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.
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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.
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* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
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
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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.