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 Scottie 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 Mathew 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.

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Nomadic Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Attila the tot? Attila the hum?”

Describe a fellow named “Attila” 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 729.)

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 a common conjunction 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 the author’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, as well as a letter of the alphabet associated with elementary school subjects.

What are the three different words that perhaps more accurately describe this author’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 two 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.

Names in the News, games that amuse... and confuse! “Songwriting royalty reaping royalties?” French articles of speech & apparel; “Doubleday? Nay! Smith!” Preservation, jarringly! “Nine-digit discount: $20.26!”

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Doubleday? Nay! Smith!”

Anagram the combined letters in three consecutive integers to spell three words. 

Two of these words, together, are a term for an unhindered basketball shot. 

And two of them, together, are what an outfielder might do to a baserunner or what a dignitary might do with the first pitch. 

What are these consecutive integers?

What are these three words?

What are these two ways that the three words can be paired together?

Appetizer Menu

Ecoarchitectural Appetizer:

Names in the News, games that amuse... and confuse!

1. Name someone whose name became well-known after a tragedy in 2025, 5 letters in the first name, 4 in the last.  

Shift the first letter of the first name 6 places
later in the alphabet and the result will be a palindrome – though one that doesn’t make any words.

2. The first and last name of someone who became better known in 2025 sounds like an old-timey Western term for what this person’s associates accused their opponents of trying to do.  Who is the person and what did they accuse?

3. A certain person – not new in the news – claimed in 2025 that they were a certain type of person.  

Shift the first letter 2 places later in the alphabet and rearrange to get the type of person someone else referred to them as.  

Who is the person and what are the types of people?

4. Name a popular food in two words, 5 and 4 letters.  

Change the last letter of the 4 letter word to “h”, and the combined 9 letters will be the first name of someone who came into the news in 2025.  

Hint:  An abbreviated Americanized version of the first name combined with a phonetic version of the last name will name a significant character on a classic television show.

5. A well-known actor, who has won numerous Emmys, reached a certain milestone in 2025.  

Change the short vowel sound in the first name to a long vowel sound, and the result will be part of their last name.  

Who is the actor?

6. Name 2 people who were once famous foes.  

Combine their last names and the result will be the first and last name of someone who has won an Oscar and two Emmys, who also reached a certain milestone in 2025.  

Who are the foes and who is the award winner? 

7. The first name of a former singer and actress who passed in 2025 consists of 3 first names in consecutive order.  

The second name is a bit obscure, though there is a director/producer/writer with that name who has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, and numerous other awards. 

Who is the singer/ actress and what are the names?

MENU

No ability? NoBility! Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Songwriting royalty reaping royalties?”

Take the surname of a member of “songwriting royalty” and a word for royal family members that appear in this tunesmith’s songs. 

Rearrange these combined letters to spell a 6-letter noun for verses composed by this writer and a 6-letter past-tense verb that  music  critics have seldom done to his songs.

Who is this songwriter.

What is the word for royal family members?

What are the 6-letter noun and verb?

An “On The Ball” Slice:

Preservation, jarringly

Name something you might do to a jar. 

Move the letters of that word four letters later in the alphabet to spell something you might then do to the contents of the jar.

What might you do to the jar and to its contents? 

Riffing Off Shortz And Pegg Entrees:

“Nine-digit discount: $20.26!”

Will Shortz’s January 4th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle (created by Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com.) reads:

Take the nine digits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 - 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago. Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Pegg Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Take the five digits that appear in the two prime factors of a four-digit number lately in the news. Place them in order, from lowest to highest, separated by commas. 

The result is the first five numbers in a familiar mathematical sequence. 

What is this four-digit number that has been lately in the news?

What are its prime factors?

What are the five numbers, in order from lowest to highest, separated by commas?

What is this familiar mathematical sequence?

What are the sixth, seventh and eighth numbers in that sequence?

(Note: Entrees #2 through #7 were created and contributed by our friend Nodd, whose “Nodd ready for prime time” is featured regularly on Puzzleria!)

ENTREE #2

What is the next number in this series: 1, 2, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, ? 

(Hint: think phonetically.)

ENTREE #3

What is the next number in this series: 7, 5, 5, 4, 7, 6, 6, ? 

(Hint: look above.)

ENTREE #4

What is the next number in this series: 

34, 58, 56, 60, 42, 52, ? 

(Hint: check your spelling.)

ENTREE #5

What is the next number in this series? 10, 5,
9, 7, 6, 5, 7, 8, ? 

(Hint: start with a U.S. state.)

ENTREE #6

What is the next number in this series? 
4, 3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 5, ?

(Hint: a “matematica” puzzle, in a way.)

ENTREE #7

What is the next number in this series? 16, 21,
26, 26, 12, 5, 18, 9, ? 

(Hint: Eat at Joe’s.)

(Note: Entree #8 was created and contributed by a very valued friend of Puzzleria! whose contributions are always welcomed with open arms and appreciated with open hearts.)

ENTREE #8

The first word in a type of drink followed by a brand name of personal care products spells out the name of a famous musician and recording industry executive. Who is it?

ENTREE #9

What is the next number in this series? 

3, 5, 5,3, 5, 4, 3, 4, ? 

(Hint: Qwerty)

ENTREE #10

What is the next number in the following series? 

2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 4, 2, 3, ? 

(Hint: Eat an omelet, but don't forget the ham!)

ENTREE #11

What is the next number in this series? 

1, 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, ?

(Hint: an anagram of “This sum”)

Dessert Menu

The Well Underdressed Man Dessert:

French articles of speech & apparel

From a nine-letter article of apparel remove three letters that spell a French article (not an “article of apparel” but a “particle-of-speech”). 

Rearrange the result and add an “s” to the end to spell a word for places where such articles of apparel might be stored. This plural word is also a word for the articles of apparel themselves.

What is this article of apparel?

What is the word for places where such articles of apparel might be stored that is also a word for the articles of apparel themselves.

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.

“Drink and sing to celebrate the New Year”; A Dot, Clot & Sinew; Tonic Spiked With Tanqueray? Egypt’s 10 Plagues... Plus Ague? Tabletop tipping and toppling? Condiment & Continental Caribbean Shore;

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Tabletop tipping and toppling?

Think of three tools that might be found together on a tabletop. Write them side-by-side-by-side in alphabetical order according to the final letter of each. 

(For example, the seasonings paprika, pepper and salt on a kitchen table would appear in that order, as would the tools rasp, pliers and mallet ... but because of their ending letters not their beginning letters.)

Number the 14 letters of your three tools from left to right, #1 through #14, as in the above chart.

~ 3-2-1 spells a liquid in a bottle;

~ 11-5-14 spells what may be dipped in the bottle;

~ 7-6-4 describes the bottle (if it tips over and keeps rolling) in relation to the table top;

~ 13-12-11-10 spells what might then be exclaimed!

What are the tabletop tools?

What is the bottled liquid?

What word describes the bottle vis-à-vis the tabletop?

What might then be exclaimed!

Appetizer Menu

Ringing In 2026 Appetizer:

“Drink and sing to celebrate the New Year”

Name a brand of drink.

The first word in the type of drink, followed by the first six letters of the brand, will spell out the name of a famous singer.

What is the drink?

Who is the singer?

MENU

Hot-Pepper Hors d’Oeuvre:

Condiment & Continental Caribbean Shore

Anagram an American brand of a pungent condiment made from hot peppers to spell a three-and-a-half thousand-mile shoreline in the Caribbean Region, both in two words.

What are this condiment and Caribbean shoreline?

Small Screen Stage & Cinema Slice:

A Dot, Clot & Sinew

Anagram the combined letters of an amphibian creature, an equine creature and a porcine creature to spell the first name and surname of a well-known actor. 

What are these three creatures? 

What is the name of the actor?

Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees:

Egypt’s 10 Plagues... Plus Ague?

Will Shortz’s December 28th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Joseph Young of St. Cloud, Minnesota, reads:

Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. Add two letters in front and one letter behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. What words are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Young Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

“After their sojourn at the Museum of Tal Basta Antiquities in Zagazig, the tour group reluctantly departed to explore other “one-day’s-stays” in Egypt.”

Take two words from that sentence. Remove the penultimate letter from one and the ultimate letter for the other. 

Add an “h” to the remaining letters and rearrange the result to spell the name of a puzzle-maker. 

Who is the puzzle-maker and what are the two words that were “delettered”?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the handiwork of Nodd (of “Nodd ready for prime time” fame). 

ENTREE #2

Think of a two-syllable word in three letters. Add two letters at the end to make a one-
syllable word in five letters. 

What words are these?

Note: The five-letter, one-syllable word does not end in “s”.

ENTREE #3

Think of a two-syllable word in eight letters. Replace the first letter with two other letters to
make a one-syllable word in nine letters. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #4

Think of a three-syllable word in four letters. 

Add one letter in front and one letter at the end to make a two-syllable word in six letters. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #5

Think of a two-syllable word in five letters. 

Add one letter in front to make a one-syllable word in six letters. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #6

Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. 

Add two letters in the middle to make a one-syllable word in six letters. What words are these?

ENTREE #7

Think of a two-syllable word in five letters. 

Add a letter and a punctuation mark somewhere to make a one-syllable word in six letters. 

What words are these?

Note: Entrees #8 through #9 were composed by of Ecoarchitect, author of "Econfusions,"  (of “Econfusions” fame).

ENTREE #8

Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. 

Add one letter in front and two letters behind to
make a one-syllable word in seven letters. 

What words are these?

(Hint: The one-syllable word crops up occasionally in the world of competitive journalism.)

ENTREE #9

Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. 

Add one letter in front and two letters behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. 

What words are these?

(Note: Most dictionaries consider this two-syllable word to be a monosyllable... although
many from the deep American South may pronounce it as two syllables.)

Dessert Menu

Alphabetical Shifting & Drifting Dessert:

Tonic Spiked With Tanqueray?

Move all the letters of a beverage container two places earlier in the alphabet. 

The result spells something that may (or may not!) make the contents of the container more desirable to drink. What are the container and what may make its contents more desirable?

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.