Weekend Favorites: "Middle America Charades" w/ Jeremy Hobson

Published Jul 6, 2024, 8:00 AM

From time to time on the weekends, we’ll be bringing you some of our recent favorite episodes. Enjoy your weekend, and we’ll be back with a brand new puzzle on Monday!

Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: host of The Middle, Jeremy Hobson!

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.

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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas. 

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Hello puzzlers, and welcome to the Puzzler Weekend, where we bring you some of our favorite episodes from the vaults for your weekend listening. On this July fourth weekend, we thought we would bring you a United States themed puzzle. It's a classic with Jeremy Hobson, host of NPRS The Middle, and this one is about Mid American states. I will give you clues to the syllables of the states and you have to guess the states. So here is an example of one that did not make the final cut of the show. The clue is what comes before mash plus a synonym for once more, So comes before mash might be mish as in mishmash, the word for hodgepodge and synonym for once more might be again, mish again, miss again, Michigan, Michigan. So there you go. That one okay, but it didn't make the show. Here are the ones that did. Please enjoy. Hello puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast. The spa jets in your puzzle hot tub. I am your host, AJ Jacobs, and today's guest is the great Jeremy Hobson, radio journalist, podcaster, host of the Middle with Jeremy Hobson, found on podcasts and on NPR. Welcome Jeremy AJ.

It's so great to be here. Thank you for having me.

We are delighted to have you. We love your shows. It's I believe, correct me if I'm wrong. It's an antidote to extremism. It's about the middle of the political spectrum, the middle of the country, the idea of meeting in the middle, all those middle things.

Yes, you've done a very good job of describing it. Yes, what we say is we're bringing the voices of the geographic, political, and philosophical middle into the national conversation every week.

Got it, But not of middle equality, of high.

Quality exactly, very high quality, exactly.

One of my favorite facts about your show is that you advertise it as starting at eight Central time, nine Eastern instead of the usual starting with the Eastern. I love that well.

I grew up in champagn or Bana, Illinois, and it was my whole life used to hearing on every television show that's that's ten thirty Eastern, nine to thirty Central on CBS, and now I get to say Central time thime.

Yes, screw the Eastern time. I love it. What about starting with mountain time. That's another throw.

If we do the show live from the Mountain time zone, Babe, we'll start it from mat time.

Okay, all right, Well, moving on to the puzzle. Today's puzzle is called in honor review Middle American Charades. Okay, Now, this is not charades where I acted out because it's a podcast that might be a little difficult. Instead is literary charades, which is the original type of charades back in the seventeen hundreds France, where they would have poems or riddles where they would clue each syllable. So it's all about the syllables adding up to a phrase. So in this case, I'm going to give you clues to syllables and all of when you add up all the syllables, the answers are going to be Midwestern states in honor of your show, The Middle Now you may get the state before the final clue, but I would beg of you to refrain from saying it until the end. All right, This is an example. If I were to give you this would be for the state where you were born. The clue would be a synonym for sick plus a synonym for irritate. So that would be the synonym for sick is ill and synonym for irritate is annoi. And you put them together and you've got your home state, Illinois.

Thankfully pronounced the way it should be and not the way some people say with Illinois, thinking that the s is pronounced, which it is not.

I assure you, Oh interesting, are you sure? Yeah? Illinois interesting? So is it French? Is that where they got it?

Illinoyly? It's probably probably a Native American word I would have.

Guessed, Oh interesting, Okay, all right. First one, a racket sport plus a mediocre grade. A racket sport plus a mediocre grade. Oh, he's shaking his head.

The racket sport I would assume is tennis, yes, and the mediocre grade a C. What I got here? You go? Physics? Yeah, there you go.

I like your vulnerability. Thank you for telling us.

All right.

Next, something small plus a bubbly drink, something small plus a bubbly drink.

The something small maybe would be mini and the bubbly drink soda, although in Minnesota they would probably call it pop, so then it would be minipop. But yes, in this case we'll say Minnesota.

I love it minute pop I'm gonna say that's the answer, nicely done. What a priest wears around his neck, plus another name for a car, what a priest wears around or if I suppose there are female priests in some denominations.

As a person who is not raised in the church, this what I would think a cross, But that can't be it.

Well, it's just the very basic the collar there it is exactly. And another name for a car.

Oh, Colorado, okay, Colorado. But the other name for the car is a auto caller. Auto. There we go, okay, exactly, you got the second, you got a right?

There you go? All right? We got two or three more if you're up for it. This is a small budget film plus a magazine editor named Winter War.

Okay, So I'm going to say the small budget film is an indie film, which leaves us with only one option, and then Anna Winter so Indianna.

In the end, you are good, You're nailing these, no problem?

All right?

What about I'll raise it a little and give you their three clues in this one. This is a utensil for beating eggs plus Genghis Khan's last name plus one of seven deadly things.

So the wisk would be to beat the eggs, so wisk genghis Khan's last name being con and then a sin. There you go constantly.

You got it. This is Jeopardy champion Jennings plus what you might do with a nice shirt, plus something you need to open a.

Lock, so Ken Jennings. So and then you would tuck in your shirt. Yes, and what's the last part of.

It, something you need to open a lock or the dartmouths fool of business can? Oh no, that's the middle one. There we go in Kentucky, Kentucky exactly or Kentucky tuck in the tuck in because it's really tuck in. I couldn't tigu right, all right, last one, this is a container for soup, a metal container for soup. Plus what a cheeky impertinent person might have.

Well, I would say a can would be the container for soup, but a cheek her oh sas good. So we're not just dropping the s because that could also just have been cans cans plural. And then I don't know whether you all had to swear on the puzzler, but yes, can sass can can.

Sas well in honor of you we're trying to be sort of more of a family ship, right we didn't go with the cans ass well you did fantastic. You just ran right through those. Where can people find the middle or wherever.

They listen to their podcasts is where I would say they can find the middle, and we come out basically every Friday morning. It's about an hour long show and it's got two panel guests every week on a different topic, everything from immigration to inflation to China. A lot of interesting stuff and always really interesting callers from around the country.

I highly recommend it very good. And before we wrap up, as always, for all the puzzlers at home, here is an extra credit. Puzzle. Cyclops has one. Plus I should have known that. Plus a gardening tool. Cyclops has one. I should have known that gardening tool. You will get the answer on the next episode of the Puzzler, and in the meantime, please subscribe, tell your friends even rate it. It's just a click. Five stars is the easiest one to click, I believe, and we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.

The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs

Finally, your daily puzzle fix—in audio form! Every day, New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jaco 
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