Friday, April 8, 2016

That’s a leathery pill to swallow! Restoring matching bookends; Going to alphanumerical extremes; Working at the ol’ X-factory; Floyd and the Little Frances Beanstalk; Eat, don and be merry

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e6 + pi2 SERVED

(Note to Puzzlerians!: Beginning this week, let’s reveal our answers on Wednesday instead of on Tuesday. It will give us an extra day to solve our puzzles and give our hints. 

Yes, I do realize that some of you Puzzlerians! can’t hardly wait to reveal your answers {it’s kind of like the anticipation of watching others unwrap your presents on Christmas morn}. I believe, however, after careful consideration that this is the best decision and course of action for our blog. 

And, I believe Carly Simon says it best…)

But we shan’t make you wait for this, our April 8th edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

Welcome to our 101st edition of Puzzleria!... One might say it’s downright “Dalmationy!”

And, speaking of “spot-on” puzzles, our friend ron created and contributed a crackerjack conundrum to this week’s edition of Puzzleria! It appears immediately below our main menu and is titled “First Shall Be Last And Last Shall Be First Slice: Restoring matching bookends.”
 
In his puzzle, ron gives you the interior letters of a handful of words, then challenges you to come up with the first two and last two letters of each, which happen to be the same two letters in the same order – like “STarburST,” for example.

The puzzle is delightful, as are all ron’s contributions to our blog. Thanks scads, ron.

And, speaking of bookends…
…the “bookends” of our multiple menus this week – the Hors d’Oeuvre and the Dessert – describe a kind of “thrill of victory, agony of defeat” juxtaposition of two very recent sporting events.

Our Morsel involves a triple “snifter” of brandings.

Our Appetizer pertains to “Sitcommie Plots.”

And our Ripping Off Shortz Slice (ROSS) goes to “alphabookendy” extremes!

Take a look, find a comfy nook, and set out to seek solvavion… by hook or by crook: 


Hors d’Oeuvre Menu

Thrill Of Victory Hors d’Oeuvre:
That’s a leathery pill to swallow!

Printed below is a slangy five-word description of a pivotal play that occurred in a sporting event this past week:


Rearrange the 25 letters in that description to form a possible sports page headline, in five words, regarding the outcome of the event.

Morsel Menu

Brand Tridentity Morsel:
Eat, don and be merry

The three answers in the following puzzle are all familiar brand name products:

1. Name something you might eat that is sweet, in three letters.
2. Name something you might wear on “ways fair,” in four letters.
3. Name something you might “cyper-pile” with merrily fun files, in four letters.

Words 2 and 3 are identical except for their second letter. The final letter of Word 1 is Word 2’s second letter. The initial letter of Word 1 is Word 3’s second letter.

What are these three brand name products? 

Appetizer Menu

Sitcommy Plot Lines Appetizer:
Working at the ol’ X-factory

Think of a three-syllable transitive verb. Call it “X”. The job of a character on a sitcom required him to X things that had writing or printing on them. The job of a character on another sitcom required him to X recently created creatures, about half of whom could be described by using a homophone of what the first character Xed. Both characters have the same first name.

The former job of a second character on the first sitcom required him to X spherical objects.

The job of a character in a third sitcom required him to X something he was given to read. This character, and the actor who played him, have the same first name as the actor who played the character who Xed spherical objects.


The first name of the character who Xed spherical objects is the first name of the character in a fourth sitcom whose job required him to “X” recently deceased creatures. (X is in quotation marks in this instance because the verb for which X stands really ought to be hyphenated.)

Solve for X. What are the four sitcoms? What are the names of the five characters whose jobs required them to X in various ways, and what are those five jobs? Who is the actor whose character Xed spherical objects?
 
MENU

First Shall Be Last And Last Shall Be First Slice:
Restoring matching bookends

In the following list of commonly known words, you are given the central letters. Each word begins and ends with the same two letters in the same order.
For example, “_ _ i f i _ _” becomes “edified.”


Can you complete the following list?

­_ _ c a _ _
_ _ b l _ _
_ _ e e p i _ _
_ _ a d a c _ _
_ _ u r _ _
_ _ g i b _ _
_ _ r i s c o _ _
_ _ e p s a _ _

Note: Try solving these words without using any online help programs. As noted above, the words are commonly known. When ron created this puzzle he intended it as an “on-air challenge” for Will Shortz’s NPR Weekend Edition Sunday radio segment. Ultimately, however, ron decided against submitting it to NPR, deeming it to be too tough an on-air challenge. Luckily for us, he made it available instead to Puzzleria!
 
Suggestion: The NPR on-air challenges typically last about 4 to 5 minutes. Just for fun, why not time yourself as you solve ron’s puzzle? If you solve all words within five minutes you rightly ought to experience a bump in confidence. Consequently, when your time comes to finally become the NPR on-air contestant, you will wow Will and Rachel with your acumen as you steamroll over Will’s comparatively paltry and rudimentary oral challenge.

Ripping Off Shortz Slice:
Going to alphanumerical extremes

Will Shortz’s NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle this week involved assigning a numerical value to each letter in the alphabet: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3,… Z = 26.

In the “open-ended” Ripping Off Shortz Slice (ROSS) below, we ask you to find words – both lowercase or uppercase – that minimize and maximize what we are calling the “Alphanumnerical Index” (AnI). Any word’s AnI is easily calculated by dividing the sum of the alphanumerical values of its letters by the number of letters in the word.
 
For example, the AnI of Puzzleria! =
(16 + 21 + 26 + 26 + 12 + 5 + 18 + 9 + 1!) / 9 = 14.9, which alas is a somewhat middling and boring AnI. 

Your mission, however (should you choose to accept it), is to find AnIs that approach 1.0 on the low end and 26 on the high end.

Here are a handful of candidates (the AnI for each is given in parentheses):

Abaca (1.6)
Baa (1.33)
Cab (2)
Abecedarian (5.7)
Aberdeen (6.75)
Woozy (20.8)
Syzygy (21.2)
Zephyr (16.33)
Powwow (19.1)
Wyatt (17.8)

But you, of course, can do better!

A hypothesis: The longer the word, the more difficult it will be to find an AnI approaching 1.0 or 26. True?

Dessert Menu

Agony Of Defeat Dessert:
Floyd and the Little Frances Beanstalk

The following clues lead to words that form an 11-word headline-style sentence describing a quite unusual performance at a very recent sporting event. (The number in parentheses indicates how many letters are in each answer.):

1. Jim, _____, and Floyd, all #44 (5)

2. Plural form of the letter ensconced in the middle of the word for its numerical alphabetical position (3)

3. Homophone of a Pennsylvania Dutch crèche (5)

4. Homophone of a square number (3)

5. Word describing the birth of the Conways, Carpios or Gosselins (8)

6. “Colonel _____ March” (5)

7&8. “Who’s __ _____?” according to C.  “Yes, Who’s __ _____!” according to A. (two words, 2, 5)

9. Band formerly fronted by Frances Bean’s mom (4)

10. Word preceding “large,” “last,” or “least” (2)

11. Johnson’s partner (7)

What is this 11-word sentence/headline?

Hint: The surname of the sentence’s subject is familiar to crossword puzzle solvers.

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 Wednesdays 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.

54 comments:

  1. Getting a start on this week's "mysteries", when I SHOULD be outside slaving away on lawn chores (yuck): I've just figured out the Morsel, and am pretty sure I know what the Hors D'Oeuvre is about, but can't make the last nine letters work out to anything, and haven't looked at the rest yet.

    Am disappointed about the Wednesday-reveal decision, though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think I just solved the Appetizer, although am not utterly sure of the fourth sitcom (which I'd never heard of.) Pretty cute puzzle, however!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, I forgot to mention that I think you can eliminate the final question in the Appetizer, Lego, because you already asked it in the second question of that puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  4. At the risk of being the only one who seems to be commenting today, I finally slogged through Ron's puzzle. The first six that I solved (not that order) I noticed a certain "pattern" which began to give me the hang of it (but it still took me 15 minutes for those six). However, the last two took another more than twenty minutes because "the pattern" no longer held (the third and fifth words.) Whew.

    ReplyDelete
  5. And I hate to mention this, but ViolinTedditor rears her head again, to note that the word POWWOW doesn't equate to an AnI of 23, but only 19.1. (2 x 23 for the W's, 2 x 15 for the O's plus 16 for the P = 115 / 6 = 19.1. I didn't check any of the others. I was merely stumped as to why POWWOW came out so high. I guess you accidentally divided by only 5.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VT,
      Thanks for the "Tedditing" on both fronts -- the Appetizer's superfluity, and my mangled math of the ROSS. I shall change the text.

      Sorry about the Tuesday's-Dead/Wednesday's-now-in-play decision. I know you would like to "edit" it but...

      It was something I felt I had to do to eliminate some "down time" and to better dovetail with the Sunday-Thursday rhythm of Will's NPR puzzle and Blaine's blog.

      LegoofMaker

      Delete
    2. That's okay, Lego, I'll adjust (re the WEdnesday thing.) It's YOUR blog after all, not mine! I just will be miserable waiting for answers on all the puzzles I CAN'T get (waiting to put on my own answers doesn't bother me in the least.)

      Delete
  6. And before I quit monopolizing the posting here, I'll finish with having just done the Dessert. Luckily, I happened to have HEARD of this story just yesterday, so even though the second clue would have stumped me (I still don't understand it, frankly!), it all made sense. I AM still confused about the sixth clue NOT being plural!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I just deduced what that second clue in the Dessert meant, after all.

      Delete
  7. Hi, VT and Lego, since you're obviously the only other one's here today. I've spent most of the day babysitting my two young Chinese nieces, then solving the Guardian's Prize crossword, so it's a little late as I post right now. Interesting puzzles, though I think the sitcom one and the alphanumerical value one are well nigh impossible(just thought I'd throw that phrase in for ya, Lego, since you liked when I used it the first time). I almost thought I had the anagram in the first puzzle, but I haven't found out anything about it in any sports news from this past week. I did get the other sports item, and I dare say how embarrassing that must have been! I also have the matching bookends puzzle. Probably took me less than 5 or 10 minutes to solve. Will need hints for all others as always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI PJB, and very glad to see someone else posting...I was becoming truly embarrassed to go on and on and there was never anyone else participating!

      You've mentioned your nieces many times before, but never indicated they were Chinese. I gather they must have been adopted by either your brother or sister?

      I must have gotten lucky on the sitcom puzzle, because on about my third 'thought' re three-syllable verbs I stumbled upon the very word, that I realized was useable in a variety of (sitcom job) cases. As I wrote above, I'd never heard of the fourth sitcom (assuming I got it right, which I'm not sure of.) And once I had the verb, I realized what kind of jobs it applied to, which got me on the track of the first sitcom, then the 'same character first name' gave me the second character and sitcom, and the same first name of the actor gave me the fourth character and sitcom (which you might be too young to remember.) Hope that helps ever so slightly?

      Delete
    2. Hints:

      TOVH’oD:
      The headline actually contains five words, not four. I mistakenly believed the final two words were one compound word.
      The numbers of letters in the five words are: 8, 6, 3, 3, 5.
      The first, fourth and fifth words are capitalized.
      The second word is an adverb that modifies the third word somewhat redundantly. The fourth word spelled backward is a critter that rhymes with the critter that forms the second part of the 8-letter compound word that begins the headline.

      SLPA:
      The 7-letter word for which X stands has an AnI (Alphanumeric Index) of 10.1.
      From the years 1969 to 1993 – except for a stretch from 1978 to 1981 – you could have watched a non-rerun of one of these four sitcoms on your TV. Two of the sitcoms featured families with children interacting in their homes, for the most part; the other two were set in “workplaces,” for the most part.

      ROSS:
      “Baa (1.33)” is as close as I can get to an Alphanumeric Index (AnI) of 1.0, which would be a word consisting entirely of A’s.
      The closest I can get to an AnI of 26 – which would be a word consisting entirely of Z’s (yawn!) – is a word with an AnI of 21.67. The word is a 3-letter homophone of the plural form of a word that sometimes follows either "tummy" or a capitalized homophone of an appliance to which you must add oil.

      Hope that well nigh (the Science Guy) helps.

      LegoRecallsDudleyDoRightAskingNellWhySheAlwaysKissedHorseButNeverKissedDudley!

      Delete
    3. Re the Hors D'Oeuvre hint: I know I have the correct three capitalized words (and I had previously failed to even notice that you had indicated the phrase was four, now five, words long), so now it's a matter of deducing the last portion of that hint, to see why I hadn't thus far been able to make the remaining nine letters work (now that you've said they form a six-letter and three-letter word, perhaps I'll get somewhere.)

      There's not much hope, I already know, for the AnI puzzle....I don't see how there could BE anything lower than BAA, and SYZYGY at 21.2 leaves me mystified as to how there could be a 21.67 word.... But I'll attempt to process the "tummy" and "appliance' hints. Thanks....

      Delete
    4. Okay, I finally got it. The problem was that I had screwed up one of the remaining nine letters and had a 'c' in there instead of an 'n'. With the second portion of your hints above, all now makes sense.

      Delete
    5. To clarify my April 9 @ 12:39 AM post with all the hinting:
      The last sentence in the ROSS hint should read:
      The word is a 3-letter homophone of the plural form of a word that sometimes follows "tummy." The word is also a 3-letter homophone of the plural form of a capitalized word that follows the capitalized homophone of an appliance to which you must add oil.

      LegoClarifyingByMuddyingTheWaters

      Delete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, VT, in answer to your question, my younger brother Bryan and his lovely wife Renae did in fact adopt little Amelia Kate(Mia Kate)and Lily Madilyn(Maddy). To be honest with you, since we always call her "Maddy", I'm actually unsure how to spell "Madilyn" in this case, so I'm just guessing. As for your explanation of the sitcoms in that puzzle, I'm afraid it seemed just as confusing as the original instructions. If anything, I may most likely need a little more to go on with each sitcom and it's characters. Quite a few to choose from, be they past or present. As for the X, I haven't a clue what verb that could possibly represent. I'll just be lucky to get the sports anagram, which currently perplexes me. Hopefully Lego's got a few good hints coming. The weekend is young.

    ReplyDelete
  10. BTW Mia Kate is eight years old, Maddy seven. Both were babies when they were adopted(so it was about 2007 and 2008,roughly), and Bryan and Renae went back to Beijing and got Maddy after Mia Kate wanted a baby sister. Unfortunately, they don't get along, and often fight for their uncle's attention when they come over. Thank goodness for the Kindle, we can at least keep one busy while I try to entertain the other.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi again PJB. What a shame that the two little girls do NOT get along. Any chance that as time goes by, things might improve? At least, YOU sound like a popular guy with them!!! That's quite a story about how they came to be part of your family. I bet they are cute!

      I'm sorry that my attempted 'hints' re the sitcom puzzle were unhelpful. As I've said before, I'm not much good at hinting.

      Delete
    2. VT, I'm sure in time the girls will get along. They are cute, I'll say that. But they wear you out if you have to babysit for most of the day. If my mom weren't there too, I don't know how I'd make it sometimes. In all I've had to babysit four kids in the past 20 years almost. Sometimes I think I'm getting too old for this. But I do enjoy it, and of course I love them.

      Delete
  11. Thanks, Lego. I at least got the sports anagram. The others are still kinda tough. Might you reveal the first letter of X?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. pjb,

      In the midst of the "Blizzard..." locate the lone road's track.

      Ruby/Sandra/Kiki Snider/MyersMyers/RamoneRamone

      The the first handful of letters in the "X word" spell out a shop where one might purchase what the last handful of letters in the "X word" spell out.

      LegoMayNotBeFlunkingAlongWithTheFlukesButHeIsBelowSeaLevel

      Delete
  12. By George, I think I've got all of the bookends.
    And I even have a (capitalized) alternative answer for one of them.
    And I even have a few of my own:
    _ _ i _ _
    _ _ t i _ _
    _ _ q u i _ _
    _ _ a s s u _ _
    _ _ c i _ _
    _ _ r i _ _
    _ _ r _ _
    _ _ d d l e s o _ _

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. p.s.
      ron did an excellent job of selecting examples which were generally more positive.

      Delete
    2. Paulpa,
      Sometimes it is tricky for me to determine if your comments are wasted here on Puzzleria! are perhaps truly more worthy of appearance in that famous humorous many-layered fake news publication. But I doubt if your “piggybacking” off of ron’s challenge will necessitate any such consumption with a grain of salt on our part.

      We value your input, Paul. Your comments invariably possess the spirit and enthusiasm animating artistic composition. You never laugh contemptuously at fellow commentors, nor are you ever given to sticking your nose into other bloggers’ business.
      I want to newly convince you that we all hope you never step away from our blog.
      What’s more, your posts reflect that you are very well _ _ucat_ _. Your comments never need to be _ _it__ (by VT, for example). Your posts are always written in _ _ gib_ _ English. As blog administrator I never feel I need to remove them with my cyber-_ _ as_ _. You knowledge of the Bible suggests to me that you may be a regular _ _ ur_ _-goer.

      Legole,WhoCan _ _lu_ _HimselfIntoBelievingThatHeCanSomehow_ _captu _ _ForHimselfEvenAModicumOfYourPaulineGlory!

      Delete
    3. Here are three more for Paul's benefit:

      _ _ rmi _ _
      _ _ n _ _
      _ _ as _ _

      Delete
    4. Just my 2-cents-worth: This winter might have been brutal, but Providence has now sent its sunny rays earthward. Rejoice!

      LegoThinksTwoPenniesForHisThoughtsSeemsAboutRight

      Delete
    5. I detect that ron and lego have overwritten each other.
      I think.

      Delete
    6. Well, I cannot speak for ron, but I happen to be a card-carrying member of Overwriters Laboratory. I suspect ron may not be a member because his prose and his puzzles tend to be terse, to the point and tightly written. All my output, as Puzzlerians! are only too painfully aware, is grossly overwritten!

      LegoAttestsThatAllElementsOfThisCommentHaveBeenCertifiedValidatedTestedInspectedAndAuditedAndHaveBeenOLApproved

      Delete
  13. Isn't "a", the indefinite article, a word?
    A former Swedish pop group scores low.
    I'm too lightheaded to find a word with an AnI over 22.2.

    Speaking of which, the morsels anagram to lightheaded feces, sort of.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, jan, that is A good observation. And because I allowed capital words, there is also this.

      LegoWhoIsSeasickOnThePartialDeckAboveAShip'sMainAfterdeck

      Delete
  14. Well, now I've got all the sitcom characters except the one who deals with deceased creatures. I may need another hint about that sitcom.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. patjberry,
      The sitcom's theme song made this list.

      LegoJudgesCassidyToBe_____erThanCavendish

      Delete
    2. Well, now *I*'m completely confused, because the fourth sitcom that I came up with (i.e. the one I'd never heard of) is NOT in that list.

      Delete
    3. ViolinTeddy,

      It is entirely within the realm of possibility that you have discovered a fifth sitcom, and sixth character, that satisfy my puzzle's "job description."

      LegoTheMoreGainfullyEmployedGenerationXersTheMerrier

      Delete
    4. Yeah, I finally figured out which sitcom you probably meant, since it WAS on the list AND has a character with the proper name and proper career. I'll include both answers on Wednesday.

      Delete
  15. I have the Hors d'œuvre, the Morsel and Paul's bookends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congratulations, ron. I appreciate your enthusiasm.

      Delete
  16. Got the last sitcom character without needing to consult the theme song list. I would have mentioned it sooner, but the Kindle was being used.

    ReplyDelete
  17. ron,

    I got all eight of your bookends. Much better than most of the shit WS feeds us. (Did I say shit? I am so sorry.)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Don't worry about it, SDB. Stuff happens.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Say, Lego, I don't think you gave any hints for the "Eat, don and be merry" morsel. I don't have a clue on that one.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thrill Of Victory Hors d’Oeuvre:
    I couldn't find an anagram of "buzzer-beating three-pointer" that suited me to use as a hint.

    Brand Tridentity Morsel:
    I couldn't get a toehold on this one, so neither jan's hint nor the 'interlockedness' of the three words was of any help to me.

    Sitcommy Plot Lines Appetizer:
    No idea.

    Ripping Off Shortz Slice:
    Nope. April always has me crunching way more numbers than I want to, anyway.

    Agony Of Defeat Dessert:
    All except the third word. (?)

    Almost two out of five = not quite forty percent (give or take), which isn't very good, so I went for extra credit on the First Shall Be Last And Last Shall Be First Slice:
    decade (or Tecate)
    emblem
    sheepish
    headache
    church
    legible
    periscope
    keepsake
    My offerings:
    onion (no, I don't write for it)
    retire
    require
    reassure
    decide
    deride
    verve (= enthusism)
    meddlesome
    lego's offerings:
    educated
    edited
    legible (again)
    eraser
    church (again)
    delude
    recapture
    ron's addenda:
    termite
    sense (= detect)
    eraser (again)

    I'm not griping about the redundancies; it's something we've all done on occasion, I suppose; and most of the examples I came up with use the same two-letter combination as one of the others. Or else they're kind of negative in tone (or both).
    Except verve; I really like that one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul, I just noticed your piano keys picture (has that ever been by your name before?) Are you a pianist?

      Delete
    2. If Jack Benny was a violinist, then maybe I'm a pianist. Sort of. Perhaps. I think of myself as more of a stenographer in reverse: I press keys to turn printed symbols on a page into sounds, hopefully without losing too much in the translation.
      The picture was my wallpaper on an old cellphone (and I actually took that picture with that cellphone), but I can't remember if I've ever used it as my 'Blogger shirt' before.

      Delete
    3. Actually, Paul, I think that Jack Benny WAS a fairly decent violinist...he just would pretend to be bad on his shows, for comedy purposes.

      Is there a NAME for the transcription job that you do, using piano keys?

      Delete
  21. Hors d'œuvre Menu:
    WILDCATS BARELY NIP TARHEELS.

    Morsel Menu:
    PEZ>>>IZOD>>>IPOD. I am surprised you didn't manage to work IHOP into this puzzle also...

    Menu: Restoring matching bookends:
    DEcaDE
    EMblEM
    SHeepiSH
    HEadacHE
    CHurCH
    LEgibLE
    PEriscoPE
    KEepsaKE

    I am happy to hear that most of you have solved these. Congratulations. Did you solve them in under five minutes?

    Paul's excellent Bookends:
    ONiON (or SHiSH as in Shish Kebab)
    REtiRE
    REquiRE
    REassuRE
    DEciDE
    DEriDE
    VErVE
    MEddlesoME For this one you could have used a shorter bookend: _ _alti_ _. Click HERE for solution.

    My three additional bookends:
    TErmiTE
    SEnSE
    ERasER

    ReplyDelete
  22. HORS D'OEUVRE: WILDCATS BARELY NIP TAR HEELS

    MORSEL: 1. PEZ 2. IZOD 3. IPOD

    APPETIZER:

    X = DELIVER;

    Characters and Jobs: CLIFF CLAVIN (mailman); CLIFF HUXTABLE (gynecologist, i.e. delivering babies, 1/2 male); SAM MALONE, played by TED DANSON (former job: baseball player); TED BAXTER (news anchor man); SAM STANLEY (forensics specialist) OR SAM OLIVER (deliver souls back to the Devil)

    The Four Shows: CHEERS; BILL COSBY SHOW; MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW; TWIN PEAKS or else REAPER.

    FIRST SHALL BE LAST AND LAST SHALL BE FIRST SLICE: 1. DECADE; 2. EMBLEM; 3. SHEEPISH; 4. HEADACHE; 5. CHURCH; 6. LEGIBLE; 7. PERISCOPE; 8. KEEPSAKE.

    RIPPING OFF SHORTZ: ????

    DESSERT: ERNIE ELS PUTTS FOR MULTIPLE BOGEY(s) ON FIRST HOLE AT MASTERS

    PAUL's COMMENT WORD PUZZLES: 1. ONION 2. RETIRE 3. REQUIRE 4. REASSURE 5. DECIDE 6. DERIDE 7. VERVE 8. MEDDLESOME

    RON's COMMENT EXTRA WORDS PUZZLES: 1. TERMITE 2. SENSE 3. ERASER

    ReplyDelete
  23. WILDCATS BARELY NIP TAR HEELS
    X=DELIVER
    Cliff Clavin delivered the mail on Cheers, Cliff Huxtable delivered babies on The Cosby Show, Sam Malone delivered pitches before becoming a bartender on Cheers, Ted Baxter delivered the news on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Sam the butcher "de-livered" the meat on The Brady Bunch.(Ted Knight played Ted Baxter, Ted Danson played Sam Malone.)
    Decade
    Emblem
    Sheepish
    Headache
    Church
    Legible
    Periscope
    Keepsake
    Onion
    Retire
    Require
    Reassure
    Deride
    Verve
    Meddlesome
    Termite
    Sense
    Eraser
    ERNIE ELS PUTTS FOR SEXTUPLE BOGEY ON FIRST HOLE AT MASTERS
    BTW a certain someone's birthday is coming up soon. He doesn't expect a gift. Just give your best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul,
      In my redundant state of mind, and according to my Overwriters Laboratory specs (just call me 4-eyes!), your 40% looks a lot more like 80% to me.

      ron,
      Point well taken about my not slipping a furtive and furry Ihop in with all the Izods and iPods. But Easter is in the past, so…

      ViolinTeddy,
      I like your two “Sam” answers greatly. My Sam was pretty obscure.

      Patjberry,
      Best wishes to the certain someone! When, exactly, is the certain someone’s birthday… or rather, I should say, “anniversary of birthday”?

      LegoSamIYamWhatIAmAndThat’sAllThatIHaveToSayExceptThatGreenSpinachAndYamIsPreferableToEggsAndGreenHam

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Lego (re my Sams), and Happy B'day, Patrick!! Whenever it might be....

      Delete
  24. Sorry I'm late with these answers. I've been on the road. But it looks as if you all have collective nailed down all the answers, again rendering redundant the following:



    This week’s official answers for the record, Part 1:

    Hors d’Oeuvre Menu

    Thrill Of Victory Hors d’Oeuvre:
    That’s a leathery pill to swallow!
    Printed below is a slangy five-word description of a pivotal play that occurred in a sporting event this past week:
    Leathery pill arcs, dabs twine.
    Rearrange the 25 letters in that description to form a possible sports page headline, in five words, regarding the outcome of the event.

    Answer: Wildcats barely nip Tar Heels

    Morsel Menu

    Brand Tridentity Morsel:
    Eat, don and be merry
    The three answers in the following puzzle are all familiar brand name products:
    1. Name something you might eat that is sweet, in three letters.
    2. Name something you might wear on “ways fair,” in four letters.
    3. Name something you might “cyper-pile” with merrily fun files, in four letters.
    Words 2 and 3 are identical except for their second letter. The final letter of Word 1 is Word 2’s second letter. The initial letter of Word 1 is Word 3’s second letter.
    What are these three brand name products?

    Answer:
    1. Pez
    2. Izod (worn on “ways fair,” or “fairways”)
    3. iPod (Apple)

    Appetizer Menu

    Sitcommy Plot Lines Appetizer:
    Working at the ol’ X-factory
    Think of a three-syllable transitive verb. Call it “X”. The job of a character on a sitcom required him to X things that had writing or printing on them. The job of a character on another sitcom required him to X recently created creatures, about half of whom could be described by using a homophone of what the first character Xed. Both characters have the same first name.
    The former job of a second character on the first sitcom required him to X spherical objects.
    The job of a character in a third sitcom required him to X something he was given to read. This character, and the actor who played him, have the same first name as the actor who played the character who Xed spherical objects.
    The first name of the character who Xed spherical objects is the first name of the character in a fourth sitcom whose job required him to “X” recently deceased creatures. (X is in quotation marks in this instance because the verb for which X stands really ought to be hyphenated.)
    Solve for X. What are the four sitcoms? What are the names of the five characters whose jobs required them to X in various ways, and what are those five jobs? Who is the actor whose character Xed spherical objects?

    Answer:
    X = “deliver”
    Cheers; The Cosby Show; The Mary Tyler Moore Show; The Brady Bunch
    Cliff Clavin delivered the mail as a letter carrier on “Cheers”;
    Cliff Huxtable delivered babies (about half of whom were male) as an obstetrician on “The Cosby Show”;
    Sam Malone formerly delivered pitches (spherical baseballs) on “Cheers” as a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox;
    Ted Baxter delivered the news as a TV anchorman on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”;
    Sam Franklin “de-livered” carcasses of chickens, turkeys and other fowl as “Sam the Butcher” on “The Brady Bunch.”
    Actor Ten Danson portrayed Sam Malone on “Cheers.” Actor Ted Knight portrayed Ted Baxter on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

    Lego…

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

    MENU

    First Shall Be Last And Last Shall Be First Slice:
    Restoring matching bookends
    In the following list of commonly known words, you are given the central letters. Each word begins and ends with the same two letters in the same order.
    For example, “_ _ i f i _ _” becomes “edified.”
    Can you complete the following list?

    _ _ c a _ _
    _ _ b l _ _
    _ _ e e p i _ _
    _ _ a d a c _ _
    _ _ u r _ _
    _ _ g i b _ _
    _ _ r i s c o _ _
    _ _ e p s a _ _

    Answer:
    DEcaDE
    EMblEM
    SHeepiSH
    HEadacHE
    CHurCH
    LEgibLE
    PEriscoPE
    KEepsaKE

    Ripping Off Shortz Slice:
    Going to alphanumerical extremes
    Will Shortz’s NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle this week involved assigning a numerical value to each letter in the alphabet: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3,… Z = 26.
    In the “open-ended” Ripping Off Shortz Slice (ROSS) below, we ask you to find words – both lowercase or uppercase – that minimize and maximize what we are calling the “Alphanumnerical Index” (AnI). Any word’s AnI is easily calculated by dividing the sum of the alphanumerical values of its letters by the number of letters in the word.
    For example, the AnI of Puzzleria! =
    (16 + 21 + 26 + 26 + 12 + 5 + 18 + 9 + 1!) / 9 = 14.9, which alas is a somewhat middling and boring AnI.
    Your mission, however (should you choose to accept it), is to find AnIs that approach 1.0 on the low end and 26 on the high end.
    Here are a handful of candidates (the AnI for each is given in parentheses):
    Abaca (1.6)
    Baa (1.33)
    Cab (2)
    Abecedarian (5.7)
    Aberdeen (6.75)
    Woozy (20.8)
    Syzygy (21.2)
    Zephyr (16.33)
    Powwow (19.1)
    Wyatt (17.8)
    But you, of course, can do better!
    A hypothesis: The longer the word, the more difficult it will be to find an AnI approaching 1.0 or 26. True?

    Answer:
    I could do no better than “Baa (1.33)” on the low end.
    (Of course, jan's solution, the article "a," is king!)
    At the top end “Tux (21.67)” just edges out “Syzygy (21.2)” as the best I can do. “Scuzzy (20)” and “Fuzz (19.8)” are my next-bests. (“Zyx” ought to be a word. It might mean “the joining of X and Y chromosomes.”)
    My three-letter “bests” seem to support the truth of my hypothesis.

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  26. This week’s official answers for the record, Part 3:

    Dessert Menu

    Agony Of Defeat Dessert:
    Floyd and the Little Frances Beanstalk
    The following clues lead to words that form an 11-word headline-style sentence describing a quite unusual performance at a very recent sporting event. (The number in parentheses indicates how many letters are in each answer.):
    1. Jim, _____, and Floyd, all #44 (5)
    2. Plural form of the letter ensconced in the middle of the word for its numerical alphabetical position (3)
    3. Homophone of a Pennsylvania Dutch crèche (5)
    4. Homophone of a square number (3)
    5. Word describing the birth of the Conways, Carpios or Gosselins (8)
    6. “Colonel _____ March” (5)
    7&8. “Who’s __ _____?” according to C. “Yes, Who’s __ _____!” according to A. (two words, 2, 5)
    9. Band formerly fronted by Frances Bean’s mom (4)
    10. Word preceding “large,” “last,” or “least” (2)
    11. Johnson’s partner (7)
    What is this 12-word sentence/headline?
    Hint: The surname of the sentence’s subject is familiar to crossword puzzle solvers.

    Answer:
    Ernie Els putts for sextuple bogey on first hole at Masters.
    For >> four >> 4 = 2 X 2, so four is a square number
    Hint: “Els” is common crossword puzzle fodder/fill. “El” (L) is also Letter # twELve in the alphabet.

    Lego…

    ReplyDelete