Odd Man Out Puzzle

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett, and we’re joined once again by our quiz guy, Greg Pliska.

Howdy, Greg.

Howdy, Grant. Howdy, Martha.

What’s going on in New York City?

Going back to one of my favorite puzzle types, the odd man out puzzle.

Okay.

I give you a list of items, and you tell me which item doesn’t belong.

And in this week’s version, the twist is that every group of items has at least one color in it.

As an added help, I’ve tried to make the odd one out in each group have the opposite property of the ones that are in.

You know, it’s not always exacting, but the odd one out has some relation to the odd ones in.

Usually it’s the opposite of the ones that are in.

Oh, boy, much more complicated than Sesame Street.

All that preparation for nothing.

Okay, go ahead.

Exactly.

Here we go.

Green, birthday, bull moose, wig.

And that’s wig, W-H-I-G.

Oh.

Oh, it’s a birthday doesn’t belong because the rest of them are political parties.

Oh, good.

Right.

And the birthday is a fun party.

Right.

Not a political party.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

There you go.

Warmed up.

Well done.

All right.

Here’s another one.

Orange.

Imperial.

Kings.

Shasta.

Shasta.

Okay.

I think all but one of those are types of butter, brands of butter.

No, I’m kidding.

Imperial is.

I can’t believe it’s not better.

So what are the choices again?

Imperial, Shasta, King, and what’s the other one?

Kings and Orange.

Mount Shasta, maybe?

They’re all the names of counties.

Oh, so Kings is the odd man out because it’s a county in New York and those are counties in California?

That’s right.

Orange, Imperial, and Shasta are California counties, but Kings is a New York county.

And if there’s anything that’s the opposite of California, it’s New York.

Indigo, Backstreet, California, Golden.

Indigo, Backstreet, California, Golden.

Oh, the first one.

Indigo, Indigo Girls, Backstreet Boys, California Boys, Golden Boys.

Golden Girls.

Golden Girls.

Oh, California Girls.

Oh, Backstreet Boys is the odd one out.

That’s all right.

There you go.

Backstreet Boys.

Golden Girls.

There we go.

Golden Boy actually is a—

Golden.

Okay, there we go.

Clifford Odette’s play, but Golden Girls is the TV show and California Girls is the song.

And, of course, Indigo Girls are the crossword-solving duet duo.

From Athens, Georgia.

Brown, Cowboy, Padre, Patriot.

Cowboy, Padre, Patriot, those are all football teams, right?

Not the Padres.

Oh.

Athletic teams.

If only there was somebody who lived in San Diego who knew about the sports teams there.

Yeah, so Brown, Cowboy, and Patriots are football teams and the Padres are a baseball team.

That’s what I meant to say.

Exactly.

Yeah, that’s what you were trying to say.

Padres are the odd one out.

I just get so excited talking about baseball.

There’s a whole part of the newspaper she just throws away every day.

Exactly.

And it’s not the lexicography section.

Pink, Brandy, Jewel, Meatloaf.

Meatloaf is the odd one out.

The others are female singers.

Oh, yeah.

Yes, very good.

Meatloaf is the male singer.

You know, I heard that on second reference in the New York Times, they referred to him as Mr. Loaf.

I love that.

No, that’s not true, is it?

Yes, I think so.

I don’t think that’s true anymore.

But I think that that was true at one time.

Iggy Pop was Mr. Pop, of course.

I’ve got one more for you.

This one is the odd one out for a couple different reasons, actually.

We’ll see which one you land upon.

Here are the four items.

Black, Kennedy, St. John, White.

So St. John is the odd one out.

And I’m thinking of justices of the United States Supreme Court.

Yes, very good.

Black, Kennedy, and Whizzer White, all justices of the Supreme Court.

St. John was never a justice.

There’s another way that St. John is the odd one out.

A little more pop culture-y.

Okay, Black, Kennedy, St. John, and what?

White.

White.

Okay.

I don’t know, actually.

I can’t think of the other reason.

Is it something to do with the sports team, I’m sure?

Now, they’re all the last names of people.

There are three Jacks.

Oh, very good.

Very good.

Jack Black, Jack Kennedy, Jack White, and then Jill St. John.

Very good.

Jill St. John.

Yes.

Very good.

Nice one.

That’s a good one.

I love the odd man out quiz.

It’s easy.

It makes me feel smart.

Will you do an odd woman out quiz next time, Greg?

You already are the odd woman out, Martha.

Well, we know that.

Yeah.

Sure.

I’ll do one that’s all women.

You got it.

Very good.

I’m there.

And thanks, Greg.

If you’d like to talk about grammar, slang, punctuation, words, and how we use them, now’s the time.

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Or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.