May 1, 2025 • 19 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: our very own Chief Puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska.
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. April showers
bring mayflowers? What do mayflowers bring? Okay, you probably know
the traditional answer, which is pilgrims, which is true in part.
The Mayflower did bring pilgrims, but actually I'm throwing it
(00:21):
actually in there. They were the minority of the one
hundred and two passengers on the Mayflower. So the question
is what groups made up those other Mayflower passengers? Where
they retire, tourists, where they documentary film crews? Who were they?
The answer and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
(00:49):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, The Flashlight under the
Chin and your Puzzle campfire Story. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs.
I am here with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Flisko, of
course and Greg before the bread. Yeah, we talked about
that classic riddle, April showers bring may flowers? What do
they flowers bring?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Allergies?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Allergies is a classic, but the traditional answer, most traditional
is pilgrims. But as I said, they are the minority
of the hundred two fassengers. So do you know what
were some of the other groups on the Mayflower?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
A large imperial colonizing army.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well that was everyone.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I would say that was everyone pretty much. Yeah, okay, okay,
so but you want to be more specific than that,
little more specific than right, there was giant colonization. Uh uh, well,
so the to be specific, the Pilgrims were the people
coming to settle here, right.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Well, yes, and no there were others coming to settle.
I'll just give it to you because it's a little complicated.
There was the crew, the people who well, of course,
there were the indentured servants.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Great. And then there were the Puritans who were not Pilgrims,
the non separatist Puritans. Because the Pilgrims were like super radical,
they wanted to break with the Church of England. The
Puritans were also radical, but slightly less radical. They wanted
to reform, so they were Puritans and Pilgrims, not the
(02:22):
same thing. All this is to say, happy May first, everybody.
And in fact, we have a delightful letter from a
listener about this very day, and I have only read
part of it because it was a puzzle that this listener,
so I didn't want to I read that it's a puzzle.
I stopped reading and I said Greg takeover. So Greg takeover.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I took over. I swooped swooped in on my pilgrim
ship and took over. So May first is also may day,
which is also an emergency radio distress signal.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Right, that is right right.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
It was conceived as a discress call in the nineteen
twenties by a dude named Frederick Stanley Mockford who wanted
to think of a word that would indicate distress and
be easily understood by all the pilots and brand staff
and grand staff in an emergency and sent a lot
of that traffic between that airport but Croydon in Paris.
(03:24):
He proposed the term may day, which comes from the
French may day he pronounced the same way, meaning come
and help me.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Sort of non standard French, but that's where.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
He has a little bit of a disk to may day,
because may day is supposed to be joyous, right.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, yeah, it's like the flip side of mid day.
It's a joyous day unless you're in a failing airplane
and then you shout may day, may day, may day,
and that means we need help.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Okay, fair enough, so.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Listener, Leslie Benson of Santa Cruz sent us a puzzle
that's perfect for today. She dds say she's a big fan.
She listens daily, loves the show. It has filled the
ask me another shaped hole in my podcast world.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And then some Bye hosted by two time puzzler guest
Oh Fiera Eisenberg. Thank you, ol Farah.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that was a fun show. H and Leslie says,
thanks for bringing such positively prolific puzzling pleasures to the people.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Oh good, alliteration. We're a fan of that. Here at
the puzzling puzzles. Puzzle puzzlingly exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
So she came up with this alternative distress signal puzzle. Okay,
two syllable things that rhyme with may day, and she
wrote a bunch of different clues. For example, help, it's
the end of the month and my auto deposit isn't coming.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Through, so I get payday.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Hey, yes, exactly, but you have to say it three times.
It's traditional with the distress single to repeat it three times.
You have to say pay day, pay day, pay day.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Oh, you are putting me through the ringer, look at you.
You were making us work. All right, I'll do it.
Pay day, pay day, payday.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Exactly, And that's good. That acting is great. You should
think I'm distressed.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, if I wasn't paid, yeah, if Adam Neuhaus did
not cut me a timely check, then I'm with quite distressed.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Paid a pay day, right, So I've tweaked a few
of the clues here and there and added a couple extras.
But this is uh thanks to Leslie Benson of Santa
Cruz that we have this puzzle today. Here you go,
here's here's your first one. Help. It's the illustrious host
of the Puzzler podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, that is very thank you. I think I know
this Arnold Jacob's, Arnold Jacob's, Arnold Jacobs ay j Ay j.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Ayj exactly exactly. She was very delighted. She realized that
your name fit here. Here's your next one. Help. I
can't get tickets to the Aeros Tour and I'm a
big big fan.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Uh Ta Te tay Te Tay Tay Taylor.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Athlete Taylor Swift the Eras Tour. I will say, as
an aside, I was at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
and the number of times Eras appeared in the puzzle
cluede in reference to the Era tour was kind of remarkable.
They were. There were eight puzzles, and I would say
half of them had eras in it.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Oh, so Taylor has getting so much needed publicity.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Exactly, poor Taylor short on publicity. We got her at
the tournament. Anyway, Moving on, help, I'm being ambushed.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Oh oh, I don't know, all right, ambush, I'm being ambushed.
They're surprising me. They are attacking me without they are
what gorilla it's.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
A term for ambushing someone or for taking them off
there of course that way Wayley?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Oh interesting, I always yes, I always thought Wyley was
a little less violent than that ambush.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Truly, truly, and Leslie cluted that way originally, but if
you look it up, it's a direct synonym for being amble.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Wow, okay, a friendly amber waylay Waylay Waylay.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I forgot exactly exactly here you go. Help. I'm at
the Renaissance Fair and I'm recreating a battle.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Oh man, you know what I'm gonna call may day,
may day, mayde and call in help from Andrea Schoenberg
ours soci a puzzler. You got anything off for us? Andrea,
I have no idea it could be a battle.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I mean it could be a battle at a medieval fair.
It could be a battle in any context. Really, I
just like the idea of a bunch of Renaissance fair
people couse playing with their things and having.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
A oh melee, melee, melee, melee. Very good, exactly, exactly,
Thank God, help help.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I'm not in my golden era when everything was going
amazingly well successfully.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh no, I'm drawing a blank again. I'm gonna call
him may Day on Andrea again. You got this one, Andrea?
Oh hey day, Yeah, okay, heyday, hey day, hey day.
Oh hey, there it is Heyden.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
How about this one? Help, I'm not serious. It was
only a joke.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Okay, I think I got it. JK JK JK, just kidding,
just kidding, just kidding.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Very good. And your last one. I made this one
up because the clue has a little rhyme to it,
and so does the answer. Help. Famous actress done Away
is appearing on Broadway.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Oh well, I know it's Fay done Away. So I
got half Faye and appearing on Broadway would be a
play Fay play Fay play Fay.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Play Fay play.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Okay, good, because there's also Faye Ray, who is.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
The You know, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I should But now is she the character or the actress?
I forget?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
She's the actress in King? Gotcha the original King?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
She sounds like a character, so she's a.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
It's a real name.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Well, Leslie, you are I should have come up with
something rhyming. Thank you, thank you, thank you? Yeah yeah yeah,
yeah you yay yay Leslie, Greg, did you and or
Leslie have an extra credit for us?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I came up with an extra credit for this one. Help.
We're horses and we want more food, so we're making this.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Sound okay, okay, okay, okay. There are a couple of
ways I could go, but I think I got at
least one of the answers. We love when people send
in puzzles. In fact, we have just another quick one,
(09:59):
all so inspired by a listener. This is a letter
from Henry Sussman, and Henry wrote in about a puzzle
we gave to comedian Alex Edelman, and that one was
all about homonyms. So the clue clues were like, neckwear
from Bangkok is a tie tie tie. A housekeeper who
(10:20):
is high up in the mafia.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Is a.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
A don Don don don or a maid maid a.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Maid is actually correct, Don Don has nothing to do
with it unless the housekeeper is named Don.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Could happen or don? Uh So, Henry said he enjoyed
the puzzle, Thank you, Henry. But he also pointed out
that those were sort of on the intermedia to easy side,
and that there are super advanced homophones or not homophone
homonyms that we could use for a puzzle. H And
(10:58):
he gave the example pleasant metamorphic rock. Now that one
is a tough one, but I if anyone knows it,
it might be Greg Kliska.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, I do know it. Well, go ahead, it's nice nice,
which is spelled the rock is spelled g N E
I S S exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yes, it's a weird word, but it is this type
of banded metamorphous rock.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Nice nice, Oh, banded metamorphos metamorphic rock.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Oh, yes, exactly. Because you know there we have a
lot of geologists listening.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
We've got a lot of unbanded rocks out there that
I was confusing it with.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
That's I'm glad, all right. So I have I came
up with some that are more in the intermediate to
hard level, and I'm going to give him to Greg
and Andrea. Yes, are you ready? Yes, yes, it's interesting.
This one is also a repetition of word and sound.
(12:02):
Yeah all right, a toonament for having too many flags
for your sports team.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
That's very good. I like that took me out. I
didn't get it from atonement, but I got it from
the sports team's flag. I have one you can't see
up here for the San Francisco forty nine ers their
last Super Bowl win. Actually I say no, it was
the last. Sorry, it was the last game at Candlestick Park. Oh,
forty nine er flag up there? Not a flag though
it is. Andrea, do you know this one? Yeah? A
(12:31):
Pennant Pennant, right Pennant or.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah, I'm going Florence Penance, Penance, Yeah, because that would
make it up. That would be the atonement is Pennance, right.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Penance, which is a good you know, as a good
Catholic boy. I understand penance from my childhood, right, and.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You only if you only have one. I don't think
you need to do Penance. Uh what about sky writing
in a certain typeface? Sky writing in a certain typeface?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
WHOA, that's a wheen l clude because skywriting isn't really
we're not looking for a synonym for skywriting, right, that's true,
looking for an adjective describe skywriting. It's aerial aerial, that's right,
that's right, ae R I L. And the typefaces arial
(13:19):
A R I L. I say ariel as opposed to ariel.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Yes, I think I say arial, but I don't. I
also don't think I've ever said the font aloud before.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Right, you could say the font used by the Little
Mermaid be aerial.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Arial, Ah, that's true, or yeah, or arial arial arial.
We could throw it.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
If she's doing skywriting.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And there's also I think there's a gazelle or something
that's an aerial. Uh. So we could have gone a
lot of ways. How about soup broth made from gold
or silver in bulk form?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Oh? I got it, I got it, I got took me.
Andrea has been nodding for the last several seconds. I had,
I got there. Elliptically, I say it's stock stock stock, No, Andrea,
you want to say it?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, Well, now I'm doubting my pronunciation. Yeah, there's a
legal variation. But what do you got? A bullion? Bullion?
Bullion bullion bullion? Right, that's it? You got it again?
These are words that I have never said aloud before.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
You're never gone into the store and say where do
you keep your bullion? I have not, I have not.
I think that's a legit pronunciation for both bullion as
opposed to right.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Exactly, it does say that in the dictionary. All right,
let me give you two more. A religious figure who
gives prophecies about the visible part of the ear.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I don't know about you, but I call the visible
part of my ear. I call it my ear.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That is one word, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I thought you were going to go for the amount
of money made religious figure which would be profit profit.
I think we did that in the actual Alex actual puzzle.
I'm thinking about seer sear, which could be something nice.
That's not a religious figure that I thought about. The
Lama Lama, the one al Lama and the two al Lama.
(15:13):
And that's three examples, none of which is correct. Andrea,
do you know one that's correct.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
It's also a chamber of the heart, if that helps.
There are two anatomical meetings for this word.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
The ventricle, ventricle close atri.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yes, that's it, that's it, But I only know it
from the profit side of things.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yes, now that is I now that you say it,
au R I c l E is the outer part
of the ear. I didn't know that was a part
of the heart either, the oracle.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
There you go, we'll see. That's why this is the
intermediate to heart to super hard. Yeah, we're not messing around.
Uh all right. Last one, a wager about playful jumping.
Wager about playful jumping. All right, Greg's got that one.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
This one. Yeah, well, like little sheep playfully jumping in
the field, exactly where you do this. You always do
this in a field, this kind of playful jumping.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, you don't do it around your apartment. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Do it in the play you don't do in the playground. No,
we would say the kids were doing this in the playground.
The sheep were doing it in the field, right, I think, yes.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I agree. I have maybe my kids have done this,
but I have never said that they have never.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Seen them doing it. It's a gamble, gamble or gambling gambling, right.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Which is g A m b o L means to
playfully jump and run as sheep might risk or frolic.
I mean that speaks to the craziness of the English
language that we have a lot of words. I love
that we have. Thank god it is such a weird
and crazy language, because we wouldn't have the puzzler without it.
If it were a perfectly rational English, then it's no fun.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It's a good time to plug Rika Okrant's great book
Highly Irregular, Oh Yes Yes, which is why tough Through
and Doe don't rhyme and other oddities of the English language,
where she talks about why we have all these different
words for many things I forget. The chapters are like,
blame the French, blame the English, and I forget who
(17:27):
else we blame. But it's a brilliant book. If you
haven't read it, you absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Should blame those pretentious people who tried to insert Latin
back into the language. That's why we have a be
in doubt. So thanks pretentious people from the sixteen hundreds.
In any case, that's it. I don't have an extra
credit because Greg already gave you one. But come back tomorrow,
and in the meantime you might want to check out
(17:54):
our Instagram fee very fun is that, Hello puzzlers. We
post original puzzles other fun stuff, and we'll meet you
here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Hey puzzlers, it's your chief Puzzle Officer here once again
with the extra credit answer from our previous show. We
played him y Mother with Josh Radner of How I
Met Your Mother and the great podcast How We Made
Your Mother. This puzzle is all initialized versions of well
known titles that have mother or Mama or father in them,
(18:36):
or Papa any of those. Your extra credit clue was this,
It's a band f z and the Mothers of I.
Of course that is the Great Frank Zappa and the
Mothers of Invention. I imagine you all got that one,
and I hope you'll all be back with us tomorrow
for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. April showers
bring mayflowers? What do mayflowers bring? Okay, you probably know
the traditional answer, which is pilgrims, which is true in part.
The Mayflower did bring pilgrims, but actually I'm throwing it
(00:21):
actually in there. They were the minority of the one
hundred and two passengers on the Mayflower. So the question
is what groups made up those other Mayflower passengers? Where
they retire, tourists, where they documentary film crews? Who were they?
The answer and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
(00:49):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, The Flashlight under the
Chin and your Puzzle campfire Story. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs.
I am here with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Flisko, of
course and Greg before the bread. Yeah, we talked about
that classic riddle, April showers bring may flowers? What do
they flowers bring?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Allergies?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Allergies is a classic, but the traditional answer, most traditional
is pilgrims. But as I said, they are the minority
of the hundred two fassengers. So do you know what
were some of the other groups on the Mayflower?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
A large imperial colonizing army.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well that was everyone.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I would say that was everyone pretty much. Yeah, okay, okay,
so but you want to be more specific than that,
little more specific than right, there was giant colonization. Uh uh, well,
so the to be specific, the Pilgrims were the people
coming to settle here, right.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Well, yes, and no there were others coming to settle.
I'll just give it to you because it's a little complicated.
There was the crew, the people who well, of course,
there were the indentured servants.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Great. And then there were the Puritans who were not Pilgrims,
the non separatist Puritans. Because the Pilgrims were like super radical,
they wanted to break with the Church of England. The
Puritans were also radical, but slightly less radical. They wanted
to reform, so they were Puritans and Pilgrims, not the
(02:22):
same thing. All this is to say, happy May first, everybody.
And in fact, we have a delightful letter from a
listener about this very day, and I have only read
part of it because it was a puzzle that this listener,
so I didn't want to I read that it's a puzzle.
I stopped reading and I said Greg takeover. So Greg takeover.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I took over. I swooped swooped in on my pilgrim
ship and took over. So May first is also may day,
which is also an emergency radio distress signal.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Right, that is right right.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
It was conceived as a discress call in the nineteen
twenties by a dude named Frederick Stanley Mockford who wanted
to think of a word that would indicate distress and
be easily understood by all the pilots and brand staff
and grand staff in an emergency and sent a lot
of that traffic between that airport but Croydon in Paris.
(03:24):
He proposed the term may day, which comes from the
French may day he pronounced the same way, meaning come
and help me.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Sort of non standard French, but that's where.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
He has a little bit of a disk to may day,
because may day is supposed to be joyous, right.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, yeah, it's like the flip side of mid day.
It's a joyous day unless you're in a failing airplane
and then you shout may day, may day, may day,
and that means we need help.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Okay, fair enough, so.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Listener, Leslie Benson of Santa Cruz sent us a puzzle
that's perfect for today. She dds say she's a big fan.
She listens daily, loves the show. It has filled the
ask me another shaped hole in my podcast world.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And then some Bye hosted by two time puzzler guest
Oh Fiera Eisenberg. Thank you, ol Farah.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that was a fun show. H and Leslie says,
thanks for bringing such positively prolific puzzling pleasures to the people.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Oh good, alliteration. We're a fan of that. Here at
the puzzling puzzles. Puzzle puzzlingly exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
So she came up with this alternative distress signal puzzle. Okay,
two syllable things that rhyme with may day, and she
wrote a bunch of different clues. For example, help, it's
the end of the month and my auto deposit isn't coming.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Through, so I get payday.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Hey, yes, exactly, but you have to say it three times.
It's traditional with the distress single to repeat it three times.
You have to say pay day, pay day, pay day.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Oh, you are putting me through the ringer, look at you.
You were making us work. All right, I'll do it.
Pay day, pay day, payday.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Exactly, And that's good. That acting is great. You should
think I'm distressed.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, if I wasn't paid, yeah, if Adam Neuhaus did
not cut me a timely check, then I'm with quite distressed.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Paid a pay day, right, So I've tweaked a few
of the clues here and there and added a couple extras.
But this is uh thanks to Leslie Benson of Santa
Cruz that we have this puzzle today. Here you go,
here's here's your first one. Help. It's the illustrious host
of the Puzzler podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, that is very thank you. I think I know
this Arnold Jacob's, Arnold Jacob's, Arnold Jacobs ay j Ay j.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Ayj exactly exactly. She was very delighted. She realized that
your name fit here. Here's your next one. Help. I
can't get tickets to the Aeros Tour and I'm a
big big fan.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Uh Ta Te tay Te Tay Tay Taylor.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Athlete Taylor Swift the Eras Tour. I will say, as
an aside, I was at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
and the number of times Eras appeared in the puzzle
cluede in reference to the Era tour was kind of remarkable.
They were. There were eight puzzles, and I would say
half of them had eras in it.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Oh, so Taylor has getting so much needed publicity.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Exactly, poor Taylor short on publicity. We got her at
the tournament. Anyway, Moving on, help, I'm being ambushed.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Oh oh, I don't know, all right, ambush, I'm being ambushed.
They're surprising me. They are attacking me without they are
what gorilla it's.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
A term for ambushing someone or for taking them off
there of course that way Wayley?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Oh interesting, I always yes, I always thought Wyley was
a little less violent than that ambush.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Truly, truly, and Leslie cluted that way originally, but if
you look it up, it's a direct synonym for being amble.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Wow, okay, a friendly amber waylay Waylay Waylay.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I forgot exactly exactly here you go. Help. I'm at
the Renaissance Fair and I'm recreating a battle.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Oh man, you know what I'm gonna call may day,
may day, mayde and call in help from Andrea Schoenberg
ours soci a puzzler. You got anything off for us? Andrea,
I have no idea it could be a battle.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I mean it could be a battle at a medieval fair.
It could be a battle in any context. Really, I
just like the idea of a bunch of Renaissance fair
people couse playing with their things and having.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
A oh melee, melee, melee, melee. Very good, exactly, exactly,
Thank God, help help.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I'm not in my golden era when everything was going
amazingly well successfully.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh no, I'm drawing a blank again. I'm gonna call
him may Day on Andrea again. You got this one, Andrea?
Oh hey day, Yeah, okay, heyday, hey day, hey day.
Oh hey, there it is Heyden.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
How about this one? Help, I'm not serious. It was
only a joke.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Okay, I think I got it. JK JK JK, just kidding,
just kidding, just kidding.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Very good. And your last one. I made this one
up because the clue has a little rhyme to it,
and so does the answer. Help. Famous actress done Away
is appearing on Broadway.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Oh well, I know it's Fay done Away. So I
got half Faye and appearing on Broadway would be a
play Fay play Fay play Fay.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Play Fay play.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Okay, good, because there's also Faye Ray, who is.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
The You know, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I should But now is she the character or the actress?
I forget?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
She's the actress in King? Gotcha the original King?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
She sounds like a character, so she's a.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
It's a real name.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Well, Leslie, you are I should have come up with
something rhyming. Thank you, thank you, thank you? Yeah yeah yeah,
yeah you yay yay Leslie, Greg, did you and or
Leslie have an extra credit for us?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I came up with an extra credit for this one. Help.
We're horses and we want more food, so we're making this.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Sound okay, okay, okay, okay. There are a couple of
ways I could go, but I think I got at
least one of the answers. We love when people send
in puzzles. In fact, we have just another quick one,
(09:59):
all so inspired by a listener. This is a letter
from Henry Sussman, and Henry wrote in about a puzzle
we gave to comedian Alex Edelman, and that one was
all about homonyms. So the clue clues were like, neckwear
from Bangkok is a tie tie tie. A housekeeper who
(10:20):
is high up in the mafia.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Is a.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
A don Don don don or a maid maid a.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Maid is actually correct, Don Don has nothing to do
with it unless the housekeeper is named Don.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Could happen or don? Uh So, Henry said he enjoyed
the puzzle, Thank you, Henry. But he also pointed out
that those were sort of on the intermedia to easy side,
and that there are super advanced homophones or not homophone
homonyms that we could use for a puzzle. H And
(10:58):
he gave the example pleasant metamorphic rock. Now that one
is a tough one, but I if anyone knows it,
it might be Greg Kliska.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, I do know it. Well, go ahead, it's nice nice,
which is spelled the rock is spelled g N E
I S S exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yes, it's a weird word, but it is this type
of banded metamorphous rock.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Nice nice, Oh, banded metamorphos metamorphic rock.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Oh, yes, exactly. Because you know there we have a
lot of geologists listening.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
We've got a lot of unbanded rocks out there that
I was confusing it with.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
That's I'm glad, all right. So I have I came
up with some that are more in the intermediate to
hard level, and I'm going to give him to Greg
and Andrea. Yes, are you ready? Yes, yes, it's interesting.
This one is also a repetition of word and sound.
(12:02):
Yeah all right, a toonament for having too many flags
for your sports team.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
That's very good. I like that took me out. I
didn't get it from atonement, but I got it from
the sports team's flag. I have one you can't see
up here for the San Francisco forty nine ers their
last Super Bowl win. Actually I say no, it was
the last. Sorry, it was the last game at Candlestick Park. Oh,
forty nine er flag up there? Not a flag though
it is. Andrea, do you know this one? Yeah? A
(12:31):
Pennant Pennant, right Pennant or.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah, I'm going Florence Penance, Penance, Yeah, because that would
make it up. That would be the atonement is Pennance, right.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Penance, which is a good you know, as a good
Catholic boy. I understand penance from my childhood, right, and.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You only if you only have one. I don't think
you need to do Penance. Uh what about sky writing
in a certain typeface? Sky writing in a certain typeface?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
WHOA, that's a wheen l clude because skywriting isn't really
we're not looking for a synonym for skywriting, right, that's true,
looking for an adjective describe skywriting. It's aerial aerial, that's right,
that's right, ae R I L. And the typefaces arial
(13:19):
A R I L. I say ariel as opposed to ariel.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Yes, I think I say arial, but I don't. I
also don't think I've ever said the font aloud before.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Right, you could say the font used by the Little
Mermaid be aerial.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Arial, Ah, that's true, or yeah, or arial arial arial.
We could throw it.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
If she's doing skywriting.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And there's also I think there's a gazelle or something
that's an aerial. Uh. So we could have gone a
lot of ways. How about soup broth made from gold
or silver in bulk form?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Oh? I got it, I got it, I got took me.
Andrea has been nodding for the last several seconds. I had,
I got there. Elliptically, I say it's stock stock stock, No, Andrea,
you want to say it?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, Well, now I'm doubting my pronunciation. Yeah, there's a
legal variation. But what do you got? A bullion? Bullion?
Bullion bullion bullion? Right, that's it? You got it again?
These are words that I have never said aloud before.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
You're never gone into the store and say where do
you keep your bullion? I have not, I have not.
I think that's a legit pronunciation for both bullion as
opposed to right.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Exactly, it does say that in the dictionary. All right,
let me give you two more. A religious figure who
gives prophecies about the visible part of the ear.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I don't know about you, but I call the visible
part of my ear. I call it my ear.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That is one word, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I thought you were going to go for the amount
of money made religious figure which would be profit profit.
I think we did that in the actual Alex actual puzzle.
I'm thinking about seer sear, which could be something nice.
That's not a religious figure that I thought about. The
Lama Lama, the one al Lama and the two al Lama.
(15:13):
And that's three examples, none of which is correct. Andrea,
do you know one that's correct.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
It's also a chamber of the heart, if that helps.
There are two anatomical meetings for this word.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
The ventricle, ventricle close atri.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yes, that's it, that's it, But I only know it
from the profit side of things.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yes, now that is I now that you say it,
au R I c l E is the outer part
of the ear. I didn't know that was a part
of the heart either, the oracle.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
There you go, we'll see. That's why this is the
intermediate to heart to super hard. Yeah, we're not messing around.
Uh all right. Last one, a wager about playful jumping.
Wager about playful jumping. All right, Greg's got that one.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
This one. Yeah, well, like little sheep playfully jumping in
the field, exactly where you do this. You always do
this in a field, this kind of playful jumping.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, you don't do it around your apartment. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Do it in the play you don't do in the playground. No,
we would say the kids were doing this in the playground.
The sheep were doing it in the field, right, I think, yes.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I agree. I have maybe my kids have done this,
but I have never said that they have never.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Seen them doing it. It's a gamble, gamble or gambling gambling, right.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Which is g A m b o L means to
playfully jump and run as sheep might risk or frolic.
I mean that speaks to the craziness of the English
language that we have a lot of words. I love
that we have. Thank god it is such a weird
and crazy language, because we wouldn't have the puzzler without it.
If it were a perfectly rational English, then it's no fun.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It's a good time to plug Rika Okrant's great book
Highly Irregular, Oh Yes Yes, which is why tough Through
and Doe don't rhyme and other oddities of the English language,
where she talks about why we have all these different
words for many things I forget. The chapters are like,
blame the French, blame the English, and I forget who
(17:27):
else we blame. But it's a brilliant book. If you
haven't read it, you absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Should blame those pretentious people who tried to insert Latin
back into the language. That's why we have a be
in doubt. So thanks pretentious people from the sixteen hundreds.
In any case, that's it. I don't have an extra
credit because Greg already gave you one. But come back tomorrow,
and in the meantime you might want to check out
(17:54):
our Instagram fee very fun is that, Hello puzzlers. We
post original puzzles other fun stuff, and we'll meet you
here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Hey puzzlers, it's your chief Puzzle Officer here once again
with the extra credit answer from our previous show. We
played him y Mother with Josh Radner of How I
Met Your Mother and the great podcast How We Made
Your Mother. This puzzle is all initialized versions of well
known titles that have mother or Mama or father in them,
(18:36):
or Papa any of those. Your extra credit clue was this,
It's a band f z and the Mothers of I.
Of course that is the Great Frank Zappa and the
Mothers of Invention. I imagine you all got that one,
and I hope you'll all be back with us tomorrow
for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.