A Fortnightly Dose Of “MisJeffous” Homophonics; Reading in the Restroom; “Heavaughnly” sweetness from Sarah; “See no evil, hear no evil... but speak your heart out!” Letters later or early, all done; Apparatus “empartners” a pair of hearts

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Letters later or early, all done

Name a color. 

Move its letters three places earlier in the circular alphabet to spell a word associated with a name from the Old Testament of the Bible. 

If you instead move the color’s letters fourteen places later in the circular alphabet you’ll spell a word associated with a different Old Testament name. 

What are this color, the two four-letter names and the words associated with them?

Appetizer Menu

“To ThysElf Be True” Appetizer:

A Fortnightly Dose Of “MisJeffous”
Homophonics

12/18: After the 25-mile hike the weary ______ complained their ____ were weary. 

12/19: At the home goods store, _____ said,
“Those are too shiny, I want a _____ _______.” 

12/20: Not having seen the speed camera, Jeff was surprised to _____ he’d been _____. 

12/21: Looking out the window of her alpine retreat, Sarah felt _____ that she couldn’t get a ______ at the _______. 

12/22: You must use a large _____ rifle when hunting ______. 

12/23: To properly play a ______ instrument,
first learn to _____ music. 

12/24: Carl was the ____ miner in the _____ mine. 

12/25:  ______ and _____ worked together in the ______ lab. 

12/26: One of the joys of living near the shore was being able to _____ at the ships tied to the _____. 

12/27: Paul was ______ after shouting when his ____ won the Derby. 

12/28: While it may seem unholy, Sin is the
___ for ___. 

12/29: Without some time off you may feel ___ at the end of the _____. 

12/30: Many felt that _____ on coronation day was an inauspicious start to William’s ______. 

12/31: With his crew cut,______ was truly _____. 

MENU

Hear No Evel Knievel Hors d’Oeuvre:

“See no evil, hear no evil... but speak your heart out!”

Replace the last letter of a word you might hear at a Catholic Mass with a three-letter synonym of that letter to spell something you might see at such a Mass. 

What might you hear and see?

Our Lad Our Lady Slice:

Apparatus “empartners” a pair of hearts

Two teens in love wish to wed but their parents disapprove. 

So, the teens devise a one-word plan – one that requires an apparatus that is constructed of a two-word anagram of that plan. 

What are the plan and the apparatus? 

What is the apparatus made of?

Riffing Off Shortz And Flood Entrees:

“Heavaughnly” sweetness from Sarah

Will Shortz’s December 14th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Robert Flood of Allen, Texas, reads:

Name a famous female singer of the past (five letters in the first name, seven letters in the last name). Remove the last letter of her first name and you can rearrange all the remaining letters to name the capital of a country (six letters) and a food product that its nation is famous for (five letters).

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Flood Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Name a capital city in Africa an and a capital city in Europe.

* In the African country capital, replace the first vowel with the first letter of contraction that appears in a national anthem; then replace the second vowel with the rest of that contraction. The result is the puzzle-maker's first name. 

* In the European country capital, replace a consonant that appears twice with an “F” and rearrange the result to spell the puzzle-maker's surname. 

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What are the capital cities?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the brainchildren of Nodd, author of “Nodd ready for prime time.”

ENTREE #2

Name a famous female singer (5, 5). Remove the last letter of her first name and the first letter of her last name. 

Rearrange the remaining letters to name the capital of a country and a staple food of the country. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the food? 

ENTREE #3

Name a famous female singer of the past (6, 8). Remove the last letter of her first name and double the fifth and eighth letters of her last name. 

Rearrange these 15 letters to name the capital of a country, an informal name for a food originating in Europe but commonly eaten in the U.S., and the form in which the food is served. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital, the food, and the form in which it is served?

ENTREE #4

Name a famous female singer of the past (5, 6). Rearrange these 11 letters to name the capital of a country and a flowering plant native to the country of the singer’s ancestry. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the plant?

ENTREE #5

Name a famous female singer (5, 7). 

Remove the first letter of her last name. Rearrange the remaining 11 letters to name
the capital of a country and a word for shrewd. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the word?

ENTREE #6

Name a famous female singer (5, 6) and add one A. Rearrange these 12 letters to name the capital of a country and a word for expensive. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the word?

ENTREE #7

Name a famous female singer (5, 5). Change the third letter of her last name to a K. 

Rearrange these 10 letters to name the capital of a country and a different country in the same hemisphere. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the country?

Note: Entree #8 is the brainchild of Plantsmith, author of “Garden of Puzzley Delights.”

ENTREE #8

Think of a famous jazz singer, first and last names.

Remove the last two letters from their whole name and mix to get a malady which (according to their autobiography) they may have suffered from.

Who is this singer? What is the malady? 

ENTREE #9

Think of a living new wave, blues, and country singer-songwriter, first and last names. 

His name contains nine letters. Letters 3, 7, 8 & 5 followed by letters 1, 2, 6, 4 & 9  spell – in
an “archaically biblical manner of speaking” – that this singer may have occasionally enjoyed smoking a marijuana cigarette.

Who is this singer?

What archaic phrase suggests that he may have smoked marijuana?

ENTREE #10

Think of an alternative/indie American singer-songwriter in five and four letters. Her first and last names, respectively, end with a double-vowel and double-consonant. 

Rearrange these nine letters to spell a pair of homophones:

* a U.S. state, and

* long and heavy hair growing about the neck and head of some mammals (such as those in the title of title of a 1975 punk-rock album).

Who is this singer-songwriter?

What are the pair of homophones?

Dessert Menu

Tidy Dry “Lunar” Dessert:

Reading in the Restroom

A fellow who is a guest at his friend’s house enters a room with a door that can be locked from the inside. He reads a section of a mystery novel during his relatively brief stay in
the room. 

Take the surname of the novel’s protagonist and of a synonym of “section of a novel.” Rearrange their combined letters to spell a two-word receptacle within this room. 

What are this surname, “section of a novel,” and receptacle?

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.

One brand, two businesses; PeRSOnaliTY becomes SPORTY; UK exports prestige U.S.tateside; Lifestyles of the rich & nameless? Classic car, contemporary character; Syllabifispoonerization! “Enlightenment, Camera, Action!” Jacks & Jills & Jangly Jingoism; Santo... No, Placido Domingo! Cosmic clouds, neutron stars, pseudonyms!

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Enlightenment, Camera, Action!”

Name two title characters in a 1600’s tragedy and one title character in a 1700’s tragedy.

Rearrange these 21 letters to spell: 

~ the nationality of the latter author; 

~ a one-word synonym of “staged production,”

~ a two-word part of the 1700’s tragedy –a part that begins and ends in a palace, and

~ the fourth and fifth words of a soliloquy penned by the author of the 1600’s tragedy.

What are the two tragedies, nationality, synonym, part of the 1700’s tragedy, and two soliloquy words?

Appetizer Menu

Conundrumbstrik!ng Appetizer:

One brand, two businesses; PeRSOnaliTY becomes SPORTY; Britain exports prestige U.S.tateside; Lifestyles of the rich and nameless? Classic car, contemporary character

One brand, two businesses 

1. 🚗🚆🚌Think of a famous international brand (8 letters) that promotes two completely separate businesses. 

One may help you choose where you want to go and the other may help you get there. 

What are they?

PeRSOnaliTY becomes SPORTY 

2. ⚾🏈Think of the last name of a well-known 20th-century TV personality. 

Rearrange it to form a familiar acronym. Then delete a letter from the acronym and rearrange it to form a common sports word. 

Identify all three – the TV person, the acronym, and the sports word.

UK exports prestige U.S.tateside

3. 💂Name a prestigious segment of British society. 

Drop a letter and rearrange to discover a familiar name. It’s the first name of one famous
entertainer and the last name of another. 

Name the Brits and the entertainers.

Lifestyles of the rich and nameless?

4.👂One has a certain lifestyle, the other is an item most likely used by someone with an entirely different lifestyle. 

They have three consecutive letters in common and are a whisper away from being homophones. 

What are they?

Classic car, contemporary character

5. 🚘A classic old car and a modern movie character are called by the same five-letter
name. 

What is it?

MENU

Treacherous Aquatic Creature Hors d’Oeuvre:

Syllabifispoonerization!

Spoonerize the two syllables of a healthy food to get a body of water and what sounds like a hazardous-to-your-health creature that may be
swimming in it. 

What are this food, water and swimmer?

Uphill-Climb Slice?:

Jacks & Jills & Jangly Jingoism

Name something “jacks and jills” may do during a competitive event, and two things spectators at the event may do. 

Rearrange the letters of these three verbs to spell an American symbol. 

What are these verbs and symbol?

Riffing Off Shortz and Reiss Entrees:

Santo... No, Placido(!) Domingo!

This week’s MPR challenge puzzle comes from Mike Reiss, who’s a showrunner, writer, and producer for “The Simpsons.” 

Think of a famous living singer. The last two letters of his first name and the first two letters of his last name spell a bird. Change the first letter of the singer's first name. Then the first three letters of that first name and the last five letters of his last name together spell another bird. What singer is this?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Think of a famous living singer. Slip the penultimate letter of his surname into the penultimate position of his first name.

The letters of the result, in order, spell a lake in the Adirondacks, the name of a board game, and a “pippy” wooden or plastic rectangular game piece.

Who is this singer?

What are the lake, board game and game piece? 

ENTREE #2

Take a puzzle-maker, first and last names, and the first names of two children he helped “bring to life.” 

Rearrange these 17 letters to spell, in three words, any single instance of various attacks that often involved Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen targeting Saudi Arabia/Israel or Iranian forces, particularly since the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.

Who is this puzzle-maker and what are the names of “his two children?”

Name this three-word term.

(Note: Entrees # 3 through #8 were composed by our friend Nodd.)

ENTREE #3

Think of a famous living singer. 

Remove one letter from his first name and three letters from his last name to spell the name of a bird. 

Who is the singer and what is the bird?

ENTREE #4

Think of a famous deceased singer and remove one letter from her last name. 

The rest of her last name, followed by the first name of a living male singer who was part of a famous duo, will spell a bird. Who are the singers and what is the bird?

ENTREE #5

Think of a famous living singer. 

Change the second letter of her first name to the letter four places later in the alphabet and remove the last letter to spell a word for something relating to birds. 

Move the second letter of her last name to the end to spell a kind of bird. 

Who is the singer and what are the word relating to birds and the kind of bird?

ENTREE #6

Think of a famous living singer. Change the last letter of her last name to the letter two places earlier in the alphabet. The first two letters of her first and last names, plus the new last letter of her last name, spell a bird. The last syllable of the bird is a sound made by this and other birds. 

Who is the singer, and what are the bird and the sound?

ENTREE #7

Think of a famous deceased British singer. Four consecutive letters of his last name spell a bird. 

His complete last name, followed by the first
two letters of the first name of a famous living British singer, spell a younger bird of the same kind. 

Who are the singers and what are the birds?

ENTREE #8

Think of a famous deceased singer. 

The first two letters of her first name, followed by the first letter of her last name, spell a bird.
The last two letters of her first name, followed by the first three letters of her last name plus the fifth letter of her last name, spell where people often go to see birds. 

Who is the singer, what is the bird, and where do people go?

(Note: Entree # 9 was composed by our friend Plantsmith.)

ENTREE #9

Anagram the letters of an American band to get a bird. Then change the first letter in the first  name of the band’s lead singer to get another bird. 

Finally, change an “a” to an “o” in the last syllable of the singer’s surname to get where
either of these birds may be found.

What is this band?

Who is its lead singer?

What are these two birds, and where might you might find them?

ENTREE #10

Swap the first letter of the first name of a famous living singer with the first two letters of his surname. Insert a space someplace within his altered surname, forming a verb and object of that verb.

His altered first name has become a kind of tree.

The 6-letter verb and 4-letter object describe how this singer would transport his adolescent daughter (a member of the United States Equestrian Team) to equestrian workouts and international competitions to prepare for the Team Jumping Competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in 2021 in Tokyo (at which she received a Silver Medal).

Who is this singer?

What are the kind of tree, the 6-letter verb and 4-letter object?

Dessert Menu

Geopolitical Dessert:

Cosmic clouds, neutron stars, pseudonyms!

Anagram a two-word geopolitical phrase coined by a writer of fiction who went by a pseudonym. You might well come up with the two-word name of a neutron star within the cosmic cloud, and a bodily sensation that the first word in the star might cause. 

What are the phrase, two-word star, and bodily sensation?

Hint: The bodily sensation is not pleasurable... unless you are a masochist.

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.

“Love Tennyson, Anyone?” Leave Casino, see no cash! “Funnin’” turns to Fumin’?” “Great puzzle, Gratefully...?” Diana’s Dresser Drawers; Equine herds, caseous curds and other “spoony” words

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Love Tennyson, Anyone?”

Rearrange the combined letters of two numbers associated with tennis to spell a description of Margaret Thatcher. 

What are these numbers and description?

Appetizer Menu

Skydiversionary Appetizer:

Equine herds, caseous curds & other “spoony” words

“Horse Play”

1. 🐎Think of a famous American playwright. Spoonerize his name to indicate where one
might go in order to obtain something equestrian. 

“Adamant Edam?”

2. 🎥🧀Think of a famous movie actor who dominated a genre.

Spoonerize his name to describe a cheese that might be difficult to manage.

“Smiley Spoonerizing”

3. Think of a famous British actress who recently passed. 

Spoonerize her name to get a description of
her that in no way applies, but may make you smile a bit.

“Lascivious Spooning?”

4. Spoonerize the name of a famous British actor to describe someone who has a lascivious face....

Oh, and say the name of another famous male British actor to describe a group of male prostitutes.

MENU

 Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Funnin’” turns to Fumin’?”

Name a two-word term for “make fun of.” Change an “o” to an “e”. 

Rearrange these five letters to name a possible reaction to being made fun of. Delete a letter from that reaction and rearrange to spell an even more intense reaction to being made fun of. 

What are these four words?

Rolling The Merchan“dice” Slice:

Diana’s Dresser Drawers

Purchases from a merchant are stored in Diana’s dresser drawers. 

Double a letter in the name of this merchant to name any resident of one particular U.S. state. 

Who are this merchant and resident? 

Riffing Off Shortz And Gori Entrees:

Leave Casino, see no cash!

Will Shortz’s November 30th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Al Gori ofCozy Lake, New Jersey, reads:

 Name a place where games are played. Move the last two letters to the beginning. Change the new last letter to an “h”. The result, sadly, is what you might have when you leave this place. 

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Gori Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Take the first name of a wealthy “Fiddler on the Roof” butcher surnamed Wolf; the first name of a “Yankee” who became the namesake of a bear; and the surname of an “Enlightened father of liberalism.”

Rearrange these 14 letters to name a puzzle-maker and his hometown.

Who are this butcher, “Yankee” and “Enlightened father of liberalism?”

Who is the puzzle-maker? 

(Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are riffs created by Nodd, author of “Nodd ready for prime time.”)

ENTREE #2

Name a place where games, including baseball, are played. 

Remove the first letter and change the new second letter to an “E”. 

The result is a word some people associate with baseball. 

What are the place and the word?

ENTREE #3

Name a place where games are played. It may be inside or outside. 

Remove the first letter and read the result
backwards to get something you might hear at the place when games are being played there. 

What is the place and what might you hear?

ENTREE #4

Name a famous two-word place where games are played. 

Rearrange the first word to get what a participant might be after a game at this place.
Rearrange the second word to get what might cause the participant to be this way. 

What is the place, and what are the two words?

ENTREE #5

Name a past venue for games and other events. 

Consecutive letters in the name spell a career-ending event that might occur at this place. Remove those letters and replace one of the remaining letters with an “S”. 

Rearrange to spell something you might use to play games at home. 

What are the place, the event, and the thing you might use at home?

ENTREE #6

Name a place where various games are played. 

The word for this place is also the last name of
a competitor who won a record number of major titles in a sport played in this place. 

What is the place and who is the competitor?

ENTREE #7

Name some places where games and other competitions are held. 

Change the first letter and rearrange to spell the name of a team that plays at these places. What are the places and the team?

(Note: Entree #8 is a riff created by Plantsmith, author of “Garden of Puzzley Delights.”)

ENTREE #8

Take a place where games are played. Replace the last three letters with an adjective describing a fermented milk product. 

The result sounds like a game that might be played in this place.

What are this gaming place, game that might be played there, and adjective describing the fermented milk product?

ENTREE #9

Delete the first two letters of a place where games were played, beginning in the mid-1960s. Move the new first two letters to the end, with a duplicate of the original last letter between them. 

The result is a “mile-measurer.”

What are this place and this “mile-measurer?”

ENTREE #10

Name a two-word place where games are played. Rearrange its dozen letters to spell one of many a crackling roaring pregame bonfire pitched by sports fans in the parking lot of this place. 

What is this place?

What is one of many a crackling roaring pregame bonfire?

Dessert Menu

What The Puzzle Answer Might’ve Said Dessert:

“Great puzzle, Gratefully...?”

The name of the poet who is the answer to this puzzle can be anagrammed to spell what he might say to the author of this puzzle. Who is this poet and what might he say to the author of the puzzle?

Hint: The poet, alas, is deceased. So, he would not be able to say anything to the puzzle’s author. But what might the poet say if  he were still living? 

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.