Change the first letter of one of the countries so it is four earlier in the alphabet and rearrange all the letters to name two other countries.Q: There are two neighboring countries whose names have anagrams that rhyme with each other. What are the countries and their anagrams?
Edit: CHINA + (J)EPAL --> JAPAN, CHILE. This week's puzzle has two of the four countries from the May 4, 2025 NPR puzzle.
A: CHINA, NEPAL --> CHAIN, PLANE
A number associated with this puzzle: 72.
ReplyDeleteRemove two letters from the countries, rearrange, and get someone you're unlikely to see in either one.
ReplyDeleteReally?
ReplyDeleteFitting that the puzzle winner is a previous winner.
I have a two-word alternative.
ReplyDeleteThat is: neighboring nations, each of which anagrams to a two-word phrase, and the two phrases rhyme with each other.
After a few minutes of looking at a map, I have the answer. It's taking longer to think of a non-TMI clue.
ReplyDeleteI am reminded of a Broadway show.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteRemove two letters from one country, then rearrange to get a body part. Remove one letter from the second country and with no rearranging get a different body part
ReplyDeleteI thought I had an understanding of your clue, but now I seem to have lost it.
DeleteWhenever I stand up, my LAP is nowhere to be found. My CHIN, however, is still there.
DeleteRemove the first letter of each rhyming anagram to get a food company and a footwear company.
ReplyDeleteI don't get that at all...?
DeleteI didn't either, until I googled them.
DeleteAnybody else notice you need two N's to make RIGHT LANE ENDS? Apparently no one on the broadcast did.
ReplyDeletepjbCouldn'tFigureThatOneOutJustLookingAtItOnTheWebsite,AndThisWouldBeAHugePartOfWhy!
I didn't catch that while listening to the broadcast, but you're right!
DeleteGreat observation Cran!
DeleteSo mad
DeleteReally good job picking that up. I wonder if Shortz is going to mention his mistake next week.
DeleteGood catch Cran.
DeleteOne anagram is a tool; the other, part of a tool.
ReplyDeleteMore than 350 correct entries last week.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle seems awfully familiar.
ReplyDeleteThere was a story on NPR Weakened Edition this morning about a government contract to employ AI....
ReplyDeleteWhat would Franklin say?
DeleteAlso nice interview of Nola bassist Peter Harris who leads a band with Herlin Riley at the Ponchatrain Hotel.
DeleteAll set here. Obviously “neighboring” becomes the key word given some of the other options. Given the ease of the challenge, I’d expect an overwhelming number of responses.
ReplyDeleteThat key word is so easily missed that I expect a lot of entries will overlook it. I solved it quickly on Sunday and for several days was happy with my entry (reminiscent of a former puzzle) until I read this comment. Some of the comments this week make me think others might have overlooked it as well.
DeleteAnswer reminds me of a famous movie.
ReplyDeleteOK ... and there are two other countries whose names have anagrams that also rhyme with these, and those two anagrams are exact homophones of each other.
ReplyDeleteBoth of them were in the news years ago because of some bakery items.
DeleteAnd yet neither is a monarchy
DeleteA long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....
DeleteIf it’s the countries I’m thinking of…..write the longer one first and the shorter one right after, no spaces. Take out one letter and you have the nationality of a neighboring country to the first country you wrote.
DeleteEdit: the countries being the extra ones you mentioned, not the puzzle countries.
DeleteThis is half of a puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle has 2 of the 4 countries in the puzzle on May 4, 2025 (China=chain, Nepal=plane, Iran=rain, Niger=reign).
DeleteSuriname ~ aneurism
ReplyDeleteI did not remember the previous puzzle that was used so very recently, but I am wondering if it had somehow caused me to think of one of the countries first and followed by the second. I also at first passed up another country that would be TMI to mention. I rarely remember previous puzzles here. Anyway I am now back home from another camping trip and will find it easier to post the answer on time this week.
ReplyDeleteRemove the second and fourth letter from each anagrammed word and rearrange to get a container and an animal
ReplyDeleteCorrection: One gives you a container without rearranging. The other anagrams to an animal
ReplyDeleteI just got a breaking news report of an ICE Gestapo officer shooting a man in Austin Texas this afternoon. Five days ago ICE goons arrested someone in a car across the street from my house. I feel safer now.
ReplyDeleteOn air puzzle.. as someone else pointed out.. Nearsighted + L cannot be Right Lane Ends because the latter requires 2 Ns.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and it also may involve pulling left a bit.
DeleteWould this puzzle have made more sense a few months back?
ReplyDelete(perhaps for April and its Chain of Fools)
DeleteThe country has an anagram or the country is an anagram?? It’s been a while since playing and I see the wording of the clues is still on a downward trajectory.
ReplyDeleteTake the name of a country and anagram it to a word. Take the name of a neighboring country and anagram it to a word. The two words should rhyme.
DeleteThe country is an amalgam;
DeleteIts name’s what has an anagram!
But...
The Saudis have a neighbor
Who’s rattling the saber.
Its occupants are Yemeni,
And now they are the enemy
So Saudi won’t let them in.
An enemy from Yemen!
Confounding my taxonomy…
Ya gotta love metonymy.
Crito, my oh my, my grandmother would love this missive.
DeleteClearest news report I've seen in weeks!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMan, I had to spin and scrutinize my globe many times. I was about to get a magnifying glass cuz maybe it was the tiny countries. Finally, cogitation help me find the answer. The anagrams can be seen as symbols of concepts that are inimical to one another.
ReplyDeleteCHAIN makes me think of confinement. A PLANE can be seen as an escape, a way to flee to freedom.
DeleteWhen I manage to do lucid dreaming I get onto the astral plane...or is PLAIN, like the great plains. Sometimes it starts as a blank space, like the holo-dome before one gives a command.
A sasquatch walks into a bar and is immediately asked to leave. Why?
ReplyDeleteI don't know the answer to your riddle, but I heard he did leave, Yeti immediately came back.
DeleteBigfoot was ordered out due to their No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service sign.
Delete22½ EEEEE shoes are hard to find.
DeleteI agree, and that is why I suspect Scarlett may be mistaken about Bigfoot returning.
DeleteCHINA, NEPAL; CHAIN, PLANE
ReplyDelete"Crito, my oh my, my grandmother would love this missive." My grandmother who loved her CHINA enjoyed wicked wit as well.
One could not hold a candle to that wicked wit either. ;-)
CHINA, NEPAL —> CHAIN, PLANE
ReplyDelete“Remove two letters from the countries, rearrange, and get someone you're unlikely to see in either one.”
—> China + Nepal - ne —> chaplain
CHINA, NEPAL --> CHAIN, PLANE
ReplyDeleteSo, now Blaine is deleting any mention of a puzzle being a repeat?
> I've used one on the other.
I've used a CHAIN to tie down a small PLANE.
> A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....
On Star Wars Day last year (May 4, 2025), the NPR Sunday Puzzle was: There are four countries whose names have one-syllable anagrams that rhyme with "Spain." What are they?
I wrote, “A number associated with this puzzle: 72.” It has been 72 weeks since the Sunday puzzle was, “There are four countries whose names have one-syllable anagrams that rhyme with ‘Spain.’ What are they?” (Niger and Iran were the other countries.)
ReplyDeleteChina, Nepal; chain, plane.
ReplyDelete"Remove the first letter of each rhyming anagram to get a food company and a footwear company." (Hain foods, Lane boots.)
"One anagram is a tool; the other, part of a tool." (plane, chainsaw.)
China, Nepal (chain, plane)
ReplyDeleteChina shares a border with Nepal.
ReplyDeleteChina & Nepal ==> Chain & Plane
CHINA, NEPAL, CHAIN, PLANE
ReplyDeleteI noted there was an AI story on NPR that day, because the story was about using AI to assist the FAA.
And the FAA would presumably use this software the manage a CHAIN of PLANES.
Nepal & China >>> plane & chain
ReplyDeleteI immediately thought of Spain and realized it could not work, and I still don't know why, but I then thought of Nepal, and then china. It makes me think my subconscious was working overtime. Perhaps because the original puzzle was only last year.
... and two other rhyming countries whose anagrams are exact homophones of each other:
ReplyDeleteIRAN - RAIN
NIGER - REIGN
I've been wondering all week if a two-syllable country can rhyme with a one-syllable word. I guess not.
Delete🎶 If I only had Bahrain 🎶
When I wrote that both countries were in the news years ago because of some bakery items I was referring to "yellowcake" in the case of Niger and a cake in the shape of a key offered to Iran as part of the Iran-contra deal.
DeleteWe are unveiling a new feature on this week’s edition of Puzzleria! It is a brand-spankin'-fresh new “to-be-occasionally-featured” Appetizer, titled “Leaning Tower of Puzzleria!”
ReplyDeleteThis first edition of the feature is titled DES-PISA-BLE or BLE-S-SED?
We shall upload Puzzleria! very soon this very afternoon.
Also on this week's menus are:
~ a Schpuzzle of the Week titled “POTUS name repetition on the Potomac?”
~ a “Parlez-Vous Franglais?” Hors d’Oeuvre titled “Boundless... except for the beginning & end!”
~ a “What The Maven Found” Slice titled “Pour Sangria Pour...”
~ a “Pennysmith” Dessert titled “Horse Cents & Sleighbells,” and
~ NINE “Riffing Off Shortz And Hochbaum” Slices, titled “Does-The-Nepal-Rain-Stay-Mainly-On-The-Plane? & Chain-Gang-Of-Four” (featuring six riffs from our friend Nodd and one riff from our friend Plantsmith, both master riff-crafters.
So, why not drop on by for some brand-spankin'-fresh-and-yet-still-old-fashioned-puzzle-fun!?!
LegoWhoNotesThatWhileHermanTheHermitMayHaveLeanedOnALampPostOur"TowerofPuzzleria"MerelyLeansAllByItsLonesme!
My posts:
ReplyDelete- “All set here” was referring to a set of china (dishes)
- “Obviously “neighboring” becomes the key word given some of the other options”…..which was referring to Iran and Niger
- “Given the ease of the challenge, I’d expect an overwhelming number of responses.”…..with overwhelming referring to the flooding in Nepal.
"Do a cure" rhymes with "pure." Blaine seems to want words, but the clue does not make that restriction. The countries, BTHW, are in South America and are contiguous.
ReplyDeleteBTW, not BTHW
DeleteI was under the impression it was IRAN/RAIN, NEPAL/PLANE, but obviously CHINA/CHAIN works, too. Shows what I know about geography, too, if Iran isn't anywhere near Nepal.
ReplyDeletepjbCameUpWithTwoAnagramsThatRhymedAnyway,AtLeast
"If Iran isn't anywhere near Nepal?"
DeleteThese are wonderful inventions -- maps and globes. Perhaps you've heard of them?
Nepal – plane; China – chain
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “Answer reminds me of a famous movie.” Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
What is the most densely populated place on earth?
ReplyDeleteIt has to be the White House.
Delete“Reminds me of a Broadway show.” My Fair Lady, and the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned that I had a two-word alternative. That wasn't a hint! There's "grey man" and "old pan". I see Mendo Jim got a different alternative! As he notes, the puzzle doesn't say that the anagrams must be one-word anagrams.
ReplyDeleteCrito: Holding your breath for acknowledgement.?
DeleteThis week's online challenge comes from Dan Moren of Somerville, Mass. Name a well-known U.S. geographic location in six letters. Move the last letter two places earlier in the name and you'll get a regular English word. Say that word out loud. It will sound like a well-known geographic location abroad. What places are these? Here's a hint: Neither place name is a city.
ReplyDeleteYou won't find it on Google Maps!
DeleteReminds me of a place in NY --Margaret G.
DeleteBut Lake Ontario has more than 6 letters
DeleteJust checking to see if I've got the mechanics right:
DeleteIf it were Chicago, it would be changed to Chicoag?
Yes.
DeleteYep
DeleteThanks!
ReplyDelete