PUZZLE #465
DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 7
Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.
Once everything's filled in, two of the across answers will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: A fictional character's name.
ACROSS1) One of two limbs missing from the Venus de Milo statue
4) Female pig or guinea pig
7) Recede, like the tide
10) Necklaces from Honolulu
12) Osso _____ (veal-based dish)
13) The Loud family's pet hamster in The Loud House (or a prefix meaning "earth")
14) Pimples
15) Developer of the arcade games Bubble Bobble and Space Invaders
16) Gadot who cameoed as Wonder Woman in The Flash (2023)
17) Without accompaniment
20) PART ONE OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE
23) Beyond Good and _____ (2003 Ubisoft video game)
24) Adjective for Al Yankovic
25) South Korean rapper who had a couple other Top 40 hits besides "Gangnam Style"
26) First name of Tom Hanks' wife
27) Bandmate of Crosby, Stills, and Young
29) @ @ @ @
30) Quickly touch an icon on an iPhone
32) Units of electrical resistance
35) Magnesite, magnetite & malachite, e.g.
37) Number of contestants in The Price is Right's final Showcase round
40) Flora and fauna (anagram of "I BOAT")
43) Famed music venue in Nashville, briefly
44) PART TWO OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE
47) Eagerly look forward to
48) _____ Balls (pink treats by Hostess)
50) Celery piece
51) MLB team in Cincinnati
53) Moray, for one
54) Semiaquatic salamander
55) Thanos's action at the end of Avengers: Infinity War that got rid of half of Earth's population
56) Ingredient that makes a red velvet cake red
57) _____-la-la
58) Wipe up water, as with a towel
DOWN
1) Apple pie _____ mode: 2 wds.
2) Happen again, like a nightmare
3) Tiny fish that was the namesake for Gilligan's boat
4) Get dressed in armor, maybe: 2 wds.
5) Full sets of black pawns and white pawns, perhaps
6) Owl who says "Give a Hoot! Don't Pollute!"
7) It's laid by a loggerhead turtle
8) Dr. Honeydew's assistant in The Muppet Show
9) South American country whose largest city is Santa Cruz
11) Now You _____ (heist film about thieving magicians): 2 wds.
12) Building raised in an Amish project
15) Fungus that's also the last name of Princess Peach
18) Swivel on a swivel chair
19) Triceratops from The Land Before Time whose name is found in "TRICERATOPS"
21) "Same here!"
22) Kind of scene that may start with the line "I remember it like it was just yesterday..."
28) Silent member of the Marx Brothers
31) Studied thoroughly
33) Music format for many early '90s MS-DOS games
34) Chicken _____ for the American Idol Soul (actual book from 2007)
36) Capital of New South Wales, Australia
37) Elizabethan contraction with two apostrophes
38) Modern Family actress Ariel
39) Ontario birthplace of Alanis Morissette
41) Nicholas I and Nicholas II
42) Go to a show
45) Dagger handle
46) _____ Point (amusement park in Ohio)
49) Exclamation in Ecuador
52) Secret agent man
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!