PUZZLE #372: Section Six 8

PUZZLE #372

SECTION SIX 8

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) "Sugar Pie" or "Honeybunch", e.g.: 2 wds.

2) Tiled artwork

3) Too talkative and rude

4) "Gray", "Flay", "Sway", and "Pay", say

5) Vijay Singh, for one

6) Authorized stand-in

RING 2

• Resident of a country formerly known as Siam

• Movie director's audio track on many a DVD

• _____ Puzzler (Game Show Network show based on a specific celebrity magazine's crosswords)

• Steams (up), like eyeglasses

• "Yo! Over here, bub!": 2 wds.

RING 3

• 5 1⁄4-inch computer diskette

• Amorous

• Fifth month in Mexico

• Aviator Howard who once ran RKO Pictures (poorly, I might add)

RING 4

• Bok _____

• Knickknacks' ledge

• Arsonist's favorite Def Leppard album?

RING 5

• Tweety's species

• Like pulp-filled oranges

RING 6

• Naomi Watts' starring role in The Ring (2002)

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 even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) 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 9

It's been almost two weeks since "Pieces of Nine 9" was posted on this blog, and the increase from seven words to nine words didn't deter you one bit, as an impressive twenty-two people correctly solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Meg Duvall
• Sam Levitin
• Stephen Potter
• Mindy Moore
• Wendy Walker
• Chris Kochmanski
• Michael Lebowitz
• Patrick Jordan
• Charles Flaster
• Brittany Trofimovich
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Joe Bernard
• Thomas Weigle
• Dan Simonds
• Tamara Brenner
• Peter Abide

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #371: Word Squares: Projectors 5

PUZZLE #371

WORD SQUARES: PROJECTORS 5

There are a series of clues whose answers will fit into the provided grid, reading across and down. However, all of the answers are one letter too long to fit in properly, so each one must have either its first or last letter sticking out (or "projecting" out) of the grid. Once you're done, start at the top left and read the "Projectors" either clockwise or counterclockwise to get another word or phrase. In the example above, the Projectors spell out SAMPLE.

This week's FINAL ANSWER is the eight-letter name of a comic book character.

CLUES

• Bed on a boat

• Like lukewarm water

• Pliny the _____

• Thorne from Disney Channel's Shake it Up

• Wandered about aimlessly

• Water-loving wolverine relative

• What 1-up mushrooms provide in the Super Mario games

• Word following "Home" and "Office", in retail stores

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 even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) 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: Zigzagnut 7

Close to two weeks have gone by since "Zigzagnut 7" was posted on this blog, and a whopping eighteen people have successfully solved it since then, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Mom
• Meg Duvall
• Michael Lebowitz
• Patrick Jordan
• Tamara Brenner
• Tyler Hinman
• Al Sisti
• Lynn Sweeney
• Peter Abide
• Mindy Moore
• Thomas Weigle
• Dan Simonds

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #370: Pieces of Nine 9

PUZZLE #370

PIECES OF NINE 9

It's the ninth time I've made a "Pieces of Nine" puzzle, so I've decided to change things up a tad by offering nine 9-letter words instead of the usual seven. It's still solved normally, though, so read on if you need a refresher of the directions.

Arrange the trigrams (blocks with three squares/letters in them) to make nine 9-letter words. After that, sort the new words so that the first one alphabetically is in row 1, the second one alphabetically is in row 2, and so on.

Once you're done, read down two of the columns for the FINAL ANSWER: the original name of a computer game company which is two words long

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 even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) 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: Edges of Glory

It's been close to two weeks since my first "Edges of Glory" puzzle was posted on this blog, and just like in the last Answers post, sixteen people have successfully solved it, all of whom are listed below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Sam Levitin
• Meg Duvall
• Mom
• Wendy Walker
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tyler Hinman
• Mindy Moore
• Tamara Brenner
• Al Sisti
• Lynn Sweeney
• Ray Youstra
• Peter Abide

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

PUZZLE #369: Zigzagnut 7

PUZZLE #369

ZIGZAGNUT 7

This puzzle contains a word suggested by Patron M. Sean Molley. Support me on Patreon at $15 or more per month to suggest one word or phrase for me to put into a puzzle every month!

The numbered clues are for the zigzags, which work their way down through the diagram in the outlined areas. The "Rows" clues are for the answers, two per row, to be entered straight across each row in the diagram, but to make things harder, you don't know which specific rows the answers will go into! (Though the answers in the rows themselves are in the correct order)

This week's FINAL ANSWER consists of the two numbered answers with no clues (#5 & #16) that combine to make up a two-word phrase

ROWS (in random order; each contains two answers)

• Straw mat in a Japanese household

  The Darling family's dog in Peter Pan

• They determine one's blood type

  Gin and _____

• Appropriately-named first album by Björk

  Zac from the High School Musical trilogy

• Being pulled from behind: 2 wds.

  The last two letters in GOAT

• 2010s Best Picture Oscar winner set in Tehran

  Vegetable scraper

• The official fuel brand of NASCAR

  Rock, in rock paper scissors

• "Bang a Gong" glam rockers: 2 wds.

  Hypersensitive to latex or bee stings, perhaps

• White-colored flavor of Cheez-It crackers

  Newbery _____

• Area for playing Marco Polo

  Like someone with alopecia universalis

• Zoroastrian scripture (anagram of SAVE AT)

  South Korean sneaker company

• Symbol in a Calcudoku puzzle that only uses addition

  Cheerful, like a bouncy pop song

ZIGZAGS

1) Back-slamming wrestling moves

2) Entre _____ (confidentially)

3) Felix and Oscar, for an "Odd" example

4) Material used in "muffler men" statues on Route 66

5) THE FIRST HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

6) John who reunited with Olivia Newton-John in 1983's Two of a Kind

7) Playable character in the first Assassin's Creed game (or the brightest star in Aquila)

8) Title for a Microsoft Word document, say

9) Root vegetable on a couch?

10) Star Wars star Mark

11) Word preceding "Lampoon" or "Enquirer"

12) "Most assuredly"

13) Green fruit in Yoshi's Island (If Yoshi eats one, he can spit out seeds!)

14) Hungarian capital where Katy Perry's "Firework" music video was shot

15) Composer Chopin

16) THE SECOND HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

17) Ron's _____ Wrong (2021 animated film about a glitchy robot)

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 even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) 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 4

It's been thirteen days since the final puzzle of 2021, "The Block List 4", was posted on this blog. Since then, sixteen people have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Al Sisti
• Sam Levitin
• Meg Duvall
• Mindy Moore
• Mom with Alex & Eric Milton
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tamara Brenner
• Peter Abide
• Wendy Walker
• Lynn Sweeney

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

PUZZLE #368: Edges of Glory

PUZZLE #368

EDGES OF GLORY

It's officially 2022 now, so what better way to celebrate that fact than to start the new year with a new puzzle format? This one's inspired by a puzzle type generally known as "edge-matching puzzles", but with letters involved (never mind that "TetraVex" from Microsoft Entertainment Pack 3 already has a customization option involving letters, but I didn't know that when crafting this puzzle). If you want to see how that'll play out, then read on for the directions!

There are several squares divided into four triangles each, plus a grid to fit them all into. First, fill in the squares with the 4-letter answers to each corresponding clue, starting with the numbered triangle, and going clockwise. Then, fit all of the filled-out squares into the grid below (without rotating them) so that wherever two squares touch along one of the heavy lines, the letters on both sides of the line are the same.

Once everything's in its proper place, the outer edges of the grid, when read clockwise, will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: The name of a reality show.

1) Tie tightly and securely

2) Fibula or tibia

3) Air vent

4) Ivy League school founded by Benjamin Franklin, for short

5) _____ Goldberg machine (ridiculously complicated contraption)

6) Hauls into court

7) Arizona-based team that lost to the Bucks in the 2021 NBA Finals

8) Once _____ a Time... in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino film)

9) With "The", daytime talk show created by Barbara Walters

10) Marlon's role in The Godfather (even if he'd prefer to be called "Godfather")

11) Nullified, like a losing check on The Price is Right's "Check Game"

12) Songbird whose name sounds like Stimpy's pal

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 even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) 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: Semicircle Sorting 3

Happy new year, everyone! Here's the list of the eighteen people who have solved "Semicircle Sorting 3" from about two weeks ago:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Kevin Orfield
• Sam Levitin
• Karen Spencer
• Wendy Walker
• Tamara Brenner
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tyler Hinman
• Mindy Moore
• Mom
• Ray Youstra
• Meg Duvall
• Lynn Sweeney
• Al Sisti
• Peter Abide
• Alex & Eric Milton

Now head below the break for the answers!