July 21, 2025 • 18 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: host of "The Gist" podcast, Mike Pesca!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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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. Today's mini
puzzle is in honor of our guest, the great podcaster
Mike Pesca. That is Mike Peesca, and Mike has one
of the most anagrammable last names that I have ever seen,
which is high praise from the Puzzler Podcast. No less
(00:23):
than forty three words can be made from those letters
without repeating in English, who knows in other languages. Several
of those words use all five letters of pesca, pesc
and a. In fact, here's a sentence with three blanks.
Can you fill in the blanks using five letter anagrams
of pesca. Here we go. Superman put on not one
(00:45):
but two of his red blanks, flew to outer blank
and put the Kryptonians through their blank. Okay, once again,
Superman put on not one but two of his red blanks,
flew to outer blank and put the Kryptonians through their
blank using the letters p eesca. The answer and more
puzzling puzzles after the break. Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to
(01:15):
the Puzzler Podcast. The Bernoulli principal keeping your puzzle airplane aloft.
I am well, thank you for the woe.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
That makes us way more important than we usually are.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Usually we're like the you know, the extra bottle of
liquor in your first class surveying or something. Now we're
the actual principle that keeps you aloft.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
We are keeping people alive. We are heroes. I am
your host, AJ Jacobs. I'm here, of course, the chief
puzzle Officer, Greg Kliska and Greg. Before the break, we
asked puzzlers at home to fill in the blanks of
this sentence. Superman put on not one, but two of
his red blanks, flew to outer blank and put the
Kryptonians through their blank. And the key is that all
(01:56):
those blanks can be filled with the letters P E
S C A in different arrangements. And yes, Pessca happens
to be the name of our guest. Weird coincidence. Do
you have any thoughts?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, I think I think everybody's got this one.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's Superman's capes going into space and putting the whoever
you say, the Kryptonians through their paces. Although I don't
know that Superman can do that to the Kryptonians because
they've got kryptonite and he can't make them do anything.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, all right, I am going to we will debate
that later. I don't okay, I mean Superman. He's Superman.
He can do anything.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Except for kryptonite. It's the key to Superman.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
If I may interject, Mike Pasca, I believe the issue
isn't that they have kryptonite. It's that the sun on
Krypton doesn't give him the power that our yellow sun does.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
So he'd just be a regular guy. But he could
put them through their paces through moral suasion, which.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Is part of a spec script that I wrote about
this exact thing.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
WHOA, there we go.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Look at Mike coming in hot. That was right, love
it all right?
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Yellow sun hot.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yellow sun hot? That is even better. Yes, I love
moral suasion. He's got the laser eyes, he's got the
extra strength, and moral suasion the most important of his powers. Well, Mike,
who you just heard there is the host of the
enormously popular podcast The Gist, which is the longest running
(03:31):
daily news podcast in history. It has commentary news, it's
got interview with guests such as Chuck d Dan Savage,
and author A. J. Jacobs. That's me uh and uh.
It is a delight to welcome Mike Pasco to the Puzzler. Well, Mike,
we have so much to talk about, but let me
(03:52):
dive into a very important issue right up front, which
is that early in your career, you did a piece
for NPR that won the Edward R. Murrow Award, and
it was an in depth pace about I know, going
way back, it was about the song take Me Out
to the Ballgame. And I know it's been a while,
but do you would you remind folks what the premise
(04:14):
was if you remember.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
I was listening to this song I'm gonna guess the
seventh inning somewhere, and it struck me. You know, in
terms of product placement, this has got to be very valuable.
So I calculated the product placement value for cracker Jack
very important, No, SA cracker Jacks.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
It's a collective.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Now, and I don't know what it was back in
two thousand and six, but I think it was hundreds
of millions of dollars just to get mentioned on everyone's
lips in a song that is sung in every Major
League ballpark.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
And I also have to say, and.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
I was wondering what you and Greg would think about
this without the reference in the song would Crackerjack be
a mainstay, a staple of ballpark fair to this day.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I think not.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I think I don't think it would exist. I think
it would be like we wouldn't know the name Crackerjack.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
That's interesting, Greg, because it was in the ballpark. That's
why it got into the song in the first place.
Fat dogs are in the ballparks and we still eat them.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Was it in the ballpark, though, Mike, because in your
report you pointed out the writers of the song had
never been to a ballgame.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
No, it was. It was one of those tin pan alley.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
I think they wrote forty five songs that day, and
that was just the one part of Americana. Larry, give
me some peanut and cracker Jack, which you know, as
we know, the new fangled Crackerjack is constituted with peanuts, so.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
That maybe it was there.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
I don't know if the Crackerjack of nineteen oh whatever
had peanuts in it. Let's say it didn't. The song
kind of thrust the peanuts inside the crackerjack. I think
crack I don't know if Crackerjack would exist. I think
a Carmel coded popcorn is so delicious it would exist.
Remember when fiddle Fattles tried to give Crackerjack out on
Friends money. I think that went nowhere. So I do
(06:02):
think that some version of cracker Jack would exist, but
without the song, I don't know that it would.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
My question is, have you had Crackerjack out a ballgame?
Because I don't know if.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I ever have.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
It's a sticky hand problem.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I'm glad that that we've gone into this important issue
because it inspired a puzzle here at the Puzzler, because
it made us think there is so much as.
Speaker 5 (06:27):
Things are one to do exactly as everything that flits
across your consciousness.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
For better words. For better words, well, we realized there
is so much potential for more product placements and songs
than is being taken advantage of by corporate America. And
we came up with a bunch of suggestions on how
to seamlessly integrate products into popular songs. For instance, why
(06:54):
didn't Nirvana do a song called Smells like teen Spirit Airlines?
I mean, and that is just staring us in the face.
Why isn't the lullaby called Twinkle Twinkle Little Starbucks? You
see the idea. So for this puzzle, I'm gonna give
you part of a song title or some lyrics, and
you have to tell me how it would best be
(07:15):
turned into a product placement. So, for instance, if I
gave the clue Ray Charles sang a song that plugs
a fast food franchise, call, Oh he's already got.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
It, hit the road, jack in the box.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Oh my god, I didn't. All right, I see what
this is going to be like.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
All right, I could be a real pain in the
neck and go back and tell you that smells like
teen Spirit is a product place?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Really you know that right now?
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Well, tem Spirit is it's a type of deodorant for
teenage girls.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
All right, that's what the spirit that it smells like.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, that is so funny. Yes, thank you for the
pain and the worst.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Smells like teen Spirit.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Airlines would be much worse than that original deodorant.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It is.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
A low budget airline. Yeah, depends where you're sitting in
the airline.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
And there goes that sponsor.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
All right, are you ready for some more? All right?
This is a Beatles song used to advertise a German
car maker. So I'll give you a little. Since people
love it when I sing, I'll do a little. Unless
you don't need it.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Go ahead, sing a little. I want to hear you.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
We got to hear some singing whisper words of the Ultimately,
let it be MW BMW nice man.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
I was thinking ticket to ride a Volkswagen.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
But yes, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
That's not a Beatles song?
Speaker 1 (08:43):
So yeah, all right? This is an Otis redding song
in support of an online auction site.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Fitting on the doc of eBay.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
That's it. I mean, he is good. I have all
these clues and.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
I don't know about me. A j is that I
sing so poorly. We're not going to violate fair use
or copyright.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
That is such a good point. That is that's my
excuse for singing poorly. I'm actually a wonderful singer. I'm
just doing it on purpose. Thank you for that excuse.
All right. I've got a three dog night song in
support of a chocolate bar, so I'll give you a
hint if needed.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
So, okay, I'm too fixated on Jeremiah was a bulldog.
That's joy to the I'm enjoy to.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
The world that's in them.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
You look at that nothing, all right, No, there's no
challenge for him. All right? How about this one? Share
sang a song in support of a news weekly.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Well it didn't work. Given the publishing industry.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
They need all the help they can get.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah, okay, what was that big audio song? I'm trying
to think of share that if you believe.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
It's not believed it is.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
If I could turn back Time magazine.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
That's it. Very nice.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I love they are singing it. You got extra bonus
points for that. By the way, just one of the
hints was a person of the year. I I would
like as a newsperson, is person of the year? A
good thing for the world or a bad thing? I
would argue, just to tip my hand, terrible thing. Why
have pick one person? Nothing is done by one person.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
Well they don't anymore now it's all a raft of
thirteen people. So I get all these press releases saying,
why don't you interview Times person of the year like
they were Times Person of the year, and they is
the applicable pronoun because they are always thirty two Time
people of the year. And then again, you and I
and Greg and all of us were Times Person of
the Year. And was it two thousand and seven? Oh yes,
(11:02):
I had the aluminum foil on the cover.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I remember you that that made me. I'm like, I
better buy it. I'm person of the year.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yeah, it was, it was, It was right. It was
all about what's it about YouTube? It's about tinfoil. I
think it's about Reynolds.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Now you're thinking like a corporate product placement person. I
like it. All right, we got a couple more. This
is an Elvis Presley song about government affiliated insurance.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Well, I'm thinking of jail house, get a piece of
the rock. But that's not it.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
That's nice.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Uh oh, government affiliated.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Okay, so let's go with that.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
And that would be I never know which ones are
the government ones.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Yeah, it's like Geico.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
No, No, it's what has a color in it, doesn't.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
It it does. Don't step on them or your premium
will go up. That's I think one of.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
The Okay, let me think.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Okay, so it would be blue swede shoes. Yeah, something blue.
I don't know the government. I'm I'm deficient in my
government insurance.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I think it is. It's not the red blank, it's
the blue.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Oh, so like blue cross swede.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Shoes, exactly, blue cross. The full alligole is blue cross,
blue shield. Because they want to get them both in there.
But yes, you got it. You got it?
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Interesting you help me?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Right? Well, I feel good because you were getting them
way too fast.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
All right, I got it.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I got a couple more, and then we actually have
I want to talk to you. You have something that
you brought to us. All right, this one, Since this
one is actually from the last fifteen years, I'm gonna
go with it. This is a song by fun f
U N lowercase in support of one of the big
four accounting companies.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
So we are exactly right. Does she help them with
that one? I think she's in one of the funk songs.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well, yes you didn't. You didn't fully sing it, but
we give you full credit anyway. That was delightful. You
just blew through him. But but you're not done yet,
because apparently you have something waiting in the wings for us.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
This is this is not your questions have answers. Mine
are Mine are answers in search of questions. But it's
very vague. It's not like the Jeopardy rules where that's
all a construct. You know, how would Jeopardy they will say, oh,
give me the answer in the form of a question.
But if there was a real trivia contest where the
(13:38):
answers were Jeopardy quote unquote answers, and all the answers
were all right, here's a question, Ajan Gregg.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Who is Bruce box Lightner?
Speaker 5 (13:45):
I mean the answer to that, you can't. It could
be something like here here would be a good one.
What is fifty two eighty right?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, that is how many?
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Right?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
How many a mile? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Merv Griffin actually based it on that. That was the
first Jeopardy question.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Yeah, oh really okay, but of course you could come
up with, you know, what is twenty five forty times two?
From oh good one, wait about twenty six forty times two?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Yeah. So I just have answers that I think would
make good puzzler answers. Some to you do it in
one puzzle, do it over the course of your lifetime.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Here are some answers I think that would make good
puzzler answer love ready ready, Cedar Sinai.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Oh well, what do you think? I have something that
comes to mind immediately, like, okay, what are you going?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Bend Oregon Wall? Are these all these.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Are not all related, Mike, No, they're not related.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
To come up with the answers?
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Are Cedar Sinai, Bend Oregon, May Orca, right, and I
think this is the best one. Ray Fines nice well, fine, well,
aren't those good answers?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Those are such grist for the puzzle mill. They are just.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Waiting consider it? Some just chrissed my friends.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Nicely done?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, I got it.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
There are so many like I'll I'll go do one.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
You got one for Cedar? You have one for Cedar? Right?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Well, I have one. I mean may Orca. You've got
ones that words that start start with months, months or
or better yet, place names like juneo June oh.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Alaska, although if you pronounce it my Orca, it could
be the whale that belongs to me.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Oh nicely, See, there's so much. That's what we like.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Some sea creatures right right right?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
What were something? Wait? What? What? What else? You got? Greg?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Things with possessive so uranus would also be on that list?
Did you have one for re Fines?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Is so great?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
We've done a few where it's a name that is
also a sentence. And someone actually wrote in to suggest
wade bogs like you wade through bogs. But we've also
done lots like well, we have a guest named Adam
Sank and that kind of has spurred the idea Adam sank.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Right, So these are the citation by the way, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It rose, it rose Charlie.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Charlie sank.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
The citations, the citations given to you by you know,
the famous actor blah blah blah rafe read.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
These are the raf fines finds.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Way I missed it. It's over my head.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
The citations given to you.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Oh, I see citations in that sense, I see ie. Okay,
very good, very good. Well, that is great, thank you.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
On the set of Wizard of Oz, why did why
did Bert Law and Judy Garland have to pay penalties
because Ray finds?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah there you go. Oh very good.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
H Let me end with actually, let me give you
one more and then one more for extra credit. How
about a Phil Collins song about an online site for
renting homes.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
In the Airbnb at night.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
That's nice there.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Tonight, Yeah, exactly in the Airbnb tonight.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yes, all right, Well, I do have an extra credit
for the folks at home, which is a Taylor Swift
song about advertising a popular bug repellent. So a Taylor
Swift song that advertises a popular bug repellent looks like
(17:33):
Mike knows, but he's wisely keeping keeping quiet. We appreciate it,
and we appreciate you, Mike. You are a puzzler extraordinaire,
and luckily we have two more episodes with you, so
we've got lots to talk about, including more Jeopardy gossip.
I want to hear about your life on Jeopardy and
the folks, so come back tomorrow to hear that. And
(17:53):
in the meantime, if you have thirty seconds, check out
our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, original puzzles, visual puzzles,
all sorts of fun stuff and listen to the Gist
wherever you get your podcasts excellent daily news show right
after your puzzle or before whatever, and we'll meet you
here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you
(18:15):
puzzlingly
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. Today's mini
puzzle is in honor of our guest, the great podcaster
Mike Pesca. That is Mike Peesca, and Mike has one
of the most anagrammable last names that I have ever seen,
which is high praise from the Puzzler Podcast. No less
(00:23):
than forty three words can be made from those letters
without repeating in English, who knows in other languages. Several
of those words use all five letters of pesca, pesc
and a. In fact, here's a sentence with three blanks.
Can you fill in the blanks using five letter anagrams
of pesca. Here we go. Superman put on not one
(00:45):
but two of his red blanks, flew to outer blank
and put the Kryptonians through their blank. Okay, once again,
Superman put on not one but two of his red blanks,
flew to outer blank and put the Kryptonians through their
blank using the letters p eesca. The answer and more
puzzling puzzles after the break. Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to
(01:15):
the Puzzler Podcast. The Bernoulli principal keeping your puzzle airplane aloft.
I am well, thank you for the woe.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
That makes us way more important than we usually are.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Usually we're like the you know, the extra bottle of
liquor in your first class surveying or something. Now we're
the actual principle that keeps you aloft.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
We are keeping people alive. We are heroes. I am
your host, AJ Jacobs. I'm here, of course, the chief
puzzle Officer, Greg Kliska and Greg. Before the break, we
asked puzzlers at home to fill in the blanks of
this sentence. Superman put on not one, but two of
his red blanks, flew to outer blank and put the
Kryptonians through their blank. And the key is that all
(01:56):
those blanks can be filled with the letters P E
S C A in different arrangements. And yes, Pessca happens
to be the name of our guest. Weird coincidence. Do
you have any thoughts?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, I think I think everybody's got this one.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's Superman's capes going into space and putting the whoever
you say, the Kryptonians through their paces. Although I don't
know that Superman can do that to the Kryptonians because
they've got kryptonite and he can't make them do anything.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, all right, I am going to we will debate
that later. I don't okay, I mean Superman. He's Superman.
He can do anything.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Except for kryptonite. It's the key to Superman.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
If I may interject, Mike Pasca, I believe the issue
isn't that they have kryptonite. It's that the sun on
Krypton doesn't give him the power that our yellow sun does.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
So he'd just be a regular guy. But he could
put them through their paces through moral suasion, which.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Is part of a spec script that I wrote about
this exact thing.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
WHOA, there we go.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Look at Mike coming in hot. That was right, love
it all right?
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Yellow sun hot.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yellow sun hot? That is even better. Yes, I love
moral suasion. He's got the laser eyes, he's got the
extra strength, and moral suasion the most important of his powers. Well, Mike,
who you just heard there is the host of the
enormously popular podcast The Gist, which is the longest running
(03:31):
daily news podcast in history. It has commentary news, it's
got interview with guests such as Chuck d Dan Savage,
and author A. J. Jacobs. That's me uh and uh.
It is a delight to welcome Mike Pasco to the Puzzler. Well, Mike,
we have so much to talk about, but let me
(03:52):
dive into a very important issue right up front, which
is that early in your career, you did a piece
for NPR that won the Edward R. Murrow Award, and
it was an in depth pace about I know, going
way back, it was about the song take Me Out
to the Ballgame. And I know it's been a while,
but do you would you remind folks what the premise
(04:14):
was if you remember.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
I was listening to this song I'm gonna guess the
seventh inning somewhere, and it struck me. You know, in
terms of product placement, this has got to be very valuable.
So I calculated the product placement value for cracker Jack
very important, No, SA cracker Jacks.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
It's a collective.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Now, and I don't know what it was back in
two thousand and six, but I think it was hundreds
of millions of dollars just to get mentioned on everyone's
lips in a song that is sung in every Major
League ballpark.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
And I also have to say, and.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
I was wondering what you and Greg would think about
this without the reference in the song would Crackerjack be
a mainstay, a staple of ballpark fair to this day.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I think not.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I think I don't think it would exist. I think
it would be like we wouldn't know the name Crackerjack.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
That's interesting, Greg, because it was in the ballpark. That's
why it got into the song in the first place.
Fat dogs are in the ballparks and we still eat them.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Was it in the ballpark, though, Mike, because in your
report you pointed out the writers of the song had
never been to a ballgame.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
No, it was. It was one of those tin pan alley.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
I think they wrote forty five songs that day, and
that was just the one part of Americana. Larry, give
me some peanut and cracker Jack, which you know, as
we know, the new fangled Crackerjack is constituted with peanuts, so.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
That maybe it was there.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
I don't know if the Crackerjack of nineteen oh whatever
had peanuts in it. Let's say it didn't. The song
kind of thrust the peanuts inside the crackerjack. I think
crack I don't know if Crackerjack would exist. I think
a Carmel coded popcorn is so delicious it would exist.
Remember when fiddle Fattles tried to give Crackerjack out on
Friends money. I think that went nowhere. So I do
(06:02):
think that some version of cracker Jack would exist, but
without the song, I don't know that it would.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
My question is, have you had Crackerjack out a ballgame?
Because I don't know if.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I ever have.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
It's a sticky hand problem.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I'm glad that that we've gone into this important issue
because it inspired a puzzle here at the Puzzler, because
it made us think there is so much as.
Speaker 5 (06:27):
Things are one to do exactly as everything that flits
across your consciousness.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
For better words. For better words, well, we realized there
is so much potential for more product placements and songs
than is being taken advantage of by corporate America. And
we came up with a bunch of suggestions on how
to seamlessly integrate products into popular songs. For instance, why
(06:54):
didn't Nirvana do a song called Smells like teen Spirit Airlines?
I mean, and that is just staring us in the face.
Why isn't the lullaby called Twinkle Twinkle Little Starbucks? You
see the idea. So for this puzzle, I'm gonna give
you part of a song title or some lyrics, and
you have to tell me how it would best be
(07:15):
turned into a product placement. So, for instance, if I
gave the clue Ray Charles sang a song that plugs
a fast food franchise, call, Oh he's already got.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
It, hit the road, jack in the box.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Oh my god, I didn't. All right, I see what
this is going to be like.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
All right, I could be a real pain in the
neck and go back and tell you that smells like
teen Spirit is a product place?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Really you know that right now?
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Well, tem Spirit is it's a type of deodorant for
teenage girls.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
All right, that's what the spirit that it smells like.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, that is so funny. Yes, thank you for the
pain and the worst.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Smells like teen Spirit.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Airlines would be much worse than that original deodorant.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It is.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
A low budget airline. Yeah, depends where you're sitting in
the airline.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
And there goes that sponsor.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
All right, are you ready for some more? All right?
This is a Beatles song used to advertise a German
car maker. So I'll give you a little. Since people
love it when I sing, I'll do a little. Unless
you don't need it.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Go ahead, sing a little. I want to hear you.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
We got to hear some singing whisper words of the Ultimately,
let it be MW BMW nice man.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
I was thinking ticket to ride a Volkswagen.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
But yes, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
That's not a Beatles song?
Speaker 1 (08:43):
So yeah, all right? This is an Otis redding song
in support of an online auction site.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Fitting on the doc of eBay.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
That's it. I mean, he is good. I have all
these clues and.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
I don't know about me. A j is that I
sing so poorly. We're not going to violate fair use
or copyright.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
That is such a good point. That is that's my
excuse for singing poorly. I'm actually a wonderful singer. I'm
just doing it on purpose. Thank you for that excuse.
All right. I've got a three dog night song in
support of a chocolate bar, so I'll give you a
hint if needed.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
So, okay, I'm too fixated on Jeremiah was a bulldog.
That's joy to the I'm enjoy to.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
The world that's in them.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
You look at that nothing, all right, No, there's no
challenge for him. All right? How about this one? Share
sang a song in support of a news weekly.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Well it didn't work. Given the publishing industry.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
They need all the help they can get.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah, okay, what was that big audio song? I'm trying
to think of share that if you believe.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
It's not believed it is.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
If I could turn back Time magazine.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
That's it. Very nice.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I love they are singing it. You got extra bonus
points for that. By the way, just one of the
hints was a person of the year. I I would
like as a newsperson, is person of the year? A
good thing for the world or a bad thing? I
would argue, just to tip my hand, terrible thing. Why
have pick one person? Nothing is done by one person.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
Well they don't anymore now it's all a raft of
thirteen people. So I get all these press releases saying,
why don't you interview Times person of the year like
they were Times Person of the year, and they is
the applicable pronoun because they are always thirty two Time
people of the year. And then again, you and I
and Greg and all of us were Times Person of
the Year. And was it two thousand and seven? Oh yes,
(11:02):
I had the aluminum foil on the cover.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I remember you that that made me. I'm like, I
better buy it. I'm person of the year.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yeah, it was, it was, It was right. It was
all about what's it about YouTube? It's about tinfoil. I
think it's about Reynolds.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Now you're thinking like a corporate product placement person. I
like it. All right, we got a couple more. This
is an Elvis Presley song about government affiliated insurance.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Well, I'm thinking of jail house, get a piece of
the rock. But that's not it.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
That's nice.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Uh oh, government affiliated.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Okay, so let's go with that.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
And that would be I never know which ones are
the government ones.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Yeah, it's like Geico.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
No, No, it's what has a color in it, doesn't.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
It it does. Don't step on them or your premium
will go up. That's I think one of.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
The Okay, let me think.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Okay, so it would be blue swede shoes. Yeah, something blue.
I don't know the government. I'm I'm deficient in my
government insurance.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I think it is. It's not the red blank, it's
the blue.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Oh, so like blue cross swede.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Shoes, exactly, blue cross. The full alligole is blue cross,
blue shield. Because they want to get them both in there.
But yes, you got it. You got it?
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Interesting you help me?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Right? Well, I feel good because you were getting them
way too fast.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
All right, I got it.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I got a couple more, and then we actually have
I want to talk to you. You have something that
you brought to us. All right, this one, Since this
one is actually from the last fifteen years, I'm gonna
go with it. This is a song by fun f
U N lowercase in support of one of the big
four accounting companies.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
So we are exactly right. Does she help them with
that one? I think she's in one of the funk songs.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well, yes you didn't. You didn't fully sing it, but
we give you full credit anyway. That was delightful. You
just blew through him. But but you're not done yet,
because apparently you have something waiting in the wings for us.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
This is this is not your questions have answers. Mine
are Mine are answers in search of questions. But it's
very vague. It's not like the Jeopardy rules where that's
all a construct. You know, how would Jeopardy they will say, oh,
give me the answer in the form of a question.
But if there was a real trivia contest where the
(13:38):
answers were Jeopardy quote unquote answers, and all the answers
were all right, here's a question, Ajan Gregg.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Who is Bruce box Lightner?
Speaker 5 (13:45):
I mean the answer to that, you can't. It could
be something like here here would be a good one.
What is fifty two eighty right?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, that is how many?
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Right?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
How many a mile? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Merv Griffin actually based it on that. That was the
first Jeopardy question.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Yeah, oh really okay, but of course you could come
up with, you know, what is twenty five forty times two?
From oh good one, wait about twenty six forty times two?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Yeah. So I just have answers that I think would
make good puzzler answers. Some to you do it in
one puzzle, do it over the course of your lifetime.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Here are some answers I think that would make good
puzzler answer love ready ready, Cedar Sinai.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Oh well, what do you think? I have something that
comes to mind immediately, like, okay, what are you going?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Bend Oregon Wall? Are these all these.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Are not all related, Mike, No, they're not related.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
To come up with the answers?
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Are Cedar Sinai, Bend Oregon, May Orca, right, and I
think this is the best one. Ray Fines nice well, fine, well,
aren't those good answers?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Those are such grist for the puzzle mill. They are just.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Waiting consider it? Some just chrissed my friends.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Nicely done?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, I got it.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
There are so many like I'll I'll go do one.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
You got one for Cedar? You have one for Cedar? Right?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Well, I have one. I mean may Orca. You've got
ones that words that start start with months, months or
or better yet, place names like juneo June oh.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Alaska, although if you pronounce it my Orca, it could
be the whale that belongs to me.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Oh nicely, See, there's so much. That's what we like.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Some sea creatures right right right?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
What were something? Wait? What? What? What else? You got? Greg?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Things with possessive so uranus would also be on that list?
Did you have one for re Fines?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Is so great?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
We've done a few where it's a name that is
also a sentence. And someone actually wrote in to suggest
wade bogs like you wade through bogs. But we've also
done lots like well, we have a guest named Adam
Sank and that kind of has spurred the idea Adam sank.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Right, So these are the citation by the way, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It rose, it rose Charlie.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Charlie sank.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
The citations, the citations given to you by you know,
the famous actor blah blah blah rafe read.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
These are the raf fines finds.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Way I missed it. It's over my head.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
The citations given to you.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Oh, I see citations in that sense, I see ie. Okay,
very good, very good. Well, that is great, thank you.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
On the set of Wizard of Oz, why did why
did Bert Law and Judy Garland have to pay penalties
because Ray finds?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah there you go. Oh very good.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
H Let me end with actually, let me give you
one more and then one more for extra credit. How
about a Phil Collins song about an online site for
renting homes.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
In the Airbnb at night.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
That's nice there.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Tonight, Yeah, exactly in the Airbnb tonight.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yes, all right, Well, I do have an extra credit
for the folks at home, which is a Taylor Swift
song about advertising a popular bug repellent. So a Taylor
Swift song that advertises a popular bug repellent looks like
(17:33):
Mike knows, but he's wisely keeping keeping quiet. We appreciate it,
and we appreciate you, Mike. You are a puzzler extraordinaire,
and luckily we have two more episodes with you, so
we've got lots to talk about, including more Jeopardy gossip.
I want to hear about your life on Jeopardy and
the folks, so come back tomorrow to hear that. And
(17:53):
in the meantime, if you have thirty seconds, check out
our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, original puzzles, visual puzzles,
all sorts of fun stuff and listen to the Gist
wherever you get your podcasts excellent daily news show right
after your puzzle or before whatever, and we'll meet you
here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you
(18:15):
puzzlingly
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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