December 5, 2024 • 19 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: CBS Sunday Morning correspondent, frequent Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me panelist, and friend of the podcast, Faith Salie!
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 Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.
Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, Buzzlers. Welcome to the Buzzler Podcast, The Old Faithful
in your Yellowstone Puzzle Park. I am your host, Ad Digobson.
I'm here as always with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Plasco.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome, Greg, thank you. I am always entertained by the
intros and they always.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Catch me very kind of you.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, although I would are I mean, are we trying?
I always felt like the intros were like, you know,
the little chocolate on your on your pillow at the hotel.
They were like that little special extra, whereas Old Faithful is.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Like the thing well I feel you know, we have dressed.
So whereas we used to be like the little lam
yap of the little extra, now we are like the
base of your puzzle life, like we are the key stone.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
This is the thing that but this is.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But honestly, we just do it whatever, whatever I can
think of, and there's no rhyme or reason.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So we are kind of like Old Faithful.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, you can predict that.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Every day appear We're going to entertain you for a
few spurts of puzzle energy and then you can get
on with your.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
We're gonna smell like sulfur and send your clothes. So yeah,
it's very similar.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Thank god it's on the audio because over here in
the puzzle ab we got sulfur pouring out the doors exactly. Well, look,
speaking of the puzzle Lab, I've been cooking some stuff
up and no.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Sulfur was actually involved. I've come up with a.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Formula that makes everything bigger, and I like it. So
everything it's as if everything got more of what was
already there. So, for example, the star of there will
be blood, he's one, not three, but twenty one best
(02:02):
actor oscars. If you apply this formula, okay, that transforms
Daniel Day Lewis into Daniel Week.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Ah, very good, Okay, I like it. It's tricky. I
was thinking all sorts of things because there's like, you know,
there will the star. Maybe you meant like a galaxy
instead of a star, right okay, And yeah there will
be blood. Maybe there will be like U body parts,
who knows, But all right, I like it. The answer is.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Just you take you take the unit of measure and
you multiply it by some amount.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
To get a new unit of All right, very fun.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
In the clue we transform it could have done Doris Day. Yes,
you know, the singer of k sarras ras arras ros
ras ras ras ras Ros ros ros ros ros ros
ros ros rosaurra twenty one twenty one of those which
would be Doris God instead.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Of because yeah, you're right, okay, I love it.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Actually don't, no, I thank you anyway, because Doris Fortnite
the way I did it.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Oh yeah, okay, yeah, I think I did twenty one.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But people loved it. They couldn't get enough, so.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
They couldn't get enough of me saying so just keep.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Saying that for another fifty times.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Right, I could have done Doris year and we've just
been here for three hundred and sixty five of those anyway,
So I'll give you the clue. Actually I had won more.
Daniel day Lewis was oh good. Yeah, he starred in
a movie trilogy about the writer and artist Christy Brown.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh no, wait.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Brown, Christy Brown's famous writer and artist. That was one
of Actually I think one of Daniel day Lewis's first
oscars were for this movie. It wasn't a trilogy, it
was a single movie.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Well there's my left foot, I was thinking, yes, so
there's three feet in.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
A yard, Yes, my left yard.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
My left yard. And wait what was the name. What
was the clue again?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I said he started Daniel d Lewis started in a
movie trilogy.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Okay, gotta gotta got it.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Okay, right, they're multiplied by three.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
All right, I'm on board, on board.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
It's tricky.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It's tricky, which is why you're gonna have to suffer
through this on Thursday instead of us subjecting Julie Bowen
to it or something like that. Now, some of these
measurements are less common than.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Day and week.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Okay, I'm ready, but our footy yard. But hopefully they
are enough clues for you to figure out what's going
on all right here. So some of these are a
little trickier, but I'm sure there's enough clues for you
to figure them out.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
First.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
One American actress, director, and producer who played five roles
in the sitcom Lutetia, Laura, Lisa, Lavinia, Laverne, and Shirley.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Oh okay, I think I got something because it is
yes that was starring Penny Marshall and the Five Pennies.
I'm guessing is Nickel so Nichol.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Marshall, Nicol Marshall.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I like this. I like this. We'll see how I
do in the future.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
If you got to kind of work your way through
these steps and figure out. All right, this is John
Cameron Mitchell's rock musical.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
It was also made into a.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Film about a cross dressing singer and his twelve different
backup bands.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
All right, thank god, I got I only know one
John Cameron Mitchell musical which involves cross dressing. So that
was helpful. And so which is the Angry Wait, Headwig
and the Angry Inch. So if you multiply that by twelve,
you get Headwig and the Angry Foot.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Very good, very good, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I'm trying.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Do you know other John Cameron Mitchell music. No, I
do not that that's the only one.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
But he's very talented, very talented, very talented.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
That was a very successful piece. All right.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Here's another one from the world of pop culture. This
is the star of To Kill Four Mockingbirds.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Okay, all right, now, this is embarrassing. I know that
was It wasn't I'm going through greg Oh, Gregory pack.
It was Gregory pack. And I know packs is a
measurement of some kind, but what is a pack? A
pack is I feel it's like either a forty or
a twenty peck of pickled peppers is the only time
(06:39):
I've ever heard it news in real life, and when.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
That's not that's real life exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Rhyme Like you go to the store and you ordered
some pickled peppers and you said, I'll have a peck
of those.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, exactly, but wait, yeah it was four of them's packs?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Four packs? Four pecks?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Is what four packs is? A maybe and a gross?
Is it a gross?
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Nope? Nope.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
There's another unit of measure. There's a song from Guys
and Dolls that uses both of these measurement units in it.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Interesting, I need another hint.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And there's a biblical quote about hiding your light.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Oh a bushel bushel that I love you.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
The song is I love you a bushel and a peck.
A bushel is in fact four pecks.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
So he was saying I love you five times.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Or one point one point too much, depending upon how
you measure it. Got it, God, But I love you
more than just one whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Thank you for the extra hints.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
A bushel and a peck, I think that. But the
song is actually meant to be sort of elusive, a
peck being a kiss.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
But I don't know oh, interesting, Well we won't go
with Bushel first to hug around the neck, right, right,
I think that's it.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Okay, very good, All right, here's this one. Is a
jazz trumpeter who recorded just over twenty six kinds of Blue.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Okay, I don't have a huge knowledge of jazz, but
I do know Miles Davis is a jazz trumpeter. And
if you have twenty six Miles, well over right, because
it's twenty six point two or something. Is a marathon,
so I think you've got a marathon Davis marathon.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Marathon Davis exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But I'd listen to that, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It'd be like a Miles Davis marathon, right where you
just listen to all of his music at once.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And I guess, like, yeah, kind of indigo or whatever
is more blue than blue? I guess you would kind of, yeah,
I do.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Blue isn't a measurement.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
We're just sticking with measurements, okay, fair enough. I haven't
perfected this formula to do more than mess with measurements,
so we'll get bigger forms of colors on another episode.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Fair enough, all right.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
This is an American sport played on a gridiron that
is five hundred and twenty eight thousand yards long.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
All right, well we got football times five two hundred
eighty is mile ball? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Ball? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yes, I've got a few more of these for you.
In the Standard Parliamentary Rules of Order. This is what
sixty people say when they support a motion that was
just made.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Okay, very good. Well, I've believe there's an I second.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
That is a yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, So I thirty that. I thirty that.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
If sixty, if sixty people say it, sixty sixty people
say I second that one hundred two saying no, no,
sixty seconds is good one.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I meant it that all right. I mint that I
needed the strong hint, and I'm embarrassed.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Well it just gets complicated. Ready, what am I multiplying by? What?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
When it's a good one?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I love it all right. This is a raspy voiced
English rocker whose breakout solo album was entitled Every Picture
Tells Forty Stories.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Okay, well, I'm thinking every picture tells a story, or
every picture tells a thousand stories. Some people.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Tells a story? Was the record?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Who's the raspy voice rock singer saying Maggie May.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Oh well no, no, this is uh the problem is
I'm thinking of again. You got sports and music, two
of my weakest parts. But a raspy voice. So, but
this is older. This is not like new adele right,
this is now.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
This isn't older, this is yeah, this is a boomer
question if there ever was.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Okay, So a raspy voice. Uh, every picture tells the story,
and I'm I'm apologizing now to.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Music saying do you think I'm sex?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Rod Stewart, all right, for some reason I don't think
of him as raspy, but he is. You're right, he's
a raspy alright, Rod Stewart, So that would be not
a rod forty rods is a furlong.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yes, very good.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Look at you with the measurement.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I don't know, I just throw it out, but yes,
I'm glad that that's what it is. Furlong story.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Very all right. There's another sports one, but I think
you get it. This is the award given to the
two championship teams in the National Hockey League.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Okay, yes, ah, yes, all right, this one I do have.
The Stanley Cup is the award given to the the
winner of the NHL and a two cups. Well that
this is embarrassing two cups, because I'd refuse I think
it is. I like, I think it's a principal stand.
I refuse to memorize what cups and courts and pints
(12:14):
are and the relations because it's just so dumb. So
I guess I'm going to go with pint pint, not
really two cups in a pin, the Stanley pint. Stanley pint,
very good, exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You're resisting the imperial unit of measure, just al imperialism.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Not a fan of imperialism, so right there, right.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
A year of living constitutionally wasn't done.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
For this American. I do not like imperial all right.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Your last one, this is the Los Angeles neighborhood known
for a sculpture made up of seventeen million towers.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Good one, all right, Well a sculpture made up of towers,
is that what you said?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
With a famous because there's a lot in there for
me to sink my teeth into. And yet I can't
get any purchase. I cannot find because I don't know
a sculpture in Los Angeles except for the Hollywood signs
sort of. And seventeen million is like I've a grotto
a mole or something.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, no, don't worry about that. You'll work at the
number yet. Just think of the neighborhood that fills in
the blank in blank towers.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Well, I've been to LA quite a few times and
I can't remember there's blank towers, flank towers, sorry, Los
Angeles puzzlers, there's it's not Bella, I know the famous ones.
There's Sunset Boulevard, Hancock Park. I'm guessing it's not hand though,
(13:50):
is a measurement, but that's not it.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, true, that amazing.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I think I need another hint.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
To think of who's famous that came out of the neighborhood.
A bunch of rappers, Don Cherry, doctor, Dre Watts neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, okay, so seventeen million watch towers are that famous sculpture? Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So and there's seventeen towers and the actual one. So
if you had seventeen million of them, it wouldn't be watts,
it would be killer watts.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Seems like a thousand watts, So it's not thousands, like
what is it a sunburst?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
A like a lumen? It's just another prefix. It's just
another prefix. This one doesn't mega diferent measurement.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Megawatts mega mega mega all right, very fun, very fun.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And look, ever since Doctor Dre came out of Watts,
it is known as mega watch.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
That's right. It's a good point, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Florence Griffith Joiner. I think it is from Watts.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Very good. Yeah, mate, it's Mark it is Mega. Well,
great job, I loved I.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Well, no, you great job. You got them all with
pins with well that's how we do it here on
the Puzzler.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, before we go, I actually have a news update
because we we did a story. We talked about a
story about an AI being used to solve cryptic crosswords.
The same guy whould help develop the Alexa Voice Assistant
had developed this AI that he claimed was going to
be better than chat GPT at not only solving cryptic clues,
(15:26):
but also admitting when it didn't know what it was
talking about.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Part of his complaint was that, you.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Know, a lot of the AI models out there just
blithely say something is true even if they have no idea,
and this one was going to say, I don't have
any clue what's going on if it didn't know, and
if some examples of that.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
If you remember, I was a fan of the epistemic humility.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, another phrase you will only hear on
this podcast, epistemic humility. So the competition happened, and I
love the headline or the sub headline in the London
Times article about this says Mark Goodliff finished Cryptic Contests
(16:06):
Final in under five minutes, which let's just say is
extraordinary to finish a British cryptic or really any cryptic
in under five minutes, with twenty seven year old Chloe
Hutton seconds behind. Good for Chloe and their AI rival
gave up.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Oh wait, so the AI did not finish at all.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Didn't finish it gave up.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Hutton is a first time competitor and she is one
of several younger solvers who apparently came to the four
this year, and they were There were one hundred and
sixteen contestants, five finalists. Hutton was just behind Mark Goodliff,
who won, and a guy named Liam Hughes who's also
(16:51):
twenty seven, came in third. So the app made an
impressive start, got a bunch of tough clues, but eight
minutes in, just after the last content and contestant had finished,
the tech through in the towel had five clues on
answered to wrong guesses.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
And it just said I quit, like it's a diva.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
It's like, I if I can't win, I'm not playing anymore.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
That no, I think, I think.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Part of the program basically gets to a point where
it says I don't.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Know how to sun.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Okay, fair enough, I admit it.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
So again epistemic humility.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And that is actually very comforting because maybe when AI
is trying to take over the world, it gets to
a roadblock. It's like, eh, it's not worth it. I'm
not going to enslave humanity. Yeah, let me give up.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Too hard to solve these cryptics.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
That would be I'm just going to So there is hope.
There is hope. Well, great, fascinating to learn. And uh,
oh do you have an extra credit for the folks
at home?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh I do. I do have an extra credit.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
This is a little tougher, but you've got some time
to think about it. This is the poet who wrote
the two thousand cantos.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Okay, I like it all right, I'm a little more. Oh,
I think I got it. I think I got Oh,
look at that.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
You just say that you don't have to prove it.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That's exactly right, exclaimed smartly.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
I'm not even going to tell you what I think
it is, so that you can't tell me I'm wrong.
All right, Well, thank you for listening, folks, and while
you are waiting for tomorrow's episode, please check out the
Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, because we post original puzzles
there and we will meet you here tomorrow for more
(18:41):
puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Hey puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer. Here
were the extra credit from our previous show. Faith Saley
was with us once again and we did it categories game,
but with a twist. Basically, we asked you to come
up with things in the category of movies that start
with E and the top five one of the top
(19:11):
five according to an AI that AJ spoke to, most
famous movies that start with E. Those top five are
E t Eternal, Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Edge of Tomorrow,
Escape from Alcatraz, and Aaron Brakovic. And then, of course
(19:32):
you've got to come up with one that's not on
that list. If you want the rarest most obscure one,
eraser Head looks like it's way down at the bottom
of the list, so that might be the most obscure anyway,
Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you here tomorrow.
Hello, Buzzlers. Welcome to the Buzzler Podcast, The Old Faithful
in your Yellowstone Puzzle Park. I am your host, Ad Digobson.
I'm here as always with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Plasco.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome, Greg, thank you. I am always entertained by the
intros and they always.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Catch me very kind of you.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, although I would are I mean, are we trying?
I always felt like the intros were like, you know,
the little chocolate on your on your pillow at the hotel.
They were like that little special extra, whereas Old Faithful is.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Like the thing well I feel you know, we have dressed.
So whereas we used to be like the little lam
yap of the little extra, now we are like the
base of your puzzle life, like we are the key stone.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
This is the thing that but this is.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But honestly, we just do it whatever, whatever I can
think of, and there's no rhyme or reason.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So we are kind of like Old Faithful.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, you can predict that.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Every day appear We're going to entertain you for a
few spurts of puzzle energy and then you can get
on with your.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
We're gonna smell like sulfur and send your clothes. So yeah,
it's very similar.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Thank god it's on the audio because over here in
the puzzle ab we got sulfur pouring out the doors exactly. Well, look,
speaking of the puzzle Lab, I've been cooking some stuff
up and no.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Sulfur was actually involved. I've come up with a.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Formula that makes everything bigger, and I like it. So
everything it's as if everything got more of what was
already there. So, for example, the star of there will
be blood, he's one, not three, but twenty one best
(02:02):
actor oscars. If you apply this formula, okay, that transforms
Daniel Day Lewis into Daniel Week.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Ah, very good, Okay, I like it. It's tricky. I
was thinking all sorts of things because there's like, you know,
there will the star. Maybe you meant like a galaxy
instead of a star, right okay, And yeah there will
be blood. Maybe there will be like U body parts,
who knows, But all right, I like it. The answer is.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Just you take you take the unit of measure and
you multiply it by some amount.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
To get a new unit of All right, very fun.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
In the clue we transform it could have done Doris Day. Yes,
you know, the singer of k sarras ras arras ros
ras ras ras ras Ros ros ros ros ros ros
ros ros rosaurra twenty one twenty one of those which
would be Doris God instead.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Of because yeah, you're right, okay, I love it.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Actually don't, no, I thank you anyway, because Doris Fortnite
the way I did it.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Oh yeah, okay, yeah, I think I did twenty one.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But people loved it. They couldn't get enough, so.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
They couldn't get enough of me saying so just keep.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Saying that for another fifty times.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Right, I could have done Doris year and we've just
been here for three hundred and sixty five of those anyway,
So I'll give you the clue. Actually I had won more.
Daniel day Lewis was oh good. Yeah, he starred in
a movie trilogy about the writer and artist Christy Brown.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh no, wait.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Brown, Christy Brown's famous writer and artist. That was one
of Actually I think one of Daniel day Lewis's first
oscars were for this movie. It wasn't a trilogy, it
was a single movie.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Well there's my left foot, I was thinking, yes, so
there's three feet in.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
A yard, Yes, my left yard.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
My left yard. And wait what was the name. What
was the clue again?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I said he started Daniel d Lewis started in a
movie trilogy.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Okay, gotta gotta got it.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Okay, right, they're multiplied by three.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
All right, I'm on board, on board.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
It's tricky.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It's tricky, which is why you're gonna have to suffer
through this on Thursday instead of us subjecting Julie Bowen
to it or something like that. Now, some of these
measurements are less common than.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Day and week.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Okay, I'm ready, but our footy yard. But hopefully they
are enough clues for you to figure out what's going
on all right here. So some of these are a
little trickier, but I'm sure there's enough clues for you
to figure them out.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
First.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
One American actress, director, and producer who played five roles
in the sitcom Lutetia, Laura, Lisa, Lavinia, Laverne, and Shirley.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Oh okay, I think I got something because it is
yes that was starring Penny Marshall and the Five Pennies.
I'm guessing is Nickel so Nichol.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Marshall, Nicol Marshall.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I like this. I like this. We'll see how I
do in the future.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
If you got to kind of work your way through
these steps and figure out. All right, this is John
Cameron Mitchell's rock musical.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
It was also made into a.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Film about a cross dressing singer and his twelve different
backup bands.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
All right, thank god, I got I only know one
John Cameron Mitchell musical which involves cross dressing. So that
was helpful. And so which is the Angry Wait, Headwig
and the Angry Inch. So if you multiply that by twelve,
you get Headwig and the Angry Foot.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Very good, very good, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I'm trying.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Do you know other John Cameron Mitchell music. No, I
do not that that's the only one.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
But he's very talented, very talented, very talented.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
That was a very successful piece. All right.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Here's another one from the world of pop culture. This
is the star of To Kill Four Mockingbirds.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Okay, all right, now, this is embarrassing. I know that
was It wasn't I'm going through greg Oh, Gregory pack.
It was Gregory pack. And I know packs is a
measurement of some kind, but what is a pack? A
pack is I feel it's like either a forty or
a twenty peck of pickled peppers is the only time
(06:39):
I've ever heard it news in real life, and when.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
That's not that's real life exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Rhyme Like you go to the store and you ordered
some pickled peppers and you said, I'll have a peck
of those.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, exactly, but wait, yeah it was four of them's packs?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Four packs? Four pecks?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Is what four packs is? A maybe and a gross?
Is it a gross?
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Nope? Nope.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
There's another unit of measure. There's a song from Guys
and Dolls that uses both of these measurement units in it.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Interesting, I need another hint.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And there's a biblical quote about hiding your light.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Oh a bushel bushel that I love you.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
The song is I love you a bushel and a peck.
A bushel is in fact four pecks.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
So he was saying I love you five times.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Or one point one point too much, depending upon how
you measure it. Got it, God, But I love you
more than just one whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Thank you for the extra hints.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
A bushel and a peck, I think that. But the
song is actually meant to be sort of elusive, a
peck being a kiss.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
But I don't know oh, interesting, Well we won't go
with Bushel first to hug around the neck, right, right,
I think that's it.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Okay, very good, All right, here's this one. Is a
jazz trumpeter who recorded just over twenty six kinds of Blue.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Okay, I don't have a huge knowledge of jazz, but
I do know Miles Davis is a jazz trumpeter. And
if you have twenty six Miles, well over right, because
it's twenty six point two or something. Is a marathon,
so I think you've got a marathon Davis marathon.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Marathon Davis exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But I'd listen to that, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It'd be like a Miles Davis marathon, right where you
just listen to all of his music at once.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And I guess, like, yeah, kind of indigo or whatever
is more blue than blue? I guess you would kind of, yeah,
I do.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Blue isn't a measurement.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
We're just sticking with measurements, okay, fair enough. I haven't
perfected this formula to do more than mess with measurements,
so we'll get bigger forms of colors on another episode.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Fair enough, all right.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
This is an American sport played on a gridiron that
is five hundred and twenty eight thousand yards long.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
All right, well we got football times five two hundred
eighty is mile ball? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Ball? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yes, I've got a few more of these for you.
In the Standard Parliamentary Rules of Order. This is what
sixty people say when they support a motion that was
just made.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Okay, very good. Well, I've believe there's an I second.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
That is a yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, So I thirty that. I thirty that.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
If sixty, if sixty people say it, sixty sixty people
say I second that one hundred two saying no, no,
sixty seconds is good one.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I meant it that all right. I mint that I
needed the strong hint, and I'm embarrassed.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Well it just gets complicated. Ready, what am I multiplying by? What?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
When it's a good one?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I love it all right. This is a raspy voiced
English rocker whose breakout solo album was entitled Every Picture
Tells Forty Stories.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Okay, well, I'm thinking every picture tells a story, or
every picture tells a thousand stories. Some people.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Tells a story? Was the record?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Who's the raspy voice rock singer saying Maggie May.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Oh well no, no, this is uh the problem is
I'm thinking of again. You got sports and music, two
of my weakest parts. But a raspy voice. So, but
this is older. This is not like new adele right,
this is now.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
This isn't older, this is yeah, this is a boomer
question if there ever was.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Okay, So a raspy voice. Uh, every picture tells the story,
and I'm I'm apologizing now to.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Music saying do you think I'm sex?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Rod Stewart, all right, for some reason I don't think
of him as raspy, but he is. You're right, he's
a raspy alright, Rod Stewart, So that would be not
a rod forty rods is a furlong.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yes, very good.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Look at you with the measurement.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I don't know, I just throw it out, but yes,
I'm glad that that's what it is. Furlong story.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Very all right. There's another sports one, but I think
you get it. This is the award given to the
two championship teams in the National Hockey League.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Okay, yes, ah, yes, all right, this one I do have.
The Stanley Cup is the award given to the the
winner of the NHL and a two cups. Well that
this is embarrassing two cups, because I'd refuse I think
it is. I like, I think it's a principal stand.
I refuse to memorize what cups and courts and pints
(12:14):
are and the relations because it's just so dumb. So
I guess I'm going to go with pint pint, not
really two cups in a pin, the Stanley pint. Stanley pint,
very good, exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You're resisting the imperial unit of measure, just al imperialism.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Not a fan of imperialism, so right there, right.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
A year of living constitutionally wasn't done.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
For this American. I do not like imperial all right.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Your last one, this is the Los Angeles neighborhood known
for a sculpture made up of seventeen million towers.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Good one, all right, Well a sculpture made up of towers,
is that what you said?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
With a famous because there's a lot in there for
me to sink my teeth into. And yet I can't
get any purchase. I cannot find because I don't know
a sculpture in Los Angeles except for the Hollywood signs
sort of. And seventeen million is like I've a grotto
a mole or something.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, no, don't worry about that. You'll work at the
number yet. Just think of the neighborhood that fills in
the blank in blank towers.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Well, I've been to LA quite a few times and
I can't remember there's blank towers, flank towers, sorry, Los
Angeles puzzlers, there's it's not Bella, I know the famous ones.
There's Sunset Boulevard, Hancock Park. I'm guessing it's not hand though,
(13:50):
is a measurement, but that's not it.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, true, that amazing.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I think I need another hint.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
To think of who's famous that came out of the neighborhood.
A bunch of rappers, Don Cherry, doctor, Dre Watts neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, okay, so seventeen million watch towers are that famous sculpture? Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So and there's seventeen towers and the actual one. So
if you had seventeen million of them, it wouldn't be watts,
it would be killer watts.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Seems like a thousand watts, So it's not thousands, like
what is it a sunburst?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
A like a lumen? It's just another prefix. It's just
another prefix. This one doesn't mega diferent measurement.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Megawatts mega mega mega all right, very fun, very fun.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And look, ever since Doctor Dre came out of Watts,
it is known as mega watch.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
That's right. It's a good point, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Florence Griffith Joiner. I think it is from Watts.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Very good. Yeah, mate, it's Mark it is Mega. Well,
great job, I loved I.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Well, no, you great job. You got them all with
pins with well that's how we do it here on
the Puzzler.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, before we go, I actually have a news update
because we we did a story. We talked about a
story about an AI being used to solve cryptic crosswords.
The same guy whould help develop the Alexa Voice Assistant
had developed this AI that he claimed was going to
be better than chat GPT at not only solving cryptic clues,
(15:26):
but also admitting when it didn't know what it was
talking about.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Part of his complaint was that, you.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Know, a lot of the AI models out there just
blithely say something is true even if they have no idea,
and this one was going to say, I don't have
any clue what's going on if it didn't know, and
if some examples of that.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
If you remember, I was a fan of the epistemic humility.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, another phrase you will only hear on
this podcast, epistemic humility. So the competition happened, and I
love the headline or the sub headline in the London
Times article about this says Mark Goodliff finished Cryptic Contests
(16:06):
Final in under five minutes, which let's just say is
extraordinary to finish a British cryptic or really any cryptic
in under five minutes, with twenty seven year old Chloe
Hutton seconds behind. Good for Chloe and their AI rival
gave up.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Oh wait, so the AI did not finish at all.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Didn't finish it gave up.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Hutton is a first time competitor and she is one
of several younger solvers who apparently came to the four
this year, and they were There were one hundred and
sixteen contestants, five finalists. Hutton was just behind Mark Goodliff,
who won, and a guy named Liam Hughes who's also
(16:51):
twenty seven, came in third. So the app made an
impressive start, got a bunch of tough clues, but eight
minutes in, just after the last content and contestant had finished,
the tech through in the towel had five clues on
answered to wrong guesses.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
And it just said I quit, like it's a diva.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
It's like, I if I can't win, I'm not playing anymore.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
That no, I think, I think.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Part of the program basically gets to a point where
it says I don't.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Know how to sun.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Okay, fair enough, I admit it.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
So again epistemic humility.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And that is actually very comforting because maybe when AI
is trying to take over the world, it gets to
a roadblock. It's like, eh, it's not worth it. I'm
not going to enslave humanity. Yeah, let me give up.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Too hard to solve these cryptics.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
That would be I'm just going to So there is hope.
There is hope. Well, great, fascinating to learn. And uh,
oh do you have an extra credit for the folks
at home?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh I do. I do have an extra credit.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
This is a little tougher, but you've got some time
to think about it. This is the poet who wrote
the two thousand cantos.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Okay, I like it all right, I'm a little more. Oh,
I think I got it. I think I got Oh,
look at that.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
You just say that you don't have to prove it.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That's exactly right, exclaimed smartly.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
I'm not even going to tell you what I think
it is, so that you can't tell me I'm wrong.
All right, Well, thank you for listening, folks, and while
you are waiting for tomorrow's episode, please check out the
Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, because we post original puzzles
there and we will meet you here tomorrow for more
(18:41):
puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Hey puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer. Here
were the extra credit from our previous show. Faith Saley
was with us once again and we did it categories game,
but with a twist. Basically, we asked you to come
up with things in the category of movies that start
with E and the top five one of the top
(19:11):
five according to an AI that AJ spoke to, most
famous movies that start with E. Those top five are
E t Eternal, Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Edge of Tomorrow,
Escape from Alcatraz, and Aaron Brakovic. And then, of course
(19:32):
you've got to come up with one that's not on
that list. If you want the rarest most obscure one,
eraser Head looks like it's way down at the bottom
of the list, so that might be the most obscure anyway,
Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you here tomorrow.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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