“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.

Words, in a word; Cut!; The Name’s the same; Disorder in the court; Poetry Corner with Anna Graham; Singer-Songwrighteous Brothers; Instrument... or “in-strumpet?” Javelin? Jackknife? Jar of Jam? Fight or Flight? AlphaBeethoven-Baked Puzzle-Poem;

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Javelin? Jackknife? Jar of Jam?

Rearrange the combined letters of two William Shakespearean play titles to spell a weapon and a synonym of “preserve.”

This weapon and this synonym each appear but once in Shakespeare’s oeuvre (in two histories, both with “Henry” in the title).

What are this weapon and this synonym of “preserve?”

What are these two play titles?

Appetizer Menu

A Much-Better-Than-A-Wink Appetizer:

Words, in a word; Cut!; The Name’s the same; Disorder in the court; Poetry Corner with Anna Graham;

WORDS, IN A WORD

1. 👚🥫👟Think of a word that can be a noun, verb, or adjective. 

The first three letters spell an article of clothing; the first four letters spell a food; the last four letters spell part of a shoe; the middle three letters spell the past tense of a common verb; and the last three letters spell a word that appears in this puzzle. What are these six words?

CUT!

2. 🎥📖 What film title is only half as long as the title of the book it is based on?

THE NAME’S THE SAME

3. ⚾🎾A baseball player won the World Series as both a player and manager for the same team. 

A tennis player of the same first and last names won the NCAA championship as both a player and coach for the same team. 

DISORDER IN THE COURT

4. 🔥🐟🥔What former tennis star...

(1) might not remember to show up for a match?

(2) might like fly fishing in the Shenandoah Valley?

(3) should work for UPS? 

(4) might be a couch potato?

(5) might be dangerous in the water?

(6) might put aromatic blossoms on his fence? 

Hint: Except for the first, they are all in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. 

POETRY CORNER, WITH ANNA GRAHAM

5. 🎕Fill in the blanks with words that are anagrams of one another to complete the verse.

She _____ the _____ she _____ from gardens
lush,

The cheeks upon her _____ frame shyly blush,

Should any _____ seek to _____ this verse,

Let vengeance’s _____ dispatch them for the worse.

MENU

Period Piece Hors d’Oeuvre:

Fight or Flight?

Write a pair of two-word captions for the two illustrations that accompany the text of this puzzle. 

Interchange the initial consonants in either one of the captions to spell the two words in the other caption. One of the words in one of the captions is an abbreviation (as you can tell by the period.)

What are these two captions?

Note from Lego: I wrote, formatted and laid-out the above Hors d’Oeuvre onto my draft of this edition of Puzzleria! on the evening of March 14th. This was several hours before I heard our friend Nodd’s puzzle challenge broadcast the following morning during NPR’s airing of “The Puzzle” on “Weekend Edition Sunday.”

National Public Rascoe Slice:

AlphaBeethoven-Baked Puzzle-Poem

Take the Ninth, take the Fifth, the Fifth turned on its head,

Drop a “double-u sound,” like a bug from a bed...

But Beethoven? No! You ’ll get ______ instead!

Fill in the blank. It contains six letters (and three syllables).

Riffing Off Shortz And Dimichele Slices: 

Singer-Songwrighteous Brothers

Will Shortz’s March 8th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Donn Dimichele of Redlands, California, reads:

Name a famous musical duo. Remove four consecutive letters of the duo’s name and phonetically you’ll name a famous nonmusical duo. Who are they?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Dimichele Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Name a prolific puzzle-maker, first and last names. 

Remove three interior letters that are an anagram of a farm creature that is  provided with a home (actually a “house”). 

The remaining letters are an anagram of either one of the two two-word terms that are correct answers in the “six-circle illustration” at the left:

~ a term (beginning with an “m” and an “i”) that describes the cloud, and

~ a term (beginning with an “m” and a “c”) that describes the quarter.

What is the farm creature?

What are this pair of two-word terms?

Who is the prolific puzzle-maker?

(Hint: The “i” and “c” stand for 4-letter words that are anagrams of one another.)

(Note: The next six Entrees, #2 through #7, are creations from Nodd, who notes that the names of the duos in some of the answers are sometimes preceded by “The.” Ignore the “The” in solving.)

ENTREE #2

Think of a famous comedy duo. 

Their last name, minus the first letter, is a synonym of the nickname of another famous comedian. 

Who are the duo and the comedian? 

ENTREE #3

Name a famous musical duo in two words. Remove the last letter from the first word and rearrange the remaining letters of that word. 

The rearranged first word, followed by the second word, is the former name of a major consumer goods company. Who are the duo and what is the company? What is their name?

ENTREE #4

Name a famous musical duo. The last name of one, with a letter removed, is a food. 

The combined last names of both, with two letters removed, can be rearranged to spell another food. 

Who are the duo and what are the foods?

ENTREE #5 

Two comedy duos and a tech duo each had a member with the same last name. 

Who are these three duos?

ENTREE #6

The two-word name of a musical duo anagrams to the first name of an Indian actress and model and the last name of an American actress and singer. The Indian actress is deceased; the American actress is still living. Who are the duo and the two actresses?

ENTREE #7

Take the last names of two co-creators of a famous Broadway show featuring rock music. 

Remove two letters, and rearrange the rest to spell a word that often describes fans of rock musicians. 

Who are the co-creators, and what is the word?

ENTREE #8

“The magician ____ a ____ within his fist. After unclenching, his palm revealed a ____.” 

Each missing word contains four letters. Double the last letter of one of them. Rearrange these 13 combined missing letters to spell the first and last names of a prolific puzzle-maker.

Who is it?

What are the three missing words?

ENTREE #9

Name a famous two-word musical “girl group” duo that began as a trio. Then name a two-word rapper whose first word consists of letters that, when spelled out, are a synonym of “host for a program of entertainment.” The second words of the group and the rapper, together without a space, spell a “tool wielded with two hands.” 

The combined 8 letters of the first words, if you remove a letter that appears twice, are an anagram of a word for a “standard of measurement.”

Who are this girl group and rapper?

What are the “two-hand-held tool” and “standard of measurement?”

ENTREE #10

Use two words to name a pair of 19th-Century folklorists who collected, revised and published medieval legends and fairy tales. 

Name, also in two words, a popular 20th-Century psychologist who, via radio, television, print and other media, offered advice on child rearing, love, marriage, sex, etc.

The first word of the folklorists is the same as the second word of the psychologist. The first 80% of the folklorists’ second word (an adjective) and the first 60% of the psychologist’s first word (a noun) would form an oxymoron if placed side-by-side.

Who are these folklorists and this psychologist? What is the oxymoron?

Dessert Menu

Risqué  Dessert:

Instrument... or “In-strumpet?”

Replace a vowel in a musical instrument with the next vowel in the alphabet. 

Remove the fourth letter, leaving a space.
Switch the order of the two resulting words.

The result is a two-word term for risqué remote conversations.

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.

SuperZee's Imposing Posers! Who’s Afraid of Virgin Wool? Frozen Homophonic Fishin’ Scandalized, banned, manhandled! What cattle do (and a cat’ll do); Drawn and Quartered?

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Frozen Homophonic Fishin’

Take a pair of homophones, in six and five letters. Remove from each an identical pair of adjacent letters (like the “ri” in “write” and “right,” for example). 

What remains after those four letters are removed are seven different consonants. Add three vowels to this mix, then rearrange the result to spell what anglers might catch in a frozen lake and a tool they might use to gain access to the lake so that they can hook and haul in their very-coldwater catch.  

What are these homophones, this catch and this tool?

Appetizer Menu:

Eight Brainbreaking “Appeteasers:”

SuperZee’s Imposing Zarkinian Posers!

1. 📻Start with a two-word phrase (in seven and three letters) that one might see on the agenda for a business gathering.

Then, rearrange its letters for when and why one tunes in to NPR on Sunday morning.

2. 🙅🙈🙉🙊Rearrange the letters in a term describing a religious period, to get something some might consider sinfully good.

3. 🐈Rearrange the name of a famous American of the past to get:

A) a term some might use to describe a current figure, and

B) a affliction feared by cat owners.

4. 📰Take the given name of a person in the news. 

Rearrange it to get someone he/she may be spending a lot of time with.

5. ⚽Rearrange the title of a sports personality, to get what some fans think of his/her acts.

6. 🏈Take the name of a device cherished by some sports fans, rearrange to get how they like to use it.

7. 🐕🐹Imagine you were standing in front of
a collection of mirrors. 

Rearrange how you might describe the
experience to get a beloved pet.

8. 🏅Take a term describing an Olympic athlete; rearrange to get how his/her body might feel after competing.

MENU

BoFeVineLine Hors d’Oeuvre:

What cattle do (& a cat’ll do)

1st: Name something some cattle do.

2nd: Replace the final letter with a “w” to get what these cattle do – in effect, more or less – when they graze.

3rd: Replace the second letter of that second word with an “e” to get what a cat will do. 

4th: If you instead replace not the second letter but rather the first letter of that second word, you will again get something that some cattle do.

What are these four words?

Not-So-Nice Slice:

Scandalized, banned and manhandled!

Spoonerize the two-word name of a scandalous chapter in the annals of a professional sports to get what sounds like two terms from a different sport. 

Those two terms might be yelled, for example, by an exasperated coach: “A ____ ensues if nobody ______!” (although the coach would likely not use the verb “ensue”)

What is the two-word name of this scandalous chapter in sports, and what are these two sports-related terms?

Riffing Off Shortz And Michaels Slices:

Who’s Afraid of Virgin Wool?

Will Shortz’s March 1st NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Andrea Carla Michaels of San Francisco, California, reads:

Name a famous 20th century writer. Remove the last two letters of the first name and the last letter of the last name. The result will name a clothing material. What is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Michaels Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Louisa May Alcott, Katherine Anne Porter and  Laura Ingalls Wilder are a trio of talented, triply-named female authors. 

Take a triply-named female puzzle-maker. The first three letters of her middle name spell the first word of a two-word profession. 

To spell the second word of the profession,
take the 1st, 6th, 3rd, 4th, 5th letters of her surname, followed by the 2nd letter of her first name, followed by the 2nd and 3rd letters of her surname. 

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What is the profession?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are composed and contributed to Puzzleria! by our friend Nodd, author of “Nodd ready for prime time.”

ENTREE #2

Name a famous 19th-20th century English novelist and poet. 

The last two letters of this author’s middle name, followed without a space by the last name, spell a clothing material. 

Who is the writer and what is the material?

ENTREE #3

Take the last name of the writer in the preceding Entree. 

Add the first three letters of the first name of a famous 19th-20th century female American author. 

Rearrange to name a clothing material. 

Who are the writers and what is the material?

ENTREE #4

Name a famous 18th-19th century writer, first and last names. 

Rearrange the letters to name the first name of a former U.S. Poet Laureate and a clothing material. 

Who are the writer and poet, and what is the material?

ENTREE #5

Take the first and last names of the 18th-19th century writer in the preceding Entree and change the fourth letter of the last name to a D. 

Rearrange to spell the last name of a famous 20th century poet and an article of clothing. 

Who are the writers, and what is the article of clothing?

ENTREE #6

Think of two famous American writers, both of whom lived during the 19th and 20th centuries. Take the first name of the pen name of one, plus the last name of the other. 

There will be a duplicate letter as a result; remove one instance of it. 

Rearrange the remaining letters to name a clothing material. Who are the writers, and what is the material?

ENTREE #7

Take the last name of an award-winning 20th-21st century American author who was known for his writings about the African American experience. 

Between the second and third letters, insert a word for a type of poet. The result will name certain clothing materials. 

Who is the author, and what are the type of poet and the materials? 

Note: Entree #8 is composed and contributed to Puzzleria! by our friend Plantsmith, author of “Garden of Puzzley Delights.”

ENTREE #8

Name a 20th-Century American-British novelist. 

Remove letters 4 and 7 from the first name and the first letter from of the last name. The result is a haberdashery professional who specializes in working with a particular kind of material.

Who is this writer?

ENTREE #9

Name an author. Place a space within the first name and a question mark after it. Delete the middle name. 

Then, in the surname, transpose adjacent vowels, replace the first letter with a “D” and place an exclamation mark at the end.

The result is a three-word comment perhaps overheard at a truck stop (perhaps even at the “Cordial Teahouse” truck stop!) 

Who is this author?

What is the comment?

ENTREE #10

Name an author who lived more than a century, was a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine and served many years as one of its editors. He had been dubbed a “Babe Ruth” of sportswriters.

From his first name, delete the first letter, then transpose the last two letters. The result is a horrible, frighteningly monstrous demon. 

From the author’s surname, remove the last letter. The result is a compassionate and kindhearted heavenly creature.

Who is this author?

What are the demon and heavenly creature?

Dessert Menu

Pigmentary Dessert:

Drawn and Quartered?

Remove consecutive letters that spell a color from a longer word for a second color. 

Remove a letter from what remains and rearrange to spell a third color. 

Add an “o” to a noun that appears intact within the original color and rearrange the result slightly to spell a fourth color. 

What are these four colors?

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.