Friday, April 29, 2022

"Dadswear" and "toddlerduds"; Animal Enigmagnetism; Oinkomatopinka! A gal of the olden Golden West; Numerator know-how, denominator dominance;

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 6!π SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Dadswear and toddlerduds

Name things men wear, in two words. 

Delete the third letter and the space to name
things babies wear. 

What are these two wearables?

Appetizer Menu 

Econfusingly Beastly Appetizer:

Animal Enigmagnetism

BEAST PUZZLES

1. What do the following animals have in common:  bat, bee, dove, elk, plover, and
trout? 


As far as we know these are the only animals with this quality. 

And how is this quality related to the title?

ANIMAL CRACKERS

2. Spoonerize the two words of a well-known movie and the result will be a (not well-known) 3-word phrase that might describe the state of a young animal, which is related to a well-known 4-word phrase. 

What is the movie, and what are the 3-word and 4-word phrases?

IN MY (BEAN) SOUP

3. Remove the 3rd, 4th, and 5th letters (or the 4th, 5th, and 6th letters) from the name of an
animal and the result will be a body part. 

What is the animal, what is the body part?

MONKEYS AND RABBITS

4. The homonym of a certain animal is a common word, and the two words contain only
one letter in common. 

What is the animal and what is the word?

LOOP THE LOOP(Y)

5. Divide the last name of a recently topical European politician’s last name into its two syllables. 

Place the first syllable before 4 letters and the result is the last name of a well-known author.
Place the second syllable before the same 4 letters and the result is an animal with a relationship to the author. 

Who are the politician and the author, and what is the animal?

MENU

Fractious Slice:

Numerator know-how, denominator dominance

Eighth-graders all know that one half of one quarter equals one eighth. 

But do they know that one half of one quarter
also equals one hundred eighths? 

If you were their teacher, how would you explain this paradox to them?

Riffing Off Shortz And Balch Slices:

Oinkomatopinka!

Will Shortz’s April 24th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Jeff Balch of Evanston, Illinois, reads:

Name a sound made by a certain animal.
Change one letter in it to the next letter of the alphabet, and you’ll get a color associated with that animal. What’s the sound, and what’s the color?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Balch Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Name a sound made by a certain animal. The animal begins with an “h”. Change the vowel in the sound to the previous vowel of the alphabet (u becomes o, o becomes i, etc.), and you’ll get a the surname of a puzzle-maker who is the type of animal beginning with an “h”.

Now name an informal word for a very short period of time... like the time it will take most puzzle-solvers to solve this Entree #1. Change the vowel in it to the previous vowel of the alphabet (u becomes o, o becomes i, etc.), and you’ll get a the first name of that same puzzle-maker.

What’s the animal, the sound made by the animal, the informal word for the short period of time, and the name of the puzzle-maker? 

Note: The following NPR riff-off Entree was composed and contributed by our friend Plantsmith, whose “Garden of Puzzley Delights” puzzle feature appears regularly on Puzzleria!

ENTREE #2

Think of a color of an animal and its environment. This animal, as far as we know, does not make any sound. Drop the first letter of the color and move the last letter one place earlier in alphabet stream. Then mix the result to get this supposedly silent animal. 

What is this animal. What color is it and its environment? 

ENTREE #3

Name a sound made by a certain animal. (The sound has thrice as many letters as the animal.)  

Change the first letter in the sound to the letter that is the same distance from the middle of the alphabet (A=Z, B=Y, C=X, etc.). You’ll get a color, but not one that is really associated with the animal. 

However, a color associated with one of these animals (one that became a legend) is a homophone of the word formed from the first, third (or fourth), second and sixth letters of the sound made by the animal.

What is this animal?

What are the sound associated with the animal and the color not associated with the animal?

What’s the color that is associated with the legendary animal, and its homophone? 

ENTREE #4

Write in lowercase a sound made by an animal. Delete its middle letter. 

Invert its first letter by rotating it around either its x or y axis. The result will be spell either
one of two animals, depending on which axis you used. One of the animals makes the sound you started with; the other does not.

What is the sound? What are the two animals?

ENTREE #5

Name a sound (which is also the name of a noisy bird) made by a certain animal (which is another noisy bird). Change the first letter in this sound to the previous letter of the alphabet and add a consonant to the end, and you’ll get a color that animal often is. What’s the sound, what’s the animal and what’s the color?

Hint: The “certain animal” which is also a bird begins with the ending of a “Down Under” critter and ends with the ending of a laboratory critter.

ENTREE #6

Name a sound made by a canine animal. 

Change its first letter to the letter five places earlier in the alphabet and change its last letter
to the letter two places later in the alphabet. 

You’ll get a color associated with that animal. 

What’s the sound, and what’s the color?

ENTREE #7

Name a sound made by a certain animal that begins with the same two letters of that sound. Change one letter in the sound to the letter four places later in the alphabet, and you’ll get a word for the fluffy, downy soft hair, or pile, that covers the round body of this animal.

What’s the sound, and what’s word for the fluffiness that covers the body of the animal?

What is the animal?

Dessert Menu

Idiomatic Dessert:

A gal of the olden Golden West

Take three words associated with Nellie Cashman. Also take one word associated with Giacomo Puccini’s opera “The Girl of the Golden West.” 

Rearrange the eighteen letters in these four words to spell two pairs of words that appear together in a common idiom.  

What are these eight words – these four of a kind and two pair?

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 LegoLambda, 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.

64 comments:

  1. I say for the umpteenth time: I don't know HOW you come up with this stuff week after week, Lego!

    There is no hope on App 2 or 3 (no idea how to even start), and spent a long time on Entree 7 before deciding it was impossible, and likewise doubly so for the Dessert.

    Otherwise, success! Well, I have a long answer for App1 #1 and it might be gibberish.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, ViolinTeddy.
      Entree #7 hint:
      'Tis a tiny animal.

      LegoTheLastOfTheThreeWordsOfWisdom

      Delete
    2. THe only small animal I have in mind hasn't yet worked out, despite all my attempts.

      Delete
    3. I did not know that fleas also have a "secret"language, just like ants.

      Delete
  2. Back to Australia. The one year we lived there we got to know a particular bird with a very annoying sound that woke us up every morning. You would think a creature that beautiful would have a nice sound, but unfortunately no. Kind of like Fran Drescher.
    And i have to say Marmite is not much better to me than Vegemite.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Plantsmith,
      How did it happen that you lived in Australia for a year?
      LegoWhoseNephewAaronLivesInNewZealand

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    2. It is the Fran Drescher of birds. It sounds like this SCRAHHH!!!!SCRAHHH!!!SCRAH!!!!!

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  3. I thought i told you that. But when i worked at U wash i interviewed for a job with Phillips Medical as an application specialist. The person who got the job was from Australia and somehow i ended up taking her job in a southern suburb of Sydney called Kogarah. We still have a couple of good friends there. But they were quite clear that we could only stay a year on a limited work visa. On the way back we stopped over a couple of hours at the Aukland airport-but i can't really say i saw New Zealand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Plantsmith, I do now vaguely recall your emails about your Aussie residence. You are a true cosmopolitan.

      LegoWhoHasVisitedFranceSwitzerlandAndHondurasButThatIsAboutIt...Internationally

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    2. I would like to go to Europe having been to Paris briefly. My cousin's son lives in Bubendorf, Switzerland and is in international banking. I have been to Costa Rica a couple of times with church stuff but never to HOnduras.

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    3. I have a story about crossing the German/Swiss border at Lake Constance. Remind me to tell it at the convention.

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    4. Ooh, Switzerland. My absolutely favorite place on earth (my mom was born there.) I YEARN to move and live out my life there, but it just never worked out. Wouldn't it be fun to do a nice long P! trip all around that country! Sigh...dream...drool...

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    5. If your mom was born there you could probably get dual citizenship- which might make it easier to move over.

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    6. I think many of us are thinking about emigrating-especially if the political winds in 2024- blow from the East. So you could at least apply. I am hoping my Australian connection comes through for me, but not sure i have the required funds to retire there.

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  4. Happy end of the week to all!
    Mom and I are fine. She got a few of our prescriptions from Walgreens today, as well as supper from McDonald's. Love their cinnamon rolls! Then I went right into my other puzzles before I checked in here. I hope y'all don't mind. Paul did another great Prize Crossword. He had a lot of interesting phrases in there, such as ONTHEROADTORECOVERY, CAVECANEM, POSINGPOUCH, READYRECKONER, and TAKETHELORDSNAMEINVAIN. Had to be broken up into different pieces in the grid, but it was worth it when I finally solved them! Now that guy's a cryptic artist! BTW Lego, I need to get in touch with you next week about my next cryptic offering for the site. Got another good one for ya! Wonder if they like cryptic crosswords in Australia as well? I'm sure Plantsmith would know.
    Now on to this week's "puzzley delights".
    I hate to play "ViolinTedditor" here, but I found a huge mistake in the Schpuzzle. First, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this puzzle may very well have been used as a past Sunday Puzzle challenge. Second, unless I have the wrong answer, the deleted third letter should be replaced with a duplicate of the second letter. If not, then I haven't solved it yet, but I have a(n almost perfect)alternative answer!
    I do have Appetizers #4(I'm pretty sure)and #5(definitely); I'm not really into math, so the Fractious Slice is out; I've got Entrees #1, #3(everything but the animal), and #5; and I have the Dessert(all because of one uncommon letter in it all, and I'll explain later). As usual, any hints will be greatly appreciated as the week goes on.
    In closing, I wish y'all good luck in solving, please stay safe, and Plantsmith, if you have any further details about your time in OZ(a real euphemism for "Australia", look it up), don't hesitate to reveal them here. We'd love to hear all about it. Cranberry out!
    pjb(Curiously)WondersWhoPSLikesBetter,MenAtWorkOrTheLittleRiverBand?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well i like "Men at Work," and also "Three Dog Night"- which is a Aboriginal term for a cold -cold night when they would take three dogs into the shelter instead of one or two- not so cold. I was only there one year-94". What would you like to know? I got into some Aboriginal history and culture-but regretfully never made it to Ayres rock-Ulurhu (sp?) sacred sit

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    2. I am sure they love the Cryptics along with Vegemite-which by the way -is made from the residue of brewing beer- mostly yeast and supposedly really good for you, but like i say you have to grow up with it -or perhaps it is an aquired taste. Amazon sells it if you want to try it.

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    3. Well, I've already heard the origin story of vegemite(Capitalized? Brand name?)as well as that of "Three Dog Night", but I don't find Vegemite very appetizing by the sound of it. Wasn't sure if cryptics were as popular Down Under as they are in the UK. I have heard Australia was originally sort of an exile for British prisoners way back in the day. Of course, it goes without saying they don't do that anymore. Did you know Paul Hogan had a sketch comedy show before he became Crocodile Dundee? They ran his show on WOR(New York), now WWOR(out of Secaucus, New Jersey), same as Benny Hill's.
      pjbMissesTheEarly80sQuiteABit(EspeciallyTheMusic)

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    4. I did not know that about Paul Hogan. It seemed like when we were there all we heard about was Nicole Kidman and i think at that time she was still with Mr.Cruise.
      They would always talk about how hard Americans worked."You work too hard over there."
      Everyone in Australia who works gets a minimum of six weeks vacation and even me on a one-year work visa- got six weeks off which i still can't believe. So it is called a democratic -socialistic country. So taxes are pretty high- like 40 percent. I remember looking at my first paycheck and thinking it pretty small. Well they take a lot out. But free medical care. Which was awesome. No insurance and you get a card that allows you access to care anywhere anytime at what they call a "Ambulance" like our urgent care. So i guess it is a trade off. But the taxes well...
      Some of those folks were sent off to Australia for stealing a half a loaf of bread. Very minor infractions would get you sent off to Oz. A good book about the history is "The Fatal Shore." by ???
      I tried to develop a fake Australian accent which my kids hated. How's it goin mate? They have a lot of idioms like shrimp on the barbie which i never had and quit trying to feed me the raw prawn-? which means to deceive. Somewhere i have a book of Australian English.
      When we were there in 94" they were already gearing up for the 2000 olympics. I have the hat somewhere. So we got to see some of the early construction events going on.
      A good movie about Aboriginal ways is "Walkabout" and also "Rabbit proof fence."

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    5. All of that is very informative, but don't forget who put AussieLand on the map - Judith Durham and the Seekers.

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    6. Brings a tear to the eye---'''or two.
      There is also the t.v. series "Skippy" kind of an Australian based Lassie with a heroic Kangaroo.

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    7. Weird things were always happening like when i went to weight myself at an outdoor kiosk machine. It kicked out a little card that said 12.5 stone on it. Well what is a stone? It's 14 pounds. Where did it come from? No idea.
      Australia is also the first place i saw drive through liquor stores. They like the suds along with the footie-- Australian rules football- more like Rugby.

      Delete
  5. I initially made the same error, pjb, thinking the Schpuzzle had an error in needing a double letter, however that is NOT the right answer. THe Schpuzzle is correct as stated.

    Whether it seems familiar (such a passing thought had occurred to me, as well, but I wasn't sure), is another question.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VT you are saying the Schpuzzle is working as is?OK

      Delete
    2. Thanks. This is what happens when your alternate is "cute as a button."

      Delete
    3. You can include your alternate answer, obviously. We will all want to see what is 'cute as a button!'

      Delete
  6. Lego - Check the tape on the Packers 6th pick.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And - The Purple People signed Luiji Vilain as an UDFA.

      Delete
    2. Great name for a soccer player.

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    3. GB it occurs to me that last summer we may have driven by your house on our way to Virginia- via Asheville then North when we met Kris on the Mattaponi river in the little town of Westpoint -Virginia. My DIL found a VRBO there right on the river. My wife has two nephews in Virginia -one in Norfolk and one in Roanoke.The one in Norfolk works at the Nay base and the one in Roanoke has his own business.

      Delete
    4. Oh, so that's who drove by. There are a couple of ways to get from Asheville to the Tidewater. North would have been the more scenic, and arguably more historic, way to go.

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    5. Is there a Waffle House close to you?

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    6. Is that a trick question? There's a Waffle House close to everywhere. But, when you left Asheville, did you take I-26 North to I-81 or I-40 East?

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    7. 1-40 East up through Greenville up 85 to Henderson then up to Brunswick,Va. To my knowledge there are no Waffle houses west of the Mississippi.

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    8. I-40 would have taken you south of downtown. I'm up in the northwest corner. Used to be in the county until the city wanted to expand it tax base. Annexed us so they could provide a bunch of services, you know. No Waffle Houses? Criminy.

      Delete
  7. Lego, by any chance have you received my email to you about my next contribution to this website? At the end, I did ask if you might provide some hints for these puzzles. After all, it is the "eleventh hour" once again.
    pjbKnowsIt'sCrunchTime,AndHeNeedsALittleSomethingHeCanSinkHisTeethInto!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have you solved Blaines? Me neither. I imagine this could be a Bye week.

      Delete
    2. I solved it, P'th. It requires one of those 'light bulb' moments.

      Delete
  8. Some last minute hints for the Appetizers (they're all I've got):

    1. Through an unplanned coincidence the pink pig in the image is not the only coinkidink with the NPR puzzle from the previous week, if you get my language.
    2. This might appeal to Redd states.
    3. The name's Bean, Mr. Bean. And too much soup might stir the organ.
    4. The beest might get an Oscar....
    5. A good Marine (or especially an evil one) could solve this puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Schpuzzle: Bolo Ties & Booties

    Appetizers:
    1. [stymied]
    2. [stymied]
    3. [stymied]
    4. Gnu & New
    5. (Marine) Le Pen & (Ursula) Le Guin; Penguin

    F Slice: One-half of one quarter (25-cents) = 12.5 cents; 100 x 1/8 = 12.5

    Entrees:
    1. Human, Belch, Jiff & Jeff Balch
    2. Worm; Brown
    3. Ox; Bellow & Yellow; Blue & Blew
    4. quack; duck & buck
    5. Crow, Rooster & Brown
    6. Growl & Brown
    7. [stymied]

    Dessert: Gold, Rush, Queen, Opera & Square, Peg, (in a) Round, Hole

    Good gray cell agitation, eco, P'Smith & Lego - even with my fumblerooskis.

    ReplyDelete
  10. If anyone is interested in finding out more about the bird i mentioned above- the Golden cockatoo here it is.
    https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=yfp-t-s&ei=UTF-8&p=sound+of+the++cockatoo#id=1&vid=48fe382b0051227579240a08d7d2b72e&action=click

    ReplyDelete
  11. Puzzeleria 5-1-22 74 Fixin to rain

    Schpuzzle
    Adult fashion- Boots/-ties- (-t and s_=) Booties

    Ecoapps
    Radio isotope 127 has been isolated from these critters. They are canaries in the coal minds so to speak
    2.
    3.
    4. ?
    6. Macron- Mac /Ron Mccarthy (Cormac- , )

    Slice: ⅛=.125 and 100 x ⅛== 12.5.

    Riffing Off Shortz And Balch Slices:
    ENTRE1. Balch/ Belch Human, Jiff,Jeff
    ENTREE #2 Brown -rown-m– Worm ( earth worms not sand worms of Dune)

    ENTREE #3

    ENTREE #4

    ENTREE #5–Rooster/ Crow-Brown
    ENTREE #6 -Wolf- growl —- Brown
    ENTREE #7 Chick- chirp- chirl–
    Dessert
    Nurse, Gold rush, cowgirl- Opera.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I was so pleased that I was able to stump everyone on most the Appetizers that I sprained my shoulder patting myself on the back.

    Appetizer 1: What do the following animals have in common: bat, bee, dove, elk, plover, and trout? Each of these animals becomes a word, phrase, or well-known company name when said in Pig Latin (hence the pig/ pink references): at bay, Ebay, of day (as in time of day), Elkay (big manufacturer of plumbing fixtures and drinking fountains), overplay, and out tray (more of a British saying). "Beast" translates to East Bay, which is where the puzzle came from.

    Appetizer 2: Spoonerize the two words of a well-known movie and the result will be a (not well-known) 3-word phrase that might describe the state of a young animal, which is related to a well-known 4-word phrase. Citizen Kane, Kit is insane, Crazy Like a Fox.

    Appetizer 3: Remove the 3rd, 4th, and 5th letters (or the 4th, 5th, and 6th letters) from the name of an animal and the result will be a body part. Bl(ack) adder → bladder. Rowan Atkinson played Mr. Bean and Blackadder in eponymous Britcoms.

    Appetizer 4: The homonym of a certain animal is a common word, and the two words contain only one letter in common. Gnu, knew (or new) The gnu is also known as an (Oscar) wildebeest. I bet he'd enjoy that association....

    Appetizer 5: Divide the last name of a recently topical European politician’s last name into its two syllables. Place the first syllable before 4 letters and the result is the last name of a well-known author. Place the second syllable before the same 4 letters and the result is an animal with a relationship to the author. The politician is the loopy Marine LePen, leading to Ursula Le Guin and Penguin, which under various names in the US and Europe has published Le Guin's science fiction.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good ones Eco. But do you really think Marine can out crazy my neighbor Marjorie Taylor Greene?

      Delete
    2. The competition is stiff, er, shrill. MTG is particularly grating, even more so than Boebert or Gaetz. Part of it is her voice, but mostly its her smug interrupting of everyone talking to her, like Jim Acosta the other day, and then inanely calling everyone a liar.

      Among other things. If your state (and several others) wanted to secede I suspect there would be less resistance this time.

      Delete
    3. She really knows how to make a person feel homesick. My dtr in laws folks here say Ga, Florida and Alabama are the only states that are, "upholding traditional American values." Sucession is probably a good idea.

      Delete
  13. Schpuzzle: BOLO TIES – L → BOOTIES

    Appetizer
    #1:
    #2:
    #3:
    #4: GNU – NEW
    #5:

    Slice: Half of 25¢ (a QUARTER coin) is 12.5¢, or 100 × $0.125 (an eighth of a CENT).

    Entrées
    #1: HUMAN, BELCH – E + → BALCH; JEFF – E + I → JIFF
    #2: BROWN – B; – N + M → WORM
    #3:
    #4: quack – a → quck → duck, buck
    #5: CROW (rooster) – C + B = BROW + N → BROWN
    #6:
    #7:

    Dessert:

    ReplyDelete
  14. SCHPUZZLE: BOLO TIES => BOOTIES

    ECOAPPETIZERS:

    1. THEY ARE ALL CALLED ENIGMATIC: PURPLE-WINGED GROUND DOVE (ENIGMATIC BAMBOO SPECIALIST); TROUT, ENIGMATIC WITH RUNS VARYING GREATLY FROM YEAR TO YEAR; TARGHEE ELK HERD WITH MYSTIQUE; BATS ARE MYSTERIOUS AND UNPREDICTABLE; THE MAGELLANIC PLOVER IS AN ENIGMATIC SHOREBIRD ON THE SOUTHERN TIP OF SOUTHER AMERICA, AN ODD, ALMOST DOVE-SHAPED WADER; BEES HAVE AN ENIGMA “CODE”.

    2.

    3.

    4. GNU / NEW

    5. LE PEN => [Ursala] LEGUIN & PENGUIN [Books]


    SLICE: 100/8 = 12.5; 1/2 of a 'quarter coin' = 12.5 cents.


    ENTREES:

    1. BELCH [HUMAN] => BALCH; JIFF => JEFF

    2. BROWN => WORM

    3. BELLOW => YELLOW; BLEW => BLUE; BABE THE BLUE OX

    4. quack => quck => duck or buck

    5. CROW => BROWN; ROOSTER

    6. GROWL => BROWN

    7. CHINCHILLA CHATTER => ??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those animals are truly enigmatic. I h ave to correct you on the trout though as to my knowledge they don't have annual runs. But salmon do and maybe Steelhead which is a kind of trout and now come to think of it Sea run cuthroat so you may be correct after all. Or maybe the whole thing is an enigma.

      Delete
    2. Not sure if you'll even see this, as this point, P'th, but I merely copied/pasted that info about the trout; I didn't make it up.

      Delete
    3. OK. They are called Searun Cutthroat trout- which migrate from rivers to sea and back-but Steelhead definitely to have suns- usually a winter run and then a summer one. I have caught like two in my life.

      Delete
    4. VT: your answer is very creative, but you vastly overestimate my abilities to craft a puzzle about animals, as my zoological knowledge stopped at pig Latin.

      Besides, there must be many enigmatic animals. I think pangolins are pretty cool, the only armor-plated mammals. Too bad so many people consider that armor plating as a cure-all.

      Delete
    5. Maybe armadillos are armor plated, but pangolins have scales.

      Delete
  15. Schpuzzle
    BOLO TIES, BOOTIES
    Appetizer Menu
    1. EASTBAY(East Bay)
    ATBAY(at bay)
    EEBAY(Ebay)
    OVEDAY(of day)
    ELKAY
    OVERPLAY
    OUTTRAY(out tray)
    2. CITIZEN KANE, KIT IS INSANE, CRAZY LIKE A FOX
    3. BLACKADDER, BLADDER
    4. GNU, NEW
    5. MARINE LE PEN, URSULA K. LE GUIN, PENGUIN
    Menu
    100×1/8=12.5
    Entrees
    1. BELCH, HUMAN, JIFF, JEFF BALCH
    2. BROWN, WORM
    3. BELLOW, YELLOW, BLEW, BLUE(BABE THE BLUE OX)
    4. QUACK, DUCK, BUCK
    5. CROW, ROOSTER, BROWN
    6. GROWL, BROWN
    Dessert
    GOLD RUSH QUEEN, OPERA, SQUARE PEG, ROUND HOLE
    (Looks like GB and I are the only ones to get that one. Too bad Entree #7 seemed to stump everyone.)
    Masked Singer Results:
    SPACE BUNNY, TEAM CUDDLY:
    SHAGGY
    QUEEN COBRAS, TEAM BAD:
    EN VOGUE
    Next week, all the TEAM GOOD contestants will battle it out amongst each other. Same Pat time, same Pat channel!-pjb

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

    Schpuzzle of the Week:
    Dadswear and toddlerduds
    Name things men wear, in two words.
    Delete the third letter and the space to name things babies wear.
    What are these two wearables?
    Answer:
    Bolo ties, booties

    Appetizer Menu
    Econfusingly Beastly Appetizer:
    Animal Enigmagnetism
    BEAST PUZZLES
    1. What do the following animals have in common: bat, bee, dove, elk, plover, and trout? As far as we know these are the only animals with this quality. And how is this related to the title?
    Answer:
    If you say them in pig Latin you get a word or phrase found in Merriam-Webster’s, or a well-known company.
    bat = at bay
    bee = Ebay
    dove = of day (though that isn't found by itself, but is with "time of day" or" in the cold light of day")
    elk = Elkay, you might not know this company, but if you ever used a drinking fountain it's very possibly an Elkay.
    plover = overplay
    trout = out tray (primarily British)
    (Note: I call the tough-to-crack puzzle below a “beast” of a puzzle, as “beast” in pig Latin is “Easy Bay.”)
    ANIMAL CRACKERS

    2. Spoonerize the two words of a well-known movie and the result will be a (not well-known) 3-word phrase that might describe the state of a young animal, which is related to a well-known 4-word phrase. What is the movie, and what are the 3-word and 4-word phrases?
    Answer:
    Citizen Kane => Kit is insane, Crazy Like a Fox.

    IN MY (BEAN) SOUP
    3. Remove the 3rd, 4th, and 5th letters (or the 4th, 5th, and 6th letters) from the name of an animal and the result will be a body part. What is the animal, what is the body part?
    Answer:
    Bl(ack) Adder => bladder
    (Rowan Atkinson played the title roles in the British sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean.)

    MONKEYS AND RABBITS
    4. The homonym of a certain animal is a common word, and the two words contain only one letter in common. What is the animal and what is the word?
    Answer:
    Gnu, knew

    LOOP THE LOOP(Y)
    5. Divide the last name of a recently topical European politician’s last name into its two syllables. Place the first syllable before 4 letters and the result is the last name of a well-known author. Place the second syllable before the same 4 letters and the result is an animal with a relationship to the author. Who are the politician and the author, and what is the animal?
    Answer:
    Marine Le Pen => Ursula Le Guin, penguin. Penguin, Penguin Books (UK), and Penguin Random House have published Le Guin's books; and her novel Left Hand of Darkness is part of the Penguin Galaxy box set of 6 sci-fi classics, completing the loop. And Marine Le Pen sure seems loopy.

    Lego...

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

    MENU
    Fractious Slice:
    Numerator know-how, denominator dominance
    Eighth-graders all know that one half of one quarter equals one eighth.
    But do they know that one half of one quarter also equals one hundred eighths?
    If you were their teacher how would you explain this paradox to them?
    Answer:
    One half of one quarter equals one eighth, of course, because two times one eighth equals one quarter.
    One half of one quarter (when the "quarter" is a coin) equals twelve-and-a-half cents. Twelve-and-a-half is equal to one-hundred eighths.

    Riffing Off Shortz And Balch Slices:
    Oinkomatopinka!
    ENTREE #1
    Name a sound made by a certain animal. The animal begins with an “h”. Change the vowel in the sound to the previous vowel of the alphabet (u becomes o, o becomes i, etc.), and you’ll get a the surname of a puzzle-maker who is the type of animal beginning with an “h”.
    Now name an informal word for a very short period of time... like the time it will take most puzzle-solvers to solve this Entree #1. Change the vowel in it to the previous vowel of the alphabet (u becomes o, o becomes i, etc.), and you’ll get a the first name of that same puzzle-maker.
    What’s the animal, the sound made by the animal, the informal word for the short period of time, and the name of the puzzle-maker?
    Answer:
    Human; belch; jiff; Jeff Balch
    Note: The following NPR riff-off Entree was composed and contributed by our friend Plantsmith, whose “Garden of Puzzley Delights” puzzle feature appears regularly on Puzzleria!
    ENTREE #2
    Think of a color of an animal and its environment. This animal, as far as we know, does not make any sound. Drop the first letter of the color and move the last letter one place earlier in alphabet stream. Then mix the result to get this suppoesedly silent animal.
    What is this animal. What color is it and its environment?
    Answer:
    Worm, brown
    Brown=>rown=>rowm=>Worm.
    ENTREE #3
    Name a sound made by a certain animal. (The sound has thrice as many letters as the animal.)
    Change the first letter in the sound to the letter that is the same distance from the middle of the alphabet (A=Z, B=Y, C=X, etc.). You’ll get a color, but not one that is really associated with the animal.
    However, a color associated with one of these animals (one that became a legend) is a homophone of the word formed from the first, third, second and sixth letters of the sound made by the animal.
    What is this animal?
    What are the sound associated with the animal and the color NOT associated with the animal?
    What’s the color that IS associated with the legendary animal, and its homophone?
    Answer:
    Ox; bellow, yellow; Blue (Babe the Blue Ox); "blew" (BELloW)
    ENTREE #4
    Write in lowercase a sound made by an animal. Delete its middle letter.
    Invert its first letter by rotating it around either its x or z axis. The result will be spell either one of two animals, depending on which axis you used. One of the animals makes the sound you started with; the other does not.
    What is the sound? What are the two animals?
    Answer:
    quack; duck (x-axis rotation), buck (y-axis rotation)

    Lego...

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  18. This week's official answers for the record, part 3:
    ENTREE #5
    Name a sound (which is also the name of a noisy bird) made by a certain animal (which is another noisy bird). Change the first letter in this sound to the previous letter of the alphabet and delete its last letter, and you’ll get a color that animal often is. What’s the sound, what’s the animal and what’s the color?
    Hint: The “certain animal” which is also a bird begins with the ending of a “Down Under” critter and ends with the ending of a laboratory critter.
    Answer:
    Crow; rooster (kangaROO+hamSTER); brown
    ENTREE #6
    Name a sound made by a canine animal. Change its first letter to the letter five places later in the alphabet and change its last letter to the letter two places later in the alphabet. You’ll get a color associated with that animal. What’s the sound, and what’s the color?
    Answer:
    Growl, brown
    ENTREE #7
    Name a sound made by a certain animal that begins with the same two letters of that sound. Change one letter in the sound to the letter four places later in the alphabet, and you’ll get a word for the fluffy, downy soft hair, or pile, that covers the round body of this animal.
    What’s the sound, and what’s word for the fluffy body cover of the animal?
    What is the animal?
    Answer:
    Buzz; Fuzz; Bumblebee

    Dessert Menu
    Idiomatic Dessert:
    A gal of the olden Golden West
    Take three words associated with Nellie Cashman, according to the title of a biography. Also take one word associated with Giacomo Puccini’s “The Girl of the Golden West.”
    Rearrange the eighteen letters in these four words to spell two pairs of words that appear together in a common idiom.
    What are these eight words – these four of a kind and two pair?
    Answer:
    Gold Rush Queen, Opera; Square Peg, Round Hole;
    (Nellie Cashman was known as the "GOLD RUSH QUEEN"; Puccini’s "The Girl of the Golden West" is an OPERA about the Gold Rush.)

    Lego!

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  19. I think it's really cool that the appetizer #1 fit well with the last two weeks of NPR puzzles (pink/ oink vs "Pig" Latin), and that Latin was the language of ancient Rome (xlvii). For the record I had written these earlier, and Joe moved them up on the schedule, the timing was perfect.

    To top it all off, the answer to Final Jeopardy tonight was "What is Citizen Kane?", matching Appetizer #2.

    Good or bad omens?

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  20. I would say the Universe is falling into place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I fear you're right. Well, we've had a good run.

      Delete