PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 8!/21 SERVED
Schpuzzle Of The Week:
Ode to Belladonna
(a tragic cast cursed and ill-versed)
Identify fifteen words in the iambic tetrameter sestet below that have something unusual in common:
Pray, actors, hear my metered verse.
Deaf ears, upon your heads a curse.
Nap not, arms atrophied by fright
Or poisoned under shade of night.
Each chorus croons, each anchor moors.
Each rose expires, there are no cures.
What is it that the fifteen words have in common?
Cryptic Crossword Appetizer:
A symphony in lexicography
Beethoven’s Ninth is a masterpiece. So is cranberry’s Ninth – Ninth Cryptic Crossword Puzzle on our Puzzleria! blog, that is.
“cranberry” is the screen name of Patrick J. Berry, friend of and contributor to P! He has graced our blog this week with another of his wonderful “symphonies” of wordplay, cleverness and cunning.
Here are eight links to Patrick’s previous eight “masterpieces”:
ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT
Here are a few basic instructions:
Regarding the Across and Down clues and their format:
The number in parentheses at the end of each clue tells how many letters are in the answer. Multiple numbers in parentheses indicate how letters are distributed in multiple-word answers.
For example, (6) indicates a six-letter answer like “jalopy,” (7, 5) indicates a seven-and-five-letter answer like “station wagon,” and (5-5) indicates a five-and-five-letter hyphenated answer like “Rolls-Royce.”
(For further insight about how to decipher these numbered cryptic clues, see Patrick’s “Cryptic Crossword Tutorial” in this link to his November 17, 2017 cryptic crossword. The Tutorial appears below the grid that contains the answers in that edition of Puzzleria!)
ACROSS
1. Computer program with bug, of course (8)
5. In jest, he referenced a biblical character (6)
9. It’s so easy to see, having front door shut? (6,2)
10. Part for female performer (6)
12. Stage entrance awkward, missing point (7)
13. Recalled Rachel’s sister, average artist (7)
14. Couple of tunes – they’re heavy, full of soul – so dropped from album by 17? (7,5)
17. Recording equipment used by area musician (4,8)
22. Wrong to carry on with second home in Canada (7)
23. Rock group traveling in a van takes last tour (7)
24. Improvise music in bar, drunk, and dance (6)
25. Once more be embracing a true family member (8)
26. One wanting to lose sort of tried to take ultimate prize? (6)
27. Web, not new, holds some spider’s share (8)
DOWN
1. Clergyman with a cold coming on, to be exact (8)
2. Book R and B shows outside (8)
3. General Lee started, after some hesitation, to get in shape (7)
4. Matter to clear up after 90’s show with alternative singer (12)
6. Surgical instrument primarily lost in strange places? (7)
7. Writer heading off looking for killer (6)
8. Once in a while, start to rob a bank? (6)
11. Inexperienced nerd, first to wear rental disguise, looks like superhero (5,7)
15. Write a story about unknown judge (8)
16. Close to a sailor shortly gripped by depression (8)
18. Degenerate? I belong somehow! (7)
19. Not the first nut to get up, put on coat – it keeps one warm (7)
20. Was looking ahead, began to forget tyrannical leader (6)
21. Good to wake up and complain? (6)
On The Map Slice:
Climate change comparisons
A well-known seven-letter word on the map of the United States describes an aspect of the local climate compared to most other parts of the country.
What is this word?
Riffing Off Shortz And Pillai Slices:
“Oh! the words you’ll get!”
Will Shortz’s August 11th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Matt Pillai of Denver, Colorado, reads:
Think of a common 5-letter word. If you insert an E after the second letter, you’ll get a common 6-letter word. If instead you insert an E after the fourth letter, you’ll get another 6-letter word. And if instead you insert an E at the end, you’ll get still another 6-letter word. What words are these?
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Pillai Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Think of a 4-letter synonym of “melon.”
If you place an S before the first letter, you’ll get a word for a large number or amount.
If instead you insert an L after the first letter, you’ll get a pentagonal inset seen on a diamond.
If instead you insert an S after the second letter, you’ll get what often follows after a cut.
If instead you insert a T after the third letter, you’ll get a paw, as spoken by the French.
And if instead you insert an R at the end, you’ll get a word that many who speak U.S. colloquial regional dialects mean when they say “paw,” as spoken by those in the ancient Roman Empire.
What words are these?
ENTREE #2:
Think of a word that sometimes follows “bum.”
If you place a letter before the first letter, you’ll get a word that follows “gift” or precedes “up.”
If instead you insert a letter after the first letter, you’ll get biblical advice about what not to do with the whirlwind.
If instead you insert a letter after the second letter, you’ll get a word meaning “to rub the rough way.”
And if instead you insert a letter after the third letter, you’ll get a synonym of “engrossed.” The four letters you placed and inserted, in order, spell out a description of Eden relative to Nod.
What words are these?
What is the description of Eden?
ENTREE #3:
Think of the last word in the title of a song inspired by the Monkees but written and performed by other “critters.”
If you insert an I after the first letter, you’ll get a musical instrument associated with the Beatles and Norah Jones’s father.
If instead you insert an I after the third letter, you’ll get the first letters in the title of Led Zeppelin’s signature song.
And if instead you insert a T at the end, you’ll get the first word in the title of a early 1980s hit by the Rolling Stones.
What words are these?
ENTREE #4:
Think of a common 5-letter word.
If you remove the first letter, you’ll get what you sometimes need to do between the lines.
If instead you remove the second letter, you’ll get a word associated with sweat and with decades.
If instead you remove the third letter, you’ll get a word associated with Paisley.
If instead you remove the fourth letter, you’ll get a word preceded by “well” or “thorough.”
If instead you remove the fifth letter, you’ll get a word associated with “tar” or Irish mythology.
What words are these?
ENTREE #5:
Think of a common 5-letter word.
If you remove the first letter, you’ll get how a Cockney karaoke performer would pronounce the verb in a Marvin Gaye signature song.
If instead you remove the second letter, you’ll get a descriptor of a rain that’s “a-gonna fall,” according to song lyrics.
If instead you remove the third letter, you’ll get what “you can’t roller skate” in, according to song lyrics.
If instead you remove the fourth letter, you’ll get a word followed by “gasket” or “honcho.” If you remove the fifth letter, you’ll get a word followed by “ye.”
What words are these?
ENTREE #6:
Provide a two-word caption for the image pictured here.
Rearrange the letters in your caption to form the first and last names of a puzzle-maker.
Who is it?
Hint: The caption consists of the model (not the make) of the vehicle pictured, and how it is positioned in the image.
Major Cager Dessert:
Star emerges from an altered state
Move the first letter of a U.S. state to the third position and place a space after it.
The result sounds like the name of a NBA Hall of Fame star basketball player.
What is the state?
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.
Schpuzzle Of The Week:
Ode to Belladonna
(a tragic cast cursed and ill-versed)
Identify fifteen words in the iambic tetrameter sestet below that have something unusual in common:Pray, actors, hear my metered verse.
Deaf ears, upon your heads a curse.
Nap not, arms atrophied by fright
Or poisoned under shade of night.
Each chorus croons, each anchor moors.
Each rose expires, there are no cures.
What is it that the fifteen words have in common?
Appetizer Menu
Cryptic Crossword Appetizer:
A symphony in lexicography
Beethoven’s Ninth is a masterpiece. So is cranberry’s Ninth – Ninth Cryptic Crossword Puzzle on our Puzzleria! blog, that is.
“cranberry” is the screen name of Patrick J. Berry, friend of and contributor to P! He has graced our blog this week with another of his wonderful “symphonies” of wordplay, cleverness and cunning.Here are eight links to Patrick’s previous eight “masterpieces”:
ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT
Here are a few basic instructions:
Regarding the Across and Down clues and their format:
The number in parentheses at the end of each clue tells how many letters are in the answer. Multiple numbers in parentheses indicate how letters are distributed in multiple-word answers.
For example, (6) indicates a six-letter answer like “jalopy,” (7, 5) indicates a seven-and-five-letter answer like “station wagon,” and (5-5) indicates a five-and-five-letter hyphenated answer like “Rolls-Royce.”(For further insight about how to decipher these numbered cryptic clues, see Patrick’s “Cryptic Crossword Tutorial” in this link to his November 17, 2017 cryptic crossword. The Tutorial appears below the grid that contains the answers in that edition of Puzzleria!)
ACROSS
1. Computer program with bug, of course (8)
5. In jest, he referenced a biblical character (6)9. It’s so easy to see, having front door shut? (6,2)
10. Part for female performer (6)
12. Stage entrance awkward, missing point (7)
13. Recalled Rachel’s sister, average artist (7)
14. Couple of tunes – they’re heavy, full of soul – so dropped from album by 17? (7,5)
17. Recording equipment used by area musician (4,8)
22. Wrong to carry on with second home in Canada (7)23. Rock group traveling in a van takes last tour (7)
24. Improvise music in bar, drunk, and dance (6)
25. Once more be embracing a true family member (8)
26. One wanting to lose sort of tried to take ultimate prize? (6)
27. Web, not new, holds some spider’s share (8)
DOWN
1. Clergyman with a cold coming on, to be exact (8)
2. Book R and B shows outside (8)
3. General Lee started, after some hesitation, to get in shape (7)
4. Matter to clear up after 90’s show with alternative singer (12)
6. Surgical instrument primarily lost in strange places? (7)
7. Writer heading off looking for killer (6)8. Once in a while, start to rob a bank? (6)
11. Inexperienced nerd, first to wear rental disguise, looks like superhero (5,7)
15. Write a story about unknown judge (8)
16. Close to a sailor shortly gripped by depression (8)18. Degenerate? I belong somehow! (7)
19. Not the first nut to get up, put on coat – it keeps one warm (7)
20. Was looking ahead, began to forget tyrannical leader (6)
21. Good to wake up and complain? (6)
MENU
On The Map Slice:
Climate change comparisons
A well-known seven-letter word on the map of the United States describes an aspect of the local climate compared to most other parts of the country. What is this word?
Riffing Off Shortz And Pillai Slices:
“Oh! the words you’ll get!”
Will Shortz’s August 11th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Matt Pillai of Denver, Colorado, reads:
Think of a common 5-letter word. If you insert an E after the second letter, you’ll get a common 6-letter word. If instead you insert an E after the fourth letter, you’ll get another 6-letter word. And if instead you insert an E at the end, you’ll get still another 6-letter word. What words are these?
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Pillai Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Think of a 4-letter synonym of “melon.”
If you place an S before the first letter, you’ll get a word for a large number or amount.
If instead you insert an L after the first letter, you’ll get a pentagonal inset seen on a diamond.
If instead you insert an S after the second letter, you’ll get what often follows after a cut. If instead you insert a T after the third letter, you’ll get a paw, as spoken by the French.
And if instead you insert an R at the end, you’ll get a word that many who speak U.S. colloquial regional dialects mean when they say “paw,” as spoken by those in the ancient Roman Empire.
What words are these?
ENTREE #2:
Think of a word that sometimes follows “bum.”
If you place a letter before the first letter, you’ll get a word that follows “gift” or precedes “up.”
If instead you insert a letter after the first letter, you’ll get biblical advice about what not to do with the whirlwind. If instead you insert a letter after the second letter, you’ll get a word meaning “to rub the rough way.”
And if instead you insert a letter after the third letter, you’ll get a synonym of “engrossed.” The four letters you placed and inserted, in order, spell out a description of Eden relative to Nod.
What words are these?
What is the description of Eden?
ENTREE #3:
Think of the last word in the title of a song inspired by the Monkees but written and performed by other “critters.”
If you insert an I after the first letter, you’ll get a musical instrument associated with the Beatles and Norah Jones’s father. If instead you insert an I after the third letter, you’ll get the first letters in the title of Led Zeppelin’s signature song.
And if instead you insert a T at the end, you’ll get the first word in the title of a early 1980s hit by the Rolling Stones.
What words are these?
ENTREE #4:
Think of a common 5-letter word.
If you remove the first letter, you’ll get what you sometimes need to do between the lines.
If instead you remove the second letter, you’ll get a word associated with sweat and with decades. If instead you remove the third letter, you’ll get a word associated with Paisley.
If instead you remove the fourth letter, you’ll get a word preceded by “well” or “thorough.”
If instead you remove the fifth letter, you’ll get a word associated with “tar” or Irish mythology.
What words are these?
ENTREE #5:
Think of a common 5-letter word.
If you remove the first letter, you’ll get how a Cockney karaoke performer would pronounce the verb in a Marvin Gaye signature song.
If instead you remove the second letter, you’ll get a descriptor of a rain that’s “a-gonna fall,” according to song lyrics. If instead you remove the third letter, you’ll get what “you can’t roller skate” in, according to song lyrics.
If instead you remove the fourth letter, you’ll get a word followed by “gasket” or “honcho.” If you remove the fifth letter, you’ll get a word followed by “ye.”
What words are these?
ENTREE #6:
Provide a two-word caption for the image pictured here.Rearrange the letters in your caption to form the first and last names of a puzzle-maker.
Who is it?
Hint: The caption consists of the model (not the make) of the vehicle pictured, and how it is positioned in the image.
Dessert Menu
Major Cager Dessert:
Star emerges from an altered state
Move the first letter of a U.S. state to the third position and place a space after it. The result sounds like the name of a NBA Hall of Fame star basketball player.
What is the state?
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.
Aim Knee was notorious for playing rough.
ReplyDeleteThe Schpuzzle baffles me, as usual.
ReplyDeleteI've got a toehold on the Cryptic. 37
I don't think the seven-letter word I'm thinking of is typically printed on maps.
I think I have everything involved in the Riffs except the Monkee-inspired song. I don't know why I'm just finding out who Norah's father is.
Lego, the puzzles seem to be easier this week. Already solved all of them except the SOTW (and I have a lead on the SOTW, I think).
ReplyDeleteMay have solved one clue in the Cryptic, but will probably need many hints to get all.
BTW, the car image is not of the solution, but rather it depicts a similar vehicle (same make, different model). Oh, the things that a Google image search reveals...
geofan
Patrick J and Lego: nice cryptic, I'm about halfway through. I find it easier to do on a single sheet of paper, so I hastily made a Word Document and from that this pdf, feel free to download.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that pdf Word Document, ecoarchitect. It is very helpful.
DeleteI agree with you 100% about Patrick's cryptic crossword puzzles. He is a genius at constructing them.
LegoWhoIsAlwaysPleasedToSeeecoarchitectDropByForAVisitToPuzzleria!
Just checking in....like geo, I thought the Entrees were delightfully easy this week (what a relief!) The Dessert took a bit more effort, but using lists, I did it.
ReplyDeleteLike Paul, however, I have NO clue how to tackle the Schpuzzle. What else is new?
As for the cryptic, I actually DID look at the numbered clues, but couldn't fathom even ONE of them...so I'm back to my usual position of not spending time on something that simply makes no sense to me.
VT, I'm sorry you feel that way. You would probably be so bored living in England if you had to find something interesting to read in all the newspapers and magazines. And their puzzles can be way more difficult than mine! Trust me!
ReplyDeleteAs for everyone else, I hope they're enjoying my puzzle, especially after all the trouble Lego and I went through trying to present the thing this week! Hope I never have that kind of problem again trying to contribute to this website!
As for my own progress this week, not counting my own puzzle(to which it goes without saying I know the solution), I have already solved all the Entrees and the Dessert. This leaves the Schpuzzle and the seven-letter map puzzle, for which I will require a few good hints(obviously). Shouldn't be too difficult if the hints are worded just right! I may also offer hints on the cryptic myself, if the muse strikes me. For clues #14 and #17, for example, I could say, "The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!", and y'all take it from there.(Trust me, it's not that tough to figure out.)Good remainder-of-Friday, weekend, etc., to you all!
I tend to have the same experience with Cryptics as ViolinTeddy (also with others not from cranberry). Also, as observed in an email to Lego, I tend not to "get" British humour. Maybe there is a relationship here?
DeleteThis week, believe I have clues 5 and 6 but am clueless on the others. The clue 14, 17 hints also do not suggest an answer.
The cryptics in British newspapers (Times of London, The Guardian) are exceedingly difficult. Those on this side of the pond are invariably easier; The Nation's is usually fairly easy, as are most of those in the NY Times. Harper's can range from easy to very difficult.
DeleteI think they're harder if you don't do them regularly; you have to use a different part of the brain, and understand the internal logic of the clues. I can feel my mind warping as I do them.
Cranberry's offering this week was pretty hard, my head is still spinning, and I shrieked like a girl when I got finished it - though I only understand 1/2 of that clue.
Lego, if I may humbly offer one note: you could have linked Entree #4 thematically to Entrees #3 & #5. Easier to see this after it's all done, of course, but if you "want to make" some dough off this blog.....
And double kudos to Cran if the bits between 14 & 17 were intentional. Though they might make you mad.
Deleteeco,
DeletePoint well taken regarding linking Entrees #3, #4 and #5 thematically. #4 could have had been clued, for example, using David Gates, Gordon Lightfoot or Don Henley, Brother Andre's Heart, Blue Rodeo, Boston's lead singer, a word in a song title by Rachel Summer, etc.
LegoWhoSubscribesToVariationsOnAThemeByecoarchitect
cranberry,
Deletefor me a useful general hint for Cryptics would be to state for the given clue which part is the definition and which is the SI. Maybe for a few, not for all, to see if it helps.
General question: do you follow strict (Ximinean) rules or are you more libertarian in approach?
Stating which part is definition and which is subsidiary information would certainly make it easier, but that's the point of cryptic crosswords.
DeleteTo his credit, I think Cran strives for Ximinean rules, and mostly meets them - I might quibble with one or two. Doing so is harder and takes more time.
Not having the brains to craft one, I suspect creating the clues is one of the most time consuming parts. Though finding a theme (which The Nation does about half the time) and a common linkage (as this does in 14 & 17, can't be easy.
Hints that denote the definition and the SI would be much less direct than hints that Lego and I have given cranberry at his repeated request.
DeleteOf course, such hints should only be given toward the end of the solving period, to avoid spoiling the Ahas! for others.
eco, thanks for the evaluation of Ximineanity :)
I'm just a purist on cryptics.
DeleteAfter some dabblings as a teenager I started doing them more seriously about 25 years ago. There is a certain weird skill in analyzing the clues; it is a skill that can be honed, but it takes a long time. And if I've been doing a conventional crossword it takes even longer to get into the cryptic mindset.
I'm still baffled by the Schpuzzle, pretty sure I'm right on the map, as you and others noted the entrees and dessert aren't too hard.
eco, if the hints (for Cryptics or any other puzzle) are given late in the cycle (say, Mon for P!), the veteran solvers would long since have found the answers, and it would encourage newbies.
DeleteMaybe Lego would be amenable to suggest a possible schedule for any hints?
geofan
Fair enough - as you noted Cran certainly has asked for help on other puzzles.
DeleteThe hint he gave about 14 & 17 helped quite a bit. At first I couldn't register either answer, but there is a little bit that is eerily familiar to many if not all. I've tried to avoid too revealing hints, lest they be removed.
Do the answers include a brief explanation? That's in part how I learned and improved my skills.
Although I have the answers, the SI for 3, 4 and 19 escape me.
Regarding geofan's musing about whether I would be amenable to suggesting a possible schedule for any hints:
DeleteSure. I am not a great fan of hard and fast rules, however. I believe I myself may in the past have posted hints as early as Saturday (and perhaps even Friday). But my sense is that that is probably a bit too early. Solvers should be allotted sufficient time to crack our puzzles on their own. Sunday seems to be a good beginning day for early, more obscure hints. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, hints could become increasingly blatant.
But, of course, this is not written in stone.
LegoNotesThatAlthoughItIsNotWrittenInStoneItIsNeverthelessWrittenInACyberblogTextBox
In answer to your question, geofan, I actually don't know the difference between a Ximinean-style cryptic and a regular cryptic. If my work resembles Ximinean, then so be it. Once the discussion turns to the Ximinean style, I avoid it. I just do straightforward clue on one end and wordplay on the other.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEarly Monday Hints:
ReplyDeleteSchpuzzle:
It is a Greek chorus.
Cryptic Crossword:
I will defer to Patrick regarding hints for his puzzle.
On The Map Slice:
The well-known seven-letter word on the map of the United States is also the name of a prince who wed a country girl.
ROSAPS:
ENTREE #1:
The 4-letter synonym of “melon,” after adding an accent or two, is a relative of braunschweiger.
ENTREE #2:
The word that sometimes follows “bum” is also a music genre.
ENTREE #3:
The other “critters” sound as if they have feathers. The musical instrument associated with the Beatles was featured on a track titled "This Bird Has Flown."
ENTREE #4:
The common 5-letter word is associated with a guy named Gates.
ENTREE #5:
The common 5-letter word is how Marvin Gaye pronounced the verb in his signature song.
ENTREE #6:
The model (not the make) of the vehicle pictured is also an antelope. It is positioned in the picture the same way pinball games sometimes end.
Major Cager Dessert:
A Rocket outta China!
LegoNotesThatTheGuyNamedGatesInEntree#4IsNotBill
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Lego et al. -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the hints. The hint for the Map Slice revealed the expected answer. Prior to the hint, I had ARIZONA (which, according to Wikipedia does not derive from "arid zone"). However, I have an alternate answer to the Map Slice that I will submit along with the expected answer. This alternate answer can be found on the map of the USA but is not in the USA.
geofan, I can hardly wait to see your alternative answer to the Map Slice.
DeleteAs for "arizona," refer to this Easy As Pie Slice: A self-referential state puzzle from 2014.
LegoWhoNotesThatOilStainsAndSodaPopSpillsCanBeFoundOnHisGloveBoxRoadmapOfTheUnitedStates
Prior to the hints, all I could think of was TORNADO ALLEY, but I figured that was wrong, having never seen it on a map. I made a guess at geofan's alternative and found a couple of locations in the U.S. with names that include the name of a weather phenomenon in another corner of the world. The name is not related to automobiles ... not quite.
DeleteI also have an alternate answer for the Map Slice, like geofan it is on the map but not in the USA. Probably same.
DeleteAnd it's definitely not right!
I, too, had an alternate answer for the Map Slice, although it's more a CAUSE of weather, than the actual weather itself. It's in the US, in fact, I lived there once upon a time, so chose that response immediately. The hint, of course, gave the answer away (happily!) like the guys above have indicated.
DeleteAnd when I saw the Schpuzzle hint, I thought I knew what it meant, however, I could find only TWO words that fit the criteria, so I am still stuck.
ReplyDeleteViolinTeddy, there are more, but many are rather obscure. Must search through relevant lists or use other tricks.
DeleteA FEW CRYPTIC HINTS
ReplyDelete5A It's a name a famous junk dealer wishes he'd never heard.
10A It may follow "fear", "it", or "X". These hints are a no-spin zone!
12A What some people do to remember the Civil War.
13A Cowabunga, dude! Where's the pizza?
22A Dave Foley, Scott Thompson, et al.
23A Shocked by Ms. Gasteyer's actions, I said, "You've got some _____, _____!"(var.)
24A The answer was mentioned in a Chic song from 1977.
26A Pronounced differently, it's the name of the host of West German TV's "Sprockets".
2D Put another way, it's a dog interrupting educational programming.
3D Add an S to the end, and it becomes what most of the "Hee Haw" cast wore.
4D Bar singer, perhaps?
7D As the record company executive said to the pop star when his song made the Top 40, "It's a _____, _____!"
15D and 16D would both give quite a boost to a Scrabble player's score.
21D A birdwatcher would get this one.
Thank you, Patrick. I believe our "fellow" Puzzlerian!s (of all genders) will find these hints helpful.
DeleteLegoWhoBelievescranberryIsQuiteHeloisesque!(AndAlsoThatcranberryCanGiveHintsAsWellAsHeCanTakeThem)
With the hints I get about 1/3 the clues in the Cryptic. The problem is that a number of the hints relate to comedians, sitcoms or pop music that mean nothing to me (and about which I could often care less). But I did like the often frustrating hunt for the answers :)
Deletelego and pjb --
ReplyDeletelego, that lovely melodious lyrical iambic tetrameter sestet should be a shoo-in for the next Nobel poetry prize. What meter, what inspiration,and so many brain-tangling concoctions! It's a masterpiece, to be sure...
and pjb, you've done it again with your splendid clues and clever constructions. Looks like even some hard liners are softening up,and starting to figure out how cryptcs work.
Keep it up.
xxxooo, D.E.
p.s. looks like I deleted my earlier post by mistake. Sorry. But it said the same thing....
Thank you, Dowager Empress. I had a great time creating the sestet/puzzle. I did send it to Will Shortz, and he said it was "nice," but of course it is not very "radio-friendly" and therefore was not a good candidate to be an NPR Sunday Puzzle.
DeleteAs for your comments about Patrick's Cryptic Crossword Puzzle, I am in total agreement with your favorable assessment. They are truly amazing feats of wordplay.
As with Mathew Huffman's "Conundrum Sets," Ken Pratt's Worldplays" and various other wonderful puzzles contributed by Mark Scott and others over the years, I am honored to present such varied creativity on Puzzleria!
LegoWhoAddsThatHeIsAlsoHonoredToPublishInsightfulAndThoughtfulCommentsEveryWeekByTheLikesOfDowagerEmpressViolinTeddyPaulMegatartStratagemWordWomanecoarchitectronAndSoManyOtherPuzzlerian!sOverTheYears
Stop, you're giving me warm fuzzies.
DeletePerhaps Unnessessary Tuesday Hints:
ReplyDeleteSchpuzzle:
Pray, actors, hear my metered SERVE.
FADE ears, upon your heads a curse.
Nap TON, arms atrophied by fright
Or poisoned NUDER shade of THING.
ACHE chorus croons, ACHE anchor ROOMS.
ACHE rose expires, THREE ERA ON cures.
On The Map Slice:
Range
Major Cager Dessert:
With a bit better supporting cast, this star might have shone the way to an NBA dynasty!
LegoCascading
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLego, I second Dowager Empress' critique of the sestet. Also thought the same of the Nemal epic from some weeks ago.
DeleteYour "final" hint confuses me. The "Greek chorus" hint was better. Or do I have a set of 15 alternate answers?
Or MAYBE the CAPITALIZATION is BACKWARDS ?
Deletegeofan,
DeleteThanks for your vote of confidence for my "iambickery" in the Schpuzzle.
I am pretty sure you have my intended answer for the Schpuzzle. My latest "hint" was just kind of weird, I guess. The CAPITALIZED words are not backward... they are just there, sitting in for the words that used to be there.
LegoOgleLoge
This is the last half of my report this week. Something happened to the first part. Maybe the dog ate it. Give me some time to reconstruct it.
ReplyDelete¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A+C+CURATE > ACCURATE
PROVERBS is a book, and the R&B are in there, but I don't get the rest
The shape is an OVAL, ER="uh", and L starts Lee and I never would have gotten this w/o the Hee Haw Hint and here's this for your entertainment.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
L(ost) in SCAPEL(strange PLACES) > SCALPEL
WHITMAN - W = HITMAN
RARELY[R(ob)+A+RELY(bank)]
GREEN[inexperienced] LANTERN[LATERN(RENTAL "disguised")+N(erd)]
PEN+A+LI(Z)E
ADJACENT [A+D(JAC)ENT] [New to me, sounds British, like JACK is to NAVY as TOMMY is to ARMY or something]
I BELONG > IGNOBLE
FURsomething or FIREsomething?
STARTED-T=STARED
G+ROUSE=GROUSE
MOUNT RAINIER (enough jokes about precipitation in Washington, already!)
PATE, SPATE, PLATE, PASTE, PATTE, PATER
RAP, WRAP, REAP, RASP, RAPT > WEST
(So You Want To Be A Rock and Roll) STAR, SITAR, STAIR, START (Me Up)
BREAD, READ, BRAD, BRED, BREA
HEARD, 'EARD, HARD, HERD, HEAD, HEAR
IMPALA TILT (Matt Pillai)
WYOMING > YOW MING > YAO MING
There's a Sirocco Place around Albuquerque and another in the vicinity of Bartlesville, OK. The VW model adds a C, for some reason.
OK, here's the first part:
ReplyDeleteSCHPUZZLE: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
APPROVED? [A computer program could be an APP, and "of course" could mean APPROVED, with a bit of a stretch, but I can't connect ROVED with "bug"]
jESTHEReferenced
CLOSE UP=easy to see, add D from door > CLOSED UP
(F)(ACTOR)
ENTRANCE-N(orth) > REENACT
LEAH PAR > PARHAEL [Fun facts: Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino lived exactly 37 years, from April 6, 1483 to April 6, 1520 - and he was featured in the on-air puzzle on NPR last Sunday]
TU=2 letters of TUNES; BARBELLS are heavy, and they're full of SOUL-SO > TUBULAR BELLS
MIKE OLDFIELD [Never would have gotten either of these w/o the Exorcist hint]
TORONTO?
NIRVANA ["traveling" IN A VAN +R]
RBA(BAR drunk)+HUM > RHUMBA
RE(once more)+LIVE(be)+A+T> RELATIVE
DIETER [TRIED(sort of)+priz(E)]
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Not APPROVED, the answer for 1A is APP+ROACH, approach (sort of) being on course.
Delete22A Yes, TORONTO, wrong = tort, hence TORonT with second hOme
27A: INTEREST (share) Web = INTERNET, with 2nd N (not New) removed and S(some Spider) inserted.
4D: COUNTERTENOR, singer, alternative = OR, rest is still a mystery to me
19D FURNACE, I think, but I can see "put on coat" as being FACE, but the rest eludes me.
For PJB's cryptic the first few bars of the album 14 TUBULARBELLS performed by MIKEOLDFIELD will be instantly recognized as the theme to The Exorcist. "...my head is still spinning" refers to perhaps the most famous (and creepy) scene.
ReplyDeleteThe black spaces form crosses (they might make you mad) after 14 and before 17; the cross was an important device in The Exorcist, was this intentional? (PJB you should say yes, even if it was a coincidence)
I've tried to avoid too revealing hints, lest they be removed. or Exorcised
"I shrieked like a girl" also refers to that film, and also the high pitch of a 6 COUNTERTENOR - though I only understand 1/2 of that clue - and still haven't figured it out.
Entree #4 BREAD is also the name of the 70's soft rock musical group. "I want to make it with you" is the refrain from their best known song. And of course Lego might want to make some "dough."
For the Map Slice, my first thought was Pacific, which describes the weather on the West Coast, which is definitely not right as seen on the map nor as scene in politics.
SOTW
ReplyDeleteThe 15 words are anagrams of Greek (one Roman) gods or mythological figures:
actors = Castor
hear = Hera
metered = Demeter
ears = Ares
heads = Hades
nap = Pan
arms = Mars (Roman, not Greek)
atrophied = Aphrodite
poisoned = Poseidon
shade = Hades (2nd time)
chorus = Chusor? (Phoenician)
croons = Cronos
anchor = Charon
rose = Eros
there = (A)Ether
Cryptic puzzle
1A = APPROVED (APPROACH is better as it includes the bug)
5A = ESTHER
10A = FACTOR (F[emale] + ACTOR)
13 = RAPHAEL (LEAH and PAR backwards)
26 = DIETER (post-hint)
1D = ACCURATE (AC + CURATE)
2D = PROVERBS (post-hint, ROVER inside PBS
3D = OVERALL (only from hint; did not get cryptic parts)
6D = SCALPEL (first one I got)
7D = HITMAN (from hint only)
8D = RARELY (got R A but not RELY = BANK)
21D = TOWHEE? (TOW + HEE)
Map Slice
RAINIER (post-hint); alternate answer = PACIFIC (Ocean). First answer ARIZONA is IMHO not technically correct
Entrées
#1 PATE/PLATE/PATTE/PATER
#2 RAP/WRAP/REAP/RASP/RAPT
#3 STAR/SITAR/STAIR/STARE
#4 BREAD/BEAD/BRAD/BRED/BREA
#5 HEARD/EARD/HERD/HEAD/HEAR
#6 TILT IMPALA (the image see here is of a Chevrolet Biscayne, not an Impala)
Dessert WYOMING => YAO MING
geofan
Most of the Entrées I got without the song references, many of which were lost on me.
Delete1A APPROACH is the only answer I can see that works with 4D.
ReplyDelete21D is certainly GROUSE.
Here's a link to the complete puzzle solution. Still not clear on 4D and 19D.
And I get that Entree #6 is TILT IMPALA, but who is the puzzle maker anagrammed?
Where are the slacking puzzle makers?
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deleteeco, he is "Matt Pillai of Denver, Colorado". Lego generally uses the name of the previous week's NPR puzzlemaker in his puzzles that reference a puzzlemaker.
DeleteYou are probably right wrt 21D = GROUSE. Also 1A, but I did not get 4D so it was not obvious.
Eco, you lined up the letters in my puzzle about as good as I did typing the puzzle in the email to Lego!
DeleteSchpuzzle
The 15 words(I only counted 13)can be anagrammed to spell names in Greek mythology.
ACTORS=CASTOR
HEAR=HERA
METERED=DEMETER
EARS=ARES
HEADS=HADES
NAP=PAN
ARMS=MARS(See ARES)
ATROPHIED=APHRODITE
POISONED=POSEIDON
CROONS=CRONOS
ANCHOR=CHARON
ROSE=EROS
THERE=ETHER(?)
It helps that my niece Mia Kate is so into Greek mythology.
Cryptic Crossword
See Lego's official answer for details.
Menu
Entrees
1. PATE/PLATE/PASTE/PATTE/PATER
2. RAP/WRAP/REAP/RASP/RAPT/WEST
3. STAR/SITAR/STAIR(way To Heaven)/START(Me Up)
4. BREAD/READ/BEAD/BRAD/BRED/BREA
5. HEARD/EARD/HARD/HERD/HEAD/HEAR
6. IMPALA TILT(MATT PILLAI)
Dessert
WYOMING, YOW MING(YAO MING)
I'm off to my therapist tomorrow! See y'all later on!-pjb
Can you clarify the clues for 4D and 19D? Lego seems to have disappeared, probably handling off the flies.
DeleteAnd the trick (I just learned) to get your letters to line up is to use "A monospaced font, also called a fixed-pitch, fixed-width, or non-proportional font, is a font whose letters and characters each occupy the same amount of horizontal space. [...] Examples of monospaced fonts include Courier, Courier New, Lucida Console, Monaco, and Consolas."
DeleteI wish I had known that earlier. Courier looks like an old typewriter, but Lucinda Console looks pretty clean and good. Interestingly when I upload to Google Docs it changes the font, but the spacing looks good.
SCHPUZZLE: SHADE and HEADS are anagrams; CURSE and CURES are also. Mu intial thought (post Greek chorus hint) had been "words containing Greek letters", a la "exPIre" and "atroPHIed"....but I couldn't find any more. Sigh...
ReplyDeleteCROSSWORD: 1A: SOFTWARE? 23A: NIRVANA; 3D: OVERALL? 7D: HITxxx?
MAP SLICE: RAINIER (Mt.); I had also thought: MONTANA (Meaning mountainous, of course.)
ENTREES:
1. PATE; SPATE; PLATE; PASTE; PATTE; PATER.
2. RAP; WRAP; REAP; RASP; RAPT => WEST.
3. STAR; SITAR; STAIR; START.
4. BREAD; READ; BEAD; BRAD; BRED; BREA.
5. HEARD; EARD; HARD; HERD; HEAD; HEAR.
6. IMPALA TILT => MATT PILLAI
DESSERT: WYOMING => (YOW) YAO MING
This week's answers for the record, part 1:
ReplyDeleteSchpuzzle Of The Week:
Ode to Belladonna (a tragic cast cursed and ill-versed)
Identify fifteen words in the iambic tetrameter sestet below that have something unusual in common:
Pray, actors, hear my metered verse.
Deaf ears, upon your heads a curse.
Nap not, arms atrophied by fright
Or poisoned under shade of night.
Each chorus croons, each anchor moors.
Each rose expires, there are no cures.
What is it that the fifteen words have in common?
Answer:
Fifteen words are anagrams of Greek mythological figures:
1. actors = CASTOR, hear = HERA, metered = DEMETER
2. ears = ARES, heads = HADES, curse = CERUS
3. nap = PAN, arms = MARS, atrophied = APHRODITE
4. poisoned = POISEIDON, shade = HADES
5. croons = CRONOS, anchor = CHARON
6. rose = EROS, cures = CERUS
Lego...
Lego, with all due respect, Cerus was not a Greek (or Roman) mythological figure. Ceres was, however: see here. That is why I did not note the anagrams for Cerus in my list.
DeleteThanks, geofan. I apologize for creating a Greek mythological figure out of whole peplos cloth!
DeleteLegoWhoBelievesThereShouldBeAGreekMythologicalFigureNamedCerus
Don't be cowed by geofan, Cerus was "The large and powerful wild bull tamed by Persephone and turned into the Taurus constellation." Or so I've herd.
DeleteMore here.
I based my statement on the fact that (1)' Wikipedia has no entry for "Cerus"; and (2), a Google search for "Cerus" gives no (at least on early pages) hits for a Greek or Roman god. To find Cerus the bull, one has to append "mythology", and then there are only 12,300 hits. Compares to a Google search for "Ceres" and "mythology" with 2,980,000 hits.
DeleteCerus was not a god, but was a Greek mythological figure, which I believe was the intended criterion. And reading between the lines it seems Persephone may have been engaged in some animal husbandry with him. Oh those Greeks!
DeleteI am always cautious about too much reliance on Wiki and Google. Number of hits does not signify existence; a Google search of my grandparents yields very few results, but I'm confident they existed.
This week's answers for the record, part 2:
ReplyDeleteAppetizer Menu
Cryptic Crossword Appetizer:
A symphony in lexicography
(Look below this week's Dessert for the completed grid.)
ACROSS
1. Computer program with bug, of course(8)
APPROACH
APP+ROACH(COURSE means APPROACH as a noun)
5. In jest, he referenced a biblical character(6)
ESTHER
hidden inside jESTHEReferenced
9. It's so easy to see, having front door shut?(6,2)
CLOSED UP
CLOSEUP containing D
10. Part for female performer(6)
FACTOR
F+ACTOR
12. Stage entrance awkward, missing point(7)
REENACT
ENTRANCE anagram minus N(North on a compass)
13. Recalled Rachel's sister, average artist(7)
RAPHAEL
LEAH+PAR reversed(Rachel from the Bible)
14. Couple of tunes---they're heavy, full of soul---so dropped from album by 17?(7,5)
TUBULAR BELLS
TU+BARBELLS containing SOUL-SO
17. Recording equipment used by area musician(4,8)
MIKE OLDFIELD
MIKE+OLD+FIELD
22. Wrong to carry on with second home in Canada(7)
TORONTO
TORT containing ON, plus O(hOme)
23. Rock group traveling in a van takes last tour(7)
NIRVANA
INAVAN anagram containing R
24. Improvise music in bar, drunk, and dance(6)
RHUMBA
HUM inside BAR anagram
25. Once more be embracing a true family member(8)
RELATIVE
RELIVE containing A+T
26. One wanting to lose sort of tried to take ultimate prize?(6)
DIETER
TRIED anagram containing E
27. Web, not new, holds some spider's share(8)
INTEREST
INTERNET-N containing S
DOWN
1. Clergyman with a cold coming on, to be exact(8)
ACCURATE
A+C+CURATE
2. Book R and B shows outside(8)
PROVERBS
R+B inside PROVES
3. General Lee started, after some hesitation, to get in shape(7)
OVERALL
ER inside OVAL+L
4. Matter to clear up after 90's show with alternative singer(12)
COUNTERTENOR
COUNT+ER+NET reversed plus OR
6. Surgical instrument primarily lost in strange places?(7)
SCALPEL
L inside PLACES anagram
7. Writer heading off looking for killer(6)
HITMAN
(Walt)WHITMAN-W
8. Once in a while, start to rob a bank?(6)
RARELY
R+A+RELY
11. Inexperienced nerd, first to wear rental disguise, looks like superhero(5,7)
GREEN LANTERN
GREEN+RENTAL anagram containing N
15. Write a story about unknown judge(8)
PENALIZE
PEN A LIE containing Z
16. Close to a sailor shortly gripped by depression(8)
ADJACENT
A+DENT containing JACK-K
18. Degenerate? I belong somehow!(7)
IGNOBLE
IBELONG anagram
19. Not the first nut to get up, put on coat---it keeps one warm(7)
FURNACE
FUR+PECAN reversed minus P
20. Was looking ahead, began to forget tyrannical leader(6)
STARED
STARTED-T
21. Good to wake up and complain?(6)
GROUSE
G+ROUSE
Lego...
This week's answers for the record, part 3:
ReplyDeleteMENU
Slice:
Climate change comparisons
A well-known seven-letter word on the map of the United States describes an aspect of the local climate compared to most other parts of the country. What is this word?
Answer:
Rainier; (Mt. Rainier in Washington State)
Riffing Off Shortz And Pillai Slices:
“Oh! the words you’ll get!”
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Pillai Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Think of a 4-letter synonym of “melon.” If you place an S before the first letter, you’ll get a word for a large number or amount. If instead you insert an L after the first letter, you’ll get a pentagonal inset seen on a diamond. If instead you insert an S after the second letter, you’ll get what often follows after a cut. If instead you insert a T after the third letter, you’ll get a paw, as spoken by the French. And if instead you insert an R at the end, you’ll get a word that many who speak U.S. colloquial regional dialects mean when they say “paw,” as spoken by those in the ancient Roman Empire. What words are these?
Answer:
PATE; SPATE, PLATE, PASTE, PATTE, PATER
ENTREE #2:
Think of a word that sometimes follows “bum.” If you place a letter before the first letter, you’ll get a word that follows “gift” or precedes “up.” If instead you insert a letter after the first letter, you’ll get biblical advice about what NOT to do with the whirlwind. If instead you insert a letter after the second letter, you’ll get a word meaning “to rub the rough way.” And if instead you insert a letter after the third letter, you’ll get a synonym of “engrossed.” The four letters you placed and inserted, in order, spell out a description of Eden relative to Nod. What words are these? What is the description of Eden?
Answer:
RAP; WRAP, REAP, RASP, RAPT; WEST
ENTREE #3:
Think of the last word in the title of a song inspired by the Monkees but written and performed by other “critters.” If you insert an I after the first letter, you’ll get a musical instrument associated with the Beatles and Norah Jones’s father. If instead you insert an I after the third letter, you’ll get the first letters in the title of Led Zeppelin’s signature song. And if instead you insert a T at the end, you’ll get the first word in the title of a early 1980s hit by the Rolling Stones. What words are these?
Answer:
STAR ("So You Want to Be a rock and Roll Star," by the Byrds); SITAR, "STAIR(way to Heaven"), "START Me Up"
Lego...
This week's answers for the record, part 4:
ReplyDeleteENTREE #4:
Think of a common 5-letter word. If you remove the first letter, you’ll get what you sometimes need to do between the lines. If you remove the second letter, you’ll get a word associated with sweat and with decades. If you remove the third letter, you’ll get a word associated with Paisley. If you remove the fourth letter, you’ll get a word preceded by “well” or “thorough.” If you remove the fifth letter, you’ll get a word associated with “tar” or Irish mythology. What words are these?
Answer:
BREAD; READ, BEAD, BRAD, BRED, BREA
ENTREE #5:
Think of a common 5-letter word. If you remove the first letter, you’ll get how a Cockney karaoke performer would pronounce the verb in a Marvin Gaye signature song. If you remove the second letter, you’ll get a descriptor of a rain that’s “a-gonna fall,” according to song lyrics. If you remove the third letter, you’ll get what “you can’t roller skate” in, according to song lyrics. If you remove the fourth letter, you’ll get a word followed by “gasket” or “honcho.” If you remove the fifth letter, you’ll get a word followed by “ye.”
What words are these?
Answer:
HEARD; EARD, HARD, HERD, HEAD, HEAR
ENTREE #6:
Provide a two-word caption for the image pictured here.
Rearrage the letters in your caption to form the first and last names of a puzzle-maker.
Hint: The caption consistes of the model (not the make) of the vehicle pictured, and how it is positioned in the picture.
Answer:
(Chevrolet) Impala tilt; Matt Pillai (of Denver, Colorado)
Dessert Menu
Major Cager Dessert:
Star emerges from an altered state
Move the first letter of a U.S. state to the third position and add a space after it.
The result sounds like the name of a NBA Hall of Fame star basketball player.
What is the state?
Answer:
Wyoming; WYOMING --> YOW MING --> Yao Ming
Lego!