PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e5 + 52 SERVED
Welcome to the
August 14 edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!
After last week’s
circus maximus of animals, political and otherwise, I believe we could all use
a mid-month breather this week. So, lighter, more mentally digestible fare is on the P! menu;
and a relatively mere three puzzle slices.
Probably the
most chewy (difficult to solve) puzzle will be the Fop With A Fob Slice: The
case of the VEXing watch FOB. I
created this puzzle three years ago, and have been reluctant to offer it on
Puzzleria! because it seems to me to be a somewhat unfair puzzle. Arbitrary, in
the whim sense. 
Thus, I have piled the FWAFS high with hints. (But first, see if you
can solve it sans hints, and use the hints only as confirmation of correctness
after sussing your answer.)
Writing the titles for this trio of puzzles prompted the following
pseudo riddle (“Pseudo” is pronounced by some as “piss-suede-oh” – see David’s
August 12 at 1:05 PM comment on PEOTS):
The Minnesota Vikings, an NFL team I root for when they are not playing
that Green and Gold team, is winless in four Super Bowl appearances. (The
G&G team is 4 for 5 in Superbowl appearances.) But let’s pretend that the
Vikings go on a tear, win “Super BowL Fifty,” and then go on to win also Super Bowls LI,
LII, LIII, LIV (The “Ullmann/Tyler Super Bowl”) and LV. What would we call such
a dynasty?
Answer: “The __ __ __ __ __
__ __ __ __ __ __”
Now chew on and enjoy these three “Super Pans” of sliced puzzle:
MENU
In Your Face Dances Slice:
Anger management, lyrically
Take a two-word phrase that means uncontrollable anger. The first word is one word of a trio in the lyrics of a well-known Who song.
Replace this first word with a different word from the Who-lyric trio to create a two-word phrase meaning anger that sounds as if it may be a little less intense, a little less “in your face.” Connect these two words and remove the initial letter to form something someone might take if confronted with the less in-your-face form of anger.
What are these two two-word phrases? What might someone take if confronted with the milder anger?
Award
Winning…Okay, Award Mentioning Slice:
“Bluish
rain, bluish rain…”
Name an award.
Remove from it a blood type. Take an antonym of “obtuse” and rearrange its letters so
that only two of them remain in their original positions. Insert this
rearrangement in the space vacated by the blood type.
Remove the three
letters that follow that rearrangement, forming a synonym of a word that rhymes
with a word in a Badfinger song title.
Remove the
first two letters from this synonym and put the three letters you removed back
where they had been, forming a word associated with “blue,” “rain,” or a
capitalized synonym for “an artistic eccentric.”
What are this
award, synonym and word associated with “blue,” “rain,” or a capitalized
synonym for “an artistic eccentric”?
Fop With A Fob Slice:
The case of
the VEXing watch FOB
Name the next three
letters in this sequence:
B, O, F, X, E,
V, …
Hint: The “The
case of the VEXing watch FOB” is a
red herring.
Hint: The next three letters spell out a word when they are read backward.
Hint:
Reminiscent of rationals
Hint: Déjà vu
: Hint
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.
Happy Friday, everyone. Thanks for the shout-out, Lego!
ReplyDeleteThe anger management image made me smile. .
Thanks, Word Woman. I presume it's the pups that made you smile and not the Cub.
DeleteLegoCubsManagerLouPinellaWouldSoonTakeASeatInTheClubhouse&ThinkAboutTheProblem
Any chance we might have a hint for the bluish rain puzzle?
ReplyDeletepatjberry,
DeleteSure, man. No problemo.
The blood types are one or two letters long.
There are a finite number of words in Badfinger song titles. This song was a hit, not a deep cut.
For the award: tink of a kind of tank… tink of a canine associate of someone with the name of the tank…
You can solve this!
LegumeSomaLambda
Thanks Lego. The award part really helped lead me to it.
ReplyDeleteI'm also familiar with the Badfinger song. Guess I got what I deserved...
ReplyDeleteI think I have the word associated with “blue,” “rain,” a capitalized synonym for “an artistic eccentric,” and a fourth word, also capitalized. This other capitalized word I associate with yet another word. Changing one letter in this other word yields an adjective I associate with an event to take place some 2.5 months from now.
DeleteThe hints are helpful, but I'm still not getting the complete picture.
I lied. That "adjective" isn't really a word. Did I ever claim to know how to spell?
DeletePaul,
DeleteI do not know what that "adjective" is (although I am patting myself on the back for figuring out what your "event to take place some 2.5 months from now" is), but perhaps it is a variant spelling.
Lego"EverySentenceIWriteOnThisBlogIsALie"
Okay, so, take an adjective sometimes used in connection with an event which will occur roughly eleven weeks from now; insert a new (I almost wrote brand new, but reconsidered) letter somewhere in there; THEN change one of the vowels to a different vowel.
DeleteDid another capitalized word related to the word related to 'blue', 'rain', and the other capitalized word appear?
Oh,poop1
I'll keep trying.
Poop1?
DeleteHow'd that happen?
I always thought poop was #2.
Paul,
DeletePlease never stop keeping trying1
LegoEccentricArtisticCapitalist
Howdy ho, fellow Puzzlerians. As W.W. said above, Happy Friday, except now it's Saturday.
ReplyDeleteSince, as per always re rock music, I knew nothing of 'The Who' songs, I went at the first (Anger) slice from the end backwards, and finally figured it out. Yippee.
Okay, using the helpful hint about the tank, I managed to come up with the Award (weirdly, as I worked on this puzzle, this very award was mentioned by Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show!)
ReplyDeleteI believe I then chose the right antonym and finagled its re-arrangement, nicely yielding the resulting word; HOWEVER, I can only make that word be a synonym for an actual WORD in one of the Badfinger songs (of course, I've NEVER heard of this group, either), NOT a synonym for some word that RHYMES with any word in the group's song titles. So this has me bamboozled completely. [Update: I just realized there IS another word in their song titles that rhymes with the intended word.]
Moreover, following the remaining directions then result indeed in another lovely word which DOES go with "Blue", although I'm less sure of its going with "Rain", unless again, the association has to do with music I've never heard of before.
But I'm completely without an answer or any ideas for the capitalized Artistic Eccentric.
ViolinTeddy,
DeleteRegarding: "... although I'm less sure of its going with "Rain", unless again, the association has to do with music I've never heard of before.'
Yes, a semi-obscurity from the decade of JFK, LBJ and RMN. Likely before your time.
LegoHillmouseLambda(Or"Hilmous"If,LikePaul,You'reASticklerForSpelling)
Hee hee, NO comment regarding those prezes being "before my time."
DeleteSo I suspect the song I found must be what you meant, even though as I said, I never heard of it.
Still stuck on the Eccentric though...any hints thereon?
ViolinTeddy,
DeleteOkay. A few obscure (I hope) hints:
1. “Badmen, Hip Hoorays!
2. Berkelry and Garry collaborate on a hybrid venture, “The __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ Group.”
LegoActuallyAllWeAskedForIsTheAward,SynonymAndWordAssociated…
I'm not quite sure what a "helicopter blogger" is, as you called yourself below (unless it means, you get notified each time someone posts, so that you can reply?), but I wanted to answer your last post to me, to indicate that unfortunately, the two hints didn't shine any light on the still-unknown 'other word' for the artistic eccentric.
DeleteHowever, I began to wonder, since you signed off above that you hadn't really been ASKING for the 'other word', have I been erroneously trying to find a new word, when in actuality, you had only meant for us to capitalize THE answer word (the one that goes with "blue"?).....because if so, it would have to be capitalized anyway in its association with said "Blue".
No sense in trying to look for something that isn't to be found!!
ViolinTeddy,
DeleteA "helicopter blogger" is one who hovers above her/his blog comments like "helicopter parents" hover over their children -- always admonishing, guiding, scolding, praising, lecturing... basically giving no one any room to breathe!
The word for "artistic eccentric" is a capitalized word, and like "rain" and "blue," it is associated with the third word I am looking for in the puzzle.
Remember the third element I am asking you to find is a "word associated with 'blue,' 'rain' or a capitalized synonym for 'an artistic eccentric.'”
But, you are correct, it is not necessary for you to find this synonym for "artistic eccentric." You may not need it to solve the puzzle, being satisfied that you have found a word associated with "rain" and "blue."
LegoEnjoyingMyWhirlybird'sEyeView
Well, LegoWhirl, at the risk of beating a dead synonym, I guess I still really don't get it, as to whether there are two DIFFERENT words, and we were allowed to find one OR the other (one that went with blue and rain and another one that meant the eccentric.) I'll just wait for Tuesday to see why I've been so confused over this.
DeleteYou know, guys, the word that is to be rhymed has been used in so many pop and rock songs it didn't really have to be a Badfinger tune. I'd list a few other examples, but that would probably give it away.
ReplyDeletepatjberry,
DeleteGood observation.
Before uploading Puzzleria! on Friday, at the last minute I changed the at sentence. It originally read:
"Remove the three letters that follow that rearrangement, forming a synonym of a word that rhymes with a synonym of [a word that starts with an I]."
But I thought that would be too easy, so I changed the end of the sentence to "...a word in a Badfinger song title." I'm not sure why I chose that particular song. I was likely influenced subconsciously by the other alliterative word in the song title.
But you hint at an interesting question, patjberry:
Other than pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and articles, what are the most common words (that would be nouns and verbs, I guess) in song titles, or in song lyrics?
LegoYouGottaThink"Love"WouldBePrettyHighOnThatList
Love was most prevalent in the '80's. The 2010's are not so cheery.
DeleteSurprising.
Love definitely comes up a lot. Rock is another common word in song titles. Quite a few of these songs would be great to play on Courtney Love or Chris Rock on a talk show.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, heart also comes up a lot.
ReplyDeleteGood luck at the eye doc tomorrow! Hope they will figure out a good solution for you.
DeleteHow did it go, pjb?
DeleteSo does time. Too bad Casey Kasem isn't around anymore to ask about this. He must have covered this topic at some point.
ReplyDeletepjb, see my link above under "Surprising." All the decades from the 1890's to the 2010's are mapped by most popular word (though they did not exclude pronouns, etc.). It's interesting that the 1980's I'd the only decade where love comes out on top. . .
Delete^^^is
DeleteDAC!
Thank you, Word Woman, for your helpful words-in-songs link. The absence of “love” in lyics, other than the 1980s, is indeed a stumper.
DeleteThanks to you, and also to pjb, for keeping this discussion lively. I’m temporarily out of the loop. As you all know, I am a “helicopter blogger,” but the wi-fi antenna on my chopper has been on the fritz.
LegoThat’s”Fritz”AsIn”ThePits,”Not”Fritz”AsIn”Mondale”Or”TheCat”…Hey,They’reTalkingAboutJoeAndAlThrowingTheirHatsIntoTheRing,WhatAboutFritz?
Hey, Lego, glad you are back! We need your (and other Puzzlerians') insightful presence over at PEOTS. We are up to 95 comments this week and . . .well, you know ;-)
DeleteHere is a 10th-hour hint to “A Fop With A Fob Slice”:
ReplyDeleteThe only way B could occur in this sequence is as its first letter. There are eleven other letters in our alphabet that share this “only-way-is-as-first-letter” quality with B… A, C and D, for instance. In that vein, a puzzle slice that appeared in Puzzleria! a little less than one year ago might help you in solving this AFWAFS.
LegoSaysBCanHaveNoPredecessorInThisPuzzle,NotEvenA!
This week’s answers, for the record:
ReplyDeleteIn Your Face Dances Slice:
Anger management, lyrically
Take a two-word phrase that means uncontrollable anger. The first word is one word of a trio in the lyrics of a well-known Who song.
When confronted with such anger, many people take shelter, or take a powder.
Replace this first word with a different word from the Who-lyric trio to create a two-word phrase meaning anger that sounds as if it may be a little less intense, a little less “in your face.” Connect these two words and remove the initial letter to form something someone might take if confronted with the less in-your-face form of anger.
What are these two two-word phrases? What might someone take if confronted with the milder anger?
Answer: Blind Rage; Dumb Rage; Umbrage
Award Winning…Okay, Award Mentioning Slice:
“Bluish rain, bluish rain…”
Name an award. Remove from it a blood type. Take an antonym of “obtuse” and rearrange its letters so that only two of them remain in their original positions. Insert this rearrangement in the space vacated by the blood type.
Remove the three letters that follow that rearrangement, forming a synonym of a word that rhymes with a word in a Badfinger song title.
Remove the first two letters from this synonym and put the three letters you removed back where they had been, forming a word associated with “blue,” “rain,” or a capitalized synonym for “an artistic eccentric.”
What are this award, synonym and word associated with “blue,” “rain,” or a capitalized synonym for “an artistic eccentric”?
Answer: Peabody (Award); Perhaps; Rhapsody
PEABODY – AB = PE ODY
PE ODY + SHARP (antonym of obtuse) = PE SHARP ODY = PE RHAPS ODY
PERHAPSODY – ODY = PERHAPS (synonym of Baby)
PERHAPSODY – PE = RHAPSODY (“Rhapsody in Blue,”) (“Rhapsody in the Rain,”) (“Bohemian Rhapsody”)
Fop With A Fob Slice:
The case of the VEXing watch FOB
Name the next three letters in this sequence:
B, O, F, X, E, V, …
Hint: The “The case of the VEXing watch FOB” is a red herring.
Hint: The next three letters spell out a word when they are read backward.
Hint: Reminiscent of rationals
Hint: Déjà vu Déjà vu Déjà vu...
: Hint
Answer: E,V, E…
Spell out each letter’s corresponding numerical rank in the alphabet, one through twenty-six -- that is, its cardinal numerical rank (one, two, three…), not its ordinal numerical rank (first, second, third…). The third letter in the spelled-out numerical rank of each letter in the sequence becomes the next letter in the sequence.
The rank of B, for example, is two, which has “o” as its third letter, so “O” is the next letter in the sequence. At the end of the sequence, the rank of V is twenty-two, which has “e” as its third letter, so “E” is the next letter in the sequence. The rank of E is five, and so on.
Had the ALGoreRhythm required cardinal and not ordinal numbers, the sequence beginning with “B” would be:
B,C,I,N,U,E,F,X,E,F, X, E, F, X...
Hints:
Hint: The “The case of the VEXing watch FOB” is a red herring. That is, “vex” and “fob” hint at some type of palindromic solution, which is not correct.
Hint: The next three letters spell out a word when they are read backward.
The letters E, V, E spell out eve backwards (or forwards for that matter. Now we’re talkin’ palindromic!
Hint: Reminiscent of rationals.
The decimal forms of many rational numbers repeat all or some of their digits eventually.
Hint: Déjà vu Déjà vu Déjà vu...
…E, V, E, V, E, V…
: Hint
“The Third Man” Theme was meant to hint at the necessity to focus on the third letter of the alphabetical cardinal ranks.
Lego…
Did I miss it somewhere along the line, or did you leave out the answer for the Vikings Superbowl riddle?
ReplyDeleteI had completely misunderstood all along the thing about the stupid artistic eccentric...meaning that it was supposed to be a third word that WENT with Rhapsody. I thought you wanted ANOTHER word in place of rhapsody, so it never made any sense to me. Duh!
And if you look at a list of song titles for your Badfinger group, you'll see that the word MAYBE is one of them...thus, "perhaps" was a direct synonym of IT, obviating the need for the rhyming 'baby' at all! (Referring to my probably confusing-sounding initial comments after solving this slice.)
ViolinTeddy,
DeleteAs do patjberry and others on P!, you make astute observations and comments. I did not even consider looking to see if "Maybe" occurs in a Badfinger song title.
You did not miss the Vikings Super Bowl riddle answer. I missed posting it. Sorry. It is:
The PURPLE REIGN.
LegoPrince?Got'emQueen?Got'emKing?Need'emPrincess?Need'em
Ah, thanks, LegoPrince! As per frustratingly usual, I thought of using 'purple' (having looked up their colors), but suspected that the riddle was either going to be an alliteration or a RHYME, and of course, nothing rhymes with purple. So that was the end of that effort. Is Purple Rain a Prince song? (How would I know?) Hee hee
DeleteInteresting that three color names, purple, orange, and silver have no perfect rhymes (unless you include a really obsolete, obscure word or two). Seems like there's a puzzle in there somewhere. . .
DeleteWell, surely Dr. Seuss should have come up with some such rhymes....
DeleteSo true, ViolinTeddy.
DeletePurple Smurple
Silver Zilver
Orange Borange
That's my channeling Dr. Suess for tonight.
Yeah, Purple Zurple perhaps sounds like it should be an icy drink at some fast food shop!
DeleteHee hee, or maybe even better would be Purple SLURPLE.
DeleteAHEM! (1:10 - 1:13)
DeleteAh, memories! (In case you're wondering, that's not a tennis ball in his right hand.)
DeleteAh, the future!
DeleteHa, Paul, SWEET!
DeleteFun rhapsodies in orange. Thanks for sharing. Is there a newer, hipper song about sod houses "Rap Soddy in Green?"
Somebody misquoted RM's lyric, and one of the reviewers doesn't know the difference between "elude" and "allude" [Cos joke here? No, Paul, keep to the high road!], but, hey?!
DeleteI'm 99% uncertain Melissa Gilbert recorded Rap Soddy in Green.
Wonderfully, colorfully witty and clever repartee, ViolinTeddy, Word Woman and Paul.
DeleteWord Woman, I suggest you continue channeling Dr. Seuss and write a sequel to "The Cat in the Hat" about a pup who mistakes a spiked punch bowl for his water dish, titled "The Pooch in the Hooch." (Has Maizie ever sampled the corn liquor?)
ViolinTeddy, The next time I order a Vikingburger at my local Burger King, I will wash it down with a Purple Slurple!
Paul, Great links, as usual. RM rules. Gotta try that maple surple beer... it's brewed in my bottleneck of the woods.
LegoTheVikingsMenShallBefuddleTheirGridironFoesWithIndecipherableLyrics!
So glad to see a couple of posts from ya, LegoVikes! I gather your Wi Fi must have been giving you fits, and keeping you away? It was lonely without you! The Pooch in the Hooch idea is wonderful. : o )
DeleteIn case you're wondering about my trip to the eye doctor, what I have has been deemed an "entopic(or entoptic)phenomenon". Because of this, unfortunately, he told me it should go away on its own after a while. Didn't stop me from getting the umbrage puzzle or the rhapsody puzzle. The one about the list of letters I still can't figure out just reading the answer. And as for the Purple Reign puzzle, even though I listen to Garrison Keillor every week, it does not make this Alabamian any sort of expert on Minnesota sports. Sorry, Lego. I say Roll Tide!
ReplyDeleteVery glad to hear, PJB, that your weird floaters or whatever they are should disappear eventually without any awful treatment. (Not quite sure, though, why you said 'unfortunately', unless it's because they are driving you crazy NOW and "eventually" sounds like a long time?)
DeleteHow do you, or anyone, stand the HEAT in Alabama?
Glad your appt went OK, pjb. And hope your floaties disappear soon.
DeleteAnd now you can be the (en)topic of conversation.
It was 70 degrees here today. Perfect for sitting on the porch with my neighbors after dinner. Yeah for autumn!
And since we are talking about AL, purple rain, etc.: News today about Alabama Superfund Site.
DeleteWhat I meant by "unfortunately" was there's nothing we can really do about my "phenomenon". I'm back to square one. I wouldn't be totally OK with the idea of surgery to get this thing fixed, but I would eventually go through with it. Or if Dr. Hollingsworth knew of some sort of medicine that would work I would have to take it. Basically if your eye doctor can't find anything wrong, you're screwed, I think. I know I must be. I've always been obsessed with something in my mind, whether it be somebody's name, some song stuck in my head, or any letter of the alphabet. Being hyperlexic and obsessive-compulsive will do that to you. Then you think half the time you can't function in your daily life. And yet you have a pretty good daily routine going for you, so you keep going. Now I have an entoptic phenomenon. I will survive, though, as Ms. Gaynor said back in 1979. So there. I am glad you guys are concerned, I thank you very much for that. And in answer to the question of the heat in AL, Teddy, we just don't go outside in 90+degree weather. Actually it's been raining quite a bit, supposed to keep raining off and on all week and weekend.
Deletepatjberry,
DeleteSeems to be good news that your doctor deems your "floaters" will go away on their own eventually. Seems you're coping just fine despite your hyperlexia and obsessive-compulsiveness. We value your splendid contributions to this puzzle blog, for instance. I like your Gaynoresque attitude, but you are not just surviving... you're thriving.
Roll Tide? Sounds to me a bit like toilet paper and detergent advertised on General Hospital and The Young and the Restless! All I know is that Toll Ride is the past tense of Toll Road.
LegoAHoundstoothHat-WearingBearProwlsTheSidelines...WereHeAnElephantHe'dHaveATusk-A-Loosa!
I could have sworn the letter count constraints for the riddle were 4,2,5 rather than 6,5. That, and the Superbowl roman numerals, had me thinking along the lines of _ _ _ _ VI KINGS.
ReplyDeleteI constructed a facetious answer for FWAFS:
BOF-->Balls Of Fire-->Jerry Lee Lewis
XEV-->Christ Equals Victory-->Jimmy Swaggart
thus, the third man (or cousin) is TUC-->The Urban Cowboy-->Mickey Gilley
I did eventually assemble all the components of the bluish rain puzzle. The Rh (red herring) / Baby Blue connection added texture, I thought.
I failed twice, however, in my attempt to construct a tangential question. I'm giving it one more shot:
Think of an adjective associated with Halloween. Remove the first instance of a letter that appears twice in the adjective. What remains is not a word; however, changing one of the vowels in it makes it a word often associated with a capitalized word often associated with RHAPSODY. Did I say it right this time? Maybe I should just state it plainly --- if I'm not back this time again tomorrow, carry on; it doesn't really matter.
How many rhapsodies are there? There's probably a list somewhere I could consult.
For the record, the discrepancy in the letter count on the purple reign riddle was the fault of my cell phone's formatting of this page. Here on the ol' laptop, it's clearly 6,5.
DeleteHey Paul, anyway the wind blows...(cue the gong)
ReplyDeleteDoes that make SPIKY have something to do with BOHEMIAN? Very very frightening me!
ReplyDeleteSPOOKY / SPOKY / SPIKY / Spiky orange / Rhapsody In Orange (see my comments in another thread) -- That just may work, pjb!
DeleteActually, I was thinking of GHOULISH / GOULISH / GOULASH / Hungarian goulash / Hungarian Rhapsody.
Spare me my life from this monstrosity!
I actually didn't think SPIKY would work. I was obviously still thinking of BOHEMIAN, not RHAPSODY. I like your answer better, Paul.
DeleteProbably should have closed with "Just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here." Oh well. Doesn't really matter to me.
ReplyDeleteI was shut out this week, but at least I can post about my seeing The Who in concert in 1970(?), when the performed most of Tommy.
ReplyDeleteDavid,
DeleteFifty years ago tomorrow (Friday), the Beatles performed their only concert in Minnesota, at Metroplitan Stadium in Bloomington. I was not there. The Mall of America is now there. If you listen carefully, you just might hear the ghostly echoes of screams from teens now of the verge of collecting Social Security checks.
Paul,
My pea-sized brain came not close to making the glissando required to go from GHOULISH to HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY, or vice versa. I liked patjberry's spooky/spoky/spiky progression, however, and your citrus RIO clincher of the deal.
Your Jerry Lee/Jimmy Lee/Mickey Leroy troika, yielding BOF, XEV and TUC is pure genius, and far surpasses my measley "third letter-man" solution yielding EVE as the next three letters in the sequence. (TUC is CUT backward.) I hereby amend my intended answer to read, TUC, not EVE.
LegoLeeLambdaTalkAboutYourSpookyGoulash!