PUZZLE #557: Drop Tower 13

PUZZLE #557

DROP TOWER 13

Starting with an 8-letter word on top of the "tower", drop one letter and rearrange the rest to form a 7-letter word. Continue this process until only a 2-letter word remains. Since the tower is completely blank, use the randomly-ordered clues to figure out the words that go in each row.

Once the grid is completely filled in, look inside it for this week's FINAL ANSWER: a six-letter word that can be read going down and in a straight diagonal line.

CLUES

• Green _____ (rural sitcom with Eva Gabor and a pig named Arnold Ziffel)

• Initials for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader author Lewis

• Key next to F1 on most American keyboards

• Late Night Liars panelist who's basically Paris Hilton as a poodle (or a soft woolly sweater fabric)

• Sousa songs such as "The Stars and Stripes Forever"

• Use Ecosia or Ask.com, say

• Word that can precede "closed" or follow "open-and-shut"

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: Nonplussed 4

It's been almost two weeks since "Nonplussed 4" was posted on this blog, so now it's time to take a look at the twenty people who have solved it since then:

• Marie desJardins
• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Wendy Walker
• Stasi Gustafson
• Mom
• Patrick Jordan
• Tamara Brenner
• Lynn Sweeney
• Craig Leach
• Chris Kochmanski
• Steve Gunter
• Derek Allen

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #556: Chess Words 6

PUZZLE #556

CHESS WORDS 6

This puzzle (suggested by Patron Grant Fikes) 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!

Eight 8-letter words are scrambled on the chessboard, all of which are the answers to the provided clues. Each chess piece starts on the first letter of one of the words, and can be moved across the board via standard chess moves to spell the rest of the word. Every square is used exactly once. The chess pieces move as follows:

King: one space in any of the eight directions
Rook: any number of spaces in a horizontal or vertical direction
Bishop: any number of spaces in a diagonal direction
Queen: any number of spaces in any of the eight directions
Knight: two spaces in a horizontal or vertical direction and then one space in a perpendicular direction

Once all the words have been found, pick two of the words and combine them to get the FINAL ANSWER: a multi-platinum album from the 1970s

  Queen's Rook: O _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                a1 
Queen's Knight: B _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                b1 
Queen's Bishop: E _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                c1 
         Queen: M _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                d1 
          King: A _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                e1 
 King's Bishop: P _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                f1 
 King's Knight: C _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                g1 
   King's Rook: G _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                h1

CLUES

• Body part or book part

• Caught up with, then passed

• Grammy-winning music video by Olivia Newton-John

• Knightly vegetable that you play as in Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom

• Newspaper comic magician who turned 90 in 2024

• Part of Wyoming's state nickname

• Tubes used for shooting poison darts

• Writings on the wall?

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: Empty Word Ladder 5

It's been almost two weeks since "Empty Word Ladder 5" got posted on this blog, and twenty people have solved it since then:

• Marie desJardins
• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Wendy Walker
• Chris Kochmanski
• Derek Allen
• KeoFam
• Patrick Jordan
• Tamara Brenner
• Mom
• Stasi Gustafson
• Lynn Sweeney
• Craig Leach

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

PUZZLE #555: Nonplussed 4

PUZZLE #555

NONPLUSSED 4

The answers in this puzzle are entered in two ways: the fifteen numbered rows have one or two answers that read left to right (even the two rows that only have one letter in it), and the plusses have five-letter answers that read left to right beginning in the top row (exactly like how they're entered in Pent Words). The clues for the plusses are split up into two groups: white plusses and gray plusses. Answers to those clues should be placed in their respectively-colored plus, though you have to use the Rows' answers to find out where each plus answer is located.

There are two unclued rows in this puzzle; combine them to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: a two-word military phrase

ROWS
1) Vowel that acts as the pseudonym for Pretty Little Liars' blackmailing villain

2) No _____, no fuss

3) Win back one's losses

4) THE FIRST HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

5) The View co-host Joy who voiced Sid the Sloth's mom in Ice Age: Continental Drift

    Rule Rhode Island, maybe

6) Raised fingerprint part

    Not chemically inert

7) Poplar part that falls in the fall

    Animated series set in the 31st century that spawned the phrase "Shut up and take my money!"

8) Add to, as a robotic build

    It is I (on the periodic table, at least)

9) Bruce Springsteen album with "Hungry Heart": 2 wds.

    NBC's peacock, CBS's eye, or ABC's lowercase "abc" in a ball, e.g.

10) Semester-ending test

      Pillar carved by many tribes of the Pacific Northwest: 2 wds.

11) Word that can usually be pluralized

      Party board game "for your Whole Brain" with art by cartoonist Gary Baseman

12) THE SECOND HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

13) A quart has 32 of these fluid units

14) Word preceding "five", "flying", and "fidelity"

15) To a ___ (quirky video game where you play a teen stuck in the shape of the 20th letter)

WHITE PLUSSES

• Get a smile out of

• _____ of Frankenstein (Universal monster movie where Elsa Lanchester plays the title role)

• Networking company founded in San Fran (or what's missing from "San Fran")

• "Ouchless" bandage brand

• Number of bits used in an original Apple II computer

• Rock type Pokémon named after a clay creature from Jewish folklore

• Taz-_____ ('90s Warner Bros. cartoon that's a pun on an Australian island)

• Be deserving of

• German cosmetics company

• Chicago airport not named "Midway"

• Penguin from The Backyardigans (or cubist Picasso)

• Member of an NFL team that plays home games in Houston's NRG Stadium

• Make knots not be knots anymore

GRAY PLUSSES

• Tennis Hall of Famer Chris who won the US Open four times in a row

• Social faux pas

• _____ white shark (fish such as Jabberjaw)

• Gut feeling

• "Live, _____, Love" (slogan commonly found on home decor from the 2010s)

• Sal who got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Rebel Without a Cause

• Pitcher's hill

• Deck in the Obra Dinn ship from Return of the Obra Dinn (answer hidden in DOCTOR LOPEZ)

• Swiss/French river with a circumflex (^) in its name

• Scrub with a Brillo pad

• Hard-to-control impulses

• Person picking a politician to elect

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: Anagram Magic Square 9

Two weeks have passed by since "Anagram Magic Square 9" was posted on this blog, and an astonishing twenty people have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #554: Empty Word Ladder 5

PUZZLE #554

EMPTY WORD LADDER 5

In normal word ladders, you have to turn one word into another word by changing it one letter at a time (such as CAT — COT — DOT — DOG). However, this word ladder is completely blank, meaning that the starting and ending words are completely unknown. To fill it in, we've provided clues to all of the words that link the two mystery words, though they're not listed in any particular order. Rearrange the clues' answers so that they form a proper word ladder in the white spaces, then figure out the two mystery words on the ladder's top and bottom, signified by the yellow spaces. Combine both words in the correct order to create the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word phrase relating to marketing.

CLUES

• WORD AT THE START OF THE LADDER

• WORD AT THE END OF THE LADDER

• Burn, but barely

• Crank-operated hoisting device

• Feathered appendages that allow Hawkgirl to fly

• Grimace at a groin shot, say

• Grows smaller, as the Moon

• Magical sticks that can be bought at Ollivanders in the Harry Potter universe

• Plays the voice-activated video game Karaoke Revolution, for example

• Sabrina the Teenage _____ (Archie Comics character)

• The greatest thing _____ sliced bread

• Twists a key to power an old toy mouse, with "up"

• United Kingdom country whose capital is Cardiff

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: Diagramless Crossword 8

Two weeks have passed by since "Diagramless Crossword 8" was posted on this blog, and nineteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Cathy Bowen
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Tamara Brenner
• KeoFam
• Patrick Jordan
• Mom [Help used]
• Wendy Walker
• Lynn Sweeney
• Steve Gunter
• Chris Kochmanski
• Stasi Gustafson
• Derek Allen

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #553: Anagram Magic Square 9

PUZZLE #553

ANAGRAM MAGIC SQUARE 9

The 5-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 six letters long, so add an extra letter to each 5-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 added letter of each answer, in numerical clue order, will spell out a clue; the FINAL ANSWER is the answer to that clue.

1) Successfully disarm a bomb

2) Fancy fish eggs

3) Type of flower that the vanilla bean is derived from

4) Be Kind _____ (2008 movie where Jack Black works at a video rental store)

5) Kiss album with "Tears Are Falling" (or a refugee's sanctuary)

6) Surname of futuristic Hanna-Barbera characters George, Jane, Judy, & Elroy

7) Pre-fetus stage

8) Submit a video to America's Funniest Home Videos' website, perhaps

9) 5 × 18

10) French curly-haired dog such as Georgette from Oliver & Company

11) Voice box in the throat

12) Crunchy peanut butter alternative

13) Little tune such as "Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There"

14) Lara Croft's manservant Winston from Tomb Raider II, for one

15) Fish-tailed fellow

16) Any number that divides into a larger number evenly

17) Positive particle in an atom

18) _____ metals (periodic group which includes lithium and potassium)

19) Mourn

20) Marsupial that “plays dead”

21) Anyone with an IQ of 200 or more

22) Messenger of the Greek gods (and of expensive luxury handbags?)

23) Don't take any _____ nickels

24) "Have You Ever?" singer who played Moesha on Moesha

25) Like an open bank account that allows transactions

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: Fronts Off 8

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Fronts Off 8" was posted on this blog, and nineteen people have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!