Speaker 1: Hello puzzlers, and welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, your daily
Speaker 1: puzzle rations. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs, and I am
Speaker 1: here with our chief puzzle officer, Greg Plisco.
Speaker 2: Welcome Greg, Thank you Aj. It's nice to be let
Speaker 2: out once again.
Speaker 1: We have released you momentarily so that you could give
Speaker 1: us your latest concoction from the puzzle Lab. What do
Speaker 1: you got for me today?
Speaker 2: Well, I've got a puzzle that I call Capital Gains
Speaker 2: and it's all about US state capitals.
Speaker 1: Okay, there's a high risk of humiliation because I'm not
Speaker 1: that good at capital state or country capitals for that matter,
Speaker 1: but I'll do my best.
Speaker 2: You don't have to know which state they go with.
Speaker 2: You just have to know the names of some of
Speaker 2: the state capitals.
Speaker 1: All right, Well that might help.
Speaker 2: I'll give you a sentence with a blank in it,
Speaker 2: and then you tell me the capital city that fits
Speaker 2: into that blank so the sentence makes sense.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: For example, if you have to change your tire on
Speaker 2: the side of the road, it's useful to remember that
Speaker 2: the blank the trunk.
Speaker 1: Well, this is not good when the example is stumping me.
Speaker 2: That's just imagine you're on the side of the road
Speaker 2: in Mississippi.
Speaker 1: Me, I do remember, hold on, that's one of the presidents,
Speaker 1: Jackson or Jeffries Jackson. All right, Jackson Mississippi.
Speaker 2: Jackson Jackson, Mississippi in the Jackson in the trunk.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay, so Jackson, So you left out Jackson Jackson.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's useful to remember that the blank the trunk,
Speaker 2: the Jackson the trunk.
Speaker 3: Ah.
Speaker 1: Very as right.
Speaker 2: And it's phonetic. The spelling doesn't matter all the merit.
Speaker 2: It matters is the sound of the world.
Speaker 1: Well that makes it harder. That doesn't help me.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well for you, No, it still has to be phonetic.
Speaker 2: All the examples here are phenetic, no question. Okay, all right,
Speaker 2: you got this, You got this. You need help. I've
Speaker 2: got hints. I'm ready with hints.
Speaker 1: All right, I may call you in like.
Speaker 2: Once Easter is over. Blank shaped chocolates and baby chick
Speaker 2: marshmallow treats.
Speaker 1: Are half off blank shaped chocolates, I mean egg shaped.
Speaker 1: But is there an egg? Is an egg?
Speaker 2: Another thing? That another Easter shaped thing, another animal that's
Speaker 2: not a baby chick?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: So yeah, rabbit bunny, yep, bunny bunny, funny shaped bunny shaped.
Speaker 2: Or yep, once Easter is over blank shaped chocolates. It's
Speaker 2: the capital of New York. Albany all bunny shaped chocolates.
Speaker 1: The Albany tricky, very tricky. I didn't get that. It
Speaker 1: was like bunny. I don't recognize that. As I forgot.
Speaker 1: You can add another word, all right, Yes, now I
Speaker 1: am O four two great.
Speaker 2: Each of these is going to be more than one syllable.
Speaker 2: I think almost all the state capitals are more than
Speaker 2: one syllable, except maybe Pier, South Dakota, which is pronounced Peer,
Speaker 2: not Pierre. That's true Peer, yeah, yeah, Ni Pier. Yeah. Okay,
Speaker 2: here's another one. Although when young she was quite blank,
Speaker 2: Hathaway overcame her reserved nature to become a famous actress.
Speaker 1: Okay, I do have this one.
Speaker 2: I do have Okay, though when she was although when
Speaker 2: young she was.
Speaker 1: Quite shy and shy.
Speaker 2: Halthaway overcame her reserve of nature to become a famous actress. Yes, Cheyenne,
Speaker 2: why are very clever?
Speaker 1: All right? I like it. I like it.
Speaker 2: It's useful to point out there's a hint in there. Obviously, Hathaway.
Speaker 2: You want to think of a person with a name
Speaker 2: that goes with Hathaway, like Anne Hathaway, and then reserved
Speaker 2: nature is a hint to the fact that we're talking
Speaker 2: about how she was quite shy exactly.
Speaker 1: All right, well, I feel all right, I'm one for three.
Speaker 1: That is okay, good except in baseball, I guess.
Speaker 2: Well the first you're one for two. Actually the first
Speaker 2: one was just an example. Okay, all right, here you go.
Speaker 2: The phrase going to blank handbasket might be derived from
Speaker 2: the ill fate that meets people sentenced to death at
Speaker 2: the guillotine, as well as to the receptacle used to
Speaker 2: catch their heads.
Speaker 1: Got it, Sorry I interrupted, But that's all right. Now
Speaker 1: that's the one. If you had started with that, I
Speaker 1: would have had some optimism. I would have had some confidence.
Speaker 2: I know. I realized that.
Speaker 1: One I can do now. That is Helena, Helena.
Speaker 2: Helena Montana. Yes, the phrase going to helen a hand basket,
Speaker 2: and the derivation isn't clear, but it might be derived from,
Speaker 2: you know, the fate that meets you when you're guillotined
Speaker 2: and your head ends up in the hand basket. I
Speaker 2: don't know, No one knows quite where it comes from.
Speaker 1: Makes sense?
Speaker 2: All right, here's here's another one. For you. If New
Speaker 2: York fans don't mind paying the extra processing. Blank basketball
Speaker 2: tickets are easy to purchase online.
Speaker 1: Oh well, that's interesting, all.
Speaker 2: Right, don't mind paying the extra processing. Blank basketball tickets
Speaker 2: are easy to purchase online.
Speaker 1: I mean, I have guesses, but none of them make
Speaker 1: any sense whatsoever. There's Nicks fee, nets fee.
Speaker 2: Wait, wait, go back to your first one, Nicks if
Speaker 2: you don't mind paying the extra processing.
Speaker 1: So you're saying Nix is in there. Nicks is a
Speaker 1: good thing.
Speaker 2: You said both parts.
Speaker 1: Actually Nick's fee.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't knob it around.
Speaker 1: Phoenix, ayesha, all right, very.
Speaker 2: Good, Nick feed the capital of Zona, Era exactly, Phoenix, Arizona.
Speaker 2: If you don't mind paying the extra processing fee. Nicks
Speaker 2: basketball tickets are easy to pridge us online.
Speaker 1: Got it? Got all right? Well I don't know about
Speaker 1: well done, but I had a good time. I had
Speaker 1: a good time. All well, that was excellent as always,
Speaker 1: So we are glad we keeped you locked up down
Speaker 1: there so that you can come up with these. And
Speaker 1: do you have a extra credit puzzle for our puzzlers.
Speaker 2: And whom I do? I do? Here's your extra credit.
Speaker 2: While most people use their fingers, if you can touch
Speaker 2: your face with a blank boo becomes an even sillier
Speaker 2: child's game.
Speaker 1: Perfect Well, thank you Greg for enlightening and frustrating and
Speaker 1: delighting us and puzzlers. Please remember to subscribe and we
Speaker 1: will see you here tomorrow for some more puzzling puzzles
Speaker 1: that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2: Hello puzzlers, this is Greg Pliska up from the Puzzle
Speaker 2: Lab with the extra credit answer from our previous show.
Speaker 2: On that show, Aj was playing an ASMR game with
Speaker 2: Lisa Lobe. To be specific, he was whispering clues to
Speaker 2: words or phrases that have the letters ASM and R
Speaker 2: in them in that order, so this was the extra credit.
Speaker 3: Here you might find roller coasters, flumes, long lines, fried dough, Dippin'
Speaker 3: Dot's ice cream, and the answer is amusement park.
Speaker 2: Yes, amusement park. Thanks for playing. Hope you enjoyed the
Speaker 2: little ASMR and we'll see you next time on the Puzzler.
Speaker 2: Thanks for playing along with the team here at the Puzzler.
Speaker 2: I'm Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer. Our executive producers
Speaker 2: are Neelie Lohman and Adam Neuhause of New House Ideas
Speaker 2: and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The show is produced
Speaker 2: by Jody Abergan and Brittany Brown of Roulette Productions. Our
Speaker 2: associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg. The Puzzler with Aj Jacobs
Speaker 2: is a co production with New House Ideas and is
Speaker 2: distributed by ash Pit, Redcoats No. It's distributed by iHeart
Speaker 2: Podcasts Rearrange the Letters People. If you want to know
Speaker 2: more about puzzling puzzles, please check out the book The
Speaker 2: Puzzler by AJ Jacobs, a history of puzzles that The
Speaker 2: New York Times called fun and funny. It features an
Speaker 2: original puzzle hunt by yours truly, and is available wherever
Speaker 2: you get your books and puzzlers. For all your puzzling needs,
Speaker 2: go visit the puzzler dot com. See you there,