PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER (1098 + 76) SERVED
Welcome to our December 22nd edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! We hope this week to help you have yourself a mystifyingly merry little Christmas. Under our pine puzzle-tree this year we have placed ten “riddle-wrapped-in-mystery-inside-of-enigma” gifts for you to unwrap:
6 ⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩ Riffing-Off Shortz Slices that you ought to be able to “riff” the wrappings off of with convenience.
2 ⇩⇩ Appetizers: One, Donder and Blitzen, the other, “Ponder with wits, son,”
1 ⇩ Slice requiring that you conform comfortably and joyfully, and
1 ⇩ “Mother and Child Communion” Dessert.
As you unwrap your puzzle gifts, remember to toss the ripped-off wrappings and ribbons into a recycling bin. (We guarantee that none of our contents are recycled.)
And, as ususal, have lots of fa-la-la-la fun.
Ho-Ho-Holiday Appetizer:
What powers Santa’s sleigh?
Just a few days ago, I tried to recall and reconstruct a Christmas verse that I originally penned probably back in the late 1950s when I was about 8 years old or so. It is titled “Santa’s sleigh.” No copies of my original verse, which was only about ten lines long, have survived, but I vaguely recall some of it reading:
“...The bucket seats are very near
To fuzzy dice and rearview mirror
And the stick shift, over here,
And underneath there is a gear...”
Okay, pretty insipid stuff, even for an 8-year-old. And painfully embarrassing for the “adult me” to read. What’s worse, the rhyme scheme was just a tad monotonous: aaaaaaaaaa!
But the first two lines (which begin: “Santa’s sleigh from front to rear...”) are not so bad. Indeed, I am actually somewhat proud of the second line.
And so, I resolved to rewrite a revised, 2017 version of “Santa’s sleigh,” but keeping its first two lines intact. It appears below. (The rhyme scheme, alas, is now even more monotonous: aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaa aaaa!)
My challenge to you Puzzlerians! is to dredge back up from my past the last two words of the second line. The fourth word is an adjective; the fifth is a noun that I believe I coined... unless someone beat me to the punch before I was born.
Can you complete my second line?
Santa’s sleigh
Santa’s sleigh from front to rear
Is powered by _____ _________.
Its bucket seats are very near
To fuzzy dice and rearview mirror
And reins that Santa needs to steer
His cervine creatures who are dear
To Santa... they’re his landing gear
For rooftop runways. Have no fear,
Your “captain” Santa has no peer
In piloting through snows severe
And shifting winds that may appear
To buffet Santa’s sleigh (“Oh dear!”).
But whether weather’s harsh or clear
A handy stick shift, over here,
Helps Santa Claus get into gear,
Which is his wont this time of year,
Dispensing joy and Christmas cheer
To each and every hemisphere.
So spend some time to lend an ear...
On silent nights you’re apt to hear,
“My ho-ho-holidays are near,
So Happy Yuletide and New Year!”
Ponderable Pond Appetizer:
Squid pro coho
Name a somewhat controversial topic, in two words, that has lately been in the news. Replace the final six letters of this two-word phrase with an “s.”
The result, spoken aloud, sounds like what aficionados of fish and amphibians might wade into a pond or lake to do.
Hint: If you place an “e” somewhere within the six letters you replaced with an “s,” you will form a word for a television genre that tends to be entertaining rather than informative (even though the word misleads you into believing that shows in this genre will be informative).
What is the topic lately in the news? What might fish aficionados wade into a lake or pond to do?
“Conformt” And Joy Slice:
Santa is in the house!
Name a part of a house. Its spelling does not conform with what a word in the title of a particular Christmas carol seems to stipulate when it is sung aloud.
Alter the house part to make it conform with the word in the carol, then spell the result backward to name a house part associated with Santa Claus.
What are these two house parts? What is the title of the Christmas carol?
Hint: the two house parts are antonyms of sorts.
Riffing Off Shortz And Fogarty Slices:
Contrivances of convenience
Will Shortz’s December 17th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Neville Fogarty, reads:
Think of a convenience introduced in the 19th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first three letters of the first word and the first letter of its second word, in order, to get a convenience introduced in the 21st century that serves a similar purpose.
Their names are otherwise unrelated. What two conveniences are these?
Puzzleria!’s Riffing Off Shortz And Fogarty Slices read:
ONE:
Think of an edible sweet treat novelty introduced in the 20th century that is still around today, in two words that consist of its brand name and the type if edible it is.
Take the first two letters of the first word and the first three letters of its second word, in order, to get a name for a more nutritious and healthful edible that is roughly twice the size of the edible novelty. What are these edibles?
TWO:
Think of a vehicular convenience that became commercially available in the mid-20th century and which is still around today. Its name has two words.
Take the first two letters of the first word and the first two letters of its second word, in order, to get a cylindrical support for a roadside sign, fence or lamp that a vehicle’s driver might pass by.
The vehicular convenience, happily, helps the driver from crashing into such a support. What are this two-word convenience and roadside support?
THREE:
Think of a colorful electric convenience/invention introduced in the 20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words.
Take the first three letters of the first word and the first letter of its second word and interchange the second and third letters of these four letters to get the name of a “colorful electric” holiday.
What are this colorful convenience and holiday?
FOUR:
Think of a convenience invented around the turn of the 19th/20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first two letters of the first word, in order, and the first two letters, but in reverse order, of its second word to name what this invention often produces when one uses it. What invention is this and what does it produce?
FIVE:
Think of a scientific instrument invented in the early 20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first three letters of the first word and the first two letters of its second word, in order, to get the name of a company known for its advertising campaigns. What is this instrument? What company is this?
SIX:
Think of a recreational pastime invented in the 20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. So does its inventor’s name.
Take the first two letters of the inventor’s first name and the first two letters of the inventor’s second name and rearrange them to form a word that could be clued by:
“askew,” “lopsided,” “misaligned,” “cockeyed,” “crooked,” “leaning,” “haywire,”“oblique,” “askance,” “zigzag,” “catawampus” or “crosswise.”
What is this pastime? Who is its inventor? What is the word clued by all the above words?
Mother And Child Communion Dessert:
Say the elves, “Help yourselves to our shelves!”
Joy owns a general store in a rural community, selling everything from soup to nuts to bolts to dry goods to wet vacs to notions to toys for girls and boys. At home, Joy has a girl and boy of her own – Jolie and Jay.
A two-word phrase that described Joy during the days leading up to Thanksgiving Day pertains to her store’s shelves.
A two-word phrase that describes Joy during the days leading up to Christmas Day pertains to a popular Christmas tradition that Jolie and Jay have been told is performed by Santa’s elves.
The first words in both phrases have a suffix in common. The second words in both phrases also have a suffix in common. The two suffixed words in one 2-word phrase are the same as the two suffixed words in the other 2-word phrase, but in reverse order.
Phrase 1: Word 1 + Suffix 1, Word 2 + Suffix 2
Phrase 2: Word 2 + Suffix 1, Word 1 + Suffix 2
All suffixed words begin with the same letter. One word is also a rifle part. The other word, in a somewhat slangy sense, elicits “oohs and ahhs” on the basketball court and is also something with which an ace baseball pitcher is blessed.
Hint (and Extra Credit): The plural form of the two-word phrase that decribes Joy in the days leading up to Christmas Day also describes certain gifts Joy gives to Jolie and Jay.
The first of these certain gifts that Joy brought home from her store, and placed where Jay would find it Christmas morning, is pictured here. When Jay found it he gave his mother a kiss.
What are the two two-word phrases that describe Joy on the days leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmans, respectively? Why did Jay give his mother a kiss?
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.
Welcome to our December 22nd edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! We hope this week to help you have yourself a mystifyingly merry little Christmas. Under our pine puzzle-tree this year we have placed ten “riddle-wrapped-in-mystery-inside-of-enigma” gifts for you to unwrap:
6 ⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩ Riffing-Off Shortz Slices that you ought to be able to “riff” the wrappings off of with convenience.
2 ⇩⇩ Appetizers: One, Donder and Blitzen, the other, “Ponder with wits, son,”
1 ⇩ Slice requiring that you conform comfortably and joyfully, and1 ⇩ “Mother and Child Communion” Dessert.
As you unwrap your puzzle gifts, remember to toss the ripped-off wrappings and ribbons into a recycling bin. (We guarantee that none of our contents are recycled.)
And, as ususal, have lots of fa-la-la-la fun.
Appetizer Menu
Ho-Ho-Holiday Appetizer:
What powers Santa’s sleigh?
Just a few days ago, I tried to recall and reconstruct a Christmas verse that I originally penned probably back in the late 1950s when I was about 8 years old or so. It is titled “Santa’s sleigh.” No copies of my original verse, which was only about ten lines long, have survived, but I vaguely recall some of it reading:
“...The bucket seats are very near
To fuzzy dice and rearview mirror
And the stick shift, over here,
And underneath there is a gear...”
Okay, pretty insipid stuff, even for an 8-year-old. And painfully embarrassing for the “adult me” to read. What’s worse, the rhyme scheme was just a tad monotonous: aaaaaaaaaa! But the first two lines (which begin: “Santa’s sleigh from front to rear...”) are not so bad. Indeed, I am actually somewhat proud of the second line.
And so, I resolved to rewrite a revised, 2017 version of “Santa’s sleigh,” but keeping its first two lines intact. It appears below. (The rhyme scheme, alas, is now even more monotonous: aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaa aaaa!)
My challenge to you Puzzlerians! is to dredge back up from my past the last two words of the second line. The fourth word is an adjective; the fifth is a noun that I believe I coined... unless someone beat me to the punch before I was born.Can you complete my second line?
Santa’s sleigh
Santa’s sleigh from front to rear
Is powered by _____ _________.
Its bucket seats are very near
To fuzzy dice and rearview mirror
And reins that Santa needs to steerHis cervine creatures who are dear
To Santa... they’re his landing gear
For rooftop runways. Have no fear,
Your “captain” Santa has no peer
In piloting through snows severe
And shifting winds that may appear
To buffet Santa’s sleigh (“Oh dear!”).
But whether weather’s harsh or clear
A handy stick shift, over here,
Helps Santa Claus get into gear,
Which is his wont this time of year,
Dispensing joy and Christmas cheerTo each and every hemisphere.
So spend some time to lend an ear...
On silent nights you’re apt to hear,
“My ho-ho-holidays are near,
So Happy Yuletide and New Year!”
Ponderable Pond Appetizer:
Squid pro coho
Name a somewhat controversial topic, in two words, that has lately been in the news. Replace the final six letters of this two-word phrase with an “s.”
The result, spoken aloud, sounds like what aficionados of fish and amphibians might wade into a pond or lake to do. 
Hint: If you place an “e” somewhere within the six letters you replaced with an “s,” you will form a word for a television genre that tends to be entertaining rather than informative (even though the word misleads you into believing that shows in this genre will be informative).What is the topic lately in the news? What might fish aficionados wade into a lake or pond to do?
MENU
“Conformt” And Joy Slice:
Santa is in the house!Name a part of a house. Its spelling does not conform with what a word in the title of a particular Christmas carol seems to stipulate when it is sung aloud.
Alter the house part to make it conform with the word in the carol, then spell the result backward to name a house part associated with Santa Claus. 
What are these two house parts? What is the title of the Christmas carol?Hint: the two house parts are antonyms of sorts.
Riffing Off Shortz And Fogarty Slices:
Contrivances of convenience
Will Shortz’s December 17th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Neville Fogarty, reads:
Think of a convenience introduced in the 19th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first three letters of the first word and the first letter of its second word, in order, to get a convenience introduced in the 21st century that serves a similar purpose. 
Their names are otherwise unrelated. What two conveniences are these?Puzzleria!’s Riffing Off Shortz And Fogarty Slices read:
ONE: Think of an edible sweet treat novelty introduced in the 20th century that is still around today, in two words that consist of its brand name and the type if edible it is.
Take the first two letters of the first word and the first three letters of its second word, in order, to get a name for a more nutritious and healthful edible that is roughly twice the size of the edible novelty. What are these edibles?
TWO:
Think of a vehicular convenience that became commercially available in the mid-20th century and which is still around today. Its name has two words. 
Take the first two letters of the first word and the first two letters of its second word, in order, to get a cylindrical support for a roadside sign, fence or lamp that a vehicle’s driver might pass by. The vehicular convenience, happily, helps the driver from crashing into such a support. What are this two-word convenience and roadside support?
THREE:Think of a colorful electric convenience/invention introduced in the 20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words.
Take the first three letters of the first word and the first letter of its second word and interchange the second and third letters of these four letters to get the name of a “colorful electric” holiday. What are this colorful convenience and holiday?
FOUR:Think of a convenience invented around the turn of the 19th/20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first two letters of the first word, in order, and the first two letters, but in reverse order, of its second word to name what this invention often produces when one uses it. What invention is this and what does it produce?
FIVE:Think of a scientific instrument invented in the early 20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first three letters of the first word and the first two letters of its second word, in order, to get the name of a company known for its advertising campaigns. What is this instrument? What company is this?
SIX:Think of a recreational pastime invented in the 20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. So does its inventor’s name.
Take the first two letters of the inventor’s first name and the first two letters of the inventor’s second name and rearrange them to form a word that could be clued by: 
“askew,” “lopsided,” “misaligned,” “cockeyed,” “crooked,” “leaning,” “haywire,”“oblique,” “askance,” “zigzag,” “catawampus” or “crosswise.” What is this pastime? Who is its inventor? What is the word clued by all the above words?
Dessert Menu
Mother And Child Communion Dessert:
Say the elves, “Help yourselves to our shelves!”
Joy owns a general store in a rural community, selling everything from soup to nuts to bolts to dry goods to wet vacs to notions to toys for girls and boys. At home, Joy has a girl and boy of her own – Jolie and Jay.
A two-word phrase that described Joy during the days leading up to Thanksgiving Day pertains to her store’s shelves.
A two-word phrase that describes Joy during the days leading up to Christmas Day pertains to a popular Christmas tradition that Jolie and Jay have been told is performed by Santa’s elves. The first words in both phrases have a suffix in common. The second words in both phrases also have a suffix in common. The two suffixed words in one 2-word phrase are the same as the two suffixed words in the other 2-word phrase, but in reverse order.
Phrase 1: Word 1 + Suffix 1, Word 2 + Suffix 2
Phrase 2: Word 2 + Suffix 1, Word 1 + Suffix 2
All suffixed words begin with the same letter. One word is also a rifle part. The other word, in a somewhat slangy sense, elicits “oohs and ahhs” on the basketball court and is also something with which an ace baseball pitcher is blessed.
Hint (and Extra Credit): The plural form of the two-word phrase that decribes Joy in the days leading up to Christmas Day also describes certain gifts Joy gives to Jolie and Jay.
The first of these certain gifts that Joy brought home from her store, and placed where Jay would find it Christmas morning, is pictured here. When Jay found it he gave his mother a kiss. What are the two two-word phrases that describe Joy on the days leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmans, respectively? Why did Jay give his mother a kiss?
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.
Got one of them. I may need to appoint a special investigator to find the rest.
ReplyDeleteI guess Müller's contribution didn't count.
DeleteMerry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward, Lego, to your Christmas video of you and Smitten!
And I, Word Woman, am looking forward to the Christmas video of you and Mazie the Wonder Dog over at your wondrous blog PEOTS!
DeleteLegoWhoIsNotEvenSufficientlySavvyToAccessTheChristmasVideoOverOnBlaine'sBlog!
Wait, YOU Word Woman? ;-) But, Lego, I catch your drift! We'll see what develops. . .
DeleteI, Lego, wish you, Word Woman, a Merry Christmas!
DeleteLegoWhoLikesANiceCornucopiaAtThanksgivingAndANice"Commacopia"AtChristmas
, , ,, ,,, ,,,,, ,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
DeleteMerry Christmas to you all, too!
WHAT VIDEO of Lego and Smitten? Is that a real thing? If so, where do we find it?
DeleteNo, VT, I was merely teasing Lego to put one up to keep up with the Joneses, er, Blaineses.
DeleteAt least so far. . .
Ah, WW, I rather thought of that possibility AFTER I had posted....but still, I was hoping....
DeleteIt has all already been said, but MERRY CHRISTMAS from me, as well, to you all, whatever your 'handle' might be! [Hee hee, ho ho]
ReplyDeleteGood thing I checked (refreshed page) because the above disappeared, once again. Sigh....
Okay, these puzzles are contributing to the delinquency of this puzzler, because I've been doing THEM (as usual) instead of all the crap I MUST get done before my older son and his fiancee show up for Xmas dinner on Monday. AARGH! M.u.s.t. R.i.p. S.e.l.f. A.w.a.y. F.r.o.m. C.o.m.p.u.t.e.r!!!
ReplyDeleteCompletely forgot to mention that I have AN answer for the first appetizer, even t hough I know it's NOT Lego's answer, but I like it and am going to quit. Can't get the second appetizer, and I spent a long time trying.
DeleteAs to the Riffs, managed to get lucky on #2, 5 and 6. #1, 3, and 4 have eluded....
Then there is AN answer for the Dessert, but I don't understand the Extra Credit part about the kiss AT ALL.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all!
ReplyDeleteI've been quite busy today. You should see the Private Eye crossword they have this week! Jumbo, jumbo, jumbo! Took me a few hours to solve all of it, had to stop for supper at some point, then I listened to Ask Me Another, then I finally got here. I believe I have one of the two words in the first Appetizer puzzle, but I also believe the other word(the adjective)could be anything. But I definitely solved the second Appetizer puzzle. As for the rest, the Menu puzzle is a little confusing. While I'm sure of both parts of a house, I can't figure out how one of them is connected to a title of a Christmas carol. Then I've figured out all of the Ripoffs except #2 and #4. And then I got the Dessert. I will of course expect hints and/or clarification for those I haven't solved yet. I probably won't get back to it until Monday evening, though. I figure everyone on this blog as well as Blaine's(and various other puzzle sites, for that matter)will be quite busy with all matters Christmas(or whatever other holidays may be celebrated by others here---can't leave anyone out, you know). Whatever anyone's celebrating these days, I say have a happy one!
OOh, I just finally solved Riff #1, too.....sure took a lot of list-searching, but the answer finally came to me [I don't eat the larger food, so it hadn't been in my thought process.] Now, if I could ONLY get #'s 3 and 4. Not to mention that Santa house part (I DO know one in a title, but can't make it turn into a solution.)
ReplyDeleteSelected Yuletide hints:
ReplyDeleteHHHA:
The adjective is a simple quantifier. The noun I believe I coined, if you are stumped on it, is a punny blend of a car part and what actually does power Santa's sleigh.
The word in the title of the particular Christmas carol seems to say that a certain letter of the alphabet is verboten, and thus it must be removed.
ROSAFS:
TWO:
Lego suggests working backward, figuring out what the cylindrical support is first, then figuring out what the convenience is.
Think of a vehicular convenience that became commercially available in the mid-20th century and which is still around today. Its name has two words. The convenience turned out to be a GeM of an innovation for a particular company.
FOUR:
The image that accompanies the puzzle is a hint. When you solve this one I predict you will sing like a bird.
What the invention produces is a "reconciliation" of a "physical" sort. It is a word that has a homophome (a verb) that, when spelled backward, is the last name of a DJ who recorded a novelty hit record.
LegoWondersIfSantaEverVacationsAtCApeCodAnd,IfSo,DoesHeEverTakeANantucketSleighride?
I just realized, having digested the hint re the housepart and carol, that I had completely MIS-understood the entire puzzle! I thought the house part had to be IN the title of the carol! Now with the hint making things clear, I finally solved it.
DeleteAnd I hadn't even SEEN the POND Appetizer...Where did that come from?
I've figured out how the Christmas carol is related to the house parts, but now I'm confused about the words in the poem. I have heard of a certain DJ whose name spelled backwards is something else, only I don't know what the convenience is. But I could probably look up the answer to #2, thanks to the great clue Lego included.
ReplyDeleteI can only think of one DJ who had a hit novelty record. I've been trying without success to reconcile it with the way the Federal government keeps borrowing money. I give up!
ReplyDeleteMea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!
ReplyDeleteI had some kind of Christmas Eve/Day brain warp while wrapping presents and writing the hint for ROSAFS #FOUR!
"What the invention produces is a 'reconciliation' of a 'physical' sort. It is a word that has a homophome (a verb) that, when spelled backward, is the last name of a DJ who recorded a novelty hit record."
That is just plain wrong! While the invention does indeed produce a 'reconciliation' of a 'physical' sort, it is NOT a word that has a homophome (a verb) that, when spelled backward, is the last name of a DJ who recorded a novelty hit record." The word "CEDE" (a verb which has the opposite meaning of the noun I am looking for) has a homophone (SEED, a noun) that, when spelled backward, is the last name of a DJ who recorded a novelty hit record! But I think you all probably already knew that.
So, attempt #2 for a hint for ROSAFS # 4:
What the invention produces is a word that has a homophome (a verb) that, when its letters are rearranged, is the first name of a title character in a J.D. Salinger short story.
Lego...WithEggySqualorOnHisFace
I believe I solved #4 also, now, thanks to the Salinger hint...and working backwards (natch)...however, the invention in question appears, from research I found anyway, to have been invented well BEFORE the turn of the century mentioned in puzzle. Thus, that is my only concern at this point, re my answer.
DeleteAs long as pjb is still requesting hints, might I do so, too please, for Riff #3? I'm getting nowhere on that one, even though I thought I'd come up with a reasonable invention, I simply can't fathom what a 'colorful electric holiday' is (in four letters.) Thanks, Lego....and don't worry about having screwed it up!!! Hee heee
VT,
DeleteDon't worry about the exact invention dates, ViolinTeddy. I will wager you have my intended answer. In composing these riff-offs I have come to the conclusion that most "conveniences" are not invented in a "Eureka instant," but rather over time... years, decades, even centuries!
See my post below for a #THREE Riff hint.
LegoWhoIsDiscoDuckingResponsibilityForAllHisScrewUps
Okay, I solved #4. Now could you maybe provide some other hints for the poem and #2? BTW we've had a Merry Christmas despite both of us failing to follow the "simple" directions to get started with my new Google Home Mini. If I seem a little angry, I've had to try to show my mom what to do, to no avail.
ReplyDeleteYuletide Is Now Ebbing hints:
ReplyDeleteHHHA:
The adjective has a homophone that is a past-tense verb.
The basis for the noun I believe I coined is an engine part that might be mentioned in a geometry class.
ROSAFS:
TWO:
The 4-letter noun for the cylindrical support is also a verb for what Puzzlerians! do to make a comment appear on this space.
The invention makes parallel parking a breeze!
THREE:
For the four-letter “colorful electric” holiday, concentrate on the "colorful." When I think of a "colorful" holiday I think of this one above all others... although I don't necessarily associate the convenience/invention with the holiday. Although lately electically generated color seems to be more and more a part of this holiday's tradition... as is evident by just driving around your neighborhood after hours.
LegoWhoPrefersPerpendicularToParallelParking
APPETIZER HO HO: NUCLEAR SLED-DEER? [Your answer?: EIGHT DRIVETRAIN-DEER? Although the 'geometry class mention' hint has me completely stumped.]
ReplyDeleteAPPETIZER POND: NET NEUTRALITY => NET NEUTS [NET NEWTS] ; REALITY TV [Solved backwards, from this term]
MENU COMFORMT AND JOY: FLOOR => remove the "L" => ROOF
RIFFS:
1. PEZ CANDY => PECAN
2. POWER STEERING => POST [Pre-hint]
3. XAM STANDARD [never heard of this, tho] => XMAS [This is the ONLY thing I could desperately come up with]
4. "ESME" => SEEM => SEAM => produced by a SEWING MACHINE
5. GEIGER COUNTER => GEICO
6. CROSSWORD PUZZLES => ARTHUR WYNNE => AWRY
DESSERT: STOCKING STUFFING => STUFFING STOCKING[S]
8 cylindeer
ReplyDeleteNET NEUTRALITY > NET NEUTS(net newts){ReALITY}
FLOOR > ROOF {no L}
PEz CANdy
POwer STeering
NEOn Lights > NOEL {this took me until about 6:30 this morning - I went through HOLI, D-DAY, XMAS, YULE...}
SEwing MAchine > SEAM
GEIger COunter
CROSSWORD PUZZLE / ARthur WYnne > AWRY
STUFFING STOCKER / STOCKING STUFFER
Appetizer
ReplyDelete1. EIGHT CYLINDEER(?)
2. NET NEUTRALITY, NET NEWTS, REALITY
Menu
FLOOR, ROOF, THE FIRST NOEL(no L)
Ripoffs
1. PEz CANdy, PECAN
2. POwer STeerihg, POST
3. NEOn Light, NOEL
4. SEwing MAchine, SEAM
5. GEIger COunter, GEICO
6. CROSSWORD PUZZLES, ARthur WYnne, AWRY
Dessert
STUFFING STOCKER, STOCKING STUFFER
Happy 75th to my mom tomorrow!-pjb
This weeks's answers for the record, Part 1:
ReplyDeleteAppetizer Menu
Ho-Ho-Holiday Appetizer:
What powers Santa’s sleigh?
Just a few days ago, I tried to recall and reconstruct a Christmas verse that I originally penned probably back in the late 1950s when I was about 8 years old or so. It is titled “Santa’s sleigh.” No copies of my original verse have survived.
And so, I resolved to rewrite a revised, 2017 version of “Santa’s sleigh. It appears below.
My challenge to you Puzzlerians! is to dredge back up from my past the last two words of the second line. The fourth word is an adjective; the fifth is a noun that I believe I coined... unless someone beat me to the punch before I was born.
Can you complete my second line?
Santa’s sleigh
Santa’s sleigh from front to rear
Is powered by _____ _________.
Its bucket seats are very near
To fuzzy dice and rearview mirror
And reins that Santa needs to steer
His cervine creatures who are dear
To Santa... they’re his landing gear
For rooftop runways. Have no fear,
Your “captain” Santa has no peer
In piloting through snows severe
And shifting winds that may appear
To buffet Santa’s sleigh (“Oh dear!”).
But whether weather’s harsh or clear
A handy stick shift, over here,
Helps Santa Claus get into gear,
Which is his wont this time of year,
Dispensing joy and Christmas cheer
To each and every hemisphere.
So spend some time to lend an ear...
On silent nights you’re apt to hear,
“My ho-ho-holidays are near,
Happy Yuletide and New Year!”
Answer:
"...eight cylindeer."
Ponderable Pond Appetizer:
Squid pro coho
Name a somewhat controversial topic, in two words, that has lately been in the news. Replace the final six letters of this two-word phrase with an “s.” The result, spoken aloud, sounds like what aficionados of fish and amphibians might wade into a pond or lake to do.
Hint: If you place an “e” somewhere within the six letters you replaced with an “s,” you will form a word for a television genre that tends to be entertaining rather than informative.
What is the topic lately in the news? What might fish aficionados wade into a lake or pond to do?
Answer:
Net neutrality; Net newts
Hint: ...rality + e = Reality (TV)
Lego...
This weeks's answers for the record, Part 2:
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“Conformt” And Joy Slice:
Santa is in the house!
Name a part of a house. Its spelling does not conform with what a word in the title of a particular Christmas carol seems to stipulate when it is sung aloud.
Alter the house part to make it conform with the word in the carol, then spell the result backward to name a house part associated with Santa Claus.
What are these two house parts? What is the title of the Christmas carol?
Hint: the two house parts are antonyms of sorts.
Answer:
Floor; roof; "The First Noel" ("No L")
Riffing Off Shortz And Fogarty Slices:
Contrivances of convenience
ONE:
Think of an edible sweet treat introduced in the 20th century that is still around today, in two words consisting of its brand name and the type if edible it is. Take the first two letters of the first word and the first three letters of its second word, in order, to get a name for a more nutritious and healthful edible that is roughly the same size as the edible novelty. What are these edibles?
Answer:
PEZ candy; pecan
TWO:
Think of a vehicular convenience that became commercially available in the mid-20th century and which is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first two letters of the first word and the first two letters of its second word, in order, to get a cylindrical support for a roadside sign, fence or lamp that a vehicle driver might pass by. The vehicular convenience, happily, helps the driver from crashing into such a support. What are this two-word convenience and roadside support?
Answer:
Power steering; post (such as a signpost, fence post or lamp post)
THREE:
Think of a colorful electric convenience/invention introduced in the 20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first three letters of the first word and the first letter of its second word and interchange the second and third letters to get the name of a “colorful electric” holiday.
What are this colorful convenience and holiday?
Answer:
Neon lamp (or light); Noel
Lego...
Riffing Off Shortz And Fogarty Slices:
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(continued)
FOUR:
Think of a convenience invented around the turn of the 19th/20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first two letters of the first word, in order, and the first two letters of its second word, in reverse order, to name what this invention often produces when one uses it. What invention is this and what does it produce?
Answer:
Sewing machine; seam
(The image is a photograph of poet SEAMus Heaney as a boy.)
FIVE:
Think of an instrument invented in the early 20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. Take the first three letters of the first word and the first two letters of its second word, in order, to get the name of a company known for its advertising campaigns. What is this instrument? What company is this?
Answer:
Geiger counter; Geico (insurance company)
(The image illustrated to concept of COUNTERclockwise.)
SIX:
Think of a recreational pastime invented in the 20th century that is still around today. Its name has two words. So does its inventor’s name. Take the first two letters of the inventor’s first name and the first two letters of the inventor’s second name and rearrange them to form a word that could be clued by: “askew,” “lopsided,” “misaligned,” “cockeyed,” “crooked,” “leaning,” “haywire,”“oblique,” “askance,” “zigzag,” “catawampus” or “crosswise.”
What is this pastime? Who is its inventor? What is the word clued by all the above words?
Answer:
Crossword puzzle; Arthur Wynne; Awr
Lego...
This weeks's answers for the record, Part 4:
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Mother And Child Communion Dessert:
Say the elves, “Help yourselves to our shelves!”
Joy owns a general store in a rural community, selling everything from soup to nuts to bolts to dry goods to wet vacs to notions to toys for girls and boys. At home, Joy has a girl and boy of her own – Jolie and Jay.
A two-word phrase that described Joy during the days leading up to Thanksgiving Day pertained to her store’s shelves.
A two-word phrase that describes Joy during the days leading up to Christmas Day pertains to a popular Christmas tradition that Jolie and Jay have been told is performed by Santa’s elves.
The first words in both phrases end with a common suffix. The second words in both phrases also end with a suffix that is the same. The two suffixed words in the one phrase are the same two suffixed words in the second phrase, only interchanged. All suffixed words begin with the same letter. One word is also a rifle part. The other word, in a somewhat slangy sense, elicits “oohs and ahhs” on the basketball court and is also something with which an ace baseball pitcher is blessed.
Hint (and Extra Credit): The plural form of the two-word phrase that decribes Joy in the days leading up to Christmas Day also describes certain gifts Joy gives to Jolie and Jay. The first of these certain gifts that Joy brought home from her store, and placed where Jay would find it Christmas morning, is pictured here. When Jay found it he gave his mother a kiss.
What are the two two-word phrases that describe Joy on the days leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmans, respectively? Why did Jay give his mother a kiss?
Answer:
Stuffing stocker; Stocking stuffer
Hint (and Extra Credit):
Jay kissed Joy because the first "stocking-stuffer" gift she placed in his Christmas stocking was a toy missile. It was lodged in the stocking’s toe... so it was a missile in the toe (“mistletoe”). Hence, the kiss.
Lego...
He apparently also knew that the one responsible for stuffing his stocking was not Santa or an elf, but none other than the STOCKER of shelves at his mother's store, who knew her son loved ROCKETS.
DeleteTouche, Paul. I say that "Jay kissed Joy," but we all know how this really works. Little boy pulls a missle-launcher and missile from the toe of his stocking. Mother sidles up beside him on the sofa. Puts her head/face next to his, pretending to inspect and admire the toy WMD. Little boy gets it. He is about 5 or 6 years old, below the age of reason, but he is precocious. He gets the picture: elves and Santa are about as real as the square root of a negative one! So, when his mom brushes her cheek up against his lips, he does what he has to do -- Smoocheroo!
DeleteI don't know about you, Paul, but when I was a lad I didn't let on that I knew Santa was a sham until I was about 10 or so... didn't want the toy pipeline to dry up. So I faked it for as long as I could.
Greedy kid, me.
LegoWhoWillWorkForFoodBarterForBoardKissUpForToys
As undoubtedly the only MOM in this discussion, I would like to assert that I NEVER sidled up for a gift-kiss that wasn't freely offered! [I.e. no desperate 'hinting.']
DeleteAs for Santa, I was five when a fellow k-gartner let the cat out of the bag, and I then BUGGED my mother mercilessly to TELL ME THE TRUTH, and frankly, was distinctly miffed at having been lied to. Thus, I NEVER perpetrated said myth upon my own two sons, considering it unethical to do so.