A 'Cadillac' of cryptic crosswords! A fate worse than the discount bin Working hard! (not hardly working) One’s risky business requires balance; Shot put, put up, putt out or shut up!

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 6!π SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

A fate worse than the discount bin!

Take the last name of an author. Ignore the first name completely.

Change the last letter to a letter that rhymes with it. Rearrange the result to spell, in two words, a fate that befell a book penned

by this author. 

What author is this?

What ill fate was suffered by the book?

Appetizer Menu

In The Pink Appetizer:

A “Cadillac” of Cryptic Crosswords!

Puzzleria! is honored and proud to present this week Patrick J. Berry’s twenty-first Crypric Crossword puzzle that has graced our cyberspace over the past half-decade. 

24 ACROSS clue

And this particular  masterpiece, In My Humble Opinion, is one of his finest yet. 

Five of the answers to the 28 clues of this cryptic crossword are tied in to an ingenious
musical theme (Patrick definitely knows his music!), and there is a sixth musical answer that has an interesting connection to these five.

27 ACROSS clue

Here are links to Patrick’s other 20 Cryptic Crosswords on Puzzleria:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

For those of you who may be new to cryptic crossword puzzles, Patrick has compiled a few basic cryptic crossword puzzle instructions regarding the Across and Down clues and their format:

2 DOWN clue

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.”

6 DOWN clue

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!

Okay, you’ve waited long enough. What do we have to do to get you behind the wheel of this luxurious “Cadillac” of a cryptic crossword puzzle? Take it out for a spin!

ACROSS

1. Jack has to exercise to get the ultimate body(8)

5. 18 song about breaking barriers?(6)

9. Slippery ones sounding like innocent victims?(8)

10. Certainly taking shortcut to find wisdom(6)

12. American poet, possibly English author?(7)

13. Stall for time during performance, before
start of applause(7)

14. Rock group oft-welcomed, perhaps,without opening act?(9,3)

17. I ran fast, rushed to get in line to see legendary singer(5,7)

22. Terribly maimed, having left mess(7)

23. Artist’s musical instrument possesses
answer(4,3)

24. Way to make a scene?(6)

25. 18 song(assume tot’s playing piano?)(4,4)

26. Uniform fit, just the same(4,2)

27. Donkey trampled roses, one estimates(8)

DOWN

1. Shakespearean character with oddly frail hands...(8)

2. ...stirred up horrible demons without
hesitation(8)

3. Some particular gestures, most massive(7)

4. Not straight with you now–sort of having war of words through 18 song(2,4,3,3)

6. Cheese right to put on taco? It could be(7)

7. Crazy old man, some kind of nut(6)

8. Shame: Cinderella initially dropped shoe!(6)

11. Educational institutions for old teachers, so badly lacking energy?(5,7)

15. Area ain’t lost at sea? No-o!(8)

16. Musician in ridiculous garb, holding bong?(8)

18. 14’s biggest album–“Strange what we
have!”(7)

19. Girl, a little nervous, had to take final(7)

20. Imagine what’s inside a teenager(6)

21. What sheep have to rip off?(6)

MENU

Disconnected IntraVenous Slice:

One’s risky business requires balance

Take a person, first and last names, whose risky profession required both talents and balance. 

Replace the fourth letter with the sixth letter and “disconnect an IV” from the last name to
form a two-word synonym of balance. 

Who is this person and what is the synonym?

Riffing Off Shortz And Gordon Slices:

Shot put, put up, putt out or shut up!

Will Shortz’s July 25th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by puzzlemaker Peter Gordon, reads:

Think of the word for a competitor in a
particular Olympic sport. It’s a compound word with a hyphen in the middle. Remove the hyphen. What remains are two words from a different Olympic sport. What words are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Gordon Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Take the first name of a puzzlemaker. Replace an “e” with the state postal code of the site of an Olympiad held during the 21st Century to spell equipment used in an Olympic sport. 

Add an “e” and “i” to the second name of this same puzzlemaker and rearrange the letters to spell the present participle of a popular but somewhat controversial “sport” that has never been an official Olympic sport – although it did marginally come close to being so during the 1988 and 2002 Summer Olympic games. 

Who is this puzzlemaker?

What is the word for the equipment? 

What is the present participle of the “unofficial” official Olympic sport?

Hint: The accompanying double-image is a kind of rebus that hints at the unofficial Olympic sport.

ENTREE #2

Think of a competitor in a Track & Field Olympic event, in two words. 

The first word is an offensive  accomplishment in another Summer Olympic sport, and the second word is an offensive attempt in a third Summer Olympic sport.

What is this two-word Track & Field competitor?

What are the offensive accomplishment and second Olympic sport?

What are the offensive attempt and third Olympic sport?

ENTREE #3

Think of a particular Olympic sport. 

Move the second letter to the end and remove the first letter to form an word that describes
the apparel worn by competitors in this sport.

What are this sport and descriptive word?

ENTREE #4

Think of the word for competitors in an Olympic Track & Field event, in two words. 

The first word, in four letters, describes an athlete from a county that has never hosted the Olympics but whose athletes have often excelled nevertheless. 

Rearranging the combined letters of both words will form two words that belong in the
blanks in the following phrase: (which is what successful competitors in the event likely have): “a ____ to ________.”

What is the word for the Track & Field event competitors?

What four-letter word describes the athlete from the non-hosting country?

What words belong in the two blanks?

Hint: The words in the blanks begin with L and O, and are four and eight letters long.

ENTREE #5

Think of the word for competitors in a particular 2021 Olympic sport in Tokyo. It’s a compound word. Divide it into its two parts.

Change a letter in the first part to a “t” and remove an “a” from the second part to form
two new words: 

* “one of the fifty,” and

* “what it is that two of the fifty do not share with any of the others.” 

What is this compound word?

What is “one of the fifty?”

What do two of the fifty not share with any of the others?”

Hint: The last name of the man in the accompanying image sounds like four consecutive letters embedded near the middle of the word for the competitors.

ENTREE #6

Think of a particular Summer Olympic team sport, in two words. Rearrange the combined letters of these words to spell two new words:

* a word beginning with “a” denoting the gold-medal-winning team’s position in the final standings, and

* a word for each other team’s position in the standing vis-a-vis the gold-medal-winner.

What is this Olympic sport? 

What two words are these?

ENTREE #7

“Judging by their grimaces and contorted facial expressions, many Winter Olympic athletes are most physically ________ when they achieve their ____ performance level.”

The dozen letters that fill those blanks can be rearranged to name certain Winter Olympic
athletes in a particular event, in two words.

What words belong in the blanks?

Who are the Olympic athletes?

Hint: The words in the blanks begin with “s” and “p”; The Olympic athletes begin with “s” and “s”.

ENTREE # 8

(Note: We conclude this octet of riffs with the following gem penned by our friend Ecoarchitect.)

Name a category of bird.

Divide this  “birdy” word into two parts.

The result will be two words associated with an Olympic sport.  

What bird and words are these?

Dessert Menu

Working Class Hero Dessert:

Working hard! (not hardly working)

Take a synonym of “hard worker.” 

Rearrange its first four letters, leaving the others intact, to form a verb that this worker will likely not do. 

What are this synonym and verb?

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.