September 22, 2025 • 20 mins
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Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: author of Matching Minds with Sondheim, Barry Joseph!
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello Puzzlers. A quick announcement. The Puzzler is doing a
live show in New York City and we'd love for
you to come. It's October seventh at six thirty pm
and an awesome venue called Caveat. There will be stories, puzzles, prizes.
It's part of the Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival. We love
(00:23):
a good rhyming title here at the Puzzler. Please check
the show notes for a link to tickets. Now on
with the show, Hello Puzzlers, I thought we could start
with a quick warm up puzzle today. I'm going to
read some clues that have appeared over the years in
the New York Times crossword Puzzle. All of these clues
(00:45):
have the same exact answer, which is, by the way,
seven letters, and I'm going to start with the more
obscure clues and end with some more accessible ones. The
clues are, the answers are the same. Remember King famous
for frightening people, Man's name meaning crown, portrait of the
(01:06):
artist youth debater Douglas big name in the Late Night.
That clue, by the way, is from this year. And finally,
the one that might give it away, mister Sondheime, the
answer and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
(01:32):
Welcome back to the Puzzler podcast, the Yes and At
Your Puzzle improv Show. I'm your host, A J. Jacobson.
I'm here with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Kuliska Greg. Before
the break, we gave a series of clues that have
appeared over the years and the New York Times Crossword.
They all have the same answer. The clues included King
famous for frightening people, man's name meaning crown debater, Douglas,
(01:55):
and of course mister sonheime. Might you know the answer?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yes, and the answer is Stephen. Of course, Stephen Sondheim
st e p h e n.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That is true. And by the way, they could have
done a clue AJ Jacob's middle name. My name is Steve.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, that would be like not Monday, but whatever is
far follow.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Whatever day comes after Saturday in difficulty rights most obscure Day.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, it seemed an appropriate opening puzzle because our guest
today is Barry Joseph, who is author of the book
and host of the podcast, both with the same name,
matching minds with Sondheim. The Puzzles and Games of the
Broadway legend.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Welcome, mister Joseph aj Greg. I am so thrilled to
be here and terrified.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Don't be terrified. Don't be terrified, but we did. We
loved your book. And for those who don't know Sonheime,
everyone knows. He's famous for writing some of the greatest
musicals of all times. Sweeney Todd wrote the lyrics for
West Side Story. But what you may not know is
Sondheim was perhaps the most puzzly entertainer of the last
(03:14):
hundred years. In several ways, his lyrics were puzzly a
lot of wordplay. His plots of his plays or musicals
were often puzzly scavenger hunts. He was a puzzling game fan,
and he designed puzzles himself, especially crosswords or British cryptic crosswords,
(03:36):
which he had a huge hand in popularizing in the US.
I'm sure I'm missing stuff? Did I get most of
it right? Barry?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Oh, that's great age.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
And of course he was the founding puzzle editor of
New York Magazine in nineteen sixty eight. In nineteen sixty nine,
and that was the context within which he was popularizing
for an American audience.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
The very arcane British cryptic crosswords.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I did not know he had that.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
He had a side huzzle.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
He did, and not just puzzles, but also games, board games,
parlor games. He loved physical puzzles. He even loved escape rooms.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Oh that's great, wow, because they misses come in really
late in his life.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
And I learned from you age your book The Puzzler.
The important role at Stephen Sondheim played in naming one
of the first, if not the first, corn mazes.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Is that right, the amazing Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
He came up with a name, Amazing maze mas.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
He was never stopped.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
He was friends with the guy who designed the first
corn maze. Well, we're gonna talk more about Stephen Sondheim
and his puzzles and the book a little later in
the episode and in tomorrow's episode. But first we have
a puzzle for you, Barry. Are you ready?
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I am as ready as I'm ever gonna be so.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
In this puzzle, all the answers are words that start
and end with the same letter so Othello begins with
oh and ends with oh or maximum Tonight is the
title of one of Sondheim's greatest songs from West side stories.
So that's my sondhim connection for you. And to make
(05:07):
it a little more puzzly, the clues to these words
will all begin and end with that exact same letter. So,
for instance, if the clue is a state that borders
of Florida, the answer might be Alabama. That's it. That
was an example, but we give you a full credit. Uh,
we're not gonna We're gonna go alphabetically, but we won't
(05:29):
make it through the health hul alphabet. Just a sample. Uh,
here you go, ready, I'm ready, big basin where you sit,
soak and scrub.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
I am picturing in my house, in the bathroom, my bathtub.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
That's correct. You are picturing it correctly, and I'm picturing
it too.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
All right with you in its today?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, all right, you're ready. Here's here's C classy brandy
enjoyed by, among others, Tupac.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Oh, this is not in my domain. I'm gonna make
a guess here, and I'm not even sure if I'm
spelling it right. No, I don't know alcohols, so I'm
a bad one for this question.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Oh interesting it is. Uh, it starts and ends with C.
But that you knew that already.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
That's not hay.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I started with caburnet.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And that's a French It's a French brandy.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Hennessy is a curve brandy, not a you know, not
like wine or something.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Greg, you have any thoughts.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
The middle four letters are O, G, N A.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
That's a good clue that ya got it?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I said there, thinking if you don't know, if you
don't know liquor, what's the clue that's going to.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Get you to It's great clue.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, I thought that was helpful. Happy to help.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
That was helpful. And by the way, Tupac, another great lyricist,
wrote a song about Fanny, his favorite KONYA. All right,
I've got two clues for this one. The first one
is devoted to a cause, to the bitter end. Okay,
so that could be and I'll see if you have
any thoughts before I give you the second.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
I'm processing and I'm not landing on anything. I think
some lateral thinking on this one.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Interestingly, there are a couple of answers to that.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
One.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
One could be dedicated.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But that that was my answer. Yeah, that's not That's
not what.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I'm looking for. It is uh devoted the clue, That's
what I can devoted to the cause to the bitter end. Well,
let me give you back to oh.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
In other words, it's not a it's not going to
be a verb like devoted, dedicated adjective, that's adjutive.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The second part is delightful film with Bruce Willis as
a cop on Christmas who is almost killed. So that
has to be die hard, die hard exactly. All right,
well done, all right, we only have like two more.
We've got edible vegetable often served as a crew de tay.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
So an e I'm thinking, of course, an egg plant
does not end with an e. No eggs, of course,
are neither vegetables nor editing.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
It's a French word, but we don't usually pronounce it
in a French way. It is sometimes what variety is
the Belgian blank?
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Oh? Yes, a Belgian? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Also, I don't think of it as a crew to tay.
I make I chop it up in the salad.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Ah, well, I feel it is. When I did a
poll of my friends, they all thought crew detay was
the most uh. Well, they all thought that this was
mostly known as a crew de tay, except to Greg Puliska.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Do you what's a verb that means to leap off
a board to a pool to dive. Yeah, yeah, part
of this word and dive, Yes, there you go and
dive exactly all right.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I tag team of you two is perfect for me.
I love the question and you set me up plane.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I've got a last one, which is like the words
in a Great Broadway musical, like the words in a
Great Broadway musical.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
So the first la cumps of mind, which isn't correct,
is lyrics, but I can convert that into lyrical.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
We might get there.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
We got there, well done, very impressive.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Phew.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Well, now we get to part two of the show
speak because speaking of lyrics, what a lyrics?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Speaking of sun time and lyrical Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
It was natural. Some of my favorite lyrics written by
Sondheime are in an obscure song. I didn't know about
it until I listened to your podcast, Barry. The song
is called ten years Old, and it is hilarious and brilliant.
It was not in one of his musicals. It was
actually in a TV special called The Fabulous Fifties, which
(10:16):
was made in nineteen sixty to celebrate the end of
the nineteen fifties decade, and it is a collection of
these nineteen fifties references. Some you know, some are obscure,
all sung to the tunes of nursery rhymes. So I'll
give you a quick example. Elvis Pelvis put in pie,
wiggled at the girls and made them cry deedle deedle dumpling.
(10:40):
Juan Perrone all alone by the tele phone. So that's
the tune of Georgie Porgy. So they reached two like
a little nursery rhyme. And that one I know Elvis
as in Elvis Presley, Juan Pern the Argentinian dictator whose
wife became a musical. And I just love it because
it's like, we didn't start the fire, but way before
(11:03):
we didn't start the fire, you know Billy Dole song.
The puzzle is what is Sondheim referring to. And it
was a puzzle then, but now it's even more of
a puzzle because it's nineteen fifties history. I knew about
fifty percent of the references.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
But I could.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Well, we'll see, we'll see. I'm going to read a
few sections and Greg and Barry, you're going to see
how many of the references you can. And I will
say one of the references is so obscure. I couldn't
even figure it out with Google. It was crazy, all right,
love it Love, So this is the tune of London
Bridge is falling down. I'll sing a tiny bit, and
(11:42):
it's about things that happen in the fifties and before
the fifties. He wrote, who had heard of salk vaccine?
Decks dream? Mister clean? Who had heard of Fulton Sheen?
Or my fa fair lady? That's it? So some of
those I knew the salt vaccine, vious folio vaccine, dexadrene?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Did you know that one an antidepressant?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Perhaps?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
I believe it's a diet pill, right, a diet pill? Okay,
mister clean.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Got to be the cleaning product, right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I guess it was invented in the fifties.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Big deal with that half naked guy with the earring, right, that's.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Exactly yeah, Fulton Sheen, Fulton Sheen does that ring a bell?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Krlie Sheen's grandfather.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
You know what fun trivia?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
It is related to interesting.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I think Andrea can fact check this.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
But but right the family Martin Sheen, that family is
original name is Festival. So and are they really related
or did they borrow the Sheen name from something.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
They borrowed the Sheen name, and I believe it was
because Martin or his father was influenced by Bishop Fulton Sheen,
who was a super famous radio bishop, radio religious figure.
He was like rush Limba, everyone listened to him. Or
my fair lady, of course is my fairly.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Uh yeah, from the nineteen fifty six show from Lerner
and Low. Yeah, exactly, based Ongmalion.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
All right, well this one I think you'll know, but
I just want to read it because I enjoy it
so much. It's too uh. Three blind mice, three god bors,
three god bors. See how they run, See how they
run Hungarian accents and marital strife with every new year
they're another one's wife. Did you ever see such a
(13:38):
mess in your life? Three god bors? Love it? I mean,
come on, And that, of course is it's Jajaghabor.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Yes, and Magda.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Ava is the one I know. But Magda, I was like, wow,
well that.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Is gar American socialites and actress.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Ye, right, one was in Green. I believe Ava. But yeah, Magda,
I'm surprised, he said. Three. I guess it works for
the three blind mice. But Magda was never achieved quite
the same of Jajah and Ava.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Keep in mind as you go through the mayj this
is a puzzle you've created for us. But originally this
was a puzzles on him creator for himself. He had
to figure out which songs he wanted to parody and
how he wanted to play with the parody by putting
it within the constrain of things that happened in the fifties?
So why three three blind mice? So he had to
figure out what's the three thing that happened in the
(14:34):
fifties that he can sing about for who?
Speaker 4 (14:36):
For himself? It entertained himself.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Oh he's so good, all right? And these are these
are kind of getting hard, Okay, I think you'll know.
You'll know the first couple, the second I had trouble.
London Bridge this time, welldon Bridge, okay, rock alright one,
rock and roll and wash and where Brussels Fair you
(15:02):
are there? So rock and Roll.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I think I think we know what that is that
survived out of the fifties that's had a longer life.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Right, and wash and ware? Do you know wash and
wear clothing?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, it's like wrinkle resistant clothing. Washington.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I mean, nowadays, a lot of our clothing is wash
and wear. I don't iron my shirts, right, I throw
them in the laundry.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
They come out there. They don't need to be ironed.
Their wash and were right. That was big back then.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It was like it was that and like.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Slice bread, very exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
This one I did not know. Brussels Fair.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
Brussels Fair, that's the nineteen that is the nineteen fifty
eight World's Fair.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
You know, you're working very impressive, very impressive. And also
this one rang a very faint bell and I understood
it when I googled it, but I couldn't have come
up with it. You are there? Does that ring a
bell to anyone?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, that's that's a show. It was a TV show, right,
or a radio show.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
That that was like sort of a travelog kind of show.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Well, it was actually a really interesting premise that I
feel is ready to be brought back. It was they
would get these news correspondents like Walter Cronkite to pretend
that they were at a historical event like the invasion
of norm not the invasion of the Norman conquest in
ten sixty six, and they would report it as if
(16:29):
they were there.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
You are there?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Is that it? I think that's from that right?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
All right?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Last one to the tune of Frearazaka Pharah Jaka Okay.
Susie Parker, Susie Parker, No idea Daisi Lou, Daisy Lou?
That one I know? Hi you Judgement Deen, give me
a subpoena. Rude alph thing, rude Alph thing. Wow, those
are some deep cuts, all right. The only one I
(16:57):
knew was Desi Lou, which you might know, Barry.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Desi Lou is the combined production company of Lucille Ball
and her husband Desi Arnazzi Arnett.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
That's it, exactly, Desi Lou. So that was a huge
production company. Susie Parker, my wife knew it. I didn't
know it anyone I looked.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
She's a model and an actress.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, I feel for my research. She was like one
of the first supermodels. She was like you know, Cindy
Crawford or whoever's more recent but of the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
The Beatles actually wrote a song for her, really that
appeared in the Let It Be documentary.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Oh did they record it?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
No, It's a song called Susie Parker about Oh look
at that.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
All right, I should have known, all right, this one
I had to look up to Judge Medina. Judge Medina,
no clue he was. Now I forgot to put the
notes in. But he was a judge. Let me look
it up.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
He's like the lance Eto of the nineteen fifties. Right
there you go in the And.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That's an obscure reference too, right, that's an oure reference
from the nineties. Lance Edo was the judge in the
oj trial and he was like became a celebrity and
the Jay Leno did the dancing edoes as a sketch.
It was very bizarre. Anyway.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
The judge Medina, he was the Communist Party trials in
nineteen forty nine.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
He presented right over apparently.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, this is interesting because my research said he actually
nineteen forty nine was his big year, but I guess
it moved over into the fifties. And he has a
trial of eleven leaders of the US Communist Party, a
big famous trial.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Last one is Rudolph Bing. I never heard of him either,
but I've heard of him sing a bell.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
I think he's connected to the Metropolitan Opera, you think.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Right, he's classical music guy.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Awesome, Yeah, that was exactly right. He was like the
manager fairy general.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Manager of the met Yeah, yeah, yeah, wow cool.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
This well, thank you Barry, Thank you Greg, and thank
you Steven Sondheim for providing that delightful We didn't start
the fire from the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
AJ. Would you like to do an extra credit for
our listeners.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Oh, I would like to do an excellent.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Okay, good, that would be great.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Thank you for the reminder. And it is keep school
supplies in here like a pencil or a notebook. That's
keep school supplies in here like a pencil or a notebook.
What word begins and ends with the same letter as
the canoe. We catch you back tomorrow and we're going
(19:50):
to go a little deeper into mister sondheime tomorrow, Barry.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Let's do it, do it.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
And in the meantime, if you like our show, please
check out our Instagram feed at Hello puzzlers and those
are original puzzles, visual puzzles, all sorts of fun stuff.
And of course we'll meet you here tomorrow for more
puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hello Puzzlers. A quick announcement. The Puzzler is doing a
live show in New York City and we'd love for
you to come. It's October seventh at six thirty pm
and an awesome venue called Caveat. There will be stories, puzzles, prizes.
It's part of the Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival. We love
(00:23):
a good rhyming title here at the Puzzler. Please check
the show notes for a link to tickets. Now on
with the show, Hello Puzzlers, I thought we could start
with a quick warm up puzzle today. I'm going to
read some clues that have appeared over the years in
the New York Times crossword Puzzle. All of these clues
(00:45):
have the same exact answer, which is, by the way,
seven letters, and I'm going to start with the more
obscure clues and end with some more accessible ones. The
clues are, the answers are the same. Remember King famous
for frightening people, Man's name meaning crown, portrait of the
(01:06):
artist youth debater Douglas big name in the Late Night.
That clue, by the way, is from this year. And finally,
the one that might give it away, mister Sondheime, the
answer and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
(01:32):
Welcome back to the Puzzler podcast, the Yes and At
Your Puzzle improv Show. I'm your host, A J. Jacobson.
I'm here with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Kuliska Greg. Before
the break, we gave a series of clues that have
appeared over the years and the New York Times Crossword.
They all have the same answer. The clues included King
famous for frightening people, man's name meaning crown debater, Douglas,
(01:55):
and of course mister sonheime. Might you know the answer?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yes, and the answer is Stephen. Of course, Stephen Sondheim
st e p h e n.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That is true. And by the way, they could have
done a clue AJ Jacob's middle name. My name is Steve.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, that would be like not Monday, but whatever is
far follow.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Whatever day comes after Saturday in difficulty rights most obscure Day.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, it seemed an appropriate opening puzzle because our guest
today is Barry Joseph, who is author of the book
and host of the podcast, both with the same name,
matching minds with Sondheim. The Puzzles and Games of the
Broadway legend.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Welcome, mister Joseph aj Greg. I am so thrilled to
be here and terrified.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Don't be terrified. Don't be terrified, but we did. We
loved your book. And for those who don't know Sonheime,
everyone knows. He's famous for writing some of the greatest
musicals of all times. Sweeney Todd wrote the lyrics for
West Side Story. But what you may not know is
Sondheim was perhaps the most puzzly entertainer of the last
(03:14):
hundred years. In several ways, his lyrics were puzzly a
lot of wordplay. His plots of his plays or musicals
were often puzzly scavenger hunts. He was a puzzling game fan,
and he designed puzzles himself, especially crosswords or British cryptic crosswords,
(03:36):
which he had a huge hand in popularizing in the US.
I'm sure I'm missing stuff? Did I get most of
it right? Barry?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Oh, that's great age.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
And of course he was the founding puzzle editor of
New York Magazine in nineteen sixty eight. In nineteen sixty nine,
and that was the context within which he was popularizing
for an American audience.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
The very arcane British cryptic crosswords.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I did not know he had that.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
He had a side huzzle.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
He did, and not just puzzles, but also games, board games,
parlor games. He loved physical puzzles. He even loved escape rooms.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Oh that's great, wow, because they misses come in really
late in his life.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
And I learned from you age your book The Puzzler.
The important role at Stephen Sondheim played in naming one
of the first, if not the first, corn mazes.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Is that right, the amazing Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
He came up with a name, Amazing maze mas.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
He was never stopped.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
He was friends with the guy who designed the first
corn maze. Well, we're gonna talk more about Stephen Sondheim
and his puzzles and the book a little later in
the episode and in tomorrow's episode. But first we have
a puzzle for you, Barry. Are you ready?
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I am as ready as I'm ever gonna be so.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
In this puzzle, all the answers are words that start
and end with the same letter so Othello begins with
oh and ends with oh or maximum Tonight is the
title of one of Sondheim's greatest songs from West side stories.
So that's my sondhim connection for you. And to make
(05:07):
it a little more puzzly, the clues to these words
will all begin and end with that exact same letter. So,
for instance, if the clue is a state that borders
of Florida, the answer might be Alabama. That's it. That
was an example, but we give you a full credit. Uh,
we're not gonna We're gonna go alphabetically, but we won't
(05:29):
make it through the health hul alphabet. Just a sample. Uh,
here you go, ready, I'm ready, big basin where you sit,
soak and scrub.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
I am picturing in my house, in the bathroom, my bathtub.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
That's correct. You are picturing it correctly, and I'm picturing
it too.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
All right with you in its today?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, all right, you're ready. Here's here's C classy brandy
enjoyed by, among others, Tupac.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Oh, this is not in my domain. I'm gonna make
a guess here, and I'm not even sure if I'm
spelling it right. No, I don't know alcohols, so I'm
a bad one for this question.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Oh interesting it is. Uh, it starts and ends with C.
But that you knew that already.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
That's not hay.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I started with caburnet.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And that's a French It's a French brandy.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Hennessy is a curve brandy, not a you know, not
like wine or something.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Greg, you have any thoughts.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
The middle four letters are O, G, N A.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
That's a good clue that ya got it?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I said there, thinking if you don't know, if you
don't know liquor, what's the clue that's going to.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Get you to It's great clue.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, I thought that was helpful. Happy to help.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
That was helpful. And by the way, Tupac, another great lyricist,
wrote a song about Fanny, his favorite KONYA. All right,
I've got two clues for this one. The first one
is devoted to a cause, to the bitter end. Okay,
so that could be and I'll see if you have
any thoughts before I give you the second.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
I'm processing and I'm not landing on anything. I think
some lateral thinking on this one.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Interestingly, there are a couple of answers to that.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
One.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
One could be dedicated.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But that that was my answer. Yeah, that's not That's
not what.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I'm looking for. It is uh devoted the clue, That's
what I can devoted to the cause to the bitter end. Well,
let me give you back to oh.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
In other words, it's not a it's not going to
be a verb like devoted, dedicated adjective, that's adjutive.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The second part is delightful film with Bruce Willis as
a cop on Christmas who is almost killed. So that
has to be die hard, die hard exactly. All right,
well done, all right, we only have like two more.
We've got edible vegetable often served as a crew de tay.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
So an e I'm thinking, of course, an egg plant
does not end with an e. No eggs, of course,
are neither vegetables nor editing.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
It's a French word, but we don't usually pronounce it
in a French way. It is sometimes what variety is
the Belgian blank?
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Oh? Yes, a Belgian? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Also, I don't think of it as a crew to tay.
I make I chop it up in the salad.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Ah, well, I feel it is. When I did a
poll of my friends, they all thought crew detay was
the most uh. Well, they all thought that this was
mostly known as a crew de tay, except to Greg Puliska.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Do you what's a verb that means to leap off
a board to a pool to dive. Yeah, yeah, part
of this word and dive, Yes, there you go and
dive exactly all right.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I tag team of you two is perfect for me.
I love the question and you set me up plane.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I've got a last one, which is like the words
in a Great Broadway musical, like the words in a
Great Broadway musical.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
So the first la cumps of mind, which isn't correct,
is lyrics, but I can convert that into lyrical.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
We might get there.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
We got there, well done, very impressive.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Phew.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Well, now we get to part two of the show
speak because speaking of lyrics, what a lyrics?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Speaking of sun time and lyrical Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
It was natural. Some of my favorite lyrics written by
Sondheime are in an obscure song. I didn't know about
it until I listened to your podcast, Barry. The song
is called ten years Old, and it is hilarious and brilliant.
It was not in one of his musicals. It was
actually in a TV special called The Fabulous Fifties, which
(10:16):
was made in nineteen sixty to celebrate the end of
the nineteen fifties decade, and it is a collection of
these nineteen fifties references. Some you know, some are obscure,
all sung to the tunes of nursery rhymes. So I'll
give you a quick example. Elvis Pelvis put in pie,
wiggled at the girls and made them cry deedle deedle dumpling.
(10:40):
Juan Perrone all alone by the tele phone. So that's
the tune of Georgie Porgy. So they reached two like
a little nursery rhyme. And that one I know Elvis
as in Elvis Presley, Juan Pern the Argentinian dictator whose
wife became a musical. And I just love it because
it's like, we didn't start the fire, but way before
(11:03):
we didn't start the fire, you know Billy Dole song.
The puzzle is what is Sondheim referring to. And it
was a puzzle then, but now it's even more of
a puzzle because it's nineteen fifties history. I knew about
fifty percent of the references.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
But I could.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Well, we'll see, we'll see. I'm going to read a
few sections and Greg and Barry, you're going to see
how many of the references you can. And I will
say one of the references is so obscure. I couldn't
even figure it out with Google. It was crazy, all right,
love it Love, So this is the tune of London
Bridge is falling down. I'll sing a tiny bit, and
(11:42):
it's about things that happen in the fifties and before
the fifties. He wrote, who had heard of salk vaccine?
Decks dream? Mister clean? Who had heard of Fulton Sheen?
Or my fa fair lady? That's it? So some of
those I knew the salt vaccine, vious folio vaccine, dexadrene?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Did you know that one an antidepressant?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Perhaps?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
I believe it's a diet pill, right, a diet pill? Okay,
mister clean.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Got to be the cleaning product, right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I guess it was invented in the fifties.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Big deal with that half naked guy with the earring, right, that's.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Exactly yeah, Fulton Sheen, Fulton Sheen does that ring a bell?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Krlie Sheen's grandfather.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
You know what fun trivia?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
It is related to interesting.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I think Andrea can fact check this.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
But but right the family Martin Sheen, that family is
original name is Festival. So and are they really related
or did they borrow the Sheen name from something.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
They borrowed the Sheen name, and I believe it was
because Martin or his father was influenced by Bishop Fulton Sheen,
who was a super famous radio bishop, radio religious figure.
He was like rush Limba, everyone listened to him. Or
my fair lady, of course is my fairly.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Uh yeah, from the nineteen fifty six show from Lerner
and Low. Yeah, exactly, based Ongmalion.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
All right, well this one I think you'll know, but
I just want to read it because I enjoy it
so much. It's too uh. Three blind mice, three god bors,
three god bors. See how they run, See how they
run Hungarian accents and marital strife with every new year
they're another one's wife. Did you ever see such a
(13:38):
mess in your life? Three god bors? Love it? I mean,
come on, And that, of course is it's Jajaghabor.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Yes, and Magda.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Ava is the one I know. But Magda, I was like, wow,
well that.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Is gar American socialites and actress.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Ye, right, one was in Green. I believe Ava. But yeah, Magda,
I'm surprised, he said. Three. I guess it works for
the three blind mice. But Magda was never achieved quite
the same of Jajah and Ava.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Keep in mind as you go through the mayj this
is a puzzle you've created for us. But originally this
was a puzzles on him creator for himself. He had
to figure out which songs he wanted to parody and
how he wanted to play with the parody by putting
it within the constrain of things that happened in the fifties?
So why three three blind mice? So he had to
figure out what's the three thing that happened in the
(14:34):
fifties that he can sing about for who?
Speaker 4 (14:36):
For himself? It entertained himself.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Oh he's so good, all right? And these are these
are kind of getting hard, Okay, I think you'll know.
You'll know the first couple, the second I had trouble.
London Bridge this time, welldon Bridge, okay, rock alright one,
rock and roll and wash and where Brussels Fair you
(15:02):
are there? So rock and Roll.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I think I think we know what that is that
survived out of the fifties that's had a longer life.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Right, and wash and ware? Do you know wash and
wear clothing?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, it's like wrinkle resistant clothing. Washington.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I mean, nowadays, a lot of our clothing is wash
and wear. I don't iron my shirts, right, I throw
them in the laundry.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
They come out there. They don't need to be ironed.
Their wash and were right. That was big back then.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It was like it was that and like.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Slice bread, very exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
This one I did not know. Brussels Fair.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
Brussels Fair, that's the nineteen that is the nineteen fifty
eight World's Fair.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
You know, you're working very impressive, very impressive. And also
this one rang a very faint bell and I understood
it when I googled it, but I couldn't have come
up with it. You are there? Does that ring a
bell to anyone?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, that's that's a show. It was a TV show, right,
or a radio show.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
That that was like sort of a travelog kind of show.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Well, it was actually a really interesting premise that I
feel is ready to be brought back. It was they
would get these news correspondents like Walter Cronkite to pretend
that they were at a historical event like the invasion
of norm not the invasion of the Norman conquest in
ten sixty six, and they would report it as if
(16:29):
they were there.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
You are there?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Is that it? I think that's from that right?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
All right?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Last one to the tune of Frearazaka Pharah Jaka Okay.
Susie Parker, Susie Parker, No idea Daisi Lou, Daisy Lou?
That one I know? Hi you Judgement Deen, give me
a subpoena. Rude alph thing, rude Alph thing. Wow, those
are some deep cuts, all right. The only one I
(16:57):
knew was Desi Lou, which you might know, Barry.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Desi Lou is the combined production company of Lucille Ball
and her husband Desi Arnazzi Arnett.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
That's it, exactly, Desi Lou. So that was a huge
production company. Susie Parker, my wife knew it. I didn't
know it anyone I looked.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
She's a model and an actress.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, I feel for my research. She was like one
of the first supermodels. She was like you know, Cindy
Crawford or whoever's more recent but of the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
The Beatles actually wrote a song for her, really that
appeared in the Let It Be documentary.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Oh did they record it?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
No, It's a song called Susie Parker about Oh look
at that.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
All right, I should have known, all right, this one
I had to look up to Judge Medina. Judge Medina,
no clue he was. Now I forgot to put the
notes in. But he was a judge. Let me look
it up.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
He's like the lance Eto of the nineteen fifties. Right
there you go in the And.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That's an obscure reference too, right, that's an oure reference
from the nineties. Lance Edo was the judge in the
oj trial and he was like became a celebrity and
the Jay Leno did the dancing edoes as a sketch.
It was very bizarre. Anyway.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
The judge Medina, he was the Communist Party trials in
nineteen forty nine.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
He presented right over apparently.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, this is interesting because my research said he actually
nineteen forty nine was his big year, but I guess
it moved over into the fifties. And he has a
trial of eleven leaders of the US Communist Party, a
big famous trial.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Last one is Rudolph Bing. I never heard of him either,
but I've heard of him sing a bell.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
I think he's connected to the Metropolitan Opera, you think.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Right, he's classical music guy.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Awesome, Yeah, that was exactly right. He was like the
manager fairy general.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Manager of the met Yeah, yeah, yeah, wow cool.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
This well, thank you Barry, Thank you Greg, and thank
you Steven Sondheim for providing that delightful We didn't start
the fire from the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
AJ. Would you like to do an extra credit for
our listeners.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Oh, I would like to do an excellent.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Okay, good, that would be great.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Thank you for the reminder. And it is keep school
supplies in here like a pencil or a notebook. That's
keep school supplies in here like a pencil or a notebook.
What word begins and ends with the same letter as
the canoe. We catch you back tomorrow and we're going
(19:50):
to go a little deeper into mister sondheime tomorrow, Barry.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Let's do it, do it.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
And in the meantime, if you like our show, please
check out our Instagram feed at Hello puzzlers and those
are original puzzles, visual puzzles, all sorts of fun stuff.
And of course we'll meet you here tomorrow for more
puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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