“Don’t know much about geography, What a wonder full world this would be”; Constellatory Creature Clusters; Buzzer beater? Nothing Sweeter! A Critter Created aMIdST Chaos; Checkmating and matrimony; “Beam us up, Shtrekkie!”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Buzzer beater? Nothing Sweeter!

You are a power forward on the Puzzleria! Posers, a semiprofessional team in the NCAA (National Conundrum-Ask-it-all Answer-ciation).

You grab a defensive rebound, down by only two points, but with only two seconds left on the game clock. 

Alas, you are out of time-outs! You cannot stop
the clock!

And so, you choose, wisely, to immediately shoot for one option instead of initiating a second less-likely-to-work option. Both options contain two words, and they are anagrams of one another. 

What are these two options?

Appetizer Menu

Ecoarchitectural Appetizer:

“Don’t know much about geography,

Around the World in 8.0 daze” 

1.    🏈📺Name an athlete recently in the news.  

Rearrange the letters in the last name to get a two-word phrase of where you might have seen this athlete.  

Who is the athlete and what is the place?

2.    🗺Name an ethnic group, rearrange the letters to get a nationality.  

What is the ethnic group and nationality? 

Note, the ethnic group’s global population is more than 20 times the nation’s.  

3.    🏝Name a well-known 11-letter geographic location that contains seven consecutive letters of the alphabet. 

(Note: The letters do not appear consecutively, however, in the geographic location.)

4.    📖Name two geographic features.  

Combine the words and the result is a well-known fictional character as well as an old comic strip.  

Each word (with a duplicated letter in one removed) combines with the same word to make well-known brand names in two words.

What are the two geographic features, the fictional character/comic strip, and two brand names?

5.    🌍What do the African countries of Kenya, Mali, and Rwanda have in common? 

What two other countries share this property?

6.   🞻🗺What does a person from Spokane have in common with people from Peoria and Topeka?

7.    👰★ Insert the letter (O) within the full name of a well-known actress, then remove the first 4 letters and the last letter of her full name, and the result will be the name of a world capital.  

Who is the actress and what is the capital? 

8.    Ⅻ💃What is unusual in the small Upstate New York cities of Rome and Utica?  

And can you name a 1) Western US city, 2) world capital, 3) country, 4) ancient kingdom, 5) sports venue name and 6) sacred site that all share this property?  

And a variant of this might also include 1) a
mountain range, 2) the 4th largest population settlement in a state, 3) a California city, 4) an American university, 5) a sacred site in ancient history, and 6) a term for lands in the United Kingdom. 

MENU

Half-a-Dozen Different Letters Hors d’Oeuvre:

A Critter Created Amidst Chaos

You can spell a seven-letter creature using only the missing letters in the answers to the five hints (in green) below:

Note: Two of the seven letters in the creature are the same (like the E in ELEPHANT or B in RABBIT), and only those six different letters are used to spell the five answers to the clues  below.)  

~ Hawk-like (six letters)

~ Noisy quarrel (three letters)

~ Box (four letters)

~ Something you may also take when you take a bow (five letters)

~ Anti-tank rocket launcher (four letters)

What are the creature and the answers to the five clues above?

Midnight Menagerie Slice:

Constellatory Creature Clusters 

Insert a vowel followed by a space within a word from astronomy. 

The result is an adjective associated with an animal, followed by a noun for a creature. 

What are this word, adjective and animal?

Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss:

“Beam us up, Shtrekkie!”

Will Shortz’s March 15th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle challenge, written by Mike Reiss (who’s been a showrunner, writer, and producer “The Simpsons”) reads:

Think of a popular movie franchise with many sequels. Hidden in consecutive letters inside its name is a food. Replace that food with a single letter and you’ll get another popular film franchise. What films are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss Appetizers read:

ENTREE #1

“Bart Simpson, who presumably engaged in occasional barfing in public, also likely tended to annoy those who may have witnessed it.”

Rearrange the letters in the name of one of Bart’s “producers” and “motivators” to spell synonyms of a 7-letter word and of a 5-letter word that appear in that sentence. 

Who is this “producer-motivator” of Bart Simpson? What are the 7-letter and 5-letter words? What are their synonyms?

(Note: Entrees #2-through-#7 were composed by Nodd, whose “Nodd ready for prime time” is a Puzzlerian staple.)

ENTREE #2

Name the title character in a multi-film franchise. 

Ten consecutive letters in the name spell (1) the given name of the title character in a second film franchise, followed by (2) the last
name of the title character in a third film franchise. 

Who are these three characters?

ENTREE #3

Think of a popular movie franchise with several sequels. Consecutive letters in its name spell the brand name of a food. 

Replace that name with a single letter and you'll get the title of several other films, most notably a 2005 action-comedy. 

What are the franchise, the brand name, and the film title?

ENTREE #4

The name of a popular film franchise is also the last name of the main character in a second franchise that includes radio, TV, and movies. 

What are the two franchises and who is the character?

ENTREE #5

Think of a popular movie franchise with many sequels. 

Consecutive letters in its name can be rearranged to spell another popular film franchise. 

What are these two franchises?

ENTREE #6

Think of a popular two-word movie franchise. Consecutive letters inside its name spell the first name of the main character in a popular one-word movie franchise. 

The first part of the one-word franchise name is an object that typically contains the first part of the two-word franchise name. 

The second part of the one-word name is also the second word in the two-word name. 

What are the two franchises, and who is the character?

ENTREE #7

Name the title character in a popular 21st century movie franchise with many sequels, first and last names. 

The first three, sixth, and last two letters in the
names, in that order, spell the last name of the title character in a 20th century two-film franchise. 

Both franchises were based on novels. What are the two franchises?

ENTREE #8

(Note: Entree #8 is an appetizing riff composed by Plantsmith, whose “Garden of Puzzley Delights” is a Puzzlerian staple.)

ENTREE #8

Take the title a two-word cinematic political action thriller that begins with an article. 

The second word contains a food. Drop the first vowel that appears in that food. As a result, the second word becomes a medical device, transforming the film’s “love over war” theme into “life over death.”

What are the movie title, food, and medical device?

ENTREE #9

Think of a popular three-word movie franchise that spawned a sequel, a prequel, and the third-longest-running musical in Broadway history. Ignore the first word, an article. 

From the remaining two words (each containing 4 letters), remove 4 consecutive letters that are an anagram of sound a barnyard animal makes. The four remaining letters, in order, spell a word for a “hake” or a “burbot.” 

The first and third of those four letters are consecutive even-numbered letters in the alphabet (B, D, F, H, J, etc.). Take the even number-numbered letter that

follows them in the alphabet. Place it in front of the second and fourth letters (in the word for “burbot”) to spell the critter that makes that barnyard sound.

What are this movie franchise, critter and the sound it makes?

ENTREE #10

Name a woman who was born and buried in Kansas – in 1898, then in 1996. Before she wed her future hubby, a politician (a marriage that lasted a “Heinz-Variety” number of years!), she had to wait for him to be first divorced and then widowed. 

Her close friends were aware that this Kansan miss would have to pray long and hard in order to “___ if ___ is her man!”

Replace one of the 14 letters in a film franchise with a 3-letter homophone that is a verb (a verb that is the word in the first blank). The 13 remaining letters can be rearranged to spell the remainder of the quotation:  “... if ___ is her man!”

Who are this wife and husband?

What is the whole the quotation? 

What is “a film franchise?”

Dessert Menu

“Loyal” Gambit Dessert:

Checkmating and matrimony

Name a word for a calculated maneuver or ploy that a chess master may employ in an attempt to outwit an opponent. 

One part of that word may remind you of something associated with weddings. The
other part is where it may come from.

What is this calculated maneuver?

What is the thing associated with weddings?

Where may it come from?

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.