Monday, October 26, 2020

HALLOWEEN MONTH II! PUZZLE #306: Squeezed in the Middle 16: Double Decker Word Sandwiches Return

HALLOWEEN MONTH II!
PUZZLE #306
SQUEEZED IN THE MIDDLE 16: DOUBLE DECKER WORD SANDWICHES RETURN

It's the final puzzle for Halloween Month II, and not only is the puzzle that I've planned one that's more-or-less become my signature creation, it's also a variant of it that's figuratively returned from the dead, as I haven't done one of this specific type since Puzzle #150, which just happened to be published on Halloween's Eve three years ago! Now, while the previous "Double Decker" I've created failed to have a Halloween theme despite its timing, I didn't make the same mistake this time, so read on for directions on how to solve it!

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. All of the brown squares have only one letter each in them, and 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 the FINAL ANSWER: A three-word title of a horror-comedy film.


CENTERS
1) Plastic thingamabob on a shoelace tip
2) The House with a Clock in Its Walls director Roth
3) Word between "veni" and "vici"
4) Kitchen flooring option, for short
5) Opposite of post-
6) Good Times star Esther
7) Cuatro − uno
8) Japanese hot spring
9) Funny or _____ (comedy website co-founded by Will Ferrell)
10) Angsty rock genre of Hawthorn Heights
11) Female alien from the Mass Effect trilogy who wears a mask (ALTERNATE CLUE: Anklebones)
12) Cosmic Crisp or Honeycrisp

WHOLES
* And others, in bibliographies: 2 wds. (HINT: This masculine plural ends with two of the same vowel)
* "Au revoir!" alternative
* Baby versions of America's national bird
* Deliberately ticked off a website's users for the lulz, say
* Emphasize a syllable
* Foe of Green Lantern who got his name when he was compared to an ancient artifact
* Fruity disc-shaped candy packaged in a tube
* Marianne's older sister in Sense and Sensibility
* Permission, especially for making love
* Spotted, like some horses
* Swab the deck again
* Tech company that creates the GeForce graphics processor

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 link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

Sunday, October 25, 2020

ANSWERS: Dial Tunes 2

It's been roughly two weeks since "Dial Tunes 2" was posted onto this blog, and thirteen people have solved it since then, as you can see in the following list:

  • Grant Fikes ****
  • Giovanni Pagano ****
  • Joe Bernard ****
  • Kevin Orfield ****
  • Tyler Hinman ****
  • Izak Bulten ****
  • Stephen Potter ****
  • Sam Levitin ****
  • Patrick Jordan ****
  • Debbie Benford ****
  • Mom ****
  • Laura-Leigh Mohr ****
  • Lynn Sweeney ***
Now head below the break for the answers as well as a couple solvers' comments!

Monday, October 19, 2020

HALLOWEEN MONTH II! PUZZLE #305: Compound Crosswords 6

HALLOWEEN MONTH II!
PUZZLE #305
COMPOUND CROSSWORDS 6

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 or compound word. 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: the title of a horror TV series made up of a compound word.


CLUES
* 2013 Disney movie with the quote "You can't marry a man you just met"
* "Borrow" a song snippet to use in one's own song
* Disposable hanky
* Flammable stick that you shouldn't play with
* It beats rock, but loses to scissors
* Mort who created Beetle Bailey
* Not "rotten", on Rotten Tomatoes
* Number of members in a "Fantastic" Marvel superhero group
* Pinion's partner
* Polishing brand whose slogan is "Keeping your furniture clean and beautiful"
* Retired Monopoly token with a handle
* Rodeo _____ (1990 game show inspired by a street in Beverly Hills)
* Short piece of video
* Stage musical that the hit song "One Night in Bangkok" came from
* _____ Stone Creamery
* Surname of Scary, Sporty, and Posh
* Uncool shape?
* With "The", critically-acclaimed HBO crime drama set in Baltimore

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 link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

Sunday, October 18, 2020

ANSWERS: Gryptics 4

The fourth pair of Gryptics that I've made two weeks ago was my most successful one yet, as an impressive fourteen people have solved it since its original posting, all of whom are listed below:

  • M. Sean Molley ****
  • Giovanni Pagano ****
  • Grant Fikes ****
  • Cindy Heisler ****
  • Pavel Curtis ****
  • Tyler Hinman ****
  • Kevin Orfield ****
  • Stephen Potter ****
  • Sam Levitin ****
  • Mom ****
  • Lynn Sweeney ****
  • Morgan Chase ****
  • Izak Bulten ****
  • Debbie Benford ****
Now head below the break for the answers as well as a few solvers' comments!

Monday, October 12, 2020

HALLOWEEN MONTH II! PUZZLE #304: Dial Tunes 2

HALLOWEEN MONTH II!
PUZZLE #304
DIAL TUNES 2


First, answer as many of the numbered clues as you can and enter them into the first grid. Each clue ends with an arrow indicating the direction its answer should be entered: from top to bottom [↓], from bottom to top [↑], or even either way [↕]. For example, if the answers were JIB [↓], IRE [↓], SAD [↑], EVE [↕], AT [↑], and O [↕], you would enter them like this:


Next, try to decode the message (in the form of song lyrics) by replacing every circled letter with another letter that shares the same number on a telephone keypad, which we've provided on top of these directions (for example, B can be replaced by A or C). The decoded message should be entered into the second grid, as shown here (note that the bold vertical lines indicate divisions between words):

(From "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

The FINAL ANSWER is the name of the song containing the decoded lyrics.

Place the answers to the following clues here

1) Occasional vowel [↕]
2) The final _____ in the coffin [↓]
3) It's typed out in Microsoft Notepad [↑]
4) Still, like seas [↓]
5) Type of table containing data that defines the appearance of a TrueType font's characters (Alright, it's a homonym for GLYPH) [↑]
6) _____ of the d'Urbervilles (Hardy novel) [↓]
7) The Bee Gees or the Beastie Boys, e.g. (but not the Beatles) [↓]
8) "Stronghold" made of snow [↓]
9) Bills with Thomas Jefferson on them [↑]
10) Runs for fun and fitness [↑]
11) Mobster's goon [↓]
12) Out of the womb [↓]
13) Bottommost face button on a PlayStation controller [↕]

Place the decoded lyrics here

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 link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

Sunday, October 11, 2020

ANSWERS: Honeycomb 2

Thirteen days have passed since "Honeycomb 2" was posted onto this blog, and thirteen is also the number of people who have solved it since then, as you can see in the following list:

  • Grant Fikes ****
  • Cindy Heisler ****
  • Giovanni Pagano ****
  • Joe Bernard ****
  • Kevin Orfield ****
  • Izak Bulten ****
  • Mom ****
  • Sam Levitin ****
  • Patrick Jordan ****
  • Stephen Potter ****
  • Lynn Sweeney ****
  • Morgan Chase ****
  • Tyler Hinman ****
I don't have any solvers' comments to provide this time around, but you can still view the answers below the break as always!

Monday, October 5, 2020

HALLOWEEN MONTH II! PUZZLE #303: Gryptics 4

HALLOWEEN MONTH II!
PUZZLE #303
GRYPTICS 4

Yup, you read that right! Not only is this October another theme month, but it's my first ever sequel to a theme month! And just like the Halloween Month from exactly five years ago, the common link will be the same: All of the FINAL ANSWERS this month will have something to do with the horror genre! And surprisingly, not a single one of them is a video game of some sort (so you won't get answers like Days Gone or anything like that)! So with that introduction out of the way, I'm gonna paraphrase Goosebumps and say "Solvers beware, you're in for a scare!"

Insert a single letter in each space of each grid so that each grid's five rows and five columns spells a word from left to right or top to bottom (including the letters outside the grid).

Once you're done, take a word from the first grid and a word from the second grid and pair them up to get the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a horror novel


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 link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

Sunday, October 4, 2020

ANSWERS: Family Reunions 4

It's been thirteen days since "Family Reunions 4" was posted on this blog, and I suppose revealing the category ahead of time was the right move, as an impressive fourteen people have successfully solved it, all of whom can be seen in the list below:

  • Grant Fikes ****
  • Cindy Heisler ****
  • Giovanni Pagano ****
  • Joe Bernard ****
  • Kevin Orfield ****
  • Tyler Hinman ****
  • Patrick Jordan ****
  • Sam Levitin ****
  • Cindy Weatherman ****
  • Leslie Yonce ****
  • Debbie Benford ****
  • David Cole ****
  • Morgan Chase ****
  • Lynn Sweeney ***
As a reminder, the people colored in orange all support me on Patreon. Now head below the break for the answers!