PUZZLE #393: Quadruple Cross 4

PUZZLE #393

QUADRUPLE CROSS 4

To begin solving this puzzle, view each numbered square in the grid as being in the center of a plus-shaped cross where two five-letter clue answers intersect. There are two clues corresponding to each number, and each numbered pair of crossing answers has the same middle letter. Here's the tricky part: which one of each pair's two answers goes across and which one goes down is for you to figure out, so make sure all of the answers overlap each other properly!

Once the grid has been filled in, read the sixteen outermost letters in a clockwise fashion to get the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a well-known logic puzzle

CLUES
1) Junked metal in a junkyard

    Pink and round Nintendo character who explores a "Forgotten Land" in a 2022 video game

2) Bundle of axons in the spinal cord

    Protective garment worn by Dexter's mom from Dexter's Laboratory

3) "Got any bright _____?"

    Shaq's surname

4) First letter of the Hebrew alphabet

    Talk show interviewee

5) Planet celebrated on April 22nd

    Talking Heads singer David

6) Slangy term for those second in command

    "_____ from Shaft" (Oscar-winning song by Isaac Hayes)

7) 3.28084 feet, roughly

    Talking dog who first appeared in the fourth episode of The Jetsons

8) Short Circuit actor Guttenberg

    Straight up, like a steel bar

9) Kathmandu's country

    Uninspired (HINT: It rhymes with one of the words in "REM")

10) '90s way of saying "Fooled you!"

      Poem set in a pastoral place

11) Friars Club event

      Spitting animal from the Andes

12) McGwire and McGrath

      Vice _____ (the other way around)

13) Chef Brown from Iron Chef America and Worst Cooks in America

      Not before

14) It's used to make sidewalk art

      Shake an Etch A Sketch, say

15) Got to one's feet

      South Korean city considered the birthplace of K-pop

16) Prefix for "violet" or "violent"

      Smooth gown fabric

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: Flower Power 6

Thirteen days have passed by since "Flower Power 6" was posted on this blog, and sixteen people since then have successfully solved it:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Chris Kochmanski
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Mike Armstrong
• Sam Levitin
• CromsFury
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tamara Brenner
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Peter Abide
• Steven McKinney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #392
LINE 'EM UP 11

Place the answers to each numbered clue in the squares to the right of each corresponding number (a number in brackets following each clue will tell you how many letters are in each answer). Once you have the answers, align them properly in the grid so that going down, a two-word phrase will be spelled out by the two red columns in the grid's center.

This week's FINAL ANSWER is the name of a video game from the mid-2000s

1) Adobe building block [5]

2) Material of Elvis's blue shoes [5]

3) Steve who won two Daytime Emmys for hosting Family Feud [6]

4) The Matrix character who Agent Smith insists on calling "Mr. Anderson" [3]

5) Comic strip that evolved into Garfield (and named after Garfield's owner) [3]

6) Shell-less snail relative [4]

7) Mad _____ Party (Alice In Wonderland-themed Disneyland ride) [3]

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: Moving Staircases 12

It's been about two weeks since "Moving Staircases 12" was posted on this blog, and fifteen people since then have successfully solved it: 

• Grant Fikes
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Chris Kochmanski
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Peter Abide
• Mom
• Tamara Brenner
• Debbie Benford
• Tyler Hinman
• Wendy Walker
• Lynn Sweeney

If you want to know what the answers are, just head below the break!

PUZZLE #391: Flower Power 6

PUZZLE #391

FLOWER POWER 6

One of the clues in 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 answers to this petaled puzzle will go in a curve from the number on the outside to the center of the flower. Each number in the flower will have two 5-letter answers, one going in a clockwise direction, and the other going in a counterclockwise direction.

Once you're done, look through the adjacent numbered petals to find two more words (going either clockwise or counterclockwise). These words make up the FINAL ANSWER: A fictional character and the animated movie that she comes from

CLOCKWISE

1) Six _____ America (theme park near Washington, D.C.)

2) Japanese watch company

3) Basic fencing thrust

4) Pound signs are made up of four of these

5) Rowed a rowboat

6) Rocksteady from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, e.g. (HINT: His "nose" is a horn)

7) Dull, unoriginal, and jejune

8) Nickname for a golfer with an "army"

9) Delirious with delight

10) They're inserted into outlets

11) Law & _____ (NBC series revived in 2022)

12) Blew chunks (Apologies to those solving this first thing in the morning)

13) Sits for a snapshot

14) Alaska neighbor

15) Expert on impersonation

16) "I guess it wasn't _____ to be"

17) Window curtain

18) Fountain featured in the movie Roman Holiday

COUNTERCLOCKWISE

1) Swiss coin

2) Got some shuteye

3) Vacate the premises

4) Mario & _____: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS game)

5) Animal sounds heard in the Beatles song "Piggies"

6) 2011 Western film about a chameleon in a town named Dirt

7) Number on the "B" and "C" tiles in Scrabble

8) Ram among the stars

9) Slide along a rail on a skateboard's board

10) 1970s Ford car with a reputation for exploding in rear-end collisions

11) Pop song released over a half-century ago, say

12) Puritanical sort

13) A bit on the chubby side

14) Neckwear for oxen?

15) Pondering person

16) Wired up for an interview, perhaps

17) Computer game samplers

18) "50 Ways to Say Goodbye" band

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: Family Reunions 5

It's been nearly two weeks since "Family Reunions 5" was posted on this blog, and fourteen people since then have correctly solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Chris Kochmanski
• Joe Bernard
• Tyler Hinman 
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Sam Levitin
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mom
• Tamara Brenner
• Peter Abide
• Debbie Benford
• Wendy Walker

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #390: Moving Staircases 12

PUZZLE #390

MOVING STAIRCASES 12

The two staircase-shaped halves of a "Moving Staircases" puzzle are designed to be pushed together in two different ways, horizontally and vertically. A horizontal push creates shorter words ("Shorts"), while a vertical push creates longer words ("Longs"). The example above shows a completed grid and the grids that result from pushing it both ways. The lists of clues given for the Shorts and Longs are not in order; it's up to you to determine where the answers go by working back and forth between the two lists.

Once you've completely filled out the grid, the FINAL ANSWER (a two-word phrase or the name of a British game show) will be hidden inside it; one of the words is hidden horizontally (is it a Short or a Long? that's up to you to find out!), while the other is hidden vertically.

SHORTS

• "Aunty" played by Tina Turner in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Well, it's either that, or an overly vague clue like "Thing that exists")

• Have a little too much adult beverage consumption

• Megamind's sidekick in Megamind (or a synonym for "underling")

• _____-of-age story

• One of four on a viola or bass

• Take a stand against

• With "The", 2001 movie with Nicole Kidman in a haunted mansion

LONGS

• Bestow rightful ownership

• Giving the waitress 15% of a check's value, say

• Score like Schubert or Strauss

• Subjective judgment that should never be confused for fact

• The _____ of Invention (Frank Zappa's band)

• Tough to the bite, like some meat

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: The Spiral Squared 6

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "The Spiral Squared 6" was posted on this blog, and twelve people since then have correctly figured it out, all of whom are listed below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Sam Levitin
• Mike Armstrong
• Tamara Brenner
• CromsFury
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tyler Hinman
• Mom
• Peter Abide

Now head below the break for the answers!