Does Dan’s Dad even give a hoot? “I got ‘the call’... and the lapel pin!” Tundra and lightning rodomontade All things thin and small, etc. Cleveland rocks, Boulder rolls

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 3(7!) SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Does Dan’s Dad even give a hoot?”

Miles, a marathoner, and his son Dan stay overnight at Uncle Zeke’s New England farm. The farm is a haven for night owls “who” roost in the barn but “who” usually leave by morning. 

Dan, alas, is terrified of owls. 

Miles wakes early the next morning and leaves to compete in the Boston Marathon. The owls, alas, don’t leave, casting a pallor of panic and dread over Dan. 

Zeke, concerned about Dan’s emotional state, texts Miles at the 5-mile mark of the marathon: 

“Owls stayed. Dan whitens. Care?” 

What deeper subliminal meaning might Uncle Zeke’s text contain?

Appetizer Menu

Unbeatable Conundrums Appetizer:

All things thin and small, etc.

⿎1. Write down something thin in four letters, followed by something small in three letters.
The result is a civilized event that typically celebrates both these things. Cross out the last letters of the thin and small things to get a word meaning uncivilized. 

If instead you cross out the first letters of the thin and small things you’ll name someone often present at the event.

⿎2. Think of an automobile accessory in two words. Remove the space and swap the first and last letters. The result will be something used by an airplane.

⿎3. Think of something small that spins quickly. Move the last letter to the fourth place. The result will be an informal word for quick action.

⿎4. Think of a word meaning possessed. Drop the first letter and rearrange to name something some would say possesses people.

MENU

“May” You Play With “Will” Slice:

“I got ‘the call’... and the lapel pin!”

Name what a puzzle-solver who gets the phone call to play National Public Radio’s “The Puzzle” (with Will Shortz and Lulu Garcia-Navarro) may then be doing, figuratively. 

Change the first letter of this phrase to name what the solver will then be doing, literally. 

What are these two phrases?

Riffing Off Shortz Slices:

Cleveland rocks, Boulder rolls

Will Shortz’s November 1st NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle reads:

Name a well-known U.S. city in two words of five and three letters. Change the first letter of the second word to name a popular rock group. Who is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz Slices read:

ENTREE #1

The instructions for the on-air challenge that Will Shortz posed on the November 1st NPR Weekend Edition Sunday read:

Every answer today is a well-known U.S. city or town that has a two-word name. I’m going to give you rhymes for the respective parts. You name the place. For example: Tan Barber, Michigan --> ANN ARBOR.

Now do the same for Tar Barber, but in a different state that begins with an M. In this case, the answer is the pretty well-known city that was the birthplace of a U.S. vice president (who nearly assumed the presidency twice!).

What is this city?

ENTREE #2

Name a popular rock group in two words of five and three letters. Find a four-letter rhyme of the first word and four-letter rhyme of the second word. 

The first rhyme reveals who Mary was and the second rhyme reveals what Mary had.

Who was Mary? What did she have?

What is the rock group?

ENTREE #3

Name a popular rock group in two words of six and three letters. 

Find a six-letter rhyme of the first word and three-letter rhyme of the second word which, when written together, describe George Hamilton and other sun-worshippers.  

What is this two-word description?

ENTREE #4

Name a well-known U.S. city in two words of six and five letters. 

Find a six-letter rhyme of the first word which means to tell secrets about what someone else has done. 

Then find a four-letter rhyme of the second word which means to give out information surreptitiously.

What is this city?

What are the two rhyming words associated with “blabbing” or “spilling the beans?”

ENTREE #5

Note: The following riff-off is a recycled Puzzleria! puzzle from 2014 that I created.

Name a popular folk-rock group. The first two words in the group’s name are also the name of a century-old candy manufacturing company. 

The last word in the name, if you replace its final letter, spells a candy brand and corporation. 

What is this popular group?

What are the candy company and the candy brand/corporation?

ENTREE #6

Name a well-known U.S. city in two words of five and five letters. 

Find a rhyme of the first word that consists of a 3-letter word and a 2-letter word. Then find a 4-letter rhyme of the second word.

The result is a caption of the image pictured here.

What is this city?

What is the caption?

ENTREE #7

Name a well-known fictional U.S. city in two words of six and seven letters. 

Find a nine-letter rhyme of the first word and five-letter rhyme of the second word which are verbs beginning with a C and an F that are synonyms of each other.  

What is this fictional U.S. city? 

Who are the synonymous verbs?

ENTREE #8

Name a reasonably well-known fictional U.S. city in two words of four and three letters. Find a six-letter rhyme of the first word and three-letter rhyme of the second word. These rhyming words are two of your fried chicken menu options if you are not a fan of chicken wings.

Name another reasonably well-known fictional U.S. city in two words of four and three letters that appears in the same novel as the first

fictional city. Find a five-letter rhyme of the first word that is an ingredient used in brewing a beverage that might complement your fried chicken menu selections. Find a three-letter rhyme of the second word that is a container from which the beverage may be tapped.  

What are these fictional U.S. cities? 

What are your two fried chicken menu options, the beverage ingredient, and the beverage container?

Dessert Menu

Squaring The Circle Dessert:

Tundra and lightning rodomontade

Take a three-word optimistic phrase that has lately been in the news. 

It seems to be a well-known “lightning rod’s” favorite phrase. It contains a present participle, article and noun. 

Rearrange the combined letters of these words to form three other words that are all associated with the word “tundra”:

1. an eight-letter adjective starting with “n”,

2. a six-letter noun starting with “g”, and

3. a three-letter noun starting with “i”.

What is this phrase?

What are the three words associated with “tundra”?

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.