PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e5 + 52 SERVED
Welcome to
Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! A blog like this week’s occurs only once in a blue moon.
Yes, a blue moon is upon us. Gaze heavenward this evening, July 31. Drink in
the second full moon in the “moonth” of July.
(Next week’s first August 2015 Puzzleria!
will be uploaded in the wake of what promises to be quite entertaining debates
with Republican candidates, August 6 in Cleveland. Viewing the debates may help you decide whether you are a Trumpublican or Trumpocrat.)
We have a full “Moonu”
(that’s Moonu, not Moon Unit) of puzzle slices. Four of ‘em. (The only blue
ones, we think, are those we’ve strewn with bleu cheese crumbles that melt in
our ovens, then in your mouth, not in your hand. M&M&M&M&M!)
But first, have
a taste of this bonus appetizer… with an answer that happens to be a particular
type of appetizer. Solving the puzzle may require a measure of Concentration:
Appetizing Bonus Slice:
Hint: The
appetizer is often associated with one particular national restaurant chain.
We are serving
up this week a pair of “names in the news” bonus puzzle slices. Think of them as wavy gravy for you to pore (sic) over... your brain-wavy gray matter:
One: another clever “present and past” political bonus puzzle baked up by our esteemed Master Gourmet French Puzzle Chef “Monsieur Garcon du Parachutisme,” also known as “skydiveboy” in the blogosphere, and also known as Mark Scott of Seattle, Washington…
and
Two: another picture puzzle, somewhat reminiscent of last week’s “Photo finish/Finnish photo” puzzle. Here they are:
Names In The News And History Bonus Slice:
Donald Trump
was not the first “Old Yellow-hair” to have aspirations for the White House.
The first one did not succeed, but it cannot be said his efforts were
pointless.
Can you name
him?
Thank you, Mark,
for that historical morsel. Your puzzle is true Trumpery yet is truly not trumpery, if you get my
drift.
Speaking of excellent puzzlery, at the end of last week’s Puzzleria! comments section, Puzzlerian! ron posted a link to an excellent puzzle in the wonderful Futility Closet web site. The puzzle he cited was the July 29 entry, “Knife Act.”
I am still pondering the puzzle. Puzzlerian! Word Woman commented, suggesting a splendid “thinking-outside-the-cake-mix-box” solution, but ron indicated that FC’s intended solution was different from hers.
Names In The News Bonus Slice:
I’d crawl a
mile for a Camel
Each of these
three pictures illustrates a singular noun. Put all 17 letters of those nouns
into a mixed-up pyle and rearrange them to spell out two names recently in the news.
Both names would appear within the same news article or report.
What are these
names?
Red Herringbone
Hint: Reptile is to Crawl as Camel is to ____.
Redder Herringbone Hint:
Reptile is to Crawl as Lucky Strike is to _____.
Goldest/Reddest Herringbone Hint: Reptile is to Crawl as Old Gold is to _____.
Redder Herringbone Hint:
Reptile is to Crawl as Lucky Strike is to _____.
Goldest/Reddest Herringbone Hint: Reptile is to Crawl as Old Gold is to _____.
(Feel free to
employ Paul’s “hovering mouse technique” {see Paul’s July 28 at 12:43 PM post in last week’s comments}, but only as a last resort, please. Actually, I tried using Paul’s mouseterious hovering tactic on the these three illustrations but gleaned no useful information. But, in any event, only the non-edible pink-and-red photo should pose any real problem to you perceptive Puzzlerians!)
MOONU
Specialty Of
The House Slice:
Property
listings
All words in
the following list share a somewhat unusual property:
Shrewd, huge,
beaut, timeliness, jamb, maniac, pear, boats, least,…
The
antepenultimate, penultimate and ultimate words in the list share a quite unusual
property… (Okay, okay! The last three words in the list share a quite unusual
property.)
What are these
somewhat unusual and quite unusual properties? Can you name other words that
possess either of these properties?
Hint: Neither the
words “thing” nor “spring” share either the somewhat unusual or quite unusual
properties.
Birthday Boy
Or Girl Slice:
“Dad dropped
his camera!”
Name two words
associated with “drops”. Replace each with a homophone. Place these next to
each other, without a space, in alphabetical order. Reverse the first two
letters of one of the homophones.
The
word that is formed is what Mom might become during her child’s birthday party
after “Happy Birthday” is sung, the wish is made, the candles are blown out…
and Dad sheepishly admits that his smart phone malfunctioned (or his camera
jammed).
(Note: There is a variant spelling of the word the Mom might become.) What is this word, and what are the two words associated with “drops”?
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
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 Puzzleria! Thank
you.
I got the ABS, so I won't be shut out this week.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. Got the Appetizing Bonus Slice after checking my height of season, cheery sunflowers. Smile!
DeleteI got the SOTHS properties and am working on getting other words with the same properties.
ReplyDelete"Brand" is in the somewhat unusual list.
DeleteYou got it, David. Any ideas on how many English words may be on eithher the somewhat or quite unusual lists? Tough to dig up quite unusual ones.
DeleteLegoHall&Oates'KissIsNotOnOurLists
I guess we ought to make some kind of determination/ruling on whether words with double identical letters (EE, OO, or even TT, for example) qualify for the quite unusual list. I am inclined to say no.
DeleteLeegooShoot!WhatDoYouAllThink?Yes?No?
Pushed into squalid digs?
Deletebtw,
DeleteThank you for the puzzle.
Paul,
DeleteYou are welcome. Thanks,
Whenever I encounter “squalid” or “squalor,” wonderful words rooted in scales and filth, I am reminded of J.D. Salinger’s “For Esme – with Love and Squalor.” Beautifully crafted prose. Warped, wondrous stuff. There is more Truth in JDS’s “Nine Stories” than in many “prolific" novelists’ entire oeuvres.
Aspiring writers are urged to “write what you know.” Salinger wrote what he was.
LegoReadWhileSippingASmudgedGlassOfRye
I must've read all 9 stories about 81 times each (that's 3 to the something, I think).
DeleteAnyway, after eventually noticing that "thing" doesn't cut the mustard, I've concluded that I have an imperfect grasp of the nuances of this puzzle (SOTHS). But then how could you be so darn certain, just from BRAND, that David had zeroed in on "the properties"?
For that matter, how do you and sdb know that pjb has figured out who "yellow-hair" is when I've seen nothing to indicate that he has, and ... duh! ... who else could it be?
When and if I get this sorted out, I'm going to want a do-over (as I will if the Donald gets elected). Meanwhile, I wonder what WW might know about sintered compact surfaces.
Paul,
DeleteAs you are well aware, “baseball,” a compound word itself, is rife with compound words (also called “compounds”): airmail, backstop, bandbox, blowout, brushback, bullpen… Okay, that’s far enough.
The bullpen is the bailiwick of long, short and middle reliever and soteriological firemen. One such fireman with pale hose once held a since-broken record for his soteriological exploits. If you buy into Theory #3, the bailiwick of this fireman could just have well have been known as a compound similar to “bullpen,” one that would have rhymed beautifully with his surname. This might-have-been compound is, like bullpen, comprises two actual words. Alas, the fireman’s surname is not a compound because only its second part is an actual word. Had its first part also been an actual word, the fireman’s surname would also have been a compound and…
…”thing” would cut the mustard (of which the hotdog vendors working the bleachers near the bullpen have in plentiful supply)!
How could I be so darn certain, just from BRAND, that David had zeroed in on "the properties"? What’s more, how do sdb and I know that patjberry has figured out who "yellow-hair" is when pjb has posted nothing to indicate that he has, and ... duh! ... who else could it be?!...
Simple. “David” and “patjberry” are just two in my arsenal of alternative screen names.
If you ever do get this sorted out, Paul, and if the Donald ever does get elected, there shall be no do-over… but perhaps we can do a comb-over. There are no do-overs in baseball! But apparently there is crying. And apparently comb-overs too.
LegoExcuseMePleaseBecauseNowISupposeIHaveToGoAndPostIndignantCommentsFrom“David”And “patjberry”InsistingThatTheyAreActualRealCommentersAndNotMereFigmentsOfLego’sTwistedImagination!
Paul,
DeleteAs for Word Woman and sintering, I believe she might have been playing the little Dutch girl in this movie (even though she had not yet been born!).
But miracles, I guess, happen.
LegoSinterKlaasIsMakingAListOfWordsWithUnusualPropertiesAndSpellCheckingItTwice
Yes, I knew there was crying in baseball, maybe even sintering.
DeleteStill coming up with a cogent, sintered compact surfaces review.
--K. O. Lin
Sintered compact surfaces, as you may know, are factory made slabs of clay, silica and feldspar which are subjected to high temps and pressure without melting. The building industry has been using these slabs in place of natural metamorphosed rock (marble, gneiss, etc). The beauty of natural slabs with unusual markings is not usually seen as the maufactured slabs tend to be more uniform. There is the benefit of not using up the natural rock and the fact that the slabs can be uniformly load-bearing at much thinner thicknesses.
DeleteI like looking at the labradorite crystals in my blue-eyes granite countertops and seeing how different it is at various spots. It was also fairly expensive and needed to be much thicker.
I could see places and times for the natural and the fabricated.
How's that for sitting on the fence, Sinterella?
I have no idea who "yellow-hair" is. I swear on my dad's grave.
Deletepatjberry,
DeleteI guess my congratulations were at least as premature as some of the earlier announcements of Samuel Clemens's demise. Oh well, there is still time to pursue that elusive quarry. I hope you are luckier with Reno than he was.
Shouldn't it be one word associated with "drops" as a homophone, and the other just as it is but anagrammed? I can't seem to figure it out as both homophones and one with the first two letters reversed. My explanation makes a little more sense, if that's truly what the word is.
ReplyDeletepatjberry,
DeleteI believe we both likely have the same first word (alphabetically) associated with “drops,” and its homophone. Your second word associated with “drops” may indeed be the homophone of MY word associated with “drops.” Your second word (which is the same as my homophone of my second word) could conceivably be associated with “drops,” if I am inferring correctly.
This might help resolve our quandary:
1. Is your second word associated with wedding cakes or sports arenas?
2. Does your second word have a homophone that might be associated with “drops”?
LegoLayerOfLandMindlessPuzzles
I just added a note to the BBOGS that the "word Mom might become" has a variant spelling. I hope this did not cause you confusion.
DeleteLegoVariantsAreTheLiceOfSpife
I still don"t see it, if you've got the right homophone of the second word. I just see the original word as being correct if you rearrange all the letters. Now as far as the variant spelling of the last word, we may actually be thinking of a totally different word. Otherwise, having the first two letters reversed doesn't really come out to anything. That's all I'm saying. The rebus and the names in the news I got rather quickly.
DeleteCongrats patjerry on solving my hairy puzzle. I hope it wasn't as hairy for you as it was for, well you know who, and I think you will agree with me that he also got it rather quickly too. The point being; well again you know.
DeleteSorry, I meant patjberry. Remember, turn the other cheek, which might, or might not, have relevance to my puzzle.
Deletepjb,
DeleteI truly apologize for any confusion I have caused.
The word with the variant spelling is not either of the homophonic component words, but the entire word you form at the end of the process (the word that indicates what the Mom becomes, formed from the two homophones, the second one with its first two letters reversed).
Start with two words associated with “drops.” Replace each with its homophone. Place the two homophones in alphabetical order (the two words, not their letters). Reverse the first two letters of the second word. Voila! It’s what Birthday Cake Mom must become when hubby drops his camera, a multisyllabic word with a variant spelling.
Perhaps, as with ViolinTeddy's experience with the list puzzle, you have arrived at a “variant solution,” one more elegant than mine.
Thank you all for participating in this blog!
LegoAndNiceWork,patjberry,OnSolvingskydiveboy’sPresidentialPuzzle
I am not as confused about this puzzle as you think I am. I simply cannot, of all the words associated with "drops" that I can think of, find ANY that will work when you reverse the first two letters. To that end, I also cannot figure out which two go together alphabetically to spell a new word. If I were to begin listing all the words I can think of that go with "drops", I know that 1. Two of the words are too long and have no homophones whatsoever, and 2. One of the homophones has been repeated a number of times in this post. It's still too early to reveal the list, but I can tell you I'm still hung up on the second word. Therefore, there must be a word you know that I don't, and that's the only problem I have with this puzzle.
Deletepatjberry,
DeleteRegarding the “confusion,” I am concerned about my puzzle presentation and wording, because a well-made puzzle ought not be unclear to obviously intelligent solvers such as you. I want the Puzzleria! experience to be challenging yet clearly understandable, providing enjoyment, fairness, liberty and justice for all o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. Now let's play ball... or puck!
So, just to ensure we’re on the same page, you write: “I simply cannot, of all the words associated with "drops" that I can think of, find ANY that will work when you reverse the first two letters…” That is, “…reverse the first two letters of its homophone,” correct?
LegoComeTuesdayAfternoonWeShallBeChasingTheCloudsAway
Forget what I said earlier. Just finally got the answer in bed a few minutes ago. Totally makes sense your way. I had the wrong first word all along, but we do both have the same second word, complete with the reversal at the beginning. Serving of humble pie for one, please. Will explain what I got later.
DeleteSplendid perseverance and initiative, patjberry. Thanks for sticking with it. (Incidentally, if you ask 50 people to spell "perseverence," 2 or 3 will spell it correctly. The others will misspell it either perseRverance, perseverEnce or perseRverEnce.).
DeleteLegoSplendidPluck&GoodGumption!
Have actually had ( there was a freebie coupon) one of the appetizers "pictured", so (once again) it is the first thing that occurred to me....
ReplyDeleteI haven't even LOOKED yet at the rest of the new stuff for today...onward!
I THINK I just solved the "drops" puzzle....amazingly, the two "drops"-associating words were once again the first two that I thought of, however I had mistakenly done a wrong homophone of the second word (i.e. the anagram that pat was talking about), so your question to him about wedding cakes gave it to me....yippee!
ReplyDeleteAnd while I don't have a lot of confidence ever in solving "what do these words have in common" type puzzles, I think I also figured out the Property Listings slice. Would "brats" and "start" fit into the 'quite unusual" properties list?
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your “appetizer” and “drops” puzzle successes.
DeleteAs for your Property listing words, “brats” comes very close but does not quite merit a cigar. “Start” comes a a tad less close. Both words, however, qualify for inclusion in the somewhat unusual list.
But, who knows, perhaps you have discovered a different list, one that may well be even more interesting than mine! Such things have happened before on this blog.
LegoAnythingIsPossibleWhenTheBloggeesAreMoreCleverThanTheBlogger!
Then clearly, the "property" that I came up with must not be the same one you had in mind. Rats.
DeleteI think I understand what ViolinTeddy's "very unusual property" is, because I thought of the same one. For example, I would use the word "moose" for a "someone unusual" and the word "plump" for a "very unusual". --Margaret G.
DeleteMe, too.
DeleteI worked with a kindergartner last year named Moose. He was" someone unusual" ;-) -- in a wonderful way.
I wish I could edit what I wrote! I meant "some*what*" unusual vs "*quite* unusual". Clearly I have animals on the brain - human beans included. :) --Margaret G.
DeleteI knew, Margaret G. It was just a chance to bring up my buddy, Moose.
DeleteI do agree. It would be great if Blogger had an "Edit" button.
And if the uncommanded postings "button" didn't work as well!
I believe Margaret G and I have indeed deduced the same properties....her examples certainly match what I came up with. (I love 'moose.')
DeleteBTW folks, tonight is a Blue Moon. There won't be one again next year.
ReplyDeleteHow about TEAR, COATS, & BEAST for other words with the quite unusual property?
ReplyDeleteron,
DeleteAll three come really close. Perhaps the best argument could be made for BEAST. But you could also argue for TEAR. COATS, not so much.
I look forward to hearing more from you on this puzzle.
The answers to this puzzle depend greatly on what dictionary you use, what you are wiling to define as "words," and what rules you lay down. And I really didn't lay down any rules.
LegoSansRulesChaosRules
Finally got the BBOGS.
ReplyDeleteAlso, before you got rid of the double letter restriction, I had COOPS for a quite unusual SOTHS word.
This is where I ask... is "thing" really not one of the "somewhat unusual" words? --Margaret G.
DeleteNot by my thinking.
DeleteWell then, I guess plump doesn't work as a quite unusual word either. Maybe plumb is a somewhat unusual word... But at least I figured out the BBOGS (or think I did!) --Margaret G.
DeleteMargaret G.,
DeleteI agree with David's August 3, 12:54 PM comment. See also my August 1, 4:22 PM response to Paul.
Hint: I can almost guarantee than a word on the quite unusual list must have more than one vowel.
LegoClosersWhoWarmUpInThePigpenThrowLotsOfSlop
Why is beaut somewhat unusual but boats is quite unusual? I am not there yet, clearly. Any late hour hints?
DeleteWord Woman,
DeleteNine-Thirtyishth-Hour Hint: To determine if an N-letter word qualifies for the somewhat unusual list, one must consider two possibilities. To determine if an N-letter word qualifies for the quite unusual list, one must consider N possibilities.
LipoLambda
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.*
Delete*(That didN't help straight away but I will poNder loNger.)
Word WomaN
Dear Calvin,
DeleteDavid made no comment at 12:54 PM on August 3, that I can see. He may have made one at 12:54 PM on some previous occasion, or he may make one at 12:54 PM sometime in the future; I really didn't check.
By my understanding of "cut the mustard", the August 1, 4:22 PM response to Paul supports the hypothesis of Margaret G., et.al. and undercuts David's.
?
I'm not normally an ultraviolent animal, but if this situation persists, I may be forced to strike you, you dip* !
Sincerely,
Hobbes
*Urban Dictionary definition 11
Dear Hobbs (aka Pope Paul VII),
DeleteI am not the pope! If I were papalbly and capably infallible I would have said, “I agree with David’s August 3, 12:10 PM comment.”
Undercutting David, even if it supports Margaret G. et.al.’s hypotheses, is never a good idea!
BTW, there have been Pope Johns and Pope Martins but, surprisingly, no Pope Calvins or Pope Luthers… and no Pope Josephs or Legos.! Although, inexplicably, there has been a freakish handful of Pope Pauls.
When I Duck Duck Google “Urban Dictionary dip” I find only seven definitions of “dip(s).” But, as you well know, I am far from infallible. But I assume when you address me as “you dip*” you are complimenting me.
Word Woman,
The “somewhat unusual” list is “arbitrary” compared to the “quite unusual” list.
Here is an example of another “somewhat unusual” list of words:
Splay, weaves, drank, grate, slender, flop… and, of course pear, boats and least…
There is no example of another “quite unusual” list of words, given the “trick” involved.
LegoDragon”Don’tMake”Name&Serial#Water-ReturnToCoxcombOticOrganSowWildLastButNot…
Nine-Thirtyish-Hour Hint: To determine if an N-letter word qualifies for the somewhat unusual list, one must consider two possibilities. : To determine if an N-letter word qualifies for the quite unusual list, one must consider N possibilities.
LipoLambda
Complimenting and (hopefully) complementing
Deletebut if you go to urbandictionary.com and search dip it should spill right out
DeleteIterate; it, er,ate; I terate.
DeleteHobbes
DeleteNo. That's it?
DeleteIn the words of a presidential candidate of bygone years --
DeletePicky, picky, picky
Are you perhaps Paul's son?
DeleteOr perhaps on the wrong blog with all that (rock) pick talk?
Hobbs,
DeleteI searched "dip" on urbandictionary.com but still find only 7 dips… Hit me with a wet noodle!
Word Woman,
Calling Puzzleria! “the wrong blog,” even though it is a true statement, is never a good idea!
LegoAlvinCl(a)vin,Cliff’sBrother
Mea culpa, Lego. Finally got the SOTHS late last night with Paul's clueing. All I can say is 'Sup? Followed by 'Qup. Followed by QUARTZ.
DeleteI did go down the CHAMP, CHEMP, CHIMP, CHOMP, CHUMP path a time or two.
I thought maybe fire would work for a somewhat unusual word. But Clamp - what about clamp? I had it figured for the quite unusual because I got 4 possibilities. and now I find out I need to consider 5 possibilities. Guess I just have to wait this one out. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteMargaret G.,
Delete"Fire" and "clamp" are both words on the somewhat unusual list. And "clamp" is on both somewhat unusual lists. (See the other "somewhat unusual list" in my August 3 at 7:45 PM comment.)
Lego&LambdaAreOnAllSomewhatUnusualPuzzlemakersList
I can't think of a 5-letter, but how about these: spay, seat, and peat. :-) --Margaret G.
DeleteMargaret G.,
DeleteThose are three excellent examples of words on the quite unusual list.
Lego...
SOTHS:
ReplyDeleteThe “somewhat unusual property” is that if you drop the last letter from each word, a new word is formed: shrew, hug, beau, timelines, jam, mania, pea, boat, leas. The “quite unusual property” shared by the last three words is that if you drop either the last or the first letter, a new word is formed: pea/ear, boat/oats, leas/east. Furthermore, each of these last three words has at least two other anagrams: pear/rape/pare, boats/boast/basto (ace of clubs), least/stale/steal. I doubt this is the intended solution, as everyone gave other good examples (plump, slump, etc.) which fulfilled these conditions, but which you (lego) stated were not correct.
NITNAHB:
I don't think I have the intended answer. My answer is also an old “yellow hair,” HAIRY, Harry Browne (hairy, brown, hair).
BBOGS:
The only words I can think of associated with “drops” that have at least one homophone are: RAIN (rein, reign), TEAR (tier) & EYE (I, aye). I can find no homophones for GUM or COUGH (cuff, coif drops).
ron,
DeleteSOTHS:
Everything you write is correct. I was not aware of the anagram property of the words on the quite unusual list. Very nice.
NITNAHB:
You don't have the intended answer, but I deem it a decent alternative answer. In your link, Harry Browne does indeed appear to have yellow hair (hairy, brown, hair… Harry Yellowe?), although many photos show him with (prematurely) gray hair. Of course, skydiveboy will weigh in on your answer, but I suspect he might ask you hoe HB’s run for the presidency “was not pointless.”
BBOGS:
Again, everything you write is correct. To get the answer, just follow through with reign and tier to get the intended answer.
LegoMellowyYellowey
BBOGS >>> reminds me of BOZ SCAGGS. Remember his music?
DeleteSOTHS - The somewhat unusual property is that not only can you drop the last letter and still have a word, but you can also drop the penultimate letter and still have a word (shred, hue, beat, timelines (tricky there!), jab, manic, per, boas, leat (depending on your dictionary). The quite unusual property is that you can drop ANY single letter of the word, and still have a word left (pear->pea, per, par, ear; boats-> boat, bots, bats, oats, boas; least-> leas, leat, lest, last, east) --Margaret G
ReplyDeleteBBOGS - rain+tear -> reign+tier, swap the i&t in tier -> reigniter - the mom has to reignite the candle and take more pictures I guess. --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteThat's a calm, in-control Mom and the right answer, I think.
DeleteA less together Mom might have been a bit doty from all the preparations and dealing with a pack of rambunctious kids, and become dotier with the snafu. [dew, tear -> do, tier > dotier (which, unfortunately, involves no transposition)]
Excellent work, Margaret G.! Those are indeed my intended answers.
DeletePaul, your answer is more elegant than mine in that it involves no transposition of letters. You win!
LegoMoreElegantButNoCigar(OrLapelPin)
The only "yellow hair" in history I could think of was George Armstrong Custer. Research indicates he may have had presidential aspirations or others had them for him or something. I don't want to say any more, only to have sdb tell me how wrong I am.
ReplyDeleteGACk! Some good policy there, George and Paul (and John and Ringo. . .)
DeleteBtw, Richard Mulligan portrayed Custer in Little Big Man which is why I mentioned "do-over" (Mulligan in golferese).
DeleteBut it also works kind of neatly with both the real answer and my half-witted answer for BBOGS.
I am pretty much waiting on all the rest - I think the NITNBS is honey, crepe, and pattern (like a knitting pattern). And I got two names "Peter Pace" and "Henry Ton" who have both been in the news in the past few months, but not named together, so I know I have the wrong answer. I'm horrible at rebuses. And try not to know who the next yellow-hair is to have political aspirations. Plus I used up all my energy on SOTHS! :-) --Margaret G.
ReplyDeleteI thought the rebus was "Blooming Onion" as it's really the only famous onion appetizer out there (right?). [I read it in The Onion.]
ReplyDelete"Got the Appetizing Bonus Slice after checking my height of season, cheery sunflowers.' as in "blooming" sunflowers.
DeleteLego, we may get to 200+ comments over here at Puzzleria! too!
NEOLITH is a brand of sintered compact surface.
ReplyDeleteReptile:Crawl::Camel:Walk
Reptile:Crawl::Lucky Strike:Dance
Reptile:Crawl::Old Gold:Dance
might be sensible analogies in light of the videos presented, but
Reptile:Crawl::Camel:Neolith
will be of more help to you in solving NITNBS.
Ah! All that sintered compact surface talk had a rhyme and a reason after all. . .
DeleteThirteenth-hour suggestion and hint for NITNBS:
ReplyDeleteTry working backwards, perhaps, the two names n the story total only three words.
Margaret G. is correct about crepe. That does look like honey but is actually something chewier. The word for the “pattern” is a type of fabric, like herringbone… but not herringbone.
LegoWhiteArnieBeanie
Crepe, caramel, twill=Walter Palmer, Cecil
ReplyDeleteReign, tier=REIGNITER(which may also be spelled REIGNITOR, but is definitely what the mother in the birthday situation would be, having to light the candles on the cake again)
I made the mistake of using the word IRATE, which uses "I" as the homophone for EYE, but then RATE would be an anagram for TEAR, not TIER. I later corrected my mistake.
patjberry,
DeleteGood persistence on the BBOGS and good work NITNBS which proved to be pretty tough.
LegoCutsTheCrepe!
NITNAHB:
ReplyDeleteNow that I am back from my bike ride I will explain YELLOW HAIR. The answer is Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Long after the Civil War he was stationed out West attempting to get the Indians onto reservations. He seemed to enjoy killing them in order to accomplish this and it tended to annoy the Indians who called him Yellow Hair. I left a big, although obscure, hint addressed to patjberry above.
"patjberry,
I guess my congratulations were at least as premature as some of the earlier announcements of Samuel Clemens's demise. Oh well, there is still time to pursue that elusive quarry. I hope you are luckier with Reno than he was."
The hint is "Reno." I suspect he and others thought I was referring to Reno, Nevada, but I was referring to Captain Reno, who along with Captain Benteen was ordered by Custer to split and move about three miles to the East before the battle at Little Big Horn began. He tried unsuccessfully to have them return when he realized what he was about to face. There has always been a major controversy as to whether Capt. Reno was a coward and refused to return to help.
I also inserted a hint in the puzzle presentation when I said the presidential aspirations were not "pointless." This was a joke referring to arrows at the battle. While there were primitive weapons used by the Indians at the battle, most of the killing was done with rifles by the Indians. The soldiers were outnumbered and out gunned and out everything else too. Custer lost control of his men and they soon panicked. It did not happen the way it has been portrayed. It did not end at the top of the hill where Custer was killed surrounded by several of his men in some gallant "last stand." They were completely panicked at that point and were simply slaughtered by the Indians. The battle continued on after with the slaughter of the remaining soldiers who were still alive and trying to retreat into the ravine and trees. The Indians simply shot them from above as in a shooting gallery.
Custer was a self-promoting egotist of enormous proportions. It was widely believed he would run for the presidency and win. Our country has a long history of electing war heroes to the White House and he would not have been able to resist the call given his vainglorious bent. This is one of the major reasons his defeat was the biggest news story of 1876.
This week’s official answers, for the record (Part 1):
ReplyDelete(once again, rendered redundant by bright Puzzlerians!)
Appetizing Bonus Slice:
Uncle Rebus
What appetizer does this rebus (a picture of a blue moon and onion) sound like?
Hint: The appetizer is often associated with one particular national restaurant chain.
Answer:
Blue moon + onion = Bloomin’ Onion (or at least sounds like it); It is apparently “a true Outback original.”
Names In The News And History Bonus Slice:
Pre-playing the Trump card?
Donald Trump was not the first “Old Yellow-hair” to have aspirations for the White House.
The first one did not succeed, but it cannot be said his efforts were pointless.
Can you name him?
Answer: George Armstrong Custer (See skydiveboy’s excellent August 4 at 3:53 PM comment for an exhaustive explanation.)
Names In The News Bonus Slice:
I’d crawl a mile for a Camel
Each of these three pictures illustrates a singular noun. Put all 17 letters of those nouns into a mixed-up pyle and rearrange them to spell out two names recently in the news. Both names would appear within the same news article or report.
What are these names?
Red Herringbone Hint: Reptile is to Crawl as Camel is to ____.
Redder Herringbone Hint: Reptile is to Crawl as Lucky Strike is to _____. Goldest/Reddest Herringbone Hint: Reptile is to Crawl as Old Gold is to _____.
Answer:
Cecil and Walter (not J.!) Palmer
The three pictures were images of caramel, crepe and twill.
The three “herringbone hints” were simply red herrings… except for the first one. The 17 letters in “reptile,” “crawl” and “camel” can, like “caramel,” “crepe” and “twill,” be rearranged to form “Cecil” and “Walter Palmer.”
In my 13th hour hint, I signed off with “LegoWhiteArnieBeanie” = Walter (White); (Arnie) Palmer; (Beanie and) Cecil (Sorry, I misspelled “Beany.”)
Lego...
Geez, I am (as so often is the case) so intensely frustrated, because I had come up with the words "crepe", "caramel" and GRAPH .....and having put the 17 letters in alphabetical order, had then actually pulled out the PALMER name, but without any 'i', couldn't get Cecil, though I was thinking of the poor creature! Thus, having had the wrong third word (instead of 'twill') fluffed me up.
DeleteThis week’s official answers, for the record (Part 2):
ReplyDelete(once again, rendered redundant by bright Puzzlerians!)
Specialty Of The House Slice:
Property listings
All words in the following list share a somewhat unusual property:
Shrewd, huge, beaut, timeliness, jamb, maniac, pear, boats, least,…
The antepenultimate, penultimate and ultimate words in the list share a quite unusual property.
What are these somewhat unusual and quite unusual properties? Can you name other words that possess either of these properties?
Hint: Neither the words “thing” nor “spring” share either the somewhat unusual or quite unusual properties.
Answer:
The somewhat unusual property is that if you remove either the last letter or the second-last letter, another word is formed:
(Shrewd, huge, beaut, timeliness, jamb, maniac, pear, boats, least) – last letter = (Shrew, hug, beau, timelines, jam, mania, pea, boat, leas).
(Shrewd, huge, beaut, timeliness, jamb, maniac, pear, boats, least) – penultimate letter = (Shred, hue, beat, timelines, jab, manic, per, boas, leat).
The quite unusual property is that if you remove any one letter in the word, another word is formed:
Pear = ear, par, per, pea
Boats = oats, bats, bots, boas, boat
Least = east, last, lest, leat, leas
Margaret G. came up with three excellent examples of “quite unusual” words in her August 4 at 2:30 AM comment: spay, seat and peat.
My Hint: “spring” and “thing” are not words in the “somewhat unusual” list because although “sprig” and “thin” are words, “sprin” and “thig” are not… although “thig” is the first part of a surname that rhymes with pigpen, where Pale Hose relief pitchers warm up by throwing “slop.”
I arbitrarily ruled out double letters for the “quite unusual” list of words. Otherwise a word like “shoot” would be kosher. (Notice that I used that “double-letter crutch” when I included “timeliness” in my list of “somewhat unusual” words.)
Also arbitrarily, plural words qualify for both lists, but don’t seem so elegant.
Also, in my August 3 at 7:45 PM comment, I replied to Word Woman:
“The somewhat unusual list is arbitrary compared to the quite unusual list.
Here is an example of another somewhat unusual list of words:
Splay, weaves, drank, grate, slender, flop… and, of course pear, boats and least…”
The words in this other somewhat unusual list form new words if you remove either the first or second letter.
Birthday Boy Or Girl Slice:
“Dad dropped his camera!”
Name two words associated with “drops”. Replace each with a homophone. Place these next to each other, without a space, in alphabetical order. Reverse the first two letters of one of the homophones.
The word that is formed is what Mom might become during her child’s birthday party after “Happy Birthday” is sung, the wish is made, the candles are blown out… and Dad sheepishly admits that his smart phone malfunctioned (or his camera jammed).
(Note: There is a variant spelling of the word that the Mom might become.)
What is this word, and what are the two words associated with “drops”?
Answer:
Reigniter (variant spellings: re-igniter, reignitor); Rain; Tear.
Rain + Tear >> reign + tier >> reign + iter = reigniter (Mom must reignite the cake candles so Dad can retake the photo.)
Lego…
Loose Ends and Miscellany:
ReplyDeleteWord Woman,
Not only do I remember Boz Skaggs’ music; I am also a fan of his music.
Speaking of “the right blog,” what’s on tap on PEOTS this week?
Paul,
I hereby lift the restriction on double-identical letters for words on the “quite unusual” list. Your “coops” example is just too much fun:
Coop, coos, cops, cops, oops! Very Toodylike!
Congrats also on getting skydiveboy’s proved-to-be-pretty-tough Custer puzzle. And, you sure cut the mustard and mustered up one fine “comb-over/do-over” golfer’s Mulligan clue. Very well played.
LegoKarchKiralyDigsWellButBlewTheGameWinningSpikeSoAskedForAMulligan!
Lego, you truly are a Boz fan (autocorrect tried to fix that to "Lego, you truly are a Box fan!"). Me, too.
DeleteI just published Mugo Pine and The Redheaded Pine Sawfly: Counting Pro-Legs and "Crochets" over at PEOTS. Thanks for asking, and for your good timing.
I must step in here and say a true Boz Scaggs fan, like me, would not spell it like Ricky Skaggs. Two vastly different musicians there, Lego.
DeleteWhile Boz Scaggs did "Breakdown Dead Ahead", Ricky Skaggs would have been more partial to "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". Just thought I'd throw that in.
DeleteFrom Lego's "arsenal of screen names".
Deletepatjberry,
DeleteThank you for your gentle orthographic reproof-reading. And thank you for the shout-out over at Blainesville.
Thanks too for understanding my "humor" and not taking umbrage at the alternative fake screen-name spoof I perpetrated in my reply to Paul. (See his August 1 at 12:26 PM comment and my August 1 at 4:22 PM response.) Paul had me in a logical box and I just panicked! Alas, at your and David's expense. You are a good sport. I trust David took no offense either.
Before I started this blog 15 months ago I did actually toy with the idea of creating an alternative fake screen name/persona (a female), but I wasn't computer-savvy enough to go through with it.
LegoHonest,BlogViewers,patjberryAndDavidAreRealPeopleNotFakeScreenNamesMadeUpFrivolouslyByLego
Lego,
DeleteHad you done that, you most likely would have gained international fame as the first trans-blogger. A missed opportunity.
skydiveboy,
DeleteIf by transblogger you mean an ability to put Puzzlerians! into a deep sleep ("You're getting sleepy. You're eyelids are getting heavy..."), then I already am a tranceblo... I mean, transblogger.
LegoCaitlypNo,Sis,Don'rCallMeYourBrotherI'mNowYourSister
Anagrams of the "quite unusual words:" spay (pays, yaps), seat (sate, eats, east), peat (tape, pate), two or more for each word!
ReplyDeleteVery good. ron.
DeleteNow that I have arbitrarily lifted the restriction on double-identical-letter words, we can consider anagrams of two of those: SHOOT, and Paul's COOPS.
SHOOT = HOOTS and SOOTH
COOPS = only SCOOP
Which leads to the question, "Are there any 'quite unusual' words with no anagrams whatsoever?" And how many "quite unusual" words are there, anyway?
We need someone with computer programming chops an access to dictionary data bases to help me!
Thanks, ron, for your anagrammatical awareness
LegoEatsShootsHoops&Hoots(ThenLeaves&SaysSooth)
I'd bet Ross Beresford could program that fairly easily. . .
DeleteBtw, fun, if teensy bit frustrating, week here at Puzzleria!, Lego.
News reports claim that the Donald will be in "the middle" position in the panel of 10 candidates in Thursday's Republican debate. How can he be in the middle in an even-numbered grouping? Trump and either Bush or Walker (BushWacker?) will be in "the middle" positions.
ReplyDeleteMaybe The candidates will be arranged in a V-formation, like a flock of flying elephants migrating south for the winter, with Trump leading the V, hair flapping in the windy hot air.
In the preliminary, undercard bout, B-team debate, Rick Perry will be in the middle in a field of seven. No problem with that use of "middle".
LegoWednesdayIsHumpDayThursdayIsTrumpDayFridayIsHaveACallithumpToCelebratePuzzleria!Day
Lego,
DeleteI really don't care. I have no intention of watching these idiots pretend to debate each other in a mindless media circus. However, that being said, I really would enjoy the opportunity of watching a flock of flying elephants migrating south for the winter. Please keep me informed on how I might do this. I have vacation time at my disposal if that helps.
Speaking of narcissistic sociopaths. I awoke this morning thinking about Custer and his enormous appeal to the population at the time he was extant and what we might learn from our attraction to destructive despots. Unfortunately I don't find any discussion on this.
Am in total agreement with you on the jerks debating on Fox and not wasting one iota of time paying any attention to them --except for whatever good jokes Jimmy Fallon et al later might come up with for Trump et al.
DeleteAnd I'd briefly thought of Custer for your puzzle (given the blond hair thing) but didn't know enough about the history to realize it WAS the answer, so I dismissed it.
ViolinTeddy:
DeleteWell then you get Honorable Mention for coming so close to solving it. Closer than Custer did to succeeding at the Little Big Horn.
And speaking of honorable mention, I am so disappointed that Bill Cosby has not yet thrown his Republican hat in the ring. Had he done so I might have even considered watching the "debate" as they call it. He could run on a Men's Rights platform. That should be a popular Right Wing strategy.
ViolinTeddy,
DeleteSomehow I missed “Geez.”
Good instincts on mustering Custer for skydiveboy’s excellent “Old Yellow Hair” puzzle. I am disquieted, however, by your “I am in total agreement with (skydiveboy)” comment, which implies to me that you and he may possess similar mental processes. Whenever I catch myself beginning to think like or agree too much with skydiveboy, I take a long bicycle trek to clear my head. Or I stream Fox TV Fair and Balanced News on my computer.
skydiveboy,
You may access an opportunity of watching a flock of flying elephants migrating south for the winter if, during your vacation, you obtain a certain substance with known for short by the same initials as “Lego Says Don’t.” I became familiar with this substance when I worked for the First Lady in the Reagan administration.
By the way, great “Old Yellow Hair” puzzle! You make wonderful contributions to our blog.
I am undebatably disappointed that Michele Bachmann (my former rep!) has not yet tossed her ring into the hat. Even with the Donald present, it will just not be a rocking, rolling, rollicking debate without her insights and bon ehead mots (and “mon mal bots”).
I am overjoyed (high on hope, not hallucinogens!), however, that you and Violin Teddy may possess similar mental processes. She seems like a very sincere, smart and generally swell Puzzlerian! Whenever I catch myself beginning to think like or agree too much with ViolinTeddy, I take a long bicycle trek to hallowed higher ground (tough pedaling!) and thank my lucky stars there may still be hope for me! Or I listen to violin concertos on my computer.
Finally, skb, a serious query: Who on today’s earthly stage most reminds you of George Headstrong Custer?
LegoSpeechwroteNancy’sCatchphrase“JustSayNo!”;RonnieGhostwroteLego’sCatchphrase”LegoSaysDon’t!”
Lego,
DeleteFirst I want to thank you for running some of my puzzle creations. (I came up with another geographical one a few days ago I haven't polished yet. I will send it to you when I do.)
You ask an interesting question. I somewhat answered it above, today, when I posted that Custer is like our country looking in the mirror. I did not use those terms. I really don't see anyone who really reminds me of Custer, mostly because, foolish as he was, he did have courage. I don't see much in the way of courage in any of our political leaders today. Bernie Sanders perhaps, but he is not at all like Custer. He is not a fool. I guess that leaves me with Senator John McCain. He is close to being as maniacal as Custer. However he has none of the positive qualities Custer also had, such as being a great tactician. I despise both Custer and McCain. They represent the worst of us. I have met a few who knew McCain during his military training and they have nothing at all good to say about him. He seems desperate to lead us into war with Iran. BTW, did you know President Grant despised Custer?
Wow. You know the old 'saw' about its being dangerous to discuss politics. But I suppose anything goes on our puzzle blog here....so I will gingerly state (while thanking Lego once again for the lovely compliments!) that whatever 'mental processes' might be involved in being a liberal/anti-Fox-type person, who wishes that Bernie Sanders could WIN the presidency, I take pride in NOT being a Republican! (Lego, are you serious that you worked for Mrs. Reagan, AND wish Michele Bachmann would run, or were you pulling our collective legs? You are LEGO after all!) One can only hope that you might "start thinking too much like" SDB and myself (ha), whilst you are digesting all those violin concertos!! : o )
DeleteVT:
DeleteYou raise an interesting point. In this country we are instilled from birth with the admonishment that we never discuss politics or religion (I prefer it be spirituality) at dinner (of course! That's when we actually might be together) or pretty much at any other time. This is a clever way of controlling the people, like with the clever idea of the Electoral College, where no one ever gets a degree, and there is no campus. In this country we have no place to discuss the important things, such as those two taboo ones I mentioned above. I firmly believe we must take advantage of every venue we come across to hopefully wake people up to reality.
I will not be watching the "debate" this evening, but I bet it will mostly be diversions such as guarding our boarders, reproductive rights, marriage rights, and others which are all designed to keep from discussing what is most important, such as climate change and endless wars.
And YES, your "collective leg" was being pulled.
SDB: I'd always been under the impression that an embargo on the two topics above (in person, at dinner, whatever) was to prevent fisticuffs from breaking, out, due to the entrenched positions of the parties involved, the more fiercely angry being those whom I consider to be afflicted with 'hardened brain arteries', i.e. the narrow-minded types.
DeleteLet's face it, ALL the political fights are really about money and power; domestically, the upper class who HAS the money (and HA re there being no classes in the U.S.) vs. those without. The conservative rich (and I admit that luckily there are many rich who are NOT quite so greedy, i.e. philanthropists and some celebrities) want to keep all their (possibly ill-gotten) hard-won OR else inherited gains to themselves. Heaven forbid they should spread anything around to those withOUT food, health care, shelter, etc, not to mention education. Or worry about the environment left for future human beings, as long as their money-making enterprises can milk the air, water and land for all its worth right NOW.
Most of the muddy-the-water (not literally) issues you mentioned above are, like you said, diversions, although our U.S. borders subject DOES play into the money and power thing. Power is a whole other animal which I've never understood or desired, so can't really talk at all intelligently about.
The trouble is that the self-righteous, i.e. religious conservative types --however one wants to define that term -- are CONVINCED that THEY are correct, period, and everybody else is wrong, or naive, so they don't really even ever consider what is actually going on in the country or the world. Their money has insulated them from all the real problems of humanity, so they'd rather discuss stuff that the federal government has no real business getting its hands into, examples of which I will skip.
And members of Congress are paid by lobbyists to remain thusly entrenched. Sigh, a thousand times, sigh.
And how do you know that my collective leg was being pulled?
DeleteViolin Teddy,
DeleteI know.
I guess you guys must know each other outside of this blog, so I suppose I'll just have to take your word for it...
DeleteAnother Loose End/Correction, for the record:
ReplyDeleteDavid, in his August 3 at 10:37 AM comment, came up with the perfectly fine (and fun!) “quite unusual” word, “COOPS.” I had mistakenly attributed “COOPS” to Paul, for some reason, in my August 4 comments at 6:51 PM and 8:18 PM comments.
I love COOPS. It is the most enjoyable “quite unusual” word when it comes time to confirm it as being “unusual” – COOP, COOS, COPS, COPS, OOPS!
Sorry, David. Great contributions this week, as usual.
LegoEggoFaced
No offense at our being triplets, or the misattribution.
DeleteLOOPS and POOPS also sort of work.
PS: what a COO!
Delete100th comment to boot!
Thank you, David.
DeleteI’d say LOOPS is surely legit. POOPS, perhaps less so.
In my Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition, “loo” has three entries, two of them pluralizable by appending an “s”.
“Poop(s)” also is just ducky with MW… five entries! But “poos” merits an entry only as a hyphenated “disparaging diminutive” suffix. Butt, of course, your dictionary verbiage may vary.
Lego“Hey!I’mGettingOnly17KiloMeaningsPerLiteration,AndThat’sOnTheHighway!”
Re the "somewhat" unusual word property puzzle, I missed that penultimate letter removal possibility, though had thought that I really had come up with good words in 'brats' and 'start' in that you could remove BOTH the first and last letters and still have a word. And never caught the 'quite unusual" remove ANY one letter and it's still a word. Phooey.
ReplyDeleteViolinTeddy,
DeleteRats and Phooey!? (Franny and Zooey?) Don’t be too hard on yourself. You had sussed out the “remove letters trick," which is the essential solution to the puzzle. And your notion to remove of the first and last letters from the words is a logical but creative extension of the puzzle… Indeed it is a companion puzzle that I had already made up (in addition to this "two word lists in one" puzzle) and may send to WS at some future date! Great minds think alike!
So, I would argue that you did indeed “come up with two good words in 'brats' and 'start' in that you could remove BOTH the first and last letters and still have a word.” Not only that, removing their penultimate letters also yields words, “bras” and “stat.” In fact, “brats” goes “four for five” because removing its “r” yields “bats.”
That’s an .800 “batting average.” Not bad!
LegoNotRatsAndPhooey…MinnesotaFats&RootieKazootie,BaseballStar(MyDad,WhoLivedToPlayPool,ReadThisBookToMeAtCountlessBedtimes!)
Thank you, as always, LegoNotPhooey! As always, you are a talented 'cheerleader' for us puzzle-attempters! Did you see my other frustrated post above at 6:52 p.m., re the puzzle about the crepe and caramel? I used 'geez' in that one! : o )
ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteSometime between 3:27 PM and 8:52 PM on August 5, I composed the following comment to post in Puzzleria!’s Comments section. I always compose my comments in a Word document before pasting them into the blog.
Since then, I was curious why you hadn’t responded. I had asked you a direct question in my comment.
Just now, while preparing tomorrow’s Puzzleria!, I checked to see at what time I posted my comment to you and discovered that for some unknown reason I had somehow forgotten/neglected to post it!!
So that’s why Paul did not respond!
Here’s what I meant to post:
Paul,
You mentioned your “in one word” answer to this week’s NPR “triple-critter” puzzle. Is one of the first two animals you name a homonym of a disposable inner part of a food you eat the outside of?
I’m planning to post a few “piggyback” puzzles of that puzzle this Friday, and I suspect we might be on identical tracks on this particular solution.
I liked this NPR puzzle, but I agree with you that, if we have the same “in one word” answer, ours is a superior puzzle. Will is having a good summer, however.
LegoTheShoemaker’sTyingUpLaces
And the cobbler's son eats corn.
Delete116 comments so far this week! Isn't that a new Puzzleria! record?!
DeleteLooking forward to your critter puzzles, especially.
Word Woman,
DeleteRegarding the cobbler's son chowing down: You (and your crosswording foils) are on a wordplay roll -- here, at PEOTS and at Blainesville!
116 (I guess 117 now)? I don't think we ever broke 100 before. (Of course, more than half the posts are signed by the "helicopter blogger!)
LegoIt'sTimeToBreakOutTheToolsOfTheTradeWhenThere'sACornOnTheCobbler'sFoot