Friday, November 21, 2014

"Take this giblet and stuff it!"; Centrifugal Synonyms; Greatful Books


Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria!

This week we would like to give thanks for… Thanksgiving. It is our favorite major American holiday. But why, you (“yam” backwards) ask, should we be thankful for Thanksgiving Day?

First: It is probably the most “inclusive” of our holidays. Giving thanks is universal, cutting across cultures and perhaps even species (for example, tail-wagging, purring, etc.).

People of all faiths and non-faiths can participate in Thanksgiving. You can thank God for blessing you with life and gifts. Or you can thank Grandma for preparing the turkey and trimmings, your brother Mike for repairing your antediluvian basement fusebox, your wife for sharing her life (and salted caramel ice cream) with you, or your pal Winthrop for sparing you embarrassment during his preprandial toast by not spilling the beans (and the bubbly) about the time you filched sherry and whiskey from your dads liquor cabinet. and prosheeded to turn all the digital clocksh in the housh up-shide down.
 
Second: Thanksgiving is the least commercial of our major holidays. Granted, the mercantile mayhem (marking the advent of Christmas shopping) known as Black Friday is bleeding backward into November’s fourth Thursday. But even so, Thanksgiving Day remains a relatively lean slice of deli turkey sandwiched between thick slabs of Halloween “Pumpkinickel” and Yuletide fruitcake.

Third: A long weekend! (Actually, four-sevenths of a week qualifies as more than just an “-end.”

Fourth: football, football, football… if you’re into that brand of mayhem.

Fifth: of bourbon…. No, no, wait! Fifth: On Thanksgiving Thursday (and every Thursday, for that matter), Puzzleria! looms just around the corner. As the weekend grows nigh, it seems folks just get hungry and “Thursday” for fine puzzle slices washed down with drinks of refreshing thinking..

But before this weeks main course is served, heres an appetizer-puzzler to whet your appetite. In the following passage, each string of uppercase letters can be rearranged to form a word or words associated with Thanksgiving. The number of words appears in parentheses after the uppercase letters.

If you are having difficulty solving these anagrams, here is a helpful link.


We always had to snowshoe over the frozen river and through the snowy woods to go to Gramps and Grammar Lambda’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. Their home was nestled like A NORDIC INN (2) on the north shore of northwestern Minnesota’s VAGABOND BIERS LAKE (3).

Each year, Grammar’s fur-dyed-fuchsia French poodle, MS. PINKIE PUP (2), would greet us at the door with yips of joy (or perhaps it was jealously?). Often her flapping jowls would betray the TINIEST DROOL (2), evidence that Cousin Yancey had once again this Thanksgiving slipped a whiskey mickey into her water dish.

Later, when the increasingly MUDDLING PUP (2) began to wobble, weave and slur her yips, Grammar, her mind still quick as a PYTHON TRAP (1), would unravel Yancey's mischief and proceed to track him down so that she could SOB, WHINE (1), kvetch and moan to his face. Yancey would eventually skulk away to Grampas den to sulk and nurse his own whiskey sour and Dutch Masters cigar, tail between his legs.

In the MEANTIME, EPIC (2) culinary activity is taking place in Grammar’s warm and aromatic kitchen. As Uncle Winthrop spices the beef for the GROUND ROAST, HE HEMS (2) and haws, trying to explain sheepishly to his fellow food preparers why hash is a dish preferable to turkey, or even mutton, say, on this august November day.

Aunt Gert checks on the status of her signature CEDAR SAP YAMS (2), bubbling in the oven at 325 degrees. In 1963 Gert thought that for a change she’d pay homage to the pilgrims’ and Indians’ first Thankgiving by making an Indian dish. She bought beans, rice, ginger and other spices from her local Piggly Wiggly. Alas the beans were rancid and many Lambda-family guests got nauseous eating her curry dish. After that BEAN CURRY SCARE (2), we are all thankful she has since forsworn Indian cuisine in favor of her more traditional signature yams!

Over by the back burner, Cousin Yancey (no longer sulking but still suckling on his stogie and sour) is demonstrating his LAID-BACK FRY (2) technique on beer-battered green beans, flipping them like flapjacks in his pan. Ms. Pinkie Pup scavenges at his feet, gobbling down any greasy floor-flopped flotsam that falls into her yap.

While Cousin Lulu stirs her pesto brown rice pilaf, Zuzu, the wife of our hosts’ pastor (who is related to a South-African archbishop!), heats up her spinach pesto pasta on the stovetop, thereby foreordaining that we must EAT TWO PESTO (2) dishes!

Uncle Alf sits in the corner, assiduously concocting his Lambda family-favorite GALLON-OF-PORT FLAMBE (4), hoping to make a dent in the monopoly enjoyed by each years deluge of dessert pies.

As we are about to gather round the dining room table to pray, Aunt Willa  a vegan, scurries past and plucks from the fridge freezer an ICY EGG, SARAN(2)-wrapped, hard-boiled and hard-frozen, then drops it atop Lulu’s pilaf to thaw, just as the REV. SHAMAN TUTU (2) begins to pray:

“Lord, the whirlwind we hast reaped HATH DUSTY FUROR (2). Refreshest thou our soil with thy rain and our souls with thy holy reign. COMPLY THOU ONLY (2) if we obeyest thy commands. Amen.”

Grammar thanks the parson and, as we all settle into our seats, we admire her familiar centerpiece that doubles as a relish dish, chock-full of peonies, posies, LILIES, YOGURT, BRIE cheese (2) and pickles. Before Grammar settles into her own seat, like a schoolmarm passing out an assignment, she hands to each of us a harvest print napkin to TUCK UNDER (1) our belts, which are about to be loosened a notch or two.

Look for answers next Tuesday. Now, here is this week’s main course, served Puzzleria!-style, of course.
Menu

Easy As Pumpkin Pie Slice:
Centrifugal Synonyms

Think of a word associated with Thanksgiving that has an odd number of letters. Picture the word as a “spinning propeller” with the central letter as its hub. Starting from the center, “centrifugally” spell out the letters of each of the two “blades,” from innermost to outermost, but do not include the “hub-letter.” You will form two words that are synonyms.

What are these synonyms and this Thanksgiving word?  


Literary Slice:
Greatful Books

Think of a word associated with Thanksgiving. Replace its first, fourth and sixth letters with three different letters, and divide the result in two to reveal an author’s last name followed by the title of a work of fiction written by that author. 

What are the word, the author and the work of fiction?


Occupational Slice:

Think of a word associated with Thanksgiving. Insert a letter in its middle, creating a new word which denotes an occupation practiced by three characters: one portrayed on a television series guest appearance by a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner; another portrayed by an actor who won five Emmy Awards in the role; and a third portrayed in a film by a member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. 

What are these two words?

(Hint: The occupation has a synonym whose first letter has a Scrabble value three points greater than the Scrabble sum of its remaining letters.) 



David’s Run-of-the-miles Slice:
Kleinucopia

Take a word associated with the Thanksgiving Day feast. Remove one letter from the inside of the word and read inside-out in both directions from there. You will get two movie titles.

Hint: Although the puzzle instructs you to “remove one letter from inside of the word,” you may also “remove a mess of letters from the inside of the bird!”

Note: This puzzle was created by the Puzzleria! blog commenter (and exceptional long-distance runner) whose screen name is David. (His astute comments can also be found on other blogs such as Blaines Puzzle Blog  and An Englishman Solves American Puzzles, and Partial Ellipsis Of The Sun. We are giving him thanks for letting us “package” his puzzle here.) 
-- LegoLambda






 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 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 Puzzle -ria! Thank you.

35 comments:

  1. Take a word associated with the OS Thanksgiving word. Remove one letter from the inside of the new word and read inside-out in both directions from there. You will get two movies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David,

      Good piggyback puzzle incorporating both the EAPPS’ instructions and the OS answer.

      A friend and I traveled to a state capital to watch a morning contest at the state high school football championships. I solved your puzzle after allowing it to percolate in my gray Mr. Coffee brewer as we watched our team lose to a deserving and more athletic team.

      The name of the capital city happens to be the last name of a title character in a movie comedy that has a theme/”fantasy gimmick” similar to one of the answers to your puzzle.

      The team for whom we were rooting lost. Yes, the gridiron gods (and goddesses) were not kind today, but I choose to let b-eye-gones be b-I-gones.

      LegoLoveTheSmellOf BurningCaffeinInTheMorning.

      Delete
  2. Centrifugal synonyms, Lego? Are you forcing a little science?

    Got it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Word Woman,

      Glad you got it. The force is apparently with you.

      We at Puzzleria! are forcesquare against gratuitous shows of force, force of habit, forces of evil, forcible entries, force-outs at home, unenforceable laws, forced laughter, forced labor, forced hands, force feeding, forced fires (only you can prevent ‘em) and forceps… unless they are the kind used to save a life as they are handed to the surgeon by an operating room assistant. (and centrifugal force-feeding actually sounds a bit messy!).

      But we just can’t seem to be able to resist irresistible forces.

      In fact, we are indeed forcing a little science,,, but very little. What it really is, is a simple word puzzle “slice” wrapped in a science package. Our Puzzleria! packaging is not elaborate, just a two-tiered heading and illustration or two per puzzle.

      The illustrations are significant in that they draw people’s eyes toward puzzles and make them want to read them. I rewrote my EAPPS, for example, just to make it illustratable, dragging propellers and centrifugality into the mix.

      Note David’s “piggyback” puzzle in his November 21 at 7:36 AM comment. It gives essentially the same instructions as this week’s EAPPS puzzle, but with a different answer. Also, David’s instructions are much more concise and clear than mine.

      (The guy should really start a puzzle blog,except, as my friend always tells me, “normal people” who “have a life” but do not have “too much time on their hands” are too busy to tend to such bloggery!)

      A clearly and simply stated puzzle such as David's, however, would be more of a challenge to illustrate and "package."

      LegoGetTheeToABloggery

      Delete
  3. David,

    In my response to Word Woman, above, I was struck with an idea for a possibly interesting experiment. (She does inspire science, after all!)

    May I illustrate and otherwise “package” your “inside-out” EAPPS piggyback puzzle and post it on this week’s (November 21) blog along with the three other slices? I would call it David’s Slice (DS) or the Distance Runner’s Slice (DRS).

    What do you think?

    LegoLongDistanceInMyDreams

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, of course.

      As to starting my own blog, you will notice that my puzzles all piggyback on your puzzles. I don't seem to have the original creativity that you have.

      I also got the EAPPS, somehow waking in the middle of the night with the answer.

      Still LSless.

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We always have fresh ZINNIAS as a Thanksgiving adornment. So, for the Literary Slice, ZINNIA: replace the the 1st, 4th & 6th letters with other letters yields Stephen KING IT. I am assuming this is not the intended answer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ron,
      ZINNIA/KING/IT is not my intended answer, as you surmised, but I like IT!
      (Hint: my intended answer is more than six letters long.)

      Everything hinges, of course, on whether zinnias can properly be considered “a word associated with Thanksgiving.” I do not doubt, of course, that you “always have fresh zinnias as a Thankgiving adornment,” but are they really “associated with Thankgiving” traditionally across America?

      So I googled “traditional Thanksgiving flowers” and came up with this. And then I DuckDuckGoosed “Thanksgiving zinnias” and uncovered this.

      Ergo, ZINNIA > KING IT satisfies the puzzle’s wording perfectly. Congrats, ron!

      LegoChrysantheLambda

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. Thanks Lego. I am pleased you used Duckduckgo.com and not Google.

      Delete
    4. You are welcome, ron. Note, however, that I did face a challenge regarding how to write the past tense of DuckDuckGo. My quandary is best stated: “Googled” is to “Google” as “_____” is to “DuckDuckGo.”

      I went with “DuckDuckGoosed” for two reasons:
      One, I believe DuckDuckGo is a take-off on, or was inspired by, the excellent children’s game Duck Duck Goose, also known as Duck Duck Gray Duck.
      Two, it is always fun to write “goosed.”

      Perhaps I should have gone instead with “DuckDuckWent,” since “went” is the past tense of “go.” However, “I DuckDuckGoosed ‘Thanksgiving zinnias’” sounds much better than “I DuckDuckWent ‘Thanksgiving zinnias.’”

      Am I missing some better past-tense alternative?

      LeGoosed...

      Delete
  6. In OS, I take it the word associated with Thanksgiving need not have an even number of letters with the added letter going into the exact middle.

    I've thought of FATTER ==> FLATTER, but I can't think of ANY PORTRAYELS of any characters whose occupation is a flatter.

    My biggest problem here is that damn synonym!

    (Hint: The occupation has a synonym whose first letter has a Scrabble value three points greater than the Scrabble sum of its remaining letters.)

    A is worth 1, J is worth 8, S is worth 1
    B is worth 3, K is worth 5, T is worth 1
    C is worth 3, L is worth 1, U is worth 1
    D is worth 2, M is worth 3, V is worth 4
    E is worth 1, N is worth 1, W is worth 4
    F is worth 4, O is worth 1, X is worth 8
    G is worth 2, P is worth 3, Y is worth 4
    H is worth 4, Q is worth 10, Z is worth 10
    I is worth 1, R is worth 1

    So the occupation synonym must begin with either Q or Z and be followed by at most 3 1-point letters (A,E,I,L,N,O,R,S,T or U), or a 1-point vowel (A,E,I,O or U) followed by D or G.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interestingly enough, I have thought of a word associated, not with Thanksgiving, but with Christmas with an even number of letters, which becomes an occupation by inserting a letter into its EXACT MIDDLE!

      Delete
    2. Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan,

      Thanks for the nifty Scrabble letter-value chart.

      And thanks again for helping me with the wording of my puzzles (seriously). I was afraid the Occupational Slice would prove to be too easy, so I worded the opening of the puzzle vaguely, not giving much specific information. But I now think I shoulda coulda woulda been more specific. I wrote:
      “Think of a word associated with Thanksgiving. Insert a letter in its middle…”
      I shoulda written:
      “Think of an even-number-lettered word associated with Thanksgiving. Insert a letter in its exact middle…”

      And I probably will replace my original text with the reworded version above.

      (“Fatter,” BTW, [which becomes "flatter"] is a great Thanksgiving-associated word, but too bad it’s not “fatterer,” as in this bad movie title. There have been countless portrayals of sycophants in thespian history.)

      Regarding, “Lego, I think this letter is the beginning of a beautiful occupation…,” Q and Z are un-e-quizzically and unequivocally peachy “job starters,” but I don’t think we should discount J or X as candidates either. I can think of at least one occupation beginning with X, for example, that satisfies the conditions of my hint. It has a two-word alliterative synonym that anagrams to a synonym of “séances.”

      I shall sleep on your Christmas puzzle, visions of splendapluots dancing (holly-go-litely) in my head.

      LegoShouldaCouldaWouldaLambda

      Delete
    3. Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan,

      And, Interestingly enough, I have thought of a word associated, not with Thanksgiving, but with Christmas with an odd number of letters, which becomes an occupation by inserting a (driver’s license), (Social Security card) or (birth certificate) pretty darn close into its EXACT MIDDLE! (that is, close, but leaning in the direction this country seems to be heading after this past election)

      LegoReadingFromLeftToRight

      Delete
    4. Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan,

      Puzzlerians! should be eating your Christmas puzzle up!

      This job may require some aggression,
      Making judgments and “putting out fires.”
      In the realm of the diamond profession
      Two named Patsy and Connie were pliers.

      LegoJustASimpleMachine

      Delete
    5. Oh, man! Did I ever misread the OS puzzle. I seem to have read "first letter has a Scrabble value three points greater than the Scrabble sum of its remaining letters" as "first letter has a Scrabble value three times the Scrabble sum of its remaining letters". This explains why I thought the first letter must be Q or Z and the sum of the remaining letters must be 3.

      Ok, so using X, worth 8, the remaining letters values could total 5, so X-man would work. (We still could not use X-ray, what with Y being worth 4 points.)

      Delete
  7. In my November 22 @ 12:55 AM comment, I forced a list of forces on you. Take one of those “force of ____” words (like force of evil, force of nature, force of will, force of friction, force of habit, etc.). Remove from it the letters of a Stephen King book title (which does not contain the word “The”) to form a word associated with Thanksgiving.

    (Thanks, ron, for inviting Mr. King to our Puzzleria! party.)

    LegoYambda

    ReplyDelete
  8. Puzzlerians!

    I have now posted David's EAPPS piggyback puzzle in this week's menu, just below the other three slices. Check it out.

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the aforementioned “David’s Run-of-the-miles Slice (DRotmS), take his word associated with the Thanksgiving Day feast and change its first vowel to a different vowel to form an object on the Thanksgiving Day table that is not edible.

      Double the third letter of this new word and move the last letter two places earlier in the alphabet to form something on the table that is edible. Add an S to this to form a word naming everyone sitting around the table.

      LegoBlestAndGrateful

      Delete
  9. EAPPS:
    PILGRIM>>>RIM & LIP.

    LS:
    My only solution is ZINNIA/KING/IT.

    OS:
    MANGER>>>MANAGER. To eat well is to live (be) well. I have no idea about the TV roles.

    David's Slice:
    GIBLET>>>movies: E.T. & BIG.

    Extra Slice:
    GIBLET>>>GOBLET>>>GOBBLER (male turkey)>>>GOBBLERS (voracious consumers).

    HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

    George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation.

    Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of
    Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and
    humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of
    Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the
    people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be
    observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors
    of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to
    establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

    Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of
    November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service
    of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the
    good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in
    rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and
    protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a
    nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable
    interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late
    war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have
    since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been
    enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and
    happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the
    civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we
    have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all
    the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

    And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and
    supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to
    pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in
    public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties
    properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to
    all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and
    constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to
    protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have
    shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and
    concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and
    virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to
    grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone
    knows to be best.

    Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D.
    1789.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. EAPPS:
      PILGRIM>>>RIM & LIP !?!?!?

      My interpretation of that puzzle was that the letters were to come out of alternating sides one by one. So PILGRIM would become either RLI, IMP or LRI, IPM.

      For OS, I had:

      CORNUCOPIA
      v..v.v....
      MOREUTOPIA ==> MORE (Sir Thomas More), UTOPIA

      (You might want to select and copy the above 3 lines, open a new document in a text editor - and if your text editor is EditPad or EditPad Lite then select Convert, Text Encoding, then select Unicode UTF-8, and then paste. Then the v's will become downward arrows located at the 1st, 4th, and 6th positions.)

      Delete
    2. Sorry, I meant to say LS, not OS.

      Delete
    3. ...And the instructions involving conversion into Unicode UTF-8 would only be necessary if I had included box characters. So the diagram that I've recently posted to Blaine's Puzzle Blog would benefit from that.

      ┌──┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬──┐
      ╞══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪══╪═╕
      ├──┼───┴───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼──┼─┤
      ├──┼───────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┴───┼──┼─┤
      ├──┼───────┼───┴───┼───┼───┼───────┼──┼─┤
      ├──┼───────┼───────┼───┴───┼───────┼──┼─┤
      ├──┼───────┼───────┼───────┴───────┼──┼─┤
      ├──┴───────┼───────┼───────────────┼──┼─┤
      ├──────────┼───────┴───────────────┼──┼─┤
      ├──────────┴───────────────────────┼──┼─┤
      ├──────────────────────────────────┴──┼─┤
      ╘═════════════════════════════════════╧═╛

      Ok, the post that I make to Blaine's blog tomorrow won't look quite as good as the display above, but it should look pretty good!

      Delete
  10. Easy As Pi Slice: PILGRIM >>> LIP RIM

    Kids out here don't learn a whole bunch about the whole Pilgrim/Indian tradition. . .

    (Easy as pi for me as pi is easier than pie ;-)).

    Clever idea for a puzzle, Lego!

    ReplyDelete
  11. For OS, I got Turkey / Turnkey /Jailer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Happy Thanksgiving from Seattle, where the mayor pardoned a Tofurkey, although he spelled it "Tofurky".

    ReplyDelete
  13. This week’s answers (lots of ’em!):

    Thanks for Giving the Memory:
    Answers:
    A NORDIC INN = Indian corn
    VAGABOND’S BIER LAKE = Bread loaves baking
    MS. PINKIE PUP = pumpkin pies
    TINIEST DROOL = Detroit Lions (perennial Thanksgiving game-day participant)
    MUDDLING PUP = plum pudding
    PYTHON TRAP = tryptophan
    SOB, WHINE = wishbone
    MEANTIME, EPIC = mincemeat pie
    GROUND ROAST, HE HEMS = grandmother’s house
    CEDAR SAP YAMS = Macy’s Parade
    BEAN CURRY SCARE = cranberry sauce
    LAID-BACK FRY = black Friday
    EAT TWO PESTO = Sweet potato
    GALLON-OF-PORT FLAMBE = NFL pro football game
    ICY EGG, SARAN = saying grace
    REV. SHAMAN TUTU = autumn harvest
    HATH DUSTY FUROR = fourth Thursday
    COMPLY THOU ONLY = Plymouth Colony
    TUCK UNDER = turducken
    LILIES, YOGURT, BRIE CHEESE = oily cheeseburger, it lies… (Okay, okay. That is not the answer I intended. I made a mistake by uppercasing CHEESE. Sorry. Sure, if one did eat an oily cheeseburger instead of Thanksgiving turkey it would indeed just “lie” in one’s gut. But my intended answer was actually):
    LILIES, YOGURT, BRIE = Religious liberty


    Easy As Pumpkin Pie Slice:
    Centrifugal Synonyms
    Think of a word associated with Thanksgiving that has an odd number of letters. Picture the word as a “spinning propeller” with the central letter as its hub. Starting from the center, “centrifugally” spell out the letters of each “blade,” from innermost to outermost, but do not include the “hub-letter.” You will form two words that are synonyms.
    What are these synonyms and this Thanksgiving word?
    Answer:
    LIP, RIM, PILGRIM

    Literary Slice:
    Greatful Books
    Think of a word associated with Thanksgiving. Replace its first, fourth and sixth letters with three different letters, and divide the result in two to reveal an author’s last name followed by the title of a work of fiction written by that author. What are the word, the author and the work of fiction?
    Answer:
    CORNUCOPIA, MORE, UTOPIA

    Occupational Slice:
    Take this job and stuff it!
    Think of an even-number-lettered word associated with Thanksgiving. Insert a letter in its exact middle, creating a new word which denotes an occupation practiced by three characters: one portrayed on a television series guest appearance by a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner; another portrayed by an actor who won five Emmy Awards in the role; and a third portrayed in a film by a member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. What are these two words?
    (Hint: The occupation has a synonym whose first letter has a Scrabble value three points greater than the Scrabble sum of its remaining letters.)
    Answer:
    TURKEY, TURNKEY (JAILER)
    Bette Davis appeared on “Gunsmoke” playing “The Jailer”. Don Knotts played Deputy Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show.” Terry Gilliam, MPFC animator and member, played a jailer in “Life of Brian.”
    Scrabble values for JAILER:
    J = 8
    A = 1
    I = 1
    L = l
    E = 1
    R = 1

    David’s Run-of-the-miles Slice:
    Kleinucopia
    Take a word associated with the Thanksgiving Day feast. Remove one letter from the inside of the word and read inside-out in both directions from there. You will get two movie titles.
    Hint: Although you “remove one letter from inside of the word,” you may also “remove a mess of letters from the inside of the bird.”
    Answer:
    (This may be David’s intended answer, but he may have something else up inside his sleeve.)
    GIBLET – L = GIB ET. Thus, Big and E.T.
    Hint: When preparing the turkey you remove the G-I-B-L-E-T-S from the inside of the bird.

    Legiblo

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  15. ron,
    Thanks for the GW (not GeeDubya!) proclamation. True meaning of the holiday, and something to ponder as we pass the squash and green bean hotdish (that’s “casserole” to you non-Gophers/Badgers) later this week.

    WordWoman,
    Thanks for the kind words. What’s the ETA for this week’s PEOTS?

    Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan,
    Thanks for the Unicode UTF-8 voodoo that you do so well. I’m too Luditical to figure it out, but after I put out the Nov. 28 Puzzleria! I might see if I can figure it out.
    And thanks for keeping me honest as is ethically and enigmatically possible.

    David,
    Thanks for all your creative puzzles, and for letting me “package” your “giblet puzzle” on the blog this week.

    And thanks to all who visit and comment on this website. If a puzzle is posted in the www.oods and no one is there to hear it, it makes merely the sound of one minute hand cLappIng. Y’all keep Puzzleria! buzzing.

    Other puzzling loose ends from this week:

    In my Nov. 21 at 8:35 PM comment regarding David’s puzzle, Madison is the name of the capital city that happens to be the last name of a title character in a movie comedy that has a theme/”fantasy gimmick” similar to one of the answers to David’s puzzle.

    Im my Nov. 22, 11:26 PM comment, I wrote:
    “ I have thought of a word associated, not with Thanksgiving, but with Christmas with an odd number of letters, which becomes an occupation by inserting a (driver’s license), (Social Security card) or (birth certificate) pretty darn close into its EXACT MIDDLE! (that is, close, but leaning in the direction this country seems to be heading after this past election)
    Answer:
    PRESENT > PRES + ID + ENT

    In my Nov. 23, 10:41 PM response to Enya_and_Weird_Al_fan’s Christmas puzzle, I wrote:

    Puzzlerians! should be eating your Christmas puzzle up!
    This job may require some aggression,
    Making judgments and “putting out fires.”
    In the realm of the diamond profession
    Two named Patsy and Connie were pliers.
    MANGER > MAN-A-GER
    Livestock eat from mangers. Patsy Donovan and Connie Mack were Major League Baseball MANAGERS.

    In my Nov. 22, 7:27 PM comment, I wrote:
    Take one of those “force of ____” words (like force of evil, force of nature, force of will, force of friction, force of habit, etc.). Remove from it the letters of a Stephen King book title (which does not contain the word “The”) to form a word associated with Thanksgiving.
    Force of GRAVITY – IT = GRAVY

    In my Nov. 23, 11:01 PM comment, I wrote:
    In the aforementioned “David’s Run-of-the-miles Slice (DRotmS), take his word associated with the Thanksgiving Day feast and change its first vowel to a different vowel to form an object on the Thanksgiving Day table that is not edible.
    Double the third letter of this new word and move the last letter two places earlier in the alphabet to form something on the table that is edible. Add an S to this to form a word naming everyone sitting around the table.
    GIBLET > GOBLET > GOBBLER > GOBBLERS

    LegoGuyWithAGratitude

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  16. Lego, I am working on PEOTS now. It will likely involve MAZARINE BLUE.

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