De-lightful Listener Puzzles

A. J. Jacobs (0:01)

Hello, Puzzlers! I thought today we could start with a quick puzzle. Today's puzzle comes from a listener, my friend Todd Christman. I love Todd, great writer. And he asked me, what is the name of a palindromic group that had a palindromic hit song in a palindromic music genre? This has been around. It's a famous palindrome based music riddle. And I thank Todd for sending it my way. Let me just repeat it.

Can you name a palindromic group that had a palindromic hit song in a palindromic music genre? The answer and more puzzling goodness after the break.

Hello folks, welcome back to the Hello, Puzzlers! podcast. The friends and family hotel block at your puzzle destination wedding. I am your host, AJ. Jacobs. I'm here, of course, with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Pliska. And Greg, before the break, we had a little palindrome based riddle. Can you name a palindromic group that had a palindromic hit song in a palindromic music genre?

Greg Pliska (1:21)

All I can say is, wow, it's cool.

It took me a while to think of the song. But you think-

A. J. Jacobs (1:27)

Yeah, I got two out of three.

Greg Pliska (1:29)

Palindromic group, you immediately get to think ABBA, right?

A. J. Jacobs (1:32)

That I got, yes. And then I got the genre.

Greg Pliska (1:35)

Got to be pop, right?

A. J. Jacobs (1:36)

That's right. This I didn't get though. I was like, mama mia.

Greg Pliska (1:40)

I thought of that.

Andrea Schoenberg (1:40)

It doesn't quite.

A. J. Jacobs (1:41)

It's not really a palindrome.

Greg Pliska (1:43)

No. If you said, I mama mia, it still wouldn't be a palindrome. If you said, aim, aim mama mia. No, it doesn't work. Aim a mama. Anyway, never mind.

No, you think of the song SOS.

A. J. Jacobs (1:56)

That's it. Todd is thinking of it more specifically. But yes, that is it. SOS.

So yeah, a very fun little fact. I was hoping that also you could add that ABBA had some songs with the rhyme scheme ABBA.

But apparently not. None.

Greg Pliska (2:14)

Probably not. It's very uncommon in pop music.

A. J. Jacobs (2:16)

It's an uncommon one. Yeah, it's so uncommon that there's a few famous ABBAs. James Taylor's Sweet Baby James is a famously ABBA rhyme scheme. Because it's usually ABAB or AABB.

Greg Pliska (2:33)

AABB is common. Yeah.

A. J. Jacobs (2:34)

So yeah, no ABBA for ABBA.

That was from our listener, Todd. But I thought it was appropriate because it is Puzzle Lab Friday, where we try different things that we experiment in the lab. Today, we're going to have an all listener themed day. We got an intro puzzle from a listener, we got another puzzle from a listener, we got letters. So, let's go immediately to the first puzzle from a listener, and Andrea is going to give it. I didn't really look at it closely, so I'm going to play and Greg didn't look at it at all.

Greg Pliska (3:11)

Never look at it. I love that we get listener mail, hellopuzzlerspod at gmail.com, and it comes in and I see listener mail, and I immediately say, I can't look at it because it might have a puzzle that I'm going to get to do on the air. So, I love it. I love it. Thank you, listeners.

A. J. Jacobs (3:29)

So who is this from, Andrea?

Andrea Schoenberg (3:31)

This is from Ginger Oppenheimer.

A. J. Jacobs (3:34)

Hooray, Ginger. We love her. She sent one in earlier, I believe. The Claire Hughes, is that right?

Greg Pliska (3:40)

Yeah, I think so.

A. J. Jacobs (3:41)

Well, thank you, Ginger. Tell us more, Andrea.

Andrea Schoenberg (3:44)

She is from Bellingham, Washington, and she is a retired editor, but still proofreads outdoors and recreation books.

A. J. Jacobs (3:53)

Love it.

Andrea Schoenberg (3:54)

Four or five a year, and she's a photographer, concentrating on minimal and abstract photography.

A. J. Jacobs (4:00)

Love it. And a huge puzzler. So-

Andrea Schoenberg (4:03)

Huge puzzler.

A. J. Jacobs (4:04)

A puzzle solver and a puzzle maker.

Greg Pliska (4:06)

I love our listeners and their multifarious lives.

A. J. Jacobs (4:09)

There it is.

Greg Pliska (4:10)

Nothing boring about the folks in our community.

A. J. Jacobs (4:13)

No. All right. So what did Ginger send us?

Andrea Schoenberg (4:16)

All right. She says, Hi, AJ., Greg and Andrea. I've got a puzzle. But the trick of it seems so obvious that I thought one of you or another listener must have already done this or perhaps something like it. I hope instead this is new and fresh.