Thursday, March 6, 2025

“Fright Flick” = “Scary Movie”? “That’s just the way he rolls!” Marooned on a Zanzibar sandbar... with Barbra? Weasels & cats & synonyms, oh my! Gutfuls of Competitive Gluttony! Codes of etiquette & communication;

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe2 SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

“That’s just the way he rolls!” 

In linguistical chains I concatenate links:

“A creep sics canine carnivores on the forlorn!

Pray tell, why is he ‘rolling’ like this?

I wonder, though, if I’ve perhaps been
foresworn

With regard to false heavenly bliss.

There are eleven words in the intended answer, three of which are “in plain sight” within the italicized purple and blue text (including the word ‘rolling’ which appears to be the color grey.

What are these eleven words?

Appetizer Menu

Fractured Entertainment Titles Appetizer:

“Fright Flick” = “Scary Movie”? 

Listed below, our friend Jeff Zarkin has created a list of 25 “fractured entertainment titles” – that is, bogus substitute titles that hint at the real titles.

For examples:

“Patriotic Pastry” = “American Pie”

“Headwear High Card” = “Scarface”

“Rotten Cartonful” 

= “The Dirty Dozen”

“Locomotives Toking” 

= “Trainspotting”

“Weird Affection, M.D.” = “Dr. Strangelove”

“1,441 Minutes” = “The Longest Day”

But  enough of these mere “previews of coming attractions”... On to our main-event features!

1. “Greetings, Ms. Levi”

2. A-Listers Battle

3. Nucleosynthesis Begins

4. Mad Bird Abode

5. Coliseum Comedy

6. Stormy Weather

7. Royal Lecher

8. Harmonious Notes

9. Kens and Barbies

10. Mozart, Beethoven, Bach….Pick One

11. Changing Planes At Orly 

12. Blown Away 

13. Cleopatra

14. Asian Neighborhood 

15. Angry Bovine 

16. Mandibles 

17. Nice Guys 

18. Eternal Carbon Allotrope 

19. Limited Resurrection 

20. Missouri Rendezvous

21. Arson on Wheels 

22. Unknown Medic 

23. Scavenger Time

24. La Scala Haunted 

25. 11111010001

MENU

Hot Dogs, Oysters, Shortcake Hors d’Oeuvre:

Gutfuls of Competitive Gluttony!

In food-eating contests, competitors try to eat as much as they can within a fixed amount of time. 

Remove the first and fifth letters from a food they might eat to get a repeated cheer that might be heard from fans. 

What are this food and the cheer?

Transpositional Slice:

Codes of etiquette & communication 

Name an unwritten code of social behavior, norms and etiquette, in two syllables. 

Transpose its final two letters to spell a code that facilitates communication, in one syllable. 

What are these two codes?

Riffing Off Shortz And Burnside Entrees:

Moored on a sandbar in Zanzibar... with Barbra?

Will Shortz’s February 23rd NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Dennis Burnside of Lincoln, Nebraska, reads: 

Think of a famous singer and actress, first and last names, two syllables each. The second syllable of the last name followed by the first syllable of the first name spell something that can be dangerous to run into.
What is it?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Burnside Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Think of a puzzle-maker, first and last names, two syllables each. Use the 14 letters in those names to form the three missing words in the following sentence: 

“What those who have ______ carry around with them __ a _______ of guilt.” 

Who is this puzzle-maker? 

What are the words in the blanks? 

Enjoy the following six riffs, Entrees #2 through #7, penned by our good friend Nodd.

ENTREE #2 

Think of a famous singer and actress, first and last names, two syllables each. 

The second syllable of the last name, followed by the first syllable of the first name, sounds like something you should avoid running into at all costs. 

Who is the singer, and what should you avoid running into?

ENTREE #3

Think of a famous singer and actress of the past, first and last names, two syllables each. Change the last two letters of her first name to an S, and change the fifth letter of her last
name to a G. 

The modified last name, followed by the modified first name, spell what you may find yourself doing if you run into something while driving. 

Who is the singer, and what might you be doing?

ENTREE #4

Think of an American singer and songwriter. Her first name has two syllables and her last name has one. 

Move the first letter of her last name to the beginning of her first name, which will now spell something that can be dangerous to run into. 

Who is the singer and what can be dangerous to run into?

ENTREE #5

Think of the first and last names of a famous singer and actress. Her first name has three syllables and her last name has two. 

The first three letters of her first name, read
backwards and followed by the first three letters of her last name, describe something you should never do while driving. 

Who is the singer, and what should you not do?

ENTREE #6

Think of the first and last names of a famous singer. Her first name has two syllables and her last name has one. 

Switch the fourth and sixth letters of her first
name and double what is now the fourth letter. The singer’s last name, followed by the last five letters of her first name as modified and read backwards, spell something that would be dangerous to run into if you were driving in the U.K. 

Who is the singer, and what would be dangerous to run into?

ENTREE #7

Think of the first and last names of a famous singer of the past. Her first name has two syllables and her last name has three. Insert a T at the end of her first name. The last syllable
of her first name as modified, followed by the first syllable of her last name, spell something you may need to do if you run into something while driving. 

Who is the singer, and what might you need to do?

Entree #8 is another terrific riff created by our good friend Plantsmith.

ENTREE #8

Think of a well-known singer/actress, two syllables each in the first and last names. 

Put the second syllable of first name in front of
second syllable of last name to get what sounds like something you might find on a trip to Hawaii.

Now put the first syllable of last name in front of first syllable of first name to get what sounds like a word for a rough-and-tumble brawl.

Who is this singer/actress?

What is something you might find on a trip to Hawaii?

What is a word for a rough-and-tumble brawl?

Entrees #9 and #10 are bonus riffs designed by our good friend Greg VanMechelen, also known as Ecoarchitect.

ENTREE #9

Think of a famous singer, first and last names, two syllables each. 

The first syllable of the last name followed by the second syllable of the first name sounds like something that can be dangerous to run into, “if youse knows what I mean.” 

What is it?

ENTREE #10

Name a American singer, songwriter, and television personality. 

The first half of the first name plus the first four letters of the surname sound like either a playful or mischievous trick or the edible young berry of a Mediterranean shrub. The remaining part of the surname plus the second half of the first name sound like a friendly fictional non-earthling.

Who are this singer, trick-or-eat, and non-Earthling?

ENTREE #11

Name a Black actor associated with white flowers. Write his surname to the left of his first name. 

Remove the first three letters from both names. The result is the surname of an actress who was first-named after a beloved uncle. Anagram the combined letters of that first name and the six letters you removed from the actor’s name to spell:

* a the name of a judge associated with the Old Testament of the Bible and with Rocky Raccoon, AND

* a four-letter abbreviation of any one of the New Testament books written to Romans, Galatians, Corinthians, Colossians, Thessalonians , etc. etc. etc.

Who are this actor and actress?

Who is the judge associated with the Old Testament of the Bible and with Rocky Raccoon?

What is the four-letter abbreviation of any one of the New Testament books written to Romans, Galatians, etc.?

ENTREE #12

Name an actor who is one of three “Special Ambassadors to Hollywood.” Replace the fourth letter of his surname with the last letter of his
first name. 

Divide this altered surname in half. Switch the order of the two halves. This altered, divided, reversed surname implies that this “Special Ambassador” hails from Texas (even though he actually hails form New York).

Who is this actor?

What is his surname... after alteration, division and reversal?

ENTREE #13

Name an actor who has appeared in scores of action-adventure movies, first and last names. 

Remove the last three letters of the first name and first four letters of the surname, leaving
the name of a very strong character – the likes of which this character often portrayed... but never has portrayed.

Who is this actor?

What is the “very strong character’s name?”

ENTREE #14

Name a Major League Baseball player who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1924) and Boston Red Sox (1926–27) – last name first, first name last, without a space. 

Delete the first four letters of the result, leaving the name of a gigantic mythical creature. 

Now write two Asian nations side-by-side without a space. Remove three letters from the beginning and six letters from the end, leaving the name of a giant.

Name this major league baseball player and gigantic mythical creature.

Name these two Asian nations and giant.

Dessert Menu

Pejorative Dessert:

Weasels & cats & synonyms, oh my!

Name a cat-family creature and a weasel-family creature that begin with the same four letters but in a different order. 

Their remaining combined letters can be rearranged to spell a pair of pejorative synonyms. 

What are these creatures and synonyms?

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 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.