Happy New Year, everyone! It was with a touch of sadness that I typed up this morning's Sunday puzzle segment...the first of 2012, but the last for me (at least until we have Internet out on the farm!).
So, without further ado...here is the NPR puzzle synopsis I wistfully sent out this morning:
Audie Cornish & Will Shortz
2012-01-01
The Current Challenge (issued 2011-12-04, from listener Mike Reiss):
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/25/144234795/unwrap-the-phrase-to-reveal-a-gift
Name an occupation in nine letters. It's an entertainer of sorts — an unusual and uncommon but well-known sort of entertainer. Drop the third letter of the name, and read the result backward. You'll get two four-letter words that are exact opposites. What are they?
The answer : Drop the third letter from "daredevil," and read the result backward to get "live" and "dead."
Audie reported more than 300 entries, and the randomly-selected winner was Mitch Handelsman from Denver. Audie reported that Mitch joined them using his smart phone app so "we have a nice, clear line." Mitch is a psychology professor at the University of Colorado Denver and a member listener of KCFR.
TODAY'S ON-AIR PUZZLE: Will introduced Audie to an annual puzzle segment tradition--his annual "year-end news quiz," also known as the "Fame Game." Will provided Mitch and Audie some famous names from the headlines in 2011, and they were supposed to come up with the stories associated with the names given. Following tradition, today's puzzle was prepared with two past year-end news quiz contestants, Kathy Baker and Tim Goodman.
CLUES (hints below clues; answers at the end of this synopsis):
1. Kim Jong Un
2. Gilad Shalit
3. Mohamed Bouazizi
4. Harold Camping
5. Kris Humphries
6. Watson
7. Siri
HINTS:
2. Audie: "This is fairly recent news, Mitch...and it's from overseas."
Mitch: "I'm thinkin' it might have something to do with the Arab Spring?"
Audie: "You are at least within the region now."
Will: "Hold that thought for later!"
4. He "did something twice this year that proved to be very embarrassing." He's also a Christian radio broadcaster.
7. Will, to Mitch: "You, of all people, should get this--considering what you're playing on today!"
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Next Week's Challenge as it appeared on the web site:
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/01/144531695/the-fame-game
Name certain scores in a certain sport. This is a two-word phrase with a total of 10 letters (5 letters in each word). If you have the right phrase, you can rearrange all the letters to name a different sport, also in two words (6 letters in the first word, 4 in the second). What are the scores, and what is the sport?
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 at about that time 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 might also get to this page by going to:
http://npr.org/puzzle
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Guest editor's notes from Kristy:
Well, it's with a touch of sadness that I type up this puzzle transcription. Now that I live on a farm with no Internet, sending out the puzzle has become a little more difficult so I'm taking a (temporary?) break. Thanks to Richard for letting me sub and then co-edit such a fun and unique synopsis for such a fun and unique group of people!
Audie is ALSO taking a temporary break from the puzzle--and the Weekend Edition Sunday hosting gig altogether--while she moves to fill in for Michele Norris at All Things Considered. (Rachel Martin will take over in Audie's absence.)
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/npr_rachel_martin_hosts_weekend_edition_sunday/
Another coincidence? My tape recorder gave up the ghost this morning after several years of faithful service. (Jerry, the Internet wizard, came to the rescue and emailed me the mp3!)
If we ever get Internet out here in the sticks, I hope y'all will let me pitch in once again. :-)
A future mailbag correspondent,
Kristy Fower Compton, happily married to the handsomest farmer in all of Texas' 254 counties
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Editor's notes:
Puzzles, and contents of Weekend Edition/Sunday puzzle segment are copyrighted 2011, by Will Shortz and NPR. Reprinted here with permission.
Our regular monthly puzzle transcription schedule is undergoing a little tweaking, now that I'm out of the rotation, but for the rest of January, 2012, the old one will still work:
2nd Richard
3rd Joe
4th Jerry
5th Richard
Their email addresses:
Richard Renner (rrenner igc.org)
Joe Wander (jdwandersr gmail.com)
Jerry Miller (millergm muohio.edu)
Send puzzle-related email to Richard this week (rrenner igc.org).
NOTE: We editors are always eager to receive email comments (even when you're pointing out one of our slips), and we will generally add them to the Mailbox section of the next week's synopsis. Please let us know in the first line of your message if you would like your comment included or withheld from the synopsis. (Also, if you DO want your comment included, let us know if it's okay to share your name and email address! If no constraints are mentioned, we will assume it is okay to publish as it arrived--with comment, name, and email address intact.)
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
MAILBAG:
philgo525@juno.com
To: mad4cowbell gmail.com
Hi, Kristi.
The solution for the 12/18/11 puzzle was GERIATRIC (JERRY + AT + RICK). I also submitted an alternative solution to that puzzle - BARIATRIC (BARRY + AT + RICK), which means "related to obesity," as in BARIATRIC SURGERY. Like the GERIATRIC population, the BARIATRIC population is a "growing part of our country" (in more ways than one).
Yours,
Phil Goodman
Binghamton, NY
You said it, Phil. There are times that I walk through the high school hallways where I work and am astounded that the middle-aged librarian is often thinner than the fifteen to eighteen year-olds around me!
***
And for the sweetest email I may have received all year:
Richard Renner rrenner igc.org
Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 4:31 PM
Kristy,
It has been a delight to correspond with you over the years about the NPR puzzle, public education and libraries, and life in general. The NPR puzzle synopses have not had such a major change since you all agreed to share editting after my 2008 move to Washington. Kristy, you will be missed, but also respected for your years of service to our endeavor here and for your unique perspectives.
As a farewell homage to you, I thought I would collect some of your emails to the NPR puzzle. Here is your first email to the NPR puzzle synopsis:
From: "mike b ***"
To:
Subject: Ignore first one--Alternate Answer to Mary Jane's
Puzzle
Date sent: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 00:33:59 -0800
Dear Mr. Renner,
Please tell me that other people also initially thought
the answer to #5 was "head." (Knothead, pothead)
Not that I personally
know any of either category...
Keep up the good work, Kristy Fowler C****
P.S. I didn't realize until I sent the first email that the player this
week was named Mary Jane...
Your next email contains a huge foreshadow of things to come:
From: "The ***s"
To:
Subject: Sign me up!
Date sent: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 07:14:57 -0800
Please, oh please, add me to your list! (My husband switched ISPs without
notifying everyone, and I've been missing you.)
Kristy at mk*** msn.com
Thanks! You're hilarious.
Here was my response:
There's a good warning for all us husbands.
Here is what you wrote in 2001 about the subs that filled in during my first trip to Guatemala:
Date sent: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 21:29:59 -0500
From: Mike & Kristy ***
Subject: Last week's on-air puzzle
To: rrenner nela.org
Dear Richard,
Hope Guatemala was fun, and that your Spanish is better, too.
Your puzzle subs did a great job, and we're all very thankful!
About the on-air "four by four by four" puzzle, was I the only
one who thought of "long neck" for #8? (Sorry, Mom!)
Kristy in Texas
Jerry wrote in that week, too:
Date sent: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 21:19:34 -0400
To: rrenner igc.org
From: Jerry Miller
Subject: Re: NPR puzzle synopsis for 2001-04-08
Richard,
Re: your trip...I had a feeling you would have a bipolar
reaction. I
experienced the same feelings on a not-so-recent trip to the
Dominican
Republic. And, given the events of this weekend in Africa, my
memories of
abject poverty were rekindled.
BTW, when you say "clients' families," to what are you referring?
Stay well...snow showers are forecast for this part of the state.
*sigh*
Jerry
Kristy:
You have been persistently upbeat and encouraging. Take this example:
From:Mike & Kristy ***
To:rrenner igc.org
Subject:Proffering my humblest salutations and sincerest
commendation
Date sent: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 09:28:16 -0500
Dear Richard,
Wow! Great job with the bureaucratic lingo! As Will was speaking
(those ridiculously-syllabled) proverbs, I was worried about how
you were going to send out today's puzzle! :-)
Nicely done...once again.
Doffing my cap,
Kristy Fowler C**** in Texas
Here was
my response:
Thanks, Kristy. I was impressed with the vocabulary stretch in
the on-air puzzle. Actually, though, there was only one word my
spell-checker choked on, lachrymose. Luckily, I had a
dictionary.
On 2002-06-02, I thanked you for subbing the previous week, but my archive is missing the 2002-05-29 synopsis. Sorry. I wonder if that was your first. Here is what we wrote the following week about it, though:
you are wondering, if Kristy Fowler C**** did such a good
job, why isn't she subbing. Well, here's why:
From: Mike & Kristy C****
To: rrenner igc.org
Subject: Re: I need a sub again for NPR puzzle synopsis
2002-06-16
Date sent: Sun, 02 Jun 2002 12:37:33 -0500
Dear Richard,
Filling in was really fun! Although I'll be cruising across the
country
(in my minivan) on June 16th and can't fill in that Sunday, call
on me any
time you need a sub. I'll be back from the Land of the
Technologically-Challenged Relatives near the end of July.
Thanks again for all you do. I love getting your summaries, and
like Joe,
I think if you take the time to write it, it's your baby. Do it
the way
you want!
BTW, as a puzzle enthusiast, you might enjoy
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/ . Every morning a new word is
delivered to
my email Inbox, along with international comments from
subscribers, cool
quotes, and much more. I think you'd like it!
Thanks again,
Kristy, your friend in Texas
Remember recomending this web page?
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
After that, your name was in every synopsis (so I can't fish out your emails so easily).
Thanks for the memories, Kristy. Please remember that you make a pretty good correspondent even when you are not editing.
--
Richard Renner
Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, LLP
3233 P St., NW
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 342-6980, Ext. 112
(202) 342-6984 FAX
rr@kkc.com
rrenner@igc.org
www.whistleblowersblog.org
On 30 Dec 2011 at 14:49, Kristy Fowler wrote:
>
> Hey, fellas,
>
> You know how this Sunday will be my last as one of the co-synopsizers?
> (Is that even a word?)
>
> It's just too hard to tape the puzzle segment in the country and drive
> to the city to transcribe and send it. It takes so long that y'all
> aren't getting the synopsis for HOURS...not to mention that my sweet
> farmer (who has never sent an email in his life and thinks the
> Internet is a colossal waste of time) just scratches his head at my
> synopsis obsession!
>
> So have y'all given any thought about how you will divvy up the month?
> How would y'all like me to list the order of transcribers...or should
> I just suggest Mailbag email be sent to Richard like I usually do and
> let y'all figure it out later?
>
> DELIGHTED to have been counted in your number...and call on me any
> time you need a sub!
>
> Love,
> Kristy
>
SEE WHAT I MEAN? Thanks, Richard, for your sweet summary of my puzzle synopsis years.
Send puzzle-related email to Richard this week (rrenner igc.org).
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
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/nprpuzzle@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/
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.
Follow Audie on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nprAudie
Links of interest:
Merl Reagle’s article on constructing crossword puzzles, available at:
http://www.crosswordtournament.com/articles/inq031697.htm
World Puzzle Federation:
http://www.worldpuzzle.org
More of Ed Pegg Jr.'s puzzles are available at:
http://www.mathpuzzle.com
Joe Wander recommends:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad
Kristy Compton suggests puzzle enthusiasts check out Mental Floss magazine:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/
You can join Kathie Schneider's email list for accessible word and logic puzzles. To subscribe, send a blank email to:
blind-puzzle-@googlegroups.com
For Team USA of the World Puzzle Federation:
http://wpc.puzzles.com/
The National Puzzlers' League:
http://www.puzzlers.org/dokuwiki/doku.php
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
CLUES & ANSWERS:
1. Kim Jong Un: North Korea's new "Supreme Leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces" following the death of his father Kim Jong Il
http://tinyurl.com/7x7nn3p
2. Gilad Shalit: the Israeli soldier who was released after five years of captivity by Hamas, traded for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8833179/Gilad-Shalit-release-live.html
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=251747
3. Mohamed Bouazizi: the Tunisian fruit vendor whose self-immolation "inspired uprisings that toppled dictators across the Arab world" and named Person of the Year last week by Britain's The Times newspaper, according to:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/28/us-times-bouazizi-idUSTRE7BR0CI20111228
4. Harold Camping: the 90 year-old evangelist who claimed to have cracked a Biblical code predicting the end of the world in May, 2011...and then again in October, 2011.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/01/harold-camping-apologizes-rapture-predictions_n_1069520.html
5. Kris Humphries: the New Jersey Nets basketball forward who was married to celebrity Kim Kardashian for less than three months in 2011
http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7379217/kris-humphries-most-disliked-nba-player-according-survey
6. Watson: the "super computer" who beat the human champions on Jeopardy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puhs2LuO3Zc&noredirect=1
7. Siri: the intelligence software system ("digital personal assistant") on the Apple iPhone
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/talkingyourtech/story/2011-10-20/siri-says-funny-things/50847142/1
End of NPR Puzzle Synopsis.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Merry New Year. Here's hoping for more free time to blog in 2012. :-)
