PUZZLE #402: Link-Letters 11

PUZZLE #402

LINK-LETTERS 11

There are two clues for each numbered row. The answers to each row's first clue go in the squares to the left of the first black bar in each correspondingly numbered row in the puzzle's grid, and the answers to the second clue go into the squares to the right of the second black bar. Then a single letter (the "Link-Letter") goes in the square in the middle to complete a single word that reads all the way across. For example, if the two words are CON and ACT, you can put a "T" between them to get CONTACT.

Once you've filled out all eight rows, the central letters will spell out two words reading down. Add a letter between those two words in the red square to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: a noun relating to anatomy

1) Shedding-type card game from Mattel that comes in Minecraft and Super Mario variants

    Gestured for a photographer

2) Tales from the _____ (HBO horror anthology show that got a kid-friendly cartoon spinoff)

    Roughly .035 ounces

3) Culture Club song that mentions "a clock in my heart" in its lyrics

    Paved-over parking place

4) Target for Advil or Aleve

    Punches with big red gloves, perhaps

5) _____ the King's Men (1949 film that won the Best Picture Oscar)

    Like slasher movies with a high body-part count

6) Completely lacking in cash

    969 years, for Methuselah

7) With "The", Chris Hardwick-hosted game show that's basically a giant version of Plinko

    Appendage of Chicken Boo from Animaniacs

8) Whistleblower on the gridiron, for short

    Play's performer

9) Successfully make a pair in a game of "Memory", say

    Insect or checkmark

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: Insiders

It's been nearly two weeks since my 400th puzzle, "Insiders", was posted on this blog. Plenty of people have solved it since then, and they're all listed below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Chris Kochmanski
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Mike Armstrong
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Michael Lebowitz
  
• Sam Levitin
• KeoFam
• Patrick Jordan
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #401: Sunburst 4

PUZZLE #401

SUNBURST 4

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!

First, solve each 4-letter word listed in the first set of clues, then rearrange them and attach an extra letter to its end (which will be up to you to determine) to form a 5-letter word that matches one of the answers listed in the second clue set. For example, if an answer is ATOP, scramble those letters, add another letter to the end, and form the 5-letter word TOPAZ. Next, place each resulting 5-letter word into the Sunburst at their corresponding numbers, starting at the outermost tile and reading inwards. Since all the 5-letter words have the exact same final letter, make sure that each 5-letter word ends in the center of the grid.

Once the grid has been filled in, the outermost ring of the Sunburst, when read clockwise from 1 to 18, will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: The name of a television show that debuted in the 1980s

4-LETTER WORDS

1) Sea mammal with white ovals called "eyespots" or "eye patches"

2) College graduate, for short

3) Miami team that Dwyane Wade originally played for

4) Aloe _____ (houseplant used as a lotion ingredient)

5) Redding nicknamed "The King of Soul"

6) Shoestring with an aglet

7) Orbs in a pot pie

8) Bide one's time

9) 3,600 seconds

10) Real first name of the X-Men foe Juggernaut (or Adam & Eve's eldest son)

11) Klutz's interjection

12) Chuck-a-luck or Chinese checkers, e.g.

13) Fruit company with a sun in its logo

14) Long location to dock a ship

15) "I'm the _____ One" (top ten single for Melissa Etheridge)

16) Female friend in France

17) Borrowed bank money that usually costs more to pay back

18) The Mothman Prophecies star Richard

5-LETTER WORDS

• 1998 Disney film with characters named Cri-Kee and Mushu

• Age like bananas

• _____ as a whistle

• The Blacklist actress Boone

• Businessman Bushnell who founded both Atari and Chuck E. Cheese's

• Colorado city where the Winter X Games are held

• "Er, um, ah, well, that is to say....": 2 wds.

• Great Lake with the second-shortest name

• It ran away with a dish

• Joel Coen's brother

• Like bygone days

• Oak seed that's also the name of a former British computer company

• "Ohhh, you are going down!": 2 wds.

• Onetime worshipper of the sun god Inti

• Plastic used in most dental floss

• Skin color of Peridot from Steven Universe

• That's So _____ (2000s Disney Channel sitcom)

• Tom Sawyer Abroad novelist Mark

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: Color Wheels 4

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Color Wheels 4" was posted on this blog, and quite a few people since then have correctly figured it out, all of whom are listed below:

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

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

PUZZLE #400: Insiders

PUZZLE #400

INSIDERS

It's my 400th puzzle, everyone! And to celebrate that milestone, I'm gonna debut a puzzle format that's brand new to this blog! It's strongly based off of the "Rowed Signs" puzzles from the short-lived magazine Will Shortz's Wordplay, so if you've never had a chance to do those puzzles before (either in Wordplay or through reprints in books like Super Wordplay Crosswords), here are the directions on how to solve 'em:

Each row in this puzzle consists of two answers, clued in the order in which they appear. Going across both of these answers is a third word, known as an "Inner Word". For example, if a row's two answers were GRINS and IDEAS, then the Inner Word for that string of letters would be INSIDE (like so: GRINSIDEAS). The Inner Words are listed in no particular order, and shading them or crossing them out in each row is highly recommended.

Once everything's been filled in, all of the letters not used in the Inner Words, when read left to right and row by row, will spell out a clue to the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a fictional character

ROWS

1) "Break On _____ (To the Other Side)" (song by the Doors)

    More common name for "sodium hydroxide"

2) Airplane's airborne trip

    Brockovich who was portrayed by Julia Roberts in a 2000 movie

3) French phrase between "chicken" and "king": 2 wds.

    Park pavilions that are often octagonal

4) Non-lethal phaser setting on Star Trek

    Sucks the energy out of

5) Out-of-nowhere victory

    A hint of color

6) Cliché dog name (besides "Fido" and "Spot")

    _____ 1⁄2 (manga about a boy who changes his biological sex when soaked with water) (anagram of "AN ARM")

7) More dangerous

    Go "Boo-hoo!"

8) Crow or Tom Servo from Mystery Science Theater 3000, e.g.

    Strategic board game that the "eight queens puzzle" is based off of

INNER WORDS

• Approximately

• Flame source held by a concertgoer

• Messes up, as a wrestling move

• Sped past the end of

• Staring with strong focus (HINT: it doesn’t end in “-ING”)

• Toyota truck named after a frigid environment

• _____ up to fail (creating a no-win situation)

• Winter athletes playable in the arcade game Alpine Racer 2

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: Gryptics 6

If you've been keeping track of my puzzles, you may have noticed that my 400th puzzle is set to be published tomorrow! It'll be a brand-new format to this blog, so look forward to it! But first things first: I have to reveal the answers to "Gryptics 6" from two weeks ago and list the people who have solved it:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• M. Sean Molley
• Chris Kochmanski
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Stasi Gustafson
• Sam Levitin
• Peter Abide
• Patrick Jordan
• Lynn Sweeney
• KeoFam
• Mom
• Wendy Walker

Now head below the break for the answers, as well as multiple solvers' comments!

PUZZLE #399: Color Wheels 4

PUZZLE #399

COLOR WHEELS 4

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 red entries will combine to make the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a streaming-only animated series

ACROSS (marked with red arrows)

• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• Skeletal puppet who often shouts "Silence!! I keel you!"

• SS _____ Doria (sunken ship)

• Ten-time Grammy winner Streisand

• Seller of the No. 5, No. 19, and No. 22 perfumes

• Failed Ford car described as "an Oldsmobile sucking on a lemon"

• Skewered slabs of meat

• Controversial YouTuber Paul who signed with WWE in 2022

• Robotic villain who sings a song from Pinocchio in the second Avengers movie

UPHILL (marked with green arrows)

• Badalamenti who composed the music for Twin Peaks

• Soaked in a hot tub

• Ornate ornamental pin

• "You Send Me" singer Sam

• "_____ in your mouth, not in your hand" (old M&M's slogan)

• "Flowery" liquid consumed by hummingbirds

• Add more seasoning to an icy road, maybe

• Everybody Loves Raymond's Ray

• Smell or sight, e.g.

• Turn on its head

DOWNHILL (marked with blue arrows)

• Yo-Yo Ma's instrument

• Latina princess from a 2010s Disney Junior show

• Costume that's basically a bedsheet with two eye holes

• Windowsills

• The world's second-smallest country by area (after Vatican City)

• Gasoline rating

• Batman: Arkham Asylum character who gives Batman information (like a certain prophet from Delphi)

• Basic fighting game move that uses a fist

• Flattened anglerfish named after a flying mammal

• _____ rasa (philosophical concept from the Latin for "blank slate")

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: Central Scramble 5

It's been close to two weeks since "Central Scramble 5" was posted on this blog, and since then, fifteen people (plus one family) have successfully figured out its Final Answer:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Chris Kochmanski
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Tyler Hinman
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Patrick Jordan
• KeoFam
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Stasi Gustafson
• Peter Abide

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #398: Gryptics 6

PUZZLE #398

GRYPTICS 6

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 long-running television series

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!