“CapCity Country Consonants... Carne Asada!”; “Benjaminian Wisdom”; A Guy, Gal & Young’un with “AsparagusSpears” Aspirations?; “Touchstone?” “Touchback?” “Pooh Office?”; Legal (Philadelphia) Eagles?; Song casts a spell, runs through your head, plants a “synonymphony!”; “Devillainous“ Domesticity?; “Farawayfaring Celestial Wanderers!”; “Overcome hum-drum, subdue the sobs”; “Neither a burrower nor a spender be!”

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Song casts a spell, runs through your head, plants a “synonymphony!”

Replace the second word in the title of a jazz standard with a homophone of that word. Delete letters from the first word that spell a spelling contest and a running contest, leaving letters that spell a synonym of the homophone. 

What are this song title, two contests, homophone and synonym?

Appetizer Menu

Delightfully Puzzley Appetizer:

“CapCity Country Consonants... Carne Asada!”; “Benjaminian Wisdom”; A Guy, Gal & Young’un  with “AsparagusSpears”Aspirations?; “Touchstone?” “Touchback?” “Pooh Office?”; Legal (Philadelphia) Eagles?

“CapCity Country Consonants... Carne Asada!”

1. Name a capital city and its country. Interchange two consonants in the city. Place a space within the country. The result is a
three-word order you might place at a Latin-themed restaurant.

What are this capital city, country and three-word order?

“Benjaminian Wisdom”

2. “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” is a famous proverb popularized by Benjamin Franklin in his 1736 publication of Poor Richard’s Almanack. It has since become part of the Puritan work ethic lexicon, according to

Plantsmith, author of the following puzzle about the proverb:

Rearrange the 16 different letters in the proverb: – A B D E H I K L M N O R S T W Y – to spell the missing words in the image pictured here.

A Guy, gal & young’un with “AsparagusSpears” Aspirations?

3. Name a popular athlete who has been in the news of late. Replace an “i” in his name with either the first or final letter in a homophone of “i”. Replace a

“K” in his name with a letter adjacent to “K” in the alphabet.

Rearrange the letters of the result to spell the name of a popular actor associated with an anagram of “coffee hit.”

Who are this athlete, actor and anagram of “coffee hit?”

“Touchstone?” “Touchback?” “Pooh Office?”                                4. Take a word that forms the first part of compound words ending “stone” or “back,” or that follows, after a space, the word “Pooh.”

Place a vowel to the middle of this word to get an occupation.

Finally, just gently mix the occupation to get a genre of musical performer.

What are this compound word part, occupation and musical performer?

Legal (Philadelphia?) Eagles5. Take a legal term, double a consonant, add an “A” and place three spaces within the word to get what sounds like something certain NFL players have done after scoring touchdowns. Hint: Tim Tebow

MENU:

Solar Systematic Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Farawayfaring Celestial Wanderers!”

A. The _ _ _ was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. Its red, white, black and green flag featured two stars but no _ _ _.  Rearrange the letters in those six blanks to spell the name of a heavenly body that is a neighbor of the stars.

B. Write a song about a planet... In other words, _ _ _ a _ _ _ _ about a planet. What is the planet?

C. _ _ _ _ _ ROT-3 = _ _ _,  _ _ _ _ _  &  _ _ _.

“Mixed-Blessing Slice”

“Overcome hum-drum, subdue the sobs”

Name, in two words, a wonderfully welcome interruption in your perhaps otherwise humdrum day... especially if it is initiated by a friend whose company and conversation you enjoy. Transpose the initial sounds of those two words. The result sounds like a “sob-spawning” mishap that a “young’un” may undergo – especially if it involves a “triple-scooped” confection... one that does not involve vanilla!

What is this humdrum-day interruption?

What is the “sob-spawning” mishap?

Riffing Off Shortz And Ellison Entrees:

Devillainous Domesticity?

Will Shortz’s August 16th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, from James Ellison of Jefferson City, Missouri, reads:

Think of a famous movie villain. Insert one letter to get the brand name of a household product. Then change one letter of the product to get the last name of another famous movie villain. Who are the characters and what is the product?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Ellison Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Take the first name of a puzzle-maker. The middle letter is a Roman numeral. Place to its right the Roman numeral that follows it (a Roman numeral whose Arabic equivalent is a palindrome). The result is an informal plural word for nightwear. 

The letters in the puzzle-maker’s surname can be rearranged to spell a 3-letter point total a soccer team mayend up with, and what, in four letters, that team will then do.

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What are the nightwear, and what the team will do?

Entrees #2 through #7 are riffy conundrums drummed-up/dreamt-up by our friend and riffmeister extraordinaire, Nodd.

ENTREE #2

Think of a famous movie villain. The last name of the performer who played this villain is the also the last name of another movie villain. And the last name of the first villain is also the middle name of a real-life villain. Who are these people?

ENTREE #3

Take the last name of an actress who played the villain in a 2016 comedy/drama film. Add one letter and rearrange to get the last name
of the villain in a 1975 comedy/drama film. 

The first name of the 1975 villain is the same as the first name of the villain in a musical comedy TV series that aired in 2021-23. Who are the actress and the three villains?

ENTREE #4

Think of two movie villains with the same first name. 

The last five letters of one villain’s last name, followed by the other villain’s last name with one letter removed, describe the dwelling place of the villain in a Grimm’s fairy tale. Who are these three villains?

ENTREE #5

Think of the villain in a 2022 psychological thriller film. This villain’s first name is the same as the first name of the villain in a 1996 action/thriller film. 

The second word of the 2022 villain’s two-word last name, with one letter changed, describes the villain in a famous sci-fi film franchise. Who are these three villains?

ENTREE #6

Take the last name of the villain in a major blockbuster action thriller movie. 

Rearrange its letters to get the first word in the two-word name of the villain in a 2015 live-action animated adventure comedy film. Then add a letter, change a different letter, and rearrange to get the last name of the villain in a famous horror film. Who are these three villains?

ENTREE #7

Take the last name of a famous movie villain. Add one letter and rearrange to get the name of a Marvel movie superhero. Add three letters to the end of the Marvel villain’s name to get a brand of household appliances. Who are the two villains and what is the brand? 

ENTREE #8

Name an infamous “3-word, 14-letter” Transylvanian whose cruel methods of punishing his enemies gained notoriety in 15th-century Europe... and who is the possible inspiration for Count Dracula, the vampire who
is the title character in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. 

Number the 14 letters of this Transylvanian 1-through-14. Letters 4, 3, 14, 5, 6 and 1, 3, 4, 13, 14 spell the name of a more recent movie villain.

Who are this Transylvanian and movie villain?

Dessert Menu

Pebbles Flintstones Dessert:

“Neither a burrower nor a spender be!”

Transpose the 3rd and 8th letters of a compound 9-letter word for a white flint pebble that reputedly promotes lactic secretion.Insert a space someplace to spell a wearable status symbol whose value has not really risen much over the decades. Spoonerize this past status symbol to spell a potent musky, earthy odor and the burrower that produces it.

What are this pebble, status symbol, earthy odor and burrower?

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.

All Around the World, All the World’s a Stage, Some Really Bad Players in the House; “You can’t see the florist for the peonies! (nor the beekeeper for the bees!)”; Compound Combustibility!; “Saltwater taffy? Likely bad for the teeth!”; “House” rhymes with “Mouse,” Right? Non-littoral Pisces... alliterative and not;

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Pairs of non-littoral Pisces... alliterative and not

Name a two-word fish. Both words begin with the same letter. The words are also “alliterative” – that is, “initially same-sounding.” (The first word seems to function as an adjective modifying the second word; but, by itself, the first word also functions as a noun.)

Replace the second word of this fish with the name of a smaller fish that begins with that same initial letter. This new second word, however, does not, alliterate with the first word. An alternative definition of this new replacement word, however, indicates that it might result from the two syllables in the word that precedes it.

What is this alliterative two-word fish?

What is non-alliterative two-word fish? In what way is its second word a consequence of the two syllables that precede it?

EcoArchitecturally Accurate Aesthetically Appealing Appetizer:

All Around the World; All the World’s a Stage; Some Really Bad Players in the House

Note: The following eight Econfusions, courtesy of our friend Ecoarchitect, leads us along an enigmatic eastbound global path.. a kind of “Around the World in (not-eighty-days-but-in) Eight-Dazzling-Brainteasers!” It begins in America, leads us eastward toward London’s Globe Theatre, and concludes back at home in a “House on the Hill,” coming full-circle!

All Around the World

1. Take the name of a well-known land feature and its location in the US that was recently in the news.  Remove the last 5 letters of the land feature and double its 3rd and 4th letters, and the result will be the last and first name of a famous artist.  What are the feature and location, and the artist’s name?

2. Name a word that might describe your location.  Swap the first two letters, and the result will be another word used to describe your location.  What are the two words?  

3. Name a term used to describe weather conditions – often related to your location from the puzzle above.  Remove the first letter and the resulting word describes the condition of some things in that weather.  What are the two terms?

All the World’s a Stage

4. Take the first and last name of a well-known character who has appeared in both movies and television shows.  

Change the first letter of the first name from a C to a T, and phonetically the result will be a well-known former athlete and sports announcer.  Who are the character and athlete?

5. What do actors Bea Arthur, Beau Bridges, Donna Reed, Joe Pesci, Lynn Redgrave, Rex Harrison, and Vin Diesel have in common?  And in what movie remake should they all appear?

Hint: The original movie had a one-word title.

6. Two well-known actors share the same first name, in fact one was named after the other.  But they pronounce their names differently, one with two syllables, one with only one syllable.  Who are the actors? 

Some Really Bad Players in the House

7. Name someone, 5 letters first name, 4 letters last, who was once famous in politics.  Rearrange the letters and the result will be a physical condition many believe their boss has had.  

Who is the person and what is the condition?

8. Name something in 2 words that might be evidence of a damaged tree.  Those 2 words rhyme with the first and last name of someone who is evidence of a damaged democracy.  What are the two words and the name?

MENU

“Grease That Squeaky Wheel!” Hors d’Oeuvre:

“House” rhymes with “Mouse,” Right?

What, in five letters, ought you do if you hear something squeaking in one particular room in your house? 

(Mid-Puzzle Hint: The name of the room is the same as the name of a fixture in the room.)

What is this room (that shares its name with a
fixture within)?

(Much-Needed Hint: Take the two-syllable word for the fixture/room.)

Replace its fifth letter with a different vowel, delete the first letter, and insert a space someplace.... Voila!

“‘Hole-o-caust’ Slice”:

“Compound Combustibility!”

Spoonerize the two parts of a compound word for a hole dug into the ground in which combustible materials like wood or paper are burned. 

Place a space between the two parts of this compound word and reverse their order. 

The first part of the result sounds like a large pile of wood or other material to be placed within a larger hole and burned as part of a ceremonial rite. This hole must be sufficiently
large so that the increased volume of kindling will ___ within.

What is the compound word for a hole dug into the ground in which combustible materials like wood or paper are burned?

What is burned as part of a ceremonial rite?  What word belongs in the blank space?

Riffing Off Shortz And Baggish Entrees:

“You can’t see the florist for the peonies! (nor the beekeeper for the bees!)”

Will Shortz’s August 9th  Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, from Steve Baggish of Arlington, Massachusetts, reads:

Using only the letters in the words FACES NORTH, repeating them as often as you wish,
you can spell a familiar expression in seven words (4,3,3,6,3,3,5). What expression is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Baggish Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Using only the letters in the name of a puzzle-maker, repeating them as often as you wish, you can spell an unfamiliar two-part 13-word “semicoloned” expression describing a woman basking in a luxurious oceanside setting. (4,3,6,6,6,5; 5,5,3,4,2,3,3). 

What expression is it? 

Who is the puzzle-maker?

Entrees #2 through #7 are conundrums drummed-up/dreamt-up by our friend and riffmeister extraordinaire, Nodd.

ENTREE #2

Using the letters in slow thinker and repeating as needed, spell a familiar expression in six words (5,5,3,4,2,3). This expression might in fact serve as good advice to a slow thinker – or to a golfer.

ENTREE #3

Using the letters in GIFTED ACRONYM and repeating as needed, spell the name of a familiar show tune in five words, recorded by a
gifted singer whose initials are an acronym for someone you might see at a musical performance. (4,3,3,2,9).

ENTREE #4 

Using the letters in WELSH COMPUTING and repeating as needed, spell a humorous quip attributed, perhaps inaccurately, to a famous non-Welsh British politician in ten words (4,2,9,2,4,5,1,4,3,3).  

ENTREE #5

Using the letters in ORATE GUSHILY and repeating as needed, spell a familiar six-word assertion by a famous sports figure who was not known for orating gushily (2,4,4,5,3,5).

ENTREE #6

Using the letters in OWLET KIDNAP and repeating as needed, spell an infamous 11-
word remark by a 1980s U.S. cabinet member who, one could surmise, would not be disturbed by the kidnap of an owlet (1,4,4,2,6,3,1,4,4,2,4). 

ENTREE #7

Using the letters in UNSIGHTLY FACE and repeating as needed, spell a familiar four-word assertion by a famous sports figure who, according to Google, “was generally not considered a handsome man” (4,4,6,4).

Entree #8 is the ingenious brainchild of our friend and prolific riff-crafter Plantsmith.

ENTREE #8

Take the ten letters in the name of Vance Smith (member of the Georgia State House of Representatives since 2019). Use them as often as needed construct a six-word well-known saying.

Dessert Menu

“Sip Swish Gargle Rinse Spit” Dessert:

“Saltwater taffy? Likely bad for your teeth!”

Name a slang term associated with saltwater. Write it twice, without a space, to spell what “health-conscious types” hope to eradicate by rinsing their mouths with saltwater... (which,
alas, seems to be a futile practice). 

What are this slang term for sailor and what “health-conscious types” hope to eradicate?

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.

Mathew Huffman’s “Great British Bakeoff”; Order An Ordinary Nth Ordinal Number; Reduce NO letters in “bicycle” to get “bicycle!”; “Trout, Stout, LOUD!”; “Fight erupts at Puzzle’s end!” Poems & Recreation

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Order An Ordinary Nth Ordinal Number

Name a hyphenated ordinal number that consists of a second ordinal number and a anagram of slang term for “sailor.”

Delete that slang term from your original ordinal number.

The result is a different ordinal number.

What are these two ordinal numbers? 

What is the slang term for “sailor” and the “sailor anagram” that helped you to arrive at your correct answer?

Appetizer Menu

Double-Sweet Parabodiddley Appetizer:

Two 4x4 mini crosswords: “Great British Bakeoff”

(Note: The following two-part Appetizer comes courtesy of a brilliant young multitalented master-puzzle-maker named Mathew Huffman.

 Mathew has contributed literally hundreds of puzzles to Puzzleria! over our 16-plus years... and counting. Enjoy these fruits of his genius!

You can always count on Mathew to come up with challenging, entertaining and fresh challenges. This time, he has composed a pair of mini-crosswords. Enjoy his “gems” and his genius

MENU:

“Donny Broke His Nose!” Hors d’Oeuvre

“Fight erupts at Puzzle’s end!”

 Name an eight-letter term or a rapid, continuous plummeting.

Insert a conjunction between the fifth and sixth letters, followed by a hyphen. Also place a hyphen between the fourth and fifth letters. The result is a synonym of “donnybrook.”

What are the term for rapid continuous plummeting and the synonym of “donnybrook?”

“Fishy” Slice:

“Trout, Stout, LOUD!”

Name a “fishy” opportunist, in two words, who seeks quick profit at the expense of others. 

Delete first names from the middle of each word, leaving letters that can be rearranged to spell a beverage and a radio setting.

What are this opportunist, first names, beverage and setting?

MENU

Riffing Off Shortz and Schwartz:

Reduce NO letters in “bicycle” to get “bicycle!”

Will Shortz’s August 2nd Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle Challenge, from Michael Schwartz of Florence, Oregon, reads:

Think of a type of exercise equipment in four syllables. Remove the two middle letters and you’ll name a means of transportation. What words are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Schwartz Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

An premier word-puzzle-maker doubles as a proficient professional medical practitioner. His puzzles have appeared often on Will Shortz’s weekly “The Puzzle” broadcast, Sundays over National Public Radio

For example, he would be patient and never say “_____!...” (5 letters) even to a “difficult patient.

Nor would he ever write a contra-indicated
prescription for a patient with internal-not-exterior medical needs (a two-word astringent packed with healing tannins, for example, that smacks of a past Shirley Booth TV comedy) (5 & 5 letters). 

Those 15 letters can be rearranged to spell the name of our healer/puzzle-maker.

Solve that? Here is a pair Bonus medical Posers for you to solve (All six answers apply somewhat to our expert NPR puzzle-maker. All content in this is intended to allude to the works of this creative NPR puzzle-maker who is also blessed with healing expertise.):

Bonus Poser A:

Take:

A1.  the profession of one who helps you remain healthy (5 letters), followed by...

A2. Five letters that can be anagrammed to spell a small sticky convex slip with instructions on how to help you maintain that health (5) 

A3. a piece of medical exercise equipment (8,4).

Name the exercise equipment, the profession, and “sticky slip” that helps you remain healthy. 

Solve that? Now solve... 

Bonus Poser B:

Rearrange the 22 letters in Poser A to spell the answers in Part B: 

B1. what medical professionals may say to reassure their patients (2 & 4 letters),

B2. a minuscule yet important circular iota that is often used in prescriptions (7), and B3. the type of ink doctors use to write prescriptions (pens, never pencils!) (9).

Who is this medical professional/puzzle-maker/health-helper?

What are the two answers to our introductory puzzle?

What are the six answers to our two Bonus Posers A & B?

Bonus Question: How are Bonus Posers A & B related to one another?

NOTE: Entrees #2 through #7 are conundrums drummed-up/dreamt-up by our friend and riffmeister extraordinaire, Nodd.

ENTREE # 2

Name a kind of exercise you may use equipment to perform. 

Double the first two letters and rearrange to name equipment found on some means of transportation. 

What are these words?

ENTREE # 3

Think of a brand of exercise equipment. 

Rearrange its letters to spell a car model name. 

What are these words?

ENTREE # 4

Think of a type of exercise equipment, in two words. 

Remove one letter and change another letter to an R. 

Rearrange to spell a one-word plural term for certain means of transportation. 

What are these words?

ENTREE # 5

Think of a type of exercise equipment. 

Change the first two letters. The result will spell a means of transportation. 

What are these words?

ENTREE # 6

Think of a type of exercise equipment, in two words. 

Rearrange its letters to spell a means of transportation, in two parts. 

The first part is an abbreviation for the item being transported.

The second part is a plural word for vehicles used to transport this and other items. 

What are these words?

ENTREE #7:

Think of a type of exercise equipment. 

Remove the first and last letters and rearrange
to name a truck manufacturer. What are these words?

Dessert Menu

Advanced Spoonerization Dessert:

Poems & Recreation 

Name a two-syllable Italian poet, scholar and humanist.

Interchange the first letter of the first syllable with the first two letters of the second syllable. 

Pronounce these two new syllables as if each rhymes with its corresponding original syllable.

The result is an outdoor recreational area that provides opportunities for recreation, relaxation and shade, in two words.

Who is this Italian poet?

What is the recreational area?

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!