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?

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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.

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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.

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