It "chore" looks better!; Biceps 'n' Bisection; ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mass o' Clue Sets

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria! The picture above, and a few other randomly placed pictures on this week’s blog, pertain to a particular clue in this week’s Specialty Of The House Slice (SOTHS) puzzle. It is a wonderful word, clued with an equally wonderful word.

A few diversions before we dig in to our puzzle slices this week:

Orthography, Mnemonics and Rodents

A radio ad I heard recently reminded me of last week’s third puzzle, in which you were presented “acronymesque” words like ART LAB and THAW, and were to decipher  from them adages such as “A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats,” and “Time Heals All Wounds.” (Or, in the “blog Epistle” according to Paul, WHIT and “Wounds Heal In Time.”)

The ad is in the form of one of those dialogue ads, for household rodent control, in which the homemaker seeks counsel from Mr. Exterminator Guy. It goes something like this:

Homemaker: “How can I keep rodents from entering my house as the temperatures outside get cooler?”

Mr. Exterminator Guy: “Trimming tree branches and bushes that might come into contact with your house is helpful.”

H: “What else can I do?”

MEG: “Sealing any holes or cracks around your foundation can also deter these rodents. Mice can enter a home or building through a crack as small as 1/4 inch.”

H: “And, what if a rat or mouse does get into the house…?”

Cut, cut, cut! Stop the taping! Pause the commercial. At this point, Mr Exterminator Guy babbles something about calling “Acme Pest Control as soon as you spot them to prevent a larger mouse infestation.”

So (take two), the homemaker asks, “And, what if a rat or mouse does get into the house…?” Here is what I wished Mr. Exterminator Guy’s reply to the homemaker’s query would have been:

“A Rat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream!”

Or, of course, if it’s a mouse, AMITHMETIC.” (Examples of AMYTHMETIC include 7 + 3 = 11 and 7 – 3 = Thor.)

Anyway, another mnemonic trick involving a rat appeared in a story I read in my youth about a boy preparing for a spelling bee. He was always misspelling SEPARATE as SEPERATE, until a wise elder reminded him, “There is ‘a rat’ in separate.” The boy proceeded to (surprise, surprise!) win the bee by having to spell… well, you know the rest.

The Guest French Puzzle Chef Returns!

Puzzlerians! may recall that in our August 1^st Puzzleria! edition we introduced you to guest gourmet French chef Monsieur Garcon du Parachutisme, who cooked up a “bonus puzzle slice” for your solving enjoyment. He is a regular commenter over at Blaine’s blog under his English-language moniker, “skydiveboy.” And now he is back to serve up a “bonus slice” second helping. We thank him for sharing this…

Guest French Chef Slice:

Strip Malle

Think of a movie everyone knows in thirteen letters. Then think of a comic strip everyone knows with the same name except for two letters.

Remove two identical letters from the movie plus another identical letter from the comic strip and describe how the comic strip sometimes uses these three letters.

(Hint: Read again very carefully.)

Here is this week’s trio of house puzzle slices:

Menu

Easy As Pie Slice:

It “chore” looks better!

Name common chore during which certain household items are improved. 

Deleting two consecutive letters from this word results in a “rare word” (that is, one that exists but that we really don’t need) describing the items during the early stages of the chore. 

Deleting two consecutive letters from this questionable adjective results in a perfectly legitimate adjective describing the items at the completion of the chore. 

What are the chore and the two adjectives?

Sporty Slice:

Biceps ‘n’ Bisection

Name an article of clothing associated with athletic activity and training. Bisect the word. 

The first half is something athletes often do while wearing this article. 

The second half is something an athlete often does while wearing this article. 

What are these three words?

Specialty Of The House Slice:

Mass o’ Clue Sets

In each of the nine sets of clues below, all letters in the answers share something in common. What the letters share relates to the number, one-though-nine, of their set.

 

Solve the nine numbered sets of definitions, and explain how the letters in the answers pertain to the number associated with each set. (The parenthetical number after each clue gives the number of letters in the answer, similar to most Cryptic Crossword puzzles.)

1. 

West wind (6)

______ Draw McGraw (5)

Two of these don’t make a right (6)

POTUS, and SCOTUS chief justice (4)

Annoyed; baffled (5)

Illustrated anagram puzzle (6)

2.

The year after Nero fiddled (3)

Hyde Park prez (3)

Will Shortz’s Sunday network (3)

Multi-megapixelled boob tube (4)

Skivvies brand (3)

Initials of Beyonce’s guy’s stage name (2)

3.

Bleach brand (6)

Gambol (6)

Soldering substance (4)

Prefix meaning wife (4)

4.

Doctoral degree (3)

Turntable fodder (2)

State of the Stars (2)

5.

Tittle’s partner (3)

Jesu, according to Bach (3)

Lou Groza’s nickname,

with “the...” (3)

First name of a Hall of Fame “Clipper” (3)
First name of a Hall of Fame “Peach” (2)

6.

Age Jack Benny never attained, according to Caesar (not Sid) (2)

Where He Hate Me got his start (3)

Prescription (2)

7.

Wildebeest (3)

Wild West weapon (3)

8.

Post-millennium Windows OS (2)

Acid/base yardstick (2)

9.

State of Providence (2)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

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.