De-hyphenation, Repunctuation; Sifting fact from fiction; “Metropolis? Cosmopolis? Acroplis?” “Cryptickle” your crossword fancy! Phrase heard during the first of three frays

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 3(7!) SERVED

Schpuzzle Of TheWeek:

De-hyphenation, Repunctuation

Replace a hyphen in a five-syllable word with a different punctuation mark. 

Add a space someplace between two letters. 

The result is a factual statement. 

What is this word?

What is the factual statement?

Appetizer Menu

Cryptic Crossword Appetizer:

“Cryptickle” your crossword fancy!

In this edition of Puzzleria!, Patrick J. Berry (screen name, “cranberry”) is about to tickle your crossword fancy, not with a feather but with his seventeenth cryptic crossword puzzle to grace our blog.

Patrick is indeed a fountain of cryptic knowledge. He is no featherweight when it comes to puzzle creation. 

And you can write that down in indelible ink! 

Here are the links to Patrick’s sixteen previous cryptic crosswords on Puzzleria!

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN 

EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE 

THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN

For those of you who may be new to cryptic crossword puzzles, Patrick has compiled a few basic cryptic crossword puzzle instructions to help you “quill you way through his clues.”

Here are his instructions:

Regarding the Across and Down clues and their format...

The number in parentheses at the end of each clue tells how many letters are in the answer.

 Multiple numbers in parentheses indicate how letters are distributed in multiple-word answers.

For example, (6) simply indicates a six-letter answer like “jalopy,” (5,3) indicates a five-and-three-letter answer like “cargo van,” and (5-5) indicates a five-and-five-letter hyphenated answer like “Rolls-Royce.”

(For further insight about how to decipher these numbered cryptic clues, see Patrick’s “Cryptic Crossword Tutorial” in this link to his November 17, 2017 cryptic crossword. 

The Tutorial appears below the grid that contains the answers in that edition of Puzzleria!)

And now, here are Patrick’s clues:

ACROSS

1. Grub the men prepared specially – a growing concern(5,5)

6. A snake getting around quickly(4)

9. Disaster movie starring Amy Schumer?(10)

10. Angry-sounding fly(4)

11. A recent day’s wasted looking for bunny droppings?(6,5)

15. Study channel guide(7)

16. Country singer I treasure somewhat(7)

17. Chose up sides, changed? (7)

19. Secret police – couple of Germans dance in? Indeed!(7)

20. Fight for change interrupted by Conservative(11)

23. Press on after I run(4)

24. Doctor is tense? Sad – should be calm(10)

25. Fools around with lead singer in band(4)

26. Genius having rigged race let speed up?(10)

DOWN

1. Opening at end of scandal?(4)

2. Might be oral sex(a minor part)(4)

3. Manage to come up with funny question as deception(3,8)

4. Fixed “bad threads”?(4-3)

5. Associate carrying revolutionary weapon(7)

7. Cook so bored with pan to make Southern treat(10)

8. Individual describes “New Army” in courtroom drama(5,5)

12. Discretion, perhaps, getting married in Alabama?(7,4)

13. Awfully chaotic mess, doing away with old diagrams(10)

14. Neurotics, if sick right off, could be contagious(10)

18. Scar – it’d developed into rash(7)

19. Facial expression – sour one(7)

21. Ultimately, Trump had upset animal lovers(4)

22. Man, for one, regularly insulted(4)

MENU

All Decorum Frays Slice:

Phrase heard during the first of three frays

Name a newsmaking two-word phrase that was heard during the first presidential debate this past Tuesday, September 29. 

Think of another two-word phrase for

something not heard at that that debate, even though it was heard at most other recently previous presidential debates. 

These two two-word phrases rhyme with each other. 

What are they?

Riffing Off Shortz And Austin Slices:

“Metropolis? Cosmopolis? Acroplis?”  

Will Shortz’s September 27th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Ben Austin, of Dobbs Ferry, New York, reads:

Name a major world city with a population in the millions. Take one letter in its name and move it two spots earlier in the alphabet. Reading backward, you now have the name of a major restaurant chain. What is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz and Austin Slices read:

ENTREE #1:

Write a caption for the image pictured here – a four-letter adjective and a five-letter noun.  Also describe – using a one-letter article, three-letter noun and five-letter noun – the smaller image in the lower-right corner of the larger image.

Rearrange the nine letters in either the caption or the description to spell the name of a puzzle-maker.

Who is it?

What are the caption and the description?

ENTREE #2:

Express the name of a major world city with a population in the millions by writing it in all-lowercase letters. Rotate the second letter 90 degrees counterclockwise and attach it near the top of the first letter, forming one uppercase letter. 

The result is a five-letter word that is the first word in a two-word name of a major restaurant chain. 

The second word in the chain appears in the text of the puzzle you are now reading.

What is this city?

What is the restaurant chain?

ENTREE #3:

Name a major world city with a population in the millions. Take one letter in its name and move it ten spots later in the alphabet. 

Rearrange the letters of the result. You now have a common misspelling of the name of a major restaurant chain. 

What is this chain?

What is the world city?

ENTREE #4:

Name a major world city with a population in the millions. 

Spell the first four letters in its name backward to name an entree you might find on a seafood menu. 

Now remove the third and fourth letters of the city and rearrange the remaining letters to name another entree you might find on a seafood menu.

What is this city?

What are the two menu items?

ENTREE #5:

Name a major Middle Eastern city, in seven letters, with a population in the millions. The first, sixth and seventh letters spell an adjective. The seventh, second, third and fourth letters spell a noun. 

Place the adjective in front of the noun to form a phrase meaning “a wild and uncontrolled rush.” 

What is this city?

What is the phrase?

Note: Entrees #6, #7 and #8 are the brainchildren of Greg VanMechelen (ecoarchitect) whose Econfusions feature appears regularly on Puzzleria!

ENTREE #6:

Name a major world city with a population in the millions. 

Take one letter in its name and move it ten spots earlier in the alphabet. 

Reading backward, you now have the name of a major peninsula. 

What are this city and peninsula? 

ENTREE #7: 

Name a major word city with a population in the millions that is associated with sausage. 

Take one letter in its name and move it three spots earlier in the alphabet. 

Switch the order of two other adjacent letters in the city.

Reading backward, you now have the name of a company brand with many items on the grocery shelf, often considered healthy, and a popular pasta item. 

What are this city and company? 

ENTREE #8:

Name a two-word major world city with a population of about a half-million. 

Spell each of the two words backward, keeping them in the same order. 

You now have the first two words in a possible slogan for a brand-name household cleaning product. 

The slogan reads: “___ ____ sponge your spills!” 

What is this city?

What is the possible advertising slogan?

Dessert Menu

Quirky Dessert:

Sifting fact from fiction

The last name of a comedian is shared by American inventors and an American architect. 

Use the word “is” to connect the comedian’s first name to a synonym of “quirky.” The result is a three-word statement of opinion. 

Remove the second letter of this statement to form a statement of fact.

Remove the first letter of this factual statement to form a false statement. 

What are these three statements?

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.