PUZZLE #428: Eat Your Words 8

PUZZLE #428

EAT YOUR WORDS 8

In this puzzle, the words hinted at by the numbered clues (The "Numbered Words") can "eat" a word hinted at by a different set of clues (The "Eaten Words") without rearranging any of the letters. For example, the word BIT can eat the word AND to form BANDIT. All of the new words are entered into the grid in the order of the Numbered Words, and the Eaten Words are in no particular order.

Once all of the new words have been placed, the letters in the highlighted third column will spell out two more words. Insert one of the column's new words into the other to get the FINAL ANSWER: The name of a mythical creature

NUMBERED WORDS

1) Mention in the footnotes

2) With "away", draws back in fear

3) Results May _____ (Limp Bizkit album)

4) Body part that Tarzan beats

5) Advice Dog or Grumpy Cat, e.g.

6) Religious word preceding "Ghost" or "Guacamole"

7) Crooner Crosby who narrated the Disney short The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

8) Francis Ford Coppola, to Nicolas Cage

9) Smallest pick of the litter

EATEN WORDS

• _____-aircraft missiles

• Bongo from the arcade game Congo Bongo, for one (HINT: He's a tailless primate)

• Environmentally-friendly prefix

• Google's smart speaker brand

• Like wintry roads in need of salt

• Not worth debating, as a point

• Plant your tush on a cushion, perhaps

• Sound-blasting boxes at a rock concert

• Synonym for "say" that sounds like a cow part

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: Section Six 9

It's been nearly two weeks since "Section Six 9" was posted on this blog, so now's the time for me to reveal the list of everyone who has solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #427: Vanishing Act 3

PUZZLE #427

VANISHING ACT 3

Below are a set of what are supposed to be valid words, but instances of one duplicated letter in each word have all disappeared! Your job is to reinsert the missing duplicate letters into each numbered string of letters so that the resulting words all match up to the provided clues (listed in no particular order). The number in square brackets next to each group shows how many of the same letter need to be inserted into it. For instance, if one of the groups is "XAMPL [2]", then you'll need to insert a letter two times ("E" in this case) to get "EXAMPLE".

Once you've completed everything, the letters that have been added back in, in order, will form another incomplete string of letters. Insert three more of the same letter to get the FINAL ANSWER: an 11-letter noun associated with the human body

CLUES

• Ceramic dog offered as a prize in early seasons of Wheel of Fortune

• J or D, for J. D. Salinger

• Like Mount Kilimanjaro, compared to every other mountain in Africa

• Mythical hybrid that Splash Woman from Mega Man 9 resembles

• "Old news" or "original copy", say

• Support for Tiny Tim

• Take over a body, like an evil ghost

• Type of cloud that resembles cotton

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: Lucky Sevens 12

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Lucky Sevens 12" was posted on this blog. Plenty of people have solved it since then, and they're all listed below:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Chris Kochmanski
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Mike Armstrong
• Al Sisti
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Tamara Brenner
• Mom
• KeoFam
• Patrick Jordan
• Wendy Walker
• Steve Gunter

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #426: Section Six 9

PUZZLE #426

SECTION SIX 9

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!

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, and each answer’s starting points are marked with a dot [•]. However, which direction they proceed in is for you to figure out. The sections (separated by the heavy lines radiating from the center) will help you figure out the letters in 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) Law force that Riggs and Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon work for: Abbr.

2) Goro from Squid Girl, e.g. (HINT: he saves beachgoers from drowning)

3) Key & Peele's Peele

4) Places to insert quarters in an arcade game cabinet

5) Furry alien that worships C-3PO as a god

6) Commandments (anagram of PETER'S PC)

RING 2

• Spaceley's Space _____ (business where George Jetson works)

• Answered a "Help Wanted" ad

• Part of "FDA" or "DEA"

• Retired NBA player Kidd who currently coaches the Dallas Mavericks

• Shakespearean synonym for "resided"

RING 3

• Swamps, marshes, and bogs

• Arbitrated

• Michelangelo sculpture enshrined in Vatican City

• Hybrid cutlery that gets turned into a toy in Toy Story 4

RING 4

• 2011 Lady Gaga single named after a Biblical betrayer

• MTV and MeTV, for two

• Lukewarm, like a reaction or room-temperature water

RING 5

• Wide receiver Terrell in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

• Gas giant with moons named Callisto and Io

RING 6

• "_____ Funk" (#1 song by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars)

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: Sudokurostic 3

It's been close to two weeks since "Sudokurostic 3" was posted on this blog, and an impressive sixteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Chris Kochmanski
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mike Armstrong
• Al Sisti
• Sam Levitin
• Ray Youstra
• Wendy Walker
• Tamara Brenner
• Patrick Jordan
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Tyler Hinman
• Steve Gunter

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

PUZZLE #425: Lucky Sevens 12

PUZZLE #425

LUCKY SEVENS 12

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: A seven-letter word

ROWS

i) "Oh well, that's show _____!"

ii) Greek goddess of marriage

iii) Microsoft Windows' Blue Screen of Death is caused by one

iv) Fix a faulty faucet, say

v) Chili pepper that's also the name of French Guiana's capital

vi) Not naturally formed

vii) Defacers

viii) Playing cards with double-digit numbers

ix) Capp and Capone, for two

x) The only US state abbr. with the 7th letter of the alphabet

xi) Vowel on a compass

SEVENS

1) Place with a great view

2) Nelson who was portrayed by Morgan Freeman in Invictus

3) Group of three Caribbean islands south of Cuba

4) Annuls an amendment

5) Chore-related outings

6) Wonder Woman (but not Wonder Man), e.g.

7) JoJo's _____ Adventure (long-running manga series)

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: Word Squares: Projectors 6

It's been almost two weeks since "Word Squares: Projectors 6" was posted on this blog, and fifteen people (plus a family) have successfully solved it since then:

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

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