Friday, January 14, 2022

A mixed-up crazy patchwork quilt; ’Tis a “Fat Friday” cryptic feast! Thinking through the thick & thin; 76 trombones in the big-parading marching band; The great American bronco-busting novel

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 6!π SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

A mixed-up crazy patchwork quilt

Take a hyphenated word that means bizarre or crazy, like a patchwork quilt. 

Replace the hyphen with what may be used as a patch in such a quilt. 

The first seven letters and the last six letters of the result spell synonyms of “mixture.”

What are these two synonyms of “mixture”?

What is the hyphenated word that means bizarre or crazy?

Appetizer Menu 

Crypticker tape parade “Big-not-so-Easy-But-Lots-of-Fun” Appetizer:

’Tis a “Fat Friday” cryptic feast!

Mardi Gras 2022 – which is celebrated on March 1st this year – may be a month-and-a-half away, but we here at Puzzleria! just cannot wait for the fun to come. 

So, this week we are celebrating “Fat Friday” (or, in French, “Vendredi Volumineux”) by rolling out our 24th edition of Patrick J. Berry’s (cranberry’s) pleasantly pleasing yet puzzling Cryptic Crossword Creations.

Here are links to Patrick’s 23 previous Cryptic Crossword puzzles on Puzzleria:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23   

For those 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:

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!

So, grab your Flambeaux, doubloons and “throws”... and let the festivity and fun begin!

ACROSS

1. Singer being honest with you—nervous before opening night(7,7)

9. Turning sixteen, given first car—excellent
life!(9)

10. Hint could go either way(5)

11. Somehow I learn to be smooth(6)

12. It’s a man, dancing with energy(7)

14. Safety hard, perhaps, for pop star at this time?(7,3)

16. Island involved in Fat Tuesday?(4) 

17. Bacchanal in which Bess's man goes topless?(4)

18. Nobleman gets a little titillated learning about some romantic actor(5,5)

21. Sailor achieves goals
(7)

22. Idiot in our party?(6)

25. Simple citizen, having no time(5)

26. Hanson excited about country song?(2,7)

27. Song by Bob Seger once more mixed—this went downhill from the start(7,3,4)

DOWN

1. Vanna lacks appeal—letter-turning part getting stale on air here?(5,2,7)

2. He was bound to turn in around 10—10?(5)

3. Lunatic made up tunes about California(7)

4. Jerk could be any knucklehead(4)

5. Exaggerates across America?(10)

6. Jet having run into fog(6)

7. Crazy proposition involving Scottish clothing?(3-6)

8. Novel, as a rule, is novel in style(8,6)

13. They may be cast as individuals without
one?(10)

15. Show business, oddly, getting husband out of pickle?(5,4)

19. Kids, primarily, getting in free—the ultimate pursuit(4-3)

20. Middle Easterner, supposed enemy close
to Israeli?(6)

23. Soldier has good time on mushrooms(5)

24. Hey, some wasps sting!(4)

MENU

Paperback Rider Slice:

The great American bronco-busting novel

Take the title of a ground-breaking American novel and the first and last names of its author. 

Rearrange those twenty-two letters to form:

📘 the fictional genre of the novel,

❗ An interjection used in this genre,

⭐ a city in Texas,

✍ the number of letters in the author’s name,

Ⅻ? the  Roman numeral for the number of words in the novel’s title.

Name the novel and author. 

What are the genre, interjection, city, number and Roman numeral?

Riffing Off Shortz And Young Slices:

Thinking through the thick & thin

Will Shortz’s January 9th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Joseph Young, who conducts the blog “Puzzleria!,” reads:

Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a five-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 51. Now take this word’s last two letters. Add their
values. (For example A and C would total 4.) Change these two letters to the single letter of the alphabet that represents their total. (In this case, D.) The result will be a new word that is the opposite of the original. What words are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Young Slices read:

Note: Riff-off #1 this week was created by Puzzleria! contributor GB, whose “GB’s Bafflers” appears regularly on Puzzleria!

Riff-offs #2 and #3 this week were created by Puzzleria! contributor Ecoarchitect, whose “Econfusions” also appears regularly on Puzzleria!

Finally, Riff-off #4 this week was created by “Matt 413.” Matt is a good friend of mine from Minnesota who is a master crossword-puzzle solver and composer of sublime poetry.

ENTREE #1

Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a five-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 77. 

Now take this word’s last two letters. Add their values. (For example A and C would total 4.)
Change these two letters to the single letter of the alphabet that represents their sum. (In this case, D.) 

The result will be a new word that is a synonym of the original. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #2

Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a seven-letter word. The sum of the values of its second and third letters is 23.

Now form a new seven-letter word by replacing the second and third letters of the original word with two different letters. 

When when you subtract the value of the second letter from that of the third letter, the difference is 23.   

What words are these?

ENTREE #3

Think of two words that are antonyms, four letters in the first, five in the second.  Both start with the same first two letters.  

Remove those first two letters from each word and the result will be a movement that was popular in the 1960’s. 

What are these antonyms, and what is the movement?

ENTREE #4:

Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a five-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 29. Now take this word’s last two letters. 

Add their values. (For example A and C would total 4.) Change these two letters to the single letter of the alphabet that represents their total. (In this case, D.) 

The result will be a new word that is synonymous to the original word. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #5

Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a five-letter noun whose letters’ values add up to 89. Write it in lowercase letters and invert the middle letter. The sum of these five letters is now 82.

Replace the fourth letter with a duplicate of the new third letter. Re-invert the new third letter so that it again becomes original third letter. The sum of these five letters is now 83.

Finally, change the original fifth letter to the letter that precedes it in the alphabet. The sum of these five letters is now 82, and they spell a word that is the adjectival form of the original noun. If you capitalize the first letter of this adjective it spells the surname of a puzzle-maker.

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What is the original five-letter noun?

ENTREE #6


“Count all total days in a non-leap year.”

Explain how the imperative sentence above
might be considered “self-answering.”

ENTREE #7

Let A = 1, B = 3, C = 3, D = 4, E = 1, F = 4, G = 2, H = 4,  I = 1, J = 8. K = 5 etc. 

Think of a four-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 10. 

Now think of a three-letter homophone of this word’s five-letter plural form. The values of the three letters in this homophone (which is also a plural form of the four-letter word) also add up
to 10.

What are this four-letter word, five-letter plural form, and three-letter homophone.

Hint: The three-letter plural form is often seen in the pages of the Herald, Tribune, Globe and Sun-Times.  

ENTREE #8

Let A = 1, B = 3, C = 3, D = 2, E = 1, F = 4, G = 2, H = 4,  I = 1, J = 8. K = 5, L = 1, M= 3, N = 1, O = 1, P = 3... X = 8, Y = 4,  Z = 10. 

Think of a six-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 26. The following instructions will help you to transform that word into a four-letter word whose letters’ values are half of that value – that is, 13.

The six-letter word is defined as “one of a series of short sharp turns, angles, or alterations in a course.”

The four-letter word is defined as “a test a college student or graduate student might take in a course such as zoology or calculus.”

First, replace this six-letter word’s last letter with a letter that has a value greater by one (for example, Y might replace P). 

Replace the first two letters of the word with one letter that has a value that is 10 less that the sum of those first two (for example, S might replace X and C).

Finally, replace the middle two letters of the six-letter word with one letter with a value that is four less than the sum of those middle two (for example, D might replace M and P). The letter that replaces the two middle letters in the six letter word is pronounced (in the four-letter word) exactly the same as those two middle letters are pronounced (in the six-letter word).

What are these six-letter and four-letter words? 

ENTREE #9

Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of an eight-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 77 and an five-letter antonym of that word whose letters’ values also add up to 77. The words’ third-last letters are both an “i”. It is the only
letter they share. 

The sum of the first three letters of the longer word equals the sum of the last two letters in the shorter word. 

What words are these?

ENTREE #10

Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a pair of five-letter synonyms that share no letters in common. The letter value sums of each word equals 48. The value of the last four letters of one word equals the value of the last three letters of the other word.  

What words are these?

Dessert Menu

Music-Making Dessert:

76 trombones in the big-parading marching band

Harmonica, trumpet, trombone, tonearm, marching band, orchestra... 

All six produce music. 

Identify six additional different words that also tie all six of these music-makers together.

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.




68 comments:

  1. This weeks sports question is what about Novak. Personally i feel he should be banned from Australia. They have done such a good job of dealing with the Pandemic and most of the time had few cases. For Novak to flaunt his indisgressions and fake medical history seems rather specious. I lived there for a year in 94." Probably should have stayed,but they would not let me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Plantsmith,
      One of my two nephews lives in New Zealand. He is scheduled to become a father for the first time sometime this summer... and I am scheduled to become a "great uncle" (which, logically, IMHO, should be termed a "grand uncle") for the first time sometime this summer.

      LegoNewZealot

      Delete
    2. Novak? Hmmm. ROT 13 (a lucky number?) the last letter; put a space between the syllables and there you have it. No puzzle there.

      Delete
    3. That's pretty brilliant. I can't say or spell the last name.

      Delete
    4. I agree, Plantsmith.
      A very beautiful and serendipitous discovery, GB... for when you ROT-13 "Novak" the result is "a binx co-vid 19 test!
      But, what about:
      ROT-6: "Tub GQ":
      A "Gentleman's Quarterly" edition that targets "fat guys," or
      ROT-8: "VW dis":
      An online forum where Volkswagen owners can post their dissatisfaction with their Beetles, Jettas, Tiguans, Passats, etc., or
      ROT-14: "BC joy":
      An online forum where those who have toured, visited or vacationed in British Columbia can post their satisfaction with their time in this scenic Canadian province, or
      ROT-16: "delqa":
      Mistyping a "q" for a "t" on your "qwerty" keyboard while descibing the Mississippi Delqa... (oops! I did it again!), or
      ROT-19: "ghotd"
      more mistyping, this time a "d" for an "i"!

      LegoPostingA"Fishy"Comment

      Delete
    5. PLTH, I didn't know we HAD weekly sports questions...but aside from that, you lived in Australia? It sounds to me like you have lived everywhere (you've mentioned WA and OR, and now AL). Where else?

      Delete
    6. Well, Lego, your nephew living in New Zealand is pretty spectacular. One of the many places I positively yearn to see!

      Delete
    7. VT i guess you did not get the e-mail about the weekly sports question. Just kidding. It is just that you turn on the news here and it's Georgia Bulldogs this and Georgia bulldogs that and this is where you can get the Swag for NCC champions- Academy Sports. And today is the big parade in AThens and they are expecting 90,000 K people- which is nuts. It's about two hours from us.I was just trying to get away from football, especially after my humiliating defeat in the office pool fantasy football group. So i skipped over to Novak. I did not know what else to do. I think NOvak is in trouble. He could probably use Bennie in his corner about now.Where is Bennie when you need him?
      Oh- I was born in Pendleton, Oregon. Many years ago on a sunny day in June. ........far-far away....

      Delete
    8. Oh, I mis-thought re your being in AL....but how interesting that you were actually born here in OR! Far-far away, etc.....

      Delete
  2. This would be a good time for me to sign up for Tub GQ.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Friday to y'all!
    Mom and I had Captain D's for supper tonight. Then I did some laundry and took a shower. Haven't even done my regular puzzles yet, but I have done today's Wordle. My only hint: Don't do like I did by starting with the word SHILL.
    Hope everyone's enjoying my latest cryptic crossword. If I must provide hints later on, I'll see what I can do. As for the other puzzles, I know I've got the Schpuzzle, I'm tired of looking up "ground-breaking" novels for the Slice, and I've managed to solve Entrees #3, #5, and #8, but not the Dessert. Lego, I promise to offer hints for my puzzle if you do for yours. Deal?
    Good luck in solving to all, please stay safe, and I hope your vaccinations and/or booster shots are all up-to-date. Cranberry out!
    pjbCanAdmitRightOffIn27AcrossItCouldAlsoBe"Album"InsteadOf"Song"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. cranberry,
      Deal!

      LegoWhoPrefersToBeDealtAcesAndFacesNotDeucesAndSpruceGooses

      Delete
    2. We getting some weather today Cranberry? Wind is startin to howl here pretty good- about now.Stay off the roads if you can.

      Delete
    3. Looks icy out here, PS. BTW I get the idea of the Dessert, but I'm having trouble coming up with six more words. I do have a few hints for the cryptic, though:
      Across
      1. "And I..." could get this one easily.
      9. Pain, according to Rick and Morty.
      10. One extra E inserted, and it could bring "madness", I tell you!
      11. Remove IN to get the surname of a TV sitcom pioneer.
      12. No "E standing for energy" wordplay here!
      14. "Pop", as Fred was to Lamont.
      16. Aleutians(look it up!).
      17. Take a P.
      18. Mr. Moto.
      21. More than one department store, perhaps?
      22. On "Seinfeld", the answer was modified by the word "hipster".
      25. Such citizens are restless tonight!
      26. The song could be directed toward the lead singer of a popular 80s girl group.
      27. Let the cowboys ride!
      DOWN
      1. RSTLN and E. From there you're on your own.
      2. It's Greek to me.
      3. A shell, but no shock.
      4. No synonym for "Alabamian", that's for sure.
      5. (as the Brits might call us)
      6. "Gently down the---you know".
      7. Nothing on underneath?
      8. The Sea Cook: A Story For Boys.
      13. Slanders, slights, and slurs.
      15. Joe and Carole would know this one.
      19. Two things the eyes do, separated by a hyphen.
      20. Ali Mohsen-al-Ahmar, for example.
      23. Sounds like a great man to be around, like Lego!
      24. Hey bud...c'mere!
      pjbPromisesAllHintsNoChintz!

      Delete
    4. Nice hints, cranberry, Thanks.

      LegoNotAtAllChintzy

      Delete
    5. BTW I like "The Vim Song" as an anagram of "Night Moves". I hate to admit it confused me when I first saw it!
      pjbWould'veGoneWith"VSomething"Or"SomethingV"

      Delete
    6. How about SETH MOVING in honor of Mr. Meyers having to relocate his show once more due to COVID exposure?
      pjbThinksSethWishesItWere"StillTheSame"AllThisTime

      Delete
    7. I can honestly say I solved the entire cryptic, nice job making long entries work, that's especially difficult.

      Though I must confess a certain uncertainty with 2 down, and I have what I think is the correct answer for 15 down, but I can't link it to the clue. I guess I'll wait til Wednesday, though 'til tuesday was the better band.

      Unlike PJB, they were a one hit wonder.

      Delete
    8. And the honesty part was I did it without seeing PJB's hints, which partly helped with 2 down (pretty obscure?) and 15 down is confirmed, but still don't understand the clue.

      Delete
    9. I will admit 2 Down is a bit obscure. To be honest, I had seen the first part of my clue as a clue in itself in another cryptic crossword(not mine), and I just added the wordplay myself. In case you're wondering, the Greek character in question was tied to a wheel("bound to turn"). Don't ask me any further details. As for 15 down, I'm surprised you haven't heard of that show. Became popular right at the start of the pandemic!
      pjbIsAlsoFlatteredByYourCommentAbout"MakingLongEntriesWork"(BelieveMeIKnowHowDifficultItIs!)

      Delete
  4. The dessert has a connection to a recent NPR puzzle. But i am "lost in slice".

    ReplyDelete
  5. My small contribution: here's a link to a pdf for those who want to easily print out the cranyptic.

    Of course my home printer died last week after >20 years of service, joining the graveyard of less loyal printers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just checked your link, eco, but it took me to a past puzzle of mine. Are you sure it'll lead to the current one?
      pjbKnowsPDFShouldStandFor"PrintoutDoesn'tFail"

      Delete
    2. Dang, you're right. My Google Doc skills are seriously lacking. Perhaps too late now, but this is the correct link.

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello, all.
    Have solved everything except the Slice, plus have a smattering of answers to pjb's Cryptic clues.

    Have a couple of 22-letter candidates for the Slice, but not all the components.

    Hint: Key to my solving the Entrées was locating a suitable Web site. This reduced the otherwise daunting process of finding a solution to a searching of tractable lists.

    Also I have an alternate answer to Entrée #9 This alternate answer fits perfectly eco's current predicament -- see his post immediately above.

    Vive la France!

    ReplyDelete
  8. The website is a word related site- not numbers? I guess Novax
    will be singing "Midnight train to Serbia." "I'm goin back from where i came--OZ was too much for me."

    ReplyDelete
  9. I guess not all grand Uncles- are in fact, great Uncles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I'm a great Uncle, but my nieces don't visit us.
      pjbDon'tMeanNapoleonSolo,Neither!

      Delete
  10. Any snow there Cranberry? About an inch or so here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It rained last night, but there's been no snow.
      pjbWonderingWhyMeteorologistsDon'tReportOnMeteorShowers

      Delete
  11. And Novax is back in Serbia. His parents are not happy with Australia and say their response was, "Scandalous."
    And our fearless leader Lego is a clue on Blaines. And of course i don't get his clue as i rarely do.
    I guess we are kind of snowed in, as the windshield has so much snow on in ican't see out. Not going out today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Winter Storm have North Georgia in a TIZZY? Don't get DIZZY keeping BIZZY scraping ice and snow. Think I'll go out and crank up the show shovel. Good exercise, right?

      Delete
  12. There must be at least 3/4 inch of snow here! And our garbage can blew over! It's horrible.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Four first letters of the dessert words can spell a mammal.

    ReplyDelete
  14. And courtesy of Word Woman . Novax Djocovid.

    ReplyDelete
  15. E-1 Hint (should anyone need it, and since Wednesday approaches) In another sense the ends of the chain much in the news these days.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Lego, what happened to our deal? I offered my hints, now you have to offer yours!
    pjbIsAManOfHisWordWhenItComesToHisWords

    ReplyDelete
  17. Schpuzzle of the Week:
    John Denver's famous two-word catch-phrase is a hint.

    Appetizer Menu
    I rely on Patrick for cryptic hints!

    Paperback Rider Slice:
    *the interjection ends with an "a".
    * the city in Texas is a writer whose first name is a U.S. State

    Riffing Off Shortz And Young Slices:
    ENTREE #1
    The words begin with consecutive letters of the alphabet, like A and B.
    ENTREE #2
    Cleveland Indian third-sacker who ended his career as a Brewer.
    ENTREE #3
    Warholic
    ENTREE #4:
    Bloodsucker, scallion
    ENTREE #5
    tongue, truth
    ENTREE #6
    Just count 'em.
    ENTREE #7
    Pale hose, crimson hose
    ENTREE #8
    GizGaz
    ENTREE #9
    A street, a transit

    Dessert Menu
    Anatomical

    Legomical

    ReplyDelete
  18. "Homegrown tomatoes. What would life be without home grown tomatoes.There are two things money can't buy -true love and homegrown tomatoes." John Denver

    ReplyDelete
  19. ORGY (PORGY - P)
    WHEELOFFORTUNE (don’t understand the mechanics)
    PSST (embedded)
    FUNGI (FUN + G.I.)
    AGAINSTTHEWIND (AGAIN + anagram of THIS WENT + D)
    OHSUSANNA (USA inside anagram of HANSON)
    FATHERSDAY (not sure why)
    STAMINA (anagram of IT’S A MAN)
    ATTU (embedded)
    LINEAR (anagram of I LEARN)
    WHITNEYHOUSTON [after the hint](anagram with HONEST WITH YOU + N)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Not much luck this week. But some good ones, Guys. Compliments to Matt413.

    Schpuzzle: [stymied]

    PR Slice: [stymied]

    Entrees:
    [1. Store & Stow]
    2. Minimus & Maximus
    3. Stop, Start, Op Art
    4. Leach & Leak
    5. (Joseph) Young; Youth
    6. The added values of all the letters in the sentence equals 365
    7. Sock; Socks; Sox
    8. Zigzag & Exam
    9. [stymied]
    10. Craft & Build - each equals 48, but don't meet the last four/three letter test

    Dessert: The six words are: "Each word contains a body part" (arm, rump, bone, ear, chin, chest)

    On to Friday. P'Smith, Deacs in Atlanta at 7 tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Schpuzzle: FAR-OUT, RAG → FARRAGO, RAGOUT [FARRAGO unfamiliar]

    Cryptic:
    9A: EXISTENCE
    10A: REFER
    12A: STAMINA
    16A: ATTU
    17A: ORGY
    22A: DOOFUS
    26A: ON SUSANNA
    27A: AGAINST THE WIND

    4D: YANK
    6D: STREAM
    7D: OFF-KILTER
    8D: TREASURE ISLAND
    20D: YEMENI
    23D: FUNGI
    24D: PSST

    Slice:
    MOBY-DICK / HERMAN MELVILLE – , II

    Entrées
    #1: STORE → STOW
    #2: LAXNESS – AX + IO → LIONESS
    #3: STOP, START – ST → OP ART
    #4: LEACH → LEAK
    #5: YOUTH → YONTH → YONNH → YOUNG
    #6: Total for the whole set of words in the sentence is 365.
    #7: LACK, LACKS → LOX (as in bagels and … , or liquid oxygen)
    From Wed hint, intended answer is SOCK – SOCKS – SOX, but sox is not a M-W word. LOX is.
    #8: ZIGZAG → ZIGZAM → EGZAM → EXAM
    #9: SKIRT, IMPEDING (RT = IMP = 38).
    Two worse alternates:
    (a) PRINT, FRIGGING/FRICKING (NT = FRI = 34), i.e., “the PRINT job worked☺” vs. “the FRICKING/FRIGGING print job failed☹” [or printer jammed] - eco's predicament.
    (b) EXITS, SKIDDING (TS = SKI = 39) Exit ramp is icy, thus is closed, or impossible to exit.
    #10: FLEET, RAPID → EET = APID = 30

    Dessert: All 6 words contain body parts: ARM, RUMP, BONE, EAR or ARM, CHIN or ARCH (of pelvis or foot), CHEST

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. correction: Entrée #7 should have read LOCK - LOCKS - LOX.

      Delete
  22. 1/19/22- 34 snow and ice//.

    Kind of a thin week for me.

    Schpuzzle–??

    Slice– Virginia Woolf–Orlando

    E1.

    E4 leek-33
    Leech

    E5- Youth 89
    Young 82
    E6-Added values equal 365.
    E8 Zigzag–Exam

    Dessert- Arm,rump, bone,ear, chin chest

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "That's life.That's what the people say. Shot down in April back on top in May." FS

      Delete
  23. Schpuzzle
    FAR-OUT, FARRAGO, RAGOUT
    Appetizer Menu
    For cryptic recap, see Lego.
    Menu
    Entrees
    1. STORE, STOW
    3. STOP, START, OP ART
    4. LEACH, LEAK
    5. YOUTH, (Joseph)YOUNG
    8. ZIGZAG, EXAM
    Dessert
    All the musical words contain body parts: hARMonica, tRUMPet, tonEARm, marCHINg band, orCHESTra.
    Did my best, but not good enough this week.-pjb

    ReplyDelete
  24. Replies
    1. Red letters are solutions uncertain to me.

      Delete
    2. First of all, the answer was WHEELOFFORTUNE, not WHEELXFFORTUNE. Second, I feel the need to explain the wordplay for IXION and TIGERKING before Lego gets to it. Here goes:
      IXION is indeed the answer. According to the wordplay, IN must be "placed" around X and IO(the Roman numeral ten, and then spelled out with I and O, as the number itself is). Like I posted earlier, IXION was actually punished for wrongdoing by being tied to a huge wheel. Look it up if you're still unsure. It's on the Web.
      TIGERKING is created from the odd, or "regular", letters in THING(here, meaning "business"), containing the word GHERKIN(pickle), minus the H(husband). As abbreviations, H and W have usually stood alone in cryptic crosswords as "husband" and "wife", with no further explanation such as "first", "leader", or the like. I hope this clears up your uncertainties as you solved my puzzle.
      pjbSaysItCan'tBeConsidered"Mansplaining"IfBothPeopleInvolvedAreMale!

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    3. Thanks for the explanations, WHEELXF was an unfortunate holdover, I never did print it out, and solving on screen was tough - I had to use X's for letters unknown. I now know Lucida Sans spaces equally, so I can just use a space.

      I'd had Ixion for the reasons you state, just thought he was a bit obscure in the mythology ring. Maybe I'm not up with ancient S&M.

      I just missed the gherkin substitution for pickle. I knew it had to be Tiger King from the definition, though I don't really know anything about that show - is it a show?

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  25. Lego, I can only apologize, because I never had the oomph to even READ your Entrees this week. After the Schpuzzle, I did try extensively to solve the Slice, but never could, as any book/author combos I tried either had more than 22 letters, but if they did have 22 letters, were missing necessary letters to spell out either their genres, or the number of letters in their authors' names. Sigh....

    SCHPUZZLE: FAR-OUT + RAG => FARRAGOUT => FARRAGO & RAGOUT [I certainly learned a new word from this….had never encountered “farrago’ before.]

    DESSERT: MOUTH, ARMS, FINGERS, FEET [for HARPIST in orchestra], EARS, LUNGS?

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    Replies
    1. Well, I see from pjb's answer that I blew it on the Dessert....I was thinking of parts used to PLAY all the instruments, i.e. blowing thru harmonica and trumpet, plus fingering the latter as well as the tonearm, feet used for marching in the band, and most of those parts for the orchestra instruments. Oh well...

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    2. Have you seen that add for Cheerios where the person having cereal is judging an art exhibition- or is it baking and the person comes out with the very ugly piece of cake- terrible icing job and the cake is like in three pieces and falling over? The judge says, "That's beautiful i can see you made some real effort there."
      I don't know how long i spent on the Schpuzzle. Your answers would make another puzzle. Hmmm? Definitely an alternate.

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    3. In 1994 i was working at University of Wash in medical ultrasosund. I applied for a job with Phillps medical as an application specialist. The person who got that job was from Australia. I took her job in Kogarah at St.George hospital in Kogarah. The U gave me a one year leave of absence-for which my boss never forgave me, but i was able to go back. My older son was a junior in high school and h ated it and left early to get back with his upcoming senior class. I was in Berkeley for grad school and spent many years in EAstern Washington. But Australia- an interesting place.

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    4. I'm not sure if you'll see this post, PTSH, since the puzzle week is over already, but I wondered if you were talking to ME, re my answers for the Schpuzzle (which weren't al alternate, they were the answer).....why did you say they would 'make another puzzle?'

      In yet another coincidence, I ALMOST went to Berkeley myself for grad school in math! But decided it would be too expensive, and I was frankly, sick of school.

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    5. If you put your words into a paragraph- i.e fingers etc somehow. Like mouth in the car Plymouth for example and said what do these special words have in common. Or each word contains a body part that is used in playing an instrument. You could still use tonearm- to arm and maybe lunge for lung--etc. So we hide your words. I am not sure how clear that is. Let me work on it.

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    6. So your comment about 'another puzzle' referred to my erroneous Dessert answers, then, rather than the Schpuzzle....but you can see why, since Schpuzzle was the immediate word before your sentence about my answers.

      Also, I wasn't sure to what your post about U of Wash and Australia, etc was a reply?

      And I briefly saw the continuation of all this in the new P!...but I have yet to process it. Onward....

      Delete
  26. Here is the French Web site for calculating word values.

    It can be set to consecutive or Scrabble letter values.

    I wonder if Lego used it.

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

    Schpuzzle of the Week:
    A mixed-up crazy patchwork quilt
    Take a hyphenated word that means bizarre or crazy, like a patchwork quilt.
    Replace the hyphen with what may be used as a patch in such a quilt.
    The first seven letters and the last six letters of the result spell synonyms of “mixture.”
    What are these two synonyms of “mixture”?
    What is the hyphenated word that means bizarre or crazy?
    Answer:
    Farrago, Ragout
    Far-out=>Far+rag+out=>Farrago+Ragout

    Appetizer Menu
    Crypticker tape parade “Big-not-so-Easy-But-Lots-of-Fun” Appetizer:
    ’Tis a “Fat Friday” cryptic feast!
    Note: the filled-in grid to cranberry's cryptic crossword appears above the Comments Section.
    ANSWERS
    ACROSS
    1. Singer being honest with you—nervous before opening night(7,7)
    HONESTWITHYOU anagram plus N
    9. Turning sixteen, given first car—excellent life!(9)
    SIXTEEN anagram plus C plus E
    10. Hint could go either way(5)
    REFER is a palindrome, spelled the same forwards or backwards.
    11. Somehow I learn to be smooth(6)
    ILEARN anagram
    12. It’s a man, dancing with energy(7)
    ITSAMAN anagram
    14. Safety hard, perhaps, for pop star at this time?(7,3)
    SAFETYHARD anagram(one's "pop" would be a "star" at this time)
    16. Island involved in Fat Tuesday?(4)
    hidden inside fATTUesday
    17. Bacchanal in which Bess's man goes topless?(4)
    hidden inside hornYGROup reversed
    18. Nobleman gets a little titillated learning about some romantic actor(5,5)
    PEER containing T plus LORE containing R
    21. Sailor achieves goals(7)
    TAR+GETS
    22. Idiot in our party?(6)
    DO OF US(our party)
    25. Simple citizen, having no time(5)
    NATIVE-T
    26. Hanson excited about country song?(2,7)
    HANSON anagram containing USA
    27. Song by Bob Seger once more mixed—this went downhill from the start(7,3,4)
    AGAIN+THISWENT anagram plus D

    DOWN
    1. Vanna lacks appeal—letter-turning part getting stale on air here?(5,2,7)
    WHITE-IT+ROLE reversed(containing OFF)+TUNE
    2. He was bound to turn in around 10—10?(5)
    IN containing X(Roman numeral for ten)+IO(ten)
    3. Lunatic made up tunes about California(7)
    TUNES anagram containing CA
    4. Jerk could be any knucklehead(4)
    ANY anagram plus K
    5. Exaggerates across America?(10)
    OVER+STATES
    6. Jet having run into fog(6)
    R inside STEAM
    7. Crazy proposition involving Scottish clothing?(3-6)
    OFFER containing KILT
    8. Novel, as a rule, is novel in style(8,6)
    ASARULEIS anagram inside TREND
    13. They may be cast as individuals without one?(10)
    AS+PERSONS containing I
    15. Show business, oddly, getting husband out of pickle?(5,4)
    ThInG containing GHERKIN-H
    19. Kids, primarily, getting in free—the ultimate pursuit(4-3)
    K inside LOOSE+E
    20. Middle Easterner, supposed enemy close to Israeli?(6)
    ENEMY anagram plus I
    23. Soldier has good time on mushrooms(5)
    FUN+GI
    24. Hey, some wasps sting!(4)
    hidden inside wasPSSTing

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  28. This week's official answers for the record, part 2:

    MENU

    Paperback Rider Slice:
    The great American bronco-busting novel
    Take a ground-breaking American novel and its author.
    Rearrange those twenty-two letters to form:
    * the fictional genre of the novel,
    * An interjection used in this genre,
    * a city in Texas,
    * the number of letters in the author’s name,
    * the Roman numeral for the number of words in the novel’s title.
    Name the novel and author. What are the genre, interjection, city, number and Roman numeral?
    Answer:
    "The Virginian," Owen Wister; Western, "Whoa!" Irving, ten, II (two)

    Riffing Off Shortz And Young Slices:
    Thinking through the thick & thin
    Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Young Slices read:
    Note: Riff-off #1 this week was created by Puzzleria! contributor GB, whose “GB’s Bafflers” appears regularly on Puzzleria!
    Riff-offs #2 and #3 this week were created by Puzzleria! contributor Ecoarchitect, whose “Econfusions” also appears regularly on Puzzleria!
    Finally, Riff-off #4 this week was created by “Matt 413.” Matt is a good friend of mine from Minnesota who is a master crossword-puzzle solver and composer of sublime poetry.
    ENTREE #1
    Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a five-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 77. Now take this word’s last two letters. Add their values. (For example A and C would total 4.) Change these two letters to the single letter of the alphabet that represents their sum. (In this case, D.) The result will be a new word that is a synonym of the original. What words are these?
    Answer:
    Store; Stow
    ENTREE #2
    Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a seven-letter word. The SUM of the values of its second and third letters is 23.
    Now form a new seven-letter word by replacing the second and third letters of the original word with two different letters. When when you subtract the value of the second letter from that of the third, the DIFFERENCE is 23.
    What words are these?
    ANSWER:
    Minimum, Maximum;
    I(9) + N(14) = 23; X(24) – A(1) = 23
    ENTREE #3
    Think of two words that are antonyms, four letters in the first, five in the second. Both start with the same first two letters. Remove those first two letters from each word and the result will be a movement that was popular in the 1960’s.
    What are the antonyms, and what is the movement?
    Answer:
    Stop, Start; Op Art
    ENTREE #4:
    Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a five-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 29. Now take this word’s last two letters. Add their values. (For example A and C would total 4.) Change these two letters to the single letter of the alphabet that represents their total. (In this case, D.) The result will be a new word that is very synonymous to the original word. What words are these?
    Answer:
    Leach, Leak

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  29. This week's official answers for the record, part 3:
    ENTREE #5
    Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a five-letter noun whose letters’ values add up to 89. Write it in lowercase letters and invert the middle letter. The sum of these five letters is now 82.
    Replace the fourth letter with a duplicate of the new third letter. Reinvert the new third letter so that it again becomes original third letter. The sum of these five letters is now 83.
    Finally, change the original fifth letter to the letter that precedes it in the alphabet. The sum of these five letters is now 82, and they spell a word that is the adjectival form of the original noun. If you capitalize the first letter of this adjective it spells the surname of a puzzle-maker.
    Who is this puzzle-maker?
    What is the original five-letter noun?
    Answer:
    (Joseph) Young; youth
    youth=>yonth=>yonnh=>younh=>young
    ENTREE #6
    “Count all total days in a non-leap year.”
    Explain how the imperative sentence above might be considered “self-answering.”
    Answer:
    If you let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc., the 31 letters in the sentence add up to 365, the count of “all total days in a non-leap year.”
    ENTREE #7
    Let A = 1, B = 3, C = 3, D = 4, E = 1, F = 4, G = 2, H = 4, I = 1, J = 8. K = 5 etc.
    Think of a four-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 10.
    Now think of a THREE-letter homophone of this word’s FIVE-letter plural form. The values of the three letters in this homophone (which is also a plural form of the four-letter word) also add up to 10.
    What are this four-letter word, five-letter plural form, and three-letter homophone.
    Hint: The three-letter plural form is often seen in the pages of the Herald, Tribune, Globe and Sun-Times.
    Answer:
    Sock; Socks; Sox
    Hint: In the sports sections of the Boston and Chicago newspapers you will see the words "Red Sox" and "White Sox."
    ENTREE #8
    Let A = 1, B = 3, C = 3, D = 2, E = 1, F = 4, G = 2, H = 4, I = 1, J = 8. K = 5, L = 1, M= 3, N = 1, O = 1, P = 3... X = 8, Y = 4, Z = 10.
    Think of a six-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 26. The following instructions will help you to transform that word into a four-letter word whose letters’ values are half of that value – that is, 13.
    The six-letter word is defined as “one of a series of short sharp turns, angles, or alterations in a COURSE.”
    The four-letter word is defined as “a test a college student or graduate student might take in a COURSE such as zoology or calculus.”
    First, replace this six-letter word’s last letter with a letter that has a value greater by one (for example, Y might replace P).
    Replace the first two letters of the word with one letter that has a value that is 10 less that the sum of those first two (for example, S might replace X and C).
    Finally, replace the middle two letters of the six-letter word with one letter with a value that is four less than the sum of those middle two (for example, D might replace M and P). The letter that replaces the two middle letters in the six letter word is pronounced exactly the same as those two middle letters.
    What are these six-letter and four-letter words?
    Answer:
    Zigzag; Exam

    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  30. This week's official answers for the record, part 4:
    ENTREE #9
    Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of an eight-letter word whose letters’ values add up to 77 and an five-letter antonym of that word whose letters’ values also add up to 77. The words’ third-last letters are both an “i”. It is the only letter they share.
    The sum of the first three letters of the longer word equals the sum of the last two letters in the shorter word.
    What words are these?
    Answer:
    Creeping, Swift
    ENTREE #10
    Let A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc. Think of a pair of five-letter synonyms that share no letters in common. The letter value sums of each word equals 48. The value of the last four letters of one word equals the value of the last three letters of the other word.
    What words are these?
    Answer:
    Fleet, Rapid
    1(A)+16(P)+9(I)+4(D)=5(E)+5(E)+20(T)

    Dessert Menu
    Music-Making Dessert:
    76 trombones in the marching band
    Harmonica, trumpet, trombone, tonearm, marching band, orchestra.
    All six produce music.
    Identify six additional different words that also tie them all together.
    Answer:
    arm, rump, bone, ear, arch, chest (all are body parts) appear in each music maker.
    hARMonica, tRUMPet, tromBONE, tonEARm, mARCHing band, orCHESTra

    Lego!

    ReplyDelete