All Worn Out; Gram-o-Phone; Light Dressing

Welcome again to Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! T.G.I.F. … Think Good, It’s Friday. Time to polish off some puzzles!

Our theme this week springs from this ditty:
Baseball, 
Apple pie, 
Chevrolet and 
Hotdogs. 
Yeah, I know, in the song Hotdogs are supposed to be sung between Baseball and Apple pie, but there is a method to my misplacement. I wanted the four initial letters to spell out BACH, as in Johann Sebastian, who composed the Goldbug Variations with his collaborators King Midas, Auric Goldfinger and some other guy.

That “other guy” is a part of the answer to the following Bonus One-hit Wonder Slice (BOWS):
A one-time Delaware Primary winner who is a goldbug (gold standard proponent) and a singer of a 35-year-old “one-hit wonder” tune go by the same first name. If you replace the last letter of the goldbug’s last name with the two letters flanking that letter in the alphabet you will form the singer’s last name. Who are this goldbug and singer?

(The “one-hit” has a Shakespeare title character in its title. Both men are still alive. Their first name is popular and common, but no president or vice-president has had this first name.)

But now, back to…

Baseball!
On this date 87 years ago, July 18, 1927, Ty Cobb set a major-league baseball record by getting his 4,000th career hit. Cobb recorded 4,191 hits in his career, including four grand slam homeruns.


Cobb’s career base-hit 
record stood until Pete Rose broke it, ending his career with 4,256 hits, including one grand slam homerun which he clouted July 18, 1964.

 Apple Pie (as in Mom’s)!

Chevrolet!

Certain Chevrolets are quite pricey but also hold their value. And some are even collectible. If you are lucky enough to own one of these Chevys, it behooves you to take very good care of it, to be a motorcar custodian and a sports car steward… especially if that Chevrolet sports car is a Corvette.

Hotdogs!

On July 18, 1936, Carl Mayer, nephew of Oscar Mayer, invented a quaint entry into Americana: the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. The first Wienermobile rolled out of General Body Company’s factory in Chicago on that July day. Today, six Wienermobiles still trundle across the U.S. fascinating children of all ages while promoting Oscar Mayer wieners. As you can see, Wienermobiles are pretty much just giant hotdogs on wheels. (paraphrased from the 440 International Those Were the Days web site.) 


Hot digs, Italian-style! 
On July 18, 64 AD, 1,950 years ago, Nero fiddled while Rome burned (see illustration atop this week’s blog).

Hot diggity...

Almost 45 years ago, on July 20, 1969, Louis Armstrong set foot on the moon and broke into a chorus of “What a Wonderful Moon.” (And many moons ago, on July 20, the creator and custodian of Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria was born. How many moons? It’s a number with three digits that sum to 18, and multiply to 210. Not counting the number 1, it has three prime factors, one needed twice and another needed thrice to produce the number. Have I fooled the guesser? I guess we’ll guess my weight some other week!)

So, sit Bach and listen to more Variations on Goldbug as you toss Bach these slices:

Menu

Easy As Pie Slice:

All Worn Out

Name an outdoor activity that can wear you out if you overdo it. Replace one of its letters with a letter two places ahead of it in the alphabet, thereby revealing clothing that usually you wear out of doors (if you “underdo” it). What are these two words?

Sporty Slice:

Gram-o-Phone

Think of a word that can be defined* as a female athlete who participates in a particular sporting activity. Now think of a participant in that activity whose first name is an anagram of that word and whose last name is a homophone of the word. What is the word? Who is the athlete?

* The word’s primary definition relates to classical mythology. The relevant definition for our purposes is a secondary or tertiary definition in 
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 
Dictionary-dot-reference-dot-com

Infoplease-dot-com.

Specialty Of The House Slice:

Light Dressing

Name a fictional character known for sometimes sporting skimpy attire. Reverse the last two letters on this character’s name. Replace the new penultimate (second-last) letter with the letter two places before it in the alphabet. The result is another fictional character whose attire makes the original character seem overdressed by comparison. Who are these characters?

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.)

Please post your comments below. Feel free also to post clever and subtle hints that do not give the puzzle answers away. Please wait until after 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays to post your answers and explain your hints about the puzzles. We plan to serve up at least one fresh puzzle every Friday.

We invite you to make it a habit to “Meet at Joe’s!” If you enjoy our weekly puzzle party, please tell your friends and frenemies about Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! Thank you.