We “Will” start out Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! this week with a bonus puzzle – a Weekend Edition Sunday Slice {or WESS, for Short(z)}. Renowned puzzle master Will Shortz, on National Public Radio’s (NPR) June 22 Weekend Edition Sunday program, presented the following excellent challenge:
Think of a 10-letter adjective describing certain institutions. Drop three letters from this word, and the remaining seven letters, reading left to right, will name an institution described by this adjective. What institution is it?
No, that is not our bonus puzzle. It is Dr. Shortz’s puzzle, not ours. Here is our Joseph Young Puzzle -ria WESS:
NPR received about 130 correct entries for that June 22 “institutional” puzzle. How do we know that to be true?
Some Bloggy Pluggoria!:
Scores of stellar blogs catering to puzzlers and word-lovers are orbiting around out there in the cybergalaxy. Two of them, Blainesville and An Englishman Solves American Puzzles, both re-post each Sunday’s NPR puzzle and welcome people to comment on it. (AESAP also invites people to predict the number of correct entries NPR will receive each week.)
Another wonderful blog we frequent is Partial Ellipsis of the Sun (PEOTS) which employs wordplay and humor to make the worlds of science less puzzling and more “funderstandable” (fun and understandable).
But here at Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! we don’t do “less puzzling.” We know what you want… more puzzling! Let the Puzzazzle begin!
Menu
Specialty of the House Slice:“Baker’s Doesn’t”
“Frances fancies peach jam biscuits, though Frank prefers cinnamon turnovers, maybe buttery croissants.”
A dozen of the baker’s-dozen words in the preceding sentence share something in common that the “baker’s-dozenth” word doesn’t share. What do the dozen words share, and which is the odd word out?
Sporty Slice:
“Nickelnames Re-coined”
Within the past 60 years or so, two professional sports franchises from different cities but with the same nickname both relocated to the same city, whereupon both changed their nicknames. The new nicknames were different from one another but both still shared a basic similarity. And both nicknames also fit their new city well, one of them for literary reasons. What are the past and present cities and nicknames of these two franchises?
Bonus Sporty Slice:
“Big League-Leapers”
What city was once the home of a professional sports franchise that jumped from an American League to a National League, and is still the home of a professional sports franchise that jumped from an American Conference to a National Conference?
Bonus Sporty Slice:“Big League-Leapers”
What city was once the home of a professional sports franchise that jumped from an American League to a National League, and is still the home of a professional sports franchise that jumped from an American Conference to a National Conference?
Easy as Pie Slice:
“Ritual Radio”
Take the name of a somewhat controversial radio personality who has also done some television. Switch the third letter of his first name with the second letter of his surname. (These two letters are adjacent in the alphabet.) Running these altered names together results in a seven-letter “altar-heard” word, one that was (and occasionally still is) spoken repeatedly by Catholic priests during Masses worldwide – but especially during Masses before 1960.
Who is this radio personality? What is the spoken word?
Who is this radio personality? What is the spoken word?
Every Friday at Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! we publish a new menu of fresh word puzzles, number puzzles, logic puzzles, puzzles of all varieties and flavors. We cater to cravers of scrumptious puzzles!
Our master chef, Grecian gourmet puzzle-creator Lego Lambda, blends and bakes up mysterious (and sometimes questionable) toppings and spices (such as alphabet soup, Mobius bacon strips, diced snake eyes, cubed radishes, “hominym” grits, anagraham crackers, rhyme thyme and sage sprinklings.)
We invite you to make it a habit to “Meet at Joe’s!” If you like our “mystic puzzle slices” please tell your friends about Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria. Thank you.
