Goes well with goose eggs? Assessing property values; Take the LL Mystery Train; Sticky hock; Tyrumposaurus Rex, lies and videotape

P! SLICES: OVER (pe)³ – (e⁴ + p³) SERVED

Welcome to our January 27^th edition Joseph Young’s Puzzleria!

We offer seven puzzles on our menus this week, including three that Rip Off Shortz. 

Please enjoy.

Hors d’Oeuvre Menu

Spin Cycle Hors d’Oeuvre:

Tyrumposaurus Rex, lies and videotape

If you have tuned into the boob tube this past year or so, you probably have seen a vain “frat” telecast or two. You have almost certainly witnessed examples of venal statecraft. You surely have heard not only the most downright flat-out prevarication and outright lying but, indeed, the flattest variance possible.

Two of the three sentences above contain two or three consecutive words consisting of letters that can be rearranged to form a somewhat oxymoronic two-word phrase that was broached by a political spinmeister this past week. The remaining sentence contains two (not three) consecutive words consisting of letters that can be rearranged to form the same somewhat oxymoronic two-word phrase… but only if you add into the mix a word that, according to recent analysis of a University of Pennsylvania linguist, is the most common word spoken by Donald Trump.

What is this somewhat oxymoronic two-word phrase?

Morsel Menu

Just Sign Next To The X Morsel:

Sticky hock

Various creditors are in possession of handfuls of documents you have signed. You are in hock, big time. Add an “x” to the name given to these documents to form an adjective describing how you feel about being in such a sticky debt-ridden predicament.

What is this adjective?  

Appetizer Menu:

Drained Down To The Last Drop Appetizer:

Goes well with goose eggs?

Name a beverage brand, in two words.

The first three letters of the first word form a verb that means informally to eliminate, to put an end to, to “deep-six.”

The last four letters of the first word form a noun that means informally “zip,” “zilch.”

The letters of the second word form an adjective that means somewhat informally “devoid” or “vacant.” It is an adjective that might substitute for the word “empty” in the expression “coming up empty.”

What is this beverage brand?

MENU 

Ripping Off Shortz And Pitt Slices:

Assessing property values

Will Shortz’s January 22^nd NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, composed by Dan Pitt, reads:

This week’s challenge is unusual. The numbers 5,000, 8,000 and 9,000 share a property that only five integers altogether have. Identify the property and the two other integers that have it.

 Puzzleria’s Riffing Off Shortz And Pitt Slices read:

ONE: The numbers 1 and 22 share a property that only three integers altogether have. Identify the property and the other integer that has it.

Hint: A Greek goddess

TWO: The numbers 1,024, 2,116 and 3,844 share a property that only four integers altogether have. Identify the property and the one other integer that has it.

THREE: This week’s challenge is unusual. The list of words below corresponds to the numbers between one and ten. You are to discern two words that belong in the eighth position. They are synonyms:

1. Ozone

2. Wont

3. Tether

4. Furor

5. Fiver

6. Fixes

7. Envies

8. _ _ _ ; _ _ _ _ _

9. Engine

10. Tine

Dessert Menu

Junior Parker Memorial Dessert:

Take the LL Mystery Train

M JB

Y GC or EB

S HDT

T! MF

E TB

R VU, TS, TW, or JJG

Y OE

T TB or PS

R (nursery rhyme/song)

A DW, as portrayed by MM

I PS

N DC or DP

B TB

Y BL or  BC

L (real estate agents)

L (brand-name veggie/fruit slogan/jingle)

“MYSTERY TRAIN BY LL” is a series of 16 “railroad coaches” coupled together. Each “coach” is represented by an initial letter of a particular word; all 16 words (“coaches”) share something in common.

Hints to these words are given at the right of each of the 16 initials. Most of these hints involve initials of people (or fictional characters) who spoke, sang or wrote those words. (The hints for the two “L-words”, and for the “R” in “TRAIN,” are more explicit, and do not involve initials.)

What are these 16 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 Wednesdays 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.