PUZZLE #586: Touchword 4

PUZZLE #586

TOUCHWORD 4

This puzzle type was suggested by Patron Grant Fikes. Normally, you can suggest a puzzle type of your own choice over on my Patreon page, but both slots are full at the moment, so you might have to resort to PayPal if you still want to make a request of your own.

In a normal crossword, words cross each other; in this puzzle, they simply touch. More specifically, all answers read across each numbered row (ranging from two to three answers per row), and every letter touches, along an edge, at least one identical letter above or below it. Since the top and bottom rows also loop around and connect with each other, they're considered touching as well.

Once everything is filled out, read out the highlighted diagonal line for the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a comic strip that premiered in the 21st century

1) Panera _____ (fast casual restaurant chain)

    It's home to the most recently-formed NHL team: the Mammoth

    Gas pump number

2) "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" singer Lee

    Fluffy fox appendage

    Eric Cartman's mother in South Park (answer hidden in AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH)

3) Starbucks' largest size (but it's only for cold drinks)

    13-digit numbers

4) Reward for a good dog

    Skateboarding trick done off of half pipes

    "_____ & Cones" (instrumental song by Blue Man Group named after retina cells)

5) Like some floorboards that are noisier than others

    Taxi trip: 2 wds.

6) Deal with it

    Motion-sensing camera for the Xbox 360 (HINT: It's a homophone of a word meaning "Join together")

    Pickle juice

7) Kansas city where the classic rock band Kansas formed

    Fruit best described as a "fuzzless peach"

8) Word following "demo", "double-sided" or "duct"

    Dave the Barbarian character who hates being called a monkey (EASIER CLUE: pointy tooth)

    Any non-profit that celebrities on game shows usually play for

9) Yellow fabric tossed onto the football field well after a play has finished: 2 wds.

    Maybelline spokesmodel Turlington

10) Medieval bard's version of a guitar

      Essay "writers" that didn't bother to do any actual writing

11) Erect (as in the verb, not the adjective): 2 wds.

      Different editions of Monopoly with different rules, say

12) Country with llamas and Lima

      The only mountain higher than K2

      _____ of the above (last option in all of Inquizition's multiple-choice questions)

13) In essence: 2 wds.

      Elementary student's time out for fun

      Hawaii's state bird

14) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead _____ Chest (2006 movie)

      Honors with one's presence, perhaps

      Gumbo and goulash, for two

15) Capital of Nicaragua

      Members of a Native American tribe originally based in the Mississippi area

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: Slide Show: Double Feature 8

It's been almost two weeks since "Slide Show: Double Feature 8" was posted on this blog, so now's the time to look at all of the people who have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #585: Compound Crosswords 12

PUZZLE #585

COMPOUND CROSSWORDS 12

Fit the words hinted at by the clues into the nine grids below so that the two words in each grid combine to create a two-word phrase or compound word. There may be multiple possibilities for these phrases, but there's only one way that all the words will fit in all of the grids.

Once each grid is filled out, the pink letters in each grid will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a compound word

CLUES

• 7–10 _____ (dreaded sight for bowlers)

• Betty Spaghetty, Baby Alive, or any one of the Bratz, e.g.

• Bodily organ punnily described as an "air bag"

• "_____ Child (Slight Return)" (Jimi Hendrix song)

• Deneb, for one (HINT: It's part of the constellation Cygnus)

• Empty's opposite

• Honking waterfowl such as Gladstone Gander

• Large group of groupers (or any other sort of fish)

• Locale for trials in the Ace Attorney series

• One Battle _____ Another (Golden Globe-winning Leonardo DiCaprio film)

• Part of a baseball fanatic's season pass

• Puzzle magazine with "The World's Most Ornery Crossword"

• Reduce prices slightly (or reduce a full head of hair to nothing, in a way)

• Set of stairs

• Tosses yolk-filled ammunition

• Use Yahoo (which now uses results from Bing), perhaps

• Waffle _____ (kitchen device used to make... well, waffles)

• Well-balanced artwork hanging from the ceiling

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: Take Two

Two weeks have passed by since a new-to-this-blog format called "Take Two" was posted on this blog, so now's the time to look at everyone who has solved it since then:

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

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

PUZZLE #584: Slide Show: Double Feature 8

PUZZLE #584

SLIDE SHOW: DOUBLE FEATURE 8

In each of the two puzzles below, slide the 18 letters surrounding each grid into the empty squares so that four words are made reading across and five words are formed reading down. Letters above and below the grids slide vertically to any position without changing columns, and letters to the left and right slide horizontally without changing rows. All of the exterior letters are used only once, and as a help, each grid has two letters already placed inside.

Once both grids have been filled in, pick out one word from each and combine them to get the FINAL ANSWER: the two-word name of a brand seen in grocery stores

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: Puzzle in the Round 9

Two weeks have passed by since "Puzzle in the Round 9" was posted on this blog, and nineteen people have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #583: Take Two

PUZZLE #583

TAKE TWO

One of the clues in 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!

First, fill in the blanks with two words that correspond to each numbered clue; each word will be separated by a slash. Once each line is filled out, take away one letter from either side of the slash (one from each word) to form a new six- or seven-letter word.

Once the new words have been formed, The removed letters, when read in order, will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a romantic movie

1) _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _

2) _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _

3) _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _

4) _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _

5) _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _

6) _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _

CLUES

1) Cafeteria carrier

    Like dorms that aren't single-sex

2) Triplet of Dewey and Louie in Quack Pack

    _____ Jones' locker

3) Docking spot such as the one in Santa Monica

    Pigpen's swinging opening

4) Brogan, Gretched, or Shrek from Shrek Forever After, for example

    Ore-Ida _____ Tots

5) Rocks out like the rock group Phish (or things similar to jellies)

    America's only single-syllable state

6) More bashful (anagram of HEIRS)

    Orion's _____ (certain constellation feature)

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: Line 'Em Up 15

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Line 'Em Up 15" was posted on this blog, which means it's time for me to post the list of everyone who has solved it puzzle since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Cindy Heisler
• Marie desJardins
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Stasi Gustafson
• Sam Levitin
• Derek Allen
• Wendy Walker
• Chris Kochmanski
• Eli Zarconi
• Mom
• Patrick Jordan
• KeoFam
• Michael Gulden
• Steve Gunter

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #582: Puzzle in the Round 9

PUZZLE #582

PUZZLE IN THE ROUND 9

This puzzle type was suggested by Patron Grant Fikes. Normally, you can suggest a puzzle type of your own choice over on my Patreon page, but both slots are still full, so you might have to resort to PayPal if you still want to make a request of your own.

To solve this tough puzzle, fill in as many of the 5-letter answers next to their clues as you can. Next, look for shared letters, and then enter each letter into its correct place in the diagram (though you'll most likely need to scramble the order of the letters to make them fit). The letter in the grid's center will be shared by all of the answer words. As a little hint, look for unshared letters to help you determine the letters that will go in the outer ring to form the FINAL ANSWER, reading from 1 to 24.

The FINAL ANSWER is the name of a grammatically incorrect Internet meme

1) Brazilian ballroom dance

     _ _ _ _ _

2) The Silence of the _____ (1991 horror film)

     _ _ _ _ _

3) Culpability often shifted onto someone else

     _ _ _ _ _

4) "Ehhh, it's a possibility"

     _ _ _ _ _

5) The city of Townsville's leader in The Powerpuff Girls, for one

     _ _ _ _ _

6) Trashy talk show well-known for its paternity tests that lasted over 30 seasons

     _ _ _ _ _

7) Supply with weapons again

     _ _ _ _ _

8) Honey-colored

     _ _ _ _ _

9) 2016 animated Disney movie set in Polynesia

     _ _ _ _ _

10) Perry _____ (fictional TV lawyer)

     _ _ _ _ _

11) Angel's opposite

     _ _ _ _ _

12) He never stays in the same place for very long

     _ _ _ _ _

13) Gru's eldest adopted daughter in the Despicable Me films

     _ _ _ _ _

14) 24th (and final) letter in ancient Greece

     _ _ _ _ _

15) Action hero first played by Sylvester Stallone in First Blood (1982)

     _ _ _ _ _

16) "When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that's _____"

     _ _ _ _ _

17) Florence Foster Jenkins star Streep

     _ _ _ _ _

18) Atlanta university where Jimmy Carter once taught

     _ _ _ _ _

19) Literal gold digger such as Donkey Kong at the start of Donkey Kong Bananza

     _ _ _ _ _

20) Filthy stuff to scour out

     _ _ _ _ _

21) Paris _____ (French subway system)

     _ _ _ _ _

22) Basement Jaxx song named after Juliet's lover

     _ _ _ _ _

23) Lament a loss

     _ _ _ _ _

24) Standards that are to be expected

     _ _ _ _ _

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: Insiders 5

Before we get to the list of everyone who solved "Insiders 5" from about two weeks ago, I just wanted to give a shout-out to one of my former solvers (and primary author of one of my earliest puzzles, "Which-Way Words"), Paolo Pasco, for sweeping the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions Finals last week! Congratulations on that feat, and good luck with Jeopardy Masters in a few months!

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

Now that the solvers list is out of the way, head below the break for the answers!