Twains meet over flyover country; Every old crime is new again; Solve for X... and a, b, b & r; Changing X’s and O’s at the line of scrimmage; High-noon Hopalong vs Hare-trigger Bugs Moran

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 8!/20 SERVED

Schpuzzle Of The Week:
High-noon Hopalong vs Hare-trigger Bugs Moran

Name two gunmen linked together in American history – first, middle and last names. 
Four of those six names are related to rabbits, and the other two form common nouns when spelled backward. 
Who are these gunmen?
Rabbit’s footnote: A word associated with rabbits is the last name of a notable politician/jurist who is associated with the gunmen.

Appetizer Menu

(Note: Our Appetizer this week is an excellent piece of wordplay cooked up by Chuck, a very creative puzzle maker whose puzzles have appeared on Puzzleria! before, including these two links from 2016: May 13 and June 10.
We are calling the vehicle for his creativity "Conundrumbstruck by Chuck."
And, we thank him for sharing with us his puzzle, which is a wonderful melding of geography, sports and classical music. It is titled: Twains meet over flyover country.)

Welcome To Conundrumbstruck! Appetizer:
Twains meet over flyover country


Take an item commonly found at a classical music concert, in two five-letter words. 
Subtract the two-letter abbreviation for a prominent East Coast city. 
Take what’s left and add the two-letter abbreviation for a prominent West Coast city. 
Rearrange the combined letters in this result to spell the first and last names, in four and six letters, of a famous athlete who achieved fame in the Midwest. 
What is the item? 
Who is the athlete?

MENU

Bad-Penny Political Slice:
Every old crime is new again  

Take the combined letters in a movie title from the past that, in light of recent political events, is again being mentioned. 
Rearrange these letters to form the names of two fictional crime fighters – one an inspector, the other a doctor. 
What is this movie title?
Who are the fictional crime fighters?

Riffing Off Shortz And Fogarty Slices:
Solve for X... and a, b, b & r

Each week, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday program, puzzlemaster Will Shortz presents us with a puzzle challenge. The January 12th challenge, created by Neville Fogarty of Newport News, Virginia, reads: 
Think of a familiar three-word phrase that has the following property: The first word is a number. Let X be that number. Then the last X letters of the second word form, in order, a common abbreviation for the third word.
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Fogarty Slices read:
ENTREE #1
Write a two-word caption for Image A, pictured here. 
Rearrange the combined letters of the words in your caption to form the first and last names of a puzzle maker. 
What is the caption?
Who is the puzzle maker?
Hint: The combined letters in the first and last names of the puzzle maker can be rearranged to form a two-word caption for Image B. 
What is the caption for Image B? 
ENTREE #2
Think of a three-word phrase that has the following property: The first word is a number. Let X be that number. 
Then  X  of the last X+1 letters of the second word form, in order, a common abbreviation for the third word.
The phrase describes “Nessun dorma,” “O Sole Mio” and other selections sung by a trio composed of a pair of Spaniards and an Italian.
What is this phrase?
ENTREE #3
Think of an unfamiliar three-word, six-syllable phrase that has the following property: The first word is a number. Let X be that number. Then the last X letters of the third word form, in order, a common abbreviation for the second word (a word that contains two hyphens).
The unfamiliar phrase describes a Spitfire mired in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
What is this phrase?
ENTREE #4
Think of a three-word phrase (with the first two words connected to one another by a hyphen) that has the following property: The first word is a number. 
Let X be that number. Then X of the last X+1 letters of the second word form, in order, a common abbreviation for the third word.
The phrase describes a loudness level on a stereo system that might well blow the roof off your house!
What is this phrase?
Hint: The second word begins with an M.
ENTREE #5
Think of an unfamiliar four-word phrase that has the following property: The first word is a number. 
Let X be that number. Then the middle X letters of the second word form, in order, a common abbreviation for the third word. The fourth word is plural.
The phrase describes two cagers associated with Toronto named Kyle Lowrey and Jose Calderon.
What is this phrase? 
ENTREE #6
Think of a three-word phrase (with the first two words connected to one another by a hyphen) that has the following property: The first word is a number. Let X be that number. Then the first X letters of the second word form, in order, a common abbreviation for the third word.
The phrase describes a physician – one who specializes in treating high-cholesterol patients – who prescribes only Lipitor and Simvastatin.
What is this phrase?
ENTREE #7
Think of a three-word phrase (with the first two words connected to one another by a hyphen) that has the following property: The first word is a number. 
Let X be that number. Then X interior letters of the second word form, in order, a common abbreviation for the final five letters of the third word. The phrase describes a co-ed prison subdivided into separate residential spaces. What is this phrase?
Hint: The second word is a compound word... but not as “compound” as the third word.
ENTREE #8
Think of a three-word phrase whose second and third words are each hyphenated compound words. The phrase has the following property: The first word is a number. Let X be that number. Then X interior letters in the first part of the second word form, in order, a common abbreviation for the first five letters in the second part of third word.
The phrase describes a pair of frat boys at a bar guzzling beer after beer as a part of a debauched hazing prank.
What is this phrase?
Hint: The first part of the second hyphenated word is a body part. The second part of the second hyphenated word rhymes with “mending.” The first part of the third hyphenated word rhymes with “mink.”
ENTREE #9
Take the three-word title of a biographical comedy-drama film tells the story of an Irishman born with cerebral palsy. 
The last two letters of the second word in the film’s title form, in order, a common abbreviation for the third word in the title.
Pluralize the third word in the title to form a possible title of a film that might tell the story of Steve Wozniak, Evander Holyfield or Geraldo Rivera, according to the judges on the “Dancing with the Stars” television show.
What is this possible film title?

Dessert Menu

Gridiron Dessert:
Changing X’s and O’s at the line of scrimmage  

Replace a letter in a football player’s last name with a different double letter. Divide the result in two to name what participants in a second sport must sometimes do, followed by the name of that sport. 
Who is this football player?
Hint: Move the letters of the football player’s first name six places forward in the alphabet to spell an informal name that he might use to refer to his teammates. 

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.