PUZZLE #572: Slot Machine 6

PUZZLE #572

SLOT MACHINE 6

In this Slot Machine, the Row answers are entered normally, from left to right in the order of the clues given. The Tumbler answers going down are entered in the same way, but all of the Tumblers have been "spun", meaning that the Tumblers' answers can start in any row and continue downwards. When a set of Tumbler answers hit the bottom of the grid, it continues at the start of the same column that it started in. There's also a "Jackpot Answer" that consists of the first letters of the first answer of each Tumbler. In the example above, the Rows spell out INN, TIE, and WOW, while the Tumblers spell out WIT, ION, and NEW, and the first letter of each Tumbler spell out WIN.

This week's FINAL ANSWER is the answer to the Jackpot.

JACKPOT
• Comic book superhero who hails from the future: ? wds.

ROWS

1) Changed back

    Alter _____ (secret identity)

2) Lacy placemats

    Hilda or Zelda, to Sabrina the Teenage Witch

3) Tin Wizard of Oz character wanting a heart

    Went 75 in a 55-MPH zone, e.g.

4) Blue hue of lapis lazuli

    Duplicate a duplicate paper

5) Fight temptation

    Mr. Marner from a George Eliot novel

6) Apple computers that come in "Mini" and "Pro" models

    _____ in Manila (boxing match where Muhammad Ali defeated Joe Frazier for the last time)

7) Southernmost Great Lake

    Poems for the dearly departed

8) Smugly flattering

    Journey or job, in medieval-themed role-playing games

9) Synonym for "however", minus the "ugh"

    Dying spitting sound

10) "Wah, wah, wah! Cry me a river!": Hyph.

      _____ disco (synth-heavy music genre from a boot-shaped country)

11) Longfin tuna: Var.

      British bar where darts are played

TUMBLERS

1) The _____ of Avon (Shakespeare's nickname)

    The closest you can be without getting hot, in a certain guessing game

2) Move like goop

    Tank top part to stick a limb through

3) Plain to see

    "Arrivederci!"

4) Captain America's circular weapon

    Choir's stage platform

5) It's measured in beats per minute

    _____ and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen film)

6) Of this planet (assuming you're not solving this in outer space)

    Pilfered plunder

7) Necessitates

    Original Super Mario Bros. 2 console: Abbr.

8) No longer having any innards

    Computer text format, or computer art that uses said text: Abbr.

9) Kukla, Fran and _____ (early TV puppet show)

    Wrap a wrist with gauze bandages, say: 2 wds.

10) Drag along with difficulty

      Like the culture of Kathmandu's country

11) Prefix for "functional"

      Multimillion-selling platformer video game released to celebrate PlayStation's 30th anniversary in 2024: 2 wds.

Once you believe you've figured out the FINAL ANSWER, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com (though I'm more likely to check the second one) and I'll put your name on a solvers list once I post the answers in about two weeks. You can also use those email addresses to give me some comments and feedback (or even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) or send me the answer to last week's puzzle, if you haven't already figured it out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

ANSWERS: Edges of Glory 4

It's been almost two weeks since "Edges of Glory 4" was posted on this blog, so now it's time to take a look at the whopping list of the twenty-one people who have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Cindy Heisler
• Dave C
• Marie desJardins
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Derek Allen
• Stasi Gustafson
• Wendy Walker
• Okieboy2008
• Chris Kochmanski
• Nicholas Weaver
• Mom
• KeoFam
• Steve Gunter
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Craig Leach
• Eli Zarconi

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #571: Eat Your Words 11

PUZZLE #571

EAT YOUR WORDS 11

In this puzzle, the words hinted at by the numbered clues (The "Numbered Words") can "eat" a word hinted at by a different set of clues (The "Eaten Words") without rearranging any of the letters. For example, the word BIT can eat the word AND to form BANDIT. All of the new words are entered into the grid in the order of the Numbered Words, and the Eaten Words are in no particular order.

Once all of the new words have been placed, the letters in the highlighted third column will spell out two more words. Insert one of the column's new words into the other to get the FINAL ANSWER: A brand name

NUMBERED WORDS

1) Ctrl-V, in Microsoft Paint

2) Failed to tell the truth

3) "_____ Day of My Life" (only hit song by American Authors)

4) Bro's sib, assuming it's not another bro

5) Three Stooges member who often goes "Woo woo woo woo!"

6) Seventh word in "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep"

7) Flamingo's flapping appendage

8) Sword-wielding, Spanish-speaking feline from Shrek 2, for short

EATEN WORDS

• Bad guy or gal, in pro wrestling slang (or the back of a foot)

• "___ bin ein Berliner" (JFK quote)

• Emit light, like the sun

• Many miles away (HINT: it still has the same definition if you remove its first letter)

• Pay for a temporary car from Enterprise, perhaps

• Shortened name for a long automobile

• The Masked Singer panelist and 99 to Beat co-host Jeong

• World-domination board game that Kramer and Newman play in an episode of Seinfeld

Once you think you know what the FINAL ANSWER is, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com (though I'm more likely to check the second one) and I'll put your name on a solvers list once I post the answers in about two weeks. You can also use those email addresses to give me some comments and feedback (or even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) or send me the answer to last week's puzzle, if you haven't already figured it out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

ANSWERS: Honeycomb 7

It's been almost two weeks since "Honeycomb 7" was posted on this blog, and an impressive twenty-one people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Dave C
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Derek Allen
• Wendy Walker
• Okieboy2008
• KeoFam
• Chris Kochmanski
• Mom
• Patrick Jordan
• Steve Gunter
• Eli Zarconi
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Stasi Gustafson

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #570: Edges of Glory 4

PUZZLE #570

EDGES OF GLORY 4

This puzzle type was suggested by Patron Grant Fikes. Support me on Patreon at $25 per month to suggest any puzzle type of your choice every month!

There are several squares divided into four triangles each, plus a grid to fit them all into. First, fill in the squares with the 4-letter answers to each corresponding clue, starting with the numbered triangle, and going clockwise. Then, fit all of the filled-out squares into the grid below (without rotating them) so that wherever two squares touch along one of the heavy lines, the letters on both sides of the line are the same.

Once everything's in its proper place, the outer edges of the grid, when read clockwise, will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: The name of a Grammy-winning song

1) Original High Rollers host Trebek

2) "New Look" fashion designer Christian

3) Native American tribe from Arizona

4) Mary-_____ Olsen (celebrity twin)

5) Leg joint with a silent letter

6) Open a previously saved game in a computer game, say

7) Semiaquatic salamander whose young is called an "eft"

8) Glass sheet bought during window shopping?

9) Lateralus prog-metal band (or a hammer or screwdriver, e.g.)

10) Candy bar consisting of a cookie covered with caramel and chocolate

11) Sneaky, like the toon that chases Road Runner

12) "Weird Al" song about a Star Wars character "who looks like a Muppet, but he's wrinkled and green"

Once you believe you've figured out the FINAL ANSWER, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com (though I'm more likely to check the second one) and I'll put your name on a solvers list once I post the answers in about two weeks. You can also use those email addresses to give me some comments and feedback (or even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) or send me the answer to last week's puzzle, if you haven't already figured it out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

ANSWERS: Chain Reaction: Branching Out 6

Two weeks have passed by since "Chain Reaction: Branching Out 6" was posted on this blog, so now's the time to look at everyone who has solved it since then;

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Cindy Heisler
• Marie desJardins
• Dave C
• Kevin Orfield
• Wendy Walker
• Sam Levitin
• Michael Lebowitz
• Okieboy2008
• Lynn Sweeney
• Chris Kochmanski
• Pavel Curtis
• Derek Allen
• KeoFam
• Mom
• Steve Gunter
• Eli Zarconi

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #569: Honeycomb 7

PUZZLE #569

HONEYCOMB 7

This puzzle contains a word or phrase suggested by Patron M. Sean Molley. Support me on Patreon at $15 or more per month to suggest one word or phrase for me to put into a puzzle every month!

Each six-letter word is to be entered clockwise or counterclockwise around the correspondingly numbered black cell, though the direction and starting point of each answer is for you to determine.

Once the grid has been filled out, the colored hexagons, when read either clockwise or counterclockwise (but not both at once), will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a 6-letter word

1) Sips soup noisily

2) "O Holy Night" and "O Christmas Tree", e.g.

3) Prison guard

4) Fabrics sold at a white sale

5) _____, She Wrote (mystery TV series starring Angela Lansbury)

6) Measurement of three-dimensional space

7) Huge crowds of people

8) Pelted with pebbles, perhaps

9) Related to speech sounds

10) Donut relative whose name is French for "flash of lightning"

11) Tuskegee _____ (African-American pilots from WWII)

12) A.I. Artificial Intelligence director Spielberg

13) Someone who plays unfinished video games in order to find glitches and bugs

14) Can't help but do it: 2 wds.

15) Little _____ Annie (former comic strip)

16) Contact lens solution

17) Biblical book following Song of Solomon

18) Tony-nominated actor Slater and Oscar-nominated actor Hawke, for two

19) Incorrect guess on Family Feud signified by a big red "X"

20) Shakespearean agreement

21) Dressing table for an egotist?

22) Black-and-white tile used in the New York Times online game "Pips"

23) Strong urge

24) Strong urge for a drink

25) It's what the pot called black in an idiom calling out hypocrisy

26) Dissimilar

27) _____ veiled (barely concealed)

28) With "The", "Bigmouth Strikes Again" band (EASIER CLUE: Horseshoe forgers)

29) Heifer relatives such as Heffer from Rocko's Modern Life

30) Clown's walking sticks?

31) Multicar crash: Hyph.

32) Chastise or penalize, such as giving a time-out

33) Serpents' sounds

34) Twizzlers Filled _____ (swirly licorice candy with creamy stuff in the middle)

35) Platinum-selling single from Devo's platinum-selling album Freedom of Choice: 2 wds.

36) Capote actor Seymour Hoffman

37) Goes from second to third gear, say

Once you think you know what the FINAL ANSWER is, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com (though I'm more likely to check the second one) and I'll put your name on a solvers list once I post the answers in about two weeks. You can also use those email addresses to give me some comments and feedback (or even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) or send me the answer to last week's puzzle, if you haven't already figured it out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

ANSWERS: Wordy Web 7

Two weeks have passed by since "Wordy Web 7" was posted on this blog, and twenty people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Pavel Curtis
• Dave C
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Chris Kochmanski
• Sam Levitin
• Derek Allen
• Wendy Walker
• KeoFam
• Okieboy2008
• Patrick Jordan
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Eli Zarconi
• Steve Gunter

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #568: Chain Reaction: Branching Out 6

PUZZLE #568

CHAIN REACTION: BRANCHING OUT 6

First, find the answers to the clues, which are listed in alphabetical order of their answers. The bracketed numbers at the end of each clue are the lengths of each answer. Then, place the answers into the white boxes in the diagram below (leave the pink box alone for now) so that reading right, each pair of boxes that are connected with a line create a two-word phrase or compound word. As an additional help, some of the boxes have numbers in front of them; those signify the length of the words that will be entered in them, ensuring there's only one way all of the words will fit together.

The FINAL ANSWER is the three-letter animal that goes in the pink box to create three more words or phrases.

• Superlative adjective in the name of every Academy Award category [4]

• Get on a plane or a train [5]

• Ride a bike downhill without pedaling [5]

• Not at all the same [9]

• ↓ [4]

• They're molted by mallards [8]

• Back and _____ (to and fro) [5]

• Puzzle magazine that often has "Mixed Doubles" crosswords [5]

• Angels' abode [6]

• Synonym for "comprehends" that sounds like a part of the face [5]

• ZZ Top song with the lyrics "She never begs, she knows how to choose them" [4]

• "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a _____" (Groucho Marx quip) [6]

• Stuffing a suitcase before a vacation [7]

• _____ Sajak's Trivia Gems (casual computer game from 2006) [3]

• Like emails that have successfully left the outbox [4]

• Istanbul's country [6]

• Mrs Dalloway author Woolf [8]

• Buzzard relative that flies in circles over its prey [7]

• Do the dishes [4]

• Envelope-pushing movie actress Mae who starred in She Done Him Wrong [4]

• The _____ Robot (Dreamworks film where the title character raises a gosling to adulthood) [4]

Once you believe you've figured out the FINAL ANSWER, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com (though I'm more likely to check the second one) and I'll put your name on a solvers list once I post the answers in about two weeks. You can also use those email addresses to give me some comments and feedback (or even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) or send me the answer to last week's puzzle, if you haven't already figured it out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

ANSWERS: Anagram Chambers 13

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Anagram Chambers 13" was posted on this blog, and an astounding twenty-one people have solved it since then!

• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Grant Fikes
• Joe Bernard
• Dave C
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Okieboy2008
• KeoFam
• Chris Kochmanski
• Sam Levitin
• Wendy Walker
• Patrick Jordan
• Stasi Gustafson
• Lynn Sweeney
• Ryon Chan
• Steve Gunter
• Mom
• Nicholas Weaver
• Eli Zarconi

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a solver's comment!