tenpoundhammer
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Post by tenpoundhammer on Sept 4, 2020 11:45:29 GMT -5
Which puzzles on Wheel do you think have had the most obscure bits of knowledge or pop culture in them? Something that you would think was little known even at the time? Here are a few for me:
1991: COUNTRY WITH THE MOST PSYCHIATRISTS (who's gonna think to guess their own country?)
1994-95: pretty much any Megaword
2000: LAUREN HOLLY (at the time, she wasn't really known for anything other than Dumb and Dumber five years prior, and she never really seemed to make it big)
2002: LIFE WITH BONNIE
2009: CASH FOR CLUNKERS
2014: THE BEST DAY BY TAYLOR SWIFT (song was never a single)
2017: WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN BY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (obscure single that didn't make the Hot 100 or get much media hype)
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MarioGS
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Post by MarioGS on Sept 4, 2020 11:51:29 GMT -5
This was all over the media at the time. |
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tenpoundhammer
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Post by tenpoundhammer on Sept 4, 2020 12:20:01 GMT -5
This was all over the media at the time. At the time yes, but it faded into obscurity pretty quickly didn't it? |
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WarioSajak
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Post by WarioSajak on Sept 4, 2020 15:49:49 GMT -5
I think pretty much any Slang puzzle counts, too.
How about puzzles that are obscure to teens or millennials? May 28, 2018's WKRP IN CINCINNATI apparently faced the latter sort of group.
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Post by pakman on Sept 4, 2020 16:27:29 GMT -5
There was a Next Line Please from Celebrities & Moms Week where the solution was IS THIS THE LITTLE GIRL I CARRIED. First, one of the teams missolved it as IS THIS THE LITTLE GIRL I MARRIED, then the team that did solve it had no idea what the next line was. Unless you've seen "Fiddler on the Roof" or are familiar with show tunes, you probably would not have known either the title or the next line.
There's another Show Biz category I recall where the solution was ANDY KAUFMAN AS LATKA GRAVAS. You'd have to be familiar with "Taxi" in order to know that, but even if you are, you'd have be a loyal fan to know Latka's last name. I watched "Taxi" on Nick at Nite quite a bit, but I never knew Latka's last name. The guy who solved it must have been a "Taxi" fan because he got it with the "V" missing, something I don't think I could have done.
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MarioGS
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Post by MarioGS on Sept 4, 2020 16:34:31 GMT -5
SURF CITY HERE WE COME did not fare well both times it was used. Both times, it was missolved, and the second time, it wasn't solved until there was only one blank left.
Wasn't PONDEROSA PINES also an unsolved Toss-Up on two occasions?
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Post by jakemathis4520 on Sept 4, 2020 16:45:11 GMT -5
Yes it was. One instance it was used was 12/1/2011. Janie rang in with one letter and said Ponderosa Pints instead. I wonder what made her say Pints there. I feel like she was thinking Pines and Pints and had to make a decision fast and weirdly went with Pints. I don't know the other instance it was used.
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tenpoundhammer
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Post by tenpoundhammer on Sept 8, 2020 14:53:05 GMT -5
MIKE CONNORS AS MANNIX also seemed off to me. Didn't that get like four wrong letters with only the X missing?
Ditto RAVEL'S BOLERO. You've probably heard the song but don't know who composed it, and who's to say you don't know how to pronounce "Ravel" or "Bolero"?
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Post by pakman on Sept 8, 2020 16:27:26 GMT -5
Ditto RAVEL'S BOLERO. You've probably heard the song but don't know who composed it, and who's to say you don't know how to pronounce "Ravel" or "Bolero"?
It's been awhile since I've seen the episode, but I seemed to recall them going through several turns before it was finally solved.
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tenpoundhammer
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Post by tenpoundhammer on Oct 10, 2020 22:12:38 GMT -5
I thought that MICHAEL J. FOX & TRACY POLLAN from February 2001 was extremely obscure. Tracy Pollan was only ever a bit actor and never really known for anything else other than "Michael J. Fox's wife". I don't see any reason that anyone even in 2001 would have known her in any other capacity.
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Post by bigblue999 on Oct 10, 2020 23:42:38 GMT -5
I believe there were two instances where FLAT STANLEY was the answer and both didn’t know who he was.
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tenpoundhammer
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Post by tenpoundhammer on Oct 12, 2020 17:22:55 GMT -5
There was an episode around 2010 where FROM SOUP TO NUTS was the answer to an unsolved Toss-Up. Back on the old Sony boards, I remember not one, but two of that day's contestants posting and saying they had never heard of that phrase before. It's a very old-timey way of saying "everything" that even then I had not heard said by anyone under the age of 80.
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tenpoundhammer
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Post by tenpoundhammer on Oct 3, 2022 15:10:00 GMT -5
Was talking about this on Discord and thought of a few more:
Main game/Toss-Ups
FIRST SUCCESSFUL HUMAN HEART TRANSPLANT -- not for the puzzle itself, but for the bonus question afterward asking for the doctor who performed it
SILENT BUTLER'S TARGETS -- you know your puzzle is obscure when not even Pat can figure out what it's referring to
ANIMAL EXPERT JOAN EMBERY -- she seemed pretty low on the radar even then
HALLE BERRY AS DOROTHY DANDRIDGE -- a TV movie that only aired once; while it got some industry awards, I doubt most of the public even saw it, given how short its Wikipedia article is
KETCHIKAN ALASKA -- not on the same level of recognition as Fairbanks or Juneau. Seems like a very obscure small town with nothing of note
ENSENADA MEXICO -- just literally never heard of it before, nor do I see any reason the average person would know it
MUDPUPPY -- lot of people in the daily game thread saying they'd never heard of it either
Bonus Round
FLYING DOWN TO RIO -- even in 1988, I doubt most people had much knowledge of pre-Hays Code movies like this
OCTAVE -- I'm a music guy, but if you told me you didn't know what an octave is, I'd believe you
SKOKIE -- I doubt anyone outside Chicago could name any individual suburb
FICUS -- really obscure plant if you ask me
BYLAWS -- very obscure outdated term
BACKSPLASH -- Three words: "what's a backsplash?"
Any more you can think of?
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tenpoundhammer
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Post by tenpoundhammer on Feb 21, 2023 14:12:37 GMT -5
Not really "pop culture", but I maintain that ? PLAINS ? CORPUSCLES ? SULPHUR SPRINGS was the toughest Fill In the Blank by far. Most people don't know the word "corpuscles" to begin with unless they're in biology or health fields, and I don't see any reason anyone would know of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It's a tiny town in the middle of nowhere with no real landmarks or noteworthiness.
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Post by SuperSweeper on Feb 21, 2023 23:41:24 GMT -5
Not really "pop culture", but I maintain that ? PLAINS ? CORPUSCLES ? SULPHUR SPRINGS was the toughest Fill In the Blank by far. Most people don't know the word "corpuscles" to begin with unless they're in biology or health fields, and I don't see any reason anyone would know of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It's a tiny town in the middle of nowhere with no real landmarks or noteworthiness. The Greenbrier is located in White Sulphur Springs, and that is a big-time resort. It may be primarily an East Coast phenomenon, but it’s definitely *not* nothing. I will agree that it was a hard puzzle, but I don’t know if I’d say it was the hardest. |
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