Friday, October 25, 2019

Re-pin the retail on the donkey? Quid pro Banquo’s ghost disguise; One-in-a-billion doc, etc. Madcapital comedy; X’s and O’s position shifts

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 8!/21 SERVED


Schpuzzle Of The Week:
Madcapital comedy 

Name a comedy character and a comedy group, each in two words. The second words begin with the same first and second letters. 
The first word word of one consists of consecutive interior letters of a capital city. 
The first word of the other consists of the capital city’s remaining letters if they would be pushed together. 
What is this capital city?


Appetizer Menu

WorldPlay Miscellany:
One-in-a-billion doc, etc.

ABCD
❓1. The words DEFANG and DEFRAG each begin with three consecutive letters of the alphabet and end with the next letter in the alphabet. What other, more common 6-letter word also has this characteristic? 


The boss is in
2. Name a religious leader. Remove a letter to obtain a building in which this leader might carry out his or her duties.

A tale of two airlines
3. Think of a foreign national airline. Reverse the first two letters. 
The palindromic result sounds like a well-known (sometimes infamous) budget airline. 
What are the two air carriers?

Unique
4. Deborah Glupczynski, a doctor practicing in Oakland, CA, is unique both among MDs in the USA and in the US population at large. 
What is her distinction?


MENU

Howard Cosell Memorial Slice:
Re-pin the retail on the donkey?

Take the last name of a businessman who was a major figure in the history of retailing in the United States. 
The first and second syllables of this name are the female and male names of an animal. Replacing the first letter of the first syllable forms a synonym of the female name.
Replace the first letter of the first syllable again to form the first name of a sportscaster whose last name is the second syllable of the businessman’s last name
The name of this sportscaster is also the name of a memorable character in a Best Picture Oscar winning movie. 
Who are this businessman, sportscaster and movie character? 
What are the names of the male and female animals?

Riffing Off Shortz And Kutin Slices:
X’s and O’s position shifts

Will Shortz’s October 20th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Sandy Kutin of Princeton, New Jersey, reads:
Think of a 7-letter past tense verb for something good you might have done in a football game. Move each letter one space later in the alphabet (so A becomes B, B becomes C, etc.), and rearrange the result. You’ll get a past tense verb for something bad you might have done in football. What words are these? 
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Kutin Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Think of a 4-letter verb for something good you might do in a basketball game. Move each letter one space later in the alphabet (so A becomes B, B becomes C, etc.), and spell the result backward. You’ll get a verb for how the fans might feel about the something good that you did. 
What words are these?
Hint: The verb for how the fans might feel is also a term used while keeping score in another sport that involves a net. 
ENTREE #2:
Think of a 3-letter verb for something good you might do in a tennis match. Move each letter halfway later in the alphabet (so A becomes N, B becomes O, etc.). 
You’ll get an abbreviation familiar to fans of Will Shortz’s Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle. 
What verb and abbreviation are these? 
ENTREE #3:
Think of a 5-letter verb for a subpar (and yet, strangely, not subpar) performance in a sporting event. Move each letter 16 spaces later in the alphabet (so A becomes Q, B becomes R, etc.), and rearrange the result. You’ll get a pair of first person plural pronouns. 
What verb and pronouns are these?
ENTREE #4:
Think of a position in a baseball game. 
Move each letter one space later in the alphabet (so A becomes B, B becomes C, etc.), and rearrange the result. 
You’ll get a two-word phrase describing the following quotations:
“If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even ____.” 
– Dean Martin
“I regard (____ing in) golf as an expensive way of playing marbles.” – G.K. Chesterton
(Each blank stands for the same missing word – a word that is a part of the answer.) 
What words are these?
ENTREE #5:
Think of a 8-letter surname of a coach associated with the National Football League. Move each letter three spaces later in the alphabet (so A becomes D, B becomes E, etc.), and rearrange the result. 
You’ll get a phrase consisting of an adjective and noun describing the material that a sterling silver trophy honoring this coach should instead be made from.
Rearrange these letters again to name – in a 3-letter verb and 5-letter general noun – what this coach did to deserve this honor.
Hint: What the coach did to deserve this honor, he did for two teams, each with a color in its name. What the coach did is synonymous with the phrase “coached team.”  
Who is this coach?
Out of what should his honorary trophy be made?
What did the coach do?
ENTREE #6:
Think of a 9-letter title of a movie that was the film debut of an actress whose parents were movie stars. Move each letter four spaces later in the alphabet (so A becomes E, B becomes F, etc.), and rearrange the result. You’ll get two words: 
1.) a natural treat that trick-or-treaters might have found in their bags in more innocent times, and
2.) The first name of a movie character that, in these less innocent times, a woman might dress up as while attending a “grown-up” autumn costume party with her date “Travis.” 
What are the nine-letter movie title, the natural treat and the movie character’s name?
ENTREE #7:
Think of a puzzle-maker, first and last names. Move each letter eleven spaces later in the alphabet (so A becomes L, B becomes M, etc.), and rearrange the result. 
You’ll get the movie title of a Ron Howard-directed flop, the first word in one of the best-selling popular song singles of all time, and the last word in the title a Vincent Price movie that was remade a generation later as a Jeff Goldblum movie. 
Who is this puzzle-maker?  
What are the flop movie, the best-selling single, and remade movie?

Hallowe’en Dessert:
Quid pro Banquo’s ghost disguise

Name something certain European bank tellers used to do, in two words. 
Change two consecutive letters to two different letters to spell, in two words, traditional Halloween disguises. What are these disguises?
Hint: What certain European bank tellers used to do does not involve quid, in the sense of “pound sterling.” 


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.

Friday, October 18, 2019

An exclamation of exasperation; Ad hocus-porcus-in-a-pocus; Better solving, through chemistry; Elementary, my dear Dmitri! Milking the laughs; Just another of your garden-variety comic strips

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 8!/21 SERVED

Schpuzzle Of The Week:
Elementary, my dear Dmitri! 

Place the first two letters of an element between the two letters of its periodic table symbol. 
The result is a word that appears in a common idiom along with a plural form of the element. 
What is this idiom?


Appetizer Menu

TestTubas And ConunDrums Slice:
Better solving, through chemistry

🥁1. Think of a toxic chemical in five letters. 
Shift each letter six places earlier in the alphabet. The result will be a type of ground cover.
🥁2. Think of the brand name for an over-the-counter medication, in seven letters, often taken for a condition that, left untreated, can lead to isolation. 
Drop the first letter and reverse the remaining letters to describe something that isolation can lead to.
🥁3. Think of a chemical mixture that can eat through various materials. 
Remove one letter to name an insect that eats through various materials.
🥁4. Think of a word in six letters. 
Swap the first two letters to get another word. Add two letters at the beginning to get another word. Shift those first two letters one place horizontally on the computer keyboard to get another word. 
All of these words are used in chemistry and/or physics.
MENU

Newsy Slice:
An exclamation of exasperation

Rearrange the combined letters in a two-word phrase lately in the news, in seven and four letters. The two words of the phrase begin with a “U” and a “c”. 
The result of the rearrangement is a three-word exclamation that might be directed at those involved in the phrase, in three, three and five letters beginning with L, R and A and ending with !, ! and !. The first two words in the exclamation are verbs of advice, and the third word is an exclamation of exasperation and dismay.
What are this two-word phrase and three-word exclamation? 

Cheesy Slice:
Milking the laughs

Add a “w” to the combined letters of two synonyms. 
Rearrange these letters to form a third synonym plus a word associated with “laughing” and a word associated with “cow.” 
What are these five words?

Riffing Off Shortz And Talvacchio Slice:
Ad hocus-porcus-in-a-pocus

Will Shortz’s October 13th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Dominick Talvacchio of Chicago, Illinois, reads: 
Think of an informal term for a beverage. Now say it in pig Latin, and you’ll have an informal term for another beverage. What two beverages are these?
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz and Talvacchio Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Think of the name of Vince’s and Dominic’s brother. 
Say it in Pig Latin and you’ll have the nickname of a Buffalo Bill in a Bronco. 
What are these names?
ENTREE #2:
Think of a verb associated with submission. Take a noun spelled identically to this verb but pronounced differently. 
Now say this noun in pig Latin, and you’ll have another verb associated with submission. 
What two verbs and one noun are these?
Hint: the noun is either something you wear or something you hold while either producing music or “harvesting” deer.
ENTREE #3:
Think of an informal term for a beverage. It begins with a two-consonant blend. 
Now say it in pig Latin, but keep the second letter where it is (near the beginning of the term) and pronounce the “_ay” final syllable using only the  first letter. (For example, “plucky” would become “lucky pay.”) 
The result will sound like the way that many people worldwide would pronounce an informal two-word description of Olga, Neva or Luga. 
What is this beverage? What is the description of Olga, Neva or Luga?
ENTREE #4:
Think of a one-syllable word that can precede “Scout,” “power” or “-friend” and a three-syllable word for a certain breakfast food that is also a snack food.
Switch the consonant that begins the first word with the consonant blend that begins the second word. 
Now, if you say both results in pig Latin, it will sound like an eponymous name for a hot beverage and the first and middle name of a WWII pilot’s mother. 
What are the one-syllable word that can precede “Scout,” “power” or “-friend” and the three-syllable word for a breakfast or snack food.  
What are the name for the hot beverage and the first and middle name of the WWII pilot’s mother?
ENTREE #5:
Think of a synonym of  “scarcity” – a scarcity, for instance, of clean water, breathable air and ecological awareness.
Now say it in pig Latin, and you’ll name an annual celebration. 
What are this celebration and synonym of “scarcity”?   
ENTREE #6:
Think of a verb for something a person might do to something that thrives on wind. 
Now say it in pig Latin, and you’ll have the beginning words of a song about one such wind-thriving thing. 
What are this wind-thriver and these beginning words of the song?
ENTREE #7:
Think of a simple one-syllable adverb for how good NFL quarterbacks pass the pigskin. Now say it in pig Latin, and you’ll have the surname of one such quarterback.
Think of a simple one-syllable title by which underlings may address an NFL executive. Now say it in pig Latin, and you’ll have the surname of one such executive.
What are this adverb and title? Who are this QB and exec?
ENTREE #8:
Think of a noun for a gathering of people pursuing a particular purpose. 
Now say it in pig Latin, and you’ll have an term for a cyber-gathering of people pursuing the purpose of commerce. 
What are this noun and this term?

See You In The Funny Papers Dessert:
Just another of your garden-variety comic strips

Name four major characters from a single comic strip. 
1. Remove strings of five and four consecutive letters from the first character’s name. 
2. Remove eight consecutive letters from the second character’s name.
3. Remove seven consecutive letters from the third character’s name.
4. In the fourth character’s name, switch the second letters of the two words and remove the final five letters of the result.
You will have formed the names of four things that grow in gardens. What are these things?

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.


Friday, October 11, 2019

A consonance of clever clues; Tasty easy-as-apple-pie puzzles; From magnificence to insignificance; My county, quizzically... Man of Steel City?

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 8!/21 SERVED


Schpuzzle Of The Week:
A consonance of clever clues

Give two-word answers to each of the five alliterative clues below:
Hints: The five first words in the answers rhyme with one another. 
The five second words in the answers also rhyme with one another.
1. canvas “coliseum”
2. farmyard feed
3. rug retailer
4. sip soda
5. admire Monk’s music


Appetizer Menu

(Almost-All)-American Appetizers:
My county, quizzically...


Nothing in common, but they live there
1. One US state and one country each have non-derogatory, informal demonyms that share no letters, and one letter, respectively, with the respective state and country. 
Give the two demonyms, state, and country.

Unexpected
2. The names of 30 U.S. states display what rather unusual orthographic characteristic?
Hint: the most glaring exception to this generalization is Tennessee. 

Changes of state
3. Think of a US state. 
Change the first letter to the letter 5 letters later in the alphabet and the third letter to the letter 3 letters later. The resulting set of letters, in order, will name another US state. 
What are the states?
Hint: there are two equally-correct answers.

No rearrangement necessary
4. These puzzles, (a) through (d) are designed for those who detest anagramming. In each case, give the resulting state(s) from the stated transformation(s).
(a) Take the name of a US state. Add four letters to the front of its name and split to get the name of another US state.
(b) Take the name of a US state. Add two letters to the front of its name to get the name of another US state.
(c) Take the name of a US state. Add two letters to the end of its name and split to get the name of a subdivision of the USA.
(d) Take the name of a US state. Add four letters to the start of its name and split to get the name of a Mexican state. Then add three letters to the end of this result and split to get the name of yet another Mexican state.


MENU

Large Landmark And Puny Person Slice:
From magnificence to insignificance

Name a tall and magnificent natural landmark on the map of the United States, in two words. 
Reverse the order of four consecutive letters. Change two consecutive letters of this result to two other letters that commonly appear together consecutively. The result is a word for a small and insignificant person.
What is this tall landmark? 
What is this word for a small person?

Riffing Off Shortz Slice:
Tasty easy-as-apple-pie puzzles

Will Shortz’s October 6th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle reads: 
There are two answers to this one, and you have to get them both. Name two tasty things to eat, each in eight letters, in which the only consonant letters are L and P.
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
There are two answers to this one, and you have to get them both. 
Name two criminal activities, each in seven letters, in which the only consonant letters are B and R.
ENTREE #2:
There are four answers to this one, and you have to get all four. 
Name a tasty and healthful thing to eat, in five letters, and three things that are a part of this thing, in four, four and three letters. 
The the only consonant letters in these four words are L and P.
ENTREE #3:
Name a five-letter sweet that you eat in which the only two consonant letters are also the only two in a ten-letter hyphenated synonym of “equally.” 
Change each consonant in the five-letter sweet to the other consonant in the sweet to form an uncomplimentary name you might be called if you eat too many of these sweets.
What are this sweet and this name?
Hint: The ten-letter hyphenated synonym of “equally” might be described as “echoic.”
ENTREE #4:
At a church in which the flock is encouraged to speak the King James Biblical Version of the English language, an usher named Jethro is taking the collection. 
Jethro approaches the pew of a faithfully generous elderly couple he knows well (whose Christian names both mean “God’s Gift”). 
He notices that the hands of the matriarch Dorothy, who normally places the offering in Jethro’s basket, are empty. Both of her husband’s fists, however, are clenched tightly.
Jethro leans over to Dorothy and whispers in her ear a question consisting of four words and 16 letters. The only consonant letters in the question are H and T. What is Jethro’s question? 
ENTREE #5:
There are three answers to this one, and you have to get all three. 
Name a title for a big-deal church leader who “preaches to the pews” and the five-letter adjectival form of that title. Also name a nine-letter word for church-goers who “perch in the pews rather than preach to them. 
The only consonant letters in these three words are L and P.   
ENTREE #6 (enhanced by an ingenious contribution from Violin Teddy):
There are three answers to this one, and you have to get all three. Fill in the three blanks in the following sentences with eight-letter words:
Drinking too much alcohol can ________ your skin. It’s a ________ sign you ought to hop on the wagon and make a solemn pledge to henceforth ________.
The only consonant letters in these three words are L and T.

Dessert Menu


Municipal Moniker Dessert:
Man of Steel City?

From a United States metropolis remove one of two duplicate letters, leaving just one. 
Rearrange the result to form a possible nickname for this metropolis from 1985 to 1989 and again from 1999 to 2000. 
What is the nickname?

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.