P! SLICES: OVER (pe)3 – (e4 + p3) SERVED
Welcome to our December 23rd edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!
Merry Christmas.
Chappy Chanukah.
Chappy Chanukah.
We have been stocking up on holiday
puzzles, and have hung ten of them by the chimney with devil-may-care. Here they are. Please enjoy… to the world (and to the Word):
Hors d’Oeuvre Menu
Cowboys And Findians Hors d’Oeuvre:
Super Bowls o’ hot soup
Super Bowl VI
between the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins was won by Dallas 24-3 on January
12, 1972 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. The temperature at kickoff was 39
degrees, the record low for a Super Bowl played outdoors. Late in the third
quarter, Dolphin free safety Jake Scott hit Cowboy quarterback Roger Staubach
on a blitz, shaking him up.
But, had the
blitz resulted in a fumble instead of the incomplete pass that it actually did
result in, the outcome of the sixth Super Bowl might have been different. Here
is “the call,” by TV announcers Ray Scott and Pat Summerall, of what might have happened...Ray: The score after nearly three quarters of this Super Bowl VI is Dallas 17, Miami 3.
Pat: And after his sprint into the end zone, Jake does a little celebratory victory _____, then tosses the ball to a Cowboy fan who proceeds to spill the coffee she’s been using as a hand-warmer.
Eight words in the blue-lettered dialogue above share a particular property, including the four blanks you must fill in with words that contain six, five, four and three letters. The other four words hidden in the transcript contain two, three, four and five letters. (The two-letter “word” is not actually a word.)
Extra credit: Find a ninth word in the text, a seven-letter word (or eight letters in its plural form) that also shares the property, but in a way that is somewhat different from the other eight words you found.
Note: Super Bowl LI, to be played on February 5
in Houston, may be a rematch of Super Bowl VI. Dallas has secured a berth and
Miami is still alive to secure a berth. (And indeed, “VI” kind of looks like “LI”
if you tip the “V” on its side.)
Morsel Menu
Easy As Christmas Pie Morsel:
Hip bone’s connected to the backbone…
Name two parts of the human body that
are not next to each other anatomically. Put them next to each other textually
without a space and in alphabetical order.
Pronouncing the result aloud will sound
quite a bit like a word associated with St. Nicholas.
Replace the body part that came first
alphabetically with a third body part that rhymes with it. The result is two
body parts that are next to each other both anatomically as well as textually
without a space, but are no longer in alphabetical order.
Pronouncing this second result aloud will
still sound like the word associated with St. Nicholas, but less so.
What are the three body parts? What is
the word associated with St. Nicholas?
Appetizer Menu
Piece Of Fruitcake Appetizer:
Holidology 101
Can a young Californian Mensan take an
exam of some sort to test out of 100-level courses at UCLA, USC, UC San Diego
or even UC Berkeley and Stanford?
Embedded within the text of the question
above are two words in two different hiding places that, when placed next to
each other, pertain to Christmas.
What are these two words?
Hold The Ketchup On My Snow Cone
Appetizer:
Galoshes-shod sloshers
Scores of National Hockey League fans have
circled February 25 on the 2017 calendars they just got as Christmas gifts. That’s the date of a hockey
match-up between the visiting Philadelphia Flyers and the home Pittsburgh
Penguins at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. This “Stadium Series” event is one of a
handful of regular season outdoor games the NHL schedules annually.
Let’s peer into our crystal ball – our “snow
globe” aflutter with floating and flittering flakes…
Alas there are no snowflakes present. The
game-time temperature at Heinz Field is 57 degrees Fahrenheit. The match has
been cancelled. The ice rink – now a melting pot of mushy slush – appears as if
a Zamboni from fiery hell has been rumbling over it.
A couple hundred diehard fans, however, well-lubricated with pregame beer and flasks of booze, linger about the rink in
tailgating fashion. Some even venture out onto the sloppy surface and slosh,
galoshes-shod, about in the mush.
A photographer from the Post-Gazette snaps
a shot of the melted revelry.
This photo quickly is uploaded to the paper’s website and also appears on the following morning’s front page accompanied by the caption MELTED RINK: “SLOSHED” AREA.
This photo quickly is uploaded to the paper’s website and also appears on the following morning’s front page accompanied by the caption MELTED RINK: “SLOSHED” AREA.
Rearrange the 21 letters in that caption to form three words associated with a particular holiday: 1. something you light, 2. toys that delight, and 3. culinary delights.
What are these three words, and what is
the holiday?
MENU
Elves! Dwarves? Ovis? Slice!:
Once upon a nursery rhyme
A Christmas song standard contains in its
first line two adjectives that begin with adjacent letters in the alphabet.
A Thanksgiving song standard contains in
its first stanza an adjective and noun that, when put in alphabetical order,
form the title character of a beloved German fairy tale.
A popular nursery rhyme’s first verse
contains one of the Christmas song’s adjectives and a homophone of its other
adjective. The nursery rhyme’s first verse also contains the Thanksgiving song’s
adjective and noun.
What are the two songs, the nursery rhyme,
and the fairy tale.
Clement Moore Slice:
Sugarplums and sandmen
Christmas Eve. Sandman, his gritty work done, punches out. Children
nestled snug, sugarplum dreams dancing…
Christmas morn. Children rouse and yawn.
Weeks of eager anticipation supplanted by wait-no-more. They “knuckle-out”
lingering sand grains from eye sockets and tumble down the stairs toward the
tree and the treats it shelters.
Here is your wrapped and ribboned puzzling present:
Name a three-word idiom for the children’s
post-slumber upstairs state. Remove “sand” from the “eye” of the idiom, but
replace the “s” with a vowel.
The result is the sheltering greenery that greeted the children downstairs.
The result is the sheltering greenery that greeted the children downstairs.
What is the idiom? What greets the
children downstairs?
Sing Along With Noel Slice:
Clues to Carols’ deeper meanings
The answers to each of the following clues
appear near the beginning of a Christmas song, in the form of two or three consecutive
words of the lyrics.
Identify the consecutive words that satisfy each clue, and give the title of the song.
In some cases you may have to remove
spaces between words. And, some answers involve homophones.
Clue #5 provides two clues because one word
in the lyrics is printed as either of two homophones, depending on which lyric sheet you are singing from. 
1. Beats two pair (say, aces and eights), but gets beat by a straight
2. An order that might be given on a battlefield
3. They have mounds in their middles
4. Words heard at a funeral or gravesite (although, in the song, they refer to the cradle – or actually the manger – rather than the grave)
5. (Clue #1) Eight (or perhaps nine) take ten;
(Clue #2) Caribou hooves
6. When spoken aloud, sounds like what some call the biggest lemon in history, rivaling even the Edsel
7. Word in the title of one of Yeats’ poetic “gems”
8. Rolex vis-à-vis Jubaoli
9. When spoken aloud, sounds like a Cricket’s gestures acknowledging applause
Ripping Off Shortz And McDonald Slices:
Poltroons, sexting and mood alteration
Will Shortz’s December 18th
NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, submitted by listener Janet McDonald, reads:
Take the initials and last names of two
opposing historical figures. Add a C and mix all the letters together. You’ll
get the title and last name of another historical figure from approximately the
same era. Who are these people?
Puzzleria’s Ripping Off Shortz And
McDonald Slices read:
ONE: Take the first-name initials and last names of
two opposing historical figures. Add a C and mix all the letters together. You’ll
get the title and first name (the “for short” version) of another historical
figure from an era approximately a century after the era associated with the
two opposing historical figures.
Who are these people?
Hint: All three historical figures
shared the same title, and the most recent of the three figures was the vice
presidential candidate on a ticket that won the electoral votes of five states
and received about 14% of the popular vote. One of the two earlier figures
actually served as a U.S. president.
TWO: Take the title and last name of a
fictional character whose rival shares the name with a brand of a product that
often complements a brand that rhymes with “pluckers.” Add an H and mix all the
letters together. You’ll get two words: What a fellah might use to get high,
and what the fellah’s furry pet might use to get high.
What are these two means of mood
alteration?
THREE: Take the title and first and last
names of a fictional character on a well-known past TV sitcom. Mix all twenty
letters together. You’ll get three words (an article, possessive noun, and
noun) indicating what the police may confiscate in cases involving threatening
calls, harassing texts, or predatory sexting.
Who is this character? What may the
police confiscate?
Hint: Some political observers suggest
that we have managed to ELECT a POLTROON as our next president. Rearrange the
13 letters in “ELECT POLTROON” to form the title and last name of the fictional
character.
Dessert Menu
Parade Of Names Dessert:
Reindrops on rooftops
Monica, Barbara, Clara and Maria. Those
four women’s names share something in common pertaining obliquely to Christmas.
Find a fifth name that shares the same
quality. This four-letter name is also an anagram of what St. Nicholas and his
reindeer do from rooftop to rooftop every Christmas Eve.
Find a sixth word that shares the same quality. This four-letter Spanish word is a homophone of what St. Nicholas and his reindeer do from rooftop to rooftop every Christmas Eve.
What quality do these six words share?
What are the two 4-letter words that share the quality?
S. Nick Errs? Dessert:
Venison in the verses?
Take the third word of the final verse
of a popular but relatively lengthy holiday song. Remove the first two and last
two letters from the word. The remaining letters spell a noun associated with
St. Nick.
What is the third word of the final
verse, and what is the noun associated with St. Nick?
Hint #1: In a beloved traditional Christmas poem, a versifier once characterized
St. Nick himself as this noun.
Hint #2: The first two letters of the
word in the verse are the first two letters of a number between one and ten,
and the last two letters of the word are the first two letters of the following
number.
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.
Glad to see you up and running, Lego. I have the Parade of Names Dessert, ER. (PANDERing).
ReplyDeleteAnd here are some new Whale Carols , for your listening pleasure. Biotwang, over and out!
Thanks, Word Woman, for the PEOTS link... always a pleasure to click on.
DeleteLegoWhoThinksSanta'sElvisDedicatedHis"BlueChristmas"ToTheBlueWhale
Good evening, holiday compatriots! I am on a doctor-allowed one-hour leave from 'lying flat' to go have dinner across the street with friends.
ReplyDeleteBut taking a look thus far only through the Appetizers, I got those two, but not the H.D'O or the Morsel (not a clue thus far on either of them)....but I must rush off. Merry Xmas Eve Eve to all.
Take the title and last name of a fictional character whose rival shares the name with a brand of a product that often complements a brand that rhymes with “pluckers.” Add an H and mix all the letters together. Remove two letters which could be associated with "nights". You’ll get two words: What a fellah might use to get high, and what the fellah’s furry pet might use to get high.
ReplyDeleteWhat are these two means of mood alteration?
Hint: The brand name of the product that complements the product that rhymes with "pluckers" is NOT also the brand name of a service which operates in the same field as a service with a pet-like brand name.
Paul,
DeleteI am utterly stumped. I get close, but no Tiparillo!
Attempt #1:
Add an H and mix all the letters together. Remove two letters (A and P, because AM and PM are both associated with nights... of course, days are too, admittedly) which could be associated with "nights," which leaves me with "hooch," the fellah's high, and "a knit" (my kitten Smitten does get high when she bats around a ball o' yarn, so perhaps she'd do the same with "a knit" like a knitted sweater) or "a kit'n" (Smitten also gets high batting around other kit'ns).
Alas, "a knit" and "a kit'n" are two words, not one.
Attempt #2:
Add an H and mix all the letters together. Remove two letters (A and P, except that in this attempt there were no A and P to take out) which could be associated with "nights," which left me with
"R.E.M." (a fellah can get high listening to "Murmur" or "Reckoning") and "hems" (Smitten gets high batting and clawing at the hems of women's and cross-dressers' dresses. Indeed, as she prepares to do this she will go all Matthew 9:21 on me, meowing, " If I may but touch the hem of her garment, I shall likely be high-heeled, and that shall necessitate my true master's healing touch."
Alas also, neither of my attempts square with your hint. And, A and P are likely not the letters associated with nights.
LegoLamentsThatHeEvenKnows(HeThinks)TheProductThatComplementsTheProductThatRhymesWith"Pluckers"AndHeIsStillUtterlyStumped!
"Stumped" is actually a pretty good hint.
DeleteI'm pretty sure we have the same complementary product, but, while you chose the 8-letter brand, I opted for the one with six letters. Thus, my 11-letter fictional character has no A or P to delete, like yours does.
Someone with the same 'title' as your fictional character once partnered with someone whose surname is almost the same as the surname of someone who once partnered with someone whose 'surname' is a homophone of a certain type of song. But you knew that.
I'm afraid this is all getting more tangled than Smitten's ball o' yarn.
Paul,
DeleteDoes your 6-letter brand have anything to do with what Opie is trying (unsuccessfully!) to do with the rock in this clip?
LegoWhoRemainsPeglegged
I think so. The fictional character with the same name as the 6-letter brand has a surname which contains the surname of a composer whose music is often played around this time of year, and his 'rival' has the same surname as a certain poet.
DeletePaul, would a possible nickname of the composer be "Mule"?
DeleteLegoWhoIsStillTryingToRavel(OrShouldThatBeUnravel)Smitten'sBallO'Yarn
Mule? I don't think so; that would be a new one on me.
DeleteThe composer's three initials are consecutive letters of the alphabet, although they're not in alphabetical order in the name.
Okay, Paul, sorry, sorry (5:24)!
DeleteI was thinking of a composer named Skinner (and not B.F.). But I now know the correct composer's surname thanks to your consecutive letters hint (FGH).
So, here I am, at this point:
"The fictional character with the same name as the 6-letter brand has a surname which contains the surname of a composer whose music is often played around this time of year, and his 'rival' has the same surname as a certain poet."
I know the fictional character's first name (6 letter, Opie's stone at the fishin' hole) and I know his surname contains our composer's surname, but does that composer's "surname within a surname" appear intact, or all mixed up?
And, don't even ask me yet about his rival!
LegoWhoIsStillAllMixedUpButWho,AfterSolvingPaul'sRipOffOfMyRipOff,ShallShoutHallelujah!
The composer's handle is intact and uncorrupted at the very beginning of the character's handle. The rival's first name is the same as the name of the subject of the poet's most famous poem. The basis of the rivalry is a young lady with initials M.K.. You still have to figure out what the rival's 'title' is, what 'nights-related letters' to remove, and how to get a couple of mood elevators out of what remains (plus an H, of course). And the clock is ticking.
DeleteOkay, Paul. I got the rival. Don't got his title...
DeleteMister?
I'm guessing the title contains a "P", which would jive with needing to remove "nights-related letters" (if I am even thinking of the proper "nights-related letters").
I never realy watch this TV show (so I am at a disadvantage), but I have always admired its star.
LegoNotesThatPaulCouldPutHisClockOn"Pause"IfHeWasSoInclined
"Mister" was the only title I could think of for the dude. The two letters to be removed relate to an anthology. I don't know what else to say about them. Might a golf course in Wisconsin have a "cheese hazard"?
DeleteYes, Paul. We call them mousetraps.
DeleteLegoHunkeringDownInHisArchieBunker
I am whiffing on the two letters I must remove. Don't know nuthin' 'bout anthologies, not even "Spoon River, wider than a mashie or niblick."
DeleteIs the furry pet's mood elevator a Tom or, better yet, Toms?
LegoGraspingAtStrawMenInAFluriousAttemptToSolvePaul'sPuzzleOnTime("GottaGetBackInTime"SaidSkippy'sPalAndCouldaBeenBro-In-LawAlex)
The furry pet's mood is elevated when it attains a lofty perch where greyhounds and other canines cannot reach it. Sometimes it is so happy up there that it becomes a bit misty.
DeleteThe name of the teller of the (romanticized) tales in the anthology is an anagram of 'cheese hazard'.
Dick, Jane and Sally's furry pet had the same name as a dragon, but not the one that battled Saint George, and not the one that partnered with Tennille. Here is an illustration, by Carroll's collaborator, of a caterpillar perched on a fungal pedestal puffing on a water pipe.
DeleteI'm not sure, but I think Greyhound and Peter Pan sometimes compete and sometimes collaborate. I'd have to check the schedules.
I think that's everything.
Mister Moore - MI (=1001{nights, as narrated by Scheherazade}) + H >> shroom & tree
DeleteGood Christmas-themed puzzles this week, Lego!
ReplyDeleteHors D'Ouvre solved, Appetizers solved, all but the first Ripoff puzzle solved, and one Dessert solved while the other is only partially solved.
Also: I don't know if the problem is on my end or yours, but I have to hit "Newer Post" again to get this week's puzzles. And, though you did email me recently, I am currently having trouble responding. It keeps telling me "the recipient failed to get my email", something about the "aol.com" being wrong at the end of "Jry writer". I did write you back, Lego, and I hope to be able to continue doing so in the future.
Interesting that you should mention email troubles reaching Lego, pjb, because I've sent him a couple of emails in the last two days or so, and haven't had any response (granted, I know he was busy)....so although I never got any failure messages, I began to wonder IF he was even getting his emails.
ReplyDeleteAm happy to report I just managed to solve the Hors D'O myself, and the first Menu item (Nursery Rhyme). I'm still reading the rest. It IS FUN CHRISTMAS STUFF, Lego, thanks so much.
cb (Patrick) and VT,
DeleteI must apologize to you two and to others who have been trying to email me. Tuesday was the day I most recently checked my inbox. Patrick was correct; I had "tunnel-puzzle-vision" working on this week's blog!
As for, our email issues, Patrick, it is very possible the problem may be on my end.
LegoMeaCulpable
When I tumbled down the stairs toward the tree this morning the best present I unwrapped was a shiny new radio. I turned it on and tuned it in to my local NPR station. Will Shortz's Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle segment was on...
ReplyDeleteThat was an even shinier present!
LegoWhoIsInACongratulatoryMood
Great job, VT(or should I say Margo?)! Not bad for someone who's had to stay in bed per doctor's orders. And then this next week's challenge is so easy! I wonder if I might win again this next week? Nah, probably not. What are the odds two Puzzlerians would win in a row? Oh well, a guy can dream...such a great Christmas present, to play on-air with Will! Happy holidays one and all today!
ReplyDeleteHee hee, you guys, I so appreciate your posts.....I'm glad if you think I did well.....those 16 puzzles WERE rather fun (the producer who did the original call told me she had seen the puzzles, and they WERE fun...but of course, NO hints from her).....PJB, my Xmas hint to YOU, if you want to win, is to NOT send in your answer on SUnday....both times I have won, I have sent it in on the TUESDAY....this last time in the wee hours (because I had forgotten all about the SUnday puzzle last week, being focused on the upcoming eye surgery and doing all I had to do ahead of time)....so it went in the equivalent of 8:30 a.m. They pick the winner according to whoever shows up first after their chosen 'winning time.' I hope that helps.
ReplyDeleteGood to know, VT! I do usually like when it's easy enough I can send it on the same day, though. The Tuesday method has certainly worked for you, but if I have the answer soon enough I send it in right away. I don't know, maybe I should wait a few days from now on. It might bring me good luck!
ReplyDeleteJust got back from our Christmas gathering at my brother's in-laws a couple of hours ago. I got a few good gifts, including a book of Sunday New York Times crosswords edited by Dr. Shortz himself and a sort of digital set-up to do NYT crosswords on my Kindle. Speaking of the Kindle, my mother got her own Kindle, so we won't have to keep sharing the same one!(Although she did inform me that since all of her passwords and other such information are on this Kindle, we'll have to get the other one up and running so that I can use it!)As I write this, I am listening to the Christmas episode of Time Warp with Bill St. James. So far the show has begun with John Lennon's classic "Happy Xmas(War Is Over)", and then a few bits and pieces from "Laverne and Shirley"(Laverne got hungry and ate the popcorn that was supposed to go on their tree!)and the Grinch, as well as a few yuletide rarities from Queen and, of all people, Twisted Sister! Should be a great show! Hope everyone else had a great Christmas today!
I've been meaning to say, PJB/CB, that I think your new ID name, cranberry, is cute. (I know it was a total accident.) They could have auto-corrected you to Blackberry, or Blueberry, or Boysenberry, or even Strawberry...but Cranberry seems fitting for the season. (All this reminds me of my TROLL collection when I was 13...I named them all after various berries...I even had a green-haired one named Gooseberry.) Here I go babbling.....
ReplyDeleteIt's cool that essentially YOU get the new Kindle. I don't have one, so have no idea what it's like.
Once you figure out how to use it, it is a lot of fun. Of course, getting another one set up to work may be a problem. Thanks for liking the new user name. I may have to keep it from now on, or we could get the new Kindle to change it back. It's hard to say. BTW VT, wear that lapel pin with pride! It is a cool thing to have!
ReplyDeleteWell, I already have a lapel pin, and it's safely locked up....I've lost too many things to trust actually WEARING it!!
ReplyDeleteGreetings from the new Kindle! We finally got it up and running after about three or four hours(or longer)! I wonder if it will still say "cranberry" on my post? Let's find out!
ReplyDeleteStill cranberry! I guess it makes a little sense. My mother just remarked she drinks cranberry juice every morning!
ReplyDeleteI don't get it...doesn't the email allow you to CHANGE your ID? I don't remember from when I created my own in 2015 how it worked, but it seems rather incarcerating to me, that they force you to keep an ID you would like to change.
DeleteAlas, I guess I will from here on be cranberry. Haven't even really even tried to go about changing it. I have listened to some music, tried out the camera, and played a word game, though. This thing is slightly different from the old Kindle, though in some ways not how I'd like it to be. It'll have to do, I guess.
ReplyDeleteBlaine, from Blaine's Puzzle Blog has posted his annual Christmas puzzle and Christmas video card.
ReplyDeletePlenty o' fun and oodles o' warm fuzzies ensue!
LegoWhoseOnlyWarmFuzziesAreHisKittenSmittenAndThePairO'DiceHangingInHis1997HondaOdyssey
Just found out Alexa is now a part of this new Kindle. I should ask her about the puzzles I can't get yet here! She probably can't answer any of this stuff, though. How about some hints, Lego? It's getting late. We'll have to reveal what we solved tomorrow, you know!
ReplyDeleteHints:
DeleteCAFHO:
Didn't Gene Autry once own the Miami Dolphins? No, I guess he owned a team with creatures that fly, not swim. Fly, like the creatures in a song he once recorded.
EACPM
Any hint I would give would just be a smoke screen.
POFA:
In the text, the first word is all lowercase and the second word is all UPPERCASE. In actuality, both words begin with a capital letter, like someone's name, and the remaining letters are not capitalized.
HTKOMSCA:
The answer rhymes with one of the names in this week's POND Dessert.
EDOS:
"Cousins" of elves are involved in the fairy tale.
Some say that the Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth to the "Lamb of God."
CMS:
It might help if you think of a Bono-penned tune recorded by Jackie DeShannon and Del Shannon.
SAWNS:
1. Vikings divided by 2.
2. "I can't see the whites of their eyes... there's a velvet fog in the air!"
3. They have mounds in their middles... and sometimes rosin bags too.
4. "After the deceased is ____ __ ____ at the cemetery, please join us in the church basement for a reception." (This is the same song I used in #7., below.)
5. (Clue #1) Eight (or perhaps nine) take ten... If they are not so tired, perhaps they take just five.
(Clue #2) Caribou hooves: Be hooves similar to what my kitten Smitten have?
Are caribou coffee-hued? If Star Bucks are indigenous to a great northwest rainy region, are Caribou indigenous to a reiny region?
6. Please consider the first two syllables of a nation that was born and passed away in the Twentieth century.
7. Are all of Yeats’ poem's this "hard" to understand... this rock hard?
8. It's all relative.
9. Oh boy! Is this one ever tough! Will you ever solve it? That'll be the day!
ROSAMS:
ONE: The opposing characters were at least civil to one another. The third, later figure was once portrayed on film by the voicer of Mr. Magoo.
TWO: Smee
THREE: The character succeeded the guy who broke the Babe's homerun record and wrote the books of Thel and Los... who was also known as William Aaron.
Dessert Menu
POND:
There was also an "Anna" at the Alamo who we might have included in this puzzle.
SNED:
The versifier in Hint #1 named Santa's reindeer for us. He didn't name or include any Santa's [answer to this puzzle] in his poem, however.
LegoWhoIsTheHinterInWinter
Hurrah, with the hints help, I've managed to solve the MORSEL, as well as DESSERT #1.
DeleteStill trying on the Clement Moore Menu Slice, several of the Christmas carols (including #4 and 9), and Rip Off #1.
Finally, Clement Moore became clear; a few more of the Xmas carols (changed one from what I'd had; still not sure about 7 or 8, though), and the first Rip Off will just remain unsolved.
DeleteMore Hints:
Delete#7:
Remember, #7 and #4 involve the same song. The answer to #7 would be a snap for Word Woman, as it involves geology...
It involves, indeed, a stone which at the end of the Middle Ages was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments. This blue pigment was used by some of the most important artists of the Renaissance and Baroque, including Masaccio, Perugino, Titian and Vermeer, and was often reserved for the clothing of the central figures of their paintings... especially the Virgin Mary. And that is fitting!!
#8: I tried to make a nice puzzle, but I guess it turned out kinda naughty.
ROSAMS:
ONE: The presidental hopeful with whom the third, latter historical figure ran-as-a-mate was a segregationist who shared his name with a black stand-up comedian (who got a lot of comedic mileage out of that coincidence!).
Lego'LeventhHourHinting
In shock over Carrie Fisher's death, even though we knew she was in the IC....so utterly sad.
ReplyDeleteGot SAWNS #1, #2, #5, and #9. These things are tough, but then again for obvious reasons I have not been as focused in the past few days. RIP Carrie Fisher, long live Princess Leia.
ReplyDeleteVI(xen)
ReplyDeleteDon(ner)
*prance(r)
blitz(en)
come(t)
*dash(er)
*dance(r)
*cup(id)
I'm drawn to 'jaw' or 'jowl' for 'jolly', but I can't get anywhere from there.
Men{san ta}ke & U{CLA US}C
menorah, dreidels, latkes; חֲנֻכָּה
... White and drifted Snow ...
[that's about all I've got]
Needles and Pins >> pine needles [really needed the hint]
three kings
open fire
baseball diamond?
laid to rest
{from reindeer to Yeats, I'm lost}
watch out
boughs of holly
ONE: ?
TWO: Captain Hook + H >> hookah & catnip
THREE: Colonel Sherman Potter >> A tormentor's cellphone
Lisa >> sail?
twelfth >> elf {TWo, THree}
Hors D'Oeuvre
ReplyDeleteThe Reindeer
VI(XEN)
DON(NER)
PRANCE(R)
BLITZ(EN)
COME(T)
DASH(ER)
DANCE(R)
CUP(ID)
(RU)DOLPH(IN)
Morsel
CHIN+KNEE(sounds like CHIMNEY)
SHIN+KNEE(SHINNY)
Appetizers
Men SANTA ke
--U CLAUS UC
HANUKKAH
MENORAH, DREIDELS, LATKES
Menu
1. THREE KINGS(WE THREE KINGS)
2. OPEN FIRE(CHESTNUTS ROASTING ON AN OPEN FIRE)
5. REINDEER PAWS(UP ON THE HOUSETOP REINDEER PAUSE)
9. BOWS OF(Buddy)HOLLY(DECK THE HALLS WITH BOUGHS OF HOLLY)
Ripoff #1 has to do with George Wallace, but that's all I have.
#2 CAPTAIN HOOK, HOOKAH, CATNIP
#3 COLONEL SHERMAN POTTER, A TORMENTOR'S CELLPHONE
Desserts
SANTA ROSA, SOAR
TWELFTH(The twelfth day of Christmas), ELF
Happy 74th birthday to my mother, Linda!-pjb
Are you sure she would be HAPPY to have you publish her AGE, pjb/cb? Heh heh
DeleteHORS D'OEUVRE: Partial names of SANTA's REINDEER: PRANCE(r); DASH(er); DANCE(r); CUP(id); VI(xen); COME(t); DON(ner); BLITZ(en)
ReplyDeleteMORSEL: CHIN & KNEE => CHIMNEY; SHIN & KNEE
APPETIZERS:
1. MEN(SAN TA)KE = SANTA and U(CLA + US)C = CLAUS
2. MELTED RINK SLOSHED AREA => 1. MENORAH 2. DREIDELS 3. LATKES Holiday: HANUKAH
MENU SLICES:
I. NURSERY RHYME:
Christmas Song: HAVE YOURSELF A "MERRY LITTLE" CHRISTMAS
Thanksgiving Song: "OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS"
German Fairy Tale: SNOW WHITE
Nursery Rhyme: "MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB," Its fleece was "WHITE" as "SNOW".
II. CLEMENT MOORE: PINS AND NEEDLES -> PINE NEEDLES
III. SING ALONG WITH NOEL:
1. WE THREE KINGS
2. GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN, LET NOTHING YOU DISMAY
3. THE FIRST NOEL (FIELDS)
4. WHAT CHILD IS THIS? [LAID TO REST]
5. UP ON THE HOUSETOP [REINDEER PAUSE/PAWS]
6. IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS [YOU GO/YUGO]
7. WHAT CHILD IS THIS? (Per the hint, but I don't get why) How about JOY TO THE WORLD instead? [ROCKS, hills and plains....]
8. WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCH THEIR FLOCKS
9. HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS [HIGHEST BOUGH]
IV. RIP OFF SLICES:
1. ?????
2. CAPTAIN HOOK + "H" => HOOKAH and CATNIP
3. COLONEL SHERMAN POTTER => A TORMENTOR'S CELLPHONE
DESSERT:
PARADE OF NAMES: SANTA MONICA, SANTA BARBARA, SANTA CLARA, SANTA MARIA, all cities in CALIFORNIA; SANTA ROSA [SOAR]; SANTA CRUZ [CRUISE]
ST. NICK ERRS: 12 Days of Christmas => (TW)ELF(TH) => ELF
OOOH, with PJB's hint about George Wallace, I finally figured out Rip Off 1:
ReplyDeleteU GRANT and R LEE (who knew you'd use the same two guys? I never even tried them) resulting in GENERAL CURT (for Curtis LeMay, the VP candidate with Wallace.) Thanks, pjb.
You're welcome, VT, and for the record no, my mother doesn't mind me revealing her age. She's not vain about things like that. But thanks for caring.
ReplyDeleteThis week's official answers for the record, Part 1:
ReplyDeleteHors d’Oeuvre Menu
Cowboys And Findians Hors d’Oeuvre:
Super Bowls o’ hot soup
Super Bowl VI between the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins was won by Dallas 24-3 on January 12, 1972 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. The temperature at kickoff was 39 degrees, the record low for a Super Bowl played outdoors. Late in the third quarter, Dolphin free safety Jake Scott hit Cowboy quarterback Roger Staubach on a blitz, shaking him up.
But, had the blitz resulted in a fumble instead of the incomplete pass that it actually did result in, the outcome of the sixth Super Bowl might have been different. Here is “the call,” by TV announcers Ray Scott and Pat Summerall, of what might have happened...
Ray: The score after nearly three quarters of this Super Bowl VI is Dallas 17, Miami 3.
Pat: The Dolphin coach Don Shula is pacing the sideline apprehensively. On the opposite side of the field, the Cowboy mascot is goading his horse so it will ______ up and down the sideline.
Ray: It’s third down six… here’s a blitz! And whoo, Jake Scott really hits Staubach. Did the ball come loose? Yes! Scott scoops it up and speeds toward the goal line... like his opponent Bob Hayes racing the final 25 yards of a 100-yard ____.
Pat: And after his sprint into the end zone, Jake does a little celebratory victory _____, then tosses the ball to a Cowboy fan who proceeds to spill the coffee she’s been using as a hand-warmer.
Ray: Right you are, Pat. Cold beer sales may be slow here today but you will see many a ___ of coffee, cocoa or soup in the hands of the fans in the stands…
Eight words in the blue-lettered dialogue above share a particular property, including the four blanks you must fill in with words that contain six, five, four and three letters. The other four words hidden in the transcript contain two, three, four and five letters. (The two-letter “word” is not actually a word.)
Extra credit: Find a ninth word in the text, a seven-letter word (or eight letters in its plural form) that also shares the property, but in a way that is somewhat different from the other eight words you found.
Answer: The eight words in the blue-lettered dialogue that share the particular property, including the four blanks you must fill in, are, in order:
VI, Don, prance (first blank), blitz, come, dash (second blank), dance (third blank), cup (fourth blank). The property they share is that each consists of the beginning letters of the names of Santa's eight reindeer: VIxen, DONder, PRANCEr, BLITZen, COMEt, DASHer, DANCEr, and CUPid.
Extra credit: The ninth word in the text that also shares the property but in a way that is somewhat different from the other eight words is "Dolphin," which consists of the ending letters of the name of Santa's ninth reindeer, "Rudolph."
Morsel Menu
Easy As Christmas Pie Morsel:
Hip bone’s connected to the backbone…
Name two parts of the human body that are not next to each other anatomically. Put them next to each other textually without a space and in alphabetical order.
Pronouncing the result aloud will sound quite a bit like a word associated with St. Nicholas.
Replace the body part that came first alphabetically with a third body part that rhymes with it. The result is two body parts that are next to each other both anatomically as well as textually without a space, but are no longer in alphabetical order.
Pronouncing this second result aloud will still sound like the word associated with St. Nicholas, but less so.
What are the three body parts? What is the word associated with St. Nicholas?
Answer:
Chin, knee, shin; Chimney (Santa's route from rooftop to living room)
Lego...
This week's official answers for the record, Part 2:
ReplyDeleteAppetizer Menu
Piece Of Fruitcake Appetizer:
Holidology 101
Can a young Californian Mensan take an exam of some sort to test out of 100-level courses at UCLA, USC, UC San Diego or even UC Berkeley and Stanford?
Embedded within the text of the question above are two words in two different hiding places that, when placed next to each other, pertain to Christmas.
What are these two words?
Answer: Santa Clause;
...menSAN TAke... ...uCLA, USc,...
Hold The Ketchup On My Snow Cone Appetizer:
Galoshes-shod sloshers
Scores of National Hockey League fans have circled February 25 on the 2017 calendars they just got as Christmas gifts. That’s the date of a hockey match-up between the visiting Philadelphia Flyers and the home Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. This “Stadium Series” event is one of a handful of regular season outdoor games the NHL schedules annually.
Let’s peer into our crystal ball – our “snow globe” aflutter with floating and flittering flakes…
Alas there are no snowflakes present. The game-time temperature at Heinz Field is 57 degrees Fahrenheit. The match has been cancelled. The ice rink – now a melting pot of mushy slush – appears as if a Zamboni from fiery hell has been rumbling over it.
A couple hundred diehard fans, however, well-lubricated with pregame beer and flasks of booze, linger about the rink in tailgating fashion. Some even venture out onto the sloppy surface and slosh, galoshes-shod, about in the mush.
A photographer from the Post-Gazette snaps a shot of the melted revelry.
This photo quickly is uploaded to the paper’s website and also appears on the following morning’s front page accompanied by the caption MELTED RINK: “SLOSHED” AREA.
Rearrange the 21 letters in that caption to form three words associated with a particular holiday: 1. something you light, 2. toys that delight, and 3. culinary delights.
What are these three words, and what is the holiday?
Answer: Menorah, dreidels, latkes. Hanukkah
MENU
Elves! Dwarves? Ovis? Slice!:
Once upon a nursery rhyme
A Christmas song standard contains in its first line two adjectives that begin with adjacent letters in the alphabet.
A Thanksgiving song standard contains in its first stanza an adjective and noun that, when put in alphabetical order, form the title character of a beloved German fairy tale.
A popular nursery rhyme’s first verse contains one of the Christmas song’s adjectives and a homophone of its other adjective. The nursery rhyme’s first verse also contains the Thanksgiving song’s adjective and noun.
What are the two songs, the nursery rhyme, and the fairy tale.
Answer:
"Have yourself a MERRY LITTLE Christmas"...
"Over the river and through the wood to grandmother's house we go; the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through the WHITE and drifted SNOW..."
"MARY Had a LITTLE Lamb" (its fleece as WHITE as SNOW)
"Snow White"
Lego...
This week's official answers for the record, Part 3:
ReplyDeleteClement Moore Slice:
Sugarplums and sandmen
Christmas Eve. Sandman, his gritty work done, punches out. Children nestled snug, sugarplum dreams dancing…
Christmas morn. Children rouse and yawn. Weeks of eager anticipation supplanted by wait-no-more. They “knuckle-out” lingering sand grains from eye sockets and tumble down the stairs toward the tree and the treats it shelters.
Here is your wrapped and ribboned puzzling present:
Name a three-word idiom for the children’s post-slumber upstairs state. Remove “sand” from the “eye” of the idiom, but replace the “s” with a vowel.
The result is the sheltering greenery that greeted the children downstairs.
What is the idiom? What greets the children downstairs?
Answer:
Pins and needles; Pine needles (the Christmas tree)
Pins and needles = pinS AND needles - SAND + e +pine needles
Sing Along With Noel Slice:
Clues to Carols’ deeper meanings
The answers to each of the following clues appear near the beginning of a Christmas song, in the form of two or three consecutive words of the lyrics.
Identify the consecutive words that satisfy each clue, and give the title of the song.
In some cases you may have to remove spaces between words. And, some answers involve homophones.
Clue #5 provides two clues because one word in the lyrics is printed as either of two homophones, depending on which lyric sheet you are singing from.
1. Beats two pair (say, aces and eights), but gets beat by a straight
Answer: "we THREE KINGS of orient are..."
2. An order that might be given on a battlefield
Answer: "chestnuts roasting on an OPEN FIRE..."
3. They have mounds in their middles
Answer: "The first Noel the angels did say was to certain poor shepherds IN FIELDS as they lay..."
4. Words heard at a funeral or gravesite (although, in the song, they refer to the cradle – or actually the manger – rather than the grave)
Answer: "What child is this, who LAID TO REST on Mary's lap is sleeping..."
5. (Clue #1) Eight (or perhaps nine) take ten;
(Clue #2) Caribou hooves
Answers:
(for Clue #1): "Up on the housetop REINDEER PAUSE..."
(for Clue #2): "Up on the housetop REINDEER PAWS..."
6. When spoken aloud, sounds like what some call the biggest lemon in history, rivaling even the Edsel
Answer: "It's beginningto look a lot like Christmas everywhere YUGO..."
7. Word in the title of one of Yeats’ poetic “gems”
Answer: "What child is this, who laid to rest on Mary's LAP IS sleeping..."
8. Rolex vis-à-vis Jubaoli
Answer: "You'd BETTER WATCH out..."
9. When spoken aloud, sounds like a Cricket’s gestures acknowledging applause
Answer: "Deck the halls with BOUGHS OF HOLLY..." ("bows"of (Buddy) Holly)
Lego...
This week's official answers for the record, Part 4:
ReplyDeleteRipping Off Shortz And McDonald Slices:
Poltroons, sexting and mood alteration
Puzzleria’s Ripping Off Shortz And McDonald Slices read:
ONE: Take the first-name initials and last names of two opposing historical figures. Add a C and mix all the letters together. You’ll get the title and first name (the “for short” version) of another historical figure from an era approximately a century after the era associated with the two opposing historical figures.
Who are these people?
Hint: All three historical figures shared the same title, and the most recent of the three figures was the vice presidential candidate on a ticket that won the electoral votes of five states and received about 14% of the popular vote. One of the two earlier figures actually served as a U.S. president.
Answer:
General Ulysses Grant
General Robert Lee
General Curt (LeMay)
TWO: Take the title and last name of a fictional character whose rival shares the name with a brand of a product that often complements a brand that rhymes with “pluckers.” Add an H and mix all the letters together. You’ll get two words: What a fellah might use to get high, and what the fellah’s furry pet might use to get high.
What are these two means of mood alteration?
Answer:
Hookah; catnip
("Smuckers" jam often complements Peter Pan peanut butter on sandwiches. The fictional character Peter Pan's rival was Captain Hook.
CAPTAIN HOOK + H = HOOKAH + CATNIP
THREE: Take the title and first and last names of a fictional character on a well-known past TV sitcom. Mix all twenty letters together. You’ll get three words (an article, possessive noun, and noun) indicating what the police may confiscate in cases involving threatening calls, harassing texts, or predatory sexting.
Who is this character? What may the police confiscate?
Hint: Some political observers suggest that we have managed to ELECT a POLTROON as our next president. Rearrange the 13 letters in “ELECT POLTROON” to form the title and last name of the fictional character.
Answer: COLONEL SHERMAN POTTER >> "A TORMENTOR'S CELLPHONE"
Lego...
This week's official answers for the record, Part 5:
ReplyDeleteDessert Menu
Parade Of Names Dessert:
Reindrops on rooftops
Monica, Barbara, Clara and Maria. Those four women’s names share something in common pertaining obliquely to Christmas.
Find a fifth name that shares the same quality. This four-letter name is also an anagram of what St. Nicholas and his reindeer do from rooftop to rooftop every Christmas Eve.
Find a sixth word that shares the same quality. This four-letter Spanish word is a homophone of what St. Nicholas and his reindeer do from rooftop to rooftop every Christmas Eve.
What quality do these six words share? What are the two 4-letter words that share the quality?
Answer: The six words can all follow "Santa"
Fifth name = Rosa; ROSA >> SOAR
Sixth word = Cruz; CRUZ >> CRUISE
S. Nick Errs? Dessert:
Venison in the verses?
Take the third word of the final verse of a popular but relatively lengthy holiday song. Remove the first two and last two letters from the word. The remaining letters spell a noun associated with St. Nick.
What is the third word of the final verse, and what is the noun associated with St. Nick?
Hint #1: In a beloved traditional Christmas poem, a versifier once characterized St. Nick himself as this noun.
Hint #2: The first two letters of the word in the verse are the first two letters of a number between one and ten, and the last two letters of the word are the first two letters of the following number.
Answer:
Twelfth; Elf
TWELFTH - (TW + TH) = ELF
Hint #1: "He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf..."
Hint #2: TW + ELF + TH >> TW(O) + ELF + TH(REE)
Lego...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI knew it had to be Lee and Grant again! How many opposing historical figures does anyone know by name? Also, I saw an extra E on the end of "Claus" while reading the official answers. Might you have been watching a certain seasonal movie starring Tim Allen whose title has this property?
ReplyDeleteNaw, Patrick. Just a plain ol' typo
DeleteLegoDetectsAPauseInHisIndependentClauseWhileSmittenClawsMyWristWithHerPawsAsHeRecallsMa'SAndPa'sDressUpAsMrs.AndSantaClaus