PUZZLE #228: Puzzle in the Round 2

PUZZLE #228

PUZZLE IN THE ROUND 2

To solve this tough puzzle, fill in as many of the 5-letter answers next to their clues as you can. Next, look for shared letters, and then enter each letter into its correct place in the diagram (though you'll most likely need to scramble the order of the letters to make them fit). The letter in the grid's center will be shared by all of the answer words. As a little hint, look for unshared letters to help you determine the letters that will go in the outer ring to form the FINAL ANSWER, reading from 1 to 24.

The FINAL ANSWER is the name of a currently-airing anime series

1) Vampire-slaying spike
     _ _ _ _ _
2) "We R Who We R" singer
     _ _ _ _ _
3) Flip-chart stand
     _ _ _ _ _
4) Light-emitting part of a bar code reader
     _ _ _ _ _
5) .jpeg or .png file
     _ _ _ _ _
6) Magazine that ends each issue with "The World's Most Ornery Crossword"
     _ _ _ _ _
7) _____ Callender's (frozen food brand)
     _ _ _ _ _
8) Cheap noodles often eaten by college students
     _ _ _ _ _
9) Vitaly from Madagascar 3, for one (okay, he's a striped orange cat)
     _ _ _ _ _
10) Cheri who impersonated Judge Judy on Saturday Night Live
     _ _ _ _ _
11) Short, like a legal paper?
     _ _ _ _ _
12) A _____ Called Quest (hip-hop group)
     _ _ _ _ _
13) Limerick feature
     _ _ _ _ _
14) Twilight and Eclipse author Stephenie
     _ _ _ _ _
15) Code with dits and dahs
     _ _ _ _ _
16) The Simpsons character who popularized the exclamation "D'oh!"
     _ _ _ _ _
17) Million Dollar Password host Philbin
     _ _ _ _ _
18) Bob who led the Silver Bullet Band
     _ _ _ _ _
19) Part of XXL
     _ _ _ _ _
20) A+ or B-
     _ _ _ _ _
21) Door pivot
     _ _ _ _ _
22) One of the wish-granting title characters from Shimmer and Shine, e.g.
     _ _ _ _ _
23) She's possessed by a demon named Pazuzu in The Exorcist
     _ _ _ _ _
24) Kind of salami named for an Italian city
     _ _ _ _ _

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 two versions you can print out: a .PNG and a link to a .PDF!

ANSWERS: Super Sixes 3

v) Open-toed shoe worn by Leni from The Loud House = SANDAL [click here for a comic I made about Leni trying to do a crossword...  emphasis on "trying"]

It's been thirteen days since I posted "Super Sixes 3" on this blog, and an impressive twelve people since then have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Stephen Staver ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Lynn Sweeney ***
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Dan Simonds ****

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

PUZZLE #227: Diagramless Crossword 3

PUZZLE #227

DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 3

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, the two longest across answers will spell out the name of two movies. The FINAL ANSWER is the male actor who appeared in both films. 

ACROSS
1) Air_____ (lodging website)
4) Dr. Evil's son in the Austin Powers movies
9) Words that precede "saw Elba" in a palindrome: 2 wds.
10) Celebrated in historic lore
12) Firing, as from a job (hopefully, hatchets aren't involved!)
13) Professor X’s mutant-finding device in X-Men
14) What Clearasil treats
15) Video game archaeologist Croft
16) 1/10,000,000th of a joule
17) MOVIE #1: ? wds.
20) Didi's purple-haired husband from Rugrats
21) Soak up like a paper towel
22) Fortnite developer
24) The Favourite actress Stone
27) "The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum", according to ads
31) Italian philosopher Umberto
33) MOVIE #2: ? wds.
36) Enjoyed a smorgasbord
37) Road to _____ (Ramones album)
38) Still-life pitcher
39) Vague feeling of general discomfort
41) Home of Lightning and Buccaneers
42) Source of a licorice-like flavoring
43) Tweak levels you've made in Super Mario Maker, say
44) Cartoon duck who has nieces named April, May, and June
45) Greek goddess of the night

DOWN
1) Introduce, as a subject: 2 wds.
2) "Buffalo Stance" singer Cherry
3) Huge, like a "dipper" in the sky
4) Mono's successor
5) Habitat for at least 25% of all marine species: 2 wds.
6) Bauxite or azurite
7) The highest region on Earth
8) Gilliam or Jones from Monty Python
9) _____bike (NES motorcycling game)
10) Oodles and oodles
11) Dalmatian or dachshund
12) They're often heard after "oohs"
15) Women's _____ (what feminism was called in the 1970s)
18) Automobile assembly plants
19) Company that created the chess-playing computer Deep Blue
23) Suffix that means "sorta"
25) Cat food brand with a catchy jingle made up of kitty sounds: 2 wds.
26) Come to terms with
28) MMA fighter-turned-WWE wrestler Ronda
29) "Yeah, none of that was true": 2 wds.
30) The Secret of NIMH director Bluth
32) Gumbo vegetable seen too often in crosswords
33) Place to buy lemonade from kids
34) Monsters, Inc. receptionist with snaky hair
35) Word before "set, GO!"
36) Reddit Q&A session, for short
40) _____ Lay Dying (heavy metal band): 2 wds.
41) Alexander Hamilton's bill

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 two versions you can print out: a .PNG and a link to a .PDF!

ANSWERS: Fronts Off 2

So you know how almost every week on these answer posts (starting with the one for puzzle #200), I open with a picture that I made on DeviantArt, even though there's next-to-no overlap of DA users and puzzle enthusiasts? Well, I failed to come up with a drawing inspired by one of the clues for "Fronts Off 2", but to make up for it, I've instead created a BONUS PUZZLE! It's a pretty easy 10x10 Picross puzzle (look at other posts with the "Picross" tag for instructions on how to solve one of these) that depicts an object mentioned in one of the clues from that aforementioned puzzle:

I've also made this Picross available in the free Steam game Picross Touch (which I've talked about before). Just search for "Plunger" in the game's Workshop mode, and it should be right there. Now with that out of the way, here are the whopping twelve people that have solved "Fronts Off 2"!

• Grant Fikes ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Stephen Staver ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Mom ***
• Dan Simonds ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Joe Bernard ****

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

PUZZLE #226: Super Sixes 3

PUZZLE #226

SUPER SIXES 3

Enter the answers to the Across clues in the appropriate rows reading from left to right. The answer to each "Sixes" clue starts in the numbered square and goes either clockwise or counterclockwise around its 3x2 rectangle (the direction is left for you to determine by using the Across answers).

Once you've completely filled in the grid, the letters in the gray squares, read from top to bottom, will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: an actress who had her own TV show in the 1960s!

ACROSS
i) Like the ruins of Chichen Itza
ii) Chews like a squirrel
iii) Pinocchio's "father"
iv) "Explosive" song by The Runaways featured in the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack: 2 wds.
v) Open-toed shoe worn by Leni from The Loud House
    Shrieking spirit of Irish folklore
vi) The most abundant element in the air
     _____ Day's Night (Beatles song/album/movie): 2 wds.
vii) Made wrinkle-free
      Pals acting together in a play
viii) Eroica, e.g.
      Birth country of Christoph Waltz and Arnold Schwarzenegger
ix) Type of rock that includes limestone and sandstone
     Separate the wheat from the chaff, say
x) Run around with no clothes on
    Doctor Sax author Jack
xi) Dr. _____, Medicine Woman (90s TV show)
     Quirky video game series where you roll everything up into a giant ball
xii) Host of NBC's The Voice: 2 wds.
xiii) Well-spoken
xiv) Bollywood dresses
xv) Musical symbol that looks like a hashtag pound sign

SIXES
1) Surname of comedic brothers Shawn, Marlon, and Keenen Ivory
2) Nickname of Dr. Ivo Robotnik from the Sonic games
3) Covered with small stones
4) Fast food franchises, for example
5) A Midsummer Night's Dream character whose head turns into a donkey's
6) mother! director Aronofsky
7) Medical magician
8) Wilber who founded a fast-food chain that merged with Carl's Jr. in 1997
9) Chicken _____ bleu
10) Scully and Mulder, for two
11) Army affirmative: 2 wds.
12) Talented rookie
13) Word followed by "australis" or "borealis"
14) Axis & _____ (WWII-themed board game)
15) Fighting video game series with characters named Xiaoyu and Heihachi
16) Little girl's polite bow
17) Grapefruit-flavored soda
18) _____ Marcus (luxury department store)
19) The Whole Nine Yards actress Peet
20) 2007-2012 Nickelodeon sitcom that starred Miranda Cosgrove
21) King who sang "I Feel the Earth Move"
22) Target numbers to hit
23) Phone company using robots in their current ad campaign
24) Persistently pester

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 two versions you can print out: a .PNG and a .PDF!

ANSWERS: Anacrossword 3

No DeviantArt picture this week, so instead, here's a full episode of the game show that inspired this puzzle, courtesy of Wink Martindale's YouTube channel

Thirteen days have passed since I posted "Anacrossword 3" on April Fools' Day, and nine people since then have correctly solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Stephen Staver ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Dan Simonds ****

Now head below the break for the answers and some solver comments!

PUZZLE #225: Fronts Off 2

PUZZLE #225

FRONTS OFF 2

I'm not sure if you've noticed, as it might've gotten lost in the shuffle during these past couple of weeks, but I've now started offering .PDF files! So now you have two options for printing out my puzzles! Anyways, I hope you'll make use of these new options, starting with this week's puzzle:

First, find the answers to each clue so that there are two words in each rectangular box. Then change the first letter of each word to the new same letter for both words of a pair to form two new words, and write the new letter in the square box to the left of the rectangle.

Once you're done, read down the boxes to get the FINAL ANSWER: a seven-letter word

1) "Rainbow" fish
    Late-night host Jimmy who made a cameo in Jurassic World
2) Walt Disney's middle name
    _____ cup (plunger part)
3) Chocolate-covered biscuit stick popular in Japan
    With "The", #1 disco instrumental by Van McCoy
4) Pink shade named after a reef material
    Biblical excerpt
5) Fire Emblem character who made his American debut in Super Smash Bros. Melee
    Tilted, like a ramp
6) State capital that's home to the Idaho Aquarium
    London-based news agency founded in 1851
7) What "dog", "frog" and "hog" do
    Partner of hook and line

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 two versions you can print out: a .PNG and a .PDF!

ANSWERS: Dial Tunes

Since one of the answers to this puzzle is AMP, here's Luna from The Loud House rocking out on two of them! [click here for the full picture, done in the style of a newspaper comic]

Pretty good picture I've made, no? Well, before we get to the answers to "Dial Tunes", I've got some updates regarding my Patreon page. Since I've been doing more art lately, I've added two art-related tiers over there: one that removes the watermark from some of my pictures for a dollar a month, and one that lets patrons request a drawing from me for only $5 each! Not only that, I've lowered the two highest tiers (the ones that allow patrons to request a word/phrase and request an entire puzzle type, respectively) by five bucks each, so now they're worth $15 and $25 a month! I've even changed the "Support Me On Patreon" picture on the right-hand side into one that features my Yoshi persona rather than someone else's picture that uses the old (albeit better-looking) logo! So now that you're all up-to-date, here's all eleven people that have solved my puzzle from thirteen days ago:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Stephen Staver ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Dan Simonds ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

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

PUZZLE #224: Anacrossword 3

PUZZLE #224

ANACROSSWORD 3

Today's offering is a type of puzzle I've done before, so there shouldn't be any major changes from the previous two installments. APRIL FOOLS! I was inspired by the obscure (and exhausting) game show Whew! to completely change up this puzzle's clues! Read on and see what I mean!

Each clue is a factual statement, but one word has been altered in each one. The answer to each clue is the word that replaces each underlined section so that each statement makes sense. Solve as many as you can and transfer the 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.

Once you're done with everything, the sentence will be revealed, but its last word has been changed. The FINAL ANSWER is a noun that should replace that incorrect word.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
​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
* The current host of America's Funniest Home Videos is Carlton Ribeiro
* The names of Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers are Porthos, Bathhouse, and Aramis
* Foxes and wolves are both part of the nuclear family
* The capital of Wyoming is the letter "W"
* Ceres, Eris, and Pluto are all examples of vertically-challenged planets
* Since 2013, Guy Fieri has hosted Guy's Totally Not Supermarket Sweep Games on Food Network
* The last name of alternative rock musician Beck is unknown to everyone, even himself
* In 1996, The Wallflowers had their highest-charting hit song with "One Hit Wonder"
* Harry Potter and Ron Weasley both attended Goosepimples School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
* In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, Alice comes across a nonsense poem called "Gibberish"
* At 555 feet, the tallest building in Washington, D.C. is the Washington Pointy Thing
* Rebecca Romijn and Jennifer Lawrence have both played Smurfette in the X-Men film series
* The state bird of Hawaii is the humuhumunukunukuapua'a
* "I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant" is the opening line to the Hippocratic Swear Words
* Most leather jackets are made from the chewed-up hide of various animals
* The Wonderbolts are the official aerobatic squadron of the US Air Force
* Forest Forthetrees played the role of Zuri in 2018's Black Panther

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 two versions you can print out: the usual .PNG file, and a link to a .PDF file!