Friday, March 11, 2016

That sheepskin is legit? Hogwash! Ring Tin Tin; Dates in the colander; Ice fishtailing; A, E, I, O, and sometimes U;

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e5 + pi3 SERVED

Welcome to 3/11/16, our March 11th edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

No guest puzzlemeisters this week, alas, but we do have five taste-bud-tickling and brain-bending puzzles on our menus:
A Menagerie Morsel more mouth-watering than pheasant under glass; a Prime Time Appetizer that pits your wits against pitted colander dates; two “hard” slices – Philosophers’ Stone, and Going For The PlaTINum; and, at the bottom of our blog, to top it all off, a Vacation DesTINation Dessert.

Glass. Pits. Stone. PlaTINum… Pretty hard stuff. Just don’t break a wisdom tooth in your quest for the mysterious truth.

Morsel Menu
 
Menagerie Morsel:
That sheepskin is legit? Hogwash!

Consider the following seven compound words:
Crablegs*, hogwash, sheepskin, tigereye, foxfire, sawhorse, camelback

Explain why these seven words are in the order they are in.

Hint: “Sheepskin” and “foxfire” could switch places with one another. What’s more, “dogfight,” “fishtail” or “catfish” could be substituted for either “sheepskin” or “foxfire.” 
The five other words, however, must stay put.
 
(* Yes, we realize the lexicons-that-be proclaim “crab legs” to be two words. But the dictionaries are wrong! “Crablegs” ought to be just one compound word.)

Appetizer Menu

Prime Time Appetizer:
Dates in the colander

Write the 365 (366) days of the year as 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4…12/29, 12/30, 12/31. Those dates can be divided into two “colanders” – one of 173 dates and another of 192 (193) dates. 

If the number 1 is considered a prime number (even though it is NOT a prime number), the colanders contain 182 dates and 183 (184) dates.

How is the number of dates in each pair of colanders determined?

Hint: Your answer should probably include the words “prime” and “non-prime.” The word “pitted” won’t be necessary, however. 
 
MENU

Philosophers’ Stone Slice:
Ice fishtailing

Add a consonant to the end of a philosopher’s surname. Place the result after a word for something that anglers (like Andy and Opie Taylor, for example) may want to do to a fish, thereby forming a one-word synonym for “having no _____.”

Add the same consonant to the end of the same philosopher’s surname. Place the result before a word for something inexperienced motorists may want to do (but would be better off not doing) when they begin fishtailing in icy or snowy road conditions, thereby forming a two-word phrase that would generally result in “having no ability to _____.”

The same word goes into both blanks. What is that word? What are the one-word synonym and the two-word phrase?


Going For the PlaTINum Slice:
Ring Tin Tin

For half a century the National Football League has been awarding Super Bowl rings to the victors of their annual championship game. These rings are typically fashioned from gold, with diamonds inset. The Green Bay Packers’ Super Bowl XLV ring was made of platinum.
 
Denver Broncos players will receive a ring for winning Super Bowl 50 (or the “Super BowL,” as I like to call it) earlier this colander year… oops, that should be, calendar year. 

The Broncos’ Super Bowl championship ring will likely be made of gold. But rumor has it that the NFL may present one tin ring this year to a particular Bronco player whose Super Bowl performance was less-than-stellar.
 
Rearrange the 20 letters printed in the scarlet italic text to form a three-word headline that sat atop a sports news story that broke this past week.

What is this headline?

Dessert Menu

Vacation Destination Dessert:
A, E, I, O, and sometimes U

Think of four 6-letter nouns that share their first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth letters in common. The third letters of the words are A, E, I and O.

Replace the fourth, fifth and sixth letters of the four nouns with the same single letter. In the word containing the O, also replace the first letter with a consonant digraphThese replacements form three new 4-letter nouns and one new 5-letter noun that are homophones, respectively, of the four 6-letter originals. 
 
The new homophone nouns are (in alphabetical order): A plant; a type of bending; a cable/satellite TV network (an uppercase word); and a flower. 

Form a fifth noun that has the same first, second and fourth letters as the 4-letter nouns containing the A, E and I, and insert a U as its third letter. This 4-letter noun can mean “a material that promotes fusion.

What are the four 6-letter nouns, the four new homophone nouns, and the noun for the material that promotes fusion?

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.

36 comments:

  1. Does the football puzzle have anything to do with deflation?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, yeah, I guess, if we're talkin' about the guy with the tin ring.

      LegoMusesThatIfALeadBalloonIsDeflatedItAtLeastKeepsItsShape

      Delete
  2. HOWDY ALL! I haven't read pas the Platinum Slice yet, but just solved it (goody)....no insights yet on the puzzles above that one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi legolambda,

    I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd give a little "preview" of a post I intend to make Tuesday:

    ─┬──┬──┬────┬──┬──┬──┬──┬──┬──┬────┬──┬──┬────┬──┬──┬────┬──┬──┬──┬───
    ═╪══╪══╪════╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══╪════╪══╪══╪════╪══╪══╪════╪══╪══╪══╪═══
    ─┼──┼──┼────┴──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ─┼──┼──┼───────┼──┴──┼──┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ─┼──┼──┴───────┼─────┼──┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ─┼──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼──┼──┴────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ─┼──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼──┼───────┴──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ─┼──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼──┴──────────┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ─┼──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼─────────────┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ─┴──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼─────────────┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ────┴──────────┼─────┼──┼─────────────┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼─────────────┴──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──┼──┴────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──┴───────┼──┼──┼──┼───
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼──┴──┼───
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼─────┴───
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼─────────
    ───────────────┴─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼─────────
    ─────────────────────┼──┴────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼─────────
    ─────────────────────┼───────────────────┼────┴──────────┼──┼─────────
    ─────────────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────┼──┴─────────
    ─────────────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────┴────────────
    ─────────────────────┼───────────────────┴────────────────────────────
    ─────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────
    As I've said often on Blaine's blog, what I post on, well in this case, Tuesday, might not look quite this good, but it should look pretty neat, nonetheless.
    (Although it will look SOOOO much better if the font remains Courier this week!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan,
      Thanks for the post-preview.

      LegoCourier&Ives

      Delete
  4. Just got done with Paul's prize puzzle on the Guardian website, and we had been babysitting my two young nieces this afternoon and they were playing with the Kindle. As a result, my stylus appears a little torn up. Nevertheless, I hope if anything I could get the football anagram puzzle. Tricky ones this week, Lego. Will need hints aplenty!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Had a hunch about the football puzzle, and it paid off! "Need no hints with that one now"(sung to the tune of a certain commercial jingle associated with the answer).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Are you sure you don't want seven-letter words using all the vowels in the third position for VDD? BLANDER, BLENDER, BLINDER, BLONDER, BLUNDER.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am not sure.
      What I am sure of, however, is that the chef who is BLINDER than a bat made a BLUNDER by placing a halibut, not a bass, into his Bass-O-Matic BLENDER, resulting in a BLANDER and ishier Fish Puree Surprise, which caused the restaurant patrons who ordered it to comment, "That chef may not be BLONDER than a dumb blonde but he sure is dumber!"

      LegoLastLestListLostLust

      Delete
  7. Wow, the Dessert was a toughie, and I feel like a police detective, but I've just used all sorts of logic to finally come up with all the words! What a great puzzle!

    As a hint (for pjb or anyone else who might desire one), try paying attention to the hint about the alphabetical order, thus deducing which of the four words are the only possibilities for the various definitions (well, for ONE definition in particular.) I then found hunted a category and found a word that obeyed all the requirements, and from there, the entire puzzle fell out!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just got the dessert! Thanks, VT!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OOh, I'm so glad if my 'hint' was a help to ya, pjb!!

      Delete
    2. Yes, thanks, VT; your hint gave me the right nudge, also.

      Delete
  9. MM: I was on horseback, on a hogback, when I heard a backfire...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice hint, ron.

      My Hints:
      MM:
      One guy, one strategy, one waterway: kind of hat.
      PTA:
      P/P + NP/NP divided by NP/P + P/NP = 1, more or less (actually, more more than less).
      PSS:
      The word in the blank is an “eye opener” that began around the time of the bicentennial.

      LegoCrossingTheTeaserAndTheFirecatAndFillingTheDotedEyes

      Delete

    2. crab apple, sea legs, groundhog, washboard, sheepdog, paper tiger, eyeball,foxglove, fireball, seesaw, hobbyhorse, camelhair, backtalk.

      Delete
  10. I think I still need another hint for the fill-in-the-blank. If it's the answer in the blank I think it is, I'm not quite sure what it has to do with the rest of it, what fishermen do or what amateur motorists do.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy Pi Day 3.14159... 3/14/16.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes indeed, ron. Rounded off to the nearest ten-thousandth this year. Last year, 3/14/15 we did not round off.

      LegoBabiesBornTodayWillBeAbleToCelebrateSuch"True"PiDaysOnTheirNinety-NinthAndOneHundredthBirthdays

      Delete
  12. Happy Pi day to you all, too! I have all but the first (Morsel Menu), and somehow managed to get those without reading your hints first. However, after reading your hint for the fill-in-the-blank, I'm not sure I have it... because it has nothing eye-opening about it (and Pat, my assumption is that the answer in the blank is not required to have anything to do with fishers or motorists). Still, I'm sticking with it, and I'll share it with you if it's different than your answer, Legolambda.

    My hint for the dessert is to go backwards - once you have the "material that promotes fusion" everything flows from there.

    Now I'm going back to all of Ron's hints, and simmer...

    --Margaret G.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lego, anything further on that fill-in-the-blank puzzle? I only really have the blank answer and nothing else.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Replies
    1. Fantastic links, Paul.

      pjb,

      The "key" to solving the fill-in-the-blank puzzle is sussing the philosopher's surname. (British guy, 17th cent.)

      MM 11th hour hint: Lajoie

      LegoPhillyosopherLarryMovedToClevelandAndTookSeveralNapzzzzzzz

      Delete
  15. PSS:
    Philosopher: John LOCKE

    LANDLOCKED = “having no COAST.”
    LOCKED BRAKES = “having no ability to COAST.”

    VDD:
    KNACKS, KNECKS, KNICKS, KNOCKS.

    SPARES, SPERES, SPIRES, SPORES.

    The intended answer: FLACKS, FLECKS, FLICKS, FLOCKS>>>FLAX, FLEX, FLIX, PHLOX.

    ReplyDelete
  16. may present one tin ring

    ─m──a──y────p──r──e──s──e──n──t────o──n──e────t──i──n────r──i──n──g───
    ═╪══╪══╪════╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══╪══╪════╪══╪══╪════╪══╪══╪════╪══╪══╪══╪═══
    ─┼──┼──┼────P──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──P
    ─┼──┼──┼───────┼──e──┼──┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──e
    ─┼──┼──y───────┼─────┼──┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──y
    ─┼──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼──┼──t────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──t
    ─┼──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼──┼───────o──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──o
    ─┼──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼──n──────────┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──n
    ─┼──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼─────────────┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──
    ─m──┼──────────┼─────┼──┼─────────────┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──M
    ────a──────────┼─────┼──┼─────────────┼──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──a
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼─────────────n──┼────┼──┼──┼────┼──┼──┼──┼──n
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──┼──n────┼──┼──┼──┼──n
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──i───────┼──┼──┼──┼──i
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼──n──┼──n
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼─────g──g
    ───────────────┼─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼─────────
    ───────────────r─────┼──┼────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼────────r
    ─────────────────────┼──e────────────────┼────┼──────────┼──┼────────e
    ─────────────────────┼───────────────────┼────t──────────┼──┼────────t
    ─────────────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────┼──i────────i
    ─────────────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────r───────────r
    ─────────────────────┼───────────────────e───────────────────────────e
    ─────────────────────s───────────────────────────────────────────────s

    Peyton Manning retires

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't watch the Super Bowl, so I have no opinion about what sort of metal PM's ring should be made of. And I did not mean to suggest that he was involved in deflating footballs; I know that was some other guy. All I know is, when one or more of your rubber rings becomes deflated, it may be time to re-tire.

      Delete
  17. Prime Time Appetizer: Dates in colanders... if both the month and day are prime, then the date goes into bucket A. If both the month and day are NOT prime, then the date also goes into bucket A. Otherwise the date goes into bucket B. For example, March 15 goes into bucket B, since March (3) is prime, and 15 is NOT prime. March 11 goes into bucket A, since both 3 and 11 are prime. April 12 also goes into bucket A since both April (4) and 12 are NOT prime. --Margaret G.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Am chagrined to say that I got only two puzzles this week, as already mentioned above....oh well.

    PHILOSOPHERS' STONE SLICE: ??CATCH/GUT/HOOK/EAT?? ??TURN/SWERVE/BRAKE/STEER/PANIC??

    GOING FOR THE PLATINUM SLICE: PEYTON MANNING RETIRES

    DESSERT: FLACKS, FLECKS, FLICKS, FLOCKS; FLAX, FLEX, FLIX, PHLOX; FLUX.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Well now that I see others have it, I know it's LOCKE and LOCKED. I even found Locke early on but didn't think that was it. Here's what I did get:
    PEYTON MANNING RETIRES
    FLACKS, FLECKS, FLICKS, FLOCKS; FLAX, FLEX, FLIX, PHLOX, FLUX
    I did get COAST.
    I was a little preoccupied. This Friday we're going to Ft. Walton Beach for Spring Break.

    ReplyDelete
  20. This week’s official answers for the record, Part 1:
    Morsel Menu

    Menagerie Morsel:
    That sheepskin is legit? Hogwash!
    Consider the following seven compound words:
    Crablegs*, hogwash, sheepskin, tigereye, foxfire, sawhorse, camelback
    Explain why these seven words are in the order they are in.
    Hint: “Sheepskin” and “foxfire” could switch places with one another. What’s more, “dogfight,” “fishtail” or “catfish” could be substituted for either “sheepskin” or “foxfire.”
    The five other words, however, must stay put.
    (* Yes, we realize the lexicons-that-be proclaim “crab legs” to be two words. But the dictionaries are wrong! “Crablegs” ought to be just one compound word.)

    Answer: Each of the seven compound words contains a word in the palindromic phrase, “Able was I ere I saw Elba.”
    crABLEgs, hogWASh, sheepskIn, tigEREye, foxfIre, SAWhorse, camELBAck

    Appetizer Menu

    Prime Time Appetizer:
    Dates in the colander

    Write the 365 (366) days of the year as 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4…12/29, 12/30, 12/31. Those dates can be divided into two “colanders” – one of 173 dates and another of 192 (193) dates.
    If the number 1 is considered a prime number (even though it is NOT a prime number), the colanders contain 182 dates and 183 (184) dates.
    How is the number of dates in each pair of colanders determined?
    Hint: Your answer should probably include the words “prime” and “non-prime.” The word “pitted” won’t be necessary, however.

    Answer:
    The colander with 182 dates contains dates in which the numbers on either side of the slash/virgule are prime/not-prime (2/14, 11/27, for example) or not-prime/prime (6/17, 4/7, for example).
    The colander with 183 dates (184 in leap year) contains dates in which the numbers on either side of the slash/virgule are prime/prime (3/23, 7/3, for example) or not-prime/not-prime (8/20, 9/9, for example).
    If the number 1 is considered prime, 1/6 and 12/1 would belong in the 182-date colander, and 5/1 and 1/29 would belong on the 183(184)-date colander.
    If 1 is not considered prime, the colander containing prime/not-prime and not-prime/prime dates contains 173 dates, and the colander containing prime/prime and not-prime/not-prime dates contains 192(193) dates.

    MENU

    Philosophers’ Stone Slice:
    Ice fishtailing
    Add a consonant to the end of a philosopher’s surname. Place the result after a word for something that anglers (like Andy and Opie Taylor, for example) may want to do to a fish, thereby forming a one-word synonym for “having no _____.”

    Add the same consonant to the end of the same philosopher’s surname. Place the result before a word for something inexperienced motorists may want to do (but would be better off not doing) when they begin fishtailing in icy or snowy road conditions, thereby forming a two-word phrase that would generally result in “having no ability to _____.”

    The same word goes into both blanks. What is that word? What are the one-word synonym and the two-word phrase?

    Answer:
    The word “coast” belongs in the blanks:
    “having no COAST.”
    “having no ability to COAST.”
    The one-word synonym is LANDLOCKED and the two-word phrase is LOCKED BRAKE
    The philosopher is John Locke.
    Locke + d = Locked

    Lego…

    ReplyDelete
  21. This week’s official answers for the record, Part 2:

    Going For the PlaTINum Slice:
    Ring Tin Tin
    For half a century the National Football League has been awarding Super Bowl rings to the victors of their annual championship game. These rings are typically fashioned from gold, with diamonds inset. The Green Bay Packers’ Super Bowl XLV ring was made of platinum.
    Denver Broncos players will receive a ring for winning Super Bowl 50 (or the “Super BowL,” as I like to call it) earlier this colander year… oops, that should be, calendar year.
    The Broncos’ Super Bowl championship ring will likely be made of gold. But rumor has it that the NFL may present one tin ring this year to a particular Bronco player whose Super Bowl performance was less-than-stellar.
    Rearrange the 20 letters printed in the scarlet italic text to form a three-word headline that sat atop a sports news story that broke this past week.
    What is this headline?

    Answer: “Peyton Manning retires

    Dessert Menu

    Vacation Destination Dessert:
    A, E, I, O, and sometimes U
    Think of four 6-letter nouns that share their first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth letters in common. The third letters of the words are A, E, I and O.
    Replace the fourth, fifth and sixth letters of the four nouns with the same single letter. In the word containing the O, also replace the first letter with a consonant digraph. These replacements form three new 4-letter nouns and one new 5-letter noun that are homophones, respectively, of the four 6-letter originals.
    The new homophone nouns are (in alphabetical order): A plant; a type of bending; a cable/satellite TV network (an uppercase word); and a flower.
    Form a fifth noun that has the same first, second and fourth letters as the 4-letter nouns containing the A, E and I, and insert a U as its third letter. This 4-letter noun can mean “a material that promotes fusion.”
    What are the four 6-letter nouns, the four new homophone nouns, and the noun for the material that promotes fusion?

    Answer:
    Flacks, flecks, flicks, flocks
    Flax, flex, Flix, phlox
    flux

    Lego…

    ReplyDelete
  22. I had no idea "Killing Me Softly" was sung by a publicity agent. I learn something new every ... once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Paul,
    You allude, of course, to Rubina Flake, who, I think, inspired this song, and whose real middle name, I believe, is the name of not the Queen of Soul but the Queen of the Nile.

    LegoHappyPrematureSt.Cleopatrick'sDay!

    ReplyDelete
  24. And, speaking of saints and saints' days, Happy St. Urho's Day!

    LegoAndTheWearin'OfThePurpleIsAGoodFitHereInVikingland

    ReplyDelete