PUZZLE #619: Wonder Twins 2

PUZZLE #619

WONDER TWINS 2

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!

There are two identical crossword grids and two sets of clues to go with them, so that you can solve them both at the same time. However, each clue number has two different clues for two different answers (sorted randomly), so you have to figure out which answer goes in which grid. To help you get started, both answers for one pair of clues have been filled in.

Once everything has been filled in, you should notice that some corresponding squares in the solved grids will have the exact same letters. Read them in order to get the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a horror novel that features twins

ACROSS

1) Ant princess from A Bug's Life

    Basic beds in barracks

5) High-top or high heel

    "This water slide is so much fuuuuun!!!"

9) Chris who voiced Emmet in The Lego Movie

     Aids and _____ (helps out illegally)

11) Throw forcefully (or throw up)

      Real fake news item published on April Fools' Day, usually

12) Eyelash

      Peeves, or provokes curiosity

14) Spanish river whose name is an anagram of ROBE

      Memo intro: 2 wds., abbr.

15) Joints that strict parents don't want on the dinner table

      Straighten out, literally

17) Make manuscript modifications, maybe

      Baseball "hit" that might not even reach the pitcher's mound

19) Hash out another draft via keyboard

      iPhone's pre-installed web browser

23) Texter's alternative to 😆

      Select, with "for"

24) Cranky Kong or Donkey Kong, for instance

      "_____ it or lose it"

25) Days of _____ Lives (soap opera with over 15,000 episodes)

      128 fl. oz.

26) Where four and twenty blackbirds got baked: 3 wds.

      Allay one's fears

28) _____ Fu Chaos (Xbox fighting game inspired by martial arts films)

      Fail to float

29) Like the "p" in "receipt"

      Little Women and Little Men author Louisa May

31) Bridge Deluxe II with _____ Sharif (1996 computer card game)

      Pikmin 3 engineer (HINT: His name is four-fifths of a Greek letter)

34) Benoit Blanc or Encyclopedia Brown, e.g.

      Whip or wallop

37) One joule per second

      _____-Brite (toy with colorful pegs)

38) Tow truck who lives in Radiator Springs

      Male model appearing on many, many romance book covers of the 1990s

39) Any contestant on To Tell the Truth who doesn't tell the truth

      Impose a parking fee

40) Benches in Baptist churches

      District attorney Harvey from The Dark Knight (2008)

DOWN

1) Hat thrown by Mario in Super Mario Odyssey

    Military vehicle that anagrams to the previous answer: Abbr.

2) Prefix for "athlete" or "angle"

    It closes up a kimono

3) Natural knacks

    #1 hit by the Champs whose only lyric is right there in the title

4) Physical challenge on Beat the Clock

    Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa

5) Trick-y card game?

    Storage space for books one may never read

6) "Schnookie-wookums"

    Stub_____ (ticket selling website)

7) "Wing" for Dumbo

    Bobby who won the NHL's Norris Trophy eight times in a row

8) File extension for many PC games

    "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Evil Woman" grp.

10) Collegiate athletic conference with LSU and Texas A&M

      Container for a butcher, baker, and candlestick maker

13) Scrumptious pieces of food

      Possible perpetrator in the UK game show Armchair Detectives

16) Issa from Insecure on HBO Max

      Small, to a Scotsman

17) Let the Right One In vampire (answer hidden in DELIVER)

      _____ constrictor

18) "Big Brown" delivery co.

      Cartoonist Martin dubbed "MAD's Maddest Artist"

20) The world's second-most visited website (after Google)

      Perturb

21) Didn't exactly hold in the wash

      "The bike fell over because it was two-tired", e.g.

22) Classification

      Rowing machine, briefly (or the grunt that you make when exercising on it?)

24) Magician Geller who once sued Nintendo over the Pokémon Kadabra

      Feel feverish

27) "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" and "Love in This Club" singer

      Bachelor _____ (mid-'80s Tom Hanks comedy)

28) Over-the-shoulder backpack holder

      One way to make dough

30) Pointy-eared humanoid such as Marcille from Delicious in Dungeon

      Unit represented by an omega

31) Twilight Sparkle's hooting pet bird, for one

      Nothing's opposite

32) Roman numeral associated with the Philadelphia Eagles' first Super Bowl win

      African-American astronaut Jemison

33) Off-roader such as the Yamaha Grizzly 700

      "Harper Valley _____" (hit country song from 1968)

35) Attach a patch, perhaps

      Element #50 on the periodic table

36) Faucet handle option

      There's 168 of these in a wk.

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: Dial Tunes 7

Two weeks have passed by since "Dial Tunes 7" was posted on this blog, so now's the time to list the names of all fifteen people who have successfully solved it since then:

• Marie desJardins
• Grant Fikes
• Pavel Curtis
• Okieboy2008
• Sam Levitin
• Kevin Orfield
• Derek Allen
• Michael Lebowitz
• Wendy Walker
• Chris Kochmanski
• Morgan Glasberg
• Nicholas Weaver
• Mom
• KeoFam
• Steve Gunter

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #618: Coined Phrases 8

PUZZLE #618

COINED PHRASES 8

There is a set of five coins, all of which have one letter on each of their two faces. Each letter appears only once throughout the set, and no two coins share the same letter. Random flips of all the coins have produced six 5-letters words hinted at by the numbered clues. Once all six answers have been solved, use logic and deductive reasoning to figure out the letters that are printed on each coin. Finally, rearrange the coins so that both sides spell out two more 5-letter words that combine to make a two-word phrase.

This week's FINAL ANSWER is a term relating to motor transportation

1) Michael Caine's Oscar-nominated title role of 1966

2) Gloomy, like a certain house that Charles Dickens once wrote about

3) Construct with Lego bricks, for instance

4) Renaissance _____ (medieval-themed festival)

5) Great bit of success via sheer dumb luck (or a fin on a whale's tail)

6) Foaming at the mouth, literally or figuratively

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: Squeezed in the Middle 23

Thirteen days have passed since "Squeezed in the Middle 23" was posted on this blog, and a total of eighteen people have solved it since then!

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Derek Allen
• Morgan Glasberg
• Wendy Walker
• Steve Gunter
• KeoFam
• Bart Gold
• Mom

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #617: Dial Tunes 7

PUZZLE #617

DIAL TUNES 7

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.

First, answer as many of the numbered clues as you can and enter them into the first grid. Each clue ends with an arrow indicating the direction its answer should be entered: from top to bottom [↓], from bottom to top [↑], or even either way [↕]. For example, if the answers were JIB [↓], IRE [↓], SAD [↑], EVE [↕], AT [↑], and O [↕], you would enter them like this:

Next, try to decode the message (in the form of song lyrics) by replacing every circled letter with another letter that shares the same number on a telephone keypad, which we've provided on top of these directions (for example, B can be replaced by A or C). The decoded message should be entered into the second grid, as shown here (note that the bold vertical lines indicate divisions between words):

(From "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

The FINAL ANSWER is the name of the song containing the decoded lyrics.

Place the answers to the following clues here

1) 14th Greek letter (or 11th Roman numeral) [↓]

2) Trade show such as Gamescom or Comic-Con [↑]

3) Painful woe in a big toe [↑]

4) Disc slapped around by Ducks and Penguins [↑]

5) "What You Need" and "Need You Tonight" rock band [↓]

6) Hair removal product whose name used to be a homophone for a word meaning "tidy" [↓]

7) Shortened sorority counterpart [↑]

8) Huge piloted robot in sci-fi, such as a Gundam [↑]

9) Munches on mutton, maybe [↓]

10) Tiny tick relative [↑]

11) Truffula _____ (colorful plant that the Lorax speaks for) [↓]

12) 180° from NW [↓]

13) Original Star Search host McMahon [↓]

Place the decoded lyrics here

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: Sunburst 8

About two weeks have gone by since "Sunburst 8" was posted on this blog, and sixteen people have solved it since then:

• Cindy Heisler
• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Sam Levitin
• Derek Allen
• Steve Gunter
• Chris Kochmanski
• Bart Gold
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Morgan Glasberg
• Nicholas Weaver

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #616: Squeezed in the Middle 23

PUZZLE #616

SQUEEZED IN THE MIDDLE 23

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: a term used in computing

CENTERS

1) Midsommar director Aster

2) Blueprint detail, briefly

3) Nimble and flexible

4) Groundbreaking Atari arcade game originally released in 1972

5) Voice just below soprano

6) _____, Lose or Draw (game show similar to Pictionary, but not directly inspired by it)

7) Acts (or rather, overacts) on stage

8) Wallach, Whitney, and Manning, for three

WHOLES

• French city that Rocko visits in an episode of Rocko's Modern Life

• In debt

• Last name of John-Boy from a 1970s show set in Virginia

• Most isolated, as an isle

• Move like a mamba or milk snake

• Rachael Ray catchphrase (meaning "Yum!") that rhymes with her pet food brand "Nutrish"

• _____ ratio (TV size such as 16:9)

• Scrubber such as Scrub Daddy

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: Word Squares: Projectors 9

It's been almost two weeks since "Word Squares: Projectors 9" was posted on this blog, and just like last week, fourteen people managed to solve this hard puzzle:

• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Cathy Bowen
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Chris Kochmanski
• Derek Allen
• Sam Levitin
• Steve Gunter
• Michael Lebowitz
• Lynn Sweeney
• Mom
• Morgan Glasberg

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #615: Sunburst 8

PUZZLE #615

SUNBURST 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!

First, solve each 4-letter word listed in the first set of clues, then rearrange them and attach an extra letter to its end (which will be up to you to determine) to form a 5-letter word that matches one of the answers listed in the second clue set. For example, if an answer is ATOP, scramble those letters, add another letter to the end, and form the 5-letter word TOPAZ. Next, place each resulting 5-letter word into the Sunburst at their corresponding numbers, starting at the outermost tile and reading inwards. Since all the 5-letter words have the exact same final letter, make sure that each 5-letter word ends in the center of the grid.

Once the grid has been filled in, the outermost ring of the Sunburst, when read clockwise from 1 to 18, will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: The name of simulation video game

4-LETTER WORDS

1) "Oh, for Pete's _____!"

2) Nevada city that's home to the National Bowling Stadium

3) Countess's husband

4) Alien bounty hunter from 2026's Supergirl (or a Spanish wolf)

5) Carvey who played the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live

6) Part in a play for an actor to play

7) Pixar film series with Mater and Lightning McQueen

8) Tears, as fabric

9) "I'm so hungry, I could _____ horse!": 2 wds.

10) Shape of a St. Louis tourist attraction

11) Sit still (or not) for a photograph

12) Open-handed hit

13) Banjo-Kazooie developers (or a synonym for "uncommon")

14) _____-Cola

15) Lacoste's crocodile or the Florida Gators' gator head, for example

16) Usual roll-call response

17) Tomb raider Croft from Tomb Raider

18) Geodesic _____

5-LETTER WORDS

• British town that can precede "Downs" or "salts"

• "Buzz off, kid!"

• Clock feature that's briefly delayed by the snooze button

• Doom and _____

• Equip with more guns

• Huge, to a poet (HINT: all they did was remove "-ous" from the word's usual form)

• _____ Ipsum (Latin-sounding gibberish seen in placeholder texts)

• Light-refracting crystal

• One of 150 in an Old Testament book

• Open up, as a buttercup

• Philosopher with a razor paraphrased as "the simplest explanation is usually the correct one"

• Radio DJ Casey who was the original voice of Shaggy from Scooby-Doo

• Royal ruler's region

• Sew up a skirt again

• Texan university with the Aggies as its mascot: 3 wds.

• Third time's the _____

• Web-linking device that used to be dial-up in the 1990s

• With "The", '80s TV show with Mr. T as B. A. Baracus: Hyph.

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: Chess Words 7

It's been roughly two weeks since "Chess Words 7" was posted on this blog, and it proved to be quite a toughie, since only fourteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Sam Levitin
• Michael Lebowitz
• Chris Kochmanski
• Wendy Walker
• Derek Allen
• Steve Gunter
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #614: Word Squares: Projectors 9

PUZZLE #614

WORD SQUARES: PROJECTORS 9

There are a series of clues whose answers will fit into the provided grid, reading across and down. However, all of the answers are one letter too long to fit in properly, so each one must have either its first or last letter sticking out (or "projecting" out) of the grid. Once you're done, start at the top left and read the "Projectors" either clockwise or counterclockwise to get another word or phrase. In the example above, the Projectors spell out SAMPLE.

This week's FINAL ANSWER is the eight-letter name of a company based in Wisconsin

CLUES

• Cylindrical pasta that's one letter off from a certain coin

• Get all greasy, as a bodybuilder: 2 wds.

• Laser printer's powder

• Lie on one's rump and do nothing while something bad goes on: 2 wds.

• Neil deGrasse _____ (astrophysicist who lost on Celebrity Jeopardy)

• Part of "EU" or "USSR"

• Spiny (yet soothing) plants sometimes used in hand sanitizer

• The Perks of _____ a Wallflower (2012 coming-of-age film)

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: Eat Your Words 12

Two weeks have passed by since "Eat Your Words 12" was posted on this blog, so now's the time to list the names of all the people who have successfully solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Pavel Curtis
• Okieboy2008
• Sam Levitin
• Michael Lebowitz
• Chris Kochmanski
• Bart Gold
• Kevin Orfield
• Derek Allen
• Wendy Walker
• Steve Gunter
• Ian
• Mom

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #613: Chess Words 7

PUZZLE #613

CHESS WORDS 7

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.

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, pick two of the words and combine them to get the FINAL ANSWER: a fictional item from comic books

  Queen's Rook: F _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                a1 
Queen's Knight: P _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                b1 
Queen's Bishop: W _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                c1 
         Queen: G _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                d1 
          King: E _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                e1 
 King's Bishop: H _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                f1 
 King's Knight: S _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                g1 
   King's Rook: I _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                h1

CLUES

• Bodybuilder’s build

• Dirty rotten scoundrel

• Four-player arcade game from the mid-’80s

• Multi-platinum Journey album with "Wheel in the Sky"

• Poisonous purple (or pink) flowering plant

• Suitable for those with sophisticated tastes

• Welcomed with open arms (or hugged with closed arms)

• Word in the name of Sesame Street's production company

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: Anagram Magic Square 10

Thirteen days have passed since "Anagram Magic Square 10" was posted on this blog, and a total of seventeen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Okieboy2008
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Derek Allen
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mom [Hint Used]
• Bart Gold
• KeoFam
• Kevin Orfield
• Steve Gunter
• Nicholas Weaver

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #612: Eat Your Words 12

PUZZLE #612

EAT YOUR WORDS 12

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 chain store

NUMBERED WORDS

1) Brought to court

2) Superhero costume designer from The Incredibles

3) Cafeteria staple that may double as a makeshift sled

4) "The Fox and the Crow" or "The Fox and the Grapes", e.g.

5) _____ × Family (anime about a secret agent, his assassin wife, and their telepathic daughter)

6) Late Dawson's Creek star Van Der Beek

7) Converse via Instagram Direct Messenger, perhaps

8) Contented kitty sound

9) Mediocre, in modern slang (HINT: It becomes a synonym for "murky" when spelled backwards)

EATEN WORDS

• 2011 animated film about a blue parrot taken to a large Brazilian city

• Act as a barber to a baaing sheep, perhaps

• Bank with a blue octagon logo

• Cilium on an eyelid

• Exchange money for goods and services

• Go on for so long about an uninteresting subject that the audience falls asleep, say

• Greek letter that is pronounced like something that unlocks doors

• _____ Maid (children’s card game)

• Sleeveless top often worn by Goofy

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: Empty Word Ladder 6

About two weeks have gone by since "Empty Word Ladder 6" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have solved it since then! Take a look:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Michael Lebowitz
• Derek Allen
• Patrick Jordan
• Steve Gunter
• Wendy Walker
• Mom
• Bart Gold
• Stasi Gustafson
• KeoFam

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #611: Anagram Magic Square 10

PUZZLE #611

ANAGRAM MAGIC SQUARE 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!

The 5-letter word in each box is an anagram to the answer to each of the clues below.... almost. You see, in this puzzle, all of the answers are six letters long, so add an extra letter to each 5-letter word to get each answer. Put the number of each corresponding clue into the small box below the initial word and write down the anagram on the dash directly below that. The numbers in each row and column will add up to 65.

Once you're done with the puzzle, the added letter of each answer, in numerical clue order, will spell out a clue; the FINAL ANSWER is the answer to that clue.

1) Yellow-bellied, lily-livered, chicken-hearted scaredy-cat

2) Terror felt by the previous answer

3) With "The", "Suddenly Last Summer" band (or some roadside inns)

4) Stringed instrument heard in the soundtrack of 1949's The Third Man

5) Pepperoni, for instance

6) Member of an NBA team that plays its home games at Little Caesars Arena

7) Squat down, like Super Mario about to do a backflip

8) Without needing to hide anymore

9) Sing like a stool pigeon?

10) Emitted light

11) _____ to Win It (NBC game show originally hosted by Guy Fieri)

12) Leap like a lurking lioness

13) Overrun, as with too many insects

14) Finally make it big

15) Giant cyan planet where the PlayStation 1 game Blasto is set

16) Hasty drawing

17) It's the Easter _____, Charlie Brown (Peanuts special where Snoopy delivers eggs)

18) Rotational force represented by the Greek letter tau

19) Les Paul guitar company

20) The Grateful Dead's Deadheads or Jimmy Buffett's Parrotheads, say

21) Leg parts with femurs

22) Go over a topic yet again

23) _____ Dearest (film with Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford)

24) Either multiplier in a multiplication problem

25) Nonparallel, like some bars that gymnasts perform on

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: Brick By Brick 11

It's been almost two weeks since "Brick By Brick 11" was posted on this blog, so now's the time to list all eighteen people who have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Marie desJardins
• Cathy Bowen
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Okieboy2008
• Sam Levitin
• Wendy Walker
• Derek Allen
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Chris Kochmanski
• Mom
• KeoFam
• Steve Gunter
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #610: Empty Word Ladder 6

PUZZLE #610

EMPTY WORD LADDER 6

In normal word ladders, you have to turn one word into another word by changing it one letter at a time (such as CAT — COT — DOT — DOG). However, this word ladder is completely blank, meaning that the starting and ending words are completely unknown. To fill it in, we've provided clues to all of the words that link the two mystery words, though they're not listed in any particular order. Rearrange the clues' answers so that they form a proper word ladder in the white spaces, then figure out the two mystery words on the ladder's top and bottom, signified by the yellow spaces. Combine both words in the correct order to make the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word phrase relating to automobiles.

CLUES

• WORD AT THE START OF THE LADDER

• WORD AT THE END OF THE LADDER

• Film's orchestral soundtrack

• Flies high like the majestic eagle

• Hippie's tie-dyed top, e.g.

• Illinois-based team that recorded "The Super Bowl Shuffle" (and won it weeks later)

• Jersey _____: Family Vacation (MTV show that's somehow still airing)

• Martin who appears with Steve Martin in Wells Fargo commercials

• Permanent markings, such as those on the Joker's mouth in The Dark Knight

• Startle someone with a shout, say

• Wild pigs

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 get a hint from me in exchange for a "hint star"; more details for that are on the sidebar to the right) 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 12

It's been roughly two weeks since "Section Six 12" was posted on this blog, and seventeen people have solved it since then, as you can see by the following list:

• Marie desJardins
• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Sam Levitin
• Michael Lebowitz
• Wendy Walker
• Chris Kochmanski
• Derek Allen
• Steve Gunter
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney

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

PUZZLE #609: Brick By Brick 11

PUZZLE #609

BRICK BY BRICK 11

 

Place the 2x3 bricks into the grid below so that a crossword puzzle with rotational symmetry is formed. Each of the Across and Down clues hint at answers that appear in that row or column, all of which are in order. Be careful with the rows marked with a 7, 8, and 9, as the bricks that are placed in those rows will be split in half by a blue line, which you can see in the diagram above. Also, the letters that go in the blue line's squares will complete one answer in every Down column, though you'll have to figure out what those letters are.

This week's FINAL ANSWER is the name of a 1990s sitcom

ACROSS

1) The Mystery of the Blue Train and Murder on the Orient Express author Christie

    Not powered on

    Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, for two

2) Fungus such as Iceland moss (even though it's not closely related to moss)

    Word following "turf" or "Trojan"

    Cote d'_____ (the French Riviera)

3) Too, too much

    Environmentally-friendly prefix

    _____ chocolate M&M's

4) Jeopardy (and not the kind seen on a quiz show)

    Paper-delivery kids that went on strike in 1889

5) Phileas who went around the world in 80 days

    Original The Closer cable network

6) Subtle summons that's surprisingly legal to play in Scrabble

    Prior to, poetically

    City that's home to Iowa State University

7) Letters between a real name and a nickname

    Like something that can't be bought anywhere

8) THE FINAL ANSWER

9) Ninths, after being halved

    Suffix for "velvet"

10) Captain of the Nautilus submarine in two Jules Verne stories

      Abbr. on a Broadway sign that basically means "no seats left"

      "Puppy Love" singer Paul

11) Ignited

      Spheres such as the Dragon Balls from Dragon Ball

12) Take money from the bank (legally, of course)

      Enemy of Spider-Man dressed like a horned gray mammal

13) Long-Haired ____ (short film with Bugs Bunny dressed as a conductor)

      Had ham, perhaps

      Site for many brawls in many western films

14) Frankenstein's lab assistant not present in the original Frankenstein novel

      Spanish version of "Huh??"

      Indiana or Illinois, on a Monopoly board

15) "Danger _____" (Kenny Loggins hit)

      Little rascal

      Pyramid builders of Chichén Itzá

DOWN

1) Skewed

    Cover with asphalt or blacktop

    Kraft Cheez _____

2) Donate to a blood drive, say

    Bundle of yarn

    Parrot who has his own musical number in Aladdin: The Return of Jafar

3) Taiwanese PC manufacturer

    Beetle Bailey's short-tempered superior

    1982 sci-fi film with a villainous Master Control Program

4) "_____ Shop" (Macklemore song where he raps about buying used clothes)

    Volt ÷ ampere

    At this very location

5) "Greetings!"

    Numerous, like stories that were never narrated

6) Press _____ key to continue

    Magical being such as Shazzan or Kazaam

    Resident of Basra or Baghdad

7) Christians' pre-meal prayer

    21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street star Channing

8) A Prayer for _____ Meany (John Irving novel)

    Chris who played both Captain America and the Human Torch

    Cry like a willow?

9) Sapphire's side

    Gray Great Dane owned by the Jetsons

10) :(

      Blood of the Greek gods

      Yosemite _____ (Looney Tunes cowboy)

11) Purposefully delays play, in the NFL

      Cheer for an Italian diva

12) Door hinge holder

      One-time Chinese chairman Zedong

      The Olsen twin who's slightly older by two minutes

13) Playable protagonist of Assassin's Creed II

      Buddy who played Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies

      New York college with a name that's three-fourths vowels

14) In a proper manner

      Aerodynamic

      Part of a sentence such as "part" or "sentence"

15) Majorly miffs

      The highest active volcano in Europe

      Lowest dollar denominations in the board game Spy Alley

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: Fronts Off 9

Two weeks have passed by since "Fronts Off 9" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have successfully solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Cathy Bowen
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Michael Lebowitz
• Okieboy2008
• Patrick Jordan
• Chris Kochmanski
• Derek Allen
• KeoFam
• Wendy Walker
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Sam Levitin
• Bart Gold
• Mom
• Steve Gunter

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #608: Section Six 12

PUZZLE #608

SECTION SIX 12

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.

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) "YEOW, that hurts!"

2) Welded together

3) Joey formerly of *NSYNC (answer hidden in SOLFA TONES)

4) Drop the ball, if you're a clumsy NFL player

5) CVS _____ (America's largest drugstore chain)

6) Completely dead, as dodos and dinos

RING 2

• Electric current unit whose symbol is the first letter of the alphabet

• Deceptive poker ploy

• The Phil _____ Show (1967-96 daytime talk show)

• Merit badge earner

• Imprecise

RING 3

• Spots or sees

• Amount that fits into a fist

• Word following "balance" or "laser"

• Before the government's share is added to a grocery bill, say

RING 4

• Don't Forget the Lyrics! hostess Niecy (or a bandmate of Crosby and Stills)

• Quoted out of _____

• Went on and on with tangent after tangent and with seemingly no real point to be made

RING 5

• Beach umbrella's offering

• "Un-Break My Heart" singer Toni

RING 6

• Boston baseball team featured in the 2005 film Fever Pitch: 2 wds.

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: Code Crossword 3

Thirteen days have passed since "Code Crossword 3" was posted on this blog, and it proved to be quite a toughie, since only fourteen people managed to solve it:

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Marie desJardins
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Chris Kochmanski
• Michael Lebowitz
• Derek Allen
• Sam Levitin
• Darth
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Mom

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

PUZZLE #607: Fronts Off 9

PUZZLE #607

FRONTS OFF 9

First, find the answers to each clue so that there are two words in each rectangular box. Then change the first letter of each word to the new same letter for both words of a pair to form two new words, and write the new letter in the square box to the left of the rectangle.

Once you're done, read down the boxes to get the FINAL ANSWER: a seven-letter word

1) Numeric unit scored in any pinball game

    Askew (anagram of CODEC KEY)

2) A rolling one gathers no moss (as proved by the Mythbusters)

    Purple plants that are the state wildflowers of Louisiana and Michigan

3) Hand covering for Mario or Wario

    All covered with age lines

4) Actress Blair who played Regan in The Exorcist and Exorcist II

    Tiny bite

5) Castle dungeon’s light source

    Dragon from Walt Disney World's Journey into Imagination (or a "fraction" of imagination)

6) _____ Jack (British flag)

    Shutting up the pundits on TV, in a way

7) Under-the-table payment

    Clara Cluck, Miss Prissy, and Foghorn Leghorn, for three

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 16

About two weeks have gone by since "Lucky Sevens 16" was posted on this blog, and an astounding twenty-one people have solved it since then! Take a look:

• Grant Fikes
• Cathy Bowen
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• KeoFam
• Patrick Jordan
• Derek Allen
• Wendy Walker
• Chris Kochmanski
• Nicholas Weaver
• Lynn Sweeney
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Mom
• Steve Gunter
• Bart Gold
• Ian Hunter

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a couple of solvers' comments!

PUZZLE #606: Code Crossword 3

PUZZLE #606

CODE CROSSWORD 3

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.

In this crossword puzzle, the numbers in the grid's squares (from 1 to 26) stand for letters of the alphabet. You must crack the code to reveal the words. For each letter that matches a certain number, place that letter in each square containing the number as well as the answer key next to the grid, with all 26 letters appearing at least once in the completed grid. As a little help, one of the letters has already been decoded and placed in the grid.

Once you're done, look through the answer key using a certain pattern to get the FINAL ANSWER: A 13-letter word

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: Pieces of Nine 14

It's been almost two weeks since "Pieces of Nine 14" was posted on this blog, so now's the time to list all eighteen people who have solved it since then:

• Cathy Bowen
• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Marie desJardins
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Michael Lebowitz
• KeoFam
• SquishmallowsUnited
• Wendy Walker
• Steve Gunter
• Patrick Jordan
• Derek Allen
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #605: Lucky Sevens 16

PUZZLE #605

LUCKY SEVENS 15

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!

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 associated with grammar

ROWS

i) Literal pen name that's also a brand of lighters

ii) "Roger that"

iii) Playful prank

iv) The titular Abbott Elementary, for one

v) Stock character defined by her innocence & naïveté

vi) Talking white cat from Sailor Moon (or the Greek goddess of the hunt)

vii) Stringed instrument whose name is an anagram of INSEAMS

viii) Abbr. preceding a date on a cornerstone

ix) _____ Boot (1980s German film about a submarine)

x) Article that may go before the word "article"

xi) Letter in American Sign Language formed by sticking out the pinkie and thumb

SEVENS

1) Type of delivery for when it absolutely, positively has to be here right now: Hyph.

2) Skilled breadmaker, for one

3) Wolfs down

4) Connived and conspired

5) Former Supreme Court justice Scalia

6) Ludicrously abundant

7) "_____ Race" (Queen song about how much the singer wants to ride his two-wheeler)

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: Quadruple Cross 7

I hope this doesn't become a pattern, because this is the second time in three weeks that I forgot to schedule the answers post in its usual time. Ah, well, at least "Quadruple Cross 7" got the most solvers I've had in a long while, with an astounding twenty in total:

• Cathy Bowen
• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Marie desJardins
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Nicholas Weaver
• Chris Kochmanski
• Sam Levitin
• Derek Allen
• Wendy Walker
• SquishamllowsUnited
• Patrick Jordan
• KeoFam
• Mom
• Bart Gold
• Steve Gunter

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #604: Pieces of Nine 14

PUZZLE #604

PIECES OF NINE 14

Arrange the trigrams (blocks with three squares/letters in them) to make nine 9-letter words. After that, sort the new words so that the first one alphabetically is in row 1, the second one alphabetically is in row 2, and so on.

Once you're done, read down two of the columns for the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word phrase

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: Drop Tower 14

Two weeks have passed by since "Drop Tower 14" was posted on this blog, and sixteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Marie desJardins
• Cathy Bowen
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Chris Kochmanski
• Bart Gold
• Derek Allen
• Patrick Jordan
• Sam Levitin
• Wendy Walker
• Mom

Now head below the break for the answers!