PUZZLE #528: Family Reunions 8

PUZZLE #528

FAMILY REUNIONS 8

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: Line 'Em Up 14

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Line 'Em Up 14" was posted on this blog, and twenty people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Joe Bernard
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Chris Kochmanski
• Tamara Brenner
• Wendy Walker
• Jim Cremer
• Sam Levitin
• KeoFam
• Josie Giles
• Lynn Sweeney
• Mom
• Derek Allen
• SquishmallowsUnited

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #527: Sudokurostic 5

PUZZLE #527

SUDOKUROSTIC 5

This puzzle type was suggested by Patron Grant Fikes. Normally, you can suggest a puzzle type of your own choice over on my Patreon page, but both slots are still full, so you might have to resort to PayPal if you still want to make a request of your own.

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: a noun that's at least six letters long

• Arabian Nights character who said "Open Sesame!": 2 wds.

   __ __ __ __ __ __ __

   f5 h4 b3 c9 h7 f3 b6

• Bryant who narrated the Oscar-winning animated short Dear Basketball

   __ __ __ __

   e1 i1 d7 g5

• Controversial short video app that shares its name with a Kesha song

   __ __ __ __ __ __

   e3 c5 d4 a7 e7 a2

• Made-up names for criminals

   __ __ __ __ __ __ __

   e9 g3 a9 i3 b4 e6 d5

• "Taste the Rainbow" candy seen in the video game Darkened Skye

   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

   g1 f7 e4 i8 f6 c7 d3 h6

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 links to two .PDF versions which you can print out!

ANSWERS: Compound Crosswords 11

It's been almost two weeks since "Compound Crosswords 11" was posted on this blog, and nineteen people have solved it since then:

• Cathy Bowen
• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Josie Giles
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Wendy Walker
• Chris Kochmanski
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Patrick Jordan
• KeoFam
• Lynn Sweeney
• Mom
• Tamara Brenner

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #526: Line 'Em Up 14

PUZZLE #526

LINE 'EM UP 14

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!

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 a two-word phrase associated with business meetings

1) With "The", "You Really Got Me" rock band [5]

2) Marshmallow bird seen around Easter [4]

3) Tree that sounds like a second-person pronoun [3]

4) _____ Duck: Goin' Quackers (2000 Disney video game) [6]

5) Tiny castle that can only move vertically or horizontally [4]

6) TNT and CNN founder Turner [3]

7) South American country where Raiders of the Lost Ark's boulder chase occurs [4]

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: New Year's Presents

It's been almost two weeks since "New Year's Presents" got posted on the last Monday of 2024, and a whopping twenty-one people have solved it since then! Take a look:

• Cindy Heisler
• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Josie Giles
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Chris Kochmanski
• Sam Levitin
• KeoFam
• Derek Allen
• Tamara Brenner
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Patrick Jordan
• Lynn Sweeney
• Stasi Gustafson
• Steve Gunter

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #525: Compound Crosswords 11

PUZZLE #525

COMPOUND CROSSWORDS 11

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

• 2010 indie film about a living car tire on a killing spree (or what a car tire's made of)

• Bean-shaped organ that filters blood

• Breathes like a tired terrier

• Chicago _____ Sox

• Emma who won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Poor Things

• Fast, like the brown fox that jumps over the lazy dog

• Installed on the wall, as a painting

• Judge, _____, and executioner

• NBA player from Milwaukee

• Part of CBS or GPS

• Restaurant chain that once offered $5 footlongs

• Rock _____ 2 (2008 video game where you can play guitar, drums, or vocals)

• Royal residency that you try to hit in the pinball game Medieval Madness

• Sir Hiss from Disney's Robin Hood, for one

• Stephen who wrote The Running Man under the pseudonym Richard Bachman

• _____-Sun (pouched juice brand)

• Tsuyu from My Hero Academia has all the powers of this hopping amphibian

• "U Got the Look" singer

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: Puzzle in the Round 8

It's been about two weeks since "Puzzle in the Round 8" was posted on this blog, and nineteen people have successfully solved it since then, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Cathy Bowen
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Chris Kochmanski
• Sam Levitin
• Derek Allen
• KeoFam
• Mom
• Kevin Orfield
• Wendy Walker
• Patrick Jordan
• Tamara Brenner
• Lynn Sweeney
• Josie Giles
• Steve Gunter

Now head below the break for the answers!