April 24, 2025 • 19 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: actor Ben Bass!
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. What do
these words have in common? Fresh water, striped and lance?
Fresh water striped and lance? The answer and more puzzling
goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to the
(00:25):
Puzzler Podcast. The employee of the month photo on the
wall of your puzzle fast food franchise. I'm your host,
A J. Jacobs. Before the break, I asked, what do
these have in common? Fresh water, striped and lance. The
answer is bass. They are all words that precede bass, freshwater, bass, striped, bass,
(00:48):
and lance. Bass the singer for in sync and fun fact,
if you insert an ad into the middle of bass,
you get badass. And I think this is appropriate because
our guest is a bass and if I may say,
a badass. Occasionally we like inviting legends in the puzzling
(01:09):
world to join us. We had David Kwang, the crossword constructor,
winn Alou who does connections, and today we have another
Ben Bass. Welcome, Ben aj.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Thanks so much. I'm thrilled to be here. It's amazing
how broad your definition of the word legend is. But
I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Well you are, well, let me give some let me
back it up with evidence. You solve puzzles live on
Ben basson Beyond, ben basson Beyond on Twitch. You co
hosted the thirteenth annual Orca Awards, which are the crossword
oscars and also Orcas is a anagram of oscar and well,
(01:54):
by the way, what was the best clue? What won
the what one for this year?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
The winner of the best crossword clue of twenty twenty four.
This appeared in The New York Times on November first.
The clue out AJ this is no pressure, but try
to solve this. Okay, not easy, but it's fun. Golden
Retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab question mark?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Oh interesting. I do remember solving because I saw it
every day, but I can't remember what it was. Wait
chocolate because I know ari because obviously there's going to
be wordplay or it would not win. Say one more time.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Sure, Golden Retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Oh, Willy Wonka fall? Is there Willy Wonka involved.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
On the right track? Charlie maybe exactly. Charlie Bucket is
the answer?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Harley Bucket that great?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, he finds that golden ticket, so he is a
golden retriever and he ends up with a chocolate lab
so like a double pond. Very clever. Let's give credit
where it's due. Spen May, Spencer Leech McDermott, congratulations on
your worka award.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Wonderful, wonderful. But in addition to judging, he also contributes
to The New York Times, and he has contributed five
hundred of these puzzles. And I will say, I hope
this is okay to say, Ben, I think it's the
best kept secret of the New York Times games because
it is the print edition only. I hope by saying
(03:25):
that it will inspire someone to at the Times to
put it online. It's the cryptogram, So tell of people
who are not familiar, what is the cryptogram?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Sure, So, a cryptogram is a substitution cipher where you
take plaintext. It could be a joke, it could be
a quotation, it could be a piece of trivia. Scramble
the letters into this cipher puzzle, and the job of
the salver is to unscramble it. So these puzzles that
look like alphabet soup that you may have seen around,
(03:56):
like if you see, for example, the word j apostrophe
w that might be the word i'm or the word i'd,
So in that case, every J would stand for the
letter I. Sort of start with the short words and
the punctuation and you go from there, and you know
the letter patterns, the frequency, the endings of words. Everything
(04:18):
you know about regular English will help you because even
though they look weird, it really is just regular English.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
It is your chance to be a spy. Like this
is the way they crack codes. So I've been to talk.
I want to talk more about that in a bit
and some of the highlights of the cryptograms and what
it's like to create five hundred puzzles. But before that,
we have a puzzle. We have a puzzle for you,
specially made for you. It's called Ben Bass's Brass Band,
(04:48):
and it is a puzzle where all the answers are
four word phrases that start with the same letter. So
if I were going to give a clue to that one,
I might say, the writer of New York Times cryptograms
group that consists of trumpet, trombone and tuba players, that's
Ben Vass's Brass Band. They're all phrases that are going
(05:11):
to have two word phrases. Back to back, so Ben
Vass brass band clear or not so clear?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
No, it's it's perfectly clear. Whether my answer is go anywhere,
I guess it's to be determined. I mean, they're a
lot easier to write these puzzles.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I know that's why I like writing. All Right, let
me start with this is what a kid's baseball organization
needs to sell vodka and whiskey? What does a kid's
baseball organization need to sell vodka and whiskey?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Well, I hope they're not selling it to other kids.
I think we're I think you're going for a Little
League liquor license.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I am going for that. Yes, I'm not saying I'm
not approving of it or saying it exists, but I
am saying that would be the answer. All Right, This
one's a This one's a challenge. I think an aristocratic
karate champion. An aristocratic karate champion four words all starting
(06:12):
with the same letter. Wow, I'm an aristocrat. What is another?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Well, I mean I'm thinking like a baron of some sort.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
But uh no, it's sort of a phrase to signify blood. Yes,
blue blood, And then a karate champion might be a.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I mean I'm like stuck on like martial arts or
best would be a champion, But that's probably not what
you're going on.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
It's something that they have when they become at Oh.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Of course a blue blooded or blue blood black belt.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Blue blood black belt, exactly, well done. How about this
is when a sober motorist will give birth?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Are we talking about a designated driver's do date?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
We are? We are? That is correct? Well done? All right,
this one. I'm not saying that I'm hoping that this
doesn't exist in real life, but I just thought i'd
throw it out. This is a Disney character's reminders of death.
A Disney characters reminders of death?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Okay, think I have a theory. Well, now it could
be a male or female character. But let's go with
what I'm assuming you meant. Are we talking about Mickey
Mouse's memento morin?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I am? Well, and you're right. You're right. I would
have accepted many mouses from renta Maury. But yes, Mickey
Mouse is also correct. How about what George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
James Manison, what they might have alongside their.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Hamburgers, Founding father French Fries.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Founding fathers French Fries is correct. You are breezing through
them all right. How about a noted rev and civil
rights activists aerobic exercise? A noted reverend and civil rights
activists aerobic exercise.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Well, it's neither King nor sharp Din, but he.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Was a compatriot of Kings.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
It's not rust in. Give me a suck.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You ready for the letter?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, it kills me to need a hint, but hey,
people ask me for hints on my puzzles all the time.
There's no shame.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
There's no shame, no shame in hints at all. Well,
I'll give you it's the same letters as my wife,
So that is.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
You know, I was thinking about good old double Jay.
I'm in Chicago right now, but I just I didn't stop,
and I was trying to think of somebody who was
more of an age contemporary of doctor King. That's really
no excuse, a j I'm fumbling for an excuse. Okay,
what was the second half? One more time? Please?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
A noted reverend and civil rights activists aerobic exercise type
of aerobic exercise.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Sure, that's clearly Jesse Jackson's jumping Jacks.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Jesse Jackins Jackson's jumping Jackson's correct. How about this one.
This is a friend of tinker bells. What he needs
so that he can retire with a proper amount of
money to feel comfortable.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Well, half of it's easier than the other half. I
mean I wanted to be something planned.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, yeah, you do. You are correct, you want it
to be. Well, tell us what is the first part?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, it's Peter. I mean I was waiting for Peter
Pan peanut butter, but clearly that that did not work.
So no, your pans something planned? Is it profit sharing
with a hyphen when he retires?
Speaker 1 (09:43):
He wants to have make sure that he has enough
money when he retires, So this is his he's working.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
For that of course. Of course. Well, you know, I
hope Walt Disney gave Peter Pan a good pension plan exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Well, I also don't think he would need a bit
because he's all he's young, he's never going to retire.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
He's that poor guy's got a lot of work ahead
of him if he never gets old.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, it's very creepy, it's very I don't I don't
want to be Peter Pan. All right. This is what
the star of Deadpool feels when he is cut off in.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Traffic, Ryan Reynolds road range.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
That's it. Super fast, super fast people. Uh not that
fast is good. I'm as we discussed. I like to
savor a puzzle.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
That's the big question in the Prossberg world. I mean like,
there are those who delight in doing the puzzle in
under two minutes, and then there are those who are
horrified that they didn't savor it properly.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
There you go. That's when I do the crossword tournament.
That's what I always say. I'm a saverer. I'm a saverer.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You might win a trophy for having savored the most
depending on how much you choose to save her exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
That is what I'm going for, all right, I am
going to do one more and uh, and then I
want to talk about cryptograms. This is when the writer
of Lee Leaves of Grass does this.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That sounds like a Walt Whitman wolf whistle.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
That does sound like it, and it is That's what
I was going for. Well done, then, so we do
have an extra credit. But before that, I just want
to dig in a little on your five hundred and
(11:28):
now it's even more, but five hundred cryptograms in the
New York Times. So first of all, do you where
do you get the answers? Do you make them up
to you? Where do you find them?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Well? Will Schwartz who generously thought of me for the
job and asked me if I wanted to do it,
which was that was probably the easiest question to answer
of all time. He prefers that we not use quotations
in the New York Times, so I, I mean, he
leaves it up to me. I choose to do a
mix of trivia and jokes because I literally have room
(12:02):
for a sentence or two. I mean, we're not talking
David Foster Wallace is you know, great as it's it.
They really have to be short puns and dad jokes
definitely make regular appearances. But also there's there's just a
ton of great trivia out there too. So some of
them I right, I'm not too proud to say that.
(12:23):
Some of them I go looking for. And it really
is a luxury to say to yourself, let's put some
Jane Austen in this little obscure corner of the New
York Times, and then it appears there really is. It's
humbling and a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Well, can you give us a little witman sampler of
some of your favorites.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Sure are you sure you don't want a whitman wolf whistle?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Ah?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Nicely done.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Okay, here's fun piece of trivia that I always liked
and I put it right into the paper. And this
is this is true. Anyone can grab their phone or say,
you know, it's a computer. This actually is a thing.
It's an easter egg built in to Google. Here was
the item in the paper. If you type a skew
into Google, it returns a slightly tilted page of search results.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
That is a good piece of trivia. All right. I'm
not going to do it now, but I will do
it as soon as we finished what else? So you
learn stuff as well.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
There's been a lot of literary ones. I have a
Slovakian friend who works as an audio visual tech and
a check one too, a check one.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Too, all right? I like it? That is it. I
think that qualifies as a dad joke, but a very
well crafted dad joke.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I mean, we have metadad jokes. Aj Like aad A
joke doesn't become a dad joke until it becomes a parent,
or not until there's a proper delivery. I mean, this
is like dad jokes within.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Dad jokes nicely done.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
And just to show you they can come from anywhere,
a celebrity dropped this cute quip on a red carpet.
Selena Gomez was asked to her credit. She was asked
for like a joke at some award show, and she
immediately shot back, what did the pirates say on his
eightieth birthday? I mayti. I mean it's perfect for the
(14:13):
cryptogram And sure enough November ninth, twenty twenty three, that
was Thank you, Selena for the help.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Very good. Yeah, she did a dad joke. She's not
a dad, but that's well done. Well, that is fun.
So there are five hundred of those, and they come
out in the newspaper, not online, so it's you gotta
go analog not digital. And those are Tuesdays and Thursdays
that comes out.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Uh yeah, And you know the job started because of COVID.
They when the arts scene shut down abruptly in March
of twenty twenty, the Arts section of the New York
Times had a lot of space to fill overnight, and
they expanded the puzzle page and I was one of
three new writers hired, mostly to get some boxy grids
in there literally to fill some some square inches. But yeah,
(15:00):
so it's next to the crossword, only in the newsprint
Tuesday and Thursday. And for those who aren't puzzle people,
they can just read the answer on Wednesday and Friday, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And get a little chuckle exactly. And how for those
who are new to cryptograms you mentioned a little upfront,
but what are the secrets to solving a cryptogram?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Sure? Well, it's easier to start with the with the
short words. If you see a one letter word other
than that time I wrote about Malcolm X, it is
almost sure to be the word A or the word I.
The word the is the most common word in the language. E, T, A,
I and that order are the most common letters. If
you see a letter that appears eleven times, we are
(15:42):
not getting cute and putting the letter V in there
eleven times, so it's you know, it's going to be
a vowel or like a T or an S or
ann or whatever. Look at the endings of words. Everything
you're familiar with in written English really applies. So you
know double letters are meaningful. It's whatever angle.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Because a double letters like probably T or S or D.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
That's it. I mean, like if you see if you
see just off the top of my head, if you
see like w z W w JJ, hold on, wait,
don't tell me like, for example, it's not the word
coffee because the first letter is not also one of
the double letters. But that would be a good guess.
(16:26):
But Ron, it's awfully tough. I mean, the one thing
we can feel confident about is probably one of those
is a vowel and one of them is a consonant.
Pretty unusual to have two double letters ending a word.
If you want, I'll give you the answer, or you
can leave it to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Should I get Yeah, I need I need the uh,
I need the satisfaction, and we'll give them another one. Well,
why don't we give them one more that they can
do themselves.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Okay, Wow, I got to come up with them. Okay,
So the answer to this one, the answer that I
had in mind, is the word tattoo.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Oh tattoo. Well done? All right, Well, thank you Ben,
Thank you listeners. I've got an extra credit for the
folks at home, and so does Ben. And remember these
are all forward phrases. Let's start with the same letter.
So the clue is what the singer of What's Love
(17:17):
got to do with it uses in her chemistry lab,
the singer of What's Love Got to do with It?
What she uses in her chemistry lab? Come back tomorrow
for the answer. But we have a bonus bonus from Ben.
What is it? What do you got? Ben?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Okay? On the theme of cryptograms, aj, I've got an
example of a long word that your listeners can unscramble.
As you'll see, it's a little unusual. So I'll read
the letters. This is all one word, and the challenge
is to figure out what word this is. And remember
in a cryptogram, every letter is stands for the same
(17:59):
other letter the entire time. Got okay, Okay, here it
is x m b x f x t x c
x h x j Z.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I didn't mean to throw jay Z in there, but
that's the way.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
You're a little plug. Well, give it one more time
just so people have it.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, I know this is a lot, a bit of
a mouthful. X M b x f, x t x c,
x h x j Z.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
All right, love it. I'm going to be working on
that and we will let you know tomorrow and in
the meantime. If you like the show, check out our
Instagram feed Hello puzzlers, we got original puzzles and other
fun stuff, and of course we'll meet you here tomorrow
for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzling.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Hello puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer, here
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. Alex
Strauss played a game with us where we did fake
headstone epitaphs for fictional characters. Your extra credit clue was this,
I'm just a girl lying six feet under a boy
asking if he'd leave some flowers. That, of course is
(19:25):
Julia Roberts' character in Notting Hill. Anna Scott. Thanks for
playing with us, and we'll catch you here next time
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. What do
these words have in common? Fresh water, striped and lance?
Fresh water striped and lance? The answer and more puzzling
goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to the
(00:25):
Puzzler Podcast. The employee of the month photo on the
wall of your puzzle fast food franchise. I'm your host,
A J. Jacobs. Before the break, I asked, what do
these have in common? Fresh water, striped and lance. The
answer is bass. They are all words that precede bass, freshwater, bass, striped, bass,
(00:48):
and lance. Bass the singer for in sync and fun fact,
if you insert an ad into the middle of bass,
you get badass. And I think this is appropriate because
our guest is a bass and if I may say,
a badass. Occasionally we like inviting legends in the puzzling
(01:09):
world to join us. We had David Kwang, the crossword constructor,
winn Alou who does connections, and today we have another
Ben Bass. Welcome, Ben aj.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Thanks so much. I'm thrilled to be here. It's amazing
how broad your definition of the word legend is. But
I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Well you are, well, let me give some let me
back it up with evidence. You solve puzzles live on
Ben basson Beyond, ben basson Beyond on Twitch. You co
hosted the thirteenth annual Orca Awards, which are the crossword
oscars and also Orcas is a anagram of oscar and well,
(01:54):
by the way, what was the best clue? What won
the what one for this year?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
The winner of the best crossword clue of twenty twenty four.
This appeared in The New York Times on November first.
The clue out AJ this is no pressure, but try
to solve this. Okay, not easy, but it's fun. Golden
Retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab question mark?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Oh interesting. I do remember solving because I saw it
every day, but I can't remember what it was. Wait
chocolate because I know ari because obviously there's going to
be wordplay or it would not win. Say one more time.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Sure, Golden Retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Oh, Willy Wonka fall? Is there Willy Wonka involved.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
On the right track? Charlie maybe exactly. Charlie Bucket is
the answer?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Harley Bucket that great?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, he finds that golden ticket, so he is a
golden retriever and he ends up with a chocolate lab
so like a double pond. Very clever. Let's give credit
where it's due. Spen May, Spencer Leech McDermott, congratulations on
your worka award.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Wonderful, wonderful. But in addition to judging, he also contributes
to The New York Times, and he has contributed five
hundred of these puzzles. And I will say, I hope
this is okay to say, Ben, I think it's the
best kept secret of the New York Times games because
it is the print edition only. I hope by saying
(03:25):
that it will inspire someone to at the Times to
put it online. It's the cryptogram, So tell of people
who are not familiar, what is the cryptogram?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Sure, So, a cryptogram is a substitution cipher where you
take plaintext. It could be a joke, it could be
a quotation, it could be a piece of trivia. Scramble
the letters into this cipher puzzle, and the job of
the salver is to unscramble it. So these puzzles that
look like alphabet soup that you may have seen around,
(03:56):
like if you see, for example, the word j apostrophe
w that might be the word i'm or the word i'd,
So in that case, every J would stand for the
letter I. Sort of start with the short words and
the punctuation and you go from there, and you know
the letter patterns, the frequency, the endings of words. Everything
(04:18):
you know about regular English will help you because even
though they look weird, it really is just regular English.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
It is your chance to be a spy. Like this
is the way they crack codes. So I've been to talk.
I want to talk more about that in a bit
and some of the highlights of the cryptograms and what
it's like to create five hundred puzzles. But before that,
we have a puzzle. We have a puzzle for you,
specially made for you. It's called Ben Bass's Brass Band,
(04:48):
and it is a puzzle where all the answers are
four word phrases that start with the same letter. So
if I were going to give a clue to that one,
I might say, the writer of New York Times cryptograms
group that consists of trumpet, trombone and tuba players, that's
Ben Vass's Brass Band. They're all phrases that are going
(05:11):
to have two word phrases. Back to back, so Ben
Vass brass band clear or not so clear?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
No, it's it's perfectly clear. Whether my answer is go anywhere,
I guess it's to be determined. I mean, they're a
lot easier to write these puzzles.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I know that's why I like writing. All Right, let
me start with this is what a kid's baseball organization
needs to sell vodka and whiskey? What does a kid's
baseball organization need to sell vodka and whiskey?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Well, I hope they're not selling it to other kids.
I think we're I think you're going for a Little
League liquor license.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I am going for that. Yes, I'm not saying I'm
not approving of it or saying it exists, but I
am saying that would be the answer. All Right, This
one's a This one's a challenge. I think an aristocratic
karate champion. An aristocratic karate champion four words all starting
(06:12):
with the same letter. Wow, I'm an aristocrat. What is another?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Well, I mean I'm thinking like a baron of some sort.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
But uh no, it's sort of a phrase to signify blood. Yes,
blue blood, And then a karate champion might be a.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I mean I'm like stuck on like martial arts or
best would be a champion, But that's probably not what
you're going on.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
It's something that they have when they become at Oh.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Of course a blue blooded or blue blood black belt.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Blue blood black belt, exactly, well done. How about this
is when a sober motorist will give birth?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Are we talking about a designated driver's do date?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
We are? We are? That is correct? Well done? All right,
this one. I'm not saying that I'm hoping that this
doesn't exist in real life, but I just thought i'd
throw it out. This is a Disney character's reminders of death.
A Disney characters reminders of death?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Okay, think I have a theory. Well, now it could
be a male or female character. But let's go with
what I'm assuming you meant. Are we talking about Mickey
Mouse's memento morin?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I am? Well, and you're right. You're right. I would
have accepted many mouses from renta Maury. But yes, Mickey
Mouse is also correct. How about what George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
James Manison, what they might have alongside their.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Hamburgers, Founding father French Fries.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Founding fathers French Fries is correct. You are breezing through
them all right. How about a noted rev and civil
rights activists aerobic exercise? A noted reverend and civil rights
activists aerobic exercise.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Well, it's neither King nor sharp Din, but he.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Was a compatriot of Kings.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
It's not rust in. Give me a suck.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You ready for the letter?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, it kills me to need a hint, but hey,
people ask me for hints on my puzzles all the time.
There's no shame.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
There's no shame, no shame in hints at all. Well,
I'll give you it's the same letters as my wife,
So that is.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
You know, I was thinking about good old double Jay.
I'm in Chicago right now, but I just I didn't stop,
and I was trying to think of somebody who was
more of an age contemporary of doctor King. That's really
no excuse, a j I'm fumbling for an excuse. Okay,
what was the second half? One more time? Please?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
A noted reverend and civil rights activists aerobic exercise type
of aerobic exercise.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Sure, that's clearly Jesse Jackson's jumping Jacks.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Jesse Jackins Jackson's jumping Jackson's correct. How about this one.
This is a friend of tinker bells. What he needs
so that he can retire with a proper amount of
money to feel comfortable.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Well, half of it's easier than the other half. I
mean I wanted to be something planned.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, yeah, you do. You are correct, you want it
to be. Well, tell us what is the first part?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, it's Peter. I mean I was waiting for Peter
Pan peanut butter, but clearly that that did not work.
So no, your pans something planned? Is it profit sharing
with a hyphen when he retires?
Speaker 1 (09:43):
He wants to have make sure that he has enough
money when he retires, So this is his he's working.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
For that of course. Of course. Well, you know, I
hope Walt Disney gave Peter Pan a good pension plan exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Well, I also don't think he would need a bit
because he's all he's young, he's never going to retire.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
He's that poor guy's got a lot of work ahead
of him if he never gets old.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, it's very creepy, it's very I don't I don't
want to be Peter Pan. All right. This is what
the star of Deadpool feels when he is cut off in.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Traffic, Ryan Reynolds road range.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
That's it. Super fast, super fast people. Uh not that
fast is good. I'm as we discussed. I like to
savor a puzzle.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
That's the big question in the Prossberg world. I mean like,
there are those who delight in doing the puzzle in
under two minutes, and then there are those who are
horrified that they didn't savor it properly.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
There you go. That's when I do the crossword tournament.
That's what I always say. I'm a saverer. I'm a saverer.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You might win a trophy for having savored the most
depending on how much you choose to save her exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
That is what I'm going for, all right, I am
going to do one more and uh, and then I
want to talk about cryptograms. This is when the writer
of Lee Leaves of Grass does this.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That sounds like a Walt Whitman wolf whistle.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
That does sound like it, and it is That's what
I was going for. Well done, then, so we do
have an extra credit. But before that, I just want
to dig in a little on your five hundred and
(11:28):
now it's even more, but five hundred cryptograms in the
New York Times. So first of all, do you where
do you get the answers? Do you make them up
to you? Where do you find them?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Well? Will Schwartz who generously thought of me for the
job and asked me if I wanted to do it,
which was that was probably the easiest question to answer
of all time. He prefers that we not use quotations
in the New York Times, so I, I mean, he
leaves it up to me. I choose to do a
mix of trivia and jokes because I literally have room
(12:02):
for a sentence or two. I mean, we're not talking
David Foster Wallace is you know, great as it's it.
They really have to be short puns and dad jokes
definitely make regular appearances. But also there's there's just a
ton of great trivia out there too. So some of
them I right, I'm not too proud to say that.
(12:23):
Some of them I go looking for. And it really
is a luxury to say to yourself, let's put some
Jane Austen in this little obscure corner of the New
York Times, and then it appears there really is. It's
humbling and a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Well, can you give us a little witman sampler of
some of your favorites.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Sure are you sure you don't want a whitman wolf whistle?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Ah?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Nicely done.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Okay, here's fun piece of trivia that I always liked
and I put it right into the paper. And this
is this is true. Anyone can grab their phone or say,
you know, it's a computer. This actually is a thing.
It's an easter egg built in to Google. Here was
the item in the paper. If you type a skew
into Google, it returns a slightly tilted page of search results.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
That is a good piece of trivia. All right. I'm
not going to do it now, but I will do
it as soon as we finished what else? So you
learn stuff as well.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
There's been a lot of literary ones. I have a
Slovakian friend who works as an audio visual tech and
a check one too, a check one.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Too, all right? I like it? That is it. I
think that qualifies as a dad joke, but a very
well crafted dad joke.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I mean, we have metadad jokes. Aj Like aad A
joke doesn't become a dad joke until it becomes a parent,
or not until there's a proper delivery. I mean, this
is like dad jokes within.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Dad jokes nicely done.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
And just to show you they can come from anywhere,
a celebrity dropped this cute quip on a red carpet.
Selena Gomez was asked to her credit. She was asked
for like a joke at some award show, and she
immediately shot back, what did the pirates say on his
eightieth birthday? I mayti. I mean it's perfect for the
(14:13):
cryptogram And sure enough November ninth, twenty twenty three, that
was Thank you, Selena for the help.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Very good. Yeah, she did a dad joke. She's not
a dad, but that's well done. Well, that is fun.
So there are five hundred of those, and they come
out in the newspaper, not online, so it's you gotta
go analog not digital. And those are Tuesdays and Thursdays
that comes out.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Uh yeah, And you know the job started because of COVID.
They when the arts scene shut down abruptly in March
of twenty twenty, the Arts section of the New York
Times had a lot of space to fill overnight, and
they expanded the puzzle page and I was one of
three new writers hired, mostly to get some boxy grids
in there literally to fill some some square inches. But yeah,
(15:00):
so it's next to the crossword, only in the newsprint
Tuesday and Thursday. And for those who aren't puzzle people,
they can just read the answer on Wednesday and Friday, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And get a little chuckle exactly. And how for those
who are new to cryptograms you mentioned a little upfront,
but what are the secrets to solving a cryptogram?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Sure? Well, it's easier to start with the with the
short words. If you see a one letter word other
than that time I wrote about Malcolm X, it is
almost sure to be the word A or the word I.
The word the is the most common word in the language. E, T, A,
I and that order are the most common letters. If
you see a letter that appears eleven times, we are
(15:42):
not getting cute and putting the letter V in there
eleven times, so it's you know, it's going to be
a vowel or like a T or an S or
ann or whatever. Look at the endings of words. Everything
you're familiar with in written English really applies. So you
know double letters are meaningful. It's whatever angle.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Because a double letters like probably T or S or D.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
That's it. I mean, like if you see if you
see just off the top of my head, if you
see like w z W w JJ, hold on, wait,
don't tell me like, for example, it's not the word
coffee because the first letter is not also one of
the double letters. But that would be a good guess.
(16:26):
But Ron, it's awfully tough. I mean, the one thing
we can feel confident about is probably one of those
is a vowel and one of them is a consonant.
Pretty unusual to have two double letters ending a word.
If you want, I'll give you the answer, or you
can leave it to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Should I get Yeah, I need I need the uh,
I need the satisfaction, and we'll give them another one. Well,
why don't we give them one more that they can
do themselves.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Okay, Wow, I got to come up with them. Okay,
So the answer to this one, the answer that I
had in mind, is the word tattoo.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Oh tattoo. Well done? All right, Well, thank you Ben,
Thank you listeners. I've got an extra credit for the
folks at home, and so does Ben. And remember these
are all forward phrases. Let's start with the same letter.
So the clue is what the singer of What's Love
(17:17):
got to do with it uses in her chemistry lab,
the singer of What's Love Got to do with It?
What she uses in her chemistry lab? Come back tomorrow
for the answer. But we have a bonus bonus from Ben.
What is it? What do you got? Ben?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Okay? On the theme of cryptograms, aj, I've got an
example of a long word that your listeners can unscramble.
As you'll see, it's a little unusual. So I'll read
the letters. This is all one word, and the challenge
is to figure out what word this is. And remember
in a cryptogram, every letter is stands for the same
(17:59):
other letter the entire time. Got okay, Okay, here it
is x m b x f x t x c
x h x j Z.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I didn't mean to throw jay Z in there, but
that's the way.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
You're a little plug. Well, give it one more time
just so people have it.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, I know this is a lot, a bit of
a mouthful. X M b x f, x t x c,
x h x j Z.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
All right, love it. I'm going to be working on
that and we will let you know tomorrow and in
the meantime. If you like the show, check out our
Instagram feed Hello puzzlers, we got original puzzles and other
fun stuff, and of course we'll meet you here tomorrow
for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzling.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Hello puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer, here
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. Alex
Strauss played a game with us where we did fake
headstone epitaphs for fictional characters. Your extra credit clue was this,
I'm just a girl lying six feet under a boy
asking if he'd leave some flowers. That, of course is
(19:25):
Julia Roberts' character in Notting Hill. Anna Scott. 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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