“CapCity Country Consonants... Carne Asada!”; “Benjaminian Wisdom”; A Guy, Gal & Young’un with “AsparagusSpears” Aspirations?; “Touchstone?” “Touchback?” “Pooh Office?”; Legal (Philadelphia) Eagles?; Song casts a spell, runs through your head, plants a “synonymphony!”; “Devillainous“ Domesticity?; “Farawayfaring Celestial Wanderers!”; “Overcome hum-drum, subdue the sobs”; “Neither a burrower nor a spender be!”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Song casts a spell, runs through your head, plants a “synonymphony!”

Replace the second word in the title of a jazz standard with a homophone of that word. Delete letters from the first word that spell a spelling contest and a running contest, leaving letters that spell a younger version of the homophone. 

What are this song title, two contests, homophone and younger version of the homophone?

Appetizer Menu

Delightfully Puzzley Appetizer:

“CapCity Country Consonants... Carne Asada!”; “Benjaminian Wisdom”; A Guy, Gal & Young’un  with “AsparagusSpears” Aspirations?; “Touchstone?” “Touchback?” “Pooh Office?”; Legal (Philadelphia) Eagles?

“CapCity Country Consonants... Carne Asada!”

1. Name a capital city and its country. Interchange two consonants in the city. Place a space within the country. The result is a
three-word order you might place at a Latin-themed restaurant.

What are this capital city, country and three-word order?

“Benjaminian Wisdom”

2. “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” is a famous proverb popularized by Benjamin Franklin in his 1736 publication of Poor Richard’s Almanack. It has since become part of the Puritan work ethic lexicon, according to

Plantsmith, author of the following puzzle about the proverb:

Rearrange the 16 different letters in the proverb: – A B D E H I K L M N O R S T W Y – to spell the missing words in the image pictured here.

A Guy, gal & young’un with “AsparagusSpears” Aspirations?

3. Name a popular athlete who has been in the news of late. Replace an “i” in his name with either the first or final letter in a homophone of “i”. Replace a

“K” in his name with a letter adjacent to “K” in the alphabet.

Rearrange the letters of the result to spell the name of a popular actor associated with an anagram of “coffee hit.”

Who are this athlete, actor and anagram of “coffee hit?”

“Touchstone?” “Touchback?” “Pooh Office?”                                4. Take a word that forms the first part of compound words ending “stone” or “back,” or that follows, after a space, the word “Pooh.”

Place a vowel to the middle of this word to get an occupation.

Finally, just gently mix the occupation to get a genre of musical performer.

What are this compound word part, occupation and musical performer?

Legal (Philadelphia?) Eagles                           5. Take a legal term, double a consonant, add an “A” and place three spaces within the word to get what sounds like something certain NFL players have done after scoring touchdowns. Hint: Tim Tebow

MENU:

Solar Systematic Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Farawayfaring Celestial Wanderers!”

A. The _ _ _ was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. Its red, white, black and green flag featured two stars but no _ _ _.  Rearrange the letters in those six blanks to spell the name of a heavenly body that is a neighbor of the stars.

B. Write a song about a planet... In other words, _ _ _ a _ _ _ _ about a planet. What is the planet?

C. _ _ _ _ _ ROT-3 = _ _ _,  _ _ _ _ _  &  _ _ _.

“Mixed-Blessing Slice”

“Overcome hum-drum, subdue the sobs”

Name, in two words, a wonderfully welcome interruption in your perhaps otherwise humdrum day... especially if it is initiated by a friend whose company and conversation you enjoy. Transpose the initial sounds of those two words. The result sounds like a “sob-spawning” mishap that a “young’un” may undergo – especially if it involves a “triple-scooped” confection... one that does not involve vanilla!

What is this humdrum-day interruption?

What is the “sob-spawning” mishap?

Riffing Off Shortz And Ellison Entrees:

Devillainous Domesticity?

Will Shortz’s August 16th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, from James Ellison of Jefferson City, Missouri, reads:

Think of a famous movie villain. Insert one letter to get the brand name of a household product. Then change one letter of the product to get the last name of another famous movie villain. Who are the characters and what is the product?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Ellison Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Take the first name of a puzzle-maker. The middle letter is a Roman numeral. Place to its right the Roman numeral that follows it (a Roman numeral whose Arabic equivalent is a palindrome). The result is an informal plural word for nightwear. 

The letters in the puzzle-maker’s surname can be rearranged to spell a 3-letter point total a soccer team mayend up with, and what, in four letters, that team will then do.

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What are the nightwear, and what the team will do?

Entrees #2 through #7 are riffy conundrums drummed-up/dreamt-up by our friend and riffmeister extraordinaire, Nodd.

ENTREE #2

Think of a famous movie villain. The last name of the performer who played this villain is the also the last name of another movie villain. And the last name of the first villain is also the middle name of a real-life villain. Who are these people?

ENTREE #3

Take the last name of an actress who played the villain in a 2016 comedy/drama film. Add one letter and rearrange to get the last name
of the villain in a 1975 comedy/drama film. 

The first name of the 1975 villain is the same as the first name of the villain in a musical comedy TV series that aired in 2021-23. Who are the actress and the three villains?

ENTREE #4       Think of two movie villains with the same first name. The last five letters of one villain’s last name, followed by the other villain’s last name with one letter removed, describe the dwelling place of the villain in a Grimm’s fairy tale. 

Who are these three villains?

ENTREE #5

Think of the villain in a 2022 psychological thriller film. This villain’s first name is the same as the first name of the villain in a 1996 action/thriller film. 

The second word of the 2022 villain’s two-word last name, with one letter changed, describes the villain in a famous sci-fi film franchise. Who are these three villains?

ENTREE #6

Take the last name of the villain in a major blockbuster action thriller movie. 

Rearrange its letters to get the first word in the two-word name of the villain in a 2015 live-action animated adventure comedy film. Then add a letter, change a different letter, and rearrange to get the last name of the villain in a famous horror film. Who are these three villains?

ENTREE #7

Take the last name of a famous movie villain. Add one letter and rearrange to get the name of a Marvel movie superhero. Add three letters to the end of the Marvel villain’s name to get a brand of household appliances. Who are the two villains and what is the brand? 

ENTREE #8

Name an infamous “3-word, 14-letter” Transylvanian whose cruel methods of punishing his enemies gained notoriety in 15th-century Europe... and who is the possible inspiration for Count Dracula, the vampire who
is the title character in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. 

Number the 14 letters of this Transylvanian 1-through-14. Letters 4, 3, 14, 5, 6 and 1, 3, 4, 13, 14 spell the name of a more recent movie villain.

Who are this Transylvanian and movie villain?

Dessert Menu

Pebbles Flintstones Dessert:

“Neither a burrower nor a spender be!”

Transpose the 3rd and 8th letters of a compound 9-letter word for a white flint pebble that reputedly promotes lactic secretion.Insert a space someplace to spell a wearable status symbol whose value has not really risen much over the decades. Spoonerize this past status symbol to spell a potent musky, earthy odor and the burrower that produces it.

What are this pebble, status symbol, earthy odor and burrower?

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.