Smith & Arden, Cooke & Brubeck; “Atilla the tot? Atilla the hum?” Was our pup Scottie a “Rot-ten-weiler?” “Huffman,” as in “These are Tough, Man!” “Don’t know much trig ‘n’ geometry...” Colossal creature creates currencies

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Was our pup Scottie a “Rot-10-weiler?”

“Our ‘fetching’ pet Scottie, his tail all a-wag as he sprawled out across our living-room carpet, recalled how he would retrieve the rubber ball we would toss his way when he was a pup.”

Replace a verb in that sentence with a 10-letter synonym. 

Double that synonym’s third letter. Insert two spaces in two places within the result.

ROT-10 these 11 letters to get: 

~ what Spot barked, 

~ the synonym of “throw,” and 

~ a preposition... which is followed by “the lawn.”

What are this verb and its 10-letter synonym? What are the ROT-10 rotations that reveal what Scottie barked, the synonym of “throw” and the preposition that precedes “the lawn?”

Appetizer Menu

Unbeatable Conumdrums Appetizer:

“Huffman,” as in “These are Tough, Man!”

(Note: The following trio of posers are the creation of our friend and master puzzle-crafter Matthew Huffman.)

1. Think of a measurement device in five letters. 

Shift each letter seven places later in the alphabet to get an adverb meaning “well placed.”

2. What do the five words, below, have in common? 

Consider these five words: decapitate, petard, attorney, decipher, example.

What do they have in common? Name another word with the same property.

3. Think of a food in seven letters that features
a repeating three-letter pattern. 

Change one letter to an E and rearrange to name another food.

MENU

Nomadic Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Atilla the tot? Atilla the hum?”

Describe a fellow named “Atilla” using two proper single-syllable nouns of four and three letters. 

Switch the initial letters of these nouns. The result is a common two-word sports term that has spawned several colorful synonyms (including one beginning with a “t” that is a
slangy synonym of “potato” and another beginning with a “d” that sounds like a synonym of “bell”). 

What are this description of Attila and the two-word synonym?

What are the two colorful synonyms?

“Do me a solid!” Slice:

“Don’t know much trig ‘n’ geometry...”

A two-word piece of gaming equipment, spoken aloud, sounds like two differently shaped geometrical solids. 

What are this piece of gaming equipment and the two solids?

Extra Credit: This same two-word piece of gaming equipment, spoken aloud, sounds like the terse two-word written exam instructions your math prof gives you...  (A portion of your response to those instructions might include the numbers 1, 8 and 749.)

Riffing Off Shortz And Hartenstein Entrees:

Sandler & Arden, Walton & Brubeck

Will Shortz’s January 11th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Ward Hartenstein of Albuquerque, New Mexico), reads:

Think of a well-known couple whose names are often said in the order of _____ & ____. Seven letters in the names in total. Combine those two names, change an E to an S, and rearrange the result to name another famous duo who are widely known as ____ & _____. Who are these couples?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Hartenstein Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Remove the letters of the common conjunction “AND” from the name of a puzzle maker. 

Rearrange the remaining 12 letters to spell the surname of an American author (5 letters), a number (5 letters), and a letter of the alphabet, followed by an “apostrophe” and an “S” to indicate that it is plural. 

Those letters, “traditionally,” are the initial letters in three elementary school subjects (two of them intentionally misspelled!). 

After the author’s death, post-revisionist historians have used three different words (all three that actually DO begin with that letter of the alphabet) that, according to them, more accurately describe Mark Twain's evolving views on social issues, particularly after his world travels.

Who is this puzzle maker? What is the conjunction?

What are the surname of the American author, the number, and a letter of the alphabet associated with elementary school subjects.

What are the three different words that perhaps more accurately describe Mark Twain's evolving views on social issues?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the brainchildren of riffmeister extraordinaire Nodd, whose “Nodd ready for prime time” is featured regularly on P!

ENTREE #2

Think of a well-known formerly married Hollywood couple often referred to as _____ &
_____.  Seven letters total. 

Rearrange to get the first names of two GOP politicians – a former governor and a current senator. 

Who are the couple and the politicians?

ENTREE #3

Think of a former musical duo known as _____ & _____, seven letters total. 

Rearrange to get the first names of the two title
characters, a married couple, in a best-selling 2025 novel. 

Who are the duo and the characters?

ENTREE #4

Take the first name of the female member of a former Hollywood couple, five letters. Add a two-letter preposition. Rearrange these seven letters to get the first names of a former musical couple. Who are the female and the couple?

ENTREE #5

A famous actress and a singer were once a celebrity couple. 

Rearrange their first names, 11 letters in all, to get the names of a magician and an uncle from literature. 

Who are these four people?

ENTREE #6

Take the first names of a famous Hollywood married couple, seven letters total. 

Remove one instance of a letter that occurs twice. 

Rearrange the remaining letters to get the last name of another famous actor. Who are these three people?

ENTREE #7

Take the first names of the two main male characters in an animated TV series from the past, ten letters total. 

Change a Y to an E and rearrange to get the
first and last names of a famous American female novelist. 

Who are the characters and the novelist?

ENTREE #8

Take the two first names of a well-known couple from the past. 

Rearrange the combined 11 letters in those two names to spell a two-word description of
osteoporosis.

What are the names of the two people in this couple?

What is two-word description?

ENTREE #9

Take an adjective that describes anything that serves no practical purpose. 

It is an adjective that appears four times in a novel by James Joyce with a title that – if you replace a vowel with a different vowel – is an
anagram of that adjective. 

Joyce uses the adjective in this novel to describe money, words, pain, and the hero’s journey, highlighting themes of futility and the mundane struggles of modern life. 

What are this adjective and novel title?

ENTREE #10

Anagram the 14 combined letters in the surnames of the members of a singing duo to spell a rite and something that often precipitates it. 

What are these surnames?

What are the rite and what precipitates it?

Hint: What precipitates the rite is often a bad habit.

Dessert Menu

French Riviera Dessert:

Colossal creature creates currencies  

Rearrange the eight letters of a colossal creature to spell a Mediterranean-area currency and a former French currency. 

What are this creature and currencies?

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.