September 9, 2025 • 20 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: stand-up comedian Chris Duffy!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This one
is in honor of our guest today, the wonderful comedian
and podcast host, Chris Duffy. Now Chris's last name, Duffy,
always makes me think of duff Beer, the most famous
fictional beer in the world. It's the beer that Homer
Simpson drinks on The Simpsons. And it's not the only
(00:23):
famous fictional business on The Simpsons. That show is famous
for making up great business names. There's a bookstore called Books,
Books and Additional Books that I would shop at. So
today's quiz, I'm going to give you five business names.
Four of them are from the Simpsons universe, and one
is an impostor. So if you have watched every Simpsons
(00:45):
episode you will get this, no problem. So which of
these did I make up? Lard Lad Donuts, the Lucky Stiff,
funeral home, Snippin' save Moyles that's the concision outlet, sit
and stair bus lines, or a restaurant called we have Restrooms.
(01:08):
All right, So so it's lard Lad Donuts, Lucky stuff,
funeral homes, snip and save Moyles, sitting stair bus lines,
or a restaurant called we have Restaurants, The answer and
more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello Puzzlers, Welcome to
(01:28):
the Puzzler Podcast. The helpful auto correct on your Puddler podcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
What uh No?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I get it?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That was home for a nice meta joke from Andrea.
Thank you. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs. I'm here, of course,
the Chief Puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska Greg. Before the break,
we asked a quiz about fictional businesses on The Simpsons.
So which of these is an impost which did not
appear on The Simpsons Lard, lad Donuts, Lucky Stuff, funeral homes,
(01:55):
Snip and Save oyles, sit and stair bus lines or
a restaurant called we have Restroom.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
So, you know, on the last episode when Chris talked
about how there's a category that he would could couldn't
answer anything in, and that category would be sports. Yeah,
my category is TV, specifically funny TV.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I don't know why.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
It's just not a thing I watch.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
And even The Simpsons.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
As iconic as it is, I've watched. I mean, the
percentage of episodes I've watched goes down every week because
I you know, so okay, I think Lard lad is in.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I like that one.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Lucky Stiff I had a question about. I was like,
Lucky Stiff, that's not really a very original joke. Like
there's a musical called Lucky Stiff.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
It's kind of a you know. But but the snip
and save, I'm like, are they doing moil jokes on
the Simpsons?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Maybe is that a little too risque?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Not sure.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
We have restrooms.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I think is definitely in. But the one I questioned
the most was sit and stare bus lines. I just
didn't feel quite as pointed enough.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So I'm going to pick that one.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It is a real one. There is a sitting stair
bus line. There is not a snipp and saves. There's
all right.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So one of my three possible guesses was right, yes,
exactly when you give come on, Chris, I think I
can pick one out of three out of five, and
I got it.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I'm pretty good. That is great. Well, yes, Well, as
I mentioned that puzzle popped into my mind because our
guest last name reminds me of Toff Beer from the Simpsons,
and he is a wonderful comedian. He is a brilliant
podcast host author of an upcoming book. The podcast is
called How to be a better human. And his name
(03:41):
is Chris Duffy.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Welcome Chris, Hi, thanks so much for having me. And
I do get duff Man all of the time. A
lot of people saying thrusting in the direction of the problem.
I get that a lot. Is that that's a great
duff that's a great duf Man line from The Simpsons,
thrusting in the direction of the problem.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I did not know that, lie, I did know. I
like when Homer says alcohol is the cause and solution
to all the world's problems. Yes, that's something like that.
But I did want to ask you about your first
name because I have heard you talk in one of
your shows that your mom is Jewish and never realized
(04:21):
that Chris was derived from Christ.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
That's true, Yeah, my mom. My mom is a little
New York jew and my dad is a tall Midwestern
Christian and I'm their first child. And genuinely, until I
was three, my mom didn't understand why no one else
in the synagogue had a child named Christopher. And she
was like, Christopher, Oh, no, I like the name. Yeah,
so that is just my dad winning for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
He was Jewish. Christ was Jewish, That's right. He was
the first Well, I thought, we need to get her
on the puzzler because we are obsessed with words within
other words. Start. Oh, we just had a puzzle with
dartmouth and dark, so we will.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Is this gonna be okay? This is your life thing
where now you have Deborah Duffy come out from the hoipaways.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I wish I had planned that far in the Jane.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Oh my god, this podcast would be forty seven minutes
long at the shortest. If it was just asking her
one question, she would be commitsing to the max, puzzling
with you beyond Beyond time live it's allowable.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Well that's good. The audience could catch up. Then yeah,
we wouldn't have a problem. All right, Well, we don't
have a hidden word puzzle for you, but we do
have a word nerdy puzzle. It's about rhymes like word
and nerd, and it's about triple rhymes, so not just
two rhymes. So all the answers will contain three words
(05:42):
that rhyme. So if I gave you a clue such
as a conceded resident of Denmark on an aircraft, the
answer would be a vein Dane on a plane.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
A vein Dane on a plane.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I love it could happen. There has been a Have.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
There been danes on planes? What are you insane? That's
one of the main ways that they travel good. This
is getting strain. Oh what a pain?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Okay, that's Are there any other I.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Don't know, you have to I'll stay out of your lane.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I feel I just considered none.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
There are none that there are none that remained.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So I do have one other example that's from your podcast,
which is well, I was going to say, Chris Anderson
taking a nap, but now we know that you are
the head of TED, so it's for you. Chris Duffy
taking a nap? Is ted head the head of Ted
in a bet?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So Also, it sounds vaguely like a threat, in which case,
if that is a threat, I would like to say,
I'm just the joke head of Ted. I'm not the
real head of TAD. If you're gonna put the Ted
head in a bed, don't put my head in the bet.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Right, don't do this? Yes? Yeah, all right? So they
all have that format blank blank in a blank. Oh
got it? Okay, so are you ready?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I am ready? All right?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Here we go. An intoxicated, stinky animal in the back
of a car.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Drunk skunk in a trunk. Look at that so fast, right,
sound like a thing like it is very common thing
around here in Los Angeles. We got drunk skunks in
the trunk, left and right.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
All right, well do you have these A wealthy sorceress
on the soccer field?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Okay, Now, again this is sports adjacement, so it's it's
more challenging for me, but I do think that I
can use context clues to figure it out. So I
can get the first two and then i'll just infer
what the third sports term might be. So I'm going
to say that's a rich which on the pitch. Yes,
it is in the pitch, which seems I'm going to
(08:05):
say on the pitch, but it maybe is.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
The correct You're allowed to adjust the preposition accordingly.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Okay, it's it's not like one of those regional things
where New Yorker say in line and everyone else says online.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh interesting, yeah, everyone says inline.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I don't think so. I think that I say in
line and you two say in line. But I believe
that it's a regional thing that other places say online.
I was waiting online.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, but that's very confusing because you don't say, like
in New York, I don't say I'm going in line
to check my email.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
That's right. I agree you. I think we are doing
it right. But I have been told that other people
don't do it that way.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I grew up in California, okay, but I was born
in Connecticut to a Connecticut and New York parent, so
my regionalisms are all messed up.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, and when were you on your or in your
first line?
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (08:55):
I've always been in line, Chris, thank god. Occasionally occasionally
I Q, but mostly I'm in line.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Wow are you British?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I have a little fondness for the Brits.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
All right, I got another for you, Chris, an unhip
grizzly at a festival.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Oh okay, unhip grizzly. Okay. Oh my first thought was lame,
but I think that's not.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Going to be right.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It's an older unhip turn because it's yeah bear. Oh,
I got it, okay at a festival. Oh okay, here
we go.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
All right, I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It's a square bear at the fair, That is correct,
a square bear at the fair, and again actually sounds
like a children's book. Sound like.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
You said it again? You said it in a way
that made me believe it was a thing.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I was ready, like, I want I here's my three
dollars for two shots at the square bear at the fair.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Listen, Greg, if there's one thing that ties together my
entire career confidently saying things that are incorrect and having
people kind of believe.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Them perfect, well, I will say you you do the opposite.
You've hosted a couple of shows about science where you
introduce science to regular people like me, and one of
them is called wrong Answers only another is called You're
the expert.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
That's right?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And I believe how's this for a segue? One of
them was about bears.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
That's right. I've definitely done a bear based comedy show,
a bear science based comedy show.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So can you can you hit us with a bear fact?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You know? The incredible thing about my brain is that
I am so open to new information, but it just
flows right out. You know. I'm like, I will absolutely
absorb all of your bear facts, and then a day
later they will have leaked out like milk through a funnel.
You know. I am.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Like a man with a nursing baby at home, right,
and I feed my baby with a funnel for some reason.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I will tell you that one thing that I do
remember is that polar bears are the most dangerous bear
for humans. They are the only bear that will hunt
a human for meat that is not doing it when
they're desperate. Like other bears will attack if they're threatened
or if they're sick, but a polar bear they just
will eat anything that moves because that is what they
(11:25):
have to do. So if you cycolar bear, it's coming
towards you, you should not be where you are.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Hence why no humans live at the poles, Because that's right,
they've all been eaten.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
They've all been Yes, there was a thriving society that
was decimated by a polar bear. A single polar bear
wiped out one of our great human societies at the
North Pole.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
I actually remember another polar bear fact from when I
read the encyclopedia, and I remember, unfortunately, like twenty facts
and they're completely useless. But and this falls into that category,
I guess, not completely useless. Pose you are at the
North Pole and you're hungry, and you are able to
(12:06):
kill the polar bear before it kills you, do not
eat its liver because the liver contains a toxic amount
of vitamin A, and that was in the Encyclopedia.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Fascinating Encyclopedia entry that is that's I mean, who hasn't
been there in a job where it's like five pm
and you're ready to leave and they're like you have
to stay for another half an hour and you're like,
but I should be able leave And then you're like,
I'm just gonna do something wild, and you just put
something crazy. That's what that is.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Oh, that's probably it.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, mean that it's true.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
But I was like, why is this in there? And
then it stuck in my brain and now I can't
get it out.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
They were like, I've defined Pythagorean theorem. Enough, I'm going
to write the thing about eating the polar bear's slipper
and exactly, this one's for me, all.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Right, I got a couple more. How about a Oh
this is interesting, I wrote it.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
So, yeah, listen, I'm gonna I like the objection.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I love to be proud of your own work. That's good.
You will go for that agent.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
All right, We'll see if you think it's interesting. A
drunken guy yelling extra extree in the hot tub.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Oh h this is interesting.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I agree, thank you now.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
In the hot tub. Okay, oh, I got it. I
think I got it. Now. I flee what we have
and I'm going to try and deliver it so that
Greg says, yet again, that sounds like a real I'm ready.
I'm going to try and say it so that you
once again go, that sounds like it's a real thing.
I think what we have here is a boozy Newsy
in the jacuzzie.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
I believe it.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
You delivered it like like you were in a Marx
Brothers film new in the Hey, take my.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Cigar, I'm getting in boosy nosy.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
All right, I got two more. I got two more.
A round utensil for eating dried plums in the Sea
of Tranquility.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh okay, this, by the way, is like my second
favorite poem about plums.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Honored to be in the category.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
A round utensil for eating plums in the Sea of Tranquility. Okay, well,
I know the first and the last. I'm struggling to
come up with the center.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
The dried plums.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Oh okay, I got it. Dried plums, yeah, okay. A
spoon for prunes on the moon.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
That's it spoon on the moon. That is absolutely correct.
And by the way, I wrote this one before I
discovered that you hosted a show called You Get a Spoon?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
That's right. I was obsessed with this one mixing spoon
that someone once gave me as a gift, so obsessed
that I did a variety show where I gave the
spoon to one lucky audience member every single time, and
I toured the country with it. And then one time,
the people from this small company that made the spoon
all came to the show and we're like, what are
you doing? This is incredible. We don't have a marketing budget.
Our marketing budget is basically like one obsessed comedian talking
(15:19):
about this spoon. And they gave me a bouquet spoons,
which I was given this as a as a housewarming
gift when we moved into an apartment in New York City,
certainly fifteen years ago, and I was like, what kind
of a weird gift is this? And then I used
it and I was like, this is the greatest spoon
of all time. You know why because it doesn't retain
any smells, it's easy to clean, the handle stays cool
(15:39):
even when you're cooking something hot, it can go in
the dishwasher, it never sticks to anything. It's just one
of those things where, you know what, like, all that
I want in my life is a thing that has
one job and it does it really really well. And
this spoon it does the job well.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
It looks good.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It's just it's not trying to be something it's not,
you know, it's it's not a machine that's trying to
convince me that it's in love with me while it
writes poetry. It's just I'm a machine. I do this
one thing.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Got it all right? I got one last one for you, Chris.
Uh A more adorable private teacher?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
On a vespa? Oh, more adorable private teacher on a vespa?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Can I just say I love this game? This is
a great game. I really love. These are some great puzzles, Chris.
They're very satisfying when you figure them out. They tickle
my brain in exactly the right kind of way.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
That is lovely to hear, especially since you are the
expert on humor and puzzles. You are author of Humor Me?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
All right?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Are you referencing my book Humor Me, which is available
for pre order now and comes out on January sixth,
twenty twenty six. Wow, thanks so much, Aja.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That is the exact one reference.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, it's no spoon, it's no spoon, but it's a book.
And you know what, a book can be used to
stir a pot of soup one time and one time only.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
It doesn't work more than once, but once it'll stir
a pot as well. Now what back to this puzzle.
I think that we are talking about a cuter tutor
on a scooter, a scooter on a scooter. That's a scooter. No,
a scooter, A cuter tutor on a scooter.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
That's it. You got it, A tutor scooter on whatever.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
A tutor on a scooter played by Daudrey Hepburn. Yeah. Nice,
don't shooter. Don't shoot you guys.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
You add value.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
You know. It's a great that the way you said
that was a great example of a difference between what
the tone of your voice says and the content of
your words, because you were saying you add value, but
you were saying you are not adding value.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I was going to I'm putting genuinely that you.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Oh, I think it was a clear we need to
wrap this up all the words said, thank you for
what you're doing. I'm putting it on the back of
a T shirt. I add value. I said that many
a time to people at my house. Thank you so
much for coming, Thanks so much for being here. I
wish this never had to end. Right.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Well, then there's the other genre of the compliments that
could be either compliments or insults, like oh, yeah, you
did it again, or wow, that was something that whole genre.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You are, You're brave, Yeah, you've never been better. Yeah,
what a big swing.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Well, Chris, you've never been better. I love having you on,
and you did add value, huge amounts of so much
value we'd have to end. I have an extra credit
for the folks at home. How about an impolite, sexually
repressed person in the buff. An impolite, sexually repressed person
(18:56):
in the buff. So think on that. Thank you Chris,
Thank you Greg, and folks. If you want to check
out more puzzles, we've got an Instagram feed. It's at
Hello Puzzlers. At Hello Puzzlers where we post original puzzles
other fun stuff, and of course we'll see you here
tomorrow for more Chris Stuffy and more puzzling puzzles that
(19:17):
will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Hello puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska up from the puzzle AaB
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. Chris
Stuffy joined us to play some games based upon Ted talks,
not the real Ted Talks, but other examples of talks
that might be given by famous people named Ted, real
or fictional. Your extra credit clue was this, how I
(19:46):
became the main character played by Josh Radner in a
long running CBS sitcom that's the subject, of course, of
a Ted Moseby talk. And if you enjoyed this episode,
or you enjoy How I Met your Mother, maybe you
want to check out the episodes with Josh Rednor that
we did. He's a great puzzler and we had a
lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Check it out.
Hello, puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This one
is in honor of our guest today, the wonderful comedian
and podcast host, Chris Duffy. Now Chris's last name, Duffy,
always makes me think of duff Beer, the most famous
fictional beer in the world. It's the beer that Homer
Simpson drinks on The Simpsons. And it's not the only
(00:23):
famous fictional business on The Simpsons. That show is famous
for making up great business names. There's a bookstore called Books,
Books and Additional Books that I would shop at. So
today's quiz, I'm going to give you five business names.
Four of them are from the Simpsons universe, and one
is an impostor. So if you have watched every Simpsons
(00:45):
episode you will get this, no problem. So which of
these did I make up? Lard Lad Donuts, the Lucky Stiff,
funeral home, Snippin' save Moyles that's the concision outlet, sit
and stair bus lines, or a restaurant called we have Restrooms.
(01:08):
All right, So so it's lard Lad Donuts, Lucky stuff,
funeral homes, snip and save Moyles, sitting stair bus lines,
or a restaurant called we have Restaurants, The answer and
more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello Puzzlers, Welcome to
(01:28):
the Puzzler Podcast. The helpful auto correct on your Puddler podcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
What uh No?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I get it?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That was home for a nice meta joke from Andrea.
Thank you. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs. I'm here, of course,
the Chief Puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska Greg. Before the break,
we asked a quiz about fictional businesses on The Simpsons.
So which of these is an impost which did not
appear on The Simpsons Lard, lad Donuts, Lucky Stuff, funeral homes,
(01:55):
Snip and Save oyles, sit and stair bus lines or
a restaurant called we have Restroom.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
So, you know, on the last episode when Chris talked
about how there's a category that he would could couldn't
answer anything in, and that category would be sports. Yeah,
my category is TV, specifically funny TV.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I don't know why.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
It's just not a thing I watch.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
And even The Simpsons.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
As iconic as it is, I've watched. I mean, the
percentage of episodes I've watched goes down every week because
I you know, so okay, I think Lard lad is in.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I like that one.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Lucky Stiff I had a question about. I was like,
Lucky Stiff, that's not really a very original joke. Like
there's a musical called Lucky Stiff.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
It's kind of a you know. But but the snip
and save, I'm like, are they doing moil jokes on
the Simpsons?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Maybe is that a little too risque?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Not sure.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
We have restrooms.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I think is definitely in. But the one I questioned
the most was sit and stare bus lines. I just
didn't feel quite as pointed enough.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So I'm going to pick that one.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It is a real one. There is a sitting stair
bus line. There is not a snipp and saves. There's
all right.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So one of my three possible guesses was right, yes,
exactly when you give come on, Chris, I think I
can pick one out of three out of five, and
I got it.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I'm pretty good. That is great. Well, yes, Well, as
I mentioned that puzzle popped into my mind because our
guest last name reminds me of Toff Beer from the Simpsons,
and he is a wonderful comedian. He is a brilliant
podcast host author of an upcoming book. The podcast is
called How to be a better human. And his name
(03:41):
is Chris Duffy.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Welcome Chris, Hi, thanks so much for having me. And
I do get duff Man all of the time. A
lot of people saying thrusting in the direction of the problem.
I get that a lot. Is that that's a great
duff that's a great duf Man line from The Simpsons,
thrusting in the direction of the problem.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I did not know that, lie, I did know. I
like when Homer says alcohol is the cause and solution
to all the world's problems. Yes, that's something like that.
But I did want to ask you about your first
name because I have heard you talk in one of
your shows that your mom is Jewish and never realized
(04:21):
that Chris was derived from Christ.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
That's true, Yeah, my mom. My mom is a little
New York jew and my dad is a tall Midwestern
Christian and I'm their first child. And genuinely, until I
was three, my mom didn't understand why no one else
in the synagogue had a child named Christopher. And she
was like, Christopher, Oh, no, I like the name. Yeah,
so that is just my dad winning for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
He was Jewish. Christ was Jewish, That's right. He was
the first Well, I thought, we need to get her
on the puzzler because we are obsessed with words within
other words. Start. Oh, we just had a puzzle with
dartmouth and dark, so we will.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Is this gonna be okay? This is your life thing
where now you have Deborah Duffy come out from the hoipaways.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I wish I had planned that far in the Jane.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Oh my god, this podcast would be forty seven minutes
long at the shortest. If it was just asking her
one question, she would be commitsing to the max, puzzling
with you beyond Beyond time live it's allowable.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Well that's good. The audience could catch up. Then yeah,
we wouldn't have a problem. All right, Well, we don't
have a hidden word puzzle for you, but we do
have a word nerdy puzzle. It's about rhymes like word
and nerd, and it's about triple rhymes, so not just
two rhymes. So all the answers will contain three words
(05:42):
that rhyme. So if I gave you a clue such
as a conceded resident of Denmark on an aircraft, the
answer would be a vein Dane on a plane.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
A vein Dane on a plane.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I love it could happen. There has been a Have.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
There been danes on planes? What are you insane? That's
one of the main ways that they travel good. This
is getting strain. Oh what a pain?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Okay, that's Are there any other I.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Don't know, you have to I'll stay out of your lane.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I feel I just considered none.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
There are none that there are none that remained.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So I do have one other example that's from your podcast,
which is well, I was going to say, Chris Anderson
taking a nap, but now we know that you are
the head of TED, so it's for you. Chris Duffy
taking a nap? Is ted head the head of Ted
in a bet?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So Also, it sounds vaguely like a threat, in which case,
if that is a threat, I would like to say,
I'm just the joke head of Ted. I'm not the
real head of TAD. If you're gonna put the Ted
head in a bed, don't put my head in the bet.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Right, don't do this? Yes? Yeah, all right? So they
all have that format blank blank in a blank. Oh
got it? Okay, so are you ready?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I am ready? All right?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Here we go. An intoxicated, stinky animal in the back
of a car.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Drunk skunk in a trunk. Look at that so fast, right,
sound like a thing like it is very common thing
around here in Los Angeles. We got drunk skunks in
the trunk, left and right.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
All right, well do you have these A wealthy sorceress
on the soccer field?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Okay, Now, again this is sports adjacement, so it's it's
more challenging for me, but I do think that I
can use context clues to figure it out. So I
can get the first two and then i'll just infer
what the third sports term might be. So I'm going
to say that's a rich which on the pitch. Yes,
it is in the pitch, which seems I'm going to
(08:05):
say on the pitch, but it maybe is.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
The correct You're allowed to adjust the preposition accordingly.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Okay, it's it's not like one of those regional things
where New Yorker say in line and everyone else says online.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh interesting, yeah, everyone says inline.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I don't think so. I think that I say in
line and you two say in line. But I believe
that it's a regional thing that other places say online.
I was waiting online.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, but that's very confusing because you don't say, like
in New York, I don't say I'm going in line
to check my email.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
That's right. I agree you. I think we are doing
it right. But I have been told that other people
don't do it that way.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I grew up in California, okay, but I was born
in Connecticut to a Connecticut and New York parent, so
my regionalisms are all messed up.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, and when were you on your or in your
first line?
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (08:55):
I've always been in line, Chris, thank god. Occasionally occasionally
I Q, but mostly I'm in line.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Wow are you British?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I have a little fondness for the Brits.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
All right, I got another for you, Chris, an unhip
grizzly at a festival.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Oh okay, unhip grizzly. Okay. Oh my first thought was lame,
but I think that's not.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Going to be right.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It's an older unhip turn because it's yeah bear. Oh,
I got it, okay at a festival. Oh okay, here
we go.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
All right, I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It's a square bear at the fair, That is correct,
a square bear at the fair, and again actually sounds
like a children's book. Sound like.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
You said it again? You said it in a way
that made me believe it was a thing.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I was ready, like, I want I here's my three
dollars for two shots at the square bear at the fair.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Listen, Greg, if there's one thing that ties together my
entire career confidently saying things that are incorrect and having
people kind of believe.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Them perfect, well, I will say you you do the opposite.
You've hosted a couple of shows about science where you
introduce science to regular people like me, and one of
them is called wrong Answers only another is called You're
the expert.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
That's right?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And I believe how's this for a segue? One of
them was about bears.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
That's right. I've definitely done a bear based comedy show,
a bear science based comedy show.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So can you can you hit us with a bear fact?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You know? The incredible thing about my brain is that
I am so open to new information, but it just
flows right out. You know. I'm like, I will absolutely
absorb all of your bear facts, and then a day
later they will have leaked out like milk through a funnel.
You know. I am.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Like a man with a nursing baby at home, right,
and I feed my baby with a funnel for some reason.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I will tell you that one thing that I do
remember is that polar bears are the most dangerous bear
for humans. They are the only bear that will hunt
a human for meat that is not doing it when
they're desperate. Like other bears will attack if they're threatened
or if they're sick, but a polar bear they just
will eat anything that moves because that is what they
(11:25):
have to do. So if you cycolar bear, it's coming
towards you, you should not be where you are.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Hence why no humans live at the poles, Because that's right,
they've all been eaten.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
They've all been Yes, there was a thriving society that
was decimated by a polar bear. A single polar bear
wiped out one of our great human societies at the
North Pole.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
I actually remember another polar bear fact from when I
read the encyclopedia, and I remember, unfortunately, like twenty facts
and they're completely useless. But and this falls into that category,
I guess, not completely useless. Pose you are at the
North Pole and you're hungry, and you are able to
(12:06):
kill the polar bear before it kills you, do not
eat its liver because the liver contains a toxic amount
of vitamin A, and that was in the Encyclopedia.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Fascinating Encyclopedia entry that is that's I mean, who hasn't
been there in a job where it's like five pm
and you're ready to leave and they're like you have
to stay for another half an hour and you're like,
but I should be able leave And then you're like,
I'm just gonna do something wild, and you just put
something crazy. That's what that is.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Oh, that's probably it.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, mean that it's true.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
But I was like, why is this in there? And
then it stuck in my brain and now I can't
get it out.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
They were like, I've defined Pythagorean theorem. Enough, I'm going
to write the thing about eating the polar bear's slipper
and exactly, this one's for me, all.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Right, I got a couple more. How about a Oh
this is interesting, I wrote it.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
So, yeah, listen, I'm gonna I like the objection.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I love to be proud of your own work. That's good.
You will go for that agent.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
All right, We'll see if you think it's interesting. A
drunken guy yelling extra extree in the hot tub.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Oh h this is interesting.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I agree, thank you now.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
In the hot tub. Okay, oh, I got it. I
think I got it. Now. I flee what we have
and I'm going to try and deliver it so that
Greg says, yet again, that sounds like a real I'm ready.
I'm going to try and say it so that you
once again go, that sounds like it's a real thing.
I think what we have here is a boozy Newsy
in the jacuzzie.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
I believe it.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
You delivered it like like you were in a Marx
Brothers film new in the Hey, take my.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Cigar, I'm getting in boosy nosy.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
All right, I got two more. I got two more.
A round utensil for eating dried plums in the Sea
of Tranquility.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh okay, this, by the way, is like my second
favorite poem about plums.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Honored to be in the category.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
A round utensil for eating plums in the Sea of Tranquility. Okay, well,
I know the first and the last. I'm struggling to
come up with the center.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
The dried plums.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Oh okay, I got it. Dried plums, yeah, okay. A
spoon for prunes on the moon.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
That's it spoon on the moon. That is absolutely correct.
And by the way, I wrote this one before I
discovered that you hosted a show called You Get a Spoon?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
That's right. I was obsessed with this one mixing spoon
that someone once gave me as a gift, so obsessed
that I did a variety show where I gave the
spoon to one lucky audience member every single time, and
I toured the country with it. And then one time,
the people from this small company that made the spoon
all came to the show and we're like, what are
you doing? This is incredible. We don't have a marketing budget.
Our marketing budget is basically like one obsessed comedian talking
(15:19):
about this spoon. And they gave me a bouquet spoons,
which I was given this as a as a housewarming
gift when we moved into an apartment in New York City,
certainly fifteen years ago, and I was like, what kind
of a weird gift is this? And then I used
it and I was like, this is the greatest spoon
of all time. You know why because it doesn't retain
any smells, it's easy to clean, the handle stays cool
(15:39):
even when you're cooking something hot, it can go in
the dishwasher, it never sticks to anything. It's just one
of those things where, you know what, like, all that
I want in my life is a thing that has
one job and it does it really really well. And
this spoon it does the job well.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
It looks good.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It's just it's not trying to be something it's not,
you know, it's it's not a machine that's trying to
convince me that it's in love with me while it
writes poetry. It's just I'm a machine. I do this
one thing.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Got it all right? I got one last one for you, Chris.
Uh A more adorable private teacher?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
On a vespa? Oh, more adorable private teacher on a vespa?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Can I just say I love this game? This is
a great game. I really love. These are some great puzzles, Chris.
They're very satisfying when you figure them out. They tickle
my brain in exactly the right kind of way.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
That is lovely to hear, especially since you are the
expert on humor and puzzles. You are author of Humor Me?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
All right?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Are you referencing my book Humor Me, which is available
for pre order now and comes out on January sixth,
twenty twenty six. Wow, thanks so much, Aja.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That is the exact one reference.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, it's no spoon, it's no spoon, but it's a book.
And you know what, a book can be used to
stir a pot of soup one time and one time only.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
It doesn't work more than once, but once it'll stir
a pot as well. Now what back to this puzzle.
I think that we are talking about a cuter tutor
on a scooter, a scooter on a scooter. That's a scooter. No,
a scooter, A cuter tutor on a scooter.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
That's it. You got it, A tutor scooter on whatever.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
A tutor on a scooter played by Daudrey Hepburn. Yeah. Nice,
don't shooter. Don't shoot you guys.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
You add value.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
You know. It's a great that the way you said
that was a great example of a difference between what
the tone of your voice says and the content of
your words, because you were saying you add value, but
you were saying you are not adding value.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I was going to I'm putting genuinely that you.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Oh, I think it was a clear we need to
wrap this up all the words said, thank you for
what you're doing. I'm putting it on the back of
a T shirt. I add value. I said that many
a time to people at my house. Thank you so
much for coming, Thanks so much for being here. I
wish this never had to end. Right.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Well, then there's the other genre of the compliments that
could be either compliments or insults, like oh, yeah, you
did it again, or wow, that was something that whole genre.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You are, You're brave, Yeah, you've never been better. Yeah,
what a big swing.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Well, Chris, you've never been better. I love having you on,
and you did add value, huge amounts of so much
value we'd have to end. I have an extra credit
for the folks at home. How about an impolite, sexually
repressed person in the buff. An impolite, sexually repressed person
(18:56):
in the buff. So think on that. Thank you Chris,
Thank you Greg, and folks. If you want to check
out more puzzles, we've got an Instagram feed. It's at
Hello Puzzlers. At Hello Puzzlers where we post original puzzles
other fun stuff, and of course we'll see you here
tomorrow for more Chris Stuffy and more puzzling puzzles that
(19:17):
will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Hello puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska up from the puzzle AaB
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. Chris
Stuffy joined us to play some games based upon Ted talks,
not the real Ted Talks, but other examples of talks
that might be given by famous people named Ted, real
or fictional. Your extra credit clue was this, how I
(19:46):
became the main character played by Josh Radner in a
long running CBS sitcom that's the subject, of course, of
a Ted Moseby talk. And if you enjoyed this episode,
or you enjoy How I Met your Mother, maybe you
want to check out the episodes with Josh Rednor that
we did. He's a great puzzler and we had a
lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Check it out.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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