Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and attention puzzle addicts, the final segment of the show today is especially for you. You are invited right now to call in and try your hand at a puzzle made especially for us called New York New Shmork. The clues will lead you to answers about New York in rhyme. No prizes in this puzzle except bragging rights, but what could be more fun? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. It's New York, New Smirk. Who wants to play? Why are we doing this? Where did this come from? It comes from our guests who have a new podcast called The Puzzler.
They are many-time guests on the show, A.J. Jacobs, who was last here to talk about his latest book now in paperback called The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life, and puzzle maker, A.K.A chief puzzle officer, how's that for a title? Chief puzzle officer, Greg Pliska, whose work some of you might remember from NPR's Ask Me Another. They've got a live show coming up this month in the city of New York, New Smirk, which we'll tell you about. That'll be on the 31st. We will play this puzzle that they wrote, especially for you all, for this segment.
Who wants to try to answer these questions, just for fun, that prompt rhymes about New York? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We've got 12 minutes. Let's see how many puzzle New York, New Smirk questions and answers we can get in here. Who wants to play? 212-433-9692. Welcome Greg Pliska and welcome back A.J. Jacobs to WNYC.
A. J. Jacobs: Thank you.
Greg Pliska: Thank you so much, Brian. It's great to be with you.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Which one of you wants to explain the puzzle we're asking listeners to solve?
A. J. Jacobs: I'll take it. Like you said, we're going to give clues and every answer is going to be a rhyming phrase, usually two words where one of the words is a well-known New York person, place, or thing. Let me give you an example. I think it's an appropriate one. A list of rare mistakes made by WNYC host Brian that might be--
Brian Lehrer: You want this to rhyme? I have the answer in front of me. I know the answer, so I'm not going to fake that I don't, [laughter] but-
A. J. Jacobs: You're a good journalist.
Brian Lehrer: -just so people get the idea, your clue is a list of real mistakes made by me in rhyme, so that's-- okay. You can reveal it A.J.
A. J. Jacobs: It is Lehrer's errors, which as I mentioned, very rare, very rare. Some of these are fanciful phrases. The people and places are real, but yes, Lehrer's errors.
Greg Pliska: Some people would say it's not that rare, but it could be a rare Lehrer error, and while we're getting--
A. J. Jacobs: Oh, nice.
Greg Pliska: Very good, Brian. I like that.
Brian Lehrer: While we're getting the callers ready, Greg, do you want to tell us about the podcast, The Puzzler?
Greg Pliska: Absolutely. It actually spun off the book The Puzzler, that you mentioned in that lovely introduction. A.J. asked me to write puzzles for the book, and then when he was putting together the audiobook, started coming up with puzzles that would work audio rather than in print. Out of that came this idea, "Hey, this would actually be fun to do, not just for the audiobook, but as a regular podcast." Each day, we do a little 8 to 10-minute morning-- we think of it as a morning podcast. We like people to do it while they're walking the dog or making their omelets or whatever. We have a guest on, and we give them some puzzles, and the audience gets to play along in the privacy of their own homes.
Brian Lehrer: Before we take some contestants beyond your puzzle, New York, New Smirk that you made for us, you told us A.J., that New York, New York, meaning the city, not the song, is actually important in puzzle history. What role did it play?
A. J. Jacobs: Oh, yes. New York is a center of puzzling. It's the birthplace of the crossword puzzle in the New York World newspaper in 1913, you had the first New York Times crossword puzzle. New York Times thought crosswords were frivolous and trivial, so they would not do them until World War II, and then they said, "You know what, we need a break." Then they became the leader, but there are all these amazing New York puzzle history facts that we'll talk about at the event. Simon & Schuster, that started as a crossword puzzle publisher.
Stephen Sondheim, huge puzzle nerd. He changed the trajectory of crosswords actually with a big article in New York Magazine many years ago saying he preferred British crosswords and we've become much more British in our crosswords since then.
Brian Lehrer: All right, listeners. Who wants to play New York, New Smirk? Greg and A.J. are going to give you clues like they did with Lehrer's errors for things pertaining to New York, that the answer is going to be a rhyme. 212-433-WNYC. Jacob in Brooklyn, you're up first. Hi, Jacob.
Jacob: Hey, Brian. How's it going?
Brian Lehrer: Going all right. All right? You got one A.J.?
A. J. Jacobs: Greg, you want to take it?
Greg Pliska: Sure. I'll take this one. Jacob, thanks for playing along with us. Here's your clue. These are the singing tracks from the Governor's record album.
Jacob: The singing tracks from the Governor's record album?
Brian Lehrer: It's a completely made-up thing, right? The governor doesn't have a record album, but if she did--
Jacob: Got you.
A. J. Jacobs: As far as we know, she doesn't.
Jacob: Right. I look forward to it.
Brian Lehrer: What might you call those tracks from this particular governor that rhymes?
Jacob: I would call those tracks Hochul's vocals.
Brian Lehrer: There you go.
A. J. Jacobs: Nicely done.
Brian Lehrer: Very good.
A. J. Jacobs: Can I give Jacob one more?
Brian Lehrer: Sure. He earned a second shot here. Go ahead.
Jacob: Okay.
A. J. Jacobs: [laughs]. All Right. This is in the same line. These are the people who do the beauty treatments or Senator Chuck's dogs.
[laughter].
Jacob: Ooh. Schumer's groomers.
A. J. Jacobs: That's it.
Brian Lehrer: There you go.
A. J. Jacobs: You got it.
Brian Lehrer: Jacob, very good. Bragging rights. We're going to let some of the other people play. Joanne in New Rochelle. Hi, Joanne. You ready?
Joanne: Yes, I'm ready.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Whichever of you guys wants to [crosstalk], go ahead.
Greg Pliska: I'll take that one. Thanks, Brian. Welcome, Joanne. All right. Here's your clue.
Joanne: Hi.
Greg Pliska: What you use when you sneeze in a Bronx baseball stadium.
Joanne: In a Bronx baseball stadium. Yankee hanky.
Greg Pliska: Yankee--
A. J. Jacobs: Look at that.
Greg Pliska: A Yankee hanky or Yankee sanky is very good.
A. J. Jacobs: I was about to give a hint and [crosstalk]
Brian Lehrer: So was I. What was your hint going to be?
A. J. Jacobs: I was going to mention something with pinstripes. What were you going with? Something--
Brian Lehrer: Oh, I was going to say, it's something you would use to wipe away your tears when the Yankees fail yet again.
[laughter].
A. J. Jacobs: I like the editorialization.
Greg Pliska: As a longtime Mets fan, I would say we need the hankies more than the Yankee fans do. I have to confess that. [laughs]?
Brian Lehrer: All right. Joanne gets another one.
Greg Pliska: Go ahead, A.J.
A. J. Jacobs: Oh, sure. How about this is a of Vladimir Nabokov or Nabokov, I'm not sure which. It's a book of his found in a neighborhood bordering SoHo in the Bowery. Do you know any books-- His most famous--
Brian Lehrer: There's a Nabokov book title reference in here as it relates to a--
A. J. Jacobs: His most famous book and it is--
Brian Lehrer: -neighborhood bordering SoHo and the Bowery. It's the Rhyme.
A. J. Jacobs: And it is--
Joanne: It's Lolita.
A. J. Jacobs: Yes. Lolita. Did you say the other one?
Brian Lehrer: The neighborhood is hard. She's in Westchester.
A. J. Jacobs: Oh, she's in West-- [laughter]. This neighborhood did not exist when I was a kid.
Brian Lehrer: All right. We're going to give this one away. Joanne, thanks for trying. And the answer is?
A. J. Jacobs: Lolita Nolita or Nolita Lolita. Yes, I guess that's a newer neighborhood.
Brian Lehrer: That was a hard one. All right. Goldie in Brooklyn-
A. J. Jacobs: We got to throw some tough ones.
Brian Lehrer: -is going to give it a shot. Hi, Goldie. You ready?
Goldie: [crosstalk] I guess so.
[laughter].
Greg Pliska: All right, Goldie, you're a brave soul.
Brian Lehrer: She's resigned.
Goldie: Pardon me?
Greg Pliska: [laughs]. Thanks for taking the--
Brian Lehrer: She called us. We have to remind her but go ahead.
Greg Pliska: [laughs]. Okay. All Right, Goldie. This is a pickup technique that gets you nowhere, even at the southern tip of Manhattan.
Brian Lehrer: Oh, the southern tip of Manhattan. Pickup, you mean like a pickup line in a bar, right?
Greg Pliska: Exactly. There's a common phrase, in fact, "This will get you nowhere."
Brian Lehrer: Oh. In lower Manhattan. Very lower Manhattan. [inaudible 00:09:26]
[laughter]
A. J. Jacobs: It's often called Blank Park, is at the bottom of Manhattan. [inaudible 00:09:32]
Goldie: Oh, gosh. It went out of my mind just this minute. I'm sorry.
Brian Lehrer: All right, Goldie. Thanks for trying. All right? Reveal and then we'll go on.
Greg Pliska: Sure. The answer to that one is battery flattery.
Brian Lehrer: Battery flattery will get you nowhere at the southern tip of Manhattan. Bill in Bayonne, ready to play?
Bill: I am.
A. J. Jacobs: Bill, how about denim pants from one of New York's burrows? Denim pants.
Bill: Queen Jeans.
A. J. Jacobs: There it is. You got it there.
Brian Lehrer: There you go. Give him another one.
Bill: All right, go.
Greg Pliska: Let me do this one because I have a sense you're a savvy puzzler. This is another burrow's mollusk. They're delicious in a Jamaican stew or blown as a musical instrument.
Bill: Brox conchs.
Greg Pliska: Oh. Verry good.
A. J. Jacobs: Wow. That was fast.
Brian Lehrer: Awesome. Give him one more and then we're out of time and I'm going to ask you to promote your event.
A. J. Jacobs: Greg has a bonus super--
Greg Pliska: I will do this. This is a very rare quadruple rhyme. There are actually three words in this one. These are collections of--
J. Jacobs: Four words.
Greg Pliska: Four words in this one. Collections of memorabilia from three of New York's sports teams.
Brian Lehrer: They all rhyme. That's a big clue. It's a collection is the clue for the other word. They are collections.
Bill: Mets, Nets, Jets.
A. J. Jacobs: You said it. I'm hearing that you said--
Greg Pliska: You've got some-
Bill: [unintelligible 00:11:12].
Greg Pliska: -rhyming.
A. J. Jacobs: That's good. What are the three teams? Start with that rhyme.
Bill: Mets, Nets, and Jets.
A. J. Jacobs: Exactly.
Greg Pliska: If you have collection of them?
Bill: Sets.
Brian Lehrer: Sets.
Greg Pliska: Sets. Mets, Jets, Nets, Sets
Brian Lehrer: Mets, Jets, Nets, Sets. We have a minute-
A. J. Jacobs: Well, done.
Brian Lehrer: -left in the show for you to do two plugs. Plug your new podcast, The Puzzler.
A. J. Jacobs: It's called The Puzzler.
Brian Lehrer: Tell people what you're going to be doing in the city on Wednesday, January 31st.
Greg Pliska: Excellent. We are doing The Puzzler Live at the Midnight Theater on January 31st. We're going to do some of these puzzles. A.J. and I, we're going to talk about New York puzzle history and we're going to have two featured guests. Ophira Eisenberg, the comedian and former host of Ask Me Another on NBR,-
Brian Lehrer: Fun.
Greg Pliska: -and Wyna Liu, who's the editor of the very popular Connections feature in The New York Times.
Brian Lehrer: People can come out and win or lose with Wyna Liu, and you
Greg Pliska: Oh, very good.
Brian Lehrer: There you go.
A. J. Jacobs: You stole one of our puns.
Brian Lehrer: A.J. Jacobs and Greg Pliska, so much fun. Thank you for making up a puzzle with us. Good luck with the new podcast and have fun on the 31st.
Greg Pliska: Thank you so much, Brian.
A. J. Jacobs: Thank you, Brian.


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