I need to finish up my taxes, so I'll have to put solving on hold until then.Q: Name a famous foreign landmark (5,4). Change the eighth letter to a V and rearrange the result to make an adjective that describes this landmark. What landmark is it?
A: NOTRE DAME, RENOVATED
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Take a well-known feature of the landmark. Change a vowel to the vowel that precedes it. Rearrange. You get its locale.
ReplyDeleteA former president comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteRonald Reagan played "The Gipper," who played for NOTRE DAME.
DeleteThe "5,4" made it pretty easy.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was a different landmark, very different from the correct one, but the letters didn't work.
DeleteI may have had the same first guess, which also didn't work.
DeleteI have the answer but I don't get any of the clues except Nodd's.
ReplyDeleteOh wait. Now I get Jan's clue from the previous thread -- that's good!
Okay I'll try to think of my own.
Change the first letter of the landmark to another letter and rearrange. You get a description of this list.
ReplyDeleteGood one. True.
Delete1146 correct answers last week
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling there will be lots of correct answers this week.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling you're right.
DeleteTake the name of a character associated with the landmark, remove the final letter, rearrange, and get the name of some jewels.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is my clue.
DeleteIt is intended to be utterly impossible until you've solved the puzzle, and even then some of the bits are a little far-fetched. But I had fun making it, and I'll explain it Thursday.
Oy, I made a mistake in the poem. Here's a version that works:
DeleteA landmark found in lands afar?
I solved it fast. (My time is par.)
Another landmark, _ _ _,
Distinguished by _ _ _,
Shaves its grass (Pope’s _)
Under the eye of _ _.
The blanks I’ll fill in, bye and bye,
To show you the site: a delicate lie.
I sort of have an answer.
ReplyDeleteTake off a letter and you miss the whole point.
ReplyDelete"An unfit ovum"? Nah, that's not it.
ReplyDeletedoes the adjective have to be made up of only letters from the landmark? does the adjective need to be 2 words? we are struggling a bit.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Benita Rice for a very clever puzzle! The anagramming is rarely this satisfying.
ReplyDeleteFor the answer I have, it is a one word, 9 letter adjective, containing all the letters in the landmark except for the 8th letter which become a V. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteOh yes the Blarney Stone.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those puzzles that is easy, once you think of the right thing it starts with (the landmark, in this case). I spent too much time rearranging letters for other landmarks.
ReplyDeleteThe resulting adjective contains the name of a television show.
DeleteSometimes a hint is so tempting my better judgement fails to hold me back.
DeleteNOVA is contained (or "held") by RETED, to form RENOVATED. RETED is DETER backwards, and DETER means "hold back" (or something like that). Maybe a skilled cryptic crossword setter could fashion a "fully formed " clue from this observation.
DeleteQuasimodo predicted all this.
As Paul has pointed out, RENOVATED contains the television show NOVA (great show). I spent wayyy too much time trying to make GREAT WALL and MOUNT FUJI work. So, for me, the 5,4 hint was not so obvious.
DeleteWell, the "adjective" is more of a participle.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteIsn't this TMI?
Delete(But, Musinglink is definitely correct here -- can we take it up again on Thursday?)
Participial adjectives are a thing! Particularly when they are attributive (i.e. preceding the noun they modify): cutting remark, bored audience, proven fact, etc.
DeleteClever puzzle. The first letters of the adjective are a place I’ve been to. (I bet some others here have been as well).
ReplyDeleteHmmm...from the high to the low.
DeleteI enjoyed the fact that you can take NORTH POLE, perform the operation, and anagram to PROVEN HOT.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's the right answer, though.
Maybe the correct answer is closer to Corsica, but maybe not quite?
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DeleteClever, clever wordplay. The 5,4 did get me there too soon, though, within moments. I like a puzzle that lasts a little longer. Otherwise it could have been up for best PUZZLE OF 2026. That one tiny detail. Too much info. Darn.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to disagree on that. As you can see on my earlier post, there are multiple 5,4 landmarks, and you can spen a lot of time trying to anagram...
DeleteMore on Thursday.
JAWS, agree to disagree here.
DeleteFor me, without 5,4 would have lasted long enough to be enjoyable and make me work for it.
It would have been even easier for me if the puzzle had said 4-8
DeleteThe adjective also describes a list regarding somebody associated with the landmark.
ReplyDeleteEsmeralda, from the Hunchback of Notre Dame, used to be a Disney Princess. However, the list of Disney Princesses got renovated, and Esmeralda is no longer a Disney Princess anymore.
DeleteYou seldom hear of a [2nd word in the landmark] as a [1st word rearranged].
ReplyDeleteNice clues including Blaine’s… was this puzzle meant for last week?
ReplyDeleteI new when I got the first part I was getting warm.
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteChange the second letter of the landmark, and rearrange. You get a group of people connected to the word describing the landmark.
ReplyDeleteEspecially appropriate today for a reason I will reveal Thursday.
ReplyDeleteI see what you mean.
Deletetest
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ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of a line from Tennyson's "Maud."
ReplyDelete"I need to make my annual $7,000 contribution to my Roth IRA before the tax deadline".
ReplyDeleteIRA ➡ Fighting Irish
DeleteI hope it’s not TMI to say the landmark is not located in Greenland. But: When you move the last letter of the landmark six letters down in the alphabet, and rearrange, you get something you might hear a Greenlander say.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
DeleteNOTRE DAME -> NOTRE DAMK, rearrange to F*** YOU DONALD TRUMP? I'm sorry, I speak neither Danish nor Kalaallisut
DeleteNotre-Dame >>> Renovated
ReplyDeleteMy Hint:
"I new when I got the first part I was getting warm."
If I remember correctly, it seems they had a little fire several years ago. That must have made it slightly warmer than when I was last there in 1965.
NOTRE DAME ( —> RENOVATED)
ReplyDelete“The 5,4 made it kind of easy.”
Immediately after “Great Wall,” which was my first guess, “Notre Dame” came to me. Iris Corona, you, too?
“Take the name of a character associated with the landmark, remove the final letter, rearrange, and get the name of some jewels.”
Esmeralda (from Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame —> emeralds
Imagine my frustration trying to come up with an anagram for QUASIMOD.
DeleteInterestingly, if you take Quasimodo in lowercase as quasimodo, flip the q and u to become d and n, and remove the O, then you can rearrange to get diamonds.
DeleteImpressive, Bobby.
DeleteI love it!
DeleteI wrote, “Take a well-known feature of the landmark. Change a vowel to the vowel that precedes it. Rearrange. You get its locale.” That's SPIRE ---> PARIS.
ReplyDeleteNOTRE DAME, RENOVATED
ReplyDeleteMy clue was Maybe the correct answer is closer to Corsica, but maybe not quite?
Notre Dame is located in Paris on Ile de la Cite, and a nearby street is Quai de la Corse, which is (close to) Corsica Street/Dock.
Notre Dame — Notre Dave — renovated
ReplyDeleteI posted:
“An unfit ovum?” Nah, that’s not it.
Anagram resulting from Mount Fuji (j changed to v).
Change the second letter of the landmark, and rearrange. You get a group of people connected to the word describing the landmark.
Nstre Dame — anagrams to “tradesmen” (who would have done the renovating).
I hope it’s not TMI to say the landmark is not located in Greenland. But: When you move the last letter of the landmark six letters down in the alphabet, and rearrange, you get something you might hear a Greenlander say.
Notre Damk — “To Denmark!” (Which Scarlett aptly paraphrased as “Cheers!”)
Notre Dame, renovated
ReplyDeleteAttention Blainesville: Conelrad Alert! (But, no need to panic... 'twill be friendly-not-fearful fire!)
ReplyDeleteA "true-blue friend of Puzzleria! (who prefers to "fly under the radar" during his "assigned sorties") shall delivering another of his "surgically placed payloads of puzzles" (dropping down a new few from out-of-the-blue") on this week's edition.
His Knotty Nautical Appetizer, "Roamin’ the High Seas – Empirically Speaking," contains "surgical strikes" titled:
“Yo ho ho and a case of pelage” and
“Kick the Empire down the road.”
But don't run for cover! Face the challenge! This mission is scheduled to begin when the bomb-bay doors of his fuselage open, and the puzzles rain down... very soon this very afternoon!
Also on this week's "Puzzle Payload" Menu:
* a timely Schpuzzle of the Week titled “Rocketeers... Modern-day Musketeers?”
* a Vanishing Hors d’Oeuvre titled "Poof!"
* a Prolific Folk-Rock Slice titled Trains, Planes & “Rivermo’boats”
* a Savannas, Pampas & Aerial Mountain Passes Dessert titled “Lions & Bengals & Zebras Oh My!” and
* a few handfuls of puzzle riffs of this week's "Riffing Off Shortz And Rice" NPR Challenge, titled "The Blessed Virgin... Renovated Version?"
Join us... Should be a BLAST!
Lego...
NOTRE DAME --> RENOVATED
ReplyDelete> I bet our Word Woman will get it quickly.
NOTRE DAME is French for "our woman".
>> I have a feeling there will be lots of correct answers this week.
> I have a feeling you're right.
Lots of people avoiding the word "hunch" this week.
> Indeed!
A nod to that other NOTRE DAME, in IN (or Ind.). (I was present at a wedding their president performed for his nephew and our friend's daughter a couple of years ago.)
My post - “ The first letters of the adjective are a place I’ve been to. (I bet some others here have been as well).” This was a reference to the ‘betting’ locale of Reno (NV).
ReplyDeleteNOTRE DAME - M + V >>> RENOVATED
ReplyDeleteAs Jan observed, my, “feeling,” there would be lots of correct answers to this puzzle was more of a hunch, pointing to Victor Hugo’s classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Here’s my poetic clue with its blanks filled in.
ReplyDeleteA landmark found in lands afar?
I solved it fast. (My time is par.)
Another landmark, closer to home,
Distinguished by its Golden Dome
Shaves its grass (Pope’s catachresis)
Under the eye of Touchdown Jesus.
The blanks I’ll fill in, bye and bye,
To show you the site: a delicate lie.
Cliff notes:
“is par” anagrams to “Paris”
Notre Dame University has a famous Golden Dome, and perhaps more famously Touchdown Jesus. And “a delicate lie” is an anagram of “Ile de la cite”.
Oh! And Alexander Pope really did use "shave the grass" as an example of catachresis -- it's not easy to rhyme with "Touchdown Jesus".
DeleteAt least not in a way that would profoundly please us.
DeleteExcellent poetry, Crito!
Delete(And a pleasing "skydiveboyish rhyme" for "Jesus" from our friend from Seattle)...
My gal was saved... Yes Jesus drove her
To drink his Kool-Aid, Holy Wine...
And if someday Hell freezes over
Such "rescues" shall be wastes of time!
(Yes)LegoKnowsThat"Wine"And"Time"
SoundSimilarButJustDon'tRhyme!
My comment: You seldom hear of a [2nd word in the landmark] as a [1st word rearranged]. Tenors are almost always men.
ReplyDeleteNOTRE DAME, RENOVATED
ReplyDelete> I bet our Word Woman will get it quickly.
NOTRE DAME is French for "our woman".
Me: D'www
The 4,5 clue took me right to the cathedral.
Moments ago my NPR station here in Seattle reported that they are now the recipients of the largest donation by an individual in their history. It was from a local woman who is giving 80 million that is part of a 113 million donation. While I have never met this woman, and am certain she knows nothing of me, I am appalled she would go out of her way to embarrass me this way. Of course I am unable to donate such an amount, but at least I do try.
ReplyDeleteI wrote “ was this puzzle meant for last week?”… last Sunday was Easter.. church is appropriate
ReplyDeleteSomeone here (Chuck?) was asking about the significance of the blue Kyanite in the packet with the lapel pin. Kyanite is higher temperature and pressure version of Al2SiO5. The other two polymorphs, with the exact same chemical formula, are low temp, low pressure andalusite (small crosses) and sillimanite (medium temp and pressure).
ReplyDeleteKyanite figures prominently in my soon to be published novel "Kyanite 56," about a 6' tall geologist named Kyanite (Ky) and her black lab, Labradorite, as they discover geologic inconsistencies in the blue gray limestone hollows of Fifty-Six, Arkansas. Analogue recording, Novaculite , and swirly cursive also are key components of the mystery.
Thanks for asking!
Word Woman
Eileen, thank for your sweet note in cursive via snail mail. One of life's greatest pleasures--getting a real letter in my mail box. The loopier and swirlier the cursive the better!
ReplyDeleteThis week's challenge comes from James Ellison, of Jefferson City, Mo. Think of a popular movie of the past decade. Change the last letter in its title. The result will suggest a lawsuit between two politicians of the late 20th century — one Republican and one Democrat. What's the movie and who are the people?
ReplyDelete"Suggest" is a pretty vague word.
ReplyDelete