August 12, 2025 • 19 mins
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Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: cartoonist Emily Flake!
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.
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello puzzlers. Before we start puzzling today, I wanted to
let you know we are cooking up some big plans
for the puzzler community, and in order to ensure that
it's what you want, we need your input. So we've
put together a short survey, which you can find in
the show notes. It's really quick, just three minutes, but
(00:22):
it will be a huge help in letting us know
what you want so that we can deliver just that.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you, Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a little warm
up puzzle. Our guest today is a cartoonist for The
New Yorker, now the New Yorker magazine probably the most
famous publisher of cartoons on Plan Earth. And I just
read a little history of New Yorker cartoons in preparation. Apparently,
(00:50):
the first New Yorker cartoon to go viral was published
in nineteen twenty eight. They didn't have the word viral then.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
At least they had viruses.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, viruses, but not memes. This cartoon became a sensation.
Irving Berlin wrote a song based on it. It was
a catchphrase in books and shows. The cartoon shows a
mother at a table trying to convince her young daughter
to eat her vegetables. All right, So here's where the
(01:20):
puzzle comes in. What was the little girl saying in
the caption that caused such a sensation. Did she say A,
I will eat that zucchini on the first day of Never?
Or B I say it's spinach and I say the
hell with it? Or C what the frick is kale? Okay,
(01:43):
so those are the three. One of them is real,
is that I'll eat zucchini on the first day of never,
I say it's spinach, and I say, to hell the
hell with it? What the frick is kale? The answer,
the real caption, and more puzzling goodness after the break. Hello, Puzzlers,
(02:07):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, the sassy supporting animal
in your animated Disney puzzle movie. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs,
and I'm here, of course, with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Fliska.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Greg.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Before the break, we asked what was the caption in
the first viral New Yorker cartoon from nineteen twenty eight.
The cartoon shows a mother at a table trying to
convince her young daughter to eat her vegetables, and the
little girl is saying one of the three following statements.
He either said I will eat that zucchini on the
(02:41):
first day of Never, I say it's spinach, and I
say the hell with it, and see what the frick
is kale Ye.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Those are three terrifically written answers. But you also let
us know that Irving Berlin built a song around this.
So I'm going to throw ought number three because nobody
back then knew what calee was.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
That's a recent reasoning.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I mean, it's it's not invented, but it's only recently
that we've developed a cultural taste for it. And while
I think the second answer is hilarious, I don't think
Irving Broklyn wrote a song about spinacher saying to hell
with it, So I think it's number one the first
day of Never.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Interesting. Well, this is this is a rare feat people.
I think I fooled Greg Plisko.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Ah, Greg.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
The full caption is.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
And look Emily New too, so there.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Like I mean, I think they I would have been
summarily fired, if not executed, if I didn't know the
answer to this one.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So fair point. It is.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yes, it's New Yorker history. In the in the cartoon,
the mother. It's actually a two part because they used
to have like so the mother said, niak oh. The
part that went viral is.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
The is the okay, fine Carrie.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Mother says it's broccoli, dear, and the daughter says, I
say it's spinish, and I say, the hell with it.
The cartoon, I'm glad it's still that works.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Hilarious.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I'm glad it's still works one hundred years later. The
cartoon was drawn by Carl Rose, captioned by E. V. White,
and apparently, according to my superficial research, broccoli was kind
of a newish broccoli was the kale of the day.
So the joke was this girl is like, I'm not
buying this new broccoli thing. It's just spinach. I say
(04:33):
it's spinach, and you know, so that was it, but yeah,
caused quite a sensation. Well, all of this is not
random information. This is all because our guest today is
the delightful Emily Flake, who happens to be a cartoonist
for The New Yorker. She's published hundreds of cartoons. She's
(04:54):
also had a great syndicated comic strip called Lulu eight Ball,
which you can buy in book four. She has a
a joke writing school for women and non binary people
called Saint Nell's and uh, and she's here with us
to talk puzzles and cartoons. Welcome Emily, Thank.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
You for having me.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
I should uh like Okay, so school is not entirely
like would be wouldn't it.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
Be hilarious if I ran a hole Hogwarts for jokes?
That is my plan someday.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
Right now, it's a residency program with very little in
the way of instruction, but yeah, hopefully someday it's a
it's a whole ass pre k through university.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, you can get your doctorate for.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
Your funniest babies. The Saint Nell's website is s t
N E l l s dot com.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
All right, well, with all of that, I'm just gonna
turn it over to Greg because he's the puzzle.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I do have a puzzle. We're gonna play charades now.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
We're going to play in the original French fashion, which
was clue. They would break the words into pieces, but
they would clue them with more crosswords style clues instead
of doing it nonverbally.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Right, because obviously this is a.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Podcast, nonverbal charades would be fun for us and not
so fun for the people listening. So what I'll do
is split a worder phrase into parts and give you
a clue to each part, and then you sort of
put them together sounded out to get the complete word
or phrase. So, for example, if I said actress Thompson
Watson or Stone, and it might fall from a tree
(06:41):
in Fall, okay, and her on Ontario, Michigan area or
Superior Superior, you would have three parts, so the actress Thompson,
Watson or Stone would be The thing that falls from
a tree in the fall is a lea.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
It's a leaf.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
And those five things I mentioned, each of them is
a lake. And you put them all together, you figured
it out.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
What is it?
Speaker 5 (07:08):
I'm on Emily Leaf Lake, Emily Lake exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
So that's how this works.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Now, since you're not only a regular New Yorker cartoonist
but also, as agent mentioned, the creator of the comic
Lulu eight Ball, every answer today is a famous comic.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
Strip ooh okay, Oh I'm gonna okay, let's do it.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Well.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
The good thing is AJ hasn't looked at these, So
you've got a phone, a friend if you want someone
to help. But and also the good thing, like with
all good puzzles. They're two ways in either you have
to think of famous comic strips or you just have
to answer the two clues and put them together.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And get one.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Okay, all right, So.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
The first one is seaside sand Mounds. Okay, Part one
and part two is blue straw or rasp. Oh, look
at that. This is really a hard puzzle. I'm you
struggled with that one. Yes, dunes and Barry giving you Dunesberry.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
All right.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Here's your next one, Edgar Allen plus the monopoly starting
space po po and go Edgar Allan Poe and do
not pass go, yes, go, all right?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Another one.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
This is also two parts Frontiersman Daniel and to reveal
someone's address on the Internet, Boon Docks boone docks. Yes,
very good, of course, Daniel Boone And to docks someone,
it's Boon Dock all right.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
All right. This one's three parts.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Three parts Part one Flower, part two, Noblemen, and part
three entertainment.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
TV channel h a little harder. These clothes are a
little more vague, so tame a TV channel.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
The flower could be both a noun it is this
is a flower, but also could be two flower.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Oh Bloom County bloom County.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yes, well done, the.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Bloom plus account plus the E which is the TV
and wait, which one is.
Speaker 6 (09:19):
As a baker. My first thought was flower the baking angry?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Oh, very good, good point. This is audio and no
one else can see my script except me.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
You would never know. Yeah, how I was spelling.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Now, Lulu eight ball has been has been anthologized into books, right.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
It has.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah, And that was a strip that I did, I
want to say, from twenty and one to twenty sixteen,
and it ran in.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
A handful of all weeklies.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
It started in the Baltimore City Paper and I think
at its peak it was in maybe like ten or
twelve all weeklies. But I don't want to shock your listeners,
but all weeklies have taken a.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
Real hit in the past, the past couple of decades.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
So most of them are dead, which is very sad
because all weeklies were really, like, you know, the lifeblood
of my existence when I was younger, and I missed
them very much.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Was your thing in It was LULUW eight ball in
the Phoenix in Boston.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Do you know that one? It was in the Dig
Dig Okay, so many great? Yeah, I agree, so many great.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
That's where when I went to a new town, I
used to pick up the Alt Weekly right on What's.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Cool, like like really really well considered local reporting. Uh
you know, good cartoons, the listings of what was going on,
you know, miss connections.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
If you were vain enough to check those every week.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yes, who wasn't.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Absolutely it was like, am I the guy who was
on the number twelve bus with the T shirt?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Maybe?
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
That was me?
Speaker 4 (10:49):
That's all right, let's do another one of these charades. Also,
this is three parts. Part one identifying finger marks or
finger marks used for identification silicon blank and picnic pest.
Speaker 6 (11:13):
Hmm, so and you can Prince Valiant.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
I was gonna say, you can give us each element
and we'll piece it together.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
But you got it.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Finger Prince, Silicon valley and ant for Prince Valiant.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
That's a throwback Prince Value.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Yeah, all right, this is this was actually in a
bunch of all weeklies, this comic strip fib plus Fish
part Life in Hell. Hello, well hello, and yes, what
was my last clue going to be?
Speaker 3 (11:44):
No, No, that's good, that's good.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
And then I was going to say French fashion magazine
Life in Hell, Life in Hell, which.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
Was by Matt Greening Matt Groening, who.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Went on to fame and fortune with The Simpsons. But
life in Hell was I used to read that in
village voice. That's where they're right all the time. All right,
This one is four parts, four parts, like a match
or a fire. Famous overture William leg Joint and speaking
(12:20):
of Matt Granning, Simpson's bartender little Nemo.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Woof, look at that. You want to piece that together
a little bit? So like a matter of fire?
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Is is what famous overture William is tell leg Joint
is me and the Simpsons bartender is little Nemo?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And what's that one? I don't know that one either.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
Oh man, that is a strip that ran, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
It's like we're talking like one hundred and twenty eight
years ago. Windsor McKay. These beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like giant
Sunday broadsides, I mean, true works of art, Like I
have one of the collections that's like the big, you know,
side size, and it's just it's such a glorious universe.
Like I just I wish I could just sort of
(13:07):
like make myself do two dimensional and live there.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
It was a little like absurdist. Would that be the
right way to describe.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
Yeah, because it's all based in a dream world, so
it's all very surrealistic and like that, you know, just
like Banana's imagery, and then you know he kind of
waits up at the end of every strip and yeah,
it's it's because it's the Adventures of Little Nemo and Slumber. Yes,
it's actually and yeah, which you know, like that would
be a fun one to try to put.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Yeah, that's why I backed off of that.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
I was a right Windsor McKay also known for Gerdie
the Dinosaur, which is in film or short film that
that people might be familiar with. And what was this
other thing, Diary of a rare Bit Fiend or something.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Yes, yeah, diary which also sort of focused on dreams
because apparently if you eat too much Welsh rare bit
before bed, you'll you'll have that young you'll mess up
your whole dream situation.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
So you know, that's a that's a vice. I've had
to let go of Welsh rare Bit.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
There you go, all right, This is the last one.
This one is five parts. Five parts Part one, Flood Barrier,
Part two, Rugrats Dad, Part three, Light Bulb Power Unit,
Part four Twist and blank and part five Roman I Vy.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
There's a tough one that is flood.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Barrier, not a damn but a the thing the kid
puts his finger in. And amster and the rugrats the
dad and rugrats. I don't Also I'm famous. This is
including crosswords, a different ways.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
To watch out for.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
There you go the character and what is the light
bulb power, twist and shout and of the Roman ivy
is four dikes to watch out for.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
Okay, that's a spicy one.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, yeah, what would you like to you know, be
a little spicy here on the puzzle?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So that is Alison Bechtel of the famous Bechtail test right.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
That was her great great stress takes the one hero.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
By the way, speaking of puzzles and cartoons, just yesterday
I was at my mom's house and she had a
book called Drudels from my childhood? Do you know Drudels?
Speaker 5 (15:33):
I it rings a bell, but I feel like it
would be very much in my wheelhouse, I think.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I mean it is from the nineteen fifties, so it
was even before me. And they were visual riddles, so
you would have like a page with a bunch of
little circles all next to each other, and then you
would have to come up with the caption, and they
would provide their own caps, and which were like tracks
(16:03):
left by a pogo parade that's cute, or a flying
sauc or traffic jam or bagels with their holes stolen.
So I just thought, and they're so creative. I think
that those need a comeback.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
The drudles, Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, somebody can bring back droodles
and snigglets in the same newspaper column and.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
That like we talked, Yeah, we did a snigglet segment
like a few months ago.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
They were a big, huge fan of snigglets as a kid.
If if you couldn't already have figured, we hadn't guessed right, Yeah,
and you didn't know my favorite book as a child
was called Joy of Blecks.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Exactly.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Just the other day I was talking about how my
favorite book was a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms stolen
from me in sixth grade.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
Wasn't it fun to not have friends?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Exactly?
Speaker 4 (16:57):
But we had wonderful books, so it was great.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Correct, Do you have an extra credit for the folks?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I do have an extra credit. This is a two
part one. The part one is ball blank hammer and
part two is three letters snack food brand. And I
want to admit that the snack food brand is more
common in the northeast or the eastern part of the country.
It's also the title of a Bruce Chatwin book. I'm
(17:26):
not sure that's a maybe people in the West have
read the Bruce Chatwin book and they don't know the
pretzel and snack food brand.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
But anyway, two parts also iconic logo mascot. Who looks
as though this mascot would be married to another snack
brand mascot?
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Oh, yes, who would it be married to?
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Looks like a possible spouse for either the pringles Man
or the Natty bow logo.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
That's true because she's got a bow.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
A bow tie. Yeah that's a lovely That's a lovely said.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
A little bit of an orphan Annie Betty Boop kind
of you know, if they had a baby.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
This is what it would look like.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Yeah, she would look like so okay, good. Well, there's
one hundred thousand clues for the snack food brand. Hopefully
you can come up with the also iconic comics.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Very obscure clues, but there they are. Well, thank you, Emily,
you did great you round snap puzzle, and we get
you for one more time. And folks, if you want more,
even more puzzling content, then we have a Instagram feed
at Hello Puzzlers, where we have original visual puzzles and
(18:41):
all sorts of other goodies. And of course we will
see you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles. Then will
puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 7 (18:54):
Hey puzzlers, it's Chief Puzzle Officer Greg plus go once
again with the extra credit answer from our previous episode.
The lovely, wonderful, smart, talented, funny and great fun Emily
Flake joined us and AJ gave her a game where
every answer is two words, where the second word deletes
one letter from the first word.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
We called the game Flake's Flack. I believe his clue
for you was what you shout at someone to get out?
Or maybe he said when you shout at someone to
get out. Anyway, that was your clue.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
The answer is
Speaker 7 (19:30):
Scream scram, So we're not screaming scram, we're yelling stay
and play some more puzzles with us next time.
Hello puzzlers. Before we start puzzling today, I wanted to
let you know we are cooking up some big plans
for the puzzler community, and in order to ensure that
it's what you want, we need your input. So we've
put together a short survey, which you can find in
the show notes. It's really quick, just three minutes, but
(00:22):
it will be a huge help in letting us know
what you want so that we can deliver just that.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you, Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a little warm
up puzzle. Our guest today is a cartoonist for The
New Yorker, now the New Yorker magazine probably the most
famous publisher of cartoons on Plan Earth. And I just
read a little history of New Yorker cartoons in preparation. Apparently,
(00:50):
the first New Yorker cartoon to go viral was published
in nineteen twenty eight. They didn't have the word viral then.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
At least they had viruses.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, viruses, but not memes. This cartoon became a sensation.
Irving Berlin wrote a song based on it. It was
a catchphrase in books and shows. The cartoon shows a
mother at a table trying to convince her young daughter
to eat her vegetables. All right, So here's where the
(01:20):
puzzle comes in. What was the little girl saying in
the caption that caused such a sensation. Did she say A,
I will eat that zucchini on the first day of Never?
Or B I say it's spinach and I say the
hell with it? Or C what the frick is kale? Okay,
(01:43):
so those are the three. One of them is real,
is that I'll eat zucchini on the first day of never,
I say it's spinach, and I say, to hell the
hell with it? What the frick is kale? The answer,
the real caption, and more puzzling goodness after the break. Hello, Puzzlers,
(02:07):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, the sassy supporting animal
in your animated Disney puzzle movie. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs,
and I'm here, of course, with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Fliska.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Greg.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Before the break, we asked what was the caption in
the first viral New Yorker cartoon from nineteen twenty eight.
The cartoon shows a mother at a table trying to
convince her young daughter to eat her vegetables, and the
little girl is saying one of the three following statements.
He either said I will eat that zucchini on the
(02:41):
first day of Never, I say it's spinach, and I
say the hell with it, and see what the frick
is kale Ye.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Those are three terrifically written answers. But you also let
us know that Irving Berlin built a song around this.
So I'm going to throw ought number three because nobody
back then knew what calee was.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
That's a recent reasoning.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I mean, it's it's not invented, but it's only recently
that we've developed a cultural taste for it. And while
I think the second answer is hilarious, I don't think
Irving Broklyn wrote a song about spinacher saying to hell
with it, So I think it's number one the first
day of Never.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Interesting. Well, this is this is a rare feat people.
I think I fooled Greg Plisko.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Ah, Greg.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
The full caption is.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
And look Emily New too, so there.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Like I mean, I think they I would have been
summarily fired, if not executed, if I didn't know the
answer to this one.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So fair point. It is.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yes, it's New Yorker history. In the in the cartoon,
the mother. It's actually a two part because they used
to have like so the mother said, niak oh. The
part that went viral is.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
The is the okay, fine Carrie.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Mother says it's broccoli, dear, and the daughter says, I
say it's spinish, and I say, the hell with it.
The cartoon, I'm glad it's still that works.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Hilarious.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I'm glad it's still works one hundred years later. The
cartoon was drawn by Carl Rose, captioned by E. V. White,
and apparently, according to my superficial research, broccoli was kind
of a newish broccoli was the kale of the day.
So the joke was this girl is like, I'm not
buying this new broccoli thing. It's just spinach. I say
(04:33):
it's spinach, and you know, so that was it, but yeah,
caused quite a sensation. Well, all of this is not
random information. This is all because our guest today is
the delightful Emily Flake, who happens to be a cartoonist
for The New Yorker. She's published hundreds of cartoons. She's
(04:54):
also had a great syndicated comic strip called Lulu eight Ball,
which you can buy in book four. She has a
a joke writing school for women and non binary people
called Saint Nell's and uh, and she's here with us
to talk puzzles and cartoons. Welcome Emily, Thank.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
You for having me.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
I should uh like Okay, so school is not entirely
like would be wouldn't it.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
Be hilarious if I ran a hole Hogwarts for jokes?
That is my plan someday.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
Right now, it's a residency program with very little in
the way of instruction, but yeah, hopefully someday it's a
it's a whole ass pre k through university.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, you can get your doctorate for.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
Your funniest babies. The Saint Nell's website is s t
N E l l s dot com.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
All right, well, with all of that, I'm just gonna
turn it over to Greg because he's the puzzle.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I do have a puzzle. We're gonna play charades now.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
We're going to play in the original French fashion, which
was clue. They would break the words into pieces, but
they would clue them with more crosswords style clues instead
of doing it nonverbally.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Right, because obviously this is a.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Podcast, nonverbal charades would be fun for us and not
so fun for the people listening. So what I'll do
is split a worder phrase into parts and give you
a clue to each part, and then you sort of
put them together sounded out to get the complete word
or phrase. So, for example, if I said actress Thompson
Watson or Stone, and it might fall from a tree
(06:41):
in Fall, okay, and her on Ontario, Michigan area or
Superior Superior, you would have three parts, so the actress Thompson,
Watson or Stone would be The thing that falls from
a tree in the fall is a lea.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
It's a leaf.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
And those five things I mentioned, each of them is
a lake. And you put them all together, you figured
it out.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
What is it?
Speaker 5 (07:08):
I'm on Emily Leaf Lake, Emily Lake exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
So that's how this works.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Now, since you're not only a regular New Yorker cartoonist
but also, as agent mentioned, the creator of the comic
Lulu eight Ball, every answer today is a famous comic.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
Strip ooh okay, Oh I'm gonna okay, let's do it.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Well.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
The good thing is AJ hasn't looked at these, So
you've got a phone, a friend if you want someone
to help. But and also the good thing, like with
all good puzzles. They're two ways in either you have
to think of famous comic strips or you just have
to answer the two clues and put them together.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And get one.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Okay, all right, So.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
The first one is seaside sand Mounds. Okay, Part one
and part two is blue straw or rasp. Oh, look
at that. This is really a hard puzzle. I'm you
struggled with that one. Yes, dunes and Barry giving you Dunesberry.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
All right.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Here's your next one, Edgar Allen plus the monopoly starting
space po po and go Edgar Allan Poe and do
not pass go, yes, go, all right?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Another one.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
This is also two parts Frontiersman Daniel and to reveal
someone's address on the Internet, Boon Docks boone docks. Yes,
very good, of course, Daniel Boone And to docks someone,
it's Boon Dock all right.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
All right. This one's three parts.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Three parts Part one Flower, part two, Noblemen, and part
three entertainment.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
TV channel h a little harder. These clothes are a
little more vague, so tame a TV channel.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
The flower could be both a noun it is this
is a flower, but also could be two flower.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Oh Bloom County bloom County.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yes, well done, the.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Bloom plus account plus the E which is the TV
and wait, which one is.
Speaker 6 (09:19):
As a baker. My first thought was flower the baking angry?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Oh, very good, good point. This is audio and no
one else can see my script except me.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
You would never know. Yeah, how I was spelling.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Now, Lulu eight ball has been has been anthologized into books, right.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
It has.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah, And that was a strip that I did, I
want to say, from twenty and one to twenty sixteen,
and it ran in.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
A handful of all weeklies.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
It started in the Baltimore City Paper and I think
at its peak it was in maybe like ten or
twelve all weeklies. But I don't want to shock your listeners,
but all weeklies have taken a.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
Real hit in the past, the past couple of decades.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
So most of them are dead, which is very sad
because all weeklies were really, like, you know, the lifeblood
of my existence when I was younger, and I missed
them very much.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Was your thing in It was LULUW eight ball in
the Phoenix in Boston.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Do you know that one? It was in the Dig
Dig Okay, so many great? Yeah, I agree, so many great.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
That's where when I went to a new town, I
used to pick up the Alt Weekly right on What's.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Cool, like like really really well considered local reporting. Uh
you know, good cartoons, the listings of what was going on,
you know, miss connections.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
If you were vain enough to check those every week.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yes, who wasn't.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Absolutely it was like, am I the guy who was
on the number twelve bus with the T shirt?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Maybe?
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
That was me?
Speaker 4 (10:49):
That's all right, let's do another one of these charades. Also,
this is three parts. Part one identifying finger marks or
finger marks used for identification silicon blank and picnic pest.
Speaker 6 (11:13):
Hmm, so and you can Prince Valiant.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
I was gonna say, you can give us each element
and we'll piece it together.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
But you got it.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Finger Prince, Silicon valley and ant for Prince Valiant.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
That's a throwback Prince Value.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Yeah, all right, this is this was actually in a
bunch of all weeklies, this comic strip fib plus Fish
part Life in Hell. Hello, well hello, and yes, what
was my last clue going to be?
Speaker 3 (11:44):
No, No, that's good, that's good.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
And then I was going to say French fashion magazine
Life in Hell, Life in Hell, which.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
Was by Matt Greening Matt Groening, who.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Went on to fame and fortune with The Simpsons. But
life in Hell was I used to read that in
village voice. That's where they're right all the time. All right,
This one is four parts, four parts, like a match
or a fire. Famous overture William leg Joint and speaking
(12:20):
of Matt Granning, Simpson's bartender little Nemo.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Woof, look at that. You want to piece that together
a little bit? So like a matter of fire?
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Is is what famous overture William is tell leg Joint
is me and the Simpsons bartender is little Nemo?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And what's that one? I don't know that one either.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
Oh man, that is a strip that ran, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
It's like we're talking like one hundred and twenty eight
years ago. Windsor McKay. These beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like giant
Sunday broadsides, I mean, true works of art, Like I
have one of the collections that's like the big, you know,
side size, and it's just it's such a glorious universe.
Like I just I wish I could just sort of
(13:07):
like make myself do two dimensional and live there.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
It was a little like absurdist. Would that be the
right way to describe.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
Yeah, because it's all based in a dream world, so
it's all very surrealistic and like that, you know, just
like Banana's imagery, and then you know he kind of
waits up at the end of every strip and yeah,
it's it's because it's the Adventures of Little Nemo and Slumber. Yes,
it's actually and yeah, which you know, like that would
be a fun one to try to put.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Yeah, that's why I backed off of that.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
I was a right Windsor McKay also known for Gerdie
the Dinosaur, which is in film or short film that
that people might be familiar with. And what was this
other thing, Diary of a rare Bit Fiend or something.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Yes, yeah, diary which also sort of focused on dreams
because apparently if you eat too much Welsh rare bit
before bed, you'll you'll have that young you'll mess up
your whole dream situation.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
So you know, that's a that's a vice. I've had
to let go of Welsh rare Bit.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
There you go, all right, This is the last one.
This one is five parts. Five parts Part one, Flood Barrier,
Part two, Rugrats Dad, Part three, Light Bulb Power Unit,
Part four Twist and blank and part five Roman I Vy.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
There's a tough one that is flood.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Barrier, not a damn but a the thing the kid
puts his finger in. And amster and the rugrats the
dad and rugrats. I don't Also I'm famous. This is
including crosswords, a different ways.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
To watch out for.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
There you go the character and what is the light
bulb power, twist and shout and of the Roman ivy
is four dikes to watch out for.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
Okay, that's a spicy one.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, yeah, what would you like to you know, be
a little spicy here on the puzzle?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So that is Alison Bechtel of the famous Bechtail test right.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
That was her great great stress takes the one hero.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
By the way, speaking of puzzles and cartoons, just yesterday
I was at my mom's house and she had a
book called Drudels from my childhood? Do you know Drudels?
Speaker 5 (15:33):
I it rings a bell, but I feel like it
would be very much in my wheelhouse, I think.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I mean it is from the nineteen fifties, so it
was even before me. And they were visual riddles, so
you would have like a page with a bunch of
little circles all next to each other, and then you
would have to come up with the caption, and they
would provide their own caps, and which were like tracks
(16:03):
left by a pogo parade that's cute, or a flying
sauc or traffic jam or bagels with their holes stolen.
So I just thought, and they're so creative. I think
that those need a comeback.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
The drudles, Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, somebody can bring back droodles
and snigglets in the same newspaper column and.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
That like we talked, Yeah, we did a snigglet segment
like a few months ago.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
They were a big, huge fan of snigglets as a kid.
If if you couldn't already have figured, we hadn't guessed right, Yeah,
and you didn't know my favorite book as a child
was called Joy of Blecks.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Exactly.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Just the other day I was talking about how my
favorite book was a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms stolen
from me in sixth grade.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
Wasn't it fun to not have friends?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Exactly?
Speaker 4 (16:57):
But we had wonderful books, so it was great.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Correct, Do you have an extra credit for the folks?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I do have an extra credit. This is a two
part one. The part one is ball blank hammer and
part two is three letters snack food brand. And I
want to admit that the snack food brand is more
common in the northeast or the eastern part of the country.
It's also the title of a Bruce Chatwin book. I'm
(17:26):
not sure that's a maybe people in the West have
read the Bruce Chatwin book and they don't know the
pretzel and snack food brand.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
But anyway, two parts also iconic logo mascot. Who looks
as though this mascot would be married to another snack
brand mascot?
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Oh, yes, who would it be married to?
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Looks like a possible spouse for either the pringles Man
or the Natty bow logo.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
That's true because she's got a bow.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
A bow tie. Yeah that's a lovely That's a lovely said.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
A little bit of an orphan Annie Betty Boop kind
of you know, if they had a baby.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
This is what it would look like.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Yeah, she would look like so okay, good. Well, there's
one hundred thousand clues for the snack food brand. Hopefully
you can come up with the also iconic comics.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Very obscure clues, but there they are. Well, thank you, Emily,
you did great you round snap puzzle, and we get
you for one more time. And folks, if you want more,
even more puzzling content, then we have a Instagram feed
at Hello Puzzlers, where we have original visual puzzles and
(18:41):
all sorts of other goodies. And of course we will
see you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles. Then will
puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 7 (18:54):
Hey puzzlers, it's Chief Puzzle Officer Greg plus go once
again with the extra credit answer from our previous episode.
The lovely, wonderful, smart, talented, funny and great fun Emily
Flake joined us and AJ gave her a game where
every answer is two words, where the second word deletes
one letter from the first word.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
We called the game Flake's Flack. I believe his clue
for you was what you shout at someone to get out?
Or maybe he said when you shout at someone to
get out. Anyway, that was your clue.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
The answer is
Speaker 7 (19:30):
Scream scram, So we're not screaming scram, we're yelling stay
and play some more puzzles with us next time.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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