October 16, 2024 • 8 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: comedian, writer, and host of "Factually!", Adam Conover!
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 Chat GPT” 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 (00:04):
Hello, Puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast the twenty three
foot Putt in Your Puzzle pro Am Golf Tournament. I
am your host, A. J. Jacobs, and I am here
with today's guest. I'm the wonderful Adam Conover, host of
the Factually podcast and Adam Ruins Everything and much other content.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome, Adam, Hey, thank you so much for having me.
It's wonderful to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Well, we are delighted and we love your podcast Factually,
where you have interviews with interesting people. And how did
you come up with the name factually?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Oh well, you know, my old catchphrase on Adam Ruins
Everything was actually but I was sort of want to
indicate that a little bit. But you know, I'm not
playing that character anymore. And you know, the whole idea
of the podcast is I interview experts about their fuel
of expertise and you know what what I and the
audience are interested and so it's a it's a podcast
where you get factual information.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So uh yeah, it's called you know, factually.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It's it's a it's almost a pun, but not quite
because it's sort of like actually and factually, but factually
is itself a word, so it's almost like it's sort
of a one point five on tendre.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's not quite a double entendre.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
It's like maybe a you know, an on tndre and
a half.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Love it well. We found it inspiring and we designed
to base a puzzle on it. So the puzzle is
where we take those two words actually and factually and
we we add the letter s to the word. So
all of the answers in this puzzle are going to
be two word phrases where the first word has a
(01:50):
You take the first word, add an F, you get
the second word. So it's sort of actually factually would
be an answer artsy FARTSI would be an answer, but
we are not using that, and we can call it
dropping the F bomb. We haven't come up with the
exact type.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
We're kind of adding the F bomb in this yes exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I thought dropping doesn't quite work, so adding the F bomb,
picking up the F bomb.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
And the J I should I should add for Adam
and our listeners benefit. These are not going to be
real phrases like artsy fartsy.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Correct very good.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
We're making these up.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
These are made up. So, for instance, are you ready
Adam for your first f bomb. And this is an
imperfection in a statute or regulation, an imperfection in a
statute or regulation. And it's a two word phrase.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You've got Uh, it's got to be it's got to be.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Flaw.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Law of the land, flaw something law something law.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
No, you said it. You said both of the words.
You just put them together, law flaw. That's the whole answer.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh, law, I see law flaw. Okay, law flaw. Got it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I thought it was a famous phrase. Okay, not understand
all right.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I think the arty FARTSI threw everyone off. I apologize it.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
I just we also just did aphorism, so this is
this is.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
On the brain.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Gotcha?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Okay, yes, now you bought it. That was an example.
We consider that the sample because I didn't explain it properly.
All right, how about a tulip or a rose that
is closer to the ground.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I think you explained it properly and I was just
very dense. A lower flower.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That is it, And thank you for the generosity. This
is a phobia of the tympanic membrane, the cochlear.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Ear fear, ear fear.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Exactly if a person arranges Sinatra Zappa and Ocean in
order from favorite to least favorite.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
He or she might be doing a Frank rank exactly,
the rank of the Franks.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Ranking the Frank Franks. And by the way, for those
keeping score at home. Second Frank Ocean reference in the
Adam Conover episodes.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I mean, I like his music. I guess you knew that.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
It was in your house at all times.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, Greg wrote the other one and I wrote this one.
I guess we were both We both were aware of
your Frank Ocean obsession. This is a club for young
male Rodents who are studying at a Rodent university.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Why, I remember this from my own time at Rodent University.
I of course was a member of the rat frat.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
All right, this is a movie, and I'm surprised it
hasn't been made, But this is a movie that focuses
on where annaimals go to get their recommended daily allowance
of salt. A movie where animals go to get their salt.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
As a very popular genre. Of course, it's the lick flick.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
It's the lick flick exactly. I mean, it is popular
in other ways.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It's your favorite lick flick.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I like the one about goats.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
I think is the deer do Dallas? No?
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Nice? All right?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
And and finally, this is what it's like to touch
an underwater snake. And we know it's not technically an
underwater snake.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah no, but you gotta get you gotta get the
feel for the eel.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
That's it, the eel feel. Yeah, I got thee You
rolled right through those, no problem.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, those are a lot of fun. I love to rhyme.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Excellent. Well, thank you, Adam. It was factually and actually
a delight both of those have you as a guest.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Thank you so much for having me. It was wonderful
being here. Yeah, and I hope people listen to actually
listen to my show. Factually, we're available wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, it is terrific. And I was just listening to
the one about the sort of the tech skeptic and
the fact that Google sometimes will not give you the
best results because they their whole business model is to
keep you searching, and that was infuriated.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I've done a lot of work lately on the podcast
and on my yeah, about how Google.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Google has gotten worse, They've made their.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Own product worse, unfortunately because their monopoly position, right right.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
All right, Well, we have an extra credit for the
puzzlers at home, and you can try to google it,
but as you know, it's not going to work because
they purposely give you bad results. This is an airplane
trip with barely any luggage or cargo, just an airplane
trip with nothing. And while you're thinking about that, you
(07:07):
can always go to the puzzler Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers,
and we have new puzzles and other fun stuff there
all the time. Please check it out, and of course
we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that
will puzzle you puzzlely.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Hey puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska up from the Puzzle Lab
with the extra credit. From our previous episode, we played
charades with Adam Conover where we broke a person's name
into several different parts. Include each of those parts separately.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Your clue to a person's last name was this Mighty
Tree singer Osbourne Mighty Tree rowing. Implement zap with a
stun gun and the person you're looking for is a
US politician. The answer is Oak plus Ozzie plus Oak
(08:05):
plus or plus tays, which is okazi ok or tes.
It would be Alexandria Ocazio Cortes, the representative from New York.
Thanks for playing with us, and come back tomorrow for
more puzzling puzzles.
Hello, Puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast the twenty three
foot Putt in Your Puzzle pro Am Golf Tournament. I
am your host, A. J. Jacobs, and I am here
with today's guest. I'm the wonderful Adam Conover, host of
the Factually podcast and Adam Ruins Everything and much other content.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome, Adam, Hey, thank you so much for having me.
It's wonderful to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Well, we are delighted and we love your podcast Factually,
where you have interviews with interesting people. And how did
you come up with the name factually?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Oh well, you know, my old catchphrase on Adam Ruins
Everything was actually but I was sort of want to
indicate that a little bit. But you know, I'm not
playing that character anymore. And you know, the whole idea
of the podcast is I interview experts about their fuel
of expertise and you know what what I and the
audience are interested and so it's a it's a podcast
where you get factual information.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So uh yeah, it's called you know, factually.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It's it's a it's almost a pun, but not quite
because it's sort of like actually and factually, but factually
is itself a word, so it's almost like it's sort
of a one point five on tendre.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's not quite a double entendre.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
It's like maybe a you know, an on tndre and
a half.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Love it well. We found it inspiring and we designed
to base a puzzle on it. So the puzzle is
where we take those two words actually and factually and
we we add the letter s to the word. So
all of the answers in this puzzle are going to
be two word phrases where the first word has a
(01:50):
You take the first word, add an F, you get
the second word. So it's sort of actually factually would
be an answer artsy FARTSI would be an answer, but
we are not using that, and we can call it
dropping the F bomb. We haven't come up with the
exact type.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
We're kind of adding the F bomb in this yes exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I thought dropping doesn't quite work, so adding the F bomb,
picking up the F bomb.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
And the J I should I should add for Adam
and our listeners benefit. These are not going to be
real phrases like artsy fartsy.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Correct very good.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
We're making these up.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
These are made up. So, for instance, are you ready
Adam for your first f bomb. And this is an
imperfection in a statute or regulation, an imperfection in a
statute or regulation. And it's a two word phrase.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You've got Uh, it's got to be it's got to be.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Flaw.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Law of the land, flaw something law something law.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
No, you said it. You said both of the words.
You just put them together, law flaw. That's the whole answer.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh, law, I see law flaw. Okay, law flaw. Got it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I thought it was a famous phrase. Okay, not understand
all right.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I think the arty FARTSI threw everyone off. I apologize it.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
I just we also just did aphorism, so this is
this is.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
On the brain.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Gotcha?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Okay, yes, now you bought it. That was an example.
We consider that the sample because I didn't explain it properly.
All right, how about a tulip or a rose that
is closer to the ground.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I think you explained it properly and I was just
very dense. A lower flower.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That is it, And thank you for the generosity. This
is a phobia of the tympanic membrane, the cochlear.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Ear fear, ear fear.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Exactly if a person arranges Sinatra Zappa and Ocean in
order from favorite to least favorite.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
He or she might be doing a Frank rank exactly,
the rank of the Franks.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Ranking the Frank Franks. And by the way, for those
keeping score at home. Second Frank Ocean reference in the
Adam Conover episodes.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I mean, I like his music. I guess you knew that.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
It was in your house at all times.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, Greg wrote the other one and I wrote this one.
I guess we were both We both were aware of
your Frank Ocean obsession. This is a club for young
male Rodents who are studying at a Rodent university.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Why, I remember this from my own time at Rodent University.
I of course was a member of the rat frat.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
All right, this is a movie, and I'm surprised it
hasn't been made, But this is a movie that focuses
on where annaimals go to get their recommended daily allowance
of salt. A movie where animals go to get their salt.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
As a very popular genre. Of course, it's the lick flick.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
It's the lick flick exactly. I mean, it is popular
in other ways.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It's your favorite lick flick.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I like the one about goats.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
I think is the deer do Dallas? No?
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Nice? All right?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
And and finally, this is what it's like to touch
an underwater snake. And we know it's not technically an
underwater snake.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah no, but you gotta get you gotta get the
feel for the eel.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
That's it, the eel feel. Yeah, I got thee You
rolled right through those, no problem.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, those are a lot of fun. I love to rhyme.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Excellent. Well, thank you, Adam. It was factually and actually
a delight both of those have you as a guest.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Thank you so much for having me. It was wonderful
being here. Yeah, and I hope people listen to actually
listen to my show. Factually, we're available wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, it is terrific. And I was just listening to
the one about the sort of the tech skeptic and
the fact that Google sometimes will not give you the
best results because they their whole business model is to
keep you searching, and that was infuriated.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I've done a lot of work lately on the podcast
and on my yeah, about how Google.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Google has gotten worse, They've made their.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Own product worse, unfortunately because their monopoly position, right right.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
All right, Well, we have an extra credit for the
puzzlers at home, and you can try to google it,
but as you know, it's not going to work because
they purposely give you bad results. This is an airplane
trip with barely any luggage or cargo, just an airplane
trip with nothing. And while you're thinking about that, you
(07:07):
can always go to the puzzler Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers,
and we have new puzzles and other fun stuff there
all the time. Please check it out, and of course
we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that
will puzzle you puzzlely.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Hey puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska up from the Puzzle Lab
with the extra credit. From our previous episode, we played
charades with Adam Conover where we broke a person's name
into several different parts. Include each of those parts separately.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Your clue to a person's last name was this Mighty
Tree singer Osbourne Mighty Tree rowing. Implement zap with a
stun gun and the person you're looking for is a
US politician. The answer is Oak plus Ozzie plus Oak
(08:05):
plus or plus tays, which is okazi ok or tes.
It would be Alexandria Ocazio Cortes, the representative from New York.
Thanks for playing with us, and come back tomorrow for
more puzzling puzzles.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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