Friday, January 9, 2015

This equality, unmercifully, is quite strained; Careering o'er the clouds; Akin to a king

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria!

I, LegoLambda, have in the past occasionally jocularly claimed powers of clairvoyance. For example, a month ago, in the December 12, 2014 edition of Puzzle-ria!, we served up a puzzle slice titled “Hippo Triple-Team” describing an NFL contest featuring three teams with equine nicknames.

The answer: Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, and the penalty-flag-flinging team of officials affectionately known as “Zebras.”

An so, on January 11, right after the Green Bay Packers make mincemeat of the Dallas Cowboys in a National Football Conference Divisional Playoff game, guess who is playing an American Football Conference Divisional Playoff game?
The Colts and the Broncos, with the Zebras officiating, that’s who! (The Zebras will not win.)

Which brings me to Word Woman and Paul, a pair of wonderful Puzzlerians! In the January 2 Puzzleria! comments section both posted several astute observations. Indeed, two of those comments (one each from Paul and Word Woman) proved to be quite clairvoyant about certain content in this week’s puzzle slices.

Perhaps both Paul and Word Woman have Magic 8-Balls embedded in their brains! Or perhaps they are the spiritual heirs to Carnac the Magnificent (see illustration at the top of this blog).

 The Carnac bit was a weird hybrid of the Oscars broadcast and Jeopardy! What are my nominees for the best answers that Carnac divined before opening the envelope to read the answers?
“El Paso” and Sis-Boom-Bah.”

That same pair of Puzzlerians! (Word Woman and Paul) also set us off on a delightful theological tangent with other comments they posted. Word Woman got the ball rolling by providing a link to Enoch Light’s rendition of C’est Magnifique,” a number from the musical “Can-Can.” Paul followed up with multiple links that, collectively, approximated a veritable Enoch Light mini-concert.

The name “Enoch” then sent us onto a discussion of the Old Testament prophets Enoch and Elijah, and the theological controversy surrounding whether they experienced natural deaths or their bodies were otherwise somehow “beamed up” into heaven “Star-Trek-like.” 


The Bible says that Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, and that Enoch “walked with God.” (If former basketball player Jim Chones is a pet lover, perhaps he walks with his dog.)

Finally, Word Woman on Thusday evening alluded to an 
“E-noch knock joke.” So, first I Googled, but then I DuckDuckGoosed “Enoch-knock joke,” and found the following:

Elijah: Enoch-noch!

St. Peter: Hey! Knock it off, will ya? Thats expensive mother-of-pearl ornamental inlay molding on these gates. Use the doorbell, dumbbell! 

Elijah: Oh, sorry about that. Ding-Dong!

St. Peter: Whos there?

Elijah: Elijah.

St. Peter: Elijah who?

Elijah: The Elijah who blew up into heaven in the whirlwind...

St. Peter: Okay, whatever. But Im afraid were gonna have to do something about that body. Up here in heaven weve got this rule: No spirit, no soul, no service. 

Elijah: But I do have a spirit and a soul. Its just that I still have a body, too.

St. Peter: No, no, no. Thats not how it works. You dont get your spirit and soul until your body dies.

Elijah: Thats not what they told us down on Earth.

St. Peter: Yeah, well there are lots of misconceptions swirling around down there, kind of like the whirlwind you claim you... 

Elijah: Hey, what about that guy over there? The old bloke walking with God. Hes got a body. And it looks like he might have an in with God, too.

St. Peter: Oh, him? Thats just Enoch. 

Elijah: What makes him so special? Why did you let him in? 

St. Peter: I just gave him a pass, thats all. 

Elijah: But why? Hes got a body, right, just like me? 

St. Peter: Yeah, but when he approached these Pearly Gates he was 365 years old. I honestly thought he was dead. 

Elijah: Dead? Enoch?

 St. Peter: Hell no! He rang the everlivin doorbell. And if you would have done likewise, instead of perpetrating that infernal knock-knocking, I might have given you a pass, too. Holy Moses, what a dumbbell!

Incidentally, speaking of dumbbells, in a June 2014 edition of Puzzleria!, I predicted that the Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals would compete in Super Bowl XLIX (sponsored by Ex-Lax?), less than a month away, and that the Vikings would plunder the Bengals, LIV to XIII.

So much for my clairvoyance!  

I do, however, foresee a salvo of “solvation” as you attack, with gusto, this week’s trio of fresh Puzzleria! menu slices:



Menu


Easy As Pi Slice:
Careering o’er the clouds

Name an adjective used often to describe people pursuing their dream career. The adjective also describes people who have already realized their dream career, if it is that of an astronaut, jet pilot, crop duster or some other  such “soary” excuse for a profession.
 
Remove the adjectives final letter, forming a medicinal product that some say can be especially effective for those who must work at high altitudes.


What are the adjective and the product?


Regal Eagle Slice:

Name a two-word fictional city that is associated with a King. Change one of its consonants to a vowel.

The result is two synonyms that are both associated with a king.


What is the city? 

What are the synonyms? 

Mathematical Slice:
This equality, unmercifully, is quite strained

Replace the variable X with any substitute necessary to make the following equation true:

A + B + C – √-1 + X + H = 21!

With what did you replace X? What does your finished equation look like?

Note: A, B and C are not variables but constants. Each is an irrational number and their sum is approximately 7.478… . The letters A, B, and C should be replaced in the equation by the names of the three numbers, each spelled out in letters of the English alphabet. You must decide what order to put the numbers in.

Note: The  symbol “√” is a radical sign, and “√-1” stands for “the square root of -1.”


Indispensable hint: The integer 21 is not a constant but rather a “reverse variable. ” (That is, it is not a letter that represents numbers but a number that represents letters.) It appears on the back of a certain NFL football player’s jersey, beneath his hyphenated surname. But it would bring smiles to his fans’ faces if the surname were replaced by his nickname. (Oh, and such a replacement is also necessary to solving this equation.)

Also, H is not a variable; it is an uppercase H.



 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 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 about Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! Thank you.

45 comments:

  1. On the HIIR, I don't want to set a precedent and give you too easy a clue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David,
      Finally! Got it with your hint. I like iconic puzzles this this.
      LegoRocket88

      Delete
  2. For the RES, there are also non-fictional cities of the same name.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The easy as pie slice came quickly, a la Carnac.

    All the Enoch and Elijah references are interesting. I wonder why they were never mentioned in our weekly Catholic scriptures. Translation of translation-- now there's a story!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Word Woman,
      Finally! I got your "J" puzzle/rebus. Interesting that I was on the right track with my initial "angleworm/earthworm" take, but I did not pursue it or follow through.
      I needed Paul's "captain/party/lead shot" hint to get it, though. (Although when Paul hinted, "Every pop song has one, and I thinks the classics had them too," I thought he was referring to a "bridge.")

      Nice clever puzzle, Word Woman, just like David's "precedent-setting" effort, above... and like ron's "21-conundrum salute," which led to the posting of even more vexing volleys.

      LegoGratefulToAll

      Delete
  4. Here is a hint for this week’s Mathematical Slice:
    This equality, unmercifully, is quite strained Puzzle:
    The “certain NFL football player” in the “Indispensible hint” is playing in this weekend’s playoffs.

    LegoSweetCouchPotato

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks like you got all three slices, David. Kind of a "light" week (at least for you) over at Puzzleria! We'll try to add some some adiposity next week.

    J
    __________

    FENCE

    LegoDownOnTheOcearFloorWithSpongeBobTheTitanic&AndreaDoria

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have EAPS & RES.

    For you mathematicians, see my post on Blaines blog:

    All the digits in the following multiplication problem have been replaced by letters. (A letter always represents the same digit throughout the problem.) Can you reconstruct the original multiplication?

    TWO x TWO = THREE


    I presume WW's "J" puzzle is "HOOK, LINE & SINKER!" But I have no idea as to the solution of HIIR. Any help?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ron,
      The first two comments in this thread (David's and mine) provide hints. One more: "Milinda, the movie star, has a lovely complexion."

      Thanks for the math puzzle. I shall work on it.

      LegoRocketMan

      Delete
    2. ron,

      Well, I learned something as I solved your fine puzzle. I now am aware of double (!!) and triple (!!!) factorials!

      If TWO = n, then (n!!! - 1) is prime (How's that for a hint?!). Here's one that is less obscure: In my answer, THREE consists of perfect square numbers.
      Thanks, ron.

      Lego!!!

      Delete
    3. Nice going Lego. "THREE" does contain perfect square numbers. I posted this puzzle on Baine's Blog as a clue to Will Shortz' Sunday Challenge, trying to indicate that TWO, yes TWO, was a THREE-letter word!
      I will post the answer to my multiplication problem Thursday on Blaine's Blog.

      I still don't have HIIR. It's just not coming. Hope someone post the answer.

      Delete
    4. ron,

      I think it's up to David to post the answer to HIIR, as it's his super puzzle.

      I used Google to cheat on 2 x 2 = 3; I assume DuckDuckGo would have worked as well.

      That's what I like about this blog -- it's so campy! :)

      Delete
    5. Another clue first, but somewhat abbreviated.

      Delete
    6. Also, I used Excel for the TWO * TWO = THREE.

      Delete
    7. I thought about using my 130XE, but, nah!

      Delete
    8. O.K. I didn't realize you could google or duckduckgoose the answer.

      Here's one I don't think you can do that for:

      Using exactly two 2's and any of the standard mathematical symbols, write down an expression whose value is five.

      Delete
    9. ron,
      Thanks for this math puzzle. We need more math puzzles on Puzzleria!

      A certain fraction, when squared, results in a 25 in its denominator. That original fraction, when written in decimal form, includes a number that when spelled out is the middle of a historical southern U.S. city. Go a bit negative (exponentially) and radical… and there you go!

      LegoNoRomanMatchsticksRequired

      Delete
    10. ron-

      I have (I think) your two 2s (and it has nothing to do with ballet).

      Still looking for HIIR hints?

      Delete
    11. ron,
      Your doggedness in the pursuit of solving David's HIIR puzzle is admirable (no hint so far).
      The answer to David's puzzle considered cartoonist Al Capp an influential popular cultural figure, and once wrote Capp a letter eliciting his assistance in promoting American ideology worldwide.

      Sorry, David, if this is too much of a hint.

      LegoMamieYoakambda.

      Delete
    12. I would have gone in a different generally, but with your advice, nix on that, for now.

      Delete
  7. Lego, congrats to you and the Green Bay Packers! Maizie is yawning at the Broncos, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Maizie just yawns a lot, and you choose to infer a causal relationship.

      Delete
    2. Perhaps. I am yawning also. . .and I slept well last night.

      Delete
    3. Word Woman,
      My Broncondolences.
      Thanks for the Packongrats, but the Cowboys was robbed. The NFL has to do something about that "football move after a catch" rule. It's doesn't pass the smell test for most of us average joe sixpack fans.

      LegoThat'sSixPackAsInBeerNotAbs

      Delete
    4. Thanks, Lego. I thought the Broncos were just looking past this game. . .and the Colts had great momentum and Luck.

      Delete
  8. Paul,
    We’ll take “campy.” Thanks, I think.

    As for blog commenters, Puzzleria! seems to attract more “HIS”es than “HIIR”s. We’d like to see more HIIR’s commenting.

    But perhaps Puzzleria! attracts several female followers who, for some reason, just choose not to comment. I access my Blogger statistics every hour to monitor the eyes that are checking this out. Many of these eyes seem to be sporting eye-shadow and eye-liner, which might suggest femininity. (Yes, Blogger is equipped with virtual two-way micro-camera technology that allows me, the blog administrator, to actually observe people as they are logged onto my blog!) Some of the eyes I see are smiling (they apparently hail from Ireland). Others appear to be closed. (Note to self: Make Puzzleria! more stimulating!)

    About an hour ago, we posted the following puzzle over on Blaine’s. It’s a “piggyback” puzzle. A take-off on Will Shortz’s NPR offering this week:

    “Remove six letters from the name of a large seven-letter U.S. city, leaving a little less than three. Remove five letters from the same city, leaving a little more than three. Remove four letters from the same city, leaving less than two but more than one.

    What is this city?”

    Regarding campy: I still miss my cherished cat. She was not so much a smiler, however; more of a purrer, cuddler and nuzzler.

    LegoSadYetHappyCamper

    ReplyDelete
  9. There are some guys who wear eye shadow and eyeliner, too, of course. . .

    Noosie memories are cherished ones.

    We are kinda campy. I agree. Depending on what your definition of campy is.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Puzzlerians!
    I must apologize for this week’s Easy As Pi Slice, “Careering o’er the clouds.” I am trying to include at least one “easier puzzle” each week. I do not want to turn this blog into one purveying only arcane, obscure and impossible-to-solve puzzles. (And we certainly purvey our share of those!)

    This weeks “Careering” puzzle, I fear however, might have been too much a “triumph of packaging style over puzzle substance.” Perhaps it is too easy not only for the elite and grizzled veteran conundrum solvers but for all, including tyros, who faithfully follow this blog.
    (Although we must admit to being guiltily pleased with the packaging-style-points-scoring audio-link we slipped into the puzzle’s menu title!)

    LegOpenToFeedback

    ReplyDelete
  11. EAPS:
    An ASPIRING young person seeking a dream career. As an aviator or astronaut, he/she might need some ASPIRIN on the job.

    Didn't Will Shortz use this medicinal product on September 29, 2013?

    Last week's challenge: Name something in seven letters that most people keep in their homes. Take the first, third, fourth and seventh letters and rearrange them. The result will be a four-letter word naming something that the seven-letter thing is commonly used for. What is it?
    Answer: Aspirin (pain)

    RES:
    CASTLE ROCK à la Stephen KING>>>CASTLE = ROOK.
    The non-fictional CASTLE ROCK, COLORADO.

    Using exactly two 2's and any of the standard mathematical symbols, write down an expression whose value is five.

    Solution: √.2⁻² which shows that two 2's can make five. So .2 = ⅕ raise that to the -2 power = 25 and take the square root (√25) = 5.

    Lego's seven-letter city: PHOENIX.

    Still haven't solved HIIR.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How are we ever going to lead you to the answer, ron? Time will tell.

      Delete
    2. There is also a Castle Rock here in WA.

      As for HIIR, I thought of saying IOU a clue, but that may be too obscure even for me. HIIR + IOU (anagram) = HOIIIUR = HIIR.

      Delete
    3. Sorry, HOIIUR does nothing for me. I guess I'll have to wait for the "aha" or "groan" moment when you post the answer.

      Delete
    4. Major groan! II rolling. ii rolling. . .

      Yes, the aspiring >>> aspirin was familiar territory from recentish NPR puzzling.

      I did get your math puzzle also, ron, and enjoyed it to its very root.

      Delete
    5. David, that's as filthy as dried fish bladders or glaiiiss!

      Delete
    6. Actually, I was inspired by your DIGHIRA.

      Delete
  12. EAPS: I have no idea (thanks for pouring salt on the wound)

    RES: Castle Rock/rook

    MS: EPIPHANISH = JA! (I shall try to explain later)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks ron, Paul and David for the good responses. I do recall that NPR "aspirin" puzzle, ron. It was not a bad effort by Will. (I am just aspirin' to be "Will Shortz Lite!") At least it did not give me a headache.

      ron, In a previous post I believe you mentioned you are not a big fan of puzzles involving sports or "popular culture?" I realize that lately, we've been pretty heavy on such sports and pop culture trivia and, I'm afraid, next week will continue that jocky-jokey trend.

      But we vow to you to try to try to be a bit more eclectic with our subject matter. (Just as I vow to Word Woman to try to create a few puzzles with admirable women as subjects.)

      Thanks for hanging with us. I know others out there feel as you do.

      Some consolation: David's HIIR puzzle has nothing at all to do with either sports or popular culture ("or great women, alas" as Word Woman might add.)

      Paul, a little aspirin in the maw is good medicine for a little salt in the wound. I have experience with this!

      LegoTakeTheAspirinWithAGrainOfSalt

      Delete
  13. Answers, for the record, Part 1:

    Easy As Pi Slice:
    Careering o’er the clouds
    Name an adjective used often to describe people pursuing their dream career. The adjective also describes people who have already realized their dream career, if it is that of an astronaut, jet pilot, crop duster or some other such “soary” excuse for a profession.
    Remove the adjective’s final letter, forming a medicinal product that some say can be especially effective for those who must work at high altitudes.
    What are the adjective and the product?
    Answer:
    ASPIRING; ASPIRIN

    Regal Eagle Slice:
    Akin to a king
    Name a two-word fictional city that is associated with a King. Change one of its consonants to a vowel.
    The result is two synonyms that are both associated with a king.
    What is the city?
    What are the synonyms?
    Answer:
    Castle Rock
    Castle, Rook

    LegoOnlyAPrawnInTheirGameFilledWithJumboShrimp

    ReplyDelete
  14. Answers, for the record, Part 2:

    Mathematical Slice:
    This equality, unmercifully, is quite strained
    Replace the variable X with any substitute necessary to make the following equation true:
    A + B + C – v-1 + X + H = 21!
    With what did you replace X? What does your finished equation look like?
    Note: A, B and C are not variables but constants. Each is an irrational number and their sum is approximately 7.478… . The letters A, B, and C should be replaced in the equation by the names of the three numbers, each spelled out in letters of the English alphabet. You must decide what order to put the numbers in.
    Note: The symbol “v” is a radical sign, and “v-1” stands for “the square root of -1.”
    Indispensable hint: The integer 21 is not a constant but rather a “reverse variable. ” (That is, it is not a letter that represents numbers but a number that represents letters.) It appears on the back of a certain NFL football player’s jersey, beneath his hyphenated surname. But it would bring smiles to his fans’ faces if the surname were replaced by his nickname. (Oh, and such a replacement is also necessary to solving this equation.)
    Also, H is not a variable; it is an uppercase H.
    Answer:
    The “any substitute” that X must be replaced with is the word “any”
    The finished equation reads:
    epiphany = aha!
    The three irrational numbers that sum to 7.478… are:
    phi = 1.618…
    e = 2.718…
    pi = 3.1416
    A = e; B = pi; C = phi
    v-1 = i (the imaginary number, i)
    On the right side of the equation, 21, the “reverse variable,” stands for “HA HA,” the nickname of Ha’Sean Clinton-Dix (starting safety for the Green Bay Packers NFL team) as it would appear on the back of his jersey above his number, 21.
    Thus,
    A + B + C – v-1 + X + H = 21! >>>>
    A + B + C – v-1 + X = 21! - H >>>>
    e + pi + phi – i + any = HA HA! – H >>>>
    e + pi + ph + any = A HA! >>>>
    epiph + any = AHA! >>>>
    epiphany = AHA!

    Proof of Word Woman’s and Paul’s clairvoyance:
    I uploaded this puzzle on January 9. Five days earlier, on January 4 at 12:39 PM, Word Woman commented in response to ron’s
    YYY
    MEN
    Spatial puzzle, “Just had an Epiphany!”
    Later, Paul in his 1:01 PM post on January 8, after solving Word Woman’s “hook, line and sinker” puzzle, commented: “Oh, wait! I just had an epigram ... or epistle? ... you know, one of those sudden enlightenment thingies.”

    LegoWeCatholicsWereEncouragedToAttendChurchOn”SuddenEnlightenmentThingieSunday”

    ReplyDelete
  15. 21 = JA!
    As in YES!
    As in 'a face and an ace'.
    If the face says 'thumbs up', even better.

    X = SIN(A) = sin(e)

    This is still a work in progress....

    ReplyDelete
  16. BTW, I've been enjoying this.
    I'm actually understanding it, in spite of the language barrier.
    Did you catch Will's INternational DIAling on Sunday? It made me grin a bit.

    ReplyDelete