ANSWERS: Chain Reaction: Extra Links 9

It's been almost two weeks since "Chain Reaction: Extra Links 9" was posted on this blog, and an impressive thirteen people have successfully solved it since then, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Giovanni Pagano ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Les Y. ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Bonnie Veenschoten ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Debbie Benford ***
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #323: Color Wheels 3

PUZZLE #323

COLOR WHEELS 3

The five- and six-letter answers in this puzzle go in three directions: straight across, uphill (up diagonally), and downhill (down diagonally), all from left to right, with one letter per triangle. Each entry is marked with a colored pointer: red for across, green for uphill, and blue for downhill. This is important, because all the answers are grouped according to the direction that they're entered into the grid. To make things a tad easier, six letters have already been entered into the grid.

Once you've completely filled in the grid, the two unclued green entries will combine to make the FINAL ANSWER: the name of an actress

ACROSS (marked with red arrows)

• "No, not that I'm ___ of"

• 1959 Heston film that won 11 Oscars (or its 2016 remake that won 0 Oscars): Hyph.

• Winery's storage space

• Mother of Huey, Dewey & Louie from DuckTales (2017-21)

• Hamster relative with a furry tail

• Stuck with the same old routine: 3 wds.

• Internet hookup device

• Cheesy Mexican snacks first created in 1940

• Where MLK's march to Montgomery began

• Street where Abby Cadabby and Elmo live

UPHILL (marked with green arrows)

• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• Where Davy Crockett died

• Sandwich with two all-beef patties, special sauce, and so on: 2 wds.

• "Chariot" singer Gavin

• _____ Inside® (computer chip slogan)

• Expire, as a Sam's Club membership

• Sonia Sotomayor or Selena, e.g.

• Deal or No Deal host Howie who also created Bobby's World

• Money used in Pakistan or Hyrule

DOWNHILL (marked with blue arrows)

• Battlebots competitor made up of twin robots (just like the zodiac sign)

• American "Age" that preceded the Progressive Era

• Double-edged scalpel

• The Cleveland Browns suffered 16 of these in the 2017 NFL season

• Death Becomes Her star Streep

• Weeping statue from Greek mythology

• Caregiver that players can employ in Theme Hospital

• The 25th Annual _____ County Spelling Bee (Tony-winning musical)

• Watch a film in theaters a second time, say

• Walmart rival with a red and white logo

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!

ANSWERS: The Block List 3

It's been close to two weeks since "The Block List 3" was posted on this blog, and twelve people since then have successfully solved it, all of whom are listed below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• M. Sean Molley ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Giovanni Pagano ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a solver's comment!

PUZZLE #322: Chain Reaction: Extra Links 9

PUZZLE #322

CHAIN REACTION: EXTRA LINKS 9

Hey, guess what? Game Show Network's Chain Reaction is coming back yet again (this time with the original 2006-07 host Dylan Lane), so I've made another puzzle inspired by that show to celebrate! Sure, it doesn't start airing until a week from now, but I didn't know that when I originally crafted this puzzle; all I had was a "Coming This February" announcement, so I made sure that it was set to be published this month. So now that you know the backstory behind this particular puzzle, here's a refresher on how to solve it!

For this puzzle, there are seven golden "links" that link together six two-word phrases when reading down. However, it's completely blank, save for some dashes that reveal how long each word is (four dashes translate to a four-letter word, for instance). To help you figure out these words, though, there are some extra silver links with words already in them which, when combined with the golden link to the left or right of it, make another two-word phrase. In the above example, the two-word phrases with silver links in them are "Chain Restaurants", "Gut Reaction", "Time Zone", and "Fruit Flies", so the final "golden chain" is "CHAIN - REACTION - TIME - FLIES".

Once you've completely filled in the chain, scramble the letters in the orange squares to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: a seven-letter word.

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!

ANSWERS: Wordy Web 4

Happy Valentine's Day! 💘 I can't think of anything to segue from that, so here are the thirteen people that have solved "Wordy Web 4" from two weeks ago:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Giovanni Pagano ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Mom ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Lynn Sweeney ***
• Dan Simonds ****
• Brad Eldredge ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #321: The Block List 3

PUZZLE #321

THE BLOCK LIST 3

In each numbered row of squares, fill in the squares of each color with one of the given words below from the set of that color, keeping the letters in their original order, so that the entire row spells out a single longer word. However, you have to figure out what each smaller, color-coded word is based on the clues given.

Once you're done with the first four rows, enter the letters of the remaining words into the last row of squares similarly to spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a sports team whose name is more than one word.

RED WORDS
• _____-de-sac

• Brand of soap that contains ground pumice

• Number between siete and nueve

• Color of this very set

BLUE WORDS
• "Water, water everywhere, _____ any drop to drink"

• Unwritten exam

• Hamton from Tiny Toon Adventures, for one

• Part of ICU or SVU

GREEN WORDS
• Blatantly obvious one-sidedness in bad journalism

• Bill Walsh or Bill Belichick, e.g.

• Number of personified emotions in Pixar's Inside Out

• The Girl on the _____ (best-selling novel from 2015)

ORANGE WORDS
• "What Have I _____ to Deserve This?" (Pet Shop Boys song)

• Sunset Boulevard character who claims "I am big. It's the pictures that got small"

• Pause between musical notes

• Evil organization led by Carmen Sandiego (or an apt anagram for "Evil")

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!

ANSWERS: Pieces of Nine 8

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! On a side note, thirteen days have gone by since "Pieces of Nine 8" was posted on this blog, and thirteen is also the number of people that have successfully solved it since then, all of whom are listed below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Dan Simonds ****
• Brad Eldredge ****

Now head below the break for the answers! Only one solver's comment this week, but be sure to check that out, too!

PUZZLE #320: Wordy Web 4

PUZZLE #320

WORDY WEB 4

This Web's set up with Circles and Strands, but there are no letters with which the words are woven. To complete this puzzle, enter the answers to the Circles' clues (numbered 1 to 6) clockwise around the concentric rings of the Web, though it's up to you to determine the starting point for each Circle. All of the Circles' clues are presented in order. To help figure out the Circles' starting points, fill in the Strands' answers (marked with A to L) starting at each respective letter and traverse the Web from left to right. Some of the strands have only one answer, while others have two.

Once you've completely filled in the Web, the letters in the red spaces, reading down, will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: a comic book character

CIRCLES
1) Glide like an eagle

    Native American played by Jay Silverheels in the 1950s Lone Ranger series

    Latched a gate

    Assaulting with thunder and lightning

    "_____ of the Beholder" (The Twilight Zone episode)

2) Unlucky number for Augustus?

    Tallest mountain/volcano in Washington state

    First Asian-American Mayor of San Francisco (answer hidden in FRIED LEEK): 2 wds.

    Jab-cross combo in boxing: Hyph.

3) Milk or Mountain Dew

    Up on a map

    Relishing relish, perhaps

4) Where the Wild Things _____ (book by Maurice Sendak)

    Greenhouse sprayers

    PlayStation 5 manufacturer

5) Pennies: Abbr.

    Archie's friend who wears a crown-like hat called a "whoopee cap"

6) Frosted Mini-_____

STRANDS

A) Giant stone wheels used as currency on the island of Yap

B) Hatch who was Utah's longest-serving Senator

C) _____ Up with Marie Kondo (Netflix series)

D) Part of ASL

    She's "Got a Gun" in a Grammy-winning Aerosmith song

E) Any character from The Land Before Time, e.g.

    Comedian and Game On! host Keegan-Michael

F) Not imaginary

    Rock, rap, or reggae

G) Sally from Cars, for one (HINT: Her model is a 911 Carrera)

     Yiddish buffoons

H) Buccaneer's blade

     Eccentric buffoon

I) Off-road ride, briefly

   Californian community with the highest percentage of Hispanic residents: 2 wds.

J) A Nightmare on Elm Street actress Langenkamp

K) First stage

L) "...and not a moment _____ soon!"

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!