July 11, 2025 • 16 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Today, A.J. and Greg give you a little peek behind the curtain and take you on a tour of the Puzzle Lab.
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.
Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
"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.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
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 week
our guest was the great John Green, the author, and
we have one more green based puzzle for you as
a mini puzzle. I couldn't resist. The word green, as
we discuss, can mean a lot of things. It's an adjective,
but it can also be a noun. It can be
part of a golf course or a park or money.
(00:25):
My challenge to you is what other notable Johns have
last names that are nouns. I'll give you an example.
John Doe Doe like female deer. John Doe is the
name of a folk singer in real life and also
a fictional character, John Doe in the Frank Capra movie
Meet John Doe. So I'm looking for other Johns with
down last names. Should I give hints? Let me give,
(00:48):
Let me.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Give fo You're going to give hints and give them
all away? Now, I know.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I love to give ones that that Greg actually has
already come up with. All right, there's a Grammy winning
singer John with the noun last name, and I'm gonna
go with uh a Keanu Reeves character. The answer and
more puzzling goodness after the break. Hello, puzzlers, Welcome back
(01:19):
to the Buzzler Podcast the detachable straw on your puzzle
hydro flask, I am your host. That was again Andrea Schoenberg.
Thank you for the intro lize hydro flask.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Is that a fancy word for water bottle?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
It is exactly a fancy word for bottles, okay, and
it may in fact be trademarked, so if it is, sorry,
I am your host A J. Jacobs, and I'm here,
of course with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Puliska, a fan
of all water bottles. Greg. Before the break, we challenge
listeners to come up with famous johns whose last names
are common nouns. What do you got?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know? The first person I thought of is famous
only in the world of New York studio and Broadway musicians.
His name is John Miller. He's a bass player and
a contractor. But he's the first person I thought of.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I love him John Miller for being a nap.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And then I thought of John Brown.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Oh that's true, johnist Brown.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Brown is a noun.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Brown is a noun, all right?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And I know the ones include.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, the Grammy winning singer John is John legend, right,
the Keanu Reeves character John Wick. That's it. There's also
a late great Canadian comedian who starred.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
In John Candy.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
That's it. And Julie came up with this one. I
didn't even see it coming. A not so great but
certainly late assassin John Wilkes Booth exactly booth.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Can we say late about someone who died like a
hundred something years very very late, super late, r late,
really late.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Well, it's great having John Green as the guest this
week and today, as we often do at the end
of the week, we have a tour inside the Puzzle
Lab uppeak behind the curtain. We've got Puzzle Lab breaking
news from the news ticker, We've got listener feedback. But
let's start with the news because Greg has been monitoring
(03:20):
the news and he's got some interesting stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I've got some news. So this is actually an article.
I read about this in an article in Japan News,
which is published in yomi Uri Japan. I believe it's
breaking news from the world of Rubik's Cube.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Ooh.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
The Ao mory Prefecture in Japan, which is right at
the northern tip of Hanshu Island, where Tokyo is also
located that prefecture, that city, that region has released a
specially designed Rubik's cube where each face is colored like
one of the apple varieties produced in.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
That region, and they are different enough.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, yeah, you've hit on the exact trick. Here. Here's
the thing. Each of the apple varieties is red and
looks very similar to the other one. So it's a
little bit It's like doing a section of sky in
a jigsaw puzzle. Right, We're able to notice the variations
in coloring or a little sprinkle of cloud. But in
(04:21):
this case you also have to understand how to move
the faces around the cube.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
That is funny. So am I gonna do it? Do
you have one with you that?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I will send you one. I'm going to order one
and have it sent to you and you can struggle
with it for months. No, what, I don't have a
Rubics cube for you. I have an Apple variety puzzle.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Love it all right? Excellent, excellent use of the Rubics cube.
News And I'm a little weak on my apple varieties,
but I'll try my best.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, Andrea is here if you yes a sort of
senior Apple variety expert to poss that's right, not associate well,
I do have to drop some more on you that
I am allergic.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Apples, so I do not know the varieties, but I'll try.
I did not know that. But shouldn't you know the
varieties even more so that you're aware of the danger.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
No, I just I loved all apples into one big
danger zone, one big danger. Apologize if the puzzle is
triggering in any way. Well, so here's an example. I
might say something like, back in the nineties, I lived
in London where I owned a blank computer and wore
(05:36):
a blank raincoat. And the same Apple variety can go
into both blanks.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
That one. I do know that one.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I do know.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, that's the Macintosh Macintosh, exactly the Macintosh.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Where the Apple computer got the name after all. All right,
how about this one. We're having a blank celebration for
the Puzzler podcast's second anniversary this fall.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
All right, that's good because I went through you know often,
I'll try to go in my mind list them, so
I'm prepared, and this was kind of the only one
I came up with. Gala, it's a gala apples.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
How about this one? Jaden and Willow call Will's mother bank.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Good one? All right, Andrea you want to take it?
Or is it or is it dangerous for you to
say it?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
This one? This one I know Granny Smith.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Grannie Smith very good, exactly because Willow Smith and.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Jaden Smith or will Smith's kids and his mother would
be Granny Smith exactly. All right. For breakfast, I like
toast with locally sourced blank bacon and scrambled eggs.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Huh, all right, hold on, I shouldn't know this locally sourced?
Oh no, that does's a little tricky. Apple would honey something,
honey something, honey crisp, honey crisp, locally sourced honey crisp,
bacon and scrambled eggs? Oh? I say so you have
a comma after the honey locally honey commas. He's a
(07:13):
tricky one.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
The next one is also going to be tricky. In
a similar way. I went to a concert of my
favorite female singers, including Alisha Moore better known as Blank
Gaga and Billie Eilish.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Okay, I got it, go ahead, do it?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Pink Lady Pink, Lady is Apple. So that's Pink who
is that's Alicia Moore's stage name and Lady Gaga?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Love it? There you go, that's nice.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Tell them all right, Now we're gonna get tricky. We're
gonna get a little fanetic.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
All right, you got tricky, but.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Tricky, get tricky in a new way. So one of
the greatest to appear on a tennis blank Z Davenport
was ranked number one for ninety eight weeks in the
nineteen nineties.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Okay, well, tennis, court Lynn, Courtlynn court Courtland.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Pronounce Courtland, So tennis on a tennis court, lind Zi Davenport.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I love it. I don't think. I guess that rings
a very vague bell. Have you ever heard of Courtland? Andrea? No, no,
stay away from him.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
That's for the name for the county in New York
where it comes from. All Right, my uncle gets his
adjectives mixed up, so he would say he ate best
selling food and blank books.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Oh okay, yeah, I think I got it.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
You got best selling food and blank books.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
He read delicious books, Yes, read delicious, delicious books. I
will say when I still use Twitter. That was one
of my more controversial tweets was I wrote red delicious
apples are neither red nor delicious. Discuss most agreed with
(09:10):
the second part that they were not delicious. They were
they are red. I'll give them that they're red, but
they suck. I'm sorry, red delicious people.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I'll give you one more. The skimpiest bathing suit worn
for martial arts is the Kung blank string bikini.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I'm lost, what do you got? Oh? Right?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Ok? Fuji apple fuji?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Is the kung fu G string bikini? Yes? Of course,
not a real thing. Or maybe it is, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, don't assume excellent. Well, I feel like I learned
a lot and and I'm grateful that Andrea has survived
this ordeal. But wait, we're not done, all right, Well,
we have one other puzzle news related item, which is
(10:13):
it's more news that I felt deserved a puzzle. That
was because recently in the news, listeners might have noticed
there were marches all over America for what was being
called No King's Day. The idea is that we have
to fight any impulse in America towards authoritarianism. America was
(10:34):
founded as a revault against monarchy. We don't want another monarch.
So and I had talked about this a lot last year,
and I so I've been on this train for a while,
long before the Trump got reelected. In my book, I said,
when our country started, Americans, they hated monarchy so much
(10:55):
they tried to get rid of the word King everywhere.
King's College became Columbia College. King Street in many cities
became Congress Street. So cool. I think it's cool, And
I proposed in my book, let's keep going. Let's keep
that going. So in this puzzle, I challenge you Greg
and Andrea to democratize more American things. Kings. I'll give
(11:20):
you an example, but love it. This horror writer of
The Shining, the novelist who wrote The Shining. He should
be renamed Stephen President.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yep, yep, step Stephen King.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
No, Kings, I will accept, though, be as creative as
you want. I'll accept Stephen Prime Minister, Steven election.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Oh got it?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
So just whatever you want a substitute, All right. I
got four or five things I wanted democratize. First, I
wanted to democratize a fast food chain that is the
rival of McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Oh yeah, that's going to be a Burger, Prime Minister.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Love it burg delicious with a lovable mascot in a
suit and time. Yes, I love you very good.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That's democracy. No crowns in democracy, you're gonna have to
wear a suit and tie.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
No crowns. Let's democratize the giant ape from Hollywood movies.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So I want to give power to the people. So
I will say the people come, man.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I love it and taking it farther people can bulls,
no leader.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yep, very good, love it.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And this one. I actually did write a letter to
the Walt Disney Company proposing this one. I did not
get a response, but I said that they needed to
democratize Walt Disney's famous realm. So that would be called.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Oh, the Magic Senator.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Dumb exactly, the Magic for Congress.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, magic Congressdom, or just the Magic Congress instead of
the Magic Kingdom. Yeah, the Magic Republic. That's what it
should be, the Magic Republic. Yeah, Disney, come on, public.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Disney is like fully into monarchy. It's crazy. Well, speaking
of Disney.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, for example, change a movie, aren't we Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, it's a democracy. That's about this nice animated movie
about a democratically elected leader of animals.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yep, what do you got? Andrea the lion elder, a
little Quaker, a little Mormon lion. You didn't mean elder
in that sense, You me an elder in sort of
a town.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Elder as long as he's elected elected or she. Uh,
all right, last, we've got a democratic pioneering women's tennis player.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Oh, I'm trying to think of a good Uh it's
Billy Jean mayor.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Billy Jean mayor perfect yes instead of Billy Jean the
wonderful tennis player. Well, thank you for coming along on
this trivia to democracy with me. Thank you, Elder Greg
and youth Andrea.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Wow, Okay, see where were sorry? Sorry, it's true. It's accurate, eacurate,
no complaints, it's accurate.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, and everyone. If you need more puzzles and why
wouldn't you, please go to our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers,
and we've got visual puzzles, fun stuff, news, all sorts
of good puzzle content. And of course we will meet
here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles. I will puzzle you puzzling.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Hello Puzzlers, It's Greg Pliska, you're chief puzzle officer. Here
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode, I
did a game with aj in honor of the birthday
of Nikola Tesla. And in this game, the answer to
each clue is a word made up from the letters
in Tesla Tesla. In this case, it's a nine letter
(15:07):
word and it fills in this blank. I found a
family friendly joke book about Tesla, so none of the
material in it was particularly blank or inappropriate. I remember,
you can use letters more than once, obviously, but you
have to use all of them, and in this case,
you use them all to make the word tasteless. That's right.
There are no tasteless jokes about Nikola Tesla, and there
(15:30):
is nothing tasteless or inappropriate here on the Puzzler. So
we're glad you joined us and we'll catch you next time.
Thanks for playing along with the team here at the
Puzzler with AJ Jacobs. I'm Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer.
Our executive producers are Neelie Lohman and Adam Neuhaus of
(15:50):
New House Ideas and Jonathan Strickland of iHeart Podcasts. The
show is produced by Jody Abrigan and Britney Brown of
Roulette Productions, with production supports from Claire Bidegar Curtis. Our
senior puzzler is Andrea Schoenberg. The Puzzler with Aj Jacobs
is a co production with New House Ideas and is
distributed by Patched Stories. No Sorry, rearrange those letters distributed
(16:16):
by iHeart Podcasts. If you want to know more about
puzzling puzzles, please check out the book The Puzzler by
AJ Jacobs, a history of puzzles that The New York
Times called fun and funny. It features an original puzzle
hunt by yours truly, and is available wherever you get
your books and puzzlers. For all your puzzling needs, go
(16:40):
visit the puzzler dot com. See you there,
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This week
our guest was the great John Green, the author, and
we have one more green based puzzle for you as
a mini puzzle. I couldn't resist. The word green, as
we discuss, can mean a lot of things. It's an adjective,
but it can also be a noun. It can be
part of a golf course or a park or money.
(00:25):
My challenge to you is what other notable Johns have
last names that are nouns. I'll give you an example.
John Doe Doe like female deer. John Doe is the
name of a folk singer in real life and also
a fictional character, John Doe in the Frank Capra movie
Meet John Doe. So I'm looking for other Johns with
down last names. Should I give hints? Let me give,
(00:48):
Let me.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Give fo You're going to give hints and give them
all away? Now, I know.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I love to give ones that that Greg actually has
already come up with. All right, there's a Grammy winning
singer John with the noun last name, and I'm gonna
go with uh a Keanu Reeves character. The answer and
more puzzling goodness after the break. Hello, puzzlers, Welcome back
(01:19):
to the Buzzler Podcast the detachable straw on your puzzle
hydro flask, I am your host. That was again Andrea Schoenberg.
Thank you for the intro lize hydro flask.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Is that a fancy word for water bottle?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
It is exactly a fancy word for bottles, okay, and
it may in fact be trademarked, so if it is, sorry,
I am your host A J. Jacobs, and I'm here,
of course with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Puliska, a fan
of all water bottles. Greg. Before the break, we challenge
listeners to come up with famous johns whose last names
are common nouns. What do you got?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know? The first person I thought of is famous
only in the world of New York studio and Broadway musicians.
His name is John Miller. He's a bass player and
a contractor. But he's the first person I thought of.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I love him John Miller for being a nap.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And then I thought of John Brown.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Oh that's true, johnist Brown.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Brown is a noun.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Brown is a noun, all right?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And I know the ones include.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, the Grammy winning singer John is John legend, right,
the Keanu Reeves character John Wick. That's it. There's also
a late great Canadian comedian who starred.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
In John Candy.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
That's it. And Julie came up with this one. I
didn't even see it coming. A not so great but
certainly late assassin John Wilkes Booth exactly booth.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Can we say late about someone who died like a
hundred something years very very late, super late, r late,
really late.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Well, it's great having John Green as the guest this
week and today, as we often do at the end
of the week, we have a tour inside the Puzzle
Lab uppeak behind the curtain. We've got Puzzle Lab breaking
news from the news ticker, We've got listener feedback. But
let's start with the news because Greg has been monitoring
(03:20):
the news and he's got some interesting stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I've got some news. So this is actually an article.
I read about this in an article in Japan News,
which is published in yomi Uri Japan. I believe it's
breaking news from the world of Rubik's Cube.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Ooh.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
The Ao mory Prefecture in Japan, which is right at
the northern tip of Hanshu Island, where Tokyo is also
located that prefecture, that city, that region has released a
specially designed Rubik's cube where each face is colored like
one of the apple varieties produced in.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
That region, and they are different enough.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, yeah, you've hit on the exact trick. Here. Here's
the thing. Each of the apple varieties is red and
looks very similar to the other one. So it's a
little bit It's like doing a section of sky in
a jigsaw puzzle. Right, We're able to notice the variations
in coloring or a little sprinkle of cloud. But in
(04:21):
this case you also have to understand how to move
the faces around the cube.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
That is funny. So am I gonna do it? Do
you have one with you that?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I will send you one. I'm going to order one
and have it sent to you and you can struggle
with it for months. No, what, I don't have a
Rubics cube for you. I have an Apple variety puzzle.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Love it all right? Excellent, excellent use of the Rubics cube.
News And I'm a little weak on my apple varieties,
but I'll try my best.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, Andrea is here if you yes a sort of
senior Apple variety expert to poss that's right, not associate well,
I do have to drop some more on you that
I am allergic.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Apples, so I do not know the varieties, but I'll try.
I did not know that. But shouldn't you know the
varieties even more so that you're aware of the danger.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
No, I just I loved all apples into one big
danger zone, one big danger. Apologize if the puzzle is
triggering in any way. Well, so here's an example. I
might say something like, back in the nineties, I lived
in London where I owned a blank computer and wore
(05:36):
a blank raincoat. And the same Apple variety can go
into both blanks.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
That one. I do know that one.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I do know.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, that's the Macintosh Macintosh, exactly the Macintosh.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Where the Apple computer got the name after all. All right,
how about this one. We're having a blank celebration for
the Puzzler podcast's second anniversary this fall.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
All right, that's good because I went through you know often,
I'll try to go in my mind list them, so
I'm prepared, and this was kind of the only one
I came up with. Gala, it's a gala apples.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
How about this one? Jaden and Willow call Will's mother bank.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Good one? All right, Andrea you want to take it?
Or is it or is it dangerous for you to
say it?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
This one? This one I know Granny Smith.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Grannie Smith very good, exactly because Willow Smith and.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Jaden Smith or will Smith's kids and his mother would
be Granny Smith exactly. All right. For breakfast, I like
toast with locally sourced blank bacon and scrambled eggs.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Huh, all right, hold on, I shouldn't know this locally sourced?
Oh no, that does's a little tricky. Apple would honey something,
honey something, honey crisp, honey crisp, locally sourced honey crisp,
bacon and scrambled eggs? Oh? I say so you have
a comma after the honey locally honey commas. He's a
(07:13):
tricky one.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
The next one is also going to be tricky. In
a similar way. I went to a concert of my
favorite female singers, including Alisha Moore better known as Blank
Gaga and Billie Eilish.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Okay, I got it, go ahead, do it?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Pink Lady Pink, Lady is Apple. So that's Pink who
is that's Alicia Moore's stage name and Lady Gaga?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Love it? There you go, that's nice.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Tell them all right, Now we're gonna get tricky. We're
gonna get a little fanetic.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
All right, you got tricky, but.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Tricky, get tricky in a new way. So one of
the greatest to appear on a tennis blank Z Davenport
was ranked number one for ninety eight weeks in the
nineteen nineties.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Okay, well, tennis, court Lynn, Courtlynn court Courtland.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Pronounce Courtland, So tennis on a tennis court, lind Zi Davenport.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I love it. I don't think. I guess that rings
a very vague bell. Have you ever heard of Courtland? Andrea? No, no,
stay away from him.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
That's for the name for the county in New York
where it comes from. All Right, my uncle gets his
adjectives mixed up, so he would say he ate best
selling food and blank books.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Oh okay, yeah, I think I got it.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
You got best selling food and blank books.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
He read delicious books, Yes, read delicious, delicious books. I
will say when I still use Twitter. That was one
of my more controversial tweets was I wrote red delicious
apples are neither red nor delicious. Discuss most agreed with
(09:10):
the second part that they were not delicious. They were
they are red. I'll give them that they're red, but
they suck. I'm sorry, red delicious people.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I'll give you one more. The skimpiest bathing suit worn
for martial arts is the Kung blank string bikini.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I'm lost, what do you got? Oh? Right?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Ok? Fuji apple fuji?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Is the kung fu G string bikini? Yes? Of course,
not a real thing. Or maybe it is, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, don't assume excellent. Well, I feel like I learned
a lot and and I'm grateful that Andrea has survived
this ordeal. But wait, we're not done, all right, Well,
we have one other puzzle news related item, which is
(10:13):
it's more news that I felt deserved a puzzle. That
was because recently in the news, listeners might have noticed
there were marches all over America for what was being
called No King's Day. The idea is that we have
to fight any impulse in America towards authoritarianism. America was
(10:34):
founded as a revault against monarchy. We don't want another monarch.
So and I had talked about this a lot last year,
and I so I've been on this train for a while,
long before the Trump got reelected. In my book, I said,
when our country started, Americans, they hated monarchy so much
(10:55):
they tried to get rid of the word King everywhere.
King's College became Columbia College. King Street in many cities
became Congress Street. So cool. I think it's cool, And
I proposed in my book, let's keep going. Let's keep
that going. So in this puzzle, I challenge you Greg
and Andrea to democratize more American things. Kings. I'll give
(11:20):
you an example, but love it. This horror writer of
The Shining, the novelist who wrote The Shining. He should
be renamed Stephen President.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yep, yep, step Stephen King.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
No, Kings, I will accept, though, be as creative as
you want. I'll accept Stephen Prime Minister, Steven election.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Oh got it?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
So just whatever you want a substitute, All right. I
got four or five things I wanted democratize. First, I
wanted to democratize a fast food chain that is the
rival of McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Oh yeah, that's going to be a Burger, Prime Minister.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Love it burg delicious with a lovable mascot in a
suit and time. Yes, I love you very good.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That's democracy. No crowns in democracy, you're gonna have to
wear a suit and tie.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
No crowns. Let's democratize the giant ape from Hollywood movies.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So I want to give power to the people. So
I will say the people come, man.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I love it and taking it farther people can bulls,
no leader.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yep, very good, love it.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And this one. I actually did write a letter to
the Walt Disney Company proposing this one. I did not
get a response, but I said that they needed to
democratize Walt Disney's famous realm. So that would be called.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Oh, the Magic Senator.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Dumb exactly, the Magic for Congress.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, magic Congressdom, or just the Magic Congress instead of
the Magic Kingdom. Yeah, the Magic Republic. That's what it
should be, the Magic Republic. Yeah, Disney, come on, public.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Disney is like fully into monarchy. It's crazy. Well, speaking
of Disney.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, for example, change a movie, aren't we Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, it's a democracy. That's about this nice animated movie
about a democratically elected leader of animals.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yep, what do you got? Andrea the lion elder, a
little Quaker, a little Mormon lion. You didn't mean elder
in that sense, You me an elder in sort of
a town.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Elder as long as he's elected elected or she. Uh,
all right, last, we've got a democratic pioneering women's tennis player.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Oh, I'm trying to think of a good Uh it's
Billy Jean mayor.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Billy Jean mayor perfect yes instead of Billy Jean the
wonderful tennis player. Well, thank you for coming along on
this trivia to democracy with me. Thank you, Elder Greg
and youth Andrea.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Wow, Okay, see where were sorry? Sorry, it's true. It's accurate, eacurate,
no complaints, it's accurate.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, and everyone. If you need more puzzles and why
wouldn't you, please go to our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers,
and we've got visual puzzles, fun stuff, news, all sorts
of good puzzle content. And of course we will meet
here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles. I will puzzle you puzzling.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Hello Puzzlers, It's Greg Pliska, you're chief puzzle officer. Here
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode, I
did a game with aj in honor of the birthday
of Nikola Tesla. And in this game, the answer to
each clue is a word made up from the letters
in Tesla Tesla. In this case, it's a nine letter
(15:07):
word and it fills in this blank. I found a
family friendly joke book about Tesla, so none of the
material in it was particularly blank or inappropriate. I remember,
you can use letters more than once, obviously, but you
have to use all of them, and in this case,
you use them all to make the word tasteless. That's right.
There are no tasteless jokes about Nikola Tesla, and there
(15:30):
is nothing tasteless or inappropriate here on the Puzzler. So
we're glad you joined us and we'll catch you next time.
Thanks for playing along with the team here at the
Puzzler with AJ Jacobs. I'm Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer.
Our executive producers are Neelie Lohman and Adam Neuhaus of
(15:50):
New House Ideas and Jonathan Strickland of iHeart Podcasts. The
show is produced by Jody Abrigan and Britney Brown of
Roulette Productions, with production supports from Claire Bidegar Curtis. Our
senior puzzler is Andrea Schoenberg. The Puzzler with Aj Jacobs
is a co production with New House Ideas and is
distributed by Patched Stories. No Sorry, rearrange those letters distributed
(16:16):
by iHeart Podcasts. If you want to know more about
puzzling puzzles, please check out the book The Puzzler by
AJ Jacobs, a history of puzzles that The New York
Times called fun and funny. It features an original puzzle
hunt by yours truly, and is available wherever you get
your books and puzzlers. For all your puzzling needs, go
(16:40):
visit the puzzler dot com. See you there,
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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