2020-08-09 NPR puzzle synopsis

25 views
Skip to first unread message

Richard Renner

unread,
Aug 9, 2020, 9:04:58 AM8/9/20
to NPR puzzle synopses list
Synopsis of
NPR Weekend Edition puzzle
with Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Will Shortz
2020-08-09

The listener challenge for this week comes from listener Alan Hochbaum, of Duluth, Georgia: Think of a famous living American whose first and last names have a total of eight letters — all different. Five of these letters are consecutive in the alphabet. The remaining three can be rearranged to spell a woman's nickname. What famous American is this? The answer is Elon Musk, making KLMNO and SUE. Will mentioned an alternate answer, Jim Kelly, the former football quarterback who played with the Buffalo Bills. His name has the letters IJKLM and then the man’s nickname, ELI.

Elon Musk was the answer to an on-air puzzle on 2017-01-01. He was the answer to who said, "Are you prepared to die? If that's OK, then you're a candidate for going.” It is a reference to his selection of astronauts to go to Mars.

Lulu reported nearly 800 entries.

The on-air player is Don Bottomley of Beaverton, Oregon. He said the answer popped into his head right away.

Today’s on-air puzzle is called, “Famous Names.” Every answer is the name of a famous person whose first initial and last name, in order, spell a word. An example would be Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence. The B of Benjamin plus his last name spells BRUSH. Will gives us clues to the parts. We say the names.

CLUES:
1. Oscar-winning actor (3,5) — expression of appreciation
2. Singer with the Supremes (5,4) — worthless stuff
3. Former baseball star (4,4) — writing that's not poetry
4. Comedian and former host of the Oscars (5,4) — earthenware pot
5. Singer with the group Hole (8,4) — garlic bulb
6. Oldtime comedian with a radio show (4,5) — opposite of risen
7. Co-star of "Desperate Housewives" (4,7) — former British prime minister

Answers are near the end of this synopsis.

This week's challenge comes from listener Barbara Weinstein, of Lincoln, Massachusetts. Think of a famous living person in the entertainment field whose first name is a bird. The person's last name is a quality of this bird — something its feathers have. Who's the famous person, and what's the bird?

Answers must be received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on THURSDAY.  NPR will no longer receive entries by email.  Be sure to include a telephone number where you can be reached if you are selected as the winner. 

Entries may be submitted at the NPR web page:
You can also get to this page by going to:
and clicking the "Submit Your Answer" link. You may also submit a suggestion for a new puzzle by selecting Puzzle Idea from the "I'd Like to" pulldown, and you may comment about NPR programming at the same site.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Editor's notes:
 
Puzzles, and contents of Weekend Edition/Sunday puzzle segment are copyrighted 2020, by Will Shortz and NPR. Reprinted here with permission.

Here's our regular monthly puzzle transcription schedule:
1st Sunday Joe
2nd Sunday Richard
3rd Sunday Joe
4th Sunday Richard
5th Sunday Kristy
Our e-mail addresses are:
Richard Renner <rrennerATigc.org>
Joe Wander <jdwandersrATgmail.com>
Kristy Compton <bisonbooksATgmail.com>

No mail this week.

The segment before the NPR puzzle this morning featured an interview with my law partner, Heidi Burakiewicz (actually pronounced burr-ACK-a-wits). She is leading a class action lawsuit to get hazard pay for essential federal employees. Our firm's web page about this lawsuit is at:

Hints:
1. Oscar-winning actor (3,5) — expression of appreciation: not claps
4. Comedian and former host of the Oscars (5,4) — earthenware pot: an irreverant comedian (maybe that’s redundant), first initial is C for an earthenware pot
6. Oldtime comedian with a radio show (4,5) — opposite of risen: not abed; it happens to angels when they end up in hell; I’ve ___ and I can’t get up.
7. Co-star of "Desperate Housewives" (4,7) — former British prime minister: an actress whose name you know; the former British Prime Minister is the first female prime minister in Britain, whose first name was Margaret.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Our group of volunteer co-editors distributes these free weekly synopses of the NPR puzzle segment. You can read more about this free distribution at:
You can subscribe from this page, too.

To unsubscribe from this group, send email to:
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nprpuzzle?hl=en

To change the email address of your subscription, remove the old one (from the old email account), and add the new Google subscription (from the new email account).

NPR posts the weekly challenge (and the previous week's answer) on its World Wide Web page:
Option 2: You can also listen to a recording of Weekend Edition Sunday program after 12:00 noon ET each Sunday by going to the first link at the top of this e-mail.

Podcasts are available at:

Podcasts of the Sunday puzzle are available at:

How do I subscribe to this podcast?
Copy the URL [above this paragraph] into your preferred podcasting tool software (e.g. Odeo, iTunes, iPodder). You will automatically receive this podcast each time it is published.
 
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Links of interest:

Audios of past NPR puzzle segments

World Scrabble Championship

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

Merl Reagle’s article on constructing crossword puzzles, available at

World Puzzle Federation (including Sudoku tournaments):

The US Team page is at:

Register for the USA team at:

Ed Pegg Jr.'s puzzles are available at:

National Puzzlers’ League

Kristy Fowler suggests linguaphiles visit

You can join Kathie Schneider's email list for accessible word and logic puzzles. To subscribe, send a blank email to

Will noted that Matt Jones writes the Jonesin’ Crosswords which appears in over 50 alternative newspapers.

Joseph Young’s Puzzleria is at:

Richard Renner
in Silver Spring, Maryland, for the foreseeable future
rrennerATigc.org
Twitter: @rennerr3

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
  
Clues
Answers
1. Oscar-winning actor (3,5) — expression of appreciation
Tom Hanks, thanks
2. Singer with the Supremes (5,4) — worthless stuff
Diana Ross, dross
3. Former baseball star (4,4) — writing that's not poetry
Pete Rose, prose
4. Comedian and former host of the Oscars (5,4) — earthenware pot
Chris Rock, crock
5. Singer with the group Hole (8,4) — garlic bulb
Courtney Love, clove
6. Oldtime comedian with a radio show (4,5) — opposite of risen
Fred Allen, fallen
7. Co-star of "Desperate Housewives" (4,7) — former British prime minister
Teri Hatcher

End of NPR Puzzle Synopsis.


  
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages