A “blankety-blank” conundrum; Touring the Heartland and Gulf; Transition of power “Baroque-en” “She Baffled Me With Science!” “Strangers in the Rain”

 PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 6!π SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Touring the Heartland and Gulf

Rearrange the combined letters of two periods of time to spell an informal name for a tourist destination in either a Midwestern or a Gulf Coast state. 

What is this destination name?

Hint: the periods of time can also be baby girls’ names.

Appetizer Menu

It Fell From The Sky Appetizer

A “blankety-blank” conundrum

Think of a twelve-letter word. 

Switch two of its consonants to create a different word. 

Now use these two words to fill in the blanks of: 

“A ____________ about ____________”

What are these two words?

MENU

POTUS-Blown Smoke On The Potomac Slice:

Transition of power “Baroque-en”

Take three of the 25 words in President Donald J. Trump’s presidential daily planner booklet entry for January 6, 2021 (see the accompanying image). 

The words begin with C, A and P. 

Rearrange the 17 combined letters of these
three words to spell the surname of a Baroque-era composer and the title of one of his most popular works.

What are the three words?

Who is the composer and the title of one of his most popular works?

Riffing Off Shortz And Baggish Slices:

“Strangers in the Rain”

Will Shortz’s November 28th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Steve Baggish of Arlington, Massachusetts, reads:

Take the nine letters of EARTH SIGN.
Repeating them as often as necessary, you can spell the four-word title of a classic movie in 15 letters. You can also use them to spell the four-word title of a classic song in 19 letters. What two titles are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Baggish Slices read:

ENTREE #1

In the book of Genesis, Abraham intends to sacrifice his son Isaac using a “shiv.” The word “begat” appears in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) 139 times.

Take the nine letters of SHIV and BEGAT.
Repeating them as often as necessary, you can spell the two-word nickname (in 7 and 5 letters) and the 11-letter noun that appears in the following sentence:

“Lake Powell, Flaming Gorge and Bears Ears National Monument are three examples of _______ _____ ___________.”

You can also spell the first and last names of a puzzle-maker.

What three words belong in the blanks?

Who is the puzzle-maker?

ENTREE #2

Expert puzzle-solvers have wit and are good at solving mazes. 

Take the twelve letters of WIT and MAZES  and the abbreviation for “plural,” PLUR.
Repeating them as often as necessary, you can spell the four-letter first name of an NPR personality, his 12-letter honorary and descriptive title, and the 10-letter subject matter from which he draws to create many of his word teasers and challenges.

Who is this NPR personality, his descriptive title 

What is the subject matter?

ENTREE #3

Sledders and skiers love snow, but motorists and shovelers hate snow.

Take the eight letters of HATE SNOW. Repeating them as often as necessary, you can spell the five-word title of an epic Western movie in 16 letters. You can also use them to spell the four-word idiom in 15 letters, that promotes good stewardship.

What is the epic movie title? What is the idiom?

ENTREE #4

Unless they are falsely accused and convicted, those on death row are sinful.

Take the 14 letters of DEATH ROW and SINFUL. Repeating them as often as necessary, you can spell the four-word title of a classic movie in 17 letters. You can also use them to spell the five-word title of a
later controversial movie in 19 letters. What two titles are these?

Hint: both movies were nominated for Best Picture Oscars.

ENTREE #5

In the image pictured here, model Vanessa Brown is modeling a Swatch.

Take the 14 letters in MODELING and SWATCH. Repeating them as often as necessary, you can spell the titles of of two
wonderful poems by a great poet – one with three words and 15 letters, the other with four words and 14 letters.

What are these poems? 

ENTREE #6

Many people who celebrated Thanksgiving last week ladled gravy onto their turkey, stuffing and potatoes. One definition of “gravy” is “brown sauce.” 

Take the ten letters of BROWN and SAUCE. Repeating them as often as necessary, you can spell the nicknames of four teams in a professional sports league – in 5, 6, 7 and 10 letters. What are these four nicknames?

ENTREE #7

A farmer may grab a scythe. An insecure, idiotic and insensitive jerk may brag about his chesty girlfriend.Take the ten letters in GRAB and SCYTHE, or the ten letters in BRAG and CHESTY. Repeating them as often as necessary, you can spell the titles of two novels published in the first half of the 20th century.  

One, in seven letters, was adapted to become a Best Picture Oscar-winner. 

Another, in 14 letters, was adapted four times to to appear on the big silver screen.

What are these two novels?

ENTREE #8

The largest horse ever recorded was a Shire horse that lived in the 19th century, standing 21.25 hands and weighing 3,360 pounds.

The Trojan horse was an even more giant horse.

Take the ten letters of GIANT HORSE. Repeating them as often as necessary, you can spell the four-word title of a classic movie in 15 letters. You can also use them to spell the four-word title of a classic Hitchcock movie in 17 letters. You can also use them to spell the four-word title of a classic song in 19 letters. What three titles are these?

Dessert Menu

Diagnostic Dessert:

“She Baffled Me With Science!”

The first three letters of a natural science plus the first three letters of a social science spell a
diagnostic procedure. 

What is it?

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.