Turfy Roof? Furry Foot?... No, ‘Tis Patrick’s Number Forty-Four!; Sesame Seedy Streetlife; Price stickers? Rice whiskey? Ice bags?; From Train Track To Kart Trak; Movie & Mount Both Begin With A “B”; “Let us not let anger rear its ugly head”;

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Movie & Mount Both Begin With A “B”

Delete the superfluous “part-of-speech” article that is the first word in a six-word movie title, leaving five words. (See the illustration in the white dinner plate, above.)

Rearrange the combined letters in these five remaining words to spell the three-word caption for the image at the right:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ :  _ _ _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ _ _

What are this movie title and caption?

Appetizzical Cryptical Quizzical Cryptic Crossword Puzzling Appetizer:

Turfy Roof? Furry Foot?... 

No, ‘Tis Patrick’s Number Forty-Four!

Well, I guess we’ve all heard of “turf toe...”

But what on God’s Green Earth are “Turfy
Roof” and “Furry Foot”?

Well, they’re both examples of “wordplay” (both are anagrams of “Forty-Four”). 

It is wordplay of the sort you have come to know, love and enjoy thanks to Patrick J. Berry’s voluminous oeuvre of Cryptic Crosswordese on Puzzleria!

And so...

Welcome to the 44th Cryptic Crossword Puzzle, courtesy of Patrick, that we are privileged and proud and pleased-as-punch to present on Puzzleria!

If you have missed out on any of Patrick’s previous crosswords that we have featured on Puzzleria!, feel free to access the numbered links of this “clickable” cluster of his cryptic crossword creativity, below.

Open any number of them, then sit back and bask in Patrick’s Paradise of Puzzlement!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43      

For those of you who may be new to solving cryptic crossword puzzles, Patrick has compiled the following list of basic cryptic crossword puzzle instructions:

Regarding the Across and Down clues and their format:

The number, or numbers, that appear in parentheses at the end of each clue indicate how many letters are in the answer. 

Multiple numbers in parentheses indicate how letters are distributed in multiple-word answers. 

For example, (6) simply indicates a 6-letter
word like “ENIGMA.” 

(7, 4) indicates a 7-letter and 4-letter answer like “GORDIAN KNOT,” 

and (5-6) indicates a five-and-six-letter hyphenated answer like “BRAIN-TEASER.”

For further insight about how to decipher these numbered cryptic clues, see Patrick’s “Cryptic Crossword Tutorial” in this link to his November 2017 cryptic crossword. 

That Tutorial appears below the filled-in answer-grid in that edition of Puzzleria!

And, so, sans further adieu... here is a Patented-Cryptic-Patrick Masterpiece for you to do:

ACROSS

1. Imperfectly prepared meal to fall apart quickly reaching home base?(9,2,3)

9. Guard heading off to find gate(5)

10. Director’s shoutin’ gets in the way(9)

11. Work, then, traveling by truck(8)

12. Old lady takes shortcut looking for avenue(6)

14. City gossip has no real development(3,7)

16. Weather check on the radio(4)

18. Times puzzle on Sunday has the answer(4)

19. Dancing motion rare for actress in “West
Side Story”?(4,6)

21. Bar not in order(6)

22. Electric guitar sound—a few notes (one repeated), with tip of pick?(8)

25. Talk music—rock? Sure!(9)

26. Writer’s mature persona(5)

27. Be bad TV? Hell yes, terrible show! (5,2,3,4)

DOWN

1. Dickie Goodman’s accomplishments makin’
the Guinness book?(5-2,7)

2. John’s taking Latin in college(5)

3. Manual pointer? Shut up!(8)

4. Doctor is hesitant? Just the reverse!(10)

5. Wrong turn? Run!(4)

6. Both sides having stake in French city(6)

7. Pass some time trapped in lift(9)

8. Average article on music supported by fine artist(6,8)

13. Fight, say, with new frontman about primary musical direction(10)

15. Traveled by ship, not a sweet trip(4,2,3)

17. I get mood adjustment from pleasant experience(4,4)

20. Ness taking on gangster(6)

23. “Surprise Answer” puzzle?(5)

24. Jaw broken by right hook(4)

MENU

“Sunny Day!” Hors d’Oeuvre:

Sesame Seedy Streetlife

An adjective and noun describe how Sesame Street denizens might describe one fellow Muppet.

Anagram the combined dozen letters of those
two words to spell certain fixtures situated on sidewalks.

What is the name of this fellow Muppet?

How might his fellow Muppets describe him?

What are the fixtures situated on sidewalks?

“Spirited” Slice:

Price stickers? Rice whiskey? Ice bags?

Name something, in three and five letters, that you are sure to see on a liquor store shelf.
Anagram those eight letters to spell, as you continue to survey the shelf’s contents, something else you may see.

What are this first thing you see and second thing you may see?

Hint: The “something else you may see” is possible a part of the “something you are sure to see.”

Appetizers

Riffing Off Shortz And Taubenslag Slices:

From Train Track To Kart Trak

Will Shortz’s October 11th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Nancy Taubenslag of Scarsdale, New York, reads:

Name a company that’s known for transportation. Move the first two letters to the end. Reverse everything. Insert the name of an international tourist destination. And you'll get the name of a game that involves transportation. What things are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Taubenslag Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Take two first names:

1. One shared by a NFL QB and a British musician that Eric Clapton famously called “the best guitarist in the world”;

2. A second one shared by a fictional Bellamy butler and a duckwalking Scottish guitarist... 

 and...

3. A surname shared by:

• Prolific Irish poet/novelist Katharine; 

• British theatre writer/critic Kenneth; and

• Irish tenor and Paralympic athlete Ronan.

Anagram those combined 15 letters to spell the first and last names of a puzzlemaker.

Who is it, and what are the three other names?

(Note: Entrees #2 through # 7 are creations courtesy of our good friend Nodd. His “Nodd ready for prime time” is a staple of Puzzlerian Puzzling.)

ENTREE #2

Name a car company.

Replace its last letter with the last two letters of a past Chevy model. Add, preceded by a space, a past Plymouth model. You’ll name a car racing video game. What are the company, the models, and the game? 

ENTREE #3

Name a car brand. 

Change a vowel to the next vowel in the alphabet. Change a G to a W.
Rearrange to name a video game involving futuristic vehicle racing. 

What are the brand and the game?

ENTREE #4

Name a former Pontiac model and a current Nissan model, in that order. In the Nissan model name, change an A to a U and add two letters to the end. You’ll name a video game involving car racing. What are the models and the game?

ENTREE #5

Name a railroad company. 

Replace the first letter with an anagram of a four-letter board and video tactical combat game. 

Insert a T somewhere, preceded by a space. You’ll name a video and board game that involves transportation. What are the company and the two games?

ENTREE #6

Name two airlines in reverse alphabetical order. Replace the first two letters of the first one with a P. You’ll get the first and last words
of a video game involving transportation. What are the airlines and the game? 

ENTREE #7

Name a car tire brand and a government agency involving transportation, in that order. Change the first letter of the agency to a U and move the letter that follows it to the end of the tire brand. You’ll name a car racing video game. What are the brand, agency, and game?

Dessert Menu

Period Piece Dessert:

“Let us not let anger rear its ugly head”

Rearrange the letters in a nine-letter verb to spell a two-word term that applies to either of two historical periods: (1933-1941) and (1954-2014). What are this verb and two-word term?                                       

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 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!

“The art & the heart of a puzzle”; Spilling-Over Urban-Sprawl!; Certifiably Sanctioned Cliché!; PauwPaul, LakeWake!; Surnames, first names and worstpelling!; TeeVee Dinnertime!

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Surnames! first names! mispelling!

The second and fourth words in a five-word novel title are surnames of a past actor and past first lady. 

The actor’s first name is an anagram of a common misspelling of the first lady’s first
name. 

What are this novel and two first names?

APPETIZER MENU

Synonym of the Idiom!

“The art and the heart of a puzzle...”

The New York Times-Noooze

Thanks to “Shortzles” it prints

 Zzzaps all blahhzzz and all bluezzz...

(All these zzznore-words are hints!)

    And on NPR too...

    You’ll hear more than a few

    Of Will’s “Shortzles” to do...

    Don’t nod off, they’re for you!

Note: “Shortzle” is a word I coined a few years or so ago. I define it as:

“A clever puzzle with an economy-of-words of the type created by puzzlemaster Will Shortz and disseminated over National Public Radio airwaves, the Internet, print publications, and other media”

A Shortzle

Name a two-word idiom for a nocturnal activity. 

A synonym of the second word, preceded by the initial letter of the idiom, spells a synonym
of the idiom. 

What are this two-word idiom, synonym of the second word, and synonym of the idiom?

MENU

Cities Marked By Stars Hors d’Oeuvre:

Spilling-Over Urban-Sprawl!

Delete just a three-letter mixed-up bit of literature from a capital city. Eliminate any spaces that may appear.

The result is the maximum population that the
city can accommodate. 

What are this capital city, mixed-up bit of literature and maximum population that the city can accommodate?

American Capital Welsh River Slice:

Certifiably Sanctioned Cliché!

Name a common four-word expression that has achieved “cliché-status.” 

The initial letters of the four words spell a body part. 

The 12 letters of the expression can be anagrammed to spell:

* a capital city in the Americas, and 

* a 3-letter Welsh tributary that rises in Snowdonia and flows into the Irish Sea, and a 3-letter adjective that describes this river..

What are this “cliché-esque” expression, capital city, river, and adjective?

What is the body part spelled by the initial letters of the four-word expression? 

Riffing Off Shortz And Ellis Slices:

PauwPaul, LakeWake!

Will Shortz’s October 4th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Robbie Ellis of Chicago, reads:

Name two well-known colleges or universities from the same state. The last letter of one is the first letter of the other. Change each instance of this letter to the same new letter to get the names of two other well-known colleges or universities. What four schools are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Ellis Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Name a puzzle-maker and his hometown, in 6, 5 and 7 letters..

The second syllable of the puzzle-maker’s first name and the two syllables of his surname sound like three letters of the alphabet.
Rearrange them, along with the last letter of the puzzle-maker’s hometown, to spell the a 4-letter word for “a slovenly or rude person.”

The 9 letters that remain can be anagrammed to spell the 5-letter surname of a 20th-Century Swedish actress and a 4-letter adjective describing the actress that contains a 2-word embedded greeting.

Who are this puzzle-maker, his hometown , the 3 syllables that sound like letters, the word for the slovenly, rude person, the  surname of the actress, and the adjective?

(Note: Entrees #2 through # 7 are creations courtesy of our good friend Nodd. His “Nodd ready for prime time” is a staple of Puzzlerian Puzzling.)

ENTREE #2

Name two well-known universities in the Eastern U.S. 

Remove the last letter of each. 

The result will sound like the name of a famous actor. 

What are the universities and who is the actor?

ENTREE #3

The first six letters of a college in Pennsylvania, plus the first two letters of one in Maryland, can be rearranged to name a school in the United Kingdom. 

What are the three schools?

ENTREE #4

Name a private college in New England and a state university in the mid-Atlantic. (The university is known simply by the name of the state.) 

Remove one letter from each. Rearrange the letters that remain to name a college in the Southern United States. What are the three schools?

ENTREE #5

A university in the Mid-Atlantic and a college in the Midwest end in the same four letters. 

Remove those letters from each name to get two words associated with teeth. 

What are the schools and the two words?

ENTREE #6

Name a college in the Mid-Atlantic region and a university in New England. 

Remove one instance of a repeated letter and
rearrange to spell a university in the Midwest. 

What are the three schools?

ENTREE #7

Name a college in the Midwest. 

Add a K. 

Rearrange to name a university in New England and a school in the United Kingdom. 

What are the three schools?

Dessert Menu

Sitcommy Dessert:

TV Dinnertime!

When prototypically traditional American families gather at their dinner table – as do the Bradys’, Taylors’, Cleavers, Andersons’ and Nelsons’ on TV sitcoms, for example – first they say grace, then they dine. Anagram the combined letters of synonyms of “say grace” and “dine” to spell a scroll containing ancient writing.

What two dinnertime things do these families do?

What is this scroll with ancient writing?

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!

Breeding creatures, screening crud!; “Spring, Sprank, Sprunk!”; Stumblebums & Humble Pie; Not just a few... A full-staffed raft!; “Complementary Homophonic Antonyms”; “Da Mountain, Da Refusal, Da Nile!”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Breeding creatures, screening crud!”

Name a place, in two four-letter words, associated with breeding of livestock. Anagram each word to form two new words.

One of the words is the brand of a product that filters contaminants from motorized livestock machinery. 

The other word is one of the contaminants.

Name this brand name and contaminant name, and also the  two-word breeding place.

Appetizer Menu

“Leaning Tower of Pavyllon-London-Style Pizza” Appetizer:

Stumblebums & Humble Pie

After clearing the main-course dinnerware from our table, our snooty maître d’ at Great Britain’s Pavyllon London restaurant intoned: 

“For dessert, we shall now serve you a generous slice of humble pie. Select a napkin.”

Anagram just four of that maître d’s eight final words ("...generous slice of humble pie. Select a napkin.”) to spell two colors and two creatures that appear in a century-plus-old memoir by an author whose surname is appropriate to the setting of this puzzling scenario.

What are these colors and creatures?

Who is the author of the memoir, and what is its title?

Hint: The four-word title of the memoir is an anagram of and the surname of the combined letters of:

~ Billy Yank’s nemesis in the late 1850s, and

~ the surname of a Spanish poet/playwright/theatre director (whose first name was Frederico).

MENU

Jam-Packed Hors d’Oeuvre:

Not just a few... A full-staffed raft!

A word on a map consists of two names.

The first is associated with an animal... or two or three. The second is associated with a whole raft of animals!

What is this word on the map?

“Mystereophonics” Slice:

“Complementary Homophonic Antonyms”

The three-letter endings of two identically pronounced words are also identical, yet they
share no other letters in common. 

They are antonyms, yet somehow also strangely complementary. 

What are these words?

Riffing Off Shortz And Moren Slices:

“Da Mountain, Da Refusal, Da Nile!

Will Shortz’s September 27th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Dan Moren of Somerville, Massachusetts, reads:

Name a well-known U.S. geographic location in six letters. Move the last letter two places earlier in the name and you'll get a regular English word. Say that word out loud. It will sound like a well-known geographic location abroad. What places are these? 

Here's a hint: Neither place name is a city.

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Moren Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Name a puzzle-maker, first and last names, eight letters. Move the fourth letter one place earlier in the name. Reverse the order of the remaining letters on the right. 

You’ll get what ancient Romans might have cried because their emperor’s rule eventually devolved into a tinderbox of tyranny, corruption, familial murder, and public humiliation – culminating in infernal fiddling on his lyre in the midst of fire.

Who is this puzzle-maker? What might Romans have cried?

(Note:Entrees #2 through #7 were created by our friend Nodd, author of the regularly featured “Not ready for prime time’’ on Puzzleria!)

ENTREE #2

Name a U.S. national park. One of the letters sounds like a common English word. 

Replace that letter with the first letter of the English word. Rearrange to name a well-known foreign city. What places are these?

ENTREE #3

Name a river in the Eastern U.S. One of the letters sounds like an informal name for a mode of transportation. 

Replace that letter with the first two letters of another word for that mode of transportation. 

The result will name a famous foreign location. What places are these?

ENTREE #4

Name a two-word place in the Eastern U.S. 

Double one of its letters and add the copy of that letter to the end of the first word.  The result will name a place in a foreign country and a geographical term describing the place. What places are these?

ENTREE #5

Name a two-word place in the U.S. Change the third letter of the second word to the letter that precedes it in the alphabet. Then switch the third and fourth letters.  Finally, change the next-to-last letter of the second word to a different vowel. Leave the first word as is. 

The result will name a foreign place. What are these places?

ENTREE #6

Name a two-word U.S. city. 

Say the last letter of the first word and then the complete second word. 

It will sound like the name of a foreign country. 

What places are these?

ENTREE #7

A foreign city name sounds like what someone might do to restrain a famous American architect. 

What is the city and what might someone do?

Dessert Menu

Purple Prankery Green Mountain Boys Black Hills Dessert:

“Spring, Sprank, Sprunk!”

Name a word associated with summits of a
certain hue. 

Interior letters of the word spell a prank. 

The remaining letters spell the month after the prank was sprung. What are this word, this prank and the month after it was sprung?

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!