Friday, December 8, 2017

The last shall be first and the last shall be last; Who let the hogs out? Dishing out non-vegetarian delish; Perural and Singupolar Lebanoun Formosas

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER (1098 + 76) SERVED  

Welcome to our December 8th edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!, the blog that puzzlemaster Will Shortz called “a lot of fun” over the National Public Radio airwaves this past Sunday. Thank you, Will.

We are serving you seven heavenly puzzles this week, including four Riffing-Off Shortz Slices. The first of those four was created by ron, a valued and inventive longtime Puzzleria! contributor. He posted it early Sunday morning on the excellent Blainesville blog, and I liked it so much that I asked ron if I could use it on Puzzleria! He graciously agreed. Our sincere gratitude, ron. 

Our menus also feature:
⇩ One “punt-pass-and-kick-packed” Appetizer
⇩ One  “grid-but-without-the-iron” Slice; and
⇩ One  “watchin’-‘em-punt-the-ol’-pigskin-on-the-Dish-Network” Dessert.

So, belly up to the line of scrimmage, run a bootleg across the backfield, loft a bomb endzoneward, and execute a Lambeau Leap to celebrate your puzzle-solving touchdowns. And... have a lot of fun.


Appetizer Menu

“Is There A Hiker In The House?” Appetizer:
The last shall be first and the last shall be last


It was on a Sunday in  January, 1964. 
A team walked off a football field victorious. Among them were two players who were future Canton, Ohio enshrinees – one who on every play from scrimmage executed by their team handled the football, the other who handled the ball on every play except for punts and field goal attempts. 
One man wore a jersey with a two-digit number, the other a jersey with the same digits, but reversed.

Exactly seven weeks later, a man appeared onstage on a live television broadcast along with some other men. His first name was the last name of one of the victorious football players; His last name was the last name of the other football player. After that TV appearance, his name very soon became a household name.


What are the names of these football players and man with the household name?
(Note: Yes, yes, yes! I know it is spelled “Neil,” not “Neal.”) 


MENU

4x4 Truck, 5x5 Van De Graaph Generated Grid Slice:
Who let the hogs out?

The answer to each of the ten puzzle clues below is a 5-letter entry that fits somewhere into a 5-by-5 crossword grid like the one pictured here. Although the clues are numbered, they are given in no particular order. Fill in the grid.
1. Indian craft 
2. Let the hogs out? 
3. Palindromic craft 
4. Flat-bottomed garbage boats 
5. Wilbur’s beloved spider, for short 
6. Image on a flag that is a homophone of a synonym of “oar” 
7. Pearl producer, as rapped by a hip-hopper? 
8. "...one of the _____ of these brothers..."
9. Naomi who gives “powerful” dramatic portrayals? 
10. Against the ___, __ is silhouetted, in a 1982 movie poster 

Riffing Off Shortz And Young Slices:
Perural and Singupolar Lebanoun Formosas 

Will Shortz’s December 3rd NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Joseph Young (“who has a puzzle blog called Puzzleria! which is a lot of fun,” according to Will Shortz), reads:
Take the singular and plural forms of a particular noun. Remove the first two letters of the singular form and you’ll name a country. Remove one letter from inside the plural form to name another country. What words and countries are these? 
Puzzleria!’s Riffing Off Shortz and Young Slices read:
ONE: 
(Our first Riff-Off Slice was created by longtime Puzzleria! contributor ron. Thanks to him.)
Take the singular and plural forms of a particular noun. Remove the first letter of the singular form of the noun and you’ll name a country. Change the first two letters of the plural form of the noun to two different letters to name a different country. What are the words and what are the countries? 
TWO:
Take the singular and plural forms of a particular 4-syllable noun that has roots in both ancient Rome and 1917-era revolutionary Russia. 
In the singular word, reverse the order of the fourth and fifth letters and replace its first three letters with the letter that alphabetically immediately precedes the first letter of the plural word. You’ll name a country. 
In the plural word, replace the first letter with the fifth letter, place a duplicate of the sixth letter at the beginning, and replace a pair of double letters with one “r”. You’ll name another country. 
What words and countries are these?
Hint: One of the countries is also the name of a U.S. state. One of the major cities in the other country is the title of a hit song by a Swedish quartet. 
THREE:
Take a proper noun associated with Nyx and Erebus. Replace the first two letters with one consonant and you’ll name a country. 
Replace the last two letters of the same proper noun with one consonant and you’ll name another country. What noun and countries are these?

FOUR:
“Stentorian,” “sideburns” and “sandwich” are examples of “eponyms,” a word coined during the Mexican-American War.
Take a particular noun that is an example of a word (also ending with -nymcoined during World War II. The particular noun itself was coined about a decade later. Replace the first two letters of this noun with two different letters and you’ll name a country. 

Remove the first letter from the noun to name another country. What words and countries are these?

Dessert Menu

Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy Dessert:
Dishing out non-vegetarian delish

Name a two-word cut of meat often used in a two-word dish. 
The meat and dish share one word in common. 

One of the other words sounds like what one might shout while leading to slaughter the creatures that produce the meat. 


What are the cut of meat and the dish?
Hint: The word that the dish and cut of meat share is a term used in a particular Oriental martial art.

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.

21 comments:

  1. I finally figured out the Appetizer, but I can't see what either Neil or Neal has to do with it. I find a bit of consolation, however, in the fact that Neil Diamond makes a pretty good hint for one of the 5x5 grid entries. Bobby Darrin works for another one. Then there's the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, and Thomas Oliphant.
    The Riffs are terribly convoluted. How, for example, can I be practically certain of the countries involved in #2, but have no idea what the noun is?
    Hint for the Dessert: Yeo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good feedback about the Riff-Offs, Paul. "Convoluted" is a fitting word. I knew #TWO was going to be problematic. Sorry.
      Let me try to help by saying the singular/plural noun in #TWO is a particular kind group, a group one might describe as "democratic" with a small d. Merriam-Webster says its first known use was in 1917. It is not a word you hear a lot.
      LegoWhoComesUpWithIffyRiffOffsOfHisOwnPuzzle

      Delete
    2. Based on Lego's hints, I knew the two countries for Riff Off #2 first, as well, and worked backwards...fortunately, I stumbled upon the potential noun(s), and then it all worked out.

      I still don't have Riff Off #1 and 3, however. SOlved the Dessert after going to bed, and I THINK I have the grid, although two of the words doesn't really make sense to me.

      And the Appetizer took me a LOT of googling (since I know none of that stuff), but finally finally.....

      Delete
    3. Well, maybe the (numbered) riffs aren't so difficult after all if you just plunge right into them, but I still think #2 and #4 require an inordinate amount of letter manipulation. The gastronomy one still eludes me, but I think it would be fairly easy for someone with the proper computer tools and skills to pop out a few lines of code to get the job done.
      Think of a gastronomical term. Change its fifth letter to get the name of a large city. Then remove that letter and one other letter, and rearrange what remains to get the name of a somewhat smaller city and the geographical feature it abuts. Both places are in the same hemisphere, if we're using the Prime Meridian and the International Date Line to divide the globe, but in different hemispheres if we use the Equator.

      Delete
  2. VT, last week I had OMAN in WOMAN before I got to YEOMAN. Did you as well?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, WW, that is exactly what happened with me!!

      Delete
  3. Here is a more difficult rip-off than "my rip-off" that Lego presented:

    Take a gastronomical term, change the 5th letter to a different letter to yield a country (no rearranging necessary); now remove that fifth letter and rearrange the remaining letters to name a different country. What is the G. term and what are the two countries. Good Luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks again, ron. I will work on your newest riff.
      LegoPuzzled

      Delete
  4. Happy Friday everyone! Lego, you're not going to believe this, but for the first time since I've been a part of Puzzleria!, I have actually solved every puzzle on the Friday they were first shown! It's almost a quarter to six, and I have actually solved everything within an hour-and-a-half(except for ron's gastronomic extra a few comments back, but I'm fine with that). Special thanks must go to my mom who was looking at her Kindle while I was looking at mine, and I asked her about the baseball players in the Appetizer. We knew one, but I wasn't sure about the other. And the part about "a few weeks later in 1964" was a dead giveaway. That was a few years before I was born, but even I know about what happened on TV then. So it goes without saying that I won't need any hints at all(unless you want to offer anything about the gastronomic puzzle). I'm done! See y'all Wednesday!


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Where is pjb and what have you done with him?

      Delete
    2. pjb is alive and well and living the "I've slammed-dunked-these-Puzzleria!-puzzles!" life in Alabama. Congrats, Patrick.

      LegoWhoHasToComeUpWithMoreChallengingPuzzlesAndWhoWillGiveAHintToron'sGastronomicPuzzleWhenHeSolvesItHimself

      Delete
  5. Also it snowed here earlier this morning, another rarity for this area(though not an improbability)!

    ReplyDelete
  6. MENU:

    SKULL
    CANOE
    OYSTA
    WATTS
    SKYIT

    or

    SCOWS
    KAYAK
    UNSTY
    LOTTI
    LEAST

    My Gastronomical rip-off:
    TAHINI (a thick paste of ground sesame seeds used in dips like hummus), change the 5th letter (N) to a T yielding TAHITI. Now remove this 5th letter and rearrange the remaining letters to yield HAITI.

    I'll let Lego reveal the rest.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jim Ringo, Bart Starr, Ringo Starr

    1. CANOE
    2. UNSTY
    3. KAYAK
    4. SCOWS
    5. LOTTE
    6. SKULL
    7. OYSTA
    8. LEAST
    9. WATTS
    10. SKYET

    ONE: WOMAN, WOMEN, OMAN, YEMEN
    TWO: COLLEGIA, COLLEGIUM, GEORGIA, BELGIUM
    THREE: CHAOS, LAOS, CHAD
    FOUR: SCUBA, ARUBA, CUBA

    PORK CHOP SUEY

    The football game was a CONSOLATION game, of sorts. Neil Diamond sang and co-wrote HEARTLIGHT as a response to the movie E.T.. I misspelled Bobby DARIN; it was Louis Armstrong who first substituted composer Kurt Weill's widow's name for the character name in Bertolt Brecht's lyric; B.D. followed suit. Charlie WATTS is the drummer for The Rolling Stones. Frank Sinatra (and many others) sang Let's Get Away From It All; Tom Adair wrote about taking a KAYAK to Quincy or Nyack. Thomas Oliphant did not write any lyrics about a pirate flag; at LEAST I don't think so. The battle of Pork Chop Hill was fought near YEOncheon, Korea. INORDINATE usually means EXCESSIVE anymore, but it could also mean DISORDERLY. One might PLUNGE into CHAOS or DARKNESS, just as one might DIVE into the water with or without SCUBA gear. I still don't have the GASTronOMICAL puzzle figured out, but I don't think it would be too difficult to write an algorithm to remove the fifth letter from every country in a list, generate all possible permutations of the remaining letters, and compare with the original list. If you change the P in RECIPE to an F, you get RECIFE, and then you can drop both the F and the C and rearrange to get ERIE (if anyone's interested).



    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, geez, Ron's #1 is exactly what both WW and I had thought of at the very first, for last week's Sunday puzzle, and I even confirmed that to her above...it never occurred to me that THAT was the answer for #1. Nuts. A case of 'underthink', I suppose?

    ReplyDelete
  9. THe answers I posted seem to have DISAPPEARED! I don't get it! SO I'm trying again:

    APPETIZER: [PLAY OFF BOWL, JAN 5, 1964.] BART STARR #15 and JIM RINGO #51 => RINGO STARR

    GRID SLICE:

    S C O W S Down: SKULL, CANOE, OYITA (I don't get that, tho), WATTS and SKY E.T.
    K A Y A K
    U N I T Y
    L O T T E
    L E A S T

    RIFF OFFS:

    1.
    2. COLLEGIUM and COLLEGIA => BELGIUM and GEORGIA [Solved backwards]
    3. CHAOS => LAOS and CHAD
    4. ACRONYM => SCUBA => ARUBA and CUBA

    DESSERT: PORK CHOP and CHOP SUEY

    ReplyDelete
  10. Appetizer
    JIM RINGO, #51, and BART STARR, #15, played for the Green Bay Packers. RINGO STARR(born Richard Starkey)played with the Beatles.
    Menu
    SCOWS SKULL
    KAYAK CANOE
    UNSTY or OYSTA
    LOTTE WATTS
    LEAST SKYET
    Ripoffs
    1. WOMAN, OMAN; WOMEN, YEMEN
    2. COLLEGIUM, BELGIUM; COLLEGIA, GEORGIA
    3. CHAOS, LAOS, and CHAD
    4. SCUBA(acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), ARUBA, and CUBA
    Dessert
    PORK CHOP, CHOP SUEY(Soooooeeeee!), and KARATE CHOP
    UNSTY is a new word for me. Ranks right up there with BALD as a verb meaning to lose one's hair. I saw that in a NYT crossword last week.-pjb

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'll have to omit the "or".
    SCOWS SKULL
    KAYAK CANOE
    UNSTY OYSTA
    LOTTE WATTS
    LEAST SKYET

    ReplyDelete
  13. This week's answers for the record, Part 1:
    (Sorry I am late with these answers)
    Appetizer Menu

    “Is There A Holder In The House?” Appetizer:
    The last shall be first and the last shall be last
    It was on a Sunday in January, 1964. A team walked off a football field victorious. Among them were two players and future Canton, Ohio enshrinees – one who on every play from scrimmage executed by their team handled the football, the other who handled the ball on every play except for punts and field goal attempts. One man wore a jersey with a two-digit number, the other a jersey with the same digits, but reversed.
    Exactly seven weeks later, a man appeared onstage on a live television broadcast along with some other men. His first name was the last name of one of the victorious football players; His last name was the last name of the other football player. After that TV appearance, his name very soon became a household name.
    What are the names of these football players and man with the household name?
    Answer:
    Jim Ringo and Bart Starr both played in the January 1964 "consolatin game", beating the Cleveland Browns for "third place."; Ringo Starr

    MENU

    4x4 Truck, 5x5 Van De Graaph Generated Grid Slice:
    Who let the hogs out?
    The answer to each of the ten puzzle clues below is a 5-letter answer that fits somewhere into a 5-by-5 crossword grid like the one pictured here. Although the clues are numbered, they are given in no particular order. Fill in the grid.
    1. Indian craft
    2. Let the hogs out?
    3. Palindromic craft
    4. Flat-bottomed garbage boats
    5. Wilbur’s beloved spider, for short
    6. Image on a flag that is a homophone of a synonym of “oar”
    7. Pearl producer, as rapped by a hip-hopper?
    8. "...one of the _____ of these brothers..."
    9. Naomi who gives “powerful” dramatic portrayals?
    10. Against the ___, __ is silhouetted, in a 1982 movie poster
    Answer:
    1. Indian craft CANOE
    2. Let the hogs out? UNSTY
    3. Palindromic craft KAYAK
    4. Flat-bottomed garbage boats SCOWS
    5. Wilbur’s beloved spider, for short LOTTE
    6. Image on a pirate ship flag that is a homophone of “oar” SKULL
    7. Pearl producer, as rapped by a hip-hopper? OYSTA
    8. Minimum LEAST
    9. Naomi who gives “powerful” dramatic portrayals? WATTS (who is an "electrifully powerful" performer
    10. Against the ___, __ is silhouetted, in a 1982 movie poster SKY, ET

    S C O W S
    K A Y A K
    U N S T Y
    L O T T E
    L E A S T

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

    Riffing Off Shortz And Young Slices:
    Perural and Singuporal Lebanoun Formosas
    Will Shortz’s December 3rd NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Joseph Young (“who has the Puzzleria! blog which is a lot of fun,” according to Will Shortz), reads:
    Take the singular and plural forms of a particular noun. Remove the first two letters of the singular form and you’ll name a country. Remove one letter from inside the plural form to name another country. What words and countries are these?
    Puzzleria!’s Riffing Off Shortz and Young Slices read:
    ONE: (Our first Riff-Off Slice was created by longtime Puzzleria! contributor ron. Thanks to him.)
    Take the singular and plural forms of a particular noun. Remove the first letter of the singular form of the noun and you’ll name a country. Change the first two letters of the plural form of the noun to two different letters to name a different country. What are the words and what are the countries?
    Answer:
    Woman, women; Oman, Yemen
    TWO:
    Take the singular and plural forms of a particular 4-syllable noun.
    In the singular word, reverse the order of the fourth and fifth letters and replace its first three letters with the letter that precedes the first letter of the plural word in the alphabet. You’ll name a country.
    In the plural word, replace the first letter with the fifth letter, place a duplicate of the sixth letter at the beginning, and replace a pair of double letters with one “r”. You’ll name another country.
    What words and countries are these?
    Answer:
    Collegium, collegia; Belgium, Georgia
    THREE:
    Take a particular proper noun associated with Nyx and Erebus. Replace the first two letters with one consonant and you’ll name a country. Replace the last two letters of the same proper noun with one consonant and to name another country. What noun and countries are these?
    Answer:
    Chaos; Laos, Chad
    FOUR:
    Take a particular noun that is an example of a word coined during World War II. The noun itself was coined about a decade later. Replace the first two letters of this noun with two different letters and you’ll name a country. Remove the first letter from the noun to name another country. What words and countries are these?
    Answer:
    Scuba (coined 1952), an example of an "acronym" (coined 1943); Aruba, Cuba

    Dessert Menu

    Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy Dessert:
    Dishing out non-vegetarian delish
    Name a two-word cut of meat often used in a two-word dish. The meat and dish share one word in common. One of the other words sounds like what one might shout while leading to slaughter the creatures that produce the meat. What are the cut of meat and the dish?
    Hint: The word that the dish and cut of meat share is term used in a particular Oriental martial art.
    Answer:
    Pork chop; chop suey (Sooey! is a pig call.)
    Hint: chop, as in "karate chop."

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete