Friday, July 21, 2017

Belles lettres jackets; Be afraud, be very afraud! Tales of skewed cities; 12-ounces of cure is worth a pounding head of prevention

P! SLICES: OVER (765 + 43) SERVED
  
Welcome to our July 21st edition of Joseph Young’s Puzzleria! 

We offer 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Riffing/Ripping-Off-Shortz puzzles this week, all inspired by the fine NPR puzzle submitted to Will Shortz by Dave from Eugene, Onegin... I mean, Dave from Eugene Oregon! 

Also on this week’s menus are:
6. A fraudulent Appetizer.
7. A Spahnie Slice, and
8. A dusty Dessert with literary pretensions.

So, stay sane. Pray for rain if you are drought-stricken. 
But, as always, please enjoy our puzzles.

Appetizer Menu

Sullying A Profession Of Nobility Appetizer:
Be afraud, be very afraud!

Name an archaic word for a person who engages in fraud  in particular, a person who is a fraudulent practicioner of a certain noble profession. The word contains only two letters that are the same. 

Replace those identical letters with two different identical letters to form a word for a substance such a fraudulent professional might have occasion to use (or perhaps misuse) in his or her practice. What are these words?
Hint: a shortened portion of the archaic word survives still in modern English dictionaries.


MENU 

Bucs And Braves And Ballad Of Bubby Bibber  Slice:
12-ounces of cure is worth a pounding head of prevention

Friday, July 20, 1951, Braves Field in Boston: 
Bubby Bibber, a big backer of the Boston Braves along with his poker-playing chums are four of the 5,767 spectators in attendance to watch their brave and beloved Beantowners compete versus the National League’s perennial doormat, the plucky but pathetic Pittsburgh Pirates.

The game lasts a bit longer than two-and-a-half hours, during which Bubby and his buddies keep the concessions vendors hopping as they wash down dime foot-long Nathan’s frankfurters with a folding-money’s-worth of nickel Haffenreffer Lagers and Pickwick Ales.
The Braves win the game 11-6. Future Hall-of-Famer Warren Spahn (“Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain”) is the winning pitcher, and drives in two runs himself. Bubby and his buddies celebrate by playing poker at Bubby’s place – dealing, bidding, holding, calling, picking up the pots and scarfing down even more cans of Pickwick’s and foot-long franks till they call it a night at midnight.

Bubby awakes the following morning with a pounding-hammer-headache and hangover. 


Now, most people in such a condition subscribe to “the CAAASSH cure,” an acronym for “Coffee, Aspirin And Alka-Seltzer Stop Hangovers.” But not Bubby. His remedy involves other ingestibles. So, he wobbles over to his Kelvinator fridge and picks out a pair of Pickwick’s left over from the previous evening’s pokering and, because he feels a bit peckish, also grabs a Nathan’s frankfurter.
The cure to which Bubby subscribes contains six words of 4, 2, 3, 3, 9 and 10 letters. The  six-letter acronym for his remedy, while not spelling out CAAASSH, does however spell out something Bubby and his buddies bought with “caaassh” the previous evening. 
What is Bubby Bibber’s remedy?

Epilogue: Bubby’s remedy/cure actually works! As a result, he and his buddies are four of the 3,263 spectators attending Saturday’s follow-up game versus the Pirates. The Braves win by the same score, 11-6. Vern Bickford is the winning pitcher. Pirate Vern Law, who was the losing pitcher in Friday’s game, is also the losing pitcher in Saturday’s game. 
Talk about your deja-vern! There oughta be a Law!
Hint: A form of the 9-letter word in Bubby’s cure is a lyric in a civil rights protest song.  The 10-letter word is a noun associated with pummeled boxers and patients who are being wheeled on gurneys into recovery rooms.


Ripping Off Shortz And Dave From Eugene Oregon Slices:
Tales of skewed cities

Will Shortz’s July 16th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Dave of Eugene, Oregon, reads: 
Name a U.S. city and its state – 12 letters altogether. Change two letters in the state’s name. The result will be the two-word title of a classic novel. What is it?

Puzzleria’s! Ripping Off Shortz And Dave From Eugene Oregon Slices read:
ONE:
Name a U.S. city and its state – 13 letters altogether. Change the first letter of the city’s name and move it between the city’s fouth and fifth letters. The result will be the two-word title of a classic American novel. What is it?
Hint: The city’s population is roughly 20,000.
Hint: 
The name of the U.S. city would be an excellent choice as a name for a possible merger between two particular adjacent midwestern cities. 
TWO:
Name two U.S. states followed by a city belonging to each state. Interchange the cities, removing two letters from the end of one of them. The result will be the first and last name of an American author, and a state followed by a food item that is very popular in that state. Change the first letter of the food item to get another city in the state where the food item is popular.
Hint: The states are on same side of the Mississippi River.
What are these states and cities?
THREE:
Name a city in a U.S. coastal state. Name another nearby coastal state. Insert the other state’s postal abbreviation (in lowercase letters) consecutively somewhere inside the city’s name. Divide the result into two words that might describe a herd of creatures found in the vicinity of a coastal state on the other side of the country. 
What are this city and two coastal states? What is the state on the opposite coast and the two-word description of the creatures?
FOUR:
Name a city in a western state whose capital and four-letter abbreviation are names of towns in a midwestern state. Write down the western city and midwestern state – 10 letters altogether. Change two letters in the state’s name. The result (if you add the word “The” at the beginning) will be the three-word title of a classic novel. What is it?
Hint: The western city is famous as the headquarters of a nationally known company brand. 
FIVE:
Name a U.S. city in a western state and the first word (after the word “The”) in the nickname of a southern state. The result is a type of cheese. 
What are the cheese, city and nickname?

Dessert Menu:

No Musty Dusty Pages Dessert:
Belles lettres jackets 

The title of a fictional work contains two words. The second word can be formed by rearranging the first three letters of the author’s full name as it appears on the dust jacket.

Remove from the first word of the title all letters that are the same as any of the remaining four letters of the author’s name, leaving six letters and an apostrophe. Remove the apostrophe. Those six remaining letters, taken in order, spell out the middle name of a poet whose first, middle and last names appear together on dust jackets of poetic volumes.
The last names of the author and poet begin with the same letter.
What is this fictional work and who is its author? Who is the poet?


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.

38 comments:

  1. I have a word (with only one twice-appearing letter) for a fraudulent practitioner of a profession. Whether the profession is noble or not is a matter of opinion. However, I don't think my word is the correct one because I don't think it's archaic. And I don't think it's short for some other word.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Duck hint led me to quacksalver. All I could think of was shyster.

      Delete
  2. Did you say thrice-appearing letter? CHARLATAN !

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had (as per so frequently) never heard of the long version of the archaic word, but it's interesting to now know where the shortened form of the word came from.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah, it must be STRUMPET, which contains TRUMP.

    ReplyDelete
  5. After more than an hour of effort, finally got the first RIp Off. But I don't understand the directions for the second one...are we supposed to put the two states in a row, followed by the two cities, or do we put each state's city after the name of its state, i.e. S.C.S.C vs S.S.C.C?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks VT, for helping me to clarify.
      It is S.C.S.C.
      Ohio Columbus Florida Miami would become:
      Ohio Miami Florida Columbus, for example.

      LambdaLego

      Delete
    2. OKie doke, thanks, Lego, that's a big help.

      Delete
  6. By hook or crook (or perhaps inspiration), I somehow just solved the Bubby Slice (it was a guessing game all the way through), and prior to that, in another burst of inspiration, the Dessert.

    Have been stuck thus far on Rip off 2, and haven't really given any attention to the remaining three Rip Offs yet.....there is a LOT there!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy Friday everyone! Tough ones this week(I vow not to lose my temper trying to figure out the ones I don't have yet), but I have managed to solve the first and last Ripoff puzzles and the Dessert. Clearly "Eugene Onegin" will not be a factor in these. I will need hints for all others, Lego. BTW on a true separate note, my younger brother Bryan turns the big 45 the day we reveal our answers(Wednesday, July 26). Happy birthday to come, Bryan!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GOOD JOB, Patrick. We are looking forward to the new CALM you! : O )

      Delete
  8. A certain word was instrumental to my solving of Will Shortz’s July 16th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle. If I combine that word with the surname of a popular singer of the latter half of the 20th century and rearrange, I can spell the 9-letter word in the Bubby Slice. Who is the singer?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What did Della wear? What did Missy sip? Why did Callie phone ya, Paul?
      Oh, and where has Orrie gone? And how did Wiskin sin?

      LegoOyez!

      Delete
    2. Can Mexicans play Tennis? Si! Especially Louise y Ana!

      Delete
    3. Son: Hey, Dad, how do you spell 'pencil'?
      Dad: P-E-N-C-I-L
      Son: Thanks, Dad.
      Dad: Sure, Son.
      Son: Hey, Dad?
      Dad: Yes, Son?
      Son: How do you spell 'vania'?

      Hahahahaha

      Delete
    4. How about some hints, Lego? Wednesday will be here before you know it!

      Delete
    5. Eugene Onegin is a verse novel. Perry Como was born in Pennsylvania.
      Hair Of The Dog Overcomes Grogginess
      Hot Diggity Dog!

      Delete
  9. Hints:

    SAPONA:
    Try DuckDuckGoosing, not Googling, to find the person who engages in fraud.
    For the substance: Cougar, Sable, Topaz.

    BABABOBBS:
    The acronymic cure spells out something we celebrate this month! A synonym of the acronym appears in the text of the puzzle.

    ROSADFEOS:
    ONE:
    The first name of the author of the classic American novel smacks of one of Robin Hood's hang-outs.
    TWO:
    The American author was born around the time America was. The author has a first name that is usually a last name and a last name that is usually a first name.
    THREE:
    The two states are about as far apart as two staes can be in the continental U.S. The word "herd" in "herd of creatures" does kinda apply, although "school of creatures" is probably better really.
    The creature's name echoes an afternoon spent at the cinema.
    FOUR:
    The nationally known company brand is an adult beverage. The two states share only one letter in common. It appears in the second position in both states' names.
    FIVE:
    This puzzle deserves only one star.

    NMDPD:
    The poet's first and last names are very similar. Some called the poet "avant-garde." Others thought he was "plum loco."
    The author's prose was elemental yet stylish.

    LegoAndFernAgree:ThatDessertIs"SomePi...Uh,SomePuzzle!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With the hints, I finally managed to eke out Rip Off #2 [I'd had a WRONG author all along, no wonder I couldn't figure out the rest], and #5. Joy in the west!

      However, having just now at long last solved #4, as well, I need to point out that the 'hint' has an error. The two states have MORE than one letter in common!

      I'm sad to say, I'm STILL stuck on #3, even though I'd had an inkling all along about the creature type i.e. in 'schools'. I can't come up with any creature that echoes an afternoon at the movies, though. And whatever I've tried, I can't find a postal abbreviation that sits INside the two potential words (that is, working backwards as usual.)

      Delete
  10. How about some more hints that will actually HELP ME this time? I'd rather know something about the three-word novel title than the adult beverage company. That's getting me nowhere.

    ReplyDelete
  11. BTW if you checked a previous post of mine, you would know I already solved Ripoffs #1 and #5, and the Dessert. At this rate, I'm a little surprised I even got those!

    ReplyDelete
  12. VT,
    Thanks for pointing out the error in my hint regarding the two states, which have TWO letters in common, one of which appears more than once in one of the states.
    The third Slice is confusing (note my bold italics below):
    "Name a city in a U.S. coastal state. Name another nearby coastal state. Insert the other state’s postal abbreviation (in lowercase letters) consecutively somewhere inside the city’s name. Divide the result into two words that might describe a herd of creatures found in the vicinity of a coastal state on the other side of the country.
    What are this city and two coastal states? What is the state on the opposite coast and the two-word description of the creatures?"
    ...The "two words that might describe a herd of creatures" is meant to refer to a metaphorical description of the creatures. (This metaphor is based on the creatures' resemblence to other lumbering creatures, some that you might see on a farm.) The actual "dictionary-definition straight-news name" for the "herd of creatures" is what my "afternoon at the cinema" hint alluded to.
    Clear as mud?

    cranberry,
    I am aware of your comment which indicated what you had already solved. I provided hints for all puzzles because there are perhaps non-commentors out there who may appreciate hints for Ripoffs #1 and #5 and the Dessert.
    The author of the three-word classic novel title in Dessert #4, if you interchange his first and last names, is a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774-1789). Removing the initial letter from each of the three words in the title yields three new (but shorter of course) words. The title sounds like something you might watch on TV during the year-end holiday season (something sponsored by Tostitos, perhaps?).

    LegoSaysThatAnsweringThisOneCrucialPuzzleIsForAllTheTostitos,Brent

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OK, that solves #4. Now I have four answers in all. Do we still have time for other hints, Lego?

      Delete
    2. Hints:

      SAPONA:
      Musical clue:
      A group whose biggest hit title is the name of an NPR program

      BABABOBBS:
      Musical clue:
      The name of a album title song by a band name that is also a place name that figures prominently in the New Testament.

      ROSADFEOS:

      TWO:
      Don't crane you neck looking for the answer to the author... you might lose your head!
      A man with a bellyful of food slumbers deeply. A man whose belly is empty gets no restful comfort... he want to slumber but cannot.
      THREE:
      Pilots used to inhabit the city. So did the plural form of an Oklahoma-based fast-food drive-in chain.
      The creature sounds like heavenly bread washed down with a spot of Earl Grey.

      LegoFPurveyorOfIckyHints

      Delete
    3. So the city MUST BE SEATTLE (Sonics) Hmmmm

      Delete
    4. That at least would be the "SEA" in Sea cows.....but how to get the rest?

      Delete
    5. It HIT ME AT LAST, while I was lying face down at acupuncture (that I had run off to right after the post above): SEA (CA)TTLE. A herd indeed...ha ha ha ha.

      Delete
  13. Appetizer:

    No, it's not Charlatan Heston or Shyster Stallone; it's QUACKSALVER (QUACK for short) which becomes QUICKSILVER when you change the A's to I's.

    Rip-off ONE:

    TWINSBURG, OHIO>>>Sherwood Anderson's WINESBURG, OHIO. I had this one when you posted it on Blaine's Blog nearly 2 weeks ago.

    That's all I have for this week.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks to ron for giving me the fraud answer. Both musical clues helped, but I still haven't got the entire acronym(the last two words elude me, but I know what letters they start with). I know the creature, but can't figure out the rest(especially the two words and the postal abbreviation). Will keep trying!

    ReplyDelete
  15. APPETIZER: QUACKSALVER => QUICKSILVER

    BALLAD OF BUBBY SLICE: "HAIR OF THE DOG OVERCOMES GROGGINESS" => HOT DOG

    RIP OFFS:

    1. TWINSBURG, OHIO => WINESBURG, OHIO

    2. WASHINGTON, TACOMA and TEXAS, IRVING => WASHINGTON IRVING and TEXAS, TACO

    [I had thought all week that the author was TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, but then I couldn't make WILLIAMS, SC or wherever the other state [ east of the Mississippi] work out to anything.]

    3. SEA COWS, but for the life of me, I can't get there, starting with some city in WA, OR or CA.....and then plunking some set of two of those letters into said city....Sea Cows swim off FLorida, of course. AGGREGATION

    Coastal state abbreviations: West: WA, OR, CA ; East: MA, ME, NH, CT, NJ NY, DE MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL

    4. GOLDEN, CO [Coors] => GOLDENIOWA [However, CO and IA have not only an 'O" in common, but an "A"] => THE GOLDEN BOWL

    5. Cheese: PROVOLONE; City: PROVO, UT; Nickname: "LONE STAR STATE"


    DESSERT: CHARLOTTE'S WEB => E. B. WHITE => WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

    ReplyDelete
  16. Appetizer
    QUACKSALVER, QUICKSILVER
    Menu
    HAIR OF THE DOG OVERCOMES GROGGINESS
    Ripoffs
    1. TWINSBURG, OHIO; WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
    2. IRVING, TEXAS; TACOMA, WASHINGTON; WASHINGTON IRVING, TACO, WACO
    3. SEATTLE(Washington), CALIFORNIA, SEA CATTLE(manatees)
    4. GOLDEN, COLORADO; COLO, IOWA; THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
    5. PROVO(Utah), LONE(Star State), PROVOLONE
    Dessert
    CHARLOTTE'S WEB by E. B. WHITE, WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
    "Now you're messin' with a son of a b----..."-pjb

    ReplyDelete
  17. This week's official answers, for the record, Part 1:

    Appetizer Menu

    Sullying A Profession Of Nobility Appetizer:
    Be afraud, be very afraud!
    Name an archaic word for a person who engages in fraud – in particular, a person who is a fraudulent practicioner of a certain noble profession. The word contains only two letters that are the same.
    Replace those identical letters with two different identical letters to form a word for a substance such a fraudulent professional might have occasion to use (or perhaps misuse) in his or her practice. What are these words?
    Hint: a shortened portion of the archaic word survives still in modern English dictionaries.
    Answer:
    Quacksalver; quicksilver

    MENU

    Bucs And Braves And Ballad Of Bubby Bibber Slice:
    12-ounces of cure is worth a pounding head of prevention
    Friday, July 20, 1951, Braves Field in Boston:
    Bubby Bibber, a big backer of the Boston Braves along with his poker-playing chums are four of the 5,767 spectators in attendance to watch their brave and beloved Beantowners compete versus the National League’s perennial doormat, the plucky but pathetic Pittsburgh Pirates.

    The game lasts a bit longer than two-and-a-half hours, during which Bubby and his buddies keep the concessions vendors hopping as they wash down dime foot-long Nathan’s frankfurters with a folding-money’s-worth of nickel Haffenreffer Lagers and Pickwick Ales.
    The Braves win the game 11-6. Future Hall-of-Famer Warren Spahn (“Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain”) is the winning pitcher, and drives in two runs himself. Bubby and his buddies celebrate by playing poker at Bubby’s place – dealing, bidding, holding, calling, picking up the pots and scarfing down even more cans of Pickwick’s and foot-long franks till they call it a night at midnight.
    Bubby awakes the following morning with a pounding-hammer-headache and hangover.
    Now, most people in such a condition subscribe to “the CAAASSH cure,” an acronym for “Coffee, Aspirin And Alka-Seltzer Stop Hangovers.” But not Bubby. His remedy involves other ingestibles. So, he wobbles over to his Kelvinator fridge and picks out a pair of Pickwick’s left over from the previous evening’s pokering and, because he feels a bit peckish, also grabs a Nathan’s frankfurter.
    The cure to which Bubby subscribes contains six words of 4, 2, 3, 3, 9 and 10 letters. The six-letter acronym for his remedy, while not spelling out CAAASSH, does however spell out something Bubby and his buddies bought with “caaassh” the previous evening.
    What is Bubby Bibber’s remedy?
    Hint: A form of the 9-letter word in Bubby’s cure is a lyric in a civil rights protest song. The 10-letter word is a noun associated with pummeled boxers and patients who are being wheeled on gurneys into recovery rooms.
    Answer:
    Hair Of The Dog Overcomes Grogginess (HOTDOG)
    Hint: Overcomes; grogginess

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  18. This week's official answers, for the record, Part 2:

    Ripping Off Shortz And Dave From Eugene Oregon Slices:
    Tales of skewed cities
    ONE:
    Name a U.S. city and its state – 13 letters altogether. Change the first letter of the city’s name and move it between the city’s fouth and fifth letters. The result will be the two-word title of a classic American novel. What is it?
    Hint: The city’s population is roughly 20,000.
    The name of the U.S. city would be an excellent choice as a name for a possible merger between two particular adjacent midwestern cities.
    Answer:
    Winesburg, Ohio (Twinsburg, Ohio)
    Twinsburg >> ewinsburg >> Winesburg
    Hint: Minneapolis + St. Paul = Twinsburg;
    (the "Twin Cities," home of the Minnesota Twins could be renamed "Twinsburg," Minnesota
    TWO:
    Name two U.S. states followed by a city belonging to each state. Interchange the cities, removing two letters from the end of one of them. The result will be the first and last name of an American author, and a state followed by a food item that is very popular in that state. Change the first letter of the food item to get another city in the state where the food item is popular.
    Hint: The states are on same side of the Mississippi River.
    What are these states and cities?
    Answer:
    Washington, Tacoma; Texas, Irving;
    Washington Irving; Texas Tacoma (Taco); Waco, (Texas)
    THREE:
    Name a city in a U.S. coastal state and another nearby coastal state. Insert the other state’s postal abbreviation (in lowercase letters) consecutively somewhere inside the city’s name. Divide the result into two words that might describe a herd of creatures found in the vicinity of a coastal state on the other side of the country.
    What are this city and two coastal states? What is the state on the opposite coast and the two-word description of the creatures?
    Answer:
    Seattle, Washington; California;
    Sea + ca + attle = sea cattle = "sea cows" = manatees (creatures inhabiting waters surrounding Florida)
    FOUR:
    Name a city in a western state whose capital and four-letter abbreviation are names of towns in a midwestern state. Write down the western city and midwestern state – 10 letters altogether. Change two letters in the state’s name. The result (if you add the word “The” at the beginning) will be the three-word title of a classic novel. What is it?
    Hint: The western city is famous as the headquarters of a nationally known company brand.
    Answer:
    "The Golden Bowl"
    Denver and Colo are towns in Iowa. Golden is a city in Colorado.
    Iowa - (I + a) + (B + l) = Bowl
    Hint: Coors Brewing has been headquarted in Golden, Colorado

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  19. This week's official answers, for the record, Part 3:

    Ripping Off Shortz And Dave From Eugene Oregon Slices (continued):
    FIVE:
    Name a U.S. city in a western state and the first word (after the word “The”) in the nickname of a southern state. The result is a type of cheese.
    What are the cheese, city and nickname?
    Answer:
    Provolone; Provo (Utah); The Lone Star State (Texas)

    Lego...

    Dessert Menu:

    No Musty Dusty Pages Dessert:
    Belles lettres jackets
    The title of a fictional work contains two words. The second word can be formed by rearranging the first three letters of the author’s full name as it appears on the dust jacket.
    Remove from the first word of the title all letters that are the same as any of the remaining four letters of the author’s name, leaving six letters and an apostrophe. Remove the apostrophe. Those six remaining letters, taken in order, spell out the middle name of a poet whose first, middle and last names appear together on dust jackets of poetic volumes.
    The last names of the author and poet begin with the same letter.
    What is this fictional work and who is its author? Who is the poet?
    Answer:
    Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White; William Carlos Williams;

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was most tickled with the Dessert solution, because that was my favorite (as I imagine for many others, as well) childhood book. I still have it, with a lot of four-leaf clovers pressed into it.

      Delete
    2. I heartily concur, ViolinTeddy. "Charlotte's Web" is a beautiful bit of lit, children's or otherwise. E.B. White, in my book, was a creative genious.

      LegoSaysThereMayBeAShoutOutToCharlotte'sHumanFriendInTomorrow'sPuzzleria!

      Delete