May 16, 2025 • 20 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Today, Greg tells A.J. about the latest puzzle news!
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.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Let's start with a quick puzzle. Can you fill in
the empty space in these three phrases? Are you ready?
Souvignong empty space, Mont empty space and sitcom star Matt
la empty space? How might you complete those empty spaces,
those voids, those vacancies, those vacuums. Anyway, what comes after
(00:26):
the word Sauvignon, Mont and Matt luh? The answer and
more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers, welcome back
to the Puzzler. The climactic double backflip at your puzzle
(00:47):
Monster Truck Rally. Thank you, Greg. I just went with
my boys and we had a great time and we
only saw a single backflip, but it was.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, I don't believe there are double backflips at Monster
Truck Rally.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
To YouTube and you will see at least one.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We went to the State Fair Missouri State Fair a
number of years ago and watched Jessica went to hear
one of her favorite country music artists, and I went
and watched the Monster Truck Rally.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Nice. That is a good division of labor.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I loved it well, of course, that is Chief Puzzle
Officer Greg Kliska and I'm a J. Jacobson. Before the break,
we asked what word goes in the empty space after
these phrases Sauvignon empty space, mont empty space, and the
actor Matt the empty space the answer.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And guess you know, I've been thinking about this since
you said it, and I'm drawing a blanc.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I can't nice there it is. That's the answer. People blanc, Sauvignon, blanc,
the wine, mont blanc as in mont blanc, pens or
dessert or mountain, and actor Matt LeBlanc from friends. And
as Greg pointed out, it was all for me to
be able to say, you just filled in the blank,
(02:03):
and it was entirely worth it. It was entirely worth that
long journey. In my opinion, you.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Forgot that great Taylor Swift song blank space.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Oh yes, I thought, I know there was a lot.
There's mel Blanc. I thought about it.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, that's an actual that's actually spelled and pronounced that way.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So that's great. Well, Greg, we have some blanks to
fill in, and you are going to be doing most
of the blank filling in because well.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I'm going to be setting up the blanks. You're gonna
have to fill them in.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I think great point. Great point, because today is an
exciting day. There has been a ton of breaking puzzle news. Yeah,
God Hot off the press and maybe Lukewarm off the presses,
but it's still somewhere in that area. And uh and
Greg has been monitoring the newsticker, so he's going to
be telling us about him and giving us puzzles based
(02:52):
on those news items. So yeah, I'll let you take over. Greg.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
There's always fun stuff going on in the world, and
some of it's related to puzzles, and all of it
is an opportunity to turn something into a puzzle.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Right, And I like your positivity that there's lots of
fun stuff going on in the world.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
You know. That's what we're here for. If you want
to hear about the other stuff, there are other podcasts
for that. That's right, but we're going to hear to
do it. Brighten your morning a little bit before you
doom scroll. We're going to start with the world of sports.
May is the month of the Kentucky Derby.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Did you watch it this year?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I watched it while I was at the Monster Truck Show,
So I watched it while streaming. I was looking at
bigger transportation, types of transportation, but it was yes, so
I did. I was sad journalism didn't win as a journalist,
yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
But sovereignty, you know, edged journalism out. I love the
race when I was a Kid's Secretariat won the Trimple
Ground for the first time in twenty five years. And
you may know that every horse that ran in the
Kentucky Derby this year is descended from Secretariat.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I did not know that. Fascinating, Yeah, really cool.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
But in that vein, we're going to revisit. This is
a kind of a quiz we've done before. This is
a quiz. I'm going to give you names of things.
And it's either the name of a horse that ran
the Kentucky Derby this month, or it's the name of
a movie that is being or was released in the
month of May.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Okay, this year, twenty twenty five, this year.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yep, it's current stuff. It's either a horse from this
year or from this month, really from the Kentucky Derby,
or a movie from this month.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
All right, all right, can we bring in Associate buzzler
Andrea Schelmberg to weigh in as well?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
You got a fifty to fifty shot at this and
you still want to help.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yes, I want to cover the bases to use another
sports and that's going to be a year.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I also, I must say, I think I'm going to
have a pretty good advantage on this because I was
with friends for the Kentucky Derby, and I had friends
who had money on the race, and specifically they chose
horses based on how much they enjoyed their names.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, exactly, this is my family tradition. I'm like, everybody
has to pick a horse based on the name, and
people want to know the odds. I'm like, Nope, you
can't base it on the odds. You're just gonna pick
the name you like the best.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
All right, We're ready, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Here you go. So the first one is Owen Almighty.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Oh well there was a Bruce Almighty with uh yeah,
that was a movie with Steve Carell, I believe. So
I am guessing Yeah, I don't know if there's I
haven't seen a sequel. So I'm gonna go with with
the horse and Andrea, what are you gonna go with?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Uh? Well, actually it's not It doesn't ruin any horse
bells to me. But also it doesn't ruin any movie
bells to me. So I'll go with horse as well.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yep, you are correct, that was one of the horses.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Just to clarify, these are horses in the Kentucky Derby
or horses.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
In the Kentucky Derby, and this year got it? Okay, yeah,
all right, here's your next one, American Promise.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Okay, American Promise.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I'll let you go first because i i'm.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Oh, you know, I feel I feel that's a horse too.
I don't know what do you think?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yes, it is a horse. There are many jokes made
about American Promise losing this year.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yes, exactly, it was a horse. But again, it sounds
like a movie title.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, like George Clooney directed it.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Perhaps a documentary, a kind of bleak documentary about something.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
A Fox News special, something like that.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Right, exactly exactly, mountain Head.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Mountain Head. All right, I'm just gonna go with with
movie because I've I feel like the need to shake
it up.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I'll go with horse, just to be different.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
All right, good, good guesses one of you is right.
It is, in fact a movie. It's a Steve Carell
movie coming out.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's just the movie.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right, yeah, yeah, all right, what about flying mohawk?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Flying mohawk, I did not see that, although it does
make sense as a horse. It's a good name for
a horse because I kind of have a mohawk with
a main But I'm still gonna go with movie.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I have a friend who bet on flying mohawks.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yes, okay, flying mohawk is a horse. All right, here's
your last one. Hurry up tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh interesting. I'm gonna say movie just because it seems
I do like it as the name of a horse,
like it's very on brand on a little maybe too
much on the nose. But yeah, movie, I think.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
It's a movie.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
You are both correct. It is a movie. It's actually
a companion to the Weekend album of the same name.
The Weekend put out an album of that name, and
it's a companion film. Pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
That's you guys, get a good job on those horses
or movies. I feel like that's always fertile ground horses
have so many great names.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Exactly there and somewhat well, what do you remember any
of the historical ones. I remember there was one named Pope.
I just like that.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, I mean, there's there we did a whole quiz
that was was it Tony winning plays or Derby winning horses?
And there's all the great Triple Crown winners, Sir Barton
and Whirlaway and Man of War and citation, a lot
of gray horses out there. Going into the from sports
(08:46):
into entertainment. There is a new South Korean crime thriller
coming out. I believe it's gonna be on Disney Plus
starting May twenty first, and it's called Nine Puzzles.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Oh, look at that.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
We got to see that. It's about a high school
student who discovers her uncle's murdered body next to a
single puzzle piece, and at first she's the prime suspect,
but then years later, a decade later or so, she
becomes a criminal profiler who gets involved in a new
series of murders, each victim again connected by a puzzle
(09:21):
piece similar to the one from her uncle's crime scene.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Huh okay, all right, that's very good.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
It did inspire. It did inspire what I'm calling the
nine puzzle. Every answer is a word or phrase with
nine in it.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Nne okay, I like it.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
And at least at first they're all going to end
with ni E. So that's a little bit of a hint.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
God.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
So for example, who needs an example, We'll just dive
right in. You can sink your teeth into this shorthand
for a nine person singing group from soul.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Oh I don't know, I know bts, but that's an
end with right.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
So I'm giving you a direct clue to the word,
plus a punny clue to the word or the sound
of the word.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Oh so I did need it. I didn't need an example.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
It was yeah, I know. We'll call Andrea.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Do you get it? Do you get it?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
No? I sink your teeth or your tooth into this
shorthand for a nine person singing group from soul.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
K nine, Oh, I get it?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Okay, K nine, Okay, you know the suffix, the prefix.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
All right, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
I think part of this is the real conclude of
the real world word. Part of it is a punny clue.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
All right, I'm on board. I'm on board.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So this comes after Burrow seven and Donkey eight. How stupid.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Oh I got it. I think I got it. It
is assinine. It's like muleanine, nosine.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
This nine is so cold and gloomy, just like the
sixth planet, not the ninth planet.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I was waiting for this one. I was like, what
words end with nine? And uh satur nine Saturday nine
Saturday nine?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yes, I meaning cold and gloomy in a nine floor amphitheater.
This would technically be the four and a half level.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Oh, the ninth floor. Oh okay, I think I got it, Andrea,
any thoughts.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, the mezzanine, mezzanine.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
The mezzanine is exactly RTD the mezzanine, but it's pronounced mezzanine,
all right. The last one the quality of being really
thin or going down the slopes nine times.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Oh okay, No, I don't have it yet. Oh I
guess No, that doesn't work. Skin nine, Skin nine doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
But make it a noun.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Oh, this one is not at the end? I see, okay,
right in the middle skin nine, noess skinniness, skinniness right,
very all right. I love it. We give it a
nine out of ten for that person, solid nine out
of ten perfect and cloud nine on cloud I've decided.
(12:18):
You know, when people say how are you doing? I
always say seven out of ten unless I'm made out
of ten or six out of ten. I like to,
you know, be honest and say, nothing's ever perfect. But
I was thinking of doing the cloud scale instead, Like
I'm on Cloud four, I'm on Cloud.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Seven, so Cloud nine would be the top.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, I feel cloud it seems to be the top.
Like I've never heard anyone on Cloud ten.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
No, no, it's best excellent.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Wait, so that's too. Do you have even a third?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I do have one more?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
All right?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I think we want to we have the time, We
got the time, we got the time? All right? Yes,
I have one more. So I read an item about
a new book of crosswork by a constructor named Ophelia
rm Banks. Now that's a pseudonym, and I don't know
anything about her or her real name, although I suspect
(13:11):
it's an anagram, right, so maybe her name is like
Sharon Limpbeek or Maria Schlepnob or something like that that
can be made from those letters. But whoever she is,
she's created, she's written a book. She's done several crossroad books,
and the new one is called the HBCU Edition of
(13:32):
African American Crosswords.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Uh huh okay, and according.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
To the press release, it celebrates the development and legacy
of historically black colleges and universities. Those are the one
hundred or so higher education institutions, institutions that were founded
before the Civil Rights Act, and they explicitly were founded
to serve African African American students who had been barred
from going to most colleges and universities. So this looks
(13:59):
like a real cool book of puzzles. She's got several
puzzles in the same vein African American crosswords and puzzles,
but this one specifically celebrates all of these institutions and
promises to teach us all more about the history of
each of these each of these hundred or so educational institutions. Awesome,
sounds very cool. So what I decided was, let's do
(14:22):
some charades. Okay, each answer is the name of one
of the HBCUs.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
All right, one of the hundred.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
A right, one of the hundred.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yes, I don't think I know all all hundred of them.
I'm calling in Andrea as well for this one, so
we can work it together. We are ready. I'm speaking
for Andrea.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Here you go the first one two parts Part one
magical incantation, Part two.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Dude, I got it all right, I think we both
got it we'll say it together on three one two
three spellman, spell Mellman.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yes, spell pus Man. That's an Atlanta school, all all
women's school that Stacy Abrams, among others, is an alumna hu.
And your second one is Sir Thomas blank plus blank party.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
All right, I think I got it too. You want
to say it together.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
You've got the speea all right?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
That sale that would be more House, Sir Thomas more House.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Morehouse, which is the all Men's school. And it also
that's also in Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Oh, very good, good one.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
All right, here you go Ken Jennings's favorite garden tool
plus a kind of play or salad.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, I know that I know his favorite garden tool,
and I believe I do, which is a hoe yep,
And they so wait, how I thought it was ward
but it's not word.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Well, you got it. What's a it's you know, it's
a the phanatics are not perfect.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
A word salad salad. I got it, very good, Howard.
And by the way, those who don't know that was
a famous Ken Jennings controversy because the clue was something like,
this is a name for a man who's a cad,
but it's also a garden tool and they were looking
(16:29):
for rake. But he said, oh and uh, and there
was a kerfuffle. I don't remember what happened.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
It was great, great, it was great. All right, a
few more of these. This one's three parts walrus feature
plus map feature plus kind of butter.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
All right, I think I got it.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Oh, key g tuskegee, tuskegee.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yet tusk is the walls feature, map features key and
gee is a kind of butter g age tuskegee. So
there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Excellent. Well, I feel so up to date on my
puzzle news that I'll be able to be a hit
at annie puzzle related cocktail party or convention. So thank you, great,
my pleasure. That was very educational and entertaining. AKA at
you taining. Well, Thank you Greg, and thank you puzzlers
(17:36):
at home. You'll hear us on Monday for more puzzling
puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Hello, puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer, here
with the extra credit answer. From our previous episode. I
did a game with AJ called Everyone Should have their
Own ron Vara, where ron Vara, of course, is the
made up economics expert whose name is an anagram of
Peter Navarro's last name. So Navarro made up this guy
(18:10):
to support all of his own, possibly crack pot economic ideas,
and I thought everyone should have their own ron Vara,
someone who you can cite as an expert in the
thing you're claiming to be an expert in. And this
clue is this one a travel and cooking expert named
(18:31):
Nora Doobi dub I. So the famous person who might
have the fake expert Nora Doobie is Anthony Bourdain, because Doobie,
of course, is an anagram of Boordain. We also gave
you another extra credit. How many small things go into
big things? And this one was the shortest Puzzler episode,
(18:53):
which was one with Chuck Bryant. How many of those
fit into the longest Joe Rogan episode? And the answer,
of course, of course, as if you had any idea,
the answer is sixty four. That's a very I'm imagining
that short episode with Chuck was maybe eight minutes long,
which means that Joe Rogan episode clocks in it over
(19:16):
eight hours? Is that right? Holy? Yet, who listens to
anything for that long? We're glad you come here and
listen to us for twelve, fifteen, eighteen minutes a day.
We'll see you here next time for more puzzles. Thanks
for playing along with the team Here at The Puzzler
(19:38):
with Aj Jacobs, I'm Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle Officer.
Our executive producers are Neelie Lohman and Adam Neuhause of
New House Ideas and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The
show is produced by Jody Averragan and Brittany Brown of
Roulette Productions, with production support from Claire Bidegar Curtis. Our
associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg. The Puzzler with Ajjacobs is
(20:03):
a co production with New House Ideas and is distributed
by Pastor Hide's Cat No Rearrange those letters. It's distributed
by iHeart Podcasts. If you want to know more about
puzzling puzzles, please check out the book The Puzzler by
AJ Jacobs, a history of puzzles that The New York
Times called fun and funny. It features an original puzzle
(20:26):
hunt by yours truly and is available wherever you get
your books and puzzlers. For all your puzzling needs, go
visit the puzzler dot com. See you there,
Hello puzzlers.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Let's start with a quick puzzle. Can you fill in
the empty space in these three phrases? Are you ready?
Souvignong empty space, Mont empty space and sitcom star Matt
la empty space? How might you complete those empty spaces,
those voids, those vacancies, those vacuums. Anyway, what comes after
(00:26):
the word Sauvignon, Mont and Matt luh? The answer and
more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers, welcome back
to the Puzzler. The climactic double backflip at your puzzle
(00:47):
Monster Truck Rally. Thank you, Greg. I just went with
my boys and we had a great time and we
only saw a single backflip, but it was.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, I don't believe there are double backflips at Monster
Truck Rally.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
To YouTube and you will see at least one.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We went to the State Fair Missouri State Fair a
number of years ago and watched Jessica went to hear
one of her favorite country music artists, and I went
and watched the Monster Truck Rally.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Nice. That is a good division of labor.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I loved it well, of course, that is Chief Puzzle
Officer Greg Kliska and I'm a J. Jacobson. Before the break,
we asked what word goes in the empty space after
these phrases Sauvignon empty space, mont empty space, and the
actor Matt the empty space the answer.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And guess you know, I've been thinking about this since
you said it, and I'm drawing a blanc.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I can't nice there it is. That's the answer. People blanc, Sauvignon, blanc,
the wine, mont blanc as in mont blanc, pens or
dessert or mountain, and actor Matt LeBlanc from friends. And
as Greg pointed out, it was all for me to
be able to say, you just filled in the blank,
(02:03):
and it was entirely worth it. It was entirely worth that
long journey. In my opinion, you.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Forgot that great Taylor Swift song blank space.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Oh yes, I thought, I know there was a lot.
There's mel Blanc. I thought about it.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, that's an actual that's actually spelled and pronounced that way.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So that's great. Well, Greg, we have some blanks to
fill in, and you are going to be doing most
of the blank filling in because well.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I'm going to be setting up the blanks. You're gonna
have to fill them in.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I think great point. Great point, because today is an
exciting day. There has been a ton of breaking puzzle news. Yeah,
God Hot off the press and maybe Lukewarm off the presses,
but it's still somewhere in that area. And uh and
Greg has been monitoring the newsticker, so he's going to
be telling us about him and giving us puzzles based
(02:52):
on those news items. So yeah, I'll let you take over. Greg.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
There's always fun stuff going on in the world, and
some of it's related to puzzles, and all of it
is an opportunity to turn something into a puzzle.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Right, And I like your positivity that there's lots of
fun stuff going on in the world.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
You know. That's what we're here for. If you want
to hear about the other stuff, there are other podcasts
for that. That's right, but we're going to hear to
do it. Brighten your morning a little bit before you
doom scroll. We're going to start with the world of sports.
May is the month of the Kentucky Derby.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Did you watch it this year?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I watched it while I was at the Monster Truck Show,
So I watched it while streaming. I was looking at
bigger transportation, types of transportation, but it was yes, so
I did. I was sad journalism didn't win as a journalist,
yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
But sovereignty, you know, edged journalism out. I love the
race when I was a Kid's Secretariat won the Trimple
Ground for the first time in twenty five years. And
you may know that every horse that ran in the
Kentucky Derby this year is descended from Secretariat.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I did not know that. Fascinating, Yeah, really cool.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
But in that vein, we're going to revisit. This is
a kind of a quiz we've done before. This is
a quiz. I'm going to give you names of things.
And it's either the name of a horse that ran
the Kentucky Derby this month, or it's the name of
a movie that is being or was released in the
month of May.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Okay, this year, twenty twenty five, this year.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yep, it's current stuff. It's either a horse from this
year or from this month, really from the Kentucky Derby,
or a movie from this month.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
All right, all right, can we bring in Associate buzzler
Andrea Schelmberg to weigh in as well?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
You got a fifty to fifty shot at this and
you still want to help.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yes, I want to cover the bases to use another
sports and that's going to be a year.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I also, I must say, I think I'm going to
have a pretty good advantage on this because I was
with friends for the Kentucky Derby, and I had friends
who had money on the race, and specifically they chose
horses based on how much they enjoyed their names.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, exactly, this is my family tradition. I'm like, everybody
has to pick a horse based on the name, and
people want to know the odds. I'm like, Nope, you
can't base it on the odds. You're just gonna pick
the name you like the best.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
All right, We're ready, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Here you go. So the first one is Owen Almighty.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Oh well there was a Bruce Almighty with uh yeah,
that was a movie with Steve Carell, I believe. So
I am guessing Yeah, I don't know if there's I
haven't seen a sequel. So I'm gonna go with with
the horse and Andrea, what are you gonna go with?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Uh? Well, actually it's not It doesn't ruin any horse
bells to me. But also it doesn't ruin any movie
bells to me. So I'll go with horse as well.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yep, you are correct, that was one of the horses.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Just to clarify, these are horses in the Kentucky Derby
or horses.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
In the Kentucky Derby, and this year got it? Okay, yeah,
all right, here's your next one, American Promise.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Okay, American Promise.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I'll let you go first because i i'm.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Oh, you know, I feel I feel that's a horse too.
I don't know what do you think?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yes, it is a horse. There are many jokes made
about American Promise losing this year.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yes, exactly, it was a horse. But again, it sounds
like a movie title.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, like George Clooney directed it.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Perhaps a documentary, a kind of bleak documentary about something.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
A Fox News special, something like that.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Right, exactly exactly, mountain Head.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Mountain Head. All right, I'm just gonna go with with
movie because I've I feel like the need to shake
it up.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I'll go with horse, just to be different.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
All right, good, good guesses one of you is right.
It is, in fact a movie. It's a Steve Carell
movie coming out.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's just the movie.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right, yeah, yeah, all right, what about flying mohawk?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Flying mohawk, I did not see that, although it does
make sense as a horse. It's a good name for
a horse because I kind of have a mohawk with
a main But I'm still gonna go with movie.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I have a friend who bet on flying mohawks.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yes, okay, flying mohawk is a horse. All right, here's
your last one. Hurry up tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh interesting. I'm gonna say movie just because it seems
I do like it as the name of a horse,
like it's very on brand on a little maybe too
much on the nose. But yeah, movie, I think.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
It's a movie.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
You are both correct. It is a movie. It's actually
a companion to the Weekend album of the same name.
The Weekend put out an album of that name, and
it's a companion film. Pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
That's you guys, get a good job on those horses
or movies. I feel like that's always fertile ground horses
have so many great names.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Exactly there and somewhat well, what do you remember any
of the historical ones. I remember there was one named Pope.
I just like that.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, I mean, there's there we did a whole quiz
that was was it Tony winning plays or Derby winning horses?
And there's all the great Triple Crown winners, Sir Barton
and Whirlaway and Man of War and citation, a lot
of gray horses out there. Going into the from sports
(08:46):
into entertainment. There is a new South Korean crime thriller
coming out. I believe it's gonna be on Disney Plus
starting May twenty first, and it's called Nine Puzzles.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Oh, look at that.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
We got to see that. It's about a high school
student who discovers her uncle's murdered body next to a
single puzzle piece, and at first she's the prime suspect,
but then years later, a decade later or so, she
becomes a criminal profiler who gets involved in a new
series of murders, each victim again connected by a puzzle
(09:21):
piece similar to the one from her uncle's crime scene.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Huh okay, all right, that's very good.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
It did inspire. It did inspire what I'm calling the
nine puzzle. Every answer is a word or phrase with
nine in it.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Nne okay, I like it.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
And at least at first they're all going to end
with ni E. So that's a little bit of a hint.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
God.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
So for example, who needs an example, We'll just dive
right in. You can sink your teeth into this shorthand
for a nine person singing group from soul.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Oh I don't know, I know bts, but that's an
end with right.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
So I'm giving you a direct clue to the word,
plus a punny clue to the word or the sound
of the word.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Oh so I did need it. I didn't need an example.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
It was yeah, I know. We'll call Andrea.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Do you get it? Do you get it?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
No? I sink your teeth or your tooth into this
shorthand for a nine person singing group from soul.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
K nine, Oh, I get it?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Okay, K nine, Okay, you know the suffix, the prefix.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
All right, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
I think part of this is the real conclude of
the real world word. Part of it is a punny clue.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
All right, I'm on board. I'm on board.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So this comes after Burrow seven and Donkey eight. How stupid.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Oh I got it. I think I got it. It
is assinine. It's like muleanine, nosine.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
This nine is so cold and gloomy, just like the
sixth planet, not the ninth planet.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I was waiting for this one. I was like, what
words end with nine? And uh satur nine Saturday nine
Saturday nine?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yes, I meaning cold and gloomy in a nine floor amphitheater.
This would technically be the four and a half level.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Oh, the ninth floor. Oh okay, I think I got it, Andrea,
any thoughts.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, the mezzanine, mezzanine.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
The mezzanine is exactly RTD the mezzanine, but it's pronounced mezzanine,
all right. The last one the quality of being really
thin or going down the slopes nine times.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Oh okay, No, I don't have it yet. Oh I
guess No, that doesn't work. Skin nine, Skin nine doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
But make it a noun.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Oh, this one is not at the end? I see, okay,
right in the middle skin nine, noess skinniness, skinniness right,
very all right. I love it. We give it a
nine out of ten for that person, solid nine out
of ten perfect and cloud nine on cloud I've decided.
(12:18):
You know, when people say how are you doing? I
always say seven out of ten unless I'm made out
of ten or six out of ten. I like to,
you know, be honest and say, nothing's ever perfect. But
I was thinking of doing the cloud scale instead, Like
I'm on Cloud four, I'm on Cloud.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Seven, so Cloud nine would be the top.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, I feel cloud it seems to be the top.
Like I've never heard anyone on Cloud ten.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
No, no, it's best excellent.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Wait, so that's too. Do you have even a third?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I do have one more?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
All right?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I think we want to we have the time, We
got the time, we got the time? All right? Yes,
I have one more. So I read an item about
a new book of crosswork by a constructor named Ophelia
rm Banks. Now that's a pseudonym, and I don't know
anything about her or her real name, although I suspect
(13:11):
it's an anagram, right, so maybe her name is like
Sharon Limpbeek or Maria Schlepnob or something like that that
can be made from those letters. But whoever she is,
she's created, she's written a book. She's done several crossroad books,
and the new one is called the HBCU Edition of
(13:32):
African American Crosswords.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Uh huh okay, and according.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
To the press release, it celebrates the development and legacy
of historically black colleges and universities. Those are the one
hundred or so higher education institutions, institutions that were founded
before the Civil Rights Act, and they explicitly were founded
to serve African African American students who had been barred
from going to most colleges and universities. So this looks
(13:59):
like a real cool book of puzzles. She's got several
puzzles in the same vein African American crosswords and puzzles,
but this one specifically celebrates all of these institutions and
promises to teach us all more about the history of
each of these each of these hundred or so educational institutions. Awesome,
sounds very cool. So what I decided was, let's do
(14:22):
some charades. Okay, each answer is the name of one
of the HBCUs.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
All right, one of the hundred.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
A right, one of the hundred.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yes, I don't think I know all all hundred of them.
I'm calling in Andrea as well for this one, so
we can work it together. We are ready. I'm speaking
for Andrea.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Here you go the first one two parts Part one
magical incantation, Part two.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Dude, I got it all right, I think we both
got it we'll say it together on three one two
three spellman, spell Mellman.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yes, spell pus Man. That's an Atlanta school, all all
women's school that Stacy Abrams, among others, is an alumna hu.
And your second one is Sir Thomas blank plus blank party.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
All right, I think I got it too. You want
to say it together.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
You've got the speea all right?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
That sale that would be more House, Sir Thomas more House.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Morehouse, which is the all Men's school. And it also
that's also in Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Oh, very good, good one.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
All right, here you go Ken Jennings's favorite garden tool
plus a kind of play or salad.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, I know that I know his favorite garden tool,
and I believe I do, which is a hoe yep,
And they so wait, how I thought it was ward
but it's not word.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Well, you got it. What's a it's you know, it's
a the phanatics are not perfect.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
A word salad salad. I got it, very good, Howard.
And by the way, those who don't know that was
a famous Ken Jennings controversy because the clue was something like,
this is a name for a man who's a cad,
but it's also a garden tool and they were looking
(16:29):
for rake. But he said, oh and uh, and there
was a kerfuffle. I don't remember what happened.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
It was great, great, it was great. All right, a
few more of these. This one's three parts walrus feature
plus map feature plus kind of butter.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
All right, I think I got it.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Oh, key g tuskegee, tuskegee.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yet tusk is the walls feature, map features key and
gee is a kind of butter g age tuskegee. So
there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Excellent. Well, I feel so up to date on my
puzzle news that I'll be able to be a hit
at annie puzzle related cocktail party or convention. So thank you, great,
my pleasure. That was very educational and entertaining. AKA at
you taining. Well, Thank you Greg, and thank you puzzlers
(17:36):
at home. You'll hear us on Monday for more puzzling
puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Hello, puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer, here
with the extra credit answer. From our previous episode. I
did a game with AJ called Everyone Should have their
Own ron Vara, where ron Vara, of course, is the
made up economics expert whose name is an anagram of
Peter Navarro's last name. So Navarro made up this guy
(18:10):
to support all of his own, possibly crack pot economic ideas,
and I thought everyone should have their own ron Vara,
someone who you can cite as an expert in the
thing you're claiming to be an expert in. And this
clue is this one a travel and cooking expert named
(18:31):
Nora Doobi dub I. So the famous person who might
have the fake expert Nora Doobie is Anthony Bourdain, because Doobie,
of course, is an anagram of Boordain. We also gave
you another extra credit. How many small things go into
big things? And this one was the shortest Puzzler episode,
(18:53):
which was one with Chuck Bryant. How many of those
fit into the longest Joe Rogan episode? And the answer,
of course, of course, as if you had any idea,
the answer is sixty four. That's a very I'm imagining
that short episode with Chuck was maybe eight minutes long,
which means that Joe Rogan episode clocks in it over
(19:16):
eight hours? Is that right? Holy? Yet, who listens to
anything for that long? We're glad you come here and
listen to us for twelve, fifteen, eighteen minutes a day.
We'll see you here next time for more puzzles. Thanks
for playing along with the team Here at The Puzzler
(19:38):
with Aj Jacobs, I'm Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle Officer.
Our executive producers are Neelie Lohman and Adam Neuhause of
New House Ideas and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The
show is produced by Jody Averragan and Brittany Brown of
Roulette Productions, with production support from Claire Bidegar Curtis. Our
associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg. The Puzzler with Ajjacobs is
(20:03):
a co production with New House Ideas and is distributed
by Pastor Hide's Cat No Rearrange those letters. It's distributed
by iHeart Podcasts. If you want to know more about
puzzling puzzles, please check out the book The Puzzler by
AJ Jacobs, a history of puzzles that The New York
Times called fun and funny. It features an original puzzle
(20:26):
hunt by yours truly and is available wherever you get
your books and puzzlers. For all your puzzling needs, go
visit the puzzler dot com. See you there,
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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