ANSWERS: Smush

Before I get to the answers for "Smush" and reveal the people who solved it, I just wanted to remind you that I'm going to publish my fiftieth puzzle tomorrow, and to celebrate that milestone, I'll be holding another contest, so stay tuned for that! Now then, let's find out who solved "Smush" in the past two weeks:

• YYW ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Paolo Pasco ****
• Grant Fikes ***

Now just click on "Read more" for the answers, along with an anecdote about the rather circuitous way one of my solvers completed this puzzle!

1) FRAGRANT FIKES [Fragrant + Grant Fikes]

2) ARTHURSULA [Arthur + Ursula]

3) PARISTANBUL [Paris + Istanbul]

4) GERONIMONIQUE [Geronimo + Mo'nique]

5) DOCTORSOS [Doctors + Torsos]

6) SANDSTORMENT [Sandstorm + Torment]

The overlapping letters (the ones that are underlined above) spell out GRAN TURISMOTORSTORM, which is the smushed-up form of the Playstation-exclusive racing games GRAN TURISMO and MOTORSTORM

I was surprised when Grant Fikes didn't solve this puzzle within the first 24 hours like he usually does; when I asked him about it on Wednesday, it turns out that he had only one set of squares that weren't filled in (the one that would reveal "TORM"), saying that he "got this far without outside resources, so I'm being obstinate and trying not to use any more of them (especially since they would just outright give the final answer away). Alas, I'm rusty at identifying video games. . . :)" By the following Monday, he still haven't solved it, saying "Looking up the answers I don't know would just blatantly give the answer away without me doing any hard work except for Googling." However, he opened up for help, stating "I want something more challenging: give me the 8 non-overlapping letters in the "Energetic and memetic Darude song + Anguish probably caused by playing that song on an endless loop" row, in alphabetical order, and see if I can somehow anagram an answer out and actually work for it." I complied (that string was ADENNSST, by the way), and with that help, he finally got it (albeit at the cost of a hint star)!

Behold true Sandstorment: "Sandstorm" on a ten-hour loop!

Solver Adam Weaver "Got all but the last 4 letters right away and was tormented by them until I finally looked up the name of the song."