PUZZLE #163: Section Six 5

PUZZLE #163

SECTION SIX 5

This puzzle's grid has six rings and six sections. Each ring contains a series of words placed end to end, reading either clockwise OR counterclockwise; all the words in a given ring will read in the same direction. Ring 1 (the outermost ring) contains six answers that read clockwise; the starting spaces are numbered in the grid. Clues for the answers in the remaining rings are given in order, but their starting points and direction are for you to figure out. The sections (separated by the heavy lines radiating from the center) will help you place the inner rings: in a given section, each ring segment contains all but one of the letters in the next segment outward. In other words, a section's outermost segment contains six letters; the next segment inward contains five of those six letters in some order; and so on, until only one of the original six letters remains.

Once you're done, unscramble the six spaces with stars in them to get the FINAL ANSWER: a six-letter word.

​RING 1
1) Scare the behoozits out of someone
2) Movie studio that distributed Forrest Gump
3) Related (to)
4) Floridian Senator Marco
5) Buzzing instrument
6) Breakable box in the Crash Bandicoot games

RING 2
* Transforming via CGI effects, like in Willow
* Alternative to a Halloween "trick"
* Chess piece required for castling
* What a reindeer is called in North America
* Mortal Kombat character who wields a razor-edged fan (HINT: Her name is one vowel off from a Japanese sword)

RING 3
* Full Metal Jacket director Stanley
* The largest artery
* Type of angle that isn't acute or obtuse
* Country that includes a tourist attraction known as "Dracula's Castle"

RING 4
* Place to hang a fedora: 2 wds.
* _____ Faso, Africa
* Leave out, as from a list

RING 5
* Giant winged insect monster who fought Godzilla
* Elaborate Japanese stage drama

RING 6
* Rasputin's bat-ty sidekick from Anastasia (1997)

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: Mini-Marching Bands 2

It's been thirteen days since I've posted "Mini-Marching Bands 2", and since then, eight of you have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Dan Simonds *
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #162: Compound Crosswords

PUZZLE #162

COMPOUND CROSSWORDS

Fit the words hinted at by the clues into the nine grids below so that the two words in each grid combine to create a two-word phrase. There may be multiple possibilities for these phrases, but there's only one way that all the words will fit in all of the grids.

Once each grid is filled out, the pink letters in each grid will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a compound word.

CLUES
* Center color of France's flag
* Cloth sat on at the beach
* First anniversary gift
* Fruits dried to become raisins
* Hanna-Barbera's Jabberjaw, e.g.
* Hatfield-McCoy quarrel that lasted for years
* Large instrument hit with a mallet
* Lip-puckering
* M4 Sherman, for one
* Medium for Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats
* Mug made of skin?
* One of many collectible timepieces in Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time
* Pittsburgh baseball player
* "_____ Portrait" (P!nk song)
* Spinning geography class staple
* Third place at the Preakness Stakes
* Type of egg that Aesop's goose laid
* Winter precipitation

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: Anagram Chambers 5

It's been roughly two weeks since I've posted "Anagram Chambers 5", so that means it's time for me to post the answers to this puzzle as well as the people that solved it:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

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

PUZZLE #161: Mini-Marching Bands 2

PUZZLE #161

MINI-MARCHING BANDS 2

The answers in this grid march both across the Rows and around the Bands. Each row contains two answers, clued in order. Their dividing point is for you to determine, except in Row 5, where the two answers are separated by a black square. The answers in each Band will be entered clockwise, starting at a lettered square (A-D) and ending in the space below that square. The dividing points in each band's string of words are also for you to determine. Each square will be used twice; once in a Row's word, and once in a Band's word.

Once you've filled everything in, read the letters on the diagonal dashed line for the FINAL ANSWER: A two-word phrase

​ROWS

1) '60s Joker portrayer Cesar

    Number that's "ichi" in Japanese

2) H-shaped Greek letter

    Buccaneer's crime

3) Muslim veil

    _____ Men ("Who Let the Dogs Out?" group)

4) Hiro's aunt in Big Hero 6

    Railroad Tycoon vehicle

5) _____-deucey (backgammon variant)

    Religious 80s sitcom starring Sherman Hemsley

6) Kmart and Walmart competitor

    Dr. Robotnik's first name

7) Blue hue worn by the San Jose Sharks

    One over par

8) Specialized lingo

    Clownfish created by Pixar

9) Roman version of the Greek goddess Artemis

    Paper Mario partner who lights up dark spaces (HINT: it's also a light bulb measure)

BANDS

A) City that wasn't built in a day

    Carol (2015) actress Mara

    Pester

    Resident of Canada's capital

    First _____ kit

    Type of briefcase used by lawyers

B) Mammal with a long, flexible snout

    Goal worth Gamerscore points in any Xbox One game

    Beast bested by Puss in Boots

    Deep purple berry from Brazil

C) Obese alien choked to death by Leia

    Pal in Puerto Rico

    Very loud trumpet noises

D) Video game genre of Command & Conquer and Civilization

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: Helter Skelter 3

Before I reveal the answers to "Helter Skelter 3" from roughly two weeks ago, I just wanted to plug my Patreon once again. As you most likely already know, if you pledge a certain dollar amount, you'll get an exclusive Patron Puzzle every month, and this month's offering is a pair of Overstuffed Sandwiches, so be sure to check those out if you haven't already! Now then, here are the seven people who have solved my third "Helter Skelter" puzzle:

• Grant Fikes *** (He wanted to subtract 1 star for looking up an answer)
• Sam Levitin ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Dan Simonds ****

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

PUZZLE #160: Anagram Chambers 5

PUZZLE #160

ANAGRAM CHAMBERS 5

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 a newspaper

a. [Romanian circle dance] + _ = [Hard-to-kill insect] + _ = [Late Law & Order actor Jerry]
b. [Adjusted a guitar's strings] + _ = [Tracked down deer to shoot at] + _ = [Oklahoma City basketball team]
c. [For fear that] + _ = [Inventor Nikola] + _ = [_____ Your Shorts ('90s Nickelodeon show)]
d. [Pours precipitation] + _ = [Hello Kitty company] + _ = [Former talk show host Hall]
e. [Anna's sister in Frozen] + _ = [Weighing device] + _ = [Queen's residence]
f. [Goes through text] + _ = [Reared, like children] + _ = [The Princess _____ (Anne Hathaway film)]
g. [Give the pink slip] + _ = ["Good _____!" (Charlie Brown catchphrase)] + _ = [Index, middle, or ring]

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: Brick By Brick 4

It's been thirteen days since "Brick By Brick 4" was posted on this site, and eight of you have successfully solved it since then, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Alex Milton ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****

Now click on "read more" below for the answers!

PUZZLE #159: Helter Skelter 3

PUZZLE #159

HELTER SKELTER 3

Happy New Year, everyone! I don't have much more to add to that, so I'll just get on to the directions:

Each answer in this crossword variation starts at the indicated number, and then moves towards the direction of the next number (thought it may or may not stop there). The direction of the last answer is to be determined by the solver.

Once the grid has been filled out, unscramble the gray squares to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: An 8-letter word

1) Jamaican tune also known as "The Banana Boat Song"
2) Unrestrained party
3) Foo Fighters singer Dave
4) Puzzle video game where you have to save lots of green-haired rodents
5) Real Sports with Bryant _____
6) Coffee cups
7) Attacked from all sides
8) Gum brand that comes in "Ice" and "Fire" varieties
9) Like someone well past retirement age
10) Blue-haired maid from Re:Zero (or a sleep phase acronym)
11) _____ on a Bench (Jewish version of Elf on the Shelf)
12) Ship that got wrecked in a Longfellow poem
13) "Eh, why not?"
14) Extended dance version of a song, say
15) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy _____
16) Frozen stalactite
17) Planet in Universal's logo
18) _____ Square (where they play the song mentioned in Clue 19 every New Year's Day)
19) "New York, New York" singer Frank
20) More sore
21) Request for another card at a blackjack table: 2 wds.
22) One of three won by Ben Bailey for hosting Cash Cab
23) Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
24) Smoked salmon placed on bagels

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!