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Elise Hu plays TED talks from Cinderella

November 9, 2026 · 35 min

Show notes

Elise Hu, host of "TED Talks Daily" and author of Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital, joins A.J. and Greg for a fairy tale puzzle challenge and a conversation about beauty standards, digital identity, and the strange ways we change our bodies to match our filtered selves. Plus, find out why a giraffe and a massage have something in common in a pun-filled puzzle that will test even a seasoned trivia buff.

This episode features fairy-tale riddles and a clever wordplay challenge that turns everyday words into TED-branded creations. Play along with Elise as she tackles the tricky clues, shares fascinating trivia, and chats about her favorite TED talks.

Today's puzzles:

  • Fairy Tale Ted Talks: Match fictional TED Talk titles to the fairy-tale characters behind them
  • Ted Takeovers: Solve phonetic wordplay clues that transform words ending in “-ted” into TED-branded concepts


About Elise Hu: Elise Hu is a journalist, author of Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital, and host of "TED Talks Daily"

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Jena Friedman's TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/jena_friedman_the_jokes_ai_won_t_tell
  • Chris Duffy's TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_duffy_how_to_find_laughter_anywhere


More puzzles: 

Bonus puzzles, game nights, community and more on Patreon

Check out Earbus, our card game: https://www.earbusgame.com/

Hello, Puzzlers! is hosted by A.J. Jacobs with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Pliska. Executive producers: Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus. Producer, sound & video production: Claire Bidigare-Curtis. Senior Puzzler: Andrea Schoenberg.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

All episodes of Hello, Puzzlers!

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