PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 3(7!) SERVED
Schpuzzle of the Week:
Mum’s the (Happy Talk) word
The letters in the phrase “ANCHOR DESK CHIT-CHAT E.T. TIE-IN” relate to something that provervially happened more than a century ago at sea.
What happened at sea?
How do the letters in “ANCHOR DESK CHIT-CHAT E.T. TIE-IN” relate to it?
Appetizer Menu
Borderline Befuddling Appetizer:
“Inauguration of a new ladder”
Word ladder transition
🎺1. Construct a word ladder (in each step changing a single letter) from TRUMP to BIDEN using the minimum number of steps.
Bonus: Construct another word ladder from TRUMP to BIDEN in which the word CHAOS appears. This will require more steps.
Hint: Getting from TRUMP to CHAOS uses all familiar words. Getting from BIDEN to CHAOS may be somewhat more difficult.
🎬2. Three US states border eight other states. Two are Missouri and Tennessee. What is the third state? Name its eight bordering states.
Pest? Prost!📦3. A small, fairly-well-known US city contains the name of a month. Remove the name of the month. The remaining letters, pronounced as a word, sound like an English name for a German container. What are the city, container, and month?
It’s all the same
𝓣𝓨𝓟𝓔 4. Think of a female name. Using appropriate typographical treatment, the first five letters of this name could be written identically.
Fishing for men
🐟5. Think of a fish. Divide the name of this fish into two halves. The first half is a man’s name. Spelled backwards, the second half sounds like a second man’s name.
What are the fish and the two men’s names?
MENU
Ceremonial Churchy Slice:
“Pray” is just a four-letter word
Rearrange the 13 letters in the question to spell three words:
1. A biblical town associated with a church ceremony,
2. The purpose of the ceremony, and
3. A word appearing in newspaper accounts of the ceremony.
What is the question?
What are the three words?
Hint: “The purpose of the ceremony” is a gerund.
Riffing Off Shortz And Flood Slices:
Meatloaf, Cake & Joy of Cooking
Will Shortz’s January 3rd NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Robert Flood of Allen, Texas, reads:
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Flood Slices read:
ENTREE #1
Name a national chain of inns, in 2 alliterative words.
Rearrange the combined letters in these three words to form the name of a puzzle-maker.
Who is it?
What are the three words?
ENTREE #2
Remove the middle letter to get a new word describing a genre of rock music.
What are this “junk” substitute and genre of rock?
ENTREE #3
Write in a sans-serif font (such as Ariel, the font you are now reading) a seven-letter word for a kind of cooking that might involve potatoes, shrimp or chicken.
Capitalize the the first and third letters to spell what looks like the surname of a very recently deceased jazz composer.
What is the kind of cooking?
Who is the jazz composer?
ENTREE #4
Name a dessert in two words. Rearrange its first eight letters to spell, in three words, something you notice that might prompt you to call a plumber.
without rearrangement, a genre of music.
What are this dessert and the reason for calling a plumber?
What is the genre of music?
ENTREE #5
What is this jazz genre?
Who is the cartoon character?
ENTREE #6
Name a trademarked eight-letter hyphenated word for a kind of cooker.
What is this kind of cooker?
What is the genre of music, and its fans’ drug of choice?
ENTREE #7
Think of a seven-letter more-modern-day version of “Sing Along With Mitch” that takes place not in a TV studio but in a drinking establishment.
What is this more-modern-day version of “Mitch’s sing-along shtick”?
What type of a tree and an implement do you own?
ENTREE #8
Rearrange the letters to name a two-word term that describes calf-roping at a rodeo.
What is this rock music genre?
What is the two-word category for calf-roping?
ENTREE #9
Think of a six-letter word for a genre of rock music that fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal.
Rearrange the six letters to form two words: a breakfast food and a containter for a hot breakfast beverage.
What rock music genre is this?
What are the breakfast food and hot beverage container?
Hint: A two-word synonym of the rock music genre is a possible alternative name for "Puget Sound."
Dessert Menu
Gophers Badgers Wolverines Dessert:
Stalking a shifty city critter
Name a critter associated with a particular state.
Move its second letter so that it replaces its fifth letter, forming a city in that state.
What critter and city are this?
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.
Starting the week off (there surely were bunches of posts last week!), the bottom half of P! went much better than the top half; that means, I solved all the Entrees, which except for #8 which took me a long time, were pretty easy. The Dessert took some time, but I just worked that out, and am now going up to bed.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was onto the Schpuzzle, as one word popped out at me, however, even though I made three other good words (or possibly four), I am stuck with the last five letters that make a word, but nothing having anything to do with the subject.
All geo's puzzles went nowhere (except possibly #5, but I'm sure my answer is wrong, as the backwards name is exact, not a 'sounds like", and the third part of the Slice is just too vague to be able to guess (my first two words may well be wrong, as well.)
Happy Friday to all!
ReplyDeletePretty much same old, same old around here. We'll be getting a "wintry mix" in the weather over the weekend. Sunday going into Monday there should be rain turning to snow, but I don't know if there'll be enough to stick. In some parts of the state there was enough a few days ago that they showed photos on the news of snowmen some folks had created. "Ask Me Another" was good tonight, and I completed both the Private Eye and the Prize Crosswords.
Now for this week's P! offerings. I already mentioned on Blaine's Blog how difficult the word ladder is going to be, and whether I go forward or work backwards with this thing, I still end up in a rut. And fat chance of my trying to work CHAOS in there somewhere. I haven't even attempted that part yet. Doesn't even seem possible, IMHO. But I have got a few others already, thank God. Here's my progress so far:
Fishing For Men
All Entrees except #3
The Dessert
Will welcome any hints you provide, and especially any help with the dreaded word ladder. No offense to geofan, but from my experience, word ladders can be tough to do if it looks like it'll take more than two or three steps, and this one appears to be a MONSTER! Like many other Americans, I want to be rid of TRUMP as soon as possible, and now I am expected to try to change his name into BIDEN, and I seriously doubt I can get the "shortest" possible ladder with this one. The idea of shortness doesn't even seem to enter into it here! Lego, I hope you can at least calm my fears about this one, if anything. It just seems like a huge undertaking for me. I'm sure geofan has an intended answer, but it's gonna take a while for me to even come close to it. Just saying it right up front.
As always in closing, I wish you all good luck and good solving, and stay safe, and of course, don't go anywhere without those masks! Cranberry out!
pjbSaysTooManyRungsWon'tMakeMineRight
Song selection of the week the Royalettes "it's gonna take a miracle."
DeleteOr Perry Como's "It's Impossible".
DeleteIt's Impossible.
DeleteLegoAdds"OrAtLeastNotVeryLikely"
Are we still talking about the word ladder?
DeletepjbThinksThatMightBeTheImpossibleDream
I Can't Go For That(No Can Do).
DeletepjbWithApologiesToDarylAndJohn
He was the champ and then the chump and now you just want to thump him.
ReplyDeleteIs there a Moseo, Maine??
ReplyDeletePT: Thought of the same. But there is an Orono, ME.
DeleteDo you know the way to Moseo??
ReplyDeleteHave all the Entrées and the Dessert, and have ideas for the Schpuzzle and Slice. Have ideas for the Schpuzzle and Slice.
ReplyDeletepjb, here are some ideas on how to attack a word ladder. The two here are not so easy: my solutions are 13 steps for TRUMP to BIDEN, 6 steps for TRUMP to CHAOS, and 9 or 10 steps for CHAOS to BIDEN (two ladders – merge them to make the final bonus solution).
ReplyDeleteHere is how I view a word ladder. Remember that the change of letter in each rung always stays in its same location. If you look at the start and end letters, it is possible to calculate the minimum number of steps for the ladder. I call this a “trivial” case (from mathematical usage).
Take BUSH to GORE (the ladder that inspired the present ladders). The net change from start to end is 4 letters, i.e. B → G, U → O, S → R, H → E. So it is impossible to change BUSH to GORE in fewer than 4 steps.
Also note that the vowel in position 2 remains a vowel. That makes life easy, as many 4-letter words have a vowel in that position. The final position changes H → E. This makes life harder, as the switch must be made from a consonant to a vowel at some point. Generally, this means that there are fewer degrees of freedom (i.e., options) for these two rungs.
In steps where it is necessary to change a consonant as position n to n + 1 or vice versa (i.e. to “swap” a vowel and consonant, it is necessary at some point to have a word with adjacent vowels, one of which was previously; or, in the next rung, becomes a consonant). So words like PEACE (for PLACE to PEACE to PENCE) are useful.
For the BUSH to GORE ladder, a trivial solution is not possible, but a solution is possible in 5 steps:
BUSH → BASH → BASE → BARE → BORE → GORE. Except for U → O, the letter at each position only changes once. It is close.
For another ladder, take TRUMP to CRIME. The trivial ladder would require 3 steps (T → C, U → I, P → E). The R and M do not change. A solution is TRUMP → TRAMP → CRAMP → CRIMP → CRIME. If CRUMP is accepted, then we have a trivial solution TRUMP → CRUMP → CRIMP → CRIME with 3 steps.
If is possible to switch the last letter to an S, often that makes life easier, as it reduces the number of letters by 1. Generally, the shorter the word, the easier it is to construct a word ladder. This is the case with the TRUMP to BIDEN ladder in my solution. But you have to get there first. BIDEN → BIDES works, but TRUMP → TRUMS does not. But if we change TRUMP to TRAMP, then TRAMS works. So the 5-letter ladder now is effectively a 4-letter one, from TRAM to BIDE.
Finally, it is often necessary to switch from the initial letter to an intermediate letter that is then “discarded” later on in the ladder. Such is the case from BUSH to GORE, where the U changes to an O via a “temporary” A. The principle is a bit like using a protecting group in synthetic organic chemistry. The intermediate letter “enables” the desired transition (here, from U to A). For these intermediates, some consonants are particularly useful. In the “plurals” case above, the S is actually an intermediate.
Hope this helps a bit. Sorry if it is too theoretical: it is where I come from.
geofan
Minor correction: add a ) after the second "consonant" in 5th paragraph.
Deletepjb, if the above seems totally inscrutable to you, please realize that some Puzzleria! puzzles seem inscrutable to me. Such as this week's Entrée #5. I had to comb through (actually, not-so-endless, in this case) lists of unknown jazz genres and cartoon characters until hitting the answer (had actually heard of the cartoon character in this case).
DeleteFrom my perspective, I find your cryptic puzzles generally almost unsolvable. If you provided some hints, it might help. There seem to be so many options, and some are twisted around in hard-to-fathom ways (sometimes don't even "get" the published solutions). But hey, they are cryptic! And a lot of Puzzlerian!s find them fascinating. Sometimes, I also. There was one of your cryptics some months back that I almost totally solved, but since then little success.
In general, I am not so big a fan of word ladders. But in this case, it seemed so timely... Owing to the events of 6 Jan, however, I did decide not to add some other bonus ladders in my post.
Finally, I realize that a large fraction of Puzzlerian!s are very into popular music, movies, Oscars, TV sitcoms and the like. Likely this devolves from Will Shortz, who (it seems) has some interests in this area. And Puzzleria! is a cultural descendant of Blaine's blog, which itself derives from Will's NPR segment.
Remember that Puzzleria! has no mandate that each solver solve each and every puzzle in a given week. The goal is to have fun, not to score 100 % on each exam! And hopefully to learn something. Pre-Puzzleria, I had never even heard of Bob's Burgers. But now when I see an ad on Fox (e.g. on NFL games), it now registers.
Finally, a hint to all. Lego I(as all of us) has favorite "puzzle pieces." So Gilligan's Island, 1960s-70s rock, Taxi Driver, SKA, and PINE NUTS are repeat gems [sorry if I gave too much away, Lego!]
geofan
2nd minor correction in the "word ladder " post: 8th/next to last paragraph: correct to "(here, from U to O)" [not A].
DeleteMan, I hope my word ladder doesn't take as many words as your explanation did! I'm not totally ignorant of the whole "word ladder" concept, you know. It's just with TRUMP at the start and BIDEN at the finish, it seems like a very daunting task. As for hints to solving my cryptics, I'll certainly do what I can in the future. I realize not everybody can fathom every clue in a cryptic crossword. Some have definitely left me stymied when I'm the solver, on the outside looking in, as it were. Yesterday's Everyman puzzle on the Guardian website is a perfect example. The last answer I had to get was a four-letter Down clue, and I already had the even letters from the intersecting Across answers. It looked like this: _R_A. You'd think it would be easy to get, right? Here's the clue, verbatim:
DeleteTopic like 'Bigger Moustaches in EastEnders'(4)
What would you do? I already knew EastEnders is the name of a soap opera on British TV, but knowing how anything in the clue might suggest wordplay, I assumed this was supposed to mean maybe ST the "enders" of East, or perhaps ET as both ends of East, but even so, this wouldn't work here. I also found out the term "moustaches" is a British term for homosexual males. Again, of no use to me here. So I finally looked up synonyms for the word "topic", because I was pretty sure the word AREA would be the answer, though I didn't really know why. Couldn't really parse this one out, but I finally gave up and just typed it in anyway. Wasn't going to fool with it any longer. That's just the way it is sometimes. You can't really imagine what the setter had in mind every single time. If an answer just fits, and you can only get the straightforward part but not the wordplay, don't dwell on it. Just put the answer and move on. Though a good magician should never reveal his secrets, I will at least tell you and anyone else having trouble solving my work that all of my answers should be easily parsed out. I wouldn't dare use any dirty tricks so you'd never be able to figure out what I had in mind. Over time you should be able to notice words in my clues which may indicate anagrams, containers, reversals, homophones, and so forth, without much difficulty. I'm not expecting everyone to master a cryptic crossword immediately. I certainly didn't when I first learned about them. It takes time and patience, as does anything you have to work at to be good at. But if you can't solve any of my puzzles completely, I won't think any less of you. Just do the best you can. And I understand I must do the same with the word ladder. It'll be tough, but I'll certainly see what I can do. We're all friends here, after all.
pjbThinksLegoUsesWayTooManyBaseballReferencesButThat'sJustMe
It seems sometimes it is better to work backward first?? Like start with chaos and try to go back like...those pants that cowgirls wear?? Chinos--?? No not quite.
DeleteAs far as an alliterative motel -- all i could come up with Best Western which i don't think is quite the ticket.
Geo did you see someone posted your ladder on Blaine's??
PT- Could be an independent creation.
DeleteWith less-known words, have another solution with 9 steps.
To add to your list of Lego's favorite "puzzle pieces": FRIENDS, the tv show.
DeleteGood post. For examle, and i just learned about the "Miracle of Gulls" in 1848 in Utah when a burgeoning wheat crop was threatened by crickets and a huge flock of gulls appeared like a miracle, swooped down, took care of the crickets and saved the crop. I thought why is a Sea Gull the state bird of Utah. I did not know Gulls often migrate to such an area as the great lakes for winter respite. I thought they stayed on our Pacific Ocean coasts all winter and some species do. And now the "the rest of the story."
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletepjb, I did a little "after-the-fact" investigation of the "Bigger moustaches in EastEnders(4)" clue. See here.
ReplyDelete"Hairier" (= more hairy) as pronounced as in East End/Cockney accent. Makes sense to me, but I never would have thought of it before seeing the answer.
So your AREA was correct.
Thanks, geofan! I probably never would've thought about the Cockney accent either. Sometimes it is little things like that that'll get past you. Didn't even think they might be dropping their aitch!
DeletepjbRemindedOfTheRareAnimalHybridKnownAsElephino
pjb: Topic = AREA still seems a bit far-fetched. Could be a British/American English issue. It is the "plain" half of the cryptic clue. And "like" would seem to mean "sounds like".
DeleteMe could use help in entrees 3 and 4. I have a fish that might work in the appetiser but only if you have a Brooklyn accent.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that Lewis Carrol created the word ladder- is pretty interesting.
And on Blaine's there are calls to solve the Lego moniker.
PT - wrt Brooklyn, LOL. Look forward to hearing: please report on Wed.
Deletewrt LegoLambda: Are they suggesting that Lego take the 25th?
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DeleteHey Lego, how about a few hints? It's crunch time!
ReplyDeletepjbNeedsALittleSomethingToHelpHimGetOverTheHump
Early Wednesday hints:
ReplyDeleteSchpuzzle of the Week:
The something that provervially happened more than a century ago at sea involved an iceberg and furniture.
Borderline Befuddling Appetizer
(All hints are courtesy of geofan, Ken Pratt)
1. Think outside the box.
2. The same month is also contained in a well-known German beer-drinking folk song that derives from the 1679 plague in Vienna.
3. Puzzlographically acceptable, but typographically unacceptable.)
4. Shakespeare once drove a truck.)
Church Ceremonial Slice:
1. water becomes wine, site of the first miracle
2. The purpose of the ceremony is a 6-letter gerund beginnning with the same letter that "miracle" begins with.
3. A word appearing in newspaper accounts of the ceremony is a homophone of a word that certain Knights say... Knights that insist that Arthur must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest—with a herring!
Riffing Off Shortz And Flood Slices:
ENTREE #1
The name of the Inn includes two words that eachbegin with an R.Name a national chain of inns, in two words. The "something dead” is a kind of lock.
ENTREE #2
Oscar the Grouch "can" relate to the seven-letter term that is sometimes substituted for the word “junk.” ... Blank in, Blank out!
ENTREE #3
The jazz composer's first name is also the first name of a past pitcher surnamed Osteen. The jazz composer's last name is a homophone of an activity done in an alley.
ENTREE #4
The three-word reason you might call a plumber involves what Nixon's "Plumbers" fixed. The dessert involves a state's name.
ENTREE #5
The cartoon character's full name begins with a B and a B.
ENTREE #6
This puzzle is admittedly a (homophone of the first syllable of a creature named Tick-Tock)!
ENTREE #7
"Turning Japanese"
ENTREE #8
Name an eleven-letter genre of rock music associated with independent lablel is sometimes shortened to a 3-letter keyboard key.
ENTREE #9
Nirvana. Mudhoney. Soundgarden. Pearl Jam. Jane's Addiction.
Dessert Menu
Gophers Badgers Wolverines Dessert:
The "particular state" has "Star" in its nickname.
GEo's "month" puzzle is #3, not #2. And I'm pleased to say I solved it a few days ago.
DeleteSo since there are 5 of his puzzles and only 4 hints, I'm not sure which hint goes to which other puzzles.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWhew, finally worked out the Slice. It sure seemed harder than it should have been!
DeleteMy apologies to geofan and all of you.
DeleteLast night when I posted hints for his Worldplay, I neglected to include his hint for the TRUMP to BIDEN word ladder.
I should have posted:
Borderline Befuddling Appetizer
(All hints are courtesy of geofan, Ken Pratt)
1. Getting from TRUMP to CHAOS uses all familiar words. Getting from BIDEN to CHAOS may be somewhat more difficult.
2. Think outside the box.
3. The same month is also contained in a well-known German beer-drinking folk song that derives from the 1679 plague in Vienna.
4. Puzzlographically acceptable, but typographically unacceptable.)
5. Shakespeare once drove a truck.)
LegoWithSorrow
Ah. having looked at Geo's's solution to his #5, I now 'get' the Shakespeare/truck hint. But never would have gotten the desired solution Mackerel/Lear....is there ANYONE named Lear other than the King in the play? I've never heard of it, surely.
DeleteDon't you mean PROVERBIALLY? You've made the same spelling mistake twice!
ReplyDeleteGot the Schpuzzle, geofan's second puzzle, the Church Slice, and Entree #3. But the clue for geofan's fourth suggests I may have the wrong answer there. Suggest you clarify.
pjbHasActuallyLookedUpTheWordLadderAnswersButWon'tSayWhereHeFoundThem!
"Puzzlographically" is correct. "Provervially" may derive from before Lego had his covfefe.
Deletepjb, my word ladder solutions (except for one) were obtained manually. The problem with the online one I found is that it yields only the shortest ladders, with totally obscure words.
DeleteRegarding: PROVERVIALLY (sic) vs PROVERBIALLY...
DeleteIn my defense, B and V are adjacent on my keyboard.
LegoWhoNotesThatICouldHaveJustAsWellMisspelledItAs"Proberbially"OrAs"Probervially"!
I think provervially is a theological term used in apologetics when referencing the book of Proverbs. Or is it French?
DeleteProberially is a medical term used by proctologists.
DeleteSchpuzzle of the Week:
ReplyDeleteTitanic deck in the sea???
Borderline Befuddling Appetizer
1. Trump--Chaos/
Trump-tramp-trams-traps-craps- chaps- Chaos--six step.
Trump to Biden Well??? Is that a good idea.
2. Juneau--. Au???
3. Lillian--LLLLLan
4. Salmon Sal--mon---nom as in "How ya doin Nom" said in a heavy Brooklyn accent
Church Ceremonial Slice:
1. Can i get an Amen?
2. Mating
3. nee- Kneel
Riffing Off Shortz And Flood Slices:
ENTREE #1
Red roof inn, Dead bolt- Robert Flood.
ENTREE #2 Garbage--garage
ENTREE #3
Boiling--Claude Bolling
ENTREE #4 Baked Alaska-- A bad leak ( i thought Angel cake might work--)
ENTREE #5 Betty Boop-- Bop--Toy --T bone
ENTtree #6 Crock Pot--- rock- pot
ENTREE #7 Karaoke---Oak/Rake
ENTREE #8
Psychedelic-- Speed-Cycles
ENTREE #9
Grunge--- Egg/Urn
Dessert Menu Armadillo---Amarillo
Reply
Forgot to add Cana- to the Slice. part one.
ReplyDeleteAlso struck out on App"2. The borderline state..??
ReplyDeleteSCHPUZZLE: [Pre-hint]: ICE SANK THE TITANIC [But I was still left with "THE CHORD.”]
ReplyDeletePost-hint: THE DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC
APPETIZER:
1. TRUMP => TRAMP, TRAMS, TEAMS, TERMS, TERNS, 3 more words?????, TIRES, TIDES, BIDES => BIDEN
2. Google lists only the TWO mentioned states that meet the requirements. Is this puzzle thus a little ’trick, i.e. STATE OF MIND’?
3. ST. AUGUSTINE minus AUGUST => ST INE => STEIN. [Pre-hint]
4.
5. ROCK COD; WOLF EEL
SLICE: 1. CANA; 2. MATING; 3. NEE => CAN I GET AN AMEN?
ENTREES, all pre-hint:
1. RED ROOF & BOLT => ROBERT FLOOD
2. GARBAGE => GARAGE
3. BOILING => BOLLING
4. BAKED ALA/SKA => A BAD LEAK & SKA
5. BETTY BOOP => BEBOP & TOY & T-
6. CROCK-POT => ROCK & POT
7. KARAOKE => OAK & RAKE
8. ALTERNATIVE => LARIAT EVENT
9. GRUNGE => EGG & URN
DESSERT, pre-hint: ARMADILLO, TX => AMARILLO
Somehow, the phrase I'd added to the Schpuzzle solution, about my still not thinking the Deck CHair answer was the intended one, somehow didn't show up when I copied my whole answer sheet.
DeleteAll pre-hints except as noted. © geofan 2020
ReplyDeleteSchpuzzle: ANCHOR DESK CHIT-CHAT ET TIE-IN => THE DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC
[post-Tue-hint]
Appetizers:
#1: TRUMP to BIDEN
(a) 3 steps, familiar words
TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS TEAMS BEAMS/TEATS BEATS BELTS BELLS BALLS BALES BAKES BIKES BIDES BIDEN
(b) 9 steps, 2 unfamiliar words, not known to me [the contraction HERE'S does not qualify]
TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS TEAMS TERMS HERMS HERES HIRES BIDES BIDEN
(c) 10 steps, one unfamiliar word (but I knew it)
TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS TRANS BRANS BRATS BOATS BORTS BORES BODES BIDES BIDEN
Bonus: Merge one TRUMP to CHAOS with one CHAOS to BIDEN from the list below.
Note: in each of the merged ladders, CHAPS to CHAOS to CHAPS inverts one step.
TRUMP to CHAOS [3 ladders, 6 steps each]
(a) TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS CRAMS CRAPS CHAPS CHAOS
(b) TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS TRAPS CRAPS CHAPS CHAOS
(c) TRUMP TRAMP CRAMP CRAMS CRAPS CHAPS CHAOS
BIDEN to CHAOS 2 ladders
(a) 9 steps
CHAOS CHAPS CHOPS COOPS COMPS COMES CODES BODES BIDES BIDEN
(b) 10 steps
CHAOS CHAPS CHOPS COOPS COONS CORNS CORES CODES BODES BIDES BIDEN
#2: TEXAS. Starting from El Paso and proceeding clockwise: NEW MEXICO, OKLAHOMA, ARKANSAS, LOUISIANA, TAMAULÍPAS, NUEVO LEÓN, COAHUILA, CHIHUAHUA. Last four are states in Mexico.
#3: ST AUGUSTINE – AUGUST => STINE => STEIN [in German it is a Krug]
#4: LILLIANE or LILLI. Use small L's and capital I's => lIllIane or lIllI
#5: MACKEREL => MACK + EREL => MACK, LEAR
Ceremonial Slice: CAN I GET AN AMEN? => CANA MATING NÉE [“mating” seems a bit graphic...]
[post-Tue-hint]
Entrée#1: ROBERT FLOOD => RED ROOF, BOLT
#2: GARBAGE (food) – B => GARAGE (punk)
#3: BOILING => (Claude) BOLLING (BoIling)
#4: A BAD LEAK + SKA => BAKED ALASKA
#5: BETTY BOOP – O => BE + BOP => BEBOP
#6: CROCK-POT – C => ROCK, POT
#7: OAK, RAKE => KARAOKE
#8: ALTERNATIVE (rock) => LARIAT EVENT
#9: EGG, URN => GRUNGE (Seattle sound)
Dessert: ARMADILLO, move R to 5th place => AMARILLO (Texas)
Appetizer #1(a) - should read 13 steps, not 3.
DeleteSo Geofan-- in the chaos to Biden ladder - o- is the connector? vowel that eventually gets you to an I.
DeleteClever.
Yes. But each TRUMP => CHAOS ladder also has a consonant intermediate (what you call "connectors"): -P- in position 4. Intermediates can be either vowels or consonants.
DeleteIn the CHAOS => BIDEN ladders there are several intermediates in each ladder.
DeleteIn ladder (a):
position 2 -O-
position 3 -O- and -M-
position 4 -P-
In ladder (b):
position 2 -O-
position 3 -O- and -R-
position 4 -P- and -N-
In general, the number of trivial steps plus the number of inter=mediates equals the total number of steps in the ladder in question.
Yea -New York state of mind?? Billy Joel.
ReplyDeleteThis week's official answers for the record, part 1:
ReplyDeleteSchpuzzle of the Week:
Mum’s the “happy talk” word
After airing a gardening segment about how to revive chrysanthemums, the Happy Talk TV-news-team anchors chit-chat about how the segment ties in to “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” who revived dead mums in the 1982 movie of the same name.
The letters in the phrase “ANCHOR DESK CHIT-CHAT E.T. TIE-IN” relate to something that provervially happened more than a century ago at sea.
What happened?
How do the letters in “ANCHOR DESK CHIT-CHAT E.T. TIE-IN” relate to it?
Answer:
Rearranging “THE DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC” (rearranging its 25 letters, that is) results in the phrase “ANCHOR DESK CHIT-CHAT E.T. TIE-IN.”
Appetizer Menu
Borderline Befuddling Appetizer:
Inauguration of a new ladder
(Answers are copied from geofan's 1:07 PM comment today:)
Word ladder transition
1. Construct a word ladder (in each step changing a single letter) from TRUMP to BIDEN using the minimum number of steps.
Bonus: Construct another word ladder from TRUMP to BIDEN in which the word CHAOS appears. This will require more steps.
Answer:
(a) 13 steps, familiar words
TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS TEAMS BEAMS/TEATS BEATS BELTS BELLS BALLS BALES BAKES BIKES BIDES BIDEN
(b) 9 steps, 2 unfamiliar words, not known to me [the contraction HERE'S does not qualify]
TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS TEAMS TERMS HERMS HERES HIRES BIDES BIDEN
(c) 10 steps, one unfamiliar word (but I knew it)
TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS TRANS BRANS BRATS BOATS BORTS BORES BODES BIDES BIDEN
Bonus: Merge one TRUMP to CHAOS with one CHAOS to BIDEN from the list below.
Note: in each of the merged ladders, CHAPS to CHAOS to CHAPS inverts one step.
TRUMP to CHAOS [3 ladders, 6 steps each]
(a) TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS CRAMS CRAPS CHAPS CHAOS
(b) TRUMP TRAMP TRAMS TRAPS CRAPS CHAPS CHAOS
(c) TRUMP TRAMP CRAMP CRAMS CRAPS CHAPS CHAOS
BIDEN to CHAOS 2 ladders
(a) 9 steps
CHAOS CHAPS CHOPS COOPS COMPS COMES CODES BODES BIDES BIDEN
(b) 10 steps
CHAOS CHAPS CHOPS COOPS COONS CORNS CORES CODES BODES BIDES BIDEN
And Now There Are Three!
2. Three US states border eight other states. Two are Missouri and Tennessee. What is the third state? Name its eight bordering states.
Answer:
TEXAS. Starting from El Paso and proceeding clockwise: NEW MEXICO, OKLAHOMA, ARKANSAS, LOUISIANA, TAMAULÍPAS, NUEVO LEÓN, COAHUILA, CHIHUAHUA. Last four are states in Mexico.
Pest? Prost! [Plague? To your health!]
3. A small, fairly-well-known US city contains the name of a month. Remove the name of the month. The remaining letters, pronounced as a word, sound like an English name for a German container. What are the city, container, and month?
Answer:
ST AUGUSTINE – AUGUST => STINE => STEIN [in German it is a Krug]
St. Augustine; St+ine sounds like "Stein"; August
It's all the same
4. Think of a female name. Using appropriate typographical treatment, the first 5 letters of this name could be written identically. What is this name, and how is it written to achieve this result?
Answer:
LILLIANE or LILLI. Use small L's and capital I's => lIllIane or lIllI
Fishing for men
5. Think of a fish. Divide the name of this fish into two halves. The first half is a man’s name. Spelled backwards, the second half sounds like a second man’s name. What are the fish and the two men’s names?
Answer:
MACKEREL => MACK + EREL => MACK, LEAR
MENU
Church Ceremonial Slice:
“Pray” is just a four-letter word
Name a five-word question preacher might ask during a church service, to which the flock may respond with a four-letter word.
Rearrange the 13 letters in the question to spell three words:
1. A biblical town associated with a church ceremony,
2. The purpose of the ceremony, and
3. A word appearing in newspaper accounts of the ceremony.
What is the question?
What are the three words?
Answer:
"Can I get an 'Amen?' "
Cana, mating, née
Lego...
This week's official answers for the record, part 2:
ReplyDeleteRiffing Off Shortz And Flood Slices:
Meatloaf, Cake and Joy of Cooking
ENTREE #1
Name a national chain of inns, in two words. Also name something “dead” the inn may provide, in one word, that may allow you to sleep securely in your room at night with peace of mind.
Rearrange the combined letters in these three words to form the name of a puzzle-maker.
Who is it?
What are the three words?
Answer:
Robert Flood
Red Roof (Inn); (dead) bolt (lock)
ENTREE #2
Think of a seven-letter term that is sometimes substituted for the word “junk” in the expression “junk food” (such as crackers, chips, chocolate covered raisins, candy bars, burgers and fries). Remove the middle letter to get a new word describing a genre of rock music.
What are this “junk” substitute and genre of rock?
Answer:
Garbage:
Garage (rock)
ENTREE #3
Write in a sans-serif font (such as Ariel, the font you are now reading) a seven-letter word for a kind of cooking that might involve potatoes, shrimp or chicken. Capitalize the the first and third letters to spell what looks like the surname of a very recently deceased jazz composer.
What is the kind of cooking?
Who is the jazz composer?
Answer:
Boiling; (Claude) Bolling
ENTREE #4
Name a dessert in two words. Rearrange its first eight letters to spell, in three words, a reason you might call a plumber. The remaining letters of the dessert spell, without rearrangement, a genre of music.
What is this dessert, reason for calling a plumber, and the genre of music?
Answer:
Baked Alaska; a bad leak; ska
ENTREE #5
The first two letters a “jazzy” cartoon character’s first name and all but one of the letters of the character’s last name spell a genre of jazz.
What is this genre?
Who is the cartoon character?
Answer:
Bebop; Betty Boop
ENTREE #6
Name a trademarked eight-letter hyphenated word for a kind of cooker. Remove the hyphen and first letter to get a new word describing a genre of music and the proverbial drug of choice of fans, and perhaps purveyors, of such music.
What is this kind of cooker?
What is the genre of music, and its fans’ drug of choice?
Answer:
Crock-pot; Rock, pot
Lego...
This week's official answers for the record, part 3:
ReplyDeleteRiffing Off Shortz And Flood Slices (continued):
ENTREE #7
Think of a seven-letter more-modern-day version of “Sing Along With Mitch” that takes place not in a TV studio but in a drinking establishment. Rearrange its letters to form a type of tree and type of implement you likely own if you own such a tree.
What is this more-modern-day version of “Mitch”?
What types of tree and implement do you own?
Answer:
Karaoke; Oak, rake
ENTREE #8
Name an eleven-letter genre of rock music associated with independent lablels. Rearrange the letters to name a two-word category that describes calf-roping at a rodeo.
What is this rock music genre?
What is the two-word category for calf-roping?
Answer:
Alternative (rock); Lariat event
ENTREE #9
Think of a six-letter word for a genre of rock music that fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal.
Rearrange the six letters to form two words: a breakfast food and a containter for a hot breakfast beverage.
What rock music genre is this?
What are the breakfast food and hot beverage container?
Hint: A two-word synonym of the rock music genre is a possible alternative name for "Puget Sound."
Answer:
Grunge (which is also called the "Seattle Sound"); Egg, Urn
Dessert Menu
Gophers Badgers Wolverines Dessert:
Stalking a city critter
Name a critter associated with a particular state.
Move its second letter so that it replaces its fifth letter, forming a city in that state.
What critter and city are this?
Answer:
Armadillo, Amarillo
Lego!
A note about this week's Dessert: "Gophers Badgers Wolverines Dessert: Stalking a city critter"
DeleteIt was a repeat of an almost identical puzzle that appeared on this blog in its infancy. I wrote it back then, completely forgot that I wrote it, then wrote it again about two months ago, not at all recalling that I had written it years ago. (The way I worded the puzzle was eerily similar!) I even sent my "rewritten" version to Will Shortz this past late-November. Mr. Shortz nixed it as a puzzle he could use on NPR.
I discoverered that I had "rewritten" my Amarillo/Armadillo puzzle when I was combing though my Puzzleria! "archives" this past Sunday. Why? Because after I solved the NPR Sunday puzzle about the 2011 and 2021 names in the news, I hazily recalled having written and published pretty much the same puzzle on Puzzleria! many years ago. My original Amarillo/Armadillo was run around the same time!
It bothers me a bit that I unknowingly rewrote and republished a puzzle I had already written and published years before.
I need better archives... or a better memory!
LegoPlagiarizingHimself
Lego,
DeleteOn behalf of all the Puzzlerians here in Puzzlerialand, I hereby say you're forgiven.
pjbRemindingYouPlantsmithEarlierReferencedBillyJoelWho,In1985,Recorded"You'reOnlyHuman(SecondWind)"
I hear ya. My short term is gone -gone. Did i already post here??
DeleteSchpuzzle
ReplyDeleteTHE DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC
Appetizer Menu
Worldplay
1.
TRUMP
TRAMP
TRAMS
TEAMS
TERMS
HERMS
HERES
HIRES
HIDES
BIDES
BIDEN
Bonus #1
TRUMP
TRAMP
CRAMP
CRAMS
CRAPS
CHAPS
CHAOS
Bonus #2
CHAOS
CHATS
COATS
COLTS
COLES
CODES
BODES
BIDES
BIDEN
2. TEXAS
3. LILLIAN
4. MACKEREL, MACK, LERE, pronounced LEAR(or LARRY?)
Menu
Ceremonial Churchy Slice
CAN I GET AN "AMEN"?(CANA, MATING, NEE)
Entrees
1. ROBERT FLOOD, RED ROOF, BOLT
2. GARBAGE, GARAGE
3. BOILING, (Claude)BOLLING
4. BAKED ALASKA, A BAD LEAK, SKA
5. BETTY BOOP, BEBOP, TOY, T
6. CROCK-POT, ROCK, POT
7. KARAOKE, OAK, RAKE
8. ALTERNATIVE, LARIAT EVENT
9. GRUNGE, EGG, URN
Dessert
ARMADILLO, AMARILLO(TX)
"Sweet Home Alabama/Where the skies are so blue/Sweet Home Alabama/Lord I'm comin' home to you..."-pjb(just thought I'd quote Skynyrd, nothing against Plantsmith or Mr. Joel)
Correction: My Worldplay #3 was supposed to say ST. AUGUSTINE(FL)-AUGUST=STEIN, then 4. LILLI and 5. MACKEREL, MACK, LERE(pronounced LEAR, though I don't know any man who has LEAR as a first name).
ReplyDeleteKing Lear?
ReplyDeleteHalibut - Hal, Tubby (like Tubby Smith)
ReplyDeleteMackerel???
Falstaff’s nickname for Henry V - Hal
DeleteWelcome to Puzzleria! Haldadio. Thanks for the comments.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I posted that I had run a version of this week's NPR puzzle earth in the life of this blog.
Here is my version of the NPR that appeared on the January 30, 2015 edition of Puzzleria!:
Political Slice:
Button heads
Change one of the letters on the first word of a U.S. campaign button. In the midst of the second word add a block of three letters and split that result in two. The resulting three words name an issue discussed during one of the debates leading up to the election.
What are the words on the button and the issue?
Answer:
OBAMA; BIDEN;
OSAMA BIN LADEN
(see the Katie Hamm question about four-fifths of the way into the debate.)
LegoBama