Food Puns for Word Nerds at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, May 14th, 2009

In February, the famed New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz asked Dinner Impossible‘s Robert Irvine to cook dinner for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament . . . with one little catch.

Every course had to represent a food-related saying or pun.

Crossword enthusiasts attending the dinner had a riot solving the puzzles that came out of Irvine’s kitchen (watch the video here).

Here’s a small sampling of the gastronomic brainteasers unveiled at the dinner. How many can you solve?

1.   ”A cream casserole with a medley of exquisite vegetables.”

 

  2.  “Duck leg, duck breast and duck sushi.”

 3.  “A dish for the vegetarians that has a vegetable filled phyllo streudel. No seafood, no chicken.”

 

4.  “Fingerling potatoes with butter balls.”

 5.  “Sweet bread pudding made with Bacardi 151.”

 

Answers:

1.  cream of the crop

2.  ducks in a row

3.  neither fish nor fowl

4.  butter fingers

5.  the proof is in the pudding

– Christina Lee

Tags: american crossword puzze tournament, christina lee, dinner impossible, Gut Check, new york times crossword puzzles, robert irvine, will shortz