“Be punctual and fall back!” Proactive or passive transport? Actor loses letter, so now sings! Canine varmint vis-à-vis Pisces; Are you ready to play The Puzzle? "Carrie Okie from Muskogee" & “Puzzle-making ‘Legend from the Redlands!’”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Proactive or passive transport?

Name a nine-letter vehicle whose operator may respond to precarious or perilous traffic either proactively with a five-letter verb, or passively with a four-letter verb.  Together, those two verbs (which share the same first two letters and the same last letter) are an anagram of the vehicle. 

What are this vehicle and verbs?

Appetizer Menu

“Movin’ On Back” Appetizer:

“Be punctual and fall back!”

1. 🐦Take the name of a famous singer. 

Remove all letters of the last name except the
first three letters and the last letter. You will get a phrase meaning “punctual.”

Who is this singer?

What is the phrase meaning “punctual?”

2. ⛟Take three letters, followed by three duplicate letters, with one of the duplicates moved back a place earlier in the alphabet.

You will get a word related to something else that might need to be moved back. What is it?

MENU

Will & Ayesha Hors d’Oeuvre:

“Are you ready to play The Puzzle?”

A satisfied restaurant guest, enjoying what she ordered off the menu, might exclaim: “Liver, bread, ale... yes!” 

Rearrange the letters in that exclamation to spell what many guests of National Public Radio's “The Puzzle” say before playing on-air, after NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe asks the guest, “So, I have to ask you, ‘Are you ready to play The Puzzle?’” 

So, how do many of these guests reply? (And, I have to ask you: are you ready to play this puzzle?)

From Trouper To Singer Slice:

Actor loses letter, so now sings!

Take a word that precedes “Quiet” and “the King’s” in fictional titles. 

Remove this word from the name of an actor. The result is the name of a singer. Who are this actor and singer?

Riffing Off Shortz And Dimichele Entrees:

“‘Carrie Okie from Muskogee’ & ‘Puzzle-making Legend from the Redlands!’” 

Will Shortz’s October 26th NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Donn Dimichele of Redlands, California, reads: 

Name a famous current American singer. Replace the last name with a colloquial term for a person from the place where this singer was born and raised. Say the result out loud. Phonetically, you’ll get a form of singing the singer doesn’t usually do. Who is the singer and what is the kind of singing?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Dimichele Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

The “Sandwich Artist” at the ____ was a “Submarine-makin’ _____,” pouring her heart and soul (and lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, cheese and deli meats) into every ____ of every “masterpiece” she created.

Rearrange the combined missing letters in the three blanks to spell the name of a puzzle-maker.

What are the missing words?

Who is the puzzle-maker?

The following six riffs (Entrees #2 through #7) were composed by Nodd (aka Donn Dimichele), author of Puzzleria!s “Nodd ready for prime time.” These are six “self-riffs” of Nodd’s (Donn’s) October 26th NPR Puzzle Challenge.

ENTREE #2

Think of the name of a famous singer. Remove the last two letters of the first name and the first name will now spell a kind of song this singer does not usually perform. Who is the singer and what is the kind of song?

ENTREE #3

Move the last letter in a famous singer’s last name to the beginning of the first name. The first name will now spell a well-known ideogram. 

Who is the singer, and what is the ideogram?

ENTREE #4

Name a famous singer. 

Change the first consonant sound to a different consonant sound. 

The result will sound like the relationship this singer had with another famous singer back in 2007-2008. 

Who are the two singers and what is the relationship?

ENTREE #5

Take the stage name of a famous singer and remove a space to get a word meaning unshakable. 

Who is the singer and what is the word?

ENTREE #6

A famous singer was born and raised in a place that is also the title of a song from a famous Broadway musical. 

Who is the singer and what is the place?

ENTREE #7

What ironically surnamed singer had a one-night stand with one member of a band while dating another member?

Note: The following riff (Entree #8) was composed by Plantsmith, author of Puzzleria!s “Garden of Puzzley Delights.” 

ENTREE #8

Take the first name of an American singer and replace it with a pejorative synonym to get a two-word genre of music.

Who is this singer?

What is the genre of music?

ENTREE #9

Name a century-plus-old motorcycle brand that originated in Massachusetts. 

Add a letter someplace to spell a state, like Massachusetts (but not Massachusetts!). A
demonym of that state (like “Iowan” or “Hawkeye” in Iowa), when followed by a member of the family (mother, father, mommy, daddy, etc.) sounds like a question.

What are this motorcycle brand, state and demonym?

ENTREE #10

Name a six-letter state demonym and its five-letter antonym. 

Anagram those 11 letters to spell either one scrawny fowl (4, 7 letters) or a possible name for a pathway where these fowls pace from place-to-place (7, 4 letters). What are this demonym, its antonym, the scrawny fowl, and the pace-worthy pathway?

Dessert Menu

Fish-Outta-Water Dog-Outta-Dirt Dessert:

Canine varmint vis-à-vis Pisces

The first three letters of a fish spell what sounds like a non-piscine creature. 

The last four letters of this fish spell a noun that describes this creature vis-à-vis a canine coyote. 

What are this fish, creature, and this creature vis-à-vis a coyote?

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.