“Drink and sing to celebrate the New Year”; A Dot, Clot & Sinew; Tonic Spiked With Tanqueray? Egypt’s 10 Plagues... Plus Ague? Tabletop tipping and toppling? Condiment & Continental Caribbean Shore;

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Tabletop tipping and toppling?

Think of three tools that might be found together on a tabletop. Write them side-by-side-by-side in alphabetical order according to the final letter of each. 

(For example, the seasonings paprika, pepper and salt on a kitchen table would appear in that order, as would the tools rasp, pliers and mallet ... but because of their ending letters not their beginning letters.)

Number the 14 letters of your three tools from left to right, #1 through #14, as in the above chart.

~ 3-2-1 spells a liquid in a bottle;

~ 11-5-14 spells what may be dipped in the bottle;

~ 7-6-4 describes the bottle (if it tips over and keeps rolling) in relation to the table top;

~ 13-12-11-10 spells what might then be exclaimed!

What are the tabletop tools?

What is the bottled liquid?

What word describes the bottle vis-à-vis the tabletop?

What might then be exclaimed!

Appetizer Menu

Ringing In 2026 Appetizer:

“Drink and sing to celebrate the New Year”

Name a brand of drink.

The first word in the type of drink, followed by the first six letters of the brand, will spell out the name of a famous singer.

What is the drink?

Who is the singer?

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Hot-Pepper Hors d’Oeuvre:

Condiment & Continental Caribbean Shore

Anagram an American brand of a pungent condiment made from hot peppers to spell a three-and-a-half thousand-mile shoreline in the Caribbean Region, both in two words.

What are this condiment and Caribbean shoreline?

Small Screen Stage & Cinema Slice:

A Dot, Clot & Sinew

Anagram the combined letters of an amphibian creature, an equine creature and a porcine creature to spell the first name and surname of a well-known actor. 

What are these three creatures? 

What is the name of the actor?

Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees:

Egypt’s 10 Plagues... Plus Ague?

Will Shortz’s December 28th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Joseph Young of St. Cloud, Minnesota, reads:

Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. Add two letters in front and one letter behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. What words are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

“After their sojourn at the Museum of Tal Basta Antiquities in Zagazig, the tour group reluctantly departed to explore other “one-day’s-stays” in Egypt.”

Take two words from that sentence. Remove the penultimate letter from one and the ultimate letter for the other. 

Add an “h” to the remaining letters and rearrange the result to spell the name of a puzzle-maker. 

Who is the puzzle-maker and what are the two words that were “delettered”?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the handiwork of Nodd (of “Nodd ready for prime time” fame). 

ENTREE #2

Think of a two-syllable word in three letters. Add two letters at the end to make a one-
syllable word in five letters. 

What words are these?

Note: The five-letter, one-syllable word does not end in “s”.

ENTREE #3

Think of a two-syllable word in eight letters. Replace the first letter with two other letters to
make a one-syllable word in nine letters. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #4

Think of a three-syllable word in four letters. 

Add one letter in front and one letter at the end to make a two-syllable word in six letters. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #5

Think of a two-syllable word in five letters. 

Add one letter in front to make a one-syllable word in six letters. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #6

Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. 

Add two letters in the middle to make a one-syllable word in six letters. What words are these?

ENTREE #7

Think of a two-syllable word in five letters. 

Add a letter and a punctuation mark somewhere to make a one-syllable word in six letters. 

What words are these?

Note: Entrees #8 through #9 were composed by of Ecoarchitect, author of "Econfusions,"  (of “Econfusions” fame).

ENTREE #8

Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. 

Add one letter in front and two letters behind to
make a one-syllable word in seven letters. 

What words are these?

(Hint: The one-syllable word crops up occasionally in the world of competitive journalism.)

ENTREE #9

Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. 

Add one letter in front and two letters behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. 

What words are these?

(Note: Most dictionaries consider this two-syllable word to be a monosyllable... although
many from the deep American South may pronounce it as two syllables.)

Dessert Menu

Alphabetical Shifting & Drifting Dessert:

Tonic Spiked With Tanqueray?

Move all the letters of a beverage container two places earlier in the alphabet. 

The result spells something that may (or may not!) make the contents of the container more desirable to drink. What are the container and what may make its contents more desirable?

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.