PUZZLE #567: Wordy Web 7

PUZZLE #567

WORDY WEB 7

This Web's set up with Circles and Strands, but there are no letters with which the words are woven. To complete this puzzle, enter the answers to the Circles' clues (numbered 1 to 6) clockwise around the concentric rings of the Web, though it's up to you to determine the starting point for each Circle. All of the Circles' clues are presented in order. To help figure out the Circles' starting points, fill in the Strands' answers (marked with A to L) starting at each respective letter and traverse the Web from left to right. Some of the strands have only one answer, while others have two.

Once you've completely filled in the Web, the letters in the red spaces, reading down, will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: the name of a horror computer game

CIRCLES
1) Apple products whose models include 3GS, XR, and 17 Pro Max

    Serious show like Shogun or SEAL Team

    Fur trader John Jacob

    In genuine need of closed captioning on TV programs, perhaps

    Thin-waisted, like a certain insect similar to a hornet

2) Chinese territory with a gambling industry seven times bigger than Vegas'

    Rocket propulsion

    Mann who once sang with the new wave group ‘Til Tuesday

    _____ del Fuego (South American archipelago)

3) Rectangular campus area

    Platinum-selling Lady Gaga album with "Applause"

    Type of tournament open to all skill levels: Hyph.

    Like the verbs "creep" and "weep": Abbr.

4) Segments in matches of fighting games like Mortal Kombat

    _____ even keel: 2 wds.

    Deck boss, briefly

5) Question the truth of

    Barely-there swimwear that's the subject of a Sisqo song

6) "All ______!" ("Hurry up and get on the train!")

STRANDS

A) Camera-_____ (hates being photographed)

B) Black Widow and Centipede developer

C) Prepared a key-powered mechanical mouse: 2 wds.

D) Websites' help pages

    Garbage

E) .PDF file viewer from Adobe

    "Do you want it for here _____ go?": 2 wds.

F) Tiny insertable headphones made by Raycon

    Smallest country in the Himalayas

G) Key of Beethoven's ninth symphony: 2 wds.

     Chocolate-coated snack consisting of marshmallow stuffing between two circular Graham crackers: 2 wds.

H) Muslim's month of fasting

     Center fielder DiMaggio and comic actor DeLuise, for two

I) Shortened form of a long-armed ape's name

   Drove too fast

J) With "The", Iron Maiden song about a cavalry soldier in the Crimean War

K) Mattress company that filed for (and emerged from) Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023

L) Ready, _____, fire!

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: Dial Tunes 6

It's been almost two weeks since "Dial Tunes 6" was posted on this blog, so now it's time to take a look at all nineteen people who have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #566: Anagram Chambers 13

PUZZLE #566

ANAGRAM CHAMBERS 13

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

• [Much too thin] + _ = [Chewy stuff in a Snickers bar other than caramel] + _ = [Regular place for casual meetings]

• [Many of these make up a mustache, maybe] + _ = [Louisiana's version of a county] + _ = [Blimp or zeppelin, say]

• [Bowling alleys] + _ = [_____ & Gretel and the Enchanted Castle (1995 computer game)] + _ = [Let loose the dogs from their restraints]

• [Last name of Beverly from Stephen King's It (or a bog)] + _ = [Sultans' slews of spouses] + _ = [Mr. Peabody's time-traveling partner in some Rocky & Bullwinkle segments]

• [Bee that can’t even sting] + _ = ["Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" singer Stevie] + _ = [Topped with a tiara]

• [Scour with a Scotch-Brite pad] + _ = [Speedy solvers of certain toys created by Erno Rubik] + _ = [Practically unknown to almost everybody]

• [Blow one's top, like Mount Etna on a bad day] + _ = [_____ Rico] + _ = [Stance such as a slouch]

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: The Block List 7

It's been almost two weeks since "The Block List 7" got posted on this blog, and twenty people have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #565: Dial Tunes 6

PUZZLE #565

DIAL TUNES 6

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!

First, answer as many of the numbered clues as you can and enter them into the first grid. Each clue ends with an arrow indicating the direction its answer should be entered: from top to bottom [↓], from bottom to top [↑], or even either way [↕]. For example, if the answers were JIB [↓], IRE [↓], SAD [↑], EVE [↕], AT [↑], and O [↕], you would enter them like this:

Next, try to decode the message (in the form of song lyrics) by replacing every circled letter with another letter that shares the same number on a telephone keypad, which we've provided on top of these directions (for example, B can be replaced by A or C). The decoded message should be entered into the second grid, as shown here (note that the bold vertical lines indicate divisions between words):

(From "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

The FINAL ANSWER is the name of the song containing the decoded lyrics.

Place the answers to the following clues here

1) Myrtle Beach’s st. [↓]

2) Rocker Diddley who played on a distinctive rectangular guitar [↑]

3) Obtained victory [↓]

4) Result of a successful turn in Battleship [↓]

5) Biblical shepherd slain by Cain [↓]

6) Tall Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends character named after NBA star Chamberlain [↑]

7) Sleepyheaded protagonist of Little Busters! (answer hidden in STRIKING) [↑]

8) Centers of car wheels [↑]

9) Acclaimed Charli XCX album with a lime-green cover and zero Top 40 hits (unless you count its remixed version) [↑]

10) Soil-scraping garden tools [↓]

11) Second-largest Hawaiian island, after Hawaii [↑]

12) NFL player's most reasonable option for 4th and long [↓]

13) Company that's still making Beanie Babies even after 30+ years [↑]

Place the decoded lyrics here

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: Word Squares: Projectors 8

Two weeks have passed by since "Word Squares: Projectors 8" was posted on this blog, and it proved to be a toughie, as the number of solvers dipped a bit to sixteen:

• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Wendy Walker
• Chris Kochmanski
• Mom [Hints Used]
• Adam Weaver
• Steve Gunter
• Sam Levitin
• Lynn Sweeney
• Derek Allen
• Eli Zarconi
• Stasi Gustafson

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

PUZZLE #564: The Block List 7

PUZZLE #564

THE BLOCK LIST 7

In each numbered row of squares, fill in the squares of each color with one of the given words below from the set of that color, keeping the letters in their original order, so that the entire row spells out a single longer word. However, you have to figure out what each smaller, color-coded word is based on the clues given.

Once you're done with the first four rows, enter the letters of the remaining words into the last row of squares similarly to spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a long-running reality show whose title is more than one word.

RED WORDS

• Bubsy, for one (HINT: He starts out his first video game with nine lives)

• Frankenweenie director and The Nightmare Before Christmas producer Burton

• Kellogg–Briand _____ (peace treaty that has nothing to do with cereal)

• Landform that follows "Blueberry" or "Bunker"

BLUE WORDS

• Egyptian city where the Great Sphinx is located

• Sorts (answer hidden in MILKSHAKES)

• The "D" in the racing abbreviation "DNF"

• "_____ Way You Want It" (Journey single certified four times platinum in 2024)

GREEN WORDS

• Area of a cow where a T-bone steak is chopped out of

• Climbing plant that Tarzan may climb up

• Rank for Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in M*A*S*H

• "Time _____ all wounds"

ORANGE WORDS

• 1995 animated film about a sled dog involved in 1925's serum run to Nome

• Holiest of holy cities in Islam

• Jasmine _____ (grain grown in Thailand)

• To whom Robin Hood gives after he steals from the rich

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: Flower Power 9

Two weeks have passed by since "Flower Power 9" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!