DUMP MONTH! PUZZLE #58: Drop Tower

dump month

PUZZLE #58

DROP TOWER

I first saw this puzzle type on the October 2015 issue of GAMES Magazine, where it was called "Drop It!". Since I've had experience in making other word-pyramid-type puzzles like "Build-A-Pyramid", I've decided to make my own and send them to GAMES. Unfortunately, it turns out to be one of those puzzles that their in-house staff does, so I'm dumping one of them here!

Starting with the 8-letter word on top of the "tower", drop one letter and rearrange the rest to form a 7-letter word. Continue this process until only the given 2-letter word remains. Use only common words--no capitalized words, names foreign terms or abbreviations allowed. Also, dropping a final S or D without rearranging the other letters is against the rules. Since there are normally multiple solutions to each puzzle, there's an extra wrinkle added to this one: each of the five entries, once filled in, should match up to one of the five clues below, listed in no particular order.

Once the grid is completely filled in, look inside it for this week's FINAL ANSWER: a five-letter word that can be read going down and in a straight diagonal line.

CLUES

  * Magazine with an annual "20 Dumbest" issue

  * Regard favorably

  * See "saw" as "sew", say

  * Title for Edna Everage

  * Word following "mass", "multi" or "mixed"

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!