Literarily Speaking Parts 1&2, Political Name-Calling, Spoonerizing Stars, Poetry Corner, Initial Impressions; Palindrome, gland & New England; A pair of parts and apparitions; Flippin’ through Merriam-Webster; Silver screen, Mandalorian steel; Sweet-but-healthful Heath Bar?

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Flippin’ through Merriam-Webster

Print a four-syllable noun in lowercase letters. 

Flip one of its letters 180-degrees along its x-axis. 

The result is the three-syllable noun that is the second word in the four-syllable noun’s Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition. 

What are these two words? 

Appetizer Menu

“Nodding Approval” Appetizer:

Poetry Corner, Spoonerizing Stars, Political Name-Calling Initial Impressions, Literarily Speaking Parts 1&2, 

LITERARILY SPEAKING

1. Guess the names of these well-known writers:

a. “Clubby” American novelist.

b. American diplomat and author of an
autobiography.

c. American essayist best known for children’s books.

d. English journalist and novelist with an
alliterative pen name.

e. Elegiac English poet.

f. American standup comic, one of whose book titles had to be euphemized.

g. Best-selling author of novels with religious themes.

h. English novelist who wrote about a character with the same last name as the author in the previous entry.

What do the surnames of the first seven writers have in common, phonetically, with the surname of the eighth author?

SPOONERIZING PERFORMERS

2. For each entry below, spoonerize the name of a well-known actor to get a two-word phrase with the definition given. (Disclaimer: May contain bad puns):

a. Uninterested baton.

b. Dashes in Morse Code.

c. Crude body part.

d. Make Englander more comfy.

e. Sharpened fruity confection.

f. Wal-Mart employee installs a sidewalk.

g. Untethered cheese.

h. Determine mass of a pet food company.

i. High-ranking female’s DNA component.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

3. The initial letters of the words in the title of a 1970s American novel spell the first word in the title. 

The initial letter of that word is also the initial letter of the author’s last name. And the same word is also the last word in a previous novel by the same author, to which the later novel is a sequel. 

What are the novels, and who is the author?

POLITICAL NAME-CALLING

4. Think of a well-known 1970s film. 

The two-word title consists of the first names of two politicians who ran against each other in a memorable election. 

If you say the title out loud, the result sounds like what mourners did after the death of one of the politicians. 

What film is it?

LITERARILY SPEAKING, PART TWO 

5. Think of one of the most widely read American writers of the early 20th century. One of her novels takes its title from a word for a large mythical being. Another of her novels has as its title a two-word phrase that describes such a mythical being. 

The letters in this writer’s first and last names
can be rearranged to spell (1) the last name of another American writer of the 20th century and (2) a two-word phrase describing this second writer’s philosophy as expressed in her novels. Her best-known novel includes in its title the name of another large mythical being.

Who are the two writers, and what are the three novels and the second writer’s philosophy?  

POETRY CORNER, BY ANNA GRAHAM

6. Form four words using the same letters to complete the verse:

The ______ frame this ______ place,

Where ______ young couples fell from grace,

Sought solace from the heated pace,

Of searching ______ making chase.

MENU

Melodramatic Hors d’Oeuvre:

Silver screen, Mandalorian steel

Name a past film actor and who appeared in cinematic crime melodramas. Anagram these letters to spell the workshop used to shape Mandalorian steel. 

Who is this actor. 

What is the workshop?

Hint: The birthplace of this actor is a neighborhood that is an anagram of the combined letters of “etch,” “shell” and “ink.”

Cinematic Slice:

A pair of parts and apparitions

Take the first name of an actress whose first movie part was in a 1940s feature with a title beginning with the plural form of a synonym of “apparition.” 

Also take the first name of an actor who starred in a 1940s movie ending with the singular form of that synonym. 

Together, without a space, they spell a legendary island. 

Who are this actress, actor and island?

Riffing Off Shortz And Krozel Slices:

Palindrome, gland & New England

Will Shortz’s October 6th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Joe Krozel of Creve Coeur, Missouri, reads:

Think of a place in America. Two words, 10 letters altogether. The first five letters read the same forward and backward. The last five letters spell something found in the body. What place is this?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Krozel Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Write down or type, in order:

* a character portrayed by Jack Nicholson;

* a fictional city that shares a nickname in common with Seattle, Sydney and Eugene; and

* a word that precedes “Salvador” and “Paso.” 

The first, second and fourth letters of the result spell the first name of a puzzle-maker. The remaining letters, in order, spell his last name.

What are this character, city, nickname and word? Who is the puzzle-maker?

(Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the handiwork of our friend Nodd, whose “Nodd ready for prime time” is also featured in this edition of Puzzleria!)

ENTREE #2

Take the name of a midwestern U.S. city. Two words, seven letters altogether. The first five letters read the same forward and backward. 

The last two letters, plus a “G”, spell a part of the body. 

What is the city?

ENTREE #3

Take the name of a city in the eastern U.S. in nine letters. 

The first four letters read the same forward and backward. 

The last four letters, read backward, spell something one might see in a rural part of the state in which the city is located. 

What is the city?

ENTREE #4

Take the name of a city in the western U.S. in ten letters. 

The first three letters read the same forward and backward. 

The first five letters spell a famous place located in an adjoining state. 

What is the city?

ENTREE #5

Take the name of a city in the western U.S. in nine letters. 

The first four letters read the same forward and backward. 

Change the last vowel in the name to a different vowel, and the last four letters will also read the same forward and backward. 

What is the city?

ENTREE #6

Take the name of a city in the western U.S. 

It consists of two words, ten letters in total. 

The The second-through-fourth letters read the same forward and backward.

Remove the last vowel in the name, and rearrange what are now the last six letters to spell a word that describes the U.S. 

What are the city and the word that describes the U.S.?

ENTREE #7

Take the name of a city in the western U.S. Two words, ten letters total. 

Remove the first letter of each of the two
words. 

The name will now read the same forward and backward. 

What is the city?

ENTREE #8

Think of an oxymoronic phrase that consists of a three-letter adjective and a seven-letter plural proper noun. 

The first five letters read the same forward and backward. The last five letters can be rearranged to spell things found on the bodies of many animals... including, occasionally, human animals like Fred Astaire! 

What phrase is this? 

What things can be found on the bodies of many animals and, occasionally, Mr. Astaire?

Hint: Letters number 4, 5 and 6 spell a common Internet acronym.

ENTREE #9

Think of a landlocked nation. One word, 10 letters altogether. 

The first five letters read the same forward and
backward. 

The last five letters can be rearranged to spell either one of two negative contractions.

What is this nation? 

What are the contractions?

ENTREE #10

Think of a place in America. Two words, 13 letters altogether. 

Eight consecutive letters read the same forward and backward. 

The remaining letters can be rearranged to spell things found on the bodies of many animals. 

What place is this?

Hints:

“Life on the Mississippi”

“Abe vs. Steve”

“Just shy of 9 feet”

ENTREE #11

Take a word for a riddle whose answer involves a pun (for example, “Why didn’t the lost hikers starve in the desert? Because of the sand which is there.”)

Remove a palindromic word for a profession from the interior of this word (a palindromic word that rhymes with a word in the first sentence of this puzzle). 

The letters that
remain, without rearrangement, spell an entree you might order at a restaurant and a beverage that may complement it.

What is this word for a riddle?

What is the palindromic word for a profession?

What are the entree and beverage?

ENTREE #12

Think of a place in America founded by an evangelical minister and faith healer. Two words, 12 letters altogether. The first word smacks of Israel. 

Ten consecutive letters in this place read the same forward and backward. The remaining
two letters, if you rotate either one 180-degrees around the y-axis on a graph, will somewhat resemble the other one (like, for example, a lowercase b resembles a lowercase d when so rotated). 

What place is this?

ENTREE #13

Think of a place in America. Two words, 14 letters altogether. 

The first six letters spell a word associated with a “Swamp Fox.” 

Ten consecutive letters in this place read the same forward and backward. The remaining four letters, in order, spell the name of a mythological deity. 

What place is this?

What is the word associated with a “Swamp Fox?”

What is the name of the mythological deity? 

Dessert Menu

“Hydrosomatic” Dessert:

Sweet-but-healthful Heath Bar?

Name a two-word sweet yet healthful food. 

Remove the space and replace a vowel with a
new vowel to name a body of water. 

What are this food and body of water?

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 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. 

Twenty Gritty Homony(m) Riffs; “There’s still life in this palette!” “You too can be a toucan mascot!” From “Superman” to “Uperman?” Deafening Forestry fireworks! Holy wedlocked wholly headlocked

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED 

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“There’s still life in this palette!”

The artist was just a tad dissatisfied with the still-life scene she was painting, so she decided to (blank) a (blank). 

The first blank contains a hyphenated word. The second blank contains two words. 

Both blanks contain the same letters in the same order. 

Fill in the blanks.

Appetizer Menu

Blankety-Blank Appetizer:

Twenty Gritty Homony(m) Riffs

I’ll give you a sentence with two different missing words, but the two missing words are
spelled the same.

1) When Jeff gets too tired to finish, he ____ some of the _____ to be raked for another day.

2) The jeweler likes to set out ____ of ____ in his display cases.

3) As the end of her shift at the Goodyear
Store approaches, Mary ____ of mounting _____.

4) The clumsy sailor dropped a ___ of cards on the ____.

5) Staring out over the water, Mary loved the ____ of rain falling into the ____.

6) Afraid he’d miss his ride, Sam kept a close
___ on his _____.

7) Accepting responsibility, Paula was ____ with having to pay her parking _____.

8) While _____ up in the county jail, Bill ____ a letter to his sweetheart every day .

9) To ____ his dog’s illness, Mike placed Spot’s pill in a _____.

10) The sound of the ____ was mesmerizing, causing Diane to lose her _____ of thought.

11) After taking a woodworking class, Jan ___ he’d been using his ____ improperly.

12) It took Sally 15 minutes to find a place to ____ near the dog _____.

13) When the ____ broke the string to his kite, Paul had to _____ the string up for another day.

14) In a good year, Jack’s farm can _____ enough ______ to feed hundreds.

15) To start a job search, Jill had to _____ working on her _____.

16) Because of a war _____ Sam _____ up
collecting a disability pension.

17) The old prospector ____ the way to the _____ mine.

18) When he heard a storm was _____, Larry made a point to ______all the windows.

19) The milliner loved her work and the way
_____ ______.

20) The editor was ____ with the ____ of Stephanie’s article.

MENU

Matrimony & Acrimony Hors d’Oeuvre:

Holy wedlocked, wholly headlocked

“You reap what you sow, you cheap ape!” yelled an upset and exasperated wife at her “worse half.”  

What five words in that red-lettered paragraph are associated obliquely with an anagram of “Thinner Sumo?” 

What is that anagram of “Thinner Sumo?”

Cacophonous Quatrain Slice:

Deafening Forestry fireworks

Tack a consonant onto the end of a tree,

Place a space someplace forming two words (but not three!)

The result will a raucous cacophony be! 

What's the name of this tree and its cacophony?

Riffing Off Shortz And Guy Slices:

“You too can be a toucan mascot!”

Will Shortz’s September 29th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Curtis Guy of Buffalo, New York, reads:

Name a certain breakfast cereal character. Remove the third, fifth, and sixth letters and read the result backward. You’ll get a word that describes this breakfast cereal character. What is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Guy Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Name a certain puzzle-maker, first and last names. Remove the fifth and sixth letters and read the result backward. Place the first letter of a short synonym of “all right” after the third letter of this result and last letter of the short synonym after the last letter of the result. 

The final result is a caption for either of the images pictured here.

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What is the caption?

Note: Entree-Riffs #2-through-#7 were created by Nodd, author of “Nodd Ready for prime time.”

ENTREE #2

Name two breakfast cereal characters, in reverse alphabetical order. Change the third letter to an “i” and remove the first letter. 

Read the result backward to get the first word in the name of a third character, one associated with food products that are often used in preparing breakfast but are not cereals. 

What are these three characters?

ENTREE #3

Remove three letters from the name of a breakfast cereal character. 

Rearrange the remaining letters to get the first word in the name of a fast food company. Who is the character, and what is the fast food company?

ENTREE #4

Divide the name of a breakfast cereal character into two parts without rearranging. 

The first part is the last name of a well-known comedian. The second part is a food you might put on your breakfast cereal. 

What are the cereal character, the comedian, and the food you might put on your cereal?

ENTREE #5

Name a breakfast cereal character. Remove the next-to-last letter and add a copy of the second letter to the end of the name. Follow this with the name of a fast food character. You’ll get the brand name of a snack food. 

What are the cereal character, the fast food character, and the snack food?

ENTREE #6

Name a character featured in ads for a brand of snack foods. 

The letters in the second half of the character’s name can be rearranged to get two verbs that are synonyms. 

Who is the character, and what are the verbs?

ENTREE #7

Name a character featured in the ads for a brand of food products. Remove one letter and rearrange the others to get a produce item. 

The first part of the produce item contains, in order, the name of a different brand-name food. 

What are the character, the produce item, and the brand-name food?

ENTREE #8

Spell the name of a certain breakfast cereal character backward. 

Remove “a rag” from the result. What remains
is a kind of puzzle. 

Who is this character? What is the puzzle?

ENTREE #9

Place side-by-side in reverse alphabetical order the names of a pair of breakfast cereal
characters who pitch the same brand. 

Replace the “a” with an “i”. Spell the result backwards (for example, “puzzle” would become “elzzup”).

The final result is the surname of a fictional English nanny.

Who are this pair of breakfast cereal characters. 

Who is the fictional English nanny?

ENTREE #10

Spell the name of a certain breakfast cereal character in reverse. 

The first three letters of the result spell a creature likely never seen in the vehicle spelled by the next three letters of the result. 

The last three letters of the result, however, spell a homophone of a vehicle where this creature was very likely seen in during diluvian days.

Who is this character?

What is the creature? 

What are the two vehicles?

ENTREE #11

Spell the name of a certain breakfast cereal character in reverse order. Replace the last letter of the result with a duplicate of the  second letter of the result. 

Remove the third, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth letters of the result (which can be rearranged to spell a word that means “not abridged, curtailed, or expurgated.” The remaining letters spell a synonym of aqua vitae or John Barleycorn.

Who is this character?

What is the word that means “not abridged, curtailed, or expurgated?”

What is the synonym of “aqua vitae” or “John Barleycorn?”

ENTREE #12

Name a certain breakfast cereal character. Remove the third, sixth, ninth and tenth letters. You’ll get a vacation destination and spring-break haven in Mexico. 

What are this breakfast cereal character and Mexican vacation destination?

Hint: The four letters you removed are the only consonants in a six-letter word for what pastors do or a five-letter word for what birds do.

Dessert Menu

“Look, Up In The Sky!” Dessert:

 From “Superman” to  “uperman?”

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. 

Superman is famous for wearing an “S” on his chest. 

But explain how Superman, in his flight from the 1950s into the latter decades, lost his “S”.

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 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.