PUZZLE #368: Edges of Glory

PUZZLE #368

EDGES OF GLORY

It's officially 2022 now, so what better way to celebrate that fact than to start the new year with a new puzzle format? This one's inspired by a puzzle type generally known as "edge-matching puzzles", but with letters involved (never mind that "TetraVex" from Microsoft Entertainment Pack 3 already has a customization option involving letters, but I didn't know that when crafting this puzzle). If you want to see how that'll play out, then read on for the directions!

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 reality show.

1) Tie tightly and securely

2) Fibula or tibia

3) Air vent

4) Ivy League school founded by Benjamin Franklin, for short

5) _____ Goldberg machine (ridiculously complicated contraption)

6) Hauls into court

7) Arizona-based team that lost to the Bucks in the 2021 NBA Finals

8) Once _____ a Time... in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino film)

9) With "The", daytime talk show created by Barbara Walters

10) Marlon's role in The Godfather (even if he'd prefer to be called "Godfather")

11) Nullified, like a losing check on The Price is Right's "Check Game"

12) Songbird whose name sounds like Stimpy's pal

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: Semicircle Sorting 3

Happy new year, everyone! Here's the list of the eighteen people who have solved "Semicircle Sorting 3" from about two weeks ago:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Kevin Orfield
• Sam Levitin
• Karen Spencer
• Wendy Walker
• Tamara Brenner
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tyler Hinman
• Mindy Moore
• Mom
• Ray Youstra
• Meg Duvall
• Lynn Sweeney
• Al Sisti
• Peter Abide
• Alex & Eric Milton

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #367: The Block List 4

PUZZLE #367

THE BLOCK LIST 4

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 film from thirty years ago (1991) whose title is more than one word.

RED WORDS

• Claude, Penelope, and Sylvester from Looney Tunes, e.g.

• Palindromic joke

• Product from Mattel or Melissa & Doug

• Red Muppet who hosts The Not-Too-Late Show on HBO Max

BLUE WORDS

• "Into the Great Wide _____" (Tom Petty song)

• Liquid container or rural wind instrument

• Piece of cloth waved in semaphore codes

• Starfish limb

GREEN WORDS

• Blue, red, or yellow germ that Dr. Mario cures

• Lima or fava

• Number of Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics

• Raised racehorses, say

ORANGE WORDS

• Bloomin' _____ (Outback Steakhouse appetizer)

• Mattress spring

• Part of a bouquet mentioned in "Ring Around the Rosie"

• X-Men character with genius intellect and blue fur

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: Pent Words 17

Merry Day-After-Christmas (and Happy Boxing Day, if you happen to be in Canada)! Anyhoo, it's been roughly two weeks since "Pent Words 17" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people since then have successfully figured out its Final Answer:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Sam Levitin
• Ray Youstra
• Meg Duvall
• Karen Spencer
• Patrick Jordan
• Tommy Weigle
• Tyler Hinman
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mindy Moore
• Lynn Sweeney
• Mom
• Tamara Brenner
• Peter Abide

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #366: Semicircle Sorting 3

PUZZLE #366

SEMICIRCLE SORTING 3

Below are 12 semicircles, each containing three or four letters. Your job is to combine them all into six circles so that a common word (either 6, 7, or 8 letters long) can be read either clockwise or counterclockwise in each circle. However, in order to do that, six of the semicircles need to be rotated 180° upside down so that they can be correctly matched up with the remaining six semicircles.

Once all of the circles have been solved, select two of the resulting words and combine them to get the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word item associated with the holiday season.

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 9

It's been nearly two weeks since "Anagram Chambers 9" was posted on this blog, and nineteen people successfully solved it since then, as you can see below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Karen Spencer
• Patrick Jordan
• Al Sisti
• Ray Youstra
• Tyler Hinman
• Mom
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Mindy Moore
• Meg Duvall
• Lynn Sweeney
• Wendy Walker
• Tamara Brenner
• Peter Abide
• Tommy Weigle

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

PUZZLE #365: Pent Words 17

PUZZLE #365

PENT WORDS 17

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 two-word phrase

ACROSS (Two answers per row)

1) Bushes usually less than 20 feet tall

    The Way Things _____ (educational kids' book with mechanical diagrams)

2) Bar such as The Queen Vic from EastEnders

    Bacon and eggs' cooking surface

3) Clay-rich soil

    Picabo Street's sport

4) Montezuma, for one

    Marvel antihero who battles Carnage in a 2021 film sequel

5) Eyelash thickener

    French water

6) "Shakespearean" board game where you flip black and white discs

    Annual fan gathering, for short

7) "I beg to _____!"

    Dessert stolen by the Knave of Hearts

8) Cash in a coupon

    "Potent" prefix that's also a hotel chain

9) Nadir's opposite

    Full of good cheer

10) Last name of Wendy from Peter Pan

      The _____ Yorker (magazine whose website has weekly cryptic crosswords)

PENTOMINOES (Five letters per answer)

• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• Mel Meh or Jailbreak from a terrible 2017 animated movie, e.g.

• Largest artery

• Link's bladed weapon in the Legend of Zelda series

• Nut in the name of a squash variety

• Recurring, symbolic story element

• Iced tea brand co-owned by PepsiCo and Unilever

• Hermit crab's home

• Shipping company for “when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”

• Tacky humanoid lawn ornament

• Calvin who founded his namesake fashion house in 1968

• "Fake it _____ you make it"

• Parks and Recreation actress Aubrey

• Raise one's shoulders and go "I dunno..."

• Destination for the Fifth Pillar of Islam

• Overwhelming apprehension

• He's second in an alphabetical list of vice presidents (after Adams)

• Submarine used in both World Wars: Hyph.

• _____ Out (jukebox musical with Billy Joel songs)

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: Chess Words 2

It's been thirteen days since "Chess Words 2" was posted on this blog, and thirteen is also the number of people that have solved it, all of whom are listed below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Kevin Orfield
• Sam Levitin
• Al Sisti
• Tamara Brenner
• Stephen Potter
• Tyler Hinman
• Peter Abide
• Mindy Moore
• Mom
• Wendy Walker
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #364: Anagram Chambers 9

PUZZLE #364

ANAGRAM CHAMBERS 9

This puzzle contains a word 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

• [Small stream] + _ = [Double-_____ hamburger] + _ = [Country bumpkin in many Jeff Foxworthy jokes]

• [Title for Dracula or Duckula] + _ = [Sam of Froot Loops fame, for one] + _ = [Sotheby's event]

• [Artificial sweetener or a math symbol] + _ = [Fantastic Voyage star Welch] + _ = [Argument]

• [Vertebral column] + _ = [Equines such as Pinkie Pie] + _ = ["Rats with wings", according to New Yorkers]

• [All in the Family spinoff starring Bea Arthur] + _ = [Like a messy bed] + _ = [So commonplace as to be unnoteworthy]

• [Step in a flight] + _ = [Stats expressed with colons] + _ = [Waldorf _____ New York (luxury hotel)]

• [Takes a stab at] + _ = [Classic puzzle video game with the tagline "From Russia with Fun!"] + _ = [Party game involving a mat with colored spots]

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: Triangle Tangle 3

Close to two weeks have gone by since "Triangle Tangle 3" was posted on this blog, and seventeen people since then have successfully solved it, all of whom are listed below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Karen Spencer
• Sam Levitin
• Meg Duvall
• Mom
• Patrick Jordan
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tamara Brenner
• Mindy Moore
• Wendy Walker
• Lynn Sweeney
• Elliott Frankfother
• Peter Abide

Now head below the break for the answers!