Friday, September 22, 2017

Blaise & Claire & Emmy & Lenny; School’s in for autumn! Turning toys into togs (but not into toggle toys)

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER (876 + 54) SERVED

Welcome to our September 22nd edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

Lotsa Shortz Riff-offs this week, plus two additional better-than-average posers: 
1. An Appetizer about a party thrower, a blue comic, and two math giants, and 
2. A somewhat blue Dessert about toys and togs.

Please enjoy our puzzle party. Romp around in our cyber-room like a kid in a toy factory.
And, as always, enjoy.

Appetizer Menu

Math Giants, Party Thrower And Blue Comic Appetizer:
Blaise & Claire & Emmy & Lenny


Fashion designer and socialite Claire McCardell invites a life-of-the-party yet groan-inducingly “blue comic” named Lenny Bruce to her dinner party. The result is:
“Claire’s jaunty, corny, salty party guest spouts blueness, annoys.”

Blaise Pascal and Emmy Noether were mathematical giants from different eras. The following sentence is likely true:
“Giant Emmy learned giant Blaise’s point theorem, soon schooled allies, also friends.” 

All twenty different words in blue italics above share a very unusual property in common. (The two blue sentences contain 21 words, but “giant” is repeated.”) 
What is this unusual property?

MENU 

Riffing Off Shortz Slices:
School’s in for autumn!   

Will Shortz’s September 17th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle reads: 
This puzzle is for the new school year. Think of two antonyms, each in three letters. Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of TRY TO ACE in some order. The result will name someone at school. Who is it?
Puzzleria’s! Riffing Off Shortz Slices, which are all for the new school year, read:
ONE: 
Think of two people often known by just one name, one in three letters, the other in four. Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of I TEST MARY in some order. The result will name someone at school who might administer that test to Mary. Who is it?
(Clarification and hint: The image is misleading. It is a scientific test, but not a pregnancy test! It is an academic test.)
TWO: 
Think of two people often known by just one name, one in five letters, the other in four. Both are performers who have been nominated for Oscars. Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of GOAL: ACE IT in some order. The result will name someone at school who might write that goal on the front-of-the-classroom “blackboard” before administering a test. Who is it?
THREE:
Arrange the letters of A TEST? OH, I CRY! in some order. Put your rearranged letters somewhere in between the name of a one-named entertainer. The result will name someone at school who might administer the cry-inducing test. Who is it?
Hint: The name of a one-named entertainer is also the name for a person who serves at a place where students might go to pray that they do not flunk the cry-inducing test.
FOUR:
Think of two celebrities with one-name stage names, both in four letters. Change the first letter in one of the stage names to the first letter in that person’s real surname. Set these results side by side. 
In between them arrange in some order the letters of TEARS (the result of the cry-inducing test in the previous puzzle). The result will name someone at school who might administer such a test. 
Who is it?
Hint: The one-word stage name of one celebrity is a former surname of the other celebrity. 
FIVE:
Think of two ant... no, not antonyms, they’re really more like two synonyms... no, that’s not quite it either... they’re actually duplicates of the same three-letter word which is the name of a small creature. Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of A LOGOS SOPHISTRY in some order. 
The result will name someone at school who might, for example, proofread or transcribe a professor’s podcast lecture titled “A Logos Sophistry” which proposes a new understanding of sophistry different from that of the ancient Greeks – namely a new understanding based on logic (logos) to persuade people (to vote for a president, for example) rather than on appeals to authority (ethos) or emotion (pathos) that have for millennia been used to manipulate the hearts and minds of humanity. 
Who is this “someone at school?” 
SIX:
Think of two nouns, each in four letters, that together form a synonym for certain whiskers. Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of PATENTED CREMES in some order. 
The result will name the university staff position held by a person who might be described as “a guy named Guo Down Under,” a guy who may or may not use patented cremes to eliminate certain whiskers. 
What is the name of this guy and what might you call his staff position?
SEVEN:
Think of two fragments, each in three letters, that together form a slang synonym for a pugilist. Add to the end of the first fragment three letters that can be arranged in some order to spell the surname of a famous person that the slang synonym for a pugilist indicates. Add to the beginning of the second fragment three letters that can be arranged in some order to spell a word (followed by a space and the letter Z) forming a commonplace expression used by commentators in a sport that is a homophone of the slang synonym for a pugilist. 
The result will name someone you might find on a school staff, in two words of six letters each. 

Who is it? 
What is the slang synonym for a pugilist? 
Who is the famous person? 
What is the sport that is a homophone of the slang synonym, and what is the commonplace expression used in that sport?
EIGHT:
Think of two 4-letter synonyms, one of the word “ding” and the other of the word “depression.” Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of TULSA in some order. The result will name someone at a school that prepares people for a specific profession. 
(A handful of such schools are based in Tulsa.) 
Who is the someone at the school? What are the two synonyms?

Dessert Menu

Mr. Couch Potato Head Dessert
Turning toys into togs (but not into toggle toys)

Name a popular toy, in two words, that might convince young couch potatoes to put down their PlayStations, Nintendos and Xboxes and actually begin to exercise more than just their thumbs. 
Place a new word after the toys first word to form a two-word term for a womans somewhat clingy and revealing garment. 

Place the same new word after the toy’s second word to form a two-word term for a womans undergarment that is anything but tight-fitting.

What are this toy, the garment and the undergarment? 


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.

26 comments:

  1. Hee hee, Lego, you said in the intro that the Dessert would be 'somewhat blue', so I was anticipating something along the lines of once before, when one of your puzzles (can't remember quite now which one, or the actual subject) actually WAS rather risque!

    But since I got this one immediately, I can't help but wonder why you called it 'blue.' Am I missing a little joke? Seems to me, you could have also called it red, yellow or green!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I should have been doing all sorts of OTHER things all night here, but instead I've spent hours solving all the Rip Offs except #6. [I have continued to think that I have the proper two nouns for 'whiskers', but can do nothing with them plus 'patented cremes' that works out.]

    Tedditor wishes to mention that you need to add the word "and" in Rip Off #7 in between "space" and "the letter Z". I was initially confused.

    Tedditor also wishes to point out that she thinks that the 'surname hint' for Rip Off #4 was misleading. : o )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VT,
      Thanks, as always, for your ViolinTedditing! I tried to tweak the hint and corrected the typo.
      Perhaps I am a bluenose but, in my book, any puzzle that includes the phrases "woman's somewhat clingy and revealing garment" and "woman's undergarment" is "somewhat blue."

      LegoKindOfBlue

      Delete
    2. Oops, Lego, it hadn't penetrated my skull that the Dessert indicated 'UNDERgarment", because the answer I got (which must be wrong), did NOT involved an UNdergarment...just a garment. Hmmmm.....back to the drawing board!

      Delete
    3. On second thought, perhaps my answer IS correct? The second two-word term does turn out to be considered an UNDERgarment. In any case, I can't come up with any OTHER toy or pieces of clothing.

      Delete
  3. Appetizer:

    I thought the "unusual property" was that each word could be anagramed into two other words: Claire's = cars + lie, jaunty = jay + nut, corny = cry + no/on, salty = sly + at, party = pry + at, guest = get + us, spouts = toss + up, blueness = bus + lense, annoys = son + any, etc. [also = a + sol]

    I was going to post: Cain (I can) violets (solve it) seaways (was easy)...

    Apparently I do not have the "intended unusual property."

    Ripoff ONE: CHEMISTRY TEACHER.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ron,
      You are correct about your answer not being my intended answer. But you answer is still very valid, clever and creative. As I noted over at Blaine's blog, you have a knack for digging up out-of-the box answers that I never would have come up with.
      Nice work!
      (Incidentally, "zipper words" is what I call the words with the "very unusual property.")

      LegoLoverOfCreativeAlternativity

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

      Delete
    3. I saw that the odd-numbered letters in each word of the appetizer made a word, but I rejected this solution as being a bit too simplistic...

      Delete
  4. In no particular order:
    U.S. history teacher
    Honors teacher
    Anthropology assistant
    Hula hoop (skirts)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chinese department chair
      Dental student

      Delete
    2. Has anyone (here or there) listed cHaIrS
      yet?

      Delete
    3. Yeah, I hinted at it in my sign-off: ("LegoWhoHasInstalledALaZBoyInHisCar)
      when I complimented ecoarchitect on coming up with with his "perfect" AsSiSt, over on Blaine's blog. Then eco also mentioned chair in a later post exchange with jan.

      LegoWhoSweatstheSweetStuff

      Delete
  5. Sorry I'm so late guys, but what with the cruise ship having no Wi-Fi and my getting sick and being totally exhausted coming back, I've completely missed this week's Puzzleria! I will go through the highlights for you:
    The food was good, I especially recommend the Mac and cheese, risotto, and beignets in New Orleans, and the duck and the mojito chicken, as well as Guy's Burger Joint, aboard the ship. They cancelled our Cozumel excursion so we had to figure out something else to do. It involved taking a speedboat to a nearby island and returning via the same speedboat. We also participated in games of Trivial Pursuit(one win, one loss)and 70s and 80s music trivia which involved naming certain songs after hearing short snippets of them. I got "YMCA" and "Macho Man" mixed up, but I got all the 80s tunes, for which we won a few Carnival Cruise statuettes plus a medallion for the aforementioned Trivial Pursuit. I also caught my brother's cold and coughed and sounded hoarse for the remainder of the cruise. And I'm still coughing. I have a hard time getting rid of a cough. I would not recommend a cruise to anyone, though, because of the "muster station" routine all of us had to go through, even though it is mandatory for the safety of all passengers on board. All in all, it took a long time getting on the ship and getting off the ship. That, in part, made us all exhausted afterwards, but me especially.
    Re Puzzleria!: Will try to do better next time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, although I haven't read them yet, I am awfully glad to see some comments here by OTHER folks! I had been checking every day this past week, only to see nobody else having written, which creeped me out somehow!

    APPETIZER: ????

    RIP OFFS:

    1. CHE + I TEST MARY + CHER = CHEMISTRY TEACHER

    2. TOPOL + GOAL ACE IT + CHER = TOPOLOGICAL TEACHER

    3. USHER + A TEST OH I CRY = U S HISTORY TEACHER

    4. BONO + TEARS + CHER = HONORS TEACHER

    5. ANT + A LOGOS SOPHISTRY + ANT = ANTHROPOLOGY ASSISTANT

    6. BURN + PATENTED CREMES + SIDE =

    7. Slang term: SOCKER => SOC/KER => SOCIAL WORKER ; Boxer: ALI; Homophone Sport: SOCCER; Soccer Expression: ROW Z

    8. DENT and DENT + TULSA => DENTAL STUDENT

    DESSERT: HULA HOOP, thus HULA SKIRT and HOOP SKIRT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brava, ViolinTeddy! Some of those Riff-offs were very tricky, and you aced them all.

      LegoCreepingInOnLittleCatFeet...Smitten!

      Delete
    2. I appreciate the 'brava', LegoSmitten, however I got #6 wrong..as I'd indicated in the early comments, I THOUGHT I had the two short words (side burn), and had even tried "face hair," but I'd never thought of 'chin hair." So I never could solve it. I did'nt even catch on, after posting my answers, when I saw Paul having put down China Department.

      Delete
  7. This week's official answers, for the record, Part 1:

    Appetizer Menu

    Appetizer Menu

    Math Giants, Party Thrower And Blue Comic Appetizer:
    Blaise & Claire & Emmy & Lenny
    Fashion designer and socialite Claire McCardell invites a life-of-the-party yet groan-inducingly “blue comic” named Lenny Bruce to her dinner party. The result is:
    “Claire’s jaunty, corny, salty party guest spouts blueness, annoys.”
    Blaise Pascal and Emmy Noether were mathematical giants from different eras. The following sentence is likely true:
    “Giant Emmy learned giant Blaise’s point theorem, soon schooled allies, also friends.”
    All twenty different words in blue italics above share a very unusual property in common. (The two blue sentences contain 21 words, but “giant” is repeated.”)
    What is this unusual property?
    Answer:
    They are "zipper words." That is, the odd-numbered letters and even-numbered letters in each word can be "unzipped" to spell out smaller words. Or, in other words, the letters of he two smaller words can be "zipped up" in an interlocking of "zipper-teeth" letters to form the bigger "zipper word."
    Claire's = cars + lie;
    jaunty = jut + any;
    corny = cry + on;
    salty = sly + at;
    party = pry + at;
    guest = get + us;
    spouts = sot + pus;
    blueness = buns + lees;
    annoys = any + no's;

    giant = gat + in;
    Emmy = em + my;
    learned = land + ere;
    Blaises = bass + lie;
    point = pit + on;
    theorem = term + hoe;
    soon = so + on;
    schooled = shoe + cold;
    allies = ale + lis;
    also = as + lo;
    friends = fins + red;

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  8. This week's official answers, for the record, Part 2:

    MENU

    Riffing Off Shortz Slices:
    School’s in for autumn!
    ONE:
    Think of two people often known by just one name, one in three letters, the other in four. Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of I TEST MARY in some order. The result will name someone at school who might administer that test to Mary. Who is it?
    (Clarification and hint: The image is misleading. It is a scientific test, but not a pregnancy test! It is an academic test.)
    Answer:
    cheMISTRY TEAcher;
    Che (Guevara); Cher (Bono)
    TWO:
    Think of two people often known by just one name, one in five letters, the other in four. Both are performers who have been nominated for Oscars. Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of GOAL: ACE IT in some order. The result will name someone at school who might write that goal on the front-of-the-classroom “blackboard” before administering a test. Who is it?
    Answer:
    topolOGICAL TEAcher;
    (Chaim) Topol; Cher (Bono)
    THREE:
    Arrange the letters of A TEST? OH, I CRY! in some order. Put your rearranged letters somewhere in between the name of a one-named entertainer. The result will name someone at school who might administer the cry-inducing test. Who is it?
    Hint: The name of a one-named entertainer is also the name for a person who serves at a place where students might go to pray that they do not flunk the cry-inducing test.
    Answer:
    U.S. hISTORY TEACHer;
    Usher (Raymond IV)
    Hint: An usher seats people at a church.
    FOUR:
    Think of two celebrities with one-name stage names, both in four letters. Change the first letter in one of the stage names to the first letter in that person’s real surname. Set these results side by side.
    In between them arrange in some order the letters of TEARS (the result of the cry-inducing test in the previous puzzle). The result will name someone at school who might administer such a test.
    Who is it?
    Hint: The one-word stage name of one celebrity is a former surname of the other celebrity.
    Answer:
    honoRS TEAcher;
    Bono (Hewson); Cher (Bono)
    FIVE:
    Think of two ant... no, not antonyms, they’re really more like two synonyms... no, that’s not quite it either... they’re actually duplicates of the same three-letter word which is the name of a small creature. Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of A LOGOS SOPHISTRY in some order.
    The result will name someone at school who might, for example, proofread or transcribe a professor’s podcast lecture titled “A Logos Sophistry” which proposes a new understanding of sophistry different from that of the ancient Greeks – namely a new understanding based on logic (logos) to persuade people (to vote for a president, for example) rather than on appeals to authority (ethos) or emotion (pathos) that have for millennia been used to manipulate the hearts and minds of humanity.
    Who is this “someone at school?”
    Answer:
    antHROPOLOGY ASSISTant;

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  9. This week's official answers, for the record, Part 3:

    SIX:
    Think of two nouns, each in four letters, that together form a synonym for certain whiskers. Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of PATENTED CREMES in some order.
    The result will name the university staff position held by a person who might be described as “a guy named Guo Down Under,” a guy who may or may not use patented cremes to eliminate certain whiskers.
    What is the name of this guy and what might you call his staff position?
    Answer:
    Ying Jie Guo; ChinA DEPARTMENT Chair (at the University of Sydney), who is a "guy down under" because he lives in Australia.
    ("chin hair = "certain whiskers" = beard)
    SEVEN:
    Think of two fragments, each in three letters, that together form a slang synonym for a pugilist. Add to the end of the first fragment three letters that can be arranged in some order to spell the surname of a famous person that the slang synonym for a pugilist indicates. Add to the beginning of the second fragment three letters that can be arranged in some order to spell a word (followed by a space and the letter Z) forming a commonplace expression used by commentators in a sport that is a homophone of the slang synonym for a pugilist.
    The result will name someone you might find on a school staff, in two words of six letters each.
    Who is it?
    What is the slang synonym for a pugilist?
    Who is the famous person?
    What is the sport that is a homophone of the slang synonym, and what is the commonplace expression used in that sport?
    Answer:
    SOCial worKER;
    socker; (Muhammad) Ali; soccer; Row Z
    EIGHT:
    Think of two 4-letter synonyms, one of the word “ding” and the other of the word “depression.” Set them side by side. In between them arrange the letters of TULSA in some order. The result will name someone at a school that prepares people for a specific profession.
    (A handful of such schools are based in Tulsa.)
    Who is the someone at the school? What are the two synonyms?
    Answer:
    dentAL STUdent;
    dent = ding, dent = depression;
    google: tulsa dental assisting school

    Dessert Menu

    Mr. Couch Potato Head Dessert
    Turning toys into togs (but not toggle toys)
    Name a popular toy, in two words, that might convince young couch potatoes to put down their PlayStations, Nintendos and Xboxes and actually begin to exercise more than just their thumbs.
    Place a new word after the toy’s first word to form a two-word term for a woman’s somewhat clingy and revealing garment.
    Place the same new word after the toy’s second word to form a two-word term for a woman’s undergarment that is anything but tight-fitting.
    What are this toy, the garment and the undergarment?
    Answer:
    Hula hoop; hula skirt; hoop skirt

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Unless I am losing my mind, "Patented cremes" has 14 letters, and "A Department C" has only 12 letters. Further, A DEPARTMENT C" contains TWO A's, and "Patented Cremes" has only ONE A. (Had you meant to spell it "CREAMS?) IN any case, an E and an S are still left over. Please explain!

      Delete
    3. Oops, I see now that it was meant to be as Paul put it, "CHINESE DEPARTMENT CHAIR"...that account for one less A and the extra "ES".

      Delete
  10. I have some sad news to report. My one and only nephew, James Mason Berry, was killed in a car accident in Tuscaloosa. He was heading back home to Jasper when he got in an accident involving a semi truck and a dump truck. He didn't make it. My mom was inconsolable when she heard the news. If I don't post on tomorrow's Puzzleria!, you'll know why.
    RIP Mason

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am very sorry for your devastating loss, Patrick. The death of a loved one is perhaps the toughest thing about living. I hope you can find comfort in memories of how James enriched the lives of your family and others. I do not know what role faith plays in your life, but I believe death is a beginning, not an end.
      I will keep you and your family in my prayers.
      Lego...

      Delete
    2. Oh, Patrick, I too am so devastated to hear this terribly tragic news. You and your whole family (this is your brother's son?) truly have my most heartfelt sympathy.

      Delete