PUZZLE #65: Link-Letters

PUZZLE #65

LINK-LETTERS

The answer to each clue on the left side of this puzzle's grid goes in the squares to the left of the first black bar, and the answers to each clue on the right goes into the squares to the right of the second black bar. Then a single letter (the "Link-Letter") goes in the square in the middle to complete a single word that reads all the way across. For example, if the two words are CON and ACT, you can put a "T" between them to get CONTACT.

Once you've filled out all eight rows, the central letters will spell out two four-letter words reading down. Add a letter between those two words in the red square to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: The name of a website

And here are the clues in text format, sorted by the rows they appear in from up to down:

1) The Monkees' only theatrical movie / Sharpens, like a blade
2) Angelic strings / Group of at least three notes
3) To's partner / Wedding cake layer
4) The Threepenny _____ / TV network formerly known as PAX
5) "Low Rider" band / Flik and Atta from A Bug's Life, e.g.
6) Untamed / Belle's beloved
7) The Legend of Zelda's Epona, for one / Weed-whacking tools
8) Calico's covering / Film where Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with a Siri-like assistant

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: Squeezed in the Middle 5

It's been roughly two weeks since I've posted the fifth version of my trademark "Squeezed in the Middle" puzzles (If you still want to solve it, click on this link). Since then, a whopping fourteen of you have given me the FINAL ANSWER to this one, and here they all are:

• Mom ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Punjit Sharma ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• Yossi Fendel ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Dan Simonds ***
• Debbie Benford ****
• YYW ****
• Janis Ferry ****
• John Davis ****
• Brad Eldredge ****

Now just head below the break for the answers, along with some of your solver comments!

PUZZLE #64: Picross Words

PUZZLE #64

PICROSS WORDS

Well, it's the 64th puzzle on Redhead64's Obscure Puzzle Blog, so to celebrate, I'm going to do something a little different. You see, many years before I started this blog, I made a few puzzles on a site called Griddlers.net, where you can solve and create your own Picross puzzles (You can still solve my puzzles through this link). So as a way of returning to my puzzle-making roots, I've decided to create another Picross puzzle and post it on this blog!

The numbers outside each row and column reveal how many groups of black squares there are in that line, all in order, and how many black squares there are in each group (So for example, "5 1" means there are five consecutive black squares followed by a single black square). If there's more than one number in that line, that means they're separate from each other and there's at least one empty square between them (Empty spaces could also be found at the start or end of a line). In case you're stuck or don't know what to do, you can always get some tips, tricks and techniques through this link.

As an added twist, the grid has been filled out by letters, though they don't mean anything yet, so just ignore them while you proceed to solve the puzzle.

Once the Picross has been solved, you should get a picture of a video game character. Read the letters that have been shaded in, left to right and up and down, and you'll get a sentence that will reveal this week's FINAL ANSWER: The character's name, and the video game that the character originated from.

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: Pent Words 5

My fifth "Pent Words" puzzle was apparently a difficult one, but that didn't stop eleven of you from solving it within the past two weeks!

• Eric Maddy ****
• Yossi Fendel ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Brad Eldredge ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• YYW ****
• Punjit Sharma ****
• John Davis ****

Now that the solvers for this puzzle have been listed, just head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #63: Squeezed in the Middle 5

PUZZLE #63

SQUEEZED IN THE MIDDLE 5

My 64th puzzle is next week, so you'd probably expect me to do another "Squeezed in the Middle" puzzle for that milestone since it's an original creation and it got me published in GAMES Magazine. As you could probably tell from the title above, that won't be the case. I'm actually going to do something quite different for next week's puzzle, so until then, let's try our hand at this one, shall we?

For this puzzle, you're going to sandwich together words (entered in the white rectangles) by surrounding it with a letter on each side, one at the beginning and one at the end, making a new word in the process. Once you're done, the extra letters you've added in the "crust" (the brown squares) will spell out a two-word phrase. In the example above, the words URN, RAT, and OVER become BURNT, IRATE, and GOVERN, and the letters in the brown squares, reading down, spell out BIG TEN. However, to make things trickier, the "Wholes" will be in no particular order, so it's up to you to figure out which one of the "Centers" it matches up with!

Once you've filled out everything, the letters in the brown squares, reading down, will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: The name of a role-playing video game

CENTERS

1) Nickname for the kid who would become Darth Vader

2) Talk show once hosted by Regis and Kathie Lee

3) Women's fashion magazine that originated in France

4) The Mystery Machine, for one

5) Light bulbs, in classic comic strips

6) National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee Jennings-Gabarra

7) Newspaper columnist Bombeck

WHOLES

* Chris who was the Human Torch and Captain America

* "The World's Cutest Kitten" whom Garfield hates

* Pain's partner in Disney's Hercules

* Region containing Oman and Yemen

* Actor who played Star Trek's Dr. McCoy

* "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two" musical

* Time-travelling instrument from a Legend of Zelda game

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: Anagram Chambers 3

It's been thirteen days since I've posted my third "Anagram Chambers" puzzle, and since then, I've got an impressive twelve people solve this puzzle (well, it's technically thirteen, but one of them didn't want their name in the solvers' list; an explanation for that is below the break), and here they are:

• Eric Maddy ****
• Punjit Sharma ****
• YYW ****
• Yossi Fendel ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• John Davis ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Brad Eldredge ****
• Mom ****
• Dan Simonds ***

Now just click on "Read more" for the answers, along with some solver comments and a couple of videos!

PUZZLE #62: Pent Words 5

PUZZLE #62

PENT WORDS 5

My 64th puzzle is in a couple weeks, so you'd probably expect me to do another Pent Words for that milestone since it was my first puzzle type on this blog. As you could probably tell from the title above, that won't be the case. So until then, let's try our hand at this one, shall we?

For this puzzle, you must divide the grid into pentominoes (they’re kinda like Tetris pieces, except they’re areas made up of five squares each) and put a letter in each cell. The rows, reading from left to right, will contain the words hinted at by the ACROSS clues. The letters in the pentominoes, reading left to right beginning with the top row, will form the words hinted at by the PENTOMINOES clues; these clues are presented in no particular order. (In the example above, the rows spell out CHINS, PARTY, and ANKLE, and the pentominoes spell out the words CHINA, STYLE, and PRANK.) Use the across answers to figure out where the pentominoes go.

Once you're done, combine the two unclued pentominoes to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: The name of an award-winning film from the late 2000s

ACROSS (Two answers per row)
1) Pinocchio's pet goldfish / Uryū from Bleach (hidden in THIS HID AN ANSWER)
2) First name in a posthumous Poe poem / Small chuckle
3) It precedes "Kea" and "Loa" in Hawaiian volcano names / Coen Brothers film that later became an anthology series
4) Final Fantasy: _____ Quest / Suffix for "Psych"
5) Glittery tree trimming / Italy's largest city
6) Foghorn _____ / B or C from the Spice Girls
7) Air pollutant summoned by Elmer in What's Opera, Doc? / Recoil in disgust
8) Nestlé-owned Dog Chow maker / Giant plastic ball that you can roll around in
9) Miia from Monster Musume, for one / Search engine with a dog as its logo (yes, it still exists)
10) Elephant genie from Diddy Kong Racing / "Still the One" band

PENTOMINOES (Five letters per answer)
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* With "The", Best Picture Oscar winner from 1973
* Place to put books
* Madagascar's King Julien, for one
* Loosen laces
* Japanese version of chess
* When tripled, ABBA song sampled by Madonna
* Red, white, or blue
* A dozen dozen
* Street Fighter character with green stains on her legs
* State with a Potato Museum
* With "The", programming block that airs classic Nickelodeon shows
* Rank above captain
* The X-Factor (UK) winner Lewis
* Samurai without a master
* One Direction member born in Ireland
* GSN's 1 vs. 100 host Carrie-Ann
* One of five bodies of water
* Hollywood star, for short

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: Anacrostic

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Before we get ready for the Big Game, let's reveal the answers for my very first Anacrostic from thirteen days ago, along with all the people that have solved it:

• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• John Davis ****
• Mom ****
• Dan Simonds ****
• Debbie Underwood Benford (she just got married Friday) ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• YYW ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• Brad Eldredge ****

Now just head below the break for the answers, along with some solver comments (in case you were curious as to what other people said about this puzzle)!

PUZZLE #61: Anagram Chambers 3

PUZZLE #61

ANAGRAM CHAMBERS 3

For this puzzle, there are several dark-green "chambers" with yellow rectangles and light-green squares in them. For each chamber, you take a word in the first yellow rectangle as hinted at by the clue, add a letter from the light-green square, and scramble them to get a word in the second yellow rectangle, then you repeat the process to get the word in the third yellow rectangle. Once you've filled in everything, the light-green squares will spell out something... or they would if the chambers weren't all scrambled up as well!

Once all of the chambers are in the proper order, the light-green squares will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: the name of an '80s TV show

Oh, hey, the formatting is different now! Now the yellow boxes aren't mostly filled up by the clues!

1. [Three-piece apparel] + __ = [Feet and furlongs, e.g.] + __ = [Apple's music store]
2. [Best Actress Oscar winner for Moonstruck] + __ = [Arm's length] + __ = [Use Google or Bing]
3. [Human from the original My Little Pony cartoon] + __ = ["Sadeness (Part I)" New Age group] + __ = [Dream up]
4. ["It's hard to stop a _____" (ad slogan)] + __ = [Steven Universe character with three eyes] + __ = [Marvel "Doctor" with an upcoming film]
5. [Danganronpa 2's Mikan Tsumiki, for one] + __ = [Sting's real last name] + __ = [Herman or Lily from a classic sitcom]
6. [It's preceded by "Laissez" or "Savoir"] + __ = [Villain from Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'] + __ = [Late boxing great "Smokin' Joe"]
7. [A terrible thing to waste] + __ = [Imp-like assistant from Zelda: Twilight Princess] + __ = [Any .com, .net, or .org]

Apologies in advance for some of the harder clues up there. Remember that you're always free to follow the advice in the last clue of Chamber #2. Anyways, 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!