“A Chain Between Companies” Caesar ciphers & Roman numerals; A light-fingered one wings it; SkeDADdlers, chamMOMile, asSISTERs, reSONant birdSONgs; Polishing our perceptions of “crotchety codgers”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 6!π SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

SkeDADdlers, chamMOMile, asSISTERs, reSONant birdSONgs

Name a treatment that may have a beneficial effect. 

A family member, who may also have a beneficial effect on fellow family members, is embedded in the middle of the treatment. 

The remaining letters can be rearranged to spell a word that often describes this family member. 

What are the treatment, family member and adjective?

Appetizer Menu

Puzzle Fun Appetizer:

“A Chain Between Companies”

“IT” is an acronym used in the names of many companies. 

Take a three-letter acronym with an “I” that stands for the same word as the “I” in “IT”. 

Convert the letters in the acronym to their positions in the alphabet to get the month, day, and last two digits of the year a famous person died. 

Add a letter to the end of a nickname of that famous person to get a food company. 

What is the three-letter acronym with an “I” that stands for the same word as the “I” in “IT”?

What are the famous person’s name and nickname?

What is the name of the food company?

MENU

Dactylographic Slice:

A light-fingered one wings it

A light-fingered fellow hopes to leave no prints but has forgotten his gloves. So he improvises by pulling from his pocket something else he can use. 

What he uses and how he will use it are words that are formed by spelling the word for this light-fingered one backward, deleting a letter, and shifting the resulting space. 

What is the word for this light-fingered fellow?

Riffing Off Shortz Slices:

Caesar Ciphers & Roman numerals

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

This week’s challenge is more challenging than last week’s. Write down the name of a number. Move each letter four spots later in the alphabet — so A would become E, B would become F, etc. The result will be a number that’s 44 more than your first one. What numbers are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Write down the name of a state associated with a with a well-known puzzle-maker. Remove its middle letter. Move each letter in
this result one spot later in the alphabet — so
A would become B, B would become C, etc.
The result will be the first half of the full stage name of an American syndicated film critic, writer, actor, and comic performer. 

Who is this puzzler-maker?

What is this stage name?

ENTREE #2

Write down the name of an odd number with an odd number of letters. 

Subtract one letter from the number, making it even. 

What number is this?

ENTREE #3

Write down the name of an even number with an odd number of letters. 

Subtract one letter from the number, making it odd.

What numbers are these?

ENTREE #4

Write down the name of an odd number with an even number of letters. Subtract two from the number, making it even. 

What numbers are these? 

ENTREE #5

Write down the name of a number. Move each letter 13 spots earlier in the alphabet — so Z would become M, Y would become L, etc. 

The result will be a number that’s a bit less than 33.5 times the value of the original number. 

What two numbers are these?

ENTREE #6

Write down a four-digit number that is associated with the painter of the image pictured here. 

Write a three-letter number that is equal to that four-digit number. 

Move each letter 17 spots later in the alphabet — so A would become R, B would become S, etc. 

The result will be a possible title for, or description of, the painted image. 

What number is this? 

Who is the painter and how is the number associated with him? 

What is the possible title of the painting?

ENTREE #7

Write down the name of a very large number. Move each letter 16 spots later in the alphabet — so A would become Q, B would become R, etc. The result will be a social sharing utility for parents of newborns and small children.

What is the large number?

What is the social sharing utility?

ENTREE #8

Write down the first name of a well-known puzzle-maker. 

Move each letter 14 spots later in the alphabet — so A would become O, B would become P, etc. 

The result, if you insert a short vowel sound in the middle, will sound like a four-letter word associated with the puzzle-maker. 

What puzzle-maker is this?

What word is associated with him?

Dessert Menu

Cranky Geezer Dessert:

Polishing our perceptions of “crotchety codgers”

Take a synonym of the adjective “crotchety”
that is stereotypically associated the elderly, as in “crotchety old codgers.” 

Rearrange its letters to form two positive adjectives associated with aging. 

What are these three adjectives?

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.