ANSWERS: Lucky Sevens 5 - L7

Just a tiny heads-up before I reveal the answers to "Lucky Sevens 5: L7": today is New Year's Eve, and since everyone will be busy watching the ball drop tonight, I've decided that tomorrow's puzzle will be delayed by an hour, meaning that it will be posted at 1:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (as opposed to my usual schedule of midnight EST). This shouldn't be a problem if you already follow this blog via email or RSS feed or get my puzzles through Patreon, but I just wanted to let everyone know regardless. Anyway, here are the ten people who have solved my puzzle from thirteen days ago:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Alex Milton ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a couple solver comments!

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH! PUZZLE #158: Brick By Brick 4

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH!

PUZZLE #158

BRICK BY BRICK 4

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I've got gifts to open, but before I do that, I'm going to give you all one last gift of my own: a puzzle type that was requested by Brittany Trofimovich, so I hope she and everyone else enjoys this!

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 a movie that would be perfect for today (December 25th)

ACROSS
1) Sara Bareilles song with the lyrics "Say what you wanna say and let the words fall out"
    When doubled, Jim Carrey film about a lawyer forced to tell the truth
    Victoria Beckham's Spice Girls nickname
2) Cartoon cat with a magic bag of tricks
    Fencing sword
    Thought that can be bright
3) Shrek's wife
    Sammy who hit 609 home runs
    Member of a subculture that likes to wear all black
4) Star-bellied Seuss creature
    Duck _____ in the 24½th Century
5) Bug a phone
    Flamethrower-wielding character from Team Fortress 2
6) 18-wheeler
    Simon _____ (action film starring Dennis Rodman of all people)
    Pear variety named after a French province
7) They're no amateurs
    Mopes about
    Defunct TV network that aired Star Trek: Voyager
8) THE FINAL ANSWER
9) Deteriorate, like a tree
    Kansas City baseball team
    Partner of ready and willing
10) Yzma's henchman in The Emperor's New Groove
      _____ sequitur
      Manufacturer of noise-cancelling headphones
11) "Tom's Diner" singer Suzanne
      Barrel seen in a saloon
12) The Back to the Future movies, for one
      Positive responses
13) Sere
      Rick Springfield's character in General Hospital
      "Hello. My name is _____ Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
14) Internet connection at a restaurant
      Mipha from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, for one
      Type of song you might hear today (December 25th)
15) Couch potato's spot
      Evens' opposites
      Express a viewpoint

DOWN
1) Lifelong pals, in text-speak
    Fire starter created by striking flint
    Reactions to anything adorable
2) Harness strap
    404 on a website, for example
    The Beastie Boys or The Dixie Chicks, e.g.
3) Singer Blacc who had a hit in 2014 with "The Man"
    Montana's "Oro y plata", for example
    Guitar lick
4) App where you used to upload six-second videos
    Black-_____ (ABC sitcom)
    Tech company that created the GeForce line of graphics processing units
5) On the nose
    Family Matters character whose catchphrase is "Did I do that?"
6) Maker of Mr. Potato Head and My Little Pony
    Blue Muppet with a big hooked nose
7) Primus singer/bassist Claypool
    Brother of Ron Weasley who was a prefect at Hogwarts
    "It's _____ Life" (Twilight Zone episode)
8) MP3 player whose Touch model is the only one still being made
    You Don't Mess with the _____ (Adam Sandler film)
    Three feet
9) "The Fox and the Grapes" storyteller
    Vampire from Nosferatu
    Owns
10) _____ Player One (upcoming Spielberg film)
      Animator Walt who created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
11) Lawn greenery
      Insurance company with a spokeslizard
12) Any one of the Goodfeathers from Animaniacs, for example
      The Coca-Cola Company's first diet soda
      Click one's fingers
13) ___-Eaters (shoe inserts)
      Oxymoronic shrimp size
      Digital assistant introduced in 2011
14) Complete collections
      About 95% of these gemstones come from Australia
      Harold Ramis' role in Ghostbusters
15) "Don't make me laugh!"
      Erase the memory of having looked at something, somehow
      Filleted flatfish

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Diagramless Crossword 2

Tomorrow's Christmas Day, but before we get to that, we have to reveal the answers to my second "Diagramless Crossword" puzzle from thirteen days ago, as well as the eight people who have successfully solved it:

• Grant Fikes ***
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom *
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Lynn Sweeney **

Now head below the break for the answers! Four of my solvers had stuff to say, too, so be sure to check their comments out as well!

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH! PUZZLE #157: Lucky Sevens 5 - L7

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH!

PUZZLE #157

LUCKY SEVENS 5: L7

This week's offering is a request from Chris Hendricks, which if you recall, wanted either a "Stretch Letters" or a "Lucky Sevens". I ultimately picked the latter, but he also wanted "some kind of twist to it" such as turning the Sevens to L's by flipping them upside-down. Not only that, I even included a word that he felt "would be a plus", so I hope he enjoys what I've made for him!

How unlucky! The Sevens have been flipped upside down! Stacked together below are seven L's made up of 7 squares each. The answers to each L start in their respectively numbered squares and continue along its path surrounded by a bold outline, going down and then right. Meanwhile, the answers to the Rows go straight across the grid, including those with only one or two letters in them.

Once you've filled in the grid, the letters in the colored squares (in the order of the L's that they appear in, starting with the L marked with a 1) will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: A seven-letter word

ROWS
i) 75% on a school paper, say
ii) Video game company that got in deep doo-doo last November with Star Wars Battlefront II's loot boxes
iii) Revival technique practiced on a dummy: Abbr.
iv) "You're So _____" (#1 Carly Simon hit)
v) Cozy country lodging
vi) Word on a doormat
vii) State capital that's home to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: 2 wds.
viii) Evil robot played by James Spader in the second Avengers film
ix) Not urban
x) Best Picture Oscar winner with Leslie Caron in the title role
xi) A very, very, very long time

L'S
1) "Like a _____" (Weird Al's parody of a Madonna song)
2) Purple-wearing rival of Super Mario's brother
3) Manitoba's time zone
4) '80s cartoon adapted from the anime Beast King GoLion
5) Coffeehouse where you can play with and adopt felines: 2 wds.
6) Finest example
7) Massively bloody destruction

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Mixed Doubles 5

It's been thirteen days since I've posted "Mixed Doubles 5", and since then, seven of you have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Pavel Curtis ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Debbie Benford ****

Oh, and apparently, Feedspot really wants to be more well-known, so despite already adding this medal to the sidebar and last week's answer post, they've asked me to add it again, so here it is once more:

​

Now head below the break for the answers!

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH! PUZZLE #156: Diagramless Crossword 2

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH!

PUZZLE #156

DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 2

It's week 2 of Christmas Gifts Month, so I should probably explain what it's all about. You see, people who solved my Anacrossword puzzle from two weeks ago were asked to request a type of word puzzle from me, so for this month, I'll pick four of those requests as Christmas gifts from me to you! If you want a full list of puzzles that I may do this month, go to this link that I posted yesterday. This week's offering is a request from Pavel Curtis, and I hope he finds it satisfactory!

Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.

Once everything's filled in, two of the across answers will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: A title.

ACROSS
1) Piggy bank from Toy Story
5) Legal drama that NCIS spun off from
8) Army rank with two chevrons: Abbr.
11) Mexican water
12) Cheer for a torero
13) Scottish hillsides
16) Zoe and Hammie's baby sister in Baby Blues
17) Freddy Krueger's street
18) Up to this point
19) Rock band that sang the lyrics "And now you find yourself in '82"
21) "Ich bin ___ Berliner"
23) Beverly Hills, 90210 actress Spelling
24) Garfield's favorite pasta dish
26) Treebeard, for one
27) PART ONE OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE
32) Popular Reddit Q&A feature
33) Greek vowel with the shortest name
34) Chews on wood
35) In medias _____
36) Popular urban "sandbox" video game series published by Rockstar, for short
37) Cremation container
39) iPad platform
40) Voices above tenors
42) Wrestling org. that changed its name to Impact Wrestling in 2017
43) Gun grp. founded in 1871
44) PART TWO OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE
49) Three, in Italy
50) Residents of Pago Pago
51) Record label that Yes released 90125 on
52) Dadaist Jean that crossword solvers are sick of seeing
53) Ice planet from The Empire Strikes Back
55) The L in AWOL
57) The invention of this blue energy-saving bulb earned its creators a Nobel Physics Prize
59) Beekeeper that Peter Fonda played in 1997
61) Comparable to an embarrassed beet?
62) Prefix for "metric" and "morphic"
63) Gnorm _____ (Jim Davis comic predating Garfield)
64) Like deadpan humor
65) Utmost degree
66) Group of goats

DOWN
1) Hee-_____
2) Taj Mahal's city
3) Cereal comprised of rolled oats
4) Hit Michael Sembello song from Flashdance
5) Barack's Vice President
6) _____'s Window ('90s Nick Jr. show)
7) Zodiac sign after Taurus
8) Network that airs </scorpion>
9) Casein, for one
10) Legendary movie trailer announcer Don
14) _____ Jim (quirky 16-bit platformer video game)
15) Word preceding "Lanka"
20) Black-ink item
22) Short snooze
25) Ant princess from A Bug's Life
27) Weight unit for gemstones
28) Egg dishes that may come "au fromage"
29) Their "Priceless" ad campaign began in 1997
30) Chicago-based cable channel that used to have "Superstation" in its name
31) Analyze ore
36) Idiotest channel
37) Ctrl-Z, in Microsoft Word
38) Princess Jasmine's pet tiger
41) Bogey
42) Unicorn with a broken horn in My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
45) Sly-fox link
46) Nemo's dad in Finding Nemo
47) "Quit quarreling!"
48) Free letters given out in Wheel of Fortune's Bonus Round
51) In the style of
54) Use your ears (assuming you're not deaf)
56) Dreyer's ice cream partner
58) Exclamation written in The Simpsons' scripts as "annoyed grunt"
60) Airplane takeoff guess: Abbr.

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Anacrossword

Well, this was unexpected. Yesterday, a website called Feedspot sent me an email saying that they've selected me as one of the Top 100 Puzzle Blogs online! I'm #67 on the list, while my buddy Grant Fikes is also on there! Talk about an early Christmas present!



Speaking of Christmas presents, now's the time for me to explain what Christmas Gifts Month is all about: the people who solved my "Anacrossword" puzzle from two weeks ago were asked to request a puzzle type from me, and a whopping ten of you did so! Here are the solvers who did so, as well as the types of puzzles they requested:

• Grant Fikes **** [A Second Anacrossword]
• Eric Maddy **** [Crossword]
• Brittany Trofimovich **** [Brick By Brick]
• Mom **** [Mixed Doubles]
• Sam Levitin **** [Meta-Crossword]
• Debbie Benford **** [Anagram Chambers]
• Lynn Sweeney **** [Sudokurossword]
• Chris Hendricks **** [Stretch Letters or a Lucky Sevens variant]
• Pavel Curtis **** [Diagramless Crossword]
• Bryce Herdt **** [Waterfall]

Now head below the break for the answers, as well as some comments from two of my solvers!

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH! PUZZLE #155: Mixed Doubles 5

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH!

PUZZLE #155

MIXED DOUBLES 5

Happy December, everyone! And as you can see in the header above, it's another theme month! I'll elaborate more on the details of it next week, but for now, all I'll say is that this puzzle type was requested by my mom. Now let's get to the directions!

Each answer word in this crossword variation has two clues leading to it, using different meanings of the word. The clues are separated into Across and Down, but are otherwise ordered randomly. When you find two Across clues or two Down clues that seem to have the same answer, add up their clue numbers to determine the place in the grid where the answer should be entered. For example, if the clue for 1-Across and the clue for 16-Across both have the same answer, the answer would go in the box labeled 17 (1+16). To make things harder, tags such as "Hyph." and "2 wds." have been omitted.

There is one extra clue in both lists of Across and Down clues. This week's FINAL ANSWER is the answer to both of the extra clues, which you can get by rearranging the letters in the grid's pink squares.

ACROSS
1) Second book in the Divergent trilogy
2) Avoid an issue, say
3) X-Men member born in Canada
4) Grace who sang for Jefferson Airplane
5) Fascinate
6) Simba's family, e.g.
7) Patty Bouvier's twin sister in The Simpsons
8) It goeth before a fall
9) Rebel
10) What Resident Evil is called in Japan
11) Feature of a whodunit's plot
12) Wild recklessness
13) Sans' brother in Undertale
14) Looked through again
15) Clothing item that may have a poodle on it
16) Covered in oil
17) Ancient scroll material
18) Type of sign used to label dangerous viruses
19) 2014 film about Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous march
20) Forsake
21) Critiqued a piece of media

DOWN
1) Its state bird is the cactus wren
2) Movie studio that turned 100 in 2012
3) Glowing piece of coal
4) Fantasy film starring David Bowie as Jareth
5) Young model on the front of a magazine
6) College football player that wears maize and blue
7) What the Minotaur from Greek mythology was trapped in
8) "Marvins Room" musician
9) Hockey infraction
10) Evil organization in Captain America: The First Avenger
11) The largest constellation
12) Iced tea brand that sells Arnold Palmers
13) All-inclusive
14) "Eh, I expected as much"
15) The world's fastest dog breed
16) Blue dragon princess from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
17) Male duck
18) "Easy, breezy, beautiful" makeup brand
19) Statuettes and such
20) Toaster Strudel topping
21) Bus that the Allman Brothers Band's "Ramblin' Man" was born in

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: Snake Charmer 2

D'oh! Late with posting the answers again! I really need to start getting better about scheduling these! Anyway, you know the drill by now: since it's been almost two weeks since "Snake Charmer 2" was posted, it's time for me to post the answers and the people who solved them:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Dan Simonds ****
• Mom ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a comment from one of my solvers!

PUZZLE #154: Anacrossword

PUZZLE #154

ANACROSSWORD

Solve the clues below and transfer their answers into the crossword grid. Then, transfer the letters in the filled numbered squares to each of the correspondingly numbered dashes. Work back and forth between the crossword and the numbered dashes until the crossword is filled and the dashes read out a legible sentence.

No FINAL ANSWER this week. To get credit for solving it, send me the resulting sentence AND follow its directions!

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
​01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

CLUES
* A way to enjoy a novel while driving
* Shoulder muscle, for short
* Scottish singer of "Sunshine Superman"
* Sally _____ (newspaper comic)
* Disney film very loosely based on the fairy tale "The Snow Queen"
* "Purple _____" (Jimi Hendrix song)
* Giraffe, diet-wise
* Basketball team with a purple and teal color scheme
* Ship's sail holder
* "Scumbag Steve" and "Good Guy Greg", for two
* Snail or clam, e.g.
* Like a score of 300 in bowling
* _____ horse (gym equipment)
* Rold Gold product
* Wizarding sport whose teams include the Chudley Cannons
* Quit, like Nixon
* Video game dragon with a dragonfly partner named Sparx
* More rigid
* What Miss Muffet sat on
* Red's dimwitted sidekick in ads for M&M's

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Eat Your Words 3

It's been thirteen days since I've posted "Eat Your Words 3", and six of you have solved it since then, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Debbie Benford ****

Not much else to say, so just head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #153: Snake Charmer 2

PUZZLE #153

SNAKE CHARMER 2

Enter the answers to each clue in the grid, starting in the correspondingly-numbered space and ending in the space before the next consecutive number. The chain of answer words will overlap itself, winding their way twice around the snake-shaped grid.

Once you've filled in the grid, unscramble the green squares to get the FINAL ANSWER: An eight-letter word

1) Diamond-selling Def Leppard album containing "Photograph"
2) Bengals' home
3) Madame with a wax museum
4) Greek letter before kappa
5) "Vote for _____" (Napoleon Dynamite quote)
6) Canadian dish that's fries and cheese curds topped with gravy
7) Portable PlayStation console with touchscreens on its front and back
8) First name of Gwyneth Paltrow's mother
9) String wrapped around a finger, e.g.
10) Horseshoe throws worth three points each
11) Toyota pickup introduced in May 1999
12) The wandering albatross has the largest one at almost 12 feet
13) Psychologist's treatment
14) Capital of Italy, to Italians
15) One of the B vitamins
16) Lenny Kravitz's role in the Hunger Games films
17) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actor Burgess
18) It's inserted into a cassette recorder
19) Gabriel _____ (2017 anime featuring a lazy, slobbish angel)
20) As expected
21) Electronic instrument heard in the soundtrack of The Day the Earth Stood Still
22) Rick who sang "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo"
23) Non-lethal setting for a phaser in Star Trek
24) Pencil sketches, for example
25) Big cats' genus

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: Crypticrostic 2

Before I reveal the answers to "Crypticrostic 2", I just wanted to plug my Patreon page once again. As a reminder, if you support me at the $5 level, you'll get an extra Bonus Puzzle every month, and this month's offering is a "Flower Power" puzzle. So now with that out of the way, here are the six solvers of my puzzle from thirteen days ago:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Debbie Benford (no stars)
• Eric Maddy ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now I know I'm late with the answers again, but head below the break for them anyway!

PUZZLE #152: Eat Your Words 3

PUZZLE #152

EAT YOUR WORDS 3

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 one-hit wonder from the 2010s

NUMBERED WORDS
1) The Settlers of _____ (board game)
2) Card game with knocking
3) Michael Jackson album containing "The Way You Make Me Feel"
4) Leaves in a book
5) The _____ Ghostbusters ('80s cartoon)
6) Boxing match
7) Not present in class
8) [I didn't make this typo]

EATEN WORDS
* Didn't discard
* Feeling pretty sick
* "I find your _____ of faith disturbing" (Star Wars quote)
* Jousting pole
* Matilda actress Wilson
* Planet, poetically speaking
* Ram like a ram
* Repeated musical phrase, such as the one in "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Squeezed in the Middle 10 - Double Decker Word Sandwiches

It's been two weeks since I've posted my 150th puzzle on this blog, and since then, eight of you have correctly solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as comments from two of my solvers!

PUZZLE #151: Crypticrostic 2

PUZZLE #151

CRYPTICROSTIC 2

Below is an Anacrostic with no spaces. Using normal Anacrostic rules, work back and forth between it and the clues to completely fill it out. However, all the clues are in cryptic crossword style, meaning that each clue has two halves: a definition of the answer and an indication of the answer's literal makeup via wordplay. Either half may come first, and finding the dividing point between them is the key to solving the clues. For a list of cryptic clue types, you can get one through this link.

Once you're done, the Anacrostic will reveal a cryptic clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: An 11-letter title.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

German one has partially gone insane [4]
   __ __ __ __
   44 35 08 27

Winter hazard is first to be melted [9]
   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   01 31 18 39 34 14 25 43 07

Khan initially gets English greetings [7]
   __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   28 20 10 04 16 46 38

Going to allow odd womanizer [6]
   __ __ __ __ __ __
   48 41 11 23 36 13

Former British record label goes belly-up, following public sudden death [8]
   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   17 24 32 45 12 03 22 37

Seer's income announced [7]
   __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   33 02 29 19 05 15 42

For starters, this really is no kitschy evergreen tree ornament [7]
   __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   30 21 09 47 40 26 06

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: Pent Words 9

It's been almost two weeks since I've posted "Pent Words 9", and since then, eight of you have successfully figured out its FINAL ANSWER, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Lynn Sweeney **
• Eric Maddy ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as comments from two of my solvers!

PUZZLE #150: Squeezed in the Middle 10 - Double Decker Word Sandwiches

PUZZLE #150

SQUEEZED IN THE MIDDLE 10: DOUBLE DECKER WORD SANDWICHES

I've reached another milestone! Actually, scratch that, I've actually reached two milestones! Not only is this my 150th puzzle, but this is also my tenth installment of my signature creation "Squeezed in the Middle"! So considering both of those points, I'm going to do something a little different regarding "Squeezed". Take a look...

It's time to make some Double Decker Word Sandwiches! Normal rules to "Squeezed in the Middle" apply, but with a twist. First, enter the "Centers" in the corresponding numbered spaces. Then, enter two "Wholes" in each row, each one using the letters in one white space and the two adjacent brown spaces. The brown spaces in the center column will be shared by two "Wholes".

Once you've filled out everything, the letters in the brown squares, reading down, will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: A three-word video game title.
​

CENTERS
1) Horseman of the Apocalypse with the shortest name
2) Pith helmet or African antelope
3) Starbucks order with milk
4) "Steal My Sunshine" band
5) Easternmost country in the Arabian Peninsula
6) _____ particular order: 2 wds.
7) Bravo y Grande, por ejemplo
8) "The place with the helpful hardware folks", according to ads
9) Narcs' org.
10) Rigoletto composer

WHOLES
* 1985 John Malkovich drama
* Best possible
* Boat that had Gilligan as its First Mate
* Bunch of bees
* Jimmie Johnson, for one
* Musical section whose name is Italian for "airy"
* Place that translates to "no place"
* Ray who voices Manny in the Ice Age movies
* Served on a silver _____
* Went to huge extremes

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Pieces of Nine 3

Sorry I'm late with this! I just got Super Mario Odyssey when it launched a couple days ago, and I've been playing it so much that I totally forgot about scheduling the answers to "Pieces of Nine 3" in its normal time! I'll get to that soon, but first, the list of solvers:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Mom ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a couple solver comments!

PUZZLE #149: Pent Words 9

PUZZLE #149

PENT WORDS 9

For this puzzle, you must divide the grid into pentominoes (they’re sorta 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: A two-word phrase

ACROSS (Two answers per row)
1) Wigged singer who voiced Songbird Serenade in My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
    Invader Zim creator Jhonen
2) Sulk
    _____ catcher (paper fortune teller)
3) Microsoft's spreadsheet program
    Homeowners' documents
4) Companion of dark and handsome
    PC key above "Delete"
5) _____ Loops (Toucan Sam's cereal)
    Personal journal
6) Aptly-named spirit of chaos from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
    Snake that bit Cleopatra
7) House actor Epps
    Like a noisy rocking chair
8) Monsieur Le Pew
    Lincoln's first vice president
9) Female toon bunny who debuted in Space Jam
    Heavily slanted, like most cable news
10) Harp constellation (well, it was either that or yet another MLP reference...)
      First name of the first First Lady

PENTOMINOES (Five letters per answer)
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* Instrument for Yo-Yo Ma or Octavia Melody
* 2000s spy series starring Jennifer Garner
* Pansy piece
* _____ Theater (progressive metal band)
* Like a taste with a kick
* "Stop the ship, me mateys!"
* Third rock from the sun
* Force forward
* Sitting Bull was one
* Sweet _____ Purebred (Underdog's love interest)
* Cryptography topics
* Like Louis Armstrong's singing voice
* James Garfield's middle name
* Seaduck whose feathers are used in pillows
* Hobbit played by Elijah Wood
* Country where Slumdog Millionaire is set
* Sorta
* Item on a dime's back side

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: Zigzagnut 4

It's been almost two weeks since I've posted "Zigzagnut 4", and as usual, it's time for me to post the answers to this puzzle as well as the people who have solved them:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney **
• Debbie Benford ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #148: Pieces of Nine 3

PUZZLE #148

PIECES OF NINE 3

Arrange the trigrams (blocks with three squares/letters in them) to make seven 9-letter words. After that, sort the new words so that the first one alphabetically is in row 1, the second one alphabetically is in row 2, and so on.

Once you're done, read down two of the columns for the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word phrase.

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Moving Staircases 7

It's been almost two weeks since I've posted "Moving Staircases 7", and since then, nine of you (including Sam Levitin's son) have figured out the FINAL ANSWER, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Sam and Jonathan Levitin ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Chris Hendricks ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #147: Zigzagnut 4

PUZZLE #147

ZIGZAGNUT 4

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 consists of the two numbered answers with no clues (#5 & #16) that combine to make up the name of a company.

ROWS (in random order; each contains two answers)
* The _____ Vacancy (J. K. Rowling's first book for adults) / Unit of loudness that's one letter away from a call-making device
* Head, in Le Havre / Inexperienced
* Deadly tropical fly / Black-_____ Susan
* Conk on the head / Rocket's return to Earth
* Cereal made up of rolled oats / "_____ Around the Christmas Tree"
* Glossy wood finish / Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them director David
* White, in Spanish / Neo-soul singer Erykah
* Like keypads with no letters on them / Female main character from Gravity Rush and its sequel
* Pre-riot state / Used binoculars
* Rock band that did "Hold Your Head Up" / Colonel or captain
* One who mollycoddles / _____ Wright: Ace Attorney

ZIGZAGS
1) Uses a vuvuzela
2) Spoiled brat with blonde pigtails from Rugrats
3) Wii Remote or Wii U GamePad, e.g.
4) Father of Sasha and Malia
5) THE FIRST HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
6) Button that makes the TV shut up
7) Metaphorical guinea pig
8) Was indebted to
9) Technically not alive yet
10) Retaliation
11) Grammy-winning a cappella group with over 2.4 billion YouTube views
12) Loaves of bread frequently seen in crosswords
13) Completely abandon a building
14) Containing a -
15) Shanghai _____ (Madonna movie)
16) THE SECOND HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
17) Sport with Sharks and Predators
18) Run into (literally or figuratively)

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: Lucky Sevens 4

Before I reveal the answers to "Lucky Sevens 4", I just wanted to plug my Patreon page again. If you decide to donate money to me through Patreon (like the two fine people listed below in red), I'll give you rewards and perks as thanks! For example, if you support me at the $5 level, I'll give you an exclusive puzzle that you won't get anywhere else! (This month's offering is another pair of "Overstuffed Sandwiches") Now with that out of the way, here are the seven people that have solved my puzzle from almost two weeks ago:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Debbie Benford ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a couple solver comments!

PUZZLE #146: Moving Staircases 7

PUZZLE #146

MOVING STAIRCASES 7

The two staircase-shaped halves of a "Moving Staircases" puzzle are designed to be pushed together in two different ways, horizontally and vertically. A horizontal push creates shorter words ("Shorts"), while a vertical push creates longer words ("Longs"). The example above shows a completed grid and the grids that result from pushing it both ways. The lists of clues given for the Shorts and Longs are not in order; it's up to you to determine where the answers go by working back and forth between the two lists.

Once you've completely filled out the grid, hidden inside it will be this week's FINAL ANSWER: the name of a Pokémon whose name is not hidden horizontally OR vertically.

SHORTS
* Collect or stockpile
* Mad Men character Don
* Part of the week that Garfield hates
* Refining one's muscles
* Scale's reading
* The "r" in πr2
* Word game with lettered dice in a 4x4 tray

LONGS
* Carter's Vice President
* Classic Konami arcade game where you pilot a spaceship called the Vic Viper
* Curtains and other window coverings
* The _____ Channel ("Local on the 8s" network)
* When doubled, a song by either the Smashing Pumpkins or Hot Chelle Rae
* Weighing (down)

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Plus One 3

It's been roughly two weeks since I've posted "Plus One 3", and since then, seven of you have solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• M. Sean Molley ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Sam Levitin ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #145: Lucky Sevens 4

PUZZLE #145

LUCKY SEVENS 4

Stacked together below are seven Sevens made up of 7 squares each. The answers to each Seven start in their respectively numbered squares and continue along its path surrounded by a bold outline, going left and then down. Meanwhile, the answers to the Rows go straight across the grid, including those with only one or two letters in them.

Once you've filled in the grid, the letters in the colored squares (in the order of the Sevens that they appear in) will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: A seven-letter word

ROWS
i) Type of garden filled with rocks
ii) Notes after "do": 2 wds.
iii) Archie Bunker or George Jefferson, e.g.
iv) Baywatch actress Yasmine
v) Dresser drawer parts
vi) "Royal" necktie knot?
vii) Scotland's largest city
viii) I'm Sorry I Haven't a _____ (comedic panel game on BBC Radio)
ix) TV channel with the slogan "Positively entertaining"
x) "Ick!"
xi) MPAA rating for Sausage Party

SEVENS
1) Sluggish chunk of ice
2) Blue mouse with a big nose from CatDog
3) Portable firearm
4) Former New England Patriot Drew
5) Oscar-winning director Kathryn
6) More secluded
7) Apexes

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 (And Contest Results!): Squeezed in the Middle 9

It's been almost two weeks since I've posted "Squeezed in the Middle 9", and since it's a Contest Puzzle, I think it's time for me to reveal not only the answers, but who won the signed copy of the October 2017 issue of GAMES Magazine that I got published in! First, a list of people who have solved this puzzle since it got published:

• Grant Fikes ****
• M. Sean Molley **** (He's already a subscriber, so he doesn't want the prize)
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom **** (ineligible; it'd be like giving the prize to myself!)
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Dan Simonds *

Since ten people have solved this puzzle, there will be TWO copies given away to two randomly-chosen winners! The winners are: Lynn Sweeney and Grant Fikes! Congratulations, you two!

Now just go below the break for the answers, along with some solver comments!

PUZZLE #144: Plus One 3

PUZZLE #144

PLUS ONE 3

To start this puzzle, enter the answers to the numbered clues (the "Partial Clues") in each correspondingly numbered area, skipping the gold squares as you do so. Then, add a new letter in each gold square to create a new word, which matches up with one of the "Whole Clues" that are listed in no particular order.

Once you're done, the letters in the gold squares, reading down, spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: a video game series

PARTIAL CLUES
1) CBS series about crazed animals based on a James Patterson novel
2) Wilma Flintstone's husband
3) "Slow and steady wins the race", for one
4) Oscar-winning actor Whitaker
5) Orange orchard
6) Story's sequence of events
7) Rock genre of Dashboard Confessional

WHOLE CLUES
* Free preview of a video game that lets you try it before you buy it
* Mr. Gump who said that "Stupid is as stupid does"
* When doubled, Mazda slogan
* Test episode for a TV series
* Spiral track on a vinyl record
* _____ Kombat
* Unleashed

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 (don't forget that that one is a CONTEST PUZZLE, and the deadline is this Sunday!). 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 6

It's been thirteen days since I've posted "4X Game 6", and since then, seven of you have solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Eric Maddy ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Grant Fikes ***

Now just head below the break for the answers! (Oh, and SPOILERS for the new DuckTales reboot involving one of the answers, too)

PUZZLE #143: Squeezed in the Middle 9 (CONTEST PUZZLE!)

CONTEST!

PUZZLE #143

SQUEEZED IN THE MIDDLE 9

It's time for another Contest Puzzle! The prize for winning this contest is a signed copy of the October 2017 issue of GAMES Magazine that I got published in! There will only be one winner for this contest, though if at least ten people solve this puzzle, I'll give out a second copy to another winner! If you don't want to enter this contest, you can still solve this puzzle and opt out of the contest. Now with the contest rules out of the way, let's get to the directions!

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: One of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

CENTERS
1) 1/16th of a pound
2) Yellow Muppet with a unibrow
3) Actor Jogia who played Beck in VicTORIous
4) _____-Gon Jinn (Star Wars character)
5) Prefix for "hero" or "freeze"
6) 'Zine
7) Montana town named after a land formation (not a rear end)
8) British title above viscount

WHOLES
* Adult stage of an insect's life cycle
* Cuban capital
* German rocketry pioneer Hermann (Anagram of BOTHER)
* _____ Headless Nick (Harry Potter character)
* Manny from A Bug's Life, for one
* Shared a border with
* Supply oneself with gear
* With "The", early PlayStation 2 beat-em-up game by Squaresoft (or a nightclub's doorman)

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: Double Chain Reaction 3

Before I reveal the answers to "Double Chain Reaction 3", I just wanted to give out an update regarding my Patreon. To begin with, I somehow managed to get two more people supporting me on that site: Pavel Curtis and David Millar! Thanks, guys! They support me at the $2 and $5 levels, respectively, and if you are a $5 supporter too, you'll get a bonus puzzle every month that you won't find anywhere else! This month's offering is a cryptic crossword!

Also, fellow Patron M. Sean Molley directed me towards another Patreon project called Hatched, which is a new online micro-magazine by Nathan Curtis of Tortoiseshell Studio aimed at helping new puzzle creators get support and a little boost. I'll admit that I haven't supported anyone on Patreon before, but I've decided to support this project at $3 a month, and with that $3, this magazine has successfully reached its goal of $250 per issue, and now it'll "start publishing on a regular basis" as well as "post a puzzle or two every month"! Since this is a magazine aimed at supporting new puzzle constructors, it's accepting submissions from them, so if you're interested in helping out, you can visit their main website here and read their submission guidelines here!

Now that I'm done with my plugs, here are all the people that have solved my third "Double Chain Reaction" puzzle from thirteen days ago:

• M. Sean Molley ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Debbie Benford ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a couple solver comments!

PUZZLE #142: 4X Game 6

PUZZLE #142

4X GAME 6

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
* Caramel-filled chocolate candies
* Donald Duck's sister and mother of Huey, Dewey, and Louie
* "_____ Nothing" (#3 hit song by O-Town): 2 wds.
* Repaired a boot's bottom

X #2
* Actresses Watson and Thompson
* Comparable to a hatter or a wet hen: 2 wds.
* Jean-Claude Van _____
* Kafka character who metamorphosed into an insect

X #3
* Greeting from BlueMountain.com or Hallmark.com: Hyph.
* Longest keyboard key
* Plays Pictionary with a pencil
* Switches two candies in Candy Crush Saga

X #4
* Chicago mayor Richard or his son (also named Richard)
* Earthenware pots
* Electronica duo whose song "Oh Yeah" played in the credits of Ferris Bueller's Day Off
* Waldorf or Cobb

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Line 'Em Up 5

Before I reveal the answers to "Line 'Em Up 5", I just wanted to note that it looks like Grant Fikes is offline again, seemingly due to personal matters that I won't type down on this blog. I hope he comes back soon, but in the meantime, here are the six solvers of my fifth "Line 'Em Up" puzzle:

• Grant Fikes *
• Mom ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Lynn Sweeney ***

Now just head below the break for the answers!

GAME SHOW MONTH! PUZZLE #141: Double Chain Reaction 3

GAME SHOW MONTH!

PUZZLE #141

DOUBLE CHAIN REACTION 3

We conclude Game Show Month with "Chain Reaction", a puzzle that I've done so many variants on, I think I could make an entire theme month on those alone! For this month, however, I think I'll stick with the first variant of this puzzle that I posted on this blog, where it's the same as normal Chain Reaction, but there's two chains instead of one. Take a look:

Below is a pair of word chains made up of six two-word phrases each (For example, the introduction to GSN's original version has a chain of WORD - GAME - BALL - ROOM - KEY - CHAIN - REACTION). I'll give out clues that lead to each two-word phrase, but to make things harder, all the clues for both chains are mixed up together and are in no particular order. The first and last words of each chain are partially hidden, but to make things slightly easier, the first letter of each of those words will be revealed, as well as their length.

The FINAL ANSWER is the name of two game shows that aired exclusively on GSN/Game Show Network, one hidden in each chain.

* GSN GAME SHOW #1
* GSN GAME SHOW #2
* Basketball shot that may result in a shattered backboard
* Carnival attractions where the aim is to get another person drenched
* Comic strip character who has a pet beagle named Snoopy
* Crumby apple dessert similar to a cobbler
* First lady preceding Michelle Obama
* Nocturnal primate also known as a "galago"
* Small piano that isn't an upright
* Spinning casino fixture with red and black spaces
* TV personality who was married to Password host Allen Ludden
* Vodka cocktail favorred by The Dude from The Big Lebowski

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: Smush 2

It's been roughly two weeks since I've posted "Smush 2", and since then, eight of you have correctly solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• M. Sean Molley ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Debbie Benford ****

Now just click on "Read more" below for the answers as well as a couple solver comments!

GAME SHOW MONTH! PUZZLE #140: Line 'Em Up 5

GAME SHOW MONTH!

PUZZLE #140

LINE 'EM UP 5

For the third installment of Game Show Month, here's a puzzle inspired by the "Line 'em Up" pricing game from The Price Is Right. I don't have anything to add to that, so let's jump straight into the puzzle:

Place the answers to each numbered clue in the squares to the right of each corresponding number. (a number in brackets following each clue will tell you how many letters are in each answer). Once you have the answers, align them properly in the grid so that going down, a two-word phrase will be spelled out by the two red columns in the grid's center.

This week's FINAL ANSWER is a movie director

1) Star Wars admiral famous for saying "It's a trap!" [6]
2) Card game with pairs and flushes [5]
3) Neytiri's alien species [4]
4) Karenina or Kournikova [4]
5) Vegetable felt by a princess through multiple mattresses [3]
6) Barbara Gordon's superhero alter ego [7]
7) "Quiet! This is a library!" [3]

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 version you can print out!