Bah! Humbug! Unfair Christmas Fare; Puzzling Christmas Film; Better Late Than Never; All About (New Year’s) Eve; Holiday Poetry Corner, With Anna Gingerbread Graham Cracker; Volumes of bound pages bounded by “plages” Singular! Plural! Synonymous! Gold-&-many-colored-mini-boulders; Poetry Portends Pending Sports; “...Coming Down In Three-Part Harmony”

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Poetry Portends Pending Sports

The following puzzle is doubly timely – in light of the Holiday Season and an upcoming presentation of an annual sporting event:

Two words in one line of early-19th-Century poetry correctly predicted the participants in the inaugural playing of a major annual sporting event, nearly 150 years before it was played! 

Name this poem, poet, two prophetic words, and how and why they are prophetic.

Appetizer Menu

“Pour yourself a Merry Little EggNodd” Appetizer:

Bah! Humbug! Unfair Christmas Fare; Puzzling Christmas Film; Better Late Than Never; All About (New Year’s) Eve; Holiday
Poetry Corner, With Anna Gingerbread Graham Cracker

Bah! Humbug!

1. 🕷Think of a word associated with the time period in which Christmas and New Year’s Day fall. 

This word sounds like a pejorative description
sometimes heard of the work of a filmmaker who made a film commonly associated with Christmas. 

What are the word and the description? 

Unfair Christmas Fare

2. 🍲Remove one letter from a food traditionally served at Christmastime in a European country. 

The result will spell what would have happened to Christmas if a fictional character had had his way. 

What is the food and what would have happened to Christmas?

Puzzling Christmas Film 

3. 🎥Think of a word that often appears in word puzzles. 

Change the fourth letter to a different vowel, the fifth letter from a consonant to a vowel, and the sixth letter to a different consonant. The result is the name of a popular Christmas film.  

What are the puzzle word and the Christmas film?

Better Late Than Never  

4. ♭♯𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅱𝅘𝅥𝅲Think of the last name of a composer to whom the melody of a popular Christmas song is attributed. 

Say it aloud, followed by a word for a kind of
uniform. The result will sound like something you might want to arrange for if you are late mailing out your Christmas presents. 

Who is the composer, what is the uniform, and what might you arrange for?

All About (New Year’s) Eve

5. 🎊A famous actress made a film during the 1930s in which a pivotal scene takes place on New Year's Eve. 

Her first name, with the third letter doubled, can be rearranged to spell a word for someone you might hear shortly before New Year’s Eve. Her last name, with the second letter doubled, can be rearranged to spell the last name of someone historically associated with New Year’s Eve. 

Who are the actress and the other two persons, and what is the film?

Holiday Poetry Corner, With Anna Gingerbread Graham Cracker

6. 📖Fill in the blanks with four words that are
anagrams of one another.

May this _____ _____ to soothe your ear,

And _____ all from cares and fear.

If from this task it _____ at times,

It’s only to complete the rhymes.

MENU

What’s for Christmas Dinner Hors d’Oeuvre:

Singular! Plural! Synonymous!

Name a traditional Christmas dinner entree. 

The singular and plural forms of this entree do not rhyme with each other. But each does rhyme with one member of a pair of synonymous nouns (like, for example, how the singular and plural nouns “die” and “dice” rhyme respectively with the synonyms “tie”  and “splice”).

Name these entrees and synonymous rhyming nouns.

The singular and plural forms of a creature do not rhyme with each other, but do rhyme with a pair of synonymous nouns. Name these creatures and synonymous nouns.

Dice-Like-Ice-Twist-Lemon-Slice:

Gold-&-many-colored-mini-boulders

Name two ingredients of a holiday drink, one of them optional. 

Rearrange their combined letters to spell two
valuable things – one of them gold, the other that comes in a variety of colors. 

What are these ingredients and valuable things?

Riffing Off Shortz Entrees:

Volumes of bound pages bounded by “plages”

Will Shortz’s December 21st Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle reads:

I was at a library. On the shelf was a volume whose spine said “OUT TO SEA.” When I opened the volume, I found the contents has nothing to do with sailing or the sea in any sense. It wasn’t a book of fiction either. What was in the volume?

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

I was at a library. On the shelf was a volume whose spine said “OUT TO SEA.” 

In my head, I transposed the S and E, moved the U to the very end, then removed all spaces (save the one in the middle), forming two first names. 

The name on the left was a punter; the name on the right was a hunter. 

What are these first names? What is the surname of the punter? What is the name of the hunter’s brother?

ENTREE #2

Creating all varieties of puzzles is just a “______ in the park” for ____ ______, a “masterful composer-of-posers and enigma-making ____.” 

Rearrange the ten letters in the first and fourth
blanks to spell the two words in the second and third blanks. What are these four words? 

Note: Entrees #3 through #8 are riffs composed by our friend Nodd, whose “Nodd ready for prime time” is this week’s featured Appetizer.

ENTREE #3

I was looking for a book about a former Baltimore Bullets and New York Knicks shooting guard, known for his flashy moves,
who played from 1967 to 1980.

I thought I had found one, but when I opened it, I found it had nothing to do with basketball. What was the book and who wrote it?

ENTREE #4

I was looking for a book about large eco-friendly houses owned by wealthy people. 

I thought I had found one, but when I opened
it, I found it had nothing to do with houses. What was the book and who wrote it?

ENTREE #5

I was looking for a book about playing roulette, checkers, and card games. I thought I had found one, but when I opened it, I found it had nothing to do with gaming. 

What was the book and who wrote it?

ENTREE #6

I was looking for a book about a spaceship featured in a 1979 movie. 

I thought I had found one, but when I opened it, I found it had nothing to do with space travel.  What was the book and who wrote it?

ENTREE #7

I was looking for a book about Columbidae forelimbs. 

I thought I had found one, but when I opened
it, I found it had nothing to do with ornithology. 

What was the book and who wrote it?

ENTREE #8

I was looking for a book about the character played by James Stewart in the John Ford Western “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” 

I thought I had found one, but when I opened
it, I found it had nothing to do with the movie or the Old West. 

What was the book and who wrote it?

ENTREE #9

I was at the library looking for a book about what Shakespeare claimed that a soothsayer had said to warn Julius Caesar about a possible assassination attempt on his life... or
a book about an Irish saint associated with snakes and shamrocks.

I thought I had found one, but when I opened it, I found it had nothing at all to do with Shakespeare, Caesar or Irish saints!

What was the book and who wrote it?

ENTREE #10

I was at a library looking for a biographical book about a powerful, long-serving U.S. Senator from Washington State known as a “Cold War liberal” who championed strong national defense, anti-communism, civil rights, and environmental protection, while also pioneering energy and natural resource legislation during his 43-year career in Congress.

I thought I had found such a book, but when I opened it, I found it had nothing to do with this Washington senator. What’s worse, the book was a fictional account of members of the media who dragged the good names of the likes of this senator through the mud!

What was the book and who wrote it?

Who is the senator?

ENTREE #11

I was at a library looking for an instructional book about a classic two-player abstract strategy board game played on an 8x8 grid with 64 double-sided discs (black on one side, white on the other), where players place discs to “sandwich” and flip their opponent’s pieces, aiming to have the most discs of their color on the board when it’s full or no more moves are possible.

I thought I had found such a book, but when I opened it, I found it had nothing to do with this strategic game! Indeed, I found instead the account of a military commander who is manipulated by an underling into suspecting his wife of infidelity.

What is this board game?  

What was the book and who wrote it?

ENTREE #12

I was at the library looking for an instructional booklet on how to cook up, in my own home kitchen, a reasonable facsimile of my favorite candy bar... that one that is famous for its fluffy whipped nougat dipped in creamy milk chocolate.

I thought I had found such a book, but when I brought it home and opened it, I found it had nothing at all to do with this heavenly confection! 

What is the title of this library book?

ENTREE #13

I was at a library looking for a book about one of my favorite musical entertainers.

I thought I had found one such book, but when I opened it, I found it had nothing to do with this singer-songwriter-guitarist. 

What was the book title and who wrote it?

Who is this entertainer?

Note: There are two possible correct answers to this Entree #13 Riff – both are three-word titles. One title, with words beginning with T, C and P, is a book penned by a female author. The other title, with words beginning with T, L and P, is a book penned by a male author.

Dessert Menu

Triple-Dog-Dare Dessert:

“...Coming Down In Three-Part Harmony”

Name a two-word musical group followed by the first name of one of its members.

Remove something, in two words, that a female quintet claimed to have. 

The result is the name of a guitarist who influenced the musical group. 

What is the group and one of its members? 

Who is the influencer? 

What did the quintet claim to have?

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.

A Fortnightly Dose Of “MisJeffous” Homophonics; Reading in the Restroom; “Heavaughnly” sweetness from Sarah; “See no evil, hear no evil... but speak your heart out!” Letters later or early, all done; Apparatus “empartners” a pair of hearts

PUZZLERIA! SLICES: OVER 5πe² SERVED

Schpuzzle of the Week:

Letters later or early, all done

Name a color. 

Move its letters three places earlier in the circular alphabet to spell a word associated with a name from the Old Testament of the Bible. 

If you instead move the color’s letters fourteen places later in the circular alphabet you’ll spell a word associated with a different Old Testament name. 

What are this color, the two four-letter names and the words associated with them?

Appetizer Menu

“To ThysElf Be True” Appetizer:

A Fortnightly Dose Of “MisJeffous”
Homophonics

12/18: After the 25-mile hike the weary ______ complained their ____ were weary. 

12/19: At the home goods store, _____ said,
“Those are too shiny, I want a _____ _______.” 

12/20: Not having seen the speed camera, Jeff was surprised to _____ he’d been _____. 

12/21: Looking out the window of her alpine retreat, Sarah felt _____ that she couldn’t get a ______ at the _______. 

12/22: You must use a large _____ rifle when hunting ______. 

12/23: To properly play a ______ instrument,
first learn to _____ music. 

12/24: Carl was the ____ miner in the _____ mine. 

12/25:  ______ and _____ worked together in the ______ lab. 

12/26: One of the joys of living near the shore was being able to _____ at the ships tied to the _____. 

12/27: Paul was ______ after shouting when his ____ won the Derby. 

12/28: While it may seem unholy, Sin is the
___ for ___. 

12/29: Without some time off you may feel ___ at the end of the _____. 

12/30: Many felt that _____ on coronation day was an inauspicious start to William’s ______. 

12/31: With his crew cut,______ was truly _____. 

MENU

Hear No Evel Knievel Hors d’Oeuvre:

“See no evil, hear no evil... but speak your heart out!”

Replace the last letter of a word you might hear at a Catholic Mass with a three-letter synonym of that letter to spell something you might see at such a Mass. 

What might you hear and see?

Our Lad Our Lady Slice:

Apparatus “empartners” a pair of hearts

Two teens in love wish to wed but their parents disapprove. 

So, the teens devise a one-word plan – one that requires an apparatus that is constructed of a two-word anagram of that plan. 

What are the plan and the apparatus? 

What is the apparatus made of?

Riffing Off Shortz And Flood Entrees:

“Heavaughnly” sweetness from Sarah

Will Shortz’s December 14th Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle, created by Robert Flood of Allen, Texas, reads:

Name a famous female singer of the past (five letters in the first name, seven letters in the last name). Remove the last letter of her first name and you can rearrange all the remaining letters to name the capital of a country (six letters) and a food product that its nation is famous for (five letters).

Puzzleria!s Riffing Off Shortz And Flood Entrees read:

ENTREE #1

Name a capital city in Africa an and a capital city in Europe.

* In the African country capital, replace the first vowel with the first letter of contraction that appears in a national anthem; then replace the second vowel with the rest of that contraction. The result is the puzzle-maker's first name. 

* In the European country capital, replace a consonant that appears twice with an “F” and rearrange the result to spell the puzzle-maker's surname. 

Who is this puzzle-maker?

What are the capital cities?

Note: Entrees #2 through #7 are the brainchildren of Nodd, author of “Nodd ready for prime time.”

ENTREE #2

Name a famous female singer (5, 5). Remove the last letter of her first name and the first letter of her last name. 

Rearrange the remaining letters to name the capital of a country and a staple food of the country. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the food? 

ENTREE #3

Name a famous female singer of the past (6, 8). Remove the last letter of her first name and double the fifth and eighth letters of her last name. 

Rearrange these 15 letters to name the capital of a country, an informal name for a food originating in Europe but commonly eaten in the U.S., and the form in which the food is served. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital, the food, and the form in which it is served?

ENTREE #4

Name a famous female singer of the past (5, 6). Rearrange these 11 letters to name the capital of a country and a flowering plant native to the country of the singer’s ancestry. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the plant?

ENTREE #5

Name a famous female singer (5, 7). 

Remove the first letter of her last name. Rearrange the remaining 11 letters to name
the capital of a country and a word for shrewd. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the word?

ENTREE #6

Name a famous female singer (5, 6) and add one A. Rearrange these 12 letters to name the capital of a country and a word for expensive. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the word?

ENTREE #7

Name a famous female singer (5, 5). Change the third letter of her last name to a K. 

Rearrange these 10 letters to name the capital of a country and a different country in the same hemisphere. 

Who is the singer and what are the capital and the country?

Note: Entree #8 is the brainchild of Plantsmith, author of “Garden of Puzzley Delights.”

ENTREE #8

Think of a famous jazz singer, first and last names.

Remove the last two letters from their whole name and mix to get a malady which (according to their autobiography) they may have suffered from.

Who is this singer? What is the malady? 

ENTREE #9

Think of a living new wave, blues, and country singer-songwriter, first and last names. 

His name contains nine letters. Letters 3, 7, 8 & 5 followed by letters 1, 2, 6, 4 & 9  spell – in
an “archaically biblical manner of speaking” – that this singer may have occasionally enjoyed smoking a marijuana cigarette.

Who is this singer?

What archaic phrase suggests that he may have smoked marijuana?

ENTREE #10

Think of an alternative/indie American singer-songwriter in five and four letters. Her first and last names, respectively, end with a double-vowel and double-consonant. 

Rearrange these nine letters to spell a pair of homophones:

* a U.S. state, and

* long and heavy hair growing about the neck and head of some mammals (such as those in the title of title of a 1975 punk-rock album).

Who is this singer-songwriter?

What are the pair of homophones?

Dessert Menu

Tidy Dry “Lunar” Dessert:

Reading in the Restroom

A fellow who is a guest at his friend’s house enters a room with a door that can be locked from the inside. He reads a section of a mystery novel during his relatively brief stay in
the room. 

Take the surname of the novel’s protagonist and of a synonym of “section of a novel.” Rearrange their combined letters to spell a two-word receptacle within this room. 

What are this surname, “section of a novel,” and receptacle?

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.