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.