Grid: I, ron challenge; Stump speech stumper; “It’s like L7, man!” It dozen’t happen every day; Uncommon British commoners; Big green and yellow taxi squad

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER e^{5 +} pi³ SERVED

Welcome to our February 5^th edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! February is the shortest month – even this leap-frogging February, which is about 3.57 percent longer than most run-of-the-millennium Februaries.

 

So, we will observe this month’s relative brevity by foisting upon you a few fewer puzzles on these four fine February Fridays. This ebbing of quantity, however, will not result in any ebbing of quality. Indeed one of our puzzles this week is an excellent fill-in-the-letters square grid served up by ron, one of our very valued Puzzlerians! It appears directly beneath our main MENU heading, and is titled “Super Sunday Square Slice: Grid: I, ron challenge.” Thank you, ron, for again sharing your creativity with us on Puzzleria!

Also on this week’s menu are a “riffing off of ron” slice; a dozen-date morsel; American political and British appetizers; and a “Big Game punter” dessert.

Enjoy your hang time at our Puzzleria!

Morsel Menu

 

Date-Filled Morsel:

It dozen’t happen every day

There are a dozen months in a year. There are a dozen days in a year that share a particular distinction or property. One of these dates is today. Another one was yesterday. Here is the list of twelve:

2/1; 2/4; 2/5; 2/14; 2/15; 9/2; 9/6; 9/7; 9/16/; 9/17; 11/9; 11/19

What distinction do these dates share?

Hint: One might argue that 4/8 and 4/18 could also be included on the list, thereby yielding a list of a very-generous-baker’s-dozen number of days.

Appetizer Menu

Pleading The Pith Appetizer:

Stump speech stumper

This past week, during a campaign appearance in New Hampshire, presidential hopeful Jeb Bush delivered an applause line that was greeted with the proverbial chirping of crickets. He responded by softly pleading, “Please clap.”

Back around the time Jeb’s father was running for president, another presidential hopeful had a surname that, when spoken aloud, sounds like a different two word plea – one that all candidates campaigning in 2016 might have been saying earlier in the week.

Who is this other presidential hopeful who was a contemporary of George H. W. Bush? What is the two-word homophone of his/her surname that sounds like a plea?

Rhyme Of The Ancient Silas Marner Appetizer:

Uncommon British commoners

The surname of a late British actor contains four vowels, three of them E’s. Change the middle E to an A, forming a two-syllable common noun that may sound somewhat uncommon to modern ears. One might expect to hear this “delightful” noun spoken, say, during an episode of “Downton Abbey,” or perhaps penned in a novel by Sir Walter Scott. (Actually, it does indeed appear in a Scott novel.)

Take an adjectival form of this common noun – an adjective which is quite common to modern ears. There are only four lowercase exact rhymes of this adjective in the English language. Three of them begin with the same consonant as this adjective. The fourth begins with a different consonant and is a much more uncommon word rooted in antiquity.

What are these five rhyming words? Who is the actor?  

MENU

Super Sunday Square Slice:

Grid: I, ron challenge

Arrange the letters below into a 3-by-3 grid to spell six words (three reading across and three reading down).

A  E  E  E  H  O  R  S  T

Lego Is Riffing Off Of ron Slice:

“It’s like L7, Man!”

An empty 3-by-3 grid – like the one ron employs in his puzzle immediately above – comprises a number of squares of various sizes. What is that number? (Hint: Think St. Valentine’s Day.)

What is the total number for a 4-by-4 grid? How about for a 7-by-7 grid? 

In honor of the 29 days of February this year, how many squares can you find in a 29-by-29 grid? In honor of “The Big Game L,” how many squares are in an L-by-L grid? 

If we consider L to be not a Roman Numeral that stands for 50 but to be rather a variable standing for the length of the side of any square grid, then how many squares are in an L-by-L grid? (Express your answers in terms of L, please. And for the love of Mike, use a #2 lead pencil!)
(Okay, okay, you can express your answers in terms of “n” or “x” if you insist... but you still must use a #2 lead pencil.)

Dessert Menu

The Vincible AFL Dessert:

Big green and yellow taxi squad

“They took eighty ‘trees’ and put ‘em in L.A.’s Coliseum, then they charged the people around 12 bucks just to see ‘em…”

January 15, 1967. The AFL-NFL World Championship Game. It was “Super Bowl I” before they were called Super Bowls, and before they began enumerating the games with Roman numerals (even though they were playing in a “coliseum”!). Green Bay defeated Kansas City 35 to 10.

The following is a ten-word thumbnail synopsis of the beginning of the game:

Ref flips. Len, Ed pace. A “Super” catch. Hank spits.

That is to say: Green Bay wins the coin flip; it comes up heads. After two punts, KC QB Len Dawson (#16) and his offensive left guard Ed Budde (#81) – who skillfully protected the northpaw Dawson’s blind side on passes – pace the sideline, hoping for a turnover or a second GB punt. But a 37-yard touchdown strike from GB QB Bart Starr (#15) to receiver Max McGee (#85) prompts KC head coach Hank Stram to expectorate.

Rearrange the 37 letters of the ten-word synopsis to form seven words that appeared in a story this past week, amidst all the pre-Super Bowl hoopla. The story, however, looks backward, not ahead.

 

The seven words in the story – in no particular order – include: three proper (uppercase) nouns, one of them a surname; one vowel-less and all-in-uppercase abbreviation; a conjunction; an adjective; and a common singular noun.

What are these seven words?

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.