Friday, August 15, 2014

Boris Badenovs; "Poets" of Speech























Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria! Mea maxima culpa for my tardiness this week. I had some computer/Internet challenges to overcome. But that is like a “My dog ate my homework” excuse.

Tardiness, as all good Puzzlerians! are aware, is smiled upon only in impolite society.

The answer to this past Sunday’s National Public Radios Weekend Edition puzzle offered by Dr. Will Shortz hit kind of close to home here at Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria!
Will's puzzle read: “Name a well-known movie of the past — two words, seven letters in total. These seven letters can be rearranged to spell the name of an animal plus the sound it makes. What animal is it?”

The name of the animal and the sound it makes echo the surname of our Grecian puzzle slice chef Lego Lambda.

But so much for Weekend Edition Shortz. Because of my self-inflicted short week here at Puzzleria!, I am posting only two fresh slices this go-round. I hope they have not already appeared on NPR. On August 14, in the Puzzleria! comments section, jan, a faithful Puzzlerian! and all-around good guy, posted the following in regards to last week’s Sporty Easy As Pie Slice:
BTW, did you know that Will Shortz used that “San Marino”/ “Dan Marino” puzzle many years ago (before they had a website)?

That disappointed me, of course, but didn’t really surprise me. I know that I have created all my puzzles, originally and sans plagiarism. But I am not arrogant enough (and I can be pretty arrogant at times) to think that I am the only one who ever noticed, for example, that San Marino and Dan Marino differ by just one letter and, as a result, decided to make a puzzle out of it.

This realization hit me like a ton of brickbats three years ago. In January of 2011, I created the following puzzle:

“Think of a two-word phrase meaning to bother incessantly or to erode. Move the last two letters of the phrase to the beginning of the phrase and again divide the result into two words to produce the past tense of the same phrase. What are the phrases?”

One of the phrases was an entry in a New York Times crossword puzzle I had been solving. I had noticed the interesting anagrammatic quality of the phrase and its past tense and composed the puzzle above.

About seven months later, on the August 11, 2011 Weekend Edition Sunday broadcast, Will Shortz challenged us with essentially the same puzzle, (probably with more elegant wording). I had not sent my puzzle in to Will for consideration. Perhaps Will composed it himself after noticing the same thing I did in the Times crossword puzzle he had edited.

Many of the photos I have posted this week are sights of the Boston area, where I attended a wedding (not mine, but a wonderful young couples) last weekend. Beautiful city, friendly people. I did not take these photos, but copied them from the Internet.


Here are this week’s slices:

 Menu

Easy As Pie Slice:
Boris Badenovs

Take four consecutive letters of the alphabet. Between two of them place an A and a C. The result is a bad thing bad guys sometimes do.
Now take seven consecutive letters of the alphabet, but in reverse order. Remove three consecutive letters and put a single A in their place. The result is something that some people claim motivates some misguided bad guys to do what they do.
What are this bad thing and the alleged motivator?  

Literary Slice:
“Poets” of speech

Remove a common conjunction that appears in a renowned poet’s last name and replace it with a common article to form the middle name of another renowned poet. The poets are contemporaries. Name them. (Yes, they are a dead poets’ society of two. R.I.P., Robin Williams.)



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 plan to 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 puzzle-loving and challenge-welcoming friends about Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! Thank you.






26 comments:

  1. I got the EAPS, on to the LS. I can't think of a clue that is not a giveaway, at least not tonight, maybe tomorrow.

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  2. It is par for the course that as soon as I made my prior post, I got the LS, also to be clued tomorrow.

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  3. Lego, was the long empty space after the first image a clue like Paul's on the other blog? Long empty space for chillin'? White-out? More images to come? ;-)

    Glad you're back!

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  4. Glad you are back also. I have both the EAPS & the LS.

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  5. Thanks to all,
    Happy to hear the puzzles are falling a bit more easily this week. Puzzlerians! deserve a break after last week's Fibo-NOT-cci fiasco perpetrated by prettily pigtailed Prevarica.

    Speaking of pigtails, Puzzleria! would have once more advanced its reputation for clairvoyance had this morning's NPR answer been less muttony and more porky and hammy, and had the "movie of the past" been not "La Bamba" but a 2012 documentary on breast cancer awareness titled "I Go Pink."

    Or perhaps an instructional cooking video, sponsored by a paper towel manufacturer, on how to prepare lamb without creating a kitchen mess titled.... "Muttony on the Bounty." (Sorry!)

    Word Woman,
    The only thing that long empty space represents is the space between my ears. I do not detect the space in my Google Chrome or IE browsers, only in my Mozilla Firefox browser. I'm a little fearful of editing the space out on my blog post lest it mess up the GC and/or IE layouts (although I probably don't need to worry about IE because not so many people are using it anymore?).

    LegoLaBamba (with thanks to Magdalen {and/or Ross?} over at AESAP)

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  6. The Puzzle Master's Sunday puzzle was easier than yours.

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  7. Hey, Mr. Baseball, did you see a Red Sox game at Fenway?!

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    Replies
    1. Word Woman,
      Alas the Bosox (not to be confused with the Chisox) were out of town for that weekend.

      Still struggling with the U, D, B, V, ? series puzzle you posted at Blaine's. All I've got is Underwear/B.V.D., but that is not your intended answer.

      David,
      Yes, Will's Sam Loyd challenge was a piece of cake, but mine were pretty much easy as pie.

      And I have no clue about Chuck's puzzle over at Blaine's either, the one about a part of a country added to a flowing body of water to form phonetically a mid-50's hit record/American standard.

      LegoInTheDark

      Delete
  8. Well, it's that time, and all I have is an answer to the easiest question, inspiring the following scenario between my ears:

    Mr. Nicholson: Heeere's Johnny!!
    Ms. Duvall: Hi, Jack.
    Mr. Kubrick: Cut!!!!!!

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  9. EAPS: HIJK, insert AC between the J & K = HIJACK, “a bad thing bad guys sometimes do.”
    JIHGFED, remove GFE and place A in their place = JIHAD, “something that motivates some bad guys.”

    LS: William Wordsworth. Remove the conjunction, the first “OR,” from the poet's last name and insert the common article “A” in its place to yield Wadsworth, the middle name of Henry WADSWORTH Longfellow.

    The 2-word phrase that means to bother incessantly is EAT AT. When you move the final 2 letters to the front, you have the past tense of the original 2-word phrase: ATE AT.

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  10. My one clue spanned the first two comments above, one word from each, "tonight" and "par", as in JACK Pa(a)r hosted the tonight show before Johnny Carson (in an interesting connection to Paul's comment above).

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  11. Good work, all.
    Paul, I like your shining scenario.
    ron, thanks for including the “eat at/ate at” answer for the puzzle I made up just months before Will used the same puzzle.
    David, cool clue, as usual.

    For the record:
    Answers:

    Easy As Pie Slice:
    Boris Badenovs

    Take four consecutive letters of the alphabet. Between two of them place an A and a C. The result is a bad thing bad guys sometimes do.
    Now take seven consecutive letters of the alphabet, but in reverse order. Remove three consecutive letters and put a single A in their place. The result is something that some people claim motivates some misguided bad guys to do what they do.
    What are this bad thing and the alleged motivator?

    Answer:
    HIJ(AC)K and JIH(A)D

    (I felt compelled to walk the politically correct tightrope when wording this EAPS. I recall articles and editorials written in the wake (pun definitely not intended) of Sept. 11, 2001, explaining that “jihad” is a complex and often misunderstood concept, and not just a “holy war,” as it is Cliff-notededly defined by many.)

    Literary Slice:
    “Poets” of speech

    Remove a common conjunction that appears in a renowned poet’s last name and replace it with a common article to form the middle name of another renowned poet. The poets are contemporaries and compatriots. Name them. (Yes, they are a dead poets' society of two. R.I.P., Robin Williams.)

    Answer:
    William Wordsworth (1770-1850), an Englishman, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), an Americanman, were contemporaries, but not compatriots, as I stated in the puzzle. I suppose before 1776 you could have called them compatriots. But Wordsworth was only 6 in 1776 and Wadsworth didn’t even yet exist.

    W(or)dsworth – (or) + (a) = W(a)dsworth

    LegoTimeTraveler

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    Replies
    1. Lego, I noted your careful wording of the JIHAD puzzle, for what a word's worth. . .

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    2. AnD, I noTed yoU chAngEd yoUr FonT!

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    3. nOboDodY's rIghT IF evEryboDy'S wRoNg.

      Delete
  12. It's still a few days before we serve up Friday's new puzzle slices. In the meantime, here is one of those "A guy walks into a bar..." stories:

    A guy walks into Babar and orders a Pink Elephant.
    Babar says, “Hey buddy, watch where you’re going’.”
    Babartender says, “Sorry, buddy, we don’t serve Pink Elephants here.”
    The guy says, “What do you mean you don’t serve pink elephants. There’s one sitting right next to me on Babarstool.”
    Babartender says, “Yeah, he may be sitting there but that doesn’t mean I’m serving him.”
    Guy says, “Then how did that pink cocktail get in front of him, the one next to the extremely large complimentary bowl of peanuts?”
    Babartender says, “Okay, I’ll tell you, but it’s a kind of long story. The elephant’s name is Babar. He’s a resident at the zoo where I am the keeper. It’s my day job, which everyone advises me not to quit. Anyway, every so often, I let him come along with me on my night job. He gets a little bored at the zoo, frankly, and bringing him here is good for business. Gives our patrons something to talk about, y’know?”
    Guy says, “Sure, sure, but what about the cocktail?”
    Babartender says, “Okay, so tonight Babar decides to bring his pals Kanga and Roo along with him to Babar. They’re kangaroos who…
    Guy interrupts, “…who live at the zoo?”
    Babartender says, “No, at Hundred Acre Wood.”
    Guy says, “You mean ‘Woods’?”
    Babartender says, “No, it’s Wood. Anyway, it turns out Kanga always carries OJ, vodka, grenadine, cranberry juice, seltzer and a cocktail shaker along with her in her pouch. So she mixes up a Pink Elephant and slips it to Babar. But I notice what she’s doing and yell at her, ‘Hey you, Kanga, get outta Babar! You and Roo go do your down-underhanded cocktail-mixing and Babar-hopping elsewhere!’ So, she and Roo hop out in a huff. I notice that Babar’s dauber seems to be a bit down. so I try explaining to him that it’s just bad business to let patrons mix their own cocktails using booze they’ve smuggled into Babar. He seems to understand. After he drains the glass containing his contraband cocktail, I bus it.”
    Guy says, “Okay, but there’s another brimming-full Pink Elephant sitting in front of him now. How did that get there?”
    Babartender says, “That’s no Pink Elephant, it’s a Pink Gin Fizz. As I told you, we don’t serve Pink Elephants here.”
    Guy says, “Then how did that Pink Gin Fizz get in front of that pink elephant?”
    Babartender says, “Well, when I was busy serving other patrons, Babar snatched it from that guy sitting over there who had ducked into the men’s room. First, I have to deal with Kanga’s cocktail-smuggling, and now it’s Babar’s cocktail-swiping! I thought, ‘Et tu, Babar?’ This was the last straw! (I gotta make a mental note to order more straws.) I was just about going bring that perfidious pachyderm back to the zoo when you walked into Babar…”
    Guy says, “Yeah, when I walked into Babar I practically knocked him over. He told me to watch where I was going.
    Babartender says, “What th…”
    Guy interrupts, “Hey, so if you don’t serve Pink Elephants, can order one of those Pink Gin Fizzes instead, please?”
    Babartender says, “Sorry Buddy, we don’t serve no cocktails to people who are obviously experiencing booze-induced hallucinations. Talking elephants? No way! I’ve never heard any elephant talk, pink or otherwise. What say I drop you off at your home on the way to driving Babar back to the zoo?”
    Guy says, “Okay, thanks.”
    Babar says, “Burp!”

    LegoLambabarda

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    Replies
    1. Why couldn't he stay at the bar? Was it due to a lack of trunk space?

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    2. I don't know how you treat a down dauber, but I hope it doesn't involve cooking oil spray, because I'm sure that Pam Dauber is feeling down enough already this week with Mork gone.

      I'm sorry about Babar, but that would be no excuse for asking how you get down from an elephant.

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    3. A guy walks into a Bardarbunga.



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    4. Babar does barbabble and barters for barbrew occasionally. Once he bartered for a barocket and flew with the President. He landed in Bar-undy and met Ba Ba Ba Bar Bar Bra Anne, (wearing a bikini bra since it was Bar-undy). They now have a barood of Bar-undy ba ba bar babies.

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    5. BaRoRo,

      I hope Ba Ba Ba Bar Bar Bra Anne was wearing more Bar-undies than just a bikini bra!

      Unmentionably,
      LegoLambarabbler

      Paul,
      …and orders a milkshake, neat. The Bardarbungatender and others in the bar erupt into peals of lavaughter. Cowed, the guy retreats into the lava-tory. When he emerges he is flanked by his pals Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello, and they proceed to kick ash.
      Bardarbunga Dude!

      Legonardo

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    6. Geez, I figured he just died.

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    7. Paul,
      Unless you’re one of these guys!

      skydiveboy,
      Yes, you are, as usual, correct. It was indeed because of a lack of trunk space that Babar was banished and barred. An elephant, after all, is perhaps the only creature with two trunks: the one between its tusks and, even more so, its torso. In fact, other than legs, head, tusks and tail, an elephant is pretty much all trunk. Babartender must have finally realized that a finite space filled with drunks leaves little room for trunks.

      jan,
      “…no excuse for asking how you get down from an elephant…”
      Or ivory from a duck… unless you’re one of these ducks! (Reminds me a bit of Sir Paul and Stevie reprising their hit.)

      Or, as Sir Jerry put it, with pastry instead of pianos.

      LegoPerfectHarmony

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  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. I am watching the Little League World Series on ESPN with Pennsylvania's Mo'ne Davis pitching vs. Nevada's nine. At this juncture, in the bottom of the second inning. Nevada is up 3-0. It appears the dreaded Sports Illustrated cover jinx may be about to rear its ugly head.
    Still, it's still early.

    LegoRallyMonkey

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