Twin Name Games Come First, Then Anna Graham’s Verse! Lessons in optimizing an idiom; Tacky trashy greedy nasty! Palindromic Q-Inclusion; Name, alphabetical rank, cereal number... Erosion of Earth gives birth to description

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Lessons in optimizing an idiom

Name a nine-word idiomatic proverb.

~ Delete a letter from Word #2.

~ Insert a letter in Word #3.

~ Place two letters at the front of Word #7.

~ Move Word #8 to the end.

~ Place two homophones of Word #9 where Word #8 was.

The result is a more optimistic idiom.

What are this idiom and its revision?

Note: One of the nine words in the idiom is a contraction.

Appetizer Menu

Prime-time Name-time Rhyme-time Appetizer:

Twin Name Games Come First, Then Anna Graham’s Verse!

1. NAME GAMES, PART ONE

Name the food item suggested by combining the last names of the first four performers with the first name of the fifth.

(1) Austrian-German actress, phonetically;

(2) American actor, inspired a game;

(3) American actress in film about WWII veterans;

(4) 1920s American actress married to famous playwright; 

(5) American actor who won three Academy Awards.

2. NAME GAMES, PART TWO

Name the actor or actress whose first and last names phonetically match the descriptive phrases.

(1) Institutional color shade funding

(2) Once-a-week joint

(3) Sketched a Bee Gee again

(4) Searcher for wreath material

(5) Steal black bird

(6) Dental restorations for sweetheart

(7) Underworld and rice wine

(8) Narrow valley wardrobe

(9) Fairy gotten rid of

(10) Account of British open land

(11) Steal defective car

(12) Put on clarinet part

(13) Enclosed carriage for songbird

(14) British truck for Scottish musician

(15) Pricey car reign

3. POETRY CORNER, WITH ANNA GRAHAM

Fill in the blanks with three anagrams to complete the verse.

His critics _____,

So _____ _____.

MENU

Alpha-Beta Battling Hors d’Oeuvre:

Name, alphabetical rank, cereal number...

Take the sum of the alphabetical ranks of two consecutive letters in a 19th-Century battle site. 

Replace those letters with the letter whose alphabetical rank corresponds to that sum. 

The result spells something plentiful at the site. 

What is the battle site and what was plentiful there?

(Note: The Alphabetical ranks are A=1, B=2, C=3, D = 4, E = 5, F = 6, etc.)

Geological Slice:

Erosion of Earth gives birth to description 

Replace the first three letters of a geological formation with the letter “i”. 

The result is an adjective that describes that formation when it is compared to the majority of other such geological formations. 

What are this geological formation and this adjective?

Riffing Off Shortz Entrees:

Palindromic Q-Inclusion

Will Shortz’s challenge somewhat-frightful-yet-delightful fortnightful creative challenge has now come to its conclusion. 

The deadline to submit entries was at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on July 31st.

The object of the challenge was to write a palindrome that contains the letter Q. 

Entries were to be judged on sense, naturalness of syntax, and overall elegance.

The person who submitted what Will considers to be the best palindrome containing the letter Q will play puzzle on the air with him this Sunday, August 3.

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz Entrees read:

Entree #1

A palindrome regarding rescinding the purchase and shipment of cotton swabs contains:

4 x d

4 x e

4 x r

2 x i

2 x n

2 x o

2 x p

2 x t

1 x q

and two hyphens.

What is it?

(Hint: The three letters at the end of the palindrome are an acronymic instruction that  would rescind the purchase.)

Note: Entries #2 through #12 below (eleven riffs!) were were composed by our friend Nodd, who is also the author of this week’s featured “Nodd ready for prime time” Appetizer, above.

Entree #2

Fill in the blanks with a three-word palindromic phrase to complete what a member of the British royal family might have uttered in the
early 1950s after another member’s vigorous session of mud pie-making: “Oh dear, ____ __ ______!”

Entree #3

Name a place that was prominent in an ancient mythology and place a copy of the second letter at the beginning. 

Insert a space and spell the result backwards to name a deity in a different religious tradition and a substance associated with a deity in a different ancient mythology. 

What place is it? 

Entree #4

Fill in the blanks with a pair of words, one of which is the other spelled backwards, to complete the sentence: 

“When Anna decided to ______ with the pattern, she found she had to ______ the entire garment.”

Entree #5

Think of a two-word phrase for a ground condition that might cause a problem for a skier. 

Spell it backwards to get a two-word phrase describing what a Nordic skier accomplished at three Winter Olympics in the 1960s. 

What are the two phrases?

Entree #6

The last name of an American who rose to prominence in the late 1800s, spelled backwards and with a space inserted, is a two-word phrase for what you’d get if you ordered an a la carte entree. 

Who is it?

Entree #7

The palindromic first name of a European statesman of the late 19th Century is also a homophone (some might say near-homophone) of a manufactured product. 

A brand name for an example of this product is another palindrome. 

Who is the statesman, and what is the brand name?

Entree #8

Think of a word for something that travels in bodies of water. 

Spell it backwards to get a word describing bodies of water it would not travel in.  What are these two words?

Entree #9

Spell the name of a bird backwards and insert a space. 

The result will name an insect and a mammal.

What are these three creatures?

Entree #10

A palindromic phrase describes what a graphic artist might be commissioned to do in preparing an advertisement for a certain showbiz event. What is this palindromic phrase?

Entree #11

What palindromic phrase describes what a student hand-copying a photo of a past U.S. president might need t o do if she made a mistake?

Entree #12

 Think of a word for a kind of circus performer.

Spell it backwards.

Insert a space someplace to describe what an oceanographer studying sea mammals might do.  

Entree #13

Find a 57-letter palindrome about a mentally unsound Nazi official housed in a famous Berlin prison who wants to inform Adam and Eve’s progeny about something, and ending with the end of a prayer, and a wizard, half-baked. 

The palindrome contains:

12 x a

6 x e

6 x l

6 x n

2 x b

2 x c

2 x d

2 x i

2 x m

2 x o

2 x p

2 x r

2 x s

2 x t

2 x u

2 x w

2 x z

1 x q

What is this palindrome?

Entree #14

This 59-letter “palindromic lamentation prayer” (an addendum to Entree #13) suggests that instances of the injustice and torture perpetuated by the Nazi penal facility in Berlin and by the Serbian detention camps in the 1990s continue into the present.

The palindrome contains:

14 x o

10 x n

8 x s

6 x a

4 x d

4 x i

4 x p

2 x b

2 x g

2 x r

2 x u

1 x q

What is this palindrome?

Entree #15

This 50-letter palindrome asks how a Greek maiden – by rejecting a bouquet sent to her by an albeit “more mature” yet in-shape (and “into shapes”) mathematician – precipitated his decision to rescind his subsequent candlelit dinner invitation!

The palindrome contains:

8 x d

6 x a

6 x e

6 x l

6 x t

4 x f

4 x i

4 x o

2 x c

2 x r

2 x u 

(Note: This palindrome does indeed contain a “Q” (a “Q,” that is, that is spelled “c-u-e”.)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cue]

What is this palindrome?

Entree #16

A Cockney tramp surnamed “Ardley” (née Alvarez) breaks and enters into a vacated manor house, bathes, applies deodorant, grabs an ear-dewaxer.

No person of great wealth or prominence  is he. 

Indeed, he is under protection of a court-appointed guardian.

The palindrome contains:

8 x a

6 x b

6 x o

4 x i

4 x n

4 x r

4 x t

2 x d

2 x h

2 x m

2 x p

2 x s

2 x u

2 x w

1 x q

What is this palindrome?

Dessert Menu

Scrabbly Dessert:

Tacky trashy greedy nasty!

Delete the second letter of a two-syllable synonym of tacky and trashy. 

Move the last letter into the third position to spell a greedy, vengefully nasty person. 

What are these two 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.