PUZZLE #328: Semicircle Sorting 2

PUZZLE #328

SEMICIRCLE SORTING 2

Below are 12 semicircles, each containing three or four letters. Your job is to combine them all into six circles so that a common word (either 6, 7, or 8 letters long) can be read either clockwise or counterclockwise in each circle. However, in order to do that, six of the semicircles need to be rotated 180° upside down so that they can be correctly matched up with the remaining six semicircles.

Once all of the circles have been solved, select two of the resulting words and combine them to get the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a rock band.

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: Anacrossword 4

It's been close to two weeks since my fourth Anacrossword was posted on this blog, and it's also been exactly two weeks since I first relayed the idea of overhauling my hint system. Now while I have gotten another piece of feedback since last week's answer post telling me to go for it, I'm still not quite ready to implement it just yet. I should be ready by next week, however, so in the meantime, here are the fourteen people that have successfully solved "Anacrossword 4":

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Giovanni Pagano ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Karen Spencer ****
• Lbray53 ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Alex Sisti ****
• Jay Miller ****
• Peter Abide ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

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

PUZZLE #327: Lucky Sevens 10

PUZZLE #327

LUCKY SEVENS 10

Before I get to my milestone 10th "Lucky Sevens" puzzle, I wanted to repeat some news that you may not know about (since it only appeared in my previous two "Answers" posts): I'm considering retiring the "Hint Star" system that I've been using for almost six years now, and replacing it with a different (and hopefully simpler) method. In short, this new proposed system will have solvers ask for as many hints as they want, but if they do, they'll get a "[Hint(s) Used]" tag next to their name on the solvers' list. I'll need some more feedback behind this decision before I adopt it, so be sure to tell me what you think about this proposal through redhead64@chartermi.net, itsredhead64@gmail.com, or the comment section of this post. Now while I wait for you people to reply with your thoughts, here's a reminder on how to solve this week's puzzle:

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 right 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, starting with the Seven marked with a 1) will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: The name of a British game show

ROWS
i) Animator Avery who co-created Daffy Duck

ii) Pipsqueak (who's male) from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, for one

iii) Crawdad's habitat

iv) Hedy of Hollywood

v) Yellow flag thrower on a football field

vi) Gained knowledge

vii) One of over 200 works by Bach

viii) The Monster at the End of _____ Book (Sesame Street book)

ix) Kamala Harris, just before becoming VP: Abbr.

x) Medical drama where George Clooney played Dr. Doug Ross

xi) A schwa looks like an upside-down one

SEVENS

1) "You _____ Me" (John Cena's catchphrase): 2 wds.

2) Bomber jacket material

3) Repeated song section

4) Strongly regrets

5) Region with San Mateo and San Francisco: 2 wds.

6) Used RoseArt markers

7) Image applied to a 3D model's surface

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: Pent Words 16

It's been close to two weeks since "Pent Words 16" was posted on my blog, and in case you couldn't tell by looking at the list below, there's been a big increase in the number of solvers for it. That's because Peter Abide from the X-Word Muggles Forum (the same site that linked to my most recent meta-crossword) contacted me about adding this very site to their "Calendar of Puzzles", and I accepted! That means that I now show up there on every Monday as a "Variety Meta-Puzzle"! So thank you, Peter, and thanks as well to the members of the X-Word Muggles who decided to give my site a shot!

Also, if you remember last week's answer post regarding the possible implementation of a newer, simpler hint system, I've decided to hold off on it for at least one more week, since I only got one piece of feedback out of it so far (from Grant Fikes, and that was after I told him about it via email). Perhaps I'll hear more of you folks' opinions if I include it in tomorrow's puzzle post, so that's what I'll do. I can't wait to hear what you guys think about that proposal, but until then, here are the whopping nineteen people that solved my latest "Pent Words":

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Karen Spencer ****
• Kitchendiva ****
• Elliott Frankfother ****
• Bonnie Veenschoten ****
• Peter Abide ****
• Lynn Sweeney ***
• Dannyvee ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Giovanni Pagano ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Dan Simonds  ****

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

PUZZLE #326: Anacrossword 4

PUZZLE #326

ANACROSSWORD 4

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.

Once you're done with everything, the sentence will spell out a hint to the FINAL ANSWER: a person's name.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
​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

CLUES
• Optical illusion that may involve a color-inverted picture

• Cozy country quarters

• Mario & Luigi: _____ Team (3DS game with a rhyming subtitle)

• Starve, archaically

• Six feet underwater

• Bilbo Baggins' cousin

• Spider-Man villain named after a shark with a weird noggin

• American state where Lilo & Stitch takes place

• Soft drink that comes in "Game Fuel" and "Code Red" varieties: 2 wds.

• Dav who created Captain Underpants and Dog Man

• Where the Sidewalk Ends poet Shel

• Anne Sullivan, for one

• Wyoming's state dinosaur

• The Go-Go's song whose music video has them waterskiing

• Print made out of a carved block, like Escher's Sky and Water I

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: Empty Word Ladder

Before I get to the answers for "Empty Word Ladder", I have an announcement to make: I'm considering retiring the "Hint Star" system that I've been using for the past several years now. My reasoning behind this is twofold: nobody's been really using it (except for those I see in person, and even then, it's usually one, maybe two hints used, if at all) and I've come to realize that this system has been more needlessly complicated than necessary.

Fortunately, I've already came up with a possible (and simpler) replacement: Each solver can ask for as many hints as they want, but if they do, they'll have a "[hint(s) used]" tag next to their name. If that sounds okay to you (or if you come up with a better alternative), let me know in the comments or through email, and I'll plan to implement it in the next week or two. Until then, here are the eleven solvers from my first Word Ladder puzzle from thirteen days ago:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Stephen Potter ****

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

PUZZLE #325: Pent Words 16

PUZZLE #325

PENT WORDS 16

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) Trash can on a computer, e.g.

    Part of CIA or NSA

2) Horror actor Price who voiced himself (more-or-less) in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo

    Tusked warrior from the Warcraft games

3) As Above, So _____ (2014 "found footage" film)

    Supermarket Sweep passageway

4) Taking advantage of, as a person

    Straight up and down

5) Quick squirt of perfume

    Letter before Foxtrot

6) Type of breakfast "browns"

    Inn chain that once had a mascot named "Uncle Ben"

7) Obeys a triangular street sign

    Waiting for Godot, for one

8) Poker payment

    Wriggle uncomfortably

9) Strawberry in the New York Mets Hall of Fame

    Their last American Top 10 hit was "The Winner Takes It All"

10) Source of amethyst

      "Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. Can I take your _____?" (All That quote)

PENTOMINOES (Five letters per answer)

• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• Person from Prague

• Daniel _____'s Neighborhood (PBS Kids series)

• Tiny explosive used to simulate a bullet hit in movies

• Bi-, tri-, or uni- follower

• Color in drawings on animation cels

• Actress Davis who played Stuart Little's adoptive mother

• Like a fox's tail

• Morning TV show with Hoda Kotb

• Nationality of Sinéad O'Connor

• Noisy deterrent of would-be car thieves

• The _____ Scrolls V: Skyrim (role-playing computer game)

• Anime detective who borrowed his name from Sherlock's creator

• Heroes villain who was originally a watchmaker

• Language that gave us "reindeer" and "ransack"

• Old axiom

• Chicken-chasing mutt from a 1950s animated Disney film

• Prestigious schools also known as "The Ancient Eight"

• Ruth Ginsburg's middle name

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: Color Wheels 3

Thirteen days have gone by since "Color Wheels 3" was posted on this blog, and it must've been on the harder side, since the number of solvers dipped a bit to just nine:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Elliott Frankfother ****

No solver comments this week, either, but you can still head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #324: Empty Word Ladder

PUZZLE #324

EMPTY WORD LADDER

In normal word ladders, you have to turn one word into another word by changing it one letter at a time (such as CAT — COT — DOT — DOG). However, this word ladder is completely blank, meaning that the starting and ending words are completely unknown. To fill it in, we've provided clues to all of the words that link the two mystery words, though they're not listed in any particular order. Rearrange the clues' answers so that they form a proper word ladder in the white spaces, then figure out the two mystery words on the ladder's top and bottom, signified by the yellow spaces. Combine both words in the correct order to make the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word phrase.

CLUES

• WORD AT THE START OF THE LADDER

• WORD AT THE END OF THE LADDER

• Angle in handwriting

• Bar for a pet parakeet

• Hippie's V sign

• Informal lingo

• Invisible vehicle flown by Wonder Woman

• Princess playable in Super Mario 3D World

• Robert who sang for Led Zeppelin

• Streaming TV service owned by Dish Network (or a broken arm holder)

• Wizards of Waverly _____ (Disney Channel sitcom)

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!