May 15, 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 (00:01):
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. Is Rhode
Island an island? Actually, I'm going to give you the answer.
The answer is no. And also yes, there is an
island in the state of Rhode Island called Rhode Island,
but the vast majority of the state of Rhode Island
is on the mainland of the US. Now, the name
(00:23):
Rhode Island as a state made a little more sense
in the past when it was called Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations. But a few years ago the Providence Plantation's
part was dropped for obvious reasons, and now the state
is officially just Rhode Island to spot despite not being
(00:43):
an island. So here's part two of the puzzle, where
you come in. What other so called islands are not islands.
I'm not talking about metaphorical islands like islands of Sanity.
I'm talking geographical places named island that are not surrounded
by water. Here's a hint. One famous non island island
(01:05):
is known for its ferris wheel, whitefish, and excessive Frankfurter consumption.
The answers and more puzzling puzzles after the break, Hello puzzlers,
(01:26):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, the Jangling key ring
hanging from your super Puzzled belt. I'm your host, Ady Jacobson.
I'm here with of course, cheaper Puzzle offser Greg Bliska, Hello,
Hello Greg Greg. Before the break, we asked listeners if
they could name any islands that were not actually islands,
geographical places called island that are actually not maybe they're
(01:50):
a peninsula and maybe not even And one of them
I mentioned was the famous island known for non island
excuse me, yeah, geez for it's ferris wheel, whitefish and
extreme Frankfurt consumption. That island is that's gotta be Coney Island.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That is Coney Island, the island of rabbits. But you're
telling me it's not an island.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, it's fun. There's a fun fact. It used to
be an island and then they did some landfill and
it is no longer an island, but they did not
change it to Coney Peninsula. Do you happen to know
any other.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Any you know, nothing? Yeah, a tough one real came
to mind. I do know that there's a part of
Manhattan Island that's not on the island, but that's a
totally different thing. Oh interesting, where is that a little
there's a little neighborhood that is in the Bronx geographically
but is actually part of Manhattan has a Manhattan zip
(02:50):
code because the Harlem River used to wind around, and
they cut through the winding part a little bulge that
went north, they cut across it, and so that bulge
got still part of Manhattan by zip code and county,
but is no longer attached to the island of Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
All right, I give you credit for that that that
is a fun fact.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
A fun fact that has nothing to do with the question.
But carry on, well, I.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Would say it's a very distant cousin. Cape Cod's Great
Island is a peninsula, the island of Purbeck in England, Granville.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Island, and Urbeck.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Of course, Uber is a peninsula. There are a few others.
You can send them in if you want at the
puzzler dot com. We love to get feedback. But I
bring this up today because we have two puzzles for listeners,
one for me and one from Greg. And the first
one from me involves Rhode Island. At least the first
question does nice. The game is called how many small
(03:52):
Things Fit into a big thing. So oh six, nailed it.
We're done.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Moving on.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, the first question is how many Rhode Islands, not
just the little island the state, fit into Alaska. So
I'm gonna have you, an associate puzzler, Andrea Schoenberg, to
a little competition, and it's the closest. I'm not going
to use the prices right rules, just whoever's closest wins
(04:23):
the day. So what do you think? What do you
think how many Rhode Islands fit into Alaska? One caveat.
I'm talking about perfect packing, so I think these Rhode
Islands are sort of like like beanie babies, so that
they squished, because if not, I would need a PhD
in math to figure it out.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
You're basically taking the area of Alaska and dividing it
by the area of Rhode Island.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Correct number, exactly. Okay, if it were perfect packing, I mean,
if it were not perfect packing, we'd probably have ten
to fifteen percent. Yeah, yeah, all right, what do you
think how many Rhode Islands can squeeze into one Alaska?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I mean, Andrea, do you want to go first?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I am going to be so bad at this.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I'm gonna be terrible at this, I'm so bad at
knowing the sizes of things.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Very good way to lower our expectations. Very clever.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Let's go with it.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I mean, let's go with it.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Even one hundred, even one hundred.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh, I think it's an order of magnitude greater. So
I'm gonna I'm going to just say a thousand, but
it's probably more than that.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, no, it is five hundred and sixty seven. Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
So Greg, you're closer.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
No, you're Oh, I am closer.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, she got it. Wow, look at that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Wait, Mane, you're four hundred and sixty seven off, I'm
four hundred and twenty three off. I'm closer.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes you are. You're just closer.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
That was part of very closer.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, that was part of the puzzle. Who is closer?
Nicely done? All right, Greg takes the first point. All right,
how about and I'm not going to make any comments.
I don't want to skew the results, But how many
kayaks that's a one person kayak and average kayak fit
into the icon of the seas, which is the largest
(06:14):
cruise ship now on the ocean.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So this is now a volume measure. That's right, volume
kayak into the volume of the giant cruise ship.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And once again it's perfect packing. Somehow, these kayaks are
very flexible, right.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I imagine the cruise ship actually has its own little
like kayak river in the middle of it.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, these things are cities.
I have been on one. It is unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Day we gotta do the puzzler cruise idea Yeah yeah,
uh there was the one I went on actually had
Central Park, it had something it wasn't quite as big
as the New York Central Park, terrifying.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yes, okay, I'll go first this time. I'm just gonna
say five hundred. No, that's too small. I'm gonna say
a thousand. I'm gonna go to a thousand.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Okay, all right, and.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Well now I feel so I was. I was thinking, like,
fifty thousand is that crazy? Just stay I'll just stay
with fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Well here's what's crazy. Two point three five million kayaks.
Oh my god, it is These things are as I say,
they're cities. So yes, all right, how about we got
a couple more? Oh well what about this? What about
one close to home for us? How many human beings
would fit inside one? Blue whale, one blue.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Whale, not just in the digestive track.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
That's right, you gotta hollow out the whole thing volume. Yeah,
so yes, if you were Jonah, but there were lots
and lots of Jonahs. Although remember that wasn't a whale,
it was a big fish. Little fun for that.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
You get to go first.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
I'll say one thousand.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
One thousand in a whale. All right. Then I am
going to you know, game the system and say nine
and ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Fair enough, well done. Uh the answer is, at least
according to some sources, one thousand, five hundred and six humans.
So wait, who had I'm now I've.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Told Andrea I've got that one.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So wait, is she winning two to one completely? Oh yeah,
all right, let's do two more. We'll do one if
you can catch up. Yeah all right. How about how
many Brooklyn bridges this is length wise? How many Brooklyn
bridges fit into the don Yang Kunchean Bridge, which is
the longest bridge in the world and it is in China.
(08:46):
How many Brooklyn bridges could you fit into the Don
Yang Kunshan thread makes the lengths of We're just talking
length and Greg to go first.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Twenty five Okay, and I'll say fifty.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Andrea gets it again. Greg, oh man, that's all right.
You got other skills. You got other I.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Have one other skill. That's I'm happy about it.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
It was ninety three ninety three bridges. It is crazy.
It is one hundred and two point four miles long.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
What does that span?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
China?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
It's a large part of China. All right, we have
one last one. This one I thought was, uh, it's
good for our tech friends. How many iPhones sixteens fit
into one Univac computer. Now, Univac was the first commercially stole,
(09:46):
maybe stolen, commercially sold computer. And it was not small.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
It is the it was not small.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Points. It fit into a room exactly. So how many
you think iPhone? Sixteen? Wait, Andrea, I think you go first. Yeah,
but you've already kind of won, so not a huge
amount of pressure. Maybe i'll double the points. Yeah, yeah, Okay,
let two being a good sport, Okay.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Double points for this.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I'll throw out.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I'll throw out two.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Thousand, Okay, two thousand.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Well, I was going to go for an order of
magnitude greater than that, So I'm just going to say
two thousand and one. Oh that is as a tribute
to the great Kubrick film two thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Well it is. It starts with a two, but it
is two million.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Two thin little things, those phones. I was stacking up
all my phones against the wall and I got to one,
and then I had to imagine going up more and yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
It is great. Yes, So there you go.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
My youthful brain cannot possibly comprehend a computer so large.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
There you go. See see how lucky you are in
your generation. You try to fit that into your pocket,
the Univac. It's not easy. Anyway, I'll do an extra
credit for the folks at home. How many of the
shortest Puzzler episode can fit into the longest Joe Rogan
(11:13):
podcast episode. So the shortest, just you know, was Chuck
Bryan and the longest Joe Rogan was Duncan Trussell. I
won't say how long because then you could figure.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
It out and which was more fun?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Exactly many times more fun?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Us quant to fun per minute?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Well that is my how many little things fit into
big things? But Greg, I believe you also have a
puzzle for us.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I do I do? This is another puzzle about little
things in big things, little things inside of big things.
This is. The big thing is is convicted criminal and
White House Trade advisor Peter Navarro. And the little thing
(12:02):
is the economics expert. Cited in his book Death by China,
he quotes an economics expert named ron Vara ro O
n v r A, which, as you know, people who
follow you on Facebook or people who read the news, no,
ron Vara is an anagram of Peter Navarro's last name
(12:25):
and is a completely made up person.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
He got who he quotes.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
He quotes many.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Times, right you know? Anyway, this got me thinking, like
we all need our own ron Vara. Everyone needs an
expert who we can claim supports whatever crazy thing we
believe in, and it just has to be an anagram
of our last names.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Love it, Love it.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
So the way this works is I'll give you the
name of a fake advisor and what their area of
expertise is, and then you have to anagram their name
to get the last name of a real person.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay, great, and the real person is somewhat of an
expert in that area.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's there, Yeah, it's definitely their god expertise. All right.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
How about since I am not the greatest anagrams, I'm
gonna alternate with Andrea. So I'll do one, then Andrea
will do one.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That sounds great. I love it, all right. So here's
your first expert. This is a late night talk show
writer named Matt Laner l e n e R m
a t t l e n e R Matt Layer.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
So that Matt Lanner. You rearrange him and you get
the last last name, name last.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Someone who would who might rely upon him?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
God it did? I say I would go first because
I meant Andrea would go first, so I didn't have
to do it.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I believe that anagrams to letterman.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yes David very good, very good.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
And last name for this particular puzzle.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I think, yes, very good. I like that. All right, Ja,
you are now you are now responsible for the next one.
The weekend comedy programming advisor Sam Chile c h I
L E. Well.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I thought I had it with Lauren Michaels. I was like,
who else is this weekend programming?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
You got it? Oh?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I did? Sam Chile goes into Lauren Michaels.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I was into Michaels. Okay, good, Sam Chile is Lorne
Michael's secret advisor.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Sam.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
How about Andrea? Tim arn A. R. N who is
an expert on dragons, ice and fantasy family dynamics.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Martin Martin, what Martin? Yeah, Martin, what's George R.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
George R. R. Martin, Yes, trilogy writer, yep, Tim arn
all right, a J. Now you have the historical consultant
on the Underground Railroad E D H Thaw E d
I E H middle initial middle initial Thaw t h
(15:06):
a W.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Interesting. So I was I was thinking Harriet Tubman, but
that's not working.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Nope, this is this is uh somebody a fiction writer
who would who went to this expert ed H. Thaw
to consult about the underground Railroad?
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Oh, okay, okay, okay, so it was Oh wait, now
is it a current fiction writer? It is?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Oh, yes quite.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I did an event with him, and now he is
the author of Nickel Boys, right.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Yeah, and in the Underground right and I know all.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
About him except for his name, which it is embarrassing.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
All right, on the on the Pulitzer Prize for Underground Railroad.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I'll help you out.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's Whitehead, widehead, Coulson whitehead.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
That sounds like Whitehead exactly, Coulson whitehead, all right here,
all right, yes, So Andrea goes on this one Supreme
Court paralegal A J.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Snock s n O c K s n O c
k uh. So obviously it's gonna be one of the
justices who has a J in their name.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Their name starts with J.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I do know this because I wrote a book on
the Constitution available in Paperwreck.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Okay, you, why are you? Why don't you snipe it
for me?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Snipe, swipe it or snipe I.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Will either one swipe it, snipe it Jackson.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
It's Jackson Jackson, Supreme Court justice.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
All right, then, aj, you go first on this one
New York City comedy writers Reg Neighbor and al Pank.
That's R E G N E b E R and
al Pank p A n K. It's a pair of
comedy writers that are the secret fake writers for these
(17:02):
this pair of New York City comedians.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Got it? So, and let me ask you this while
I stall. Yeah, are those all mixed up?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Or is al Pank al Pank is one person? Neighbor
is the other person?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
All right?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You know them well?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I know them well, you do. It's not Pliska and Jacob's.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
No, they're comedy right, comedy comedians who have been on
our podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Are they a comedy team?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Do it? They are? Often? Why have we we had
them on together?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
We had them on? Oh my god, this is an
embarrassed New York comedians. We had them on together. Oh,
Cynthia Kaplan and Karen Berg.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Green Green and Kaplan because Reg neighbor and al pank exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Sorry, Cynthia and Karen.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
All right, we can do a couple more. Andrea, this
is the assistant for getting a driver's license or getting
him back. Dor Gore d O R I g O
R Olivia Rodrigo. Yes, very good, very good. AJ here's yours.
(18:18):
This is a special Barbie historian Greg wee w I, Greg.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Ah very good, Greta Gerwig, Greta.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Gerwig, director of Barbie Good. I have a I have
an extra credit.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Great.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
These are known puzzle experts Al pisk and Joe scab
A L pisk and j O scab I.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Love those guys. I quote him all the time, all
the time. They are amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Actually, that's not that's not a good extra credit. That's
too easy.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
All right, give us another because what is it that is?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That's Greg Pliska and A j. Jacobs exactly and I
should I left out Ben Grosha also, who we rely upon,
Andrea Schoenberg's puzzle consultant. Now here's an extra credit. This
is a travel and cooking advisor, Nora doob nor a dub.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I okay good. I don't know it, so I feel
hopelessly lost. But maybe in the next day or so
I will figure it out, as will you, because we've
got more puzzling to do. In the meantime. You can
check out our Instagram feed, which is at Hello Puzzlers,
(19:33):
where we post original puzzles, highlights other fun stuff, and
of course we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling
puzzles and we'll puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Hey Puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer, here
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. Michael
Showlz joined us one more time and we played a
game called c us for CA, in which I gave
common idioms or phrases that have cat in them, but
I gave only the initials. And your extra credit was.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
This LTC TSTC LTC TSTC. And that phrase means looking
both smug and guilty, and of course it is like
the cat that swallowed the canary. Smug and guilty.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Well, I hope you're looking like the cat that swallowed
the canary, because you've had a great time devouring the
puzzles here with us, and we'll see you here next
time for some more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you
puzzlingly
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. Is Rhode
Island an island? Actually, I'm going to give you the answer.
The answer is no. And also yes, there is an
island in the state of Rhode Island called Rhode Island,
but the vast majority of the state of Rhode Island
is on the mainland of the US. Now, the name
(00:23):
Rhode Island as a state made a little more sense
in the past when it was called Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations. But a few years ago the Providence Plantation's
part was dropped for obvious reasons, and now the state
is officially just Rhode Island to spot despite not being
(00:43):
an island. So here's part two of the puzzle, where
you come in. What other so called islands are not islands.
I'm not talking about metaphorical islands like islands of Sanity.
I'm talking geographical places named island that are not surrounded
by water. Here's a hint. One famous non island island
(01:05):
is known for its ferris wheel, whitefish, and excessive Frankfurter consumption.
The answers and more puzzling puzzles after the break, Hello puzzlers,
(01:26):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, the Jangling key ring
hanging from your super Puzzled belt. I'm your host, Ady Jacobson.
I'm here with of course, cheaper Puzzle offser Greg Bliska, Hello,
Hello Greg Greg. Before the break, we asked listeners if
they could name any islands that were not actually islands,
geographical places called island that are actually not maybe they're
(01:50):
a peninsula and maybe not even And one of them
I mentioned was the famous island known for non island
excuse me, yeah, geez for it's ferris wheel, whitefish and
extreme Frankfurt consumption. That island is that's gotta be Coney Island.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That is Coney Island, the island of rabbits. But you're
telling me it's not an island.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, it's fun. There's a fun fact. It used to
be an island and then they did some landfill and
it is no longer an island, but they did not
change it to Coney Peninsula. Do you happen to know
any other.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Any you know, nothing? Yeah, a tough one real came
to mind. I do know that there's a part of
Manhattan Island that's not on the island, but that's a
totally different thing. Oh interesting, where is that a little
there's a little neighborhood that is in the Bronx geographically
but is actually part of Manhattan has a Manhattan zip
(02:50):
code because the Harlem River used to wind around, and
they cut through the winding part a little bulge that
went north, they cut across it, and so that bulge
got still part of Manhattan by zip code and county,
but is no longer attached to the island of Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
All right, I give you credit for that that that
is a fun fact.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
A fun fact that has nothing to do with the question.
But carry on, well, I.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Would say it's a very distant cousin. Cape Cod's Great
Island is a peninsula, the island of Purbeck in England, Granville.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Island, and Urbeck.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Of course, Uber is a peninsula. There are a few others.
You can send them in if you want at the
puzzler dot com. We love to get feedback. But I
bring this up today because we have two puzzles for listeners,
one for me and one from Greg. And the first
one from me involves Rhode Island. At least the first
question does nice. The game is called how many small
(03:52):
Things Fit into a big thing. So oh six, nailed it.
We're done.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Moving on.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, the first question is how many Rhode Islands, not
just the little island the state, fit into Alaska. So
I'm gonna have you, an associate puzzler, Andrea Schoenberg, to
a little competition, and it's the closest. I'm not going
to use the prices right rules, just whoever's closest wins
(04:23):
the day. So what do you think? What do you
think how many Rhode Islands fit into Alaska? One caveat.
I'm talking about perfect packing, so I think these Rhode
Islands are sort of like like beanie babies, so that
they squished, because if not, I would need a PhD
in math to figure it out.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
You're basically taking the area of Alaska and dividing it
by the area of Rhode Island.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Correct number, exactly. Okay, if it were perfect packing, I mean,
if it were not perfect packing, we'd probably have ten
to fifteen percent. Yeah, yeah, all right, what do you
think how many Rhode Islands can squeeze into one Alaska?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I mean, Andrea, do you want to go first?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I am going to be so bad at this.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I'm gonna be terrible at this, I'm so bad at
knowing the sizes of things.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Very good way to lower our expectations. Very clever.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Let's go with it.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I mean, let's go with it.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Even one hundred, even one hundred.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh, I think it's an order of magnitude greater. So
I'm gonna I'm going to just say a thousand, but
it's probably more than that.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, no, it is five hundred and sixty seven. Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
So Greg, you're closer.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
No, you're Oh, I am closer.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, she got it. Wow, look at that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Wait, Mane, you're four hundred and sixty seven off, I'm
four hundred and twenty three off. I'm closer.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes you are. You're just closer.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
That was part of very closer.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, that was part of the puzzle. Who is closer?
Nicely done? All right, Greg takes the first point. All right,
how about and I'm not going to make any comments.
I don't want to skew the results, But how many
kayaks that's a one person kayak and average kayak fit
into the icon of the seas, which is the largest
(06:14):
cruise ship now on the ocean.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So this is now a volume measure. That's right, volume
kayak into the volume of the giant cruise ship.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And once again it's perfect packing. Somehow, these kayaks are
very flexible, right.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I imagine the cruise ship actually has its own little
like kayak river in the middle of it.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, these things are cities.
I have been on one. It is unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Day we gotta do the puzzler cruise idea Yeah yeah,
uh there was the one I went on actually had
Central Park, it had something it wasn't quite as big
as the New York Central Park, terrifying.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yes, okay, I'll go first this time. I'm just gonna
say five hundred. No, that's too small. I'm gonna say
a thousand. I'm gonna go to a thousand.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Okay, all right, and.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Well now I feel so I was. I was thinking, like,
fifty thousand is that crazy? Just stay I'll just stay
with fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Well here's what's crazy. Two point three five million kayaks.
Oh my god, it is These things are as I say,
they're cities. So yes, all right, how about we got
a couple more? Oh well what about this? What about
one close to home for us? How many human beings
would fit inside one? Blue whale, one blue.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Whale, not just in the digestive track.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
That's right, you gotta hollow out the whole thing volume. Yeah,
so yes, if you were Jonah, but there were lots
and lots of Jonahs. Although remember that wasn't a whale,
it was a big fish. Little fun for that.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
You get to go first.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
I'll say one thousand.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
One thousand in a whale. All right. Then I am
going to you know, game the system and say nine
and ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Fair enough, well done. Uh the answer is, at least
according to some sources, one thousand, five hundred and six humans.
So wait, who had I'm now I've.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Told Andrea I've got that one.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So wait, is she winning two to one completely? Oh yeah,
all right, let's do two more. We'll do one if
you can catch up. Yeah all right. How about how
many Brooklyn bridges this is length wise? How many Brooklyn
bridges fit into the don Yang Kunchean Bridge, which is
the longest bridge in the world and it is in China.
(08:46):
How many Brooklyn bridges could you fit into the Don
Yang Kunshan thread makes the lengths of We're just talking
length and Greg to go first.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Twenty five Okay, and I'll say fifty.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Andrea gets it again. Greg, oh man, that's all right.
You got other skills. You got other I.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Have one other skill. That's I'm happy about it.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
It was ninety three ninety three bridges. It is crazy.
It is one hundred and two point four miles long.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
What does that span?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
China?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
It's a large part of China. All right, we have
one last one. This one I thought was, uh, it's
good for our tech friends. How many iPhones sixteens fit
into one Univac computer. Now, Univac was the first commercially stole,
(09:46):
maybe stolen, commercially sold computer. And it was not small.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
It is the it was not small.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Points. It fit into a room exactly. So how many
you think iPhone? Sixteen? Wait, Andrea, I think you go first. Yeah,
but you've already kind of won, so not a huge
amount of pressure. Maybe i'll double the points. Yeah, yeah, Okay,
let two being a good sport, Okay.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Double points for this.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I'll throw out.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I'll throw out two.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Thousand, Okay, two thousand.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Well, I was going to go for an order of
magnitude greater than that, So I'm just going to say
two thousand and one. Oh that is as a tribute
to the great Kubrick film two thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Well it is. It starts with a two, but it
is two million.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Two thin little things, those phones. I was stacking up
all my phones against the wall and I got to one,
and then I had to imagine going up more and yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
It is great. Yes, So there you go.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
My youthful brain cannot possibly comprehend a computer so large.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
There you go. See see how lucky you are in
your generation. You try to fit that into your pocket,
the Univac. It's not easy. Anyway, I'll do an extra
credit for the folks at home. How many of the
shortest Puzzler episode can fit into the longest Joe Rogan
(11:13):
podcast episode. So the shortest, just you know, was Chuck
Bryan and the longest Joe Rogan was Duncan Trussell. I
won't say how long because then you could figure.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
It out and which was more fun?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Exactly many times more fun?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Us quant to fun per minute?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Well that is my how many little things fit into
big things? But Greg, I believe you also have a
puzzle for us.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I do I do? This is another puzzle about little
things in big things, little things inside of big things.
This is. The big thing is is convicted criminal and
White House Trade advisor Peter Navarro. And the little thing
(12:02):
is the economics expert. Cited in his book Death by China,
he quotes an economics expert named ron Vara ro O
n v r A, which, as you know, people who
follow you on Facebook or people who read the news, no,
ron Vara is an anagram of Peter Navarro's last name
(12:25):
and is a completely made up person.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
He got who he quotes.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
He quotes many.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Times, right you know? Anyway, this got me thinking, like
we all need our own ron Vara. Everyone needs an
expert who we can claim supports whatever crazy thing we
believe in, and it just has to be an anagram
of our last names.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Love it, Love it.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
So the way this works is I'll give you the
name of a fake advisor and what their area of
expertise is, and then you have to anagram their name
to get the last name of a real person.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay, great, and the real person is somewhat of an
expert in that area.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's there, Yeah, it's definitely their god expertise. All right.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
How about since I am not the greatest anagrams, I'm
gonna alternate with Andrea. So I'll do one, then Andrea
will do one.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That sounds great. I love it, all right. So here's
your first expert. This is a late night talk show
writer named Matt Laner l e n e R m
a t t l e n e R Matt Layer.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
So that Matt Lanner. You rearrange him and you get
the last last name, name last.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Someone who would who might rely upon him?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
God it did? I say I would go first because
I meant Andrea would go first, so I didn't have
to do it.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I believe that anagrams to letterman.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yes David very good, very good.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
And last name for this particular puzzle.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I think, yes, very good. I like that. All right, Ja,
you are now you are now responsible for the next one.
The weekend comedy programming advisor Sam Chile c h I
L E. Well.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I thought I had it with Lauren Michaels. I was like,
who else is this weekend programming?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
You got it? Oh?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I did? Sam Chile goes into Lauren Michaels.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I was into Michaels. Okay, good, Sam Chile is Lorne
Michael's secret advisor.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Sam.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
How about Andrea? Tim arn A. R. N who is
an expert on dragons, ice and fantasy family dynamics.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Martin Martin, what Martin? Yeah, Martin, what's George R.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
George R. R. Martin, Yes, trilogy writer, yep, Tim arn
all right, a J. Now you have the historical consultant
on the Underground Railroad E D H Thaw E d
I E H middle initial middle initial Thaw t h
(15:06):
a W.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Interesting. So I was I was thinking Harriet Tubman, but
that's not working.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Nope, this is this is uh somebody a fiction writer
who would who went to this expert ed H. Thaw
to consult about the underground Railroad?
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Oh, okay, okay, okay, so it was Oh wait, now
is it a current fiction writer? It is?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Oh, yes quite.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I did an event with him, and now he is
the author of Nickel Boys, right.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Yeah, and in the Underground right and I know all.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
About him except for his name, which it is embarrassing.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
All right, on the on the Pulitzer Prize for Underground Railroad.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I'll help you out.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's Whitehead, widehead, Coulson whitehead.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
That sounds like Whitehead exactly, Coulson whitehead, all right here,
all right, yes, So Andrea goes on this one Supreme
Court paralegal A J.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Snock s n O c K s n O c
k uh. So obviously it's gonna be one of the
justices who has a J in their name.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Their name starts with J.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I do know this because I wrote a book on
the Constitution available in Paperwreck.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Okay, you, why are you? Why don't you snipe it
for me?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Snipe, swipe it or snipe I.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Will either one swipe it, snipe it Jackson.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
It's Jackson Jackson, Supreme Court justice.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
All right, then, aj, you go first on this one
New York City comedy writers Reg Neighbor and al Pank.
That's R E G N E b E R and
al Pank p A n K. It's a pair of
comedy writers that are the secret fake writers for these
(17:02):
this pair of New York City comedians.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Got it? So, and let me ask you this while
I stall. Yeah, are those all mixed up?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Or is al Pank al Pank is one person? Neighbor
is the other person?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
All right?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You know them well?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I know them well, you do. It's not Pliska and Jacob's.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
No, they're comedy right, comedy comedians who have been on
our podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Are they a comedy team?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Do it? They are? Often? Why have we we had
them on together?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
We had them on? Oh my god, this is an
embarrassed New York comedians. We had them on together. Oh,
Cynthia Kaplan and Karen Berg.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Green Green and Kaplan because Reg neighbor and al pank exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Sorry, Cynthia and Karen.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
All right, we can do a couple more. Andrea, this
is the assistant for getting a driver's license or getting
him back. Dor Gore d O R I g O
R Olivia Rodrigo. Yes, very good, very good. AJ here's yours.
(18:18):
This is a special Barbie historian Greg wee w I, Greg.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Ah very good, Greta Gerwig, Greta.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Gerwig, director of Barbie Good. I have a I have
an extra credit.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Great.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
These are known puzzle experts Al pisk and Joe scab
A L pisk and j O scab I.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Love those guys. I quote him all the time, all
the time. They are amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Actually, that's not that's not a good extra credit. That's
too easy.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
All right, give us another because what is it that is?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That's Greg Pliska and A j. Jacobs exactly and I
should I left out Ben Grosha also, who we rely upon,
Andrea Schoenberg's puzzle consultant. Now here's an extra credit. This
is a travel and cooking advisor, Nora doob nor a dub.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I okay good. I don't know it, so I feel
hopelessly lost. But maybe in the next day or so
I will figure it out, as will you, because we've
got more puzzling to do. In the meantime. You can
check out our Instagram feed, which is at Hello Puzzlers,
(19:33):
where we post original puzzles, highlights other fun stuff, and
of course we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling
puzzles and we'll puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Hey Puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer, here
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. Michael
Showlz joined us one more time and we played a
game called c us for CA, in which I gave
common idioms or phrases that have cat in them, but
I gave only the initials. And your extra credit was.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
This LTC TSTC LTC TSTC. And that phrase means looking
both smug and guilty, and of course it is like
the cat that swallowed the canary. Smug and guilty.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Well, I hope you're looking like the cat that swallowed
the canary, because you've had a great time devouring the
puzzles here with us, and we'll see you here next
time for some more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you
puzzlingly
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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