2020-09-27 NPR puzzle synopsis

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Richard Renner

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Sep 27, 2020, 8:51:49 AM9/27/20
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Synopsis of
NPR Weekend Edition puzzle
with Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Will Shortz
2020-09-27

The listener challenge for this week comes from listener Greg VanMechelen of Berkeley, California: Take the name of a famous actor — 4 letters in the first name, 5 letters in the last. Spoonerize it. That is, interchange the initial consonant sounds of the first and last names. The result will be two new familiar first names — one male, one female — that start with the same letter ... but that letter is pronounced differently in the two names. Who's the actor? The answer is John Wayne, making Juan and Jane.

Lulu reported almost 450 correct entries.

The on-air player is Larry Otten from Sheridan, Oregon. He is a medical evacuation pilot current working from Juneau, Alaska. He wife, Alice, is 1,200 miles away in Oregon.

Today’s on-air puzzle is called, “State Capitals.” Each clue is a sentence that conceals the name of a state capital in consecutive letters. That state capital is the answer. For example, if the clue is, “Check the chart for details.,” the answer would be HARTFORD (capital of Connecticut) concealed in “cHART FOR Details.”

CLUES:
1. You can't rent only one trailer.
2. How does golf rank for television?
3. That's not too pleasant a feeling.
4. Dad prepared flapjacks once.
5. The numeral eight comes before nine.
6. We fly to Zurich Monday.
7. Are you and Eric on cordial terms?
8. I wanna polish off dinner.

Answers are near the end of this synopsis.

This week's challenge comes from listener Ben Austin, of Dobbs Ferry, New York. It's not too hard. Name a major world city with a population in the millions. Take one letter in its name and move it two spots earlier in the alphabet. Reading backward, you now have the name of a major restaurant chain. What is it?

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>

Mail:
Sent: Sep 20, 2020 9:56 AM
Subject: Question about 9/20/2020 puzzle synopsis


Hi, Everyone. 
          I have a question regarding the solution to the 9/13/2020 weekly challenge (MICHAEL CAINE, CINEMA). Wasn't MICHAEL CAINE the solution to a previous (though possibly different) weekly puzzle challenge? Perhaps you could check the archives. Thanks. 
                        Yours,            Phil Goodman
                                              Binghamton, NY

Phil,
Michael Caine was an answer to an on-air puzzle on 2007-07-08 (Will gives clues for two words. If you add "C-O" in front of the first word, you'll get the second word which will be completely unrelated to the first one.):
Michael who won two Oscars; a habit of Sherlock Holmes
Caine, cocaine
He was also a hint for an on-air puzzle on 2015-02-22 asking for an Oscar nominee for best picture in 1966 that anagrams to "a life":
The title is the lead character’s first name; starred Michael Caine
The answer is Alfie.
That is all I find for Michael Caine, although I agree that his name always sounds familiar.
Richard

Thanks, Richard, for your speedy reply to my e-mail message of 9/20. Another interesting, though not urique, quality of Michael Caine's name is that four of the five letters in his last name also appear in his first name. Also, the three vowels (all diferent) in his first name correspond to the three vowels (all different) in his last name. 
                 Yours,            Phil Goodman
                                       Binghamton, NY
 
Hints:
1. You can't rent only one trailer.: look in can’t rent only
3. That's not too pleasant a feeling.: look in pleasant a feeling
5. The numeral eight comes before nine.: look in numeral eight

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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. You can't rent only one trailer.
Trenton (NJ)
2. How does golf rank for television?
Frankfort (KY)
3. That's not too pleasant a feeling.
Santa Fe (NM)
4. Dad prepared flapjacks once.
Jackson (MS)
5. The numeral eight comes before nine.
Raliegh (NC)
6. We fly to Zurich Monday.
Richmond (VA)
7. Are you and Eric on cordial terms?
Concord (NH)
8. I wanna polish off dinner.
Annapolis (MD)

End of NPR Puzzle Synopsis.
  
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