Presenting “The Good Puzzlekeeping Nodd Of Approval” "Horsehide of a Different Color?" The most serpentine season? “Oz, Id... Iz there also a ‘Wizard of Ca?’” One or more continental creatures “Can you describe the man who mugged you, Ma’am?”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

National Pastels Pastime Schpuzzle of the Week:

“A Horsehide of a Different Color?”

“Many major league baseball clubs paid hearty sums of cash, each hoping to lure a free-agent star to perform on its ballpark’s diamond.”

Identify two things of one color and two things of another color within the sentence above when it is spoken aloud.

Appetizer Menu

Presenting The “Good Puzzlekeeping Nodd Of Approval” Appetizer:

Poetry & politics, Artists singing, Spice girl, Slippery city slickers, Capital In disorder, Anna Graham’s Poetry Corner

Poetry and politics

1. 🕮Think of the two-word name of a poem about the end of the world. 

Remove the space between the words and change an “E” to an “L.” 

Rearrange to spell the last name of a former
UK Prime Minister. 

What is the poem? 

Who is the former Prime Minister?

Artists breaking into song

2. 🎜🎝Think of two popular American performing artists. 

The first one performs under a two-word stage name. 

The second one performs using just their given first name. 

Place the first word in the stage name of the
first artist in front of the stage name of the second artist to get a two-word title of a familiar song by a beloved musical group. 

Who are the two artists, and what is the song? 

Spice Girl

3. 🍷Think of a seasoning.  Divide it into three words to describe what a store might do if a young female parent were purchasing a bottle of wine there. What is the spice, and what might the store do? 

Slippery city slickers

4. 🦅Guess the US cities from the descriptions provided below, some of which may be phonetic.  (Disclaimer: May contain bad puns; reader discretion is advised). As compensation for some of the puns, the geographical area in which each city is located is provided.

a. Refreshment for one-time veep candidate. (Southeast)

b. Falsely inculpating sandwich ingredient. (New England)

c. Fictional web designer. (Southeast)

d. More’n just friends. (Midwest)

e. Advise deceptions. (Midwest)

f. Mr. Gore, plus a kind of fish. (Northeast)

g. Joinin’ together, as in a chain. (Great Plains)  

h. Popular toothpaste, pluralized. (Midwest) 

i. An open, isolated area filled with bed components. (Midwest)

j. Iron a temporary bed to remove wrinkles. (Southwest)

k. Benevolent order member, plus a male deer. (Midwest)

A Capital in disorder

5. 🗺.Take the name of a US state capital. 

Remove the first letter and change a vowel to the vowel preceding it in the alphabet. Rearrange to get a mental disorder that most commonly affects adolescents and young adults. What are the capital and the disorder? 

Poetry Corner, with Anna Graham

6. 📖Complete the poem by supplying words, anagrams of one another, to fill in the blank spaces:

The bishops, in their _______ clad

May urge the ______ of a life

In which no sin is ever had.

But those attuned to daily strife –

Each one of whom ______ his due –

Wish bishops would to ______ hew.

MENU

“Simbovine” Hors d’Oeuvre:

The most serpentine season?

The month of March, they say, comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

But which season is it that is most like a
venomous viper?

Why? (Or, in other words, justify your answer.)

“Stagnation” Slice:

One or more continental creatures

(Note: There is an interesting “backstory” to this puzzle... More about that on Wednesday.)

Name a nation that sounds like the plural form and singular form of two similar creatures that are native to the same continent. 

(Note: The nation that sounds like the two similar “common-continent” creatures is in a continent that is different from the continent that is common to the creatures. 

What are this nation, these two creatures, and the continent associated with the two creatures?

Riffing Off Shortz And Aaronson Slices:

“Oz, Id... Iz there also a ‘Wizard of Ca?’”

Will Shortz’s July 28th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Adam Aaronson of Deerfield, Illinois , reads:

Think of a classic movie title in which the initials of all the words up to the last one, in order, spell the number of letters in that last word. The number of words in the title is for you to discover. What film is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Aaronson Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Think of a puzzle-maker, first and last names. One letter appears four times in the name. Remove half of these quadruplicate letters.

Anagram the remaining letters to spell the name of a popular singer and an abbreviation
associated with this singer’s performances.

Who is the puzzle-maker?

Who is the singer?

What is the abbreviation, and what does it stand for?

Note: Entrees #2 through #8 were created and contributed by our friend Nodd, whose “Nodd ready for prime time” feature also appears, above, in this very edition of Puzzleria!

ENTREE #2

Think of a classic movie title from the 1950s. 

The initial letters of the second, third, and first words, in that order, spell the number of letters in the first word. 

What film is it?

ENTREE #3

Think of a classic movie title from the 1970s. 

The third letter of the title is the total number of letters in the title. 

What film is it?

Hint: The third and fourth letters of the title, together, are the total number of letters in the name of the actress who had “second billing” in the film’s credits.

ENTREE #4

Think of a classic movie from the 1940s. 

The initial letters of the words in the title anagram to a word for a kind of cry. 

The last letters of the words, in order, anagram to a word that rhymes with the word for a cry but means a kind of monetary transaction. 

The number of words in the title is the same as the number of letters in the last word of the title. 

The first syllable of the third word of the title sounds like the number of letters in the second word. 

What film is it?

ENTREE #5

Think of a classic movie title from the 1950s. 

The initial letters of the words in the title, in order, spell a number. 

That number is one less than the number of letters in the first word of the title. 

It is also one less than the total number of words in the title. 

And the last word of the title is a number that is two less than the number of letters in the first word. 

What film is it?

ENTREE #6

Think of a classic movie from the 1950s. The first word of the title is also the number of letters in the second word. The first and second words start with the same letter. 

What film is it?

ENTREE #7 

Think of the title of a classic movie that was made and remade numerous times over the years. 

The second word in the movie title is the number of letters in the first word of the title and is also the number of words in the title. 

What film is it?

ENTREE #8 

Think of a classic movie title from the 1960s. The last word in the title is one less than the total number of letters in the title. 

What film is it?

Note: Entree #9 is the brainchild of our friend Plantsmith, whose “Garden Of Puzzley Delights” has long been a popular, yet ever-challenging, mainstay on our blog – Puzzleria!

ENTREE #9 

Mix up the initials of a “road movie” to get a synonym of “held his horses.”

What are this movie’s title and the “horse-holding” synonym?

ENTREE #10

Think of a classic two-word movie title in which the two initials, when spoken aloud, sound like a five-letter adjective. 

This movie is widely considered one of the greatest films ever, and was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” 

However, when this movie became eligible to be nominated for an Oscar, it came up _____ !

What is this movie title?

What adjective belongs in the blank?

ENTREE #11

Think of a classic two-word movie title in which the initials, in order, spell an abbreviation for
where in a hospital “Hog-drivers” Wyatt, Billy, and George might have gone earlier so as to avoid being “late.” 

What is this movie title?

Where in a hospital might Wyatt, Billy, and George have gone?

ENTREE #12

Take the initial letters of a classic five-word classic film title. 

Move the fourth and fifth letters into the first and second positions, followed by a space. 

Now, place a series of numerals, one at a time, at the end – an 8, a 19, a 23, and a 24 – followed by an “=”. The four results that follow the “=” are:

8: a sol-fa syllable,

19: a Latin word preceding an anagram of the missing English words in the phrase “Sad, ___ ____,”

23: a Roman numeral whose value is a square, and

24: the initials of a puzzle-blogger.

What film is it?

What are the syllable, Roman numeral, Latin word, and the puzzle-blogger’s initials?

ENTREE #13

Take the initial letters of a classic five-word movie title. Place at the end a two-letter pronoun that precedes “...Left Foot” or “...Dinner With Andre” in two other classic movies. 

The final result is the first word in a 1950s
American courtroom drama film.

What five-word movie is it?

What is the two-letter pronoun?

What is the 1950s American courtroom drama film?

ENTREE #14

Think of a classic film that has been preserved in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” 

The initial letters of the four words in its title, in order, spell “when the morning ends and the afternoon begins.”

What film is it?

When does the morning end and afternoon begin?

ENTREE #15

Think of a classic 1950s novella by an American writer. Replace the last word with a synonym. The initials of all the words in this revised title, in order, spell a natural food. 

What is the title of this novella?

What is the synonym?

What food is it?

Dessert Menu

Adjectival Dessert:

“Can you describe the man who mugged you, Ma’am?”

“Can you describe the man who mugged you, Ma’am?” 

Rearrange the combined letters of two adjectives that are antonyms to spell an adjective that often describes a criminal and an adjective that never describes a criminal. 

What are these four adjectives?

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.