July 2, 2025 • 18 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: iconic writer and filmmaker, Aline Brosh Mckenna!
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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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, Eileen Brash McKenna, who
has written wonderful shows and movies, including The Devil Wears Prada,
Prada of course being a luxury brand. So here's your
challenge to work on during the break. Can you name
another movie or movies that have a luxury brand in
(00:22):
the title. They could be luxury clothes, luxury cars, watches,
jewelry brands, including one that starred my dad's favorite, Audrey Hepburn.
That's a little him. The answers and more fancy puzzling
after the break, Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast,
(00:47):
the Self Inflating Chord in your Puzzle Life Preserver. I'm
your host, AJ Jacobs, and I'm here, of course, with
Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Kliska.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Greg.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Before the break, we asked puzzlers at home to come
up with movies that have a luxury brand name in
the title. Did you come up with any?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, you really picked my sweet spot luxury brands. It's
really good. My kids are listening to this right now,
going daddy, It's so obvious, and I'm like luxury brands.
I got a cheap T shirt on, but you did give.
I mean, the one I thought of, which you then
include heavily is Breakfast the Tiffany's correct. And then I
(01:23):
thought of lots of luxury brands that don't have movies
titles related to them, Cardi or Gucci or you.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Know, well, Gucci does, Gucci does Rolex.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
There's a Gucci movie.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's called Gucci.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yes, of course with Gaga. There you go other people.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, there's also fod versus Ferrari. Then you got a
little twist here, you could do Omega Man with Charlton.
The Hasseer is a luxury watch.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
And stage Coach No.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Coach, Ach, Coach, It's right in there. Coach, according to
the Internet, is like sort of a bottom of the
luxury brand brand. It's like affordable luxury but still luxury.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
They're having a moment. They're having a moment right now.
They have a viral bag, a viral really burnlock bag
for Coach. Yeah, it sold out everywhere.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Did not know? And I will say Coach is one
of the big supporters of my wife's nonprofit, so I
can tell you that donated a huge chunk of money
to help kids get through internships in college. So thank
you coach.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Thank you coach, and also coaches a TV show, so
if you don't like stage Coach, just go with the tea.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
The brand perfect.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
That voice you heard talking about luxury was none other
than Aleen Broch McKenna, who wrote the Devil Wears product
movie and also one of my favorite shows ever, Crazy
Ex Girlfriend and many others.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Welcome Aleen, Thank you a Jane, I appreciate the crazy love.
The show's been off the air since twenty nineteen, which
is crazy to me. That's crazy and sad to say.
It's not streaming at the moment. So used to be
on Netflix, but now if you want to watch it,
you're going to have to go and purchase it on
Amazon or iTunes because we don't have a streaming deal
(03:18):
right in this moment. So it's streamed on Netflix for
five years, which was great, but now you have to
buy it. Said to say, it is totally worth going
to see that.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I actually bought it a few days ago to rewatch
and it's gee, it's not that bad. It's fourteen ninety
nine for an entire season. That's a lot like two
bucks one buck per episode, and.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
One hundred and fifty some songs written by are brilliant songwriters.
One hundred and fifty some songs.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So good and those are on YouTube. All right, well,
now I can say I'm going to turn it over
to the luxury expert, Greg plus cut, Greg take it away.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
No luxury will be harmed in the making of this puzzle,
for sure. So, Ellen, have you noticed that your birth name,
Aleen Brash, contains no repeated letters.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
I haven't. I've often bemoaned that I don't get clued
as a cross for that. They have other ways to
clue A L, I, an E. I find it very annoying,
like the airline skirt. Yeah, so I'm looking to change
that if you know anybody, but you know several people.
I grew up with two five letter names, my parents,
(04:27):
my mother. My parents' favorite number was five. And that's
not why. But everyone in my family had an a name.
And I have two five letter names with no repeats.
I see that. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, it's unusual. It's not rare. It's unusual, but it
also makes interesting fodder for anagrams.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Ooh great, I love AM.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So we've come up with a bunch of phrases that
are anagrams of Aleen Brash.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Oh wow, okay, so love this? Okay A L.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I N E B R O s H. I know
you know how to spell your name, but I figure
that people listening.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yes, there's no C in it, which people often think
there is. So are these anagrams that use all the
letters or parts of.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They use all the letters, all the letters exactly once.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
My god, I should know this well.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
They are None of them are actual Mary phrases. They
are They're made up of actual works. Love it and
we're going.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
To give you a clue to what this is right
up my alley.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Okay, good this says Now when we do the puzzles,
if it's Flags of the World, I'm passing it on
to someone else. There are certain things I know nothing about.
The not great for me. Flags is an F. Sports
is an F. But I love anagramming puzzles so perfect.
I hope, I hope I comport myself with honor.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Flags would really suck as an audio.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yes, unless we describe them using the pantone color.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
All right, So here's an example. The clue would be
a bunch of guy friends are doing some jo points.
And unlike Bill Clinton, these blank blank, and the answer
would be, you're not all right.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So I'm going to work this out. Okay, So guy friends,
guy friends say it again, are something to do.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
With your guy friends are doing some joints right, and
unlike Bill Clinton, yes, these blank blank.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
So I'm looking at in hell yep, yep. And within
hall we get rid of a lot of these letters,
and we were left with bros yess in Halle.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
These bros in Hale, exactly, they do.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
They're bros that in hall. That's awesome, that's great.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
All right, good, here you go. That was just the example,
so you know, okay, got it, well done, well done, okay.
When you worked as a zoo keeper, you were in
charge of physical therapy for the big cats, which means
you had to help blank.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Blank physical therapy for.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Cat for the big cats, big cats.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Physical therapy for big cats would be.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Could also be you could charge of helping the big
cats that have an addiction issue if.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
They inhale, if they Inhale.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Big cats, Well, I'm looking for big cats in here,
and I'm seeing lions.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I'm going to get rid of lion and that's going
to leave me with get rid of the e b
are so am I?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
No, you're left, get rid of the s too.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Lions liyans, Okay, got it, I got it. Now I
have Now I have a e B R an h
correct and the physical therapy and.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Physical therapy or recovery from an addiction problem.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
We're doing rehab on these lines, rehab lions having lions. Yeah,
I love.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Can I pop in and say, I know you wrote
we Bought a Zoo, the movie I did. But was
that a joke that you worked as in a zoo
or was.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
That that is not true? That is true? God, the
zoo that it's based on, I believe is still open.
It's in England. It's a beautiful book. It's a beautiful memoir.
We bought a Zoo, which I highly recommend, and the
zoo is in England and the countryside and I last
I checked was still there and still thriving.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So you're sort of a zoologist.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Yes, yeah, anything I've written a movie about I'm an expert,
very good, including crazy excess.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
There we go. All right, I don't know if you
like tea? Do you like do you drink tea.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I do occasionally drink tea.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Well, if you liked your tea made with tammameal or
peppermint that has been infused with charged particles, those would
be blank blank those Well, well.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I'm banking herbs, I'm feeling herbs. So that gets rid
of some of these letters.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I want to you want to actually save the s
For the other one, it's it's the.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Okay, oh herb herbal ions ions. Wow, I had no
idea that all these fantastic anagrams were in my name's
exciting You cut Mackenada.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That would have been a real nightmare.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, that would have caused all kinds of trouble.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, you can check into hotels now with all of
these new pseudonyms.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
That's correct. Do you have a room for bros in Hell? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Exactly. You could use this next one.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Maybe you think, oh, okay, great, it's the Greek.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Letter that's shaped like a P but pronounced like an R.
It turns out to be a woman that's attracted to
other women.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Well, I know this Greek, the Greek letters I know
from crossroad puzzles mainly, So that's would that be r
h o ye? The row okay, and.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Then attracted to other female Greek letters.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
It was it's not it's not salient, it's not saline,
which is I also got out of what was left,
but B the B the B right, So we have
a ro lesbian Yes.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
A lesbianian row. Yeah, it could be a pseudonym if
I think we've.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
That's the most of a stretch that we've we've here.
I think I would define that is the biggest reach of.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
This. Next one is in a different direction. It's a
totally apathetic, large horned mammal.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Wow. Well, I did not realize I had rhino in
my name, but I do. I have rhino in my name,
and taking away rhino leaves me with an A, an L,
an E, A B and an S S And what
was the other part of it?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Totally apathetic?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Mmmm, it's not stable. It's Blase. Oh, that's fantastic. Come on,
you know, I'm going to design a logo around I
think that's really great. That's there is I should have
named my company.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
You're still you have a new company.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
One of your listeners designed the logo for Blase rhino and.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Did I want to see that? That is good?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
By the way, I want to pop in and say,
I just watched the first season I'm crazy ex girlfriend
and and you have a whole riff on apostrophe s
and oh boy, massives and so I knew.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I would like to take credit for that. But Rachel
is a grammar stickler of the highest order. She's also
a wordsmith, and I'm sure she would do this show,
by the way, she would absolutely do it. For her
recent birthday party, she had a spelling bee where was
about forty people. My husband came in eighth. Rachel came
(12:01):
in second. She she lost to Kabir Octar, who was
one of the editors and directors on Crazy X, who
won with a fantastic word which was cut her, which
none of us had heard. It's a medical term.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
But t t e r A t A R no.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Uh. He won with this word which I had never
heard before, and he didn't know what it was, but
he just went right ahead and spelled it. And it
is spelled if anybody knows it. It means phlegm O.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
B A t R r R.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yes, it has the murror construction of our h Anyway,
Rachel came in second, and I think that there was
some money on me to do well. Guys, I got
out in the first round because I was unable to
spell Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's fairs and tea.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I mean, you just got to put them in the
right order.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
No, I got I did all the ends and all
the t's, and that was not right.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
It's luck of the draw A lot of times. Luck
of the draw.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
All right, we have time for a couple more anagrams.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, okay, great, yep, all right.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
All right. If your cranium is like Swiss cheese, oh
my god, speaking of you know, failing on the spelling.
But if your cranium is like Swiss cheese, yes.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
It often is now postmenopause, keep going.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
That means you have a whole bunch of blank blank.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Well, I'm going to take a out. I'm going to
take B, R, an, I, and N and I'm going
to spell brain with that. I'm assuming then I get
LA from the first word and s H s H
from the second one. And what was Oh, oh my god,
I've got holes in the brain. Brain holes, yes, scrain holes. God.
That is. We are at this age where I refer
(13:54):
to when the director of Prada is a bit older
than me, and when we're trying to describe an actor.
We do what I called senile charades, which is, you
know that guy, he was in the thing with this
person and it came out.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
I watched it with my wife and I was yeah
and I it was at that theater and he and
then one of us will say, oh, breakfast at Tiffany's.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah. Right. That's the best part is that you know
who they're talking about, even though they've given you no information.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
That's correct. That's how you play senile charades.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
That's so good. I play that all the time with
my wife, who is hardly senile, much younger than I am,
but she's you know, I'm senile, and she just tries
to keep up. All right, your last one. Let's see,
you want the bird or the barber shop?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Gosh, I'll take the barbershops. Has established my bird knowledge.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I figured, well, I thought you might do that. Yeah.
The barber for the aristocracy is responsible for cutting blank blank.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Hm, well, the barber for the aristocracy, and so there's
no elite in there is possible for cutting blank blank
blank blank. That's all in a lean brush.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, it's just two words.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Okay, the bar the barber cut Okay, so we've got hair.
We've got hair. H A I R for the aristocracy
is cutting blank.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Blank cutting something hair.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Oh, the barber for the act is cutting. Okay, so
we've got hair gone. So that leaves us with l
N E B O N S. He is cutting nobles
no hair. Very good.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I have like six more time. I really want Friday.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Is this finally what's going to get me into the
Times Crossroad puzzle? Because there you go, you know this,
this has got.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
To be it so surely sure yeah somebody and you
deserve your own puzzle. Spelling be just devoted to your name.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
That's right, that's right, an anagram contest.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Right, well, thank you, Eleen. We love puzzling with you.
We're so excited for devil Are's product I or whatever
it will be called. And by the way, if you
want Partridge the color to be the new Cerrillian, then
I give it to you.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. I'm sure there are
a lot of birds, right, I'm haro what color is
to heron.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Heron? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah, canary.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
I love nerding out with you, guys.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Love fun. Greg, do you have an extra credit for
the folks at home?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I do. We're sticking with the birds. If you take
your red breasted bird for a walk, you need a
blank blank.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
The answer will be an anagram of a leen brush,
so A L I N E B R O S H.
Come back tomorrow for the answer, and in the meantime,
if you do have just a minute, we would be
honored if you would rate the puzzler on your favorite
podcast platform, because it makes a huge difference. And of
(17:28):
course we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles.
They will puzzle you, Puzzle.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Kate Puzzlers. It's your chief puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska up
from the Puzzle Lab with the extra credit answer from
our previous episode. Allen Brush McKenna joined us once again
to play a game we called Red State Cerulean State,
a tribute to the great speech from devilwares Prada in
which the word cerulean figures prominently. In this game, AJ
(17:59):
gave us clues in which the colors were replaced by
their Pantone color numbers and you had to come up
with what the original words were. So your extra credit
clue was this. Sharon Sylvester and Emma eight zero six
one five can all be seen on the four or
five zero zero two screen or the nine one sixty
(18:19):
six to three carpet, that, of course is stone, silver
and red. Sharon Sylvester and Emma Stone can be seen
on the silver screen or on the red carpet. We
chose to go with Ribbon red, but if you guessed
Rococo Red, we'll give you credit as well. Thanks for
playing
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This one
is in honor of our guest, Eileen Brash McKenna, who
has written wonderful shows and movies, including The Devil Wears Prada,
Prada of course being a luxury brand. So here's your
challenge to work on during the break. Can you name
another movie or movies that have a luxury brand in
(00:22):
the title. They could be luxury clothes, luxury cars, watches,
jewelry brands, including one that starred my dad's favorite, Audrey Hepburn.
That's a little him. The answers and more fancy puzzling
after the break, Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast,
(00:47):
the Self Inflating Chord in your Puzzle Life Preserver. I'm
your host, AJ Jacobs, and I'm here, of course, with
Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Kliska.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Greg.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Before the break, we asked puzzlers at home to come
up with movies that have a luxury brand name in
the title. Did you come up with any?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, you really picked my sweet spot luxury brands. It's
really good. My kids are listening to this right now,
going daddy, It's so obvious, and I'm like luxury brands.
I got a cheap T shirt on, but you did give.
I mean, the one I thought of, which you then
include heavily is Breakfast the Tiffany's correct. And then I
(01:23):
thought of lots of luxury brands that don't have movies
titles related to them, Cardi or Gucci or you.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Know, well, Gucci does, Gucci does Rolex.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
There's a Gucci movie.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's called Gucci.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yes, of course with Gaga. There you go other people.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, there's also fod versus Ferrari. Then you got a
little twist here, you could do Omega Man with Charlton.
The Hasseer is a luxury watch.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
And stage Coach No.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Coach, Ach, Coach, It's right in there. Coach, according to
the Internet, is like sort of a bottom of the
luxury brand brand. It's like affordable luxury but still luxury.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
They're having a moment. They're having a moment right now.
They have a viral bag, a viral really burnlock bag
for Coach. Yeah, it sold out everywhere.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Did not know? And I will say Coach is one
of the big supporters of my wife's nonprofit, so I
can tell you that donated a huge chunk of money
to help kids get through internships in college. So thank
you coach.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Thank you coach, and also coaches a TV show, so
if you don't like stage Coach, just go with the tea.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
The brand perfect.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
That voice you heard talking about luxury was none other
than Aleen Broch McKenna, who wrote the Devil Wears product
movie and also one of my favorite shows ever, Crazy
Ex Girlfriend and many others.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Welcome Aleen, Thank you a Jane, I appreciate the crazy love.
The show's been off the air since twenty nineteen, which
is crazy to me. That's crazy and sad to say.
It's not streaming at the moment. So used to be
on Netflix, but now if you want to watch it,
you're going to have to go and purchase it on
Amazon or iTunes because we don't have a streaming deal
(03:18):
right in this moment. So it's streamed on Netflix for
five years, which was great, but now you have to
buy it. Said to say, it is totally worth going
to see that.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I actually bought it a few days ago to rewatch
and it's gee, it's not that bad. It's fourteen ninety
nine for an entire season. That's a lot like two
bucks one buck per episode, and.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
One hundred and fifty some songs written by are brilliant songwriters.
One hundred and fifty some songs.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So good and those are on YouTube. All right, well,
now I can say I'm going to turn it over
to the luxury expert, Greg plus cut, Greg take it away.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
No luxury will be harmed in the making of this puzzle,
for sure. So, Ellen, have you noticed that your birth name,
Aleen Brash, contains no repeated letters.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
I haven't. I've often bemoaned that I don't get clued
as a cross for that. They have other ways to
clue A L, I, an E. I find it very annoying,
like the airline skirt. Yeah, so I'm looking to change
that if you know anybody, but you know several people.
I grew up with two five letter names, my parents,
(04:27):
my mother. My parents' favorite number was five. And that's
not why. But everyone in my family had an a name.
And I have two five letter names with no repeats.
I see that. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, it's unusual. It's not rare. It's unusual, but it
also makes interesting fodder for anagrams.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Ooh great, I love AM.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So we've come up with a bunch of phrases that
are anagrams of Aleen Brash.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Oh wow, okay, so love this? Okay A L.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I N E B R O s H. I know
you know how to spell your name, but I figure
that people listening.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yes, there's no C in it, which people often think
there is. So are these anagrams that use all the
letters or parts of.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They use all the letters, all the letters exactly once.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
My god, I should know this well.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
They are None of them are actual Mary phrases. They
are They're made up of actual works. Love it and
we're going.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
To give you a clue to what this is right
up my alley.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Okay, good this says Now when we do the puzzles,
if it's Flags of the World, I'm passing it on
to someone else. There are certain things I know nothing about.
The not great for me. Flags is an F. Sports
is an F. But I love anagramming puzzles so perfect.
I hope, I hope I comport myself with honor.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Flags would really suck as an audio.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yes, unless we describe them using the pantone color.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
All right, So here's an example. The clue would be
a bunch of guy friends are doing some jo points.
And unlike Bill Clinton, these blank blank, and the answer
would be, you're not all right.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So I'm going to work this out. Okay, So guy friends,
guy friends say it again, are something to do.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
With your guy friends are doing some joints right, and
unlike Bill Clinton, yes, these blank blank.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
So I'm looking at in hell yep, yep. And within
hall we get rid of a lot of these letters,
and we were left with bros yess in Halle.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
These bros in Hale, exactly, they do.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
They're bros that in hall. That's awesome, that's great.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
All right, good, here you go. That was just the example,
so you know, okay, got it, well done, well done, okay.
When you worked as a zoo keeper, you were in
charge of physical therapy for the big cats, which means
you had to help blank.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Blank physical therapy for.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Cat for the big cats, big cats.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Physical therapy for big cats would be.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Could also be you could charge of helping the big
cats that have an addiction issue if.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
They inhale, if they Inhale.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Big cats, Well, I'm looking for big cats in here,
and I'm seeing lions.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I'm going to get rid of lion and that's going
to leave me with get rid of the e b
are so am I?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
No, you're left, get rid of the s too.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Lions liyans, Okay, got it, I got it. Now I
have Now I have a e B R an h
correct and the physical therapy and.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Physical therapy or recovery from an addiction problem.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
We're doing rehab on these lines, rehab lions having lions. Yeah,
I love.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Can I pop in and say, I know you wrote
we Bought a Zoo, the movie I did. But was
that a joke that you worked as in a zoo
or was.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
That that is not true? That is true? God, the
zoo that it's based on, I believe is still open.
It's in England. It's a beautiful book. It's a beautiful memoir.
We bought a Zoo, which I highly recommend, and the
zoo is in England and the countryside and I last
I checked was still there and still thriving.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So you're sort of a zoologist.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Yes, yeah, anything I've written a movie about I'm an expert,
very good, including crazy excess.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
There we go. All right, I don't know if you
like tea? Do you like do you drink tea.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I do occasionally drink tea.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Well, if you liked your tea made with tammameal or
peppermint that has been infused with charged particles, those would
be blank blank those Well, well.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I'm banking herbs, I'm feeling herbs. So that gets rid
of some of these letters.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I want to you want to actually save the s
For the other one, it's it's the.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Okay, oh herb herbal ions ions. Wow, I had no
idea that all these fantastic anagrams were in my name's
exciting You cut Mackenada.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That would have been a real nightmare.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, that would have caused all kinds of trouble.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, you can check into hotels now with all of
these new pseudonyms.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
That's correct. Do you have a room for bros in Hell? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Exactly. You could use this next one.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Maybe you think, oh, okay, great, it's the Greek.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Letter that's shaped like a P but pronounced like an R.
It turns out to be a woman that's attracted to
other women.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Well, I know this Greek, the Greek letters I know
from crossroad puzzles mainly, So that's would that be r
h o ye? The row okay, and.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Then attracted to other female Greek letters.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
It was it's not it's not salient, it's not saline,
which is I also got out of what was left,
but B the B the B right, So we have
a ro lesbian Yes.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
A lesbianian row. Yeah, it could be a pseudonym if
I think we've.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
That's the most of a stretch that we've we've here.
I think I would define that is the biggest reach of.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
This. Next one is in a different direction. It's a
totally apathetic, large horned mammal.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Wow. Well, I did not realize I had rhino in
my name, but I do. I have rhino in my name,
and taking away rhino leaves me with an A, an L,
an E, A B and an S S And what
was the other part of it?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Totally apathetic?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Mmmm, it's not stable. It's Blase. Oh, that's fantastic. Come on,
you know, I'm going to design a logo around I
think that's really great. That's there is I should have
named my company.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
You're still you have a new company.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
One of your listeners designed the logo for Blase rhino and.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Did I want to see that? That is good?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
By the way, I want to pop in and say,
I just watched the first season I'm crazy ex girlfriend
and and you have a whole riff on apostrophe s
and oh boy, massives and so I knew.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I would like to take credit for that. But Rachel
is a grammar stickler of the highest order. She's also
a wordsmith, and I'm sure she would do this show,
by the way, she would absolutely do it. For her
recent birthday party, she had a spelling bee where was
about forty people. My husband came in eighth. Rachel came
(12:01):
in second. She she lost to Kabir Octar, who was
one of the editors and directors on Crazy X, who
won with a fantastic word which was cut her, which
none of us had heard. It's a medical term.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
But t t e r A t A R no.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Uh. He won with this word which I had never
heard before, and he didn't know what it was, but
he just went right ahead and spelled it. And it
is spelled if anybody knows it. It means phlegm O.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
B A t R r R.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yes, it has the murror construction of our h Anyway,
Rachel came in second, and I think that there was
some money on me to do well. Guys, I got
out in the first round because I was unable to
spell Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's fairs and tea.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I mean, you just got to put them in the
right order.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
No, I got I did all the ends and all
the t's, and that was not right.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
It's luck of the draw A lot of times. Luck
of the draw.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
All right, we have time for a couple more anagrams.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, okay, great, yep, all right.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
All right. If your cranium is like Swiss cheese, oh
my god, speaking of you know, failing on the spelling.
But if your cranium is like Swiss cheese, yes.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
It often is now postmenopause, keep going.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
That means you have a whole bunch of blank blank.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Well, I'm going to take a out. I'm going to
take B, R, an, I, and N and I'm going
to spell brain with that. I'm assuming then I get
LA from the first word and s H s H
from the second one. And what was Oh, oh my god,
I've got holes in the brain. Brain holes, yes, scrain holes. God.
That is. We are at this age where I refer
(13:54):
to when the director of Prada is a bit older
than me, and when we're trying to describe an actor.
We do what I called senile charades, which is, you
know that guy, he was in the thing with this
person and it came out.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
I watched it with my wife and I was yeah
and I it was at that theater and he and
then one of us will say, oh, breakfast at Tiffany's.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah. Right. That's the best part is that you know
who they're talking about, even though they've given you no information.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
That's correct. That's how you play senile charades.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
That's so good. I play that all the time with
my wife, who is hardly senile, much younger than I am,
but she's you know, I'm senile, and she just tries
to keep up. All right, your last one. Let's see,
you want the bird or the barber shop?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Gosh, I'll take the barbershops. Has established my bird knowledge.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I figured, well, I thought you might do that. Yeah.
The barber for the aristocracy is responsible for cutting blank blank.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Hm, well, the barber for the aristocracy, and so there's
no elite in there is possible for cutting blank blank
blank blank. That's all in a lean brush.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, it's just two words.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Okay, the bar the barber cut Okay, so we've got hair.
We've got hair. H A I R for the aristocracy
is cutting blank.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Blank cutting something hair.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Oh, the barber for the act is cutting. Okay, so
we've got hair gone. So that leaves us with l
N E B O N S. He is cutting nobles
no hair. Very good.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I have like six more time. I really want Friday.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Is this finally what's going to get me into the
Times Crossroad puzzle? Because there you go, you know this,
this has got.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
To be it so surely sure yeah somebody and you
deserve your own puzzle. Spelling be just devoted to your name.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
That's right, that's right, an anagram contest.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Right, well, thank you, Eleen. We love puzzling with you.
We're so excited for devil Are's product I or whatever
it will be called. And by the way, if you
want Partridge the color to be the new Cerrillian, then
I give it to you.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. I'm sure there are
a lot of birds, right, I'm haro what color is
to heron.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Heron? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah, canary.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
I love nerding out with you, guys.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Love fun. Greg, do you have an extra credit for
the folks at home?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I do. We're sticking with the birds. If you take
your red breasted bird for a walk, you need a
blank blank.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
The answer will be an anagram of a leen brush,
so A L I N E B R O S H.
Come back tomorrow for the answer, and in the meantime,
if you do have just a minute, we would be
honored if you would rate the puzzler on your favorite
podcast platform, because it makes a huge difference. And of
(17:28):
course we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles.
They will puzzle you, Puzzle.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Kate Puzzlers. It's your chief puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska up
from the Puzzle Lab with the extra credit answer from
our previous episode. Allen Brush McKenna joined us once again
to play a game we called Red State Cerulean State,
a tribute to the great speech from devilwares Prada in
which the word cerulean figures prominently. In this game, AJ
(17:59):
gave us clues in which the colors were replaced by
their Pantone color numbers and you had to come up
with what the original words were. So your extra credit
clue was this. Sharon Sylvester and Emma eight zero six
one five can all be seen on the four or
five zero zero two screen or the nine one sixty
(18:19):
six to three carpet, that, of course is stone, silver
and red. Sharon Sylvester and Emma Stone can be seen
on the silver screen or on the red carpet. We
chose to go with Ribbon red, but if you guessed
Rococo Red, we'll give you credit as well. Thanks for
playing
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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