Thursday, May 7, 2026

“My Mother is my Friend, my Mommy is my Buddy”; Political tactics vs creature comforts; Breakfast with the Bard; Time on your fingers but not on your hands?; “...It’s good to reach the green green ryegrass of Augusta”; “Voiding a ‘Chase’, Avoiding a chase... Voiding banks of all portraits of Salmon P. Chase?”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe2 SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week (“...Back to the Few shooters?”):

“Voiding the ‘Chase’, Avoiding a chase... Voiding banks of all portraits of Salmon P. Chase?”

The DeLorean pulled into the parking lot  of a Chase Manhattan Bank in Manhattan, Kansas.

It did not display Kansas plates.

Two men exited the vehicle, entered the bank, committed a robbery with fingers on triggers, triggered an alarm (that did not disarm them), and exited the bank posthaste!

But before they could flee scot-free, a fleet-responding fleet of police squads greeted them with a symphony of sirens!

The  two hooligans grabbed their gats and hunkered down in prone positions in the DeLorean they had “borrowed” – one across the bucket seats, the other across the floor below him.

Serendipitously for them, “their” DeLorean’s gull wings allowed gunslingers seeking refuge in parked getaway cars to take pot shots at keepers of the peace from prone positions through the cracks between the doors and the floor!

Identify a series of consecutive “wordplayful words” in the previous sentence.

Mother’s Day Appetizer:

“My Mother is my Friend, my Mommy is my Buddy”

(Join us this Mother’s Day in celebrating those wonderful women who gave us the gift of life... and then nurtured it.

And what better way to do so than to enjoy a “Merry-Month Of-‘Mayternal’ Appetizer” from Bobby Jacobs. It is a loving tribute from a loving son, dedicated to his dedicated mom!”

1. Parallel Parental Pairings 

🍐What do the following pairs of synonyms have in common?

~ Mother, Mommy;

friend, buddy;

count, number; 

burro, donkey;

emulate, imitate;

2. A Duo of Trios

☘ 🎶Find a trio of synonyms with the same alphanumeric property as in #1, “Parallel Parental Pairings,” above.

Extra Credit: Find a second trio of synonyms with this same property.

MENU

Up-On-The-Hill Versus Down-On-The-Farm Hors D’oeuvre:

Political tactics vs creature comforts

A delaying tactic lawmakers sometimes use sounds a bit like a two-word role assumed by a farmhand charged with taming a specific creature. 

A verb that is key to the success of that political tactic doubles as a noun that is key to the creature’s comfort. 

What are this tarrying tactic and the role the farmhand assumes? 

What is the verb that doubles as a noun?

Shakespearean Slice:

Breakfast with the Bard

Transpose consecutive letters in a word associated with William Shakespeare. 

Voicing the result sounds a bit like a three-syllable food. 

What are this Shakespearean word and food?

Riffing Off Shortz And Graham Slices:

“...It’s good to reach the green green ryegrass of Augusta” 

Will Shortz’s May 3rd NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle challenge, created by Chad Graham of Philadelphia, Pennsylvavia, reads:

Name a well-known comic actor (4,5) whose name is an anagram of two terms in golf (4 and 5 letters, respectively). Who is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Graham Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Fill in the ten blanks

of the image pictured here with:

~ a slang term of the a synonym of the slang term “pin” (3 letters), 

~ a synonym of “possessed” (3 letters), and

~ the catenary structure (4 letters).

Rearrange those combined ten letters to spell the name of a puzzle-maker.

What are these words, and who is the puzzle-maker?

Note: Entress #2 through #7 are contributions from our friend Nodd, author of Nodd ready for prime time on Puzzleria!

ENTREE #2

The last name of the lead actor in a one-season 1970s TV sitcom, followed by the last name of the lead character in a nine-season 1970s TV sitcom, is a two-word golf term. Name the actor, the character, and the golf term.

ENTREE #3

Take the last name of an actress who began her career with comedic roles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

Follow this with the last name of an actor whose best-known movie role was in a 1969 satirical comedy. 

Remove the third letter of the actor’s last name. The two last names together will now name a periodic golf event. 

Who are the actress and actor, and what’s the event?

ENTREE #4

The last word in the title of a 1960s musical comedy film, the last name of a mid-20th century TV personality with the third letter removed, and an alternative spelling of a famous film actor’s nickname are three related golf terms. 

What is the film, who are the TV personality and actor, and what are the golf terms?

ENTREE #5

The last names of a British-born actress, a British actor, and an American actor are three related golf terms. 

Who are the performers?

ENTREE #6

Name an American actress best known for her performance in a 1995 camp cult classic film (first and last names, four and seven letters). 

Rearrange to spell the last names of (1) a famous 20th century American golfer and (2) a main character in a 1970s comedy film that won multiple Oscars. 

Who are the actress, the golfer, and the character?

ENTREE #7

Name a well-known comic actress, first and last names, and change the second letter to a copy of the eighth letter. 

Rearrange to get two golf terms (four and six letters). The second term is also the last name of a famous 20th century golfer. 

Who is the actress and what are the terms?

Note: Entrees #8 through #10 are contributions from our friend Greg VanMechelen, author of Econfusions on Puzzleria!

ENTREE #8

Name a well-known comic actor (4,5) whose
name is an anagram of something you might
receive on your computer that might be NSFW (5 and 4 letters, respectively). 

Who is it and what is the term?

ENTREE #9

Name a well-known comic actor (4,3) whose name is an anagram of someone hooked on a legendary creature (3 and 4 letters, respectively). Who is it and what is the term?

ENTREE #10

Name a well-known radio host (4,6) whose name is an anagram of something that person might take for health (4nd 6 letters, respectively). 

Who is it and what is the term?

Note: Entree #11 is contributed by our great friend Plantsmith, author of Garden of Puzzley Delights on Puzzleria!


ENTREE #11

Name a well known actor whose name in part contains a golf-related term. 

Remove first letter of first name and last letter of surname. 

Now reverse the order of the remaining letters

of first name and switch first name with last to get a two-word arcade game.

Who is this actor?

Hint: The first word in the arcade game may describe a duffer who just nine-ironed his approach shot into “the drink” ...(no, not into his cup of Budweiser, but rather into the rearing pond adjacent to the putting surface!)

Dessert Menu

Bold & Brassy Dessert:

Time on your fingers but not on your hands?

Rearrange the letters in a two-word-fifteen-letter expression that means “brazen boldness.” 

The result spells two words that describe portable timepieces, made of red brass, that
are “handless,” but not “fingerless”). 

What are this “brazen bold” expression and pair of descriptive words?

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.

17 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. There's an error in Entree #7 -- the second golf term is six letters, not seven (my mistake, not Lego's). Sorry for the screw-up.

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    2. Thanks, Nodd. Fixed it. In a previous life, a pair of publications paid me to be an editor. I was lousy at editing others' "copy." Fortunately, I never needed to self-edit anything that I wrote... because I never made any mistakes!

      LegoCursedWithPerfectionAndThusFindingItHardToBeHumble!

      Delete
    3. Thanks for the fix, Lego. Perfection is a curse I've managed to escape.

      Delete
  2. IF YOU HAVE COMMENTS THAT DO NOT PERTAIN TO ANY OF THE FOUR CATEGORIES ABOVE, YOU MAY WRITE THEM BELOW THIS POST. THANK YOU.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am on Puzzleria! This is a good Mother's Day puzzle because it involves the words Mother and Mommy.

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  4. 💗 Love you, Bobby, and thank you! This is a great puzzle! Thank you also to Joe and Puzzleria!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a nice tribute to your mom, Bobby! And Happy Mother's Day, Eileen!

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    Replies
    1. 💗 Thank you, Tortitude! We hope to meet you one day. You are wonderful and appreciated. Wishing all the very best your way. 💗

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  6. 💗 You are fantastic, Plantsmith, and we hope to meet you one day! 💗

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy Mother's Day Eve Eve, everybody!
    Been a bad week for Mom. Ever since she's had to have an intravenous E. coli treatment going into this past week, she hasn't been feeling good. She also had an especially bad night trying to do her dialysis Tuesday evening. Everything that could go wrong did. She couldn't seem to connect the bags just right, or break the part of the tube effectively so the sugar water could go through, she didn't even feel like climbing the ladder to get in the bed to go to sleep! Luckily, after even having to get out another bag to connect them all over again, she made it into bed and went to sleep. She also had to borrow Maddy's cane to help her get around. I've done everything I can to help, but we're afraid it's not enough anymore. I also regret that all these years I've been unable to drive myself anywhere, especially because I've been overdue to go get a haircut and a beard trim, and so we had to go today because I know the hair stylist's always there on Fridays, and Mom didn't feel 100% percent up to it, but she drove me over there and waited patiently in the car for me, and then we stopped by Walgreens for some refilled prescriptions, and then for lunch at Burger King(she had her lunch at home, BTW). The stylist's name is Jennifer Rigsby, and she's the main person working at "Cuts By Us" here in town, and both Mom and I had to admit this was about the fastest haircut I've ever had with Ms. Rigsby doing it. Had to have been only about five or ten minutes before I was back out to the car for Mom to hand me the check to pay her! Ms. Rigsby must have been in a real hurry today, that's all I can say. A few more miles back to Walgreens, and about three or four more cars in front of us in line, and we're heading over(almost getting hit by another driver who just came out of nowhere as we were crossing, mind you)to BK, which was my choice. I had seen them advertising some new menu items in a Star Wars tie-in on TV, something about "The Mandalorian and Grogu(Baby Yoda)", which is either a new movie in the series or there's also a TV show about it. I'm not sure, and TBH, I was just happy with the whole thing being a mere trilogy when I was growing up, but they ended up adding to it years later, and now BK is serving food having to do with the film series, and it sounded good to me, so we got it. Actually, we ended up getting the "Bounty Bundle", which was a special theme bag in which you get everything on the menu, including a special cup in which to have your drink. Ironically, somehow we got out of there with the cup, but no drink! Mom specifically ordered a Dr. Pepper(they don't have Diet Dr. Pepper, for some unknown reason), but somehow they missed it, and I got everything including the dessert(a Blue Cookie Shake), but no drink. So I just filled the new cup with Propel water when we got home.
    The Bundle is one BBQ Bounty Whopper, which has bacon and some kind of crispy jalapeno(?)chips on it, an order of Garlic Chicken Fries, an order of Cheddar Tots, a container of Garlic Sauce, and the aforementioned Blue Cookie Shake, which Mom tried in the car. She also ate the two tomato slices that came on the burger, a chicken fry, and a few cheddar tots. She claims this was her "supper", particularly because we would not be eating out tonight. Bryan and Renae took Mia Kate out to get her senior picture this evening.
    End of Part 1-pjb

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  8. Part 2
    As for the puzzles, I quickly read over them and got a few bits and pieces of answers here and there. The easiest one was Entree #1. Solved it completely right away. All others will require hints later on(this means you too, Bobby!).
    In closing, may I wish everyone in Puzzleria!land, all contributors and solvers, a Happy Mother's Day this coming Sunday(particularly Bobby and his caring Mom Eileen, who just now posted some kind words for my friends here!), and good luck in solving to all, and please stay safe. Cranberry out!
    pjbAlsoHopesToMeetEveryoneHereInPersonSomeDayAsWell!

    ReplyDelete