Putting positive spin on a proverb; What is worn & where you wear it; Good Hope hunting, Lord willing; Readin’ and writin’ and rev·el·ry; Stump Isle stumper

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 3(7!) SERVED

Schpuzzle Of TheWeek:
Putting positive spin on a proverb

Take a familiar proverb. 
Replace one word with an antonym. 
Replace two words with homophones. 
At the end of this result add a popular one-word newspaper name, like “Journal” or “Tribune,” for example. The result will be a more positive proverb. 
What is the familiar proverb?
What is the more positive proverb?

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Econfusions Appetizer:
Readin’ and writin’ and rev·el·ry

Red read?
?1. Think of a verb in the past tense. 
A homophone of that word can describe a person who has done that same action, but the two words are etymologically unrelated (for example, like “Red read” in the image shown here).  
What are the two words?

Writing in the sand?
?2. Name a famous author predominantly known for works in the first half of the 20th Century.  
Spoonerize the first and last name, and the result will be an observation after a day with the family at the beach.
Who is this author?  
Hint:  The author is not an American.
A brief syllabratory break at the top of the day?
?3.The last name of a well-known celebrity has two syllables. 
Depending on how you separate the syllables, it phonetically breaks into two different short phrases. 
One phrase might be a hope for those tracking Covid-19, the other might be advice from those afflicted with it.
Who is this celebrity?

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Smooth Operator Slice:
Stump Isle stumper

What common English word equals either about 427 or 56 depending on which operation you apply to it?
Hint: The combined letters in your “operation options” can be rearranged to form “Stump Isle.”

Riffing Off Shortz and Weisz Slices:
Good Hope hunting, Lord Willin’ 

Will Shortz’s August 23rd NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Sandy Weisz, of Chicago, Illinois, reads:
Think of a place on earth with a four-word name. Take the third word. 
Advance three of its letters to the next letter of the alphabet (so A would become B, B would be come C, etc.). You’ll get the fourth word in the name. What place is this?
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz and Weisz Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Think of a puzzle-maker with a two-word name. 
Advance the first three letters of the first name four places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become E, B would be come F, etc.). 
Leave the remaining letters in the first name as they are.
The result sounds like an adjective that might describe the puzzle-maker.
In the second name, advance all but the fourth letter four places ahead in the circular alphabet. Move the fourth letter thrice-as-many (that is, twelve) places ahead.
The result is a verb that is missing from the following sentence:
“Puzzle-makers, from the bygone Zeno-of-Elia Era to the present-day Shortz-of-Pleasantville Era, have always  _____ to both baffle and bedazzle puzzle-solvers.” 
Who is this puzzle-maker?
What adjective might describe the puzzle-maker?
What is the missing verb that belongs in the blank?
ENTREE #2:
Think of a place on earth with a compound-word name. The first part is an adjective sometimes associated with gills. The second part is verb for what an angler might do to a fish.
Remove the place’s last and third-last letters. Advance the remaining letters eight places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become I, B would be come J, etc.)
The result is the last word in the title of a musical fantasy film involving the Muppets, followed by the year the film was released, followed by where audiences viewed its May 20 premiere.
What is this place on earth?
ENTREE #3:
Think of a six-letter noun that defines Greenland. Remove the sixth letter. 
Advance four of this truncated noun’s five letters to the next letter of the circular alphabet (so A would become B, B would be come C, etc.). 
Advance the as-yet-unadvanced letter two places ahead in the alphabet (so A would become C, B would be come D, etc.). 
The result of all this “advanced alphabetology” is a five-letter adjective that describes the six-letter noun that Greenland is.  
What are this noun and adjective?
ENTREE #4:
Think of a well-known large body of water on earth with a two-word name. 
Take the second word. Advance all but the second letter 17 places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become R, B would become S, etc.). Advance the second letter 24 places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become Y, B would be come Z, etc.). The result is the surname of a retired pro quarterback who had talent “up the _____.”
Now take the word in the blank that follows “up the ...” 
Advance all but the second letter five places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become R, B would become S, etc.). Advance the second letter 17 places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become R, B would be come S, etc.). The result is the first name of the retired pro quarterback with talent “up the _____.”
Drop the last two letters from the body of water’s first word. Keep the antepenultimate letter (that is, the “new” last letter) as it is, but advance all other letters four places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become E, B would become F, etc.). The result is an adjective that describes the pro quarterback as a passer.
What is the body of water?
Who is the quarterback?
What is the word in the blank?
What adjective describes the quarterback?
ENTREE #5:
Think of a place on earth with a two-word name. 
Take the first word. Advance its second letter eight places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become I, B would be come J, etc.). Advance the remaining letters three places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become D, B would be come E, etc.). You’ll get what vacationers who visit the place might order at a restaurant.
Take the first word a second time. This time leave the first letter as it is. Advance its other letters 14 places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become O, B would be come P, etc.). You’ll get, more specifically, what vacationers who visit the place might order at a restaurant.
What is this place on earth?
Hint: The specific food ordered at the restaurant is not surprising, given the second word in the place’s name.
ENTREE #6:
Think of a place on earth, in a six-letter word, according to a singer with the initials B.C.
Advance the letters 22 places ahead in the circular alphabet (so A would become W, B would be come X, etc.). 
Change the third letter of this result to an N and the fifth letter to an O. 
The sixth, fifth, fourth, first, second and third letters will then spell a river associated with the “place on earth.”
What place is this?
What is the river?

Dessert Menu

Changing Clothes Dessert:
What is worn & where you wear it

Name certain things people wear. 
Switch the first and last halves of this word. (For example, the word “casebook” would become “bookcase.”) 
Performing such a “literary switcheroo” will name a place you are likely to see people wearing them. 
What are these wearables and where do people wear them?

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.

GeoMetro Goldwyn Mayer; Makin’ certain... just saying; Classical decomposition; “Creature from the Blackjack Lagoon” Franco-Italian farrago!

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 3(7!) SERVED

Schpuzzle Of TheWeek:
Classical decomposition

Take the last name of a composer and the title of one of the composer’s works. 
Read these words to yourself as if they were instuctions. 
These instructions, if followed, would result in a clump of thread. 
Who is the composer and what is the work?

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Double-Meaning Appetizer:
Makin’ certain... just saying

Think of a well-known four-word saying. 
The second and fourth words of the saying, placed side-by-side, describe how certain things are made. 
What’s the saying, and how are certain things made?
Hint: The meanings of the second and fourth words of the saying are both different from their meanings in the description of how certain things are made.

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Simmerin’ Summertime Slice:
GeoMetro Goldwyn Mayer

Name a two-word geometrical term that has a numerical property that might remind you of a hot summer day. 
Rearrange the combined letters of these two words to spell two one-time-hot past Hollywood surnames that might remind you of a pair of military leaders who had a rivalry that, if not heated, was at least simmering below the surface.
What geometrical figure is this?
What are the Hollywood surnames?
Who are the military leaders?

Riffing Off Shortz Slices:
Franco-Italian farrago! 

Will Shortz’s August 16th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle reads:
Think of a major city in France whose name is an anagram of a major city in Italy. Each city has more than 100,000 people.
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Egotistical Heavyweight champ Apollo Creed selects a journeyman boxer named Rocky Balboa as his opponent in a boxing bout in defense of his title. Balboa, an overwhelming underdog trains hard in preparation. 
The challenger actually knocks Creed down in the first round. Creed starts taking Balboa more seriously for the remainder of the fight, with both pugilists sustaining various injuries. 
Balboa suffers relentless blows to the head, sustaining eye-swelling that nearly blinds him. His trainer must cut Balboa’s right eyelid so that he can see! Creed continues pummeling Balboa, who staggers but absorbs each punch and refuses to go down...
At his point in this 1976 Oscar-winning movie, set in Philadelphia during America’s Bicentennial year, theater-goers must have been thinking to themselves, “Can _____ ___ ___?”
Rearranging the combined eleven letters in the three missing words of that thoughtful query do not spell “Philadelphia.” But they do spell a different well-known American city.
What is it?  
ENTREE #2:
Think of a major city in South America whose name can be anagrammed into an adjective and proper noun that describe Roy, but not Orson. 
What is this city?
ENTREE #3:
Think of a major city in a transcontinental nation whose name is anagrams into two words for the same human body part. 
What city is this?
Hint: One of the words is a slang term.
ENTREE #4:
Think of a major “city” in Asia whose name is an anagram of two sounds that visitors to that city may hear. 
What city is this?
ENTREE #5:
Think of a major city in Western Europe whose name can be anagrammed into a two-word caption that would not be truthful if it were to be used in what is being advertised in the dual image pictured here.
What is this city?
What would be the untruthful caption?
Hint: The city has quite a few more than 100,000 people. It is known for its architecture and art.    
ENTREE #6:
Think of a city in Great Britain whose name can be anagrammed to form two words that describe any person who prefers to lose weight not through healthy dieting or exercise but via surgery. 
What is this city?
What is the two-word description?
Hint: The first word in the anagram is an informal word.
ENTREE #7:
Think of a major city in Africa whose name can be anagrammed into a two-word caption for the image pictured here. 
What is this city?
What is the caption?
Hint: The city has quite a few more than 100,000 people.
ENTREE #8:
Think of a major city in Africa.  
Its first four letters can be anagrammed into a  mechanical term associated with the center of a wheel.
Its remaining letters can be anagrammed into a  geometrical term associated with the center of a circle.  
What is this city?
What are the two terms?
Hint: The city has quite a few more than 100,000 people.
ENTREE #9:
Write down a major city in the United States, followed by its U.S. Postal Service state abbreviation. 
These letters can be rearranged to form two words that belong in the blanks of a caption for the dual image pictured here. 
The caption reads: “How to ____ a ________”
What is this city?
What are the missing words in the caption?

Dessert Menu

“Quit Dealing Dem Damn Deuces!” Dessert:
“Creature from the Blackjack Lagoon”

Name a phrase you might hear at a blackjack table. 
Invert one letter and rearrange the result to form the title of a classic creature feature film. 
What is the film title?

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.

“I’ll have what she’s having” Drowning out the doldrums; Mercurial Jays with Silverheels; “Nah! That ain’t the ticket!” Songs for bazookazoos!

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 3(7!) SERVED

Schpuzzle Of TheWeek:
“Nah! That ain’t the ticket!”

Rearrange the letters in a synonym of “meal ticket” to spell two words that might have appeared together on a different type of ticket...
But didn’t. 
What synonym is this?
What are these two words?

Appetizer Menu

World-Weary Appetizer:
Drowning out the doldrums

2020 has been a year of world-weariness and restlessness induced by a pandemic. 
Some Americans have drowned out these doldrums by adopting a cause, be it social distancing and mask-wearing, when to “reopen” America, or Black lives matter.
Take a word meaning world-weariness and “restlessness.” It contains a double-letter. Replace the double-letter with an “opposite” double-letter. (For example, M, as in Male and F, as in Female, might be considered “opposite” letters.) Then move the beginning letter to the end and the ending letter to the beginning to get a general word for a cause like mask-wearing or Black lives matter.
What are these two words?

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Gadzooks Slice:
Songs for bazookazoos!

Spell the last four letters of a word for a zoo animal backward and move them to the beginning of the word.
Insert within this result the first word in the title of a popular song about a zoo. 
The result spells a second animal you might see at the zoo. 
What are these two animals?
What is the song about the zoo?

Riffing Off Shortz and Weinstein Slices:
Mercurial Jays with Silverheels 

Will Shortz’s August 8th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Barbara Weinstein of Lincoln, Massachusetts, reads:
Think of a famous living person in the entertainment field whose first name is a bird. 
The person’s last name is a quality of this bird — something its feathers have. 
Who’s the famous person, and what’s the bird?
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz and Weinstein Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Consider a five-word text that an otolaryngologist named Dr. Quack sent to his patient, Earl, in response to a text Earl had sent to Doc Quack complaining about a waxy build-up he was experiencing in his left ear. 
The words in the doc’s text are 4, 5, 3, 1 and 3 letters long.
Those five words begin with S, I, E, A and B.
Rearrange the combined letters of the five words in the text to spell the name of a puzzle-maker.
Who is this puzzle-maker?
What is the five-word text? 
ENTREE #2:
Think of a somewhat famous no-longer-living person in the entertainment field whose first name is a member of the flycatcher family.
Place the person’s last name, without a space, in front of the the general term for this creature. 
The result is the title of a 1969 hit recording by a Canadian singer that spawned cover versions the following year by Lynn Anderson, Perry Como, Loretta Lynn, Andy Williams and Slim Whitman.
Who’s the somewhat famous person?
What is the song title? 
ENTREE #3:
Think of a well known journalist whose first name is an animal. The person’s first name is also the first part of a compound word that the University of Michigan football team coined to name a key position (a linebacker/safety hybrid) on its squad. 
Future NFL player Randy Logan was the starter in all 12 games at this position on the 1972 Michigan football squad. The position often required Logan to act as a _____ on passing downs. (The word in that blank is the last name of the journalist.)
Who is this journalist?
What is the name of the position that Randy Logan played at the University of Michigan In Lansing?
Hint: The compound word naming the key position appeared in the title of a song by the Guess Who.
ENTREE #4:
Think of a famous television character whose first name is a Southern U.S. slang term for his main mode of transportation. The character’s last name is a compound word. 
The mode of transportation and the first part of the compound word are the two nouns in a six-word idiomatic analogy for doing things in the wrong order. The order in which they appear in the TV character’s name, however, is not wrong at all! Indeed, the word that describes the order in which they appear is a homophone of the second part of the character’s last name.
What’s the TV character’s name?
What’s the six-word idiomatic analogy for doing things in the wrong order?
Hint: The lowercase version of the last name of the actor who portrayed the character is a player that Randy Logan (see Entree #3) may have encountered as he stalked a quarterback.
ENTREE #5:
Think of a man and woman whose names (first and last for each) were linked in headlines during the 1980s. Remove the last letter of the man’s first name. The result is four words:
1. a kind of oil;
2. a direction;
3. a forest creature;
4. word that precedes “pass” or “monitor”;
Double what now has become the last letter of man’s first name. 
Rearrange the letters of this result, combined with the letters of the three other names, to form four words: the last name of a past American novelist and three words describing what this novelist had a pair characters do in one of the novelist’s novels. One of the pair of characters is named Arthur. 
Who are the two 1980s headlines-makers?
Who is the American novelist? 
What did Arthur and the other character do in the novelist’s novel?
Hint: There were rumors that the man and the woman in the 1980s headlines might have, in real life, followed Arthur and the other character’s lead with regard to what they did in the novel.    
ENTREE #6:
Think of a famous person from the past whose last name is a bird known for its singing. 
The letters of the person’s first name can be rearranged to spell two words: a musical symbol that indicates pitch and a past world leader who played played music proficiently in the face of flames. 
Who’s the famous person?
What are the musical symbol? 
Who’s the famous world leader?
ENTREE #7:
Think of a past British architect/scientist and a British fictional character who have the same first name. 
The name following the first name, in each case, is a bird – a one-syllable name for the architect, a two-syllable name for the fictional character.
Who are these birdy Brits?
Hint: The fictional character bears the name of its literary creator’s “paternal creation” – that is, the first and middle names of the author’s son are the same as that of the fictional character.

Dessert Menu

No Sloppy Joe Dessert:
“I’ll have what she’s having!”

Meatball subs, crab legs, BBQ ribs, chicken wings and Sloppy Joes... 
All are sloppy menu choices one can make at a family restaurant. 
What is perhaps the least sloppy menu selection one can make?
Hint: The answer contains three words and thirteen letters.


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.

Shifting letters, shifting gears; Retying alphabetical strings; Rearranging frock assuages flock; “A Tale of Two Titles” “The curious case of the flip-flopped font”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 3(7!) SERVED

Schpuzzle Of TheWeek:
“A Tale of Two Titles”

The following puzzle is a tale retold “acrosynonymously.”
A 19th-Century author of fiction wrote a short story, then wrote a revised even-shorter version of the same story using a different title. 
The initial letters in the words of each title spell a word. These two words are synonyms. 
What are these two titles?
What are the two synonyms?

Appetizer Menu

Unbeatable Conundrums Appetizer:
Shifting letters, shifting gears

🥁1. Think of an entrepreneur often in the news. Shift the letters of their first name three places prior in the alphabet to get a word for something this person was accused of doing to their investors about a year ago.
🥁2. Think of a four word phrase meaning suitable or appropriate. Remove the spaces and the second and third letters, and shift what remains one place to the right on the computer keyboard. The result will be a word for a traveler.
🥁3. Name a style of car in one word. Add a space after the first four letters, and rearrange the remaining letters into a new word, to make a two word phrase that describes what a long-distance driver might have to take.
🥁4. There exists a common idiom in five words where the last three words are each four letters. The fourth word can be formed by rotating the third letter of the third word and changing the last letter. The fifth word can be formed by taking the fourth word and shifting its first letter five places later in the alphabet. What is the idiom?

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Mysterious Slice:
“The curious case of the flip-flopped font”

Here is a mystery for you to solve:
You type an uppercase word, one you often read outdoors, using a lowercase sans serif font such as Futura or Avant Garde (but not the sans serif font you are now reading, Arial). 
You then flip this lowercase word upside-down. 
Finally, you reconvert the result back to uppercase.
When you do so, you will reveal an abbreviated form of the state entities (“state” as in the United States) that are reponsible for making the uppercase word visible. 
Can you find this word (and solve this mystery)?

Riffing Off Shortz and Hochbaum Slices:
Retying alphabetical strings 

Will Shortz’s August 2nd NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Alan Hochbaum, of Duluth, Georgia, reads: 
Think of a famous living American whose first and last names have a total of eight letters — all different. Five of these letters are consecutive in the alphabet. The remaining three can be rearranged to spell a woman’s nickname. What famous American is this?
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz and Hochbaum Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
The combined letters of the first and last names of a puzzle-maker can be rearranged to form:
1. standard entertainment at a luau,
2. non-vegetarian fare served at a luau in lieu of pork or chicken, and
3. what shrimp bites or pineapple bites might be wrapped in at the luau.
Who is this puzzle-maker? 
What are the luau entertainment, non-vegetarian fare and wrapping for the bites of shrimp and pineapple? 
ENTREE #2:
Think of a “cousin” of italics that has eight letters — all different. 
Six of these letters are consecutive in the alphabet. The remaining two can be rearranged to spell a word used to call attention or to express wonder or surprise. 
What is this “italics kin”?  
ENTREE #3:
Think of an eight-letter synonym of “carp” or “crab” that has eight letters — all different. Five of these letters are consecutive in the alphabet. 
The remaining three can be rearranged to spell an initialism in the lyrics of a song that also includes references to the BBC, BB King, Doris Day and Matt Busby.
What is this synonym of “carp” or “crab”?
ENTREE #4:
Think of a grammatically superlative adjective with a total of eight letters, five of which are consecutive in the alphabet. The remaining three letters are the same letter.
Think of a noun with a total of eight letters — all different. Five of these letters are consecutive in the alphabet. 
The remaining three can be rearranged to spell a dessert. 
The adjective and noun together can describe a comedian — such as Steven Wright, say, or the late Mitch Hedberg.
What are this adjective and noun?
Hint: the five consecutive letters in the adjective are the same as the five in the noun.   
ENTREE #5:
Take seven consecutive letters of the alphabet. 
ROT13 the second letter in the sequence (that is, replace the second letter with the letter 13 places after it in the alphabet). Rearrange the result to spell a slang term for a United States Army enlisted soldier.
What is this term?
Note: Although you are seeking a term for an enlisted soldier, remenber to merely ROT13 the second letter... do not ROTC13 the second letter!
ENTREE #6:
Take six consecutive letters of the alphabet. Reduce one of them by 4 to form a different letter. 
Replace the letter you reduced with this newly formed different letter. 
Rearrange these six letters to spell a synonym of “pipsqueak.”
What is this synonym?
ENTREE #7:
Assign a number to the letters of the alphabet, A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. 
Pluck seven consecutive odd-numbered letters from the alphabet. Remove from this mix the letter that appears more often than any other letter in the English lexicon. 
Rearrange the remaining six letters to form an archaic spelling of a word that may remind you of Bethlehem. 
What is this archaically spelled word?
Hint: Wise men can solve this puzzle.
ENTREE #8:
Assign a number to each letter of the alphabet, A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.
Pluck five consecutive “odd letters” from the alphabet. Add to the mix two “odd letters” from earlier in the alphabet. Rearrange these seven letters to spell an adjective that might describe a parrot. 
What is this adjective?
Hint: The adjective rhymes with the last two syllables of a large Midwestern city.

Dessert Menu

Collection/Fashion Plate Dessert:
Rearranging frock assuages flock

Pastors often provide peace of mind to their flock. 
Rearrange the combined letters of two articles of particular pastors’ clothing to spell something else might that provide people in the pews with peace of mind. 
What do these pastors wear?
What else might provide people in the pews with peace of mind?
Hint: Roman Catholic priests are the “men of the cloth” most likely to wear these articles of clothing.

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.