“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.