Speaker 1: Hello, puzzlers. Welcome to The Puzzler, the podcast of interest
Speaker 1: in your felony puzzle investigation. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs,
Speaker 1: and today's guest is the wonderful Charlotte Wilder. She's a
Speaker 1: sportswriter and host of the show Oddball, which Charlotte describes
Speaker 1: as the weirdest NBA show available in the media. Welcome Charlotte,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Aj. Yes, the stranger and wild things we talk about
Speaker 2: for Metal Lark Media, it's always an adventure.
Speaker 1: Well, I do I have a sports related question to
Speaker 1: open things up, which is is puzzling a sport?
Speaker 2: Yes? I don't even need to think about that one.
Speaker 2: Puzzling is one thousand percent a sport. You know. I
Speaker 2: named myself the Arbiter of Sports a long time ago,
Speaker 2: and I had a whole rubric of things that made
Speaker 2: something sports are not sports, which now I cannot even
Speaker 2: remember unless I go look up the old article. But
Speaker 2: I do remember that number seven was does it feel
Speaker 2: like sports? And that that can override absolutely any of
Speaker 2: the other criteria. So I am honored to be on
Speaker 2: the show. I'm a huge fan, love listening and I
Speaker 2: think that it is so far in the arena of
Speaker 2: sports that I'm actually surprised you had to ask me age.
Speaker 1: Well, I just wanted to make sure since you're the expert.
Speaker 1: I mean, I am a member of the twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: USA Jigsaw Puzzle Championship US team, so I consider that
Speaker 1: a sport. We came in second to last and embarrassed
Speaker 1: our country, so it wasn't that's incredible.
Speaker 2: Listen as long as you're in.
Speaker 1: The arena, thank you.
Speaker 2: I think puzzling. You know it's not true, but I
Speaker 2: mean it.
Speaker 1: We had a great time and you and you are
Speaker 1: a right. You said you emailed me that you like
Speaker 1: what you like the spelling big connection. You were just
Speaker 1: doing connections, like to limber up to do? Is that right?
Speaker 2: Before I came on here. I had saved myself connections
Speaker 2: today to do right before we started recording, to get
Speaker 2: the puzzle neurons firing. Yeah, I have. It's sort of
Speaker 2: I guess you could call it an obsession. I don't
Speaker 2: really know what else you would call it. I do
Speaker 2: the crossword every day, I do connections every day, and
Speaker 2: then I do Letterbox every day, which is not as popular.
Speaker 1: A puzzle dark Horse. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, and to make it even harder on myself to
Speaker 2: tell you, you know, everybody listening, how I really am.
Speaker 2: I do it every day. My dad and I do this,
Speaker 2: and we have to do letterboxed in two words wo
Speaker 2: because there's always a two word solution, and they'll say,
Speaker 2: like yeah, they'll say solve in six words, but you
Speaker 2: can always get it in two. And I've wasted. I've
Speaker 2: wasted easily four hours a day before trying to like
Speaker 2: not not doing everything I should be doing because I'm,
Speaker 2: you know, one word away from the elusive two words solve.
Speaker 1: Well, that's why you got to listen to the Puzzler podcast.
Speaker 1: We're only like ten minutes and we've got one for you.
Speaker 1: Are you ready, Charlotte, I'm so ready.
Speaker 2: AJ.
Speaker 1: It's called random Fandom, and the answers are going to
Speaker 1: be a two word rhyming phrase like random fandom, and
Speaker 1: one of those words is always going to be the
Speaker 1: name of a sport like baseball or puzzling. I guess
Speaker 1: now that we know that it's an official sport, all right,
Speaker 1: here we go. This is what you might call a
Speaker 1: big stunning surprise, like when the US women's team was
Speaker 1: eliminated early in last year's World Cup.
Speaker 2: You know, I know it immediately, but to give I'm
Speaker 2: going to give listeners a second. I was so harvist
Speaker 2: that this first one you gave me. I was going
Speaker 2: to have absolutely no idea. But I'm pretty sure, AJ,
Speaker 2: that's a soccer shocker.
Speaker 1: That is a soccer shocker exactly. And yeah, I am
Speaker 1: using the American word for soccer because I don't know
Speaker 1: some people might want to say, I try to find
Speaker 1: a football rhyme like this is hard football groupball. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all right, you're right, you did it. Uh, thank you,
Speaker 1: nicely done. All right, this next one, this is what
Speaker 1: it's called when you are riding on a horse. You're
Speaker 1: holding a mallet but you're the only one playing.
Speaker 2: Oh poor thing. I mean, assuming you don't have any
Speaker 2: friends who can join you on horseback. That is solo polo, AJ, that.
Speaker 1: Is solo polo. And thank you for the emotion, the
Speaker 1: poignancy you got that. Yeah, all right, what about this one?
Speaker 1: This is the national sport of Canada's head haun show,
Speaker 1: I should say national summer sport. It used to be
Speaker 1: the national sport completely but they recently changed it to
Speaker 1: the National Summer Sport.
Speaker 2: Okay, head honcho. I mean immediately I go to hockey,
Speaker 2: but that's not a summer sport exactly. So I'm trying
Speaker 2: to think what else they do? They do curling, that's
Speaker 2: also not a summer sport. What does he do in Canada? Something?
Speaker 1: Well, I'm here for you if you need me, I
Speaker 1: would love a hint. All right, Well, this was invented
Speaker 1: by indigenous people of North America. Oh that's it. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to say anymore.
Speaker 2: I know the sport. It's the head honcho. Uh well,
Speaker 2: can I say the sport?
Speaker 1: Yeah, the sport's lacrosse, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2: So now I'm trying to think.
Speaker 1: Of head cahuna, the top dog, the right, the CEO.
Speaker 1: They I'm running out of synonyms.
Speaker 2: The boss, the lacrosse boss.
Speaker 1: Lacrosse boss. Exactly. You got it, all right, We got
Speaker 1: about two more here. This is Japanese rice wine, given
Speaker 1: to players who are on an ice rink hitting a puck.
Speaker 2: I don't know how safe it is, but it's definitely
Speaker 2: hockey sake.
Speaker 1: It is hockey saki exactly, although as my son pointed out,
Speaker 1: that's the American pronunciation, so ok, it might be yes,
Speaker 1: hockey sake, all right. Well, let me do one more
Speaker 1: than this is this is when Bill and Hillary play
Speaker 1: with a shuttlecock, which I know sounds a little dirty,
Speaker 1: but it's not.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's a couple of Clinton's playing.
Speaker 1: Badminton exactly Clinton badminton, and I learned here's a fun fact.
Speaker 1: I believe according to one source, the shuttlecock is the
Speaker 1: feather version and the birdie is the plastic version.
Speaker 2: I've never known that you taught me something about sports.
Speaker 1: Aj it may or may not be true. I'd say
Speaker 1: eighty percent, but that six secs Oh, let me do
Speaker 1: one last one because it's not totally a sport, but
Speaker 1: it is sporting related, which is this is people who
Speaker 1: work on the yacht owned by Times twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: person of the Year. Do you know who the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three person was? Someone you? No, that was like
Speaker 1: twenty the twenty twenty was like you and I was like, no,
Speaker 1: this was someone who you have.
Speaker 2: Wait twenty twenty three, Oh oh Swift, Taylor Swift. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they work on the I'm a sailor person to the
Speaker 2: two things, the two things I care most about it
Speaker 2: Ja Taylor Swift in sailing, and I can't That's.
Speaker 1: Why I, well, you just said the two words in
Speaker 1: different forms. He said Taylor and oh Taylor Sealers Taylor
Speaker 1: Sailors exactly.
Speaker 2: I was like, I didn't remember that twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: was last year. I was like, that's this year, so
Speaker 2: and that's how I got confused.
Speaker 1: But yes, it is a whole new year. And by
Speaker 1: the way, you once wrote that Taylor Swift's erastour is
Speaker 1: the best sporting event you have ever seen, And I
Speaker 1: see by that, what do you mean by just give
Speaker 1: me a hint?
Speaker 2: You know? I think for me going to see Taylor
Speaker 2: Swift at an NFL stadium, I went and met life
Speaker 2: in New Jersey and I didn't realize until I walked
Speaker 2: in and there was so much joy and I felt
Speaker 2: so safe, and there were so many women, and it
Speaker 2: didn't occur to me how unsafe I regularly feel or
Speaker 2: like tense just doing my job going to sporting events
Speaker 2: or especially football games in sort of the browie culture.
Speaker 2: So it was really it was very moving to me
Speaker 2: to go to a place where I work often or
Speaker 2: have wor worked and see something so joyful and celebratory
Speaker 2: and feminine. So that's what Also, she's on the stage
Speaker 2: for three and a half hours. So if that's not
Speaker 2: an ade, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, and you were, I mean you were way
Speaker 1: ahead of the NFL Taylor Swift ven diagram. So congrats
Speaker 1: on that. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2: I think I actually tweeted in twenty twenty that Taylor
Speaker 2: Swift is sports but who's keeping track?
Speaker 1: Nice? Well, thank you. You were wonderful and I hope
Speaker 1: that you don't resent me like your mom resents Sam Mazerski. No,
Speaker 1: those were fun, excellent. Where can people find more Charlotte
Speaker 1: Wilder content? Oh?
Speaker 2: Man, Well, you could follow me on Instagram at the
Speaker 2: Wilder Things. I used to be more active on Twitter
Speaker 2: or x but now it's sort of even worse than
Speaker 2: it used to be. But that's my social handle. You
Speaker 2: can check out all Ball every weekday but Mondays on
Speaker 2: Draft Kings Network and on YouTube and occasionally I pop
Speaker 2: in on the Dan Levatard Show or Pablo Tory finds
Speaker 2: out great. Oh also my substack, which is the Wilder
Speaker 2: Things dot substack dot com. I would be honored if
Speaker 2: anyone listening would would subscribe.
Speaker 1: Excellent. All right, wile you've got lots of options people,
Speaker 1: All right, As always before we wrap up for the
Speaker 1: puzzlers at home, We've got an extra credit puzzle. This
Speaker 1: is a little snack that you might have while playing
Speaker 1: an indoor racket sport and puzzlers. You can get the
Speaker 1: answer to that next episode, and don't forget to subscribe
Speaker 1: to the Puzzler podcast. We'll meet you here tomorrow for
Speaker 1: more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2: Hello puzzlers, This is Greg plus up from the Puzzle
Speaker 2: Lab with the extra credit answer from our previous show.
Speaker 2: On that show, we were playing charades words that are
Speaker 2: made up of two other words, and the clue you
Speaker 2: got was even though he was convicted of killing someone,
Speaker 2: we still heard that guy's expression of merriment and that
Speaker 2: clues two different words or phrases. The first long word
Speaker 2: is manslaughter and that breaks into two parts man's laughter.
Speaker 2: Congrats to those of you who got it, and good
Speaker 2: luck puzzling