PUZZLE #56: Connection Wall 2

PUZZLE #56

CONNECTION WALL 2

Well, it's my last puzzle of 2015, so what better way to celebrate the end of the year than going back to the start of the year? Yep, just like how a "Connection Wall" puzzle directly based off of Only Connect was my first puzzle of the year, it seems fitting to have that same type of puzzle conclude it!

Below are 16 squares with words and phrases on them. For this puzzle, you'll need to sort them into four separate categories that consist of four squares each. For example, if there are four squares that read "Cocktail", "Valkyrie", "Magnolia", and "Top Gun", they'll belong to the category of "Tom Cruise movies". But be careful, since some words may seem to fit in more than one category ("Magnolia" could just as easily fit into the category "Flowers", to continue the example), though there's only one overall solution to this puzzle.

This week's FINAL ANSWER consists of the four categories that are used in this puzzle.

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 that one out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a version you can print out!

ANSWERS: 4X Game 3

Well, tomorrow will be my last puzzle of 2015, but before we get to that, let's look at the answers to my third "4X Game" puzzle from almost two weeks ago and the people who solved them:

• Eric Maddy ****
• YYW ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Yossi Fendel ****
• Mom ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Dan Simonds ***
• Debbie Underwood ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now just head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #55: Zigzagnut 2

PUZZLE #55

ZIGZAGNUT 2

The numbered clues are for the zigzags, which work their way down through the diagram in the outlined areas. The "Rows" clues are for the answers, two per row, to be entered straight across each row in the diagram, but to make things harder, you don't know which specific rows the answers will go into! (Though the answers in the rows themselves are in the correct order)

This week's FINAL ANSWER is the answer entered in the unclued entry in the middle of the diagram (marked with a question mark): the name of an '80s arcade game

ROWS (in random order; each contains two answers)
* Celebration that ends before Ash Wednesday: 2 wds. / Like MacDonald or Mother Hubbard
* Quiet _____ ("Metal Health" band) / Bit of bad luck
* Rendezvous (Unhelpful HINT: it's part of The 7th Guest's infamous soup can puzzle) / Bamboozled
* Food critic Ego from Ratatouille / Runescape creator Andrew
* Word that precedes "Legend" or "Sprawl" / Classic TV spy Maxwell
* Redheaded heroine of Tokyo Mew Mew / David Fincher film based on unsolved murders
* The first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize / Spoofs and skits, e.g.
* Bump a car's back bumper, maybe: Hyph. / Pointy body part of Link or Zelda
* Foe of Marvel's Thor inspired by the Greek god of war / Elephant-headed Hindu god: Var.
* Lyric that's sung directly before the words "Gangnam Style" / Didn't delete: 2 wds.
* Iron Chef America chef Cat / Piece of a Mexican Train?

ZIGZAGS
1) Guinness Book entry
2) Calls before a court
3) Samantha's mother in Bewitched
4) She voiced Esmeralda in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame
5) Football-headed Nicktoon character
6) Talk show host Povich and others
7) Separated laundry
8) Island that's located between Michigan's two peninsulas
9) Playstation's versions of Xbox achievements
10) Oculus' virtual reality product
11) When doubled, the capital of American Samoa
12) Kid _____: Uprising (3DS game)
13) Dinner plates
14) 1988's Wipeout or 2008's Wipeout, for example: 2 wds.
15) "Foxy" Maid from Disney's Robin Hood
16) "Mama, I'm _____ Home" (Ozzy Osbourne song)
17) Garment worn by Tommy Pickles
18) Inflatable copilot from Airplane!

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 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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Meta-Crossword #4 - Fruit Picking

It's been thirteen days since I've posted my fourth meta-crossword, and as usual with these types of puzzles, I've had more than a few people solve it. Take a look at this list of solvers:

• Paolo Pasco ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Grant Fikes **.71828 (Well, he wanted e number of stars, so...)
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Dan Simonds (he solved the crossword, but not the meta)
• Mom (ditto)
• Debbie Underwood ****
• Janis Ferry ****
• Lynn Sweeney & Cayden Curtis ***
• Yossi Fendel ****
• Bryce Herdt ****

Now if you want to know the answers to this puzzle, or are just curious as to what some solvers said about it, just go below the break!

PUZZLE #54: 4X Game 3

PUZZLE #54

4X GAME 3

Below, there are 4 "X"'s, each containing four 5-letter answers. Each answer is entered at an angle, following one of the arrows as it does so, and the last three letters of one answer will be the first three letters of another, albeit in reverse order. In the example above (I know all the answers are three letters instead of five, but I hope you'll still get the gist of it), the words in the first "X" are MAP, PAT, TAR, and RAM, and the words in the second "X" are ROT, TOW, WON and NOR. However, to make things even harder, none of the clues are numbered or in order, so you'll have to figure out which word goes in which angle, but don't worry, as each "tip" of each "X" (the outermost letters) will contain the same letters as the "tips" of its neighboring "X". Going back to the example above, the rightmost "tips" in the first "X" contain the letters "R" and "T", so the leftmost "tips" in the second "X" has the same exact letters, in the same exact placement.

Once you're done, unscramble the letters in the "tips" that have no neighbors (the yellow squares) to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: a four-letter word

X #1
* "2 _____ 2 Quit" (MC Hammer song)
* Aladdin's Rajah, for one
* Dominions (Hidden in PREGNANCY)
* Spinoff of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

X #2
* Creature from Miscrits that... okay, fine, it's the first several letters from TREELESS
* Pain reliever that sponsors Jeopardy!
* Purple-haired cyclops from Futurama
* Six-time US Open winner Chris

X #3
* _____ over one's head: 2 wds.
* Faun from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
* What the Grinch did to Christmas

* Pays, as the bill

X #4
* Female death-spirits from Greek mythology
* Given the pink slip
* Sans _____ (type of type)
* Zoolander from Zoolander

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 that one out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Moving Staircases 3

It's been about two weeks since I've posted my third "Moving Staircases" puzzle, so now it's time for me to reveal the answers! Before I do so, however, here are all the people who have successfully solved it within that time frame:

• YYW ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Yossi Fendel ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Mom ****
• Dan Simonds ***
• Debbie Underwood ****
• Adam Weaver ****

Now just go below the break for the answers and a couple solver comments!

PUZZLE #53: Meta-Crossword #4 - Fruit Picking (Happy 1st Anniversary!)

PUZZLE #53

FRUIT PICKING

Happy 1st Anniversary!

Yes, one year ago this week, I created this blog and posted my very first puzzle! To celebrate my first anniversary, I've decided to make a puzzle type that I haven't done in a while: a Meta-Crossword! To recap, Meta-Crosswords are like regular crosswords, except they have a BONUS PUZZLE for you to solve once you fill out the grid. I've had a lot of people solve my previous Metas, so hopefully this trend will continue!

The answer to this week's BONUS PUZZLE is the name of a type of fruit.


Once you've figured out the answer to the BONUS PUZZLE, 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 here before next Sunday. If you don't have Java (which is pretty likely) and want a version of this puzzle you can print out, click on "read more" for just that!

ANSWERS: Section Six 3

Boy, did "Section Six 3" prove to be another toughie! Yet despite the difficulty, I still managed to get a decent amount of solvers for this puzzle:

• Eric Maddy ****
• YYW ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Grant Fikes √** (an explanation for this weird star count is in the solver comments below the break)
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Mom **
• Tyler Hinman ****

And now it's time to reveal the answers to that hard puzzle! Just go below the break to see them, along with a couple solver comments!