Creative Cryptic Chrysopoeia; Proactivity and the proper noun; Alphabetical ordinality ranking; Sweetly docile vs. creepily hostile; Composition and misconception; “The same heart beats in every human breast”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Proactivity and the proper noun

Name a two-word strategy that promotes health proactively. 

Replace the first syllable of the first word with a common preposition, forming a new word. 

Replace the second word with a proper noun that rhymes with it; this proper noun is the surname of a famous American that the new word describes. 

What are this strategy, new word and famous American?

 Appetizer Menu

Heavenly 37th “Crypt-Cross” Appetizer:

Creative Cryptic Chrysopoeia

Welcome to Patrick J. Berry’s cryptic crossword puzzle, the 37th one that we have presented on Puzzleria!

Two clues in this, his latest masterpiece sum up the artistry of Patrick’s cryptic oeuvre on our blog, and our appreciation of it:

3 DOWN: Difficulties of transporting gold in big trucks(6)

Well, Patrick (also known by his screen name “cranberry”) experiences no difficulties whatsoever in “mining” cryptic crossword gold from his creative cranium, and delivering it to us by the “Cyber-Brinks Truckload!”  

24 ACROSS: Kept going—and I mean it!(10)

Yes, Patrick... we all want you to “keep going!” Keep on creating your “classic crypticological gold” – alchemist-like! – and delivering it to us... and we mean it!

You can access Patrick’s previous 36 cryptic crosswords by opening the links below:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 

For those who may be new to cryptic crossword puzzles, Patrick has compiled the following list of basic cryptic crossword puzzle instructions:

Regarding the Across and Down clues and their format:

The number, or numbers, that appear in parentheses at the end of each clue indicate how many letters are in the answer.

Multiple numbers in parentheses indicate how letters are distributed in multiple-word answers. 

For example, (9) simply indicates a nine-letter word like “cranberry,” (7,9) indicates a seven-letter and nine-letter answer like “cryptic crossword,” and (4-9) indicates a four-letter and nine-letter hyphenated answer like “head-scratcher.”

For further insight about how to decipher these numbered cryptic clues, see Patrick’s “Cryptic Crossword Tutorial” in this link to his
November 2017 cryptic crossword. 

That Tutorial appears below the grid that contains the answers in that edition of Puzzleria! 

Taking that tutorial will help train you to tackle Patrick’s playfully-wordy-thirty-seventh-heavenly-elliptic-cryptic-crossword!

Enjoy! 

ACROSS

1. See 7 Down

8. Leading man’s trouble coming back after catcall(4)

9. Where one may cross line, getting rejected—ultimate kick in the teeth, perhaps(10)

10. Kitty takes second job(4)

11. Was bragging about day being full(7)

13. Tops—those of a bigger size, we hear(6)

15. Some minor dictator from Scandinavia?(6)

16. Comic strip was bad back then, came off a little exuberant(6,3,6)

17. Train, then get uniform for team(6)

19. Tools a new surgeon shouldn’t use
working?(6)

20. Sorted out with first freeze’s thaw(7)

21. Last mention of old routine?(4)

24. Kept going—and I mean it!(10)

25. Dizzy Dean’s girl?(4)

26. Bloody hard playing in imperfect group using song by 13 Down(4,4,2)

DOWN

1. Save up to get a musical instrument(4)

2. Pickpocket has lost grip(4)

3. Difficulties of transporting gold in big trucks(6)

4. Right-wing website fellow possessing bit of whimsy, rather clever—getting his start, managed to keep name unknown(4,4,7)

5. To show or not to show?(6)

6. Mediocre actor needs repackaging(6-4)

7. 13 Down’s top act I’d see—works at it, surprisingly!(3,7,2,8)

11. Demanded decimal should be moved(7)

12. Give a little to old university having trouble with enrollment, initially(4,3)

13. Singer, one indeed changed by wealth(5,5)

14. Handy, or that is necessary primarily, in place of worship(10)

18. Recalled article about boy brought up near California(6)

19. While I pass around a certain type of cheese(6)

22. Close with some Indians in Oklahoma(4)

23. The first place and the last place in one’s house?(4)

MENU

Rank-And-File Hors d’Oeuvre:

Alphabetical ordinality ranking

Spell out a letter of the alphabet. Remove one of its letters. 

The result sounds like the spelled-out letter’s ordinal rank in the alphabet. What are this letter and its rank in the alphabet?

Piano Playtime Slice:

Composition and misconception

Remove the first and fifth letters from the title of a well-known piano composition, leaving a verb and small creatures. 

Although these creatures don’t move by means of this verb, some people nevertheless harbor the false notion that they do. 

What is composition title? 

What are the small creatures and the verb?

Riffing Off Shortz And Schwartz Slices:

“The same heart beats in every human breast”

Will Shortz’s November 17th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Michael Schwartz of Florence, Oregon, reads:

Think of a classic American author whose first and last names are each one syllable. 

The last name, when said aloud, sounds like part of the body. 

Insert the letters “A” and “S” into the first name and you have the location of this body part. Who is the author?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Schwartz Slices read:

ENTREE #1

Think of a classic British author whose first and last names are each one syllable. The last name is also a four-footed creature that, when the initial letter is lowercased, looks like a word for one metrical foot – a word that has all lowercase letters except for its first letter. 

Now take the first and last names of an American puzzle-maker. 

The third, fourth, fifth, thirteenth, seventh, sixth and eighth letters spell the first name of the British author. 

The seventh, fifth and first letters spell a word that is a homophone of the four-footed creature. The sixth, seventh, second and fifth letters spell a nickname of this British author.

Who is this British author, nickname, and American puzzle-maker?

What is the homophone of the four-footed creature?

What is the word for one metrical foot?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the handiworkmanlike wordplay of our friend Nodd, Riffmeister. 

ENTREE #2

Take the first and last names of a famous American author. Add an “I.” Rearrange the result to spell two body parts and an unpleasant bodily sensation that might result if either part makes forceful contact with a hard surface. 

Who is the author, what are the two body parts, and what is the unpleasant sensation?

ENTREE #3

Take the last name of a famous American author. Remove the fifth and sixth letters. Rearrange the result to spell a body part and an affliction that may cause the body part to become sore and inflamed. Who is the author, and what are the body part and the affliction?

EXTRA CREDIT: Add two “E”s to the two letters you removed to spell a second body part. What is it?

ENTREE #4

Take the first and last names of a famous American author. Add an “S.” 

Rearrange the result to spell a two-word phrase describing a condition that may cause a loosening of the skin. Who is the author and what is the two-word phrase?

ENTREE #5

Take the first and last names of an American
poet. Double  the last letter of the last name. Rearrange the result to spell two body parts that are located near one another, and an abbreviated term for someone who attends to people’s body parts. Who is the poet, and what are the two body parts and the abbreviated term?

ENTREE #6

The last name of a British author of the past sounds like a bodily affliction. 

Who is the author and what is the affliction? 

ENTREE #7

Take the last name of the pen name of a famous author.  Remove the fourth letter. 

Add a four-letter word for a deep black color.
Rearrange all of the letters to spell a body part. 

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

ENTREE #8

Using a pencil, write down in six uppercase letters the name of a fist-sized interior organ of the human body. 

Erase the third letter and rewrite it in lowercase. 

Erase the fourth and sixth letters. Rewrite the sixth letter in the space vacated by the fourth letter. 

The result looks like a word for a second body part that abuts the first body part via a vertebra.

What are these two body parts?

ENTREE #9

Think of an American actor who portrayed Teddy Roosevelt in film. This actor also starred in a 1960s sitcom that had the same title as a 1970s hit song by Sly and the Family Stone. 

Rearrange the letters of this actor’s first name to name a body part.

Replace the second letter of his surname with an “n” and rearrange the result to name what people do with this body part.

Who is this actor? 

What is the body part and what do people do with it? 

Dessert Menu

Stephen Kingly Dessert:

Sweetly docile vs. creepily hostile

Spoonerize the two syllables of a word in a Stephen King title. 

The result is a kind of sweetly docile mammal and a kind of  creepy hostile bird. 

What are this title, mammal and bird?

Every Thursday 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 hintsabout 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.