"It's two-thirds Greek to me!"; The Tao of a pooh-poohing pooh-bah; "We are quite the item in the bedroom!"; Land o' flip-flops; Beating the doldrums; Porkpie hats, windbags, and doodoo hiccups?

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e^{5 +} pi⁴ SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! It is now November, the ninth month of the year. Right, Latin lovers? Oops, no, you say? You say we should instead say: It is now Undecimber, the eleventh month of the year! (That seems faintly, Madly-Hatterly reminiscent of “A Very Merry Unbirthday To You!”)

The letters in Undecimber, of course, can be rearranged to form “I’d encumber,” “mice burden,” or “dice number.” The letters in what future “Latin lovers’ month” can be rearranged to form “demure bodice,” “mediocre bud,” “microbe dude,” or “morbid deuce”?

This week we serve up an “easy-peasy-greasy Greek (not Latin) morsel, two appetizers (one pseudoliterary, the other pseudopsychiatric), a slice of life in the bedroom, and, for dessert, a flip-flopping pigskin puzzle. 

(You might want to tackle this week’s second appetizer not with your fingers or a fork but with a spoon. For the dessert, perhaps a spork might be the appropriate approach... if we can agree to define “sporkerism” as a “flip-flop, or reversal, of compound word parts or syllables.”)

Morsel Menu

More Or Less Easy Morsel:

“It’s two-thirds Greek to me!”

Consider the three images shown here. 

What do they have in common?

Appetizer Menu

Books In The News Appetizer:

The Tao of a pooh-poohing pooh-bah

Consider a non-fiction book in the news this past week. The initial letters of the three-word title spell out a commercial product that uses a putty knife as a logo.

The initial letters of the first three words in the book’s subtitle spell out the word TAO. The fourth word is “of.” The remaining four words in the subtitle are the subject of the book.

 The book’s subject uses a seven-letter hyphenated modifier to describe a person she/he knows who has a six-letter surname. Rearrange those thirteen letters to spell out a two-word synonym – in 6 and 7 letters – of the oxymoronic phrase “equine hounds.” (The 6-letter adjective has a 5-letter alternative spelling.)

 

The book’s subject also uses a eight-letter modifier to describe another person he/she knows who has an eight-letter surname. Rearrange those sixteen letters to spell out a possible two-word synonym – in 8 and 8 letters – of “incense.” (The 8-letter second word has a 7-letter alternative spelling.)

What are the book’s title and subtitle? Who are the two persons the book’s subject describes, and what are the modifiers used to describe them? What are the two two-word synonyms of “equine hounds” and “incense” that are formed from the rearranged letters?

Tangled Up In Blues Appetizer:

Beating the doldrums

Amateur golfer Mr. Pat Potus had reason to have his dauber down. He competed in a tourney and didn’t even make the weekend cut after missing several under-two-foot gimme Pro-Am putts.

But his melancholia only intensified the following Monday when he stopped into the local Starbucks for his usual morning Mocha Latte pick-me-up. Pat left a two-buck tip, descended to the subway at a brisk clip, took a hefty sip… but did not smack his lip-to-lip. His Mocha drink was just not as chocolatey as usual. Indeed, it smacked faintly of roasted wheat bran and molasses.

Now, as a result, Mr. Potus felt really lowdown in the dumps, so dumped his Latte into a waste can and made an appointment with his psychiatrist.

“Doc, I’ve been a glum-and-gloomy-Gus ever since I was served A Mocha Latte that seemed to be diluted with some kind of roasty, wheaty-branny, molassessy kind of additive. What is your diagnosis?”

“Simple,” the Doc said. “That’s Psychiatry 101. You are obviously suffering from…

__ __ __ __ - __ __ __ __ __ __

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ !

What letters belong in the blanks?

Breaking News Appetizer:
Porkpie hats, windbags, and doodoo hiccups?

LegoNote: This appetizer is “three versions of the same puzzle in one.” All have the same four-syllable, breaking-news-subject answer. The first version of the three puzzles is the most difficult, I believe, and the third is the easiest. I recommend that you begin with the first version listed, only then to proceed to the second. Finally, proceed to the third, but only if you cannot cannot solve the first two versions.

In other, more confusing words, if thou art stumped, only then shalt thou count on Version Three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number on which thou shalt count, and the version-number of the counting on shall be Three. Version Four shalt thou not count on (it doesn't exist!) nor thou shalt count on Version Two (which, alas, stumpeth you!), excepting then that thou proceed to three. Version Five is right out!



1.) Each of the four images shown in this appetizer depicts a one-syllable word. Determine what the four syllables are and put them in the correct order to name a breaking news subject. What is this subject?

2.) Name a kind of pie (two words that precede the word “pie”). Replace a consonant with the letter following it alphabetically. 
Name a kind of hat  (a two-syllable word that precedes the word “hat”). Replace a consonant with a different consonant.

Wrap the two altered pie words around the altered two-syllable hat word. Remove two spaces and add a space in a different place to form a two-word breaking news subject. What is this subject?

3.) Complete the following four pairs of word beginnings, A through D. Each pair ends with the same one-syllable word:
A. 
flun...
doohic...
B.
mile...
cobble...
C.
wind...
bag...
D.
rec...
fe...

Put the four word ends in order, A through D, and remove two spaces to name a breaking news subject. What is this subject?

MENU

Specialty Of The Household Slice:

“We are quite the item in the bedroom!”

Name the plural form of a household item commonly found in bedrooms. Divide this word into two words and you will describe what these items might do to persons using them.

What are these household items?

Dessert Menu

Pigskin Party Dessert:

Land o’ flip-flops

A compound plural word describes what is depicted in two of the three images pictured here.

“Flip-flop” (that is, reverse the order of) the two parts of the compound word and say the result aloud to form a two-word description of the third image. Take this third-image description and move the “s” (but not the apostrophe) from the end of one of the two words to the end of the other word to form two words that when spoken aloud sound like a description of stories about athletic exploits that people in one of the first two images might be sharing with one another.

Hint: Probably two of the images, and perhaps all three, were photographed in one particular state.

What is the compound plural word? What are the two two-word descriptions?

Every Friday 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 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.

When pigs swim; Log roll call; Whopper-concocting Cockney; Trick 'n' treat..... 'n' toil 'n' trouble; The incredible edible legend; Swapping baseball cars

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e^{5 +} pi⁴ SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

Lots o’ tricky treats for you to solve this week. Oh yes, kids, lots of very scary stuff!

We’ve got birling, incredible edible legends, Cockneys, the inscrutable Orient, two World Series Series stars, and – as a special Halloween treat – a world-class world capital puzzle served up for dessert by skydiveboy, aka Mark Scott from Seattle:

Morsel Menu

Forest Morsel:

Log roll call

Consider the following list of trees: plum, oak, apple, palm, lemon, pine, willow,…

Examples of trees that do not belong on that list are:

One whose wood is used to fashion model airplanes,

One that is a homophone of a common pronoun,

One that is a homophone of a Mediterranean isle,

One that Larry Bird called himself before becoming a Celtic,

One that is a part of a president’s nickname and is also a word in a nursery rhyme

One that is a part of a Donovan song title

One that is a fruit-bearing tree that traditionally also occasionally bears a particular game bird.

Name one other tree that belongs on the list and one other tree that does not belong. Explain your choices.

Extra credit: Name all seven trees on the list of trees that do not belong on the list.

Hint: Those of you who have been following the National Puzzle Rumblings this past week may well have an advantage in solving this puzzle.

Hint: One of the trees on the original list is often associated with certain islands. Those islands are at the crux of knowing which trees do and don’t belong on the list.

Sx/Appetizer Menu

Who’s In The News Appetizer:

The incredible edible legend

Name a newsmaker from this past week. Replace the first letter on the person’s surname with something edible, in three letters, to name a legendary figure.

Who are the newsmaker and legendary figure?

Hint: Replace the second half of the first name with the first half of the surname and reverse the middle two letters of the result, forming a word. Place the second half of the second name after the second half of the first name, forming a word.

The first word formed is sometimes followed by “tell.” 

The second word formed is almost always followed by “Bator,” or else by “-Ude.”

Sports Page Appetizer:

Whopper-concocting Cockney

A sports-page story this past week contained two essential words, both uppercase. Rearrange the letters in those words to form a two-word description that pertains to both of the images pictured here. 

In the case of one image, the description is spelled as if it were spoken by a speaker of Cockney who is either lying or has no idea of what he is talking about.

What are the sports story words? What is the description of the images?

Hallow Eastern News Appetizer:

Trick ‘n’ treat…‘n’ toil ‘n’ trouble!

The gist of an Eastern Hemisphere news story this past week could be summarized in a four-word headline of 5, 6, 3 and 8 letters. The first word is a nation and the last word is plural, but without an S.

Add an S and U to the 22 letters and rearrange these 24 letters to form the following four words you might see and/or hear as you go out Halloween trick-or-treating Saturday evening:

1.) Shadowy figures cackling out in a moonlit cornfield (7 letters)

2.) A container which they are stirring (8 letters)

3.) A small mollusk they are dropping into the container (5 letters)

4.) The plaintive cry of a distant werewolf (4 letters) {Best alliterative lyric ever: “...Little old lady got multilated late last night...”}

What is the four-word headline? What are the four Halloween words?

MENU

Fall Classic Auto Part Slice:

Swapping baseball cars

Name two former Major League Baseball players who between them have played on eight World Series Championship teams.

Put their surnames together, older player first. Remove the letter from the exact center along with the newly formed space. The resulting word is standard equipment on most cars and trucks.

Who are these star Fall Classic ballplayers and what is the car part?

 Dessert Menu

Piece Of Napoleon-cake Dessert:

When pigs swim

(Puzzle courtesy of Mark Scott (skydiveboy) of Seattle, Washington):

Think of a word that describes a body of water. Now think of a word you might use to describe what pigs sometimes do. 

Put these two words together, in order, and phonetically you will name a capital city of a well-known country. What are these three?

Every Friday 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 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.

Marzipawn fit for a king; The sound and the furioso; Poodle skirts and Woods supporters; Jesus was a Capricorn... what's your sign?; Stormin' namin' nounin' Norman; Science is golden... ray shows

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e^{5 +} pi⁴ SERVED

Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!, our October 23 edition. 

Thanksgiving is still 34 days away (November 26), but we would like to take this time to thank all of you who have commented on and contributed to – and otherwise followed – our puzzle blog during the past 18 months. Without your contributions, interest and support, Puzzleria! is nothing – ZeroZipZilchleria!

One of our puzzles this week is prompted by a comment by charter Puzzlerian! David two weeks ago suggesting that I (okay, daring me to) make a puzzle out of the meerkat/monkey/llama zoo news story.

The puzzle I created was last week’s “Critters In The News Appetizer: IsosZOOles love triangle,” which involved men named “Boris,” including chess master Boris Spassky. This prompted a comment from skydiveboy, who knows his chess, about the legitimacy of a photo I ran of a guy I thought was Spassky.

Our exchange of comments reminded me of my own early infatuation with chess, and of the only chess puzzle I ever created, as a young’un. So, this past week I rummaged through my memory’s cobwebs, dredged up and dusted off my puzzle and recreated and packaged it as this week’s Dessert Menu puzzle: “Not The Whitest Piece On The Chessboard Dessert: Marzipawn fit for a king.”

I am probably not the first person to think up this particular chess puzzle, but I like to think I might be. Of course, I could Duck Duck Go or Google it to see but, because I want to continue basking in my ignorantly blissful afterglow, I shall not. 

After all, I did not perform a computer-search on it when I created it. Of course, that was back when the most sophisticated electronic appliance I owned was a Realtone 6-transistor radio – booty from my birthday. (My Realtone had no search engine function… but it did have a good pop song search function.)

Six transistors had my radio. Six puzzles has this Puzzleria!: 

One morsel, three weekly news-cycle appetizers, a specialty of the house slice… and marzipawn for dessert!

Morsel Menu

Emmy Morsel:

Stormin’ namin’ nounin’ Norman

Take a proper noun seen in today’s headlines. Take also the professional name (first and last) of a late Emmy-winning actor. Remove the final letter from the proper noun and insert it between the second and third letters of the final three letters of the actor’s name. Remove those four letters from the end of an actor’s name.

The letters remaining in the proper noun and in what’s left of the the actor’s name, when spoken aloud, sound the same. The four letters removed spell out a word very familiar to people, both late and living, surnamed Norman, Schwarzkopf, Battle, Sutherland, Price, and Farrell.

Hint: The first names associated with those surnames are not Greg, Norman, Kenny, Donald, David, and James T.

What is this proper noun and who is this actor?

Appetizer Menu

Safer Public In The News Appetizer:

Poodle skirts and Woods supporters

The following clues all have two-word answers that total 14 letters:

1. Those who fashion poodle skirts and bell-bottom jeans

2. Nickname of a Puritan named Williams?

3. What an extreme horror film make-up artist does to faces

4. Mightier motivation

5. Roy

6. Men, according to some

7. What an elementary school pupil perhaps does on an arithmetic test

8. Woods supporters

A public safety news story this past week might put a damper on Black Friday sales of certain items at stores like Toys R Us and Walmart. The story includes:

An 8-letter verb, and

A 6-letter plural noun.

The 14 letters in those two words can be rearranged to form the two words in each of the eight answers above.

What are the verb and noun in the story? What are the eight answers above?

Every Picture Tells A Story Appetizer:

Science is golden... ray shows

A science story from this past week included a nine-letter proper noun and eight-letter common noun.

The blanks in the phrase below represent a four-word, 17-letter description of the illustration pictured below in this puzzle. The letters in this description can be rearranged to form the letters in the science story words.

__

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

__ __ __ __ __

__ __

Hint:

The common noun in the science story can be divided to form a two-word description of insulin or Lasix.

The first three letters of the proper noun in the science story name an Irish band formed a bit more than a decade ago.

The next three letters name a Minnesotan band formed a bit more than two decades ago.

The final four letters of the proper noun in the science story name a Pennsylvanian band formed a bit more than three decades ago.

What are the two words in the science story and the four-word description of the illustration?

Signs And Wonders Appetizer:

Jesus was a Capricorn... what’s your sign?

An international news story this past week may have included the following phrase:

__ __ __ __ __ __’__  

__ __ __ __ __ __ 

__ __ __ __ __ __ __

All three words above are proper nouns. The first is possessive; the others are a man’s name.

 The letters in those words can be rearranged to form three different words:

1. A nine-letter noun for what the person was during August, September and almost two-thirds of October.

2. A five-letter word for a Roman god associated with a certain month; the man would likely prefer not to be associated with this this god because it smacks of duplicity due to being depicted often with an unusual anatomical distinction.

3. A six-letter word for how the man’s future wife might have responded when he first asked her, “What’s your sign?” (Had she asked him the same question, the man would have answered the same as his younger brother who is still alive.)

What is the three-word news story phrase? What are the three words they morph into?

MENU

Specialty Of The House Slice:

The sound and the furioso

Name a word for the sound a certain musical instrument makes. Remove one letter to produce an attribute a player of the instrument ought to have.

What are the sound and the attribute?

Dessert Menu

Not The Whitest Piece On The Chessboard Dessert:

Marzipawn fit for a king

What is the shortest chess game possible? That is, what is the minimum number of moves needed for a checkmate to occur? What are these moves?

In my answer, Black checkmates White. (White always makes the opening move, of course.) Thus, my answer must be an even number of moves.

Also, my answer requires that White make a move (or moves) that are not in White’s best interest. In other words, White plays into Black’s hands.

(Here is a link to a helpful chessboard tool that allows you to move chess pieces around, and even to play matches... just don’t play with matches!)

Every Friday 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 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.