Friday, October 29, 2021

Hallowe’en mixed “boo-quet” bag; “Smart, punchy hipster jive!” “Don’t forget the a la mode!” “...Even educated fleas do it...” “Bona ‘fidiom’ ”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 6!π SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Bona ‘fidiom’ ”

Anagram a four-word idiom to form a three-word description of a book that suggests that the idiom is true. 

What are the idiom and description?

Hint: One word in the idiom appears, intact and  unchanged, in the description.


Appetizer Menu

Frightfully Delightful Puzzley Appetizer:

Mixed  Halloween “boo-quet” bag 

A “wacky” word for “wacky tobacky?”

1. 🚒Indigenous people, especially in the Ohio valley, once smoked a tobacco substitute consisting of dried leaves from a plant – a plant that has an interesting name. 

The plant contains 12 letters, but only four different letters: 

* 4 of the same vowel, 

* 4 of the same consonant, 

* 3 of the same consonant, and

* 1 other consonant.

If you speak the word aloud, its sounds as if you are repeating yourself, or are perhaps speaking from an echo chamber. Compared to this “common” name for the plant, its scientific name is not nearly as interesting...

The scientific name is, however, an anagram of three artistic/creative professions:

* AUTHOR

* SCULPTOR, and

* VAISYAS (people from a Hindi caste characterized by cleverness, creativity, and selfish motivations – a merchant, for example)

What is this plant?

What is its scientific name?

Hint #1: The last 58.3% of the plant is the name of a Midwest stadium.

Hint #2: Removing the peniltimate letter of this mystery plant turns it into a palindrome.

“Take me to the river

2. 🌎Name a major North American river that ends with a U.S. state postal code. Replace its last letter with another U.S. state’s postal code to get a pretty flower. The river forms much of the border between two U.S. states. 

What is this river?

What is the pretty flower?

What are the four words and the tributary? (See “Extra Credit,” below.)

Extra Credit:

Anagram the combined letters of the river and its main tributary to form four words:

* one of two things every river has,

* what those two things consist of,

* a Greek letter heard on a dairy farm, and

* a “bullet” in the hand.

Texting is bad for your health...and your plant’s health!

3. ♯♭Take a two-letter abbreviation often used in texting and place it at the beginning of a famous singer’s stage name to get an unhealthy plant. 

Who is the singer?

What is this abbreviation?

“Currency in the stream”

4.🏅Name an athlete who was in the 2011 headlines, first and last names. 

Remove a four-letter unit of currency from the middle of this full name. The result contains two instances of one letter. 

Move both of these letters six places later in the alphabet (so, A becomes G, B becomes H, etc.). 

The result is the name of a streaming service.

Who is this athlete?

What is the streaming service?

Hint #1: The athlete also made some news this past summer by advocating for U.S. women’s soccer team salaries. 

Hint #2: The athlete shares a surname with a TV character who had a sidekick named Illya, and also shares the surname with a movie character whose sidekick’s name sounds like he is masticating the mystery plant in the “wacky tobacky” Appetizer Puzzle #1 above:  

MENU

Jive Talkin’ Slice:

“Smart, punchy hipster jive!”

Hipsters speak in “smart, punchy jive.” 

That three-word phrase in quotation marks contains 15 different letters – all you will need
to spell all eight members of a particular group. 

What group is this?

Note: Most of the 15 letters are used more than once in spelling the eight members of the group.

Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss Slices:

“Don’t forget the a la mode!”

Will Shortz’s October 24th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Mike Reiss, reads:

Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove five letters. What remains, in order, is a three-word phrase you might see on a restaurant menu. What phrases are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Take a synonym of “blunder” or “sin of omission.” Remove three letters. What remains, in order, is the first name of a puzzle-maker.

Take an adjective describing someone who commits a “sin of omission” while “asleep at the switch.” Remove one letter. What remains, in order, is the last name of that same puzzle-maker.

Who is this puzzle-maker? 

What are this synonym and adjective?

Hint: Take a seven-letter synonym of a word that appears more than once in this puzzle. Remove three letters that can be arranged to spell a negative conjunction which, when spelled backward, is man’s first name. What remains, in order, is the first name of the puzzle-maker that is the answer to this puzzle.

ENTREE #2

Take a  Windows Explorer feature, in two words, that gives you a “sneak peek” of a preview that gives information about a file (images, text, videos or documents) without actually opening it.

Remove five letters. What remains, in order, is a two-word object a baker uses. 

What is this Windows Explorer feature?

What does a baker use?

ENTREE #3

Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu while you and your spouse visit a married couple you know for an enjoyable evening of playing a game of charades.

Remove from the phrase the letters of the brand of soft drink your hosts serve with the hors d’oeuvres. Remove also, embedded in the phrase, a word for an amorous glance your host accuses you of making – a glance that
was not directed at your spouse!

What remains of the phrase, in order, is a two-word exclamation your host subsequently sputters! 

What phrase is seen on the laptop?

What are the cola brand, amorous glance, and sputtered exclamation?

ENTREE #4

Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove the last letter from each word. 

What remains is the title of a documentary film about guys named Donald, Roger, Neville and Wallace. 

What phrase is this?

What is the film title?

ENTREE #5

Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove the last letter. What remains, in order, after you move the space and add a second space someplace, are:

1. something potentially messy a kindergartner might use to make a collage,

2. a kind of club at a college,

3. the kind of class the collage-crafting kindergartner is in.

Take that same two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove the last two letters. What remains, in order, after you add a second space someplace, are:

1. a two-and-a-half-millennia-old board game,

2. an amorous glance,

3. a word that follows “bug’s” or precedes “plugs.”

What phrase is this?

What are the six words?

ENTREE #6

Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. 

Remove the first three letters, the last three letters, and the last letter of the first word. 

What remains, in order, is a two-word slang term for a sheriff in the United States. 

What phrase is this?

What is the slang term?

ENTREE #7

Think of video editing software you might have on your laptop, in three words. Remove the second word and two letters from the first word – the seventh and eighth most frequently used letters in the English language. 

What remains, in order, is a hyphenated synonym of a loose branch hanging or falling from a tree, or a blockage in a branch of the left coronary artery.

What video editing software is this?

What is the synonym?

ENTREE #8

Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove nine consecutive letters. What remains, in order, are seven letters that spell what a policeman in a squad car sometimes does to protect property. The first six of the nine removed letters spell a kind of property. The last three of the nine removed letters spell a kind of person that may be up to no good on the property. 

What phrase is this?

What does a policeman in a squad car sometimes do?

What is the kind of property?

What person might be up to no good?

Dessert Menu

“Meet the Beetles” Dessert:

“... Even educated fleas do it...”

Name something some insects do. 

Spell it backward. 

Remove one letter of this result to spell some insects. 

Now return to the “something some insects do,” spelled backward. This time replace one letter. The result is other insects. 

What do some insects do? 

What are the two insects?

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.

53 comments:

  1. Hi all. Am working on Plantsmith's second Appetizer, but something must have been left out, because it says: "What are the four words and the tributary?" And no four words or tributary are mentioned in the body of the puzzle.

    So far, I got his first one, and have what I'm sure must be only an alternate answer for the Schpuzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OOH, never mind. I suddenly see that those things are below, in the Extra Credit problem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, VT. This is confusing. It was not Plantsmith's mistake; it was mine. Bad editing on my part. good "Tedditing" on your part!

      LegoWhoTweakedTheTextABit

      Delete
  3. Those of us without laptops (perhaps that is only MOI?) are stuck for Entrees 3 thru 8....I couldn't find any good place via Google to get the terms, either.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's actually an excellent place to see some of those terms.

      Delete
    2. I have an Acer Chromebook.It did not have the Sunday puzzle answer on the menu, but my cell phone did.

      Delete
    3. Well, I surely couldn't find any on Google, GB. So unless some hints give me a lead, I will just not being doing those last six Entrees this week. I don't have a phone that is 'smart' either.

      Delete
    4. I don't have all the solutions so far, VT. But I can say that I did find some solutions by looking at Google. And I never wanted a phone smarter than I am.

      Delete
  4. Happy All Hallows Eve Eve Eve(I'm not repeating myself, do the math)to all!
    Mom is currently fixing Shepherd's Pie for our supper. We just got through watching "Chain Reaction", "People Puzzler", "America Says", and "Wheel Of Fortune", and now I'm ready to tackle my crosswords. But first I'm checking in here, as always. Late last night I looked over this week's puzzles, and here's what I've got so far:
    Plantsmith's last one
    Entrees #1, #3, #4, and #5(much like VT, I too do not own a laptop, though some of these terms can be found on my phone and my Kindle Fire, and at one time we did have a desktop computer in perfect working condition in the front bedroom, but it is now beyond repair, thus we no longer use it)
    The Dessert
    Of course, any hints that will help will be greatly appreciated.
    I can only assume the rest of you will be awaiting trick-or-treaters this coming Sunday, but we're going to be having a Halloween party at Bryan and Renae's house Sunday night. Mom and I will be there, as well as Renae's siblings and their spouses and children. And I assume there will be a few trick-or-treaters coming to the door there too, although thanks to the pandemic, and what with last year being the disappointment it was, that part's doubtful. But we will have fun however it turns out. I just hope we get out of there before midnight, because I will be missing "Time Warp With Bill St. James" for the most part, and they always have a great Halloween-themed show. So as long as I catch the last part of the show, I'm fine with that.
    In closing, as always I wish you all good luck in solving, please stay safe, if you're vaxxed relax, if not get the shot, and I hope we all have some candy left at the end of it all. Cranberry out!
    pjbWouldLikeToGoOnRecordAsStatingHeAin'tAfraidOfNoGhosts(PleaseExcuseTheDoubleNegative)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Halloween Eve - Good day for Demon Deacs vs. Blue Devils game. And on that double negative thing, a reminder of that old story everyone here, I'm sure, knows: A double negative = a positive. But, a double positive cannot = a negative? Yeah, Right !

      Delete
  5. We had like two trick or treaters last year.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Late Sunday/Early Monday hints:

    Schpuzzle of the Week:
    "__'_ _ _____ _____ (_____ ___)," 50 million times worldwide
    "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," eight million times
    "Yesterday" seven million times

    Frightfully Delightful Puzzley Appetizer:
    (I will defer to Plantsmith regarding hints for his wonderful puzzles.)

    Jive Talkin’ Slice:
    Had I used a somewhat controversial nine-member list in lieu of the eight-letter list, the three words might have been "muscatel, john, privy."

    Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss Slices:
    ENTREE #1
    The three letters you remove from the synonym of “blunder” can be anagrammed to spell a synonym of "used a chair."
    ENTREE #2
    Removing the first letter from the first word of the Windows Explorer feature yields an antonym of that first word. The second word in the feature is a homophone of a synonym of "ache."
    ENTREE #3
    The two-word phrase:
    a homophone of a certain 101-gigit number, and
    "bling" on an auto.
    ENTREE #4
    An early David Bowie tune is the singular form of the film title.
    ENTREE #5
    If you have solved Entree #3 you are halfway these in solving this Entree.
    ENTREE #6
    The slang term rhymes with "gin bar."
    ENTREE #7
    The second word of the video editing software is "Movie."
    ENTREE #8
    People using the "kind of property" make payments, perhaps monthly.
    The three-letter word for the person who might be up to no good is short for a 7-letter word.

    “Meet the Beetles” Dessert:
    "Meet the Beetles?"... More like "Meet the Bees!"

    LegoWhoIsAnUneducatedFlea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I have #6 now, but only the slang term. Can't seem to find the phrase on the laptop menu, though.
      pjbWillSayThePhraseHeThinksItIs,HeKeepsFindingBothWordsInReverseOrder

      Delete
    2. Just got #8!
      pjbSaysDon'tLetMomKnowHeSolvedIt!

      Delete
  7. Thanks to these lovely hints, I was able to solve all the rest of the Entrees, altho the hint for #3 was the most necessary. I actually hadn't even READ the rest of Entrees 3 thru 8, and doing so enabled me largely to work backwards, even without the hints.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But said hints were good for double-checking things.

      Delete
    2. And the hint helped me get the intended Schpuzzle answer, which is much better than my original idea.

      Delete
    3. That's in part what I meant by being able to solve some by looking at . . . you know.

      Delete
    4. GB, in all but Entree #3, I really had to sneak up on the computer terms by working out the end answer first, and then piecing together what the techy term was going to be. Straight looking at we-know-what still didn't help much.

      Delete
    5. (Lego - If this is too much of a giveaway, please feel free to delete) VT, what I was hinting at, badly, was that the you know what itself is a component of some solutions - if my wild guesses are correct. Anyway, we'll know tomorrow. [My phone is the steam powered model. It makes and receives calls, and can't be hacked.]

      Delete
  8. I assume everyone has one and four for the Apps.
    For number two this is a clue. "Lewis and Clark"
    For number three. This singer shares a birthday with me,Ben Austin-the puzzler and a singer who was fond of purple. You can see my exchange with Ben on Blaines Blog.
    I am afraid my Chromebook has let me down this week as i have i think two entrees. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Plantsmith, for those hints.

      LegoGrateful

      Delete
    2. " Top of the morning to ya." Chilly out in these parts.

      Delete
    3. I think I have your #3 wrong, Pltsmh.....

      Delete
    4. Well " I did not mean to cause you sorrow, I did not mean to cause you pain."

      Delete
    5. Perhaps a nice alternate? If you ROT the Ides of March you get?

      Delete
    6. Well, I had figured that the birthday hint about the guy who liked purple was the same guy with the above lyrics. But I thought your hint meant it was yet some OTHER singer, not the purple one. That is his actual name, after all (so I found when I looked him up).

      Delete
  9. About App #1: One must never assume, PS. Not all of us have solved that one, and I must admit it's a very tough tobacco substitute to locate.
    pjbIsStillStymiedByApp#2,ButQuiteAmusedBy#3

    ReplyDelete
  10. App1. The plant name rhymes with a distinctive kind of golfing apparell.

    ReplyDelete
  11. App1. Also rhymes with a popular Halloween candy. Probably my second favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A Few More Appetizer Hints:

    Appetizer #1:
    In Hint #1, the Midwest stadium is the home of a collegiate team with the same nickname as a character not named Radar, Hot Lips or Trapper John.
    Appetizer #2:
    Regarding the "Extra Credit":
    Anagram the combined letters of the river and its main tributary to form four words:
    * one of two things every river has...
    (There is one on either side of the river. It is a word sometimes preceded by "piggy.")
    * what those two things consist of...
    (what they consist of is an anagram of Clark's gal.)
    * a Greek letter heard on a dairy farm...
    (...perhaps during milking)
    * a “bullet” in the hand...
    (which counts and 1 or 11 in Blackjack)

    LegoHopingThisHelps

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thus endeth the App search. Now all I need are the Schpuzzle and the Slice.
    pjbAlsoNeedsHisKindleRechargedIfHeIsToContinueWorkingOnThesePuzzles

    ReplyDelete
  14. More Hints:

    Schpuzzle of the Week:
    The idiom, after all, is also the name of a Disney ride.
    There is a connection between the last (5-letter) word in the desciption and the author that is the answer to this week's NPR puzzle.

    Jive Talkin’ Slice:
    Holst!

    LegoWhoIsNowPuttingHisHintingHandgunBackIntoHisHolster

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Too bad Alec Baldwin did not copy that.

      Delete
    2. It's been a long time since i have gotten the Schpuzzle.

      Delete
    3. The last hint sure gave it away, tho, for those who hadn't already solved it.

      Delete
  15. Schpuzzle: It's a Small World & Slim World Atlas

    Appetizers:
    1. Kinnikinnick; Arcostaphylos uva upsi
    2. Columbia; Columbine; Iowa, Nebraska, Washington & Oregon; Snake EC: Bank, Soil, Mu & Ace
    3. (Amethyst Kelly) "Iggy"; TW (Trigger Warning) = Twiggy
    4. Hope Solo (-Peso = Hoso [advance "o"s 6 places]) = HULU

    JT Slice: Planets of the Solar System

    Entrees:
    1. Mike Reiss; Mistake & Remiss
    2. Preview Pane (- r,e,v,w & last e) = Pie Pan
    3. Google Chrome; RC, Ogle & Go Home
    4. Start Menu & Star Men
    5. Google Earth; Goo, Glee, Art, Go, Ogle & Ear
    6. Settings Startup; Tin Star
    7. Windows Movie Maker; Widow-maker
    8. Parental Control; Patrol; Rental;Con

    Dessert: Sting; Nits & Gnats

    Some head scratchers, P'Smith & Lego. Most excellent Contributorship and Conductorship.

    ReplyDelete
  16. 11/1/21 55 degrees AM

    Schpuzzle of the Week:
    "_It’s a small world- // Slim world atlas.

    Frightfully Delightful Puzzley Appetizer:
    Kinickinick , Arcto Staphylus Uva-Ursi Kinckinick means “smoking mixture” First Nations -Chinook language. Tough to clue- rhymes with Knickers, Snickers.
    Columbia/ Columbine,-- IA and NE-Nebraska - Snake, Banks, soil, MU, Ace
    TW + Iggy Azalea = Twiggy Azalea, TW- talked with.
    . Hope Solo- peso= holo/ -- o-u/ Hulu


    Jive Talkin’ Slice:
    The eight planets- Mars, venus, Jupiter, neptune, uranus, Earth, Saturn, Mercury

    ENTREE #1
    Mistake - sta =Mike, Remiss
    ENTREE #6

    ENTREE #7 Routine Start - Tin star.
    Windows Movies Maker/-- Widow maker

    “Meet the Beetles” Dessert
    Sting-/ Nits. Gnats. But nits are also some kind of gnat?

    ReplyDelete
  17. SCHPUZZLE: Intended answer: IT’S A SMALL WORLD (After All) => SLIM WORLD ATLAS; Original thought: BETTER LATE THAN NEVER => NEVER THREATEN BATTLE

    Plantsmith’s APPETIZERS:

    1. KINNIKINNICK; ARCTOSTAPHYLOS UVA-URSI

    2. COLUMBIA => COLUMBINE Extra Credit: SNAKE => BANK, SOIL, MU, ACE

    3. SU/MAC?

    4. HOPE SOLO minus PESO => HOSO => HULU

    SLICE, pre-hint: SMART PUNCHY JIVE => PLANETS: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

    ENTREES:

    1. MISTAKE => MIKE; REMISS => REISS. [Pre-hint; The hardest part of this entree would be the ‘hint’ included in entree itself..]

    2. P(REV)IE(W) PAN(E) => PIE PAN. [Pre-hint]

    3. GO(OGLE) (C)H(R)OME => minus RC & OGLE => "GO HOME" [Many thanks to the very necessary hint]

    4. STAR(T) MEN(U) => STAR MEN

    5. GOOGLE EART(H) => GOO, GLEE, ART; GOOGLE EAR(TH) => GO, OGLE, EAR

    6. (EXI)TIN(G) STAR(TUP) => TIN STAR

    7. WINDOWS (MOVIE) MAKER => WI(N)DOW(S) MAKER => WIDOW-MAKER

    8. PA(RENTAL CON)TROLS => minus RENTALCON => PATROLS

    DESSERT: STING => GNITS => NITS; GNATS

    ReplyDelete
  18. Replies
    1. I agree with Plantsmith. Nice alternative, VT.

      LegoWhoIsPostingLate(ButStillBetterThanNever!)

      Delete
  19. Schpuzzle
    IT'S A SMALL WORLD, SLIM WORLD ATLAS
    Appetizer Menu
    1. KINNIKINNICK(ARCTOSTAPHYLOS UVA-URSI)
    2. COLUMBIA, SNAKE, BANK, SOIL, MU, ACE, COLUMBINE
    3. TW(Twitter)+IGGY AZALEA=TWIGGY AZALEA
    4. HOPE SOLO, PESO, HULU, NAPOLEON SOLO(The Man From UNCLE), HAN SOLO(Star Wars)
    Menu
    Jive Talkin' Slice
    The planets in our solar system: EARTH, JUPITER, MARS, MERCURY, NEPTUNE, SATURN, URANUS, VENUS
    Entrees
    1. MIKE REISS, MISTAKE, REMISS
    2. PREVIEW PANE, PIE PAN
    3. GOOGLE CHROME, RC(Cola), OGLE, "GO HOME!"
    4. START MENU, STAR MEN
    5. GOOGLE EARTH, GOO, GLEE, ART; GO, OGLE, EAR
    6. SETTING STARTUP, TIN STAR
    7. WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER, WIDOW-MAKER
    8. PARENTAL CONTROLS, PATROLS, RENTAL, CON
    Dessert
    STING, GNATS, NITS
    "It's A Small World" has to be a much worse earworm than "Jive Talkin'", don't you think?-pjb

    ReplyDelete
  20. Sorry, have been busy with other matters in the last week. geo

    Schpuzzle:

    Appetizers
    #1: KINNIKINNICK, ARCTOSTAPHYLOS UVA-URSI

    #2: COLUMBIA – A + NE → COLUMBINE, SNAKE → BANK, MU, SOIL, ACE
    #3:

    Slice:

    Entrées
    #1: MIKE REISS → MISTAKE, REMISS
    #2: PANE
    #3: GOOGLE → GO!, OGLE,
    #4:
    #5: GOOGLE
    #6:
    #7:
    #8:
    #9:

    Dessert:

    ReplyDelete
  21. This week's official answers for the record, part 1:

    Schpuzzle of the Week:
    “Bona ‘fidiom’ ”
    Anagram a four-word idiom to form a three-word description of a book that suggests the idiom is true.
    What are the idiom and description?
    Hint: One word in the idiom appears, intact and unchanged, in the description.
    Answer:
    "It's a small world"; Slim world atlas

    Appetizer Menu
    Frightfully Delightful Puzzley Appetizer:
    Mixed Halloween “boo-quet” bag
    A “wacky” word for “wacky tobacky?”
    1. Indigenous people, especially in the Ohio valley, once smoked a tobacco substitute consisting of dried leaves from a plant – a plant that has an interesting name.
    The plant contains 12 letters, but only four different letters:
    * 4 of the same vowel,
    * 4 of the same consonant,
    * 3 of the same consonant, and
    * 1 other consonant.
    If you speak the word aloud, its sounds as if you are repeating yourself, or are perhaps speaking from an echo chamber.
    Compared to this “common” name for the plant, its scientific name is not nearly as interesting...
    The scientific name IS,however, an anagram of three artistic/creative professions:
    * AUTHOR
    * SCULPTOR, and
    * VAISYAS (people from a Hindi caste characterized by cleverness, creativity, and selfish motivations – a merchant, for example)
    What is this plant?
    What is its scientific name?
    Hint #1: The last 58.3% of the plant is the name of a Midwest stadium.
    Hint #2: Removing the peniltimate letter of this mystery plant turns it into a palindrome.
    Answer:
    Kinnikinnick; Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
    Hint #1: The Iowa Hawkeyes play football at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. The seven letters in "Kinnick" comprise the last 58.3% of "Kinnikinnick."
    “Take me to the river”
    2. Name a major North American river that ends with a U.S. state postal code. Replace its last letter with another U.S. state’s postal code to get a pretty flower. The river forms much of the border between two U.S. states.
    What is this river?
    What is the pretty flower?
    What are the four words and the tributary?
    Extra Credit:
    Anagram the combined letters of the river and its main tributary to form four words:
    * one of two things every river has,
    * what those two things consist of,
    * a Greek letter heard on a dairy farm, and
    * a “bullet” in the hand.
    Answer:
    Columbia (River); Columbine
    Extra Credit Answer: bank, soil, mu, ace,
    (Snake River is the Columbia River's main tributary.)
    COLUMBIA+SNAKE = BANK+SOIL+MU+ACE
    Texting is bad for your health...and your plant’s health!

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  22. This week's official answers for the record, part 2:
    Frightfully Delightful Puzzley Appetizer (continued):
    3.Take a two-letter abbreviation often used in texting and place it at the beginning of a famous singer’s stage name to get an unhealthy plant.
    Who is the singer?
    What is this abbreviation?
    Answer:
    Iggy Azalea; TW (talked with )
    TW + Iggy Azalea = Twiggy Azalea (If an azalea is "twiggy" it is probably unhealthy.)
    “Currency in the stream”
    4. Name an athlete who was in the 2011 headlines, first and last names.
    Remove a four-letter unit of currency from the middle of this full name. The result contains two instances of one letter.
    Move both of these letters six places later in the alphabet (so, A becomes G, B becomes H, etc.).
    The result is the name of a streaming service.
    Who is this athlete?
    What is the streaming service?
    Hint #1: The athlete also made some news this past summer by advocating for U.S. women’s soccer team salaries.
    Hint #2: The athlete shares a surname with a TV character who had a sidekick named Illya, and also shares the surname with a movie character whose sidekick’s name sounds like he is masticating the mystery plant in the “wacky tobacky” Appetizer Puzzle #1 above:
    Answer:
    Hope Solo; Hulu
    HOPE SOLO => HO+LO => HOLO => HULU
    Hint #1: The athlete also made this news this past summer.
    Hint #2: Illya Kuryakin was the sidekick of Napoleon Solo, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." Chewbacca was the sidekick of Han Solo in "Star Wars" and its early sequels.


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    Jive Talkin’ Slice:
    “Smart, punchy hipster jive!”

    Hipsters speak in “smart, punchy jive.”
    That three-word phrase in quotation marks contains 15 different letters – all you will need to spell all eight members of a particular group.
    What group is this?
    Note: Most of the 15 letters are used more than once in spelling the eight members of the group.
    Answer:
    The eight planets of our solar system (according to the International Astronomical Union):
    MERCURY VENUS EARTH MARS JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE,
    which use only the 15 letters ACEHIJMNPRSTUVY

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  23. This week's official answers for the record, part 3:
    Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss Slices:
    “Don’t forget the a la mode!”
    ENTREE #1
    Take a synonym of “blunder” or “sin of omission.” Remove three letters. What remains, in order, is the first name of a puzzle-maker.
    Take an adjective describing someone who commits a “sin of omission” while “asleep at the switch.” Remove one letter. What remains, in order, is the last name of that same puzzle-maker.
    Who is this puzzle-maker?
    What are this synonym and adjective?
    Hint: Take a seven-letter synonym of a word that appears more than once in this puzzle. Remove three letters that can be arranged to spell a negative conjunction which, when spelled backward, is man’s first name. What remains, in order, is the first name of the puzzle-maker that is the answer to this puzzle.
    Answer:
    Mike Reiss; Mistake, Remiss
    Hint: "Name" appears multiple time in the puzzle. "Moniker" is a synonym of "name." Remove the name "Ron" from "moniker," leaving "Mike."
    ENTREE #2
    Take a Windows Explorer feature, in two words, that gives you a “sneak peek” of a preview that gives information about a file (images, text, videos or documents) without actually opening it.
    Remove five letters. What remains, in order, is a two-word object a baker uses.
    What is this Windows Explorer feature?
    What does a baker use?
    Answer:
    Preview Pane; Pie pan
    ENTREE #3
    Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu while you and your spouse visit a married couple you know for an evening of playing charades.
    Remove from the phrase the letters of the brand of soft drink your hosts serve with the hors d’oeuvres. Remove also, embedded in the phrase, a word for an amorous glance your host accuses you of making – a glance that was not directed at YOUR spouse!
    What remains of the phrase, in order, is a two-word exclamation your host subsequently sputters!
    What phrase is seen on the laptop?
    What are the cola brand, amorous glance, and sputtered exclamation?
    Answer: Google Chrome; RC (Cola); Ogle; Go Home!
    GOOGLE CHROME=>GOOGLE HOME=>GO HOME
    ENTREE #4
    Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove the last letter from each word. What remains is the title of a documentary film about guys named Donald, Roger, Neville and Wallace.
    What phrase is this?
    What is the film title?
    Answer:
    Start Menu; "Star Men"
    "Star Men" is a 2015 documentary film directed by Alison E Rose that follows four British astronomers—Donald Lynden-Bell, Roger Griffin, Neville Woolf and Wallace Sargent—as they retrace a road trip across the American South West.

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  24. This week's official answers for the record, part 4:
    Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss Slices (continued):
    ENTREE #5
    Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove the last letter. What remains, in order, after you move the space and add a second space someplace, are:
    1. something potentially messy a kindergartner might use to make a collage,
    2. a kind of club at a college,
    3. the kind of class the collage-crafting kindergartner is in.
    Take that same two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove the last two letters. What remains, in order, after you add a second space someplace, are:
    1. a two-and-a-half-millennia-old board game,
    2. an amorous glance,
    3. a word that follows “bug’s” or precedes “plugs.”
    What phrase is this?
    What are the six words?
    Answer:
    Google Earth; Goo,Glee, art; Go, ogle, ear
    ENTREE #6
    Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove the first three leeters, the last three letters, and the last letter of the first word letters. What remains, in order, is a two-word slang term for a sheriff in the United States.
    What phrase is this?
    What is the slang term?
    Answer:
    Getting started; "tin star"
    ENTREE #7
    Think of video editing software you might have on your laptop, in three words. Remove the second word and two letters from the first word – the seventh and eighth most frequently used letters in the English language.
    What remains, in order, is a hyphenated synonym of a loose branch hanging or falling from a tree, or a blockage in a branch of the left coronary artery.
    What video editing software is this?
    What is the synonym?
    Answer:
    Windows Movie Maker; widow-maker?
    ENTREE #8
    Think of a two-word phrase you might see on a laptop computer menu. Remove nine consecutive letters. What remains, in order, are seven letters that spell what a policeman in a squad car sometimes does to protect property. The first six of the nine removed letters spell a kind of property. The last three of the nine removed letters spell a kind of person that may be up to no good on the property.
    What phrase is this?
    What does a policeman in a squad car sometimes do?
    What is the kind of property?
    What person might be up to no good?
    Answer:
    parental controls; patrols, rental, con

    Dessert Menu

    “Meet the Beetles” Dessert:
    “... Even educated fleas do it...”
    Name something some insects do.
    Spell it backward.
    REMOVE one letter of this result to spell some insects.
    Now return to the “something some insects do,” spelled backward. This time REPLACE one letter. The result is other insects.
    What do some insects do?
    What are the two insects?
    Answer:
    Sting; Nits, Gnats

    Lego!

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