Ounces of pRxevention…; Taking a bite outta the hand that feeds ya? Pinheads, idiots, lunatics, sexist crap; Add IT to the mix… add I too; Sound and Nonsense; Grecian earnings owed (to stockholders)

Welcome to our September 2^nd edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

Our featured puzzle this week another outstanding cryptic crossword puzzle composed and constructed by patjberry. (His first one appeared in P! last March 3^rd.)

Patrick’s new cryptic crossword appears beneath our main MENU and is titled “Cryptic Crossword Slice: Pinheads, idiots, lunatics, sexist crap.”

Thank you, Patrick.

A half-dozen additional puzzles are listed under this week’s menus (including, under our main MENU, two Ripping Off Shortz And Stevens Slices).

“Think Good, It’s Friday!” Indeed, it’s our first Friday in September. So limber up, grab some lumber, step up to the plate and feast on our menu of mystification.

And, as always, enjoy.

Hors d’Oeuvre Menu

Easy Peasy Of Cake Hors d’Oeuvre:

Sound and Nonsense

What to do to create a ___________

For the hoppers of borders who jump-fence?

Donald says, “Build a wall,

And let’s make it real ___...

We will do it if you elect _____-_____!”

Fill in the blanks of this limerick to make it rhyme… and to make a modicum of sense (or at least as much sense as anything can make in this wacky election year).
Note: The word that belongs in the first line’s blank is an approximate rhyme of “jump-fence,” but the hyphenated-words that belong in the last line’s blank are an exact rhyme. 

Morsel Menu

Decay And Detriment Morsel:

Grecian earnings owed (to stockholders)

Name a national (U.S.) chain of stores with gross annual earnings of over $5 billion. The store’s name contains eight letters and two words (although it is written without a space). The first four letters of the name spell something detrimental to what the final five letters of the name spell.

Rearrange the first few letters of the store’s name to spell a Greek letter that in scientific notation can stand for the rate of decay of what the final five letters of the name spell.

What is the name of the store chain? What is the Greek letter?

Appetizer Menu

Tailor-Made Munchies Appetizer:

Taking a bite outta the hand that feeds ya?

Name a bite-sized bit of food, in its plural form. To the “southeast” edge of the first letter of this food add a “tail” segment curling clockwise, thus forming the name of a brand of bite-sized food eaten by critters with tails.

What is the bite-sized food, and what is the brand name?

MENU

Cryptic Crossword Slice:

Pinheads, idiots, lunatics, sexist crap

Cryptic Crossword Tutorial,
by patjberry:

A cryptic crossword is a rather skeletal-looking puzzle – usually 225 boxes set within a 15-by-15 grid. You solve it just like a regular crossword except that the clues are usually made up of two parts:

1. The straightforward clue, and

2. The wordplay that may be essential to get the answer.

The wordplay may include:

anagrams, homophones, “containers” (one word inside another), hidden words within the clue, initials, charades (“this” plus-or-minus “that”), reversals of spelling, or, in many instances, a combination of any of these.

And be on the lookout for abbreviations – such as L = left, R = right, B = born, D = dead.

Watch also for clues involving self-referring words and phrases, like “bandleader” = B (the “leader,” or leading letter, of “band”); “sorehead” = S (the “head” of “sore”); “Fourth of July” = Y (the “fourth letter” of  “July”); and “grand opening” = G (the “opening letter” of “grand”).

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be hooked on cryptic crosswords in no time. Have fun with it!

Instructions:

The number in parentheses at the end of each clue tells

how many letters are in the answer. Multiple numbers in

parentheses indicate how letters are distributed in

multiple-word answers.

For example, (9) indicates a nine-letter answer like

“ampersand,” (4,5) indicates a four-and-five-letter answer

Like “fish stick,” and (4-5) indicates a four-and-five-letter

Hyphenated answer like “four-wheel.”

ACROSS

1. Rub women the wrong way using latest sexist crap (6.3)

6. Could be bush, right?! (5)

9. Movie a pinhead, likewise an idiot, shot? (1,7,2,5)

10. Records left behind in a safe, initially (6)

11. Chap gets awfully hot after having run a race (8)

13. Recalling a lunatic, full of energy, causing a sensation (10)

14. Eye problem handled by the ophthalmologist, yes? (4)

16. Performers in musical with twist ending? (4)

17. Doddering old man, retired, put in the home (10)

19. They don’t know one has read novel (8)

20. Screen star ultimately died in vain (6)

23. Different genre: rock ballad or folk song (9,6)

24. Sort of early for bed (5)

25. Crazy about a display using wavy patterns (9)

 

DOWN

1. A little pony, a lamb, and an antelope (5)

2. Everything covered with bare guts in emergency room during Patrick’s operation (8,7)

3. Victim of bad karma, yes? (4,4)

4. Got up, put on a robe (4)

5. Groovy instrumental intro that got us dancing about (5,5)

6. Tears up a little? It’s going around (6)

7. Beheld war, united, waving flag (3,5,3,4)

8. Support Democrat, having thought about last election? That’s dumb! (5-4)

12. Used to support helper (10)

13. Michael, for one, has to stay up in case top comes off (9)

15. Rats? Rats riot, stupid! (8)

18. Heard one singing for money (6)

21. Strange bit of excitement on lake (5)

22. Top runner covering first mile (4)

Ripping Off Shortz And Stevens Slices:

Add IT to the mix… add I too

Will’s Shortz’s National Public Radio Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle from August 28^th was created by Sandy Stevens. It reads:

What one-syllable word in 7 letters becomes a four-syllable word by inserting the consecutive letters IT somewhere inside?

Puzzleria!’s first Ripping Off Shortz And Stevens Slice reads:

What one-syllable word in 7 letters becomes a four-syllable word by inserting the consecutive letters IT somewhere inside?

Note: Our one-syllable word has not yet been coined, and therefore does not yet exist in dictionaries. It is an eponymous verb much like the verb “borked,” which means “to have obstructed a candidate for public office through systematic defamation and vilification.” The word “bork” comes from the surname of the late Judge Robert Bork.

Our puzzle’s yet-to-be-coined word is the past-tense form of a future word rooted in the first name of a current political party spokesperson. The definition of this spokesperson’s first name will read something like: “to place someone in the position of having to clean up after a candidate for public office who continually utters inflammatory, defamatory and vilifying statements.”

When an “IT” is added to the past tense form of this coined word, a new past-tense word is formed that already does exist, one that means “to have again riled up a mob influenced by a candidate, say, uttering defamatory and vilifying statements.”

Puzzleria!’s second Ripping Off Shortz And Stevens Slice reads:

What two-syllable word in 6 letters becomes a four-syllable word by inserting an “I” somewhere inside?

Note: Whether the two-syllable word is actually two syllables or three syllables, however, depends on which dictionary you consult. It seems the United Kingdom tends to prefer the two-syllable pronunciation, and the United States the three-syllable pronunciation.

Logically though, based on the word’s root, it should be pronounced as a two-syllable, not three-syllable, word.

Maybe we ought to say the word has two-and-a-half syllables!

Dessert Menu:

Pound Cake Dessert:

Ounces of pR_xevention…

Name preventive measures medical professionals often recommend, in two words. Move the space between words two places to the right, forming a new first word. Add a consonant to the left of the remaining letters, forming a second word.

The result is a two-word phrase describing what those who do not heed their medical professionals’ advice might have to do.

What are the preventive measures? What is the two-word phrase?

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.