A puzzle from 2013. Funny words in here and some funny folk and some perhaps subtle references (for spice, though not needed for solving). I was surprised at the breadth of the sources. See my blog for links (maybe some don't work anymore) to get more background and info, including on what Uncle Willie's list is.
Funny Words: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherently_funny_word) provided a great jumping off point, collecting the source I already knew, and more. [this might have been corrected since I last looked: Footnote 1 points to the wrong place, and the bibliography does, too (Podunk, Sept. 25, 1948). The right Mencken article is Oct. 1, 1949 (OK)!]