PUZZLE #488: Gryptics 8

PUZZLE #488

GRYPTICS 8

This puzzle contains a word or phrase 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!

Before I get to the puzzle proper, I just wanted a quick moment to note that this is my 1,000th post on this site! And not only that, my 500th puzzle is coming soon, too so be sure to look out for that as well! But before that happens, here are the directions to my 488th puzzle:

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 cartoon character who would be perfect for Earth Day

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: Slide Show: Double Feature 6

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Slide Show: Double Feature 6" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Chris Kochmanski
• Sam Levitin
• Josie Giles
• Mom
• KeoFam
• Lynn Sweeney
• Tower
• Wendy Walker
• Patrick Jordan
• Tamara Brenner
• Steve Gunter
• Stasi Gustafson

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #487: Masquerade Party 3

PUZZLE #487

MASQUERADE PARTY 3

Below are rows of blanks that each need to be filled in with a 6- or 7-letter word; these words are clued in no particular order. However, one letter in each word is "in disguise" as another word. The locations of the disguised letters are indicated by symbols and the disguises themselves are clued next to those symbols below. Replace each symbol/disguised letter with its corresponding word to form a longer word.

Once everything has been correctly filled out, the letters that have been replaced by symbols will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a movie that has been nominated for the Best Costume Design Oscar

WORDS

• Brand of adorably small mandarin oranges

• Credit for a crossword constructor or newswriter

• Game Boy _____ SP (Nintendo handheld released in 2003)

• Going "Nyah-nyah-nyah!" to

• Grapefruit-flavored soda with the same owners as Dr. Pepper

• Made larger or smaller in Photoshop, say

• "_____ of Truth" (hit Depeche Mode single)

• Start a new paragraph

• Stiff and sensitive hair jutting out of Top Cat's face

DISGUISES

♫) Play a ukulele idly

♁) Girl from Glasgow

⋭) Recess game with kids who are "not it"

ↇ) Part of MPG or WPM

◩) Be dependent (on)

▚) Electronic keyboard heard in Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F", for short

🃡) Shazam! star Zachary

₪) _____ Aviv, Israel

➽) Taxonomic rank between "class" and "family"

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: Insiders 3

It's been almost two weeks since "Insiders 3" was posted on this blog, and a whopping nineteen people have solved it since then, as you can see in the following list:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Josie Giles
• Tower
• Wendy Walker
• Michael Lebowitz
• Patrick Jordan
• Mom
• Tamara Brenner
• Lynn Sweeney
• KeoFam
• Bart Gold
• Steve Gunter

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

PUZZLE #486: Slide Show: Double Feature 6

PUZZLE #486

SLIDE SHOW: DOUBLE FEATURE 6

In each of the two puzzles below, slide the 18 letters surrounding each grid into the empty squares so that four words are made reading across and five words are formed reading down. Letters above and below the grids slide vertically to any position without changing columns, and letters to the left and right slide horizontally without changing rows. All of the exterior letters are used only once, and as a help, each grid has two letters already placed inside.

Once both grids have been filled in, pick out one word from each and combine them to get the FINAL ANSWER: the two-word name of a #1 song from the 1960s

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 10

It's been almost two weeks since my tenth "Section Six" puzzle was posted on this blog, and seventeen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Josie Giles
• Mike Armstrong
• Chris Kochmanski
• Tamara Brenner
• Mom
• Sam Levitin
• Wendy Walker
• KeoFam
• Tower
• Lynn Sweeney
• Steve Gunter

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

PUZZLE #485: Insiders 3

PUZZLE #485

INSIDERS 3

Happy April 1st, everyone! Sadly, I don't have any sort of prank or wacky word puzzle variant (such as "Anacrossword 3" from five years ago) to offer this year, but the FINAL ANSWER to this puzzle is April Fools'-adjacent! Read on for more details on that!

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 JETSAM and PLEA, then the Inner Word for that string of letters would be SAMPLE (like so: JETSAMPLEA). 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 classic April Fools' Day prank

ROWS

1) Image uploaded to Instagram

    Parka-wearing South Park character who has died over 100 times

2) Shine like a nursery rhyme star

    Heavy metal singer Zombie who directed 2007's Halloween remake

3) Approach aggressively

    "With the bow", to a violinist (anagram of ORCA)

4) Innocent until _____ guilty

    Like the top of an éclair

5) Prefix for "brow" or "corn"

    Amass, like video games or postage stamps

6) Resident of a country formerly known as Siam

    Rubber _____ (adhesive known as "cow gum" in Britain)

7) Airship that Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Award is shaped like

    Provide funding for a foundation

8) Any possible perpetrator in Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

    Weightlifting unit

INNER WORDS

• Coin once used to play arcade games at Chuck E. Cheese's

• Former The View panelist and current MSNBC commentator Wallace

• Henry who played The Fonz on Happy Days

• Italy's "City of Canals"

• James Bond film where Christoph Waltz first plays Blofeld

• Loom on the horizon

• Old-timey deliverers of blocks to be used in old-timey fridges

• Someone sharing top billing

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: Moving Staircases 14

It's been about two weeks since "Moving Staircases 14" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have solved it since then, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Bart Gold
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mike Armstrong
• Josie Giles
• Chris Kochmanski
• Tamara Brenner
• Wendy Walker
• Tower
• KeoFam
• Sam Levitin
• Patrick Jordan
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Steve Gunter

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #484: Section Six 10

PUZZLE #484

SECTION SIX 10

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) Turn the Big Wheel on The Price is Right, say

2) Concrete playground with handrails and halfpipes

3) Decorated with a piping bag

4) The Adventures of Sharkboy and _____ in 3-D (2005 family film)

5) Word after "horseshoe", "domino", or "conspiracy"

6) Animated character often mentioned in crossword clues for "OGRE"

RING 2

• Smelly onion-like clove that Wario loves to eat

• Darth _____ (Sith name of Anakin Skywalker)

• Islamic country with Islamabad as its capital

• Synonym for "Annoys" that has only one vowel

• Pennsylvania town with streetlights shaped like chocolate Kisses

RING 3

• Party where "happy hardcore" techno may be played

• Where visiting NHL teams fight Flames?

• Tiger voiced by George Sanders in 1967’s The Jungle Book: 2 wds.

• Polynesian carving

RING 4

• Fiddles around (with)

• Wife of Hägar the Horrible

• Fish eggs mentioned in a closing catchphrase from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

RING 5

• Uber, to Lyft, e.g.

• Little pickle

RING 6

• Temperature scale with no negative numbers

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: Compound Crosswords 10

It's been nearly two weeks since "Compound Crosswords 10" was posted on this blog, and a whopping nineteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• M. Sean Molley
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mike Armstrong
• Wendy Walker
• Chris Kochmanski
• Tamara Brenner
• Tower
• Mom
• Sam Levitin
• Patrick Jordan
• Josie Giles
• Steve Gunter
• Lynn Sweeney
• KeoFam

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #483: Moving Staircases 14

PUZZLE #483

MOVING STAIRCASES 14

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 film from the early 2010s) 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

• _____ and the Red Baron (Atari 2600 game based on the Peanuts comic)

• Car add-on such as heated seats

• Little lollipop

• "Minute Waltz" composer Frédéric

• Remove dried-on paint, perhaps

• Reprimand

• Xanadu actress Newton-John

LONGS

• 17th century platform shoe (anagram of ONE CHIP)

• British billiards game with fifteen red balls

• Do surgery, say

• Full of fighting spirit, like the nephew of Scooby-Doo

• One of just two landlocked countries in South America (Paraguay is the other one)

• Vacuum cleaner's force

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: Sudokurostic 4

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Sudokurostic 4" was posted on this blog, and quite a few people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Tamara Brenner
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Steve Gunter
• Patrick Jordan
• Mom
• Josie Giles
• Wendy Walker
• Lynn Sweeney
• Tower
• Chris Kochmanski

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

PUZZLE #482: Compound Crosswords 10

PUZZLE #482

COMPOUND CROSSWORDS 10

One of the clues in this puzzle contains a word or phrase 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!

Fit the words hinted at by the clues into the nine grids below so that the two words in each grid combine to create a two-word phrase or compound word. There may be multiple possibilities for these phrases, but there's only one way that all the words will fit in all of the grids.

Once each grid is filled out, the pink letters in each grid will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a compound word

CLUES

• Bank's big safe

• Butter-cutting utensil

• _____ Dare (Nickelodeon game show)

• Funny folks who are real stand-up guys?

• Greek letter between beta and delta

• "Hand in My _____" (Alanis Morissette song)

• Horse gait faster than a walk, but slower than a canter

• Husband of Edith Bunker in All in the Family

• Legal matter that may be open-and-shut

• _____-link fence

• MLB team based in Tampa Bay

• Opposite of "outer", as in "outer planets"

• Shape with no corners

• Spinning cylinder in front of a barbershop

• _____ Stone Creamery (ice cream parlor founded in Arizona)

• Three strikes in a row, in bowling

• Tomboyish princess playable in Super Mario Bros. Wonder (or an oxeye, say)

• Whole structure of a human being

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: Family Reunions 7

It's been almost two weeks since "Family Reunions 7" was posted on this blog, and an impressive nineteen people have solved it since then, as you can see in the following list:

• Cindy Heisler
• Grant Fikes
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Wendy Walker
• Sam Levitin
• Mom
• Tamara Brenner
• Chris Kochmanski
• Patrick Jordan
• Bart Gold
• KeoFam
• Josie Giles
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tower
• Steve Gunter
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #481: Sudokurostic 4

PUZZLE #481

SUDOKUROSTIC 4

Below is supposed to be a sudoku/wordoku puzzle, but unfortunately, the whole grid is completely blank. To fill it in, solve the clues so that the answers fill out the dashes (one letter per dash), then transfer each letter to the grid according to the coordinates below each dash, like an anacrostic puzzle. For example, if the coordinates were "e6", then its corresponding letter should go in the square in row "e" and column "6". Not all of the grid's squares will ultimately be filled in, so it's up to you to complete the rest of the wordoku puzzle, making sure that each row, column, and 3x3 box contains the same nine unique letters without any repeats.

Once the grid has been completely filled, look through it like a word search to find the FINAL ANSWER: an adjective that's at least six letters long

• Collarbone

   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

   d3 f2 a8 b5 a1 h7 h3 f8

• Frida Kahlo, Paul Klee, and Jeff Koons, e.g.

   __ __ __ __ __ __ __

   f7 h1 a6 i9 a3 i4 d8

• Opening for a game of volleyball

   __ __ __ __ __ __ __

   g1 c9 g8 c2 f3 a5 h5

• Superlative adjective for the Burj Khalifa skyscraper

   __ __ __ __ __ __ __

   b3 g9 d7 b9 e1 i5 d5

• Surname of a Clue suspect in a red dress

   __ __ __ __ __ __ __

   b7 i2 d2 f5 c1 i7 e9

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: Loopy Links

It's been almost two weeks since I debuted a brand-new-to-this-blog puzzle format in the form of "Loopy Links", and seventeen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Tamara Brenner
• KeoFam
• Mom
• Tower
• Josie Giles
• Steve Gunter
• Wendy Walker
• Lynn Sweeney

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

PUZZLE #480: Family Reunions 7

PUZZLE #480

FAMILY REUNIONS 7

Before I get to this week's puzzle, I have some major news to announce: My Patreon page now has a shop! My first offering for sale is five pages' worth of different types of Cryptogram puzzles, such as "Crypto-Lists", an encrypted 4-panel comic strip, and a new creation I call "Crypto-Quiz"! More details are on that product's store page, and it only costs $3 (but only because Patreon wouldn't let me sell it at a lower price). However, you need to have a Patreon account to gain access to it (though you don't have to necessarily subscribe to my Patreon page), so I'm also offering an alternate workaround: if you're not on Patreon, you can still send me $3 through my PayPal account, and I can send you the .PDF file via email! I haven't sold any copies of this puzzle pack yet, so I hope this bit of shameless self-promotion works! So now with all that out of the way, let's get back to our regularly-scheduled puzzle!

For this puzzle, just change the group of 10 words below into a "family" of different words (that is, words or proper names that all have something in common) by dropping one letter from each word and then rearranging the remaining letters. For example, if three of the initial entries are HATRED, UNSTRAP, and AUBURNS, you could drop the D from HATRED to get EARTH, drop the P from UNSTRAP to get SATURN, and drop the B from AUBURNS to get URANUS, all in the category "Planets". As an additional help, the category for the new words will also be listed on top.

Once you're done, the letters that have been deleted from each word will unscramble to spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: a ten-letter word that also fits the category

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: Chess Words 4

It's been about two weeks since "Chess Words 4" was posted on this blog. I personally view it as one of the more difficult puzzle types that I do for this blog, but this particular one got a record-high of seventeen people!

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Josie Giles
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Tamara Brenner
• KeoFam
• Tower
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Chris Kochmanski
• Steve Gunter
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #479: Loopy Links

PUZZLE #479

LOOPY LINKS

All of the answers in this puzzle weave through the grid in a single long chain via a series of straight lines and right-angled turns. Each square is used once except where the answers link together in squares with circles in them, each serving as the last letter of one answer and the first letter of the next. The letters in these circled squares are blank and for you to fill in. The chain begins and ends in squares that have letters already filled in.

Once you've solved this puzzle, the circled letters (when read left to right starting at the topmost row) will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: a proper name

1) Long-haired princess voiced by Mandy Moore in Disney's Tangled

2) Lower back pain

3) _____ Magic (Shaq's original NBA team)

4) It measures how far your car goes

5) Rock paper scissors

6) Three sixteenths plus five sixteenths: 2 wds.

7) Total debacle

8) Desdemona's husband in a Shakespeare play

9) Geographically-oriented Wheel of Fortune category: 3 wds.

10) E _____ unum (Latin phrase meaning "Out of many, one")

11) Scoopable dessert that comes in a "rainbow" flavor

12) Parody

13) "I'm Like a Bird" singer Nelly

14) Animal voiced by William Shatner in Over the Hedge who overacts while playing dead

15) Barrel of _____ (toy originally made in the 1960s)

16) WetJet manufacturer

17) Soak up again

18) According to Jim star Jim

19) Like this type of text

20) _____ rolls (pastries also known as croissants)

21) Type of questions to answer in video games like Buzz!: Quiz World

22) Tick or scorpion, say

23) Google Drive alternative

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: Vanishing Act 4

It's been nearly two weeks since "Vanishing Act 4" was posted on this blog, and a whopping nineteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Josie Giles
• Sam Levitin
• Michael Lebowitz
• Patrick Jordan
• Tamara Brenner
• Wendy Walker
• Steve Gunter
• KeoFam
• Chris Kochmanski
• Tower
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Bart Gold

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #478: Chess Words 4

PUZZLE #478

CHESS WORDS 4

Eight 8-letter words are scrambled on the chessboard, all of which are the answers to the provided clues. Each chess piece starts on the first letter of one of the words, and can be moved across the board via standard chess moves to spell the rest of the word. Every square is used exactly once. The chess pieces move as follows:

King: one space in any of the eight directions
Rook: any number of spaces in a horizontal or vertical direction
Bishop: any number of spaces in a diagonal direction
Queen: any number of spaces in any of the eight directions
Knight: two spaces in a horizontal or vertical direction and then one space in a perpendicular direction

Once all the words have been found, read down the last letter of each filled-in word, in order, to get the FINAL ANSWER: an 8-letter word

  Queen's Rook: B _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                a1 
Queen's Knight: G _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                b1 
Queen's Bishop: L _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                c1 
         Queen: P _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                d1 
          King: S _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                e1 
 King's Bishop: M _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                f1 
 King's Knight: T _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                g1 
   King's Rook: H _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                h1

CLUES
• Bothersome bloodsucker

• Dessert whose name is Italian for "pick me up"

• Fall guy who's miles high

• Goliath, Brooklyn, or Demona from a ‘90s Disney series, say

• Noontime container

• One way to cause a trance

• Paper tract

• Trendy (yet meaningless) business term

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: Helter Skelter 8

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Helter Skelter 8" was posted on this blog, and an impressive eighteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mike Armstrong
• Josie Giles
• Chris Kochmanski
• Sam Levitin
• Steve Gunter
• Wendy Walker
• Tamara Brenner
• KeoFam
• Mom
• Patrick Jordan
• Lynn Sweeney
• Tower

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #477: Vanishing Act 4

PUZZLE #477

VANISHING ACT 4

One of the clues in this puzzle contains a word or phrase 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!

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 Armed Forces

CLUES

• Door banger that turns into Marley's face in A Christmas Carol

• Funhouse's warped reflector

• In a way that could lead to you being arrested

• James Cameron film with a sequel subtitled The Way of Water

• Motorcycle's accelerator

• Regularly recurring

• Sort of sugar on snickerdoodles

• What hearts represent in The Legend of Zelda

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: Squeezed in the Middle 20

It's been almost two weeks since my 20th "Squeezed in the Middle" puzzle was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have solved it since then, as you can see in the following list:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Chris Kochmanski
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Patrick Jordan
• Sam Levitin
• Tamara Brenner
• KeoFam
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Wendy Walker
• Perry Groot
• Steve Gunter
• Bart Gold

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #476: Helter Skelter 8

PUZZLE #476

HELTER SKELTER 8

Each answer in this crossword variation starts at the indicated number, and then moves towards the direction of the next number (though it may or may not stop there). The direction of the last answer is to be determined by the solver.

Once the grid has been filled out, unscramble the gray squares to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: An 8-letter verb

1) Invertebrate that loves to read?

2) _____ oblongata (brain part)

3) Indirectly refer (to)

4) Totally clueless as to what's going on

5) Ohio birthplace of both Stephen Curry and LeBron James

6) Wendy's, to Burger King and McDonald's

7) Pickle brand with a stork mascot

8) James who hosted The Late Late Show from 2015 to 2023

9) Material for Levi's 501 jeans

10) Avenger who puts on the "Hulkbuster" armor in Avengers: Age of Ultron: 2 wds.

11) Emptying an udder

12) Barry, Robin, or Maurice from the Bee Gees

13) "You're gonna need a _____ boat" (quote from Jaws)

14) With "The", Batman foe with a suit covered in question marks

15) Even less lofty in status

16) Schoolhouse _____! (Saturday morning cartoon)

17) What kernels grow on

18) Gospel groups

19) Broke up clods in the dirt

20) Smallest Great Lake, in both size and name

21) Ferrari who founded the Ferrari company (anagram of ZONE)

22) Org. that once had Ulysses S. Grant and Charlton Heston as presidents

23) Arthur _____ Stadium (the world's largest tennis stadium)

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: Color Wheels 5

It's been almost two weeks since "Color Wheels 5" was posted on this blog, and seventeen people have solved it since then (the most I've gotten for this puzzle type!). Take a look:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Mom
• Wendy Walker
• Patrick Jordan
• Lynn Sweeney
• Bart Gold
• Tamara Brenner
• Steve Gunter
• Perry Groot

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #475: Squeezed in the Middle 20

PUZZLE #475

SQUEEZED IN THE MIDDLE 20

For this puzzle, you're going to sandwich together words (entered in the white rectangles) by surrounding it with a letter on each side, one at the beginning and one at the end, making a new word in the process. Once you're done, the extra letters you've added in the "crust" (the brown squares) will spell out a two-word phrase. In the example above, the words URN, RAT, and OVER become BURNT, IRATE, and GOVERN, and the letters in the brown squares, reading down, spell out BIG TEN. However, to make things trickier, the "Wholes" will be in no particular order, so it's up to you to figure out which one of the "Centers" it matches up with!

Once you've filled out everything, the letters in the brown squares, reading down, will spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: the name of a person born in 1920

CENTERS

1) Greeting used in A. A. Milne's original Winnie-the-Pooh stories

2) _____ al-Fitr (holiday that marks the end of Ramadan)

3) Green tube that the Super Mario Bros. travel through

4) Last word in the Bible or Biblical sermon

5) Counterpart to Down in some common word puzzles

6) Word following "Stone", "Iron", or "Bronze"

7) Cardinal direction not used in any U.S. state name

WHOLES

• _____ beaver (pumped-up person)

• Fungi that raise a lot of dough?

• Maryland's state team sport which involves sticks with scoops

• Montag from MTV's The Hills

• Oscar-winning duet by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

• Really regret

• Trademarked name for an adrenaline autoinjector

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: Line 'Em Up 13

It's been about two weeks since "Line 'Em Up 13" got posted on this blog, and thirteen just so happens to be the number of people who have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Sam Levitin
• Michael Lebowitz
• Chris Kochmanski
• KeoFam
• Wendy Walker
• Lynn Sweeney
• Mom
• Perry Groot

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #474: Color Wheels 5

PUZZLE #474

COLOR WHEELS 5

This puzzle contains a word or phrase 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 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 blue entries will combine to make the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a well-known businessperson

ACROSS (marked with red arrows)

• "O Canada", for Canada

• Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center, e.g.

• The largest dam in Egypt

• Emperor Julius who was not the namesake of a salad

• Ethan Frome author Wharton

• Failed Ford cars from the '50s

• Wink Martindale-hosted game show based on blackjack (or a sacrificial chess opening)

• Charles de _____ Airport

• "May _____ your order?": 2 wds.

• Certain blue pill whose function I can't exactly describe in a family-friendly manner

UPHILL (marked with green arrows)

• Guinea-_____ (small African country)

• Avoid or evade

• Pain resulting from lifting something too heavy

• Tiny Greek vowels?

• London-based market that once insured Gene Simmons' tongue

• Musician Janelle with the Gold-certified song "Tightrope"

• Oyster lining also known as "mother-of-pearl"

• Expert in a very specific field

• "_____ Magically Delicious!" (Lucky Charms' slogan)

• Wascally animal hunted by Elmer Fudd

DOWNHILL (marked with blue arrows)

• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• _____ Republic (clothing store owned by Gap Inc.)

• Rusted-up Tin Man's request in The Wizard of Oz

• Pokémon _____ Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (pair of Nintendo 3DS games)

• Took care of fallen autumn leaves without a leaf blower

• With "The", Jason Mraz hit subtitled "(I Won't Worry)"

• Positioned, as a building

• Heavy overcoat (anagram of RESULT)

• Former 20/20 co-anchor Elizabeth (or last name of YouTuber Angry Joe)

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: Puzzle in the Round 7

It's been nearly two weeks since "Puzzle in the Round 7" was posted on this blog, and everyone who has solved it since then is listed below:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #473: Line 'Em Up 13

PUZZLE #473

LINE 'EM UP 13

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 celebrity who has hosted game shows and reality shows

1) Mammal such as Kuma or Panda from the Tekken video games [4]

2) Step on a rotten banana peel, maybe [4]

3) Agcy. headquartered in the J. Edgar Hoover Building [3]

4) "Round" numbers used in binary [6]

5) Company that makes Air Force and Air Jordan sneakers [4]

6) _____ Lanka (country with the former English name of "Ceylon") [3]

7) Only female member of Gorillaz (or a spaghetti strand) [6]

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: Christmas Presents

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Christmas Presents" was posted to this blog on Christmas day, which means that it's time for me to unveil the list of everyone who has solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Chris Kochmanski
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Patrick Jordan
• Sam Levitin
• Mom & Alex Milton
• Tamara Brenner
• Wendy Walker
• Kevin Orfield
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #472: Puzzle in the Round 7

PUZZLE #472

PUZZLE IN THE ROUND 7

Happy New Year! Since it's officially New Year's Day, I've made sure that my first puzzle of 2024 also involves the New Year (kinda)! Take a look:

To solve this tough puzzle, fill in as many of the 5-letter answers next to their clues as you can. Next, look for shared letters, and then enter each letter into its correct place in the diagram (though you'll most likely need to scramble the order of the letters to make them fit). The letter in the grid's center will be shared by all of the answer words. As a little hint, look for unshared letters to help you determine the letters that will go in the outer ring to form the FINAL ANSWER, reading from 1 to 24.

The FINAL ANSWER is the name of a film with a scene set at a New Year's party

1) Leafy green vegetable that comes in a "Fordhook Giant" variety

     _ _ _ _ _

2) 23-time Jeopardy champ Mattea (or a bug in ads for Raid)

     _ _ _ _ _

3) Product by Seiko with a strap

     _ _ _ _ _

4) "De-fense! De-fense!", for one

     _ _ _ _ _

5) _____ Picchu (Incan ruins in Peru)

     _ _ _ _ _

6) The Scream painter Edvard

     _ _ _ _ _

7) From the Netherlands

     _ _ _ _ _

8) "_____ of Grey" (The Grateful Dead's only Top 10 hit)

     _ _ _ _ _

9) Car with two doors and two rows of seats

     _ _ _ _ _

10) Walt Disney World park with the "Journey into Imagination with Figment" ride

     _ _ _ _ _

11) With "The", NBC singing competition that Morgan Wallen once competed on

     _ _ _ _ _

12) Group of thirteen Wiccans

     _ _ _ _ _

13) Bus stop’s seat

     _ _ _ _ _

14) Ergo

     _ _ _ _ _

15) Coach Lombardi who is the namesake of the Super Bowl's trophy

     _ _ _ _ _

16) Sibling’s daughter

     _ _ _ _ _

17) Metal planned to be recycled

     _ _ _ _ _

18) Manila envelope closer

     _ _ _ _ _

19) _____ Stories to Tell in the Dark (1981 book)

     _ _ _ _ _

20) Huge tumble at the stock market

     _ _ _ _ _

21) Food-ordering app for local pizzerias named after a pizza piece

     _ _ _ _ _

22) Honeycomb compartments

     _ _ _ _ _

23) Mohs _____ of mineral hardness

     _ _ _ _ _

24) Twenty-six containers of varying dollar amounts in Deal or No Deal

     _ _ _ _ _

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!