Weaponizing words; A whole wordful of Hippocraticity; Superbly Superbad Yooper Grads! Cyber-thumbs up or down? Calendrical landscaping techniques; Lace-ups loafers sneakers sandals plimsolls pumps

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

A whole wordful of Hippocraticity

Take a multisyllabic word for certain diagnostic medical procedures. 

Its first five letters are also the first five letters of an eight-letter type of surgery. 

Letters five-through-ten spell a surgical
instrument. 

The remaining letters, if you change an “o” to an “a”, spell anatomical illustrations that appear in medical school instructional materials. 

What are these procedures, type of surgery, surgical instrument, and illustrations? 

Appetizer Menu

Econfusing Dozen-Puzzle Appetizer:

Weaponizing words

Like the recent NPR “Light Saber/ Blaster” puzzle, the subjects of this puzzle are rather bleak. Especially in light of current conditions we hesitated using them, and we fear things will only get worse. But humor is a form of resistance, and #10, #11 and  #12 might be politically controversial; indeed, the last is downright rude. We hope solvers are not offended.

1. 🪖Name two terms that might also be a soldier. 

Combine them and, metaphorically, the result
is a term of what they might fight. 

What are the two terms?

2. 🗡Name a word that describes how someone might die. 

Change the vowel sound and the result will phonetically be a modern weapon in the news that might kill. 

What are the two words?

3. 🔫Name what you might see in a certain type of fight. 

Remove the last letter, move the 5th letter one place earlier in the word and 15 places later in the circular alphabet, and the result will be something else you might see in another type of fight. 

What are the two things? 

In addition, when you change the first letter of the thing that is fought by the first word six places later in the alphabet the result is the target of the second thing. 

What are the two words?

4. 💣Name weapons found originally in a certain part of the world. 

Add a “T” at the end and the result will be a two-word phrase describing the fears of a certain age group. What are the weapons and what is the fear?

5. 👚Name two similar articles of clothing, one after the other, that are worn by soldiers in some countries. 

Remove the last letter of the second article and the result will be the brand name of a certain weapon, also used by soldiers. 

What are the clothing items and what is the weapon brand?

6. 🚁Name a material that can be used to attack buildings. 

Remove the second letter and the result will be a creature that can attack buildings. 

What are the material and the creature?

7. 👴Name a material that is used to make a modern weapon. 

Rotate the first letter 90° and the result will be part of the human body that is used to make a modern weapon. 

What is the material and what is the body part?

8. 🐭Name a brand of weapon that a Jerry (derogatory term!) used. 

The second letter is a vowel, changing it will
change a consonant sound (but not the vowel sound!) and the result will be a domestic weapon used on a Jerry. 

The two consonant sounds are spelled with the same letter. What are the weapons?

9. ⚔ Name a weapon that has been used in many wars. 

Change the last letter, and the result is a place where the US has fought a war, and those weapons were used.

In addition, each is linked to different fruits which start with the same letter as the other. 

What is the weapon, where is the place, and what are the fruits?

10. ⸸ Name a well-known person who often attacks others. 

Change the first letter of their last name one place later in the alphabet, and the result will
be another weapon of violence. 

Who is the person and what is the weapon?

11. 💥Name a historic weapon that was used to harm many American soldiers after it was fired. 

Remove the last two letters, and the result will
be a modern weapon that was used to harm many American civilians before it was fired. 

What are the two weapons?

12🪓 Name a weapon historically used by a mounted soldier. 

Move the first letter ten places later in the alphabet, and the result will be the name of a modern politician famous for his “mounting.” 

What are the two words?

MENU

World Wide Webfooted Hors d’Oeuvre:

Cyber-thumbs up or down?

Take a positive word associated with the Internet. 

Delete a letter, spell the result backward and add a space to spell two negative words. 

What are these three words?

Penny Loafer Shoestring Budget Slice:

Lace-ups loafers sneakers sandals plimsolls pumps

The woman was so particular about finding exactly the correct shoe size, style and  color that, after she left the store with her purchase, the salesman had to _____ twenty pairs of _______! 

What are the five-and-seven-letter sound-alike words that belong in the blanks?

Riffing Off Shortz And Moorhead Entrees:

Superbly Superbad Yooper Grads!

Will Shortz’s October 12th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle challenge, created by Joel Moorhead of Downers Grove, Illinois, reads:

Think of a word that means exceptionally good. Add two letters at the end of to make a word that means the exact opposite. What words are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Moorhead Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Name a puzzle-maker whose surname is a city in Minnesota. 

Rearrange the letters of the Illinois city he hails from to spell a mourning bird, a bird that shares its name with an architect named Christopher, and the first syllable of a rose-breasted bird whose second syllable is “beak.”  

Who is this puzzle-maker and where does he live?

(Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the handiwork of our good friend Nodd, author of “Nodd ready for prime time” on Puzzleria!)

ENTREE #2

Think of a word that means lively. 

Change the second letter to make a word that
means the opposite. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #3

Think of a word that means attractive. 

Change the fifth letter and add a letter between the third and fourth letters to make a word that means the opposite. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #4

Think of a word that means admirable. 

Change the first two letters to make a word that means cruel. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #5

Think of a word that means careful. Replace the first two letters with three different letters to make a word that means the opposite. What words are these?

ENTREE #6

Think of a word that means to make up. 

Replace the fifth letter with two different letters to make a word that means the opposite. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #7

Think of a word that means genuine. 

Replace the second letter with two different letters to make a word that means the opposite. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #8

A husband might show that he _____ by buying his wife a new dress, massaging her neck to relieve her stress, and giving her cheek a soft ______.

Add a letter to the end of the word in the first blank to spell the word in the second blank.

What are these missing words?

ENTREE #9

Take a string of seven consecutive letters from the circular alphabet. 

Take six of the seven. Arrange them to spell a
synonym of “daze.” 

Then rearrange them to spell a synonym of “bud.”

What are these consecutive letters?

What are the two synonyms?

ENTREE #10

Take the seven-letter string of letters from ENTREE #9. Remove two of the consonants and replace them with the letter “A”.

Take these six letters, using three of them
twice, to spell a two-word noun that means “the existing state of affairs.”

What is this two-word noun?

Dessert Menu

Anagramadjectival Dessert:

Calendrical landscaping techniques

The end of a word on a calendar can be rearranged to spell a landscaping term. 

The remaining letters of this calendar word are an anagram of an adjective that might describe
that landscaping term. 

What are this calendar word, landscaping term and adjective?

Hint: The landscaping term rhymes with a word that appears in the text of this puzzle.

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.