PUZZLE #592: Link-Letters 15

PUZZLE #592

LINK-LETTERS 15

There are two clues for each numbered row. The answers to each row's first clue go in the squares to the left of the first black bar in each correspondingly numbered row in the puzzle's grid, and the answers to the second clue go into the squares to the right of the second black bar. Then a single letter (the "Link-Letter") goes in the square in the middle to complete a single word that reads all the way across. For example, if the two words are CON and ACT, you can put a "T" between them to get CONTACT.

Once you've filled out all nine rows, the central letters will spell out two words reading down. Add a letter between those two words in the red square to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: the name of a sitcom that premiered in the 2010s

1) 16-minute-long movie, maybe

    "_____ of the mornin' to ya, laddies!" (catchphrase of Irish YouTuber Jacksepticeye)

2) *NSYNC song about the genre of music performed by *NSYNC

    Frilly doily material

3) Emulate a "grim" figure with a scythe

    Doing more than just fibbing

4) "Big" burger courtesy of the Golden Arches

    Uses a scale from 1 to 10, say

5) A-1 (HINT: Remove the "V" from IMPROV and scramble the remaining letters)

    Use a rotary phone, say

6) Cereal eaten by Little Mikey in a long-running ad campaign

    Peter from the 2002 Disney film Return to Neverland

7) Marx brother who "talks" with a bulb horn

    Neighbor of the Simpsons who says "Hi-Diddily-Ho!"

8) Main protagonist of Stellar Blade (or the day before Christmas, say)

    Putting _____ (golf course part)

9) Furnish for free, as a hotel room

    Striped structure where the characters of The Amazing Digital Circus live

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 8

About two weeks have gone by since "Semicircle Sorting 8" was posted on this blog, which means that it's time for me to post the list of everyone who has solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Okieboy2008
• Chris Kochmanski
• Derek Allen
• Sam Levitin
• Wendy Walker
• KeoFam
• Bart Gold
• Steve Gunter
• Mom

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

PUZZLE #591: Pent Words 22

PUZZLE #591

PENT WORDS 22

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!

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) Costello's partner in comedy

    Award such as "Best Breakthrough Athlete" given by a certain cable network

2) Bark at the moon

    Disney villainess with six tentacles (and not eight, cuz it's cheaper that way)

3) Murder on the _____ Express (1934 detective novel)

    Robert who delivers a memorable monologue as Quint in Jaws

4) Talks like this, this green Star Wars character does

    Rattle off as many digits of pi as you can remember, perhaps

5) Change for the better (we hope)

    Make a touchdown on the tarmac

6) Trouble with the stomach's lining

    "_____ on the Water" (gold-certified Deep Purple hit)

7) Like the pastoral countryside

    Actress Heche or actress Hathaway

8) Got down (anagram of TAIL)

    National song such as "Oh Uganda, Land of Beauty"

9) Jeff Bridges' older brother

    Family Feud feature that's always asked to 100 people beforehand

10) About as fresh as month-old bread

      NBA star Stephen who also appeared on the mini-golfing show Holey Moley

PENTOMINOES (Five letters per answer)

• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• Like the pastoral countryside (yup, this same clue again!)

• Twisted around a vertical axis

• Happen over and over again, like a nightmare

• "Hocus Pocus" prog-rock band whose name rhymes with "Hocus Pocus"

• Sing in a way heard in the aforementioned song "Hocus Pocus"

• Six-year periods for a senator

• _____ Second Counts (mid-'80s game show)

• Adam Goldberg's sister in The Goldbergs

• Rainbow rolls, dynamite rolls, California rolls, etc.

• The largest moon of Saturn

• Messy green icon next to poorly-reviewed movies on Rotten Tomatoes

• David who sang "Blue Jean" and "The Jean Genie"

• Furry blue member of the X-Men

• Ratchet & _____ (PlayStation game series about a furry alien and his robot sidekick)

• Loathe entirely

• With "The", restaurantgoer's regular order

• Semiaquatic mink relative

• Venom, to Spider-Man

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: Loopy Links 3

It's been almost two weeks since "Loopy Links 3" was posted on this blog, so now's the time to look at the eighteen people who have solved it since then:

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

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

PUZZLE #590: Semicircle Sorting 8

PUZZLE #590

SEMICIRCLE SORTING 8

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: the two-word name of a sci-fi movie from the 2000s

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: Dilly Dally 9

Happy Easter, everyone! Sorry for the delay; I forgot to schedule this post until now. Anyway, here's the list of everyone who has solved "Dilly Dally 9" from two weeks ago:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Derek Allen
• KeoFam
• Wendy Walker
• Sam Levitin
• Michael Lebowitz
• Patrick Jordan
• Bart Gold
• Mom
• Stasi Gustafson
• Chris Kochmanski

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #589: Loopy Links 3

PUZZLE #589

LOOPY LINKS 3

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 brand name

1) Non _____ (Latin phrase usually used to describe random nonsense)

2) Green rabbit from CatDog (or another word for "rotten")

3) Type of Pinscher dog that won Westminster's "Best in Show" in 2026

4) New, in Nantes, France (make sure it's the masculine variant)

5) Immortal

6) Raring to go: Hyph.

7) International _____ Committee (sports governing body)

8) Folded pizza, essentially

9) House of Stairs and Relativity artist M. C.

10) Catalytic RNA molecule

11) Hit Sabrina Carpenter song you may hear in a coffee shop?

12) Plain, average, mediocre, run-of-the-mill, et cetera, et cetera

13) Opposite of "eldest"

14) What Jill did after Jack fell down and broke his crown

15) "_____ (Forget About Me)" (#1 single from the Breakfast Club soundtrack): 2 wds.

16) Linux operating system that starts and ends with the same vowel

17) Free a French Bulldog, perhaps

18) Circular toy featured in The Hudsucker Proxy: 2 wds.

19) Postseason game

20) Fast _____ (DVR remote button)

21) The "O₂" in "CO₂"

22) Goes "HOLY CRAP!!!", e.g.

23) Iowan heavy metal band named after what a lasso is tied with

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: Chain Reaction: Extra Links 13

Two weeks have passed by since "Chain Reaction: Extra Links 13" was posted on this blog, and seventeen people have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #588: Dilly Dally 9

PUZZLE #588

DILLY DALLY 9

Each answer in the grid below consists of two words that both start with the same letter, like ASKING ABOUT. However, each clue's answer only makes up half of the phrase (either the first or second half), while the second half is in a separate list of clues, in random order. It's up to you to match up the answers from both lists to fill in each two-word phrase.

Once the grid has been filled out, hidden inside and going up, down, or diagonally will be the FINAL ANSWER: A comic book series whose name also consists of two words starting with the same letter.

NUMBERED WORDS

1) A Chorus _____ (Tony-winning musical)

2) Sports analyst Esiason who was the NFL's MVP in 1988

3) Density times volume

4) Magician Lim who won both Penn & Teller: Fool Us and America's Got Talent (or the lower front leg)

5) Spanish party, or the Spanish word for "party"

6) "Ring of Fire" singer Johnny

7) Aims (at), as with one's index finger

8) Temporary tuxedo to be used on prom night, say

9) Burial _____ (cemetery)

10) 2000s Game Show Network series where contestants stay up for 24 hours to study frantically

MISSING WORDS

• 200 feet, for an NHL hockey rink (for comparison, it's 85 feet wide)

• Alternative to debit

• Brace for a broken wrist

• Four-_____ meal

• Gerald who was the 40th Vice President of the U.S.A.

• Novel's basic storyline

• Part of a Clue accusation other than the suspect or weapon

• "_____ Peace a Chance" (anti-war song written by John Lennon)

• Rugrats character such as Tommy or Dil, but not their parents

• Where the first little piggy went

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: Touchword 4

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Touchword 4" was posted on this blog, which means it's time for me to post the names of everyone who solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!