Names in the News, games that amuse... and confuse! “Songwriting royalty reaping royalties?” French articles of speech & apparel; “Doubleday? Nay! Smith!” Preservation, jarringly! “Nine-digit discount: $20.26!”

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Doubleday? Nay! Smith!”

Anagram the combined letters in three consecutive integers to spell three words. 

Two of these words, together, are a term for an unhindered basketball shot. 

And two of them, together, are what an outfielder might do to a baserunner or what a dignitary might do with the first pitch. 

What are these consecutive integers?

What are these three words?

What are these two ways that the three words can be paired together?

Appetizer Menu

Ecoarchitectural Appetizer:

Names in the News, games that amuse... and confuse!

1. Name someone whose name became well-known after a tragedy in 2025, 5 letters in the first name, 4 in the last.  

Shift the first letter of the first name 6 places
later in the alphabet and the result will be a palindrome – though one that doesn’t make any words.

2. The first and last name of someone who became better known in 2025 sounds like an old-timey Western term for what this person’s associates accused their opponents of trying to do.  Who is the person and what did they accuse?

3. A certain person – not new in the news – claimed in 2025 that they were a certain type of person.  

Shift the first letter 2 places later in the alphabet and rearrange to get the type of person someone else referred to them as.  

Who is the person and what are the types of people?

4. Name a popular food in two words, 5 and 4 letters.  

Change the last letter of the 4 letter word to “h”, and the combined 9 letters will be the first name of someone who came into the news in 2025.  

Hint:  An abbreviated Americanized version of the first name combined with a phonetic version of the last name will name a significant character on a classic television show.

5. A well-known actor, who has won numerous Emmys, reached a certain milestone in 2025.  

Change the short vowel sound in the first name to a long vowel sound, and the result will be part of their last name.  

Who is the actor?

6. Name 2 people who were once famous foes.  

Combine their last names and the result will be the first and last name of someone who has won an Oscar and two Emmys, who also reached a certain milestone in 2025.  

Who are the foes and who is the award winner? 

7. The first name of a former singer and actress who passed in 2025 consists of 3 first names in consecutive order.  

The second name is a bit obscure, though there is a director/producer/writer with that name who has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, and numerous other awards. 

Who is the singer/ actress and what are the names?

MENU

No ability? NoBility! Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Songwriting royalty reaping royalties?”

Take the surname of a member of “songwriting royalty” and a word for royal family members that appear in this tunesmith’s songs. 

Rearrange these combined letters to spell a 6-letter noun for verses composed by this writer and a 6-letter past-tense verb that  music  critics have seldom done to his songs.

Who is this songwriter.

What is the word for royal family members?

What are the 6-letter noun and verb?

An “On The Ball” Slice:

Preservation, jarringly

Name something you might do to a jar. 

Move the letters of that word four letters later in the alphabet to spell something you might then do to the contents of the jar.

What might you do to the jar and to its contents? 

Riffing Off Shortz And Pegg Entrees:

“Nine-digit discount: $20.26!”

Will Shortz’s January 4th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle (created by Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com.) reads:

Take the nine digits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 - 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago. Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Pegg Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Take the five digits that appear in the two prime factors of a four-digit number lately in the news. Place them in order, from lowest to highest, separated by commas. 

The result is the first five numbers in a familiar mathematical sequence. 

What is this four-digit number that has been lately in the news?

What are its prime factors?

What are the five numbers, in order from lowest to highest, separated by commas?

What is this familiar mathematical sequence?

What are the sixth, seventh and eighth numbers in that sequence?

(Note: Entrees #2 through #7 were created and contributed by our friend Nodd, whose “Nodd ready for prime time” is featured regularly on Puzzleria!)

ENTREE #2

What is the next number in this series: 1, 2, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, ? 

(Hint: think phonetically.)

ENTREE #3

What is the next number in this series: 7, 5, 5, 4, 7, 6, 6, ? 

(Hint: look above.)

ENTREE #4

What is the next number in this series: 

34, 58, 56, 60, 42, 52, ? 

(Hint: check your spelling.)

ENTREE #5

What is the next number in this series? 10, 5,
9, 7, 6, 5, 7, 8, ? 

(Hint: start with a U.S. state.)

ENTREE #6

What is the next number in this series? 
4, 3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 5, ?

(Hint: a “matematica” puzzle, in a way.)

ENTREE #7

What is the next number in this series? 16, 21,
26, 26, 12, 5, 18, 9, ? 

(Hint: Eat at Joe’s.)

(Note: Entree #8 was created and contributed by a very valued friend of Puzzleria! whose contributions are always welcomed with open arms and appreciated with open hearts.)

ENTREE #8

The first word in a type of drink followed by a brand name of personal care products spells out the name of a famous musician and recording industry executive. Who is it?

ENTREE #9

What is the next number in this series? 

3, 5, 5,3, 5, 4, 3, 4, ? 

(Hint: Qwerty)

ENTREE #10

What is the next number in the following series? 

2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 4, 2, 3, ? 

(Hint: Eat an omelet, but don't forget the ham!)

ENTREE #11

What is the next number in this series? 

1, 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, ?

(Hint: an anagram of “This sum”)

Dessert Menu

The Well Underdressed Man Dessert:

French articles of speech & apparel

From a nine-letter article of apparel remove three letters that spell a French article (not an “article of apparel” but a “particle-of-speech”). 

Rearrange the result and add an “s” to the end to spell a word for places where such articles of apparel might be stored. This plural word is also a word for the articles of apparel themselves.

What is this article of apparel?

What is the word for places where such articles of apparel might be stored that is also a word for the articles of apparel themselves.

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.