Monday, April 29, 2024

PUZZLE #489: Deck It Out 9

PUZZLE #439
DECK IT OUT 9

Fill in the answers to the clues below, then transfer the letters marked with playing card symbols to their proper places in the grid below. The number (or letter) of each clue will tell you what column to place those letters in. Once it's completely filled in, the grid will spell out a sentence that will provide a hint to the FINAL ANSWER.

This week's FINAL ANSWER is a short name


A) Dog Day Afternoon director Lumet
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
           ♠   ♦   
2) "_____ Through the Tulips" (novelty song by Tiny Tim)
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
              ♠   
3) Gentle heat
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
              ♣       ♠
4) Buccaneer such as Risky Boots from the Shantae video games
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
               ♠   ♥   
5) Large ink stain
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
       ♣       ♠       
6) Thermometer unit
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
    ♠                 ♣      
7) With "The", NBC sitcom set at Dunder Mifflin
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
              ♠   
8) Half of a circle's diameter
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
          ♠       
9) DVR remote button with two triangles pointing left
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
                 
10) Broke into, as a supposedly secure computer system
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
    ♠                 ♣
J) Impulse _____ (abruptly purchasing stuff on a whim)
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
                     
Q) North American country where the game show Bumper Stumpers was filmed
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
                 
K) Pink hue named after a fish known for swimming upstream
   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
       ♠       ♣       

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!

Sunday, April 28, 2024

ANSWERS: Masquerade Party 3

It's been nearly two weeks since "Masquerade Party 3" was posted on this blog, and seventeen people have solved it since then:

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

Monday, April 22, 2024

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!

Sunday, April 21, 2024

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!

Monday, April 15, 2024

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"
) 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!

Sunday, April 14, 2024

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!

Monday, April 8, 2024

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!

Sunday, April 7, 2024

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!

Monday, April 1, 2024

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!