ANSWERS: Gryptics 6

If you've been keeping track of my puzzles, you may have noticed that my 400th puzzle is set to be published tomorrow! It'll be a brand-new format to this blog, so look forward to it! But first things first: I have to reveal the answers to "Gryptics 6" from two weeks ago and list the people who have solved it:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• M. Sean Molley
• Chris Kochmanski
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Stasi Gustafson
• Sam Levitin
• Peter Abide
• Patrick Jordan
• Lynn Sweeney
• KeoFam
• Mom
• Wendy Walker

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

PUZZLE #399: Color Wheels 4

PUZZLE #399

COLOR WHEELS 4

The five- and six-letter answers in this puzzle go in three directions: straight across, uphill (up diagonally), and downhill (down diagonally), all from left to right, with one letter per triangle. Each entry is marked with a colored pointer: red for across, green for uphill, and blue for downhill. This is important, because all the answers are grouped according to the direction that they're entered into the grid. To make things a tad easier, six letters have already been entered into the grid.

Once you've completely filled in the grid, the two unclued red entries will combine to make the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a streaming-only animated series

ACROSS (marked with red arrows)

• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• Skeletal puppet who often shouts "Silence!! I keel you!"

• SS _____ Doria (sunken ship)

• Ten-time Grammy winner Streisand

• Seller of the No. 5, No. 19, and No. 22 perfumes

• Failed Ford car described as "an Oldsmobile sucking on a lemon"

• Skewered slabs of meat

• Controversial YouTuber Paul who signed with WWE in 2022

• Robotic villain who sings a song from Pinocchio in the second Avengers movie

UPHILL (marked with green arrows)

• Badalamenti who composed the music for Twin Peaks

• Soaked in a hot tub

• Ornate ornamental pin

• "You Send Me" singer Sam

• "_____ in your mouth, not in your hand" (old M&M's slogan)

• "Flowery" liquid consumed by hummingbirds

• Add more seasoning to an icy road, maybe

• Everybody Loves Raymond's Ray

• Smell or sight, e.g.

• Turn on its head

DOWNHILL (marked with blue arrows)

• Yo-Yo Ma's instrument

• Latina princess from a 2010s Disney Junior show

• Costume that's basically a bedsheet with two eye holes

• Windowsills

• The world's second-smallest country by area (after Vatican City)

• Gasoline rating

• Batman: Arkham Asylum character who gives Batman information (like a certain prophet from Delphi)

• Basic fighting game move that uses a fist

• Flattened anglerfish named after a flying mammal

• _____ rasa (philosophical concept from the Latin for "blank slate")

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: Central Scramble 5

It's been close to two weeks since "Central Scramble 5" was posted on this blog, and since then, fifteen people (plus one family) have successfully figured out its Final Answer:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Chris Kochmanski
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Tyler Hinman
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Patrick Jordan
• KeoFam
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Stasi Gustafson
• Peter Abide

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #398: Gryptics 6

PUZZLE #398

GRYPTICS 6

Insert a single letter in each space of each grid so that each grid's five rows and five columns spells a word from left to right or top to bottom (including the letters outside the grid).

Once you're done, take a word from the first grid and a word from the second grid and pair them up to get the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a long-running television series

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: Pathfinder 3

Thirteen days have passed by since "Pathfinder 3" was posted on this blog, and quite a few people since then have correctly solved it (I didn't put a specific number this time since one of the names below solved it as a family of unknown size):

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Sam Levitin
• Mike Armstrong
• Stephen Potter
• "KeoFam"
• Patrick Jordan
• Lynn Sweeney
• Tyler Hinman
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mom
• Tamara Brenner
• Peter Abide

If you want to know the answers to this puzzle, just head below the break to read them.

PUZZLE #397: Central Scramble 5

PUZZLE #397

CENTRAL SCRAMBLE 5

Below are four octagons with letters inside. Place a different letter in the center of each octagon so that four 5-letter words can be unscrambled out of its four diagonal sections. Also, each added letter has to be in the exact center of each resulting 5-letter word.

Once you're done, take the four letters added to each octagon and place a fifth letter into the exact center of those letters (no scrambling required) to get the FINAL ANSWER: something you might say to your pet

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: Super Sixes 5

It's been about two weeks since "Super Sixes 5" was posted on this blog, and sixteen people since then have successfully solved it:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Chris Kochmanski
• Joe Bernard
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tyler Hinman
• Mike Armstrong
• Kevin Orfield
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Steven McKinney
• Tamara Brenner
• Patrick Jordan
• Sam Levitin
• Brittany Trofimovich
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #396: Pathfinder 3

PUZZLE #396

PATHFINDER 3

One of the clues in 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!

In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered square, goes in the indicated direction, and makes at least one right-angled turn as it winds through the grid. When you're finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.

Once the grid is filled out, there should be another entry inside it that doesn't have a corresponding clue, nor does it start in a numbered space. This unlisted word is this week's FINAL ANSWER: a city in the Southern United States

1W) Not planned, like reality shows that actually live up to their name [8]

2W) Oscar category won twice by Hans Zimmer [4 8 5]

3E) Male red deer [4]

4S) Airline headquartered in Israel [2 2]

5N) Sign for an occupied outhouse [2 3]

5S) Brightens up a dark room [11]

6E) Smelly substance, like what the monsters from Monsters, Inc. spray on their armpits [7]

7N) The Great _____ (Fitzgerald novel that entered the public domain in 2021) [6]

8N) Start up a Windows PC [4]

8S) Superheroine name for Barbara Gordon or Cassandra Cain [7]

9N) Haircuts described as "business up front and party in the back" [7]

10W) Spoof such as the MAD comic "Superduperman" [6]

10S) Writing out block letters [8]

11S) _____ Starr & His All-Starr Band (live rock group) [5]

12E) Every so often [10]

13N) Less fresh, like potato chips [6]

14W) Prickly feeling on the back of one's neck [6]

15S) Manufacturer of cheap '80s synthesizers [5]

16S) Nonprofessional who doesn't understand technical jargon [6]

17S) Folklore figures made out of clay [6]

18W) Player on certain shows like Pass the Buck and Password [10]

18S) Tranquil [4]

19S) Place to purchase pastrami [4]

20N) #1 Mariah Carey song with a black and white music video [2 3]

21S) _____ Joy (coconutty candy bar) [6]

22E) British capital where Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties is set [6]

23E) Put on a happy face [6]

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: 5-Star Stumper 6

It's been nearly two weeks since "5-Star Stumper 6" was posted on this blog, and fifteen people since then have correctly solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Chris Kochmanski
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Wendy Walker
• Tamara Brenner
• Sam Levitin
• Patrick Jordan
• Steven McKinney
• Mom
• Tyler Hinman
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #395: Super Sixes 5

PUZZLE #395

SUPER SIXES 5

Enter the answers to the Across clues in the appropriate rows reading from left to right. The answer to each "Sixes" clue starts in the numbered square and goes either clockwise or counterclockwise around its 3x2 rectangle (the direction is left for you to determine by using the Across answers).

Once you've completely filled in the grid, the letters in the gray squares, read from top to bottom, will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: the name of a hit song from 1996

ACROSS
i) The quick _____ fox jumps over the lazy dog (sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet)

ii) Equine that you "ride" in the arcade game Final Furlong

iii) Royal spouses

iv) European treat similar to a snow cone: 2 wds.

v) Dart out in different directions

    Pacific Northwest state where The Angry Beavers is set

vi) Did a little turn on the catwalk, say

     Actresses Roberts and Louis-Dreyfus

vii) Dress that's really easy to put on

      "I Love a Rainy Night" singer Eddie

viii) Sending to the sidelines

      NBA player from New Orleans

ix) Unprovoked hostility

     Fly Like an _____ (Steve Miller Band album)

x) Skilled craftsperson

    Aviator outfits that prevent blackouts: Hyph.

xi) The Statue of Liberty's base

     Person paid to park Porsches, perhaps

xii) Brightly-colored bird that catches tiny trouts

xiii) Words with the same definitions as each other

xiv) Colorful candy discs once sold under the Willy Wonka brand

xv) African-American magazine first published in 1945

SIXES

1) Ornamental pin

2) Become cruddier in quality

3) Brief instances (anagram of STERIC)

4) Mama's Family or Modern Family, e.g.

5) Head of the Huns seen in Night at the Museum

6) "Just Give Me a _____" (song by Pink featuring Nate Ruess of fun.)

7) Surname of Barney from Bedrock

8) Adam who sings for Maroon 5

9) Contained like Smucker's jelly

10) Miss _____ (Broadway musical set in Vietnam)

11) Natural knack

12) Baked goods from Einstein Bros.

13) Fantaisie-Impromptu composer Frédéric

14) Scottish language that gave us the words "slogan" and "loch"

15) TV show's season, in the UK (or the entire TV show, in the US)

16) Hand out, as homework

17) Annual tournament held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center: 2 wds.

18) The Baker _____ Irregulars (Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts)

19) Leave the premises

20) Elaborately extravagant

21) Metallic jug that can hold a little over a liter of wine

22) Like Olive Oyl's body

23) Voyager 1 and New Horizons, for two

24) Boss's bootlickers

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!