This puzzle might have been better next month.Q: Name a product in seven letters that people buy in a shop that typically sells only this product. The last four letters backward spell what people often do to this product. Rearrange the first three letters to spell what people then do to this product. What product is it?
Saturday, September 12, 2026
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13, 2026): Going to the Shop
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Sep 13, 2026): Going to the Shop
56 comments:
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Wow, Blaine. Saturday night?!
ReplyDeleteI'm put in mind of a '70s song.
I approve of this message.
DeleteI also thought of a 70s song -- I wonder if it's the same one.
DeleteOh, but also an 80s song, huh.
DeleteAs for the '70 song, at least the one I intended, it's connected to the puzzle's first word. But there is also a second '70s song connected as well to the puzzle's second word. And you could add to the second word's music connections, for good measure, Sam Cooke. As for the puzzle's third word, there is a doo-wop group that's connected, but to provide the name would probably be tmi.
DeleteBtw, Howie Roark, nice. But it took my better half to explain it to me. Bonus dormitat Homerus.
I don't get Howie Roark's add-on, but anyway, I can think of two 70s songs featuring that word. One of them is among my favorite songs ever; its album introduced me to my favorite artist. (I had another remark about it but let's be careful about tmi.)
DeleteMy 80s song is... upbeat. (If you don't think so, I'm sure I can convince you on Thursday!)
Oh wow, I just thought of a surprising connection between my two songs. But I'm going to give TMI a very wide margin and leave it alone until Thursday.
DeleteShana Tovah on this perfectly splendid autumn day! May our years get stronger not stranger. (And may we all ask everyone we know the plan for voting ahead on 11/3).
ReplyDeleteMay we, our families, neighbors, and friends share in a year of health, peace, and love.
DeleteWW is the new year 5587?
Delete5787. That's the age of the universe, of course.
DeleteSpeaking of voting: (AI may have been involved).
DeleteI thought the age of the universe was infinity.
DeleteJ. Michael Lustig has a disturbing take on what could happen with a new Congress
DeleteCap, Archbishop Ussher would say it's 6030.
Deletejan, amusing that they turned W into a Democrat in the video.
I was there earlier today.
ReplyDeletenice...and took me only three guesses!
ReplyDeleteChange one vowel in the product to another vowel, rearrange, and you get a group you might be surprised to see in the store.
ReplyDeleteI have an answer that works, but I'm not happy with it. I almost never hear people refer to the product using this word.
ReplyDeleteSounds about right to me.
Delete... And the shops that sell this product always sell (related) products that are NOT this product.
DeleteI do hear people use this word for the product, so that's sub-culture-dependent.
DeleteBut you're obviously right that shops that sell this product sell related ones. I've even been to a very specialized sort of shop (nowhere near my home) that comes closer than any other I've seen to selling only this product, and even it (and its kin) sell some related products.
I agree on all counts.
DeleteI quickly thought of someone famous for doing the second thing but never the first.
ReplyDeletewas it Dean Martin?
DeleteNo, he was the opposite of that.
DeleteWhen I bought an HP printer years ago, I foolishly signed up for their "Instant Ink" subscription service. The other day, I decided to stop throwing money away, and cancelled my subscription. The next day, the printer stopped working, since the ink cartridges in it were Instant Ink cartridges, and I was no longer subscribed. So, I ordered a set of (cheapish) HP-compatible ink cartridges. But the printer rejected those, because it said it was an "HP+" printer, which only works with genuine HP in cartridges. Grrr!
ReplyDeleteTwo thirds of one word in the above is a clue.
It’s taking me longer to think of a clue than it took to find the answer.
ReplyDeleteRemove all letters that are repeated in the name of the product. The remaining letters, in order were referred to during a Prudential Financial quarterly results analyst call a year ago.
DeleteJust under 900 correct entries this week.
ReplyDeleteHard to clue without tmi. I'm going to err on the obscure end:
ReplyDeleteByrd & Murkey wishing = it.
Finally got it. And I have to say that I'm not sure if I would have gotten there if had it not been for some of the clues. Definitely on the more obscure side of naming the product.
ReplyDeleteI got Blaine's clue, for once. But my cat thinks that it might have been better LAST month!
ReplyDeleteWell, I think this puzzle may have been more appropriate in May! I actually submitted a puzzle that some different wordplay with this product word.
ReplyDeleteAnd JAWS, having been a long standing employee of Prudential, I’m quite amused by your clue!
There’s a famous guy who doesn’t want one of these done.
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle has a connection with another puzzle from earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteBack here again, are we?
ReplyDeleteNPR programming yesterday had interesting takes on both Fibonacci and population growth/decline.
This link about Fibonacci numbers (Pingala numbers?) and many other Indian mathematicians knew about the number sequence many centures before Fibonacci:
https://umedesi.com/ancient-indian-origin-of-the-fibonacci-sequence/#Pingala_and_the_Early_Mentions_of_the_Sequence
Fibonacci popularized the number sequence in Liber abaci. There must be Liberace and/or Liber hibachi puns in there somewhere. Trying to feel good about getting to those puns soon. Maybe a triple pun?
Long-winded way to present my clue this week but there you go. . .
But I don't see how this explains the sequence of European counts.
DeleteAre we now back to the recent discussion of infinity?
DeleteI hope not. I was afraid it was going to go on ad infinitum.
DeleteYou mean like the last presidential election being a fraud?
DeleteAd infinitum plus ad nauseam.
DeleteHa ha. Even I got that one.
DeleteI'm quite sure ad infinausem is, indeed, not a number.
DeleteIf it were a number, it would be equal to 92 (45 + 47).
DeleteCould you please spell that out in seashells?
DeleteI don't have the muscle to do that.
DeleteWell let's all keep clam anyway.
DeleteThe puzzle would also be appropriate in December.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd that nobody has commented yet on the cleverness of this puzzle. The setup seems to suggest some amazing wordplay, although I can't verify that until I solve it.
ReplyDeleteActually, it is pretty clever. My objection is to the description of the shops.
DeleteThe solution just came to me. I was making an assumption that others might make.
DeleteHmmm, I would not take the wordplay all the way to amazing. It's decent, interesting, gives one pause. But, amazing? Naw.
DeleteCan we now agree we had 2 NPR puzzles last week, and no NPR puzzle this week?
ReplyDeleteMaybe in honor of Rosh Hashanah this week's puzzle began on the preceding night?
ReplyDeleteErev puzzles are posted on Saturday nights at Sunset.
Delete