Country Capital Conundrums; Recipe requires just a pinch of “f” Summer soup & shirt size, sir! Bellyaches, forteye lashes & winks; Illinois State Nittany Lions? Number-99 on your scorecard... Number-One-eighth in your heart

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 6!π SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Recipe requires just a pinch of “f”

Add an “f” to an ingredient one might use in making a popular dish that is usually baked. 

Mix up the result to produce the name of the dish. 

What are this ingredient and this dish?

Appetizer Menu

Global Puzzle Fun Appetizer:

Country Capital Conundrums

1. ⭐ Take the capital of a country. Remove
the first and last letters to get the name of a country. 

What is it?

2. 🔙⭐ Take the capital of a country. Remove the first and last letters and reverse the result to get the name of a country. What is it?

3. ⭐⭐ Take two capitals of neighboring
countries and put them together. Remove five letters to get the name of a state capital. What is it?

MENU

Four-Digit Slice:

Summer soup & shirt size, sir!

What four-digit number do the three sets of clues below lead you to?

1. 👦👱“The _&_ Boys of Summer, 1961,” or...

🥣Letters flanking an apostrophe in a soup jingle.

2. 🦊Hall of Famer Jimmy’s nickname, or...

👕Shirt size for kinda big guys.

3. 🦇Madagascar creature that is the only primate thought to use echolocation to find prey, or...

⛵An affirmative reply to a command issued by a superior officer, which is followed by “...sir!” or... 

🌋The last days of P______? No, the last two letters of P______, or...

🎻 Rad__, Stradivar__ or Hawa__.

Riffing Off Shortz And McKay Slices:

Bellyaches, forteye lashes & winks

Will Shortz’s December 26th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Brent McKay of Flagstaff, Arizona, reads:

Name a famous singer — first and last names.
Each name has two syllables. Change the first vowel sound in the first name and the last vowel sound in the last name. In each case, phonetically, you’ll name part of the human body. Who’s the singer?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And McKay Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Name a puzzle-maker — first and last names. The last name has two syllables, the first name has just one. 

Change the only vowel sound in the first name and the second vowel sound in the last name.

Phonetically, you’ll name the first syllable of a dinosaur genus and a colorful bird. 

Who’s the puzzle-maker?

What are the genus and bird?

Hint: The dinosaur is associated with Thor.

ENTREE #2

Name a famous fictional character, first and last names, that is also the name of a 53-year-old rock group. The first name has three syllables, the second name has just one.

Change the second vowel sound in the first name and the only vowel sound in the last name. Phonetically, you’ll name a “soluble weakly basic nitrogenous compound that is the chief solid component of mammalian urine” and a body part from a person’s midsection. 

Who’s this fictional character?

What are the basic nitrogenous compound and body part?

ENTREE #3

Name a famous actor/comedian — first and last names. The last name has two syllables, the first name has just one. 

Change the only vowel sound in the first name and both vowel sounds in the last name. Phonetically, you’ll name a slang term for “fist,” an internal body part, and a repeat of the 
slang term for “fist” (albeit formed from a vowel-sound source that differs from that of the comic actor’s first name).

Who’s this famous actor/comedian?

What are the slang term for “fist” and the internal body part?

ENTREE #4

Name a fictional character from a mid-1980s TV sitcom — first and last names. Each name has two syllables. Change the first vowel sound in the first name and the first vowel sound in the last name. 

In the first case, phonetically, you’ll name a slang term for part of the human body. The first syllable in the second case also now sounds like a part of the human body. 

Who’s the fictional character?

What are the body parts?

Hint: Earlier this year (2021, as of this writing), an updated revival of the the sitcom was streamed on the Peacock network.

ENTREE #5

Name a famous singer — first and last names. Each name has two syllables. Change both vowel sounds in the first name and, phonetically, you’ll name a pain that afflicts a particular part of the human body north of the neck. 

Take the second syllable of the last name. Change its vowel sound and, phonetically, you’ll name one of many things the singer composes, sings and plays on his guitar.

Do not touch the first syllable of the last name. It is already a painful affliction described as a “contagious inflammation of the genital mucous membrane caused by the gonococcus.” 

Who’s the singer?

What is the north-of-the-neck pain?

What does the singer compose, sing and play on his guitar?

What is the painful affliction associated with gonococcus?

ENTREE #6

Name a politician who has been lately in the news — first and last names, one and two syllables. 

Change the vowel sound in the first name and the first vowel sound in the last name. 

The result sounds like three one-syllable parts of the human body: one on the head; one on a finger, thumb or toe; and another on the head.

Who’s the politician?

What are the three body parts?

ENTREE #7

Name a man regarded as one of the greatest National Football League head coaches of all time — first and last names, one syllable each. 

Change the vowel sound in each name and, phonetically, you’ll name two parts of the human body. 

Who’s the coach?

What are the body parts?

ENTREE #8

Name a pianist/organist  — first and last names — who performed and recorded with The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who. Each name has two syllables. 

The second part of his first name sounds like something with which the pianist’s finger made contact while he performed. 

Change the vowel sound in his first name’s first syllable. Change both vowel sounds in his last name. 

The first two of these three syllables, phonetically, name two parts of the human body. The third syllable names receptor cells in the retina of the eye. 

Who’s the musician?

With what does his finger make contact?

What are the three body parts?

Note: The five Riff-Off Entrees below were composed by Ecoarchitect. (Entree # 13 is an Eco/Lego collaborative effort.)

ENTREE #9 

Name a well-known athlete of the past, one syllable first name, two syllables last name. 

Change the vowel sound in the first name and one of the vowel sounds in the last name, and the result will be a color and a body part that, when healthy, is that color. 

Who is the athlete, and what are the color and body part?

ENTREE #10 

Name a body part in two syllables. 

Remove one syllable and the result
phonetically will be another body part. 

What are the two body parts?

ENTREE #11 

Name a body part in one syllable. 

Change the vowel sound and the result will be
the plural of another body part. 

What are the two body parts?

ENTREE #12 

Name a part of an animal body, and part of a human body (which some other animals have) that are closely related. 

Combine the two words and the result will be the name of a well-known artist. 

What are the words and the name?

ENTREE #13 

Name a famous person who, after a significant career (including a Nobel Peace Prize), was mostly not in the news until very recently. 

Change the same vowel sound in both
syllables of his last name, and the result is the name of a group who scored a hit single song whose title is the continent with which the person is associated.

Who is this person?

What are the group and the song title?

Dessert Menu

Currents In The Sea Dessert:

Illinois State Nittany Lions?

Take a nine-letter word seen on a U.S. map. 

The last six letters in the word – after you eliminate one of any letter that appears twice – can be rearranged to spell of a form of currency, in five letters. (For example, the last six different letters in the word “Illinois” – after removing an “i” – can be rearranged to spell “lions.”) 

The first five letters of the word on the map, in order, spell a European example of this form of currency. What are this form of currency and the example of it?

Digital Jerseys Dessert:

Number-99 on your scorecard...                         Number-One-eighth in your heart

In the history of of professional and collegiate sports, no player has ever worn a negative number on their uniform or jersey. Many great athletes, however, have sported low, single-digit numbers.

For example:

#9: Ted Williams (Major League Baseball); Gordie Howe (National Hockey League)

#8: Kobe Bryant (National Basketball Association); Steve Young (National Football League)

#7: Mickey Mantle (MLB);

#6: Julius Erving (NBA); Stan Musial (MLB)

#5: Joe DiMaggio (MLB); Paul Hornung (NFL) 

#4: Lou Gehrig (MLB); Brett Favre (NFL); Bobby Orr (NHL)

#3: Babe Ruth (MLB); Harmon Killebrew (MLB)

#2: Derek Jeter (MLB); Moses Malone (NBA)

#1: Oscar Robertson (NBA)

Some players have even worn #0 or #00:

#0: Russell Westbrook (NBA)

#00: Jim Otto (NFL); Robert Parish (NBA)

And one MLB player, Eddie Gaedel, actually
wore a fraction on his back, 1/8!

Okay, but what was the highest number ever worn by a professional athlete, and who wore it? 

And, no, the answer is not Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers when he is getting sacked (see illustration). Infinity symbols do not count!

Hint: the answer is loosely related to 2022, the New Year that begins tomorrow.

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.