Change the last letter of the word to an "i" and rearrange to get a word meaning "enterprising".Q: 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?
Edit: Changing the "c" to an "i" you can rearrange to get "ambitious". I was also reminded of Star Trek IV where the Enterprise landed in San Francisco, and Chekov was looking for a "nuclear wessel" in Alameda.
A: SUBATOMIC --> ATOMIC SUB
Possible alternate answer: "subnuclear" and "nuclear sub"
As I posted on last week’s thread, I have what I think of as a strange answer. Jan’s “intentionally vague” hint there makes me think we may have the same answer, but I didn’t get his comment about SuperZee. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have left Super Zee himself in the dark.
ReplyDeleteBut if the second word in the answer evokes a common secondary meaning…
Jan’s comment about me will be explained on Thursday.
DeleteI'm waiting for Snipper to weigh in.
DeletePaul - you are my hero for giving me an appropriate shout out in connection with the puzzle! Thanks so much. I see you were an early solver this week!
DeleteBlow the Man Down.
ReplyDeleteRemove the last three letters of the first word and rearrange to get antecedents of the two-word phrase.
ReplyDeleteAs Yogi Berra said, “Seems like Deja-vu all over again.”
ReplyDeleteI'm probably wasting my time looking at lists of synonyms, but I'm noticing many words that mean very large have three or more syllables. That somehow seems appropriate.
ReplyDeleteI just reread the clue. I was looking for synonyms of "very large". I now see it's "something that is very large". Back to the drawing board!
DeleteIt might be a waterfall…but maybe not.
ReplyDeleteHm, I have one that I'm not very happy with, mainly because I don't think my "two-word phrase" is really used by people who want to refer to the very large thing.
ReplyDeleteHm. Also, people usually refer to a not-as-large thing.
Yeah, even though mine does sort of fit some of the clues, I don't think I have the intended answer.
571
ReplyDeleteI thought of that too. I went there once.
DeleteI guess my answer is not so "strange" after all. Rearrange, and get a synonym for the 2-word phrase and a form of art.
ReplyDeleteBlaine's clue helped me out immensely
ReplyDeleteSame
DeleteIt's kind of bewildering.
DeleteAhhhh. Now I have the answer everyone else has.
ReplyDeleteLiterary clue: James Joyce.
Again, there is a connection to the last puzzle.
ReplyDeleteSubatomic is related to an atom, which sounds like Adam. The last 3 puzzles were add 'em, Adam, and atom.
DeleteGreat observation, Bobby! I did get the atom-Adam connection, but tying the last three puzzles together as you did is especially clever!
DeleteNice bit of word play, Lego.
ReplyDeleteHere's a puzzle Will passed on today. If you'd like, have a go and maybe hint you know it until Thursday.
I think it's a delightful puzzle, but I am surely biased:
Take the name of a chemical element. Switch the 5th and 7th letters to get a word used in logic. What are these two words?
Neat.
Delete"Delightening."
DeleteLegoWhoAdds:OrToAnagrammatizeDr.K'sCommnet"A Ten!"
What some might say Bernie Sanders is
DeleteVery nice, WW. Maybe Will decided the second word was too esoteric.
DeleteTake the name of a common element. Change the third letter and rearrange to get a rare element.
I like it, WW! Also, another nice, albeit quirky, puzzle from Lego
DeleteWW, in my former professional life, I sometimes associated John Milton with the latter term, though, strictly speaking, he wasn’t.
DeleteNodd, would you like the answer now, or should I wait till Thursday?
Dr. K, you can answer now if you like.
DeleteHow are Mehmet Oz and Ben Carson like their nutritional advice?
DeleteArgon and radon.
DeleteNo, they're both common. The answer is sodium (common) and osmium (rare).
DeleteOops. Right you are.
DeleteI was awkwardly attempting to sift something out of Cesium, Cerium, and Erbium, but the really funny thing is, I had just noticed the Ar / Ra thing Saturday morning.
DeleteI have synthesized the answer, WW.
DeleteIt takes me back to the days when my buddy Socrates would get in the zone.
Saturday's NYT Spelling Bee pangram was PORTRAYAL, in which R and A are letters that get repeated, and I offered the elements connection as a hint to a fellow solver.
DeleteI mainly just wanted to work som form of the word "awkward" into a comment somehow because Dr's K and Awkward constitute a "pair o' doc's", and paradox is a synonym of antinomy.
DeleteIndeed, my bonus puzzle answers were ANTIMONY and ANTINOMY. Thanks for playing along!
Delete@Paul, I'm honored to be part of your clue!
DeleteIt only took me a minute to solve it while still in the sack, but first I had to abandon my initial thought that it must have something to do with MAGA IQ levels. As soon as I did that it popped right up out of the blue.
ReplyDeleteThe two-word thing may have more to do with MAGA IQ levels than we would wish.
DeleteI agree.
DeleteHey, that's funny, because I kept thinking about "hands
Deleteand "mouth"! So we went off on almost the same wrong path!
Uh, when I do Blaine's transform on my answer, I get an infirmity. I mean, I get a word for an infirmity.
ReplyDeleteI actually do too, so we probably have the same answer
DeleteRight on ... but I still can't match Blaine's clue
DeleteMy answer seems a bit hokey, but it matches Nodd's elegant clue, so I'll run with it. Lego is often a north star of puzzlemakers, so I'll hold my nose and ship it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ben.
DeleteNot to beat a dead horse (again) but for all you Wordlers out there, did anyone notice that if you take a recent solution and add a few letters and rearrange…….
ReplyDeleteIt just keeps getting stranger.
DeleteThe Stranger is a novel by Albert Camus. I believe the recent Wordle solution Snipper refers to is SUMAC (CAMUS in reverse). Add OBIT (beat a dead horse?) to SUMAC and rearrange to get SUBATOMIC. "Strange" is also a flavor of QUARK, the SUBATOMIC particle and Wordle solution Snipper mentioned in the discussion of the previous week's NPR puzzle.
DeleteI've always thought of the two word answer as being not quite big enough, rather than very big. But maybe that's just my personal experience.
ReplyDeleteThe NPR page says compromise instead comprise.
ReplyDeleteIt also has last week's puzzle contributor's name wrong.
DeleteFinally got a chance to work on this, and I believe I have the answer. And I got Blaine's clue!
ReplyDeleteI must not have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque.
Deletealarming!
ReplyDelete(with apologies to Das Boot)
Deletehttps://gallery.yopriceville.com/Free-Clipart-Pictures/Calendars-PNG/2026_EU_Colorful_Calendar_Transparent_PNG_Image
ReplyDeleteIf you went to the trouble of copying and pasting the link above, perhaps you found Red October.
DeleteDid anyone notice what word usually follows the first word?
ReplyDeleteSubatomic >> Atomic Sub
ReplyDeleteRe: My Deja-vu comment and Jan’s comment about me.
Jan remembered that I spent 23 years as an engineer, building naval nuclear reactors (surface ships and submarines. Among the many hat I wore there, I served as Engineering Supervisor for the Advanced Test Area, where gamma, alpha, and neutron detectors were used to inspect various products.
Thus, my resume covers the range from subatomic particles to atomic submarines.
SORRY, I was editing my post when my cat ran over the keyboard….
DeleteAt least he didn't eat your homework.
DeleteSeven minutes of TMI.
ReplyDeleteSubatomic >>> Atomic sub
ReplyDeleteSUBATOMIC, ATOMIC SUB
ReplyDelete> In my answer, the first word of the two-word phrase is usually replaced with a different word.
Nuclear
> I'm being intentionally vague here.
Unclear, a minor anagram of "nuclear"
> 571
USS Nautilus, SSN-571, was the first ATOMIC SUB
>> Take the name of a chemical element. Switch the 5th and 7th letters to get a word used in logic. What are these two words?
> How are Mehmet Oz and Ben Carson like their nutritional advice?
Pair o' docs vs. paradox, like an antinomy
SUBATOMIC --> ATOMIC SUB
ReplyDelete“But if the second word in the answer evokes a common secondary meaning…”
A “sub” is not only a watercraft but also a sandwich.
“Rearrange, and get a synonym for the 2-word phrase and a form of art.”
“Subatomic” can be rearranged to yield “boat” and “music.”
I thought first of “subnormal,” but “normal sub” wasn’t quite right.
"A submarine sandwich, commonly known as a sub, is a type of American cold or hot sandwich made from a submarine roll that is split lengthwise and filled with meats, cheeses, vegetables, and condiments."
DeleteI wrote, “Blow the Man Down.” That’s an example of a sea shanty, and sea shanties are BOAT MUSIC, anagramming the answer.
ReplyDeleteWhat I intended to post is…
ReplyDeleteSubatomic >> Atomic Sub
Re: My Deja-vu comment and Jan’s comment about me.
Jan remembered that I spent 23 years as an engineer, at UNC, building naval nuclear reactors (for surface ships and submarines). One of the many hats I wore, was as Engineering Supervisor for the Advanced Test Area, where gamma, alpha, and neutron detectors were used to inspect various products.
Thus, my resume covers the range from subatomic particles to atomic submarines.
Unlike SuperZee I have never worked on atomic subs or worked with subatomic particles. My only experience with subs, in fact, was getting on the one at Disneyland years ago with my parents and sibs. Which is when my mother discovered she suffered from claustrophobia and tried to get off. Fortunately the ride only lasted a few minutes. But that is why I said I've always thought of subs as being not quite big enough. (From the sublime to the ridiculous, as Napoleon supposedly said.)
DeleteI was once on a captured Nazi U-Boat.
DeleteMe, too. And 6 other subs.
DeleteSUBATOMIC --> ATOMIC SUB. My hint -- if you remove the last three letters of the first word and rearrange, you get predecessors of the two-word thing. (U-BOATS, which had many design features that were incorporated into the first atomic subs.)
ReplyDeleteOur cable/internet company here in Dayton, Ohio, just sent out a message with the subject, "Winter Storm Fern Preparation." I could not why the hell they should be interested in our ferns! It was the first I learned that the upcoming winter storm is named Fern.
ReplyDeleteAre you nerf-us?
DeleteAt least it won't be an inferno. Here in the Great Southland, we have stocked up and battened down.
DeleteFollowing the Hatch Act to the letter, I presume?
DeleteOur friend Patrick J. Berry (aka "cranberry") has "sculpted" yet another Cryptic Crossword Puzzle Masterpiece (his 42nd!) which shall be on display, starting today, on Puzzleria! Patrick is truly a proficient as well as prolific "setter" of such literary "Cryptography." His handiwork shall be on display and available for viewing (and solving!) very soon, this very afternoon!
ReplyDelete* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Writers of the Purple Prose,”
* a Cork-Or-Cap Hors d’Oeuvre titled “Beverage bottles & beetles,”
* a Drummer? Strummer? Punk-Band Bummer Slice titled “Joe Strummer? Not the answer!”
* an Island Nation Dessert titled “We ought to have a motto!” and
* ten riffs of this week's NPR puzzle, titled “Tracking Subatomic Subs,” (including six composed by our friend Nodd).
So, please drop on by for Patrick-Berry-Style "Creative Cryptography..."
...and a whole sroreful of Pearl, Yamaha, Tama, Ludwig, Gretsch, DW, Mapex, Sonor, PDP, Roland, and Alesis Conundrums!
LegoCrypically
subatomic, atomic sub
ReplyDeleteMy clue was: James Joyce.
ReplyDeleteThe quark was named from a Finnegans Wake line: "Three quarks for Muster Mike!"
And I called Lego's puzzle "quirky" because "quarky" would have been TMI.
DeleteMy clues:
ReplyDelete“Paul - you are my hero…” hero=sub (sandwich). “I see you were an early solver….” "I see" = "ic" to add onto atom for “atomic”
For Wordlers, if you take Sunday’s answer of SUMAC and add “OBIT” (clued by “dead” and “notice” = obit(uary), you can rearrange to get SUBATOMIC.
And “Did anyone notice what word usually follows the first word?” - this was referring to the word “particle” (as in Subatomic particle) since particle was used in the on air game to get to participle.
SUBATOMIC, ATOMIC SUB
ReplyDeleteWhen I clued that Lego is often a north star of puzzlemakers, I was naming the NORTH STAR, also known as POLARIS.
POLARIS was also the name used for USA's first Atomic Submarine, "Atomic" both in its ability to host nuclear-tipped ICBM's, as well as its onboard Atomic Reactor.
I thought your clue was "....ship it", as a reference to the sub(marine).
Deletesubatomic --> atomic sub
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “It might be a waterfall…but maybe not.” Not a clue – just a marker of sorts. An atomic sub certainly has to be able to fall (dive) in water (waterfall).
Congrats to Lego for yet another Shortz-approved puzzle!
So, fun puzzle, Lego, and some great clues this week, everyone else!
ReplyDeleteI want to thank all Blainesvillian's for the insightful and honest feedback and kind comments you post about my (and others') puzzles here on Blaine's EXCELLENT forum. Your creative, clever and subtle hints are also appreciated... the hints are half the fun!
DeleteLego...
Ben,
ReplyDeletePlease allow me to clarify some naval history.
The USS Nautilus, SSN-571, was the world’s first nuclear powered ship. Built at the General Dynamics Corporation, Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, Nautilus was launched on January 21, 1954. A year later, on January 17, 1955, she dropped her mooring lines and as she passed from the Thames River into Long Island Sound, sent the message: "Underway on nuclear power."
Although a number of submarines were referred to as Polaris Submarines, Polaris was the name of the missile (a Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile) these submarines carried. The first ship to carry this missile was the USS George Washington, SSBN-598, launched in 1959. (Similarly, when people refer to Trident Submarines, they are using the name of the missile they carry. The first Trident Submarine is the USS Ohio, originally designated SSBN-726, Ohio has been converted from carrying ballistic missiles to cruise missiles and is now designated SSGN-726).
At one point in my checkered techie career I worked for North American Aviation, Autonetics Division, which designed and built the inertial navigation system that was used in the Nautilus for the first underwater transit of the nothe pole.
ReplyDeletenorth pole
DeleteHuh, my very first job was editing manuals at AC Spark Plug near Milwaukee, which made inertial guidance systems. Their documentation needed a lot of editing ...
DeleteI believe these systems are why your plane usually lands at the airport and not in Lake Michigan etc.
DeleteAll this talk about nuclear submarines is appropriate to the puzzle, but I think it might also be well to remember that our number one naval destroyer is simply a hula hoop with a nail in it.
ReplyDeleteI always thought "In slang, "iced" or "ice" can mean to murder someone (from mob slang)" But now I realize it means for government agents to murder an innocent person on the streets and the officer to then be upheld as a hero by our corrupt government. Of course the "MOB" part is accurate. Have a nice day everyone; you know it will never happen to anyone who is afraid to stand up for what is right.
ReplyDeleteFor 25 January: Name a famous living singer whose first and last names together have four syllables. The second and fourth syllables phonetically sound like things a dog walker would likely carry. What singer is this?
ReplyDeleteI have an answer but...
DeleteDeja Vu, again?
DeleteSeems logical that combining two syllables phonetically must yield a 2-syllable answer, no?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI just got up and read the puzzle and got the answer as I was reading Rob's postling of it.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I have it. Not 100%.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm right it's a great day for this puzzle. (But there is no singer named 'snowpocalypse'.)
Right after hopping back into bed I came up with a much better puzzle with the same stipulations, except for the animal.
ReplyDeleteName a famous living singer whose first and last names together have four syllables. The second and fourth syllables phonetically sound like something horses do. What singer is this?