Friday, June 5, 2015

Hot Wheels in the Summertime; Biopicable; Equestrian Thespian

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 132 SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! Welcome to June. Not officially summer yet, but we are in a summertime state of mind.

We heat things up this week with a scrumptious bonus puzzle slice cooked up by our friend Mark Scott of Seattle.

Mr. Scott – also known as “skydiveboy” on the blogosphere, and as Master Gourmet French Puzzle Chef “Monsieur Garcon du Parachutisme” here at Puzzleria! – is a true master of the mysterious.

And The Horse You Rode In On Slice:
Equestrian Thespian
If you say this famous actor’s name aloud, phonetically you will describe what a famous general’s horse did.
 

Who are the actor and the general?

Thank you, Mark. And we also thank last week’s Puzzlerian! posters who jumped aboard our “puzzle sequence bandwagon” and contributed their own sequential (and quite consequential) piggyback puzzles.

This week’s puzzles will skew less numberward, more wordward. Enjoy the wordfest.


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Double Double Toy And Trouble Slice:
Hot Wheels in the Summertime

Two pronouns are all but synonymous. One is singular and the other is plural. Put them in that order. Now put in front of each the same letter. The result is a summertime toy enjoyed by “kids of all ages.”


 What is this toy?

Lettuce Entertain You Slice:
Biopicable

Delete three letters from a word appearing in the title of a somewhat recent award-winning made-for-television biographical movie about a legendary entertainer. The deleted letters can be rearranged to form the three-letter first name of the president of the cable television network film division that produced the movie.

Duplicate the final four letters of what remains and place them at the beginning of what remains, forming a word that might well be heard during a headlining act at an entertainment mecca at which the subject of the movie was also a legendary headlining act.

What is the movie, who is its subject, who is the president, and what is the new word that is formed?



Hint: A word in the title of a compilation album released a year after the entertainer’s death, describes the type of act where the word you formed might be heard.

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 Puzzleria! Thank you.

83 comments:

  1. Follow a curved trajectory about a hairless parasite?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is the Eiffel Tower a parasite?

      Delete
    2. I think so. I know it's a real eyeful.
      LeGoutL'ambre

      Delete
    3. I have no idea how many taxpayer francs (or euros, or whatever) go to the maintenance of that structure, nor the tourism revenue it generates.

      Delete
    4. Actually, the Euro Nations, realizing the importance of tourism to their economies, employee specialists to make sure that the various tourist attractions are maintained. These specialists are called Eurologists.

      Delete
    5. Paul,
      I don't know either, but I do know it's high maintenance. They have to take good care of it too, because should it collapse it would be in Seine.

      Delete
    6. Now I know you're pulling my leg.

      Delete
    7. Paul,
      Regarding your opening comment, "Follow a curved trajectory about a hairless parasite?" I am as usual in the dark... because your mind seems to function so quirkily... not that there's anything wrong with that.

      The sole guess I can venture is that is is some kind of allusion to skydiveboy's Flaubert puzzle of a few weeks back.

      LegoEllipslugbug

      Delete
    8. lego,
      I have a hunch David has seen the light.

      Delete
    9. David, David, David!. Why don't I ever get to see the light?!

      LegoJanda

      Delete
  2. I got the DDTATS and the LEYS, still working on the ATHYRIOS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just the opposite here, and I think you're pulling my leg.

      Delete
    2. Not proof, but there is one letter that appears in each of these four words:
      1 & 2: both words in the summertime toy
      3 & 4: both words in the compilation album's title

      Also, the deleted letters, in the order in which they appear in the word, spell a different first name, for a person of the opposite sex of the president of the movie company (although for most people whose name is pronounced that way, the last letter is doubled).

      Delete
    3. David,
      I never doubted you had solved DDTATS and LEYS, but thanks for the hints.

      Delete
    4. Great solving, David, Paul and ron (below). Inseinely awful pun, skydiveboy!

      David, the still-puzzled should do right by your hints.

      While doing some duck duck googling this evening, I discovered another compilation album, issued 13 years after the entertainer's death, that satisfies the wording of both your "3 & 4" hint and my hint at the end of the LEYS.

      LegoInYearsPastSanFranciscoRedSoxPlayedAtFenwickPark

      Delete
    5. Awfully good of you to say that, Lego. Awfully.

      Now I really must be off, fully prepared for the answer to Car Talk's Puzzler tomorrow, which I actually got almost instantly last Saturday. An awfully good puzzler too, it was.

      Delete
    6. That is the one. All they had to do was to both stop every hour and switch batteries. The almost run down battery would recharge during the next hour. They could keep doing this until the chickens came home to roost. Oh, sorry about the chicken thing.

      Delete
    7. I believe this must be the CarTalk Puzzler of which skydiveboy writes.
      I haven't a clue... other than to ditch the limping car and all pile into the uncle's car.
      I wonder, do Tom and Ray accept alternate alternator answers?
      Legolamagliozzi

      Delete
    8. skydiveboy,

      Now you got me thinking that the solution to the CarTalk Puzzler somehow involves a treadmill and a chicken.

      (Incidentally, my June 6 at 2:27AM post somehow leapfrogged over skydiveboy's 12:14 AM post. Imagine it's between his 10:15 PM and 12:14 AM posts. Sometimes when you squeeze cybertoothpaste outta the tube it's next to impossible to unsqueeze back in.)

      LegoWhoNeedsHorsepower...WeGotHenpower!

      Delete
    9. Yeah, and while you're at it, shame on Tom & Ray for giving us a Battery of Tests!

      Delete
    10. I do hope, however, that the Brothers Tappet, accept alternate alternator answers. It is my only hope of getting a silver tie rod pin or cotter pin, or whatever they hand out as a prize.

      LegoTheyPromisedMe"FabulousPartingGifts"AndAllIGotWereTheseDamnCombs!

      Delete
    11. Well, since these are now all repeats, perhaps you would win a Welcome Back Cotter Pin.

      I slept through the answer to last week's puzzle, and will have to get it next hour (this hour) on a different station unless it is posted online already. The new puzzle is stupid and not a math puzzle, but a logic, or illogical, puzzle. It is an impossible outcome. Unless Ted Cruz's hat was the last one remaining.

      Delete
    12. Wouldn't the answer to Click and Clack have to be 0%, since if they got 19 out of 20, they'd actually have to get 20 out of 20 correct hats-to-heads? --Margaret G who has been too busy this week to puzzle, but I know I'll come back to it eventually!

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Out of Hell now. How? Who can tell‽

      Delete
    2. Paul,
      Being out of hell doesn't necessarily mean you're in heaven. Maybe in purgatory or limbo, but not heaven.

      LegoNotskydiveboy...LowFlyin'Divin'BatBoy!

      Delete
  4. I have ATHYRIOS & DDTATS, but not LEYS. I don't follow movies. A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! I don't think Richard (III) was a General though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just got the Biopic puzzle, too. I have nothing spectacular to add!

    ReplyDelete
  6. And the summer toy puzzle. Ah, alliteration.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ViolinTeddy,

      Ahliteration indeed! But not quite the kind we saw a few weeks back with our Mnemonic Pneumatic Kneelers.

      LegoSoYouTellMe"Pokemon"HasFour"N"Sounds!?

      Delete
    2. Ha, Legs, aNyone doing pNeumatic kNeeling would sooN Need a joiNt traNsplant!

      Delete
  7. What did General Ahmed Zayat's horse, American Pharoah, do? Randy Belmont and won the Triple Crown!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, ron, I thought you were not so much into sports.
      Is Randy Belmont buddies with Randy Gamut, Randy Gauntlet and Randy Table?

      LegoTheReins...TheBitIsChokingMe(AndI'mAHorse!)

      Delete
  8. Finally got around to solving the summer toy puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was fun, but I'm still partial to balalaikas.

      Delete
    2. I've still got the BB gun from my (1st) childhood. Don't know whatever happened to the moving duck target.

      Delete
  9. Well I solved all three this week. Yes, even my own creation! LEYS is clever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, skydiveboy. Your ATHYRIOS Equestrian Thespian puzzle is also clever... but not cloven-hoofer.

      LegoCrimsor&Cloven

      Delete
    2. I finally got the ATHYRIOS, finally realizing that the general rode a Quarter Horse.

      Delete
    3. But dontcha always hate it, David, when they turn Quarter Horses into QuarterPounders?

      LegoI'mLoathin'It

      Delete
    4. OK Lego,
      We're not going to allow you to continue this low form of humor furlong.

      Delete
    5. Thou shalt not muzzle me, sir! You can saddle me with all the equine epithets you can muster, but I my lowbrow, jockeylar comments I vow shall not halt ere I am fitted with a straitjacket festooned with paddocks (with all the keys thrown away) and led out to pasture, or to the funny stud farm.

      LegoPullingUpLameda

      Delete
    6. Is that a saddle aside, or sidesaddle humor? In any case it seems a little quirty to me.

      Delete
    7. skydiveboy,
      I cantle-t you get away with this horslander! I swear on my mudder's grave that I will defend to the end my right to post my horseship comments and pseudojokes. You are only trying to blow your own horn and stirrup trouble!

      LegoChickenship

      Delete
    8. Swell! I can Latigo if you can, but it's a Cinch I won this one even if you Cantle your Ass from a Cheek Piece.

      Delete
    9. I simply can't come up with the proper horse. Since it is mentioned above (prior to all the horse puns) that the puzzle involves a quarter horse, I guess I can safely say that I kept circling around Custer's "mixed breed" horse, Comanche, and the fact that he '"SURVIVED"....hence kept trying to find some British actor sounding like "Sir Vived" . Of course, there is no such fellow! " Sir Olivier" just didn't come close enough, and he ended life as a Lord anyway. Sigh...

      Delete
    10. ViolinTeddy,
      You are approaching the horse puzzle in a way in which you will not solve it. I suggest you think of the actor.

      Delete
    11. ViolinTeddy,
      Reviewing the opening interchange between Siz and skydiveboy over on Blaine's blog this week might be helpful for uncovering the actor.

      LegoDidNotInhale!

      Delete
    12. I'm giving VT even odds on this one.

      Delete
    13. Thanks, Paul, for the 50-50 prediction, but I didn't even make it back to this blog in time to SEE the additional clues and suggestions before the answers were already revealed today. Grant passed right through my radar, without my having 'clicked' on the same last name as Cary. Phooey!

      Delete
  10. ATHYRIOS:
    What did General Ulysses S. Grant's horse, CINCINNATI, do? Cary Grant!

    DDTATS:
    Two pronouns almost synonymous: EACH & ALL. Add a B to “each” and “all” to obtain a BEACH BALL.

    LEYS: I leave this one to David...

    ReplyDelete
  11. DDTATS: Each & All / Beach Ball

    LEYS: Behind the Candelabra / Liberace / Len Amato / Abracadabra / Piano Magic

    I commented that 4 key words had a common letter, that being an A in Beach, Ball, Piano, and Magic. The same letter is also in each word of the ATHYRIOS answer: Cary Grant / Carry Grant. My comment about the Quarter Horse was made because Ulysses Grant appears on one of the U.S. quarters.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Replies
    1. Paul,
      Thank you for linking to this logic puzzle. It is right in my wheelhouse, of course, because I am the epitome of the LCD.

      LegoCanDivide!

      Delete
    2. Paul,
      I don’t think you knew my Uncle Kojak, but he was a chronic freeloader who was sensitive about his chromatic dome…
      Think of an actor (not Telly Savalas). If you say this actor’s real name aloud, phonetically you will describe what a stonemason did when my uncle in a drunken stupor stumbled onto a construction site, mistaking it for a toupee shop, and demanded to be fitted for a piece.

      LegoKeystoneCoppertop

      Delete
  13. Yes, Cincinnati did indeed carry General Ulysses S. Grant throughout the Civil War. Grant also had numerous other horses, although Cincinnati was his favorite. Grant was an outstanding horseman who throughout his life collected many equally outstanding horses, all of which carried him. Thanks to Cary Grant for lending his fake name. Thanks, Archie.

    Beach Ball & Liberace/Behind the Candelabra/Len Amato/abracadabra

    THANKS LEGO!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I forgot to mention (again?) that I submitted this puzzle several times to Will Shortz, with no results. I am of course biased, but I think it is much better than much of what he offers us. It makes me wonder why he rejects quality over junk.

      Delete
  14. The magician who is able to bring the dead back to life uses "Abracadaver".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David,
      The magician who is unable to bring the dead back to life, and indeed, kills a few jerks in his audience in the process of trying, consoles himself after his act by munching on "AbraCadbury" candy bars.

      LegoAbbaCadAbba

      Delete
    2. The Great Blackstone likely uttered "Abracadabra" at some point in his career.
      The Great Rockstone uttered "Ala-kazam ala-kazoo!" but likely also uttered "Yabba Cadabra Dabba doo!"

      LegoCadabraDab'lDoYa

      Delete
    3. I never got to see Blackstone; either one. But in 1962 Dunninger performed at the Seattle World's Fair and I still remember attending an amazing performance which included a rope trick I still cannot figure out.

      Delete
  15. This week's answers, for the record:

    And The Horse You Rode In On Slice:
    Equestrian Thespian
    If you say this famous actor’s name aloud, phonetically you will describe what a famous general’s horse did. Who are the actor and the general?

    Answer:
    Cary Grant; Carry (General Ulysses S.) Grant

    Double Double Toy And Trouble Slice:
    Hot Wheels in the Summertime
    Two pronouns are all but synonymous. One is singular and the other is plural. Put them in that order. Now put in front of each the same letter. The result is a summertime toy enjoyed by “kids of all ages.”
    What is this toy?

    Answer: Beach Ball

    Lettuce Entertain You Slice:
    Biopicable
    Delete three letters from a word appearing in the title of a somewhat recent award-winning made-for-television biographical movie about a legendary entertainer. The deleted letters can be rearranged to form the three-letter first name of the president of the cable television network film division that produced the movie.
    Duplicate the final four letters of what remains and place them at the beginning of what remains, forming a word that might well be heard during a headlining act at an entertainment mecca at which the subject of the movie was also a legendary headlining act.
    What is the movie, who is its subject, who is the president, and what is the new word that is formed?
    Hint: A word in the title of a compilation album released a year after the entertainer’s death, describes the type of act where the word you formed might be heard.

    Answer:
    "Candelabra" - nel = Cadabra
    Lee Liberace is the movie's subject.
    nel >> Len = Len Amato
    Cadabra >> Abracadabra
    The word "abracadabra" can be heard in magic acts/shows, a staple of the Las Vegas casino entertainment industry.
    "The Magic of Liberace" album was released in 1988, a year after Liberace died. "Piano Magic" was released in 2001.

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Puzzlerians!

    I just uploaded two photos of Gen. Grant and his horse Cincinnati that skydiveboy sent me last week. The pictures are at the bottom of the menu.

    Thanks, skydiveboy, for another fine puzzle.

    LegoDog&PonyShow=RinTinTinCinCinnati

    ReplyDelete
  17. I may have already mentioned this anagram I came up with for American Pharoah: AH, A RARE CHAMPION; I just noticed a mention of the Triple Crown winner on this blog and thought it might bear repeating.

    ReplyDelete
  18. On Blaine's blog I might have mentioned it. This is actually maybe my second time checking this blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for dropping in, patjberry. Ah, A RARE CHAMPION is indeed an excellent anagram of AMERICAN PHAROAH.

      Don't be a stranger.

      LegoAhARareChump

      Delete
  19. Okay, Puzzlerians! Here is a midweek challenge for you to work on. (Oops, I mean, “Here is a midweek challenge on which for you to work.”):

    Your mission, should you choose to accept it, it to write a pithy obituary headline for Vincent Musetto. He is the recently deceased New York Post tabloid editor and movie critic who wrote the headline "HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR."

    Here is my best effort to write a headline for his obit. It is so-so. I wish it were more pithy. Mine reads:
    “MASTER OF HEADLINES MEETS HIS LAST DEADLINE”

    LegoLeeLiberaceWasAHeadliner…WhyNotYou?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VERBAL CONTENTS: MUTE IT

      A bit obscure (as in, what the heck does that mean), but an anagram of "Vincent Albert Musetto", without the Jr.

      Delete
    2. In Vincent Musetto's honor ambi-amphi dextrous-bious. ;-)

      Delete
    3. David,
      Sweet anagram! Very serendipitous. It is remarkable how often such letter-scramblings make sense.

      Word Woman,
      Yogi Berra lives! (Well, actually, he still does live.)

      And actually, I love this story. “Amphibious” batters are diamond a dozen, but “amphibious” pitchers with MLB ability are once-in-a-lifetime-or-two gold.

      LegoAllFrogsAreSwitchHitters

      Delete
  20. Replies
    1. skydiveboy,

      I can envision some newspapers' obit sections using your headline. It is poignant, and yet in the spirit of the deceased. Muse-worthily amusing.

      LegoSuspectsskydiveboyIs(somehow!)TheOffspringOfThalia&Melpomene

      Delete
    2. Thanks Lego, I actually plagiarized it from Pravda.

      Delete
  21. A loose end tied:

    Regarding my June 5, 2015 at 9:47 PM comment:

    "David, the still-puzzled should do right by your hints..."

    LegoInYearsPastSanFranciscoRedSoxPlayedAt FenwickPark

    ReplyDelete
  22. It would probably not surprise you to know that I have small stuffed toys of Rocket J. Squirrel, Natasha Fatale and Dudley Do-Right in my office. Or that we had cats named Gidney and Cloyd.

    ReplyDelete