Threading the ol’ Victrola needle; Dolefully furry Persian pet; Intriguing new difference-maker; Rear Seat Rest Area; Anagrammatical mathematics; Westerns writer Obie poet

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 6!π SERVED

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:

Threading the ol’ Victrola needle

Consider the following songs and the artists
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

4. “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John

5. “Wondering Where the Lions Are” by Bruce Cockburn

6. “When Doves Cry” by Prince

7. “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane

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

What “categorical thread” ties these song titles
together? 

Easy! Each title contains the name of an animal. For example, #9 is “a horse...” of course, of course.

It’s not so easy, though, when we give you a list of the artists who wrote the songs but not the song titles!

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”...

Or perhaps Gemstones? “Ruby Tuesday,” “Diamond Girl”... 

Here are your seven talented songwriting artists:

1. Prince 

2. REM

3. The Beatles

4. Booker T. & the M.G.s 

5. Neil Diamond 

6. Chris Brown

7. Carey Landry

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

Anagram a hyphenated word for an intriguing new twist, shift, or difference-maker to get two synonyms of the verb “intrigue.”

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

Will Shortz’s November 26th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Tom Helfrick of Sacramento, California, reads: 

Think of a common sign seen along a highway. Rearrange the letters to name something inside a car.

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, think of a six-letter solitary vocation and a five-letter communal-collective word that do not seem to go together... unless the person with the solitary vocation is also a shepherd. Rearrange those letters to name the same 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?

ENTREE #3

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.

The first word rhymes with a groundbreaking
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?

ENTREE #5

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?

ENTREE #6

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. 

Or, in lieu of the city, you can instead substitute excursions you can experience at the Monastery Immaculate Conception, home of The Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, Indiana. Rearrange these eight letters to spell a two-letter word and a hyphenated six-letter word on a sign commonly seen along a road or street.

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?

ENTREE #9

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

The kiddies in the backseat, stalling for time, are clamoring, “Pull over here, Dad! We’re bored. We don’t wanna go to Fegus! C’mon, we wanna get outta the car and play a little bit!” But their ________ fall on Dad’s deaf ears, and he passes by the ____ ____ sign, even speeding up a bit in the process, and continues up Interstate-94 from the Twin Cities toward Aunt Martha and Uncle Elmer’s “boooooring” (as the kiddies put it) farm outside Fergus Falls.

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

Add an “E” to something inside a car and rearrange the result to get a kind of illness and where it might show up.

What is the thing inside the car?

What is the illness? Where might it show up?

Dessert Menu

Geometralculus Dessert:

Anagrammatical mathematics

Anagram a multisyllabic term from calculus to
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!

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.