Friday, January 26, 2018

Planes, trains and... hay wains; “Glenderella” story ends unhappily; Drawing Goofy districts; One-stop shopping, open for baseness

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER (1098 + 76) SERVED


Welcome to our January 26th edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! 
Our puzzles this week include a TRIO ⇓⇓⇓ of Riffing-Off-Shortz-Slices;
ONE ⇓ “filet-of-insole” Appetizer;
ONE ⇓ “one-stop-shopping” Slice; and
ONE ⇓ “Goofy” Dessert that is just “Ducky.”


So, have a lot of fun. And TGIF: Think Good, It’s Friday. 



Appetizer Menu

Ugly Stepbrother Appetizer:
“Glenderella” story ends unhappily

“If the shoe fits wear it,” they say. “Shoe shopping? It’s a cinch!” Glen, my pal, said. So he walked three miles to his neighborhood strip mall where he bought a pair of gel insole Earth Shoes – ones that were two sizes too small and one inch too short – and limped home!
This paragragh is about feet, but it is also about three other unmentioned body parts, hidden in the sentence, that share a distinction that feet do not share. 
But beware! There are more than three other “red herring” body parts also hidden within the paragraph that do not share the distinction.
What are these three body parts and what distinction do they share?
Hint: Also within the paragraph are hidden (in the same manner in which the body parts are hidden) three verbs which are clues to what it is that makes these three body parts distinctive.


MENU

Product Placement Slice:
One-stop shopping, open for baseness

Name a trio of products (not brand names) that you can often purchase with just one shopping stop. 
Interchange the beginning consonants of two products and alter slightly how you pronounce the beginning of the third, forming what sounds like three verbs for a trio of base and boorish behaviors that may eventually arise after the products are opened. 
What are these products, and what are these verbs?

Riffing Off Shortz And Arnold Slices:
Planes, trains and... hay wains


Will Shortz’s January 21st NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Tom Arnold, reads:


Take the name of a conveyance in seven letters. Drop the middle letter, and the remaining letters can be rearranged to name the place where such a conveyance is often used. What is it?

Puzzleria!’s Riffing Off Shortz And Arnold Slices read:
ONE:
Take the name of a relatively recent conveyance, a compound word. Its letters can be rearranged to name much more spacious conveyances from the past and what users of such conveyances did while using them. What are these conveyances? What did users of the past conveyances do as they used them?


TWO:
Name a conveyance, in two words. Replace the second word with a word that rhymes with it to form a two-word phrase for what a wrestler experiences during rigorous workouts. 
Rearrange the letters of this new second word to form a two-word phrase describing what a wrestler does during workouts. (This phrase consistes of a noun and verb beginning with an F and T, with the F-word being a synonym for “wrestler.”)
Finally, rearrange the letters of the first word to form a two-word conveyance.
What are the two 2-word conveyances? What are the two 2-word phrases

THREE:
Write captions for the five numbered images (1. through 5.) pictured here in the general vicinity of this text. 
Each caption sounds, more or less, like the name of a conveyance. 
What are these five captions and five conveyances?


Dessert Menu

Gerrymeandering Dessert:
Drawing Goofy districts


(Note: This Dessert is not so much a “puzzle” as it is a “goofy” riddle.)
Pennsylvania is the home of perhaps some of the most egregious examples of modern-day gerrymandering. In particular, the border of state’s Seventh Congressional District “gerrymeanders” in a quite “Goofy” manner... literally! (The silhouette of the district, some say, resembles Disney characters: Goofy kicking Donald Duck in the tail feathers.
(Warning: Fake News Ahead!)
A proposed redrawing, however, of the easternmost congressional district in Oregon State (adding a sixth district to the existing five) may be even more egregious than Pennsylvania’s goofy gerrymandering. The border of the proposed new Oregon Congressional District 6 (in bright crimson, in the map below) seems to outline the shape of a critter long associated with the state.
Oregonians, however, are not using the word gerrymandering to describe this new border. They don’t say this new border “gerrymanders” – rather, they say it ____________. 
What is the word Oregon residents have coined that belongs in that blank? Here is a hint: The new word is exactly the same as “gerrymanders” except that three of the twelve letters have changed.


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. Greetings, as I head to bed once more, being tempted by the puzzles.

    I just figured out the Menu Slice (the three products) and got a good chuckle out of it!! Another clever one!

    Also, believe I have the three Appetizer body parts [plus others] and where they are located, but am stumped about the verbs that are supposed to be a clue to them.

    Fading fast.....zzzzzzzzzz.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sweet dreamzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, VT.

      LegoSandman

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    2. Thanks, I appreciate it, Lego.

      However, I haven't managed to pull myself away yet! Shame on me!
      Have just solved the second Riff [it was driving me nuts, because I got the end part fairly fast, and was then becoming all confused as to how to go backwards.]

      Riff #1 has thus far eluded me, but I DID come up with 'an answer' for the Dessert. Possibly it's not YOUR answer, but I like it. And I love that red beaver in the middle of my state!

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

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well!

    For the shoe story, I've found:
    4 "distinctive" body parts
    4 parts lacking the distinction
    2 verbs
    ...and that's 9 words in all ... go figure!

    I've gone through the paragraph several times now, and I wonder if perhaps the third verb is misspelled. I hasten to add, lest I be considered a priggish goody two-shoes, that it would be the same sort of spelling anomaly that threatened to trip me up in this past week's NPR puzzle (over at Blaine's).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul,
      Gondola? Lagoon?
      In my intended shoe answer, all three verbs are hidden in the paragraph's second sentence and at the beginning of the paragraph's third sentence. One of the verbs is a participle, as is the word "solving" in the sentence "Paul is solving my puzzles." One of the verbs is hidden "within" two consecutive words in the paragraph.
      I suspect, Paul, that my "distinction may differ from your "distinction." And, there's nothing wrong with that.

      LegoWhoIsAFriendOfDistinction

      Delete
    2. I wonder if Arlene Golonka eats granola for breakfast? That's a lie; I don't really care.
      The mistake I made while solving the NPR puzzle had me trying to justify Angola as a place to use a gondola. A similar misreading of a word between the two dashes in the last sentence of the paragraph can lead to a verb which works almost as well as the participle which is the intended answer.
      We have the same distinction.
      "I can dig it, he can dig it, she can dig it,
      We can dig it, they can dig it, you can dig it."

      Delete
    3. I had FIST, DIMPLE, LAP, and SMILE as distinctive body parts; LEG, CHIN, EARTH, and NOSE as plain old body parts; and SIT and SMILE as the verbs, with SEIZE as a prospective third verb. After the hint, however, I decided to relieve SMILE of its noun duties and include CLENCHING as one of the verbs.
      Note that PRIG is an anagram of GRIP.

      Delete
    4. Thanks for the wonderful Benny/Carson clip, Paul. Two of the best.
      I cannot fault you for including SMILE as a body part. If DIMPLE is a body part, why not SMILE? I suspected that what you initially came up with might occur.

      LegoWhoNotesThatGolfBallsHaveDimplesNoMatterWhetherYouMishitThemWithTheBaseOfYourThreeIronAndPutGashesInThemThatSomeGolfersCall"Smiles"

      Delete
  4. Greetings and Happy Friday everyone! Out of curiosity late last night, I checked to see if you had the new Puzzleria! up and running, and sure enough there it was! I already have the Appetizer, Riff-Off #2, and the Dessert(although if I am correct about it, it's not the best joke I've ever heard), but the puzzles are quite tough this week! I'll definitely need hints for the others! Hope I'm not giving anything away here right from the start, but the other solvers must know it is necessary that the guy's name is Glen. Trust me. I wasn't sure why, but I figured it out eventually. So far so good!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tuesday Hints:
    USA:
    I had to grin the other night while attending a boxing match at which a phalanx of cheerleaders did the old "Lean to the left, lean to the right... Stand up, Sit down, Fight Fight Fight!" cheer.
    PPS:
    Squabble, ogle, gripe
    ROSAAS:
    ONE:
    When I was a kid we used to make these "relatively recent conveyances" using footwaer you had to tighten with keys.
    TWO:
    Contrary to its title, there are no hay wains in this particular ROSAAS puzzle slice.
    THREE:
    1. Fog
    BY CARL SANDBURG
    The fog comes
    on wee cat feet.
    It sits looking
    over harbor and city
    on silent haunches
    and then moves on.
    (The hint is in the mistranscription.)
    2. This one is a cinch for a semiregular contributor to Puzzleria!
    3. Ignore the "Lorna," dudes!
    4. Low altitude, dudes!
    5. A deja vu answer, albeit singular not plural
    GD:
    There are few critters as busy... as the Beaver.

    LegoWritesPoeticallyThat"TheVelvetFogComesInOnTheDownbeat"

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, I've got Riff-Off #3 now(I think), and it turns out the term in the Dessert is a little different from what I had originally come up with. The answer I have now is certainly more well-known than what I had before.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ROSAS ONE is apparently a skateboard and people historically boated on arks.
    The guy in picture 1 is obviously BORED, but I don't know who he is. Number 3 signifies a DUNE BUGGY. Picture 5 is some kind of TRAIN.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Once again, I'm sorry to be SO late with this. I have NOT looked at any answers above:

    APPETIZER: Only One of each: HEART (Earth); NOSE (ones) ; CHIN (inch); SMILE? (miles)
    Two of each, just like FEET: FIST (fits); LEG (gel); DIMPLE (limped) ; EAR (from 'wear')
    Many, potentially: LESION (insole); TOOTH (from 'too short')
    Verbs: HOPPING? SIT? HOSE?

    MENU SLICE: BEER, LIQUOR, and WINE => LEER , BICKER, and WHINE [PRE HINT]

    RIFF OFFS:

    1. Made with roller skates? : RACEKART => ARK and CRATE (as in, crate the animals) [This is ALL I could come up with, despite racking brain]

    2. FIGHTER PLANE => FIGHTER STRAIN => FIGHTER TRAINS => FREIGHT TRAINS [I don't even UNDERSTAND the hint]

    3. Picture One: SERF? BORED => SURFBOARD? [I don't understand this hint either: WEE vs LITTLE]
    Picture Two: PARIS SHOOT => PARACHUTE [This took forever, only got it after hours of contemplating the hint.]
    Picture Three: DOONE BUGGY => DUNE BUGGY [Finally!] [ PRE HINT!]
    Picture Four: CROP DUSTER [Also PRE HINT!]
    Picture Five: FRAYED TRAIN => FREIGHT TRAIN


    DESSERT: JERRYMATHERS, per your Tuesday hint; But how about BERNYSANDERS?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Berniesanders" is a solid alternative answer, VT.

      LegoWhoSaysWeShouldLetBarrySandersTraceCongressionalDistrictBoundariesWithHisFeet!

      Delete
    2. I thought it was Bennymanders because Benny Beaver is the OSU mascot -- hence the Jack Benny reference.

      Delete
    3. "Bennymanders" is also a very solid alternative answer, Paul... and I learned something I did not know.

      LegoWhoWondersIfBennyBeaverPlaysTheViolin

      Delete
    4. Not that I know of, Lego!!!! And I don't think I'll suggest it to him, either! [Of course, I've never actually GONE to an OSU football game, thought I've been in the stadium three times: twice for sons' graduations, and once when MICHELLE OBAMA came to speak for another graduation. I was lucky to get a ticket (they were free.)]

      Delete
  9. Appetizer
    The paragraph contains all of the body parts and verbs as anagrams of other words: CLENCHING(cinch, Glen), FIST(fits); SIT(it's), LAP(pal); SMILE(miles), DIMPLE(limped). All three body parts are not there all of the time. Only CLENCHING one's hand makes a FIST. A LAP forms only when you SIT. A SMILE only produces a DIMPLE(two, actually).
    The "red herrings" were LEG(gel), HEART(Earth), CHIN(inch), NOSE(ones), and SHIN(his+the N in neighborhood).
    Riff-Offs
    2. FIGHTER PLANE, FIGHTER STRAIN, FREIGHT TRAINS
    3. Pt. 1 SURFBOARD(serf bored)
    Pt. 2 PARACHUTE(Paris shoot)
    Pt. 3 DUNE BUGGY (Doone buggy)
    Pt. 4 CROPDUSTER(crop, duster)
    Pt. 5 FREIGHT(?)TRAIN(freight?, train)
    Dessert
    JERRYMATHERS(Jerry Mathers)instead of gerrymanders(Jerry Mathers played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver on "Leave It To Beaver".)My original answer was GERRYBADGERS, because I had found a semi-famous photographer/author named Gerry Badger, but after I read Lego's last hint I realized my answer was much too obscure. Plus, it said nothing about Mr. Badger being from Oregon.
    Had a dental appointment this afternoon. Used the nitrous oxide, even though it was only a checkup. I highly recommend it. It's a great feeling!-pjb

    ReplyDelete
  10. This week's answers for the record, Part 1:
    Appetizer Menu

    Ugly Stepbrother Appetizer:
    “Glenderella” story ends unhappily
    “If the shoe fits wear it,” they say. “Shoe shopping? It’s a cinch!” Glen, my pal, said. So he walked three miles to his neighborhood strip mall, bought a pair of gel insole Earth Shoes – ones that were two sizes too small and one inch too short – and limped home!
    This paragragh is about feet, but it is also about three other unmentioned body parts, hidden in the sentence, that share a distinction that feet do not share. But beware! There are other “red herring” body parts hidden within the paragraph that do not share the distinction.
    What are these three body parts and what distinction do they share?
    Hint: Also within the paragraph are hidden (in the same way the body parts are hidden) three verbs which are clues to what make these three body parts distinctive.
    Answer:
    The letters in "pal," "limped" and "fits" can be rearranged to form "lap," "dimple" and "fist," three body parts that "come and go" depending on posture, facial expression and hand-clenching.
    a lap (pal) is formed when you sit (it's).
    a dimple (limped) is formed when you smile (miles).
    a fist (fits) is formed by clenching (cinch Glen) your hand.
    Other "hidden" body parts that do not share the distinction:
    leg (gel); heart (Earth); nose (ones); chin (inch)


    Product Placement Slice:
    One-stop shopping, open for activity
    Name a trio of products, not brand names, that you can often purchase with just one shopping stop. Interchange the beginning consonants of two products and alter slightly how you pronounce the beginning of the third, forming what sounds like three verbs for activity that may arise after the products are opened. What are these products, and what are these verbs?
    Answer:
    liquor, beer, wine;
    bicker, leer, whine

    Lego...

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

    Riffing Off Shortz And Arnold Slices:
    Planes, trains and... hay wains
    ONE:
    Take the name of a relatively recent conveyance, a compound word. Its letters can be rearranged to name a much more spacious conveyance from the past and what users of that conveyance did. What are these conveyances? What did users of the past conveyance do?
    Answer:
    skateboard; arks; boated
    TWO:
    Name a conveyance, in two words. Replace the second word with a word that rhymes with it to form a two-word phrase for what a wrestler experiences during rigorous workouts. Rearrange the letters of this new second word to form a two-word phrase (a noun and verb beginning with an F and T) describing what a wrestler does during workouts. Finally, rearrange the letters of the first word to form a two-word conveyance.
    What are the two 2-word conveyances? What are the two 2-word phrases
    fighter plane;
    fighter strain;
    fighter trains;
    freight trains;
    THREE:
    Write captions for the five images pictured here. Each caption sounds, more or less, like the name of a conveyance. What are these five captions and five conveyances?
    Answer:
    1. Serf bored (surfboard)
    2. Paris shoot (parachute)
    3. Doone buggy (dune buggy)
    4. Crop duster (crop duster)
    5. Frayed train (freight train)

    Dessert Menu
    Gerrymeandering Dessert:
    Drawing Goofy districts
    (Note: This Dessert is not so much a “puzzle” as it is a “goofy” riddle.)
    Pennsylvania is the home of perhaps some of the most egregious examples of modern-day gerrymandering. In particular, the border of state’s Seventh Congressional District “gerrymeanders” in a quite “Goofy” manner... literally! (The silhouette of the district, some say, resembles Disney charaters Goofy kicking Donald Duck in the tailfeathers.
    (Warning: Fake News Ahead!)
    A proposed redrawing, however, of the westernmost congressional district in Oregon State (adding a sixth district to the existing five) may be even more egregious (see diagram) than Pennsylvania’s goofy gerrymandering. The border of the proposed new Oregon Congressional District 6 (in red) seems to outline the shape of a critter long associated with the state.
    Oregonians, however, are not using the word gerrymandering to describe this new border. They don’t say this new border “gerrymanders” – rather, they say it ____________.
    What is the word Oregon residents have coined that belongs in that blank? Here is a hint: The new word is the same as “gerrymanders” except that three of the letters have changed.
    Answer:
    "jerrymathers" (Jerry Mathers played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver on TV's "Leave It to Beaver" sitcom.


    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh it WAS "SERF BOARD"!! Hurrah. For days, I thoguht that was a pic of a 'trapper' or a 'mountain man' and, like Paul, simply couldn't figure out how to turn either of those into an answer.

      Delete
    2. So would you please explain for me, Lego, the RIff Off #3's FIRST hint, about the LITTLE cat feet, vs the answer, "surfboard"?

      I also never understood what 'hay wains' had to do with Freight Trains, etc. Thanks...

      Delete
    3. Good points, VT, and good questions.
      In my hint, I changed "The fog comes on LITTLE cat feet" to "The fog comes on WEE cat feet." "On little" sounds like no word I know, but "on wee" sounds like "ennui," or boredom. But it sounds like you needed a hint for the serf/surf part rather than the bored/board part.
      'Hay wains' have little to do with Freight Trains and Fighter Planes, except that they are all modes of transport and, more important to me, all rhyme.

      LegoAdmitsHisSerfImageDoesIndeedResembleATrapper/MountainMan

      Delete
    4. I knew you had substituted 'wee' for 'little', but it still made no sense. Indeed, yes, we ALL needed the 'serf' hint, rather than the boredom hint (see Paul's comment above.) Of course, I've never even SEEN a 'photo' of a serf. That tech'y was a bit before their time!! Hee hee

      Hay wains is a mode of transport? Is it a hay ride? I never looked it up...I DID notice that it rhymed, however....but one wouldn't know that if one didn't already have the answer!

      Off to chorale rehearsal I go....thanks, Lego

      Delete