April 16, 2024 • 10 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: author, humorist, and "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" regular, Adam Felber!
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 final burpie
in your puzzle CrossFit routine. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs,
and today's guest is the awesome and hilarious Adam Felber,
(00:25):
co host of Nobody listens to Paula Poundstone, writer, actor,
lots of other stuff. Frequent panelist on Wait Wait, don't
tell me. Welcome Adam, Thank.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
You've really fixed the place up nice for me.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yes, so, Adam.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I believe in addition to your many talents, you are
also a puzzler. You're a fan of puzzle. What are
your favorite types?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I love, I love the excursions that I like, the
puzzles that lead to other puzzles. Occasionally I'll get involved
in these things called puzzle hunts, whether online or live,
and it's just it's really fun to be part of
the puzzle community. I am the part of the puzzle
community that isn't particularly good at what's the word I'm
looking for puzzles, But I do love I do love
(01:09):
doing them, and the more elaborate the set up in
window dressing around them, the happier I am.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I'm gonna turn it over to Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Pliska,
who has written a special puzzle just for you.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Welcome, well, thank you. This is a puzzle about a
character I created called the letters Witch. I don't know
if you know who that is.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I know her brother Doug switch dougs.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Yeah, there you go. So the letters Witch is the
evil crone who turns one phrase into another by moving
one letter. Oh. She's best known for her appearance at
the end of the NFL season when she takes the
Championship game and turns it into a really great bird
of prey.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Right, the Championshi game and she turns, she switches. She
makes it super foul.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
No, no, no, she takes the Super Bowl. Good no,
but good, but no. She takes the Super Bowl and
moves the b and turns it into a superb Owl.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Oh. Oh, she doesn't switch the letter. She switches the letters.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Right, she switches the location of the letters the letters letter.
They shift from the second word over to the first word.
So this the way this works. I'll give you a
clue to the original two word phrase, and then a
clue to the phrase when the letter gets switched over
by the letters Witch.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Fair.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
All right, here's your first one. Legware for a winter
sport turns into Noah's command to leave some insects behind.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Legware for a winter sport.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Oh wait, I think I just got it. I think
thanks to you, Adam, I haven't seen the answers.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
By the way, so just because he repeated the clue,
you got it.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, it's not ski boots. It's not ski boots. It's
leg wear for uh so, you got the right sport.
It's leg ware, legware. So it's uh so it's like
ski pants.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yes, and then it's Noah's so so he wants behind.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So he says skip ants exactly, skip ads.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
But that's what's the transposition there? What do we do?
We just moved the P.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
We just moved the P from one word over to
the other one.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh yeah, okay, we just moved the space as it were.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Well, fair, if you want to it's you know, figure,
it's a figure ground problem.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Okay, got gotcha.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
You're just moving one letter from one word over to
the other, or one space or one space.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Sorry, Craig, that was that was delightful, delightful.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Well here we have some more delight coming. Okay, new
England sports team turns into a large bovine belonging to
a communist.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Now I'm oh, okay, okay, this one jumped to mine
because I baseball.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Season is upon us and and so it had to
be the Red Sox.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
And then what you did is you you once again
transposed the space.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
This is the reds Ox, reds Ox. Great, that's just wonderful.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
All right. This one is an HBO drama about a
fundamentalist Mormon family, and it turns into handwear for someone
who is attracted to both sexes.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Okay, the Mormon dramas are thick in the ground over
at HBO if you count white lotus.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
But but it's not.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
But it was not white lotus, is it? Because what
would what would that be? White old otis?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, that makes no sense at all.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I'm gonna say it's gonna be big love, which turns
into big glove.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
No no, no, no, no, no, just move the g
turns into by glo by glove. Yeah, it's the hand
where you wear if you're attracted to both sexes, gloves gloves.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
That's tremendous and instructive for me for going out on weekends.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
They don't I don't know if they had by gloves
in the show Big Glove. No, but I never watched it,
so I don't know.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It was very entertaining, I remember.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
All right, I have two more for you. Okay, Spend
the night in a tent, which turns into a kind
of mopey face you might make for Instagram.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Spend the night in a tent.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Okay, the mopey face for Instagram has got to be
a pout right that you're you're doing some out and
pound things. So it's gonna be spend ninetennis camp out,
camp out or camp out.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Which becomes your campout.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
People can't say it, but Greg just did a fantastic pout.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Oh he did.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Well.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I'm sorry that this is not more visual for you. Yep,
there it is good pounding, Adam.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Take you all right? This is your final clue. Jesus,
what this clue is turns into the general vibe of
the largest city in southern California.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Okay, So what this clue is turns into the general
vibe of what.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
The largest city in southern California.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Okay, The general vibe of big metropolis of my city
is laid back.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
That's what they always say.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
But I'm guessing that's that's that doesn't look like the
thing though, Uh no, that what was that clue?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It was your final clue.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
It was the Yeah, it was the last hint.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So what's so it's l A's fintint.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Exactly, well done, Thank you for being with us, Adam.
You did great. No, no, no, no, wait a minute,
not fint a word for the general vibes, the overall thing.
It's l A's that.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It's not last hint. Then it's the last.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
It wasn't the first of the clues. It wasn't the
second clue. It wasn't the third clue.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
It was l A's third. No, it was LA's fourth.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
It was the last, counting, keep counting the last.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I'm lost to Adam by the way, single stumped, the
last single thing.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Last last is good because it's got say to your.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Kids, say can I have another cookie? And you say, okay,
this is your last chance.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
This is your last cookie, last time.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh wait, oh I think I got it that. It
was the it was the parenting thing. You can have
two more, you can have last one.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yes, it's Ellie's tone, exact last one. It's simpler. Than
I thought.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Well you did great and thank you Adam, wonderful work.
Where can we hear more of you?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Well, on the aforementioned nobody listens to Paula Poundstone is
a great place to hear me and my new podcast,
stark Raving Reviews, which is some very very funny movie
reviews written in character of two extraordinarily enthusiastic movie reviewers.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I love it, As I said, we need more positivity,
and I also love nobody listens to Paula Poundstone because
this is a very puzzly. It's a paradox, so I
feel our puzzling.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
She is a puzzle incarnate, is that lady and a
gene So I encourage everybody to listen to very.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And also are we should have her own because pound
Stone like those are great.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Well, it actually works for this puzzle that Greg just did. Yeah,
oh pounds tone.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Well, that's the version of this puzzle where you take
a single word and you insert a space into it.
Oh yeah, take pound stone and you put the space
to get pounds tone.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
It's all that's the letter switches. Well, thank you again
Adam and Greg. Do we have a extra credit?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
We do as we are known to do. Here's your
extra credit clue. A term meaning only partly correct turns
into fear of the computer in two thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, I don't know it. I'm gonna think about it
and I will listen tomorrow to figure out the answer.
And don't forget while you're doing it to subscribe. That
really helps us. We love it when you do that
to the Puzzler podc cast and we'll meet you here
tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzling lin.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
Hi, puzzlers, this is your chief puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska,
here with the extra credit answer from our previous episode,
we played B Movies with Adam Felber, in which every
answer is a mashup of two movies, the first of
which starts with the letter B.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
In this one, the extra credit was actually a movie
TV mashup, and this was your clue. This sex comedy
stars Tom Hanks as a man trying to manage a
quintet of kids who have lost their parents, and that
is Bachelor Party of Five, a mashup of the Hanks
movie Bachelor Party and the TV show Party of Five.
(10:50):
Glad you were here to play with us, and we
hope you're with us again next time on the Puzzler
Hello, puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, the final burpie
in your puzzle CrossFit routine. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs,
and today's guest is the awesome and hilarious Adam Felber,
(00:25):
co host of Nobody listens to Paula Poundstone, writer, actor,
lots of other stuff. Frequent panelist on Wait Wait, don't
tell me. Welcome Adam, Thank.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
You've really fixed the place up nice for me.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yes, so, Adam.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I believe in addition to your many talents, you are
also a puzzler. You're a fan of puzzle. What are
your favorite types?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I love, I love the excursions that I like, the
puzzles that lead to other puzzles. Occasionally I'll get involved
in these things called puzzle hunts, whether online or live,
and it's just it's really fun to be part of
the puzzle community. I am the part of the puzzle
community that isn't particularly good at what's the word I'm
looking for puzzles, But I do love I do love
(01:09):
doing them, and the more elaborate the set up in
window dressing around them, the happier I am.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I'm gonna turn it over to Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Pliska,
who has written a special puzzle just for you.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Welcome, well, thank you. This is a puzzle about a
character I created called the letters Witch. I don't know
if you know who that is.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I know her brother Doug switch dougs.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Yeah, there you go. So the letters Witch is the
evil crone who turns one phrase into another by moving
one letter. Oh. She's best known for her appearance at
the end of the NFL season when she takes the
Championship game and turns it into a really great bird
of prey.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Right, the Championshi game and she turns, she switches. She
makes it super foul.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
No, no, no, she takes the Super Bowl. Good no,
but good, but no. She takes the Super Bowl and
moves the b and turns it into a superb Owl.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Oh. Oh, she doesn't switch the letter. She switches the letters.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Right, she switches the location of the letters the letters letter.
They shift from the second word over to the first word.
So this the way this works. I'll give you a
clue to the original two word phrase, and then a
clue to the phrase when the letter gets switched over
by the letters Witch.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Fair.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
All right, here's your first one. Legware for a winter
sport turns into Noah's command to leave some insects behind.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Legware for a winter sport.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Oh wait, I think I just got it. I think
thanks to you, Adam, I haven't seen the answers.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
By the way, so just because he repeated the clue,
you got it.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, it's not ski boots. It's not ski boots. It's
leg wear for uh so, you got the right sport.
It's leg ware, legware. So it's uh so it's like
ski pants.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yes, and then it's Noah's so so he wants behind.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So he says skip ants exactly, skip ads.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
But that's what's the transposition there? What do we do?
We just moved the P.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
We just moved the P from one word over to
the other one.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh yeah, okay, we just moved the space as it were.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Well, fair, if you want to it's you know, figure,
it's a figure ground problem.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Okay, got gotcha.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
You're just moving one letter from one word over to
the other, or one space or one space.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Sorry, Craig, that was that was delightful, delightful.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Well here we have some more delight coming. Okay, new
England sports team turns into a large bovine belonging to
a communist.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Now I'm oh, okay, okay, this one jumped to mine
because I baseball.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Season is upon us and and so it had to
be the Red Sox.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
And then what you did is you you once again
transposed the space.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
This is the reds Ox, reds Ox. Great, that's just wonderful.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
All right. This one is an HBO drama about a
fundamentalist Mormon family, and it turns into handwear for someone
who is attracted to both sexes.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Okay, the Mormon dramas are thick in the ground over
at HBO if you count white lotus.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
But but it's not.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
But it was not white lotus, is it? Because what
would what would that be? White old otis?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, that makes no sense at all.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I'm gonna say it's gonna be big love, which turns
into big glove.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
No no, no, no, no, no, just move the g
turns into by glo by glove. Yeah, it's the hand
where you wear if you're attracted to both sexes, gloves gloves.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
That's tremendous and instructive for me for going out on weekends.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
They don't I don't know if they had by gloves
in the show Big Glove. No, but I never watched it,
so I don't know.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It was very entertaining, I remember.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
All right, I have two more for you. Okay, Spend
the night in a tent, which turns into a kind
of mopey face you might make for Instagram.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Spend the night in a tent.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Okay, the mopey face for Instagram has got to be
a pout right that you're you're doing some out and
pound things. So it's gonna be spend ninetennis camp out,
camp out or camp out.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Which becomes your campout.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
People can't say it, but Greg just did a fantastic pout.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Oh he did.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Well.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I'm sorry that this is not more visual for you. Yep,
there it is good pounding, Adam.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Take you all right? This is your final clue. Jesus,
what this clue is turns into the general vibe of
the largest city in southern California.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Okay, So what this clue is turns into the general
vibe of what.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
The largest city in southern California.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Okay, The general vibe of big metropolis of my city
is laid back.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
That's what they always say.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
But I'm guessing that's that's that doesn't look like the
thing though, Uh no, that what was that clue?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It was your final clue.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
It was the Yeah, it was the last hint.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So what's so it's l A's fintint.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Exactly, well done, Thank you for being with us, Adam.
You did great. No, no, no, no, wait a minute,
not fint a word for the general vibes, the overall thing.
It's l A's that.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It's not last hint. Then it's the last.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
It wasn't the first of the clues. It wasn't the
second clue. It wasn't the third clue.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
It was l A's third. No, it was LA's fourth.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
It was the last, counting, keep counting the last.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I'm lost to Adam by the way, single stumped, the
last single thing.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Last last is good because it's got say to your.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Kids, say can I have another cookie? And you say, okay,
this is your last chance.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
This is your last cookie, last time.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh wait, oh I think I got it that. It
was the it was the parenting thing. You can have
two more, you can have last one.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yes, it's Ellie's tone, exact last one. It's simpler. Than
I thought.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Well you did great and thank you Adam, wonderful work.
Where can we hear more of you?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Well, on the aforementioned nobody listens to Paula Poundstone is
a great place to hear me and my new podcast,
stark Raving Reviews, which is some very very funny movie
reviews written in character of two extraordinarily enthusiastic movie reviewers.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I love it, As I said, we need more positivity,
and I also love nobody listens to Paula Poundstone because
this is a very puzzly. It's a paradox, so I
feel our puzzling.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
She is a puzzle incarnate, is that lady and a
gene So I encourage everybody to listen to very.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And also are we should have her own because pound
Stone like those are great.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Well, it actually works for this puzzle that Greg just did. Yeah,
oh pounds tone.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Well, that's the version of this puzzle where you take
a single word and you insert a space into it.
Oh yeah, take pound stone and you put the space
to get pounds tone.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
It's all that's the letter switches. Well, thank you again
Adam and Greg. Do we have a extra credit?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
We do as we are known to do. Here's your
extra credit clue. A term meaning only partly correct turns
into fear of the computer in two thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, I don't know it. I'm gonna think about it
and I will listen tomorrow to figure out the answer.
And don't forget while you're doing it to subscribe. That
really helps us. We love it when you do that
to the Puzzler podc cast and we'll meet you here
tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzling lin.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
Hi, puzzlers, this is your chief puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska,
here with the extra credit answer from our previous episode,
we played B Movies with Adam Felber, in which every
answer is a mashup of two movies, the first of
which starts with the letter B.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
In this one, the extra credit was actually a movie
TV mashup, and this was your clue. This sex comedy
stars Tom Hanks as a man trying to manage a
quintet of kids who have lost their parents, and that
is Bachelor Party of Five, a mashup of the Hanks
movie Bachelor Party and the TV show Party of Five.
(10:50):
Glad you were here to play with us, and we
hope you're with us again next time on the Puzzler
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