July 1, 2025 • 20 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: iconic writer and filmmaker, Aline Brosh Mckenna!
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.
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Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
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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. As a
very busy person, I am always looking for ways to
save time, so I am in search of the most
efficient way to write the phrase ten extra kisses. Can
you help me out? I actually figured it out already,
and the hint is it only requires three letters, and
(00:22):
the same three letters at that The answer and more
puzzling puzzles after the break, Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to
the Puzzler Podcast. The lead mermaid in your Esther Williams
Puzzle water Ballet. I'm your host Ajjacob's words.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
That was something.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'm your host, AJ Jacobson. I am here, of course,
with Chief puzzle Officer Greg Klisko.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Greg.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Before the break, I asked for help writing the phrase
ten extra kisses in the most efficient way possible. To
have any suggestions for me?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Before I answer that, I reminded me of one of
the least efficient abbreviations in the English language, which is
the World Wide Web three syllables, which we abbreviate as WWW,
which is nine syllables.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, totally, unless you say W like like the president WW.
That's at least a little better. Good point.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Still not helpful anyway, your answer you're looking for is
close to that.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
It's X X X right, A ten X for extra
and X for.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Kiss exactly, and X can also stand for crossword or
X marks the spot. It's just a very versatile, little
humble letter. I was inspired to do an ex riddle
by one of my all time favorite TV shows, Crazy
Ex Girlfriend, which happens to be co created by our
guest today, Aleen Brash McKenna. She also wrote the devilwaars
(01:54):
Prada movie. She directed and wrote the Reese Witherspoon Ashton
Putcher rom com Your Place Mine, available on Netflix.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Welcome Elene, Hi, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We are thrilled. I also I wanted to bring up
one of my favorite scenes in movie dumb and it
is the scene from The devilwaars Prada where Meryl Streep
dresses down no pun, well a little pun intended. She
scolds Anne Hathaway's character for not knowing the difference between
(02:26):
two blue belts because Anne says that to her the
belts look exactly the same and they are not. And
I actually we have a very short clip of Meryl.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
Oh okay, I see you think this has nothing to
do with you. You go to your closet and you
select I don't know that lumpy blue sweater, for instance,
because you're trying to tell the world that you take
yourself too seriously to care about what you put on
your back. But what you don't know is that that
(02:56):
sweater is not just blue. It's not it's not Lapis,
it's actually Cerulian. And you're all so blithely unaware of
the fact that in two thousand and two, ospital Lo
Rena did a collection of Cerulian gowns. And then I
think it was Eve c Laurent, wasn't it who showed
civilian military jackets.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I think we need a jacket.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
Here, And then Cerulian quickly showed up in the collections
of eight different designers. I'm going to filter down through
the department stores, and then trickled on down into some
tragic casual corner where you no doubt fished it out
of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
And countless jobs.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
And it's sort of comical how you think that you've
made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry,
when in fact you're wearing a sweater that was selected
for you by the people in this room.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
So good. How did you come up with that scene?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Really?
Speaker 5 (03:52):
That scene? There was always a scene in the script,
because I was the fifth writer, There was always a
little bit of a men's of the fashion world has
an impact beyond what people understand, and in some ways,
what I've come to see over time is that that
speech particularly works for men. I think women have kind
of an instinctive I'm overgeneralizing, obviously, but an instinctive understanding
(04:17):
of how clothing gets transmitted. And so it was just
a few lines, and then Merrill and the director David
Frankel really felt like it was an opportunity to really
expostulate on that. So I made it bigger, bigger, bigger,
and worked with Marylyn David over a weekend. And then
(04:37):
since we were doing Blue, I actually said to Meryl
would you like to use lapis azure or Ceruleian? And
she picked Cerulian, which is really I think the funnest
and most musical of those words. So it became and
so I wrote what was a very long, overly long speech,
(05:00):
and then every every word of it is in the movie,
because obviously everything she does is you know, I thought
it was going to be long, but once you saw it,
once you see it, it's you know, she makes every
word matter.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Oh it's so good, and you're right. Cerulean such a
beautiful word. And I love I love color words in general,
especially the colors named by Pantone. You know Pantone, So
that's the company used by artists and designers to figure
out the precise color they want. And we looked into it.
(05:33):
There are twenty three hundred and ten Pantone colors as yeah,
always going wow the name them all. Okay, well, I'll
nave a couple because they're so they can be delicious,
like tapioca and nutmeg, both colors.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Isn't this one? Isn't it this year or something mushroomy? Right?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Oh? Really, I didn't know.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
I think this year is something kind of mushroomy.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I know, Shittaki is one.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Do you mean? There are colors of the year, Colors
of the.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
They announced colors of the year, and they can be
animal kangaroo is a color, flying though natured fog, molten
lava just gorgeous. And five you brought up color of
the air because the rulan was color of the year
in two thousand because it will bring a certain peace
of mind because it reminds you of time spent outdoors.
(06:24):
So it's a lovely color.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I'm looking at colors of the year right now. This
is cool.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So what is this? What is this this year?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
This year is mocha moose.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Yes, yes, it's sort of for me.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Color interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, which is both a color and a dessert. I
like that.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So for this puzzle, Eleene, I'm going to give you
the pantone number and you have to tell me the color.
So I'm assuming you memorized.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Yes, it sounds like a great puzzle.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Six four.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Well, to make it a little more accessible, I am
going to give you some text clues. Okay, that's a clue,
might be Yes, this is a famous painting called The
Girl with the twenty one three oh four Earring.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
So what is that would be the Well, I know
this painting. It's very famous. There's also a movie and
a book The Girl with the Pearl Earring exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Pearl is sort of off white, lovely color.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
And actually, since there are so many colors, to be efficient,
we're going to have at least two pantone colors in
every clue.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
So for instance, high degree of difficulty, We're still gonna.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Have a thousand more clues, but it's gonna be good.
It's gonna go quick.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
For instance, here's another for instance. Uh, this is a
common saying, an adage. Uh you say that is the
thirty nine to two to two that broke the seven
to one twenty fours back. That is the thirty nine
twenty two that broke.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
But that is how I speak. So I'm glad that
you are letting people out on my two color that
I cannot wear, which would be straw, right and camel.
I would love to be able to wear a camel,
but really it's for blondes. So that's the straw that
broke the camel's back.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
There, AJ, all right, there, there you go. And I
obviously that clue was not the straw that broke your back,
because you know, I'm still.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
I haven't I haven't pushed back my desk in rage
and flown out.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Well, let's hope that uh we keep that going. All right,
I'm going to start with if life gives you thirty
seven five two's make twenty seven to one.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Wow, So they're both colors. That's so interesting I wonder
what the different is differences between lemons and lemonade. That's right,
it gives you lemons make lemonade. So I'm gonna guess
lemons is a more intense yellow and lemonade is perhaps
more of a water colory yellow.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
There you go exactly, Yes, yeah, you know your you
know your colors, not just erulian. All right, I've got
a TV Oh. By the way, this puzzle was written
that clue in particular written by senior puzzler Andrea Schomberg.
So thank you Andrea for finding us. The difference terrific.
Here's a TV special, Holiday TV special. It's the Great
(09:11):
forty one one three nine Charlie eighty one three two one.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I'm gonna bot tune in.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
It's the Great, It's the Grade forty one one three
nine Charlie eighty one three two got it?
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Got it? God, I love those so much. When I
was growing up and I loved I had all the books,
all the Peanuts books, those original Peanuts books. I just
loved all those when they really looked like little kids
before they start to look like little adults. It's the
Great Pumpkin.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
That's it. Yes, Charlie Brown that is correct. You got it.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Two more colors you're not going to wear.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Right, No, I will wear so.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
I love pumpkin and brown. I don't know if I'm
wearing lemonade, but I'm gonna pumpkin. Brown are flattering. Our
flat can be flattering.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
All right, look just to be so we don't get
the letters that we mentioned earlier. It's actually that number
was brown knee because they're twenty nine browns or actually brown.
There's rustic brown, Carab brown Sudanne Brown.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
I had a friend who was a TV writer, of
an old time TV writer named Jerry Belson, And when
he was a young comedy writer, he and his partner
made a list of things I only tried once, oh,
and one of them was Carab.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Have you tried it once? Or zero?
Speaker 5 (10:34):
But it's not a no and I think we've all
gone away from it. But they used to tell it.
They used to market it to us as children is
like gen xers, as like an alternative to chocolate, right,
which it's just not.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
It's not. Is it like healthier than chocolate or something?
Speaker 5 (10:49):
I guess, I don't know, I don't know, but it's
it's fallen by the wayside. But I love that joke
because it's quite true. Once is enough.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
My mom is allergic to chocolate, and so we did
have carib like popsicles in the carib bars. But you're right,
you don't see carib. It is definitely not the.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
How were those popsicles? Aj not good?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
They tasted nothing like chocolate. But don't tell my mom.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
No, it's a different flavor. Carab's a different flavor. It
could be good in certain contexts, like if you're dying
on a beach and that's.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
All you have, right, exactly, all right. I have lyrics
to a song, another holiday one, and I might sing
it if you if requested, because all right, yes, first
I'm gonna say it first, I'll say it. Well, all right,
I'll sing it up front. Yeah, two twenty five, two
(11:46):
of twos and eighty one twenty four in a one
ten six fifteen tree.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Wait, there are three of them in there?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
There were three? Yes, I forgot to mention pack Oh
wait three?
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Okay, wait, so now say it all right?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Here it is again two twenty five two O two's
and then eighty one one two four in one ten
sixteen tree?
Speaker 5 (12:12):
So is there four in there?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
No?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Just three just three. It's a two blank in a
blank gottic blank and a blank in a blank tree.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Two turtle doves.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Nailed it.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
And a partridge is.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
A color, yeah, party brown.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
And pear is a color in a pear tree.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
That's a pearser bay. To be technical, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Well the original lyric it was actually a pearsor bait.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Yes, our church. I wonder what color partridge is? Is
that a greeny blue?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I'm pretty sure it's a brown, a brown brown.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
I'm thinking peacock, which it's not. Partridges are kind of
a hen brown.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, it's a brown. It's right breck to fryer brown,
right to fryars. Wow, well done, all right, I got
a couple more and then we're out. Uh, let's let's
do a little food. This one is two words, just
the two words though, nothing no context, okay. Eighty four
thirty sixty one three three one eighty four thirty sixty
(13:16):
one three three one at all?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I mean anything. The hint is bacon.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Okay, what's our hint?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Millennials love this food. According to the stereotype, it's an
open sandwich.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Oh, I know what it is.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Okay, what do you got.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Because I'll tell you my favorite story about this. I
my friend Alano once went to a restaurant ordered this
and they gave her just the fruit, the relevant fruit,
a knife, and an uncut piece of bread. No out
of that, and some salt and out of that at
(13:54):
a restaurant. I have a picture of this. She put
this on her Instagram. It's one of my I reposted
every once in a while because it really makes me
at this picture of her with all the ingredients that
she sitting in a restaurant is with which she is
supposed to make avocado toast exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
That is hilarious. Yes, just make it yourself. Here's the chicken,
here's a tomato.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
I don't like it when the people do that. I
don't want a deconstructed salad. I don't want I certainly
don't want a deconstructed avocado toast. I'm here, you make it.
I'll eat it.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
You've got a job right exactly. And by the way,
I also included it because you wrote a lovely column
about your sort of an honorary millennial.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
I am.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
I do feel like I am?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And why is that? For those who haven't read you.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
Know, it's funny. I think our writer's room was almost
all millennials, and I just clicked right into their kind
of aesthetic, their worldview and their humor. You know, gen
X is a kind of a dark generation, you know,
thrown to the wolves. We wore dirty clothes that we
found at the you know, at the throat, which people
do again and I love to th but we were
(15:00):
wearing really some of the most homely smelly flannels, which
was just not I never really did. It wasn't my thing.
So I always felt like slightly a bit of an
outlier in the gen X, you know, being someone who
was not really into grunge and not into grubby clothing.
And yeah, and there was always that concept of selling
(15:21):
out with which I was quite eager to do as
a wider. And so I feel like millennials strike a
good balance between ambition and humanity. And then, of course
I have two gen Z sons, and I embraced their
spirit as well. And what's funny is that gen zs
find millennial humor corny. Oh yes, And so sometimes I'll
(15:45):
hear a gen Z person critique a piece of comedy
as being too millennial. I love it, no matter. You
can't you can't escape the generational snobbery, no matter what
you do. But gen X was not a very sunny group.
We really truly were turned outside and in just a
shockingly young age. I just recently creinic careerconnected with a
(16:05):
childhood friend and she and I roam the neighborhood four
years old, five years old and walk to school in
kindergarten and first grade. At the age of four five
walked to school and the person who was in charge
of us, who is leading us across this mile long walk,
no sidewalk, just scrabbling around at the side of the road,
our guide, our sherpa, was an eight year old, her
(16:27):
older sister.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, but now that's considered good, free range kids. That's
considered we we survived it.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
We don't do it, don't it's considered good. It's also
MILANDU in prison.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So you know, all right, Well, well let me and
since you're in TV, let me end with a television show.
Another show I enjoyed, not quite as much, but I
liked it a lot. And the title is eighty three
eight three, four, eighty one six five five. You got
come on, I will not it. Craig's got it all right,
(17:02):
here you go it was on the Sea Green Acres. No,
it's in the on the c W in the early
two thousand. It starred Kristin four four one two one
as a private detective.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
Is it christ Bell?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
It is Kristin Bell?
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Is Veronica?
Speaker 6 (17:20):
Mars?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Gonna say those colors.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Veronica and Mars both official Pantone colors. Veronica is a
blue violet, kind of like your sweater.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Nate ag has hit us with a twist.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
There you it, Well, they did a Pantone don't kill
the messenger.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
What color is Mars red?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Mars is red, like you say.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
So red, a brownish red, brownish large celestial red.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Okay, that's it.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And Veronica apparently is a flower. Ye may or may
not be related to the color of Veronica, but there's
a whole internet kerfuffle about it. But I would say, yeah,
they are both official colors. And I did cheat a
little because Kristen that is Bluebell. There is no actual
(18:09):
cheating Mecca here middle.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
If Bell was the color, though, what color would it be?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I has a liberty bell.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Yeah, pewter, yeah, yeah, yeah, bronze, you know, dirty bronze
with a crack.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
In it looks good on everyone.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Everybody wants to wear the dirty bronze I'm going to
change right now.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Did working on that movie change your fashion?
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Great question? No one's ever asked me that, you know.
I think what it did was give me permission to
buy more of it, you know. I felt like, this
is you know, and little did I know that I
was I would be doing research for to write another
movie twenty years later.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Right there, so you can expense it all.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
It's my excuse for my shopping problem.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Well done. Well, I can't wait. This is going to
be fun, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So we got a little clue there. The next movie
is also going to be about fashion. There you go. Yeah,
it could be could be you never know.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
They could go to Mars.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, oh I like that. And also yeah, I wonder
if it'll be the Devil wears like whatever, Devil wears Gucci,
because then you can do a deal. I know Hollywood
likes doing deals. All right, I do have an extra
credit before we leave, I'm looking for These are three
Pantone colors, so fill in the blanks in this sentence.
(19:29):
Sharon Sylvester and Emma eighty six point fifteen can all
be seen on the forty five to two screen or
the ninety one sixty sixty three carpet. So there you go. Well,
thank you, Eleen. We gat you for one more day,
which is very exciting. And folks, in the meantime, if
(19:50):
you have some extra time, and who doesn't not Eleen,
she's very busy working on the sequel. Check out our
Instagram feed at Hello puzzlers, and we will see you
here tomorrow, of course, for more puzzling puzzles that will
puzzle you personally.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Hey puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer, here
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. Aleen
Brash McKenna joined us for a game we called the
Devilwars rhyming spin Offs, where we came up with sequels
to the Devilwaar's Prada in which each of these final
words rhymes with prada. So your extra credit clue was
(20:32):
this one.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Andy moves to.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Sports writing covering four World Series winning Yankees teams and
develops a romance with their star catcher, Jorge, that, of course,
is the great the Devil wears post Sada. Jorge Postsada,
the Great Yankees catcher. Thanks for playing with us, and
we'll catch you here next time,
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. As a
very busy person, I am always looking for ways to
save time, so I am in search of the most
efficient way to write the phrase ten extra kisses. Can
you help me out? I actually figured it out already,
and the hint is it only requires three letters, and
(00:22):
the same three letters at that The answer and more
puzzling puzzles after the break, Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to
the Puzzler Podcast. The lead mermaid in your Esther Williams
Puzzle water Ballet. I'm your host Ajjacob's words.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
That was something.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'm your host, AJ Jacobson. I am here, of course,
with Chief puzzle Officer Greg Klisko.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Greg.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Before the break, I asked for help writing the phrase
ten extra kisses in the most efficient way possible. To
have any suggestions for me?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Before I answer that, I reminded me of one of
the least efficient abbreviations in the English language, which is
the World Wide Web three syllables, which we abbreviate as WWW,
which is nine syllables.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, totally, unless you say W like like the president WW.
That's at least a little better. Good point.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Still not helpful anyway, your answer you're looking for is
close to that.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
It's X X X right, A ten X for extra
and X for.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Kiss exactly, and X can also stand for crossword or
X marks the spot. It's just a very versatile, little
humble letter. I was inspired to do an ex riddle
by one of my all time favorite TV shows, Crazy
Ex Girlfriend, which happens to be co created by our
guest today, Aleen Brash McKenna. She also wrote the devilwaars
(01:54):
Prada movie. She directed and wrote the Reese Witherspoon Ashton
Putcher rom com Your Place Mine, available on Netflix.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Welcome Elene, Hi, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We are thrilled. I also I wanted to bring up
one of my favorite scenes in movie dumb and it
is the scene from The devilwaars Prada where Meryl Streep
dresses down no pun, well a little pun intended. She
scolds Anne Hathaway's character for not knowing the difference between
(02:26):
two blue belts because Anne says that to her the
belts look exactly the same and they are not. And
I actually we have a very short clip of Meryl.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
Oh okay, I see you think this has nothing to
do with you. You go to your closet and you
select I don't know that lumpy blue sweater, for instance,
because you're trying to tell the world that you take
yourself too seriously to care about what you put on
your back. But what you don't know is that that
(02:56):
sweater is not just blue. It's not it's not Lapis,
it's actually Cerulian. And you're all so blithely unaware of
the fact that in two thousand and two, ospital Lo
Rena did a collection of Cerulian gowns. And then I
think it was Eve c Laurent, wasn't it who showed
civilian military jackets.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I think we need a jacket.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
Here, And then Cerulian quickly showed up in the collections
of eight different designers. I'm going to filter down through
the department stores, and then trickled on down into some
tragic casual corner where you no doubt fished it out
of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
And countless jobs.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
And it's sort of comical how you think that you've
made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry,
when in fact you're wearing a sweater that was selected
for you by the people in this room.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
So good. How did you come up with that scene?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Really?
Speaker 5 (03:52):
That scene? There was always a scene in the script,
because I was the fifth writer, There was always a
little bit of a men's of the fashion world has
an impact beyond what people understand, and in some ways,
what I've come to see over time is that that
speech particularly works for men. I think women have kind
of an instinctive I'm overgeneralizing, obviously, but an instinctive understanding
(04:17):
of how clothing gets transmitted. And so it was just
a few lines, and then Merrill and the director David
Frankel really felt like it was an opportunity to really
expostulate on that. So I made it bigger, bigger, bigger,
and worked with Marylyn David over a weekend. And then
(04:37):
since we were doing Blue, I actually said to Meryl
would you like to use lapis azure or Ceruleian? And
she picked Cerulian, which is really I think the funnest
and most musical of those words. So it became and
so I wrote what was a very long, overly long speech,
(05:00):
and then every every word of it is in the movie,
because obviously everything she does is you know, I thought
it was going to be long, but once you saw it,
once you see it, it's you know, she makes every
word matter.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Oh it's so good, and you're right. Cerulean such a
beautiful word. And I love I love color words in general,
especially the colors named by Pantone. You know Pantone, So
that's the company used by artists and designers to figure
out the precise color they want. And we looked into it.
(05:33):
There are twenty three hundred and ten Pantone colors as yeah,
always going wow the name them all. Okay, well, I'll
nave a couple because they're so they can be delicious,
like tapioca and nutmeg, both colors.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Isn't this one? Isn't it this year or something mushroomy? Right?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Oh? Really, I didn't know.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
I think this year is something kind of mushroomy.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I know, Shittaki is one.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Do you mean? There are colors of the year, Colors
of the.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
They announced colors of the year, and they can be
animal kangaroo is a color, flying though natured fog, molten
lava just gorgeous. And five you brought up color of
the air because the rulan was color of the year
in two thousand because it will bring a certain peace
of mind because it reminds you of time spent outdoors.
(06:24):
So it's a lovely color.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I'm looking at colors of the year right now. This
is cool.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So what is this? What is this this year?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
This year is mocha moose.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Yes, yes, it's sort of for me.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Color interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, which is both a color and a dessert. I
like that.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So for this puzzle, Eleene, I'm going to give you
the pantone number and you have to tell me the color.
So I'm assuming you memorized.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Yes, it sounds like a great puzzle.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Six four.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Well, to make it a little more accessible, I am
going to give you some text clues. Okay, that's a clue,
might be Yes, this is a famous painting called The
Girl with the twenty one three oh four Earring.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
So what is that would be the Well, I know
this painting. It's very famous. There's also a movie and
a book The Girl with the Pearl Earring exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Pearl is sort of off white, lovely color.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
And actually, since there are so many colors, to be efficient,
we're going to have at least two pantone colors in
every clue.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
So for instance, high degree of difficulty, We're still gonna.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Have a thousand more clues, but it's gonna be good.
It's gonna go quick.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
For instance, here's another for instance. Uh, this is a
common saying, an adage. Uh you say that is the
thirty nine to two to two that broke the seven
to one twenty fours back. That is the thirty nine
twenty two that broke.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
But that is how I speak. So I'm glad that
you are letting people out on my two color that
I cannot wear, which would be straw, right and camel.
I would love to be able to wear a camel,
but really it's for blondes. So that's the straw that
broke the camel's back.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
There, AJ, all right, there, there you go. And I
obviously that clue was not the straw that broke your back,
because you know, I'm still.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
I haven't I haven't pushed back my desk in rage
and flown out.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Well, let's hope that uh we keep that going. All right,
I'm going to start with if life gives you thirty
seven five two's make twenty seven to one.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Wow, So they're both colors. That's so interesting I wonder
what the different is differences between lemons and lemonade. That's right,
it gives you lemons make lemonade. So I'm gonna guess
lemons is a more intense yellow and lemonade is perhaps
more of a water colory yellow.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
There you go exactly, Yes, yeah, you know your you
know your colors, not just erulian. All right, I've got
a TV Oh. By the way, this puzzle was written
that clue in particular written by senior puzzler Andrea Schomberg.
So thank you Andrea for finding us. The difference terrific.
Here's a TV special, Holiday TV special. It's the Great
(09:11):
forty one one three nine Charlie eighty one three two one.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I'm gonna bot tune in.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
It's the Great, It's the Grade forty one one three
nine Charlie eighty one three two got it?
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Got it? God, I love those so much. When I
was growing up and I loved I had all the books,
all the Peanuts books, those original Peanuts books. I just
loved all those when they really looked like little kids
before they start to look like little adults. It's the
Great Pumpkin.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
That's it. Yes, Charlie Brown that is correct. You got it.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Two more colors you're not going to wear.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Right, No, I will wear so.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
I love pumpkin and brown. I don't know if I'm
wearing lemonade, but I'm gonna pumpkin. Brown are flattering. Our
flat can be flattering.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
All right, look just to be so we don't get
the letters that we mentioned earlier. It's actually that number
was brown knee because they're twenty nine browns or actually brown.
There's rustic brown, Carab brown Sudanne Brown.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
I had a friend who was a TV writer, of
an old time TV writer named Jerry Belson, And when
he was a young comedy writer, he and his partner
made a list of things I only tried once, oh,
and one of them was Carab.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Have you tried it once? Or zero?
Speaker 5 (10:34):
But it's not a no and I think we've all
gone away from it. But they used to tell it.
They used to market it to us as children is
like gen xers, as like an alternative to chocolate, right,
which it's just not.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
It's not. Is it like healthier than chocolate or something?
Speaker 5 (10:49):
I guess, I don't know, I don't know, but it's
it's fallen by the wayside. But I love that joke
because it's quite true. Once is enough.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
My mom is allergic to chocolate, and so we did
have carib like popsicles in the carib bars. But you're right,
you don't see carib. It is definitely not the.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
How were those popsicles? Aj not good?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
They tasted nothing like chocolate. But don't tell my mom.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
No, it's a different flavor. Carab's a different flavor. It
could be good in certain contexts, like if you're dying
on a beach and that's.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
All you have, right, exactly, all right. I have lyrics
to a song, another holiday one, and I might sing
it if you if requested, because all right, yes, first
I'm gonna say it first, I'll say it. Well, all right,
I'll sing it up front. Yeah, two twenty five, two
(11:46):
of twos and eighty one twenty four in a one
ten six fifteen tree.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Wait, there are three of them in there?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
There were three? Yes, I forgot to mention pack Oh
wait three?
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Okay, wait, so now say it all right?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Here it is again two twenty five two O two's
and then eighty one one two four in one ten
sixteen tree?
Speaker 5 (12:12):
So is there four in there?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
No?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Just three just three. It's a two blank in a
blank gottic blank and a blank in a blank tree.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Two turtle doves.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Nailed it.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
And a partridge is.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
A color, yeah, party brown.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
And pear is a color in a pear tree.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
That's a pearser bay. To be technical, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Well the original lyric it was actually a pearsor bait.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Yes, our church. I wonder what color partridge is? Is
that a greeny blue?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I'm pretty sure it's a brown, a brown brown.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
I'm thinking peacock, which it's not. Partridges are kind of
a hen brown.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, it's a brown. It's right breck to fryer brown,
right to fryars. Wow, well done, all right, I got
a couple more and then we're out. Uh, let's let's
do a little food. This one is two words, just
the two words though, nothing no context, okay. Eighty four
thirty sixty one three three one eighty four thirty sixty
(13:16):
one three three one at all?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I mean anything. The hint is bacon.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Okay, what's our hint?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Millennials love this food. According to the stereotype, it's an
open sandwich.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Oh, I know what it is.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Okay, what do you got.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Because I'll tell you my favorite story about this. I
my friend Alano once went to a restaurant ordered this
and they gave her just the fruit, the relevant fruit,
a knife, and an uncut piece of bread. No out
of that, and some salt and out of that at
(13:54):
a restaurant. I have a picture of this. She put
this on her Instagram. It's one of my I reposted
every once in a while because it really makes me
at this picture of her with all the ingredients that
she sitting in a restaurant is with which she is
supposed to make avocado toast exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
That is hilarious. Yes, just make it yourself. Here's the chicken,
here's a tomato.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
I don't like it when the people do that. I
don't want a deconstructed salad. I don't want I certainly
don't want a deconstructed avocado toast. I'm here, you make it.
I'll eat it.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
You've got a job right exactly. And by the way,
I also included it because you wrote a lovely column
about your sort of an honorary millennial.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
I am.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
I do feel like I am?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And why is that? For those who haven't read you.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
Know, it's funny. I think our writer's room was almost
all millennials, and I just clicked right into their kind
of aesthetic, their worldview and their humor. You know, gen
X is a kind of a dark generation, you know,
thrown to the wolves. We wore dirty clothes that we
found at the you know, at the throat, which people
do again and I love to th but we were
(15:00):
wearing really some of the most homely smelly flannels, which
was just not I never really did. It wasn't my thing.
So I always felt like slightly a bit of an
outlier in the gen X, you know, being someone who
was not really into grunge and not into grubby clothing.
And yeah, and there was always that concept of selling
(15:21):
out with which I was quite eager to do as
a wider. And so I feel like millennials strike a
good balance between ambition and humanity. And then, of course
I have two gen Z sons, and I embraced their
spirit as well. And what's funny is that gen zs
find millennial humor corny. Oh yes, And so sometimes I'll
(15:45):
hear a gen Z person critique a piece of comedy
as being too millennial. I love it, no matter. You
can't you can't escape the generational snobbery, no matter what
you do. But gen X was not a very sunny group.
We really truly were turned outside and in just a
shockingly young age. I just recently creinic careerconnected with a
(16:05):
childhood friend and she and I roam the neighborhood four
years old, five years old and walk to school in
kindergarten and first grade. At the age of four five
walked to school and the person who was in charge
of us, who is leading us across this mile long walk,
no sidewalk, just scrabbling around at the side of the road,
our guide, our sherpa, was an eight year old, her
(16:27):
older sister.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, but now that's considered good, free range kids. That's
considered we we survived it.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
We don't do it, don't it's considered good. It's also
MILANDU in prison.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So you know, all right, Well, well let me and
since you're in TV, let me end with a television show.
Another show I enjoyed, not quite as much, but I
liked it a lot. And the title is eighty three
eight three, four, eighty one six five five. You got
come on, I will not it. Craig's got it all right,
(17:02):
here you go it was on the Sea Green Acres. No,
it's in the on the c W in the early
two thousand. It starred Kristin four four one two one
as a private detective.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
Is it christ Bell?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
It is Kristin Bell?
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Is Veronica?
Speaker 6 (17:20):
Mars?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Gonna say those colors.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Veronica and Mars both official Pantone colors. Veronica is a
blue violet, kind of like your sweater.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Nate ag has hit us with a twist.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
There you it, Well, they did a Pantone don't kill
the messenger.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
What color is Mars red?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Mars is red, like you say.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
So red, a brownish red, brownish large celestial red.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Okay, that's it.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And Veronica apparently is a flower. Ye may or may
not be related to the color of Veronica, but there's
a whole internet kerfuffle about it. But I would say, yeah,
they are both official colors. And I did cheat a
little because Kristen that is Bluebell. There is no actual
(18:09):
cheating Mecca here middle.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
If Bell was the color, though, what color would it be?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I has a liberty bell.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Yeah, pewter, yeah, yeah, yeah, bronze, you know, dirty bronze
with a crack.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
In it looks good on everyone.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Everybody wants to wear the dirty bronze I'm going to
change right now.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Did working on that movie change your fashion?
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Great question? No one's ever asked me that, you know.
I think what it did was give me permission to
buy more of it, you know. I felt like, this
is you know, and little did I know that I
was I would be doing research for to write another
movie twenty years later.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Right there, so you can expense it all.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
It's my excuse for my shopping problem.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Well done. Well, I can't wait. This is going to
be fun, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So we got a little clue there. The next movie
is also going to be about fashion. There you go. Yeah,
it could be could be you never know.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
They could go to Mars.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, oh I like that. And also yeah, I wonder
if it'll be the Devil wears like whatever, Devil wears Gucci,
because then you can do a deal. I know Hollywood
likes doing deals. All right, I do have an extra
credit before we leave, I'm looking for These are three
Pantone colors, so fill in the blanks in this sentence.
(19:29):
Sharon Sylvester and Emma eighty six point fifteen can all
be seen on the forty five to two screen or
the ninety one sixty sixty three carpet. So there you go. Well,
thank you, Eleen. We gat you for one more day,
which is very exciting. And folks, in the meantime, if
(19:50):
you have some extra time, and who doesn't not Eleen,
she's very busy working on the sequel. Check out our
Instagram feed at Hello puzzlers, and we will see you
here tomorrow, of course, for more puzzling puzzles that will
puzzle you personally.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Hey puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer, here
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. Aleen
Brash McKenna joined us for a game we called the
Devilwars rhyming spin Offs, where we came up with sequels
to the Devilwaar's Prada in which each of these final
words rhymes with prada. So your extra credit clue was
(20:32):
this one.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Andy moves to.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Sports writing covering four World Series winning Yankees teams and
develops a romance with their star catcher, Jorge, that, of course,
is the great the Devil wears post Sada. Jorge Postsada,
the Great Yankees catcher. Thanks for playing with us, and
we'll catch you here next time,
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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