The Puzzler with A.J. JacobsHello, Puzzlers! 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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"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.
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. As you know here at the Puzzler, we are big fans of portmanteau words, when two words are smushed together to make one word, like breakfast and lunch becomes brunch. Pluwatt is a mixture of plum and Africa. Speaking of food portmanteaus, here's one. I just learned about ronut ronuts. So today's starter puzzle is what two foods go into making a bronut? The answer and more puzzling goodness after the break. Hello puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler podcast The Creatine in Your Bodybuilder's Puzzle Diet. I am your host, A J. Jacobs, and I'm here with chief puzzle Officer Greg Pliska. Greg. Before the break, we ask what two foods make up the porchmanteau food bronut? Are you familiar or are you ready? You know?
I was? I wouldn't. I would have guessed it was a kind of crazy tech person who tries to dismantle the government. I would have gone there. So those are bronuts. But you're saying it's not that that.
Is an excellent Yes, it is.
Very iron had a big moment in New York ten or so years ago, when it is a croissant and a donut. Half right, you're half right, So this is going to be a donut.
Oh, it's a little high brow. That's a little much. It is actually a little thinking another the b R is correct.
It is broth and a donut. Suits donut filled with soup.
No, it's it's another sweet and it's a little bit thicker.
It's not bread. It's you said it, brownie. You're very generous, but that's cool brownie donut.
And there are some excellent recipes on the internet. I haven't tried it yet, but I bring it up because food extures and food is on my mind. This week we had chefs Dan Barber, who helped popularize garleak, a mix of garlic and leak, which Greg is gonna buy as soon as it's insting.
You gotta, I gotta get the whole foods and pick it out because I am hungry. Yes, I'm hungry. After this week, Dan Barber has made us all more hungry.
It's a good thing, good way. Uh. And we do have some portmanteaus coming later in the episode. Speaking of today's episode, it's an exciting one. It is a tour, exclusive tour inside the Puzzle Lab with three stops. We're gonna get to some listener mail, We're gonna visit the laboratory work bench where puzzles are created. Greg has a surprise for us, and then we've got the puzzle Newsticker where we have some new words that need to be added to your vocabulary. But let's start with the first stop, which is listener mail. Andrea Schoenberg, Associate puzzler, has been monitoring the email, the text, and the pneumatic tubes. What do you got today, Andrea.
Today we have a letter from listener Paul Assenti from California. He wrote in with the comment about a puzzle you gave sportscaster Katie Nolan. The puzzle was a rhybing puzzle tied to sports figures where one of the answers was Thorpe's Gorp, as in Jim Thorpe the Olympian and Gorp the Trail Mix. But Katie had never heard of gork, so we had Paul write in and say gorp is an acronym for good old raisins and peanuts, so it's not trail mix in general. It is specifically the mixture of raisins and peanuts.
So thank you, Paul. I love that I did not know that it was an acronym. And by the way, trail mix often has eminem, so I guess that that would be more gorpum gorpu.
Gor gorm.
But what I love about this letter is that it's the story is even more into icing for us word nerds because there's a debate over whether gorp is an ordinary acronym or a backronym. A Greg tell us what a backronym is.
Well, a brony is an acronym created after the fact, right, So uh, and you're you've probably got a good example at the top of your finger hips that I don't have.
I do, actually, and it is s O S is a famous one, s O S. Well, what did you all think it was?
It's the it's the emergency code, right, but it comes from Morse.
Code Save our I thought it was save our ship, save our souls.
But it's not that.
It's not that, although I do like the soul's very fair spiritual, it's it's actually it stands for nothing. It was just because Morse code had S was dot.
Dot dot dot and O was it did did.
The long one I one? I don't know, it might be getting it backwards, but it was very clear.
No, you're right, okay, correct, No, it's the s is the three dots and always the three dashes or three dos where you say it and then s three dots. It was just very easy to send that right and very clear and saying it was save our ship was a backronym. So now we've got sos. What does it mean? Oh, it means save.
Our ship exactly. So I love that that a backronym exists. Another portmanteau word by.
The way back, Yes, back an acronym.
So there is some people who claim gorp was from a pre existing word to mean eat greedily and that, but others it's very heated debate, very heated debate.
Yeah. And as you guys know, I have like four large dictionaries strewn across the floor of the puzzle lab now because I've been looking it up to see if any of the older dictionaries I have has a citation for gorp before the seventies. Merriam Webster says it comes from the seventies, when it was used to mean trail mix, or, as our listener writes, a very specific kind of trail mix. But Miriam Webster doesn't say where it comes from. It just says that's when it was first used.
One of the great mysteries of the English language, I think. But it gives us an excuse to talk about backronyms and do a sort of mini puzzle on backronyms because I love them. Here's one. I'm going to give you the spelled out and you have to tell me what the backronym was. Yeah, okay, that's.
Good because the other way would be way too easy.
Well, no, it is actually the easy way. Just because it's audio, it might be a little tricky.
So here we So you're going to literally tell me save our souls, and then I have to guess what three initials. That's a backrodi.
That is literally what I'm going to do.
That's literally easy, Greg.
Sometimes we need to give people an easy win. You got to get the W.
I'm ready, You're right, I can do this.
Well here's one. See, now this may not be as easy as you thought. Watch this local integrated software architecture local.
Local integrated software architecture.
Correct.
Oh and if you're telling me it's not Lisa.
No, it is Lisa. But what is Lisa? What is that?
Oh? I see you want to know what Lisa is. I think I just had to give you Lisa. I was like, that's not hard. Lisa is a programming language.
No, Lisa was the one of the very first macintoshes that remember Steve Jobs the Apple Lisa and nineteen.
I don't remember the Apple Lisa, but I remember Steve Jobs.
Well he named it after his daughter Lisa. But I conspiracy theorist said, oh, it must be local integrated software architecture, right this one, you do know, I'm pretty sure? Which is port over starbird posh.
Yes, the word for the accommodation on a ship, or posh generally means something fancy or highbrow or luxurious. And the acronym or the you know, the alleged or derivation of the word is that those were the fancy cabins right port on the way out and starboard on the way home.
And so when they were going to India, by the way, this was first India, Yes, I guess.
Because you had a better view of the continent because it was on your left.
I can't remember but yes, who knows. All right, let me give you a meta acronym. Okay, this is on. You could find mentions of this. I don't know if it actually exists as a as a thing, but it doesn't. We should make it a clever regiment of nerdy young men. I would change it to a clever regiment of nerdy young mortals. But what is that?
That's the acronym for acronym.
That's right, So it's a nerdy puzzle club named acronym with an acronym. I will just end by saying that the other place bacterronym's backronyms are popular is in the Congress where and they're they're sort of related to bacronyms. They're not quite the same.
But ye, but yeah, go ahead.
They take they take an acronym that they like, and then they create the bill name the bill after it. So there's famously the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Miners Act, which was the Dream Act. Now this one, this is breaking news. This one is just a couple of weeks ago, a Wisconsin Congressman introduced the bill Eliminate Looting of our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Cleftocracy Acts.
Oh, I love Congress. Really, it's terrific.
So that is of course that muss Act might have been referenced earlier. All right, that's I want.
I want people to I want somebody to invent some aj Jacobs acts that's nice and correct place puzzlers. Yeah, give us some backron The Puzzler podcast doesn't stand. It doesn't isn't about puzzles. It's actually an acronym for someone. That's a good one, is it.
If people have acronyms that they can backronyms for the Puzzler, please send them to the Puzzler dot com and we just love to read them.
Uh.
Our next stop, we have another stop on the tour of the Puzzle Lab, which is the workbench where we create all of we mix and uh take out the test.
Actually, I mean it's a it's a combination kitchen, workbench, machine shop. I mean it's got everything.
So, yes, we have I mean we we only had Dan for two episodes, which meant we couldn't give him some of our favorite puzzles that we had actually created for him, including one that you have Greg.
Yes, I we we came up with this idea to do things that rhyme with Blue Hill in honor of Dan's Blue Hill Kitchens, you know, the Storm Barns Blue Hill at Stone Barns up in the in Westchester and Blue Hill Restaurant downtown. But we didn't get to use this puzzle, so I thought I would give it to you guys today.
So I am allowed to use my lifeline. Andrea, absolutely, Okay.
These are all These are all phrases that rhyme with blue Hill. They're not real phrases, of course. And I'm gonna give you a clue to the phrase and you tell me. Basically, it's two words. One rhymes with blue, one rhymes with hill.
Okay, all right, Andrea, y yeah, let's do it.
This is the invoice for your paste purchases.
Okay, I think I got it here. I'll take the first one, Andrea, and then you can take. Just to establish myself my credentials. That I think is glue bill glue.
That's the glue bill exactly exactly for your paste. This is a term that means sketched Joe Biden's wife, Well.
Well that means that you drew Jill doctor.
This is uh an ability at rowing a skull. That skull scu I.
Got part of it. Okay, it took me a second, but I got it. All right, I'll say crew skill.
Exactly. All right, all right, here's a trickier one, just because it's a little more obscure knowledge wise. If Baileen whales had teeth, then they could do this to their shrimp like food.
Okay, I have I have the second word.
Wow, you guys are smart about Baileen whales. I'm impressed. Oh oh, I got it.
I got it, yes, Andrea, Okay, because yeah, so I started with with krill because I know that whales eat krill. Uh and if they had cheat if sorry, if they had teeth, that means that they could chew very good exactly.
They don't actually chew it. It just kind of goes in through there whatever they have and into their fam it's, you know, their tiny, tiny little plankt in size shrimp like food.
And I will say Andrea's sister is a marine biologist, so she had a nice advantage there.
Very I wouldn't say that that gives me any advantage. And they have had no idea what she's talking about at any point when she describes to me shout out to shout out.
To Italian.
Well here's one that's a little closer to home. Less about baileen whales. Uh, this is when you make beer or a verb meaning to make beer, it tastes like pig slop.
Okay, wait, okay, got the first word. Wait, I forget the second, Andrea you take you.
Make beer that tastes like pig.
I believe I believe it is Bruce swell.
Bruce Swell exactly exactly. How about the excitement you get from hearing cows?
Okay, I think I got it.
Well, moo, thrill, move thrill exactly sends a tingle. The slaughter of small mouselike animals.
Well that is uh, yeah, that's dark mouse. I object to the premise, but I will say it is.
Uh.
I believe shrew kill shrew kill.
Yes, so you're fine with all those little shrimp like plankton just getting devoured by the hypocrite You're going to call foul on the shrew? You know? How about the old time writing tool used by Dakota or Lakota people.
All right, I got Well, this is an instrument I wrote my last book with, So I better get that. Uh. And but I'm blanking on the name of the tribe.
Uh yes, sue quill, Yes, yes, I'll do a couple more of these are quick A document that says I leave my honey pot to piglet and my den to Christopher Robin.
This was also gone, and I don't like thinking about it.
But if he does, if he does.
I guess, I guess he's just prepared. He's still very much alive.
Will for sure negative.
That doesn't rhyme with blue hill.
Woo I mean, who will not woo hill?
Who will? Who will? Exactly? How about here's another one for the vegetarians, a cookout featuring the meat of an African antelope.
All Right, I got the first part, and the second part is I got it.
I got it.
I believe it's a new grill, A.
New grill, Yes, gn you new exactly. Well done. You guys just flew through those.
Thank you, Greg. Well, we have one last up on the puzzle last floor where we monitor the puzzle news. What is happening in the world. Well, I wanted to talk today about some new words. Uh for right, which is neologism's another word for new words. Because the Washington Post and other papers every year they have a contest where people submit new words that should exist. And they also have a related contest where it's you take a real word and you change one letter to create a new word. So let me give you some of the winners of that, and you can try to guess what they were. So this is the last the twenty twenty four winners of the neol.
You're gonna you're gonna give us the words that we have to give you the definitions.
That's correct, That's okay, all right. How about hippatitis. It's a noun, hippatitis h I P A T.
I T liver disease caused from caused by eating too much hippo meat.
Good guess, but no.
No, that's not it at all. Any No, it's some kind of reaction to the to the health disclosure laws.
Well, that's that's it's you're thinking more newsy than this is. This one is just someone who is terminally cool, you're too hip.
Oh, hippatitis, I see hippatitis. So it doesn't really have anything to do with hepatitis, and it's just a you know, an affliction combined.
Exactly, affliction combined. How about this one, ignor ignuranus.
Someone who doesn't someone who doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground.
That's actually a better that is a better definition than the one day day. I give you a double points. Their definition is a stupid a person who is both stupid and an a hole.
Uh, got it? Also good.
So those are some some portmanteaus they came up with. But I also wanted to use this as an excuse to talk about how the these neologisms, comedic neologisms not a new phenomenon. And Andrea, you will have no idea what I'm talking about. But Greg, you'll remember snigglets.
Yeah, so yeah, the very popular little invented word thing you get used to have like a little daily snigglets calendar. Yeah, like a word a day.
You guys made that up.
You guys made up that is a theologism. No, it is not. It is. In the nineteen eighties, popularized by comedian Rich Hall. It was on this show that was sort of a precursor to the daily show called Not Necessarily the News on HBO. And I bring it up because my mom is clearing stuff out and gave me a Sniggletz book from like nineteen eighty one, and what I love reading through. This is how many of these neologisms are so not neo because they're based on outdated technology and the situation.
I love it. They're like retro neologisms.
They're so retro. So let me give you a cup. Let me give you three of these and see if you can guess. The first one is flotion flo cion lotion.
It's lotion enhanced with fluoride. No, it's not that. What is flotion?
Well, I'll tell you there's no way you're going to get it.
I'm never going to remember what happened in the nineteen eighty.
The tendency when sharing a water bed to undulate for five minutes every time the other person moves. I mean, that is just fantastic.
Are there even waterbeds anymore?
I know, I know. I think I might have had a waterbed for like a month.
I had a friend in junior high school or something who had a waterbed.
And did you experience floation?
I just by myself, I experienced flow. You lie on the thing and it waves you around, and it's totally uncomfortable. There's nothing comfortable about a one.
And I think that's why they don't exist. All right, Let me give you two more accordionated accordionated, so that's acco or dated.
Accordiinated is amused by weird al Yankovic.
I like that, But it's actually being able to drive and refold a map at the same time, so you're like accordion of the map and coordinated and coordinated. But that is not a skill you need right now.
No, that's so old school. I love that people don't. Don't nobody has a folded map anymore. All right, last one dangerous? Was that?
Last one?
Is?
This?
One's interesting blog?
The log blog?
Wait, that is one of the snakelets in this book, and it was.
Not it was which is a But blog is a portmanteau. Oh no, it's a shortening. It's a shortening of a portmanteau.
Oh really, I look up what is it?
Originally a blog? A blog is a web blog log you put up on the web weblog, which is a portmanteau squishing the two words together. And then it got shortened to blog.
And then there's video log or vlog.
Became vlog, right, a video blog becomes a vlog, which is a portmanteau of a shortening of a portmanteau. I like it.
Well, this one is not that. But this had nothing to do with this one was it was an overly generous deposits of fish food floating at the top of the aquarium. So that is I think it's a blob and a log mixed together. So they got a blog.
But I love that there are blogs in the world that feel like overly generous portions of fish food.
Absolutely, we have too much toombny blogs, but so yes, obviously sneglitz needs a bit of a refresher. And in fact, if publislers out there have any new neologisms for new technology, I came up with one. It's okay, it's not terrible, not great, but it is inspired by my son's Ambi textres able to text with one hand and either hand. My kids can do right handed texting Ambi textures textras. So send us your neologisms via our website at the puzzler dot com or our Instagram page at Hello Puzzlers, where we post, by the way, great new stuff, all the time, new puzzles, and we will meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you.
Puzzling Blake, Hello Puzzlers. It's your Chief Puzzle Officer, Greg Plisker here with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. We did some Oscar puzzles and AJ gave me a puzzle about famous people named Oscar clued as if they were giving an Oscar's acceptance speech, and your extra credit was I'd like to thank my boxing gloves, my trainer, and my championship belt that, of course is the great boxer Oscar de la Hoya. Come back again tomorrow for some more puzzles that will box you out. Thanks for playing along with the team. Here at the Puzzler with AJ Jacobs, I'm Greg Pliska, your chief Puzzle Officer. Our executive producers are Neelie Lohman and Adam Neuhouse of New House Ideas and Lindsey Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The show is produced by Jody Averrigan and Brittany Brown of Roulette Productions, with production support from Claire Biddegar Curtis. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg. The Puzzler with Ajjacobs is a co production with New House Ideas and is distributed by Acridust Potash and If you have any idea what that is? Send your submissions now to the puzzler dot Com. It's in fact distributed by iHeart Podcasts. If you want to know more about puzzling puzzles, please check out the book The Puzzler by Ajjacobs, a history of puzzles that The New York Times called fun and funny. It features an original puzzle hunt by yours truly, and is available wherever you get your books and puzzlers. For all your puzzling needs, go visit the puzzler dot Com. See you there,
