Friday, February 6, 2015

Festivity, activity, objectivity; Haberdash! Philip VIII

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 53 SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Youngs Puzzleria!, the first of four in February.


We don’t want to turn this into a McBlog but, until someone gets “fed up” with it, we will begin this week posting a running count of how many puzzle slices we have served up on our puzzle menu so far. We will periodically update the running total which now, as you can see, stands at more than 53.



We havent even hit the million mark yet, though we have hit a hundred. Someday we hope to hit “billions & billions” served (as many McDonald's signs boast nowadays), and then hire Carl Sagan to do a commercial for us.


That Sagan clip is about as close as we get to science around these parts. If it is real science you crave, head on over to the PEOTS blog posted weekly by Word Woman, who often comments on Puzzleria!

This week, however, I posted a comment on PEOTS that sent the blog off on a slight pop-cultural tangent. It included a link to a video clip of the Cowsills (not to be confused with pot-smoking (?) Window Boys) performing their version of “Hair.”


The Cowsills were a family band formed in the 1960s. (They were the Partridge Family before the Partridge Family became the Partridge Family.) Talent galore. I was a fan of Billy’s (R.I.P.) later work with the Blue Shadows (country music as it once was) and Susan’s work with the Continental Drifters. 


Thanks to ron for posting the “Palinmorse” link to the Futility Closet website in last week’s Comment section of Puzzleria! A blog worth bookmarking is Futility Closet. Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan, and others, might be interested in Hossein Behferooz“versatile” magic square.

Last week’s puzzle slices proved to be tougher to chew on that we thought they would be when we baked them up. The Big Game Slice number sequence, for example. To perhaps clarify, consider the chart below of the first 110 Roman numerals:

I  II  III  IV  V  VI  VII  VIII  IX  X
XI  XII  XIII  XIV  XV  XVI  XVII  XVIII  XIX  XX
XXI  XXII  XXIII  XXIV  XXV  XXVI  XXVII  XXVIII  XXIX  XXX
XXXI  XXXII  XXXIII  XXXIV  XXXV  XXXVI  XXXVII  XXXVIII  XXXIX  XL
XLI  XLII  XLIII  XLIV  XLV  XLVI  XLVII  XLIII  XLIX  L
LI  LII  LIII  LIV  LV  LVI  LVII  LVIII  LIX  LX
LXI  LXII  LXIII  LXIV  LXV  LXVI  LXVII  LXVIII  LXIX  LXX
LXXI  LXXII  LXXIII  LXXIV  LXXV  LXXVI  LXXVII  LXXVIII  LXXIX  LXXX
LXXXI  LXXXII  LXXXIII  LXXXIV  LXXXV  LXXXVI  LXXXVII  LXXXVIII  LXXXIX  XC
XCI  XCII  XCIII  XCIV  XCV  XCVI  XCVII  XCVIII  XCIX  C
CI  CII  CIII  CIV  CV  CVI  CVII  CVIII  CIX  CX


Each numeral in red consists of letters in alphabetical order. Alphabetical order does not really pertain to the homogeneous numerals in green. All other numerals are in alphabetical disorder.




Quick Quiz; When did Terry Jones (see 3:44, 8:41, 9:10) become mayor of Sun Prairie?
 
Looking ahead, we call the third puzzle in this week’s menu our “Déjà vu Slice” because some of you may feel like you’ve seen it before. I have been creating and filing my puzzles for more than five years. This is one of the many I created before I launched Puzzleria! (in May of 2014).

Roughly fifty days after I created it, Will Shortz broadcast a shorter (of course!) version of my puzzle during his NPR Weekend Edition Sunday segment. (I had not submitted my version to him. It was just a coincidence.)


I took mental note of the similarity between our puzzles, but did not banish my version from my files. After I launched this blog, every week as I surveyed the material in my “puzzles not yet used” file, I would consider but pass over this “déjà vu” puzzle. I am springing it on you Puzzlerians! this week because 
1. I am getting weary of seeing it each week in my files, and 
2. I believe my other two puzzle slices on the menu might prove to be rather challenging, so this easier puzzle should provide a refreshing contrast.

Enjoy!

Menu



Draw-in’ A Blank Slice:
Philip VIII

Name the next word in the following sequence:
lie, hammer, you, curt, cruller, golly, coffee, ____

Explain your answer.


Specialty Of The House Slice:
Haberdash!

Name a common sight on runways, an eight-letter word. Divide it to form two new words, each pronounced differently from how they were pronounced as syllables in the original word.



Replace the first new word with a homophone, keeping the spelling of the second new word as it is. The result is a possible purchase from a haberdashery. What are these words?



Deja Vu Slice:
Festivity, activity, objectivity

Name a place on the world map and an object associated with that place. Together they contain the five vowels (A, E, I, O, U but not Y in this case) exactly once.  

Place the object after the place name and remove from this abutted result the ultimate, penultimate and antepenultimate syllables from the very end of a popular children’s song.
 
Rearrange the remaining letters to form an activity associated with the place. Remove three letters from that activity and rearrange them, using one of them twice, to form a four-letter festivity associated with the place. 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 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.

27 comments:

  1. When you say runways, do you mean airplane or fashion or both?

    Thanks for the shout out to PEOTS, Lego.

    Happy Friday from 73 degree Denver.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Either one or the other.
      You're welcome.
      I'm green with envy and blue with frostbite. We might climb to 37 degrees Saturday,

      LegoBraniffJetsWereFashionablyStylish

      Delete
  2. The DVS poisoned my brain cells. I haven't been able to get the others.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry 'bout that, David. Try rubbing dome syrup of ipecac onto your temples. Did you recall Will's terser version? I believe you will solve the other two.

      LegoArsenicAndOldPuzzles

      Delete
  3. I take it that the place on the map isn't PARIS and that the object associated with it isn't the EURO!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ron,

      Well, maybe PARIS/EURO does work for the DVS, even though it isn’t my intended answer.
      In medieval France (and elsewhere in Europe), monks adopted the practice of tonsure, cutting short or shaving hair at the top of their heads to symbolize purity of spirit. This tonsorial activity incorporated the notion of close-cropped or shaved (ras, in French) hair, and the ideal of pure (pur in French) monastic practice.

      So, if you remove the stipulated three syllables from PARIS + EURO you can rearrange the remainder to form the French words RAS and PUR, two words that define the essence of monastic activity.

      Next, from RAS + PUR, remove the U, double the A and rearrange the letters to form “ARS ARP.” I may be mistaken (indeed, I am mistaken!), but I imagine ARS ARP to be an annual festival honoring the life and work of German-French artist and Renaissance man Jean (Hans) Arp. It ought to be celebrated annually on Sept. 16, Arp’s anniversaire (anniversary of the day he was born, a much more accurate word than our English “birthday”!), in the Alsace Lorraine region of France, Arp’s lieu de naissance (or “birthplace” to us Englishers).

      Ergo, congrats ron!

      (Disregard the following paragraphs if you are fed up (ras le bol in French) with my carrying on about my late cat, Noosie.)

      Sadly, “lieu de naissance” reminds me of my tabby cat, Noosie (formally named Nuisance) who died five months ago. I grieve her still.

      Noosie’s lieu de naissance was somewhere in the north woods of Wisconsin. The “lieux de Nuisance,” however, were many. She was my pal on my lap. She perched on my windowsills (not to be confused with Cowsills) watching the world (and squirrels and plants and birds and rocks and things, and the rain, the park and other things) go by outside. She slept on various couches, cushions, quilts and blankets in my home. She also slept on my bed (her penultimate final resting place) with or without me. Her ultimate final resting place is in a grave just outside her favorite world-watching window.

      (When I, and almost everyone I know, first heard America's "Horse with No Name," we thought it was a song sung by Neil Young.)

      (Compare the "The Rain, the Park and Other Things" clip with the two Blue Shadows clips in this week's Puzzleria! preamble. Billy Cowsill sings lead in all three.)

      LegoFelonely

      Delete
  4. Thinking about you and Noosie, Lego.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Word Woman.

      I confess to having a history of getting overly attached to God's quaduped creatures... which, upon further reflection, may not be such a bad thing because I also have a history of not relating all that well to bipeds. (The link is a song that relates to not relating all that well, but it is a gorgeous and harmoniously graceful melding of melody and lyric.)

      I have comforted myself lately with the notion that my parents somehow "reached down" from heaven and, in my absence, were petting and comforting Noosie during her last hours, and then welcoming her into heaven.

      LegoPersuadedThatYouGottaBelieveInAMaizieGrace

      Delete
  5. I like Will Shortz’s NPR puzzle this week. Here it is:
    “Name someone who's the subject of many jokes; two words. Remove the space between the words. Insert the letters O and N in that order — not necessarily consecutively — inside this string of letters. The result, reading from left to right, will be two words of opposite meaning that this someone might say. Who is it, and what are the words?”

    The wording is a bit unfair, though. Now, let me be clear. I am not in Will’s league as a puzzle master or puzzle editor. He has an academic degree in enigmatology for Pete’s sake, and is longtime editor of the NYT daily crossword puzzle, the standard for all others. I sincerely admire his brilliance, his track record and his ping… I mean, table tennis record.

    That said, I would have reworded the first two sentences of this puzzle thusly:
    “Name someone who's the subject of many jokes. Remove anything that is not a letter from this someone, including any spaces. …”

    (There is one hint to Will's puzzle in this post.)

    Respectfully,
    Lego…

    ReplyDelete
  6. A hint for the Draw-in’ A Blank Slice (DABS):
    This woman just took her pet to the wrong restaurant. She should have instead patronized _ _ _ _.

    LegoGamda

    ReplyDelete
  7. A hint for the SOTHS, Haberdash!:
    Thd second part of the "common sight on runways" sounds like something you'd see at football games or golf matches, or something you might see a woman do to her "big hair."

    LegoAfro

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, OK, if you're going to make it that easy, even I can get it. Billy Bigelow comes to mind.

      Delete
    2. Paul,
      Sorry, I just do not know where to stop those doggone swinging pendulums I put into motion.

      I recall serving a puzzle slice about a Broadway musical last July.

      Carousel was a kind of R&H "sequel" to "Oklahoma." My "Carousel puzzle" was a kind of prequel to this Lighter Menu Slice in August.

      I've always loved Carousel's title waltz.and this dire "sequel", as well as this bossy non-sequel.

      Billy could be in Will's puzzle this week.

      LegoJiggerCraigin

      Delete
  8. Regrettably I have only one solution to this week's “déjà vu” slices.

    SOTHS:
    BEAUTIES>>>BEAU + TIES>>>BOW TIES.
    This seems to be a “déjà vu” of Will's TAE BO/BOW TIE puzzle of Jan. 12, 2014.

    DVS:
    Is this a “déjà vu” of Will's “split pea soup/hot turkey sandwich” puzzle of Apr. 6, 2014?

    ReplyDelete
  9. ron,

    Yes, although I had forgotten about it, the SOTHS does echo Will’s tae bo/bow tie puzzle a bit.

    Will’s terser version of the DVS I had created 50 days earlier was this “dance” puzzle.

    Alas, this turned out to be a kind of “Déjà vu” edition of Puzzleria! Sorry. Nothing worse than unfresh, warmed-over puzzle slices.


    Here are this week’s official answers:

    Draw-in’ A Blank Slice:
    Philip VIII
    Name the next word in the following sequence:
    lie, hammer, you, curt, cruller, golly, coffee, ____
    Explain your answer.

    Answer: MOON (or BAN)
    Ban Ki-moon is the eighth person to serve as secretary general of the United Nations. “Moon” or “ban” are English words that can be extracted from his name. Other secretaries general, in historical order, were:
    Trygve Lie, Dag Hammarskjold, U Thant, Kurt Waldheim, Javier Perez de Cuellar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and Kofi Annan, from which were extracted the following either exact or approximate English words: lie, hammer (alternative: “scold”), you, curt, cruller, golly and coffee.
    In my hint, posted in the comments section, the woman should have brought her “therapy kangaroo" not to McDonald’s but to IHOP, The International House Of Pancakes.

    Specialty Of The House Slice:
    Haberdash!
    Name a common sight on runways, an eight-letter word. Divide it to form two new words, each pronounced differently from how they were pronounced as syllables in the original word.
    Replace the first new word with a homophone, keeping the spelling of the second new word as it is. The result is a possible purchase from a haberdashery. What are these words?

    Answer:
    BEAUTIES; BOWTIES (or BOW TIES)
    (Beauties = beau + ties --> bow + ties)
    In my hint, posted in the comments section:
    The second part of the "common sight on runways" (beauties) sounds like something you'd see at football games or golf matches (tees), or something you might see a woman do to her "big hair" (tease).

    Deja Vu Slice:
    Festivity, activity, objectivity
    Name a place on the world map and an object associated with that place. Together they contain the five vowels (A, E, I, O, U but not Y in this case) exactly once.
    Place the object after the place name and remove from this abutted result the ultimate, penultimate and antepenultimate syllables from the very end of a popular children’s song.
    Rearrange the remaining letters to form an activity associated with the place. Remove three letters from that activity and rearrange them, using one of them twice, to form a four-letter festivity associated with the place. What are these words?

    Answer:
    OAHU; LEI; HULA; LUAU
    OAHU + LEI = OAHULEI
    OAHULEI – EIO (the last three syllables in “old McDonald’s Farm,” which ends E-I-E-I-O) = AHUL --> HULA
    HULA – H + U = ULAU --> LUAU

    Lego…

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How about KEY, from Ban Ki(key)-Moon?

      Delete
    2. Right you are, ron. And I suppose one might also argue for "bank" (BAN Ki-moon).

      LegoBanKiKiMoon

      Delete
  10. I can't believe you are making us know something to answer the DABS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ;-).

      There is a Kofi Annan honorary ping pong table at Macalester College. Not many U. N Secretaries General can say that!

      Delete
    2. ;-).

      There is a Kofi Annan honorary ping pong table at Macalester College. Not many U. N Secretaries General can say that!

      Delete
    3. David,
      I have learned never to underestimate the knowledge/intelligence of Puzzlerians!

      Dr. Shortz,
      I apologize for the doppleganger comments posted above by Word Woman. It is an "honorary table tennis table at Macalester College," I assume she meant to say. And, she repeated it twice, adding insult to the injury you must feel, then rubbed salt into that wound!

      Word Woman,
      Excellent post(s)! Keep up the good work.

      LegoDingDongSingSongKingKongTableTennis

      Delete
    4. At Mac, it's ping pong:

      http://athletics.macalester.edu/news/2009/5/20/GEN_0520091429.aspx

      Sorry about the double posting. Uncommanded posting seems to be moving around our blog trio.

      Delete
  11. With DABS I had tried to go in this direction: lie + hammer = Lillehammer, you + curt = yogurt, cruller + golly = crueler gully, coffee + ? = coffee mate (date)! No such luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ron,
      I love your puzzle-solving approaches. Who knows what might work with our goofy puzzles? Nothing one might try is too far-fetched.

      I considered reversing the order of the DABS sequence, beginning with MOON, COFFEE, GOLLY ..., but I feared "MOON" might be a giveaway.

      LegoCruellaDeLillehammer

      Delete
  12. I don't mean to be a critic, but I'm afraid I'm finding this "WornRibbonVintageSmithCorona" font very difficult to read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's okay, Paul. Everybody's a critic!
      We welcome criticism on this blog, especially if it is constructive, and yours certainly falls into that category. Like U.S. Marines, we want to "be all that we can be." (Didn't Omelet say something like that? That is my question.)

      I will work on your concern. I am not very good at going in and tinktering with Blogger's settings, but maybe there's a way of making the font "Bible Black," as King Crimson might put it, or bigger.

      Whatever fix I might do, I want to be considerate of Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan's magic square contributions, which I regard as splendid.

      LegoWarmPabstBlueRibbonVintageChateauLafiteRothschildSchmitt'sCorona

      Delete