Friday, July 26, 2019

Easy money or hard cash? Perplexing googolplex complexity; “I’m a darn fuel for a really fine ride!” Babes in Toddyland; Music of our sphere, and other Gotchas!

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 8!/21 SERVED

Schpuzzle Of The Week:
“I’m a darn fuel for a really fine ride!”

The first two syllables in the title of a well-known novel sound like the ride used by one of its main characters. 
The third syllable sounds like fuel for this ride. Further fuel is formed by removing the first letter from the name of the ride. 
What is the title of this novel?
What is the ride used by one of the main characters? 
What are the two fuels for this ride?


Appetizer Menu

Typewritten Dinnertime Appetizer:
Music of our sphere, and other Gotchas!

Is NJ unique?
1. The central business district of Trenton, NJ is unique among all state capitals. How?
Bonus:  What changed in 1969/70 to make Trenton lose its uniqueness in a broader sense?

My typewriter’s broke
2. The names of which two state capitals can be typed using the smallest number of typewriter keys? How many?
Which state capital requires the largest number of typewriter keys to type its name? How many?

Gotcha!
3. What is a one-word descriptor that applies to all of these locations?
Newfoundland
Oregon
Nevada
Boise
Newark, Newark, and Newark (NJ, DE, and OH)
Lancaster, PA
Sequim, WA
Pierre, SD
Houston St (NYC)
the 101 and the 405 (southern CA)
Schiphol (Amsterdam airport)

What’s for dinner?
4. A Mid-Atlantic state has a signature dish that can be written as one or two words. If written as one word, what unusual property does this word have, that is shared by only a few other English words?

Looking out the window
5. An automobile trip in December 1970 from Washington, DC to the Rockville, MD chapter of the Izaak Walton League led to the writing of an iconic American song, which today is arguably more popular outside the USA than domestically. What is the song? What is the connection to this trip?

Geographical music
6. Replace a country’s first or last letter to name two musical instruments. Both instruments are associated with an island nation. The original country’s initial letter and both replacement letters appear in the name of the island nation. What are the musical instruments and the island nation?


MENU

Googolplex Paradox Slice:
Perplexing googolplex complexity

Everyone knows the value of “googol” is less than “infinity.” 
The value of “googolplex,” however, is greater than that of “infinity.” 
Explain how this can be?

Riffing Off Shortz And Baggish Slices:
Easy money or hard cash?

Will Shortz’s July 21st NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Steve Baggish of Arlington, Massachusets, reads: 
Think of a common two-word phrase, in nine letters, naming something that makes it easy to get money. Rearrange its letters to spell another common two-word phrase naming something that makes it hard to get money. What phrases are these?
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz Slices and Baggish Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Warning to Puzzlerian!s: The puzzle below may induce feelings of deja vu.
Think of a common two-word term, in nine letters, naming something that makes it easy to get money... but only if you have a hammer
Rearrange its letters to spell two adjectives that describe the pants pictured in this image. 
What are these adjectives, and what is this two-word term?
ENTREE #2:
Take the combined letters from a continent, a chemical element on the periodic table, and an entree on a breakfast menu. 
Rearrange these 22 letters to spell a common three-word phrase naming something that makes it easy to get money.
What are this three-word phrase and this continent, element and breakfast entree?

ENTREE #3:
Think of a six-letter adjective a presidential nominee used to describe his vision for America. The nominee added that this vision included “caring about troubled children,” with programs and initiatives that would presumably require the government to find money to fund them.  
Rearrange the letters of the six-letter adjective to spell a colorful two-word phrase indicating “lack of funds” which is what many in Congress feared might ensue if the nominee’s vision was realized. What are this adjective and phrase? 
ENTREE #4:
Think of a certain two-word object, in 12 letters, naming something that makes it easy to get money (and which might open doors for you). 
Rearrange its letters to spell a two-word phrase naming what people in the market for a $25,000-range midsize sedan might do after their purchase.  
What is the two-word object? What might people in the market for a $25,000-range midsize sedan do post-purchase? 
ENTREE #5:
Think of a five-letter noun for people who are very wealthy, as opposed to the people who are very poor. Think of a seven-letter adjective describing the size of the bank accounts of such wealthy people, relative to money possessed by those less financially fortunate. 
Rearrange the combined letters of these two words to spell the first and last name of a puzzle-maker.
What are the two words? 
Who is the puzzle-maker?

Dessert Menu

Babies Bibbing Booze From Bottles:
Babes in Toddyland

Name the sound a certain vehicle makes, if you ask a toddler. 
“Pour out” some bad booze from within. What remains is a sound a contented baby may make. 
What sounds are these?

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.


45 comments:

  1. Okie dokey, would have an answer for the Schpuzzle EXCEPT that to make the 'second fuel', I need to use the fourth syllable of the title, NOT the name of the ride with its first letter removed. Do I have the completely wrong novel?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sounds to me, VT, as if you may have discovered a beautiful alternative solution.
      In my intended answer, the fourth syllable of the the novel title is either:
      1. simply a consonant-less vowel sound, or
      2. a possible liquid fuel for the ride (although this second fuel would be a "stretch" because it uses as its initial consonant the final consonant of the first fuel).

      LegoFuelMeOnceShameOn...ShameOnYouFuelMe...YouCan'tGetFueledAgain!

      Delete
    2. I suspect you've got the correct novel- there's some trickery in the wording of the puzzle.

      Delete
    3. "Trickery" you say, Megatart Stratagem? Trickery? Yeah, that's the ticket!
      Love it!

      LegoObservesThatOneMan's"Trickery"MayBeAnotherMan's"LackOfClarity"

      Delete
    4. I believe that ViolinTeddy, Megatart and Lego are each correct, each in her/his own way.

      Delete
    5. Lego, I think you deserve the benefit of the doubt.

      I have a few qualms about the delineation of the third syllable of the novel- I'd identify and pronounce the third syllable as a word that could conceivably be used in the production of the intended fuel. But syllables aren't necessarily my forte.

      Delete
    6. "...ay, there's the rub..."

      Delete
    7. Hmm, the above comments are all MOST interesting. As much as I would like Mega's first post to be TRUE, I can't make anything work with Lego's answer to my above post, about the fourth syllable producing a liquid fuel etc etc, although his #1 sentence up there I would agree with (consonant-less vowel sound.) When I turned that last syllable into a 'second fuel' I was definitely using the "sounds like" thing, rather than the exact word for such fuel....I remain PUZZLED over this.

      But later, I did manage to solve the odd Entrees [having paid no attention to the now-corrected erroneous SIX letters re the bank accounts] and the Dessert. I'm stuck on everything else.

      Delete
    8. There are names, and then there are names...

      Delete
  2. Thanks to a "heads-up" I received from an observant and helpful puzzle-solver (who is himself a puzzle-maker whose puzzles appear as this week's Appetizers), I changed wording in the ROSABS ENTREE #5 from:
    "Think of a six-letter adjective describing the size of the bank accounts of such wealthy people..."
    to:
    "Think of a seven-letter adjective describing the size of the bank accounts of such wealthy people..."
    (I am claiming that this was simply a case of "trickery" on my part. That's my story and I am sticking to it...

    LegoIsStickingToItNoNeedToGlueItNoNeedToRueIt

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  3. Believe I have an alternate answer to Entrée #4. L'etat, c'est moi.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy remaining hour of my brother Bryan's 47th birthday today!
    Bryan didn't exactly have a great birthday today, to hear tell of it. My sister-in-law Renae's uncle passed away, and though they were supposed to go back to our FL condo, her uncle's funeral was in Mobile today. So Bryan had to join her. But they didn't want me or Mom to join them no matter what. So we stayed here and had supper from Burger King. Mom's not too crazy about the pulled pork sandwich, and I tried the taco and it was OK, but I'd probably rather have Mexican food from a Mexican restaurant if given the choice. Anyway, I've also showered and solved my other puzzles tonight, and while I was able to solve Entrees #1 and #5 and the Dessert(and I think I know where you're going with the googolplex/infinity puzzle, but I'm not absolutely sure), that's all I could get. Will take any good hints, as long as they're not too hard to figure out. We'll probably be eating out with Bryan, Renae, and the kids next Friday. Also, I'll try to get another cryptic crossword to you soon, Lego. Will keep you posted.

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  5. OK, have solved all the puzzles (but with an alternate answer for Entrée #4). Still looking for the "preferred" solution to Entrée #4.

    Some hints I stumbled onto while solving:

    SOTW and Googolplex Slice: The value of a term derived from the main character in the SOTW novel is still greater than Googolplex.

    Entrée #2: The answer is an alternate name for the object. The "usual" name yields 2140K Google hits, while the answer name (also 22 letters) gives 730K hits.

    Entrée #3: The 6-letter adjective means "children" in another language.

    Hints for the Worldplay puzzles tomorrow. geofan

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hints for the Appetizers:

    #1 If you committed a crime in the NJ state capitol and fled on foot, within 15 min you could reach a place from which you would have to be extradited to face prosecution. This is not true for any other state capitol.

    #2 One of the minimum ones is listed in #3. I bet a nickel that the maximum one is a city you have heard of.

    #3 Judges 12:5-6

    #4 Maryland dish.

    #5 The song has been proclaimed as a state song. But when written, the main authors had never been to that state. The main authors are not as famous as the singer (who was an auxiliary - third - author). The song is more associated with the singer than with the main authors.

    #6 In USSR-type fashion, Trump has re-restricted travel to the island nation. Both instruments are reminiscent of another name for whooping cough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the hints on your excellent Worldplay puzzles, geofan.

      LegoWhoWillGiveHintsForHisPuzzlesOnTheMorrow

      Delete
    2. Thank you for the hints, geo. I managed to get the first five of your puzzles with them. However, the obvious island for #6 doesn't seem to work out, given the restrictions about the replacement letters being PART of the name of the island. And whooping cough's medical name being reminiscent thereof? Huh?

      Delete
    3. ViolinTeddy (et al.),
      There are two replacement letters, one for each instrument. Note also that "a country" and "the island nation" are different countries. Finally, the alternate name for whooping cough sounds like the class of instruments to which each instrument belongs.

      Delete
  7. Monday hints:

    Schpuzzle:
    You won't find the ride at any of those classic car events.
    Ho + Ebony or Ivory = ?

    GPS:
    The hint that I posted to Steve Baggish's DEBT CARD/BAD CREDIT I puzzle (on Blaine's blog) may be helpfil in solving this puzzle.

    ROSABS ENTREES:
    ENTREE #1:
    If you use a hammer on the common two-word term you'll need to pick up its pieces along with the pennies.
    ENTREE #2:
    The continent: contains the largest desert on Earth
    The chemical element: the second most abundant element in the known universe, second only to hydrogen... no wonder extraterrestrials sound like Munchkins when they speak!
    The entree on a breakfast menu: Did some kind of magic amulet figure into the plot of Shakespeare's "Hamlet?" (BTW, ham is a great ingredient in the entree.)
    ENTREE #3:
    Don't think of the seven-letter adjective the presidential nominee also used to describe his vision for America. That adjective might have described one of our two President Harrisons, however.
    ENTREE #4:
    The two-word object, in 12 letters that makes it easy to get money (and which might open doors for you): Is this object somthing Columbus have used to finance his tri-vessel voyage? Sounds like it.
    Take the make (not the model) of the $25,000-range midsize sedans. Add a "ur" in the interior to spell a land that Columbus named and claimed after spotting it in 1502.
    ENTREE #5:
    The five-letter noun for people who are very wealthy is a homophone of "two things that make a whole."
    The six-letter adjective describing the size of the bank accounts is superlative rather than comparative.

    Dessert:
    The vehicle does not possess "training wheels." But it does indeed possess what appears within those quotation marks if you remove three of the letters.

    LegoNotesRegardingTheSchpuzzleThatWhileOxenDoQuitThisSecondaryMainCharacter'sRideDoesNot

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, geo...actually I had figured out that the whooping cough name was the class of instruments, it's just that the one instrument I'd had already didn't fit INTO that class. I'll have to start over. I AM confused about there being two countries, though....

      Delete
  8. Entrees #3 and #4 still giving me trouble, as are geofan's hints. Got the others.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. cranberry, what kind of hints do you want, other than my directly stating the answer?

      Delete
    2. I hate to use the phrase "dumbing down", but...the answers just aren't coming to me with your hints. Your work here is still new to me. I need to get used to it, and I need better hints. It's not you, it's me. I might have the Maryland dish, I might have the musical instruments, but not both countries. It's still hard to say.

      Delete
    3. Plus, I'm not that good at geography. I don't have any sort of map handy with me right now. Even if I did, I'm no expert at reading it. I just need something I could look up easily to get the answer. I've been like this with Lego. You can ask him. I'm sure he gets tired of my constant asking for better hints. Sometimes I just can't solve it, but eventually I will. And if I can't, c'est la vie. My answers will just be incomplete this week. That's all.

      Delete
  9. ViolinTeddy,
    1. The two countries are on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
    2. The substitute letters are (separately) switched in the name of the non-island country to form the two instrument names.
    3. Each of these two substitute letters is also contained in the name of the island country.
    4. The initial letter of the non-island country is the same as the starting letter of the island country.
    5. The substitute letters are not substituted in the same position of the non-island country. One at the start for instrument #1. One at the end for instrument #2. Hence, from #4, it can be concluded that one of the instruments also starts with that letter. the other does not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks much, geo. I have it now....the same initial letter clue and the opposite side of the Atlantic were the critical clues....

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

    ReplyDelete
  11. Tuesday hints:

    Worldplay Appetizers:

    1. Throw a stone across the state line and break a state capitol window!
    2. The names of the two state capitals that can be typed using the smallest number of typewriter keys:
    One begins with 3.1416...
    The other is a palindrome if you remove its three middle letters.
    The state capital that requires the largest number of typewriter keys to type its name begins with a French pronoun and ends with a talented but "corny" baseball legend.
    3. Refer to Worldplay's #4 "The best compliment" to get the general gist of this puzzle.
    4. Easy as pie? Easy as a piece of cake? No, easy as something about which a young Michael Jackson sang.
    5. Perhaps the automobile in which the songwriters were tripping was a VolksWagen van (being driven in reverse).
    6. The name of one of the musical instruments is also the name of a line dance.

    ROSABS ENTREES:
    ENTREE #3:
    The six-letter adjective a presidential nominee used to describe his vision for America is the first half of a voluntary "Grade 0" opportunity allowing young children to test the waters of formal education. The colorful phrase meaning “deficit” contains two words of three letters each.
    ENTREE #4:
    Master? Chase? CapitalOne? AmericanExpress? BankOfAmeriuca? Visa? Master?
    No. No. No. No. No. No. No. 'Tis "door-opening" plastic of a different name.

    LegoWhoObservesThatIfTheTreesInQuestionAreSaplingsThen"OlderThanTheTrees"IsNotReallyThatBigADeal

    ReplyDelete
  12. Okay, I now have all the even-numbered Worldplay puzzles. Everything else is still tricky.

    ReplyDelete
  13. cranberry, you DO have excellent maps available, because you have access to the Internet. Use Google maps or other similar services. And use Wikipedia or Google for other research.

    Other hints:
    Worldplay #1: The capitol is almost on the border. See past hints. I just gave you the answer. Wait until tomorrow to read the Bonus.
    #3 Go to Google and enter the Bible verse that I gave in the first hint. The most unusual word is the answer. Is this really so hard?
    #5 See the other hints. The singer's last name is the state capital of Colorado, which is also where the Rockies and Broncos play. Go to Wikipedia and read the article on the song, which will be given in the singer's Wikipedia article or alternately, read the article on Maryland route 117 to see the significance of the road.

    General advice: Learn to use the Internet to research for puzzle answers. I (and others) have to do this. The answer doesn't just "come to me" in most cases. Sometimes it takes hours of scanning through lists of actors or sitcoms, none of whom I have ever heard of.

    ReplyDelete
  14. It's not as easy as that seems sometimes, geofan. While I may have the Internet to help, occasionally the answer is not that easy to find, and I may not have the time to search endless lists to find anything resembling "the answer". On occasion, you'll have just the right key words to look for it, but lots of times it won't be easily located. Then there are the rare puzzles which I can get right at the first read. Sadly, your puzzles have NOT fallen under the latter category. So I ask Lego for hints. No big deal. Most of the time I have nothing else important to say, yet I like being included in the conversation. To answer your question, geofan, no, this is not really so hard. I'm just not spending all the time, 24/7, looking up everything. BTW I did at least solve #5(and the even-numbered ones as I said before). Sometimes some of us need a little more to go on than the original information provided. I am smart enough to figure this stuff out, you know. After all, I have had a few cryptic crosswords used on this site. Besides, the hints make it all the more fun! That's what we're here for!

    ReplyDelete
  15. cranberry - ok. Generally, for the first set of hints I will (as Lego generally is) a bit obscure. The second set of hints will be more blatant (as e.g. Judges 12:5-6. If you go to Google (or Bing or other browsers) and type in "Judges 12:5-6" (with or without quotes), you will get:
    "Judges 12:5-6. 5The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No," 6they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.'" If he said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that rime."

    When you read it, "Gileadite" and "Ephraimite" are evidently demonyms for people from Gilead and Ephraim, respectively. The unfamiliar word is "Shibboleth", which is the answer. If the searcher had never heard of the term (as, e.g. I had never heard of Len Cariou" some weeks ago, nor of several concept cars), then a quick lookup at Wikipedia or Wiktionary will yield the meaning (and the answer).

    geofan

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    Replies
    1. If you're testing someone you really want to write the word down and have them pronounce it, not have them repeat the word after you. Bible disproved!

      Delete
    2. This is true. Of course, back then, the suspect (testee) was probably illiterate.

      Delete
  16. El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha aka Don Quijote which I pronounce like DRONE (without the R) KEY-HOE-TAY features Sancho Panza, who rides a DONKEY named DAPPLE.
    DONKEY OAT APPLE
    I highly recommend Nobody's Fool (1994), one of Paul Newman's last films. Newman's character, Sully, has a friend and employee known as "Rub" Squeers. Sully's son, an out-of work literature professor, likes to call Rub "Sancho". The similarity of SQUEERS to SQUIRE did not occur to me until this week.

    In other news:
    PIGGY BANK > BAGGY PINK
    KINDER > RED INK
    HAVES BIGGEST > STEVE BAGGISH
    CHOO-CHOO > HOOCH COO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the film recommendation, Paul. I shall check it out.

      LegoWhoIsAFanOfBothPauls

      Delete
  17. Same answers as Paul except as noted below:
    Appetizers
    #1 Historic center of Trenton (NJ) borders another state (PA). Bonus: Carson City (1969) and Juneau (1970) incorporated their respective county and borough, and the outer border of the merged unit borders CA (in Lake Tahoe) and BC/Canada (crest of coast mountains) respectively, far from the respective city center.
    #2 Atlanta and Pierre (4, least); Jefferson City (11, most). In my hint, "nickel" hinted at Jefferson and "city" was included in the hint.
    #3 Shibboleth
    #4 CRABCAKE includes ABC (in order) in the word.
    #5 "Country Roads, Take Me Home" was written in 1969 during a car trip along Maryland route 117 by the main authors, Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert (ex-wife). John Denver sang it.
    #6 CONGO => CONGA and BONGO (both drums). A, B, and C all appear in the island country CUBA, home to the drums.

    Googolplex slice: The values relate to word values in Scrabble. Googol = 8 points
    Infinity = 14
    Googolplex = 21
    Cross-hint with SOTW, Quixotic (from Don Quixote) = 26.

    Entrées
    #1 see Paul
    #2 AUTOMATIC TELLER MACHINE => ANTARCTICA, HELIUM, OMELET
    #3 see Paul
    #4 (pre-hints): DIVINE RIGHTS (as of kings) => DRIVE INSIGHT [If you are the King and have divine rights, you can get money easily.]
    (post-2nd-hint): DISCOVER CARD => DRIVES ACCORD
    #5 see Paul

    Dessert: see Paul

    ReplyDelete
  18. Schpuzzle
    DON QUIXOTE, DONKEY, OAT, DAPPLE(Sancho Panza's donkey), APPLE
    Appetizer Menu
    2. PIERRE, SD; ATLANTA, GA
    3. SHIBBOLETH
    4. CRABCAKE has ABC in it, in that order.
    5. "TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS" written by two members of Fat City, later the Starland Vocal Band, during a car trip along Maryland Route 117
    6. CONGA and BONGO for the CONGO; Both instruments are popular in Cuba.
    Menu
    Googolplex has a larger Scrabble value than infinity.
    Entrees
    1. PIGGY BANK(PINK, BAGGY)
    2. AUTOMATIC TELLER MACHINE(ANTARCTICA, HELIUM, OMELET)
    3. KINDER, RED INK
    4. DISCOVER CARD, DRIVES ACCORD
    5. STEVE BAGGISH(HAVES, BIGGEST)
    Dessert
    CHOO CHOO-HOOCH=COO
    "Rock and roll hoochie coo/Lordy mama light my fuse..."-pjb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice Rick Derringer reference, cranberry. I believe an earlier song he sang, "Hang on Sloopy", was a tribute to Nemo's vessel from my "Nemo's Omen" palindrome puzzle!

      LegoWhoWouldNeverThinkOfPuttingSloopyDown

      Delete
  19. This week's answers for the record, part 1:

    Schpuzzle Of The Week:
    “I’m a darn fuel for a really fine ride!”

    The first two syllables in the title of a well-known novel sound like the ride used by one of its main characters. The third syllable sounds like fuel for this ride. Further fuel is formed by removing the first letter from the name of the ride. What is this novel’s title?
    Answer:
    Don Quixote; (A donkey named Dapple was Sancho Panza's ride. A donkey may be fueled by eating an oat or an apple.)

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  20. This week's answers for the record, part 2:

    Appetizer Menu

    Typewritten Dinnertime Appetizer:
    Music of our sphere, and other Gotchas!

    Is NJ unique?
    ?1. The central business district of Trenton, NJ is unique among all state capitals. How?
    Bonus: What changed in 1969/70 to make Trenton lose its uniqueness in a broader sense?
    Answer:
    Downtown Trenton lies directly on the Delaware River (NJ/PA border). In 1969 (Carson City) and 1970 (Juneau), these capital cities merged with Ormsby County, NV; and the city of Douglas and Bureau of Juneau, AK, respectively. Although the present incorporated limits of the cities touch CA (in Lake Tahoe) and BC (at the mountain crest), the respective downtown areas are still remote from the respective borders.

    My typewriter’s broke
    ?2. The names of which two state capitals can be typed using the smallest number of typewriter keys? How many?
    Which state capital requires the largest number of typewriter keys to type its name? How many?
    Answer:
    Atlanta and Pierre (4 each)
    Jefferson City (11)

    Gotcha!
    ?3. What is a one-word descriptor that applies to all of these locations?
    Newfoundland
    Oregon
    Nevada
    Boise
    Newark, Newark, and Newark (NJ, DE, and OH)
    Lancaster, PA
    Sequim, WA
    Pierre, SD
    Houston St (NYC)
    the 101 and the 405 (southern CA)
    Schiphol (Amsterdam airport)
    Answer:
    Newfoundland (New-fund-lánd - last syllable accented)
    Oregon (OAR - a - gun, not Oar a GON)
    Nevada (first A pronounced as a in cat or bat)
    Boise (Boy-see, not Boy-zee)
    Newark, Newark, and Newark (NJ, DE, and OH) (Newurk, New-ark, and Nerk, respectively)
    Lancaster, PA (Lán-kistr, not Lán-cást-er)
    Sequim, WA (Skwim)
    Pierre, SD (Peer or Pier, not Pee-air as the French name)
    Houston St (NYC) (How-stin, not like the city in TX)
    the 101 and the 405 (southern CA) (Use of the definite article before freeway numbers)
    Schiphol (Amsterdam airport) S-Khip-hol Note: it and similar Dutch names (e.g., Scheveningen) were used by the Dutch in WW II to expose Germans. In German, “sch” is pronounced as English “sh”. But in Dutch, sch is pronounced as s + kh (with kh as in Russian Khrushchev or ch in Yiddish/English "chutzpah".
    -----------------------------------------
    The one-word descriptor that applies to all of these locations is "Shibboleth" (a word that can “expose” a non-local from persons who live in the given place). Individual local pronunciations are noted above. For first usage of the term “shibboleth” see Judges 12:6.

    What’s for dinner?
    ?4. A Mid-Atlantic state has a signature dish that can be written as one or two words. If written as one word, what unusual property does this word have, that is shared by only a few other English words?
    Answer:
    Crabcake, consecutive ABC in one word

    Looking out the window
    ?5. An automobile trip in December 1970 from Washington, DC to the Rockville, MD chapter of the Izaak Walton League led to the writing of an iconic American song, which today is arguably more popular outside the USA than domestically. What is the song? What is the connection to this trip?
    Answer:
    “Country Roads, Take Me Home” (“Almost Heaven, West Virginia”)
    The road (MD 117, Clopper Road/W. Diamond Ave.) and, at that time, its rural scenery was the inspiration for Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert to compose the song and most of the lyrics (later completed and sung by John Denver). The road does not go to, nor at the time had they been to, WV.

    Geographical music
    ?6. Replace a country’s first or last letter to name two musical instruments. Both instruments are associated with an island nation. The original country’s initial letter and both replacement letters appear in the name of the island nation. What are the musical instruments and the island nation?
    Answer:
    CONGO => BONGO or CONGA, CUBA. The letters A, B, and C all appear in CuBA.

    Lego...

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    Replies
    1. OOOH, I see you already put up the answers....clearly, I didn't understand about the DAPPLE (i.e., use the actual NAME of the donkey), hence my confusion. Sorry, no "beautiful alternative answers' this week! Except perhaps permuting the last syllable into 'hay'? ; o )

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  21. This week's answers for the record, part 3:

    MENU

    Googolplex Paradox Slice
    Perplexing googolpex complexity
    Everyone knows the value of “googol” is less than “infinity,” but the value of “googolplex” is greater than “infinity.” Explain how this can be?
    Answer:
    The sums of the alphanumeric values of the letters in the three words are:
    GOOGOL = 7+15+15+7+15+12 = 71
    INFINITY = 9+14+6+9+14+9+20+25 = 106
    GOOGOLPLEX = 7+15+15+7+15+12+16+12+5+24 = 128
    So, the (alphanumeric) value of googol is less than that of infinity, but the (alphanumeric) value of googolplex is greater than that of infinity.

    Riffing Off Shortz And Baggish Slices:
    Easy money or hard cash?
    Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz Slices and Baggish Slices read:
    ENTREE #1:
    Think of a common two-word term, in nine letters, naming something that makes it easy to get money... but only if you have a hammer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWTDcP9Y5E Rearrange its letters to spell two adjectives that describe the pants pictured here. What are these adjectives, and what is this two-word term?
    Warning to Puzzlerian!s: This puzzle may induce feelings of deja vu.
    Answer:
    Baggy, pink; Piggy bank
    ENTREE #2:
    Take the combined letters from a continent, a chemical element on the periodic table, and an entree on a breakfast menu. Rearrange these 22 letters to spell a common three-word phrase naming something that makes it easy to get money.
    What are this three-word phrase and this continent, element and breakfast entree?
    Answer:
    Automatic Teller Machine;
    Antarctica, Helium, Omelet
    ENTREE #3:
    Think of a six-letter adjective a presidential nominee used to describe his vision for America. The nominee added that this vision included “caring about troubled children,” with programs and initiatives that would presumably require the government to find money to fund them. Rearrange the letters of the six-letter adjective to spell a colorful two-word phrase meaning “deficit,” which is what many in Congress feared might ensue if the nominee’s vision was realized. What are this adjective and phrase?
    Answer:
    Kinder ("kinder and gentler nation," spoken by George H.W. Bush in 1988); red ink
    ENTREE #4:
    Think of a certain two-word object, in 12 letters, naming something that makes it easy to get money (and which might open doors for you). Rearrange its letters to spell a two-word phrase naming what people in the market for a $25,000-range midsize sedan tend to do after their purchase.
    What is the two-word object? What do people in the market for a $25,000-range midsize sedan tend to do post-purchase?
    Answer:
    Discover Card; Drive Accords
    https://www.wikihow.com/Open-a-Door-with-a-Credit-Card
    ENTREE #5:
    Think of a five-letter noun for people who are very wealthy, as opposed to the people who are very poor. Think of a six-letter adjective describing the size of the bank accounts of such wealthy people, relative to money possessed by the poor.
    Rearrange the combined letters of these two words to spell the first and last name of a puzzle-maker.
    What are the two words? Who is the puzzle-maker?
    Answer:
    Haves, biggest; Steve Baggish

    Dessert Menu

    Dessert:
    Babies bibbing booze from bottles
    Name the sound a certain vehicle makes, if you ask a toddler. “Pour out” some bad booze from within. What remains is a sound a contented baby may make. What sounds are these?
    Answer:
    Choo-choo, Coo; (Choo-choo - hooch = coo)

    Lego!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Here I am at last:

    SCHPUZZLE: DON QUIXOTE? [DONKEY, OAT, and HAY]

    APPETIZERS:

    1. TRENTON LIES ONLY .3 MILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA, the shortest distance to another state of any capitol. The next closest is Providence, RI, 3.5 miles to Massachusetts.

    2. PIERRE, SD (4) & ATLANTA, GA (4); JEFFERSON CITY, MO (11) [tho the latter doesn't seem to match Lego's Tuesday hint, but I don't have time to look for another capitol.]

    3. MISPRONOUNCED! [I have no idea why "Shibboleth' is supposed to be the answer, a la the last geo comment on this puzzle.]

    4. CRABCAKES: CONTAINS "ABC".

    5. TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS, sung by JOHN DENVER re WEST VIRGINIA. Author Bill Danoff and his wife, Taffy Nivert, made up on road trip to family reunion in MD, to pass the time. It has become popular in beer halls around the world (and Oktoberfest.)

    6. CONGO => BONGO & CONGA; CUBA


    GOOGOLPLEX SLICE: I gather this is an alphabetical number puzzle, googolplex vs infinity, but I don't feel like working it out...sorry.

    ENTREES:

    1. PIGGY BANK => BAGGY & PINK (PRE HINT)

    2. AFRICA HELIUM ?????????? [OMELETTE IS TWO LETTERS TOO FEW]

    3. KINDER => RED INK [G.H.W. BUSH] (PRE HINTS)

    4. CASHED ONLINE? => LICENSE HONDA [Hint: Honduras] I could NOT find any other applicable seven-letter word but LICENSE....

    5. HAVES & BIGGEST => STEVE BAGGISH

    DESSERT: CHOO CHOO => remove HOOCH => COO

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    Replies
    1. Nice research on geofan's Worldplay #5, ViolinTeddy. I was not aware of the Oktoberfest connection. I should have known though... JD's birth name was Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.
      It's acceptable to spell "omelette" also as "omelet."

      LegoWhoBelievesThatAnOmeletteIsAFemaleOmeletOrReallySmallOmelet

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    2. It really wasn't much, Lego. Actually, once I stumbled upon the history of this song, I rather wanted to find out HOW (as geo had indicated somewhere along the line) it became popular elsewhere. I need to go back and find out WHY Octoberfest, though (Denver's original name seems like a motivation, however), which I failed to take the time to read.

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