August 27, 2025 • 19 mins
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Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: stand-up comedian Gary Gulman!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello puzzlers. Before we start puzzling today, I wanted to
let you know we are cooking up some big plans
for the puzzler community, and in order to ensure that
it's what you want, we need your input. So we've
put together a short survey, which you can find in
the show notes. It's really quick, just three minutes, but
(00:22):
it will be a huge help in letting us know
what you want so that we can deliver just that.
Thank you, Hello puzzlers. I think we should start with
a quick puzzle. This puzzle is in honor of our guest,
Gary Gullman. Gary's first name, which is Gary, is also
(00:43):
the name of a city in the United States, namely Gary, Indiana.
There's even a song about it in the music man
Gary Indiana. It goes Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana. Those are
the only lyrics that I know, but there are more,
presumably Anyway. The challenge is, can you come up with
other notable people whose first name is also the name
(01:07):
of an American city. I'll give you a hint to one.
One city is the shares a name with a novelist
a part of a famous trio of sisters. This novelist
wrote Jane Eyre and she shares her name with a
North Carolina city. The answer and more puzzling goodness after
(01:28):
the break. Hello Puzzlers, Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast,
the coveted eighteen to forty nine demographic and your Puzzler
Nielsen ratings. Thank you Andrea Schoenberg for that intro. I'm
your host, Ady Jacobs. I'm here, of course, the chief
(01:50):
puzzle officer, Greg Kliska. Greg. Before the break, we talked
about people who share a name with American cities, and
the hint was about a novelist who wrote, Jane Eyre
one of a famous trio of sisters. What might that be?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
That would be Charlotte Bronte.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
That's right, of who shares with Charlotte, North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Now, I just wonder if the really, I mean, the
interesting version of this puzzle is where the city is
not named for a person with the same name. Right,
I'm guessing Charlotte, North Carolina is named for some famous.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Charlotte or right, not the bronch Charlotte or.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
The Danish queen or something. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And I will say I looked it up just before.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Because you knew I was going to say this, and
you're a step ahead of me.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
You look well, I think even better. There is an
Emily Minnesota, and who's Emily Bronte Bronte. And there is
an Anne Applis and city originally called Anne Rundel Town.
(03:02):
So Anne who is I don't know, Lady Anna Arrundel,
some sort of British person. So anyway, I got a
couple others I want to hear.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I got Jackson Pollock, love it right, Jackson Jackson, Mississippi
capital in fact minor all capital cities. I had Helena
Rubinstein Nice and Olympia Ducacas.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Wow, okay, you got some good ones. But wait, is
Pierre is Pierre a capital?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
It is is pronounced Pierre South, but it's spelled Pierre. Yeah. Yeah,
A few people knew that. I didn't know that for
years that I found out.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Uh, Pierre Trudeau. So Pierre Trudeau. And then there's Alexandria,
Virginia and Exa Casio Cortes. Uh. Well, as I mentioned,
this is all in honor of our wonderful guest, Gary Gulman,
who shares his name with Gary Indiana, but that it's
not his most notable accomplishment. He is a brilliant comedian
(04:04):
who has appeared on pretty much every major talk show
and has wonderful specials, including the Great Dupression, which was
on HBO Max whatever it's called. Please welcome, Gary Gullman.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Good to be back. Thanks for having me, having me back.
And I've been having such a ball playing these these games.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Oh well, I love it having Really it's.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
One of those things where if I wasn't included, I
would be bitter that I was not included all.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And by the way, have you ever been to Gary, Indiana?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Has that? No?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I have not been to Gary, Indiana, but I do
know that that the Jackson family was from Gary, Indiana.
And also that there was a song perhaps in the
in Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Or or the music man I know Indiana Gary.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the yeah. There was a woman
who used to sing that to me when I was
in college.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
There you go. That voice you heard is of course
Greg Puliska, our chief puzzle officer, and Greg, I believe
today you have written a puzzle for Gary, not Indiana.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Gullman, exactly the same. We've been playing with words and wordplay.
This next puzzle is all about interesting and unusual words
and we're gonna call it Kicken, Dicken or Limericken, which
sounds like a whole bunch of nonsense, but I'll explain
Kicken refers to sports, Dicken refers to the author Charles Dickens,
(05:39):
and Limerick in is related to poetry. So the way
this game works is I'll give you a word, Gary,
and you're gonna tell us whether that word is a
sports term, a kind of poem, or the name of
a Dickens character. I love it all right, So I
think you get how this game is gonna work. For example,
(06:02):
I mean, I could say artful Dodger and you'd say, oh,
that's a Dickens character. Or I could say sal Cow,
which you might know is one of the jumps in
figure skating jumps yes, yes, or Cestina, which.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Of course is that yeah crossword puzzle.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Al yeah, a E L is another jump in sports.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I mean, I haven't put this on any special or
or album, but I think it's appropriate that I that
I share this joke with relating to the crossword puzzle,
which is that crossword puzzle creators are aware of only
one snake uh the act, despite the fact that it's
(06:44):
not even the only three letter snake and then they are.
They have convinced us solvers that the only person to
ever produce a record is Brian Eno. Despite despite the
fact that rock and musicians are notorious for being woman
heisers only one has ever married, and and the woman
(07:08):
is uh oh no.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And love.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I mean, that has to be, but it has to
be as a as a creator, a last resort where
they just or they they.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Make they are excellent at making the clues.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
There was a wonderful sketch I saw where somebody was
two people were going back and forth over the different clues.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
For f p E. P ee was.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
So I mean, for a crossword solver, it was. It
was just the most beautiful sketch I had ever I
had ever.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
Encountered, because pe is just that's one of those words
that you only really know if you are involved in
that sport or if you are a dutiful daily solver
of the of the crosswords.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Exactly exactly. In fact, when a person becomes famous who
has an inter resting three or four letter name, you'll
see all the people on crosswood social media get all excited.
It's like, finally a new weird three letter word we
can use you know, or a new way the clue
a thing we already.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I remember Peter Gordon, who's a great crossroad writer. He
was so excited when there was a new Ian on
the on the horizon, like something an actor and righteous gemstones,
or maybe a character is like no Ian.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
It's so good, all right, all right. So this is
either a Dickens character, a sports term, or a kind
of poetry. I love it.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And your first word is Clara Hugh c l e
r I h e W Clara Hugh.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I haven't seen these, but I'm no help Gary. The
answer I mean, I.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
The thing is is that it it does ring the
Dickens character name. But I have not and I've not
read extensive and Dickens. I know the main ones the
Tale of Two Cities. Okay, I mean that that does
(09:11):
sound like a French name that could be in Tail
of two Cities. It doesn't run the sports and it
and it does not. I don't know enough about poetry,
but I would narrow it down to poetry or Dickens,
Limerickn's or Dickens. I'm going to uh, I'm going to
(09:34):
go with my my gut, which is that it is
a Dickens character.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Go with your other gut. It's a it's a type
of poetry. Yeah, And of course I'm picking these because
they're not obvious, right to try to get It's actually
it was invented by a guy named Edmund Clara Hugh Bentley,
who was an author. And it's a it's a four
a line poem, two rhyming couplets of unequal length, and
(10:03):
it's usually about a person's biography. And one of the
examples Bentley wrote is actually about the Clara Hugh and
he says the art of biography is different from geography.
Geography is about maps, but biography is about chaps.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Wow, about chaps, About chaps. That's a meta claric.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
It's a clariah about.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Clar It's really clever.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I love it. Yeah, it's good. Right, Okay, here's here's
another one. This is the word niblic n I B
L I c K niblic.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
All right. I think, I think because Dickens was so
good names that sound. I mean, I wonder what he
thought about Yiddish, because Yiddish is one of those words
with the word kind of reminds you of what what
the person is I'm gonna say that's a Dickens character's.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Gonna and you know, the good thing is you'll be
right about one out of three times if you say Dickens.
But this is not one of those times.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Either.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
It's a sports term. Yes, I never heard it before.
It's an obsolete golf term for a nine iron, a
mashie niblic or a mashie spoon or a spoon or
a niblic one of those obscure terms. All right, how
(11:29):
about this one? How about villain L V I L
l A n E l L E villain.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
L I think that is a poetry style.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, very good? Do you exactly right? It's a it's
a nineteen line poem with it's got a very specific
structure I won't possibly explain, but the most famous one
is Dylan Thomas's do Not Go Gentle into that good night. Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
That's my I mean, that's my favorite villain l.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
You know, it's the way that line repeats is part
of the structure of it. All Right, here's here's another one.
How about bond Spiel.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Bond Spiel Okay, so spiel is German for play. Oh
good one, so so to me it could be either
either a whimsical a whimsical eight line.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Poem like very specific it's very good.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Line poem, or something to do with a German sport.
But you said it wasn't obscure, so I'm going to
go with it. It is a type of poem.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Or it's something to do with the sport it is
actually the it's a curling tournament. It's called a bond Spiel,
and curling got so popular in the Olympics recently, I
feel like that's not an obscure sport anymore. I say, yeah,
it means good, it means good play. You're absolutely right,
So it could be a it could be I could
see it as a Dickens character too, in in Tale
(13:07):
of Few Cities, you know, mayor bond Spiel or something. Okay,
we'll do three more, chuzzle Wit.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Ah, that is that is? That is Dickens.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Oh you got yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah, I want to say hard times.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
No, it's actually from the book Martin Chuzzlewit. Look at that.
But I thought it's not one of the more common books,
and it thought I'd get you, you know, the way
Spiel got you the other way. But no, you read
right for the right one. Yeah, all right, how about
fartlek f A r t l e k.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Okay. Uh, that is a length, I think, and I
think it's another German word, and I think that's from sports.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I think it's you're good it is Actually it's a
it's a kind of Swedish endurance training where you alternate
periods of sprinting with periods of jogging.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Yes, oh yes, I think I came out. I read
a lot about running. I don't do a lot of running,
but I love you read about it. I love books
about I got really into running, and then I got
really into books about running, and they're they're some of
the best books. They're so inspiring and you just can't
get over the dedication to this.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
This miserable activity. So you you burned vicarious calories just
reading the book.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah, but I mean I used to. I used to
run a lot, and the thing that would get me
through was listening to good books, and particularly good books
about running. And there are there are so many good
books about running. My favorite, I think was was Mark
Kami's What I talk About When I talk about running?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Oh cool?
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah, really a great memoir of a of an interesting writer.
And and my word a really impressive runner.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Interesting, I didn't know he was a runner. I know
him as a writer of course.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
But yeah, yeah, no, I mean he's a really impressive
amateur runner, I guess. But he's really dedicated.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, all right, I'm gonna give you one more. The
last one.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Golden Shovel is that associated with horse racing.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
It's not.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
The horse thing so beloved that when they clean out all.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I think, as long as you define it, you get
the points, because it's so no. It's actually a form
of poetry in which and it's named for the first
of the first example of its kind, which was a
poem called the Golden Shovel that was written by a
poet named Terence Hayes. And he took the first line
(15:51):
of Gwendolyn Brooks we real cool poem, and then ended
each line with one word from that poem. So it's
a poem where each word of one line from another
poem serves as the end word of the line for
the new poem. And it's a kind of homage to
(16:12):
the original poet. And it turns out there are a
lot of examples of this, like once he did it.
Once people thought, oh, what a cool idea, so you
take you know, do not go gentle into that good night,
and then you make those the end words of a
new poem.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Love it all right? Well, listeners, feel free to write
your own golden shovels.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Send us your golden shovels.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Gary, or a puzzler or whatever you want. And I
just want to thank Gary Goldman everyone. He is a brilliant.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
For you for including me that in this and uh
and for our emerging friendship and hopefully we'll all be
in the same city one of these times. We should
we should have a nice lunch.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I love that we will nerve and folks, you should
definitely buy Gary's albums. But he also has a show
that he's touring. Uh is it grandiloquent that you are
branded iloquent, which means uh flowery.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
The use of flowery language, especially when intended to impress.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Perfect for the puzzling. Yeah, thank you Gary.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Afternoon, Thanks so much, guys, It's such a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Thanks Gary.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Greg. Do you have an extra credit?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I'm going to do three extra credits. I'm gonna do
three and basically one of each. One is a Dickens character,
one is a sport, one is a type of poetry
and you just have to decide which is which great.
So I'll give them to you in alphabetical order. They
are Pantoom p a n t o u n pan
(17:51):
toom okay Quinela q u i n e l l
a Quinela, and Turvy Drop t u r vey drop
Turvy Drop. So you got Pantoom, Quinela and turvy drop.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
All right, I don't know any of them. It will
be uh, it'll be a shot in the dark, but
it'll be fun. So tune in tomorrow to figure out
what those are. To find out. And in the meantime,
of course, you can get more puzzles at Hello Puzzlers
on our Instagram, and of course we'll see you here
(18:30):
tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Puzzles, Ty Puzzlers, It's Greg Pliska up from the Puzzle
Lab one more time to tell you about the extra
credit from our previous episode with Gary Goleman.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
We played a homophone game where every answer is two
words that are homophones of each other. Your extra credit
clue was every day at three pm, I enjoy a
sprig of my favorite Earth, and in fact I was
tricked by this when it took me a minute. But
it could doesn't have to be three pm. It could
be any hour on the clock, because it is time
(19:09):
time time th h y m E and time t
I M. So we're glad you have time time and
puzzle time for playing here with us, and we look
forward to playing some more puzzles with you next time.
Hello puzzlers. Before we start puzzling today, I wanted to
let you know we are cooking up some big plans
for the puzzler community, and in order to ensure that
it's what you want, we need your input. So we've
put together a short survey, which you can find in
the show notes. It's really quick, just three minutes, but
(00:22):
it will be a huge help in letting us know
what you want so that we can deliver just that.
Thank you, Hello puzzlers. I think we should start with
a quick puzzle. This puzzle is in honor of our guest,
Gary Gullman. Gary's first name, which is Gary, is also
(00:43):
the name of a city in the United States, namely Gary, Indiana.
There's even a song about it in the music man
Gary Indiana. It goes Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana. Those are
the only lyrics that I know, but there are more,
presumably Anyway. The challenge is, can you come up with
other notable people whose first name is also the name
(01:07):
of an American city. I'll give you a hint to one.
One city is the shares a name with a novelist
a part of a famous trio of sisters. This novelist
wrote Jane Eyre and she shares her name with a
North Carolina city. The answer and more puzzling goodness after
(01:28):
the break. Hello Puzzlers, Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast,
the coveted eighteen to forty nine demographic and your Puzzler
Nielsen ratings. Thank you Andrea Schoenberg for that intro. I'm
your host, Ady Jacobs. I'm here, of course, the chief
(01:50):
puzzle officer, Greg Kliska. Greg. Before the break, we talked
about people who share a name with American cities, and
the hint was about a novelist who wrote, Jane Eyre
one of a famous trio of sisters. What might that be?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
That would be Charlotte Bronte.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
That's right, of who shares with Charlotte, North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Now, I just wonder if the really, I mean, the
interesting version of this puzzle is where the city is
not named for a person with the same name. Right,
I'm guessing Charlotte, North Carolina is named for some famous.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Charlotte or right, not the bronch Charlotte or.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
The Danish queen or something. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And I will say I looked it up just before.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Because you knew I was going to say this, and
you're a step ahead of me.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
You look well, I think even better. There is an
Emily Minnesota, and who's Emily Bronte Bronte. And there is
an Anne Applis and city originally called Anne Rundel Town.
(03:02):
So Anne who is I don't know, Lady Anna Arrundel,
some sort of British person. So anyway, I got a
couple others I want to hear.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I got Jackson Pollock, love it right, Jackson Jackson, Mississippi
capital in fact minor all capital cities. I had Helena
Rubinstein Nice and Olympia Ducacas.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Wow, okay, you got some good ones. But wait, is
Pierre is Pierre a capital?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
It is is pronounced Pierre South, but it's spelled Pierre. Yeah. Yeah,
A few people knew that. I didn't know that for
years that I found out.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Uh, Pierre Trudeau. So Pierre Trudeau. And then there's Alexandria,
Virginia and Exa Casio Cortes. Uh. Well, as I mentioned,
this is all in honor of our wonderful guest, Gary Gulman,
who shares his name with Gary Indiana, but that it's
not his most notable accomplishment. He is a brilliant comedian
(04:04):
who has appeared on pretty much every major talk show
and has wonderful specials, including the Great Dupression, which was
on HBO Max whatever it's called. Please welcome, Gary Gullman.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Good to be back. Thanks for having me, having me back.
And I've been having such a ball playing these these games.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Oh well, I love it having Really it's.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
One of those things where if I wasn't included, I
would be bitter that I was not included all.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And by the way, have you ever been to Gary, Indiana?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Has that? No?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I have not been to Gary, Indiana, but I do
know that that the Jackson family was from Gary, Indiana.
And also that there was a song perhaps in the
in Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Or or the music man I know Indiana Gary.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the yeah. There was a woman
who used to sing that to me when I was
in college.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
There you go. That voice you heard is of course
Greg Puliska, our chief puzzle officer, and Greg, I believe
today you have written a puzzle for Gary, not Indiana.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Gullman, exactly the same. We've been playing with words and wordplay.
This next puzzle is all about interesting and unusual words
and we're gonna call it Kicken, Dicken or Limericken, which
sounds like a whole bunch of nonsense, but I'll explain
Kicken refers to sports, Dicken refers to the author Charles Dickens,
(05:39):
and Limerick in is related to poetry. So the way
this game works is I'll give you a word, Gary,
and you're gonna tell us whether that word is a
sports term, a kind of poem, or the name of
a Dickens character. I love it all right, So I
think you get how this game is gonna work. For example,
(06:02):
I mean, I could say artful Dodger and you'd say, oh,
that's a Dickens character. Or I could say sal Cow,
which you might know is one of the jumps in
figure skating jumps yes, yes, or Cestina, which.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Of course is that yeah crossword puzzle.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Al yeah, a E L is another jump in sports.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I mean, I haven't put this on any special or
or album, but I think it's appropriate that I that
I share this joke with relating to the crossword puzzle,
which is that crossword puzzle creators are aware of only
one snake uh the act, despite the fact that it's
(06:44):
not even the only three letter snake and then they are.
They have convinced us solvers that the only person to
ever produce a record is Brian Eno. Despite despite the
fact that rock and musicians are notorious for being woman
heisers only one has ever married, and and the woman
(07:08):
is uh oh no.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And love.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I mean, that has to be, but it has to
be as a as a creator, a last resort where
they just or they they.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Make they are excellent at making the clues.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
There was a wonderful sketch I saw where somebody was
two people were going back and forth over the different clues.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
For f p E. P ee was.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
So I mean, for a crossword solver, it was. It
was just the most beautiful sketch I had ever I
had ever.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
Encountered, because pe is just that's one of those words
that you only really know if you are involved in
that sport or if you are a dutiful daily solver
of the of the crosswords.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Exactly exactly. In fact, when a person becomes famous who
has an inter resting three or four letter name, you'll
see all the people on crosswood social media get all excited.
It's like, finally a new weird three letter word we
can use you know, or a new way the clue
a thing we already.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I remember Peter Gordon, who's a great crossroad writer. He
was so excited when there was a new Ian on
the on the horizon, like something an actor and righteous gemstones,
or maybe a character is like no Ian.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
It's so good, all right, all right. So this is
either a Dickens character, a sports term, or a kind
of poetry. I love it.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And your first word is Clara Hugh c l e
r I h e W Clara Hugh.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I haven't seen these, but I'm no help Gary. The
answer I mean, I.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
The thing is is that it it does ring the
Dickens character name. But I have not and I've not
read extensive and Dickens. I know the main ones the
Tale of Two Cities. Okay, I mean that that does
(09:11):
sound like a French name that could be in Tail
of two Cities. It doesn't run the sports and it
and it does not. I don't know enough about poetry,
but I would narrow it down to poetry or Dickens,
Limerickn's or Dickens. I'm going to uh, I'm going to
(09:34):
go with my my gut, which is that it is
a Dickens character.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Go with your other gut. It's a it's a type
of poetry. Yeah, And of course I'm picking these because
they're not obvious, right to try to get It's actually
it was invented by a guy named Edmund Clara Hugh Bentley,
who was an author. And it's a it's a four
a line poem, two rhyming couplets of unequal length, and
(10:03):
it's usually about a person's biography. And one of the
examples Bentley wrote is actually about the Clara Hugh and
he says the art of biography is different from geography.
Geography is about maps, but biography is about chaps.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Wow, about chaps, About chaps. That's a meta claric.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
It's a clariah about.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Clar It's really clever.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I love it. Yeah, it's good. Right, Okay, here's here's
another one. This is the word niblic n I B
L I c K niblic.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
All right. I think, I think because Dickens was so
good names that sound. I mean, I wonder what he
thought about Yiddish, because Yiddish is one of those words
with the word kind of reminds you of what what
the person is I'm gonna say that's a Dickens character's.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Gonna and you know, the good thing is you'll be
right about one out of three times if you say Dickens.
But this is not one of those times.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Either.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
It's a sports term. Yes, I never heard it before.
It's an obsolete golf term for a nine iron, a
mashie niblic or a mashie spoon or a spoon or
a niblic one of those obscure terms. All right, how
(11:29):
about this one? How about villain L V I L
l A n E l L E villain.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
L I think that is a poetry style.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, very good? Do you exactly right? It's a it's
a nineteen line poem with it's got a very specific
structure I won't possibly explain, but the most famous one
is Dylan Thomas's do Not Go Gentle into that good night. Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
That's my I mean, that's my favorite villain l.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
You know, it's the way that line repeats is part
of the structure of it. All Right, here's here's another one.
How about bond Spiel.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Bond Spiel Okay, so spiel is German for play. Oh
good one, so so to me it could be either
either a whimsical a whimsical eight line.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Poem like very specific it's very good.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Line poem, or something to do with a German sport.
But you said it wasn't obscure, so I'm going to
go with it. It is a type of poem.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Or it's something to do with the sport it is
actually the it's a curling tournament. It's called a bond Spiel,
and curling got so popular in the Olympics recently, I
feel like that's not an obscure sport anymore. I say, yeah,
it means good, it means good play. You're absolutely right,
So it could be a it could be I could
see it as a Dickens character too, in in Tale
(13:07):
of Few Cities, you know, mayor bond Spiel or something. Okay,
we'll do three more, chuzzle Wit.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Ah, that is that is? That is Dickens.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Oh you got yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah, I want to say hard times.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
No, it's actually from the book Martin Chuzzlewit. Look at that.
But I thought it's not one of the more common books,
and it thought I'd get you, you know, the way
Spiel got you the other way. But no, you read
right for the right one. Yeah, all right, how about
fartlek f A r t l e k.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Okay. Uh, that is a length, I think, and I
think it's another German word, and I think that's from sports.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I think it's you're good it is Actually it's a
it's a kind of Swedish endurance training where you alternate
periods of sprinting with periods of jogging.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Yes, oh yes, I think I came out. I read
a lot about running. I don't do a lot of running,
but I love you read about it. I love books
about I got really into running, and then I got
really into books about running, and they're they're some of
the best books. They're so inspiring and you just can't
get over the dedication to this.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
This miserable activity. So you you burned vicarious calories just
reading the book.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah, but I mean I used to. I used to
run a lot, and the thing that would get me
through was listening to good books, and particularly good books
about running. And there are there are so many good
books about running. My favorite, I think was was Mark
Kami's What I talk About When I talk about running?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Oh cool?
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah, really a great memoir of a of an interesting writer.
And and my word a really impressive runner.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Interesting, I didn't know he was a runner. I know
him as a writer of course.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
But yeah, yeah, no, I mean he's a really impressive
amateur runner, I guess. But he's really dedicated.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, all right, I'm gonna give you one more. The
last one.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Golden Shovel is that associated with horse racing.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
It's not.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
The horse thing so beloved that when they clean out all.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I think, as long as you define it, you get
the points, because it's so no. It's actually a form
of poetry in which and it's named for the first
of the first example of its kind, which was a
poem called the Golden Shovel that was written by a
poet named Terence Hayes. And he took the first line
(15:51):
of Gwendolyn Brooks we real cool poem, and then ended
each line with one word from that poem. So it's
a poem where each word of one line from another
poem serves as the end word of the line for
the new poem. And it's a kind of homage to
(16:12):
the original poet. And it turns out there are a
lot of examples of this, like once he did it.
Once people thought, oh, what a cool idea, so you
take you know, do not go gentle into that good night,
and then you make those the end words of a
new poem.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Love it all right? Well, listeners, feel free to write
your own golden shovels.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Send us your golden shovels.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Gary, or a puzzler or whatever you want. And I
just want to thank Gary Goldman everyone. He is a brilliant.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
For you for including me that in this and uh
and for our emerging friendship and hopefully we'll all be
in the same city one of these times. We should
we should have a nice lunch.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I love that we will nerve and folks, you should
definitely buy Gary's albums. But he also has a show
that he's touring. Uh is it grandiloquent that you are
branded iloquent, which means uh flowery.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
The use of flowery language, especially when intended to impress.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Perfect for the puzzling. Yeah, thank you Gary.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Afternoon, Thanks so much, guys, It's such a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Thanks Gary.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Greg. Do you have an extra credit?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I'm going to do three extra credits. I'm gonna do
three and basically one of each. One is a Dickens character,
one is a sport, one is a type of poetry
and you just have to decide which is which great.
So I'll give them to you in alphabetical order. They
are Pantoom p a n t o u n pan
(17:51):
toom okay Quinela q u i n e l l
a Quinela, and Turvy Drop t u r vey drop
Turvy Drop. So you got Pantoom, Quinela and turvy drop.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
All right, I don't know any of them. It will
be uh, it'll be a shot in the dark, but
it'll be fun. So tune in tomorrow to figure out
what those are. To find out. And in the meantime,
of course, you can get more puzzles at Hello Puzzlers
on our Instagram, and of course we'll see you here
(18:30):
tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Puzzles, Ty Puzzlers, It's Greg Pliska up from the Puzzle
Lab one more time to tell you about the extra
credit from our previous episode with Gary Goleman.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
We played a homophone game where every answer is two
words that are homophones of each other. Your extra credit
clue was every day at three pm, I enjoy a
sprig of my favorite Earth, and in fact I was
tricked by this when it took me a minute. But
it could doesn't have to be three pm. It could
be any hour on the clock, because it is time
(19:09):
time time th h y m E and time t
I M. So we're glad you have time time and
puzzle time for playing here with us, and we look
forward to playing some more puzzles with you next time.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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