July 3, 2025 • 20 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! 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.
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. Perhaps you
are listening this morning while eating your breakfast. Well, I
have a breakfast related question for you. And the question
is what is the most popular cereal named after hard liquor?
The most popular brand of cereal named after booze? Highly
(00:25):
alcoholic booze. Kellogg's does not have a vodka cereal or
a tequila cereal, but it does have this. The answer
and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers, welcome
back to the Puzzler podcast. The Wetstone on which to
(00:46):
sharpen your puzzle Cleaver, Thank you, Andrea, Senior Puzzler, excellent.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I of course heard wetstone, w et, and I was
waiting to see where the wetstone in your Japanese garden
or something. I didn't know what them.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yes, I'm sorry I should have said wet wheatstone on
which to sharpen your puzzle cleaver. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs.
I'm here, of course, the Chief's Officer, Greg Pliska. Greg.
Before the break, we asked listeners to name the most
popular brand of cereal named after a hard liquor. Any
thoughts are there?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
More than just one. Is there like a super unpopular one.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Well, that's a great question. I looked, I could only
find one. Yeah, but I'll tell you my runner up,
ok after, but I'm guessing.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, I'm guessing the number one is going to be apple.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Jacks, exactly apple Jacks, which has the same name as
apple jack, a type of brandy made from apples forty
percent alcohol. A big favorite of George Washington's Big and
Colonial Times.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
And the cereal or the drink.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I think the cereal was a little two hundred years later, Okay,
but he probably would have liked that. They're delicious. I
just love that there's a kid cereal that has this
boozy name. Apparently applejacks were originally called Applo's, but maybe
to appeal to liquor loving parents. So the only runner
up I could find, and maybe listeners or you can
(02:14):
think of as honey smacks, which is not an alcohol,
but it sounds a bit like hard drugs.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Like heroine smack.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Okay, remember when it was called sugar snacks when we
were Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I love that they've changed that to kind of sneak it.
You know, it's not sugary, parents, it's honey. Oh.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's healthy. Yeah, it's healthy and natural. It is just Yes,
you'll live forever if you feed.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I wonder if there's a rum raisin flavored cereal out there.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Oh, that's a question.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You know, that's a flavor that's got alcohol in it
but passes for ice cream flavor.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Certainly, sure, exactly, all right, Well, let us know if
you have or want are inventing a rum raisin flavor.
But that has absolutely nothing to do with our puzzles today. Okay, good,
but we do have puzzles. I've got one for Greg
and he's got one for me. So I'm going to
start by giving a puzzle to Greg and Andrea jump
(03:09):
in if you have thoughts. This puzzle is called three
of a Kind. Now, Greg, you know that we've done
some homograph puzzles on the show. Homograph words that are
spelled the same but have different meanings, like fast and fast,
so a quick period of not eating. The answer is
fast fast or I actually have another double for you
(03:29):
that I don't think we've done. Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Hey? I am Claude Monett. I am a painter of
water lilies. Now I'm Edgar Dega, and I paint ballet dancers.
Thank you for appreciating mine.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It's an expressionist impressionist impressionist impressionist.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Exactly impressionist impressionist.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Thanks that was nice, well done. Well, I actually thought
the actual Claude Monet was here with us.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It happens often understandable. All right, Well, this puzzle is
similar to those puzzles, but it's fifty percent bigger.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
It is three.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Words identically spelled instead of two. Three different meanings of
an identically spelled word. For instance, if the clue were
a leap into a small body of water in March,
April or May, that answer might be.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
A spring spring spring.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Exactly, a spring spring spring. And as always with these,
there's a little bit of suspension of disbelief. Not all
of these are gonna happen, be based in possible.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's possible. I would have a little spring spring spring
would be nice.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Actually, this one, actually, this next one is possible. Are
you ready a so so but equitable festival?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Oh? Yeah, that this is more of a summer thing.
It's a fair fair fair, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
A fair fair fair, a fair so so equitable fair
and festival fair. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
All right?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
How about this one's a little more in the fictional side.
A sports shirt from Atlantic City for a breed of
dairy cows.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Now, why are you saying that's not possible. I've seen
them in Atlantic City, just outside in the farmland. That
would be a Jersey Jersey jersey.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
A Jersey Jersey jersey from New Jersey, a sports shirt
of a jersey and dairy cows is a breed of cattle.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
And you know, I pulled it up and according to Wikipedia,
jersey fabric, which is where the jersey that you wear
comes from, originated in the Channel Islands, particularly on the
Island of Jersey.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Interesting, Okay, I like that. I wonder if you could
like have a whole wardrobe of geographical clothes.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You know that both denim and jeans are placed terms geography.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Denim comes from Dnim. Uh, and gene comes from Genoa.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Oh wait, Dnim, I don't know, meme and I and
I am so of need yes exactly. Oh okay, love it.
So you're very sophisticated.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You could have a Panama hat. There's a world.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Might be a puzzle in the future. Uh. I'm going
to continue with a couple more. A loud noise made
during a tennis equipment scam.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, well that's you know when Andre his you know,
using a fake implement and somebody yells about it. It's
a racket, racket.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Racket exactly, a racket rat and racket can be spelled
with a queue, but it can also be spelled just
R A C K.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I think that's how we normally spell it, isn't it tennis?
Maybe not?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
That's yeah here in America certainly, certainly. How let me
continue with the scam theme for a moment. The downside
of a felon's scam, A scam perpetrated by a felon
has a downside. It might be a.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
A so you'll get for the slang term for someone
who's incarcerated, I think, and yeah, a CON's con con con.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Con con con that's I think they have that in
San Diego every couple of years.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, I was gonna say, you could have used also
con in the sense of convention. It could be a
conn gathering of the incarceras, you know, the felons who
pull off these scams, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We have got it. Yeah, we've got to ratchet it
up to quadruple for the next next puzzle. But this puzzle.
I'm gonna stick with the trip. Okay, I got a
couple more. We got an undercover agent at a factory
for vegetation.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You know, it's almost it's oxymoronic factories Like vegetation grows naturally,
isn't made in factories.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Ah, lab grown meat. There's must be lab grown plants.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That's not a factory. Maybe soilent green, soilent green, made
in factory.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
You go, plant material.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
This is a plant, plant plant as you.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Exactly the plant slant slant. All right, couple more we've
got going back to the theme of the intro. This is
an outstanding witticism about rock cocaine, outstanding witticism about rock.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Nice. I love that this word has so many different meanings,
and you probably could have come up with a fourth
or fifth to go with this one totally. It's the
slang term for that cocaine.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
It's a crack crack crack.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
That's right, like crack. You're a crackerjack crack.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, crack meaning aces really you know, really good at something, right,
I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
All Right, We're gonna do you know what, I'm gonna
stick with that theme for our penulpinate one. Which is
to secretly take away a ghost's liquor. Two secretly.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Back to apple Jack's again. That's right. Yeah, a ghosts
liquor to secretly take away to to Oh that's interesting.
Ghosts liquor. That feels like the way in right there,
A liquor. That's also the name for a ghost. Oh,
got it, got it, got it, got it? Yea, I
was I was thinking too specific. It's a general term
(09:45):
for liquor. This is to spirit a spirit.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Spirit, that's right, spirit spirit, spirit, wonderful. Well, you are
on fire all right. Last one, yep. A convoluted collection
of buildings where they neurotic tendencies. They convoluted collection of
buildings where they study neurotic I.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Think that's the psychiatric hospital right down the street. No
collection of buildings where they study what do they study? What?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Neurotic tendencies? Sort of an old sixties word for a
Freudian I.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Feel quirks hang ups. A convoluted collection of buildings, yep.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, it's sort of like you've got an office building,
but you've also got an office park. Yeah, park park.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Complex, complex complex.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You nailed it right, Like the complex you've got into
a complex about your father, you might have me. No,
we all have completely healthy relationships. Oh, actually, this one
I was going to do. Because you're a music guy,
A monetary penalty for missing the end of a music
piece is a fine fine genee.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, but those aren't really harmographs, are they.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
They are hormographs. They're just pronounced because homographs just means
spelled this.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Okay, got it, So the pronunciation change right?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
All right, we'll give it an extra credit right now.
An improvisational musical performance about a traffic snarl caused by
spilled fruit spread An improvisational musical performance, I mean that
could happen.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I think I've done one of those.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I felt that you are a talented musician. All right,
Well that's it for me. But Greg, you have one
that you are ready to stump me.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I do, I do have one for you. According to
the Old Farmer's Almanac, today July third is the beginning
of the dog days of summer.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Mmm, right, and where does that term come from?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Well, I was gonna ask if you knew that it
comes from the dog star serious the brightest star in
the night sky. The Greeks, the Romans, and the Egyptians
all noticed that the hotter days of the year coincided
with when that star was rising at dawn.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Interesting, is there any truth to that scientifically or it's
just hokum?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Well it is. The timing is true. They believed that
sometimes believed that the extra heat from that star caused
the hot, hotter days of summer. That's, of course totally bunk.
That star is way too far away to have any
effect on our planet. Got it. Okay, it's kind of like,
you know, sometimes people explain astrology because of the gravitational
(12:43):
pull of the planets, the position of the planets when
you're born. And I read a great book that said,
you know, the gravitational pull of the obstetrician is greater
than the pull of the planets.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I love that. So it's all about the weight of
your obstetrician affects your personality.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yes, that's it. What zodiac the obstetrician.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Okay, well that's fascinating.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, we have the dog days? Well right, so this
is the dog days are beginning, And I thought, you know,
we have a lot of English idioms that use dog
in them, so I thought I'd just do a quick
quiz about these. Every answer is an English idiom. That
uses dog in some way, and I'll just give you
a definition of it. For example, I might say curing
(13:28):
a hangover by drinking more.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Right, the hair of the dog, the hair.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Of the dog that bit you, right, right, hair of
the dog. Right?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Okay, So can I call in my our senior puzzler, Andrea,
who absolutely who does not have a dog, but she
does sometimes look after our dog, so I feel that
she's very qualified aute.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
But you know, no actual relationship to dogs is necessary
to solve this puzzle. Okay, all right, So here's this.
Next one is saying that means a threatening person rarely
does any harm.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Wow, a threatening person oh bark no all bark, no bite.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, basically, or a barking dog never bites. His bark
is worse than his bite. All of those in that category.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah okay, phew, I was thrown for a minute.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
How about even the least fortunate person will have success
at some point?
Speaker 1 (14:20):
I like that every dog has its day, yep, very good,
dog has its day.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
How about a society characterized by ruthless competition?
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Okay, I think I do know it. It is a
dog eat dog.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
World, exactly, very good, very good. And I wonder if
in a dog eat dog world, does every dog.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Have its day when they're eating the other dog.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
As long as they're getting Yeah, as long as you're
eating that being, what do you have accepted? Because I
feel like that's a common mishearing of that term. That
phrase is doggy dog world. Just which sounds a doggy
dog world? Nic, sir, Yeah, that sounds like a playground nearby.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I want to live in a doggy dog world, but
not a dog eat dog world.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Right, all right? If you spend time with bad people,
you'll end up with a bad fate.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Oh I don't think I know this, So I'm very
happy it's Andrea as well.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, fortunate for me. I mean, I just I think
about it. Feels like there should be something to do
with bad apples, bad dogs, bad dogs, rolling with a
bad dog crowd. I'll give you the definition slightly different.
If you spend time with bad people, their badness might
rub off on you.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Doesn't help me, but I'm hoping it helps on. Bad
dog gives you its sent I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I don't know the first half is you lie down
with dogs?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Ah, Okay, I.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Still I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So Aja, you take this one something. If you lie
down with dogs, you're going to catch fleas.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
You get up with fleas? Yeah, get up? All right?
All right, here's this should be an easier one. People
don't like to change their routines.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
All right, people don't. Oh, you cannot teach an old
dog nutrient. There you go, right, very negative, very negative.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Don't agree, don't agree, all right, Andrea. This one means
leave well enough alone.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yes, there you go, I know that one. Aj Why
do something that someone else is paid to do?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Oh? Okay, why sniff your own butt? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
No, this is great. It's why keep a dog and
bark yourself?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Oh? Interesting?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Okay, phrase, I love that. Why keep a dog and
bark yourself? All right, Andrea? This refers to being in
very showy clothes that attract negative attention.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Well again, I.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Think of a different animal.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I think of peacocky. Okay, I guess that's not that's
not for negative attention. I don't but I don't know
the dog related phraeze. This is dressed up like the
dog's dinner.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Interesting. Wait, what does it mean again.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
That you're in very showy clothes that get negative attention. Okay, Oh,
you're dressed up like the dog's dinner and you get
negative attention for that.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Lipstick on a pig is somewhat in the same area,
but maybe not.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Although lipstick on a pig is how do you make
something negative look better? This is right, great, but it
has the opposite effect. All right, two more, last two.
I guess this is you can both have this one
the time between dusk and dawn.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Oh, dusk and dawn the dog. Well that's you mentioned
dog days at the start, so but I'm guessing that's
not it.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And it's it's two animals in this one.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Oh the dog. I have no idea rooster the rooster
between between rooster and the dog.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Well, nice, guess it's between the dog and the wolf. Okay,
all right, and your last one kind of related is
very dark outside.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Oh so the opposite of a dog day of summer,
which is very bright and hot, very dark outside.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Would be that nighttime between the dog and the wolf.
It is so dark it is.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
The dark as a black dog. Okay, Wow, that's very
very poetic. It's shock that hasn't caught on. I don't
know either black or.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Black as a dog's guts so close.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
You were close, except for also, I'm not sure the
accuracy there.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I don't know. I mean, well, because you never no
light ever goes inside the dog's gut, right I see?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Okay, all right, fair enough. But if they are extracted,
then they are not play. But do you have an
extra credit?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I do have an extra credit. This is a term
that it means very happy and excited.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Mm okay, very happy and excited, which is what that
puzzle made me. So yes, I'm gonna I'm not even
gonna use like doggone or anything because they're too many.
They're too many. I'm just gonna say, thank you, Greg,
thank you, Andrea, thank you listeners. If you like the show,
check out our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers. We post
(19:40):
original puzzles, on visual puzzles, other fun stuff, and of
course we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles
that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Tig Puzzlers.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
It's Greg Pliska climbing up from the Puzzle Lab once
again to give you the extra credit answer. From our
previous app episode, Aleen brush McKenna joined us for some
Aleen brash a Grahams anagrams of her birth name Aleen
Brush A L I N E B R O s
H clued in fun ways, So your extra credit was
(20:15):
this clue. If you take your red breasted bird for
a walk, you need a blank blank. Of course, a
red breasted bird is a robin, and if you take
it for a walk, you need a leash. You need
a robin leash, which, of course anagrams to Aleen Brash.
Thank you Eleen for being so much fun to play,
especially on the anagram puzzle. We'll catch you all here
(20:37):
next time for some more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle
you puzzlingly
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. Perhaps you
are listening this morning while eating your breakfast. Well, I
have a breakfast related question for you. And the question
is what is the most popular cereal named after hard liquor?
The most popular brand of cereal named after booze? Highly
(00:25):
alcoholic booze. Kellogg's does not have a vodka cereal or
a tequila cereal, but it does have this. The answer
and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers, welcome
back to the Puzzler podcast. The Wetstone on which to
(00:46):
sharpen your puzzle Cleaver, Thank you, Andrea, Senior Puzzler, excellent.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I of course heard wetstone, w et, and I was
waiting to see where the wetstone in your Japanese garden
or something. I didn't know what them.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yes, I'm sorry I should have said wet wheatstone on
which to sharpen your puzzle cleaver. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs.
I'm here, of course, the Chief's Officer, Greg Pliska. Greg.
Before the break, we asked listeners to name the most
popular brand of cereal named after a hard liquor. Any
thoughts are there?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
More than just one. Is there like a super unpopular one.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Well, that's a great question. I looked, I could only
find one. Yeah, but I'll tell you my runner up,
ok after, but I'm guessing.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, I'm guessing the number one is going to be apple.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Jacks, exactly apple Jacks, which has the same name as
apple jack, a type of brandy made from apples forty
percent alcohol. A big favorite of George Washington's Big and
Colonial Times.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
And the cereal or the drink.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I think the cereal was a little two hundred years later, Okay,
but he probably would have liked that. They're delicious. I
just love that there's a kid cereal that has this
boozy name. Apparently applejacks were originally called Applo's, but maybe
to appeal to liquor loving parents. So the only runner
up I could find, and maybe listeners or you can
(02:14):
think of as honey smacks, which is not an alcohol,
but it sounds a bit like hard drugs.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Like heroine smack.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Okay, remember when it was called sugar snacks when we
were Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I love that they've changed that to kind of sneak it.
You know, it's not sugary, parents, it's honey. Oh.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's healthy. Yeah, it's healthy and natural. It is just Yes,
you'll live forever if you feed.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I wonder if there's a rum raisin flavored cereal out there.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Oh, that's a question.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You know, that's a flavor that's got alcohol in it
but passes for ice cream flavor.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Certainly, sure, exactly, all right, Well, let us know if
you have or want are inventing a rum raisin flavor.
But that has absolutely nothing to do with our puzzles today. Okay, good,
but we do have puzzles. I've got one for Greg
and he's got one for me. So I'm going to
start by giving a puzzle to Greg and Andrea jump
(03:09):
in if you have thoughts. This puzzle is called three
of a Kind. Now, Greg, you know that we've done
some homograph puzzles on the show. Homograph words that are
spelled the same but have different meanings, like fast and fast,
so a quick period of not eating. The answer is
fast fast or I actually have another double for you
(03:29):
that I don't think we've done. Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Hey? I am Claude Monett. I am a painter of
water lilies. Now I'm Edgar Dega, and I paint ballet dancers.
Thank you for appreciating mine.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It's an expressionist impressionist impressionist impressionist.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Exactly impressionist impressionist.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Thanks that was nice, well done. Well, I actually thought
the actual Claude Monet was here with us.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It happens often understandable. All right, Well, this puzzle is
similar to those puzzles, but it's fifty percent bigger.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
It is three.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Words identically spelled instead of two. Three different meanings of
an identically spelled word. For instance, if the clue were
a leap into a small body of water in March,
April or May, that answer might be.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
A spring spring spring.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Exactly, a spring spring spring. And as always with these,
there's a little bit of suspension of disbelief. Not all
of these are gonna happen, be based in possible.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's possible. I would have a little spring spring spring
would be nice.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Actually, this one, actually, this next one is possible. Are
you ready a so so but equitable festival?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Oh? Yeah, that this is more of a summer thing.
It's a fair fair fair, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
A fair fair fair, a fair so so equitable fair
and festival fair. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
All right?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
How about this one's a little more in the fictional side.
A sports shirt from Atlantic City for a breed of
dairy cows.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Now, why are you saying that's not possible. I've seen
them in Atlantic City, just outside in the farmland. That
would be a Jersey Jersey jersey.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
A Jersey Jersey jersey from New Jersey, a sports shirt
of a jersey and dairy cows is a breed of cattle.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
And you know, I pulled it up and according to Wikipedia,
jersey fabric, which is where the jersey that you wear
comes from, originated in the Channel Islands, particularly on the
Island of Jersey.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Interesting, Okay, I like that. I wonder if you could
like have a whole wardrobe of geographical clothes.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You know that both denim and jeans are placed terms geography.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Denim comes from Dnim. Uh, and gene comes from Genoa.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Oh wait, Dnim, I don't know, meme and I and
I am so of need yes exactly. Oh okay, love it.
So you're very sophisticated.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You could have a Panama hat. There's a world.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Might be a puzzle in the future. Uh. I'm going
to continue with a couple more. A loud noise made
during a tennis equipment scam.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, well that's you know when Andre his you know,
using a fake implement and somebody yells about it. It's
a racket, racket.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Racket exactly, a racket rat and racket can be spelled
with a queue, but it can also be spelled just
R A C K.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I think that's how we normally spell it, isn't it tennis?
Maybe not?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
That's yeah here in America certainly, certainly. How let me
continue with the scam theme for a moment. The downside
of a felon's scam, A scam perpetrated by a felon
has a downside. It might be a.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
A so you'll get for the slang term for someone
who's incarcerated, I think, and yeah, a CON's con con con.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Con con con that's I think they have that in
San Diego every couple of years.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, I was gonna say, you could have used also
con in the sense of convention. It could be a
conn gathering of the incarceras, you know, the felons who
pull off these scams, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We have got it. Yeah, we've got to ratchet it
up to quadruple for the next next puzzle. But this puzzle.
I'm gonna stick with the trip. Okay, I got a
couple more. We got an undercover agent at a factory
for vegetation.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You know, it's almost it's oxymoronic factories Like vegetation grows naturally,
isn't made in factories.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Ah, lab grown meat. There's must be lab grown plants.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That's not a factory. Maybe soilent green, soilent green, made
in factory.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
You go, plant material.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
This is a plant, plant plant as you.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Exactly the plant slant slant. All right, couple more we've
got going back to the theme of the intro. This is
an outstanding witticism about rock cocaine, outstanding witticism about rock.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Nice. I love that this word has so many different meanings,
and you probably could have come up with a fourth
or fifth to go with this one totally. It's the
slang term for that cocaine.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
It's a crack crack crack.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
That's right, like crack. You're a crackerjack crack.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, crack meaning aces really you know, really good at something, right,
I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
All Right, We're gonna do you know what, I'm gonna
stick with that theme for our penulpinate one. Which is
to secretly take away a ghost's liquor. Two secretly.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Back to apple Jack's again. That's right. Yeah, a ghosts
liquor to secretly take away to to Oh that's interesting.
Ghosts liquor. That feels like the way in right there,
A liquor. That's also the name for a ghost. Oh,
got it, got it, got it, got it? Yea, I
was I was thinking too specific. It's a general term
(09:45):
for liquor. This is to spirit a spirit.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Spirit, that's right, spirit spirit, spirit, wonderful. Well, you are
on fire all right. Last one, yep. A convoluted collection
of buildings where they neurotic tendencies. They convoluted collection of
buildings where they study neurotic I.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Think that's the psychiatric hospital right down the street. No
collection of buildings where they study what do they study? What?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Neurotic tendencies? Sort of an old sixties word for a
Freudian I.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Feel quirks hang ups. A convoluted collection of buildings, yep.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, it's sort of like you've got an office building,
but you've also got an office park. Yeah, park park.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Complex, complex complex.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You nailed it right, Like the complex you've got into
a complex about your father, you might have me. No,
we all have completely healthy relationships. Oh, actually, this one
I was going to do. Because you're a music guy,
A monetary penalty for missing the end of a music
piece is a fine fine genee.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, but those aren't really harmographs, are they.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
They are hormographs. They're just pronounced because homographs just means
spelled this.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Okay, got it, So the pronunciation change right?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
All right, we'll give it an extra credit right now.
An improvisational musical performance about a traffic snarl caused by
spilled fruit spread An improvisational musical performance, I mean that
could happen.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I think I've done one of those.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I felt that you are a talented musician. All right,
Well that's it for me. But Greg, you have one
that you are ready to stump me.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I do, I do have one for you. According to
the Old Farmer's Almanac, today July third is the beginning
of the dog days of summer.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Mmm, right, and where does that term come from?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Well, I was gonna ask if you knew that it
comes from the dog star serious the brightest star in
the night sky. The Greeks, the Romans, and the Egyptians
all noticed that the hotter days of the year coincided
with when that star was rising at dawn.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Interesting, is there any truth to that scientifically or it's
just hokum?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Well it is. The timing is true. They believed that
sometimes believed that the extra heat from that star caused
the hot, hotter days of summer. That's, of course totally bunk.
That star is way too far away to have any
effect on our planet. Got it. Okay, it's kind of like,
you know, sometimes people explain astrology because of the gravitational
(12:43):
pull of the planets, the position of the planets when
you're born. And I read a great book that said,
you know, the gravitational pull of the obstetrician is greater
than the pull of the planets.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I love that. So it's all about the weight of
your obstetrician affects your personality.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yes, that's it. What zodiac the obstetrician.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Okay, well that's fascinating.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, we have the dog days? Well right, so this
is the dog days are beginning, And I thought, you know,
we have a lot of English idioms that use dog
in them, so I thought I'd just do a quick
quiz about these. Every answer is an English idiom. That
uses dog in some way, and I'll just give you
a definition of it. For example, I might say curing
(13:28):
a hangover by drinking more.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Right, the hair of the dog, the hair.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Of the dog that bit you, right, right, hair of
the dog. Right?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Okay, So can I call in my our senior puzzler, Andrea,
who absolutely who does not have a dog, but she
does sometimes look after our dog, so I feel that
she's very qualified aute.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
But you know, no actual relationship to dogs is necessary
to solve this puzzle. Okay, all right, So here's this.
Next one is saying that means a threatening person rarely
does any harm.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Wow, a threatening person oh bark no all bark, no bite.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, basically, or a barking dog never bites. His bark
is worse than his bite. All of those in that category.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah okay, phew, I was thrown for a minute.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
How about even the least fortunate person will have success
at some point?
Speaker 1 (14:20):
I like that every dog has its day, yep, very good,
dog has its day.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
How about a society characterized by ruthless competition?
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Okay, I think I do know it. It is a
dog eat dog.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
World, exactly, very good, very good. And I wonder if
in a dog eat dog world, does every dog.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Have its day when they're eating the other dog.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
As long as they're getting Yeah, as long as you're
eating that being, what do you have accepted? Because I
feel like that's a common mishearing of that term. That
phrase is doggy dog world. Just which sounds a doggy
dog world? Nic, sir, Yeah, that sounds like a playground nearby.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I want to live in a doggy dog world, but
not a dog eat dog world.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Right, all right? If you spend time with bad people,
you'll end up with a bad fate.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Oh I don't think I know this, So I'm very
happy it's Andrea as well.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, fortunate for me. I mean, I just I think
about it. Feels like there should be something to do
with bad apples, bad dogs, bad dogs, rolling with a
bad dog crowd. I'll give you the definition slightly different.
If you spend time with bad people, their badness might
rub off on you.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Doesn't help me, but I'm hoping it helps on. Bad
dog gives you its sent I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I don't know the first half is you lie down
with dogs?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Ah, Okay, I.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Still I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So Aja, you take this one something. If you lie
down with dogs, you're going to catch fleas.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
You get up with fleas? Yeah, get up? All right?
All right, here's this should be an easier one. People
don't like to change their routines.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
All right, people don't. Oh, you cannot teach an old
dog nutrient. There you go, right, very negative, very negative.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Don't agree, don't agree, all right, Andrea. This one means
leave well enough alone.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yes, there you go, I know that one. Aj Why
do something that someone else is paid to do?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Oh? Okay, why sniff your own butt? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
No, this is great. It's why keep a dog and
bark yourself?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Oh? Interesting?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Okay, phrase, I love that. Why keep a dog and
bark yourself? All right, Andrea? This refers to being in
very showy clothes that attract negative attention.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Well again, I.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Think of a different animal.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I think of peacocky. Okay, I guess that's not that's
not for negative attention. I don't but I don't know
the dog related phraeze. This is dressed up like the
dog's dinner.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Interesting. Wait, what does it mean again.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
That you're in very showy clothes that get negative attention. Okay, Oh,
you're dressed up like the dog's dinner and you get
negative attention for that.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Lipstick on a pig is somewhat in the same area,
but maybe not.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Although lipstick on a pig is how do you make
something negative look better? This is right, great, but it
has the opposite effect. All right, two more, last two.
I guess this is you can both have this one
the time between dusk and dawn.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Oh, dusk and dawn the dog. Well that's you mentioned
dog days at the start, so but I'm guessing that's
not it.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And it's it's two animals in this one.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Oh the dog. I have no idea rooster the rooster
between between rooster and the dog.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Well, nice, guess it's between the dog and the wolf. Okay,
all right, and your last one kind of related is
very dark outside.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Oh so the opposite of a dog day of summer,
which is very bright and hot, very dark outside.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Would be that nighttime between the dog and the wolf.
It is so dark it is.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
The dark as a black dog. Okay, Wow, that's very
very poetic. It's shock that hasn't caught on. I don't
know either black or.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Black as a dog's guts so close.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
You were close, except for also, I'm not sure the
accuracy there.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I don't know. I mean, well, because you never no
light ever goes inside the dog's gut, right I see?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Okay, all right, fair enough. But if they are extracted,
then they are not play. But do you have an
extra credit?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I do have an extra credit. This is a term
that it means very happy and excited.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Mm okay, very happy and excited, which is what that
puzzle made me. So yes, I'm gonna I'm not even
gonna use like doggone or anything because they're too many.
They're too many. I'm just gonna say, thank you, Greg,
thank you, Andrea, thank you listeners. If you like the show,
check out our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers. We post
(19:40):
original puzzles, on visual puzzles, other fun stuff, and of
course we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles
that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Tig Puzzlers.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
It's Greg Pliska climbing up from the Puzzle Lab once
again to give you the extra credit answer. From our
previous app episode, Aleen brush McKenna joined us for some
Aleen brash a Grahams anagrams of her birth name Aleen
Brush A L I N E B R O s
H clued in fun ways, So your extra credit was
(20:15):
this clue. If you take your red breasted bird for
a walk, you need a blank blank. Of course, a
red breasted bird is a robin, and if you take
it for a walk, you need a leash. You need
a robin leash, which, of course anagrams to Aleen Brash.
Thank you Eleen for being so much fun to play,
especially on the anagram puzzle. We'll catch you all here
(20:37):
next time for some more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle
you puzzlingly
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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