PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 132 SERVED
Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! ’Tis the tenth of May… That is, ’tis the tenth “prime date” in the month of May,
May 29. Sunday will be the eleventh of May. Monday will be June 1st,
but Tuesday will be the first (prime date) of June.
As printemps wanes and prime summertime looms, let us prime your intuitive and puzzle-solving
pumps with this appetizer:
Pseudopuzzling Sequence Slice
Numbers
shall snowbafoneftyfonefty
What comes next in this sequence?
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FFOURE
SNONENE
SEFFOUREEN
EONEGHT
NONENE
TEN
EFONEFTYEFFOUREEN
TWEFONEFTYFONEVEE…
(Note: We have written this twelfth element of this PSS in red because it is incorrect. It should instead be written as:
TWEFONEFTYFFOUREE
We apologize.)
(Note: We have written this twelfth element of this PSS in red because it is incorrect. It should instead be written as:
TWEFONEFTYFFOUREE
We apologize.)
Too easy? (Well, apparently not too easy for LegoLambda!) Give this one a go:
Prime And Proper Slice:
Primerose path milestones
What is the next number in the following sequence?
2, 3, 7, 23, 37, 79, 83, __
This week’s
menu features two delicious slices, one “wordy,” the other “numbery.” We are curious to see if
anyone can solve the “Next
Integer Please Slice: Seek whence to
solve.” Its crust is chewy, if not downright tough.
MENU
Creatures Featured
Slice:
The
Adventures of Fozzie & Herriot
A fictional character is known more by a
nickname than by her/his given first name. The nickname is one of God’s creatures great or small.
The first syllable of the character’s given first name sounds like a synonym of the creature. The last syllable of the title of a novel in which the character appears sounds like another of God’s creatures great or small, in the plural.
The fictional character’s nickname is a synonym for a part of a cartoon character’s name. The other part of the cartoon character’s name is the plural form of a creature of God, not great but small.
A part of the cartoon character’s catchphrase sounds something like a part of the name of the fictional character’s creator.
A part of the cartoon character’s catchphrase sounds something like a part of the name of the fictional character’s creator.
Who are these characters, creatures and
creator?
Hint: The fictional character’s
surname is also a unit of measure.
(Note: See David’s May 29 at 9:06 PM comment below for a “piggyback puzzle” that squeezes out even more glue cementing together the elements of this Creatures Featured Slice. Thank you, David.)
(Note: See David’s May 29 at 9:06 PM comment below for a “piggyback puzzle” that squeezes out even more glue cementing together the elements of this Creatures Featured Slice. Thank you, David.)
Next Integer
Please Slice:
Name the next
number in this sequence: 5, 4, 8, 1, 9, 7, 6, 2, __, ...
(Puzzlerian! puzzle solvers who can extend the sequence further are deserving of extra credit.)
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.)
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 Puzzleria! Thank
you.
I figured out the PSS on my own and the CFS with a bit of help from Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteI have a piggyback for the NIPS, which I am not going to give until I am sure that I am not giving away the intended answer.
I'm pleased to report that, as usual working backwards, I just solved the Creatures Featured Slice (I get all lost with everyone using abbreviations for all the puzzles). I'm not sure how much more to say, about WHICH specific clue was the most vital.
ReplyDeleteHave also gotten the first appetizer (the PSS as opposed to the subsequent PPS, how's that for confusing initials?) Have to go finish composing a violin part, so I don't have time now to work on the rest. Fun, though!
Not that David or ViolinTeddy needs it, but I am about to add a hint to the FCS (Creatures Featured Slice). It slipped my mind when I uploaded the puzzle. The hint is: “The fictional character’s surname is also a unit of measurement.”
DeleteThat hint will only serve to further confirm the correctness of David’s and ViolinTeddy’s answers, but it may help others who may be struggling some. I thought this was a pretty challenging puzzle.
LegoE-Racer&MadHinter
But even more for the CFS:
DeleteTake the last name of the fictional character (the unit of measurement), repeat one of the letters, and then rearrange the letters to get the last name of another fictional character. The first name of this character is often used in conjunction with the nickname original character.
Very nice, David. You remain in fine puzzling form.
DeleteMy first instinct for your other fictional character was to go with Romeo Montague. But he didn’t work out (which likely explains why he could bench-press only 40 pounds and dead-lift only 35). But, luckily, this song led me to your intended answer.
LegRomeoLaMontagueTuttoItalianoRagazzo
The PSS (Pseudopuzzling Sequence Slice) is a relatively trivial exercise. Still, I managed to make an error in calculating the twelfth element of the sequence. I corrected it (see this week’s blog, above).
ReplyDeleteI noticed my error when I pondered what the sequence in this puzzle might look like if integers like SIX, NINE and ELEVEN had instead been given names like DAVID, MILDRED and MACADAM. Well, believe me, it is not a pretty sight! It is a case of exponential growth run amok, or “snowballing,” as I hinted in the subtitle, “Numbers shall snowbafoneftyfonefty.”
That subtitle is a lie, at least for the numbers in this puzzle. Numbers like 100, 500, and 1,000, etc. really would snowball.
Here (The Scarlet Serpent puzzle) is why numbers less than 100 don’t snowball, while numbers greater than or equal to 100 do snowball. Numbers that include (or will include) the letter D, like hundreds, thousands (and millions), all inevitably fall into step on the “endless-loopy treadmill.”
It is not a perfect analogy, but the difference between NINE and MILDRED is somewhat akin to the difference between terminating and non-terminating/repeating decimal expressions of rational numbers. But the more accurate analogies to exponential growth are smallpox cells, human population, compound interest, Ponzi schemes, and piggyback puzzles of piggyback puzzles of piggyback puzzles.
Foneftyego
FFOURE ONE ZERO FONEFTY ONE NTEDDY here [I probably should have done likewise with my "d"s, but I'm too tired.] Just wanted to say that it seems to me that your twelfth element wasn't really wrong, just not 'reduced', so to speak, to its most basic form a la the setup.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to ask, WHERE do you get this stuff, such as the Fozzie puzzle? Do you lie awake at night thinking things up? Or does it just bubble up inside your brain all day long, waiting to emerge each Friday?
FFOUREONEZEROFONEFTYONENTEDDY,
DeleteJust some friendly advice: Steer clear of those double-“D’s” in Teddy. You do not want to go there!
Your “uppercase O = zero” gambit is clever. Were “VIOLIN” an integer in the PSS, however, we would have written it:
VIOLIN = SIXOFIFTYONEN =SNINEOFONEFTYONEN = SNONENEOFONEFTYONEN
(A part of the rule for the algorithm I used in this puzzle is that VI = SIX = SNINE = SNONENE, not VI = FIVEONE = FONEFIVEEONE = FONEFONEFIVEEEONE = FONEFONEFONEFIVEEEEONE = … and on into infinity.
And so, when consecutive letters combine to create a number, choose that one number, not the series of numbers formed by the series of letters individually. In some instances, such as the LV in tweLVe, it makes no difference.)
Your word “reduced” is exactly the right word to use for the process I used in this puzzle. The numbers from ZERO to NINETY-NINE can be reduced. But I do not believe any numbers greater than 99 can be reduced! It all goes back to the “Scarlet Snake” puzzle slice we linked to, above. VIOLIN is reducible; TEDDY is not.
The error I made with TWELVE was the reduction in this step: I incorrectly figured that TWEFIFTYFIVEE = TWEFONEFTYFONEVEE, when I should have known that TWEFIFTYFIVEE = TWEFONEFTYFFOUREE! (See “rule for the algorithm,” above.)
As for your query, “where do (we) get this stuff?” it is more of a “brain-bubbling” than a lying awake. A lot of it comes from simply observing interesting or unusual word juxtapositions and relationships. This Easy As Pilot-bearing Slice: Double parking puzzle, for example, came to me when I noticed the name of the car in front of me while waiting for a red light to change (No, skydiveboy, I was not parked in a “red-light district!”)
I had long loved the homophonic connection between the name of the fictional character’s creator and the cartoon character’s catchphrase, which is the crux of this week’s “Fozzie puzzle.” Creating the puzzle was just a matter of nailing plasterboard to that cruciform frame.
I am sincerely convinced, ViolinTeddy, that any of the contributors to Puzzleria! could operate this blog, or one like it, and do a better job of it. David and skydiveboy, for example, have contributed many excellent puzzles, providing much-needed puzzle diversity to the “sameyness” of my puzzles. Word Woman, who posts her weekly PEOTS blog, could do this blog in her sleep. Margaret G demonstrates great puzzle savvy and puzzle-creation potential. Enya_and_Weird_Al-fan has posted simply amazing number-square puzzles on this site. And it would be intriguing to see what Puzzleria! would become in the capable hands and brains of Paul or ron… and others who have commented here in the past year. And just think of what all the followers/non-commentors (more than 100 page views daily, lately) could do with this blog!
The reason you Puzzlerian! creative geniuses (I am not exaggerating!) don’t run a puzzle blog, of course, is because you have careers, families, friends, appointments, responsibilities, projects, tasks, hobbies, and a myriad of creative outlets to occupy your precious time. (Why, some of you must occasionally interrupt your puzzling pursuits to go “finish composing violin parts,” for Pete’s sakes!
In short, you all have lives. I have… Puzzleria.
Lego“Puzzleria”HeDidNotExclaim
Flattering, but most of my puzzles are extensions of the LegOriginals, like the one above.
DeleteAll I know, David, is that I would never have come up with doubling a letter of the CFS fictional character's surname, and anagramming it to form the surname of another fictional character whose first name happens to relate so seamlessly with the first fictional character's first name!
DeleteLegoodGoingDavid
L "P": Just read, and am laughing very hard at, your last paragraph above (of 4.333 lines' length.) And I getcha about using VI = SIX = SNINE instead of FIVEONE etc ....but am finding it is much more difficult, i.e. I get all mixed up, to create the lengthy numbers -- as you had to do -- than it is to reduce them back down to the original number word.....BLURRRRR of eyes!
ReplyDeleteI went to look at your past Subaru puzzle, indeed, and realize one could spend weeks non-stop trying to read everything starting from when you began this blog (i.e. all the puzzles I missed plus comments.) But like you said, life keeps getting in the way!
One thing I know for sure: *I* will be NEVER be any "threat" to all the puzzle-creators whom you credit with the ability to run this blog as well as you do (or so you conclude.) : o )
I got the pseudo-slice, and the prime slice, but haven't even attempted the all-creatures slice (and probably won't). I have been spending all my spare time hitting my head against the next integer slice. I've thought of a few odd-ball algorithms, but none of them quite fit. Still thinking. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteMargaret G.,
DeleteI believe the NIPS is much tougher than the CFS. I applaud your gumption. David, judging from his May 29 at 10:56 AM comment, may have solved it, which would not surprise me.
I may post a hint to the NIPS later this evening or early Monday morning... or earlier than that, upon request.
LegoGumptionLover
The NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle by the esteemed Will Shortz is a bit on the easy side this week. Thus, there could be many correct entries. Furthermore, lately Dr. Shortz has been allowing alternative answers, including two alternative answers for last week’s puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThat allowance by Will allowed yours truly to win the weekly “Pick-A-Range” contest over on the “An Englishman Solves American Puzzles” (AESAP) blog. Will allowed 310 correct submissions. I picked the 301-350 range. Yipee!
This week’s NPR puzzle:
“A simple challenge: Think of a 5-letter word that can precede 'chicken' to complete a common two-word phrase. Change the middle letter to get a new word that can follow ‘chicken’ to complete a common two-word phrase. What phrases are these?”
For those of you who have not seen the following verse posted on the Blainesville or AESAP blogs, it is doggerel that does provide an alternative “answer” to the this week’s puzzle (although it is certainly not an answer that Dr. Shortz will accept if you dare submit it):
DEAD HEN CLUCKNG
Pending pardon, the hen lay on poultry death row.
Her fate? Processing. Life? Not worth chicken feed.
She’d be fried unless Governor Leghorn said, “No!”
Ah, ‘tis priceless the life of a chicken freed.
FoghornLegohornLambda
I have all but CFS. Here's a DIGITAL SPAN problem, since we are doing mostly number sequences this week. Try to solve it before looking at the answer.
ReplyDeleteThanks, ron. FC (and you) always come(s) up with interesting posers.
DeleteThrough brute force, I got the 8-digit answer, then also solved the 6-digit (1s, 2s and 3s) case to see if I could find a pattern. (There are two answers each, of course, as the 8, and 6, digits are reversible (not palindromic, but work in reverse). There is no solution for the trivial 4-digit number.
That is where I left it, for now. Some kind of pattern did not jump out at me, so I was at a loss to generalize for numbers of 2n digits for n > 4.
Not giving up though.
And then of course you could solve for 12-digit numbers with three 1's, three 2's, three 3's, and three 4's, etc. etc....
Incidentally, I used the patented "skydiveboy Scrabble-tile method" to solve this: using I's for 1's, a Z and a sidewise N for 2's, backward E's for 3's, and H's for 4's (ignoring the southwest legs of the H's).
LegoMoreGoBetweens
I came up with the 2nd solution to Ron's "digital span" question pretty quickly, but I am still stuck on Lego's sequence. Has it got anything to do with "whence"? --Margaret G.
DeleteMargaret G.,
DeleteI admire your perseverence.
"Whence" is just a part of the lame homographic pun I used in the title: "Seek whence..." = "sequence."
But there is a tenuous connection between the solution to the NIPS (Next Integer Please Slice) and my opening paragraph in this week's blog, and to the Pseudopuzzling Sequence Slice (PSS), and to that "Ides of May" pseudopuzzle of a few weeks ago.
LegoDamHinter
Re your latest NIPS hint: I already tried looking at months (which fits your opening paragraph and the idea of Ides of May idea), but I still haven't been able to get anywhere. I even wrote out the month names and counted their letters, but that didn't work either.
DeleteViolinTeddy. Can I say you're on the right track, without getting into trouble? --Margaret G.
DeleteThanks for the encouragement, MG, but I guess it's too late now! I never thought to put the months in alphabetical order, annoyingly!
DeleteStill not getting it. But I have a few sequences (or Seek Whences) for you if you care to try them out. They don't fit yours, though! How about...
ReplyDelete5, 9, 8, 3, 2, 7, 6, 1, ... (so close!) or perhaps 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, 5, ... would be easier? or even 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 3, ...? Maybe 4, 8, 12, 2, 1, 7, 6, ...?
Full of seek whences, now that I finally got the pun,
Margaret G.
amazingly just popped into my head the answer to the CFS. I'd had half of the answer as a "well, maybe" percolating this morning. And this afternoon the other half presented itself to me. Love the connections. And these animals are quite common in my part of the world. -- Margaret G - missing the numbers, but better with animals
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Ms, Margaret Animanumeral!
DeleteCreatures: animals, great and small,
Treetops, mountains, squat and tall,
Numerals infinite, infinitesimal...
Thanks to God who made them all.
We shall ponder your daunting sequences. Thank you , Margaret G.
Legoogelplex(Great!)ReciprocalOfLegoogelplex(Small!)
I cannot believe I was literally staring at this answer on my many sheets of scratch paper before, and somehow it only now penetrated my thick-enough-skull. I am convinced that the answer is not 3 nor 42. And that's all I am saying for now. --Margaret G
DeletePSS:
ReplyDeleteRoman numerals are used: ONE = I, FOUR = IV, FIVE = FFOURE, SIX = SNONENE or SONETEN, using NINE = IX or TEN = X, L = FONEFTY, etc. So THIRTEEN = THONERTEEN.
PAPS:
The series 2,3,7,23,37,70,83,97... is the series of prime numbers where the number of letters in each number spelled out is, itself, a prime. After 97 (NINETY SEVEN, 11 letters), the series diverges depending on whether you live in the U.K. or the U.S.A. The next number after 97 in the U.K. is 109, ONE HUNDRED AND NINE (17 letters), but in the U.S.A. the next number after 97 is 101, ONE HUNDRED ONE (13 letters).
NIPS:
Each number represents the number of the month of the year in alphabetical order. April = 1. Aug. = 2, Dec. = 3, and so forth. The series is the number for each month in chronological order. Jan. = 5, Feb.= 4, March = 8, April = 1, May = 9, June = 7, July = 6, Aug. = 2, Sept. = 12, Oct. = 11, Nov. = 10, & Dec. = 3. So the full series is 5,4,8,1,9,7,6,2,12,11,10,3.
CFS:
No idea, maybe BEETLE>>>BEE>>>WASP>>>Janet van DYNE?
CFS:
ReplyDeleteHarry (Rabbit) Angstrom
Hare
Rabbit, Redux (ducks)
Bugs Bunny
What's Up, Doc ((John) Updike)
Then, my addition:
Jack (rabbit) Armstrong
Thanks, ron and David. Between you two, the platter has been licked clean. Also all your answers were well-stated and concise. That will become even more apparent later today when we post our very wordy "Official answers, for the record."
DeleteIf I were Will Shortz I would send ron a lapel pin studded with exquisite sequence.
And I would send David a lapin pin (or perhaps a more utilitarian lapin pan).
If I were a rich man, I would send them both lapis lazuli lapel pins in solid gold settings.
LegoLambbaDibbyDibbyDumYubbaBiddyYabbaDabbaDoo
I was completely off on NIPS, but have this complete sequence for you to explain:
ReplyDelete5, 4, 10, 2, 9, 8, 6, 7,3, 1
David, I can tell this is going to be tricky.
DeleteA plea to Puzzlerians! If and when you solve key to David's sequence, give some hints to the rest of us schmucks.
Thank you. And thank you, David.
LegoI'mSureI'llStillBeStumpedAt8:50PM
I believe I have David's seek whens and offer this one:
Delete1, .5, .67, .2, .125, ?
Word Woman,
DeleteGot yours. Don't got David's (but I've been on the road).
What's will we be enjoying on PEOTS this week?
LegoYourAssignment:ComposeAPoemAboutFibberMcGeePlayingBocciBall
An easy early June seek whens, eh?
DeleteTodays's PEOTS on Cherry Blossom Stones: I Knew I Muscovite Away is now up.
Thanks for asking, Lego.
Variation on a theme:
Delete5, 2, 10, 8, 9, 4, 7, 6, 3, 1
What about 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 6, 7, 2, 5, 1?
Delete3/4, 8/9, 10/6, 7/2, 5/1
DeleteIncreasing numbers from left to right. . .
What about that?! Ha! harder than 1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/5, 1/8, 1/13, 1/21. . .but, not terribly elegant.
To be complete, my answers are Spanish then French numbers in alphabetic order.
DeleteSome wonderful piggyback puzzles being posted this week. It is June, and yet, the puzzles are snowballing!
ReplyDeleteThis week’s answers, for the record:
Pseudopuzzling Sequence Slice
Numbers shall snowbafoneftyfonefty
What comes next in this sequence?
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FFOURE
SNONENE
SEFFOUREEN
EONEGHT
NONENE
TEN
EFONEFTYEFFOUREEN
TWEFONEFTYFFOUREE
Answer:
THONERTEEN
FOURTEEN
FONEFTEEN
SNONENETEEN
…
Spell out the integers (1, 2, 3…) as words. In each word, spell out all Roman numerals as words. Keep doing this until no Roman numerals remain… or until you get tired of spelling out increasingly longer strings of letters because those pesky roach-like Roman numerals persist!
Prime And Proper Slice:
Primerose path milestones
What is the next number in the following sequence?
2, 3, 7, 23, 37, 79, 83, __
Answer: 97
The sequence is the list of prime numbers that when spelled out consist of a prime number of letters.
Creatures Featured Slice:
The Adventures of Fozzie & Herriot
A fictional character is known more by a nickname than by her/his given first name. The nickname is one of God’s creatures great or small.
The first syllable of the character’s given first name sounds like a synonym of the creature. The last syllable of the title of a novel in which the character appears sounds like another of God’s creatures great or small, in the plural.
The fictional character’s nickname is a synonym for a part of a cartoon character’s name. The other part of the cartoon character’s name is the plural form of a creature of God, not great but small.
A part of the cartoon character’s catchphrase sounds something like a part of the name of the fictional character’s creator.
Who are these characters, creatures and creator?
Hint: The fictional character’s surname is also a unit of measure.
Answer:
Fictional character = Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom
“Harr” = Hare = Rabbit
“Rabbit Redux” >> ...dux >> Ducks
Rabbit is a synonym of Bunny
“Bugs Bunny” = cartoon character
Bugs are small creatures
Bugs Bunny’s catchphrase was “What’s up, Doc?”
Rabbit Angstrom’s creator is John Updike
Up Doc >> Updike
Hint: Rabbit Angstrom
David's "Jack Armstrong Hint": My link, Steve Forbert's "Romeo's Tune" was on the album "Jackrabbit Slim."
Next Integer Please Slice:
Seek whence to solve
Name the next number in this sequence: 5, 4, 8, 1, 9, 7, 6, 2, __, ...
(Puzzlerian! puzzle solvers who can extend the sequence further are deserving of extra credit.)
Answer: 12, 11, 10, 3
The eight numbers in the sequence represent the alphabetical ranking of the months January through August. The alphabetical ranks of the calendar year’s final four months are September (12), October (11), November (10) and December (3).
Lego...
David,
ReplyDeleteI am completely stumped on your 5, 4, 10, 2, 9... puzzle. May I have a subtle hint? Thank you.
LegoClueless
I believe I have both of David's puzzles, and my hint to you is to branch out from English. Maybe that's not subtle enough.
DeleteI have one of WW's sequences (her second), and I'm thinking her first one may be along the same lines as David's, but I'm not sure.
--Margaret G.
Here is WW's first sequence:
Delete1,½,⅓,⅕,⅛,1/13,1/21,1/34...
Thanks, Ron - I thought that was her 2nd - I was reading them out from what I'd written down, and must have swapped them by mistake (1st, 2nd - 2nd 1st). Still unsure of what her 2nd relates to, then... (3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 6, 7, 2, 5, 1) Any hints? --Margaret G.
DeleteSee above. . .
DeleteLego, do you need more hints?
DeleteHere are the answers to my sequences of earlier days...
ReplyDelete5, 9, 8, 3, 2, 7, 6, 1, (and 4) ... (so close! This was the numbers one through nine alphabetically)
3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, 5, (and 4) ... (this was the number of letters in the numbers 1 through 9)
1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 3, (I messed up on this one - the last of those number should be "4", not "3", and it was supposed to be "the number to add to the integer (starting with 1) in order to have the result be a prime number)
4, 8, 12, 2, 1, 7, 6, (and the next would be 3) ... (This was also very close though I didn't realize it at the time - it's the 12 months alphabetized, put in order, and *then* assigned the numerical month of the year... April, August, December, etc..)
Happy sequences, big and small...
--Margaret G.