeleteAs for my process, I set random challenges for myself Sometimes it is “how many colors starts with C? Or what happens with blank and blank?
DeleteIs the answer, CRAYOLA?
DeleteAnd the answer to my puzzle is:
ReplyDeleteJAVELINA and remove the A to reveal JAVELIN.
For those unfamiliar with the mammal javelina, it is a Spanish/Mexican word, and the J is pronounced as an H or like HAW. Also all the vowels are pronounced differently. I suspect most people, or perhaps even none, notice javelin inside javelina due to the major difference in pronunciations of these two words. And too, there is no etymological connection between the two. I suspect many do not know of this animal that is common in our country to Texas and Arizona mostly. I believe I learned of it as a teenager due to my extensive reading of interesting books. We will never know how it would have been received by the public had Will chosen to use it.
More commonly known as a peccary.
DeleteIf you rearrange the letters of the mammal, you'll get a place of confinement and a part of a church: jail/nave
Delete"Javelina" is simply the common name for the collared peccary (the only peccary in North America), so it's more commonly called javelina in the U.S., but both terms refer to the same animal, with peccary being the broader family name. People in the Southwest (Texas, Arizona) widely use "javelina," while "peccary" refers to the whole group of New World pigs, including the javelina and other species in Latin America.
DeleteKey Differences in Usage:
Javelina: Primarily used in the Southwestern U.S. for the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu).
This was also my impression. (I'm aware that individual impressions can be wrong and misleading.) As it happens, I'm in the Sonoran Desert right now! Certainly around here 'javelina' is much more common than 'peccary', but I don't think I've ever heard 'peccary' anywhere in spoken English.
DeleteExactly! I live in Seattle and learned the word here probably 65 years ago. When I operated a skydive center west of Phoenix everyone said javelina, and would not have ever heard of peccary.
DeleteTo look at it another way, consider alligators which are crocodiles. We usually do not refer to them as crocodiles because alligator defines what type of croc it is.
DeleteI do not believe I ever heard anyone use the word peccary verbally except when I was a teenager and we used to sometimes refer to Gregory Peck as Greg Pecery, but never as Greg Javelina.
I've never heard of the javelina, so count me in the group where this would not be obvious.
ReplyDeleteAs for the NPR puzzle this week, I had posted a clue that if you rearrange the letters in the last name of one of the second duo, you phonetically get a bird. PRATER can be rearrange to PARRET, which sounds like PARROT.
Funny how different minds work. When I saw your comment, I rearranged PRATER, to RAPTER… then to RAPTOR, which covers many carnivorous birds.
DeleteJAWS, No, Will was saying it would be obvious to those who were familiar with javelina. To me that is one of the things that make it a great puzzle, because they have not noticed it previously. And the strong difference between the two pronunciations also makes it a bit more difficult, even for those folks.
DeleteThis week's challenge comes from Joseph Young of St. Cloud, Minn. Think of a word that means "very small." Move the first syllable to the end, separated by a space, and you'll get a two-word phrase naming something that is very large. What words are these?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations once again, legolambda!
DeleteI have a strange answer. Congratulations, lego
ReplyDeleteI also have an answer I'm not thrilled about. Pretty sure SuperZee will get it, too.
ReplyDeleteIn my answer, the first word of the two-word phrase is usually replaced with a different word.
DeleteI'm being intentionally vague here.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJan is correct. Easier for me to solve than to find a non-TMI clue.
DeleteThere seems to be an error in one of the words of the On-air challenge.
ReplyDeleteYeah, on the NPR Puzzle Page, the answer to one is printed, instead of the prompt.
DeleteOver 1000 correct entries last week.
ReplyDelete