NPR puzzle synopsis for 2012-02-19
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Joe Wander
Feb 19, 2012, 10:39:29 AM2/19/12
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Synopsis of
NPR Weekend Edition puzzle
Rachel Martin and Will Shortz
2012-02-19
The Current Challenge (originally given 20120129): http://www.npr.org/2012/02/12/146749276/hey-ive-got-five-on-it
from listener Kevin Roberts of Norcross, Ga.: Name two fictional characters — the first one good, the second one bad. Each is a one-word name. Drop the last letter of the name of the first character. Read the remaining letters in order from left to right. The result will be a world capital. What is it?
The intended answer is SANTa + IAGO, forming Santiago, the capital of Chile. Will acknowledged a "funny alternative answer," WENDy + HOOK (both from Peter Pan), which forms (phonetically) Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. Rachel also acknowledged that "it is debatable whether Old Saint Nick is really a fictional character. That may be a question for some of our listeners." Ken submitted, "Especially the younger ones," by way of qualification.
"Almost 1000" responders submitted the right answer, and several comments. This week's winner is (my second consecutive) retired physicist Ken Welles of Scotia, New York, (a village in Schenectady County) a listener to WAMC (http://www.wamc.org/) when he's not "putting in paths and enlarging some ponds and a little lumber milling" on his 30 acres. Rachel noted the divergence of occupations---"Not a lot of retired physicists are backhoe operators."
This week's puzzle (titled "Two States Enter, One Four-Letter Word Leaves" on the NPR site):
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/19/147078172/two-states-enter-one-four-letter-word-leaves
Every answer combines parts of the names of two adjoining U.S. states. Each clue is a four- (or five-)letter word formed by one or more letters starting the first state's name plus one or more letters starting the other state's name. For example, given the clue "MIST," your answer could be "MISsissippi and Tennessee" or "MISsouri and Tennessee."
CLUES (answers at the end of this synopsis)
1. COOK
2. FLOG
3. CANE
4. MADE
5. NEWT
6. WILL (The puzzlemaster's favorite of the lot, of course)
7. MACON
8. MINOR
9. PENNE
HINTS:
5. Think toward the southwest. (Rachel:) Not OLD Mexico but ...
8. NORth Dakota's right but it doesn't touch MIchigan.
9. Two states starting with NEW touch PENnsylvania
Each clue was given only once and a reasonable delay or an error was allowed before clues were given. Ken gave all nine answers.
The listener challenge for next week (http://www.npr.org/2012/02/19/147078172/two-states-enter-one-four-letter-word-leaves)
Next week's challenge is a spinoff of the on-air challenge. The word "MARTEN," as in the animal, consists of the beginning letters of "Mississippi," "ARkansas," "TExas," and "New (M)exico." You can actually drive from Mississippi into Arkansas into Texas into New Mexico, in that order. What is the longest common English word you can spell by taking the beginning letters of consecutive(ly adjoining) states in order as you travel through them? Will's answer has eight letters, but maybe you can top that.
Answers must be received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. One entry per person. 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 made at the web page:
http://www.npr.org/templates/ contact/index.php?columnId= 4473090
You may also get to this page by going to npr.org/puzzle
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Editor's notes:
Puzzles, and contents of Weekend Edition/Sunday puzzle segment are copyrighted 2011, by Will Shortz and NPR. Reprinted here with permission..
A propos Ken's comment about going from physics to earthmoving equipment, a story a few minutes before the puzzle featured a younger physicist who completed a PhD program and promptly stomped out of that field and into his own 30-acre plot that evolved into a do-it-yourself project that included building tools---starting with a tractor---out of "pizza cheese and baling wire" components. The similarity of details with Ken's situation was more than I could pass up.
(http://www.npr.org/2012/02/19/147110017/building-a-village-one-home-brewed-tool-at-a-time)
Here's our nominal monthly puzzle transcription schedule:
1st Jerry, odd months; Joe, even months
2nd Richard
3rd Joe
4th Jerry
5th Richard
Email us at our respective addresses:
Richard Renner <rrennerATigc.org>
Jerry Miller <jmmillerATmuohio.edu>
Joe Wander <jdwandersrATgmail.com>
Email for next week's synopsis goes to Jerry <jmmillerATmuohio.edu>.
Note, please: We editors are always eager to receive email comments (even when, as often happens, you're pointing out one or more of our slips), and we will generally share them in the mailbox section of the following week's synopsis. If you do not want your comment to appear in the mail box or if you do not want your address [with the @ replaced by AT to avoid bots] posted, please say so at the start or end of the message.
From this week's mailbox:
Zilch. Zip. Nada. Nichevo. Rather than being pilloried for biffing both the answer and the submission rules on my last turn, I guess I'm getting the cold shoulder. I hope I got closer to a clean package this time.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
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 http://groups.google.com/ group/nprpuzzle/topics
You can subscribe from this page, too. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
nprpuzzle-unsubscribe@ googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nprpuzzle?hl=en
If you want to remove your address from the former Topica list, send a blank email from your account to
nprpuzzle-unsubscribe@igc. topica.com
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).
For more information about this list, and an archive of those distributed by Topica.com, visit
http://igc.topica.com/lists/nprp...@igc.topica.com/read
or, for more information about the Topica mailing service, visit
http://lists.topica.com/
NPR posts the weekly challenge (and the previous answer) on its World Wide Web page. Go to www.npr.org, and "select" Weekend Edition Sunday from the drop-down combo box to the right of the big npr in the top left corner. You can also pick up a recording of Weekend Edition Sunday program in the Real Audio format, after 1:00 p.m. Eastern time each Sunday. In the alternative, for the text of the weekly listener challenge and a photo of Will, you can go directly to
http://www.npr.org/programs/ wesun/puzzle/
Podcasts are available at http://www.npr.org/podcasts/ and from:
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=4473090&uid=3ba205bf25adca5af473ab1102e03b75
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's published.
Links of interest:
World Scrabble Championship http://www.wscgames.com
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament http://www. crosswordtournament.com/
Merl Reagle’s article on constructing crossword puzzles, available at
http://www. crosswordtournament.com/ articles/inq031697.htm
World Puzzle Federation: http://www.worldpuzzle.org
Register for the 2010 USA team at http://wpc.puzzles.com/ register/index.htm
More of Ed Pegg Jr.'s puzzles are available at http://www.mathpuzzle.com
National Puzzlers’ League http://www.puzzlers.org
Kristy Fowler Compton suggests linguaphiles visit http://www.wordsmith.org/awad
For the results of last April’s World Sudoku Puzzle Championship, see
http://wpc.puzzles.com/wsc2010/
For a history of the game and a bulletin board for sudoku events, see
http://worldsudokufederation.org/
The 2011 championship will be held in November in Eger, Hungary; see
http://logicmastersindia.com/home/?g=wsc
Joe Wander
<jdwandersrATgmail.com>
Panama City, Florida
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
CLUES ANSWERS
1. COOK COlorado, OKlahoma
2. FLOG FLOrida, Georgia
3. CANE CAlifornia, NEvada
4. MADE MAryland. DElaware
5. NEWT NEW (M)exico, Texas
6. WILL Wisconsin, ILLinois
7. MACON MAssachusetts, CONnecticut
8. MINOR MInnesota, NORth (D)akota
9. PENNE PENnsylvania, NEw (Y)ork (or NEw (J)ersey)
End of NPR Puzzle Synopsis.
NPR Weekend Edition puzzle
Rachel Martin and Will Shortz
2012-02-19
The Current Challenge (originally given 20120129): http://www.npr.org/2012/02/12/146749276/hey-ive-got-five-on-it
from listener Kevin Roberts of Norcross, Ga.: Name two fictional characters — the first one good, the second one bad. Each is a one-word name. Drop the last letter of the name of the first character. Read the remaining letters in order from left to right. The result will be a world capital. What is it?
The intended answer is SANTa + IAGO, forming Santiago, the capital of Chile. Will acknowledged a "funny alternative answer," WENDy + HOOK (both from Peter Pan), which forms (phonetically) Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. Rachel also acknowledged that "it is debatable whether Old Saint Nick is really a fictional character. That may be a question for some of our listeners." Ken submitted, "Especially the younger ones," by way of qualification.
"Almost 1000" responders submitted the right answer, and several comments. This week's winner is (my second consecutive) retired physicist Ken Welles of Scotia, New York, (a village in Schenectady County) a listener to WAMC (http://www.wamc.org/) when he's not "putting in paths and enlarging some ponds and a little lumber milling" on his 30 acres. Rachel noted the divergence of occupations---"Not a lot of retired physicists are backhoe operators."
This week's puzzle (titled "Two States Enter, One Four-Letter Word Leaves" on the NPR site):
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/19/147078172/two-states-enter-one-four-letter-word-leaves
Every answer combines parts of the names of two adjoining U.S. states. Each clue is a four- (or five-)letter word formed by one or more letters starting the first state's name plus one or more letters starting the other state's name. For example, given the clue "MIST," your answer could be "MISsissippi and Tennessee" or "MISsouri and Tennessee."
CLUES (answers at the end of this synopsis)
1. COOK
2. FLOG
3. CANE
4. MADE
5. NEWT
6. WILL (The puzzlemaster's favorite of the lot, of course)
7. MACON
8. MINOR
9. PENNE
HINTS:
5. Think toward the southwest. (Rachel:) Not OLD Mexico but ...
8. NORth Dakota's right but it doesn't touch MIchigan.
9. Two states starting with NEW touch PENnsylvania
Each clue was given only once and a reasonable delay or an error was allowed before clues were given. Ken gave all nine answers.
The listener challenge for next week (http://www.npr.org/2012/02/19/147078172/two-states-enter-one-four-letter-word-leaves)
Next week's challenge is a spinoff of the on-air challenge. The word "MARTEN," as in the animal, consists of the beginning letters of "Mississippi," "ARkansas," "TExas," and "New (M)exico." You can actually drive from Mississippi into Arkansas into Texas into New Mexico, in that order. What is the longest common English word you can spell by taking the beginning letters of consecutive(ly adjoining) states in order as you travel through them? Will's answer has eight letters, but maybe you can top that.
Answers must be received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. One entry per person. 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 made at the web page:
http://www.npr.org/templates/ contact/index.php?columnId= 4473090
You may also get to this page by going to npr.org/puzzle
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Editor's notes:
Puzzles, and contents of Weekend Edition/Sunday puzzle segment are copyrighted 2011, by Will Shortz and NPR. Reprinted here with permission..
A propos Ken's comment about going from physics to earthmoving equipment, a story a few minutes before the puzzle featured a younger physicist who completed a PhD program and promptly stomped out of that field and into his own 30-acre plot that evolved into a do-it-yourself project that included building tools---starting with a tractor---out of "pizza cheese and baling wire" components. The similarity of details with Ken's situation was more than I could pass up.
(http://www.npr.org/2012/02/19/147110017/building-a-village-one-home-brewed-tool-at-a-time)
Here's our nominal monthly puzzle transcription schedule:
1st Jerry, odd months; Joe, even months
2nd Richard
3rd Joe
4th Jerry
5th Richard
Email us at our respective addresses:
Richard Renner <rrennerATigc.org>
Jerry Miller <jmmillerATmuohio.edu>
Joe Wander <jdwandersrATgmail.com>
Email for next week's synopsis goes to Jerry <jmmillerATmuohio.edu>.
Note, please: We editors are always eager to receive email comments (even when, as often happens, you're pointing out one or more of our slips), and we will generally share them in the mailbox section of the following week's synopsis. If you do not want your comment to appear in the mail box or if you do not want your address [with the @ replaced by AT to avoid bots] posted, please say so at the start or end of the message.
From this week's mailbox:
Zilch. Zip. Nada. Nichevo. Rather than being pilloried for biffing both the answer and the submission rules on my last turn, I guess I'm getting the cold shoulder. I hope I got closer to a clean package this time.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
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 http://groups.google.com/ group/nprpuzzle/topics
You can subscribe from this page, too. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
nprpuzzle-unsubscribe@ googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nprpuzzle?hl=en
If you want to remove your address from the former Topica list, send a blank email from your account to
nprpuzzle-unsubscribe@igc. topica.com
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).
For more information about this list, and an archive of those distributed by Topica.com, visit
http://igc.topica.com/lists/nprp...@igc.topica.com/read
or, for more information about the Topica mailing service, visit
http://lists.topica.com/
NPR posts the weekly challenge (and the previous answer) on its World Wide Web page. Go to www.npr.org, and "select" Weekend Edition Sunday from the drop-down combo box to the right of the big npr in the top left corner. You can also pick up a recording of Weekend Edition Sunday program in the Real Audio format, after 1:00 p.m. Eastern time each Sunday. In the alternative, for the text of the weekly listener challenge and a photo of Will, you can go directly to
http://www.npr.org/programs/ wesun/puzzle/
Podcasts are available at http://www.npr.org/podcasts/ and from:
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=4473090&uid=3ba205bf25adca5af473ab1102e03b75
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's published.
Links of interest:
World Scrabble Championship http://www.wscgames.com
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament http://www. crosswordtournament.com/
Merl Reagle’s article on constructing crossword puzzles, available at
http://www. crosswordtournament.com/ articles/inq031697.htm
World Puzzle Federation: http://www.worldpuzzle.org
Register for the 2010 USA team at http://wpc.puzzles.com/ register/index.htm
More of Ed Pegg Jr.'s puzzles are available at http://www.mathpuzzle.com
National Puzzlers’ League http://www.puzzlers.org
Kristy Fowler Compton suggests linguaphiles visit http://www.wordsmith.org/awad
For the results of last April’s World Sudoku Puzzle Championship, see
http://wpc.puzzles.com/wsc2010/
For a history of the game and a bulletin board for sudoku events, see
http://worldsudokufederation.org/
The 2011 championship will be held in November in Eger, Hungary; see
http://logicmastersindia.com/home/?g=wsc
Joe Wander
<jdwandersrATgmail.com>
Panama City, Florida
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
CLUES ANSWERS
1. COOK COlorado, OKlahoma
2. FLOG FLOrida, Georgia
3. CANE CAlifornia, NEvada
4. MADE MAryland. DElaware
5. NEWT NEW (M)exico, Texas
6. WILL Wisconsin, ILLinois
7. MACON MAssachusetts, CONnecticut
8. MINOR MInnesota, NORth (D)akota
9. PENNE PENnsylvania, NEw (Y)ork (or NEw (J)ersey)
End of NPR Puzzle Synopsis.
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