Ebony, not Ivory = the black keys; Joy to the where-in-the-world? “Name that Tannenbaum title!” “Beware the bed buggy’s bite!” Hollandaise Holiday mix... hittin’ the sauce; Frohe Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad, Buon Natale, God Jul, Joyeux Noël, Mutlu Noeller!

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED 

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Hollandaise Holiday mix... hittin’ the sauce 

Name a historic place where races are held. 

Replace the fourth letter with a holiday drink, slightly mixed, followed by a space. 

The result is two similar articles of clothing. 

What are these articles of clothing? 

What is this historic racecourse?

Appetizer Menu

Jefferific Appetizer:

Ebony, Not Ivory! = the black keys

Each of these twenty sets of words uniquely fits a well-known band or musical artist. Name as many as you can. The 21st puzzle asks you to find a cinematic title.

Consider these two examples:

1. Surf (No Turf) Entree...

Answer: Hot Tuna

2. Romeo, Jay Gatsby, Don Juan, Casanova or Mr. Darcy...

Answer: Loverboy

1. Swinging, bifold, louvered

2. Victoria

3. Currents

4. Spicy

5. Sand and surf lovers

6. Colts, reds, and whites

7. Landslide

8. Strippers

9. Flying insects

10. Kate’s husband

11. Palindrome

12. Parenthood

13. Derby, bowler, beret and Stetson

14. Superlative

15. Beginning

16. Pay toilet need 

17. Doesn’t fly well

18. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall 

19. Throw fruit

20. Lancelot, Gawain, Belvedere, and Galahad 

Plus, a bonus cinematic-title change of pace…

21. Mother Teresa, Adolf Hitler, Quasimodo

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Entomological Hors d’Oeuvre

“Beware the bed buggy’s bite!”

Name a legendary figure and one of his assistants. Replace an “s” with a “g”. 

Spell the result in reverse. 

The first half spells a biting bug. 

Rearrange the second half to spell a second biting bug. 

Who are this legendary figure, assistant and two bugs?

“Continental Christmas” Slice:

Joyeux Noël, Frohe Weihnachten, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad, God Jul, Mutlu Noeller!

Name a holiday gift item associated with a European country. Remove three consecutive letters that may or may not be in alphabetical order.

Remove three consecutive letters that are in alphabetical order. Or, if you prefer, remove three consecutive letters that are not in alphabetical order... (well, okay, two of the three letters are in alphabetical order, but not all three). 

The result is the name of the country. 

What are this gift item and country?

Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees:

Joy to the where-in-the-world?

Will Shortz’s December 15th National Public Radio Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle challenge is created by Joseph Young who is a frequent contributor to NPR, and who conducts the blog Puzzleria! —  and it’s a little tricky. 

It reads: Change one letter of a place on earth to get a familiar phrase much heard around this time of year. What is it? The answer consists of three words (5,2,5).

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Remove the first two letters of an 8-letter city on the Missouri River founded by a local fur trader.

The result is the name of an essential Christmas character that is also the first name of a puzzle-maker.

Name also a 10-letter city on the Mahoning
River. Remove from it the same two letters you removed from the first city. Remove also a 3-letter synonym of “possess” that is also an anagram of synonyms of “triumphed” and “currently.” 

The result is a 5-letter adjective that describes a second essential Christmas character. This adjective is the surname of the puzzle-maker

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What are the two cities?

What are the synonym of “possess” and anagrams that are synonyms of “triumphed” and “currently.”

What are the two essential Christmas characters and the adjective describing the second one?

Note: Puzzle Entree Riffs #2 through #7 were created by our friend Nodd.

ENTREE #2 

Change one letter of a place in California from an H to an S, and remove a Y. Rearrange to get a familiar two-word phrase much heard around this time of year. 

What are the place and the phrase?

ENTREE #3

Think of a compound word that is an informal name for a place in California. Remove the last letter. 

Rearrange to get a familiar three-word phrase much heard around this time of year. 

What are the place name and the phrase?

ENTREE #4

Think of two things that are seen, and heard, this time of year. 

Add a four-letter word for a small amount. Rearrange to spell a familiar two-word phrase heard around this time of year. 

What are the two things, the four-letter word, and the familiar phrase?

ENTREE #5

Change one letter in the two-word name of a
place in Illinois and delete the space to get a word much heard around this time of year. 

What are the place and the word?

ENTREE #6

Think of a word for something often seen this time of year. 

Add a five-letter generic word for an object. 

Rearrange to get a two-word phrase much
heard around this time of year. 

What are the two words and the phrase?

ENTREE #7

Think of a plural word for something often seen this time of year. 

Add a state postal abbreviation and rearrange
to get two words often sung and heard together this time of year. 

What are the plural word, the abbreviation, and the phrase? 

ENTREE #8

Name a structure upon which Wiccan rituals are performed (7 and 5 letters). 

Rearrange the letters to spell a two-word California city (5 and 7 letters). In the second word in the city, transpose the fourth and sixth letters, then remove the fifth and seventh letters. Replace the fourth and fifth letters of this result with the letters that follow them in the alphabet.

The final result is a familiar figure much mentioned around this time of year.

What is the Wiccan structure?

What is the California city?

Who is the familiar figure?

ENTREE #9

Name a West Coast publication, in three words (in 3, 7, 6 letters), published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Lose four letters that appear in order (three ofthem consecutive) that spell a word that appears in this sentence. 

The remaining letters, in order, spell two words, that in reverse order, spell consecutive words in a Christmas carol.

What is this publication?

What is the word that appears in this puzzle?

What are the consecutive words in a Christmas carol?

ENTREE #10

Name a place on earth (in 9 and 6 letters). Replace an interior letter of the second word with and a three-letter word for a Derby, bowler, beret and Stetson. Shuffle those three letters slightly and  add two spaces to name a four-word, 17-letter statement (in 9, 2, 2 and 4 letters) about something that is about to happen.  

What is this place on earth?

What is the  four-word, 17-letter statement (in 9, 2, 2 and 4 letters) about something that is about to happen.

Hint: A poet who penned a poem in 1919 used this statement about “some revelation” that is about to happen.

Dessert Menu

Evergreen Dessert:

“Name that Tannenbaum title!”

Note: Lego Lambda’s sister, an artist named Mary Young Heimann, conjured this graphic puzzle.

The question my sister poses is:

“What should be the title of the image?”

Hint: The title ought to contain only four letters.

Every Thursday 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.

Song & Dance & Sustenance, “Music is our religion,” “A-listair Cooke Book,” Monopolyphemus! Colors worn adorn indoors & out; You red a maple, now reed a palm! “This spelling may take a spell...” Pennies from Heaven; “Have you got what it takes to tackle this task?”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Colors worn adorn indoors & out

Name certain women’s garments, in ten letters, that are usually colorful and worn indoors. 

Place a space in the middle to form two five-letter words that, together, describe certain six-letter colors “worn” both indoors and outdoors of residences. 

Remove an interior letter from these six-letter colors to spell menswear that women might also sometimes wear.

What are these women’s garments, colors, and menswear?

Hint: Remove a different interior letter from the six-letter colors to get volume measures of the colors that will each cover about 75 square feet.

Appetizer Menu

Lightning Round Appetizer:

Song & Dance & Sustenance, “Music is our religion,” Monopolyphemus! “A-listair Cooke Book”  

Song & Dance & Sustenance

1. 💃🍲A dance (two words, five letters each) was the first of two subjects in an unusual pair of rock songs – unusual because they use the exact same instrumental track. 

The dance song became a national hit in 1959/60. 

It was re-released in 1961 using the same instrumental track but with new lyrics. 

The second version of the song was about a food (two words, six letters each) instead of a dance. 

The food song became an even bigger hit than the dance song. 

What are these two songs?

Monopolyphemus!

2. 🏡Name a Monopoly game property, ignoring the word “Avenue.” 

Change the last letter to “c” and rearrange to name a kind of residence.

What’s the Monopoly property? 

What kind of residence is named after rearranging? 

“A-listair Cooke Book”

3. 💕📕Name a classic 20th-century book – a love story – in two words. 

The first word is the first name of a modern actor. 

The second word is the name of a large, world-class city with an extra letter added in front.

 The book was made into a movie with an A-lister in the title role. 

What’s the book title?

“Music is our religion”

4. 🎸⛪Identify the first names of two associates who were 20th-century world leaders in music. 

These same first names, one followed by the other, also identify two people who shared that “double-name” and who were 20th-century world leaders in religion. 

Name these four people.

MENU

Sisyphean Task Hors d’Oeuvre

“Have you got what it takes to tackle this task?”

Take a two-word term for what it takes to tackle and complete an arduous task. 

Rearrange the combined letters of that term to
form a adjective describing one who is up to that task and a verb meaning to inspire others also to take up the task. 

What are the two-word term, adjective and verb?

Hint: The initial letters of the “two-word term for what it takes to tackle and complete an arduous task” spell a common pronoun.

S-L-U-G-G-I-S-H  Slice:

“This spelling may take a spell...”

Spell “hooray,” “hot dog” or “yippee,” mouthing each letter aloud. 

Take a three-letter synonym of those exclamations. 

This synonym would take longer to spell, mouthing it  aloud, than “hooray,” “hotdog” or “yippee.” 

What is this three-letter synonym?

Riffing Off Shortz And Kane Entrees:

“You red a maple, now reed a palm!” 

Will Shortz’s December 8th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Ethan Kane of Albuquerque, New Mexico, reads:

Name a common tree of North America in two words (three letters, five letters). Rearrange its letters to name a well-known plant of Central America, also in two words (four letters, four letters). What tree and plant are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Kane Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

 Name a puzzle-maker in two words (five letters, four letters). Rearrange its letters to
name:

~ a wise Greek Olympian...

and the first name of:

~ a South African marathon Olympian, or

~ a speed-skating American Olympian, or

~ a weight-lifting American Olympian, or

~ an Olympic sprinter from Rice Lake, Wisconsin (if you remove a state postal abbreviation from the end of that first name).

Who is this puzzle-maker?

Who is the wise Greek Olympian?

What is the first name of the other Olympians? 

Note: Entree #2 is a riff penned by our friend Plantsmith.

ENTREE #2

Take a common North American tree (3 letters and 3 letters). 

Drop the last letter and mix the remaining letters to get an instrument that could use this tree in its construction.

What is this tree?

What is the instrument?

ENTREE #3 

Note: Entrees #3-through-#8 are riffs penned by our friend Nodd.

Name a common tree of North America in two words (six letters, three letters). 

Rearrange its letters to name a well-known tree of Central and South America and an
adjective that does not accurately describe the wood of the second tree. Rearrange again to spell a place where a certain herb would be grown. 

What are the two trees, the adjective, and the place where the herb would be grown?

ENTREE #4 

Name a common tree that is native to many parts of the world, including North, Central, and South America (eight letters). Rearrange its letters to name a second tree, found in dry tropical areas of Mexico and Central America, and a beverage made from a third tree, found in a wide range of locations across the Northern Hemisphere. What are the three trees and the beverage?

ENTREE #5

Name a common tree of North America in two words (seven letters, three letters). 

Move one letter from the second word to the
first, and drop the two remaining letters of the second word. Add an “L.” 

Rearrange to name a plant in the iris family. 

What tree and plant are these?

ENTREE #6

Name a common tree of North America in two words (four letters, three letters). Remove a two-letter state postal abbreviation for a state to which the tree is not native. Rearrange the rest of the letters to name a second tree, one that grows best in warm subtropical climates. 

What are these two trees?

ENTREE #7

Name a common evergreen shrub (six letters) that grows in the warmer regions of North America. 

Drop the second letter and triple the last letter.
Rearrange these seven letters to spell the two-word name of a common plant of North America. (The second word of this plant name is generic in nature.) 

What are the shrub and the plant?

ENTREE #8

Name a tree (six letters) that grows on five continents but is most common in Asia and South America. Move the first letter to the end of the name. 

The last four letters will now spell a word for a certain type of person. Add three letters to the end of the original six-letter tree name to spell an informal term describing something often done to such persons. 

What are the tree and the two additional words? 

ENTREE #9

Name a tree in two words (five letters, three letters) most commonly found in deep swamps or sometimes in moist, cold forests. Its wood is used for hoops, chair bottoms, and baskets. 

Rearrange its letters to spell the surnames, both beginning with “Jo-,” of a “medical miracle worker” and a “master of the melodious.” 

What tree and two surnames are these?

Hint: Move the second letter of the tree into the space between the two words and remove the space left by the second letter. The result is a word for a “strong public reaction or response against something.” 

ENTREE #10

Name a common tree of North America in eight letters. 

Rearrange its letters to spell:

~ a surname associated with an annual East coast parade, and

~ a word associated with an annual West coast parade that is the surname of a non-Hall-of-Fame ballplayer nicknamed “Charlie...”

What tree, surnames and parades are these?

Dessert Menu

Numismatic Dessert:

“Pennies from Heaven”

Take the combined letters of the first and last names of a past American patriot. Rearrange them to two words that are defined as:

* endurance or “staying power,” and

* expectation of fulfillment or success.

Now take the title of a best-selling publication
this patriot penned. Replace the second word with a homophone that is a plural noun. The result is a caption for the sinister green-bordered image in the illustration above, but not a caption for the red-bordered dexter image.  

Who is this patriot?

What are the two anagrammed words?

What is the publication?

What is the caption?

Every Thursday 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.

Ashland, Massachusetts? “Reversid Gnihsilbup?” Captain Hook... line & sinker; “Agra-man?” Triply pronominal proper name; Aretha Franklin & Rannah Szenes; Birds perching on antennas? Incompatible comma and cat? “Nightie-night, Teddy Knight!”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Triply pronominal proper name

The same pronoun, in English, appears twice consecutively within the name of a writer. 

The last letter of the pronoun that appears second in this writer’s name doubles as the first letter of the French translation of that pronoun. 

Thus, there are three pronouns in the writer’s name: two identical adjacent pronouns, and a third pronoun (a French translation of the first two) that shares a letter with the second English pronoun.

Who is this writer?

Appetizer Menu

Friendly Surefire Appetizer:

“Agra-man?” Captain Hook... line & sinker; Ashland Massachusetts? “Reversid Gnihsilbup?”

Note: The following four Appetizers were composed by a very valued and inventive Friend of Puzzleria!

Note: Appetizer #1 is a riff of the September 8,
2024, NPR challenge.

Captain Hook... line & sinker

1. Take the name of a common watercraft
accessory. 

Rearrange its letters to make the name of a particular watercraft operator. What is the name of the accessory and the name of the operator? 

Note: Appetizer #2 is a riff of the November, 3, 2024, NPR challenge.

“Reversid Publishing?”  

2. 🧪Take the trade name of an American corporation that, among other activities, runs tests.  

Drop the second letter of the name, and move
the last letter into second place. 

The result is the name of something no one wants to encounter in a test result or elsewhere.  

What is the company name, and what is the name of the thing no one wants to encounter?  

“Agra-man?”

3.  Take a word for one who is placed in readiness.
Rearrange its letters to make a word for a rearrangement of letters. 

What are the words?  

Ashland Massachusetts?

4. Take a common abbreviation for a prominent landmass. 

Insert in the center an abbreviation for distinguishing characters. 

The result is a word for the interior. 

Remove the center letter of that word, and the remaining letters in order from left to right spell a word that suggests obscurity. 

What are the two abbreviations and the two words? 

[Note: The terms used above come from the Number 1 or 2 definitions in Merriam-Webster.]

MENU

Transpositional Hors d’Oeuvre

Aretha Franklin & “Ra”nnah Szenes

Transpose the first two letters of a word associated with respect. 

The result is word associated with resistance. 

What are these words?

Sylvania Slice:

Birds perching on antennas?

Take a command in four-words heard during the early years of television. 

One letter appears four times. 

Remove one of them. The remaining letters can be rearranged to spell two birds and a word meaning “ceased to fly and came to rest.” 

What are this plea, two birds and one word?

Note: One of the words in the four-word command heard during television’s early years is a contraction of two words.)

Riffing Off Shortz And Gordon Entrees:

“Nightie-night, Teddy Knight!”

Will Shortz’s December 1st NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by crossword constructor and editor Peter Gordon, reads: Think of a classic television actor — first and last names. Add a long-E sound at the end of each name and you’ll get two things that are worn while sleeping. What are they?

Entree #1:

Place an ampersand between the first and last names of a puzzle-maker to name a 1960s British pop duo. 

Remove the ampersand, then remove the first letter of the first name and add a long-E sound at the end. 

Remove the horizonal “serif” or “bar” from the
first letter of the last name. Place after this a third word: a French color.

The result is a synonym of “diner,” “grill,” or “cafeteria” and an entree unlikely to appear on the menu.

Who are the puzzle-maker and the pop duo? What are the synonym of “diner” and the entree unlikely to appear on the menu?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the brainchildren of Nodd, puzzle-maker extraordinaire.

ENTREE #2

Take the first names of (1) a well-known American film actor who starred in television series but is better known for film roles, and (2) an American actress who appeared in dozens of television series and also had featured roles
in films. 

Between them, the two first names have seven letters. Rearrange them to spell a word for something that some people wear in bed. 

Who are the actor and actress, and what do some people wear in bed?

ENTREE #3

Think of a well-known television actor, first and last names, 11 letters in all. 

Change the fourth letter to the one that comes next in the alphabet. 

Rearrange the 11 letters to spell (1) something you might sleep in if it were a cold night, and (2) a place where a monk, nun or criminal might sleep. 

Who is the actor, what might you sleep in, and where might a monk, nun or criminal go to sleep?

ENTREE #4

Think of a well-known television actor, first and last names, 11 letters in all. 

Remove the first name of a different actor, four letters. (The second actor starred in a number of Disney films.) 

Rearrange the remaining seven letters to spell an item of clothing you might sleep in, or keep
bedclothes in. 

Who are the two actors, what might you sleep in, and where might you keep bedclothes?

ENTREE #5

Take the 10-letter last name of a well-known television actress. 

Add a two-letter state postal abbreviation. 

Rearrange these 12 letters to spell a two-word term for a luxurious sleepwear item. 

Who is the actress, and what is the sleepwear item? 

(Hint: The actress’s last name has two parts.)

ENTREE #6

Think of an eight-letter item of warm clothing you might wear to bed. 

Rearrange its letters to spell a word for what might need to be done to the item after you
have used it for several seasons. 

What is the clothing item, and what might it need?

ENTREE #7

Take the first and last names of a well-known American television and film actress. 

Remove the first two letters. Using the remaining letters as often needed, spell a hyphenated expression associated with going to bed. 

Who is the actress, and what is the expression?

Note: Entree #8 is the brainchild of Plantsmith, also a puzzle-maker extraordinaire.

ENTREE #8

Add a long-E sound at the end of a budding celebrity’s name to get something drinkable.

This celebrity, whose parents are also celebrities, has very lately been in the “high-
societal” news.

Who is this budding celebrity?

What is the “something drinkable?”

ENTREE #9

Think of a gifted purveyor of soul music – first and last names – in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Add a long-E sound at the end of each name. 

The surname now sounds like a slang term for a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class that produces a sense of peacefulness and pleasure. 

The first name now sounds like a dark, low-traffic roadway (singular, not plural!) where this drug is sometimes bought and sold.

Who is this soul-music purveyor?

What are the drug and where it may exchange hands, along with cash?

ENTREE #10

Think of a classic spy film, in one compound word. Remove he first letter from each part of the word, leaving and adjective and the first name of an actress whom this adjective never really described.

Remove the second and last letters form the
surname of this actress, leaving a digit, spelled-out, that is the sum of the first and third digits in the year the film was released.

Consider the title of this film:

Letters number 5, 10, 6, 1 and 8 spell the name of a Norse goddess whose hubby’s name is an anagram of a American singer/songwriter in his 80s whose music incorporates elements of doo-wop, pop, rock, R&B, folk and blues.

Letters number 2, 3, 4, 9 and 7 spell an adjective that describes the bygone era when classical deities like her “lived.”

What is this film title, and when was it released? Who is the actress? Who is the Norse goddess and her hubby? 

Dessert Menu

Strunk & White Dessert:

Incompatible comma and cat?

What is the difference between a comma and a cat?

A comma causes a _____ at the end of a
_____.

A cat has _____ at the end of its _____.

Fill in the four blanks. 

Every Thursday 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.