Fortieth Time’s Still the Charm! Five limerical lines of literary lions; “Hoosier pick to win at Indy?” “Lilliput-put-put-put...” Endless & big-like versus ended & twig-like; “Lay on, Macduff, Lady MacBeth! Out damn SweE.T. Spot!”

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Schpuzzle of the Week:

Five limerical lines of literary lions

Drop a letter from the likely baptismal name of a literary icon.

Anagram the result to get the eventual surname of a 20th-Century poet.

Drop a letter and anagram this result to get the surname of a 20th-Century poet.

Drop a letter and anagram that result to get the first name of a 20th-Century novelist/playwright.

The three letters you removed, in order, spell a nickname of a 20th-Century novelist/playwright.

Who are these five literary lions?

Appetizer Menu

Cryptic Crosswords By The Two-Score Appetizer:

Fortieth Time’s Still the Charm!

Puzzleria! features this week another enjoyably excellent Cryptic Crossword Puzzle, this time with a “somewhat literary feel to it” – courtesy of our friend Patrick J. Berry (aka “cranberry,” his screen name). 

This is Patrick’s 40th Cryptic Crossword masterpiece that has graced the cyberpages of Puzzleria! This latest one deals with a theme that is the opposite of “drab,” orthographically as well as figuratively.

You can access any of Patrick’s previous 39 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 37 38 39 

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, (5) simply indicates a five-letter word like “Globe,” (2,1,6) indicates a two-letter-
plus-one-letter-plus-six-letter answer like “in a pickle,” and (4-7) indicates a four-letter-and-seven-letter hyphenated answer like “star-crossed,” as in “lovers.”

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 filled-in answer-grid in that edition of Puzzleria!

And so, try to recall what you learned in your English classes, touch up on your classics, and display some measure of literary class. Mix, match, mash and clash wits with Patrick’s latest Cryptic Crossword!  

Enjoy!

ACROSS

7. Very many like being stuck in hole?(7)

8. Rush to entertain company? It’s a burden!(7)

10. Have fun, take in a show(6)

11. Some innocently playing games, in pictures(8)

12. 14 character, a success after first intermission?(4)

13. Pinch butt of 14 character?(4,6)

14. Writer to brandish weapon by the end?(11)

19. Chap dealt with being mistreated(10)

22. 14 character, one getting hit at a hockey game?(4)

23. I would turn pale and stop(8)

24. Rodent chewing through fancy carpet(6)

25. Worry about meat going bad, seeing label(7)

26. 14 character to return? Well, this is certainly a surprise!(7)

DOWN

1. Some cut quite short(7)

2. Hard to get through flying insects for such a huge creature?(8)

3. Former Communist leader left in disgrace(6)

4. Go on supporting socially conscious leaders, getting rush(8)

5. 14 character “simply has no son,” claims story(6)

6. Urged, say, to get information about party(5,2)

9. Performer to use profanity(almost)during
short set, sad to have “lost head”(6,5)

15. 14 character with awfully large family coming over?(4,4)

16. Barely left in extremely risqué quips(8)

17. Total car, initially puncturing tire(7)

18. Scrap cryptic clues about one who does not drink alcohol(7)

20. Excited chap had date(6)

21. Be up in time for discussion(6)

MENU:

Time & Space Hors d’Oeuvre:

Endless & big-like versus ended & twig-like

Take a word that means vastness and endlessness, both spatially and temporally. 

The first half is an anagram of a French word for “ended.”

The second half of this word can be rearranged to spell a synonym of “small.”

What are this word and its two unexpected anagrams? 

Chevy Nova Novella Slice:

“Lilliput-put-put-put...”

The last three letters of a novelist’s surname, followed by a reverse ordering of the remaining letters in the name, followed by the word “car” spell a kind of very compact vehicle. 

Who is the novelist?

What is the vehicle? 

Riffing Off Shortz And Pegg Entrees:

“Lay on, Macduff, Lady MacBeth! Out damn SweE.T. Spot!”

Will Shortz’s August 17th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, from Ed Pegg Jr., who conducts mathpuzzle.com, reads:

Take the classic illustrated children’s book “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.”

Rearrange its 26 letters to name a famous film director (first and last names) and a noted role on stage (in two words). 

What are these things?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Pegg Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Replace an abbreviation in the name of a puzzle-maker with the word of which it is an abbreviation. 

Rearrange the letters of this newly unabbreviated name to spell either the three
missing words in the left side of the illustration or the two missing words on the right side.

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What are the five missing words?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are conundrums drummed-up/dreamt-up by our friend and riffmeister extraordinaire Nodd. 

ENTREE #2

Name a well-known children’s book from the 1950s, in two words totaling 12 letters. Change the seventh letter to a different vowel to spell the name of a noted role on stage. 

Now go back to the two-word book title. Remove a word for a female bird from the first word of the title and replace it with an “o”. Slightly rearrange the letters of the first word of the title to spell a man’s name. That name, followed by the second word of the book title, is the name of a creator and producer of popular television shows who also directed films released in 1952 and 1970.

What are the book and the stage role, and who is the creator/producer/director?

ENTREE #3

Name a book that is styled as a children’s book but features adult themes. It was first published in the 1940s and eventually sold an estimated

140 million copies. The title consists of three words totaling 15 letters. 

The second word of the title is also the second word of the title of a well-known children’s book, also published in the 1940s. That book was made into a film that came out in the 1990s.

The third word of the title of the first book is the surname of a deceased theatre director and producer who directed or produced 41 Broadway shows.

What are the two books, and who is the director/producer?

ENTREE #4

Name a classic children’s book in two words totaling 13 letters. Rearrange the letters to form:

(1) the surname of the author of a classic 19th
Century children’s novel also enjoyed by adults, and... 

(2) the title of a book of the Bible. What are the two books, and who is the author?

ENTREE #5

Name a classic children’s book of the early 20th Century in four words totaling 17 letters. The first word, with an “i” inserted, is the titular role in a musical that opened in the 1970s and
ran on Broadway for almost six years. 

The third word of the book title, with the last letter changed to an “r”, is the first name of a famous actress whose acting career spanned from the early 1930s to the late 1960s. The fourth word of the book title, minus the last letter, is the surname of a famous actor whose acting career spanned from the early 1920s until 1960. The actress and actor starred together in a 1946 film.

What are the book title and the musical, and who are the actress and actor?

ENTREE #6

Name a classic children’s book published in the 1940s, in two words totaling 13 letters. The
book later became a film and a stage production.

The second word of the book title is the first name of a famous film director. The first word of the title, with three letters replaced with a letter that is commonly used to signify a number, can be arranged to spell the director’s last name. What is the book, and who is the director?

ENTREE #7

Name a children’s book published in 1976 that eventually became a series of books and an animated television series, in two words
totaling 11 letters. Six of the letters can be arranged to spell the surname of a well-known film writer and director whose movies appeared in the 1990s and 2000s. 

Four of the letters can be arranged to spell the first name of the writer-director, which is also the name of the protagonist in a famous stage play from the 19th Century. (To spell both the first and last names of the writer-director, two letters from the book title are used twice, and three letters are left over.) The title of the stage play sounds like it might be for children, but it is not.

What are the book and the play, and who is the writer-director? 

ENTREE #8

“Women distance runners do not possess the ‘stamina’ and ‘guts’ that men are blessed with.” That is an example of an “___ _____’ ____” (3, 5 & 4 letters). 

Take the 12 letters in those three words and
combine them with a 9-letter synonym of “stamina” and a 7-letter synonym of “guts.” Rearrange these 28 letters to spell the title of a classic children’s book.

What are these two synonyms, three missing words, and children’s book title?

Hint: The classic children’s book is definitely not an example of the three missing words in the blanks. 

ENTREE #9

Write a caption for the image pictured here, in three words of 5, 6 and 4 letters – a verb, adjective and noun. The caption might be advice a fellow Scrabble player might have given to an opponent with “butterfingers” (not
the candy bar, but the annoying malady).

The 15 letters can be rearranged to spell the title of a children’s book.

What are this caption and book title?

ENTREE #10

Write a caption for the image pictured here, in two words of 7and 6 letters – two nouns (although the first noun does serve an adjectival purpose).

Those 13 letters can be anagrammed to spell the title of a beloved children’s book.

What are this caption and book title? 

ENTREE #11

Anagram the letters of a two-word, 7 and 6 letter children’s book title to get the surname of a brilliant Nobel-Prize-winning scientist and an 8-letter adjective describing this scientist that, when construed as a synonym of “superb,”
suggests an transcendent excellence that surpasses mere “surface beauty,” reaching beyond to the highest conceivable degree of elegance.

What is this book title?

Who is the scientist?

What is the adjective?

ENTREE #12

Anagram the letters of an 8-letter children’s book title to name either:

~ something you sit down for and what you do
during it (4,4)

~ Cleopatra (4,4)

~ perfect males (5,3)

~ Katz’s in New York City or Zingerman’s in Ann Arbr, Michigan (4,4)

What is this book title?

What are the four anagrams?

Dessert Menu

Brickyard Dessert:

“Hoosier pick to win at Indy?”

Place spaces between the three syllables of a part of some amphibians. 

Move the first syllable to the end to get something you see at the Indianapolis 500. 

What are this amphibian part and Indy-500 sight?

Note: The answer to “Who’s your pick to win at Indy?” is not “the Indy-500 sight.”

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.