"Well now, isn't that spatial!"; One dismaying concoction of grammar; Pucks 'n' Pigskins

Welcome to the first Joseph Young’s Puzzle-ria! of 2015.

We plan a happy new yearful of ever-lovin’, envelope-shovin’, fresh-outta-the-oven,
hot-off-the-puzzle-grilling-skillet slices, beginning with three this week.

Along with the new year, we introduce a new slice, the BYOB Slice, which stands for “Bring Your Own Baggage.” No, we are not suddenly charging carry-on fees, nor are we asking you to smuggle Zip-Loc baggies of oregano, pepper flakes, garlic salt and parmesan cheese into our blog.

A Bring Your Own Baggage Slice (BYOBS) is simply a puzzle that may well have more than one intended answer (and no wrong answers!), one that may require and extra measure of creativity from its solver, one that we hope is more of a “dessert” than a “main course.”

Speaking of main courses, please indulge me as I briefly recount an awful (which actually means “awesome”) pun I concocted during a New Year’s Eve dinner-date on Wednesday. My brother Mike and his friend and I and my friend were at a restaurant booth enjoying our meal, when somehow the conversation drifted toward the topic of rutabagas. (Yes, I know, we are scintillating conversationalists, all!) So, I concocted the following fabrication, hoping to elicit (successfully, as it turned out) groans from my dinner mates.

“When I lived in Baraboo (Wisconsin), the Sauk County agricultural agent urged local farmers not to use pesticides on their rutabaga crops, promising that this tactic would produce greater yields, a bountiful harvest.

And the agent was right. Not all rutabaga growers complied, of course, but those who did experienced a RUTABAGA BUGGY BUMPER crop!”

Here at Puzzle-ria! we plan to grow a (sometimes groan-inducing) year-long bumper crop of puzzles for all you Puzzlerians! to harvest, devour, and enjoy. Let’s start 2015 out by attacking this week’s puzzle-slice trio with brio!

 Menu

Specialty Of The House Slice:

“Well now, isn’t that spatial!”

Write down a word that has seemed ubiquitous for a year or so, especially so in the entertainment media.

Up above this word, write its fourth and fifth letters followed by its second and third letters, forming a four-letter word.

The placement of the original, longer word in spatial relation to the new, shorter word provides a definition for the original word.

What are these two words?

Hint: The word that has seemed ubiquitous in the entertainment media has also been ubiquitous in a field whose homophone is a conjunction in the title of one of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Folk Songs of the Four Seasons.” (See illustrations here and at the top of this blog page.)

  

Easy As Pie Slice

One dismaying concoction of grammar

Choose an appropriate word to complete the following list:

Concoction, conjunctivitus, dismaying, grammar, horselaugh, horsepower, jangle, lifeboat, malapropism, sidecar, turnover…

Explain your choice.

Hint: Although the words are in alphabetical order, that should have no bearing on whatever word you might choose.

Bring Your Own Baggage Slice

Pucks ’n’ Pigskins

If the San Jose Sharks played the New York Jets in some kind of hybrid hockey/football contest, which would be the home team? Why?

(Note: As noted in this week’s Puzzleria! preamble (see above), a “Bring Your Own Baggage Slice (BYOBS), is a type of “creative challenge” in which there is no “correct” or “incorrect” answer. We do have an answer in mind, of course, but your solution is as good (and is likely better!) than ours.

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.