Thursday, December 4, 2025

“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.

11 comments:

  1. Note:
    To place a comment under this QUESTIONS? subheading (immediately below), or under any of the three subheadings below it (HINTS! PUZZLE RIFFS! and MY PROGRESS SO FAR...), simply left-click on the orange "Reply" to open a dialogue box where you can make a comment. Thank you.
    Lego...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Unless I've completely lost my mind, Lego, something is wrong with Entree 1. I've done it over and over....and keep coming out with two letters that make the WRONG STATE abbreviation. Were there possibly supposed to have been instructions to CHANGE two letters to fix this problem?

      Delete
    2. VT, the 14 letters in Entree 1 don't include the state abbreviation, just the names of the puzzle-maker and the town.

      Delete
    3. Yes, VT, Nodd is correct. Just the name of the puzzle-maker and his hometown are involved.
      Interestingly (and fittingly), the name of this brilliant puzzle-maker is the first two-thirds of a word for "a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer!"

      LegoWhoNotesThatItAllKindaSmacksOfTheSagaOfAWouldBeShouldaBeenPrezHadItNotBeenFor"Chaddaquippick!"

      Delete
  3. IF YOU HAVE COMMENTS THAT DO NOT PERTAIN TO ANY OF THE FOUR CATEGORIES ABOVE, YOU MAY WRITE THEM BELOW THIS POST. THANK YOU.

    ReplyDelete