Amps & Ampersands; Facial double feature; Space-walking sideways; Peeb, Peeb, Peeb, Peeb...

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER (876 + 54) SERVED

Welcome to our October 6th edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

We are offering another week’s-worth of worthy puzzles again in this new edition of Puzzleria!. 

On our menus are:

One plain-as-the-nose-(or-whatever)-on-your-face Appetizer, ⇓ 

One amped-up & sanded-down Slice, ⇓ 

One “viadromedary” (Roadrunner) Dessert (Peeb, Peeb!), ⇓ and

Four Shortz Riff-off Slices in which letters of the alphabet move into new spaces, either crabwise or counter-crabwise. ⇓⇓⇓⇓ 

So, whet your coyote wiles while outwitting our puzzles.

And, enjoy the chase.

Appetizer Menu

Rushmore Appetizer:

Facial double feature

Write, in lowercase letters, something you might see on a person’s face. Remove the third letter. Invert the second letter and place it at the end of the word. 

Delete the spaces formed by these two letters’ absence. You’ll name something else you might see on a person’s face, especially when the other facial “thing” is present.

What things are these seen on a person’s face, often simultaneously?

MENU

My?terian Slice:

Amps & Ampersands

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Kool & the Gang, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Hootie & the Blowfish, Question Mark & the Mysterians, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Tommy James & the Shondells, Bill Haley & His Comets, Country Joe & the Fish — all are  band names consisting of two parts divided by an ampersand.

Think of two bands with such two-part names. Consider the final word in each name. One of the final words names small rectilinear-solid objects. The other final word names small indentations that appear on these objects.

What are these two band names?

Riffing Off Shortz And Baggish Slices:

Space-walking sideways  

Will Shortz’s October 1st NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Steve Baggish, reads: 

Think of a 4-letter food. Move each letter one space later in the alphabet — so A would become B, B would become C, etc. Insert a U somewhere inside the result. You'll name a 5-letter food. What foods are these?

Puzzleria’s! Riffing Off Shortz and Baggish Slices read:

ONE: 

Think of a 4-letter food. Move each letter one space earlier in Puzzleria!’s Closed-Loop, Circular, Seamless Alphabet — so A would become Z, B would become A, C would become B etc. Spell the result backward. You’ll name a synonym for “wad of sawbucks.” What food and synonym are these?

Hint: The food and synonym begin with the same letter.

TWO: 

Think of a 5-letter word for the source of a 5-letter food not likely to be found on most vegetarian menus. 

Move each letter one space later in Puzzleria!’s Closed-Loop, Circular, Seamless Alphabet — so Z would become A, A would become B, B would become C, etc. 

Move the new fifth letter to the beginning of the result. You’ll name what a Thanksgiving meal host might do while preparing a food that a vegetarian guest would politely decline. 
What two words are these?

Hint: All three 5-letter words begin with the same letter.

THREE:

Think of a 2-word description of stellar receivers Jerry Rice, Don Hutson or Randy Moss — a 4-letter adjective and a 3-letter noun. 
Move each of the seven letters one space later in Puzzleria!’s Closed-Loop, Circular, Seamless Alphabet — so Z would become A, A would become B, B would become C, etc. 

You’ll form two new words — a synonym of “firkins” and an antonym of “friend.” 

Place the synonym after the antonym without a space, and remove one of the letters to form a variant (British) spelling of a term from biology. 

What are these five words: adjective, noun, synonym, antonym and term from biology?

FOUR:

Think of a 4-letter beverage brand – a sugary, caffeinated energy cola. Place a 3-letter affirmative exclamatory word before the brand to form what might be a pithy and emphatic slogan for the beverage. 

The slogan might well have been used during ESPN’s coverage of the 2011 X Games (annual extreme sports event), in which the cola brand was “a proud sponsor” along with other “extreme” energy beverages such as Red Bull (and perhaps other brands such as Amp, Monster, Full Throttle and Rockstar).

Take the 3-letter-plus-4-letter hypothetical slogan for the cola brand. Move each letter one space earlier in Puzzleria!’s Closed-Loop, Circular, Seamless Alphabet — so A would become Z, B would become A, C would become B etc. You’ll name a possible 1-letter-plus-6-letter name for extreme energy beverages that are X Games sponsors. 

What is this hypothetical 7-letter slogan?

What is this possible 7-letter name for X Games energy beverage sponsors?

Dessert Menu

Pineapple Rightside-Left Cake Dessert:

Peeb, Peeb, Peeb, Peeb...

Spell the letters of the second half of an 8-letter adjective backward. 

Place the first half of the adjective in back of it to form an 8-letter noun. Both words have negative connotations. 

What are this adjective and noun?

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.