One brand, two businesses; PeRSOnaliTY becomes SPORTY; UK exports prestige U.S.tateside; Lifestyles of the rich & nameless? Classic car, contemporary character; Syllabifispoonerization! “Enlightenment, Camera, Action!” Jacks & Jills & Jangly Jingoism; Santo... No, Placido Domingo! Cosmic clouds, neutron stars, pseudonyms!

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Enlightenment, Camera, Action!”

Name two title characters in a 1600’s tragedy and one title character in a 1700’s tragedy.

Rearrange these 21 letters to spell: 

~ the nationality of the latter author; 

~ a one-word synonym of “staged production,”

~ a two-word part of the 1700’s tragedy –a part that begins and ends in a palace, and

~ the fourth and fifth words of a soliloquy penned by the author of the 1600’s tragedy.

What are the two tragedies, nationality, synonym, part of the 1700’s tragedy, and two soliloquy words?

Appetizer Menu

Conundrumbstrik!ng Appetizer:

One brand, two businesses; PeRSOnaliTY becomes SPORTY; Britain exports prestige U.S.tateside; Lifestyles of the rich and nameless? Classic car, contemporary character

One brand, two businesses 

1. 🚗🚆🚌Think of a famous international brand (8 letters) that promotes two completely separate businesses. 

One may help you choose where you want to go and the other may help you get there. 

What are they?

PeRSOnaliTY becomes SPORTY 

2. ⚾🏈Think of the last name of a well-known 20th-century TV personality. 

Rearrange it to form a familiar acronym. Then delete a letter from the acronym and rearrange it to form a common sports word. 

Identify all three – the TV person, the acronym, and the sports word.

UK exports prestige U.S.tateside

3. 💂Name a prestigious segment of British society. 

Drop a letter and rearrange to discover a familiar name. It’s the first name of one famous
entertainer and the last name of another. 

Name the Brits and the entertainers.

Lifestyles of the rich and nameless?

4.👂One has a certain lifestyle, the other is an item most likely used by someone with an entirely different lifestyle. 

They have three consecutive letters in common and are a whisper away from being homophones. 

What are they?

Classic car, contemporary character

5. 🚘A classic old car and a modern movie character are called by the same five-letter
name. 

What is it?

MENU

Treacherous Aquatic Creature Hors d’Oeuvre:

Syllabifispoonerization!

Spoonerize the two syllables of a healthy food to get a body of water and what sounds like a hazardous-to-your-health creature that may be
swimming in it. 

What are this food, water and swimmer?

Uphill-Climb Slice?:

Jacks & Jills & Jangly Jingoism

Name something “jacks and jills” may do during a competitive event, and two things spectators at the event may do. 

Rearrange the letters of these three verbs to spell an American symbol. 

What are these verbs and symbol?

Riffing Off Shortz and Reiss Entrees:

Santo... No, Placido(!) Domingo!

This week’s MPR challenge puzzle comes from Mike Reiss, who’s a showrunner, writer, and producer for “The Simpsons.” 

Think of a famous living singer. The last two letters of his first name and the first two letters of his last name spell a bird. Change the first letter of the singer's first name. Then the first three letters of that first name and the last five letters of his last name together spell another bird. What singer is this?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Think of a famous living singer. Slip the penultimate letter of his surname into the penultimate position of his first name.

The letters of the result, in order, spell a lake in the Adirondacks, the name of a board game, and a “pippy” wooden or plastic rectangular game piece.

Who is this singer?

What are the lake, board game and game piece? 

ENTREE #2

Take a puzzle-maker, first and last names, and the first names of two children he helped “bring to life.” 

Rearrange these 17 letters to spell, in three words, any single instance of various attacks that often involved Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen targeting Saudi Arabia/Israel or Iranian forces, particularly since the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.

Who is this puzzle-maker and what are the names of “his two children?”

Name this three-word term.

(Note: Entrees # 3 through #8 were composed by our friend Nodd.)

ENTREE #3

Think of a famous living singer. 

Remove one letter from his first name and three letters from his last name to spell the name of a bird. 

Who is the singer and what is the bird?

ENTREE #4

Think of a famous deceased singer and remove one letter from her last name. 

The rest of her last name, followed by the first name of a living male singer who was part of a famous duo, will spell a bird. Who are the singers and what is the bird?

ENTREE #5

Think of a famous living singer. 

Change the second letter of her first name to the letter four places later in the alphabet and remove the last letter to spell a word for something relating to birds. 

Move the second letter of her last name to the end to spell a kind of bird. 

Who is the singer and what are the word relating to birds and the kind of bird?

ENTREE #6

Think of a famous living singer. Change the last letter of her last name to the letter two places earlier in the alphabet. The first two letters of her first and last names, plus the new last letter of her last name, spell a bird. The last syllable of the bird is a sound made by this and other birds. 

Who is the singer, and what are the bird and the sound?

ENTREE #7

Think of a famous deceased British singer. Four consecutive letters of his last name spell a bird. 

His complete last name, followed by the first
two letters of the first name of a famous living British singer, spell a younger bird of the same kind. 

Who are the singers and what are the birds?

ENTREE #8

Think of a famous deceased singer. 

The first two letters of her first name, followed by the first letter of her last name, spell a bird.
The last two letters of her first name, followed by the first three letters of her last name plus the fifth letter of her last name, spell where people often go to see birds. 

Who is the singer, what is the bird, and where do people go?

(Note: Entree # 9 was composed by our friend Plantsmith.)

ENTREE #9

Anagram the letters of an American band to get a bird. Then change the first letter in the first  name of the band’s lead singer to get another bird. 

Finally, change an “a” to an “o” in the last syllable of the singer’s surname to get where
either of these birds may be found.

What is this band?

Who is its lead singer?

What are these two birds, and where might you might find them?

ENTREE #10

Swap the first letter of the first name of a famous living singer with the first two letters of his surname. Insert a space someplace within his altered surname, forming a verb and object of that verb.

His altered first name has become a kind of tree.

The 6-letter verb and 4-letter object describe how this singer would transport his adolescent daughter (a member of the United States Equestrian Team) to equestrian workouts and international competitions to prepare for the Team Jumping Competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in 2021 in Tokyo (at which she received a Silver Medal).

Who is this singer?

What are the kind of tree, the 6-letter verb and 4-letter object?

Dessert Menu

Geopolitical Dessert:

Cosmic clouds, neutron stars, pseudonyms!

Anagram a two-word geopolitical phrase coined by a writer of fiction who went by a pseudonym. You might well come up with the two-word name of a neutron star within the cosmic cloud, and a bodily sensation that the first word in the star might cause. 

What are the phrase, two-word star, and bodily sensation?

Hint: The bodily sensation is not pleasurable... unless you are a masochist.

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 hints about the puzzles. We serve up at least one fresh puzzle every Thursday.

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.

“Love Tennyson, Anyone?” Leave Casino, see no cash! “Funnin’” turns to Fumin’?” “Great puzzle, Gratefully...?” Diana’s Dresser Drawers; Equine herds, caseous curds and other “spoony” words

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“Love Tennyson, Anyone?”

Rearrange the combined letters of two numbers associated with tennis to spell a description of Margaret Thatcher. 

What are these numbers and description?

Appetizer Menu

Skydiversionary Appetizer:

Equine herds, caseous curds & other “spoony” words

“Horse Play”

1. 🐎Think of a famous American playwright. Spoonerize his name to indicate where one
might go in order to obtain something equestrian. 

“Adamant Edam?”

2. 🎥🧀Think of a famous movie actor who dominated a genre.

Spoonerize his name to describe a cheese that might be difficult to manage.

“Smiley Spoonerizing”

3. Think of a famous British actress who recently passed. 

Spoonerize her name to get a description of
her that in no way applies, but may make you smile a bit.

“Lascivious Spooning?”

4. Spoonerize the name of a famous British actor to describe someone who has a lascivious face....

Oh, and say the name of another famous male British actor to describe a group of male prostitutes.

MENU

 Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Funnin’” turns to Fumin’?”

Name a two-word term for “make fun of.” Change an “o” to an “e”. 

Rearrange these five letters to name a possible reaction to being made fun of. Delete a letter from that reaction and rearrange to spell an even more intense reaction to being made fun of. 

What are these four words?

Rolling The Merchan“dice” Slice:

Diana’s Dresser Drawers

Purchases from a merchant are stored in Diana’s dresser drawers. 

Double a letter in the name of this merchant to name any resident of one particular U.S. state. 

Who are this merchant and resident? 

Riffing Off Shortz And Gori Entrees:

Leave Casino, see no cash!

Will Shortz’s November 30th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Al Gori ofCozy Lake, New Jersey, reads:

 Name a place where games are played. Move the last two letters to the beginning. Change the new last letter to an “h”. The result, sadly, is what you might have when you leave this place. 

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Gori Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Take the first name of a wealthy “Fiddler on the Roof” butcher surnamed Wolf; the first name of a “Yankee” who became the namesake of a bear; and the surname of an “Enlightened father of liberalism.”

Rearrange these 14 letters to name a puzzle-maker and his hometown.

Who are this butcher, “Yankee” and “Enlightened father of liberalism?”

Who is the puzzle-maker? 

(Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are riffs created by Nodd, author of “Nodd ready for prime time.”)

ENTREE #2

Name a place where games, including baseball, are played. 

Remove the first letter and change the new second letter to an “E”. 

The result is a word some people associate with baseball. 

What are the place and the word?

ENTREE #3

Name a place where games are played. It may be inside or outside. 

Remove the first letter and read the result
backwards to get something you might hear at the place when games are being played there. 

What is the place and what might you hear?

ENTREE #4

Name a famous two-word place where games are played. 

Rearrange the first word to get what a participant might be after a game at this place.
Rearrange the second word to get what might cause the participant to be this way. 

What is the place, and what are the two words?

ENTREE #5

Name a past venue for games and other events. 

Consecutive letters in the name spell a career-ending event that might occur at this place. Remove those letters and replace one of the remaining letters with an “S”. 

Rearrange to spell something you might use to play games at home. 

What are the place, the event, and the thing you might use at home?

ENTREE #6

Name a place where various games are played. 

The word for this place is also the last name of
a competitor who won a record number of major titles in a sport played in this place. 

What is the place and who is the competitor?

ENTREE #7

Name some places where games and other competitions are held. 

Change the first letter and rearrange to spell the name of a team that plays at these places. What are the places and the team?

(Note: Entree #8 is a riff created by Plantsmith, author of “Garden of Puzzley Delights.”)

ENTREE #8

Take a place where games are played. Replace the last three letters with an adjective describing a fermented milk product. 

The result sounds like a game that might be played in this place.

What are this gaming place, game that might be played there, and adjective describing the fermented milk product?

ENTREE #9

Delete the first two letters of a place where games were played, beginning in the mid-1960s. Move the new first two letters to the end, with a duplicate of the original last letter between them. 

The result is a “mile-measurer.”

What are this place and this “mile-measurer?”

ENTREE #10

Name a two-word place where games are played. Rearrange its dozen letters to spell one of many a crackling roaring pregame bonfire pitched by sports fans in the parking lot of this place. 

What is this place?

What is one of many a crackling roaring pregame bonfire?

Dessert Menu

What The Puzzle Answer Might’ve Said Dessert:

“Great puzzle, Gratefully...?”

The name of the poet who is the answer to this puzzle can be anagrammed to spell what he might say to the author of this puzzle. Who is this poet and what might he say to the author of the puzzle?

Hint: The poet, alas, is deceased. So, he would not be able to say anything to the puzzle’s author. But what might the poet say if  he were still living? 

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 hints about the puzzles. We serve up at least one fresh puzzle every Thursday.

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.

3-Factorial Gordian-Knotty Enigmas; Cardiac Stress Fracture! “Was Millie a Meeter of Senta?” "Stir up some soup on the spur of the moment" “Gamboling, in love?”... or “Gambling on love?” Diplomas, degrees & deep pockets

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Cardiac Stress-fracture?

“Sal’s dear sister’s heart, alas, is rather stressed.”

What somewhat unusual property does that sentence (above, in red and blue) possess?

Note: This week’s Appetizers are the creative contributions of a valued friend of Puzzleria! who doubles as a justifiably vaunted puzzle-maker. 

Appetizer Menu

Appealing Pleasant Appetizers:

3-Factorial Gordian-Knotty Enigmas

A Substantial Subject Matter

1. 🧠Take a word for substance or subject. 

Change one letter to get a word for the environment in which a substance or subject can be evaluated and understood. 

What are those two words? 

An All-thumbs Author?

2. 👍👎In the novella “The Misadventure of the Keys,” the protagonist was to embark on an “ambitious” quest. 

However, a drafting error made the quest sound cryptic and mysterious. 

The author erred by striking adjacent keys for two consecutive letters on a standard keyboard, changing a “key” descriptive word for the adventure. 

What word did the author inadvertently substitute for “ambitious,” and how did that occur? 

Interjection Rejection

3. 🗺Name a country. Remove an interjection
and the space created by the removal. 

The result is the name of another country. 

What are the two countries? 

“Two’s company, three’s too LOUD!”

4. 🗽name a well known American company. The first three letters of the name, reversed, equal the last letter of the name. 

What is the company name?

(Note: The following is a riff of the October 12, 2025, NPR Challenge.)  

Messing with Endings of “Leading” Maintains its Sense

5. 👦Think of a word that means leading. 

Remove two letters at the end to make a term that means leading. 

Then change the letter at the end of the term to make a word that means leading. 

What words and term are these? 

Unsportsmanlike Conduct Penalty Puzzle

6. 👙Think of a two-word term (sometimes hyphenated, sometimes not) for an unsportsmanlike activity that is related to current sports news. 

Take the 12 letters in that term, and arrange them to describe a loss of part of the beachwear which is the subject of the October 23, 2025, Puzzleria! Schpuzzle. 

Then arrange those letters to get an unpleasant loss that could be associated with the unsportsmanlike activity or a pleasant loss experienced by a successful dieter). 

What are the activity, the description, and the losses? 

MENU

How Our Body Parts Measure Up Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Was Millie a Meeter of Senta?”

Name a four-letter body part with its letters in alphabetical order (like the three-letter body part “hip,” for example). 

Arrange the letters in this four-letter body part to spell a unit of length. 

Name another four-letter “alphabetically ordered” body part that can be arranged to spell a unit of length.

Wooing Or Wagering Slice:

Gamboling, in love... or gambling on love?

Madison Avenue envisions young couples – hand-in-hand, heart-and-heart – gamboling across glistening groomed grass, embracing within the embrace of a bracing breeze, and setting sail upon a lifelong journey together.

What plural two-word synonym of  “glistening groomed grass” – if you change an “a” to an “e” – is a one-word anagram of such couples?

Riffing Off Shortz And VanMechelen Entrees:

“Stir up some soup in the spur of the moment”

Will Shortz’s November 23rd NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Greg VanMechelen of Berkeley, California, reads:

Name some equipment an equestrian might use. Remove the second, third and fourth letters, and reverse those that remain. The result will be some more equipment an equestrian might use. What things are these?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And VanMechelen Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Write down the name of a puzzle-maker in 4 blanks  _ _ _ _, followed by 11 blanks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . Number them 1 through 15.

~ Blanks 6, 7, 4, 12 and 13 spell the second word in the nickname (“Wisconsin _ _ _ _ _”) of a Civil War-era nurse who organized relief for Wisconsin soldiers and their children during and after the Civil War.

~ Blanks 1, 9, 2, 8, 6 and 15 spell the ethnic heritage of many Wisconsinites, especially ofearly settlers in Milwaukee. 

~ Blanks 6, 7, 4, 13, 3 and 2 spell a common Wisconsin summertime sight along the shores of lakes and rivers.

~ Blanks 4, 6, 15, and 1 followed by 4, 2, 14, 12 and 15 spell a collective name for Green Bay Packer fans.

~ Blanks 10, 11, 9, 14, 5, 12 and 2 spell the surname of an American author who made a brief cameo appearance in the 1968 film adaptation of his short story “The Swimmer,” which is set in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What are the nickname, ethnic heritage, summertime sight, collective name for Green Bay Packer fans, and American author?

(Note: Appetizers #2 through #7 were created by Nodd, riffmeister-extraordinaire and author of “Nodd ready for prime time” on Puzzleria!)

ENTREE #2

Name something an equestrian might wear. 

Remove four letters and rearrange the
remaining letters to get something else an equestrian might wear. 

What things are these?

ENTREE #3

Name some equipment an equestrian might use. Between the first and second letters, insert the singular form of a brand of sneakers. The result will be something a horse might do unexpectedly because of perceived danger. What things are these?

ENTREE #4

Name some equipment an equestrian might use and remove the next-to-last  letter. 

Add, without a space, someone associated
with equestrianism. The result will name someone who might, in a while, be feeling “reined in.” 

What is the equipment and who are the two persons?

ENTREE #5

Think of a word for an event at which you might see a person referred to in the preceding Entree, #4. 

Change one letter of this word to name a piece of equipment you might use with horses. What are the event and the equipment?

ENTREE #6

Take the combined letters of two types of a piece of equestrian equipment. 

Remove one letter and change another to the letter two places later in the alphabet. Rearrange the resulting letters to spell a word for what you might hear around horses and the name of a horse ridden in the movies by actors such as John Wayne and Gregory Peck. 

What are the two types of equipment, the word for what you might hear around horses, and the name of the movie horse?

ENTREE #7

Think of a word for a kind of horse, a word for something racehorse breeders are concerned with, and a word for a piece of equipment that
may be attached to a horse collar, with the last letter removed. 

The resulting letters, in order and with one space inserted, spell the stage name of an actress who rode a horse in several movies. 

What are the three words and who is the actress?

ENTREE #8

Name two tools mountain climbers use, in seven and five letters. Add a pair of “e’s” into the mix. 

Rearrange the result to spell an afternoon snack you might enjoy and a musical, dramatic or cinematic performance where you might  enjoy it.

What are these tools?

What are the snack and where you might  enjoy it?

ENTREE #9

Name an eight-letter piece of equipment a lumberjack might use. 

Rearrange the letters to name the site of miracle that involved a mother’s hope and her son’s compliance. 

What is this equipment?

What is the miracle site?

What was the mother’s hope?

How did her son comply?

ENTREE #10

Take a two-word term for an “albacore, yellowfin, bluefin, bigeye and skipjack fanatic.” 

Move the space between the two words one place to the left. Spell the result backwards to
get a two-word term for an “albacore, yellowfin, bluefin, bigeye and skipjack fanatic.”

What are these two two-word terms for an “albacore, yellowfin, bluefin, bigeye and skipjack fanatic”?

Dessert Menu

Well-To-Do Dessert:

Diplomas, degrees & deep pockets

Spell in reverse a word for folks with diplomas and degrees. Insert a space someplace. The result sounds like a two-word description of rich people... many who are rich solely because they possess diplomas or degrees. What is this word for folks who have diplomas or degrees?

What are the two words that describe these folks?

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 hints about the puzzles. We serve up at least one fresh puzzle every Thursday.

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.