Angkor Wat? Anchor Who‽; Reduced to tears of laughter; Pigmenteau words; Dumbbell curve; I write the songs that make lovebirds take (s)wing(s); Four-by-four-by-forum; What the blankety-blank‽

Welcome to our September 23^rd edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

Our featured puzzle this week is a clever and compact comedic-actor challenge composed by PlannedChaos. It is titled “Out Out And Away Slice: Reduced to tears of laughter,” and appears beneath our main MENU.

PlannedChaos also contributes the first of our six Ripping Off Shortz Slices, one involving a current television show.

Five other scrumptious puzzles round out our menus this week. Please enjoy.

Hors d’Oeuvre Menu

Headlines Or Deadlines Hors d’Oeuvre:

I write the songs that make lovebirds take (s)wing(s)

The two-word title of a song written by a prolific songwriter might have been spoken by a person recently making news headlines. 

Take the third letter and first letter of the songwriter’s first name at birth, in that order, and place them at the front of the song title’s second word. The result might have been one of those recent news headlines.

What is this headline, and who is the songwriter?

Morsel Menu

Abnormal Distribution Morsel:

Dumbbell curve

A Galton board (or Galton box, or quincunx) is a device for demonstrating statistical concepts such as the normal distribution, or “bell curve.”

Write a 17-letter caption for the Galton board pictured here, in the form:

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

__ __ __

__- __ __ __ __

Rearrange the 17 letters to form a three-word phrase in recent news accounts, in the form:

__ __ __ __ __ __ __

__ __

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

What are this caption and phrase?

Appetizer Menu

Grilling Weenies On A Grid Appetizer:

Four-by-four-by-forum

Fill in the grid using the 8 ACROSS-and/or-DOWN clues below, which are in random order.

Three of the eight answers allude to  the present presidential campaign and looming election.

One of the sixteen squares in the grid must be filled in with an Arabic numeral. The other fifteen squares must be filled in with letters, three of which are Roman numerals.

1. Age of many who will ____ for the first time this November

2. Word belonging in the above clue’s blank

3. September 26 television event

4. Wearers of “flowerpot headwear”

5. S. Grant counterpart

6. Word followed by gamma or Max

7. Words preceding “even keel”

8. Mr. Musk

Spoonerized River Anthology Appetizer:

Angkor Wat? Anchor Who?

Spoonerize the name of a prominent news anchor, past or present. That is, interchange the initial sounds (consonants or consonant blends) of the person’s first and last names. The first name transforms into the first name of a prominent fictional character from Nineteenth century American literature. The last name transforms into a non-word.

 

Interchange the initial sounds (consonants or consonant blends) of the fictional character’s first and last names. 

Again, the last name transforms into a non-word. Remove its last letter. Replace it newly penultimate (second-last) letter with the letter preceding it in the alphabet. The result is something the father of the fictional character’s child might employ in his profession.

 

Hint: The surname of an American poet born in the Nineteenth century is an acronym of what would be a great nickname for the fictional character.

Who are the news anchor and fictional character? What might the father of the fictional character’s child employ in his profession? What is the great nickname for the fictional character?

MENU

Out Out And Away Slice:

Reduced to tears of laughter

Use the first and last names of a well-known comedic actor to phonetically complete these two-word phrases that both mean “reduce”: [first name] out and [last name] away.

Who is this actor?

Ripping/riffing Off Shortz Slices:

What the blankety-blank!

Will’s Shortz’s National Public Radio Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle from September 18^th reads:

Think of a familiar three-word phrase in the form “____ and ____.” Drop the “and.” Then move the last word to the front to form a single word that means the opposite of the original phrase.

Here’s a hint. The ending word has seven letters. What is it?

Puzzleria!’s Ripping/riffing Off Shortz Slices read:

ONE:

Think of a current television show in three words titled “[blank] and [blank]”. Drop the last letter, and inset the result within the word “bar” to name a familiar three-word phrase.

Hint: A title character from the show would fit right in at a bar.

What is the show and what is the phrase?

TWO:

Think of a familiar three-word phrase in the form “____ and ____.” Drop the “and,” replace the last two letters in the second word with an “r”, then move the last word to the front to form a single six-letter word that is an edible product.

Remove the first word, restore the last two letters to the second word, and interchange the second and third letters to spell the vehicle that stereotypically hauls the edible produce.

What are the phrase, product and vehicle?

THREE:

Think of a familiar three-word phrase in the form “____ and ____.” Change one consonant in the first word (a common 2-letter preposition) to a different consonant to form a common 2-letter verb. Drop the “and,” then move the last word to the front, forming the first name of a hobbit.

Hint: These five letters can be rearranged to form two words that precede “Jesse” in the Bible.

What are the phrase, hobbit and biblical words?

FOUR:

Think of a three-word phrase in the form “____ and ____” (plural words of 5 and 7 letters, respectively) that you might see in fishing destination brochures. Drop the “and.” Then move the last word to the front and shift the space between the words to form a 2-word phrase describing how a flowing body of water gives relief to a thirsty angler camping in the north woods.

What are these two phrases?

FIVE:

Think of a familiar three-word phrase for household furnishings in the form “____ and ____” (a word of 5 letters and a plural word of 6 letters). Drop the “and.” Then move the last word to the front, shift the space between the words, and switch the order of the words. The result is a description of a three-legged stool.

What are the phrase and the description of the stool?

SIX: 

Think of a familiar three-word phrase for a comfort food that comes in a can in the form “____ and ____” (a word of 4 letters and a plural word of 5 letters). Drop the “and.” Then move the last word to the front and shift the space between the words. The result is a word for one morsel from the can followed by a utensil with which one might eat these morsels of comfort food.

What are the phrase and the utensil?

Dessert Menu:

Tie-Dyed Dessert:

Pigmenteau words

A “portmanteau word” is one derived from blending two or more distinct words, such as “smoke” and “fog” to form “smog”. Portmanteaus pack stray articles of lexical laundry into one neat compact “suitcase.”

Each of the ten images pictured here bears a caption that is a single “pigmenteau” word.  The images are labeled 1 Through 10. The list immediately below indicates how many letters are in each caption:

1. Nine letters

2. Ten letters

3. Twelve letters

4. Twelve letters

5. Thirteen letters

6. Twelve letters

7. Eleven letters

8. Eleven letters

9. Ten letters

   10. Eight letters

One of the captions, if divided into its two constituent words, supplies a hint to solving one of this week’s Appetizers.

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.