I started with Scream but replacing "cream" with a single letter didn't go anywhere. Then I came up with the intended film series.Q: Think of a popular movie franchise with many sequels. Hidden in consecutive letters inside its name is a food. Replace that food with a single letter and you'll get another popular film franchise. What films are these?
Edit: My hint was "didn't go anywhere" which hinted toward "to boldly go where no man (or one) has gone before"
A: STAR TREK - TART + H = SHREK
Change three consecutive letters in the second franchise to three other letters, and get a character associated with the first franchise.
ReplyDeleteOh, nice.
DeleteTake that character's father's name and change one letter to arrive where you started.
I once backed into an actor who played that character on a dance floor!
DeleteSays a guy who is a film franchise himself. Kudos to Dr. K and Crito for a wonderful pair of observations!
DeleteThanks, Lancek.
DeleteThe answer just popped into my head.
ReplyDeleteAdd a vowel to the shorter franchise and rearrange. You get something that may or may not describe the food extracted in the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteRob, IIRC we share something in common with regard to the first franchise.
DeleteI bet you are right, but I am drawing a memory blank.
DeleteOmit the last letter of the first franchise and rearrange to name another food item.
ReplyDeleteThe first movie franchise includes consecutive letters that are associated with windows.
ReplyDeleteThe surname of a character in one episode of the first franchise names the second franchise.
ReplyDeleteI actually yelled at the radio about this one. Not my finest look. But, satisfying nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle is a tad late for Pi Day. But just a tad.
ReplyDeleteAnd, fascinatingly, tad is akin to toad etymologically. And, well, now we're just going in circles. Ribbit!
DeleteI didn't eat the food on Pi Day, but I ate a substitute.
DeleteI did too. Let's go!
DeleteHere is a Doggerelish Pi Day Ditty I posted last evening in Puzzleria!s Comments Section:
DeleteIs your heart black, your mood blue, your sky gray?
Is your 13th each month a Black Friday?
"Do you like me?" you ask... (Your friends cry "Nay!")
Are you deep in despair, and sigh "Why Pray!"?
Are you steered down some Hellfirebound Highway?
... Then have fun on March Fourteenth... It's Pi Day!
Lego"Poetically?...No!Doggerelly!
But, beware: I'd say it's Ides Day!
DeleteVery nice, jan! My thanks to you for your excellent lyrical addition to my doggerel.
DeleteAnd, thanks to another genius named Mr. Shakespeare, we are all aware that the Ides of March fall on March 15th... they spring up every spring.
But Ides also occur roughly monthly on our calendar... on the 15th of March, May, July and October, and on the 13th of January, February, April, June, August, September, November and December. (If the 13th of those latter six months falls on a Friday, it would seem one would want to be particularly wary!)
LegoWhoCautionsAllToBeWaryOn2026'sNovemberThirteenth...AFridayIdesday!
Here is a puzzle that appears on the current edition of Puzzleria! that you might enjoy (it pertains to Sunday mornings):
DeleteTake the Ninth, take the Fifth, the Fifth turned on its head,
Drop a “double-u sound” like a bug from a bed...
But Beethoven? No! You ’ll get ______ instead!
Fill in the blank. It contains six letters (and three syllables).
LegoChallengingYou
What's even better...
DeleteWe are featuring a dozen of Donn Dimichele's (Nodd's) puzzles on P! this week, which include five of his "Nodd ready for prime time" gems, his current NPR Puzzle Challenge and his six self-riffs of that challenge!
A certain color comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, for both franchises!
Delete😀
DeleteDid anyone else hear Will say that a "fruit" vs. food was inside the franchise name? I wanted my answer to be the correct answer but was a letter off as that franchise name also contains a fruit name (albeit an uncommon one). Perhaps I just needed more coffee!
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I heard that too.
DeleteAs did I.
DeleteDitto!
DeleteBut only an ingredient not the whole shebang, oui?
DeleteHe said food the first two times but when summarizing the puzzle he actually said fruit (my wife heard that as well so we had to check the online text version to clarify).
DeleteWhat does 'shebang' mean?
DeleteThe word appeared out of nowhere with multiple meanings
Lexicographers have been puzzled by the origin of the rather odd word shebang since its appearance in the English language during the American Civil War. The word has no obvious antecedents, and it appeared with several different meanings used roughly around the same time. In its early years, shebang could refer to such dissimilar things as a type of dwelling, a vehicle, or a drinking establishment, or it could be used in a general sense for the entirety of something, as in the common phrase "the whole shebang."
Squaring these disparate definitions has my brain in a headlock.In computing, a shebang is the character sequence #!, consisting of the characters number sign (also known as sharp or hash) and exclamation mark (also known as bang), at the beginning of a script. It is also called sharp-exclamation, sha-bang,[1][2] hashbang,[3][4] pound-bang,[5][6] or hash-pling.[7]
DeleteI'd like to add my definition of shebang: hair cut just above the eyebrows ;)
DeleteSo, did the Monkees have hebangs?
DeleteIndubitably
DeleteSpeaking of whom, I learned a most remarkable thing about one of them this week.
DeleteAmerican soldiers appear to have coined some of these words, such as "skedaddle," during the Civil War--or maybe words that were formerly limited to isolated rural or immigrant communities became popular when soldiers from all over were mixed together in camp. We see a similar thing happening during WWI ("whizbang," which originally described a particular German artillery shell) and WWII ("blockbuster," based on an even larger German shell, and "snafu," a word that only soldiers could have come up with and only after the Army started using initialisms for everything).
DeleteNo clues here.
I also heard Will say "fruit."
DeleteFROOT
DeleteThe transcript on NPR.org says "food" twice and then "fruit" when Will repeats the puzzle. So is "fruit" correct or a mistake?
DeleteDon't ask RFK Jr to decide whether they're equivalent!
DeleteAfter removing any repeated letters from the first franchise, rearrange the remaining letters to get an adult beverage.
ReplyDeleteCan you measure that much juice in newtons?
ReplyDelete😀
DeleteRemove the first letter of the food and add 2 letters to the end. You will get a character in the second movie.
ReplyDeleteRemove the first T in "tart" and add IE to get Artie, a character in Shrek.
DeleteMusical Clue: Rick James
ReplyDeleteIndice: e
ReplyDeleteTV clue: Ted Lasso.
ReplyDelete(via Jamie Tartt)
DeleteI'm thinking it must be Home Alone (meal) Hot One - but I'm not sure everybody has seen Hot One. It is not family friendly.
ReplyDeleteThe star of the second franchise has something in common with a third franchise.
ReplyDeleteI would have gotten the answer on Sunday, but I clearly heard FRUIT, not “food item.” Oh well, better late than never.
ReplyDeleteHow is an arthritis specialist like a motel operator?
ReplyDeleteThe former is into RHEUMATOLOGY, the latter is into ROOM-ATOLOGY.
Today's hospital humor is a joint venture ;).
Me thinks you have the bare bones of a joke there.
DeleteQuite humerus. Either way, they kneed to knuckle down and work hard.
DeleteOne operated on joints, and the other operates in joints.
DeleteOperates
DeleteSTAR TREK - TART = SHREK
ReplyDeletePi Day, tarts, all the things. Round and pastry. There's the rub! Apples to Apples. Etc
STAR TREK - TART + H = SHREK
ReplyDeleteSTAR TREK —> SHREK
ReplyDeleteHint: “Change three consecutive letters in the second franchise to three other letters, and get a character associated with the first franchise.”
Shrek -hre +poc —> Spock
Back to March Madness.
STAR TREK - TART + H --> SHREK
ReplyDelete> The surname of a character in one episode of the first franchise names the second franchise.
In STAR TREK: The Next Generation, S6E16, "Birthright", James (Babe) Cromwell played Jaglom SHREK, a Yridian information broker who tells Worf that his father was not killed at Khitomer, but is instead alive at a Romulan prison camp.
> I didn't eat the food on Pi Day, but I ate a substitute.
As long as we're talking Greek letters, "ate a" sounds like Eta (H), which looks like H ("aitch"), which is the letter you substitute for the Pi Day TART I didn't eat.
I wrote, “Add a vowel to the shorter franchise and rearrange. You get something that may or may not describe the food extracted in the puzzle.” That’s KOSHER. Tarts from a kosher bakery would be, but Pop Tarts would not.
ReplyDeleteAside from the food/fruit debate, my only post was in response to Chuck’s comment that “a certain color comes to mind”, which presumably was a reference to green for Shrek. I added “interestingly, for both franchises” as there were some aliens (Orion) in Star Trek that were green, and Spock’s Vulcan blood was green.
ReplyDeleteI awarded a grin (😀) to that thread. I was thinking of Vina, who I believe was from Orion.
DeleteSTAR TREK, SHREK
ReplyDeleteMy Musical Clue: Rick James was because Rick James produced Eddie Murphy's greatest ever work, "My Girl Wants To Party All The Time"
And Eddie Murphy voiced the Donkey in Shrek.
I then clued Indice: e because e is the universal clue at Blainesville. And indice is the French word for Clue.
Personally, I only cook French Tartes, never English (Because the English cannot cook for anything). And French Tartes always have an e at the end, which ruins the puzzle, because STAR TREK has no four-letter food in the name.
I thought e might refer to the other famous transcendental (pi), leading easily to "tart."
DeleteOh come on! I love Chicken Tikka Masala.
DeleteMy clue: After removing any repeated letters from the first franchise, rearrange the remaining letters to get an adult beverage. Answer: Sake (a Japanese alcoholic beverage)
ReplyDeleteI wrote "Can you measure that much juice in newtons?" Juice Newton sang "Queen of Hearts," which takes us to the tarts that the Q of H had.
ReplyDeleteI was able to follow your line of thought😀.
DeleteHere's a stretch solution. If we let "007" refer to the Bond franchise, then remove the cheerio (or lifesaver), then change the 7 to "z," you get the Oz franchise, which is enjoying a moment lately.
ReplyDeleteActually, this doesn't exactly follow the directions.
DeleteWe can sort of follow directions by changing the cheerio to an "I." Then lie it down and slide it under the 7.
DeleteNoah may have had an Ark... but Puzzleria!s got an Architect!... one that builds edifying edifices as well as unthinkably unsinkable puzzles (not exactly deluge-defying "all-humanity-saving watercraft!"... but still, not bad!) Our architect's name is Greg VanMechelen (aka "Ecoarchitect") who regularly produces not global flooding and destruction but rather architectural beauty on Earth, as well as ingenious puzzles on Puzzleria! and on NPR.
ReplyDeleteVery soon this afternoon, we shall upload Greg's always-popular-entertaining-and-challenging edition of "Econfusions," this week entitled: “Don’t know much about geography, What a wonder full world this would be.”
Also on our menus this week:
* a Schpuzzle of the Week titled "Buzzer beater? Nothing Sweeter!"
* a Half-a-Dozen-Different-Letters Hors d’Oeuvre titled "A Critter Created Amidst Chaos,"
* a Midnight Menagerie Puzzle Slice titled "Constellatory Creature Clusters,"
* a “Loyal” Gambit Dessert titled "Checkmating and matrimony," and
* Ten-or-so riffs of this week's NPR Puzzle Challenge titled "Riffing Off Shortz And Reiss Slices: “Beam us up, Shtrekkie!” (including six from Nodd and one from Plantsmith)
And so, we invite you to join us for some history, mystery, and (because I am involved) sophomoric sophistry!
LegoSeekingHisRainbow&OliveLeafLadenDove
Star Trek, Shrek
ReplyDeleteThe food is a tart.
Star Trek – tart + h = Shrek
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday I said, “A certain color comes to mind.” If I’m not mistaken, Shrek is always green.”
My clue, replying to Dr. K's clue:
ReplyDeleteTake that character's father's name and change one letter to arrive where you started.
Dr. K had clued Spock. Spock's father was Sarek. Just one letter from Shrek!
A doctor, 2 nurses, 2 case managers, a care specialist, a hospitalist, and a geologist are all trying to get a rheumatology appt at a practice for 5 hours. Guess whose call they return first and guess why?
ReplyDeleteYup, the geologist because she told them the arthritis specialist vs motel operator joke in her query. Rheumatology vs Room-atology gets first call back everybtime ;-)
And, JayB, on a related note, thanks for your card and check. Nice to get a card after a hospital deal. But, I am home now and delighted a simple joke could get a June rheumatology moved to April. The doc said to the scheduler, "it was her joke right?"
Delete"Yes, sir, we don't get many people leaving us jokes and when they do, well, we return those calls first. Even ahead of doctors, nurses, hospitalists, case managers, insurance company people. . .
Sounded like you had been through a lot. If a get well card finds you “well” then that’s a win. And capital bit of humor there…
DeleteJayB, the look on the doctor's face when I got "the call" ahead of him was priceless. There were ten in-person and 2-dialed in folks in the sunny solarium all trying to get through to one practice to get a critical appt moved up from too late June to just right early April. When the Care Manager heard the joke she started giggling and guffawing and snorting so hard the two dialed-in remote folks kept asking "What is going on there?!"
DeleteDoctor extended his hand to me saying "I bow before the word master." (I had just given him a kyanite blade so he was in a good place.)
"And I commend you, dr, for failing me spectacularly one day by blowing me off in rounds (just never showed up) AND then sorting out a complex and complicated diagnosis the next. You sorted it by sticking with it, that which 4 ER rounds, 2 hospital stays, etc made no progress. You made that leap for me and I thank you.
R. I. P. Chuck Norris
ReplyDeleteFor me, Chuck Norris died in 1972 when Bruce Lee killed him (The Way of the Dragon)
DeleteHow to Iran and Vietnam differ?
ReplyDeleteDonald Trump had a plan for getting out of Vietnam.
STAR TREK(replace TART with an H to get SHREK)
ReplyDeleteMy dearly departed nephew Mason once said he wasn't too crazy about "Shrek the Third", even though he liked the first two movies.
pjbMissesMason,HisDad,AndManyOtherFamilyMembersWhoHavePassedOnInThePastFewYears
I had commented, "The first movie franchise includes consecutive letters that are associated with windows."
ReplyDeleteStar Trek contains the word START, which is the name of the button on the Windows operating system that is used frequently. I figured if I capitalized Windows, it would be TMI.
Congratulations to Legolambda and his fellow Twin Citians, co-recipients of this year's John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage award!
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks, Jan, for this update. Lego, please accept my sincere congratulations to you and your fellow Twin Cities residents for their ongoing demonstration of courage and resistance in the face of fascist violence.
DeleteJoe lives in St. Cloud.
DeleteRight, of course, SDB. Must've had my head in the clouds. What kind of a name for a saint is Cloud, I wondered? Turns out to be a suburb of Paris, name for a 6th-Century monk, Clodoald.
DeleteMy understanding this is the saint for rainy days; not sure why Seattle missed out.
DeleteThis week's online challenge comes from Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn. Name an animal. The first five letters of its name spell a place where you may find it. The last four letters of this animal will name another animal, but one that would ordinarily not be found in this place. What animals are these?
ReplyDeleteI got it. Good one Joe!
DeleteI now have 2 answers that work.
DeleteCongrats, once again, Legolambda!
DeleteNailed it!
ReplyDeleteDon't drag your feet on this one!
ReplyDeleteI have an answer, but I don't like it.
ReplyDelete780 correct answers last week
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Lego!
ReplyDeleteLike Dr K, I have a working answer but I somehow don't think it's the one Lego intended.
ReplyDeleteMy first answer was unsatisfying and not clever enough to be a Lego puzzle. I'm glad I kept looking, because the true answer is wonderful. Fine work, Lego!
ReplyDeleteI think it will be a while before I find a proper answer. I guess I'll have to accept "late marks'.
ReplyDelete