PUZZLE #613: Chess Words 7

PUZZLE #613

CHESS WORDS 7

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.

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 fictional item from comic books

  Queen's Rook: F _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                a1 
Queen's Knight: P _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                b1 
Queen's Bishop: W _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                c1 
         Queen: G _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                d1 
          King: E _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                e1 
 King's Bishop: H _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                f1 
 King's Knight: S _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                g1 
   King's Rook: I _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                h1

CLUES

• Bodybuilder’s build

• Dirty rotten scoundrel

• Four-player arcade game from the mid-’80s

• Multi-platinum Journey album with "Wheel in the Sky"

• Poisonous purple (or pink) flowering plant

• Suitable for those with sophisticated tastes

• Welcomed with open arms (or hugged with closed arms)

• Word in the name of Sesame Street's production company

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 10

Thirteen days have passed since "Anagram Magic Square 10" was posted on this blog, and a total of seventeen people have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #612: Eat Your Words 12

PUZZLE #612

EAT YOUR WORDS 12

In this puzzle, the words hinted at by the numbered clues (The "Numbered Words") can "eat" a word hinted at by a different set of clues (The "Eaten Words") without rearranging any of the letters. For example, the word BIT can eat the word AND to form BANDIT. All of the new words are entered into the grid in the order of the Numbered Words, and the Eaten Words are in no particular order.

Once all of the new words have been placed, the letters in the highlighted third column will spell out two more words. Insert one of the column's new words into the other to get the FINAL ANSWER: The name of a chain store

NUMBERED WORDS

1) Brought to court

2) Superhero costume designer from The Incredibles

3) Cafeteria staple that may double as a makeshift sled

4) "The Fox and the Crow" or "The Fox and the Grapes", e.g.

5) _____ × Family (anime about a secret agent, his assassin wife, and their telepathic daughter)

6) Late Dawson's Creek star Van Der Beek

7) Converse via Instagram Direct Messenger, perhaps

8) Contented kitty sound

9) Mediocre, in modern slang (HINT: It becomes a synonym for "murky" when spelled backwards)

EATEN WORDS

• 2011 animated film about a blue parrot taken to a large Brazilian city

• Act as a barber to a baaing sheep, perhaps

• Bank with a blue octagon logo

• Cilium on an eyelid

• Exchange money for goods and services

• Go on for so long about an uninteresting subject that the audience falls asleep, say

• Greek letter that is pronounced like something that unlocks doors

• _____ Maid (children’s card game)

• Sleeveless top often worn by Goofy

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 6

About two weeks have gone by since "Empty Word Ladder 6" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have solved it since then! Take a look:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #611: Anagram Magic Square 10

PUZZLE #611

ANAGRAM MAGIC SQUARE 10

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!

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) Yellow-bellied, lily-livered, chicken-hearted scaredy-cat

2) Terror felt by the previous answer

3) With "The", "Suddenly Last Summer" band (or some roadside inns)

4) Stringed instrument heard in the soundtrack of 1949's The Third Man

5) Pepperoni, for instance

6) Member of an NBA team that plays its home games at Little Caesars Arena

7) Squat down, like Super Mario about to do a backflip

8) Without needing to hide anymore

9) Sing like a stool pigeon?

10) Emitted light

11) _____ to Win It (NBC game show originally hosted by Guy Fieri)

12) Leap like a lurking lioness

13) Overrun, as with too many insects

14) Finally make it big

15) Giant cyan planet where the PlayStation 1 game Blasto is set

16) Hasty drawing

17) It's the Easter _____, Charlie Brown (Peanuts special where Snoopy delivers eggs)

18) Rotational force represented by the Greek letter tau

19) Les Paul guitar company

20) The Grateful Dead's Deadheads or Jimmy Buffett's Parrotheads, say

21) Leg parts with femurs

22) Go over a topic yet again

23) _____ Dearest (film with Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford)

24) Either multiplier in a multiplication problem

25) Nonparallel, like some bars that gymnasts perform on

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: Brick By Brick 11

It's been almost two weeks since "Brick By Brick 11" was posted on this blog, so now's the time to list all eighteen people who have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #610: Empty Word Ladder 6

PUZZLE #610

EMPTY WORD LADDER 6

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 make the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word phrase relating to automobiles.

CLUES

• WORD AT THE START OF THE LADDER

• WORD AT THE END OF THE LADDER

• Film's orchestral soundtrack

• Flies high like the majestic eagle

• Hippie's tie-dyed top, e.g.

• Illinois-based team that recorded "The Super Bowl Shuffle" (and won it weeks later)

• Jersey _____: Family Vacation (MTV show that's somehow still airing)

• Martin who appears with Steve Martin in Wells Fargo commercials

• Permanent markings, such as those on the Joker's mouth in The Dark Knight

• Startle someone with a shout, say

• Wild pigs

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 get a hint from me in exchange for a "hint star"; more details for that are on the sidebar to the right) 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: Section Six 12

It's been roughly two weeks since "Section Six 12" was posted on this blog, and seventeen people have solved it since then, as you can see by the following list:

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

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

PUZZLE #609: Brick By Brick 11

PUZZLE #609

BRICK BY BRICK 11

 

Place the 2x3 bricks into the grid below so that a crossword puzzle with rotational symmetry is formed. Each of the Across and Down clues hint at answers that appear in that row or column, all of which are in order. Be careful with the rows marked with a 7, 8, and 9, as the bricks that are placed in those rows will be split in half by a blue line, which you can see in the diagram above. Also, the letters that go in the blue line's squares will complete one answer in every Down column, though you'll have to figure out what those letters are.

This week's FINAL ANSWER is the name of a 1990s sitcom

ACROSS

1) The Mystery of the Blue Train and Murder on the Orient Express author Christie

    Not powered on

    Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, for two

2) Fungus such as Iceland moss (even though it's not closely related to moss)

    Word following "turf" or "Trojan"

    Cote d'_____ (the French Riviera)

3) Too, too much

    Environmentally-friendly prefix

    _____ chocolate M&M's

4) Jeopardy (and not the kind seen on a quiz show)

    Paper-delivery kids that went on strike in 1889

5) Phileas who went around the world in 80 days

    Original The Closer cable network

6) Subtle summons that's surprisingly legal to play in Scrabble

    Prior to, poetically

    City that's home to Iowa State University

7) Letters between a real name and a nickname

    Like something that can't be bought anywhere

8) THE FINAL ANSWER

9) Ninths, after being halved

    Suffix for "velvet"

10) Captain of the Nautilus submarine in two Jules Verne stories

      Abbr. on a Broadway sign that basically means "no seats left"

      "Puppy Love" singer Paul

11) Ignited

      Spheres such as the Dragon Balls from Dragon Ball

12) Take money from the bank (legally, of course)

      Enemy of Spider-Man dressed like a horned gray mammal

13) Long-Haired ____ (short film with Bugs Bunny dressed as a conductor)

      Had ham, perhaps

      Site for many brawls in many western films

14) Frankenstein's lab assistant not present in the original Frankenstein novel

      Spanish version of "Huh??"

      Indiana or Illinois, on a Monopoly board

15) "Danger _____" (Kenny Loggins hit)

      Little rascal

      Pyramid builders of Chichén Itzá

DOWN

1) Skewed

    Cover with asphalt or blacktop

    Kraft Cheez _____

2) Donate to a blood drive, say

    Bundle of yarn

    Parrot who has his own musical number in Aladdin: The Return of Jafar

3) Taiwanese PC manufacturer

    Beetle Bailey's short-tempered superior

    1982 sci-fi film with a villainous Master Control Program

4) "_____ Shop" (Macklemore song where he raps about buying used clothes)

    Volt ÷ ampere

    At this very location

5) "Greetings!"

    Numerous, like stories that were never narrated

6) Press _____ key to continue

    Magical being such as Shazzan or Kazaam

    Resident of Basra or Baghdad

7) Christians' pre-meal prayer

    21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street star Channing

8) A Prayer for _____ Meany (John Irving novel)

    Chris who played both Captain America and the Human Torch

    Cry like a willow?

9) Sapphire's side

    Gray Great Dane owned by the Jetsons

10) :(

      Blood of the Greek gods

      Yosemite _____ (Looney Tunes cowboy)

11) Purposefully delays play, in the NFL

      Cheer for an Italian diva

12) Door hinge holder

      One-time Chinese chairman Zedong

      The Olsen twin who's slightly older by two minutes

13) Playable protagonist of Assassin's Creed II

      Buddy who played Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies

      New York college with a name that's three-fourths vowels

14) In a proper manner

      Aerodynamic

      Part of a sentence such as "part" or "sentence"

15) Majorly miffs

      The highest active volcano in Europe

      Lowest dollar denominations in the board game Spy Alley

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 9

Two weeks have passed by since "Fronts Off 9" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have successfully solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!