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 e^{6 +} 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 8^th edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

Welcome to our 101^st 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:

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.

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.