"It's two-thirds Greek to me!"; The Tao of a pooh-poohing pooh-bah; "We are quite the item in the bedroom!"; Land o' flip-flops; Beating the doldrums; Porkpie hats, windbags, and doodoo hiccups?

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e^{5 +} pi⁴ SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! It is now November, the ninth month of the year. Right, Latin lovers? Oops, no, you say? You say we should instead say: It is now Undecimber, the eleventh month of the year! (That seems faintly, Madly-Hatterly reminiscent of “A Very Merry Unbirthday To You!”)

The letters in Undecimber, of course, can be rearranged to form “I’d encumber,” “mice burden,” or “dice number.” The letters in what future “Latin lovers’ month” can be rearranged to form “demure bodice,” “mediocre bud,” “microbe dude,” or “morbid deuce”?

This week we serve up an “easy-peasy-greasy Greek (not Latin) morsel, two appetizers (one pseudoliterary, the other pseudopsychiatric), a slice of life in the bedroom, and, for dessert, a flip-flopping pigskin puzzle. 

(You might want to tackle this week’s second appetizer not with your fingers or a fork but with a spoon. For the dessert, perhaps a spork might be the appropriate approach... if we can agree to define “sporkerism” as a “flip-flop, or reversal, of compound word parts or syllables.”)

Morsel Menu

More Or Less Easy Morsel:

“It’s two-thirds Greek to me!”

Consider the three images shown here. 

What do they have in common?

Appetizer Menu

Books In The News Appetizer:

The Tao of a pooh-poohing pooh-bah

Consider a non-fiction book in the news this past week. The initial letters of the three-word title spell out a commercial product that uses a putty knife as a logo.

The initial letters of the first three words in the book’s subtitle spell out the word TAO. The fourth word is “of.” The remaining four words in the subtitle are the subject of the book.

 The book’s subject uses a seven-letter hyphenated modifier to describe a person she/he knows who has a six-letter surname. Rearrange those thirteen letters to spell out a two-word synonym – in 6 and 7 letters – of the oxymoronic phrase “equine hounds.” (The 6-letter adjective has a 5-letter alternative spelling.)

 

The book’s subject also uses a eight-letter modifier to describe another person he/she knows who has an eight-letter surname. Rearrange those sixteen letters to spell out a possible two-word synonym – in 8 and 8 letters – of “incense.” (The 8-letter second word has a 7-letter alternative spelling.)

What are the book’s title and subtitle? Who are the two persons the book’s subject describes, and what are the modifiers used to describe them? What are the two two-word synonyms of “equine hounds” and “incense” that are formed from the rearranged letters?

Tangled Up In Blues Appetizer:

Beating the doldrums

Amateur golfer Mr. Pat Potus had reason to have his dauber down. He competed in a tourney and didn’t even make the weekend cut after missing several under-two-foot gimme Pro-Am putts.

But his melancholia only intensified the following Monday when he stopped into the local Starbucks for his usual morning Mocha Latte pick-me-up. Pat left a two-buck tip, descended to the subway at a brisk clip, took a hefty sip… but did not smack his lip-to-lip. His Mocha drink was just not as chocolatey as usual. Indeed, it smacked faintly of roasted wheat bran and molasses.

Now, as a result, Mr. Potus felt really lowdown in the dumps, so dumped his Latte into a waste can and made an appointment with his psychiatrist.

“Doc, I’ve been a glum-and-gloomy-Gus ever since I was served A Mocha Latte that seemed to be diluted with some kind of roasty, wheaty-branny, molassessy kind of additive. What is your diagnosis?”

“Simple,” the Doc said. “That’s Psychiatry 101. You are obviously suffering from…

__ __ __ __ - __ __ __ __ __ __

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ !

What letters belong in the blanks?

Breaking News Appetizer:
Porkpie hats, windbags, and doodoo hiccups?

LegoNote: This appetizer is “three versions of the same puzzle in one.” All have the same four-syllable, breaking-news-subject answer. The first version of the three puzzles is the most difficult, I believe, and the third is the easiest. I recommend that you begin with the first version listed, only then to proceed to the second. Finally, proceed to the third, but only if you cannot cannot solve the first two versions.

In other, more confusing words, if thou art stumped, only then shalt thou count on Version Three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number on which thou shalt count, and the version-number of the counting on shall be Three. Version Four shalt thou not count on (it doesn't exist!) nor thou shalt count on Version Two (which, alas, stumpeth you!), excepting then that thou proceed to three. Version Five is right out!



1.) Each of the four images shown in this appetizer depicts a one-syllable word. Determine what the four syllables are and put them in the correct order to name a breaking news subject. What is this subject?

2.) Name a kind of pie (two words that precede the word “pie”). Replace a consonant with the letter following it alphabetically. 
Name a kind of hat  (a two-syllable word that precedes the word “hat”). Replace a consonant with a different consonant.

Wrap the two altered pie words around the altered two-syllable hat word. Remove two spaces and add a space in a different place to form a two-word breaking news subject. What is this subject?

3.) Complete the following four pairs of word beginnings, A through D. Each pair ends with the same one-syllable word:
A. 
flun...
doohic...
B.
mile...
cobble...
C.
wind...
bag...
D.
rec...
fe...

Put the four word ends in order, A through D, and remove two spaces to name a breaking news subject. What is this subject?

MENU

Specialty Of The Household Slice:

“We are quite the item in the bedroom!”

Name the plural form of a household item commonly found in bedrooms. Divide this word into two words and you will describe what these items might do to persons using them.

What are these household items?

Dessert Menu

Pigskin Party Dessert:

Land o’ flip-flops

A compound plural word describes what is depicted in two of the three images pictured here.

“Flip-flop” (that is, reverse the order of) the two parts of the compound word and say the result aloud to form a two-word description of the third image. Take this third-image description and move the “s” (but not the apostrophe) from the end of one of the two words to the end of the other word to form two words that when spoken aloud sound like a description of stories about athletic exploits that people in one of the first two images might be sharing with one another.

Hint: Probably two of the images, and perhaps all three, were photographed in one particular state.

What is the compound plural word? What are the two two-word descriptions?

Every Friday at Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! 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.