Schpuzzle of the Week:
Dolefully furry Persian pet
“Diagnosed with ______, our furry Persian pet _______ dolefully.”
The first blank in this sentence contains six letters, all consonants.
The second blank in this sentence contains seven letters, all vowels.
Interchange the first letters in the two blanks, then interchange their last letters, to make a sentence that makes sense.
What is this sentence that makes sense?
Appetizer Menu
Delightfully Puzzley Appetizer:
who wrote them:
1. “I Love my Dog” by Cat Stevens
2. “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road” by Louden Wainwright III
3. “Black Cow” by Steely Dan
5. “Wondering Where the Lions Are” by Bruce Cockburn
6. “When Doves Cry” by Prince
8. “Year of the Cat” by Al Stewart (or, 8.5. “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin
9. “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones
together?
Easy! Each title contains the name of an animal. For example, #9 is “a horse...” of course, of course.
So, now consider the following seven songwriters. Each has written several songs, but you much choose just one song that each wrote and, in doing so, find the “categorical thread” that ties these seven song titles together...
It is perhaps Modes of Transportation? “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane”...
Here are your seven talented songwriting artists:
1. Prince
3. The Beatles
4. Booker T. & the M.G.s
5. Neil Diamond
6. Chris Brown
Extra Credit: After you have sussed out the seven song titles, the “categorical thread,” and the seven “categorical words,” please explain why these particular seven words, out of several possibilities, were chosen.
Hint: The order that the artists and their songs are in is not random.
MENU
Authority Always Wins Hors d’Oeuvre:
Westerns writer Obie poet
Number the letters of an author’s full name 1 though 15.
Letters 1-5 spell the first name of a writer of
westerns;
Letters 5-7 spell the first name of an Obie Award winner;
Letters 7-10 spell the first name of a poet;
Letters 10-15 spell the surname of the 15-letter author.
All four are Americans from the past. Two are women. Who are these four authors?
Synonymous Slice:
Intriguing new difference-maker
What are this word and two synonyms?
Hint: The hyphenated word is sometimes associated with sports.
Riffing Off Shortz And Helfrick Slices:
Rear Seat Rest Area
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Helfrick Slices read:
ENTREE #1
Think of a small creature and something it is attracted to. Rearrange the letters to name a puzzle-maker, first and last names.
Or, rearrange the letters in two synonyms of fragrance to spell the city where this puzzle-maker lives.
Who is this puzzle-maker?
What are the creature and what attracts it?
What is the solitary vocation and the five-letter communal-collective word?
What are the two synonyms of fragrance and the city where this puzzle-maker lives?
Note: The following puzzle was submitted by a friend and fan of Puzzleria!
ENTREE #2:
After arriving at an alternate solution to Entree #1 in the November 9, 2023, edition of Puzzleria!, a puzzler took a walk in the deep woods above the Pigeon River. Along the trail was a two-word cautionary sign.
The first word of six letters and two syllables contained, in order but not consecutively, the second word of four letters. Spoonerizing the syllables of the first word and substituting the resulting two new words for the original second word might sound like a lesser hazard. What did the sign read? What would the altered sign read?
Think of a sign seen along a highway. Rearrange the letters to name an alliterative extended road-trip with many stops along the way at venues where a former FOX employee may express his views.
What are the sign and the alliterative road-trip?
ENTREE #4
“A prospector encountered a diamondback _______ while traversing the Sonoran Desert. He would have been _______ bad had he not picked up his Smith & Wesson Model 442 revolver from his local ________ the day before embarking on his trek.”
The words in the blanks contain 7, 7 and 8 letters.
British literary and society journal begun in 1709, but published for only two years.
The second word rhymes with a word meaning “behaving amorously without serious intent.”
The third word is an anagram of what a wasp might have done to the prospector, in two words, had he instead encountered it on his trek.
Anagram the combined letters in the three words to spell a five-word sign seen along a highway near an exit.
What are the three words in the blanks?
What is the highway sign?
Think of a not-so-common two-word sign seen along a highway (one, however, that is no SPEED LIMIT sign, which is much more common).
Replace the first word with a rhyming word and remove the space to form a recreational brand with the slogan “(the rhyming word) has no limits.”
What is the two-word highway sign?
What is the recreational brand?
Think of a sign seen along a roadway. Rearrange the letters to name a possible two-noun description of the following exclamation: “Mr. Simpson, you are out of order!”
ENTREE #7
Name the three-letter profession of a Carmelite Sister Mary of Saint Peter who lived in the early 1800s, and the five-letter city where she lived.
What is the profession of Sister Mary of Saint Peter, and where did she live?
What excursions can you experience at the Monastery Immaculate Conception?
What does the roadside sign read?
ENTREE #8
Cheese (dairy), Asparagus (vegetable), Rice (grain), Beans (protein) and Strawberries (fruit). That is all I eat, every day, my nutritional regimen. Or, you may describe it in two words of six and four letters.
Rearrange those ten letters to spell two words on a common sign seen along a highway.
How do you describe my nutritional regimen in two words of six and four letters?
What are the words on the highway sign?
Think of a common sign seen along a highway. Rearrange the letters to spell the surnames of two authors. One is a prolific living woman writer whose works have five times been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Literature. The other is a past British writer and military historian with some 350 books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms.
What is this sign?
Who are these authors?
ENTREE #10
What are the plural noun in the first word and the two words on the sign?
The letters in the two words can be rearranged to spell the plural noun.
Note: The following riff-off puzzle was contributed by our friend Nodd, whose “Nodd Ready for Prime Time” is featured regularly on Puzzleria!
ENTREE #11
What is the thing inside the car?
What is the illness? Where might it show up?
Dessert Menu
Geometralculus Dessert:
Anagrammatical mathematics
spell a term from geometry with the same number of syllables.
What are these terms?
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!
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.
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