PUZZLE #280: Pent Words 15

PUZZLE #280

PENT WORDS 15

For this puzzle, you must divide the grid into pentominoes (they’re sorta like Tetris pieces, except they’re areas made up of five squares each) and put a letter in each cell. The rows, reading from left to right, will contain the words hinted at by the ACROSS clues. The letters in the pentominoes, reading left to right beginning with the top row, will form the words hinted at by the PENTOMINOES clues; these clues are presented in no particular order. (In the example above, the rows spell out CHINS, PARTY, and ANKLE, and the pentominoes spell out the words CHINA, STYLE, and PRANK.) Use the across answers to figure out where the pentominoes go.

Once you're done, combine the two unclued pentominoes to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: a video game from the '90s

ACROSS (Two answers per row)

1) Nokia 3310, e.g.

    Whose Line Is It Anyway? regular Mochrie

2) Tampa Bay's baseball team

    Aladdin and Jasmine fly on it while singing "A Whole New World"

3) Loosen laces

    Faygo or Fanta, for example

4) "Her name is _____ and she dances on the sand" (Duran Duran lyrics)

    Cackling comedienne Diller

5) Judi Dench's title

    He tawt he taw a puddy tat

6) Monstro from Disney's Pinocchio, for one

    Brawl between Mortal Kombat characters

7) "Woof!"

    Hitchcock film or a U2 song

8) Actor Routh who played Superman in Superman Returns

    Antlered animal on Michigan's state flag

9) _____ Chop (puppet created by Shari Lewis)

    Formal evening party

10) "Borrowed" without permission

      Crow's larger cousin

PENTOMINOES (Five letters per answer)

* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

* Former Houston football player

* Place onto a scale

* Doc or Dopey, e.g.

* Stallone character from First Blood and Last Blood

* Cobalt or copper

* _____ Heep (progressive rock band active for over 50 years)

* Like notebook paper

* The Greatest Showman actor Zac

* Skateboarding leap

* The biggest of the big cats (if you exclude hybrids)

* _____ Bunches of Oats (cereal)

* Newspaper comic character who often exclaims "AACK!"

* Coin needed to play Skee-Ball, perhaps

* Tha Doggfather rapper, casually

* Sells, as from a machine stuffed with snacks

* The old "bucket of water on the door" trick, for one

* Get the heck outta Dodge

* Pleasing to the palate 

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 get a hint from me in exchange for a "hint star", more details for that are on the sidebar to the right) 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 two versions you can print out: a .PNG and a link to a .PDF!

ANSWERS: Smush 3

Boy, I guess my newly revamped version of "Smush" was a hit, as an astounding twelve people have solved it since it was first posted two weeks ago! Take a look:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Eric Maddy ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a few solvers' comments!

PUZZLE #279: Triangle Tangle

PUZZLE #279

TRIANGLE TANGLE

To solve this puzzle, enter the 4-letter answer to each clue into the diagram either from top to bottom or diagonally upward. There are two numbers starting each clue; each answer begins in the triangle marked with the first number, and ends in the triangle marked with the second.

Once the grid has been filled in, there are two more words hiding in the topmost row of letters and the bottommost row of letters. Combine them both to get the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a series of educational computer games

1-2) Where the sidewalk ends
2-3) Mario and Luigi, for short
3-4) Underperforming Star Wars film about Han's early days
4-5) Buck-toothed snowman from Frozen II
5-6) French card game that's a homonym for an ancient Egyptian ruler
6-7) Moral _____ (Adult Swim show that satirizes religious hypocrisy)
7-8) Online release of confidential info
8-9) Shiva's wife in Hinduism
9-10) Woes of the world
10-11) Czech or Slovakian
11-12) Reporter Vicki played by Kim Basinger in Batman (1989)
12-13) Pterodactyl from Lost Eden (or a futuristic race from 1895's The Time Machine)
13-14) Letter before kappa
14-15) Pictures _____ Exhibition (Mussorgsky suite)
15-16) Hair removal brand that aired "we wear short shorts" ads
16-17) Piece of jewelry that gives the Green Lantern his powers
17-18) Chew like a chipmunk

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 get a hint from me in exchange for a "hint star", more details for that are on the sidebar to the right) 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 two versions you can print out: a .PNG and a link to a .PDF!

ANSWERS: Anagram Magic Square 5: Subtracting & Scrambling Some More

It's been almost two weeks since "Anagram Magic Square 5" was posted on this blog, and a whopping twelve people since then have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Cindy Heisler ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Mom ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Lynn Sweeney ***

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #278: Smush 3

PUZZLE #278

SMUSH 3

In this puzzle, you take the answers to two clues and combine them to make one smushed-up phrase. For example, if the clue is "Swirly candy on a stick + Frozen treat on a stick", then the answer would be "Lollipopsicle", since that's the smushed-up form of "Lollipop" and "Popsicle". Below are some more smushed-up phrases for you to solve, and in order to do so, write the answers to the clues on the correspondingly numbered rows of dashes, one letter per dash, so that the overlapping part of each answer lies in the colored box.

Once all of the phrases have been solved, copy the boxed letters into the boxes at the bottom (keeping the letters in each box together, but rearranging the boxes themselves) to spell your FINAL ANSWER: a smushed-up form of two TV shows that aired on the same network

1) Eminem song named after Clark Kent's alter ego + Nicki Minaj song named after a large snake

2) Chihuahua City's country + San José's country

3) Italian pie that can be tough and bready + American President nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready"

4) County fair prize seen in the title cards of some Looney Tunes shorts + Disney show about a cartoon bobcat who becomes a cop

5) Swinger in a grandfather clock + Swinger of an axe in a forest

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 get a hint from me in exchange for a "hint star", more details for that are on the sidebar to the right) 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 two versions you can print out: a .PNG and a link to a .PDF!

ANSWERS: Chain Reaction: Extra Links 8

Thirteen days have passed since "Chain Reaction: Extra Links 8" was posted on this blog, and nine people have successfully solved that puzzle since then, as you can see in the list below:

• Cindy Heisler ****
• Grant Fikes ***
• Joe Bernard ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Mom ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Eric Maddy ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #277: Anagram Magic Square 5: Subtracting & Scrambling Some More

PUZZLE #277

ANAGRAM MAGIC SQUARE 5: SUBTRACTING & SCRAMBLING SOME MORE

The 6-letter word in each box is an anagram to the answer to each of the clues below.... almost. You see, in this puzzle, all of the answers are five letters long, so remove an extra letter from each 6-letter word to get each answer. Put the number of each corresponding clue into the small box below the initial word and write down the anagram on the dash directly below that. The numbers in each row and column will add up to 65.

Once you're done with the puzzle, the subtracted letter of each answer, in numerical clue order, will spell out a clue; the FINAL ANSWER is the hyphenated word hinted at by the clue.

1) Doughnut's cousin
2) Pebbles Flintstone's mother
3) A- or C+
4) Guitar player's combination
5) Simple graphics program included with all versions of Windows
6) Radioactivity unit named after Pierre and/or Marie
7) Urkel's first name in Family Matters
8) Old Oldsmobile car named after the last Greek letter
9) Large smoke that may need a cutter
10) Shoemaker's assistants in one of Grimms' Fairy Tales
11) Way before the deadline
12) With "The", nickname of the British trivia genius on GSN's The Chase
13) Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator author Dahl
14) Greece's largest island
15) Upside-down "e"
16) Exits a computer game, perhaps
17) Runaway _____ (1999 Julia Roberts movie)
18) French city known for its mustard
19) Mushroom "seed"
20) Sour's partner in certain sauces
21) 1990 Patrick Swayze film with a famous pottery-making scene
22) Month when National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day is observed
23) Joint where the funny bone is
24) Calibri and Comic Sans, for two
25) Super Mario _____ 2 (Nintendo Switch game where you can create your own Mario levels)

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 get a hint from me in exchange for a "hint star", more details for that are on the sidebar to the right) 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 two versions you can print out: a .PNG and a link to a .PDF!

ANSWERS: Slide Show: Double Feature

It's been thirteen days since "Slide Show: Double Feature" was posted on this blog, and eight people since then have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Mom ****
• Eric Maddy ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a couple solvers' comments!