Thursday, September 18, 2025

“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
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.

38 comments:

  1. Note:
    To place a comment under this QUESTIONS? subheading (immediately below), or under any of the three subheadings below it (HINTS! PUZZLE RIFFS! and MY PROGRESS SO FAR...), simply left-click on the orange "Reply" to open a dialogue box where you can make a comment. Thank you.
    Lego...

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  2. Replies
    1. Shouldn't Entree #1 repeat the second and fifth letters (and not the second and fourth)?

      Delete
    2. Exactly, Tortitude. Excellent editing!
      Second and fifth is correct... Second and fourth is mistaken...

      LegoWhoAppreciatesThePatienceOfThoseTryingToSolvePuzzlesThatCannotBeSolvedGivenHisFlawedWording!

      Delete
    3. In the Dessert, is "what remains" an actual drug currently marketed, or does it merely sound like it could be a drug?

      Delete
    4. Great question, Paul.
      What remains (after deletion of the consecutive "slow creature anagram letters") is a five-letter word followed by one letter. When you say this word and letter aloud, it will sound like you are saying the name of the drug.

      LegoWhoAddsThatThe"PokyCreature"IsAnAnagramOfASynonymOf"Killed"OrOfASynonymOf"Brads"

      Delete
    5. I suppose you could have put IN the Dessert text that it's an "illegal drug", at least I THINK it still is?

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. My hint to Ap 2 is supposed to include the word "traditional." It should read:
      Hint: This race is not viewed from traditional bleachers or grandstands.

      Joe is overworked and needs to slow down a bit.

      Delete
    2. My thanks, and apologies, to skydiveboy. I have added the word "traditional" to his hint (always a good word to add... to pretty much anything!).
      LegoWhoAppreciatesSkydiveboy'sConcernAboutHis"Workload"(OrPerhaps"Playload?")

      Delete
    3. SUNDAY HINTS FOR ENTREES 3-8:
      3. The repeated letters are an abbreviation for a Southern U.S. airport.
      4. Emil Minty.
      5. Beatles’ tenth studio album.
      6. If the character were a bread, they might favor balloons in primary colors.
      7. "A man's got to know his limitations."
      8. "We cannot allow a mine shaft gap."

      Delete
    4. Dessert: " The Godfather- part two"

      Delete
    5. Why isn't there a hint for Entree #2? Have I missed something?

      Delete
    6. I also see that there's no hint for Entree #9? Why? (I'm only just reading the puzzles past Entree 4 now, for the first time.)

      Delete
    7. Never mind the Entree #9 hint, I solved it without. (I would have simply deleted the above comment, except that as I've mentioned some weeks ago, the 'Delete' icon has VANISHED from my screen in this P! blog.

      Delete
    8. VERY TARDY MONDAY PM HINTS:
      Schpuzzle of the Week:
      “Our compliments to the Shift!”
      Philanthropic, beneficent

      Skydiversionary Appetizer:
      “E.T. homophone home!” “Whinnies & Counterclockwisdom!”
      skydiveboy prefers that hints not be given, and that his puzzles stand on their own.

      “Paging Myth Metis!” Hors d’Oeuvre:
      “Stumped? Implore Metis, Wisdom Goddess!”
      The Who sang a song with the first word in the title (without the apostrophe-s at the end)
      ...a Norwegian synth-pop band who sang "Take on Me".

      “Missed it by that much!” Slice:
      Breakfast & brunch, boiled & baked
      A Bugle is a snack you could place a mini of Ice cream into.
      The idiom likely arose from carnival patter.

      Riffing Off Shortz And Weisz Entrees:
      Saber Blaster Weapons Weisz!
      ENTREE #1
      The 5-letter surnames of the businessman and singer Both Begin with B!

      ENTREE #2
      The weapon's 2nd and 3rd letters, side-by-side, equal 4. The weapon's last six letters are an owl.

      Nodd posted hints to Riffs #3 through #8 in his September 21, 2025 at 8:06 PM Comment..

      ENTREE #9
      The name of the weapon makes it sound a bit like a gun... but it is not a gun.

      Druggy Dessert:
      An inclined plane is a slow pup
      The national landmark seems a bit tortured.

      LegoLateHinting

      Delete
    9. Got the Hors d'Oeuvre for sure, but if I have the right weapon for #2, the two letters side by side do NOT equal 4. I get a 9. In any event, this solves nothing about the "transport powerplant". I also know I've got the right movie for #8, but I still don't know the five-letter weapon. And I'm familiar with the pun in the Dessert hint, I just don't know what, if anything, that has to do with the answer(which I already have).
      pjbIsHappyKimmelMayBeBackOnTheAirAfterAll,Though

      Delete
    10. PJB, re #8, I didn't know the five-letter "delivery weapon" either, so try using the info he provides to spell out the other weapon (Lego tells us which letters in the movie to use to spell it)...then I looked at the movie title, and knew what the VERB was, leaving only five letters remaining, to be the "delivery weapon."

      Delete
    11. Lego, if I hadn't already solved the Dessert, I would have NO Idea what your hint about it means. I have the answer, and have no idea what your hint means!

      Delete
    12. Thanks for the hints. Like pjb, I now have the name of the weapon in Entree #2, although the second and third letters equal 9. And I also still don't know what this weapon anagrams into. I can get two different animal names out of it, but I have leftover letters. I can also get a word meaning thieves or operators of lifting devices once I take out one of the animal names, but that doesn't make sense either.

      For the Dessert, say the hint out loud. The italic part (more or less) sounds like a certain element of a famous landmark that's near and associated with the landmark in the puzzle.

      Delete
    13. Finally figured out which letter has to be changed to the one eight letters earlier, thereby getting the delivery weapon! The verb can almost be seen in the title anyway, with a couple letters switched. That's why I didn't change one letter to eight letters previous at first.
      pjbRemindsAnyoneElseHavingTroubleWithThisOneToSimplyThinkOfBees(NotTheWorkers!)

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. This will probably be pretty easy for you puzzle geniuses on here, but I couldn't resist, even though I've yet to solve Entree #2: Name a method of power, plus a mode of transport used with that power, to obtain things that I [VT] might have played in.

      Delete
    2. I need a hint, please, ViolinTeddy.
      LegoStumped

      Delete
    3. Hmm, Lego, as if often the case I find, coming UP with a hint is harder than having stumbled upon the original puzzle. I'm not sure HOW to give one without completely giving it away. Please let me think on it.

      Delete
    4. Oh dear, I realize I should have mentioned that the power/transportation mode words anagram into the final word. SO I stated my riff quite poorly. Sorry!

      Delete
    5. I may be on the right track. I'm pretty sure I have the final word, but since it is plural, one of my other words in my answer must be plural, but I don't know which one. It's possible that one of my other words is wrong, though.

      in any case, you can anagram the final word into two other words that describe what you might do to a long list of words when trying to solve a puzzle.

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. Well, at least, I've managed to solve the Schpuzzle this week. Haven't even looked at anything else yet, so don't know how far I'll be able to continue.

      Delete
    2. I have answers for everything but Entree #2. It would help if I knew what a "transport powerplant" was.

      Delete
    3. Good question, Tortitide...
      And Plantsmith, you are on the right path.
      "Transport powerplant" is the "primary source of motive force for transportation."

      LegoWhoGotThisExplanation"DirectlyFromThe"Horse's"Mouth

      Delete
    4. Just got all Entrees except #2(and I didn't need to change a letter in #8 to get the verb, just shift a few letters, but I couldn't get the five-letter word for the "weapon used to deliver bombs...etc.")and the Dessert!
      pjbHadTheDessertPopIntoHisHeadAfterHavingNoLuckLookingUpNationalLandmarks(ButOneOfThemCanBeFoundInTheLocationThatIsTheAnswer!)

      Delete
  6. IF YOU HAVE COMMENTS THAT DO NOT PERTAIN TO ANY OF THE FOUR CATEGORIES ABOVE, YOU MAY WRITE THEM BELOW THIS POST. THANK YOU.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Savannah Bananas are in town this week. Supposed to be pretty entertaining overall.

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  8. Great Friday evening to all upon this mighty blog!
    (I would've posted earlier, except my Kindle needed recharging.)
    Mom and I are fine. We ate out with Bryan and Mia Kate earlier this evening at Full Moon BBQ. Mia Kate first suggested Waffle House, but Mom and I aren't as crazy about it as Mia Kate is. My only real problem with it is their only side dish is hash browns. I had the "All American Burger" with bacon and cheese(it also had mustard, ketchup, lettuce, pickles, onions, and a tomato slice, and I removed the latter), onion rings, a cup of Brunswick stew, a slice of key lime pie, and a Diet Dr. Pepper. Mom had some ribs and a few vegetables, including potato salad, and a Sprite. Bryan had a loaded baked potato and a slice of key lime pie, and apparently he must have been hungry, because as soon as he got his, he started eating, and was finished way before anyone else. Mia Kate had loaded nachos topped with barbecued chicken, but when they first came they were stone cold! She told the waitress, and she went and got another plate of nachos that had been cooked more(the sauce looked more melted and everything). And Mia Kate still didn't finish it! I forget what she and Bryan drank. For supper tomorrow night, I get to have her first plate of nachos, which we will warm up a little more in the microwave, so they should be good the next day. Mom saved the rest of her meal as well. We got home, and I started on this week's Prize Crossword, set by Enigmatist. Kinda tough, still not finished. The Word Plays.com app I have on my phone still hasn't started providing answers for the puzzle yet(at some point it does this on Friday nights, which can help a lot in trying to solve the puzzle most weeks), so I finally got the Kindle charged up just enough to check in here.
    Got the Schpuzzle, App #1, the Slice, and Entree #1(and possibly #4)so far, and I at least have the slow creature for the Dessert. Will need hints for all others, didn't think I'd be able to solve App #2 anyway.
    Good luck in solving to all, and please stay safe, and may the remaining talk show hosts still be able to keep their jobs going into next year at least. Cranberry out!
    pjbOnlyHadToTypeIn"Savannah",AndTheBananasJustPoppedUpFirst!

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  9. CBS Sunday morning did a segment on them. The bananas that is.

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