Worlds-apart yet common tongues; The letter “en” that numbers ten; Nine-digit deficit; Cloudy Klein Contortionist; Super-duper coughing creature! Serena, Simone, Mia Hamm! Double-hockey-sticks-critters triplet; Phenomenal surnominal songbird; E______ of S_______!

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Cloudy Klein Contortionist

Fill in the blanks of the title and the final line of the following “poem.”

E _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of  S _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like some great, grey weasel

Or jumbo smoke-filled/smoke-engulfed Klein bottle turning itself outside-out,

He makes movements of a madman, strait-jacketed

(Locks unopen, chains unbroken),

And then, to the amazement of all...

P_ _ _   o _ _   o _   h _ _   t _ _ _ _!

Appetizer Menu

Skydiversionary Appetizer:

Worlds-apart yet common tongues; The letter “en” that numbers ten; Nine-digit deficit 

Worlds-apart yet common tongues

1. There are two well known major languages that are almost half a world apart from each other and yet they each have something very unusual in common with each other. 

Do you know what it is?

The letter “en” that numbers ten

2. Looking carefully at the Earth Globe you can find a well-known land mass where you might see ten n’s. Can you locate it?

Nine-digit deficit

3. Maria had been teaching beginning Spanish for about twelve years now, and loved both her job and the students. It was mutual, and one of her students at the end of her first year had given her a small gift in appreciation. It was ten plastic words that each spelled a different digit in Spanish. She loved these toys and proudly displayed them in order on her desk. 

I am sure you can feel her disappointment when one morning, arriving at her desk, she found all but one of these digits missing. Can you determine which digit remained, and how you came to your conclusion?

MENU

Oval Office Hors d’Oeuvre:

Super-duper coughing creature!

Take a pair of two-word terms: one who dupes others into giving him money and something a
critter may cough up. 

Rearrange the combined letters to spell the first and last names of a president. 

What are these two-word terms and presidential name?

Muscat & Salalah Slice:

Serena, Simone, Mia Hamm!

Remove the first and seventh letters from a word that describes Serena Williams, Simone
Biles or Mia Hamm. 

The result is a pair of words associated with Muscat and Salalah. 

What are these three words?

Riffing Off Shortz And Goodman Entrees:

Double-hockey-sticks-critters triplet

Will Shortz’s April 20th Puzzle Challenge, created by Philip Goodman, of Binghamton, New York, reads:

Name an animal in five letters. Add two letters
and rearrange the result to name a bird in seven letters. Then add two letters to that and rearrange the result to name another animal in nine letters. What creatures are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Goodman Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Name a puzzle-maker in thirteen letters. Rearrange these letters to spell a five-letter creature, two three-letter creatures and a French pronoun that can refer to either of the three-letter creatures... but only if both of them are not bitches.

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What are the three creatures and the pronoun?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 were composed by our friend and riff-meister extraordinaire Nodd.

ENTREE #2

Name an animal in three letters. 

Add four letters and rearrange the result to name a bird in seven letters. 

Change the first letter to an A and remove the last letter. 

Rearrange the six remaining letters and follow them with the three-letter animal to name a nine-letter, two-word animal. 

What creatures are these?

ENTREE #3

Name an animal in three letters and a bird in six letters. Change the third letter of the bird name to an S and rearrange the combined nine letters of the animal and the bird to name another bird. What creatures are these?

ENTREE #4

Name two animals in three letters each. 

To these six letters add three more letters and rearrange the result to name an animal in nine letters. 

What creatures are these?

ENTREE #5

Name an animal and a bird, nine letters in all. 

Change one letter from an M to a V and rearrange to name another animal. What creatures are these?

ENTREE #6

Name a fish and a bird, nine letters in all. 

Change one letter from an O to a C and rearrange to name another animal. 

What creatures are these?

ENTREE #7

Name an insect and add three letters to name a bird. 

Change an E to a U, add two more letters, and rearrange the result to name an animal in nine letters. 

What creatures are these?

Note: Entree #8 was composed by our friend and riff-meister extraordinaire Plantsmith.

ENTREE #8

Take some five-letter animals. 

Add two letters and mix the result to get some birds. Add two more letters and mix to get some more animals. 

What are these three creatures?

ENTREE #9

Name a eight-letter bird whose color may be a hue that rhymes with a black liquid.

Some letters of this bird, in order but not consecutive, spell:

* an oral animal part, and

* a Spanish pal.

Some letters of this bird, not in order, spell:

* an animal that has that above-mentioned oral animal part, and

* the newborn animal born of a creature that might be gray (but is not yet old).

What are this bird, oral animal part, Spanish pal, animal with the oral part, and newborn animal?

ENTREE #10

Name a creature in three letters. 

Add two letters and rearrange the result to name a holy human creature. 

Then add four additional letters and rearrange
the result to name a thick-skinned third creature. 

What three creatures are these?

ENTREE #11

Name a bird in three letters. 

Insert two adjacent letters within the name to name a bird in five letters. Then add five letters and rearrange the result to name a non-avian creature in ten letters. 

What three creatures are these?

Dessert Menu

“Bye Bye Baldness” Dessert:

Phenomenal surnominal songbird

Spell the surname of a  singer backwards. Add a space. The result is a description of this singer’s music. 

Who is the singer? 

What is the description?

Hint: This surname can be anagrammed to spell a two-word description of a word that follows “Bye Bye” and a word that follows “Bald.” 

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.