September 15, 2025 • 17 mins
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Hello, Puzzlers! It's back-to-school week! Puzzling with us today: our very own Chief Puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska.
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
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Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Link to tickets. Now on with the show, Hello Puzzlers.
It is back to school week here on the Puzzler,
so I thought we could warm up with a mini
puzzle related to colleges. There are two colleges in the
United States whose names are synonyms of the other. One
(00:49):
of them is Auburn College in Alabama. What is a
synonym of Auburn that is also a college or a
near synonym. I know Greg would say, well, they're not
exact synonyms, but.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
That's exactly how I would say to you, Oh, well,
they're not exact.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I thought I did a pretty good impression. Thank you.
Uh the answer and more puzzling puzzles after the break,
Hello puddlers, Welcome to The Puzzler Podcast. The freshman beanie
in your puzzle college wardrobe. Remember those I don't know.
(01:31):
Apparently they existed.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Somebody an animal house to exist nowhere else, no actual
people ever.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
If you wore a college beanie.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Please write us yes from the grave and send a photo.
I am a de.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Girl type, I'm your host A J. Jacobs, and I
am here, of course, with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Puliska Greg.
As we mentioned back to school week here on the Puddler,
which means lots of puzzles about school and school adjacent topics.
Before the break, we asked about two colleges in the
US that are synonyms or near synonyms of each other.
One is Auburn. Do you know what the other I'm
(02:07):
thinking of is?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, you know it's not an exact.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
That's what I said, you were gonna say.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
I thought about it. I had it from the I
had it the other way.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I immediately thought of Brown, and I thought is there another
Brown school? And Auburn came to mind.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
So those are the two you?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Oh, interesting, So you were ahead of me. Well that
I've spent a long time looking at college names.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
So there's no others.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Others there probably are, but let me give you a
couple of other appetizers before we get to the main
college puzzle. One is I love the number of colleges
whose names are nouns. So one I'll give you a
couple of hints.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
One is just to be clear, aj.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Common nouns. Yes, yeah, exactly, Yes, good one, excellent, thank
you all right. One is a Texas Universe today that's
also a starchy rice Rice exactly. Another is a nickname
of Shakespeare Bard Bard College, Yes exactly. There's a North
(03:12):
Carolina University that's a nobleman, not a noble person.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Oh, duke, duke, yes exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yes, Any others come to mind?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Yeah, I wasn't expecting this one.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
No, there is a well, there's one that is a
place of warship.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Chapel.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
No church more think synagogue, temple, temple of course, exactly right.
You know I shouldn't be able to answer this better
because I've just spent so much time visiting schools with
my daughter.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Should be top of mine. I mean, bates Bates.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Is a verb, not a verb, that's true. Verb Colby
is a kind of cheese. But I think that's a
proper down.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Weirdly, I looked it up, it does have a capital C. Well,
it's good that you've been visiting colleges, which is kind
of the inspiration for this puzzle, because I decided to
do it about college names. The puzzle is called college commencements. Thanks.
I always like it when you compliment me good.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
It's a kind of like a cryptic clue ish sort
of yeah, college commencement.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Uh well, all right, already I'm feeling good. It's about
the start of school names. So the commencement of the
college names. So, for instance, Dartmouth starts with the word
dart Yes, so if I were cluing that, I might
have said, a small pointed missile at a New Hampshire
(04:50):
IVY League school Dartmouth, Dartmouth. Okay, so are you ready?
We got a few of these, and then you've got
a puzzle for me.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yeah, absolutely, all right.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Let's start with a yellow vegetable at an upstate New
York IVY League college.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
So it's like squash at squash. Now, almost corn at Cornell.
If you're gonna argue whether corn is a vegetable or not,
we're gonna get letters about this.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh interesting, Well, was it just a starch?
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Is it a vegetable. What is corn?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
All right? Please write angry letters. We love them. All right,
I'm going international for the first and only time. A
beast of burden at England's most prestigious college.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Arguably, yes, arguably, Well Cambridge would beg to differ. It's
an ox at Oxford.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
That's it, an oxident. And let's stay in the farm
animal area. We've got Where do they keep farm animals
at a New York City women's college.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Oh, that would be in the barn at Barnard.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
The barn at Barnard exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I don't think they actually have a barn at Barnard.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Not anymore at one point maybe. Yeah, A dude at
a Rhode Island school. A dude at a Rhode Island.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Oh, I was going to before you said Rhode Island.
I was thinking a chap at Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill.
But you know that's a dude at a Rhode Island school. Dude,
it's a bro at Brown exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And since that's my alma mater, I'll throw in your
alma mater I believe. Yeah, a last testament at a
prestigious college.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yes, it's in Massachusetts, in Massachusetts it's the prestigious college
in Massachusetts, let's be clear, and it's actually was created,
but this way is a.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Will at Williams.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
It became well you from Williams.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Yeah, he left a bunch of money.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
There was a free school there, and he said, you
can have a whole bunch of money to either continue
or establish it as long as you name it after me.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
And so they did.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
How much do you know how much?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I don't know. It was probably like eighteen dollars or something.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, Brown University was five thousand. That's how much it
cost to get a college named after you. Background.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Yeah, you know, man, put it up there, you go.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Well, of course Amherst was started by a professor from
Williams who stole the library and a few students and
went and founded Amherst.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
No, I didn't know that. Scandalous.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Yeah, very.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
All right. What about a source we got more Massachusetts?
A source of fresh groundwater at a Massachusetts women's college.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Oh, very nice. My niece almost went there. She went
to a different all women's college. She went to Smith,
But she would have seen a well at Wellesley had.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
She exactly And Smith, by the way, other noun I figured, you.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Know, yeah for sure, very good. Yeah, good one.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
All I have about two more. We got what might
be next to the table salt at a California university.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Very good.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
I once competed in a speech tournament at this school
in high school.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
It was hosted at this at school.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And I probably put some pepper on my food at pepperdine.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
That is correct. What was the speech about? Do you remember?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I have no I competed mostly in original prose and poetry,
which was a new category where you wrote prose or
poetry and then delivered it. And also what that was
my big category. Sometimes I did humorous interp or dramatic interp.
But I have no memory. All I remember is I
had my first drink of whiskey.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Out of the trophies we won wild don't get mad.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
You know all the former priests who taught me back
then we were drinking WHI ski out of the trophies.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I also find it interesting, like poetry as a competitive sport,
that is yeah, I guess absolutely. I remember reading the Olympics,
did one like one or two years have artistic competitions?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Well they have artistic gymnastics still, which is which is?
And figure skating has artistic components, but not not poetry.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
This was like painting. You can literally get a gold
medal for painting. All right. How about the if there's
a Scooby Doo vehicle at a Tennessee school.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
That would be rot Row. That would be a van
driving through Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Exactly, all right, And let's let's end with a semi
contemporary slang more like four years old. But a rabid
fan of this Silicon Valley based California.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
School be like a skibbity. It's skibbty dine or something.
But now you're going for a stand at Stanford.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
You get an A plus on this quiz.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I got one for you.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
What about Uh, let's see, the selling point of a
certain HBCU is that you get a greater amount of
education there.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Oh interesting, Okay, I'm trying to go through my HBCUs.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
You don't get less education.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
A more house more at more House exactly all right, more.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
House, very nice, very nice thinking. How at Howard?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, I was trying to do spell at Spellman, but
it's not spelled that way.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
It only has one l.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh interesting, all right, fair, well, well done, you get
you get a free freshman beanie the puzzler University, you
also have a school related puzzle for.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Me, I do well.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Since we said back to school week, I immediately thought
the same way I think when you say college commencement,
I think, oh, that's a clue to the letter C,
because C is the commencement of the word college. Phrases
like that are really useful in building cryptic clues because
they sound like their ordinary phrases, but they also clue
a single letter or a couple letters. So back to
(11:19):
school would be a clue for the letter L because
it is the back to school.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Sure, okay, very clever, very clever.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
And so I'm gonna give you I've got a bunch
of other similar phrases. First couple have back in them,
and then we'll branch out a little bit. I'm going
to clue them with a clue that starts with the
letter clued by the phrase okay.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
So if I.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Said late summer. Late summer sales often include this phrase,
the answer would be back to school because it's back
to school clues the letter L, and the clue started
with the letter L.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Okay. I think I got it.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
So you want the first letter of the clue, Okay,
is helpful, and then the phrase you're looking for is
in the form of back to something.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Got it? Wait say that first clue again.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
So late summer sales often include this phrase.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Okay, so back to school. You know what I feel.
I'm going to bring in Andrea Schomberg.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Sure is always fun to have Andrea.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
She is much better with the cryptics. Cryptics, I feel
are not my strength.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I'm here, I do. I do love a cryptic. Now,
I want to be clear, these are not actually cryptic clues.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Got it.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, I'm just using the cryptic technique of using back
to school to mean the letter L. I'm just cluing
the phrase directly. So late summer sales often include this phrase.
That's a clue to back to school, and it starts
with the letter L, which is in fact the back
to school to school.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
All right, I'm ready, and even better, I have Andrea.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Okay, good, all right, So this is an entertaining movie.
Entertaining movie with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
All Right, I think I got it, like I Luckily
I didn't even need the word play. I was like,
all right, I think back to the future. So back
to the future is an e because that's the back
of future.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
And that was the first letter of the clue.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Very good, how about discard all your work and start over.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Now is this another back?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
It's another back?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It's another okay, well back, oh discard. So it's got
to have.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
A D at the end, with a d ye.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Back, not backtrack back. What do you got, Andrea, it's.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
A it's a full phrase. Yeah, it's the thing you say,
go back to the drawing board.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Back to the drawing board.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
D ends with I mean board ends with D. So
that all comes round.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I will acknowledge it's much harder to think of words
that end with certain letters. That's easier if we say
it starts with blank. Then you can, oh yeah, riff
on that easily. But ending with his little trick.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Here, well, listen, where are the puzzle?
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Are all right?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
These next ones don't use the word back, but there
were still cluing end in fact, and will be important
in some of these. Uh where you'll find a pot
of gold?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh okay, end of the rainbow.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
End of the rainbow, the w How about the part
of London that is equivalent to our Broadway?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Oh okay, well wait, now that's confusing because I thought
it was the west end. I guess T. I see,
so T is a west end? T is T is
the west end?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Is the west end?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
It's the Yeah, oh, I was thinking, and and I
thought so, I was thinking, duh, like.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
You tells you which part of the word to word?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
How about driving down this street leads you nowhere?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Hmm, nowhere street?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Dead end of the road?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Dead end is more? Dead end is the one? Yeah,
dead end street?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Thing?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
All right?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
We got to all right, we're not using us anymore.
It's the playoff round before the very last one.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Well, I think that's a semifinal, semi finals or semi.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Final, semi final, semi.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Final, semi final. Gotcha, the final to semi is.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I last round?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Good?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
How about an ending that is inevitable?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
An ending that is inevitable ending not a sure thing? No,
what do you got, Andrea?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
He is really not the ending that is a you
want to say, Oh that's gonna Let's see. It seems
to me that the result of this election is going
to be a blank, blank.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Gone conclusion exactly. All right, I feel good, feeling good?
Speaker 4 (16:15):
All right?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Should we wrap up a couple that are about beginnings
because the easy Oh, thank god, Gala gala debut for
a business establishment.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Grand opening, Ye, very good.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
And your last one juice an engine using cables connected
to another engine.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Oh to jump start.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Jump start exactly. I've got one more I can use
as an extra credit.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
How about that?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
We do we want an extra.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Credit semi official opening of a restaurant or small release
for beta testing. Both start with s semi official opening
of a restaurant or small release for beta testing.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
All right, so think about that, And that's just one
thing you can do. You can also, that's just one
of the many more puzzle related If you want more
puzzle related things to do, check out our Instagram feed
at Pello Puzzlers, where we post original puzzles visual puzzles.
I think it's a lot of fun personally, and of
(17:22):
course we'll see 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.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Link to tickets. Now on with the show, Hello Puzzlers.
It is back to school week here on the Puzzler,
so I thought we could warm up with a mini
puzzle related to colleges. There are two colleges in the
United States whose names are synonyms of the other. One
(00:49):
of them is Auburn College in Alabama. What is a
synonym of Auburn that is also a college or a
near synonym. I know Greg would say, well, they're not
exact synonyms, but.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
That's exactly how I would say to you, Oh, well,
they're not exact.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I thought I did a pretty good impression. Thank you.
Uh the answer and more puzzling puzzles after the break,
Hello puddlers, Welcome to The Puzzler Podcast. The freshman beanie
in your puzzle college wardrobe. Remember those I don't know.
(01:31):
Apparently they existed.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Somebody an animal house to exist nowhere else, no actual
people ever.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
If you wore a college beanie.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Please write us yes from the grave and send a photo.
I am a de.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Girl type, I'm your host A J. Jacobs, and I
am here, of course, with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Puliska Greg.
As we mentioned back to school week here on the Puddler,
which means lots of puzzles about school and school adjacent topics.
Before the break, we asked about two colleges in the
US that are synonyms or near synonyms of each other.
One is Auburn. Do you know what the other I'm
(02:07):
thinking of is?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, you know it's not an exact.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
That's what I said, you were gonna say.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
I thought about it. I had it from the I
had it the other way.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I immediately thought of Brown, and I thought is there another
Brown school? And Auburn came to mind.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
So those are the two you?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Oh, interesting, So you were ahead of me. Well that
I've spent a long time looking at college names.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
So there's no others.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Others there probably are, but let me give you a
couple of other appetizers before we get to the main
college puzzle. One is I love the number of colleges
whose names are nouns. So one I'll give you a
couple of hints.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
One is just to be clear, aj.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Common nouns. Yes, yeah, exactly, Yes, good one, excellent, thank
you all right. One is a Texas Universe today that's
also a starchy rice Rice exactly. Another is a nickname
of Shakespeare Bard Bard College, Yes exactly. There's a North
(03:12):
Carolina University that's a nobleman, not a noble person.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Oh, duke, duke, yes exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yes, Any others come to mind?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Yeah, I wasn't expecting this one.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
No, there is a well, there's one that is a
place of warship.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Chapel.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
No church more think synagogue, temple, temple of course, exactly right.
You know I shouldn't be able to answer this better
because I've just spent so much time visiting schools with
my daughter.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Should be top of mine. I mean, bates Bates.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Is a verb, not a verb, that's true. Verb Colby
is a kind of cheese. But I think that's a
proper down.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Weirdly, I looked it up, it does have a capital C. Well,
it's good that you've been visiting colleges, which is kind
of the inspiration for this puzzle, because I decided to
do it about college names. The puzzle is called college commencements. Thanks.
I always like it when you compliment me good.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
It's a kind of like a cryptic clue ish sort
of yeah, college commencement.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Uh well, all right, already I'm feeling good. It's about
the start of school names. So the commencement of the
college names. So, for instance, Dartmouth starts with the word
dart Yes, so if I were cluing that, I might
have said, a small pointed missile at a New Hampshire
(04:50):
IVY League school Dartmouth, Dartmouth. Okay, so are you ready?
We got a few of these, and then you've got
a puzzle for me.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yeah, absolutely, all right.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Let's start with a yellow vegetable at an upstate New
York IVY League college.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
So it's like squash at squash. Now, almost corn at Cornell.
If you're gonna argue whether corn is a vegetable or not,
we're gonna get letters about this.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh interesting, Well, was it just a starch?
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Is it a vegetable. What is corn?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
All right? Please write angry letters. We love them. All right,
I'm going international for the first and only time. A
beast of burden at England's most prestigious college.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Arguably, yes, arguably, Well Cambridge would beg to differ. It's
an ox at Oxford.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
That's it, an oxident. And let's stay in the farm
animal area. We've got Where do they keep farm animals
at a New York City women's college.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Oh, that would be in the barn at Barnard.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
The barn at Barnard exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I don't think they actually have a barn at Barnard.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Not anymore at one point maybe. Yeah, A dude at
a Rhode Island school. A dude at a Rhode Island.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Oh, I was going to before you said Rhode Island.
I was thinking a chap at Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill.
But you know that's a dude at a Rhode Island school. Dude,
it's a bro at Brown exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And since that's my alma mater, I'll throw in your
alma mater I believe. Yeah, a last testament at a
prestigious college.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yes, it's in Massachusetts, in Massachusetts it's the prestigious college
in Massachusetts, let's be clear, and it's actually was created,
but this way is a.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Will at Williams.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
It became well you from Williams.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Yeah, he left a bunch of money.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
There was a free school there, and he said, you
can have a whole bunch of money to either continue
or establish it as long as you name it after me.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
And so they did.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
How much do you know how much?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I don't know. It was probably like eighteen dollars or something.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, Brown University was five thousand. That's how much it
cost to get a college named after you. Background.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Yeah, you know, man, put it up there, you go.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Well, of course Amherst was started by a professor from
Williams who stole the library and a few students and
went and founded Amherst.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
No, I didn't know that. Scandalous.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Yeah, very.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
All right. What about a source we got more Massachusetts?
A source of fresh groundwater at a Massachusetts women's college.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Oh, very nice. My niece almost went there. She went
to a different all women's college. She went to Smith,
But she would have seen a well at Wellesley had.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
She exactly And Smith, by the way, other noun I figured, you.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Know, yeah for sure, very good. Yeah, good one.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
All I have about two more. We got what might
be next to the table salt at a California university.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Very good.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
I once competed in a speech tournament at this school
in high school.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
It was hosted at this at school.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And I probably put some pepper on my food at pepperdine.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
That is correct. What was the speech about? Do you remember?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I have no I competed mostly in original prose and poetry,
which was a new category where you wrote prose or
poetry and then delivered it. And also what that was
my big category. Sometimes I did humorous interp or dramatic interp.
But I have no memory. All I remember is I
had my first drink of whiskey.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Out of the trophies we won wild don't get mad.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
You know all the former priests who taught me back
then we were drinking WHI ski out of the trophies.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I also find it interesting, like poetry as a competitive sport,
that is yeah, I guess absolutely. I remember reading the Olympics,
did one like one or two years have artistic competitions?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Well they have artistic gymnastics still, which is which is?
And figure skating has artistic components, but not not poetry.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
This was like painting. You can literally get a gold
medal for painting. All right. How about the if there's
a Scooby Doo vehicle at a Tennessee school.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
That would be rot Row. That would be a van
driving through Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Exactly, all right, And let's let's end with a semi
contemporary slang more like four years old. But a rabid
fan of this Silicon Valley based California.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
School be like a skibbity. It's skibbty dine or something.
But now you're going for a stand at Stanford.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
You get an A plus on this quiz.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I got one for you.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
What about Uh, let's see, the selling point of a
certain HBCU is that you get a greater amount of
education there.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Oh interesting, Okay, I'm trying to go through my HBCUs.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
You don't get less education.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
A more house more at more House exactly all right, more.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
House, very nice, very nice thinking. How at Howard?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, I was trying to do spell at Spellman, but
it's not spelled that way.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
It only has one l.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh interesting, all right, fair, well, well done, you get
you get a free freshman beanie the puzzler University, you
also have a school related puzzle for.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Me, I do well.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Since we said back to school week, I immediately thought
the same way I think when you say college commencement,
I think, oh, that's a clue to the letter C,
because C is the commencement of the word college. Phrases
like that are really useful in building cryptic clues because
they sound like their ordinary phrases, but they also clue
a single letter or a couple letters. So back to
(11:19):
school would be a clue for the letter L because
it is the back to school.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Sure, okay, very clever, very clever.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
And so I'm gonna give you I've got a bunch
of other similar phrases. First couple have back in them,
and then we'll branch out a little bit. I'm going
to clue them with a clue that starts with the
letter clued by the phrase okay.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
So if I.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Said late summer. Late summer sales often include this phrase,
the answer would be back to school because it's back
to school clues the letter L, and the clue started
with the letter L.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Okay. I think I got it.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
So you want the first letter of the clue, Okay,
is helpful, and then the phrase you're looking for is
in the form of back to something.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Got it? Wait say that first clue again.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
So late summer sales often include this phrase.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Okay, so back to school. You know what I feel.
I'm going to bring in Andrea Schomberg.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Sure is always fun to have Andrea.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
She is much better with the cryptics. Cryptics, I feel
are not my strength.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I'm here, I do. I do love a cryptic. Now,
I want to be clear, these are not actually cryptic clues.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Got it.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, I'm just using the cryptic technique of using back
to school to mean the letter L. I'm just cluing
the phrase directly. So late summer sales often include this phrase.
That's a clue to back to school, and it starts
with the letter L, which is in fact the back
to school to school.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
All right, I'm ready, and even better, I have Andrea.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Okay, good, all right, So this is an entertaining movie.
Entertaining movie with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
All Right, I think I got it, like I Luckily
I didn't even need the word play. I was like,
all right, I think back to the future. So back
to the future is an e because that's the back
of future.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
And that was the first letter of the clue.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Very good, how about discard all your work and start over.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Now is this another back?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
It's another back?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It's another okay, well back, oh discard. So it's got
to have.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
A D at the end, with a d ye.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Back, not backtrack back. What do you got, Andrea, it's.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
A it's a full phrase. Yeah, it's the thing you say,
go back to the drawing board.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Back to the drawing board.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
D ends with I mean board ends with D. So
that all comes round.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I will acknowledge it's much harder to think of words
that end with certain letters. That's easier if we say
it starts with blank. Then you can, oh yeah, riff
on that easily. But ending with his little trick.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Here, well, listen, where are the puzzle?
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Are all right?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
These next ones don't use the word back, but there
were still cluing end in fact, and will be important
in some of these. Uh where you'll find a pot
of gold?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh okay, end of the rainbow.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
End of the rainbow, the w How about the part
of London that is equivalent to our Broadway?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Oh okay, well wait, now that's confusing because I thought
it was the west end. I guess T. I see,
so T is a west end? T is T is
the west end?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Is the west end?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
It's the Yeah, oh, I was thinking, and and I
thought so, I was thinking, duh, like.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
You tells you which part of the word to word?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
How about driving down this street leads you nowhere?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Hmm, nowhere street?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Dead end of the road?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Dead end is more? Dead end is the one? Yeah,
dead end street?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Thing?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
All right?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
We got to all right, we're not using us anymore.
It's the playoff round before the very last one.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Well, I think that's a semifinal, semi finals or semi.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Final, semi final, semi.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Final, semi final. Gotcha, the final to semi is.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I last round?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Good?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
How about an ending that is inevitable?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
An ending that is inevitable ending not a sure thing? No,
what do you got, Andrea?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
He is really not the ending that is a you
want to say, Oh that's gonna Let's see. It seems
to me that the result of this election is going
to be a blank, blank.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Gone conclusion exactly. All right, I feel good, feeling good?
Speaker 4 (16:15):
All right?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Should we wrap up a couple that are about beginnings
because the easy Oh, thank god, Gala gala debut for
a business establishment.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Grand opening, Ye, very good.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
And your last one juice an engine using cables connected
to another engine.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Oh to jump start.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Jump start exactly. I've got one more I can use
as an extra credit.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
How about that?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
We do we want an extra.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Credit semi official opening of a restaurant or small release
for beta testing. Both start with s semi official opening
of a restaurant or small release for beta testing.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
All right, so think about that, And that's just one
thing you can do. You can also, that's just one
of the many more puzzle related If you want more
puzzle related things to do, check out our Instagram feed
at Pello Puzzlers, where we post original puzzles visual puzzles.
I think it's a lot of fun personally, and of
(17:22):
course we'll see you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles
that will puzzle you puzzlingly
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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