Change the first letter of the first location and rearrange to get [REDACTED].Q: 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.
Edit: Change the D to a B and rearrange to get BLAINE
A: DENALI --> DENIAL --> THE NILE
The U.S. location and the English word are politically connected.
ReplyDeleteSadly.
DeleteNice hint, Blaine (just figured it out).
ReplyDeleteAdd a letter to the first location. Rearrange. You get a country.
ReplyDeleteOr add a different letter.
DeleteYou and your clever hints!
Delete"Me and my RC" was an old advertising slogan/jingle for Royal Crown Cola.
DeleteR as in Ireland; C as I Iceland.
'as in'
DeleteGosh, yes. Right!
ReplyDeleteGreetings from the left coast. I'm surprised I got it this quickly. Musical hint: a famous duet.
ReplyDeleteOver 700 correct entries last week.
ReplyDeleteMusical hint: a syntactically very weird band.
ReplyDeleteIntro
ReplyDeleteI got it from Blaine's hint.
ReplyDelete25
ReplyDeleteIf you solve Paul's hint, check out his origin!
DeleteI thought Niles, Ohio was named for a lab rat.
DeleteProbably a good thing I didn't spell out "25" in seashells.
DeleteHorton Hears a Who
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle creator would come up with this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteDan Moren created this puzzle. Dan is short for Daniel, which is an anagram of Denali.
DeleteI needed my Brooklyn accent
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am in the latter geographic location!
ReplyDeleteThe puzzles get lamer and lamer. What a joke!
ReplyDeleteLucky you, Rudolpho.
The gauntlet has been dropped. Just how lame can Shortz go!
DeleteCute puzzle though maybe a little too much ‘puzzling license’ for me. I’m guessing if you tried to get from place A to place B, it would likely not be such a straight line of a trip.
ReplyDeleteYou could always try straightening the line.
DeleteTake the name of the first place. Remove the first three letters and the last letter. Rearrange to get the name of the second place.
ReplyDeleteWhat do Diana Ross, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé have in common (other than lots of fame and money)?
ReplyDeleteThey all sing! :-)
DeleteOh dear...what I'm getting is an old quip, a clever maxim/pun that has been circulating since the '70s...or maybe ancient times? And I think the American feature was stripped of this moniker by Julius seize-her by the p***y.
ReplyDeleteback in the early 70s, there was a saying: Denial is NOT just a river in Egypt. Sometimes I wonder about the amount of worldly experience on will's staff. And didn't dumbass senior change Mt. Denali BACK to Mt. McKinley?
DeleteRemove one letter from the well-known U. S. geographic location, rearrange, and get a well-known U. S. film.
ReplyDeleteFinally thought of the right geographic location. Kind of a disappointing solution after all of that.
ReplyDeleteKinda leaves ya a bit cold huh?
DeleteGeorge Wendt would like a word.
ReplyDeleteA rabbit trail led me to a name that sounds like it could be a geographic location.
ReplyDelete<<<Speaking of rabbit trails, look at this Briar Patch under last night's Harvest Moon. It was hopping with at least a dozen bunnies as well as a caramel colored cat who jumped into our car, much to my dog's surprise.
DeleteI'm thinking of a mode of transport that one might use to approach the US place
ReplyDeleteOne might approach Denali in a GMC Denali
DeleteDid they really just do this?
ReplyDeleteGood lord. May I just? Crikey.
Crikey is right, Ben.
DeleteIn the west, if you look to MT, you might get a clue.
Stephen Foster grammar
ReplyDeleteOr, alternatively, Stephen Foster's gramma? As in grandma. ;-)
DeleteRight on, honey chile,
DeleteOr maybe Pope Stephen grammar.
DeleteTariffs.
ReplyDeleteOne of the other times the US place has come up in an NPR Puzzle was about eleven years ago and generated one of the most interesting discussions here at Blaine's that I can remember.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI caught the 1962 earworm on the way to the second location.
ReplyDeleteAnd the 1952 one also.
DeleteToday the state of Tennessee was desperate to inflict capital punishment on a woman for the first time in over two hundred years, and when they finally received their go ahead from the despicable majority on our Supreme Court they gleefully jumped at their chance, but unfortunately for them, in their rush, their efforts were all in vein.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of a certain devotional poem...
ReplyDeleteHerbert's "Denial"! That one's for you, Dr. K...
DeleteThank you, Dr. A. It had been some time, but Herbert mended my rhyme.
DeleteDenali, denial, the Nile
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “I got it from Blaine’s hint.” Start with Denali. Change the D to a B, rearrange and discover “Blaine.”
Denali & The Nile (da Nile) (denial)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDenali, denial (the Nile). My hint -- "The U.S. location and the English word are politically connected." We have a president in denial of reality who changed the name of Denali.
ReplyDeleteDENALI, THE NILE (DENIAL)
ReplyDelete“Musical hint: a famous duet.”
—> Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”
Denali is the highest mountain in the U. S. as well as North America.
“Remove one letter from the well-known U. S. geographic location, rearrange, and get a well-known U. S. film.”
—> Denali -D —> Alien
“Tariffs.”
—> Tariffs were championed by McKinley (Paul’s “25” hint) and lately by 47, the head kakistocrat, who in 2025 changed the name from Denali back to McKinley.
And I urged solvers to check McKinley's origins. In a truly strange coincidence, he was born in Niles.
DeleteDenali, denial, The Nile
ReplyDeleteDenali, Denial, the Nile.
ReplyDeleteI really find it hard to believe that Will is resorting to vaudeville for puzzles now.
I liked Red Barber on NPR, buthat was long ago.
My hint Good lord. May I just? Crikey. spells GMC, the maker of the Denali.
DENALI --> DENIAL --> THE NILE
ReplyDelete> You won't find it on Google Maps!
Because Google quickly caved to Trump and changed the name back to McKinley.
> Intro
"Lead-in" anagrams to DENALI
>> I’m guessing if you tried to get from place A to place B, it would likely not be such a straight line of a trip.
> You could always try straightening the line.
If you straighten (rearrange) "line", you get NILE.
> Take the name of the first place. Remove the first three letters and the last letter. Rearrange to get the name of the second place.
MCKINLEY - MCKY --> NILE. (I never specified which name of the first place.)
Wow, I like the veiled clues this week. Particularly the one whose big reveal involves the splendid word 'kakistocrat'.
ReplyDeleteMy hint was mundane. The 'syntactically very weird band' is Portugal. The Man. They have a song titled "Denali".
I wrote, “Add a letter to the first location. Rearrange. You get a country.” I intended DENALI + C / ICELAND, but then Blaine spotted that there were two such countries; the other is + R / IRELAND.
ReplyDeleteI clued "Horton Hears a Who," a Dr Seuss book. "North to Alaska" (location of Denali) was a song recorded by Johnny Horton that was featured in the movie of the same name in 1960.
ReplyDelete"I am in the geographic location!": In denial. Have also been down (= up) the Nile, highly recommend. August 2, 2027: total solar eclipse moves from Gibraltar to cross the Nile with 6+ minutes duration.
ReplyDeleteMy post:
ReplyDelete- Cute puzzle though maybe a little too much ‘puzzling license’ for me……I’m not sure if Denali should be called Mount Denali or if The Nile is a place (vs Nile River) and if “da-Nile” is too cute, but we’ll go with it.
- I’m guessing if you tried to get from place A to place B, it would likely not be such a straight line of a trip….as Jan explained, straightening “line” would result in Nile.
I asked "What do Diana Ross, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé have in common?" All of them had hit records produced by Nile Rodgers, who got his start in Chic.
ReplyDeleteDENALI, DENIAL, THE NILE("de Nile")
ReplyDeleteShould've suggested Elton John as a "musical clue"(sort of). Sir Elton did have a hit with a song called "Daniel", and maybe the "sort of" would have implied that it's an anagram of DENALI or DENIAL(a "sorting" of the letters, perhaps). Probably a good thing I didn't do that. Must have been the clouds in my eyes.
pjb'sBrotherBryanIsYoungerThanHeIs,UnlikeDaniel,WhoIsSaidToBeTheOlderBrotherOfTheSingerInTheSong
I can't recall what word or words were redacted from Blaine's clue. Anyone?
ReplyDeleteWas it really "BLAINE"?
Delete“a well-known person” (?)
DeleteAh, yes, that sounds right.
DeleteWell, he is quite well known here!
DeleteI thought it was ALPINE, which would have been TMI.
DeleteDENALI >>> DENIAL >>> THE NILE
ReplyDelete"The puzzles are getting lamer and lamer. What a joke! >>> Very very old joke:
"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt."
— Mark Twain
Spoken like a true riverboat person.
DeleteAnd speaking of "tamer", why has no one mentioned Elton's lion-taming elder brother?
Please pardon my barging in.
Oops, I see pjb did mention Daniel, above. I should be more careful.
DeleteWhere did you get the idea that the Daniel in the song was a lion tamer? Of course, as I write this, I realize the Daniel in the Bible was a lion tamer, but it's not the same Daniel, right?
DeletepjbAlsoKnowsThatThatDanielIsWhatInspiredEugeneLevyToNameHisSonDaniel(Who'sAlsoAComedicActorInHisOwnRight!)
This week's online challenge also comes from Robbie Ellis, of Chicago. Name two well-known colleges or universities from the same state. The last letter of one is the first letter of the other. Change that letter in both names to the same new letter to get two other well-known schools. What four schools are these?
ReplyDeleteGlad to check this off my list early!
DeleteI'd only heard of three of them.
ReplyDeleteTotal enrollment (per Wikipedia): 33,377
ReplyDeleteGeez. I almost gave up -- I was rereading the puzzle to see if there was some trick I was missing.
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, I should have got it faster. For two reasons, one of them idiosyncratic (I have a close relative who attended the least well known of the four).
I'll come up with a clue for the new thread.
I have the answer and I have my clue. Just waiting on Blaine.
ReplyDeleteUsed some meta information to get to the answer (no hint here)
ReplyDeleteWow, impressive to get "Onegin" in the On Air puzzle.
ReplyDelete10 million Ar-15's in U.S. which constitutes in common useage? Say what.
ReplyDeleteI think I've solved it, but I also think there's something slippery about one of my answers.
ReplyDelete