Friday, August 8, 2014

Enos Slaughter; Fibo-not!-cci Series; Fishy Conduct





Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria! Everything we say on this blog site is false. Any truth we might actually print is about as stretchy as the melty mozzarella atop our puzzle slices.

The second sentence in the above paragraph is an example of a verbal paradox. Sprinkled like peppercorns across this week’s post are examples of graphic paradoxes by Dutch painter Maurice Escher and various artists who practice the trompe l’oeil art of illusion.



I figure you just have to stand your ground when it comes to not knowing art but knowing what you like. But sometimes you just can’t trust your lyin’ eyes (a song I savored about the first two or three times I heard it, but thereafter couldn’t stomach!).

And when the Perjurious family patronizes Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria!, as they did yesterday, you just can’t trust your lyin’ ears either. While some artists practice the trompe l’oeil art of illusion, a certain member of the Perjurious clan practices the trompe loreille art of delusion.

Pascal and Penelope Perjurious teach quantum physics and rocket surgery, respectively, at our local equivocational school, Hogwasham Technical College. (The Havisham Liberal Arts College is up the road a spell.) Anyway, the Perjuriouses are rearing their daughter, Prevarica, to be a holy terror, and a wholly terrible liar.


In truth, Prevaricas parents are rearing her to be a wholly excellent, first-class liar! The proof of this truth lies in this week’s Con-number-umm Slice, below. Take it, along with the other slices this week, with a grain of salt... and perhaps a sprinkling of peppercorns: 


Menu

Sporty Easy As Pie Slice:
Enos Slaughter

Take the name of a country and replace one of the letters with a different letter to form the name of a professional athlete who is enshrined in his sport’s hall of fame. What is this country? Who is this athlete?





Con-number-umm Slice:
Fibo-Not!-cci Series

Pigtailed, mathematically precocious Prevarica Perjurious is fabulously familiar with the Fibonacci Series (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,…, in which every number -- except the first two -- is the sum of the two numbers immediately preceding it). At school one day, Prevarica tells her less-than-precocious classmates, “Here is the famous Fibonacci Series: 1, 3, 4, 7, 12, 14, 15, 17… Can you tell me the next number?”

Fib? Oh, not she! But, as all perceptive Puzzlerians! are aware, Prevarica did of course fib. That series is no Fibonacci Series. But it is indeed a series, and has a next number. Can you tell Prevarica what that number is? 

Specialty Of The House Slice:
Fishy Conduct

 Name a kind of fish, in the plural. Move the first letter to the end of the word. At the beginning of the word replace that original first letter with the next letter in the alphabet. The result is something frowned upon in polite society. What are these words?




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 puzzle-loving and challenge-welcoming friends about Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! Thank you.


33 comments:

  1. Lego Joe Green, I believe I know the next number in your Fibognocci number series. I shall ask my son, the math major, for his thoughts at dinner tonight. . .

    Farro and quinoa chilled salads with garlic scapes, summer squashes, red and orange bell peppers, artichoke hearts, feta cheese, red onion, green olives, and pepperoncini are on the menu. Fresh corn and Colorado peaches. Any suggestions for a puzzle-paired gastronomic delight?

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  3. For the EAPS, did you find the country will solving the most recent Sunday puzzle?

    In a random EAPS piggyback (ok, not so random, because it has to do with pie), take my favorite (really, it is what I have my wife (filling) and daughter (crust) make for my birthday “cake”) kind of pie, change one letter and rearrange to get a different type of pie, also one of my favorites.

    I thought for sure the answer to the SOTHS was rare Elatulenc, but I later found what is probably Lego’s intended answer.

    Take a different fish, add a letter (a repeat of a letter in the type of fish that) to the front, to get what those in polite society might call the social faux pas (<--WW, note the French).

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    1. David, yah yah yah sure. I am reading that as foe paw . . .Mercy!

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    2. Mot Femme, if you do want to make it French, add the same letter twice, then rearrange all the letters. If you want German, start with the French and replace each vowel with another vowel or vowels. That will get you a grade close to perfect. And yet again, without any short advertisements, what is the Russian version?

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  4. I think I've got the EAPS, but I'm not accomplishing much with the others.

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  5. I have the EAPS (I think) and have a possible answer to SOTHS (unsure about it) and I think the CNUS is non-mathematical.

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    Replies
    1. I can tell Prevarica what the next number is. I choose not to do so ;-).

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  6. There is the Kingdom of JORDAN & then there is Michael JORDAN; no change of letters necessary!

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  7. Puzzlerians!

    Sorry, I’ve been at a wedding all weekend (not mine!). Still, very time-consuming, not much down time for blogtending.

    Word Woman,
    When I want to “eat healthy” I harvest a few Sudoku plants from my garden, slice them up, Belushi-like, with crossed Samurai swords, toss them into a salad with sprigs of crispy kenken, and serve it with a bowl of Jumble-laya with acrosticky buns on the side.

    Bully for you for choosing not to tell Prevarica the next number in the series. She is a brat and needs doses of comeuppance such as yours!

    David,
    The SEAPS puzzle was created a few months back, so I’ve been sitting on it, But you are correct. Its genesis was prompted by my perusal of a list of nations while pondering an older NPR puzzle.

    I can’t figure out your “French/different fish” puzzle, but, from her response, Word Woman, I figure, might have solved it. But I did solve your EAPS pie piggyback puzzle. All I can say, David, is that while Dan Ackroyd and Steve Martin were “two wild and crazy guys,” you are “one keen and nutty guy.”

    ron,
    You are correct. The CNUS has both mathematical and non-mathematical elements.
    Like your MJ/Kingdom of Jordan take on the SEAPS (with no change of letters necessary!) The new king of the NBA is King James.

    Paul,
    Might be time for a hint or two:
    CNUS: Odds are even that even the oddest of Prevarica’s classmates can be counted on to count for something.
    SOTHS: The “something” is frowned upon in polite society (especially in work or school environments).

    LegoTwoAncientSNLreferences

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  8. More CNUS hints:
    20, 30, 80 and 90 are in the series; 40, 50, 60 and 70 are not.
    There is a common misspelling of the word "forty." Prevarica's classmates (and perhapes even Prevarica!) who are prone to committing that common misspelling would think 40 is in the series. Some might mistakenly keep 90 out of the series, because "ninety" is sometimes also misspelled.
    Lego...

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  9. What are the next several terms in the following "Fibonacci" series?
    6 9 2 15 14 1 ...

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    1. David,

      Thanks for the additional bogus Fibonacci series. We will work on it.
      Lego...

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    2. 6, 9, 2, 15, 14, 3, 3, 9. . .what's after that? ;-)

      David, you are just a pithy little liar. . .

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    3. Whoops, left out the 1:

      6, 9, 2, 15, 14, 1, 3, 3, 9. . .

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    4. Hint: the next number is the age of two bloggers here (and Robin Williams) minus 1.

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  10. SEAPS: BENIN>>>Justine HENIN. She is Number 9 on the top ten greatest female tennis players of all time list.
    NIGER>>>TIGER (Woods)
    JORDAN>>>Michael JORDAN ☺
    I meant JORDON Chin.

    SOTHS: A kind of fish (before you added “in the plural”): RUFFE>>>It is frowned upon to SUFFER visibly in polite society. Ruffe like Trout can be considered a collective plural, of course.
    A kind of fish “in the plural:” SARDINES>>>TARDINESS is normally frowned upon in polite society.

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    1. ron,

      Your “unintended answers” (by me, at least) -- Benin/Henin, Niger/Tiger, Jordan/Jordon and ruffe -- are all acceptable and wonderful. Your Jordon answer remind me of this Sprint commercial. Thanks for granting us your solvation.

      Lego

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  11. Answers:

    Sporty Easy As Pie Slice:
    Enos Slaughter
    Take the name of a country and replace one of the letters with a different letter to form the name of a professional athlete who is enshrined in his sport’s hall of fame. What is this country? Who is this athlete?

    Answer:
    San Marino becomes Dan Marino.

    (Enos Slaughter , whose nickname was Country is in Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

    Con-number-umm Slice:
    Fibo-Not!-cci Series
    Pigtailed, mathematically precocious Prevarica Perjurious is fabulously familiar with the Fibonacci Series (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,…, in which every number -- except the first two -- is the sum of the two numbers immediately preceding it). At school one day, Prevarica tells her less-than-precocious classmates, “Here is the famous Fibonacci Series: 1, 3, 4, 7, 12, 14, 15, 17… Can you tell me the next number?”

    Fib? Oh, not she! But, as all perceptive Puzzlerians! are aware, Prevarica did of course fib. That series is no Fibonacci Series. But it is indeed a series, and has a next number. Can you tell Prevarica what that number is?

    Answer:
    Prevarica’s bogus Fibonacci Series consists of numbers that are odd and have an odd number of letters when spelled out, or that are even and have an even number of letters when spelled out.
    So, the next number is 18 because eighteen contains eight letters, and 18 and 8 are both even numbers.

    Specialty Of The House Slice:
    Fishy Conduct

    Name a kind of fish, in the plural. Move the first letter to the end of the word. At the beginning of the word replace that original first letter with the next letter in the alphabet. The result is something frowned upon in polite society. What are these words?

    Answer:
    Sardines becomes tardiness
    (sardines > ardiness > tariness)

    Lego…

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  12. My SEAPS (emphasis on P(ie)) piggyback, is pecan and peach.

    My SOTHS piggyback:
    Type of fish- Ono (also known as Wahoo)
    Tardiness is a- No no
    In French- Non non
    In German- Nein nein (99 is close to 100, which is perfect)
    In Russian- Nyet nyet (And yet again, without any short advertisements =
    and yet + and yet - ad - ad)

    I'll give you some more time for the piggyback CnuS solution.

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    Replies
    1. Tres bien, Monsieur David. Afraid I was thrice bitten, twice shy to give that series of puzzle the old French College try.

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  13. Alas, I was stumped except for the sardines becoming tardiness (and only because I had just written about tardigrades or moss bears at PEOTS).

    I also thought of "smelt" becoming "melts" which some in polite society may find distasteful.

    However, I was tardy to posting a clue, being not a member of polite society, but of polate society this week.

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  14. For SEAPS I had Spain >>> (Warren) Spahn, largely due to the proximity to Slaughter; hence my "think I've got it / not accomplishing much" comment.
    I never would have gotten the number sequence.
    When ron posted SARDINES>>>TARDINESS, I thought "Oh, of course!" I'm so glad I didn't post what I had been thinking: "Mudis are DOGS, not FISH!!"
    That would have been embarrassing.

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    Replies
    1. Paul, you know we can see what you post, right? ;-)

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    2. Paul,
      Oh sure, a little nudism might have been em-bare-ass-ing, but I still think your “mudis” answer is decent. After all, many of us, including the estimable Word Woman, are fans of the Mudi Blues. Also, “mudis” sound like a shortened form of “mud puppies,” which are amphibious, ergo fish-like. So, close enough.

      As for your Spain/Spahn response, I say bravo!” Spahnie,” as he was nicknamed, pitched for the Boston Braves in the early 1950s, before they moved to Milwaukee. (Coincidently, the wedding from which I just returned was near Boston, a beautiful city with friendly people, Red Sox, green pahks, red lobsters and green monsters.)

      Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain were co-aces on that Boston Braves team, but the other two starters in the four-man pitching rotation were more like deuces. So the fans adopted the mantra, “Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain,” according to my dad. Enos Slaughter, was a teammate of Spahn at the end of the 1959 season, for about 20 games, Slaughter’s last gasp before he retired.

      My introduction to baseball was listening to Milwaukee Braves games with my dad on the AM radio, starting about 1959 when I was age 8. Hall of Famers on that year’s team were Slaughter, Spahnie, Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews (who played for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta) and Red Schoendist. In ‘57 the Milwaukee Braves were world champs, besting the Bronx Bombers; in ‘58 the Bombers beat them in the World Series.

      The Braves franchise moved from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953 and from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966. Long-suffering Boston baseball fans must have been crushed by the Milwaukee Braves’ success, winning the ‘57 championship and 1958 National League pennant.

      The Boston Braves won just one championship, in 1914 after being in last place as late as July 18, a Cinderella season, besting the Philadelphia Athletics in the Fall Classic. The American League Boston Red Sox did not win a championship between 1918 and 2004.

      I must not have been mature enough to appreciate the Braves 1957-58 successes because I have no memory of those golden seasons. The 1959 season was the first I recall. I turned age 8 that July, exactly a decade before we moon-landed. However, listening to those games with my dad was golden, a beautiful memory. My dad taught me the subtleties of the game as we cozied up to the radio.

      The Braves’ play-by-play network announcers were Earl Gillespie and Blaine Walsh, whom Earl called “the Blainer.” A jingle at the beginning of each broadcast ended with: “…Tareyton (cigarettes), Miller (beer) and Clark (gasoline) take you out to the park!”
      I also recall Earl (or the Blainer) saying, “the bases are F.O.B.” (that was, “Full Of Braves.”)

      Lego…

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    3. Mudis>>>Nudis>>>Nudibranch>>>Branches>>>Trees>>>PEOTS>>>POETS>>>Mudi Blues>>>Mudis. . .

      "Full of Braves and the Blainer," gotta love that, lego. And some great radio memories :-).

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  15. Lego, how 'bout you post on that other blog, with no content, just your handle, and I'll yell for the ref? We've missed you there, recently.

    BTW, did you know that Will Shortz used that "San Marino" / "Dan Marino" puzzle many years ago (before they had a website)?

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  16. David, was 3, 3, 9 , 62, the intended answer to your "Fibonacci" puzzle?

    WW ( the real one)

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    1. Yes on the 3, 3, 9, but I don't understand the 62.
      6 9 2 15 14 1 3 3 9 is Fibonacci when A=1, B=2, C=3, ...


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    2. Yes, that is for the first nine numbers in the series. Then, the following numbers, in true Fibonacci fashion , are the sum of the previous 9 numbers--62, then drop the first term 6 to get 118, ad infinitum. What do you think?

      Kids had a blast with Fibonacci numbers in nature today: 3 sections of a banana, 5 prongs on the top of a fruiting tomato, the wonderful 5 star seed in crabapples, 21 petals on a sunflower, etc... I canned candied crabapples for them for a special treat. ;-) Maybe I ought to begin calling it the " No-Fib-onocci " series. . .

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    3. Good way to connect the fake Fibonacci to the real Fibonacci.

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    4. They had fun with both the real and fake Fibonacci number series today. One kid, when hearing about our number topic today, cheered "Yeah, numbers!!" Then the whole crowd joined in...how can one not love that sort of numeric enthusiasm?!

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