Capital ideas, Car Culture? Commoners, Sty in the sky, Mixed-up performers, Poetry Corner by Anna Graham; Mandibles & Tron, “Phone Home!” Surname, fur and Babylon; “Celebratory subtraction adds to holiday fun!” Letters morph into math; “...And the last shall be first”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Celebratory subtraction adds to holiday fun!” 

Name two annual celebrations. Remove the five letters of one celebration from the sixteen letters of the other one. 

Two words will appear – the first associated with Christmas, the second with Halloween. 

What are these two celebrations? 

What are the words associated with Christmas and Halloween.?

Hint #1: Neither one of the two celebrations contains abbreviations.

Hint #2: If the two words associated with Christmas and Halloween do not appear, during the removal process try removing the 3rd and 15th letters instead of the 7th and 10th letters. 

Appetizer Menu

Prime Time Appetizer:

Poetry Corner by Anna Graham, Commoners, Mixed-up performers, Capital ideas, Sty in the sky? Car Culture?

1. ★CAPITAL IDEAS

For each of the following descriptions, name a world capital which, when said aloud, matches the description:

1. What a Sunday school teacher might do when teaching about the Book of Genesis.

2. Former SNL performer pokes fun.

3. Kind of diet.

4. Place to grab a bite.

5. Unusual shoe size.

6. Bottom of an aromatic plant.

7. Rating for a percussion instrument.

8. Type of injury.

9. Sausage is volcanic emission?

10. Terminate a famous catcher.

2. 🧪STY IN THE SKY?

Write the same seven letters twice in succession with a space between them. 

The result will be a two-word phrase describing a famous but untidy scientist. 

What is the phrase? 

(Hint: The second word in the phrase is the scientist’s last name.)

3. 🚘🚗CAR CULTURE?

Take the names of two cars.  

The first one was produced in the U.S. during the first quarter of the 20th Century. 

The second one has been produced in Europe since 1998. 

The two names together are the name of the lead character in a 1960s U.S. sitcom. Who is it?

4. 📺MIXED-UP PERFORMERS

Insert the last name of an actor or TV personality in the first blank, and insert an anagram of the last name in the second blank, to complete the following sentences:

1. ______  and the studio ______ out a contract giving him a share of the proceeds.

2. ______  pushed back when her editor wanted her to use ______ language in her memoir.

3. _______ created new game shows by _________ on previous ones.

4. ______  disliked driving with his wife, a compulsive ______.

5. ______ enjoyed her popularity most of the time, but cursed it when obnoxious admirers would ______ her mercilessly.

6. ____ tried to take up golf, but became frustrated when he would repeatedly _____ the ball. 

5. 📖🎥⚾🎸✍COMMONERS

What do the following people have in common: 

~ Thomas E. Gaddis; 

~ Julie Andrews; 

~ Stan Musial; 

~ Jeff Beck; 

~ Michael Stewart? 

6. 🖋 POETRY CORNER WITH ANNA GRAHAM

Fill in the blanks with four anagrammatic words to complete the verse:

____ from the ____ , exotic fare,

The party ____ with gusto rare, 

No empty ____, no room to spare,

A thoroughly superb affair!

MENU

Paired Letters Hors d’Oeuvre:

Letters morph into math

There are 676 (or 26-squared) different pairings of capital letters of the alphabet (AA, AB, AC... BA, BB, BC... etc.). 

Some of these pairings are well-known: for
example: BB, MC, DJ, CD, AM, FM, IQ and US postal abbreviations. Some are even words: BY, LO, AT, HE, UP, IS, etc. 

Allow the letters in one of these 676 pairings
to “kiss” or abut. Erase the left quarter of the letter on the left. Erase just a tiny bit of the letter on the right. (See examples in the illustration.) 

The result resembles a mathematical expression that equals the number one. What pairing of letters is this? 

Good-Tasting Slice:

Surname, fur and Babylon

Delete the last letter of a velvety soft fur. Then replace a common preposition with an ancient Babylonian city, both the same length. 

The result is the surname of a person whose
first name “tastes good,” according to a bygone jingle.

What is this fur?

What are the preposition and ancient Babylonian city?

What is the surname?

Who is the person?

What “tastes good,” according to a bygone jingle?

Riffing Off Shortz And Gori Entrees:

“Phone home,” Mandibles & Tron

Will Shortz’s March 9th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle Challenge, created by Al Gori of Cozy Lake, New Jersey, reads:

Take the name JON STEWART, as in the comedian and TV host. Rearrange the letters to spell the titles of three classic movies. One of the titles is  its familiar shortened form.

Puzzleria!s riffing off Shortz and Gori Puzzle Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Take the name AL GORI, as in the NPR puzzle-maker from Cozy Lake, New Jersey. Rearrange the letters to spell the title of a movie starring Gena Rowlands and Buck Henry. If you rearrange the even-numbered letters followed by an rearrangement of the odd-numbered letters the result will be something an auto mechanic might keep in his or her pocket.

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What is this movie title?

What might an auto mechanic might keep in her or his pocket?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the enigmatic handiwork of our friend Nodd, whose “Nodd ready for prime time” puzzle-package appears in this edition of Puzzleria!

ENTREE #2

Take the name DAVID LETTERMAN, as in the comedian and TV host. Using certain of the letters in the name, and repeating letters as necessary, spell the one-word titles of:

(1) a 1970s sci-fi film; 

(2) a 1990s fantasy comedy film; 

(3) a 1990s animated film; and 

(4) a 1990s film adaptation of a Broadway musical.

ENTREE #3

Take the name JIMMY KIMMEL, as in the comedian and TV host. Using certain of the letters in the name, and repeating letters as necessary, spell the one-word titles of: 

(1) a 1990s psychological crime drama; 

(2) a 1950s adventure film starring an actor who performed most of his own stunts; 

(3) a 2000s biographical drama; and 

(4) a 1990s fantasy film, using the familiar shortened form of the three-word title.

ENTREE #4

Take the name TREVOR NOAH, as in the comedian and TV host. Using certain of the letters in the name, and repeating letters as necessary, spell the one-word titles of: 

(1) a 2010s epic drama; 

(2) a 1990s historical drama; and 

(3) a 1990s crime drama. 

Hint: The second and third films starred Oscar-winning actors.  

ENTREE #5

Take the name CONAN O’BRIEN, as in the comedian and TV host. Using certain letters of the name, and repeating letters as necessary, spell the one-word titles of: 

(1) a 2020s horror film; 

(2) a 1990s comedy-drama; and 

(3) a 1930s drama that starred an Oscar-winning actress.  

ENTREE #6

Take the name SAMANTHA BEE, as in the comedian and TV host. Using certain of the letters in the name, and repeating letters as
necessary, spell the two-word titles of: 

(1) a 1970s horror film; 

(2) a 2020s sci-fi drama; and 

(3) a 2000s comedy that starred an Oscar-winning actor.

ENTREE #7

Take the name ARSENIO HALL, as in the comedian and TV host. Using certain of the letters in the name, and repeating letters as
necessary, spell the one-word titles of: 

(1) a 1980s sci-fi action film; 

(2) a 1950s Western that won a National Board of Review Award for best director; and 

(3) a 1970s drama starring an Oscar-winning actress and an Emmy-winning actor. 

ENTREE #8

Consider this four-image illustration. 

Each incomplete caption applies to either of the two images above it. Fill in the missing letters. 

The completed captions – each composed of
13 letters – will consist of the letters in six of eight related words of two and three letters). 

What are your two captions?

What are the six words required to spell each caption?

Hint: The caption with the hyphen is a synonym of a late 18th-Century rime.

ENTREE #9

Name two movies with one-syllable titles that rhyme with one other. 

Replace the numerical digits in one of the movies with the uppercase letters that resemble those digits. 

Rearrange these five letters to name a Greek mythological figure who was punished for her hubris, according to Homer.

What are these two movies?

What is the Greek mythological figure?

ENTREE #10

Name a six-letter branch of biology and a three-letter organism included in this branch.
Rearrange these nine letters to spell four common prepositions. 

What are this branch of biology and organism? 

What are the four prepositions?

Hint: The initial letters of the four prepositions can be arranged to spell a Russian baby name meaning “bean farmer.”

Dessert Menu

Pride Of Lions Dessert:

“...And the last shall be first”

Take the first and last names of an artist. 

Change one letter, the last letter of an annual celebration, to the first letter of that celebration.

Rearrange the result to spell a creature and the collective term for two or more of this creature – like lion and pride, or wolf and pack. 

Name this artist, celebration, creature and term.

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.