Contrary to what Will might think, we've seen a version of this before.Q: Name a famous 20th century writer. Remove the last two letters of the first name and the last letter of the last name. The result will name a clothing material. What is it?
Edit: "Version" sounds like "virgin" and "Will" sounds like "wool". This puzzle was very similar to a puzzle from January 2017.
A: VIRGINIA WOOLF --> VIRGIN WOOL
Wow, you're up early today, Blaine!
ReplyDeleteCalls to mind several classics.
ReplyDeleteBlaine's unlinking of the previous version of this puzzle from the archive helps to confirm that I've got the right answer. It's like the dog that didn't bark.
ReplyDeleteAdd one letter to the author's full last name, rearrange and you get something we may do with this blog.
ReplyDeleteEasy enough. I didn't need a Captain Midnight decoder ring like last week, just a list. Back to sleep for me.
ReplyDelete12:32
ReplyDeleteTwo Toms.
ReplyDeleteIndiana Jones did not play the drums; did he?
DeleteBut Nero played the lyre.
DeleteOne cannot rely on Reno to fill your sax.
DeleteRearrange the even letters of the clothing material. You get something authors are good at using.
ReplyDeleteThis comment led me down a long rabbit hole trying to justify "spandex."
DeleteMore than 1400 correct entries last week
ReplyDeleteI predict high numbers this week.
DeleteI'd say 200, and I'll take the under.
DeleteI'll say 774.
DeleteSeems like an easy one today. An anagram of one of the writer’s names (first or last) has significance to the clothing material.
ReplyDeleteHoney
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOops.
DeleteMy old friend
ReplyDeleteI solved this one in just a couple of minutes.
ReplyDeleteSame puzzle but a different 20th-century writer and get an item of clothing and a famous clothing locale.
ReplyDeleteWait until Thursday?
DeleteYes, let's wait till then.
DeleteI would know this answer.
ReplyDeleteI am from Virginia.
DeleteDid anyone else think of a foreign car?
ReplyDeleteSo easy!
ReplyDeleteWhat am I missing? You don't remove the first letter from the last name?
ReplyDeleteRead it again. You remove the last letter from both names, and next to last letter of first name.
DeleteIt's the last two letters of the first name and the last letter of the last name. So Mark Twain becomes Ma Twai
DeleteIt's such an obvious answer if you did it my way. Back to the drawing board.
DeleteI have the answer. Working on a non-TMI clue.
ReplyDeleteTake the removed letters from the name. Rearrange them to get something you might hear mentioned on ESPN.
DeleteWell, it isn't seersucker, sharkskin, or polyester. But wouldn't it be fun if it were?!
ReplyDeleteDeaths in brackets.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh. Okay, I have it. I was overthinking.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll post a clue tomorrow or the next day.
TV Clue: Benny Hill
ReplyDeletepjbDidn'tEvenNeedAListForThisOne!
This week's NPR Puzzle is clever but not too tough to solve. The Schpuzzle of the Week on Puzzleria! this week (titled “Limerick ’bout a Lexicon”) is not too tough either, but it might be kinda fun. It reads:
ReplyDeleteFill in the three blanks in the limerick below with words of 9 letters, 8 letters, and about 14-or-so letters:
Peg, a speed-reading abecedarian,
Begged a lexicon from her _________,
Began *scanning at “aardvark,”
Never needing a ________...
Ergo, now she’s an “______________!”
* (See: verb, definition 2b)
(Note: The word in third blank, no matter how you spell it, is one that Peg will not find in the dictionary... nor will you, alas.)
LegoAlphaBetaG(r)ammatically(WithThanksToBlaineForHisIndulgence)
Hey has anyone else to submit a Sunday puzzle using the old way? It's making it difficult to get the old way of submit a puzzle idea.
ReplyDeleteI really need help with the above !!
DeleteIf you are looking for a way to get to the old NPR Contact Us form, try opening a post on this blog from a couple of years ago. I was still able to get to the old Contact Us form that wat the last time I tried it.
DeleteThanks Jaws
DeleteCAP: I found the link and i received a response like before.
Deletehttps://help.npr.org/contact/s/contact?request=Submit-a-puzzle-answer
One of my favorite authors.
ReplyDeleteCalling all lapel pin parties.
ReplyDeleteSince it will take 3-4 weeks to order these lapel pins at $15 each, if you would like one please drop me an email now with your bricks and mortar address at:
Word Woman S @ gmail dot calm.
I will then send you my venmo address for payment.
Please note '"I"m in" here as well.
We currently have 6 ordered and need 14 more to make it a go. I'd like to order these pins by Wednesday, March fo(u)rth!
Thanks!
See the previous post for a look at the official Blaine's Puzzle Blog Lapel Pin.
DeleteYou don't want to miss this lapel pin!
Thanks!
P.S. The main reason I am doing this is to support Bobby, a Blainesville participant, who was turned down for a Will Shortz NPR lapel pin because of the way he solved the puzzle.
DeleteThis is my way of protesting that decision. I want Bobby to get a lapel pin.
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." -Dr. Seuss, author and illustrator (2 Mar 1904-1991)
Thanks!
Not to whine, but does it have to be Venmo? I have PayPal, and Zelle, but have not yet set up a Venmo account. I would like to avoid having to track yet another account and password, if possible.
DeleteThanks for doing this.
I'm in! I will send you the email.
DeleteThanks, Lorenzo. 7 down 13 to go.
DeleteJAWS, i can do Zelle. Shoot me an email and I'll send the details
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete8 down, 12 to go.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWW, I’m not familiar with the story of Bobby not getting a pin. What method of solving would disqualify someone from getting a pin?
DeleteCheck out his comment from Fri Feb 20, 11:54:00 AM PST, on the 2/15 blog.
DeleteCukrtis, go back and look for this post:
DeleteBobbyFri Feb 20, 11:54:00 AM PST
Bobby apparently used a site that helped him solve the puzzle, disqualifying him from getting a lapel pin, according to the NPR intern.
DeleteFYI, I'm in as well. Just sent you an email, WW...
DeleteI'm in and I sent you an email. Thank you for the work you are doing!
DeleteDid you get a note from me with my email / venmo?
I'm reminded of angelic speech.
ReplyDeleteWould "moth goos" count as "silk"?
ReplyDeleteQueen of the harpies!
ReplyDeleteNo one knows where the Galapagos.
ReplyDeleteI'm told the Jalapenos.
DeleteDarwin knew. He tortoise well.
DeleteA clever lamarck, Scarlett!
DeleteThanks Jan! I admit, though, that I had to look up lamarck. My repertoire is evolving.
DeleteIguana know da truth, so he kelp looking.
DeleteWhen looking, it helps to be Beagle-eyed.
DeleteOh, you are speaking of his bone voyage.
DeleteIs, that an Origin(al) pun?
DeleteI’m Species less…
Yes, it is, unless you consider it the origin of feces and think it extincts.
Delete"[T]here was that high magic to low puns...."
ReplyDelete--Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
I ORDERED THE LAPEL PINS! Since we hemmed and hawed, they gave me an unasked-for discount and we're pretty close to covering the amount. Happy March Fo(u)rth, All. Be bold today. Heck, be a little bossy ;-)
ReplyDeleteHear, hear!
DeleteI was called "bossy" recently by someone I care about and decided to wear it proudly today ;-)
DeleteBear with me folks. Something crashed my Venmo. I'm working on it but it's day 6 of food poisoning here and you'll understand if it takes a while to sort out.Thank heavens for miso soup!
DeleteHm, my computer thinks it finally found the answer, after giving me
ReplyDeleteISAAK BABEL -> IS A BABE and
JOYCE CARY -> JOY CAR
I had thought Joyce Cary was a babe, but wrong again.
I can't see Isaak Babel's name without mourning what the world lost because some police functionary needed to meet a quota.
ReplyDeleteVirginia Woolf >>> Virgin Wool
ReplyDeleteVIRGINIA WOOLF —> VIRGIN WOOL
ReplyDeleteSpinoff puzzle: “Same puzzle but a different 20th-century writer and get an item of clothing and a famous clothing locale”
I’ll wait for Nodd.
Hint: “Deaths in brackets.”
In Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, the deaths of three major characters—Mrs. Ramsay, Andrew Ramsay, and Prue Ramsay—are only mentioned in brackets.
Dr. K, sorry I caused you to wait to post your answer. I initially thought I had an answer in Jack London, but then I realized that by "same puzzle" you meant to include the removal of the three letters, so my answer didn't work. An answer that kinda works is Robert Parish, except that his one book only comes out in a few days, so he technically isn't a famous 20th century writer, though he was famous in the 20th century and will soon be a (co)writer. Bottom line, I don't know the answer to your spinoff.
DeleteThanks, Nodd. My answer was Ayn Rand --> Aran. See also Snipper's alternate answer below. As a hoop fan and lifelong player, I really do like Robert Parish, though.
DeleteVIRGINIA WOOLF --> VIRGIN WOOL
ReplyDelete> Blaine's unlinking of the previous version of this puzzle from the archive helps to confirm that I've got the right answer.
From January 15, 2017.
> It's like the dog that didn't bark.
Clueing both WOLF and WOOF.
> I'll say 774.
USS VIRGINIA, SSN-774, is the lead ship of her class, which succeeded the SEAWOLF class of atomic subs (callback to January 18).
"I predict high numbers this week." From Discogs.com: "For just a few months in 1964 (approximately July to October), "The Who" changed their name to the "High Numbers", releasing one single under that billing before reverting to the more inventive and appropriate "The Who." The name change resulted from their association with Pete Meaden, a mod who briefly managed them in mid-1964" ... No mention of Virginiaphobia.
ReplyDeleteLuke 12:32 -- "Fear not, little flock..."
Virginia Woolf, virgin wool
ReplyDeleteI wrote, “Rearrange the even letters of the clothing material. You get something authors are good at using.” That’s LINGO.
ReplyDeleteAs I noted above, that sent me down a rabbit hole trying to justify SPANDEX. The previous version of this puzzle started with a clothing material in two words, making it far easier. I didn't get this one until Monday, although I did look for a writer named Woody Li.
DeleteYou’ll find Noah’s Ark in the Bible, millennia ago. It was full of animals.
ReplyDeleteYou’ll find Jeff Zarkin on Puzzleria!.. within the hour! Jeff is full of puzzles!
Just as Noah was a master watercraft-crafter, our friend Jeff is a master puzzle-crafter. His “Jeff Zarkin Puzzle Riffs” feature has been circumnavigating the "Puzzlerian Waters" since 2019.
Jeff's latest “gemcraft” (titled “SuperZee’s Imposing Zarkinian Posers!) contains a "conundrumian cargo" of eight puzzles that we guarantee shall "float your boat."
Also on our menus this week are:
~ a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Frozen Homophonic Fishin’,”
~ a BoFeVineLine Hors d’Oeuvre titled “What cattle do (& a cat’ll do),”
~ a Not-So-Nice Puzzle Slice titled “Scandalized, banned and manhandled!”
~ a Pigmentary Dessert titled “Drawn and Quartered?” and
~ ten riffs of this week's NPR Sunday Puzzle, titled “Who’s Afraid of Virgin Wool?” (including six by Nodd and one by one by Plantsmith... both riffmeisters-extraordinaire!)
Hop aboard, why doncha!
LegoLambDaWeaseLlamAntelopElanDonkeYaKangaroOceloTigeRhinoceroSheePiGiraffElephanToucaNarwhaLeecHyenAngelfisHorneTurtlEmU???????
(My "U-animal" ends with a "mid-alphabetical letter...")
DeleteLegoContinuing(...WhichIsPrecededByA"LatinHeart")
My clue was: "I think I'll post a clue tomorrow or the next day." Because VW had a collection of short stories called "Monday or Tuesday". (And, obviously, I posted my clue on Sunday!)
ReplyDeleteVirginia Woolf >> Virgin Wool
ReplyDeleteThe, “Big Bad Wolf,” is a staple of fairy tales and folk literature, from the classics The Three Little Pigs, and Little Red Riding Hood, to Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. But none is more appropriate to this week’s puzzle than, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”.
I likewise was hinting at Albee's play by writing "My old friend," the last half of the first line of S&G's "The Sound of Silence," which later states that "the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls."- That was, in fact, where Albee got the title for his play, from a graffito on a NYC subway car. (I thought the first half of that first line would have been TMI. The second half was probably TLI.)
ReplyDeleteVIRGINIA WOOLF, VIRGIN WOOL
ReplyDeleteI wrote I solved this one in just a couple of minutes as a reference to the The Hours.
The Hours was the original working title for Virginia Woolf’s landmark 1925 novel, Mrs. Dalloway
Well, Al bee!
ReplyDeleteDo you think WW will send out those blog pins in a Norman Mailer?
DeleteUpdate on the lapel pins -- I have not absconded with your pin money folks but am on the way to Urgent Care. Fingers crossed.
DeleteHope you're okay, WW!
DeleteI suggest you go to a hospital, and avoid urgent care like the plague. I base this on my personal experience recently.
DeleteHope you're ok also, WW.
DeleteThe pins can wait, WW. Get well soon!
DeletePlease be well, WW!! 🙏
DeleteWe all agree, Word Woman. I am praying for you, and for your medical professionals.
DeleteLegoSerious
Praying for you, WW. I actually started when you mentioned day 6 of food poisoning. Get well soon!
DeleteThanks everyone. I'm home, I'm tired, getting what I need to get well. Urgent Care was excellent.
DeleteHopefully, more pin news over the wknd. Stay tuned.
Great news!
DeleteYaaaaaaa!!!!
DeleteLoud sigh of relief….
DeleteGreat news, indeed! Speedy recovery, WW!
DeleteMay your recovery continue to go well, WW!
DeleteThanks, everyone, for your good wishes for my health.
DeleteI have placed and paid for our order of 50 lapel pins. It takes 3 weeks for production and 3 days for shipping so the lapel pins should be here about April Fool's Day.
I'll then address and send them out to you in padded envelopes.
Thanks for your patience!
NOTE BIG RE: LAPEL PIN MONEY: Please no longer use my Venmo to send lapel pin money. If you used it and it crashed on you, please either use Zelle or email me and I will provide you my physical address.
DeleteI use Venmo for teaching chess, math and science, and its crashing for so many days is a headache I did not expect.
AGAIN, DO NOT use my Venmo going forward. If you already paid by Venmo and got confirmation you are good. Use Zelle or I will send you a bricks and mortar address.
It's always something.
Thanks!
Hmmmm - looks like I went down a different path with Ayn Rand = Aran. Acceptable alternative answer?
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Aran jumpers are a style of wool sweater from the Aran islands of Ireland, rather than a clothing material per se. But, worthy of a mention from the Puzzlemaster.
DeleteSee my spinoff puzzle above.
DeleteYes, jan, but it might be well to remember not to sunbathe on blacktop or you might end up with a tartan.
DeleteI grew up in NYC and sunbathing on rooftops was routinely referred to as "tar beach."
DeleteHa! I considered roofs instead of blacktop.
DeleteMy clue: "Queen of the harpies!"
ReplyDeleteThis is a quote from an early classic Simpsons episode featuring a squabbling couple clearly modeled on Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor's characters in the film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
VIRGINIA WOOLF, VIRGIN WOOL
ReplyDeleteBenny Hill once spoofed the movie "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", playing both Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The opening credits were too big for the whole screen(sort of a takeoff on CinemaScope), so it actually said "Who's Afraid of Virgin Wool", which of course starred Rich Burt and Eliza Tayl.
Sample dialogue:
"So, you and your wife have been married for 14 years."
"You know, it's funny. I don't remember breaking two mirrors."
(Sorry, one of my favorite jokes in the sketch there. Not verbatim, but you get the idea.)
pjbIsSoGladThisWeek'sChallengeWasActuallyThatEasy!
VIRGINIA WOOLF, VIRGIN WOOL
ReplyDeleteI had posted the clue, "Take the removed letters from the name. Rearrange them to get something you might hear mentioned on ESPN."
The removed letters are IAF. Rearrange those into FIA, the governing body of Formula One auto racing, which is often broadcast on ESPN (and the 2026 season begins in Australia this weekend).
This week's challenge comes from Donn Dimichele, of Redlands, CA. Name a famous musical duo. Remove four consecutive letters of the duo's name and phonetically you'll name a famous nonmusical duo. Who are they?
ReplyDeleteI'm such a fan, I keep their picture in my wallet.
DeleteHuh, I almost immediately found a musical duo that forms another musical duo when I remove four consecutive letters.
ReplyDeleteHaven't got the intended puzzle answer though.
Oh. Okay. I misread the puzzle. Or I forgot what it asked almost instantly, one or the other.
ReplyDeleteI think this will be pretty easy for Blainesvillains.