Nonslumbering lumber! "Do the math!" Oliver, George, William, Joe in the NEWS (or OLDS?) "Backward to the past"; Empire State of Mind... Benders; Things dogs do, name just two; Behold the Mayo, for heart’s-sake! Fido? Fluffy? Frisky? Whiskers? “Is the tack room a back room?”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Is the tack room a back room?”

Name pieces of equipment that might be found in a tack room of a stable. 

Remove three consecutive letters, leaving a synonym of “prods.” 

If you spell these pieces of equipment backward and remove three consecutive letters the result is a second  synonym of “prods.” This second synonym of “prods” rhymes with the first synonym of “prods.”

What are these pieces of tack room equipment and rhyming synonyms?

Hint: The second synonym of “prods” is also a plural noun that may also be found in a tack room.

Appetizer Menu

Conundrumbstricken Appetizer:

“Backward to the past”

Nonslumbering lumber! 

“Do the math!” 

Oliver, George, William, Joe in the NEWS (or OLDS?) 

Backward to the past

1. 👚Print the name of a raw material used for various fabrics in capital letters, except print the last letter in lower case. 

Then print it in reverse order, last letter to first letter. 

In the past, where would you most likely have seen this printed? 

What’s the raw material?

Oliver, George, William and Joe in the News... or the Olds! 

2. 🎥🔊🪖Consider these 4 people. 

* George invented a camera. 

* Joe was a 1970s Grammy winner with a Top
40 song. 

* William was an important U.S. military leader. 

* Oliver was a major figure in a 1980s political scandal. 

Their last names have an unusual property. What is it?

“Do the math!”

3. 🔢Think of a common 3-word phrase. 

Reverse the last two letters, say it out loud and then – phonetically – do the math. 

The answer is 6. 

What’s the phrase?

Nonslumbering lumber!

4. 🌳What do the following have in common?

~ A certain model of a luxury car

~ A 20th-century vocal group with two big hits

~ An athlete, recently a champion

~ A well-known, successful musician

MENU

Healthful Hors d’Oeuvre:

Behold the Mayo, for heart’s-sake!

A Hungarian-born American businessman, philanthropist and Holocaust survivor loved Latin proverbs, geography, bolo ties, poems, cattle, phone calls, lunch visits, driving his grandchildren to school... and life. He was a near-centenarian when he died.

This benefactor believed in making what he called “investments in humanity.” Indeed, his surname graces a building of a world-class health provider. His surname, fittingly, is an anagram of a body part.

Who is this philanthropist?

What is this body part?

Petunia The Pig Slice:

Fido? Frisky? Fluffy? Whiskers?

Place an “n” at the center of a six-letter creature. 

Replace four consecutive letters of the result with a two-letter synonym. The result is a name commonly given to this creature. 

What are this creature and the common name?

Hint: The last three letters of this name sound like how this creature grooms itself.

Riffing Off Shortz And Shukan Entrees:

Empire State of Mind... Benders

Will Shortz’s September 21st NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Dave Shukan of San Marino, California, reads: 

Take the phrase EASTERN TIME. Change one letter and rearrange the result to name a place that observes Eastern Time.

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Shukan Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Take the name of a puzzle-maker and his hometown, each in two words. 

Change an S to an N and a U to an A. Rearrange the result to spell three U.S. cities that observe Eastern Time. 

Who is this puzzle-maker? What are the three cities?

Our friend Tortitude created Entree # 2:

ENTREE #2

Take the phrase EASTERN TIME. Change one letter and rearrange the result to name an entertainer. 

This entertainer appears on a  TV show takes place in a setting that observes Eastern Time.

Who is this entertainer?

The following riffs, #3 and #4, were contributed by a very valued Puzzleria!n.

ENTREE #3

Take the phrase EASTERN TIME.  

Change one letter and rearrange the result to name a common collective place designation where all manner of things Eastern and non-Eastern are observed.

What is the collective place designation? 

ENTREE #4

Take the phrase EASTERN TIME.  

Rearrange these letters to name a place that observes Eastern Time.  

Entrees # 5  through #10 were created  by our friend Nodd.

ENTREE #5

Take the three-word name of a U.S. time zone. Add an E and change an A to a C. Rearrange the result to spell: 

(1) a major Western U.S. city; 

(2) the two-letter postal abbreviations of a
Midwestern U.S. state and two Eastern U.S. states; and 

(3) a country that shares some of the U.S. time zones. 

What are the time zone, the city, the abbreviations, and the country?

ENTREE #6

Take a two-word version of a U.S. time zone. Delete the second letter. 

Rearrange the result to spell a U.S. state not in
the time zone and the postal abbreviations of two states in the time zone and of one state not in the time zone. What are the time zone, state, and postal abbreviations?

ENTREE #7

Take the first words in the names of two adjoining U.S. time zones. Add an O to the end of one of them. 

Follow this word, as modified, with the other word to name a two-word geographical feature in one of the zones. 

This feature is the highest point in the northwestern part of the national forest in which it is located. 

What are the time zones and the geographical feature?

ENTREE #8

Take the two-word name for the time now in effect in a region of the United States. 

Add the postal abbreviation of a state in the time zone to the west of the first one. 

Rearrange to spell a major city in the first time zone and two adjectives describing the city. The adjectives are four and six letters long. 

What are the time now in effect, the state, the city, and the two adjectives?

ENTREE #9

Take the first word in the name of a U.S. time zone. 

Rearrange its letters to spell the name of a
mountain range in the time zone and the first syllable of a state in the time zone. 

What are the time zone, the mountain range, and the state?

ENTREE #10

Take a three-word name for the region in which the place referred to in the September 21, 2025 NPR puzzle is located. 

Change a T to an R and add two A’s. 

Rearrange to spell a state outside the region, a city in that state, and a one-word description of many Puzzleria! puzzles, including this one. What are the name, the state, the city, and the description?

Dessert Menu

501 Dalmations Dessert?:

Things dogs do, name just two

Spell in reverse the name of a  Fortune 500 company. 

The result is two things dogs do. 

What are the company's name and the things dogs do?  

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.

“E.T. homophone home!” plus “Whinnies & Counterclockwisdom!” “Our compliments to the Shift!” Breakfast & brunch, boiled & baked; An inclined plane is a slope up; “Stumped? Implore Metis, Greek Goddess of Wisdom!” Lightsaber Blaster Weaponizes Weisz!

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe2 SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Our compliments to the Shift!”

Shift the order of the fourth and fifth letters of a  complimentary adjective. 

The first and second halves of the result are
complementary items found in the household.

What is this adjective?

What are the household items?

Appetizer Menu

Skydiversionary Appetizer:

“E.T. homophone home!” plus

“Whinnies & Counterclockwisdom!”

“E.T. homophone home!”

1. 🕾Think of a two-syllable word for a common occurrence in nature. 

Break the syllables apart and swap their beginning letters and you’ll now have two new words. 

One is a celestial body.

The other is a homophone of a different celestial body. 

What are these three words? 

“Whinnies & Counterclockwisdom!”

2. 🏇All horse races since 1921, when the Belmont Stakes changed to running counterclockwise, are now run in that direction, with the major exception of the Royal Ascot racecourse and some other courses in the UK. 

However there is still one other very well known European horse race that is still run clockwise. 

Can you name it? 

Hint: This race is not viewed from traditional bleachers or grandstands.

MENU

“Paging Myth Metis!” Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Stumped? Implore Metis, Wisdom Goddess!”

Describe Metis, Greek Goddess of Wisdom, in two words. 

Rearrange these combined letters  to spell two-word flashes of sudden realization, insight or comprehension. 

What are this description and two-word flashes?

“Missed it by that much!” Slice:

Breakfast & brunch, boiled & baked
Name a boiled and baked breakfast or brunch, its shape, and the shape of an uppercase Bugle.

Rearrange these combined letters spell an idiom that indicates a near-but-not-enough effort.  

What are these three words and this idiom? 

Riffing Off Shortz And Weisz Entrees:

Lightsaber Blaster Weaponizes Weisz!

Will Shortz’s September 14th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Bob Weisz, reads: 

In a certain classic film, the protagonist uses two weapons. The name of one of these has 10 letters. If you take its first letter and last six letters, you can rearrange them all to name the other weapon this protagonist uses, in seven letters. What weapons are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Weisz Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Name a two-word, eight-letter puzzle-maker. 

Double the second and fifth letters. 

Rearrange these ten letters to spell the surnames of a businessman and a past singer whose first names begin with a J and a D respectively. 

Who are this puzzle-maker, businessman and singer?

The following riff  is contributed by a very valued Puzzleria!n.

ENTREE #2

Name a weapon in 10 letters used by many a
protagonist in a genre of many a classic film.  Remove from those 10 letters, letters that spell a transport powerplant seen in many of those films.  

After you remove it, the remaining letters can be arranged to spell typical modes of transport seen in such films.  

What is film genre, the weapon, the powerplant, and the mode of transport?  

The following six riffs are contributed by master-riffspinner Nodd.

ENTREE #3

A 1970s Western film title includes the name of a weapon invented in the 19th Century. 

The second, third, and fourth letters of the name of the weapon, when repeated, name a six-letter weapon invented much earlier. 

What are the two weapons?

ENTREE #4

 A 1980s dystopian film features a nine-letter weapon. 

The first four letters of the weapon and the first letter followed by the last three letters spell two sounds made by weapons other than this one. 

What is this weapon and what are the sounds?

ENTREE #5

A classic 1980s film features a two-word firearm, 13 letters. 

Replace the sixth and seventh letters with one different letter and delete the second word of the name of the firearm. 

The result will name
a much larger weapon. 

The letter that replaces the sixth and seventh letters of the first weapon is the first letter in the title of a 1950s film that features the second weapon. 

What are these two weapons?

ENTREE #6

Name a five-letter weapon used by a heroic film, television, and comic book character. 

The weapon may also be known by a second term that starts with the same letter but is one letter longer. Remove the first letter of this second term and rearrange the remaining letters to spell another item this character uses that can also serve as a weapon. 

Who is the character and what are the weapons?

ENTREE #7

 A 1970s crime drama film features as the first word in its title a word denoting a kind of weapon used by the film’s protagonist. 

Add one vowel to this word and rearrange the letters to spell a common term for the weapon to which this word pertains, and a common shorthand term for something needed to use that weapon. 

What are the film, the kind of weapon, and the two common terms?

ENTREE #8

Name a classic film about the use of nuclear weapons, 13 letters. Five letters can be arranged to spell a weapon used to deliver bombs and other weapons. 

The remaining letters, with one letter changed to the letter that is eight places earlier in the alphabet, can be arranged to spell a verb that describes the purpose of another weapon. That weapon can be spelled using letters 8, 6, 2, 5, 11, 4, and 9 of the film title, in that order. What are the film, the two weapons, and the verb?   

ENTREE #9

Take the name of a legendary low-tech weapon that has appeared in many classic films. Rearrange its letters to spell:

~ a pair of low-tech weapons, in two and four letters, and

~ an  intense and usually openly displayed anger that wielders of these weapons may display.

What is this legendary weapon, two other low-tech weapons, and intense anger?

Dessert Menu

Druggy Dessert:

An inclined plane is a slow pup

Name the two-word site of a national landmark. Delete consecutive letters that are an anagram of a slow creature. 

What remains sounds like a drug. 

What are this site, creature and drug?

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.

“Riffs and Summits” BowldlERISing Shakespeare; Curtain comes down on a corp; Grassland, Gridiron Head-Butters; Some Numbers So Summable; “‘Twas a Byzantine Buzz!”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

BowldlERISing Shakespeare

A character in a Shakespearean play advises a relative, using just seven words, not to play either of two opposite roles – either of which may disturb, agitate or otherwise create discord in the harmony among family members or friends. 

Move the first letter in the first role to the beginning of the second role to spell something that agitates liquids.

Remove the next two letters from the first role (the one that you just “beheaded”) leaving someone who, using an implement, also agitates liquids.

What is this seven-word Shakespearean text?

What are the two agitators of liquids?

Appetizer Menu

Triple-Threat Appetizer:

“Riffs & Summits” 

The following three Appetizers were composed and contributed by a Puzzleria!n Par Excellence. 

Remote, Remoter, Remotest

[The following is a riff of the August 10, 2025, NPR Challenge.]

1. Take a word meaning remove and another word meaning remove by force. Remove from that string of letters one instance of a vowel that appears twice. 

Rearrange the resulting seven letters to make
a word turned acronym that is remotely related to something many hospitals have. 

What are the two words and the word/acronym? 

Who You Gonna Call?

[The following is a riff of the August 17, 2025, NPR Challenge.]

2. Take the generic name of a well known entity, in two words, 15 letters total, that is often thought of as a misnomer and with which almost everyone comes into contact, perhaps more often than anyone would like. 

Change one letter in the second word to the letter 3 spaces later in the alphabet by adding one straight line. Rearrange the resulting 15 letters to make four words – one which might prompt an encounter with the entity and three associated with reactions which might result from an encounter with the entity. 

What are the entity and the four words? 

Who’s Minding the Store?

3. Assemble the surnames of two heads of state currently in office and in the news side-
by-side with no space. 

Within that string of letters is the surname of another head of state currently in the news. The three are from different countries but all recently assembled in an office in a fourth country. Who are they? 

MENU

Hellenistic Hors d’Oeuvre:

“‘Twas a Byzantine Buzz!”

Take and spell out two letters of the Greek alphabet. Anagram each. (For example, you might write: “delta beta” which might become “dealt beat.”) If you have the right Greek letters and anagram them properly, you will spell something you may do repeatedly vis-à-vis a flute of French vin, and a sound you may make repeatedly in its wake.

What are these two Greek letters and their anagrams?

“Here’s Where The Story Ends” Slice:

Curtain comes down on a corp

Name a U.S.-based corporation. 

Replace two consecutive letters with a six-letter synonym of those letters. 

Insert two periods, two spaces and capitalize a lowercase letter. The result is how a popular movie ended. 

What are this corporation, synonym and movie ending?

Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees:

Grassland & Gridiron Head-Butters

Will Shortz’s September 7th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Joseph Young of St. Cloud, Minnesota, reads:

Think of a popular commercial name that ends with the names of two male animals one after the other. If you have the right commercial name, its first six letters can be rearranged to spell the name of an N.F.L. team. What is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

When he encountered a quizzical “Baptist” at the Pearly Gates that led to the hellbound-or-heaven-headed-elevator, Saint Peter the Keykeeper intoned, “_ _ _,   _ _   _ _,  _ _ _ _!”

Rearrange those eleven letters to spell the name of a puzzle-maker.

What did the Keykeeper intone?

Hint: The final six missing letters, sans space, spell a pharmaceutical company founded in 1886.

(Note: Entree #2 was created by our Terrific Riffsmith Plantsmith.)

ENTREE #2

Think of a commercial brand name that starts and ends with a male animal. 

Remove the animal names and mix remaining letters to get a kind of flower. 

The flower name contains a female animal name. 

What is the brand name?

What is the flower?

(Note: Entrees #3 through #8 were created by our masterful riffmeister Nodd.)

ENTREE #3

Think of a sports equipment brand name that ends with the name of a famous singer. 

The first six letters of the brand name can be
rearranged to spell the name of an N.F.L. team. 

Name the brand, the singer, and the team.

ENTREE #4

Write down the brand names of two drinks, the first of which consists of one word and the second of which consists of two. (The second drink was recently discontinued.) 

The first six letters of the resulting three-word string can be rearranged to spell the name of an N.F.L. team. 

The remaining letters can be rearranged to spell the name of another N.F.L. team and the second word in the two-word brand name of another recently discontinued drink. 

Name the three drinks and the two teams.

ENTREE #5

Name a three-part brand name of food products you might buy at the grocery store. 

Switch the sixth and seventh letters to get the name of an N.F.L. team and a word for something needed to play in the N.F.L., especially if you are a quarterback being rushed by 300+ pound defensive linemen. 

Name the food brand, the team, and what an N.F.L. player needs.

ENTREE #6

Name a sportswear brand and an athletic shoe brand. 

Delete the last letter of the shoe brand. The remaining letters can be rearranged to spell the name of an N.F.L. team and a European clothing brand. 

What are the brand names and the team?

ENTREE #7

Think of a two-part cleaning products brand. 

Its letters can be rearranged to spell the name
of an N.F.L. team and the first part of a familiar brand name in the cyber world. 

What are the cleaning brand, the team, and the cyber brand? 

ENTREE #8

Name a European toy and game brand. 

The first half of the name, in order, is an N.F.L. team name. 

The second half, in order, is the first word in a familiar restaurant chain brand name. The second word in the restaurant name is the singular form of the name of two professional sports teams not in the N.F.L. 

What are the two brand names and the three teams?

(Note: Entrees #9 through #10 are terrific riffs composed and contributed by Ecoarchitect, author of  “Econfusions” on Puzzleria!

ENTREE #9

Think of a name for a male animal. 

Change one letter, and the result, in order, is the name of another male animal followed by the name of a third animal that applies both to males and females. 

What are the three words?

ENTREE #10

Think of a name for a male animal. 

Change one letter and the result is the name of a vegetable. 

What are the two words?

ENTREE #11

Replace the fourth letter of a competitor of Instagram with a “d”. 

The result is a superlative adjective that describes the Moody Blues vis-à-vis other rock bands.

What is this Instagram competitor? 

What is the superlative adjective?

ENTREE #12

Remove three consecutive letters in the alphabet from an Instagram competitor.

The result is the first word in the four-word name of a nearly 40-year-old rock band.

What are this Instagram competitor and rock band?

Dessert Menu

Nearly Midnight Or Noon Dessert:

Some Numbers So Summable

Name a word for some marine creatures. 

Its first two syllables suggest a number, as does is third syllable. The sum of those numbers is greater than 11 but less than 12. 

What are these creatures?

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.