Friday, August 21, 2015

Recipe for psalmthing beloved; Telev-angel is telling us of hellfire; Kodiak Zoolab'ar is on the map!; Pranswer precedes VIXen; Letterwurst-links sandwhich chain?

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e5 + 52  SERVED

Welcome to the August 21st edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! Let’s begin this week with a trio of appetizers that lip-smack of “Names in the News & Trends in the Trenches”:

Names In The News And Trenchant Trending Appetizers:

Kodiak Zoolabar is on the map!

The gist of our first current news story includes three words. Two of them are the first and last name of a person. (Note: The smaller print in the second clue, crowbar, is intended on our part.)

Here are clues to the three words, in no particular order:
Zodiac sign
Crowbar
Mapmaker minus the final six letters of a telephone-booth-sized recording studio


Telev-angel is telling us of hellfire!

The gist of our second trending news story includes three words. Two of them seem to be the first and last name of a person, but they are in fact just two first names. 

Here are clues to the three words, in no particular order:
A president’s surname
Past tense of the surname of a TV Angel portrayer
Tree name that proves to be prophetic, post-forest fire + half a “hot” jar


Recipe for psalmthing beloved

The subject of our third trending news story includes two words – a three-syllable proper noun and a two-syllable common compound noun. Remove the space between the words.

Scoop out eight consecutive letters from the interior of this result. In their place, stir in a mixture of grated ginger with all traces of vitamin E removed… along with all traces of alphabet E. Bake at 353 degrees ‘til golden brown, let cool, and cut into two somewhat unequal pieces… a ratio of roughly 10 to 7. Serve on a silver platter.

When people comment, “This is delicious, what is it?” you simply reply, “’Tis the title of a beloved hymn.”

What are the two words in the trending news story? What is the hymn title?

Hint: Other words in this third news story might include: “retailer,” “fast-paced,” “crying,” “competition,” “stressful,” “performance,” and “bullying.”
Hint: Half of what you “scooped out” of the result was “pork.” Beats me (and Webster) what the other half was.

What does not beat me, however, is the following menu of puzzle slices. That’s because I know their answers… but only because I made them up. And I have faith they shan’t beat you either… even though many of you seem to be eggheads (in the intellectual/adept sense, of course, not the highbrow/snob sense).

MENU

Cat Ate Canary Slice:
Letterwurst-links sandwhich chain?
 
Name a multinational restaurant chain. Take two letters that are significant and prominent in the resume of one of the Republican presidential candidates (two alphabetical letters, that is, not two letters of recommendation). “Sandwich” these letters around the first letter in the chain to form a musical genre.
 

What are the restaurant chain, the candidate and the two resume letters, and the musical genre?

Note: Add or subtract capitalization, spaces and/or punctuation as necessary.



Reversal Of Fiction Slice:
Pranswer precedes VIXen

Take a less common synonym for an adjective associated with a quite famous fictional superhero. Bisect this eight-letter synonym...

(Time out for a Pet-Peeve Usage Note:


“Bisect” {pronounced with a long i and its accent on the first syllable} means to divide something into two, usually equal, parts... as an eight-letter synonym can be divided, for instance.


“Dissect” means to separate into pieces, or to analyze… as a frog can be divided, for instance. It should be pronounced with a short i and its accent on the second syllable. Perhaps 1 or 2% of the population does that. Most pronounce it with a long i, and most put the accent on the first syllable. Alas, many dictionaries have caved in to and sanctioned these “variant pronunciations.” Sigh! But thank you for your indulgence.

Okay, enough venting. Now, back to the puzzle):


...Reverse the order of the second and third letters of the first half of the bisected synonym. Insert a duplicate of one of those reversed letters into the second half of the bisected synonym.

Finally, reverse the order of the two halves, leaving a space between them. This result is often followed by a V, I or X.

What is this result, and what is the original synonym for the adjective associated with the superhero?

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.

72 comments:

  1. Peachy Friday, All! Enjoying Augtember here. Hope you are as well.

    Will diss-ect your fine puzzles later. Hoping no die sect has tried to yet.

    Word-Woman

    ReplyDelete
  2. Got the subject and hymn in third of the NITNATTA. Just a bit confused about the path to get from one to the other.

    I also have the CACS. I pass one of the chain restaurants on the bus on my way to work. Yesterday a blind rider, accompanied by a seeing eye dog, asked the driver to let her off the bus at that stop.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For my NITNATTA confusion, I only had to remove 6 letters.

      Delete
  3. Also, I have the first of the NITNATTA.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have all 3 of the NITNATTA.
    I'm sure we're all thinking similar thoughts with regard to the first.
    I was surprised at what proved to be the key, for me, to the second.
    As for the third, urbandictionary.com came through for me immediately.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, Word Woman, David and Paul, for checking in. Sounds like you have this week's appetizers well in hand (although we do provide forks upon request).

    As I noted at the end of last week’s comments in a reply to David, who recalled going to a 1970-ish Who concert…
    It was 50 years ago today
    Raymond Crump, he taught the band to spray
    ... spray water on steaming hot rocks, that is, in the clubhouse sauna at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomingtom, Minnesota. The Fab Four also asked Minnesota Twins equipment manager Crump about Twins slugger, “gentle giant,” and nice guy Harmon Killebrew.

    Earlier that year, the Twins and Met Stadium (now site of the Mall of America) hosted the 1965 All Star Game and LegoLambda celebrated his 14th birthday. (No video available, but my dad took me and some of my pals to a Twins-Angels game at the Met. The Twins lost 9-1.)

    About a month after the Beatles Met appearance, the Twins hosted four games of the Fall Classic, alas losing World Series game 7.

    LegoStill,SummersDon’tGetTooMuchBetterThanThat

    ReplyDelete
  6. Any possible hints on that superhero adjective? Got the restaurant puzzle, BTW.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What, patjberry! You want a hint already? On Friday evening? When the ink is not even yet dry on the blog page! You must think I’m plum loony (or peach loony, as Word Woman might put it).

      Good work on the restaurant puzzle, though. patjberry, you can solve this superhero puzzle… because we all suspect you are indeed a superhero!

      LegoWondering,”WhatIspatjberry’sMotiveInAskingForSoSoonLoonyToonsCluin’s”

      Delete
  7. I'll have you know I have everything but the superhero puzzle and the hymn puzzle. One hint either way won't hurt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. patjberry,

      There are three (count ‘em, three) hints in my August 21 at 6:23 PM comment:
      1. At the very beginning of my first paragraph
      2. Near the end of my first paragraph
      3. In my sign-off, roughly in the middle

      LegoYouAskFor Hints,Well,WeLoveToGiveHints

      Delete
  8. Maybe I have the restaurant puzzle. I don't really distinguish among musical genres all that well. My high school music teacher used to say there were only wo kinds of music: good and bad. Sometimes even that gets confusing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul,
      Huey Lewis and the News: Criminally underrated.

      LegoDepartmentOfGuiltyPleasures

      Delete
    2. How did we miss this? Or were we intentionally avoiding it?

      Speaking of guilty pleasures -- I like this song.

      Delete
  9. Count me in on the three news stories/appetizers. They were most enjoyable to solve. BTW, I LOATHE that hymn!!

    And yes, re the first one, we all most certainly share the same (sad) feelings, Paul.

    On to reading this week's entrees. [Do we ever have dessert?]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ViolinTeddy,

      Dessert. Very good point. I had not thought about dessert before.

      What would “dessert” taste/look/sound/smell/feel like in the context of this Puzzleria! blog?
      It is an excellent question. I need counsel.

      Lego,SoWouldYouLikeToTakeALookAtOurDessertMenu?

      Delete
    2. Oh, what a yummy problem to contemplate. Definitely cheesecake. Or perhaps something ABOUT cheesecake? Or ice cream. Or brownies....I'm salivating all over the computer table at the mere thought of all these no-longer-allowed items. Sigh.

      Delete
    3. Here's a simple one I just thought up (as per always, I have no confidence in its being any good, certainly not on par with the stuff you dream up, Lego)....

      Mix together a planet, a five-letter verb and two letters having to do with the Queen (not necessarily in that order) to create something sweet.

      Delete
    4. Aaah, VT, I like your puzzles. Another serving, please.

      Delete
  10. The restaurant puzzle just hit me. (Didn't get hurt though!)

    Still stuck on the superhero adjective, and unfortunately, the hints-to-pjb didn't help.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The hints didn't help pjb either. Do V, I, and X represent Roman numerals? Does it have anything to do with the Super Bowl? I'm totally lost on this one. I will say I've seen ads for the restaurant lately, and their food looks delicious. Then again I've eaten there before. Loved it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ha ha, pjb! Glad to know I'm not the only one lost in the obscurity of those hints. I thought of the Super Bowl/ Roman Numerals, as well, but that led nowhere. Thought of POPE(s), perhaps, but not enough letters (as the second half that gets moved to the front ends up with five letters.)

    We don't have the restaurant where I live.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ViolinTeddy,

      May I please have a hint for your “planet/verb/QueenLetters = something sweet” challenge? I can’t get marzipan (which doesn’t work) out of my head!

      You are getting warm on my superhero puzzle with your August 21 at 11:52 PM comment.

      patjberry & ViolinTeddy,

      In my August 21 at 6:23 PM comment, here are my three hints, isolated:
      What
      Plum loony
      Motive

      One more hint: The superhero is the one most people think of when you say “superhero” (after “LegoLambda,” of course!).

      LegoOrShouldThatBePlumbLoony?

      Delete
    2. Of course! DIPER SEPE V!
      Why didn't that just leap right into my brain?

      Delete
    3. Oh dear, LegoLoon and Paul, I'm not sure I know how to create a decent hint, without completely giving it away!!! [Unless Paul meant to say that he already solved it and wants a NEW serving, which sadly, I don't have either!] Please let me ponder....

      Re the superhero....I had actually zoomed in on those very three sets of words from your directions (i.e. what, plum loony and motive) but they still let me to zilch. PJB and I can thus mull them over further, I suppose.

      Delete
    4. I forgot to comment, for what it's NOT worth, that marzipan IS one of my favorite things on earth!

      Delete
    5. Okay, the only hint I can think of is: the "two letters" relate to how someone might address the Queen.

      Delete
    6. Having just done your DIPER SEDE V backwards, Paul, I have to say that I love it....very cute!

      Delete
  13. Bingo, I believe I've just come up with an answer for the superhero puzzle, but I must say, it seems OBSCURE to me! Never without Lego having written to me above, that I was 'getting warm' with my comment from late last night, NOR without having studied French! Plus help from Google, of course. However, I blush to mention that I still have no idea how the HINTS you gave us, Lego, have anything to do with anything. Missing that totally.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What plum loony motive? How about what stupid hints? I got nothing from that!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Replies
    1. Pjb, for the superhero, go at it from the 'Pope" angle, which is what Lego was referring to in my post when he said I was getting warm.....that's MY big hint to you.

      Delete
  16. ViolinTeddy,

    At least in my neck of the geographical woods, “plum” does not go with “loony” but with a different word beginning with “L.” That different word is a hint, when combined with my sign-off hint.

    pjb: regarding the “Recipe for psalmthing beloved” appetizer:
    I reiterate the hint:
    Hint: Other words in this third news story might include: “retailer,” “fast-paced,” “crying,” “competition,” “stressful,” “performance,” and “bullying.”

    This was a pretty prominent story this past week.

    LegoThesePuzzlesAreSolvable

    ReplyDelete
  17. Good evening, Lambo.....I understand your explanation above (got the word in mind that you meant with this new clarification), but STILL fail to see how IT applies to the answer I came up with this afternoon for the superhero puzzle. I'm beginning to wonder....did I somehow get a whole SECOND answer? (Because I double-checked that the final result existed.)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Finally got the hymn puzzle. It seems so obvious now! I had to type in a lot of the words in one entry to get the story, but I finally got it. As for the superhero puzzle, I still can't make a connection between the Pope, plum loony, what, and motive. Is there a Clue connection I'm not getting(Plum and motive?)? I'm stumped. Got everything but that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, Pat, when I was working on the hymn mystery, I did the same thing (putting all those terms into google)...it didn't really give me what I needed. So I started thinking of famous hymns, and when I noted the letter-similarity of one title to a news story I'd vaguely recalled hearing this week, that is how I unraveled it.

      Delete
  19. Pjb, look at what Lego wrote me this evening at what is stamped (my time, I guess) 8:14 p.m......about 'plum' not going with loony, but rather with another term...I'm sure you'll catch on right away, since I did.

    STILL, as I wrote him back, even with that word figured out as a clue, it doesn't make any sense. Actually, all it seems to indicate to ME is who the superhero is supposed to be, NOT what the specific adjective, let alone its SYNONYM is supposed to be.

    But if you look at my post above, where I talked ("Bingo") about having just solved it (I thought), I gave another (accidental) clue which I'm sure you'd find useful.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess as to why that adjective is "less common" -- but I know I've never used it in either speech or writing, and almost certainly never shall.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's because it's of foreign extraction!

      Delete
    2. The reason I have never used the "less common" adjective in speech is because people would think me a pretentious egghead, in the highbrow/snob sense. I will be forced to use it in print on Tuesday when I reveal “this week’s answers, for the record.”

      It is one of those adjectives that do not sound like what they define.

      LegoWouldSuchAdjectivesBeCalled”Heterodefs”?

      Delete
  21. Musical clue for the superhero puzzle: Til Tuesday(as in I'm better off waiting 'til Tuesday to find out).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. patjberry,

      Merci beaucoup for the musical clue. I am quite an Aimee Mann fan.

      ViolinTeddy and patjberry,

      Mucho Gracias for your Puzzleria! shout-outs over on the Blainesville blog. Will’s offering is especially simple this week, and a few of the ones over here on this blog were somewhat tough.

      Even though I have patterned my Puzzleria! puzzles after the kind that Mr. Shortz purveys weekly on NPR, his tend to be much more “streamlined” and “radio-friendly.” His puzzles are spoken in 10-to-15 second sound bite, the briefer the better. My puzzles, as Puzzlerians! are painfully aware, tend to be not brief! (And, sometimes, a little bit weird.)

      Also, I have the luxury of using illustrations (and even videos, though I have not yet done so) in packaging our puzzles, and sometimes theses pictures are the gist of the puzzle (for example, skydiveboy’s floe-bear, roy-or-bison and carry-Grant puzzles, and my photo-Finnish puzzle.

      It is good for business for Will to throw in a no-brainer puzzle every now and then. He should receive more than 1,000 correct entries this week. That said, there were only 100 correct entries this past week. His puzzles run the easy-to-difficult gamut, which is a good thing. People, including me, eagerly await his Sunday morning offerings. And, occasionally, he comes up with a real gem. He is the puzzlemaster, after all!

      LegoWhenTheRev.WilliamArchibaldSpoonerDeliveredSermonsThatHisFlockDeemedTooWindyTheyLongedForAMuzzlePastor

      Delete
  22. You are certainly most welcome, LL.

    I guess I hadn't considered that Will might be trying to 'drum up more players' by choosing easy puzzles now and then.

    Did you ever come up with my dessert puzzle answer? Some additional 'advice' that you asked for on the matter would be that a dessert slice should always end things light-and-fluffily! Nothing heavy duty. (I'm not quite sure WHAT that means, exactly, but it's what occurred to me.)

    I've also wondered where Word Woman went since her first post, and where has SkyDiveBoy been this week here, too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good morning, VT! I have been quietly reading all the hints and finally figured out the Superhero puzzle.

      Speaking of VT, we are having a discussion of USPS postal codes if you and other P! people would like to enlighten us as to why VT not VE, why FL not FA, and why TN not TE. And then there's the A states. . .

      And why do so many (34) states end in a vowel (if you include the Y in NJ and KY)?. . .

      Delete
    2. Good afternoon, WW! I'd say congrats on the superhero puzzle, but that is within Lego's purview!

      Just so you know, the VT that many use for short (to refer to me) bears NO relation to where I actually live. VT is a lovely state, for sure, and I certainly wish I could have ever visited it more, but I'm too far away!

      With whom are you having the discussion about postal abbreviations for states? I've often wondered why sometimes they chose to use the last letter, while sometimes they chose the second letter instead, but then the P.O. had to resort to third-letter choice if neither the second nor last letter was available (due to another state's already having usurped the abbreviation, a la MI, MN and MS, and I suppose even MA, since Minnesota thus couldn't use even its last letter.) Perhaps it was alphabetical? I.e., Mass came first, so it got MA. Michigan came before Minnesota and MIssissippi, so it got the MI. But none of that addresses your specific point about choosing "T" for VT instead of "E", likewise for FL vs FE. Hmmmm....

      Delete
    3. Well, I just discovered that Nebraska's WAS originally NB, but has been the only state changed, in Nov. 1969 at Canada's request (to NE, to avoid confusion with New Brunswick, Canada.)

      Delete
    4. Okay, this explains much of it:

      http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/60654/what-are-the-patterns-rules-for-determining-u-s-state-abbreviations

      Delete
    5. ViolinTeddy,
      I did solve your excellent puzzle in your August 21 at 11:30 PM post. But it was neither a piece of cake for me nor easy as pie! It is so excellent, however, that I shall repost it here:
      Mix together a planet, a five-letter verb and two letters having to do with the Queen (not necessarily in that order) to create something sweet.

      It is impossible to eat the "second-helping" treat made from your confection without getting sticky fingers. I once made this treat with plain saltine-type crackers, and they turned out surprisingly delicious!

      Word Woman,
      "...(if you include the Y in NY and KY)." The vowels are: A, E, I, O, U and sometimes J!

      As Puzzlerians! are aware, I too am fascinated by postal state abbreviations. The biggest challenge making them must have been the multitude of "M" states. Maine, for example, cannot be MA, MI or MN, so it has to be ME!

      Just don't go goin' postal on us (or anyone else).

      LegoAreSmallSwampsCalledBoglets?Mmmmmm?

      Delete
    6. Lego, congrats on getting my dessert mystery solved!

      Be sure to see the postal abbreviations link that I posted right above this most recent post of yours (you were no doubt busy composing your entry when put it on here.)

      Delete
    7. Thanks for the link VT (not VE). ;-) I had unearthed the 1969 NB >>> NE change over at Partial Ellipsis of the Sun, but that wasn't clear in my earlier post. You will find some of the same delightful crew as at Joe's and Blaine's.

      Some comments one composes, others one ought to compost I always say (well, I just now said it).

      New JerseY.

      Lego, I think some of the abbreviations were just whimsy on the part of the Postmaster General. HA! NA? ;-)

      Lucky Colorado to have a last and second letter the same!

      Delete
  23. I am as usual late in coming, but I have 2 of the 3 NITNs (1st and last, and the last took me quite a while to figure out), and think I have 2 of the words in the 2nd NITN. Other than that, I have only figured out the plum looney clue, but have no idea how to use that in order to come up with the hero's adjective. I may or may not have time to continue solving these marvelous puzzles before their reveal tomorrow, but it's always fun to peruse this site! --Margaret G.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Coming back to say - I got all but the Telev-Angel, and I think I have 2 of the 3 pieces to that. Will wait to see your official answers! and BTW I thought the loony motive was a great clue - that clued me into the non-obfuscated adjective, and then I could look at a thesaurus for esoteric synonyms. Thanks for some enjoyable puzzles (and hints! I love hints!) --Margaret G.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind words, Margaret G. You made my day.

      I love hints too. They are a major reason that Blainesville is such an enjoyable cyberburg to visit.

      LegoWeGuessThatMakesPuzzleria!ACyberparlor(Berp!)

      Delete
  25. Got ViolinTeddy's puzzle. Why can't I get the superhero puzzle?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You need super POWERS, if you get my drift. . .

      Delete
    2. It helps if your deeds are instantaneous, permanent, and complete, in addition to scientifically inexplicable.

      Delete
    3. These are excellent hints, patjberry. I am sure you can unreeval this knotty superhero puzzle before 'til Tuesday.

      LegoButEvenSuperheroesCanBe(2:24)Vulnerable

      Delete
  26. I have only solved CACS. I look forward to hearing everyone's solutions.

    The multinational restaurant chain: IHOP. Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, would certainly have HP on her Résumé (sic). This would yield the music(al) genre: HIPHOP.

    ReplyDelete
  27. NITNATTA:
    1- Jimmy Cart(ograph)er Cancer
    2- ???
    3- Amazon Rat-race - (on Rat-r) + (ing Gr) = Amazing Grace

    ReplyDelete
  28. This week’s answers, for the record, Part 1, the Appetizers:

    Names In The News And Trenchant Trending Appetizers:
    Kodiak Zoolab’ar is on the map!
    The gist of our first current news story includes three words. Two of them are the first and last name of a person. (Note: The smaller print in the second clue, crowbar, is intended on our part.)
    Here are clues to the three words, in no particular order:
    Zodiac sign
    Crowbar
    Mapmaker minus the final six letters of a telephone-booth-sized recording studio

    Answer: Jimmy Carter, Cancer
    Small crowbar = jimmy
    Cartographer – O-Graph = Carter
    Zodiac sign = Cancer

    Telev-angel is telling us of hellfire!
    The gist of our second trending news story includes three words. Two of them seem to be the first and last name of a person, but they are in fact just two first names.
    Here are clues to the three words, in no particular order:
    A president’s surname
    Past tense of the surname of a TV Angel portrayer
    Tree name that proves to be prophetic, post-forest fire + half a “hot” jar

    Answer: Ashley Madison hacked
    Prophetic tree, after a forest fire (ash) + half a “hot” jar (“Ley” from Leyden jar) = Ash + ley = Ashley
    A president’s surname = Madison
    Past tense of the surname of a TV Angel portrayer = Hacked

    Recipe for psalmthing beloved
    The subject of our third trending news story includes two words – a three-syllable proper noun and a two-syllable common compound noun. Remove the space between the words.
    Scoop out eight consecutive letters from the interior of this result. In their place, stir in a mixture of grated ginger with all traces of vitamin E removed… along with all traces of alphabet E. Bake at 353 degrees ‘til golden brown, let cool, and cut into two somewhat unequal pieces… a ratio of roughly 10 to 7. Serve on a silver platter.
    When people comment, “This is delicious, what is it?” you simply reply, “’Tis the title of a beloved hymn.”
    What are the two words in the trending news story? What is the hymn title?
    Hint: Other words in this third news story might include: “retailer,” “fast-paced,” “crying,” “competition,” “stressful,” “performance,” and “bullying.”
    Hint: Half of what you “scooped out” of the result was “pork.” Beats me (and Webster) what the other half was.

    Answer: Amazon workplace; Amazing Grace
    AMAZON WORKPLACE – ONWORKPL + (GINGER – E) = AMAZ + GINGR + ACE = AMAZING GRACE
    Hint: The “scooped out” letters, ONWORKPL, can be rearranged to form “PORK” and “NWOL.” NWOL cannot be rearranged to form an English word.

    Lego…

    ReplyDelete
  29. This week’s answers, for the record, Part 2, the Entrees:

    Cat Ate Canary Slice:
    Letterwurst-links sandwhich chain?
    Name a multinational restaurant chain. Take two letters that are significant and prominent in the resume of one of the Republican presidential candidates (two alphabetical letters, that is, not two letters of recommendation). “Sandwich” these letters around the first letter in the chain to form a musical genre.
    What are the restaurant chain, the candidate and the two resume letters, and the musical genre?
    Note: Add or subtract capitalization, spaces and/or punctuation as necessary.

    Answer: IHop; Carly Fiorina; Hip-hop
    IHOP + HP = H + I + P-HOP = HIP-HOP

    Reversal Of Fiction Slice:
    Pranswer precedes VIXen
    Take a less common synonym for an adjective associated with a quite famous fictional superhero. Bisect this eight-letter synonym.
    Reverse the order of the second and third letters of the first half of the bisected synonym. Insert a duplicate of one of those reversed letters into the second half of the bisected synonym.
    Finally, reverse the order of the two halves, leaving a space between them. This result is often followed by a V, I or X.
    What is this result, and what is the original synonym for the adjective associated with the superhero?

    Answer: Saint Pius; Puissant = powerful (Superman was “more powerful than a locomotive.”)
    (There seems to be some question about the sainthood of Saint Pius I, but, in this case at least, Wikipedia is my Bible!.. and the Catholic Encyclopedia and, of course, Alban Butler.)

    Lego…

    ReplyDelete
  30. Superhero puzzle: POWER was my hint to PUISSANT. More will be revealed. . .

    ReplyDelete
  31. It had only finally hit me while trying to fall asleep last night, that Lego's all-along-the-way hint about the Locomotive was from the "more powerful than a...." phrase in Superman's intro, which phrase I had completely forgotten (having remembered only "It's a bird, it's a plane..." plus the speeding bullet part.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I was born and raised in Jasper, AL. How do you expect me to know a word like puissant? I've never heard that word in my life! Even in a puzzle, that is way beyond my knowledge!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Maybe if I had to figure it out from "piss-ant"...

    ReplyDelete
  34. Don't get me wrong. I do a lot of cryptic crosswords. If I'd have come across puissant, I would have remembered it.

    ReplyDelete
  35. 'A mighty fine teacher'

    Surprisingly, Leyden was the first domino to fall, for me.

    From the Urban Dictionary:
    Nowl
    To be forced to do something immediately. An extreme version of "now."
    I want Hot Poulp, and I want it NOWL!

    Hip-hop is just like rap, only different, right? Is it something like dance-pop? Maybe? At any rate, it's not Carly Simon.

    I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this relates directly to that. Exactly when did I lose my sense of wonder?



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    1. Paul,
      Where can I get my hands (or my computer browser’s clutches) on a rural dictionary? Or at least a suburban dictionary?

      Hot poulp actually sounds like it might be tasty, and even good for you. (Hot spicy popcorn pops up your metabolism, no? yes?)

      A statement never spoken or written in the history of the English language:
      “Surprisingly, Leyden was the first domino to fall, for me.”

      Flicker fusion: God orchestrates each flick. (The Keystone Kops spring to mind.) Because we periodically sleep, existence seems continuous, not flickering. Or, because we periodically wake, subconscious existence seems continuous, not flickering. If only we could never sleep, or never wake, we would see what God is really up to, we’d unveil the Oz, realize what is being done to us in our downtime, or uptime, depending on whether you are a daydreamer (Sleepy Jean) or dreamer (Freddie). Sleeping/waking is just one of God’s little best-kept-secret controlling mechanisms for keeping us in the dark, or blinding light. Deus ex Machina indeed!

      Before nodding off, I lie supine on my bed and concentrate on the ceiling fan. I concentrate on one blade. My pupils swirl like whirlpools. I increase the speed of the fan gradually. My eye sockets begin to ache. I wish I were Ted Williams. I am not. My focus flies in a tangent off the blade like a carousel steed on a merry-go-round run amok. I close my eyes and succumb to the colored blotches that waltz across my inner eyelids. The dreamer wakes, the daydreamer sleeps. God has again triumphed.

      LegoIWantAFightingChanceAndIWantItNowl!

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