Whistleblowers, exhibitionists, weirdos, lunatics... Hallelujah! Blocks of letters, moved and mixed; “No, not Poetry... Pottery!” The universal language of “lob”? Granted, the desert is hot... but it’s a dry heat

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 3(7!) SERVED

Schpuzzle Of TheWeek:
“No, not Poetry... Pottery!”

Divide the name of a bookstore section into two parts. Change one letter to form an informal name for a second bookstore section. 
The formal one-word name of this second bookstore section begins with an A.
Divide the name of a third bookstore section into two parts. Add one letter to form an informal name for a fourth bookstore section. 
The formal one-word name of this second bookstore section begins with a B.
What are these four bookstore sections?
What are the informal two-word names for the second and fourth bookstor sections?

Appetizer Menu

Cryptic Crossword Appetizer:
Whistleblowers, exhibitionists, weirdos, lunatics... Hallelujah!

Attention, fans of cryptic crosswords:
Patrick J. Berry (screen name, “cranberry”) is presenting to us his sweet sixteenth monument to his cryptic creativity in this edition of Puzzleria! 
Here are the links to Patrick’s fifteen previous cryptic crosswords on Puzzleria!
ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE 
SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN
TWELVE THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN

If you are new to cryptic crossword puzzles, have no fear. Patrick has compiled a few basic cryptic crossword puzzle instructions to help you “climb the clues,” reach the summit and stand victorious!
Here are his 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) simply 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!)
And now, here are Patrick’s clues to his latest ultra-clever cryptic creation:

ACROSS
1. Strange why a loser has it on TV nowadays(7,4)
9. Nothing in freezer, oddly(4)
10. Christmas song is popular, containing one Latin part of speech(6,5) 
11. What a dog might do on a tree?(4)
14. Smart to leave chicken in pot for Sunday(7)
16. He sings, having shot one creature(6)
17. I’m inclined over the phone to find girl(6)
18. Catholics’ Easter gathering–it’s safe to go(3, 5, 2, 5)
19. New “total lunatic”?(6)
21. More from whistleblower? Sick!(6)
22. Prepared to go in to study(7)
23. Instant decapitation, OK?(4)
26. Dickens character has to be into alternative dance(6,5)
27. Old American journalist(4)
28. Couple of lawmakers involved in income tax reform? Hallelujah!(11)

DOWN
2. Go be dropping off son(4)
3. Survive bad upbringing(4)
4. Ultimate exhibitionist with great, curvy butt(6)
5. Not hard to capture mountain the lad was climbing–there he is!(5, 2, 3, 5)
6. Individual having turned up nothing via computer?(6)
7. Grows up gaming, primarily–is seen playing with this?(4,7)
8. Turn crank to get old, funny music(4,3,4)
12. Artsy step routine, rechoreographed(11)
13. Take issue, provided, say, I had to be treated degradingly(11)
14. Crazy weirdo carrying wife’s head?!(7)
15. Lost desire? Indeed, halfheartedly(7)
20. Force of habit as king has raised spirit(6)
21. Racehorse taking off in the wrong direction?(3,3)
24. Hit 70s cop show(4)
25. Alone, keeping head down in the city(4)

MENU

“Where’d My Car Go?” Slice:
Blocks of letters, moved and mixed

Take five consecutive letters from the first half of the alphabet and three consecutive letters from the second half of the alphabet. 

Rearrange these eight letters to form means of cargo transport, in one word. 
What is it?


Riffing Off Shortz and Talvacchio Slices:
Granted, the desert is hot... but it’s a dry heat

Will Shortz’s July 26th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Dominick Talvacchio of Chicago, Illinois, reads:
Think of a common two-word phrase for something you experience in a desert. Rearrange the letters to get a single word for something you should do in the desert as a result.
Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz and Talvacchio Slices read:
ENTREE #1:
Rearrange the combined letters of: 
1. the surname of a physicist named Georg who, with the help of Alessandro and Andre-Marie, “laid down the (electrical) law”;
2. the surname of the original “Renaissance Man”; and
3. an alcoholic mixed drink consisting of spirits and fruit juice, flavored syrup or cream.
If you have the right surnames and mixed drink, the result of your rearrangement will form the first and last names of a puzzle-maker.
Who is this puzzle-maker?
Hint: One brand name of the alcoholic mixed drink bears the surname of the original “Renaissance Man.”
ENTREE #2:
Think of things, in one word containing 11 letters, that you may encounter in a desert. 
Rearrange these letters to get a pair of four-letter words and a three-letter initialism that are each related to “connecting.” 
What things may be encountered in the desert?
What are the two words and the initialism?  
ENTREE #3:
Name what, in one plural word of six letters, you may encounter in a desert. 
Rearrange the letters to get a single word for a kind of cactus you might encounter in the desert. 

Name a six-letter synonym of that kind of cactus. Replace the first two letters of that synonym to name a creature you may encounter in the desert.
What are these four six-letter words?
ENTREE #4:
Name a kind of critter, in one word of nine letters, that you might encounter in a desert. 
Rearrange the first four letters and the final five letters to get a two-part hyphenated word (beginning with D and R) that describes a particular “bundle” marketed to college students returning to campus after summer break. 
That “bundle” includes a bedloft, micro-fridge, electronic safe, futon and television.
What are this critter, and description of the “bundle”?
Hint: A two-word characteristic feature of the critter can be formed by rearranging the seven letters that fill the two blanks in the following sentence (A three-letter word belongs in the first blank, forming a compound word starting with “car-”):
 The car___ at the drive-in brought the guy in the 1957 T-Bird a ____ so he could place his order.
ENTREE #5:
Think of phrase (consisting of a 6-letter adjective beginning with “s,” an 8-letter adjective (that can also be regarded as a noun) beginning with “C” and a 3-letter noun beginning with “f.” 
The phrase, one might argue, describes Martin Luther or John Wesley or, before he left the Ku Klux Klan, Hugo Black.  
Rearrange the combined 17 letters of these words to form, in two words, something you see on a dessert.
What is this phrase? 
What is seen on a dessert?

Dessert Menu

Tabletop Dessert:
The universal language of “lob”?

English is used by table tennis players worldwide. 
Divide one kind of English, in one word, into two parts to name a toy and what such toys do.
What is the toy?
What do such toys do?
Editor’s note: I served-up this puzzle to Will Shortz (see image above) as a possible NPR Sunday puzzle. 
He returned it with a backhand smash(ing my hopes)... Point Will-(taken).


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.

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