PUZZLE #522: Back-Oops 3

PUZZLE #522

BACK-OOPS 3

Some words become different words when flipped around, such as PART and TRAP. The answers to this puzzle almost fit that description, but are a little off. To figure out what they are, fill in each space in the direction of the blue arrow with the answer to each corresponding numbered clue. Where a box is divided by a horizontal line, fill in a different letter below so that a new word is formed when read backwards through the pink arrow which matches one of the clues in the "Backward Words" section (listed in no particular order).

Once everything's filled out, the changed letters on the pink arrow, when read backwards, will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a term used in video games

FORWARD WORDS (blue arrow)

1) Large amount of soup or stew

2) Cut-and-_____ (simple and straightforward)

3) Winter sport for Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn

4) With "The", classic rock band that did "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"

5) Completely immerse

6) Lighthearted parody

7) Famous vampire Count whom Batman fought in a non-canonical comic book

BACKWARD WORDS (pink arrow)

• April _____ Day ('80s slasher film where, as a prank on the audience, nobody dies)

• Compact computer also known as a "notebook"

• Endurance that runs out when Lara Croft sprints for too long in Tomb Raider III

• Handicapped permit hung off of a car's front view mirror, for one

• Metamorphic rock that sounds pleasant?

• Quirky and quite odd

• Well-versed in a language

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: Loopy Links 2

It's been almost two weeks since "Loopy Links 2" was posted on this blog, and twenty people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Josie Giles
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mike Armstrong
• Sam Levitin
• KeoFam
• Tamara Brenner
• Chris Kochmanski
• Mom
• Derek Allen
• Marie desJardins
• Steve Gunter
• Lynn Sweeney
• Wendy Walker
• Stasi Gustafson

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #521: Anagram Chambers 12

PUZZLE #521

ANAGRAM CHAMBERS 12

One of the clues in 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!

For this puzzle, there are several dark-green "chambers" with yellow rectangles and light green squares in them. For each chamber, you take a word in the first yellow rectangle as hinted at by the clue, add a letter from the light green square, and scramble them to get a word in the second yellow rectangle, then you repeat the process to get the word in the third yellow rectangle. Unfortunately, none of the chambers are labeled, and all seven sets of clues are in no particular order, so you have to figure out which set of answers go to which proper chamber so the columns of light green squares will both spell out words reading vertically.

Once all of the chambers are in the correct order, the light green squares will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word phrase

• [Body lacking limbs and a head] + _ = [Groups of Girl Scouts] + _ = [Atom parts other than electrons and neutrons]

• [Pass into law] + _ = ["Hypnotic" subgenre of electronic dance music] + _ = [Human-horse hybrid seen in the "Pastoral Symphony" segment of Fantasia]

• [Angela's _____ (Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir)] + _ = [Stock market units] + _ = [Strapped device that can hold your horses]

• [What's left of a chopped-down tree] + _ = [It separates the nostrils in a human nose] + _ = [Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and so on]

• [Word preceding "piano" or "prix"] + _ = [Fire-breathing creature such as Spyro] + _ = [Doting or devoted]

• [Narrator and protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird] + _ = [Specially made] + _ = [Any outfit worn by contestants on Let's Make a Deal]

• [My Dinner with _____ (minimalist movie from 1981)] + _ = [Made money] + _ = [#1 Bruno Mars song named after a throwable explosive]

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: Logicrossword

It's been almost two weeks since my first "Logicrossword" puzzle was posted on this blog. I correctly predicted that it would be tougher than usual, as a total of thirteen people have solved it since then, but some of them did tell me that they successfully solved the normal version of this puzzle (as opposed to the easy one), so perhaps it wasn't too difficult after all.

• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Stasi Gustafson
• Sam Levitin
• Steve Gunter
• Tamara Brenner
• Michael Lebowitz
• Josie Giles
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Chris Kochmanski

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

PUZZLE #520: Loopy Links 2

PUZZLE #520

LOOPY LINKS 2

All of the answers in this puzzle weave through the grid in a single long chain via a series of straight lines and right-angled turns. Each square is used once except where the answers link together in squares with circles in them, each serving as the last letter of one answer and the first letter of the next. The letters in these circled squares are blank and for you to fill in. The chain begins and ends in squares that have letters already filled in.

Once you've solved this puzzle, the circled letters (when read left to right starting at the topmost row) will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: a proper name

1) Reptilian movie monster with an atomic breath attack

2) Pop rock duo that sang "Potential Breakup Song": 3 wds.

3) Girl Scout gathering

4) Clint _____ (actor who played Dirty Harry five times)

5) Philadelphia university that The Gong Show host Chuck Barris graduated from

6) Like an elaborate banquet with food galore

7) Sophisticated, like some arthouse fare

8) Tootsie Roll's covering

9) _____ & Isles (2010s crime drama that aired on TNT)

10) Asthmatic's aid

11) Judy Hopps from Zootopia, e.g.

12) Perforated reward for getting a high score on Skee-Ball, perhaps

13) Robberies

14) _____ to change (may be different later on)

15) Stretchy, sleeveless shirt: 2 wds.

16) Face-covering game for babies: Hyph.

17) The Three Tenors tune whose name is Italian for "My Sunshine": 3 wds.

18) With "The", Homeric epic that O Brother, Where Art Thou? was loosely based on

19) Japan's second-most populated city (after Tokyo)

20) Flight display by the Blue Angels, for one: 2 wds.

21) A _____ in Time (Madeleine L'Engle book)

22) Shouts something like "Holy smokes!"

23) Illegible doodle

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: Eat Your Words 10

It's been about two weeks since "Eat Your Words 10" was posted on this blog, and twenty people have successfully solved it since then, as you an see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Sam Levitin
• Stasi Gustafson
• Derek Allen
• Steve Gunter
• Wendy Walker
• Michael Lebowitz
• KeoFam
• Tamara Brenner
• Chris Kochmanski
• Marie desJardins
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Josie Giles

Now head below the break for the answers!