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!

PUZZLE #587: Chain Reaction: Extra Links 13

PUZZLE #587

CHAIN REACTION: EXTRA LINKS 13

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!

For this puzzle, there are seven golden "links" that link together six two-word phrases when reading down. However, it's completely blank, save for some dashes that reveal how long each word is (four dashes translate to a four-letter word, for instance). To help you figure out these words, though, there are some extra silver links with words already in them which, when combined with the golden link to the left or right of it, make another two-word phrase. In the above example, the two-word phrases with silver links in them are "Chain Restaurants", "Gut Reaction", "Time Zone", and "Fruit Flies", so the final "golden chain" is "CHAIN - REACTION - TIME - FLIES".

Once you've completely filled in the chain, scramble the letters in the orange squares to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: a seven-letter word.

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: Compound Crosswords 12

About two weeks have gone by since "Compound Crosswords 12" 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
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Okieboy2008
• Derek Allen
• KeoFam
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Patrick Jordan
• Kevin Orfield
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Steve Gunter
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

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!