Joseph Young's Puzzleria!

Friday, July 3, 2015

An all-the-fixin's fixture for the Fourth; Fad food for tads; "Waiter, there's a horsesh** in my dessert!"; Some gluttons lack remorse

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e⁵+7² SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! Happy Indy 4!

“Indy 4” is my proposed snappier alternative name for the great American holiday that we shall celebrate tomorrow. “Indy” is short for “Independence” and “4” is the July date on which the holiday falls.

Holidays ought to be breezy on syllables, and easy to pronounce… which becomes especially important after a holiday’s-worth of celebration (“Jappy Horth of Foo-lye! Lust jook at those wireforks!”)

Thanksgiving (3), Christmas (2), Easter (2), New Year’s Eve/Day (3), and Halloween (3) all qualify as having a breezily low syllable count. St. Patrick’s Day (4) and Valentine’s Day (4) are on the polysyllabic borderline, and could use some tinkering.

In need of a major overhaul, however, are “Independence Day” (5) and “The Fourth of July” (5), each fraught with five syllables. “Indy 4,” in contrast, quickly trips off one’s tongue triple-syllabically, lightly, fantastically.

And, if “Indy 4” fails to catch on nationwide, perhaps the city of Indianapolis can institute an annual July 4 four-mile go-kart race called “The Indy 4.”

We don’t have any timely Independence Day-themed puzzles this week. If you want such Puzzlerian! Patriotism, please refer to the Friday, July 4, 2014 Puzzleria! That should get you into the “Indy 4” spirit!

So, no fireworks here... but we do have one patriotic pseudo-puzzle slice to offer this week.

Patriotic Pseudo-Puzzle Slice

An all-the-fixin’s fixture for the Fourth

Name a food that will be a fixture on many Independence Day picnic tables this year, in four syllables. Remove the fourth of this July treat’s syllables.

The result is more-or-less an approximate rhyme of a popular arcade game. And it is more-less-than-more an approximate rhyme of a popular music genre.

What are this food, game and music genre?

(Hint: This food has lately been in the news. It contains eight different letters, but no P’s.)

Now it is time for you to mind your P’s (Puzzles) and Q’s (Quizzes) that appear on our Indy 4 picnic table. Yeah, it’s just a picnic but we’ll still bring you a…

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Village Smithy Slice:

“Waiter, there’s a horsesh** in my dessert!”

Change the last letter of a dessert to name something you would not want to find in that dessert. Remove the first name of a critically acclaimed eclectic guitarist, and move the letters that came before the name to the end of the letters that came after the name, forming a word for a person who handles horseshoes or horsehides.

What is the dessert? Who is the person?

Red Swingline Slice:

Fad food for tads

Name a fad popular in the 20^th century. Remove all spaces between words and change the last letter to a different letter.

Insert a space somewhere in the result to form a two-word phrase toddlers might use to name a staple of their diet.

What are the fad and the phrase?

Guilted Palace Of Sin Slice:

Some gluttons lack remorse

Name a natural food. Change one of the letters to the letter that follows it in the word, and remove either the penultimate or antepenultimate letter.

The result is what you might eventually become if you eat too many pastries made using this food, pack on a few too many pounds and, as a result, drift into a deep lachrymose funk.

What is the food, and what might you become?

Every Friday at Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! 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 Tuesdays to post your answers and explain your hints about the puzzles. We serve up at least one fresh puzzle every Friday.

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.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Moon, June, Spoonerize; Take the A Track Train?; Blank verse; Minimizing your edges

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e^{5 +}5² SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

In last week’s Puzzleria! comments section, commenter David responded to our long and Short(z) riddles with three riddles of his own. All three confounded us (until he mercifully hammered us over the head with hints).

David’s third riddle, here paraphrased and made a bit easier, was:

What is a mathematical term, in the plural, that could also be a description of male conjoined twins, in certain circumstances, for example, on a sunny beach?

The answer is a trisyllabic nine-letter word. (To see it, refer to David’s June 25 at 9:18 AM post in last week’s Comments section.)

David’s answer reminded me of a mnemonic device I devised back in high school trigonometry class. I was having trouble recalling which ratios of which sides of a right triangle corresponded to the sine, cosine and tangent functions of their angles: sin 0, cos 0, tan 0, where 0 = the Greek letter theta. (Please imagine horizontal lines bisecting these oval characters, thereby rendering them as thetas.)

The sine (abbreviated “sin”) of an angle theta (0), for example, is the ratio of the side Opposite the angle to the Hypotenuse.

Thus: sin 0 = O/H

The cosine (cos) of 0 is the ratio of the side Adjacent the angle 0 to the Hypotenuse. So, cos 0 = A/H

The tangent (tan) of 0 is the ratio of the side Opposite the angle 0 to the side Adjacent the angle. So, tan 0 = O/A

So, to recall these three functions I thought:

We might respond to someone committing a sin(e) by exclaiming, OH!

A variant spelling of “cozy” is “cosy.” One who is cos(y) might respond by contentedly sighing, AH!

We might find a tan(gent) luxuriating on a desert OAsis.

In other geometric activity, the excellent “Futility Closet” blog recently ran a “Cubic Route” puzzle. Not too tough, but fun enough. The puzzle and answer can be found here. The puzzle, sans answer, is reprinted below:

You are planning to make a wire skeleton of a cube by arranging 12 equal lengths of wire and soldering them at the corners.

It occurs to you that you might be able to simplify the job by using one or more longer lengths of wire and bending them into right angles at the cube’s corners.

If you adopt that plan, what is the minimum number of corners where soldering will still be necessary?

We created a twist on this fine puzzle – one that could well include hands-on solving with chalk, paper and scissors, if you wish:

Piggyback Futility Closet Slice:

Minimizing your edges

You are planning to make a hollow cube by taping 6 one-inch squares of cardboard together.

It occurs to you that you might be able to simplify the job by cutting a six-square-inch pattern from a piece of cardboard, folding it into a cube, and taping together any edges that are not already folded at right angles to form an edge.

If you adopt that plan, what is the minimum number of edges where taping will still be necessary?

After scissoring-out and folding several six-square-inch cardboard patterns, only to achieve identical minimum-number-of-edges results, I grabbed a piece of cardboard from the bathroom, did some scissoring, and reduced by one my minimum number of edges in which taping was necessary. I could have grabbed a piece of cardboard from the kitchen that also would have worked.

What cardboard item did I grab from the bathroom?

(Note: The the sides of the cube I formed from the cardboard I grabbed from the bathroom are actually a bit larger than one inch square. The sides are just shy of 1.4 inches square.)

Now let us shift from a geometrical puzzle to a mere metrical puzzle... metrical feet, that is:

Wireless Trisyllabic Slice:

Blank Verse

I wrote the verse below many years ago as I listened to my portable radio while studying after-hours in an empty third-floor room of my college’s Quadrangle. (Okay, okay. I know. “Quadrangle” is geometrical, not merely metrical.)

The two words in the blanks each contain three syllables – and ten and nine letters, respectively. The rhyme scheme is abab (not ABBA, or ABACAB):

My Radio

Two dials has my radio: One, volume; Two, fine-tuning,

But when I turn the first one up, damn thing begins __________!

So then the second dial I turn, and finest tunes are all I hear.

But if I click the first one off, my radio shall _________!

What words should fill in the two blanks?

Too easy? Then perhaps the puzzles on this week’s menu will draw a few blank expressions:

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Vinylla Sublime Slice:

Take the A Track Train?

Audio cassettes and 8-track audio cartridges competed with vinyl records as a recorded music format in the late 1960s, 1970s and into the 1980s.

The title of a best-selling album during that period might have been construed as a subliminal advertisement for the 8-track and cassette formats over the vinyl record format. (By “subliminal” is meant that the message presumably promoting cassettes and 8-track cartridges was somehow camouflaged within the wording of the album title.)

What is this album title? What is the camouflaged message?

Prisoners Of Our Own Device Slice:

Moon, June, Spoonerize

Name a device (in two words, a short word followed by a longer one) that might eliminate the need to comb through parking lots or sofa cushions before you can start your car.

“Spoonerize” those words (for example, if you spoonerize “puzzle mart,” it becomes “muzzle part”) to name a profession, in one word, that involves combs.

What are this device and this profession?

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.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Literary "crittercism"; Re-seeding the final four; Frames of preference

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e^{5 +}5² SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! We have long been rid of winter. We shall very shortly be rid of spring. It must be time for a “long” riddle and a “Shortz” riddle:

1. How is a season that many of us long for like a snake that many of us loathe?

2. What is the difference between the inspiration for the Frisbee and a possible inspiration for the bling given to the triumphant puzzle solvers of Will Shortz’s National Public Radio Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle?

Speaking of Dr. Shortz’s NPR puzzle, this was his offering this week:

Think of an adjective that describes many shampoos. Add the brand name of a shampoo in its basic form. The result, reading the letters in order from left to right, will name a famous musician. Who is it?

You can find the answer here or here.

We posted a “knock-off” puzzle (also known as a “piggyback” puzzle) to this NPR puzzle in the comments section of last week’s Puzzleria! We reprint it here, and will reveal the answer in a day or two in our comments section unless someone beats us to it:

Think of an adjective that describes some shampoos. Add the brand name of a shampoo. The result, reading the letters in order from left to right, is the last name of a not-at-all-very-famous musician and the name of a not-at-all-very-famous band in which he played bass.

What are the adjective and the shampoo? Who are the bassist and the band?

Hint: The adjective is also a cash crop. Removing one letter from the shampoo brand results in a deplorable word, a form of which appeared in the title of a Vladimir Nabokov novel.

Speaking of world-class “shampioonship” puzzle makers, we are treated this week to another bonus morsel baked up by our Master Gourmet French Puzzle Chef “Monsieur Garcon du Parachutisme,” also known as “skydiveboy,” and also known as Mark Scott of Seattle, Washington.

Bonus Every Pair Of Pictures Tells A Story Slice:

Frames of Preference

Which of these photos do you like best and why might they remind you of a popular entertainer of the past?

Who is it?

Hint: It is not anyone in the photos, nor is it anyone connected to a Wild West show.

Merci beaucoup, Monsieur. Another excellent serving of gourmet questionMarksmanship. And now, for a few servings of popular puzzling entertainment of the present, we present this week’s…

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Unidentified Flying Creatures Slice:

Literary “crittercism”

Take the name of a well-known fictional character, in three syllables.

The first syllable is a flying critter. The third syllable is a homophone of a flying critter. The second syllable, if you insert one of the letters of the word “second” within it, is the plural form of a flying critter.

Who is this fictional character? What are these critters?

Reversal Of Forenut Slice:

Re-seeding the final four

Reversing the order of the final four letters of certain words results in a different word. Two examples of five-letter words with this quality are “plate” and “sloop” (which become “petal” and “spool”).

Can you think of a six-letter word with this quality? We can think of one.

Can you think of words of more than six letters that have this quality? We can think of one. It has twelve letters.

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.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Circuitously-to-television movie; Tea & Nidol; Best Beltway seller

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 13² SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! ‘Tis the Twelfth, not of Nevember but of June.

This past week’s National Public Radio Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle by Will Shortz went something like this:

“Name a famous person in Washington, D.C. – 7 letters in the first name, 5 letters in the last. Drop the last sound in the last name. The result – phonetically – will be the first and last name of a famous living entertainer. Who is it?”

In our opinion, depending on how Will defines “sound” and “famous,” there will be either one or two legitimate answer(s).

The famous Washingtonian in Will’s likely intended answer is a member of the president’s Cabinet. The famous Washingtonian in a possible alternative answer is a member of the Senate.

Here is a “piggyback” puzzle to Will Shortz's Sunday offering. Alternative answers are encouraged:

National Radio Public Slice:

Best Beltway Seller

Name a famous person in Washington, D.C. – 8 letters in the first name, 5 letters in the last. Remove the name of a fashion/lifestyle magazine that appears in the person’s first name and place a “t” in the center of what remains, forming a new first name.

Change a vowel in the person’s last name to a consonant and rearrange the result to form a new last name. These new names belong to an American best-selling author.

Who are these two people?

In her June 8 at 10:17 PM comment last week, Puzzleria! poster ViolinTeddy invoked the name of Sir Lawrence Olivier, who eventually became Lord Olivier. It reminded me of a doggerelical quatrain I wrote years ago:

Degrees of Olivity

Lord Lawrence, whom oodles of lady leads kissed,

Was more of an Olive than Oliver Twist,

Who in turn was more Olive than Popeye’s best goyle…

Though of all had her hair the Oliviest coyle!

ViolinTeddy’s comment also prompted me to compose an equally god-awful version one of those “St. Peter at the Pearly Gates” jokes:

It is July 11, 1989. Lord Lawrence Olivier approaches St. Peter at the Pearly Gates of Heaven. A few others are milling about including a scruffy bearded fellow in sandals and a robe with a big honkin’ halo hovering above his head.

St. Peter invites Olivier to take a seat in the Pearly Gate lobby and proceeds to thumb through some scrolls that presumably document accounts of the lives of the heaven-or-hell-bound. Olivier takes a seat and thumbs through a recent Variety magazine. The bearded dude sits down next to Olivier and thumbs through an old dog-eared Time magazine with the words “Is God Dead?” on the cover.

After a few minutes St. Peter peers over his spectacles in the direction of Olivier and the bearded dude, and says, “Lord, I’m not sure where this guy should go, up or down. What do you think?”

“Well,” Olivier replies, “judging from his choice of reading material, I’m inclined to say he would have to go down.”

“I beg your pardon,” St. Peter says, “I was talking to Jesus.”

Enough with the funny business. Enough with the doggerel. Enough with the pearls of pretentious pseudo-wisdom. It is time to enjoy some pearls of puzzledom:

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And Per Se And Slice

Circuitously-to-television movie

Take a movie with an ampersand (&) in its title and change the & to an “and.” From this result delete two strings of three consecutive letters each to reveal the name of a character on a past television situation comedy. What is this movie and who is this sitcom character?

Hint: The six deleted letters can be rearranged to form the first six letters of a large U.S. city. The remaining letters of the city spell out the first two letters of two other characters in the sitcom.

Devil’s Workshop Slice

Tea &Nidol

Add to the end of the first name of a former teen idol a physical feature that likely added to the idol’s popularity. Remove the initial letter from the result to form a term for people this idol worked with and dated.

Who is the idol? What is the physical feature? Who are the people the teen idol worked with and dated?

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.

Friday, July 3, 2015

An all-the-fixin's fixture for the Fourth; Fad food for tads; "Waiter, there's a horsesh** in my dessert!"; Some gluttons lack remorse

Friday, June 26, 2015

Moon, June, Spoonerize; Take the A Track Train?; Blank verse; Minimizing your edges

Friday, June 19, 2015

Literary "crittercism"; Re-seeding the final four; Frames of preference

Friday, June 12, 2015

Circuitously-to-television movie; Tea & Nidol; Best Beltway seller

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