Peggy is partial to purple and pink; “With a cluck-cluck here & a buck-buck there...” Birds do it, bees don’t, educated fleas? Maybe... Keeping cool in the heat of competition; The cryptic mystery of the cross... word

 P/UZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 6!p SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“With a cluck-cluck here & a buck-buck there...”

It is Sunday, April 10, 1960 in Mayberry, North Carolina. Andy and Aunt Bee pay a visit a poultry farmer named Aldy MacDonald. 

Bee needs to bake a birthday cake for Opie. And Easter is just a week away!

Aldy and Andy were boyhood pals, and young Andy often bicycled to the MacDonald Family farm to play. Andy, a precocious lad, had made up a nickname for Aldy that consisted of the last three syllables in the refrain of an obvious nursery rhyme/song. 

It is a nickname Andy still occasionally calls Aldy by, as a joke.

The trio visit the henhouse where Bee begins gathering three-dozen Grade-A eggs. 

Aldy helpfully hands Bee a wicker container, but gives her some dubious advice that consists of a common eight-word idiom, minus its initial word. 

When she is done hunting and gathering, Andy gives his aunt a three-word, five-syllable instruction, then they drive home now amply prepared for cake-baking and Easter morning.

Take the seven initial letters of what Aldy said to Bee. The first three spell a word. Say that word and the remaining four letters aloud. The result sounds like what Andy said to his aunt.

What did Aldy say, and then what did Andy say?

Appetizer Menu

Very Good Friday Appetizer:

The cryptic mystery of the cross... word

It’s Good Friday, a day associated with a cross.

But this particular Friday is particularly Good. 

Why? Because it will also be associated with a cross... specifically, a cryptic crossword puzzle created by our friend Patrick J. Berry (screen name cranberry).

This is the nineteenth cryptic crossword puzzle with which Patrick has graced Puzzleria!

Here are the links to Patrick’s eighteen previous cryptic crosswords on Puzzleria! Each is a masterpiece of crypticism!

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN 

EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN 

FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN

For those of you who may be new to cryptic crossword puzzles, Patrick has compiled a few basic cryptic crossword puzzle 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!

Have a good time solving. After all, any Friday you get to solve a Patrick J. Berry cryptic crossword puzzle is a Good Friday...

Make that more than "Good"... it's an excellent Friday!

ACROSS

1. Some head off, taking car trip around part of California(9)

6. Picasso’s top pieces are beautiful, lasting originals(5)

9. Foreign correspondent’s report depicts a corrupt organization(7,8)

10. Attractive girl would be good in comic role(6)

11. Go on one to get back in shape(8)

13. Soul? It's in a different city(5,5)

14. A little for a lot, it’s said?(4)

16. Bachelor has wild party(4)

17. Silly to get groove back, “defying the odds” in story about singer?(4,6)

19. Hymn to go with return of spring?(4,4)

20. Unable to sleep during bad weather—almost a blackout!(6)

23. Accident here—sadly, all the miners die!(5,4,6)

24. Fancy a cracker? Yes(5)

25. Turned on radio, initially calm—getting latest from meteorologist, ultimately fear it’s bad weather(9)

DOWN

1. Dance around piano? Cut!(5)

2. Lingerie pervert craves? It’s erotic!(9,6)

3. Game allowed to get in way?(8)

4. Piece of turkey, no bread?(4)

5. Last-minute entertaining, having no budget(10)

6. Murphy Brown’s heart breaking (apt to break?)(6)

7. Operation in bar?(5,10)

8. “Scream”? Put in less recent film(3,6)

12. Note placed inside gift, as rule(10)

13. Journalist lover gets in the sack?(9)

15. Movie with Lemmon and Matthau—not the first duo to turn up on ocean, primarily (in questionable taste)(3,2,3)

18. “Number one” perfect beauty, raised in New York(6)

21. Passenger I had in back, needing first aid(5)

22. Drop in, humiliate a relative?(4)

MENU

Brrr-umal Slice:

Keeping cool in the heat of competition

Name a type of competition, in two words. 

Move the first letter of one word to the beginning of the other to spell what sounds like something cold and a word that describes cold air.

What is this competition?

What is something cold?

What word describes cold air? 

Riffing Off Shortz And VanMechelen Slices:

Birds do it, bees don’t, educated fleas? Maybe...

Will Shortz’s October 11th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Greg VanMechelen of Berkeley, California, reads:

Name something birds do. Put the last sound of this word at the start and the first sound at the end, and phonetically you’ll name
something else birds do. What are these things?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And VanMechelen Slices read:

ENTREE #1

A pair of cinematic legends – a female and a male – with roots in the same European country are not related but share the same surname. Their first names begin with the same vowel.

One of the legends was an actress who in a classic film said, “Richard, I tried to stay away. I thought I would never see you again, that you were out of my life.” As she speaks, the eyes of the viewers are drawn not to her eyes or lips but rather to another facial feature – a feature down which, as the film is rolling, something else is also rolling.

However, spending hours on end on a sofa or in a theater watching classic films is not wise. It might make you sluggish. Health professionals therefore encourage you instead to (1) move more. They also recommend that you (2) get more sleep, (3) reduce stress, (4) avoid smoking, (5) limit alcohol consumption, (6) eat a nutritious diet, (7) avoid added sugar, (8) stay hydrated and (9) be social. If you follow these nine recommendations, say the experts, you will boost your ______ _____.

Rearrange the combined letters in the surname of the two cinematic legends, the actress’s facial feature, and what health professionals say you can boost. The result is the name of a puzzle-maker and his hometown.

Who is this puzzle-maker and his hometown? 

What are the four words you rearranged?

ENTREE #2

“Fastenation”

Name two fasteners, one and two syllables,

(If you’d purchase them, both would be “billables.”)

One is shaped like a U

And the other’s a glue...

Write them down in these  blanks: ______, _____                                                      (...both are “fillables”).

From the first, strike the final two letters

Then switch first and last sounds, like typesetters

Will at times have to do.

The result, when you’re through,

Sounds like Word Number-One, you go-getters!

Okay, okay, enough of that silliness... here’s the prose version of this puzzle:

Name two fasteners, in one and two syllables. The first is shaped like a U, and and the other is a glue. 

Remove the final two letters from the U-shaped fastener. Put the last sound of this result at the start and the first sound at the end, keeping the vowel sound as it was. The final result, phonetically, will sound like the “gluey” fastener... you go-getters!

What are these two “fastenating” fasteners?

ENTREE #3

Take the surname of our most athletic U.S. president, one who once played a game against the Chicago Bears, and who chose law school over an opportunity to play for the Green Bay Packers! He was also a scratch golfer. 

Put the last sound of this name at the start and the first sound at the end, and phonetically you’ll get the name of a fictional character featured in a series of direct-to-video comedy films focusing on golf, auto racing, fishing, football and baseball.

Who are this president and fictional character?

ENTREE #4

Take a two-word synonym of “initial attempt” in which two identical letters appear consecutively. Remove the second one.

The first word has remained intact after the letter removal. Put the last sound of this word at its the start and the first sound of this word
at its end.

Now move the space between the two-word synonym one place to the left and replace it with a hyphen. The  result is something you prepare in a wok.

What is it?

ENTREE #5 

Name an idiom for an especially irritating, aggravating, or obnoxious person, thing, or situation. 

The fourth and final word in the idiom is a body part.

Take a part of that body part, specifically the back part. 

Put the last sound of this word at the start and the first sound at the end, and phonetically you’ll name the first word in the idiom. 

What is this idiom?

What is the “back part” of the body part in the idiom

ENTREE #6

A mascot who resembles a miniature version of Peter Pan appears on a cereal box. 

The mascot is associated with a nationality and a holiday.

Take the month associated with the holiday. 

Put the last sound of the month at the start and the first sound at the end to spell the singular form of a word that appears on the cereal box along with the mascot. 

What are this month and mascot?

Hint: The name of the mascot rhymes with “Chuckie.”

ENTREE #7

Take one of the fifty U.S. states. 

Put the last sound of this state at the start and the first sound at the end, and phonetically
you’ll name a word that appears somewhere in the text of this puzzle. 

What state is this?

What is the word in the puzzle?

ENTREE #8

One of the great players in NBA history was known by a nickname that was an abridgement of his given first name. 

Put the last sound of this nickname at the start and the first sound at the end, and phonetically you’ll name one of the benefits he reaped for being so talented.

He played on championship teams with two franchises led by Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, who appreciated his capacity to stay calm, steady and focused, even under extreme
pressure – in other words, this player did not _____ under pressure.

Take the word in that blank. Put the last sound of that word at the start and the first sound at the end, and phonetically you’ll name the title of the role played by Jackson and Riley.

Who is this player?

What benefit did he reap?

What didn’t he do under pressure?

What role did Jackson and Riley play?

ENTREE #9

Name an eight-letter hyphenated word that means “of the highest quality, first-rate.” It is an adjective that many would use to describe four presidents surnamed Roosevelt, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, for example.

Put the last sound of this word at the start and the first sound at the end, and phonetically

you’ll name counsel that a fifth president’s conscience may have once whispered to him, when he was a lad, during a time of temptation, in two words.

What is the synonym of “first-rate?”

What did the future president’s conscience perhaps whisper to him?

Dessert Menu

Filling The Basket Dessert:

Peggy is partial to purple and pink

During the morning hunt, little Peggy puts only the ones with pink and purple shells into her basket. 

What is curious about what Peggy does and what she does it to?

Hint: The curious nature about what Peggy does is related to wordplay.

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.