Reaching a new Manilow; Besmirched exploitation; Automotive transmission; Birdherding; Bye-Bye Birdeelzebub

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

Welcome to our December 18^th edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all though this blog

Not a creature was erring as through a tough slog

Of puzzles they trudged, dodging pitfalls set there

By a poser of posers perplexing yet fair…

At least that’s the hope this Young jolly elf has:

Bringing bagfuls of puzzles each week with pizzazz!

Our bagful this week includes a business news morsel, a somewhat timely fowl-line-up appetizer, a double-clutch dessert, and two entrée slices, one involving Joseph Conrad and the other involving Barry Manilow. 
To all a good night of puzzle solving:

Morsel Menu

Business News Morsel:

Besmirched exploitation

A person in the news this past week was portrayed as an exploiter because of a business decision she/he made which seemed to besmirch the reputation of the company of which he/she is founder and chief executive.

Rearrange the letters in synonyms of “exploiter” and “besmirch” to reveal the name of this person in the news.

What are these synonyms and who is this person?

Appetizer Menu

Fowl Line-up Appetizer:

Birdherding

Ol’ Smith Haskins has a ranch, E-I-E-I-O.

And on this ranch he has some fowl, E-I-E-I-O…

With a myna here, and an eagle there,

Here a lark, there a crane, everywhere a leghorn…

Ol’ Smith Haskins has a ranch, E-I-E-I-O.

“Ol’ Smith Haskins” is a retired basketball player and coach who raises cattle on a 750-acre rural ranch in his “Ol’ Kentucky Hometown.” Smith and Haskins are his middle and last names, respectively. While most farmers and ranchers employ horses and dogs to help them herd their cattle, Ol’ Smith Haskins for some reason uses birds as herders.

Determine this rather unorthodox rancher’s first name and use the “Ol’ Smith Haskins” lyric to form a six-word alphabetical list that catalogues Ol’ Smith Haskins’ fowl, in the form:

“__ __ __ __ ’ __

__ __ __ __ __,

__ __ __ __ __,

__ __ __ __,

__ __ __ __ __ __ __,

__ __ __ __.”

  

Rearrange the 30 letters in those six words to form a four-word phrase that appeared in news stories this past fortnight, in the form:

“__ __ __ __ __ __ __ ’ __

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

__ __ __ __ __ __

__ __ __ __ __ __”

What are the six-word list and the four-word phrase?

MENU

Plucking A String Slice:

Reaching a new Manilow

Which Barry Manilow song/video do you think is better, according to your ears and eyes, “Copacabana” or “Mandy”? OK, one reason we asked you this question is that the answer may well speak volumes as to whether you are an extrovert or introvert.

Insert a letter “s” somewhere within a string of 20 consecutive letters in the paragraph above. Divide the result into five segments of consecutive letters. Each segment is either the first or last name of a musician or the name of a musical group. There are three 3-letter names, one 5-letter name, and one 7-letter name.

Who are these five musicians/groups?

Hint: Each musician or group represents a musical genre. These genres, in alphabetical order, are: 1. classical, 2. country and western, 3. fado, 4. jazz; and 5. progressive rock.

Conrad Novel Noun Slice:

Bye-Bye Birdeelzebub

Take the first name and surname of a person who was interviewed this past week on the CNN cable news television network.

Interchange the first two letters of the first name with the first two letters of the surname to form a common noun and a non-word. Remove the third letter of the non-word and move the first letter in its stead to form a proper noun that is the mythological personification of a noun that appears in the title of a Joseph Conrad novel.

Place a preposition between common noun and the Conrad-novel word to form a title for the devil.

What are the common noun, the proper noun and the noun that appears in the Conrad novel title? What is the title for the devil? Who was interviewed on CNN?

Hint: The second sentence in this puzzle could just as well read: “Replace the first three letters of the first name with the first three letters of the surname, and vice versa, to form a common noun and a non-word.”  

Dessert Menu

Double Clutch Dessert:

Automotive transmission

Name a make of car. “Shift” its fourth and sixth letters “into reverse” (in other words, reverse their order).

Now “shift” the new sixth letter to the one that follows it in the Puzzleria! closed-loop circular seamless alphabet. (That is, replace the new sixth letter with the letter that follows it in the circular alphabet.) The result is a place where you may see many of these cars.

What is the make of this car and where is the place you may see them?

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.