PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 8!/20 SERVED
Schpuzzle Of TheWeek:
“Are you smarter than a rocket scientist?”
Take an informal word for a person who is smart enough to solve this puzzle.
Think of someone like rocket scientist, for example, or a character on “The Big Bang Theory” television sitcom.
Five consecutive letters within this word spell an adjective for a body part. If you remove three consecutive letters from within the word the remaining letters spell another adjective for the same body part. What are these three words?
Hint: The informal word comes from the name of a past fictional television character.
Non-quarantined Crossword Appetizer:
Cryptically Quinquagenarian
Looking for a great way to occupy your time while you’re cooped up indoors, awaiting the end of quarantining and social-distancing?
How about working on... no, not working on, playing on (!) a clever Cryptic Crossword created by Patrick J. Berry! Patrick (screen name, “cranberry”), has just recently celebrated his 50th birthday.
But, instead of getting gifts from us, he is instead giving us a priceless gift – another one of his original 15-by-15 grids of wonderful wordplay!
This is the 14th cryptic crossword with which Patrick has graced Puzzleria!
Here are the links to Patrick’s thirteen previous cryptic crosswords on Puzzleria!
ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN
EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN
If you are unfamiliar with cryptic crossword puzzles, here are a few basic cryptic crossword puzzle 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,” (5,3) indicates a five-and-three-letter answer like “cargo van,” 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!
But now, it’s time to open your “cryptic gift” from our “birthday boy.” We guarantee it to be virus-free... although it well may be cryptically “contageous!”
ACROSS
1. Those who fly sorta having trouble getting through(8)
5. Rain sometimes – how erratic!(6)
9. Generation having say in worsening of our gap?(3,5)
10. Demanding, like family gatherings, primarily(6)
12. Unconventional children’s entertainer’s last laugh(7)
13. Savage to cook chicken?(7)
14. Lob used in game of 24(5,7)
17. Funny quotes in book?(8,4)
22. President has a mind so twisted(7)
23. Speech habit, take notice(7)
24. Wrong to make comeback in sport?(6)
25. Erin greeting former Presidential hopeful with some hesitation, we hear(8)
26. Prescription from top doctor, old and wise(6)
27. Pinch from pervert bugged ’er(8)
DOWN
1. Different combinations of different animals in a scientific first?(8)
2. Obsession with one former lover? I give up!(4,4)
3. Visited rising singer on wild ride(7)
4. Poorly made case for horseplay?(12)
6. Strip show on Broadway? Security!(7)
7. Importance of some wrong number?(6)
8. Old Yeller’s last appearance before going mad(6)
11. Actress going topless is dazzling in current film(3, 5, 4)
15. Took a swipe at lead guitarist in band(quoted by humor magazine)(8)
16. Con man on board, in uniform(4,4)
18. Boom! Ready to rock!(7)
19. Familiar with obscure name brought up?(7)
20. Journalist has least little thing exaggerated(6)
21. Looker, scantily clad on island(6)
Eventful Slice:
An unhidden hint to history
Write a man’s first name (in one syllable).
Replace its second letter with a duplicate of the first letter.
The result will resemble a short way of writing a significant event in world history.
What is this first name?
What is the event?
Hint: A good hint is not hidden within the text of this puzzle.
Riffing Off Shortz And Lewis Slices:
“Wobble was I ere I saw Elbbow”
Will Shortz’s April 19th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Greg Lewis of Columbus, Indiana, reads:
Name part of the human body in seven letters. The first four letters, in order, spell a familiar boy’s name. The second through fifth letters, in order, also spell a familiar boy’s name. What body part is it?
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Lewis Slices read:
ENTREE #1
Name an interior part of the human body in five letters. Reverse the order of the first two letters and move them to the end. Change the first letter of this result to the letter that is two places earlier in the alphabet to form the last name of a puzzle-maker.
Now take the first name of this puzzle-maker. Take the mean average of the alphanumeric values of its first two letters and round down to form a third alphanumeric value. Replace the first two letters of the first name with the letter associated with this average value to form a three-letter body part.
For example, the average of alphanumeric value of the first two letters in the name JOseph is 12.5 (10+15=25, which divided by 2=12.5, which, rounded down, is 12=L).
Who is this puzzle-maker?
What are the two body parts.
ENTREE #2
Name a body part usually associated with insects.
The first four letters, in order, spell a familiar boy’s name associated with mythology.
The second through fifth letters, in order, spell a dance associated with the Middle East.
What body part is it?
ENTREE #3
Name part of the human body in ten letters.
The first, fifth, sixth and seventh letters, in order, spell a somewhat familiar girl’s name. The fourth, eighth, ninth and tenth letters, in order, spell a second somewhat familiar girl’s name. The second, third, fourth and eighth letters, in order, spell a third somewhat familiar girl’s name. The fourth, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth letters, in order, spell a fourth somewhat familiar girl’s name.
What body part is it?
ENTREE #4
Name a familiar girl’s name in six letters.
Four consecutive letters, in order, spell a word in a Bob Dylan song title. The second, third and fifth letters, in order, spell another word in that same Bob Dylan song title.
Four other consecutive letters in the girl’s name, in order, spell a word in a Dave Clark Five or Traffic song title.
The second, third, fourth and sixth letters, in order, spell the last word in the name of a vocal group that was once called The Otnorots (taken from the name of their hometown, “Toronto,” spelled backwards).
What girl’s name is this?
ENTREE #5
Name part of the human body in five letters. Add a letter to the beginning to spell a familiar boy’s name.
Remove the last letter of this boy’s name to spell a familiar girl’s name. What body part is it?
Hint: The girl’s name is also something you can eat.
Stars Still Ascending Heavenward Dessert:
Music of the astral spheres
Countless stars coruscate across the evening heavens above – rising stars that fell from the sky, then rose even further into space heavenward.
Listen closely and you can hear the music of these astral spheres as they spin in constant harmony within their constellations.
These stars have names: Croce, Denver, Nelson, Vaughan, Van Zant, Gaines, Richardson, Valens, Holly, Cline, Redding, Miller, Aaliyah, Rhoads, Reeves, Rivera, Martin...
One particular asterism of these stars also has a name, in two words. Replace the first two letters of the second word. The altered two-word result is the stage name of one of its stars
What is this asterism and what is the stage name of the star?
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 TheWeek:
“Are you smarter than a rocket scientist?”
Take an informal word for a person who is smart enough to solve this puzzle.
Think of someone like rocket scientist, for example, or a character on “The Big Bang Theory” television sitcom.
Five consecutive letters within this word spell an adjective for a body part. If you remove three consecutive letters from within the word the remaining letters spell another adjective for the same body part. What are these three words?
Hint: The informal word comes from the name of a past fictional television character.
Appetizer Menu
Non-quarantined Crossword Appetizer:
Cryptically Quinquagenarian
Looking for a great way to occupy your time while you’re cooped up indoors, awaiting the end of quarantining and social-distancing?
How about working on... no, not working on, playing on (!) a clever Cryptic Crossword created by Patrick J. Berry! Patrick (screen name, “cranberry”), has just recently celebrated his 50th birthday.
But, instead of getting gifts from us, he is instead giving us a priceless gift – another one of his original 15-by-15 grids of wonderful wordplay!
This is the 14th cryptic crossword with which Patrick has graced Puzzleria!
Here are the links to Patrick’s thirteen previous cryptic crosswords on Puzzleria!
ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN
EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN
If you are unfamiliar with cryptic crossword puzzles, here are a few basic cryptic crossword puzzle 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,” (5,3) indicates a five-and-three-letter answer like “cargo van,” 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!
But now, it’s time to open your “cryptic gift” from our “birthday boy.” We guarantee it to be virus-free... although it well may be cryptically “contageous!”
ACROSS
1. Those who fly sorta having trouble getting through(8)
5. Rain sometimes – how erratic!(6)
9. Generation having say in worsening of our gap?(3,5)
10. Demanding, like family gatherings, primarily(6)
12. Unconventional children’s entertainer’s last laugh(7)
13. Savage to cook chicken?(7)
14. Lob used in game of 24(5,7)
17. Funny quotes in book?(8,4)
22. President has a mind so twisted(7)
23. Speech habit, take notice(7)
24. Wrong to make comeback in sport?(6)
25. Erin greeting former Presidential hopeful with some hesitation, we hear(8)
26. Prescription from top doctor, old and wise(6)
27. Pinch from pervert bugged ’er(8)
DOWN
1. Different combinations of different animals in a scientific first?(8)
2. Obsession with one former lover? I give up!(4,4)
3. Visited rising singer on wild ride(7)
4. Poorly made case for horseplay?(12)
6. Strip show on Broadway? Security!(7)
7. Importance of some wrong number?(6)
8. Old Yeller’s last appearance before going mad(6)
11. Actress going topless is dazzling in current film(3, 5, 4)
15. Took a swipe at lead guitarist in band(quoted by humor magazine)(8)
16. Con man on board, in uniform(4,4)
18. Boom! Ready to rock!(7)
19. Familiar with obscure name brought up?(7)
20. Journalist has least little thing exaggerated(6)
21. Looker, scantily clad on island(6)
MENU
Eventful Slice:
An unhidden hint to history
Write a man’s first name (in one syllable).
Replace its second letter with a duplicate of the first letter.
The result will resemble a short way of writing a significant event in world history.
What is this first name?
What is the event?
Hint: A good hint is not hidden within the text of this puzzle.
Riffing Off Shortz And Lewis Slices:
“Wobble was I ere I saw Elbbow”
Will Shortz’s April 19th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Greg Lewis of Columbus, Indiana, reads:
Name part of the human body in seven letters. The first four letters, in order, spell a familiar boy’s name. The second through fifth letters, in order, also spell a familiar boy’s name. What body part is it?
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Lewis Slices read:
ENTREE #1
Name an interior part of the human body in five letters. Reverse the order of the first two letters and move them to the end. Change the first letter of this result to the letter that is two places earlier in the alphabet to form the last name of a puzzle-maker.
Now take the first name of this puzzle-maker. Take the mean average of the alphanumeric values of its first two letters and round down to form a third alphanumeric value. Replace the first two letters of the first name with the letter associated with this average value to form a three-letter body part.
For example, the average of alphanumeric value of the first two letters in the name JOseph is 12.5 (10+15=25, which divided by 2=12.5, which, rounded down, is 12=L).
Who is this puzzle-maker?
What are the two body parts.
ENTREE #2
Name a body part usually associated with insects.
The first four letters, in order, spell a familiar boy’s name associated with mythology.
The second through fifth letters, in order, spell a dance associated with the Middle East.
What body part is it?
ENTREE #3
Name part of the human body in ten letters.
The first, fifth, sixth and seventh letters, in order, spell a somewhat familiar girl’s name. The fourth, eighth, ninth and tenth letters, in order, spell a second somewhat familiar girl’s name. The second, third, fourth and eighth letters, in order, spell a third somewhat familiar girl’s name. The fourth, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth letters, in order, spell a fourth somewhat familiar girl’s name.
What body part is it?
ENTREE #4
Name a familiar girl’s name in six letters.
Four consecutive letters, in order, spell a word in a Bob Dylan song title. The second, third and fifth letters, in order, spell another word in that same Bob Dylan song title.
Four other consecutive letters in the girl’s name, in order, spell a word in a Dave Clark Five or Traffic song title.
The second, third, fourth and sixth letters, in order, spell the last word in the name of a vocal group that was once called The Otnorots (taken from the name of their hometown, “Toronto,” spelled backwards).
What girl’s name is this?
ENTREE #5
Name part of the human body in five letters. Add a letter to the beginning to spell a familiar boy’s name.
Remove the last letter of this boy’s name to spell a familiar girl’s name. What body part is it?
Hint: The girl’s name is also something you can eat.
Dessert Menu
Stars Still Ascending Heavenward Dessert:
Music of the astral spheres
Countless stars coruscate across the evening heavens above – rising stars that fell from the sky, then rose even further into space heavenward.
Listen closely and you can hear the music of these astral spheres as they spin in constant harmony within their constellations.
These stars have names: Croce, Denver, Nelson, Vaughan, Van Zant, Gaines, Richardson, Valens, Holly, Cline, Redding, Miller, Aaliyah, Rhoads, Reeves, Rivera, Martin...
One particular asterism of these stars also has a name, in two words. Replace the first two letters of the second word. The altered two-word result is the stage name of one of its stars
What is this asterism and what is the stage name of the star?
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.