PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe2 SERVED
Schpuzzle of the Week:
Movie & Mount Both Begin With A “B”
Delete the superfluous “part-of-speech” article that is the first word in a six-word movie title, leaving five words. (See the illustration in the white dinner plate, above.)
Rearrange the combined letters in these five remaining words to spell the three-word caption for the image at the right:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
What are this movie title and caption?
Appetizzical Cryptical Quizzical Cryptic Crossword Puzzling Appetizer:
Turfy Roof? Furry Foot?...
No, ‘Tis Patrick’s Number Forty-Four!
Well, I guess we’ve all heard of “turf toe...”But what on God’s Green Earth are “Turfy
Roof” and “Furry Foot”?
Well, they’re both examples of “wordplay” (both are anagrams of “Forty-Four”).
It is wordplay of the sort you have come to know, love and enjoy thanks to Patrick J. Berry’s voluminous oeuvre of Cryptic Crosswordese on Puzzleria!
And so...
Welcome to the 44th Cryptic Crossword Puzzle, courtesy of Patrick, that we are privileged and proud and pleased-as-punch to present on Puzzleria!
If you have missed out on any of Patrick’s previous crosswords that we have featured on Puzzleria!, feel free to access the numbered links of this “clickable” cluster of his cryptic crossword creativity, below.Open any number of them, then sit back and bask in Patrick’s Paradise of Puzzlement!
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43
For those of you who may be new to solving cryptic crossword puzzles, Patrick has compiled the following list of basic cryptic crossword puzzle instructions:
Regarding the Across and Down clues and their format:
The number, or numbers, that appear in parentheses at the end of each clue indicate how many letters are in the answer.
Multiple numbers in parentheses indicate how letters are distributed in multiple-word answers. For example, (6) simply indicates a 6-letter
word like “ENIGMA.”
(7, 4) indicates a 7-letter and 4-letter answer like “GORDIAN KNOT,”
and (5-6) indicates a five-and-six-letter hyphenated answer like “BRAIN-TEASER.”
For further insight about how to decipher these numbered cryptic clues, see Patrick’s “Cryptic Crossword Tutorial” in this link to his November 2017 cryptic crossword.
That Tutorial appears below the filled-in answer-grid in that edition of Puzzleria!
And, so, sans further adieu... here is a Patented-Cryptic-Patrick Masterpiece for you to do:
ACROSS
1. Imperfectly prepared meal to fall apart quickly reaching home base?(9,2,3)9. Guard heading off to find gate(5)
10. Director’s shoutin’ gets in the way(9)
11. Work, then, traveling by truck(8)
12. Old lady takes shortcut looking for avenue(6)
14. City gossip has no real development(3,7)
16. Weather check on the radio(4)
18. Times puzzle on Sunday has the answer(4)19. Dancing motion rare for actress in “West
Side Story”?(4,6)
21. Bar not in order(6)22. Electric guitar sound—a few notes (one repeated), with tip of pick?(8)
25. Talk music—rock? Sure!(9)26. Writer’s mature persona(5)
27. Be bad TV? Hell yes, terrible show! (5,2,3,4)
DOWN
1. Dickie Goodman’s accomplishments makin’
the Guinness book?(5-2,7)
2. John’s taking Latin in college(5)
3. Manual pointer? Shut up!(8)
4. Doctor is hesitant? Just the reverse!(10)5. Wrong turn? Run!(4)
6. Both sides having stake in French city(6)
7. Pass some time trapped in lift(9)
8. Average article on music supported by fine artist(6,8)
13. Fight, say, with new frontman about primary musical direction(10)
15. Traveled by ship, not a sweet trip(4,2,3)
17. I get mood adjustment from pleasant experience(4,4)20. Ness taking on gangster(6)
23. “Surprise Answer” puzzle?(5)
24. Jaw broken by right hook(4)
MENU
“Sunny Day!” Hors d’Oeuvre:
Sesame Seedy Streetlife
An adjective and noun describe how Sesame Street denizens might describe one fellow Muppet. Anagram the combined dozen letters of those
two words to spell certain fixtures situated on sidewalks.
What is the name of this fellow Muppet?
How might his fellow Muppets describe him?
What are the fixtures situated on sidewalks?
“Spirited” Slice:
Price stickers? Rice whiskey? Ice bags?
Name something, in three and five letters, that you are sure to see on a liquor store shelf.
Anagram those eight letters to spell, as you continue to survey the shelf’s contents, something else you may see. What are this first thing you see and second thing you may see?
Hint: The “something else you may see” is possibly a part of the “something you are sure to see.”
Appetizers
Riffing Off Shortz And Taubenslag Slices:
From Train Track To Kart Trak
Will Shortz’s October 11th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Nancy Taubenslag of Scarsdale, New York, reads:
Name a company that’s known for transportation. Move the first two letters to the end. Reverse everything. Insert the name of an international tourist destination. And you'll get the name of a game that involves transportation. What things are these? Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Taubenslag Slices read:
ENTREE #1
Take two first names:
1. One shared by a NFL QB and a British musician that Eric Clapton famously called “the best guitarist in the world”; 2. A second one shared by a fictional Bellamy butler and a duckwalking Scottish guitarist...
and...
3. A surname shared by:
• Prolific Irish poet/novelist Katharine;
• British theatre writer/critic Kenneth; and
• Irish tenor and Paralympic athlete Ronan.
Anagram those combined 15 letters to spell the first and last names of a puzzlemaker.
Who is it, and what are the three other names?
(Note: Entrees #2 through # 7 are creations courtesy of our good friend Nodd. His “Nodd ready for prime time” is a staple of Puzzlerian Puzzling.)
ENTREE #2
Name a car company.
Replace its last letter with the last two letters of a past Chevy model. Add, preceded by a space, a past Plymouth model. You’ll name a car racing video game. What are the company, the models, and the game?
ENTREE #3
Name a car brand.
Change a vowel to the next vowel in the alphabet. Change a G to a W.
Rearrange to name a video game involving futuristic vehicle racing. What are the brand and the game?
ENTREE #4
Name a former Pontiac model and a current Nissan model, in that order. In the Nissan model name, change an A to a U and add two letters to the end. You’ll name a video game involving car racing. What are the models and the game? ENTREE #5
Name a railroad company.
Replace the first letter with an anagram of a four-letter board and video tactical combat game. Insert a T somewhere, preceded by a space. You’ll name a video and board game that involves transportation. What are the company and the two games?
ENTREE #6
Name two airlines in reverse alphabetical order. Replace the first two letters of the first one with a P. You’ll get the first and last words
of a video game involving transportation. What are the airlines and the game? ENTREE #7
Name a car tire brand and a government agency involving transportation, in that order. Change the first letter of the agency to a U and move the letter that follows it to the end of the tire brand. You’ll name a car racing video game. What are the brand, agency, and game? Dessert Menu
Period Piece Dessert:
“Let us not let anger rear its ugly head”
Rearrange the letters in a nine-letter verb to spell a two-word term that applies to either of two historical periods: (1933-1941) and (1954-2014). What are this verb and two-word term? 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!
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Note:
ReplyDeleteTo place a comment under this QUESTIONS? subheading (immediately below), or under any of the three subheadings below it (HINTS! PUZZLE RIFFS! and MY PROGRESS SO FAR...), simply left-click on the orange "Reply" to open a dialogue box where you can make a comment. Thank you.
Lego...
QUESTIONS?
ReplyDeleteHINTS!
ReplyDeleteSUNDAY HINTS FOR ENTREES 2-7:
Delete2. The first word of the game consists of an F followed by an abbreviation for a Northwest state and a reverse-order abbreviation for a Southwest state.
3. The car is European. The game name describes a 1966 Notre Dame-USC contest
4. The first word of the game is a European race venue; the second is as far as you can go.
5. A tragic “party” began in a place that is the name of one of the games.
6. Argh!
7. The tire brand is also a U.S. city. The agency’s transportation activities are far-reaching.
Got #7 for sure now! Will be providing cryptic hints shortly, but I had to reboot again because the keyboard froze again on the Guardian website TWICE just now! I think it must be a problem with that site, really, because it's only really frozen as I was doing a cryptic crossword each time after I thought I'd fixed it the first time. Good Lord willing, I won't have to reboot it again soon, because this last time I almost couldn't bring the thing back!
DeletepjbHasNothingMoreToSay,AsHeDoesn'tWantToBeTypingAnyMoreThanHeHasToBefore(HeWon'tEvenSayItHere!)
Cryptic Hints
Delete1. At Woodstock, Wavy Gravy suggested this "for four hundred thousand". Logistically, it would never work, particularly since nobody actually had a bed there anyway.
9. Defined another way, it could also be anything written in one's diary for that particular day.
10. Hosting SNL back in 1995, this person sang a song in his monologue, one from the 1960s sitcom "Bewitched", which was originally sung by Samantha's lookalike sister, Serena(both played by Elizabeth Montgomery, but Serena's portrayed was always credited as "Pandora Spocks").
11. It's the one "pulling' logs" in C. W. McCain's "Convoy"(1975).
12. In a more clairvoyant definition, it can also follow "Long Island" or "Hollywood"(for you reality show fans out there).
14. Musical Clues: Redbone, Arlo Guthrie, Poco, the Animals and Frijid Pink(same song for the last two).
16. If you've heard today's on-air puzzle with Will Shortz, then you know this answer figures in the example for the game which Will and the winner played.(BTW I solved this week's challenge already.)
18. If I had said "Indefinitely long, unmeasurable Times", that would've been more accurate for the answer.
19. As EGOT recipients go, she's only a few years younger than Mel Brooks. As a child, I can especially remember seeing her many times on public TV, on WBIQ Channel 10 in Birmingham. Surprisingly, I only just recently found out her Emmy was not for that, but for her guest appearance on "The Muppet Show"(1977).
21. Pluralized, with the word "the" before it, this answer is the name of the southern rock band based out of Tampa, FL, who gave classic rock fans like me the classic "Green Grass and High Tides"(1975).
22. Defined another way, this answer can mean "response", as in "I hope to receive nothing but positive ________ from you solvers concerning my latest puzzle."
25. Like 4 Down's answer, this one also consists of a negative-sounding prefix plus a term associated with college.
26. May be preceded by "Sharper" or "spitting".
27. The actor who played Principal Richard Belding on this show, Dennis Haskins, recently passed away at the age of 75. It is merely coincidental that this happened prior to this puzzle getting chosen for this week's P!, but in terms of coming up with hints later on, this information made this one a lot easier, IMHO.
End of Part 1, Down clues to follow next.
DOWN
Delete1. Mr. Goodman's "accomplishments" have centered around the following subjects:
Flying saucers, the Untouchables, Batman(and his grandmother), 60s campus unrest, the 70s energy crisis, Jaws, Rocky, Charlie's Angels, Star Wars, Dallas, the 80s Presidential elections, E. T., and even safe sex!
2. Those closest to him call him "Reg", but the rest of us know he's recently been knighted AND become an EGOT winner!(Move over 19 Across, you've got company!)
3. 2 Down is definitely associated with, and knows his way around, the answer to this one!
4. Not to be confused with the earlier mention of 4 Down by the 25 Across clue, if you remove an article hidden within this answer, what remains sounds like two different nicknames for two different female family members(the first one must be the second in order to be the first, but the second one may never ever even become the first, in some cases!).
5. Add an E to the end, and it becomes a type of cake. On its own without the E, it's the first syllable of a type of pasta!
6. Home to the Jules Verne Museum(rather convenient, I'd say, since he was born there!).
7. It's a verb often used on game shows these days, but no contestant ever wants to be the object of it, because it's "game over" for them. Also, the "some time" in the clue refers to a certain abbreviated measurement of time hidden in the answer.
8. He painted more than 300 covers for "The Saturday Evening Post", over a nearly 50-year span. His surname is also the first name of a singer who had a huge hit song in 1984 about paranoia(sound familiar, Mr. Orwell?).
13. Many young ladies can hardly wait for their boyfriends to finally show up to give them an(this answer)ring!
15. It's what the Owl and the Pussy-cat(that's how it's spelked, according to my source)did first thing in their poem.
17. Pluralized, it's the name of a popular 70s sitcom, and both the Kinks and Van Halen have wondered where they've all gone.
20. His full first name is Alphonse, which our President certainly has pointed out before(anybody else think that's a little creepy besides me?). Also, his first(nickname)and last names can be found by removing four consecutive interior letters from a brand name that might just be found "in your wallet", according to Mr. Jackson and Ms. Garner.
23. Sir Paul used the past tense form of this verb in the title of one of his biggest solo hits(recorded before the formation of Wings!).
24. A verb used in 70s beer ads, which is how you're supposed to get "all the gusto", because "you only go around once in life". So true.
That's all folks---Cranberry out!
pjbDoesn'tLikeBeer,ButThat"Gusto",WhateverThatUs,SureSoundsInteresting!
Monday Monday Tardy Tardy Hints:
DeleteSchpuzzle of the Week:
Movie & Mount That Begin With A "B"
Colonel Bogey... (No, not Humphrey, nor one-over-par!)
Appetizzical Cryptical Quizzical Cryptic Crossword Puzzling Appetizer:
Turfy Roof? Furry Foot?... No, ‘Tis Patrick’s Number Forty-Four!
"cranberry" (Patrick) has provided generous hints for his Cryptic Crossword in his October 18, 2026 at 8:25 PM Comment... and again in his subsequent 8:54PM Commnent.
“Sunny Day!” Hors d’Oeuvre:
Sesame Seedy Streetlife
Ignore the first and last letters of both the adjective and noun that describe how Sesame Street denizens might describe this fellow Muppet. The result is a "group of red spots on the skin that is caused by an illness or a reaction to something"... and "French nothingness!"
“Spirited” Slice:
Price stickers? Rice whiskey? Ice bags?
The "grey mouse variety" of a 5-letter creature used in experimental research might well be referred to as an aLLiterative _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
Riffing Off Shortz And Taubenslag Slices:
From Train Track To Kart Trak
ENTREE #1
The 1st name:
The “ursine NFL QB” is a member of the current edition of the "Chicago Eleven." The first name of the British musician that Eric Clapton famously called “the best guitarist in the world” contains 4 of the first 5 letters in the alphabet...
The 2nd name:
a kind of cow...
and... The 3rd name:
3. A surname with letters that might be used to spell the first names of Mr. Cobb and Ms. Landers.
(Note: Nodd has generously provided hints for his excellent riffs, Entrees #2 through # 7, in his October 18, 2026 at 2:30 PM Post.
Period Piece Dessert:
“Let not anger rear its ugly head”
If the "nine-letter verb that requires rearrangement" were a snake, it would bite you!
LegoLateHintingAsIsHisWont(ButLikelyIsNotThe"Want"OfFrustratedSolvers!)
Got the adjective in the Hors d'Oeuvre, but I can't find any French word for "nothingness" that would be part of a Muppet name. May need more information on the sidewalk fixtures so that I might work backwards from there. Don't get the "grey mouse" part of the Slice hint, would most likely do better with info concerning the actual thing on the liquor store shelf.
DeletepjbAlsoHopesHisHintsAren'tTooWordy,AsWhenHeWasPostingThem,HeHadToMakeTwoPostsBecauseThePublishButtonToldHim"CommentIsTooLong"!
Looks like I'm finally done. Whew!
Deletepjb, the French word for "nothingness" is part of a word the other Sesame Street residents might use to describe the character; it's not the character's actual name. The French word is an anagram of a homophone of the answer to 16 Across in your puzzle. Dogs like the sidewalk fixtures.
I never knew that the critter in the Slice hint was used for this purpose. It's a primate. The second thing you may see in the puzzle was the name of a #1 song from 2007.
PUZZLE RIFFS!
ReplyDeleteMY PROGRESS SO FAR...
ReplyDeleteStill looking over the cryptic clues, hoping to find another easy one.
DeleteIF YOU HAVE COMMENTS THAT DO NOT PERTAIN TO ANY OF THE FOUR CATEGORIES ABOVE, YOU MAY WRITE THEM BELOW THIS POST. THANK YOU.
ReplyDeleteViolinTeddy, on October 16, 2026 at 12:26 AM, wrote:
ReplyDeleteUm, Lego, I am pretty tired right now, but I could swear that the Schpuzzle re the mountain hue we ALREADY HAD a couple of weeks ago. I remember because I did NOT get the correct month (or even an answer)....but I'm not up to searching back through the last couple of Puzzlerias to make sure. I'm sure Nodd will probably be commenting, as well.
ViolinTeddy, on October 16, 2026 at 12:35 AM, wrote:
ReplyDeleteIt was the Dessert two weeks ago, on Oct 1, unless you have made modifications that I am just too sleepy to be able to discern?
legolambda, on October 16, 2026 at 1:55 AM, wrote:
ReplyDeleteThanks for that "heads-up" ViolinTeddy... My mind seems to be becoming increasingly absent! Give me a bit of time to "tinker" and review recent Puzzleria! editions, and I shall try to substitute FRESH PREVIOUSLY UNUSED (!) puzzles!
My apologies!
Lego...
Good Friday evening to you all here on this mighty blog!
ReplyDeleteMom and I are fine. We came to find out since Bryan and Renae and the kids(I'm assuming all of them, however wrongly I may be)ate out last night, they would not be wanting to do the same tonight. Just as well, since we needed to get some groceries anyway, so we popped in to Aldi for some bread and hamburger buns(Mom insisted I get them in there), and then we went to Food City to get some drinks and a few other things. Then I had Mom go to Freddy's for supper, and we got a jalapeno pepperjack burger, onion rings, a Pepsi Zero, and a Reese's Royale "concrete" for me, and a Freddy's Double Burger, onion rings, and a Starri for Mom. She's saving the rest of her burger for tomorrow, though. Couldn't finish it. She was especially surprised by the pickles they put on it, which were long and flat. I told her they've put that on my burgers in the past, it's just the kind they use. They're very good. Just finished the latest Guardian Prize Crossword, set by Maskarade, and it was easy enough I barely even needed Wordplays.com(just a couple of answers, that's all)! Hope everybody's enjoying my latest puzzle here. Can't believe it's No. 44 in the series(has it been that long?)! And of course, there's a lot more where that came from, too! As for the other puzzles, I know the name of the film in the "replacement" Schpuzzle, but I'll need some time on the anagram. Got Entrees #1-3 and #6. Almost had an answer for #4, but there would have to be such a thing as a Nissan Circa, and the Internet told me there is no such thing. Otherwise, the video game name was right there. Also got the Dessert, which ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would. All you have to do to solve it is just to read the entire puzzle carefully, and then look up both periods online. You're almost certain to find the nine-letter verb and its corresponding anagram that way(but then I hope most of you already knew that without my saying anything!). Will keep my eyes peeled(pealed?)for the subsequent hints some time Sunday night, as I know the rest of you will also. If I can put together some hints for my puzzle(turned out to be much harder than just coming up with the clues for the puzzle, IMHO!).
Good luck in solving to all, and please stay safe, and don't let my puzzle strain your brain too much as you try to solve it! Cranberry out!
pjbCanAlmostHearTheThemeSongToTheFilmInTheSchpuzzleInHisHead(InterestingLittleEarwormThatWouldBe,Wouldn'tIt?)