R.E.O. Speedwagon? Cars? Dumptruck? Gran Torino? Galaxy 500? Chubby Checker?; Character Di-velopment; Cinnamon is a spice; is synonym a species?; Ka-powder room; Poet and Repoet; Degas' under-duress dance; Fishticuffs

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e^{4 +} pi⁴ SERVED

Welcome to our January 8^th edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

In this happy afterglow of the New Year, we are happy to present you with one more gift that Santa left beneath the Christmas tree. Think of it as a Feast of the Epiphany gift.

The gift is an excellent puzzle submitted to Puzzleria! by Puzzlerian! patjberry, who weekly (but not weakly) gobbles up with gusto every puzzle we offer on our menus – morsels, appetizers, slices and desserts. Like skydiveboy, ron, David and other Puzzlerians! whose “guest puzzles” have appeared on our blog, patjberry is an extremely clever and creative puzzle solver and puzzle creator. He is another in a lengthening line of Wise Men (and Wise Women!) who have gifted us with puzzling Epiphanies!

Thank you, pjb, and thank you to all who have contributed, continue to contribute, and shall in the future contribute original puzzles to Puzzleria! And thanks too, of course, to all of you who solve them!

patjberry’s fine poser appears under this week’s MENU, and it titled “Motor(ist)head Memorial Slice: R.E.O. Speedwagon? Cars? Dumptruck? Gran Torino? Galaxy500? Chubby Checker?” (Blame me, LegoLambda, not he, patjberry, for the wordily unwieldly title. The “Motor(ist)head” part is a nod to the recently deceased Lemmy Kilmister, Motorhead frontman ...sorry, I cannot do the umlaut).

Our other offerings this week include a poetic morsel (could be verse!) and a bonus artistic morsel; a fishy” appetizer, followed  by a “minty” appetizer (to get the fishy taste out of your mouth); a somewhat scatological “current news events” puzzle slice wrapped in toilet paper; and to top it all off, we “bookend” this weeks blog with a “fictional character” dessert – just the perfect serving of sweetness to balance and complement our opening poetic morsel. Enjoy!

Morsel Menu

 

Pair Of Europeans Morsel:

Poet and Repoet

A pair of poems – one composed in the late 18^th Century the other composed in the early 20^th century – each repeat a word twice in their initial line. In the earlier poem it is a five-letter word; in the latter poem, a seven-letter word.

 

Both words begin with the same letter. The repeated word is the first word of each poem. The five-letter repeated word in the earlier poem is a common word, but it is spelled somewhat unconventionally.

The four letters in the final word in the first line of the latter poem – if you add to it the initial letter of the two repeated words – can be rearranged to form the first word of the earlier poem.

 

The final word in the first line of the latter poem seems somewhat unconventional. That is to say, a majority of the modern English-speaking population likely would be hard-pressed to define this word.

 

Both poets are Europeans.

Who are these poets and what are the titles of their poems?

Bogus And Bonus Artistic Morsel:

Degas’ Under-Duress Dance

Five years before his death, French artist Edgar Degas (1834-1917), was forced to move from his residence on rue Victor Masse in Paris to less lavish quarters on Boulevard de Clichy. He spent the final half-decade of his life nearly blind, wandering the streets of Paris.

(Warning: Bogusness follows):

Degas lived off the dwindling past commissions from his paintings and sculptures, but it was not enough. So occasionally he would kidnap from the streets of Paris not waifs but reasonably well-dressed adolescent girls who appeared to have possibly wealthy parents. He was a serial kidnapper, abducting the teens one at a time.

Degas held this series of “meal ticket” hostages for ransom at his residence at his old art studio filled with paintings and sculptures of dancing figures. While waiting for their parents to respond he would encourage his “guests” to study the forms of his figures. He made it a habit to teach each of his hostages waltzes, boleros, bourrees, fandangos, pavanes and, especially, tangos. His motto was “Every time DEGAS TEACHES TANGO, A HOSTAGE “GETS” DANCE.”

 

Take the 17 letters in either the RED or GREEN string of words in Degas’ hostage-taking motto. Rearrange them to form a recent possible headline that may have appeared in U.S. newspapers and news websites this past week. 

The headline might read:

__ __ __

__ __ __ __ ,

__ __ __

__ __ __

__ __ __ __

The headline consists (in order) of a verb, noun, slang verb, common article, and noun.

What is this headline?  

 

Appetizer Menu

Boxing Up Produce Appetizer:

Fishticuffs

Name edible produce items, usually seasonal, in three words of 4, 2 and 4 letters. Remove a letter from the final word.

Name a two word phrase – a 5-letter adjective and 3-letter noun – that is something more serious that a fib or “fish story.” (The 5-letter adjective rhymes with something one might eat for breakfast.) Intersperse the 8 letters of that phrase among (but not outside of) the three remaining letters of the final word in the produce items to produce a different article of edible produce, in 11 letters.

Place the first two words – of 4 and 2 letters – of the original edible produce items in front of the 11-letter article of produce. The result is something that not-so-dominant pugilists often have.

What are the original 3-word produce items? What is it that pugilists may have?

 

After Dinner Mint Appetizer:

Cinnamon is a spice; is synonym a species?

Name something edible, in one word, that might be described as an “after dinner mint” for a certain species of critters (or “before-or-during dinner mint,” for that matter). Add a consonant at the beginning, spell the result backward and divide it into two words that are synonyms, both as nouns and verbs.

What is the critter’s “after-dinner mint”? What are the synonyms?

MENU

Motor(ist)head Memorial Slice:

R.E.O. Speedwagon? Cars? Dumptruck? Gran Torino? Galaxy 500? Chubby Checker?

Think of a well-known musical group of the past. Disregard the “The” usually seen before its name.

Now interchange the first and last letters in the name. The first four letters of this result form a common English word. The final four letters of the result, spelled backward, form a common English word. These two words (which are sometimes put together to form one compound word) ought to be familiar to motorists everywhere.

What is the musical group, and what are these newly formed words?

Pointers And Setters Slice:

Ka-powder room

My shower curtain is ripped. My sink drain is clogged.

My MEDICINE CABINET mirror is cracked (364 weeks – not days – of bad luck!), and my air-conditioned BIDET is NICE… that is, if you’re an ICEMAN!

After every flush, with a TOWEL I BLOT around the base of my TOILET BOWL.

And I would sure like to know WHO SHEARED from its plumbed moorings my adjustable misty spray SHOWERHEAD nozzle!...

In brief, I have been cursed with a:

__ __ __ __ __ __

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ !

Take the 14 letters of what I have and rearrange them to form three words that appeared in an international news story this past week, in 5, 5, and 4 letters.

Hint: Two of the words are capitalized.

What are these three words? With what have I been cursed?

Dessert Menu

Literary Crittercism Dessert:

Character Di-velopment

Replace with a single vowel the third and fourth letters in first name of a fictional character, forming the name of a second fictional character, in one word. (This second character is usually referred to by one name, something like Elvis, Cher or Madonna, I guess.)

A three-word phrase (often cited incorrectly as a four-word phrase) associated with the first character includes a pronoun. The vowel in that pronoun is the “single vowel” with which you should have replaced “the third and fourth letters in first name” of the first character.

A three-word phrase – two nouns flanking a preposition – is associated with the second character. Spoonerize (that is, interchange the initial consonant sounds of) the nouns in this phrase, forming two non-words.

However, if you add to the end of the first non-word the two letters in first character’s first name (the letters you replaced with one vowel), you will form a specific lowercase term for a critter – like “beagle” or “tabby,” for example. The second non-word, if spoken aloud sounds like the present-tense first- or third-person French verb that means “to engage in the pursuit of  this critter.”

Who are these two characters? With what phrases are they associated? What is the specific term and the French verb meaning “to engage in the pursuit of the critter?”

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.