Fishy Oscar, Grooming & Gaming, (Some) Creatures Great & Small; Swiggin’ it, Wingin’ it, Well-known Wanter, Country becomes a Quaff Infinite leaps and boundlessness; A gent named James & his Gang; My Fiendish Friend, Inflickta! Somatic Syllabic Syllabus Fare; Shortstop Stops Short?

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Infinite leaps and boundlessness

The alphanumeric sum of the word “infinite” is 86: 9+14+6+9+14+9+20+5. 

Name four adjectives, all associated with the infinite and the boundless. 

The alphanumeric sum of each adjective is equal to the sum of each of the other three. 

What are these four words? 

Hint: One of the four adjectives contains a hyphen. 

Appetizer Menu

Conundrumbstricken Appetizer:

Fishy Oscar; Grooming & Gaming; (Some) Creatures Great & Small; Swiggin’ it, Wingin’ it; Well-known Wanter; Country becomes a Quaff

Fishy Oscar

1.🐟This deceased Oscar nominee’s last name includes the name of a fish, no rearranging needed. 

Add a letter from the fish’s name to the person’s nickname and rearrange to name a different animal, not a fish. 

Identify the person and both animals.

Grooming & Gaming

2.🎲Name a familiar personal grooming brand that bears its creator’s last name. 

The brand’s products are frequently found in drug stores. The creator’s first name names a game piece. Who is it?

Creatures Great & Small

3.🐭🐘This popular 20th-century musician and entertainer was generally known by his last name (8 letters) which contains two animal names. 

The middle four letters – rearranged – name a large animal. The other letters, in order, name very small animals. 

Name the entertainer and the animals. 

Swiggin’ it, Wingin’ it

4.🍹Think of a well-known alcoholic beverage and delete the letters that name a kind of bird. 

Rearrange the rest and you’ll discover a popular movie character who also flies. Who is it?

Well-known “Wanter”

5.🫏🐘Take the last name of a well-known person and move the last two letters to the
beginning. 

The new word is what this person wants concerning U.S. politics. 

Who is it? What does he or she want?

Country becomes a Quaff

6.🌎☕Name a country. Delete its first letter and add the abbreviation for the continent on which it’s located. Rearrange the result to discover a popular drink. What’s the brand?

MENU

Anagrammatical Hors d’Oeuvre:

A gent named James & his Gang

 James _____ was a _____ who loved to make _____ and then _____ it with friends.

The words in the first and third blanks are
anagrams of one another, as are the words in the second and fourth blanks. 

Name the four words.

Hint: Each of the four words contains five letters.

Marquis de Sadistic Slice:

My Fiendish Friend, Inflickta!

Delete the first two syllables of a four-syllable inflictor of pain. 

Spoonerize what remains to spell something and some things that may also inflict pain. What is this “wholly unholy trinity” of pain-inflictors?

Riffing Off Shortz And Bass Entrees:

Shortstop Stops Short?

Will Shortz’s July 13th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Ben Bass of Chicago, reads:

Take two different articles of clothing and place them one after the other. The result will spell something seen at a baseball game. What is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Bass Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Many communities in New York State (including the towns of Yorktown, Carmel and others), citing environmental concerns, have indefinitely halted the development of new utility-scale battery storage facilities (known as
______y _____y _______  _y______ (7,6,7,7), or, more briefly, an anagram that is a first lady’s first name).

In short, these communities have opted to ___ ____! (3,4) Rearrange those seven letters to name a puzzle-maker.

Who is the puzzle-maker? What have some Empire State communities opted to do?

Answer:

Note: Entrees #2 though #8 are the handiwork of our friend Nodd. (Nodd and Lego collaborated on #8.) 

ENTREE #2

Take a two-word phrase for articles of clothing made to be highly durable. Insert one letter somewhere inside the second word to describe something you might see at a baseball game. 

What is the phrase, and what might you see?

ENTREE #3

Take a word for articles of clothing made to be especially comfortable. 

Precede this word with a hyphenated word containing an ordinal number to get something that occurs at a baseball game. What is it?

ENTREE #4

Take a word for a fabric used to make shirts and other articles of clothing and remove the
last three letters. 

Follow this with a word for a part of a certain article of clothing to get something you might see at a baseball game. 

What is the fabric, and what might you see? 

ENTREE #5

Take a word for a lightweight fabric often used to make decorations. 

This word also describes something you may see a player doing at a baseball game. 

What is it?

ENTREE #6

Take a word for a kind of fabric commonly used in clothing. 

Replace the last letter with two consecutive letters of the alphabet to get things seen at a
baseball game. 

What are the type of fabric and the things seen at a baseball game?

ENTREE #7

Take a word for something that sometimes occurs at a baseball game during an at-bat. 

Add three letters to the end to get a kind of lightweight patterned fabric. 

A word for an article of clothing that is often made from this kind of fabric also describes something that may occur in the ninth inning of a baseball game. 

What are the thing occurring during an at-bat, the fabric, and the article of clothing?

ENTREE #8

Due to a global button-and-interlocking-metal-fastener shortage, denim jeans manufacturers
Levi Strauss and Lee have made the tough decision to _________ ____ (9 & 5 letters) on all their products. 

Those two words are also things often seen at baseball games. What are these things?

Note: Entree #9 is the brainchild of our friend Plantsmith.

ENTREE #9

Name a seven-letter compound-word garment  World War I soldiers wore for protection that has since become a popular style for men, worn by the likes of David Bowie and Kurt Cobain. 

This compound word is also something on a baseball infield (that most people don’t even notice!) that helps manage moisture, improve playability, and create a consistent surface.

What are this garment and “infield dressing”?

ENTREE #10

Place a two-syllable word that appears on this bottle of aftershave lotion, followed by a one-syllable word on it.

The result sounds like people seen at a baseball game.

What are these two words and the people seen?

ENTREE #11

Write a caption for the top image – in two words of three and one syllables and of seven and five letters.

The same caption may be used for the  lower image.

What is this caption?

ENTREE #12

Write a two-word, six-letter caption for this image.

The result should sound like a five-and-three-letter caption for something seen at a baseball game.

What are these two captions?

ENTREE #13

Write one caption for the two similar images pictured here, in two and seven letters. 

The first word is a verb; the second a proper feline pet name.

The caption sounds like something a pitcher might “serve up to a batter on a silver platter, down the heart of the plate!”

What is the caption? What might a pitcher “serve up?”

ENTREE #14

Write a caption for the image pictured here, in four and three letters.

You would normally use a fork to devour the result. But in this instance, use a “spoon” instead. The result, in three and three letters, will be seen at a baseball game.

What are the caption and something seen at the game?

Hint: A caption in seven and three letters, and a “something seen at the game” in six and three letters is also acceptable. 

Dessert Menu

Anatomical Dessert:

Somatic Syllabic Syllabus Fare

Divide a place on earth into three parts. 

Anagram the letters in the first part to form a one-syllable body part.

Anagram the letters in the third part to name a second one-syllable body part. 

Move the middle part, also one syllable, to the end. 

The result is three body parts in order from lowest to highest.

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 Thursday.

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.

“A Dwindling” and “Holding their Fates to the Fire”; “Mingle? Schmingle! Where’s the Pringles?!” Did a “Sea Change Change Yew?” One Cool Cat and One Hot Dog! “Take two anagrams, be(d)head, and call me in the morning” Midday menu: frothy fruity eggy veggie medley

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Midday menu: frothy fruity eggy veggie medley

Sal and Peg take a pre-midday break from their jobs to enjoy brunch at a diner.

Sal orders a frothy fruit drink and a “veggie medley.” 

Peg orders an entree with eggs and a blended tea-and-lemonade beverage. 

What historical figure does Sal’s order suggest?

What more recent historical figure does Peg’s order suggest?

This week we proudly present the following two-pronged Appetizer:

Subterfuge & Greek Creature Appetizer:

“A Dwindling” and “Holding their Fates to the Fire”

“A Dwindling”

1. 🎥📖The 4-word (4, 5, 4, 5) title of a not very well known movie, with not very well known cast members, contains 5 different consonants and 1 vowel. 

In the title, three consonants appear 3 times each; two consonants appear once each; and the vowel appears 7 times. 

The phrase formed by the movie title is preceded by a subterfuge – a kind of “misdirection” – in a very well known, very famous, and best selling, novel which has been adapted to stage and screen. 

The novel and adaptations have had various titles. 

The phrase formed by the “not very well known” movie title and the “misdirection” are parts of a mysterious countdown. The countdown ends with the title of the novel.

Identify and describe this “subterfuge/misdirection.”

Extra Credit: Name the title of the not very famous movie, and the best known title of the famous novel. 

“Holding their Fates to the Fire” 

2. 𐦐𐦉 Name a 21st Century Tony winning play which is a reworking of a Greek myth. 

Drop the last letter of the title. Divide the remaining letters unevenly into two groups. Rearrange the letters to form a word out of each group – two new words in all. Placing those two words in the correct order results in a two-word characteristic of a creature in Greek myth. What is the play? 

What is the characteristic and the creature it describes? 

MENU

Predatory Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Take two anagrams, be(d)head, and call me in the morning”

Anagram the letters of a predator to name its possible prey. 

“Be(d)head” (actually, just “behead”) the prey to get a second predator. Anagram the letters of that predator to get a sound made by a second, larger prey that ends with the same two letters as the sound. 

What are these five words?

What are this predator, prey, second predator, sound and second prey?

59-26 Skidoo Slice:

One Cool Cat and One Hot Dog!

(Note: The following puzzle is a collaboration of sorts between LegoLambda and Nodd. Nodd came up with the ingenious “cool cat” portion of the puzzle.)

Take letters associated with 26 followed by letters associated with 59 to get a name
associated with both a cool cat and a hot dog. 

What is this name and its association with a hot dog and cool cat? 

How are its letters associated with 26 and 59?

Riffing Off Shortz Entrees:

Did a “Sea Change Change Yew?”

Will Shortz’s July 6th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle reads:

This is a phonetic challenge in four parts. First, say a letter of the alphabet out loud – like B, C, or L. Then name something you might carry around in your pocket. Say it twice. Finally, name a variety of tree. Say these four things in order, and phonetically they’ll name a nice place in the United States to vacation. What is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

This is a phonetic challenge in five parts. 

First, say the first syllable of a two-syllable fish whose second syllable is “fish.” (The first syllable is also where in the fish the hook might
embed itself.); 

Second, say the collective term for Aspires, Contours, Couriers, Crestlines, Edges, Elites, Fairmonts, Freestars, Freestyles, Mainlines, Parklanes and Tempos;

Third, say a two-syllable word that sounds like a synonym of “criminal,” like Snidely Whiplash or Boris Badenov, for two examples. 

Fourth, say a letter of the alphabet out loud; and

Fifth, say what sounds like the palindromic name of a prophetess mentioned in the Gospel of Luke.

Say these five things in order, and phonetically they’ll name the hometown and home state of a puzzlemaster!

Who is this puzzlemaster, his hometown and home state?

What are the answers to the five clues?

(Note: Entrees #2 through #7 were composed and contributed by our good friend Nodd whose “Nodd ready for prime time” is featured regularly on Puzzleria!) 

ENTREE #2

Name a letter of the alphabet. 

Then name an interval of time. 

Finally, name a U.S. state. Phonetically, you’ll name a popular two-word vacation destination in the Western U.S. What is it?

ENTREE #3

Name a letter of the alphabet. Then name a kind of throwing weapon. 

Phonetically, you’ll name a Western U.S. national forest offering tourist attractions that include an aerial tramway. 

Which national forest is it? 

ENTREE #4

Name a letter of the alphabet. 

Then name a synonym of “bewilder.” 

Phonetically, you’ll
name a Western U.S. city offering numerous tourist attractions, including one pictured periodically in Puzzleria! What city is it? 

ENTREE #5

Name a letter of the alphabet. 

Then name something you would need in your pocket to go on a vacation, followed by something you would take along if you planned
to go fishing. 

Finally, name another letter of the alphabet. Phonetically, you’ll name a Western U.S. national forest offering numerous recreational opportunities for hikers and mountain bikers. 

Which national forest is it?

ENTREE #6

Name a letter of the alphabet. 

Then name the first two syllables of a furniture brand name. Finally, name the last name of a famous U.S. lawyer. 

Phonetically, you’ll name a waterfront tourist attraction in a major city in the Western U.S. 

What is it?

ENTREE #7

Name a letter of an alphabet. 

Then name something you might want for vacationing at a lake. 

Finally, name an accessory you might want for
taking photographs. 

Phonetically, you’ll name a Southern U.S. city that is considered a nice place to vacation. 

What city is it?

(Note: Entrees #8 and 9 were composed and contributed by our good friend Tortitude whose “Tortie’s Slow But Sure Puzzles” is featured regularly on Puzzleria!) 

ENTREE #8

Name a famous musician of the past. Say the last name followed by the first name quickly. You’ll phonetically have a two-word phrase. 

Now think of the musician’s most famous song.
The title character does the two-word phrase in the title place. 

Who is the musician? What is the phrase? What is the song? 

ENTREE #9

Think of a current American politician. 

The first four letters of the first name sound like
a word associated with beaches. 

The first four letters of the last name spell another word associated with beaches.

Who is this politician, “littorally?”

ENTREE #10

Small oscines seeking solitude,

While singing hymns of gratitude...

Write a caption for this image in two five-letter
words.

Then rearrange those ten letters to name a nice place in the United States to vacation.

What are this caption and U.S. vacation spot?

Dessert Menu

Hungry Hovering Hummingbird Dessert:

“Mingle? Schmingle! Where’s the Pringles?!”

The nattily-attired ______ ____ at the party didn’t even attempt to mingle. Instead, this greedy ____ ______ hovered around the snack table... like
a hungry hummingbird hovers above sweet nasturtium nectar and nummy gnats. 

Those first and fourth missing words are identical except for their second letters. 

The second and third words are identical except for their third letters. What are these four missing words?  

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 Thursday.

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.

Mixed-up city fathers, Dandy candy and faddy duds, Jesus Christ Supersorcerer, Cars carnivores crave!; Minnie the Moocher, Donald the Driver; Bitchin’ ‘bout a beverage; “Baby it’s warm inside... and outside!” Behemoth becomes a big maker of melody; Golf Cart ‘toons!

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Golf Cart ‘toons!

Name a cartoonist.

Rearrange the letters in this cartoonist’s name to get two words: 

⛳🐺 a kind of golf match, and 

🪤🏌something found on a golf course. 

Who are this cartoonist and the two golf-related terms?

Appetizer Menu

Skydiversionary Appetizer:

Mixed-up city fathers, Dandy candy and faddy duds, Jesus Christ Supersorcerer, Cars carnivores crave!

Mixed-up city fathers

1.☆ Name a world capital city that when anagrammed describes its leaders who work there. 

What are the world capital and description of its leaders.

Dandy candy and faddy duds

2.🍬 Think of a candy everyone knows. 

Spoonerize it to name a garment popular with women. 

What are this candy and garment? 

Jesus Christ Supersorcerer

3.🪄 There are many famous and amazing magicians such as David Copperfield who made the Statue of Liberty disappear. 

They are famous because of how very clever and adept they were, but none are so clever and amazing as Jesus Christ whose greatest trick was to “blank blank.” 

Well, what was it? Fill in the blanks. Your answer must be humorous.

Cars carnivores crave!

4.🥗🥩 While some followers of Siddhartha choose to be vegetarian or vegan, others do eat meat. 

There isn’t a universal rule against meat consumption in their religion, but some traditions and schools of thought encourage it more than others. 

With that in mind, please consider those who are carnivores, and see if you can figure out which brand of automobile they prefer. 

Hint: It is a brand in four syllables that should reveal the answer when spoonerized. 

MENU

Instrumental Hors d’Oeuvre:

Behemoth becomes a big maker of melody

Name a relatively large creature. Anagram an interior string of letters to spell a somewhat large musical instrument. The remaining letters can be anagrammed to spell a material from which this instrument is often crafted.

What are this creature, instrument and material?

Homophonic Slice:

Bitchin’ ‘bout a beverage

Replace the second word in a two-word nine-letter beverage with a homophone that has two fewer letters. 

Place this homophone at the beginning, without a space. 

Insert a space someplace else to form a two-word complaint that impatient drinkers might make regarding this beverage's preparation time. 

What are this beverage and complaint?

Riffing Off Shortz And Chaikin Slices:

Minnie the Moocher, Donald the Driver

Will Shortz’s July 29th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Andrew Chaikin of San Francisco, reads:

Think of a famous movie star (6 letters, 6 letters). The first name, when said out loud, sounds like a brand of a certain object. The last name is someone who uses this object. What movie star is this?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Chaikin Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Take:

* the first name of a famous past singer whose surname is a synonym of beach (5 letters, 5 letters);

* the first name of singers Astley and
Springfield; and

* a synonym of “subside” that is a homophone of the first name of a past singer whose surname is sometime preceded by  the word “fig.”

Rearrange the 18 letters in these names to spell the first and last names of a puzzle-maker.

Who is the puzzle-maker?

Who are these singers?

What is the synonym of “subside?”

Note: Riffs #2 through #7 were composed by our friend Nodd, composer of “Nodd ready for prime time” on Puzzleria!

ENTREE #2

Think of a famous movie star (3 letters, 4 letters). 

Add an S to the end of the last name. The result will sound like something a criminal might do at a brand name retailer. 

Who is the star? What might a criminal do?

ENTREE #3

Think of a famous movie star (5 letters, 5 letters). The first name is a colloquial brand name for a certain object. The last name describes what this object is often used for in movies. 

Who is the star? 

What is the object?

ENTREE #4

Think of a famous movie star (5 letters, 6 letters). 

Drop the last three letters of the first name and add a B at the beginning of the name, then switch the order of the first and last names. 

The result is something that was once considered a brand name of a certain object but has now become a generic term for the object. 

Who is the star? What is the object?

ENTREE #5

Think of a famous movie star (4 letters, 4 letters). 

Swap the second and third letters of the first name. 

The result will be the name of a college, followed by a colloquial name for a university. Who is the star? 

What are the college and university?

ENTREE #6

Think of a famous movie star (3 letters, 6
letters). 

The first name is an abbreviation for something found on a certain object. 

The last name is something you might put in the object. Who is the star? What is the object?

ENTREE #7

Think of a famous movie star (8 letters, 4 letters). 

The first name is a former brand name for a certain object. 

The last name is a current brand name for the same kind of object. 

Who is the star? What is the object?

ENTREE #8

Note: Riff #8 was composed by our friend Plantsmith, curator of “Garden of Puzzley Delights” on Puzzleria!

Thank of a famous movie star. Six and six letters first and last. 

Their first name is part of a famous brand name. If you remove the third and fourth letters of the second name you will get an object associated with the famous brand name’s trademark.

Who is this movie star?

What is the object associated with the famous brand name’s trademark?

ENTREE #9

Take the first and last names of a head football coach at Southeastern Louisiana University, Louisiana Tech University and Ole Miss in the
late 20th Century, compiling a career college football coaching record of 125–94–6.

His name is the same as two nouns that describe each of four companies named Falls City, Cold Spring, West End and Pearl in the late 1970s.

Who is this football coach?

What is the two-word description of each of the four late-1970s companies?

ENTREE #10

Name a wielder of woods, in four syllables. 

His close friends call him by a name that make
him sound like a grinder of grains.

More formally, he is called by his surname (preceded by “mister”) that makes him sound like a cutter of coifs.

Who is this woods-wielder who at various times sounds like a grains-grinder or coifs-cutter? 

Dessert Menu

Consume Some Consommé Dessert?:

“Baby it’s warm inside... and outside!”

Name something you consume that might make you feel “all warm inside.” 

Delete an “a” and “e” and move the first letter
to the end to name something that may make you feel “all warm on the outside.” 

What are these two warming things?

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 Thursday.

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.