June 30, 2025 • 17 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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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. This amuz
Boosh puzzle is in honor of our guest today. She
is the great Aleen Brash McKenna, who co created one
of my favorite TV shows, My Crazy Ex Girlfriend. Highly
recommend it if you haven't seen it. Eleen also has
written many movies, including the movie twenty seven Dresses. So
(00:23):
my challenge to you for the break, can you name
any other twenty something movies? Movies that have the number twenty,
twenty one, twenty eight, twenty nine, et cetera in the title.
The answers and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
(00:47):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast the executive bathroom key
in your Puzzle corporate office suite. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs,
and I am here, of course, with Sheep Puzzle Officer
Greg Bliska. Greg. Before the break, we ask listeners come
off with movies with a twenty something number in the title,
such as twenty seven Dresses. Anything come to mind.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I did think of twenty thousand Leagues under the Sea,
which you're probably not going to accept because that's not
really a twenty that's a twenty thousand. But also I
thought of twenty eight days Later. Yep, And there's a
new you know, sequel, sequel to that, twenty eight years
later that's just coming about to come out, or has
just come out.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Can I tell you something embarrassing? I there's also twenty
eight Days with Sandra Bullock the wrong right. Until four
hours ago, I thought twenty eight Days Later was a
sequel twenty eight Days. I am not kidding understandable. I
haven't seen either of them.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
She goes from being a you know, addicted alcoholic whatever
and then becomes a zombie.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
It's pretty go There's also twenty Feet from Stardom, twenty
one Grams, twenty four hour People, twenty fifth hour. If
you pronounced two thousand and one is twenty oh one
Maybe that's except. As I mentioned, this puzzle was inspired
by our guest today, who wrote twenty seven Dresses. She
also co created the awesome show My Crazy Ex Girlfriend,
and she wrote the movie The Devil Wears Prada. So
(02:13):
much more. Please welcome Eleen Brush McKenna.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Woo.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Listen to the crowd. The crowd noise believable. Yes, well,
we are delighted to have you. We know that you
are not just a screenwriter but also a director, but
also a puzzle fan, because you have been to Greg's
mohunk event, the wonderful weekend of words that's always mess
(02:42):
it up.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It's hard to do. Yes, I have. I've been. I've
been to that weekend. I've hung out with Greg and
Will and I know some other puzzle folks. My son
is is a pretty serious scrabble hobbyist who was in
the top ten of high school oscrabble players. So it's
really it's it's his interest that led me into into
(03:04):
puzzle land. Yeah, and so I do. I do crossroads
and I do acrosstics. That's mainly what I do. And
then I flounder a bit through wordle.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Well, you are gonna You're not going to flounder today.
I am very confident. And by the way, that Will,
she referred to Will Schwartz, just throwing it out there,
very nice.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yes, drop the name. That's the name. That's the biggest
name to drop in puzzle bell.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Speaking of Greg's Weekend, I'm just going to turn it
over to Greg because he has the first puzzle for you.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I do, I do, Well, look the devil weares brought
out was a hugely acclaimed film. I've got oscar nomination
for Meryl Streep, you and Merrill and Emily Blankett bath denominations. Right,
it was a Golden Globe wind for Streep anyway, hugely acclaimed.
So I thought, you know, you haven't done a sequel
to that movie.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Right, We're doing one right now.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
It was just, oh my god, look at that.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Just announced a few days ago.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Why miss I missed that too?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, well, look, in case you need ideas, Okay, we've
come up with a bunch of options where the title
is the same but it ends with a different word
that rhymes with prada. Okay, right, So, so like, if
we imagine a film where Andy Time travels back to
Spain in fifteen eighty eight and she finds herself aboard
(04:21):
a ship sailing to fight the English Army, that would
be The Devil Wears the Spanish Army marmana. Right, all right, okay, good, yeah, yeah,
you got it. You understand how this works, got it?
So Now, if you use any of the any of
these ideas, we don't expect more than ten pers Okay, terrific, Yeah, okay,
here you go. The first one is Miranda retires from
(04:43):
the fashion industry and spends her days hanging out at
a new test beach in Spain.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
A new speech in Spain. I mean, I don't know
what it's called, but what I think of is Donata.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Close. But she's imagined. She's wear nothing at the nudest beach, Miranda,
The Devil wears years. Nah.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I thought there was like a famous Spanish nude beach
that had audit, and I thought, wow, these guys really
know a lot about It's a.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Deep cut here on the Spanish nude beaches. Okay, no,
these are none of these are that quite deep as Cutsko.
All right, it's passover and all the characters reunite for
a sat are dressed in outfits and blazoned with quotes
from the traditional readings.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Oh yeah, they're wearing quotes from the Hagada.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yes, the Devil wears Hagada, of course. All right. This
one is actually a two part film. It finds Andy
taking a job in the Mexican fast food business. One
part is kind of cheese filled soft tortillas, and the
other part is crispy tortillas with the filling on top.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
So the Devil eats enchiladas, right wares Whears wears tostadas.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yep, enchilada and tostada exactly. I mean, I just think
about it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
It's hard to wear an enchiladas. It's a little hard
to wear an I mean I've done it, obviously, I'm
in bits and pieces on my sweatshirt.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
But look, we didn't say these were easily done without CGI,
but they're still right right, all right? All right? This
one has in this one, guest appearances by Meryl Streep
and Anne Hathaway on Seinfeld lead to this sequel, which
is filled with empty talk.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Where the devil wears YadA, YadA, YadA exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Very good, very good? All right? How about Miranda retires
from the fashion industry Spencer days camping at Yosemite and
drinking a famous beer.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
A famous beer. And is it the one you put
the line into.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
No, it's not that one. It's it's named for the
mountain range where the Yosemite is and other California mountain resorts.
Yose goes right down the spelling of California. AJ do
you know this one?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I I was just trying to think of what the
plot of the Devil Wears Prada too is so that related?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
What? Oh?
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I think I know it. It's it's a state, right,
it's the second part of it is the name of
the Las Vegas estate.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
The neighbors California, Sierra Nevada.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
You've exposed camping, not hal two things I don't know
much about.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Okay, Well, this next one has some alcohol in it,
but you might know about it.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
A year later, Andy is taking a Caribbean vacation and
she runs into Veranda on the beach sipping a rum
and pineapple.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Cocktail the Devilwaar's pina colada.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Exactly. See, you know a little bit of alcohol, just
not the beers, just the rum.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Drinks like a lady as a lady world.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All right, all right, this sequel is a musical with
all the characters learning the forbidden dance popularized in the eighties.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I mean the deublewaar is Lombarda exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
It's like it could be like a mash up with
Mama Mia and Meryl Streep can sing in it. I
just that's not what the sequel is going to be about, though,
is it. No?
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Are there any hints while we're on the topic.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Zero can't you won't pry it out of me, not
a word.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Do we know who's going to be in it? Is
that information out or is it all embargoed? Right now?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
There's an announcement online with our date and that's all
I can tell you.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Oh man, okay, okay, I'm going to go scour the
internet for rumors. It's very exciting though. I'm very happy
that you're doing that.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
All right, here's one. We imagined the whole plot and
we've said it in Switzerland between the Wars, where a
group of anti establishment artists are creating nonsensical works.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
And they're doing data. So the devil will data the devil.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
The devil wears data exactly exactly. It's a surefire hit.
All right, your last one, we think it's perfect. Meryl
Street plays the leader of the Spanish Inquisition. The leader
of the Spanish deeper cut.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Is a bell. Queen is a bell.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No, the chief Inquisitor was this guy.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I think, oh god, this is this is you're gonna
say it, and I'm going to know exactly who it is.
And I should know this because I'm Sephardic and this
is how I got.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Kicked out of And he loves to torture.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Maybe this is a little bit of a triggering question.
I shouldn't have said it. Back to your ancestral roots.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Oh god, it's just on the tip of my tongue.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Wait, isn't the first part? Isn't he one of the monkeys?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Peter?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Oh wow, Yes, that's it.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
That's that doesn't help. Maybe that's even deeper.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Gun to twist something is to do this to it?
Was it, Peter or the twist? Twist?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Sorry? It was useless. Well that was great and we
do love that movie. By the way, since that movie
has come out, you have been a boss. You had
to have a whole staff under cry crazy and directly
the staff.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I missed them all the time.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So what lessons did you learn from Miranda of what
to do and what not to do?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Well, she's a bit of a primer and what not
to do. Although she demands excellent, she expects excellence, and
she does achieve excellently. But there are better ways to
communicate that. You can set the bar high while being
nice and providing snacks. It was What was nice was
a transition for me from working in a solitary UH
(11:19):
space to working with other people, which is great and yeah,
I really, I really loved it. And uh, but you know,
Miranda has her own style and she reflects the world
that she works in.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah. Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
By the way, the first one that Greg gave you,
the Devil Wears Nada, I actually blurbed a book called
The Devil Wears Nada Satan exposed that was the name
of it.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Oh my goodness. I think there are also some untoward
films with that title there a j.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Oh, I didn't blurb those. I did not blur those.
So you say, yeah, please don't google Greg. Do you
have Greg? Did you want to ask any question? I
think we have a couple.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, I mean I you know, I loved the team
of crazy ex girlfriend and of course Adam, who we
all missed.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Terribly slashinger the cub.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yes, writer, how much do you I mean, do you
still work on writing songs? Do you miss doing that stuff?
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I miss writing songs. I miss the people on the show.
I mean, you know, I had been doing it long
enough to know that this was a special lightning in
a bottle. So I used to say to everyone all
the time, these are the good old days. We're going
to look back on this finally, because we had so
much creative freedom. They really c W really gave us
so much creative freedom that we were able to do
(12:42):
things that were just completely insane and that was a delight.
So it was really, you know, in a great way.
It was a really fun way to express ourselves and
just do things that we wanted to do. And actually
there is a quick sitry joke in it where one
of the characters the quicks the tree is the highest
scoring scrabble word of all time. It's tree played across
(13:06):
a triple triple?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
How is it? How is that spelled quicks a tree?
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Oh, let's let's hear it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And what and what what do you think there? X
I t R Y Is that it? I'm looking up incorrect,
it's incorrect more than that? Oh t r Y Yes, O.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
T r Y.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And it's the the state of having done something which
is quixotic. We had a thing where Rachel had to
say it, and she was saying quicksa tree, and so
I would summ into the set to like a pedant
to yell quicks the tree at her and uh, yeah,
(13:49):
so I have a I threw in a little bit
of puzzle erata into the show.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, very nice. Your son must have been very happy
with it.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
He's played Wait, I want to understand, so that's the
highest scoring play ever made in tournament scrabble.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
In tournament scrabble. As far as I don't know, this
was as of ten years ago. I don't know if
it has been dethroned right.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Right, because I've seen the things where people, you know,
invent a board where you can play something that creates it.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Now, this is something that was actually played.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Actually played and in the meantime. For those who have
not seen My Crazy Ex Girlfriend, so fun, great story,
great characters, but also the songs are just phenomenal, including
very deep too, Elaine, very deep, like.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Just to continue to be pedantic, it's actually just crazy
ex girlfriend. Okay, I don't want people searching for it
with the with the my and it's something that Rachel
feels especially strong about because My Crazy Ex Girlfriend implies
it's from the male perspective. Oh, the ex girlfriend is
from the female perspective. Good, but you're not that that's
(14:57):
a frequently made.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Up apologies for my male gaze.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I don't feel uncomfortable in a puzzle group correcting people,
finally correcting people since it is say that's part of
the culture is too correct, and then lecture.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Oh, yes, we got lots of emails with and we
love certain.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So I just I have a scrabble update of a
scrabble update. I'm just looking on Wikipedia, which I can't
claim knows everything. But apparently there was a single play
using salpods, which is a slightly different dictionary, right, okay,
And that play is kaziques a z i q u
e s which scored three ninety two, so slightly more
(15:43):
than quicks a tree.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Kaziques are what is it? A soldier, chieftain, a chieftain
of some kind in like one of the indigenous peoples
of the Caribbean or sent America.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Well, as you guys well know, the scrabble players don't
care what the words mean. No, And people are always
asking my son what does that mean? And as if
he knows, he doesn't know, nor is it relevant.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
It's so funny. It's fice.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
People think it's a people think it's a verbal game.
It's not. It's really a math game.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Right, Greg, Do you have an extra credit for the
folks at home?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I do? I do I have one for the New
York Sports fans. In this movie, Andy moves the sports writing,
covering four World Series winning Yankees teams and developing a
romance with their star catcher Jorge Ah.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Okay, there you go, combining fashion in sports. Well, thank you, Eleen,
you are awesome, And thank you Greg and listeners, and
we get you for another another puzzle tomorrow, Eleen. But
in the meantime, for folks at home, if they want
more puzzles, I might recommend are to Graham feet at
(17:01):
Hello puzzlers, And of course we'll be back tomorrow for
more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This amuz
Boosh puzzle is in honor of our guest today. She
is the great Aleen Brash McKenna, who co created one
of my favorite TV shows, My Crazy Ex Girlfriend. Highly
recommend it if you haven't seen it. Eleen also has
written many movies, including the movie twenty seven Dresses. So
(00:23):
my challenge to you for the break, can you name
any other twenty something movies? Movies that have the number twenty,
twenty one, twenty eight, twenty nine, et cetera in the title.
The answers and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
(00:47):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast the executive bathroom key
in your Puzzle corporate office suite. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs,
and I am here, of course, with Sheep Puzzle Officer
Greg Bliska. Greg. Before the break, we ask listeners come
off with movies with a twenty something number in the title,
such as twenty seven Dresses. Anything come to mind.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I did think of twenty thousand Leagues under the Sea,
which you're probably not going to accept because that's not
really a twenty that's a twenty thousand. But also I
thought of twenty eight days Later. Yep, And there's a
new you know, sequel, sequel to that, twenty eight years
later that's just coming about to come out, or has
just come out.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Can I tell you something embarrassing? I there's also twenty
eight Days with Sandra Bullock the wrong right. Until four
hours ago, I thought twenty eight Days Later was a
sequel twenty eight Days. I am not kidding understandable. I
haven't seen either of them.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
She goes from being a you know, addicted alcoholic whatever
and then becomes a zombie.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
It's pretty go There's also twenty Feet from Stardom, twenty
one Grams, twenty four hour People, twenty fifth hour. If
you pronounced two thousand and one is twenty oh one
Maybe that's except. As I mentioned, this puzzle was inspired
by our guest today, who wrote twenty seven Dresses. She
also co created the awesome show My Crazy Ex Girlfriend,
and she wrote the movie The Devil Wears Prada. So
(02:13):
much more. Please welcome Eleen Brush McKenna.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Woo.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Listen to the crowd. The crowd noise believable. Yes, well,
we are delighted to have you. We know that you
are not just a screenwriter but also a director, but
also a puzzle fan, because you have been to Greg's
mohunk event, the wonderful weekend of words that's always mess
(02:42):
it up.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It's hard to do. Yes, I have. I've been. I've
been to that weekend. I've hung out with Greg and
Will and I know some other puzzle folks. My son
is is a pretty serious scrabble hobbyist who was in
the top ten of high school oscrabble players. So it's
really it's it's his interest that led me into into
(03:04):
puzzle land. Yeah, and so I do. I do crossroads
and I do acrosstics. That's mainly what I do. And
then I flounder a bit through wordle.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Well, you are gonna You're not going to flounder today.
I am very confident. And by the way, that Will,
she referred to Will Schwartz, just throwing it out there,
very nice.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yes, drop the name. That's the name. That's the biggest
name to drop in puzzle bell.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Speaking of Greg's Weekend, I'm just going to turn it
over to Greg because he has the first puzzle for you.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I do, I do, Well, look the devil weares brought
out was a hugely acclaimed film. I've got oscar nomination
for Meryl Streep, you and Merrill and Emily Blankett bath denominations. Right,
it was a Golden Globe wind for Streep anyway, hugely acclaimed.
So I thought, you know, you haven't done a sequel
to that movie.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Right, We're doing one right now.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
It was just, oh my god, look at that.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Just announced a few days ago.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Why miss I missed that too?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, well, look, in case you need ideas, Okay, we've
come up with a bunch of options where the title
is the same but it ends with a different word
that rhymes with prada. Okay, right, So, so like, if
we imagine a film where Andy Time travels back to
Spain in fifteen eighty eight and she finds herself aboard
(04:21):
a ship sailing to fight the English Army, that would
be The Devil Wears the Spanish Army marmana. Right, all right, okay, good, yeah, yeah,
you got it. You understand how this works, got it?
So Now, if you use any of the any of
these ideas, we don't expect more than ten pers Okay, terrific, Yeah, okay,
here you go. The first one is Miranda retires from
(04:43):
the fashion industry and spends her days hanging out at
a new test beach in Spain.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
A new speech in Spain. I mean, I don't know
what it's called, but what I think of is Donata.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Close. But she's imagined. She's wear nothing at the nudest beach, Miranda,
The Devil wears years. Nah.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I thought there was like a famous Spanish nude beach
that had audit, and I thought, wow, these guys really
know a lot about It's a.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Deep cut here on the Spanish nude beaches. Okay, no,
these are none of these are that quite deep as Cutsko.
All right, it's passover and all the characters reunite for
a sat are dressed in outfits and blazoned with quotes
from the traditional readings.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Oh yeah, they're wearing quotes from the Hagada.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yes, the Devil wears Hagada, of course. All right. This
one is actually a two part film. It finds Andy
taking a job in the Mexican fast food business. One
part is kind of cheese filled soft tortillas, and the
other part is crispy tortillas with the filling on top.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
So the Devil eats enchiladas, right wares Whears wears tostadas.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yep, enchilada and tostada exactly. I mean, I just think
about it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
It's hard to wear an enchiladas. It's a little hard
to wear an I mean I've done it, obviously, I'm
in bits and pieces on my sweatshirt.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
But look, we didn't say these were easily done without CGI,
but they're still right right, all right? All right? This
one has in this one, guest appearances by Meryl Streep
and Anne Hathaway on Seinfeld lead to this sequel, which
is filled with empty talk.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Where the devil wears YadA, YadA, YadA exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Very good, very good? All right? How about Miranda retires
from the fashion industry Spencer days camping at Yosemite and
drinking a famous beer.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
A famous beer. And is it the one you put
the line into.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
No, it's not that one. It's it's named for the
mountain range where the Yosemite is and other California mountain resorts.
Yose goes right down the spelling of California. AJ do
you know this one?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I I was just trying to think of what the
plot of the Devil Wears Prada too is so that related?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
What? Oh?
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I think I know it. It's it's a state, right,
it's the second part of it is the name of
the Las Vegas estate.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
The neighbors California, Sierra Nevada.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
You've exposed camping, not hal two things I don't know
much about.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Okay, Well, this next one has some alcohol in it,
but you might know about it.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
A year later, Andy is taking a Caribbean vacation and
she runs into Veranda on the beach sipping a rum
and pineapple.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Cocktail the Devilwaar's pina colada.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Exactly. See, you know a little bit of alcohol, just
not the beers, just the rum.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Drinks like a lady as a lady world.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All right, all right, this sequel is a musical with
all the characters learning the forbidden dance popularized in the eighties.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I mean the deublewaar is Lombarda exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
It's like it could be like a mash up with
Mama Mia and Meryl Streep can sing in it. I
just that's not what the sequel is going to be about, though,
is it. No?
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Are there any hints while we're on the topic.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Zero can't you won't pry it out of me, not
a word.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Do we know who's going to be in it? Is
that information out or is it all embargoed? Right now?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
There's an announcement online with our date and that's all
I can tell you.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Oh man, okay, okay, I'm going to go scour the
internet for rumors. It's very exciting though. I'm very happy
that you're doing that.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
All right, here's one. We imagined the whole plot and
we've said it in Switzerland between the Wars, where a
group of anti establishment artists are creating nonsensical works.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
And they're doing data. So the devil will data the devil.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
The devil wears data exactly exactly. It's a surefire hit.
All right, your last one, we think it's perfect. Meryl
Street plays the leader of the Spanish Inquisition. The leader
of the Spanish deeper cut.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Is a bell. Queen is a bell.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No, the chief Inquisitor was this guy.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I think, oh god, this is this is you're gonna
say it, and I'm going to know exactly who it is.
And I should know this because I'm Sephardic and this
is how I got.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Kicked out of And he loves to torture.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Maybe this is a little bit of a triggering question.
I shouldn't have said it. Back to your ancestral roots.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Oh god, it's just on the tip of my tongue.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Wait, isn't the first part? Isn't he one of the monkeys?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Peter?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Oh wow, Yes, that's it.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
That's that doesn't help. Maybe that's even deeper.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Gun to twist something is to do this to it?
Was it, Peter or the twist? Twist?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Sorry? It was useless. Well that was great and we
do love that movie. By the way, since that movie
has come out, you have been a boss. You had
to have a whole staff under cry crazy and directly
the staff.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I missed them all the time.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So what lessons did you learn from Miranda of what
to do and what not to do?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Well, she's a bit of a primer and what not
to do. Although she demands excellent, she expects excellence, and
she does achieve excellently. But there are better ways to
communicate that. You can set the bar high while being
nice and providing snacks. It was What was nice was
a transition for me from working in a solitary UH
(11:19):
space to working with other people, which is great and yeah,
I really, I really loved it. And uh, but you know,
Miranda has her own style and she reflects the world
that she works in.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah. Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
By the way, the first one that Greg gave you,
the Devil Wears Nada, I actually blurbed a book called
The Devil Wears Nada Satan exposed that was the name
of it.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Oh my goodness. I think there are also some untoward
films with that title there a j.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Oh, I didn't blurb those. I did not blur those.
So you say, yeah, please don't google Greg. Do you
have Greg? Did you want to ask any question? I
think we have a couple.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, I mean I you know, I loved the team
of crazy ex girlfriend and of course Adam, who we
all missed.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Terribly slashinger the cub.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yes, writer, how much do you I mean, do you
still work on writing songs? Do you miss doing that stuff?
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I miss writing songs. I miss the people on the show.
I mean, you know, I had been doing it long
enough to know that this was a special lightning in
a bottle. So I used to say to everyone all
the time, these are the good old days. We're going
to look back on this finally, because we had so
much creative freedom. They really c W really gave us
so much creative freedom that we were able to do
(12:42):
things that were just completely insane and that was a delight.
So it was really, you know, in a great way.
It was a really fun way to express ourselves and
just do things that we wanted to do. And actually
there is a quick sitry joke in it where one
of the characters the quicks the tree is the highest
scoring scrabble word of all time. It's tree played across
(13:06):
a triple triple?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
How is it? How is that spelled quicks a tree?
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Oh, let's let's hear it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And what and what what do you think there? X
I t R Y Is that it? I'm looking up incorrect,
it's incorrect more than that? Oh t r Y Yes, O.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
T r Y.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And it's the the state of having done something which
is quixotic. We had a thing where Rachel had to
say it, and she was saying quicksa tree, and so
I would summ into the set to like a pedant
to yell quicks the tree at her and uh, yeah,
(13:49):
so I have a I threw in a little bit
of puzzle erata into the show.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, very nice. Your son must have been very happy
with it.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
He's played Wait, I want to understand, so that's the
highest scoring play ever made in tournament scrabble.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
In tournament scrabble. As far as I don't know, this
was as of ten years ago. I don't know if
it has been dethroned right.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Right, because I've seen the things where people, you know,
invent a board where you can play something that creates it.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Now, this is something that was actually played.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Actually played and in the meantime. For those who have
not seen My Crazy Ex Girlfriend, so fun, great story,
great characters, but also the songs are just phenomenal, including
very deep too, Elaine, very deep, like.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Just to continue to be pedantic, it's actually just crazy
ex girlfriend. Okay, I don't want people searching for it
with the with the my and it's something that Rachel
feels especially strong about because My Crazy Ex Girlfriend implies
it's from the male perspective. Oh, the ex girlfriend is
from the female perspective. Good, but you're not that that's
(14:57):
a frequently made.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Up apologies for my male gaze.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I don't feel uncomfortable in a puzzle group correcting people,
finally correcting people since it is say that's part of
the culture is too correct, and then lecture.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Oh, yes, we got lots of emails with and we
love certain.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So I just I have a scrabble update of a
scrabble update. I'm just looking on Wikipedia, which I can't
claim knows everything. But apparently there was a single play
using salpods, which is a slightly different dictionary, right, okay,
And that play is kaziques a z i q u
e s which scored three ninety two, so slightly more
(15:43):
than quicks a tree.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Kaziques are what is it? A soldier, chieftain, a chieftain
of some kind in like one of the indigenous peoples
of the Caribbean or sent America.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Well, as you guys well know, the scrabble players don't
care what the words mean. No, And people are always
asking my son what does that mean? And as if
he knows, he doesn't know, nor is it relevant.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
It's so funny. It's fice.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
People think it's a people think it's a verbal game.
It's not. It's really a math game.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Right, Greg, Do you have an extra credit for the
folks at home?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I do? I do I have one for the New
York Sports fans. In this movie, Andy moves the sports writing,
covering four World Series winning Yankees teams and developing a
romance with their star catcher Jorge Ah.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Okay, there you go, combining fashion in sports. Well, thank you, Eleen,
you are awesome, And thank you Greg and listeners, and
we get you for another another puzzle tomorrow, Eleen. But
in the meantime, for folks at home, if they want
more puzzles, I might recommend are to Graham feet at
(17:01):
Hello puzzlers, And of course we'll be back tomorrow for
more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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