Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello puzzlers, Let's start with a quick puzzle. Today is
a very important holiday. It's National Coconut Day, and I
love coconuts for two reasons. At least, first, they taste good. Second,
coconut is a fun word to say, cocoa nut. I
like coconuts, I like couscous. So today's challenge is to
(00:23):
come up with other foods that include repeating syllables or
repeating words. I'm thinking for starters about an eggplant dip
and also a Hawaiian fish. The answers and more puzzling
goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to the Puzzler,
(00:47):
the Overturned Table, and your puzzle Real Housewife Series. I'm
your host, aj Jacobs. Before the break, I asked if
you could come up with repeating foods, meaning foods that
have a syllable or a word that is repeated making
it very fun to say, such as coconut in honor
of National Coconut Day, which is today. Here are some
(01:12):
that I came up with.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Couscous, baba, ganoosh, mahi, mahi, pau, paul coco that's with
an a at the end, but it still has that
same sound, cocco, jujubis ho, hos the snack food. I'm
guessing there are a bunch more. Please let us know
by emailing us via our website, The Puzzler dot com
(01:37):
in the meantime. Our guests today are the hosts of
The Ridiculous Crime podcast, produced by iHeart. Ridiculous Crime is
an awesome podcast where the hosts share, as they put it,
outlandish tales of capers, heists, and cons that shine a
light on the absurd and outrageous side of criminality. Always
(01:58):
ninety nine percent murder free and one ridiculous awesome podcast.
Please welcome back to The Puzzler. Zaron Burnett and Elizabeth Dunton.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
You're having us. I'm glad to us always once again.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Oh of course, and you you kicked ass on that
last one. Maybe it's because crimes and puzzles overlap. That's
sort of solving that is true. Yes, Now, this puzzle
is named in honor of you and your show. It
is called cap cape Caper. I love the word caper. Yes, yeah,
(02:35):
I looked it up just to make sure I kind
of knew what it meant. But it's I think mischievous
is in the definition something mischievous. This puzzle, the answers
are going to be three words, and we're going to
start with a base word like cap. Then you add
a letter to that like e, and you get cape,
(02:56):
and then you add another letter to the end of
cape and you get caper. So all the answers are
going to be this trio of words that are slowly growing.
And I'm going to tell you a little story as
the clue. So, for instance, if for that one, the
clue might be the thief wore a baseball blank and
(03:19):
a Superman blank to disguise himself for the blank, So
then I would fill in baseball cap and a Superman
cape to disguise himself for the caper. The stories may
require some suspension of disbelief. One of my favorite activities. Well,
(03:41):
you all tell amazing stories which happened to be true.
These not necessarily. For instance, this first one, I don't
believe it is true. I rented a blank at the
airport and picked up presidential biographer Robert Blank, and we
went house to house singing a Christmas blank.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Car car Carroll, Carol, Carol.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
That's it. You got it. Rented a car, picked up
Robert Carow, who wrote the wonderful LBJ and you sing
Christmas Carol while we're on Christmas. I do want to
point out people can listen to your episode about stealing
baby Jesus or Jesus. I'm not sure what do you
(04:27):
do with the stolen baby Jesus.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
It's been a thing starting about the nineteen forties. All
of a sudden, it starts popping up in newspapers where
you see every holiday season there's going to be people
around the country who steal the Usually it's from the crash,
from the major scene, thank you, the major scene, and
where they'll take like a baby Jesus and then oftentimes
(04:50):
it's either porcelain or more Oftentimes these days it's plastic
and they'll you know, steal the plastic scene Jesus and
then leave like maybe a ransom note or like you
threatened that they like, you know, they insist that the
town instigates some change and then they'll return Jesus and
then sometimes they actually just completely disappear with it. There
is no ransom note. It's just like you know, somebody
(05:11):
drunk walking through town. They're like, oh, I'm taking Jesus
with me and I'm getting home safe. Tonight or whatever.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
All right, well, we know we know who's going to hell. Yes,
that's right, that's right, all right, have aout another You
ready for another?
Speaker 5 (05:25):
Yes? Please?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh? By the way, some of these were written by
senior puzzler Andrea Schoenberg, including this next one. Nice. On
a vacation to Argentina, I worked on my blank at
the beach, enjoyed the blank of Jimmy Churry and learned
how to dance the blank. Tan tang tang and tango,
(05:49):
Tan tang and tango. That's it. You got it right there.
And by the way, always linking it back to crimes
that I have not listened to this episode. I just
read the summary of a theoretical physicist arrested in Buenos
Aires with two kilos of cocaine. Yes, what was a
(06:10):
theoretical physicist doing?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Love will make you do strange things, you know. Well,
as far as he was concerned, he was convinced he
was in love. His partner not so much, but she
convinced him to smuggle kilos of cocaine. He was not
good at it, he got caught. He should stick to physics.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yes, right, Well, he's a theoretical. If you're a practical physician.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Exactly, then it would have worked. Yeah, exactly. Maybe he
could have called an engineer, budd he worked out something,
and instead this guy's out there. There was another helpful
aspect of like, what is the gravity of this kilo
of cocaine? Right, this keilo of cocaine was in a
black hole? How would it stretch out? None of that
helped well.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And for every action, the equal and opposite cocaine cocaine.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
All right, I not got another couple. On a spring
day in Blank, I ordered a turkey sandwich with blank
and watched the blank of our city give.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
A speech may Mayo Mayor.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
There it is.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
May Mayo Mayor. Yeah, you got it? All right. Now again,
I apologize I've not listened to this, but the headline
on this episode of your podcast needs to be acknowledged. Luskondal,
the French mayor and the nudist fortune telling ventriloquist.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Oh yes, and they give me.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Just a little more context. All right, So I don't
want it ruined, but just.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Imagine a nudist resort, like a tiny upscale enclave in
the south of France. Right, So it's very she she
and everybody's walking around naked. So it's not only is
it like a wealthy resort town, but everyone's a nudist.
And then into this mix you add a mayor who
is grieving because he's lost someone dear and loved, a
loved one, and he meets this fellow nudist in the
(08:00):
was like, oh, I can reconnect you. And then they
start doing the voice of his dearly departed father and
it's a woman. So this imagine this Newdest woman doing
the voice of his father in French, and he's like, oh, daddy,
and then he just gives her tons of money and
tons he gives her family jobs. He does all this
stuff because she could do the voice. So imagine all
(08:21):
of this in a French beach resort town.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Can he believed she was channeling his spirit dearly departed.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Yeah exactly, and that's why she gave her. He gave
her husband a job running the town service.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Oh my god. Well that is aside from the Newdest
part is full on Scooby Doo. Right, yeah, like a
ghost and yeah, exactly R rated Scooby Doo. Yeah, all right,
(08:53):
I got a couple more. This one is also weirdly
Sandwich related. So, after ensuring his powdered wig was fitted
securely around each blank, John Montague, the fourth blank of Sandwich,
arrived to the event blank ear earl early. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
You got it, cover the earl of Sandwich. And we're both.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Huge, all right, fair enough. I like it. I like
how you alternate though, like like you once says ear
once says earl. Very very good sharing situation. And again
so that was his wig was fitted around each ear.
John Montague, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, arrived to the
event early and uh, yeah, I always find it interesting
(09:45):
that there's no movement to change the earl the Sandwich. Yeah,
I looked into it once. I know he did something horrible.
I mean, even if it.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Was just well, you're pretty much guaranteed you've got nobility,
there's there's something.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
The British colonial Yeah, kind of hard exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I mean I think he at the very least he
was anti American, so right there, not having American sands exactly.
All right. A couple more we've got, all right, This
one is, uh is related to movies. You ready to
figure out the area of the tires circle you multiply
(10:26):
blank by the square of the radius, or at least
that's what a member of the F one Blank crew
told actor Brad Blank.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Mmm, pie Pitt.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Pitt, dude, that's so nice the way you share sharing
his character. That's right, that you multiply the circle by
pie are squared and then you the member of the
F one Pitt toll crew told actor Brad Pitt, because
he is a movie about F one that's right.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
I like this is a trick one because there's the
pit pit.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Right right, double tea with the pit. Now. I did
not say any I did not see any Brad Pitt references,
but I did see it. George Clooney, by the way,
he optioned. David o' russell optioned my book for literally
one day. He declared he was gonna option it, and
(11:26):
then he gave it.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
He abandoned it after one day. But it was an
exciting day.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Which book? I think we should plug the book? Which
book were we talking about?
Speaker 5 (11:33):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Thank you? It was called The Year of Living Biblically.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
It was Oh, I didn't realize you wrote that. Yes,
I'm familiar with that book.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Ah, well, thank you.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Yeah, that's oh, that's a great premise, and that would
have been an awesome movie. I mean, David, I don't
know what people the Bible, you know, right.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Well, now I'm glad because now I realize it was
dangerous to work with him.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Yeah, the Old Testament vengeful.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, so he but he literally choked George Clooney and
George Clooney did now file.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Yeah. Yeah. They got into it on the set of
Three Kings, and George Clooney is like, you know, he's
a former jock and he was like always a stand
up guy in high school apparently, and he always used
to literally stand up for people reading bullied. So he
sees this guy who he happened to know getting bullied
on the set, so he stands up for him. Then
he tries to like be calm with David Russell and
(12:28):
he writes him a letter explaining why he's disappointed in him,
and then David Russell's like, yeah, yeah, the very next
day or you know, days later, he does more than
bad behavior. So then George Clooney gets into it with him,
like you can't act like that, and David to Russell
just head butts him and then just gets into his
face and starts like oh, yelling, get hit me, and
it's choking him. And then at that point George Clooney
sees red and he lifts David Russell apparently up off
(12:50):
of his feet off of the ground by his throat.
And then this scares George Clooney. He's like, oh my god,
what am I done? Who am I? And then he
lets the Kentucky drain away and he puts him down.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Wow, that is some story, all right? And hear more
about that. There are other antics from David. Oh yeah,
a bunch by the way, just f y. I am
not boasting, but George Clooney once gave me a BackRub
or shoulder rub. Oh yeah, he's charming. I was writing
an article for Esquire magazine and he just in the
(13:23):
middle of the interview walk, got up from his chair
and went behind me and just.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Started, did you did you consent to this?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
That's a great question. This was before consensual shoulder rubs.
I didn't. I didn't know that I had to cons
I did.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
I didn't know that Esquire interviews needed an intimacy coach.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
He gave me George W. Bush uncle and Merkele Oh dear, no,
I realized did he say like you seemed a little tense.
Maybe you could, like, you know, put on something comfortable, get.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Relaxed, nobids unbidden.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
But you know, I am not complaining. I am not complaining.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
You know.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I didn't ask did you have good technique?
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Was relaxing? Did it work fair?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I'm not a huge massage fan, so it's kind of
nor am I. Yeah, but it's one of the best
I've ever gotten. Okay, but I've only gotten like two
my wife. Uh, all right, I got one last one. Uh.
And this is if you come with blank to the
(14:27):
blank gala, you have to stay sober and refrain from
smoking blank.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Oh dear, Yeah, this is late.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So I think you see where me is.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
The first word met.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Met gow right, math math exactly voice m is for math,
talked about Elmo. Well, I mostly did that because I
wanted to mention your tail of a raccoon with a
(15:03):
pipe in its mouth.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yes, in the driver's seat. A woman was pulled over
for larrance. I don't remember where this happened, somewhere in
our grand United States. Taken from the vehicle. The officer
looked in and the raccoon had taken her spot in
the driver's seat had a meth pipe in its mouth,
(15:26):
and when the meth pipe was taken from said raccoon,
the raccoon reached down, produced another and put that one
in its mouth.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I thought it was a taxi thermad raccoon.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
And what was so curious about this whole thing is
that apparently in the state in which this occurred, you
need to have registered If you have a raccoon as
a pet, it must be registered. You have to have paperwork.
And this woman with warrants and a car that just
was absolutely trashed full of all sorts of drugs and
fast food wrabbid garbage, had had the proper paperwork for.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
The fantastic the priority. Did she have the proper meth paperwork?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah? That I'm not sure. I would say no, I'm
guessing no.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Well, you guys did amazing. You got them all. You
were cap cape caper wizards, and I was just a delight.
And folks, this is Zaron Burnett and Elizabeth Dutton from
the Ridiculous Crime podcast, so you can hear all those
tales and many many, many more. It's very funny, just
(16:38):
and I love the interaction between you two, which we
got a little taste of.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
It and this has been wonderful. Thank you so much
for having us. This is a highlight for me.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
This is wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Thank you Saron and Elizabeth and listeners. We have an
extra credit for you, and here it is. What three
were words go in these blanks? When a tailor stuck
a blank in the hot blank blouse, she accidentally pricked
(17:10):
her blank finger. When the tailor stuck a blank in
the hot blank blouse, she accidentally pricked her blank finger.
So think on that. Remember it's one word plus a
letter at the end, and then the third word has
two additional letters at the end. Come back tomorrow for
(17:32):
the answer, and in the meantime you can check out
our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, where we post new
puzzles and visual puzzles and puzzle news. And of course
we will be here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that
will puzzle you.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Puzzling leaves, Heay, Puzzlers, It's Greg Pliska up from the
Puzzle Lab with the extra credit answer. From our previous episode,
we did a game called Ridge Diculous Laws with the
Ridiculous Crime folks. In this game, we gave you a
multiple choice question about which of these is an actual
(18:10):
law and here was your extra credit. Courthouses in New
Jersey are required by law to have is it a
an image of local hero Thomas Edison. B two pillars
on the same longitude as each other, or see the
word new at least one foot from the word Jersey
on the courthouse pediment. I know all of those sound plausible,
(18:31):
but the correct answer is B two pillars that are
on the same longitude.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
As each other.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Sounds like you could get complicated, but I guess if
you build them in the right angle, everything works out fine.
Thanks for playing. We'll catch you next time.