Friday, August 22, 2014

William Tell Ov-orchard Archered; Gold 'N' Silver; Diamonds & Rubies


















Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria! We’re serving up three cheesily chewy puzzle slices this week. Here’s hoping they’ll provide you with just the right measure of intellectual challenge and solvific resistance.

You will notice that our preamble this week is loaded with Loyd (illustrations). That’s because this week’s National Public Radio Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle offered by Dr. Will Shortz was the following Sam Loyd chestnut:
 
“You have a target with six rings, bearing the numbers 16, 17, 23, 24, 39, and 40. How can you score exactly 100 points, by shooting at the target?”

Commentors over at the Blainesville and An Englishman Solves American Puzzles blog sites deemed this to be a not-so-challenging challenge. Blainesville commentor Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan said the answer to the puzzle is unique, and commentor PlannedChaos said that, had the target been 93 instead of 100, that answer also would have been unique. (Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan, yesterday on Blaine’s blog, proved these uniquenesses via the “modulo method.”)

Our first puzzle this week was inspired by that Sam Loyd NPR puzzle, as well as by a National Public Radio “Car Talk” puzzler from a year or so ago. We hope ours is a somewhat-more-challenging challenge than Mr. Loyd’s target puzzle. We are dubbing it our “Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants” Slice (SOTSOGS), with the giants being Car Talk hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi, Will Shortz, Sam Loyd and Bill Lloyd (no relation). Broad shoulders indeed!


With apologies to Ogden Nash:

The one-L Loyd’s a puzzle springer.
The two-L Lloyd’s a pop tune singer.
But I’ll bet a pink trapezoid
There isn’t any three-L Llloyd
(Pop tunesmith BiLL LLoyd is a four-L …ll Lloyd, however, when you consider his full name, and ignore the space.)

There is a “thread” connecting the three slices this week: one to two, and two to three. If you don’t like threads in your slices you can return them for a refund, no questions asked! But, if you don’t mind threads in your slices, and if you solve one of the puzzles, especially the second, CharacterMystic Slice, it might very well assist you in solving the other two.

But, time Will Tell. To help you keep on target, here is a bit of music-to-solve-puzzles-by. Or, you can just cut right to the chase. Or, you can opt for something completely different

In any event, take aim at these slices:

 Menu

 
Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants Slice:
William Tell Ov-orchard archered

Your mission is to construct a target with X rings, each bearing a number.

During a shooting session, you must be able to shoot an arrow, or arrows, at the target to achieve any score from 1 to 100, but you are not allowed to shoot more than one arrow in a ring during a session. In other words, the maximum number of arrows you can shoot during a session is X.

What is the minimum number of rings needed on your target (that is, the minimum value of X), and what are the values of the numbers in the rings so that their sum is as small as possible?

CharacterMystic Slice:
Gold ‘N’ Silver

Take the name a female fictional character in two words. Add an N to the letters of her name. From this pool of twelve letters form a four-letter word. Again, from the original twelve-letter pool form a six-letter word, using one of the letters twice. Those two words form the nickname of a male fictional character. Insert an N within the name of the female’s companion to form the name of the male’s companion.

Who are these characters and companions?

Specialty Of The House Slice:
Diamonds & Rubies

Think of a five-letter proper noun that can be a first, middle or last name. One person with this name acted in a 1993 comedic movie and shared writing credits in a 1972 romantic-comedic movie. A second person film-edited a 1950 zany slapstick short movie about private eyes. A third acted in a quite popular TV sit-com. A fourth is a British composer who wrote a Seventeenth Century tenor solo.

A fifth is an author whose final resting place since the 1870s has been a cemetery with a name more associated with another author who was this fifth person’s contemporary. A sixth person, with a nickname of the five-letter proper noun, was a U.S. country singer. He was portrayed in a play and movie -- and had his songs covered/recorded -- by a Canadian country singer.

These three movies, sit-com, tenor solo, cemetery and Canadian singer have no formal connection with the Walt Disney Company, but their titles/names all do have a loose connection to Disney.

What is this loose Disney connection, and what is the five-letter proper noun?

(Hint: the sit-com actor’s name and a word in the sit-com title both begin with the same letter and end with the same letter.)


 
Sam Loyd (left)
Will Shortz (right)

Separated at Birth?
You decide!





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.



Cellar of the Fatefully Discarded 
(Photo Gallery)



















23 comments:

  1. Omg, Sam LOyd and Will ShOrtz both have an 'O' in their last names! Coincidence?!

    Schairy. . .

    ReplyDelete
  2. I "may" have SOTSOGS and I "may" have SOTHS, but I have no clue as to CMS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Word Woman,
      Oh oh, I think you may have hit on something there. What’s more, if Will Shortz is a “William” (but I’m not so sure he is), you can rearrange three consecutive letters in williAM Shortz to spell Sam. If Will is “just a Will,” well then, both of these mustachioed puzzle chaps share monosyllabification. How’s that for a word that is not self-defining?

      ron,
      Seems to me as if you’ve already done the heavy lifting. Remember that “thread” I wrote about in my preamble? It is a tenuous connection between the SOTHS and the CMS, but the connection between the SOTSOGS and CMS is stronger, and the connection doesn’t even involve SOTSOGS’ answer, just its “packaging.”

      The two parts of the male character’s nickname are lower-case words in the dictionary.

      Also, “Gold ‘N’ Silver” is a clue to the CMS, much as “Diamonds & Rubies” is a clue to SOTHS.

      Quick bonus puzzle:
      Take a name used in this week’s blog. Remove the space. Change one of the letters and move it elsewhere to create a breed of dog.

      LegoSyllabic

      Delete
  3. In CMS, why is the alternate title "Gold 'N' Silver"? Wouldn't a better alternate title be "Silver 'N' Silver"? I don't see either the female character or the male character having any connection to gold what-so-ever, but I find that they both have a connection with silver. (Some might claim that one of the connections is not to silver but <a certain gem-stone> - to which I say that while that connection may have been to that <certain gem-stone> in the movie, it was silver in the book.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan,
      You make a good point. “Silver ‘N’ Silver” would be a fine alternative puzzle-slice title. BTW, I learn something new almost every time you post a comment, and this time is no exception. Thank you.

      My use of “Gold” in “Gold ‘N’ Silver” is based on something made of gold (albeit perhaps metaphorically) that is in close proximity (to the point of making contact) to the something(s) made of silver that you suggest.

      I guess I was thinking of a down-to-earth version of this song.

      The gem to which you allude, of course, relates to one strand of the “thread” between the CMS and SOTHS to which I referred in this week’s Puzzleria! preamble.

      LegoldBricker

      Delete
  4. Uptown
    Got it's hucksters,
    Bowery
    Got it's bums.
    42nd Street got Big Jim Walker,
    A pool-shootin' son-of-a-gun.

    He's big,
    He's dumb
    (dumber than some),
    But stronger than a horse.

    When bad folks get
    Together at night,
    They all call Big Jim Boris*.

    From southern Alabama came a country boy called Will McCoy,
    Or, sometimes,
    ...Slim.

    He came to get his money back, and people said "Good luck with that!
    Don't mess with Jim,
    ...Slim"

    Those men
    Took to fightin'
    On the floor.

    Le-roy ...
    Isn't in this song!
    What did I say that for?

    The moral, as you prob'ly knew,
    Although you've got a fancy cue,
    Don't hustle people strange
    To
    You.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    *Badenov

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. By golly, Paul, I hadn’t noticed (seriously, truthfully) but you are 100 % correct. It’s like an Elizabethan masquerade ball around this place the last couple of weeks, with Boris, Batman, Robin, etc. How are we going to top this when Halloween rolls around?

      On Tuesday I will link to a few laugh-out-loud Dave Barry columns that shed some light on this issue. (Of course, most oh his columns are LOL.)

      LegoSpittin’IntoTheGustyWhirlwind

      Delete
    2. By the way, Paul, I am a big fan of your embellished Crocesque lyrics, especially the ending, the “Horse/Boris” rhyme and, especially, Leroy Brown’s cameo appearance.

      LegoLyricLover

      Delete
  5. I believe I have solved all 3 puzzles, although I have a few problems with the very last one.

    So I've encoded my findings, complete with problems, below: I have used the OLD Sharky's Vigenere Cipher (Version 1.0), and for the key I use the fictional female character, followed by the nickname of the male fictional character.

    VCKGHNQ:

    Siymxiz B zs fkzvq, oer moc xiyk goyyvs nxi wltkm, mdcttjjtjr, xyiezivq, gzl, mopke, eaz oah fnr. Zlvlf jif pq unplfbqvvd rdetwzp.

    GHAFY:

    Tsmyy bj r fvbi-chhksk wpuppv ychr khnz grq pv o yppyt, xmoryi fr ygwk qods.
    Allxy

    Zrp drvjoa cmkk hywl uyse lgesq me a 1993 puqvgwt ahcgk ayh dvnvvd jxmklbx qklbotd my o 1972 esdaazmt-fcdswpa sogmp.
    Phgb Hrtvp dqksw pl "Mrfqam Bpu Mrt" (1993), eeg gyoklb crtxtbt gieqoxj lb "Nvta'q Ap, Osn?" (1972).

    O fitoaj tvugfb ypjs-eomesq e 1950 qaae wcddjhbji yhzve abzze nhslw diwohrk ejid.
    Vrriy QkQfqr wwet-cjieio "Rbtvy Qogbv" (1950).

    O kvbyb gceio wa e huvzi grdlzty RB stx-ncz.
    Lvnee Azqycsk hazeo my "Vntgy Qgcj". (Qcks: Allxy lro Vntgy ouxy esxwg dgzh S eyr rru ia e.)

    E wriiha pq g Bcmewfl tozvsjhf nvh dputp e Dsiietrkrkk Qvbmbpe tprzf fsco.
    V gwjxav mhb kkay Lpbec Gueiico, ochavsmh rstbt xf hgztj://hb.nwdpnkdte.zft/azkv/Rmjw_cw_qhtnustxtcaw_sy_Ukrib_Dlfvljr ayh ocvrx cgxp-W "wseck" ngbed "Rz frwllgy jfxbu."

    O ypdzh tw lb nykhbx ayrgv tbuyr rpwewak glnii jlbts moc 1870y hlw msrr r crsikhfp kbaf g nlqp abvv afystloksw dgzh lrzhuii ahzlfu kyc phq zhtw qwsxy prxwfq’g tcgacspzvlfl.
    Qp bryx xxsjg alpk id Lpbec Naqyafuhy Zhuelewpzk, oyk hgztj://hb.nwdpnkdte.zft/azkv/Nieum_Nowzuurel_Wcakweyrsn, lb zh'l 3yb gno plgg trrnmvrsv ft moc yenxtca "Prtrx pzis rbw kcgts", wlmf "Lv if hyilsu kbaf hoel zt umj wvbij dh Dcnur Gumycb Pidegkvp lb Tofipodri, Xofwrcuawvwhj." - Ogk rnae'w YCG Wcervc Yrzccp Jcseeicm, jlzcu O ejvids bz rne tresahvd pkqvwoim ghkk.

    A dmihu tvrfur, nlhy o gpaqnlqp cs xye sozv-oskhxy nxoaic bbye, wny e L.V. qfigape strrse. Lv wny tfuhiorlb on l twol eed zuzzh -- oer ahb nid wzbtw toikvvg/fvqhybkd -- mc l Qnrrdvgr triehkf qonric.
    Vnrb Wvrpzdaj. Thy rne Neyoqmrn forxhf, Z olzsse jsf aree Hnto Jqcn; oeafuurl T qbycd aux wlbu sopbknni zt nrp sbtk trjvfl vd Nayo Hwypzazy jira ywf.

    Afksp xsfri doioij (JFLAIF mrd xiy, kuek's hv, HFF?, & RFDXF bocvw), dwg-gfm (UGTGB rrml), actoc wzzb ("xye JNMKH vffll"?), akmpxpfl (WCERVC yrzccp) hlj Clrlrvee svtkvu (vrbd ZLUW?) segs as woesec fcebxjrooy athu xye Jgpk Gwjbxf Aumaeym, oyk tukmi wwkzxz/lgmpw lzy hf hnbi r ocfgx jmtnpgewbr ko Qowehm.

    Nvta gy tsmd zbsje Qowehm tcgucittsy, (Queiapzii qodsl mpum "Drzk Jlztr") gru zvrh bz rne qmgs-yiktrx tirdvf gvst? (Hprcm)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan,
      Congrats on good, and sometimes very creative, solving.

      SOTSOGS:
      I agree with you on the minimum value of X. My ring values differ from yours but also sum to Y. They must sum to at least Y, of course. The minimum value of X is etched in stone, but there are many possibilities and leeway galore for the ring values. So, no unique answer there.

      The ring-value answer I had in mind, I believe, minimizes the greatest of the X values.

      So, in retrospect, the question I should have asked is:
      What is the minimum number of rings needed on your target, and what are the values of the numbers in the rings so that THE GREATEST VALUE is as small as possible?

      After next Friday, I will probably edit the puzzle using that wording. I think that answer would be unique. But, maybe not.

      SOTHS:
      You’ve solved the five-letter proper noun and the “loose connection” very well. I agree with your assessment of the three films and the sitcom, as well as the cemetery, although we disagree on who is buried there.

      I also agree with you on the composer, but not on the tenor solo. Also, we agree on the U.S. singer but not the Canadian one. However, I think what you did with the tenor solo and Canadian singer is very creative, and qualifies as a very acceptable answer to this “warhorse” of a puzzle!

      Lego…

      Delete
    2. Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan,

      The Sharky's Vigenere Cipher is nifty, but it's okay, you can "spoil." We reveal everything on Tuesday afternoon. I appreciate the time you have taken with our SOTSOGS and SOTHS. Very good comments. Thanks.
      Lego...

      Delete
  6. The Peyton Manning clip on this had me ROGLOLAAB: Dubbed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. SOTSOGS: I am not sure of this answer: 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 22, 44, 88. X = 8 rings (or 7 rings + a bull's-eye). The sum of the 8 numbers is 175.

    CMS: Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz. Lone Ranger & Toto + n = Tonto, Hi Ho Silver & the “silver” Tinman. Who would have thought you could change Dorothy into the Lone Ranger and Toto into Tonto! Just follow the “yellow (golden) brick road.”

    SOTHS: I am not sure of this one either: 5-letter proper name HENRY. 1. Henry Zuckerman, Buck Henry, “Grumpy Old Men,” & “What's Up Doc?”
    2. Richard Henry (Peter) Sellers.
    3. Henry Winkler (Happy Days)
    4. Henry Purcell
    5. O. Henry (Thomas Wolfe)
    6.Henry Thomas plays Hank Williams in “The Last Ride.”

    ReplyDelete
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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Answers:

    Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants Slice:
    William Tell Ov-orchard archered
    Your mission is to construct a target with X rings, each bearing a number.
    During a shooting session, you must be able to shoot an arrow, or arrows, at the target to achieve any score from 1 to 100, but you are not allowed to shoot more than one arrow in a ring during a session. In other words, the maximum number of arrows you can shoot during a session is X.
    What is the minimum number of rings needed on your target (that is, the minimum value of X), and what are the values of the numbers in the rings so that their sum is as small as possible?

    Answer:
    Seven rings are needed. One possible set of values is: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 37.

    CharacterMystic Slice:
    Gold ‘N’ Silver
    Take the name a female fictional character in two words. Add an N to the letters of her name. From this pool of twelve letters form a four-letter word. Again, from the original twelve-letter pool form a six-letter word, using one of the letters twice. Those two words form the nickname of a male fictional character. Insert an N within the name of the female’s companion to form the name of the male’s companion.
    Who are these characters and companions?

    Answer:
    Dorothy Gale (from “The Wizard of Oz”), Lone Ranger; Toto, Tonto

    Specialty Of The House Slice:
    Diamonds& Rubies
    Think of a five-letter proper noun that can be a first, middle or last name. One person with this name acted in a 1993 comedic movie and shared writing credits in a 1972 romantic-comedic movie. A second person film-edited a 1950 zany slapstick short movie about private eyes. A third acted in a quite popular TV sit-com. A fourth is a British composer who wrote a Seventeenth Century tenor solo. A fifth is an author whose final resting place since the 1870s has been a cemetery with a name more associated with another author who was this fifth person’s contemporary. A sixth person, with a nickname of the five-letter proper noun, was a U.S. country singer. He was portrayed in a play and movie -- and had his songs covered/recorded -- by a Canadian country singer.
    These three movies, sit-com, tenor solo, cemetery and Canadian singer have no formal connection with the Walt Disney Company, but their titles/names all do have a loose connection to Disney.
    What is this loose Disney connection, and what is the five-letter proper noun?

    Answer:
    The proper noun is “Henry.”
    The titles or names of the movies, sit-com, tenor solo, cemetery and Canadian singer each contain the name of one of Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs.
    Buck Henry acted in “Grumpy Old Men” and co-wrote “What’s Up, Doc?”
    Henry DeMond edited “Dopey Dicks,” a 1950 Three Stooges short film.
    Henry Winkler co-starred in “Happy Days.”
    Henry Purcell composed “The Bashful Thames” for solo tenor.
    Henry David Thoreau is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. (His contemporary Washington Irving wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”)
    Hank Williams was portrayed in a play and film by Canadian singer Sneezy Waters, who also recorded an album of Hank Williams songs.

    LegoLambdopey

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just pointing out that neither “The Bashful Thames”, nor "Yorkshire Feast Song" appear anywhere on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Henry_Purcell.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I just also noticed that Henry David Thoreau and his contemporary, Washington Irving are not buried in the SAME cemetery, but TWO DIFFERENT Sleepy Hollow Cemeteries!

    Henry David Thoreau is indeed buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.

    Washington Irving is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.

    ReplyDelete
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    2. Orinoco_Flow_and_I_Lost_On_Jeopardy_fan,

      Thank you for your clarification on the Sleepy Hollow cemeteries kerfuffle (Hi, Bob!)

      Regarding:
      The CharacterMystic Slice subhead, “Gold ‘N’ Silver”:
      “Silver” alludes to the Lone Ranger’s horse, Silver.
      “Gold” alludes to the Yellow (Gold) Brick Road. Some Oz-ophiles have theorized that The Wizard of Oz was an allegory about the Gold Standard.
      Regarding:
      The Specialty Of The House Slice subhead, “Diamonds & Rubies”:
      That is what the Seven Dwarfs are mining mining.

      LegoLamBling

      Delete
    3. O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) & Thomas Wolfe ARE buried in the same cemetery. RIVERSIDE in Asheville, N.C.

      Delete
  11. Silver Threads and Golden Needles Department:

    The thread between the SOTSOGS and CMS:
    SOTSOGS is illustrated with William Tell using his son’s “apple-hat” as a target. The finale of the William Tell Overture is the theme music for The Lone Ranger, one answer to the CMS.

    (The “joke definition” of an “intellectual” is “a person who can listen to the “William Tell Overture” without thinking of the “lone Ranger.”)

    The double-stranded thread between the CMS and SOTHS:
    1. The Lone Ranger yells “Hi Ho Silver! Away!” (See Dave Barry columns in a post below.) The Seven Dwarfs sing, “Heigh Ho, Heigh ho…”
    2. Dorothy wears ruby slippers (in the Oz movie). The Dwarfs mine rubies.

    LegoWaiter-There’s-a-thread-in-my-slice!

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  13. Lots of talk about cemeteries and burying here this week. It’s time for a little Barry-ing:

    Here’s columnist Dave Barry’s scholarly research on the great Lone Ranger “Hi-Ho Silver”/”Hi-Yo Silver” controversy:
    Read this. Then, there’s that.

    LegYoHoHo…

    ReplyDelete