September 16, 2025 • 22 mins
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Hello, Puzzlers! It's back-to-school week! Puzzling with us today: our very own Chief Puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska.
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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Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
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Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello puzzlers. A quick announcement, The Puzzler is doing a
live show in New York City and we'd love for
you to come. It's October seventh at six thirty pm
and an awesome venue called Caveat. There will be stories, puzzles, prizes.
It's part of the Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival. We love
(00:23):
a good rhyming title here at the Puzzler. Please check
the show notes for a link to tickets. Now on
with the show, Hello puzzlers, Let's start with a quick puzzle.
Actually it's a classic puzzle, a chestnut. It's the question
who is buried in Grant's tomb? It's a question you
(00:45):
might know is originally designed to be absurdly obvious, like
what color is an orange? But as some listeners may know,
the question has several plot twists, and FYI I wrote
that sentence without realizing I was making a pun on plot.
But I decided let's keep it in cemetery plott, So
(01:05):
there it is regardless of the question.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
You've made a grave error.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Nice, This is again the who is buried in Grant's tomb?
We'll discuss this and other mysteries after the break. Hello, puzzlers,
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, the pre sharpened Tychonderoga
number two in your puzzle pencil case. I am your host,
(01:34):
AJ Jacobs. I'm here, of course, with Chief Puzzle Officer
Greg Pliska. Greg. Before the break, we asked the classic
riddle who is buried in Grant's tomb? Now, before you answer,
let me just give you the thirty second history of
the question. Okay, it was initially designed to be super obvious,
so Groucho Marx would ask it on his quiz show
(01:56):
You Bet Your Life when a contestant was doing terribly
and he wanted to give them some free money. It's like, okay,
he would ask what color is an orange? When did
the War of eighteen twelve start? And who is buried
in Grants? So contestants, of course, we're supposed to say
Grant Grant is buried in Ulysses Grant's tone, but there
(02:17):
are at least two more precise answers, at least two.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I just want to say before I answer that that
I am actually holding a Dixon Ticonderoga number two pre
sharpened pencil.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Wow, you are they?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I am? I am the puzzler in my puzzler daily
puzzle something you.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Are a metaphor incarnate. I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, yes, all right. So first of all, it's Grant
and his wife nice, not just Grant.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Great call.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And then, as I would say with my other voice, Aja,
actually they're not buried. They're intombed. They're in tuned because
they're above ground.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Exactly, they are entombed in the tomb. No one is
buried in Grant's tomb. Now, wait, can I do a
super pedant I looked up Barry in Miriam Webster and
the first definition is below ground. But then another definition
is just to cover from view, like you bury your
(03:17):
face in your hand. Okay, so if you want to
be super pedantic, you could argue they are covered from
view even if they're not underground. So you could say
that they're buried, yes, yep.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
And if you want to be super pedantic, the question
doesn't say name everyone who is buried in Grants tom oh,
so you could just say yeah, you could say Grand
is fine. That is it is a correct answer to
the question, right, Granty is buried there.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
And there's also this is a great way to make friends.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
By the way, lovely kids, try this with your parents
they love.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
But there's also other grants. You know Carrie Grant, who
I looked it up. He had his ashes scattered, so
he's not in a tomb, he's not buried. But anyway,
all of this is because we are in the middle
of back to school week here on the puzzler.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And nothing says pedantic like going back to school.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Exactly where you can get beat up for being a
petted But I I thought that this was a nice
intro to an idea I had. Which was the easiest,
the hardest, easiest pop quiz ever the heart or the
easiest hardest pop quiz ever? I can't decide. But it's
all questions that should be super easy but are not
(04:44):
easy at all, like who is buried in Grant's too.
So let's start with how long was the one hundred
Years War? And I will give you a multiple choice,
so a eighty three years b one hundred and sixteen
year or see one hundred forty two years? How long
(05:04):
was the hundred years War between England and France?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I am pedantic and trivial, so I knew this was
one hundred and sixteen years.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I absolutely although to be super pedantic, I would accept
also eighty three years, because according to the always reliable Internet,
there were It started and thirteen thirty seven and died
one hundred and sixteen years later. But there were several
(05:34):
truces that last, all right, So if you add up
the years including the truces, then it's only eighty three years.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I love it. I love it. You can always out
pedant the pedance. Yes, it's always one more layer to go.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I'm glad you love it because most food.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, my family die, terries, my family crazy, but I
you know, I enjoy it. I love it less specific.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
This is a place to do it. What are where
do Panama hats come from? Where do Panama?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Oh, well, of course you want me to say Panama,
but surely that's not right. They might be named that
for some reason, but they probably come from a factory
and you know, Bangladesh or something.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well that's a good point. Probably the current ones do
come from, but they were in terms of the invention,
I should where were Panama hats invented?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, I have no idea. Barbados close it is?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
It is Ecuador. They are not close at all, just
another country.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
It's nowhere near Ecuador.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Well, it is themis.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Equador is like a you know what Ecuador is? In
Ecuador a landlocked country? Uh? In South America?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Well Ecuador, I said it was in the same hemisphere,
but I realize now everything's in the same hemisphere as Ecuador,
because isn't it in both hemispheres? Uh No, it's on
the equator though.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Oh well, if you you northern, the southern hemisphere, eastern
and western. But fine, yep, fair, fair, fine, yep, good
good out pedants really a roll. And also I'm wrong,
it's not landlocked. Ecuador does have an extraordinary coast as
well as the Galopagus Island. It's Bolivia that's landlocked on
the other side of Ecuador.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
But Bolivia does have a navy, by the way, but
we'll get to that separately. That's a that's for another day.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
All right, we'll talk about Bolivia navy. But yes, it
was originally invented in Ecuador, but probably named Panama Hats
because it was shipped from Panama. That was where a
lot of things are shipped in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. All right, we'll just do two more. How
about this one. I feel you would know too, because
(07:47):
it's kind of a trivia mainstay. What animal is the
Canary Islands named?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
It's a linguistic name, mainstay name, mainstay. Yes, that's what said, right,
because canary you would think, you know, it would be
the bird the canary. No, no, no, the cubs from Canary,
I believe, right, and derives from the word for dog exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
And the theory is that there were a lot of
dogs on the Canary Islands. But the bird, the canary
bird is named for the Canary Islands because that's where
canaries were.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
No, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's what. Listen, the always reliable Internet says.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Wait, that's crazy. But it's like the thing being named right.
Like it's like the story, if I may digress, of
the time that I was spending Christmas at a girlfriend's
house and her parents had just gotten divorced, and they
didn't really want to go over to the dad's house
for the Christmas, but we were doing it, and they said, listen,
(08:55):
let's tell them that Greg's family tradition is drinking Mimosa's
Christmas morning so we can all get drunk. And you know,
they wanted to drink, And so I told my family
that story and they said, what a great tradition, we
should have that tradition. So then we we adopted the tradition.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So it's the same kind of like a self fulfilling prophety. Yeah, yeah,
say it and it becomes true.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, yeah, I love it all right.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Last one, how many actors were in the Three Stooges?
Now I'm talking.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Total total, right in the end, there were There's Larry Curly,
Mo Zeppo and Gumma. No, that was Shemp. Shemp was there.
I think there's I want to say there's five. I
feel like there was Shemp and some other dude. Maybe
there's even more.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
There is more, slightly more than five, there's seven, depending
on how you count, depending on how you count. And well,
this was a lovely rabbit hole. I went down. There
was six, but sort of seven because there was this
guy named Joe Palma. Poor Shemp died of a heart
attack in nineteen fifty five in the middle of filming
(10:03):
some of the shorts, so they needed to finish it.
So they got this guy Joe Palmer to be Shemp's
body double. But you never saw his face. He was
filmed from the back or something obscuring his face. Now
what's awesome to me is that this became a phrase.
This became the fake shemp is a phrase used in
(10:25):
filming when you have an actor who has a body
double whose face is not seen. So Sam Raimi had
many fake shemps. In The Evil Dead there was a
scandal about back to the Future. Which didn't we mention
back to the future.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
It was in yesterday's Oh.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yes, yeah, back to the Future too, where Crisp and
Glover was replaced by a fake shemp and he sued
so it's harder to get a face of him.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Here on the puzzler, we are never replaced by fake shemps.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
No, no, we are. We are real shemps, real shes.
That is my hardest, easiest quiz ever. But I am
excited for what's next, the hardest hardest quiz you know.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Again, in honor of Back to School Week, we're gonna
play Odd one Out, but we're gonna do the Ivy
League edition.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Okay, so, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
You may remember Odd one Out as a game where
I'll give you a list of four things, one of
which doesn't belong and you have to figure out which one.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I love this game, yeah, right, And in.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Its purest form, and it's in the purest form the
odd one out has the opposite property or whatever the
other three have in common.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I forgot.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah. Yeah, it's not always possible to do that, but
you try to aim for that. So if I said,
for example, I give you these four things, ambidextrous sequia, rhythm,
and hallucinogen, ambidextrous sequoia, rhythm and hallucinogen, you would say
that rhythm was the odd one out because the others
(12:03):
use all five vowels once each and rhythm uses none
of them.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Oh interests, Okay, I like that. Well that's what I'm
pay once again, call in IVY League graduate Andrea Schoenberg to.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Help really studying me up to fail.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
There, Yeah, it's me against the IVY leaguers. Now I'm ready.
In this edition, since it's IVY League edition, each group
includes one of the IVY League universities. Oh okay, very tricky,
all right, and all right, and I will tell you
right up front that the university is never the odd
one out.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Oh okay. That helps.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
That's the trick is to build these around the university.
And okay, here's your first one. Penn Kangaroo Lama and
false Staff. All right, takesp care.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I just went on a roller coaster because I was like,
I think I have it, and then I said, I
know I don't have it. Then I think I have
it again because I thought it was double letters. But
they're all double letters. But Kangaroo has double vowels and
the others have double concept.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's deep.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Okay, Good's right, that's.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Not what I intended.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Okay. I mean, there's a few.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Routes you can go with the double letters, because fal
Stop is the only one that has two pairs of
double letters. But also Lama is the only one where
double letters are at the beginning instead of the end.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That was the one. I was going for double letters
at the beginning of Lama at the end for the others.
That makes sense, you are pointing it. Someday I'm gonna
do it. The super tricky version of this game where
you create a list of four things where any one
of them can be the odd one out depending upon
the rule you use.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yes, that is a very post modern version.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Very hard to come up with those, so I'm not
doing that today anyway, Lama was the intended one. How
about how about these four brown Spanish Tim Okay, I'm
not getting it yet. Pudding Spanish, Tim Hece.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I'm thinking that they feel like it's a word associated
with each of these, like, yeah, stay putting crown.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
You're thinking in the right way, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Tim Horton, peeping Tim Tom.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I could give you one other one that will give
it away.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Well, let's let's let Andrea away in first.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I'm thinking of famous Tim's Tim Curry, Tim.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Oh interesting rice pudding. I feel pudding. They're not a
lot of pudding. Chocolate, chocolate rice mm and brown rice pudding, Rice,
rice pudding, nice Tim Rice, of.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Course, yeah, went out because Rice comes for it all
the others.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Rice comes out, ah right, nicely. Donald, I could.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Have given you condoleeza, and that might have made it
much easier.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
There are not a lot of condoleeza's I know, anyway.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Exactly exactly, all right, here's a trickier, trickier one. Dark
Dartmouth diagnose LPO section and polar bear. First time all
four of those things have been said one after the
other in human history. Dartmouth diagnose LPO section and polar bear.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
I think I got it. So the category is that
they end with a part of the face.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, so you have dart mouth yep.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
Diagnose yeah, uh.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Polar the ear polar bear, which has at the end event.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
So LiPo section is the odd one.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Mioception starts with lip yep, nicely.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Done, whip, it doesn't end with lip.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Good work, Andrea, all right, we.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Got a few more schools to get through, so let's
keep going. How about this one Colombia.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Chili c h I l L y oh, Greece g
r e A s e okay, and Cypress c y.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
P r E s S.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I know the linkage. I'm trying to think which one doesn't.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Below Columbia, Chili, Grease, and Cypress.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I mean they are all homonyms of.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Country, homophones homophones of countries. Yep.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
No, I think they're also.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Remember we had this, I know, we go through this
all the time.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
They are I thought one might be spelled correctly, but
I don't think Cypress is.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I think none of them. None of them are spelled correct.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Many of them are spelled correctly.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Three of them start with a C he pronounced differently
each time, Columbia, Chili, and Cyprus, and one of them
ends with another sea sound. Grease got it, got it? Okay, lovely,
all right, we got this one. Cornell, Pratt, Evans, Hind.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Okay, I think I got I got some I got
some things brewing and my brain. Andrea, do you want
to anything come to mind?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Hind as An Hi n d as An Hyde.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah, this one is I have the advantage of being
older than you. Yes, well it's a She is a pretender,
if that helps. She is the lead singer of the Pretenders.
So you have Chris Cornell, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, and
Chrissy Hind.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
There you go, three males and one female. Chrissy. All right,
I'm gonna do two more and then I've got the
eighth one will be the extra credit because it's the
hardest one. All right. How about Yale Craft Freeze and Gush.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Oh okay, I don't have it yet, Yale Craft Freeze
and Gush.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yes, I'll give you the hint that you have to
change one letter.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Oh it's one of those. All right, Still not getting
it yet. But what do you got Andrea?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Yeah, okay, so we know Yale is in it, so
we're changing one letter and Yale so it could.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Be could be Kale, could be kale the vegetable could.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Oh you, I thought about you. I've tried to build
one around otherwise you are changing the y and there's.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Yeah, there's a lot of changing the a lot of
words that could be okay, ye, craft.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Freeze, ye gush.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Okay, oh lad, I think he's giving us a an
audio clue, y e.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
L to gale.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yes, I think that's it, craft to draft. Yeah, what
was the third one?
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Free freeze, freeze.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
To breeze breeze yep. And gush already is or already
is going to be the odd one out gust exactly.
You changed the last letter. Okay.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
I was thinking gush already.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Is kind of a kind of a wind word, but
gust is synonym for wind.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yes, very good, right, Oh that was tricky.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
We're gonna go out. We're gonna go out easy on
the last one here, easier Princeton Bonobo, that's the monkey
b O n O b O feasting and sure root
c h E R O O T chart.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I do I think I should get credit because I
think I know charroot is like a small cigar, right.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, cigarette, it's a it's a yeah, it's a small cigar.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
All right, I'm gonna leave it at that, but I
I feel that.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It has nothing to do with the meaning of these words.
It has to do with parts of these words.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Oh, I think I got it, and I got it, okay,
and you've got a singer prince prince bono, but I
don't get the feast one. Oh it's sting, of course,
and then share.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Very good, well done, well done, all right, showed you
the extra credit. I would love it, all right, the
extra credit. The school we didn't use yet Harvard outputs usiris,
which is spelled u s u r O u as
(20:56):
and is a variant spelling of you surius. But I
didn't care. Use you serious. It's userous outputs Harvard outputs,
useress and winding WI n d G.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
All Right, I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
I definitely want to write that one down.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I am hoping that the listeners are smarter than me,
So think on that and if you solve it, or
even if you don't, maybe you could spend one minute
going to your favorite podcast platform and giving us a rating,
especially if you like the show. If you don't like
the show, then no need. But if you like the show,
(21:35):
do that, and of course we'll see you here tomorrow
for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Hey, puzzlers, it's Chief puzzle Officer Greg Pliska.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Here with the extra credit answer. From the first of
our Back to School Week episodes. We played a game
that I called back to School, where each answer clues
a letter in a cryptic way, like back to school
would be a clue for the letter L because it's
the back to the word school, and.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I gave you a clue to this phrase using the
letter that it would itself clue. Your extra credit clue
was this semi official opening of a restaurant or the
alternative clue small release for beta testing. In either case,
that clues it both starts with the letter S, and
it clues the phrase soft launch because the launch of
(22:32):
the word soft is the letter S. I'm wushing you
good luck with your soft launches, your hard launches, all
your launches, and we look forward to catching you here
next time for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hello puzzlers. A quick announcement, The Puzzler is doing a
live show in New York City and we'd love for
you to come. It's October seventh at six thirty pm
and an awesome venue called Caveat. There will be stories, puzzles, prizes.
It's part of the Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival. We love
(00:23):
a good rhyming title here at the Puzzler. Please check
the show notes for a link to tickets. Now on
with the show, Hello puzzlers, Let's start with a quick puzzle.
Actually it's a classic puzzle, a chestnut. It's the question
who is buried in Grant's tomb? It's a question you
(00:45):
might know is originally designed to be absurdly obvious, like
what color is an orange? But as some listeners may know,
the question has several plot twists, and FYI I wrote
that sentence without realizing I was making a pun on plot.
But I decided let's keep it in cemetery plott, So
(01:05):
there it is regardless of the question.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
You've made a grave error.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Nice, This is again the who is buried in Grant's tomb?
We'll discuss this and other mysteries after the break. Hello, puzzlers,
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, the pre sharpened Tychonderoga
number two in your puzzle pencil case. I am your host,
(01:34):
AJ Jacobs. I'm here, of course, with Chief Puzzle Officer
Greg Pliska. Greg. Before the break, we asked the classic
riddle who is buried in Grant's tomb? Now, before you answer,
let me just give you the thirty second history of
the question. Okay, it was initially designed to be super obvious,
so Groucho Marx would ask it on his quiz show
(01:56):
You Bet Your Life when a contestant was doing terribly
and he wanted to give them some free money. It's like, okay,
he would ask what color is an orange? When did
the War of eighteen twelve start? And who is buried
in Grants? So contestants, of course, we're supposed to say
Grant Grant is buried in Ulysses Grant's tone, but there
(02:17):
are at least two more precise answers, at least two.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I just want to say before I answer that that
I am actually holding a Dixon Ticonderoga number two pre
sharpened pencil.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Wow, you are they?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I am? I am the puzzler in my puzzler daily
puzzle something you.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Are a metaphor incarnate. I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, yes, all right. So first of all, it's Grant
and his wife nice, not just Grant.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Great call.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And then, as I would say with my other voice, Aja,
actually they're not buried. They're intombed. They're in tuned because
they're above ground.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Exactly, they are entombed in the tomb. No one is
buried in Grant's tomb. Now, wait, can I do a
super pedant I looked up Barry in Miriam Webster and
the first definition is below ground. But then another definition
is just to cover from view, like you bury your
(03:17):
face in your hand. Okay, so if you want to
be super pedantic, you could argue they are covered from
view even if they're not underground. So you could say
that they're buried, yes, yep.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
And if you want to be super pedantic, the question
doesn't say name everyone who is buried in Grants tom oh,
so you could just say yeah, you could say Grand
is fine. That is it is a correct answer to
the question, right, Granty is buried there.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
And there's also this is a great way to make friends.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
By the way, lovely kids, try this with your parents
they love.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
But there's also other grants. You know Carrie Grant, who
I looked it up. He had his ashes scattered, so
he's not in a tomb, he's not buried. But anyway,
all of this is because we are in the middle
of back to school week here on the puzzler.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And nothing says pedantic like going back to school.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Exactly where you can get beat up for being a
petted But I I thought that this was a nice
intro to an idea I had. Which was the easiest,
the hardest, easiest pop quiz ever the heart or the
easiest hardest pop quiz ever? I can't decide. But it's
all questions that should be super easy but are not
(04:44):
easy at all, like who is buried in Grant's too.
So let's start with how long was the one hundred
Years War? And I will give you a multiple choice,
so a eighty three years b one hundred and sixteen
year or see one hundred forty two years? How long
(05:04):
was the hundred years War between England and France?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I am pedantic and trivial, so I knew this was
one hundred and sixteen years.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I absolutely although to be super pedantic, I would accept
also eighty three years, because according to the always reliable Internet,
there were It started and thirteen thirty seven and died
one hundred and sixteen years later. But there were several
(05:34):
truces that last, all right, So if you add up
the years including the truces, then it's only eighty three years.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I love it. I love it. You can always out
pedant the pedance. Yes, it's always one more layer to go.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I'm glad you love it because most food.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, my family die, terries, my family crazy, but I
you know, I enjoy it. I love it less specific.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
This is a place to do it. What are where
do Panama hats come from? Where do Panama?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Oh, well, of course you want me to say Panama,
but surely that's not right. They might be named that
for some reason, but they probably come from a factory
and you know, Bangladesh or something.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well that's a good point. Probably the current ones do
come from, but they were in terms of the invention,
I should where were Panama hats invented?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, I have no idea. Barbados close it is?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
It is Ecuador. They are not close at all, just
another country.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
It's nowhere near Ecuador.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Well, it is themis.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Equador is like a you know what Ecuador is? In
Ecuador a landlocked country? Uh? In South America?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Well Ecuador, I said it was in the same hemisphere,
but I realize now everything's in the same hemisphere as Ecuador,
because isn't it in both hemispheres? Uh No, it's on
the equator though.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Oh well, if you you northern, the southern hemisphere, eastern
and western. But fine, yep, fair, fair, fine, yep, good
good out pedants really a roll. And also I'm wrong,
it's not landlocked. Ecuador does have an extraordinary coast as
well as the Galopagus Island. It's Bolivia that's landlocked on
the other side of Ecuador.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
But Bolivia does have a navy, by the way, but
we'll get to that separately. That's a that's for another day.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
All right, we'll talk about Bolivia navy. But yes, it
was originally invented in Ecuador, but probably named Panama Hats
because it was shipped from Panama. That was where a
lot of things are shipped in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. All right, we'll just do two more. How
about this one. I feel you would know too, because
(07:47):
it's kind of a trivia mainstay. What animal is the
Canary Islands named?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
It's a linguistic name, mainstay name, mainstay. Yes, that's what said, right,
because canary you would think, you know, it would be
the bird the canary. No, no, no, the cubs from Canary,
I believe, right, and derives from the word for dog exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
And the theory is that there were a lot of
dogs on the Canary Islands. But the bird, the canary
bird is named for the Canary Islands because that's where
canaries were.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
No, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's what. Listen, the always reliable Internet says.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Wait, that's crazy. But it's like the thing being named right.
Like it's like the story, if I may digress, of
the time that I was spending Christmas at a girlfriend's
house and her parents had just gotten divorced, and they
didn't really want to go over to the dad's house
for the Christmas, but we were doing it, and they said, listen,
(08:55):
let's tell them that Greg's family tradition is drinking Mimosa's
Christmas morning so we can all get drunk. And you know,
they wanted to drink, And so I told my family
that story and they said, what a great tradition, we
should have that tradition. So then we we adopted the tradition.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So it's the same kind of like a self fulfilling prophety. Yeah, yeah,
say it and it becomes true.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, yeah, I love it all right.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Last one, how many actors were in the Three Stooges?
Now I'm talking.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Total total, right in the end, there were There's Larry Curly,
Mo Zeppo and Gumma. No, that was Shemp. Shemp was there.
I think there's I want to say there's five. I
feel like there was Shemp and some other dude. Maybe
there's even more.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
There is more, slightly more than five, there's seven, depending
on how you count, depending on how you count. And well,
this was a lovely rabbit hole. I went down. There
was six, but sort of seven because there was this
guy named Joe Palma. Poor Shemp died of a heart
attack in nineteen fifty five in the middle of filming
(10:03):
some of the shorts, so they needed to finish it.
So they got this guy Joe Palmer to be Shemp's
body double. But you never saw his face. He was
filmed from the back or something obscuring his face. Now
what's awesome to me is that this became a phrase.
This became the fake shemp is a phrase used in
(10:25):
filming when you have an actor who has a body
double whose face is not seen. So Sam Raimi had
many fake shemps. In The Evil Dead there was a
scandal about back to the Future. Which didn't we mention
back to the future.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
It was in yesterday's Oh.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yes, yeah, back to the Future too, where Crisp and
Glover was replaced by a fake shemp and he sued
so it's harder to get a face of him.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Here on the puzzler, we are never replaced by fake shemps.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
No, no, we are. We are real shemps, real shes.
That is my hardest, easiest quiz ever. But I am
excited for what's next, the hardest hardest quiz you know.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Again, in honor of Back to School Week, we're gonna
play Odd one Out, but we're gonna do the Ivy
League edition.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Okay, so, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
You may remember Odd one Out as a game where
I'll give you a list of four things, one of
which doesn't belong and you have to figure out which one.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I love this game, yeah, right, And in.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Its purest form, and it's in the purest form the
odd one out has the opposite property or whatever the
other three have in common.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I forgot.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah. Yeah, it's not always possible to do that, but
you try to aim for that. So if I said,
for example, I give you these four things, ambidextrous sequia, rhythm,
and hallucinogen, ambidextrous sequoia, rhythm and hallucinogen, you would say
that rhythm was the odd one out because the others
(12:03):
use all five vowels once each and rhythm uses none
of them.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Oh interests, Okay, I like that. Well that's what I'm
pay once again, call in IVY League graduate Andrea Schoenberg to.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Help really studying me up to fail.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
There, Yeah, it's me against the IVY leaguers. Now I'm ready.
In this edition, since it's IVY League edition, each group
includes one of the IVY League universities. Oh okay, very tricky,
all right, and all right, and I will tell you
right up front that the university is never the odd
one out.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Oh okay. That helps.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
That's the trick is to build these around the university.
And okay, here's your first one. Penn Kangaroo Lama and
false Staff. All right, takesp care.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I just went on a roller coaster because I was like,
I think I have it, and then I said, I
know I don't have it. Then I think I have
it again because I thought it was double letters. But
they're all double letters. But Kangaroo has double vowels and
the others have double concept.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's deep.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Okay, Good's right, that's.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Not what I intended.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Okay. I mean, there's a few.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Routes you can go with the double letters, because fal
Stop is the only one that has two pairs of
double letters. But also Lama is the only one where
double letters are at the beginning instead of the end.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That was the one. I was going for double letters
at the beginning of Lama at the end for the others.
That makes sense, you are pointing it. Someday I'm gonna
do it. The super tricky version of this game where
you create a list of four things where any one
of them can be the odd one out depending upon
the rule you use.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yes, that is a very post modern version.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Very hard to come up with those, so I'm not
doing that today anyway, Lama was the intended one. How
about how about these four brown Spanish Tim Okay, I'm
not getting it yet. Pudding Spanish, Tim Hece.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I'm thinking that they feel like it's a word associated
with each of these, like, yeah, stay putting crown.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
You're thinking in the right way, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Tim Horton, peeping Tim Tom.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I could give you one other one that will give
it away.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Well, let's let's let Andrea away in first.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I'm thinking of famous Tim's Tim Curry, Tim.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Oh interesting rice pudding. I feel pudding. They're not a
lot of pudding. Chocolate, chocolate rice mm and brown rice pudding, Rice,
rice pudding, nice Tim Rice, of.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Course, yeah, went out because Rice comes for it all
the others.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Rice comes out, ah right, nicely. Donald, I could.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Have given you condoleeza, and that might have made it
much easier.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
There are not a lot of condoleeza's I know, anyway.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Exactly exactly, all right, here's a trickier, trickier one. Dark
Dartmouth diagnose LPO section and polar bear. First time all
four of those things have been said one after the
other in human history. Dartmouth diagnose LPO section and polar bear.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
I think I got it. So the category is that
they end with a part of the face.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, so you have dart mouth yep.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
Diagnose yeah, uh.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Polar the ear polar bear, which has at the end event.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
So LiPo section is the odd one.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Mioception starts with lip yep, nicely.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Done, whip, it doesn't end with lip.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Good work, Andrea, all right, we.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Got a few more schools to get through, so let's
keep going. How about this one Colombia.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Chili c h I l L y oh, Greece g
r e A s e okay, and Cypress c y.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
P r E s S.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I know the linkage. I'm trying to think which one doesn't.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Below Columbia, Chili, Grease, and Cypress.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I mean they are all homonyms of.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Country, homophones homophones of countries. Yep.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
No, I think they're also.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Remember we had this, I know, we go through this
all the time.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
They are I thought one might be spelled correctly, but
I don't think Cypress is.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I think none of them. None of them are spelled correct.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Many of them are spelled correctly.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Three of them start with a C he pronounced differently
each time, Columbia, Chili, and Cyprus, and one of them
ends with another sea sound. Grease got it, got it? Okay, lovely,
all right, we got this one. Cornell, Pratt, Evans, Hind.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Okay, I think I got I got some I got
some things brewing and my brain. Andrea, do you want
to anything come to mind?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Hind as An Hi n d as An Hyde.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah, this one is I have the advantage of being
older than you. Yes, well it's a She is a pretender,
if that helps. She is the lead singer of the Pretenders.
So you have Chris Cornell, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, and
Chrissy Hind.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
There you go, three males and one female. Chrissy. All right,
I'm gonna do two more and then I've got the
eighth one will be the extra credit because it's the
hardest one. All right. How about Yale Craft Freeze and Gush.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Oh okay, I don't have it yet, Yale Craft Freeze
and Gush.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yes, I'll give you the hint that you have to
change one letter.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Oh it's one of those. All right, Still not getting
it yet. But what do you got Andrea?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Yeah, okay, so we know Yale is in it, so
we're changing one letter and Yale so it could.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Be could be Kale, could be kale the vegetable could.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Oh you, I thought about you. I've tried to build
one around otherwise you are changing the y and there's.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Yeah, there's a lot of changing the a lot of
words that could be okay, ye, craft.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Freeze, ye gush.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Okay, oh lad, I think he's giving us a an
audio clue, y e.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
L to gale.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yes, I think that's it, craft to draft. Yeah, what
was the third one?
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Free freeze, freeze.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
To breeze breeze yep. And gush already is or already
is going to be the odd one out gust exactly.
You changed the last letter. Okay.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
I was thinking gush already.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Is kind of a kind of a wind word, but
gust is synonym for wind.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yes, very good, right, Oh that was tricky.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
We're gonna go out. We're gonna go out easy on
the last one here, easier Princeton Bonobo, that's the monkey
b O n O b O feasting and sure root
c h E R O O T chart.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I do I think I should get credit because I
think I know charroot is like a small cigar, right.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, cigarette, it's a it's a yeah, it's a small cigar.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
All right, I'm gonna leave it at that, but I
I feel that.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It has nothing to do with the meaning of these words.
It has to do with parts of these words.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Oh, I think I got it, and I got it, okay,
and you've got a singer prince prince bono, but I
don't get the feast one. Oh it's sting, of course,
and then share.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Very good, well done, well done, all right, showed you
the extra credit. I would love it, all right, the
extra credit. The school we didn't use yet Harvard outputs usiris,
which is spelled u s u r O u as
(20:56):
and is a variant spelling of you surius. But I
didn't care. Use you serious. It's userous outputs Harvard outputs,
useress and winding WI n d G.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
All Right, I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
I definitely want to write that one down.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I am hoping that the listeners are smarter than me,
So think on that and if you solve it, or
even if you don't, maybe you could spend one minute
going to your favorite podcast platform and giving us a rating,
especially if you like the show. If you don't like
the show, then no need. But if you like the show,
(21:35):
do that, and of course we'll see you here tomorrow
for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Hey, puzzlers, it's Chief puzzle Officer Greg Pliska.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Here with the extra credit answer. From the first of
our Back to School Week episodes. We played a game
that I called back to School, where each answer clues
a letter in a cryptic way, like back to school
would be a clue for the letter L because it's
the back to the word school, and.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I gave you a clue to this phrase using the
letter that it would itself clue. Your extra credit clue
was this semi official opening of a restaurant or the
alternative clue small release for beta testing. In either case,
that clues it both starts with the letter S, and
it clues the phrase soft launch because the launch of
(22:32):
the word soft is the letter S. I'm wushing you
good luck with your soft launches, your hard launches, all
your launches, and we look forward to catching you here
next time for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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