Nine Lives

[Bill]

Can you anagram the following list of nine clues into a list of the nine famous real-life people being clued? All were born after 1500 AD, none are still alive, and none of the lives overlap. The list is in chronological order.


Hue painter
Jejune English plotter
Médée writer
Beggar's Opera rifler
Air's pioneer
Novelist they liked well
French aesthete
Nuclear boy
Joyous CEO, huh

[ArtVark]

I think that I am short of M's.

[Bill]

There is only one "M" in the solution.

[skullturfq]

I see only one "V" in the list of clues. I also notice that you say none of the people are currently alive.

Is the "V" in the name of the last person on the list?

[Bill]

I see only one "V" in the list of clues. I also notice that you say none of the people are currently alive.

Is the "V" in the name of the last person on the list?

Yes, exactly. And I imagine it is who you think it is.

[Bill]

I would have liked to have used "Oxygen discoverer" where you see "Air's pioneer," but I didn't have an X.

[ArtVark]

I'm having difficulty finding a Medee writer between the English Plotter guy and the Beggar's Opera guy.

[Bill]

I'm having difficulty finding a Medee writer between the English Plotter guy and the Beggar's Opera guy.

I'll assume you have the right English Plotter guy and Beggar's Opera guy... they'd probably be the first names you'd guess.

You can find the Médée writer's name on this page. In all fairness, it's not his best known work.

I'll also note that he missed sharing the planet with these other two guys by less than a year in each case.

[ArtVark]

I'm having difficulty finding a Medee writer between the English Plotter guy and the Beggar's Opera guy.

I'll assume you have the right English Plotter guy and Beggar's Opera guy... they'd probably be the first names you'd guess.

You can find the Médée writer's name on this page. In all fairness, it's not his best known work.

I'll also note that he missed sharing the planet with these other two guys by less than a year in each case.

WIth that hint I think that I got most of these folks. I have nine answers that don't quite work so I am sure that I have one or two wrong.
I think it's time to try some brute force scripting.

[Bill]

"Nuclear boy" may not seem like a very respectful clue for such an accomplished physicist, but the word "Italian" would have used up too many precious vowels.

[Bill]

Despite having a significant generational suffix on his name, the "Hue painter" isn't the longest name on the list.

Ironically, the longest name belongs to the shortest member... the "French aesthete."

[Bill]

The list includes two members born in America.

[ArtVark]

Here's a possible list (in white):

I had the novelist, aesthete, and physicist correct before Bill's last hints. I messed up because I went with the wrong elder guy for a while, and I went with the
more formal first name for the last guy.


Pieter Brughel the Elder
Guy Fawkes
Pierre Cornielle
John Gay
Joseph Priestley
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Henri de Tolouse Lautrec
Enrico Fermi
Steve Jobs


How do you think these up?

[Bill]

Yes, that's correct (other than a slight variation in spelling of the first person on the list). Well done, ArtVark!

How do you think these up?

It usually starts with my having something incredibly important to do on a tight deadline. My mind starts searching desperately for some unrelated diversion.

In this case, I noticed that I had enjoyed creating the anagram-list puzzles more than you (collectively) seemed to enjoy solving them (other than Marpocky, of course).

So I wanted to create a puzzle that had more than one point of entry. You could anagram if you wanted to, but there would be other ways to solve it as well. In the end, I imagined you would have triangulated between the clues, the non-overlapping lifespans, and the anagram element to arrive at the solution.

[marpocky]

In this case, I noticed that I had enjoyed creating the anagram-list puzzles more than you (collectively) seemed to enjoy solving them (other than Marpocky, of course).

Heh. I looked at this one, but didn't have time to work on it this time around. Also, biographical history is not one of my strong suits. Keep them coming though, because they are a lot of fun.

[Bill]

Here is another "Nine Lives" puzzle. Can you anagram the following list of nine clues into a list of the nine famous real-life people being clued? All were born after 1500 AD, none are still alive, and none of the lives overlap. The list is in chronological order. I tried to use the most commonly known name for each person, which in some cases involves a title.

Ye Secondly Won
Fallen Monarchy
Big Mama
United Nations
Certainly, a "Have"
Monstery Author
Quiet Theatre Lass
Needy Elegy Poet
Unique Singer, Yeah

[ArtVark]

I think that this one is easier. I see a pattern already.

[ArtVark]

I think i need to find "Big Mama" between 1587 and 1662, and "Quiet Theatre Lass" between
1851 and 1932 (I suspect a silent film actress).

[Bill]

Oh! I made a serious error in my chronology.

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Big Mama was meant to be Catherine de Medici, but I was very wrong on her dates. I confused her death date for her birth date. I apologize for the error.

There are no Roman numerals in the solution.

Ye Secondly Won, Fallen Monarchy, and Certainly, a "Have" all died of the same thing.

Quiet Theatre Lass was not a film star. She was a luminary of the Irish theatre, though not a performer.

[ArtVark]

In white:


I had the three who died the same way already. I also have the Monster
Writer, Elegy Poet, and most recent singer. I thought that Queen Mary II
would be United Nations (marrying William of Orange united England and
Holland) but that does not seem to work now.

[ArtVark]

I think that the list that you are after is:


Anne Boleyn
Mary Queen of Scots
Catherine de Medici
Queen Anne
Marie Antoinette
Mary Shelley
Augusta, Lady Gregory
Sylvia Plath
Whitney Houston

[Bill]

Exactly right!

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As you have probably surmised by now, United Nations refers to the Acts of Union. England and Scotland were brought under common rule by the ascent of James I, but they didn't actually become a united kingdom until the rule of Queen Anne.