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 #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: Brick By Brick 10

Roughly two weeks have gone by since my first puzzle of the year, "Brick By Brick 10", was posted on this blog. Quite a few people have solved it since then, and they're all listed below:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #420: Brick By Brick 10

PUZZLE #420

BRICK BY BRICK 10

 

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 a television show that will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2023

ACROSS

1) Comedian Philips born in Chicago

    The one worn by V from V for Vendetta resembles Guy Fawkes' face

    Confuse and confound

2) Villain from Sackboy: A Big Adventure whose name means "annoy"

    Shepard who was the oldest person to walk on the Moon

    2009 biopic about a famous female aviator

3) Suffix for "elephant" or "serpent"

    Stage _____ (leap onto a crowd during a rock concert)

    Inability to distinguish musical notes

4) Meal carrier for an elementary schooler

    Tree's protruding knot

5) "Good Morning Starshine" musical

    Christian Louboutin product

6) 7–10, in bowling

    It links up the answer to 3-Down's first clue

    Trim a photo in Photoshop

7) Pulsing organs that octopi have three of

    Baby Alive, for one

    First number in Italian (be sure to use the feminine version)

8) THE FINAL ANSWER

9) _____ Geo Wild (cable channel)

    Sound effect heard in the MGM logo

    Jackal-headed Egyptian god whose wife is named Anput

10) Frozen character born on the Winter Solstice

      Small strand of smoke

      In a deadpan manner

11) Unable to eat another bite

      Gal from Glasgow

12) Dutch birthplace of painter Jan Vermeer

      Location for a Schoolhouse Rock song about words like "and", "but", and "or"

13) Nitwits

      Operatic solo

      Number of people in the new wave group Erasure

14) Noisy napper

      Repeated riff in jazz music

      Poetic nightfall

15) "Look at Me, I'm _____ Dee" (Grease song)

      Sheltered, at sea

      Letters next to "6" on a phone keypad

DOWN

1) What three monkeys can't see, hear, or speak

    "Rise and _____!"

    Bad-mouth like a rapper

2) Restaurant's reading material

    Of prisons

    Pulitzer-winning novelist Ferber

3) Plow-pulling bovines

    Perseveres

    1995 life-sim computer game where you play as a maned big cat

4) Sound of a cricket

    Manage to pay for

5) Mind-controlling foe of Batman who's heavily inspired by Alice in Wonderland

    Out-and-out

6) Cover story for a defendant

    Grouch's glare

    Spanish translation of "Mrs."

7) Having lots of umami taste

    An American _____: Fievel Goes West

8) Construction toy with rods and connectors that debuted in the '90s

    Awful aromas

    The world's most populated island

9) Heath bar's competitor

    Not singular, in grammar

10) Mammal that might be leaf-nosed

      Bully from Hey Arnold! with a big pink bow

      Genre for shows such as Made in Abyss and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

11) Pal in Puerto Rico

      Smartphone orientation that's the opposite of "portrait"

12) Smallest fox breed

      Limp Bizkit frontman Fred

13) Insect name that can precede "market"

      British sport similar to American football (but with much less protective gear)

      Line-_____ veto

14) Witness that committed perjury, say

      Buck who was the first African-American MLB coach

      Marley & Me star Wilson

15) Jimmy Carter's middle name

      Victim of a scam

      Double negative?

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: Brick By Brick 9

It's been close to two weeks since my vaguely Valentine's Day-themed "Brick By Brick" puzzle was posted on this blog, and sixteen people have successfully solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Chris Kochmanski
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Meg Duvall
• Sam Levitin
• Brittany Trofimovich
• Michael Lebowitz
• Tamara Brenner
• Mom
• Lynn Sweeney
• Mindy Moore
• Peter Abide
• Stephen (no last name given)

If you want to know the answers to this puzzle, just head below the break to find out!

PUZZLE #374: Brick By Brick 9

PUZZLE #374

BRICK BY BRICK 9

Happy Valentine's Day! Apologies in advance that I wasn't able to make a fully-appropriate puzzle involving hearts or anything like that; all I could manage was a thematically-adjacent Final Answer to go with it. But I'm sure you'll like it despite that!

 

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 romantic comedy movie

ACROSS

1) 50%

    Remove a disc from an Xbox Series X, say

    Trade this for that

2) Inventor's inspiration

    Florida birthplace of rapper Pitbull

    1,000-page book, for one

3) Bengay target

    Playwright Chekhov

    Rutabaga or radish

4) With "The", 1999 film that introduced "bullet time"

    Bellybuttons

5) Felt under the weather

    Murder, _____ Wrote

6) Jeans brand sometimes spelled with a question mark

    Rec room

    March 17 honoree, for short

7) Dissimilar

    Porcine target in Angry Birds

    Last letter in "IPA"

8) THE FINAL ANSWER

9) Strive (for)

    San Diego Comic-_____

    Art Institute of Chicago, e.g.

10) Bewildered on the briny?

      A bit out of the ordinary

      Cherry parts that can be knotted

11) Konami arcade game where you stomp on arrows to the beat, for short

      African-American 3-year-old from Rugrats

12) Opening line of Green Eggs and Ham

      Deodorant once advertised as being "Strong enough for a woman"

13) Six, in Japanese (or a streaming media device)

      Pumpkin Spice _____ (Starbucks favorite)

      First name of Drago from Rocky IV

14) Dipper or Mabel from Gravity Falls (HINT: They share the same birthday)

      Tartan pattern

      Like two prime numbers six digits apart (NON-MATHY CLUE: Seductive)

15) Grains in a golf trap

      Horse & donkey's offspring

      Furrow one's brow

DOWN

1) Love & _____ Hop: Atlanta (VH1 reality series)

    Mexican fruit used as an ingredient in Hawaiian Punch

    Some QB protectors

2) Naked man on the Sistine Chapel ceiling

    Not illuminated

    Slipknot's second album (or the corn-growing state that they hail from)

3) Kylo Ren's mother

    Cary who played the title role in Robin Hood: Men in Tights

    Comparable (to)

4) Disney film where Mickey Mouse shakes hands with Leopold

    "The Wreck of the _____ Fitzgerald" (Gordon Lightfoot hit)

5) Like tightrope walking without a harness

    Unskippable annoyances for users of Peacock's free tier

6) Spam folder filler

    Keyboard key usually placed to the left of F1

    Director Bakshi who pioneered adult animated films

7) Doomed with bad luck

    Bashful ghost playable in Super Mario Party

    Country located east of Mauritania

8) Devour vindaloo, say

    "Perhaps... perhaps not"

    Spray-on _____

9) "Hurry up!"

    Strategic game where players remove matchsticks

    Stranger Things character with a lisp

10) Turner and Fey

      Phys ed class

      Like a poorly-maintained hotel

11) Format that beat out Betamax

      It "makes the people come together", according to a Madonna song

12) Word following "Wall" or "Sesame"

      Star sometimes used instead of a bullet point

13) Lamb Chop's coat

      Check endorser

      High School Prodigies Have It Easy _____ in Another World (anime series)

14) Bible book before Obadiah

      Underworld's 1992–2012 The Anthology, for one

      70s/80s sitcom starring Danny DeVito

15) Dino, to the Flintstones

      Is overflowing (with)

      "The Gray Lady" of newspapers, briefly

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: Brick By Brick 8

It's been close to two weeks since "Brick By Brick 8" was posted on this blog, and a whopping thirteen people since then have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Giovanni Pagano ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Elliott Frankfother ****
• Dan Simonds ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #313: Brick By Brick 8

PUZZLE #313

BRICK BY BRICK 8

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 popular song from the 1970s

ACROSS

1) "Here I come to _____ the day!" (quote from Mighty Mouse)

    Monopoly space between Connecticut Avenue and St. Charles Place

    Clickable desktop image

2) Rome's largest fountain

    Long bone next to the radius

    Bull-ish lawnmower brand

3) Milky white heron

    "God of Mischief" portrayed by Tom Hiddleston

    Once more from the top

4) Newspaper with 130 Pulitzer Prizes: Abbr.

    Whirl around, like Crash Bandicoot

    Baby beluga

5) Symbol at the start of a music staff

    "High" shoe type

    Brandish a big blade

6) White shape on a soccer ball

    Opened a DVD player's tray

7) TV channel originally known as PAX

    In a bygone time

    Tetley beverage

8) THE FINAL ANSWER

9) Monkey that Genie turned into an elephant in Aladdin (1992)

    Honey _____ Cheerios

    Saucer in the sky, supposedly

10) TV-14 and PG-13, for two

      Pseudoscience that wanted to turn copper into gold

11) Home of Japan's largest manga museum

      Hawaii's state dance

      Layered cookie that once had a Caramel Apple flavor

12) Initials on an invitation

      Owned by that lady

      Trashy tabloid

13) Soft and white French cheese

      Large film format that won a Technical Oscar in 1997

      A Scanner Darkly star Reeves

14) Lunch or brunch, e.g.

      Dwayne Johnson's role in Moana

      Make a few changes

15) Star Fox 64 character who's a gray howling canine

      People seen on C-SPAN, for short

      Mario _____ Tour (mobile game)

DOWN

1) Malodorous odor

    Are You Afraid of the _____? ('90s Nickelodeon show)

    Parent company of Rolls-Royce

2) Diamond-shaped pattern on some socks

    Auction site that owns StubHub

    Old car company from the founder of Oldsmobile

3) Polygon's corner

    Video game stage that teaches you how to play it

4) WALL-E's love

    County event with a livestock show

    Last word of an FDR quote regarding fear

5) Part of FWIW or TGIF

    Female friend of Gumby with blonde hair and shapeshifting abilities

    Mo. when Daylight Saving Time ends in America

6) Calling on a cell

    _____ My Ride (2000s reality show hosted by Xzibit)

7) Lemur King from the Madagascar series

    Derriere

    Tiny and adorable Demon Lord from Endro! (or a former Chinese chairman)

8) Heart song that spent three weeks at #1

    Word following "pop" or "op"

    Moving company with orange and white trucks

9) Cartoonist's liquid

    Building block company that released Super Mario sets in 2020

    The Handmaid's Tale actress Bledel

10) Not of the clergy

      Jokey and silly

11) Stupefied state

      Fast food chain serving Popcorn Nuggets

      Punk subgenre performed by Less Than Jake and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

12) Type of tilted text

      Silver salmon

      Antlered animal on Idaho's state flag

13) Colored bits that rain on $100,000 winners of Wheel of Fortune

      List of slip-ups

14) Minecraft's mineral resource

      Internet slang also known as "1337"

      Not as nice

15) _____ Hear This (surreal Looney Tunes short)

      June 6, 1944

      Chobani product

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 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: Brick By Brick 7

Wow! It's been almost a couple weeks since "Brick By Brick 7" was posted on this blog, and it's now easily my most successful puzzle of that type, as a whopping thirteen of you have successfully solved it:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Ted Fields ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Lynn Sweeney **

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #272: Brick By Brick 7

PUZZLE #272

BRICK BY BRICK 7

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 short-lived game show

ACROSS
1) Tony who lent his name to the Pro Skater series of video games
    Portia de Rossi, to Ellen DeGeneres
    Rainbow Dash's pet turtle (or a treaded army vehicle)
2) Post-workout pain
    Giant squid's home
    Soup thickener obtained from seaweed
3) Primary
    Windy City airport
    Bean type discovered in Peru
4) Doctor Who time machine that looks like a blue phone booth
    Mr. Jean formerly of the Fugees
5) "_____ from a Hat" (recurring Whose Line Is It Anyway? game)
    Magazine that named the computer "Machine of the Year" in 1982
    Wintertime hrs. in Vermont
6) Gut-punch reaction
    "See ya later, alligator!"
    Rod wielded by Willy Wonka
7) Tech-savvy woman who often helps out Jack Bauer on 24
    Part of ICU
    "On the double!"
8) THE FINAL ANSWER
9) Bus Stop playwright
    Clock face
    Moog instrument, for short
10) Span's partner
      Biblical suffix
      Tamera Mowry's twin sister
11) Bro or sis
      Current Card Sharks host McHale
      The one that GameSpot gave Super Mario Odyssey had a perfect 10/10
12) Rock & Roll Jeopardy and Survivor host Jeff
      "Rap God" rapper
13) Midwestern state whose motto is "Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain"
      Best possible
      Lowest high tide
14) Wrinkle one's brow
      Reef stuff eaten by parrotfish
      Ctrl+Z, in Microsoft Excel
15) _____ Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick's final film)
      Places full of dumbbells
      Word in a red octagon

DOWN
1) Side dish for green eggs
    Where the Winter Olympics were held before Pyeongchang
    Tommy's dog in Rugrats
2) Health initiative that Obama signed into law in 2010: Abbr.
    Borat star Sacha Baron _____
    Literary device commonly seen in Twilight Zone's twist endings
3) Dido song with the lyrics "I will go down with this ship"
    David who played Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth
4) SNL veteran Thompson who played characters like Superdude and Pierre Escargot on All That
    Poems that Keats wrote about a nightingale and a Grecian urn
    Echolocating mammals
5) James Dean once played one "Without a Cause"
    Slumber party attire
6) Owl who said "Give a hoot! Don't pollute!"
    Completely cockamamie
7) The first number in Japan
    Carol Burnett's character in Mama's Family
    Snoopy or Scooby, say
8) Meal fit for a king
    PBS funder
    Quite cautious
9) Cauliflower _____
    Frozen drip
    Palindromic address for a lady
10) Failed '60s educational experiment that made Sally from Peanuts scream "All I want to know is, how much is two and two?"
      Sings like a canary, literally
11) Coin in Kyoto
      Pasty-faced
12) Earth's softest mineral
      The lowest difficulty level in many video games
      Planet even hotter than Mercury
13) Not at all stiff
      Tender emotion
14) Larry, Barry, and Harry, for example
      The Adventures of Pete & Pete character known as "the strongest man in the world"
      Much _____ About Mousing (Tom and Jerry cartoon)
15) Maker of Cool Whip and Miracle Whip
      "Oh, horsefeathers!"
      Music genre (and song title) for *NSYNC

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 two versions you can print out: a .PNG and a link to a .PDF!

ANSWERS: Brick By Brick 6

I do have a DeviantArt picture for this week, but I'm going to save it until the very end of this post. Instead, I'm going to show you guys a couple Christmas presents I got earlier this week:

Besides the usual video games and newspaper comic collections, I also got the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia and a book filled with rebuses from Classic Concentration! But you're not here for me showing off gifts like I'm on Instagram; you're here for the answers to "Brick By Brick 6" as well as the list of people who solved it!

• Grant Fikes ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Dan Simonds ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now head below the break for the answers, an Easter Egg of sorts that I hid in this puzzle, and a picture I made of one of the answers that I usually put on the top of these posts!

PUZZLE #209: Brick By Brick 6

PUZZLE #209

BRICK BY BRICK 6

Two months ago, I got a comment on "Brick By Brick 5" from some unknown person that simply said "I need more brick by brick please". Well, I didn't feel like turning down that request, so here's another puzzle of that type! If that commenter just happen to read this, I hope you'll enjoy it, whoever you are!

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 an anime

ACROSS
1) Headless cabbage variety
    Don Draper, for one
    Shark Tank network
2) "Do you have Prince Albert in _____?"
    Artist Kahlo portrayed in Pixar's Coco
    Moderately hot
3) Sound of a heavy impact
    They all lead to Rome, supposedly
    Box-office bomb
4) _____ and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
    Classic 1993 computer game where you gun down demons
    Pet rabbit's residence
5) Controversial Jeopardy! champion Arthur
    High-pitched flutes
6) Peanutty candy bar with an exclamation point in its name
    Alley-_____ (basketball move)
7) Actress Ida who starred in the Twilight Zone episode "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine"
    Good buddy
    HTML5 formatting language
8) THE FINAL ANSWER
9) "Bad" cholesterol letters
    Opposite of the second answer in 1-Down
    "_____ borealis?! At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?!?!" (Simpsons quote)
10) Lemon meringue dessert
      Novice employee
11) T-shirt from Six Flags, e.g.
      Be a couch potato (with "out")
12) Emulate a ghost in an abandoned mansion
      Crazy contraption cartoonist Goldberg
      Hurricane's center
13) Give off, as an odor
      Pipe-unclogging brand introduced in 1923
      Mountain goat with curly horns
14) Japan's tallest mountain
      Andy Kaufman's role in Taxi
      Overdo it on the affection
15) Mobster played by Abe Vigoda in The Godfather
      Pirate's box
      Wading bird sacred in ancient Egypt

DOWN
1) "Professional Therapist" from a '90s Comedy Central cartoon
    Like a joke told too many times
    Nickname for either a steer from Rocko's Modern Life or a Playboy founder
2) Feel sore after a strenuous workout
    Chuck a baseball
    Female bounty hunter from the Metroid series
3) Pilot hired by Scrooge McDuck with a tendency to crash his vehicles
    Séance board featured in 13 Ghosts (1960)
4) What "fin" means in French
    The Ugly Truth actress Katherine
    Up to the time that
5) "I haven't the slightest idea"
    Lowest army rank: Abbv.
6) Hairstyle famously worn by Dr. J
    _____ James Dio (heavy metal singer)
    Extra songs for Rock Band 4, for example (and for short)
7) Cartoon dog who says "You know what? That makes me mad"
    "_____ Caught Stealing" (Jane's Addiction song)
    Generic cheerleader cheer
8) Will Smith song about a Florida city
    _____ Patrol (popular Nick Jr. show)
    Mad as heck
9) Make sums
    Stocking stuffer for a naughty kid
    Elephant noses
10) "Street Dreams" rapper
      What Yogi Bear has around his neck (besides a tie)
      Dory or dinghy
11) Move like a kangaroo
      Sophisticated shampoo brand?
12) So bad, it's horrible
      Two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie
      Forest's Oscar-winning role in The Last King of Scotland
13) 1995 animated film with a wolfdog hybrid voiced by Kevin Bacon
      He lives in a pineapple under the sea
14) Ugly shoes named after reptiles
      Desertlike
      Bentley from Spyro: Year of the Dragon, for one
15) Speedometer abbr.
      _____ Sremmurd (hip-hop duo)
      Former couple

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 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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Brick By Brick 5

I'm not surprised that "Brick By Brick 5" from two weeks ago turned out to be a tough one, but seven of you still managed to solve it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Dan Simonds ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****

Now head below the break for the answers as well as a couple comments from my solvers!

PUZZLE #176: Brick By Brick 5

PUZZLE #176

BRICK BY BRICK 5

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 almost every Down column, though you'll have to figure out what those letters are.

Oh, and as an extra challenge, two of the bricks are completely blank, and you have to figure out what letters go in those as well!

Once you've filled in everything, read the letters in both formerly-blank bricks and combine them to get the FINAL ANSWER: A two-word title

ACROSS
1) Not transparent or translucent
    Whirling and snarling Looney Tunes character
    Frilly fabric
2) Money back to an unsatisfied customer
    What a frat dude calls his frat dude friend
    Style of rock music for Roxy Music
3) Molar hole
    Board game with 98 lettered tiles and two blank ones
4) "_____ the season to be jolly..."
    "Oh, screw you!" (ALTERNATE CLUE: A stupid thing to say to a vampire)
5) Toy soldier who fights Cobra Commander
    How some bonds are bought
    "_____ Kommissar" (After The Fire song)
6) Giant bird that lays blue-green eggs
    Agile
    Not barefoot
7) It may precede a pedi
    Tried to woo over
8) A HINT TO THE FINAL ANSWER
9) Japanese conglomerate whose slogan is "Inspire the Next"
    _____ the Woods (Tony-winning musical)
10) Blackthorn
      Tight, like rope
      Dachshund's doctor
11) Wonderment
      Beer company headquartered in Colorado
      Mausoleum
12) Laundromat machine that isn't a dryer
      "Shine a Little Love" band
13) City that's home to the University of Michigan
      Sleeping spot hiding in what looks like a giant cupboard
14) Posterior
      Bendy and the _____ Machine (episodic indie game)
      Emulate Charles Lindbergh
15) Prefix or suffix meaning "skin"
      As well
      Exclamation from an excited cowboy (or My Little Pony's Applejack)

DOWN
1) One of Sauron's monstrous minions
    Precious stone
    Clio or César, e.g.
2) Black-eyed veggie
    The first Apple computer to have no floppy drive
    "Way down upon the _____ river..."
3) Long-running show currently hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro, for short
    Ancient Rome's version of Hera
    WWE wrestler Brock
4) Ecuador's capital
    "As I see it", in texting
    Injure
5) Loosen laces
    Someone who patches together fabrics to make a quilt
6) Ice cream brand known as Dreyer's in the western US
    Bunny's tail
    Path of Pluto
7) "Oh, hi. So, how are you holding up? Because I'm _____!" (memorable Portal 2 quote)
    She's being kissed by Lennon on the cover of his Double Fantasy
8) Channel that airs Snoop Dogg Presents The Joker's Wild
    AutoTrader.com competitor
    Defunct studio that distributed Disney's early animated films
9) Thrown object's trajectory
    Greek general who lent his name to a type of costly victory
10) _____ the Greek (1964 Best Picture nominee)
      ABC block that airs Grey's Anatomy and other Shondaland shows
      Online bidding site
11) Type of plane rescue over water
      Garlic bulb segment
12) Community that waves a rainbow flag, initially
      Port in many LCD TVs
      Velma's rival in Chicago
13) Reflective power of a planet
      2004 Ben Stiller/Jack Black film named after a Deadly Sin
      "Humbug!"
14) Settled (down)
      Twelve-_____ program
      H, in Ancient Greece
15) Arabian ruler (Var.)
      Mel who was the youngest player to hit 100 home runs
      Condensation on a lawn

Apologies in advance for some of the less-than-optimal entries in this one. This was a hard grid to construct for me, so I kinda had to resort to those just to complete it. Anyways, 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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Brick By Brick 4

It's been thirteen days since "Brick By Brick 4" was posted on this site, and eight of you have successfully solved it since then, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Debbie Benford ****
• Alex Milton ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****

Now click on "read more" below for the answers!

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH! PUZZLE #158: Brick By Brick 4

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH!

PUZZLE #158

BRICK BY BRICK 4

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I've got gifts to open, but before I do that, I'm going to give you all one last gift of my own: a puzzle type that was requested by Brittany Trofimovich, so I hope she and everyone else enjoys this!

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 a movie that would be perfect for today (December 25th)

ACROSS
1) Sara Bareilles song with the lyrics "Say what you wanna say and let the words fall out"
    When doubled, Jim Carrey film about a lawyer forced to tell the truth
    Victoria Beckham's Spice Girls nickname
2) Cartoon cat with a magic bag of tricks
    Fencing sword
    Thought that can be bright
3) Shrek's wife
    Sammy who hit 609 home runs
    Member of a subculture that likes to wear all black
4) Star-bellied Seuss creature
    Duck _____ in the 24½th Century
5) Bug a phone
    Flamethrower-wielding character from Team Fortress 2
6) 18-wheeler
    Simon _____ (action film starring Dennis Rodman of all people)
    Pear variety named after a French province
7) They're no amateurs
    Mopes about
    Defunct TV network that aired Star Trek: Voyager
8) THE FINAL ANSWER
9) Deteriorate, like a tree
    Kansas City baseball team
    Partner of ready and willing
10) Yzma's henchman in The Emperor's New Groove
      _____ sequitur
      Manufacturer of noise-cancelling headphones
11) "Tom's Diner" singer Suzanne
      Barrel seen in a saloon
12) The Back to the Future movies, for one
      Positive responses
13) Sere
      Rick Springfield's character in General Hospital
      "Hello. My name is _____ Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
14) Internet connection at a restaurant
      Mipha from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, for one
      Type of song you might hear today (December 25th)
15) Couch potato's spot
      Evens' opposites
      Express a viewpoint

DOWN
1) Lifelong pals, in text-speak
    Fire starter created by striking flint
    Reactions to anything adorable
2) Harness strap
    404 on a website, for example
    The Beastie Boys or The Dixie Chicks, e.g.
3) Singer Blacc who had a hit in 2014 with "The Man"
    Montana's "Oro y plata", for example
    Guitar lick
4) App where you used to upload six-second videos
    Black-_____ (ABC sitcom)
    Tech company that created the GeForce line of graphics processing units
5) On the nose
    Family Matters character whose catchphrase is "Did I do that?"
6) Maker of Mr. Potato Head and My Little Pony
    Blue Muppet with a big hooked nose
7) Primus singer/bassist Claypool
    Brother of Ron Weasley who was a prefect at Hogwarts
    "It's _____ Life" (Twilight Zone episode)
8) MP3 player whose Touch model is the only one still being made
    You Don't Mess with the _____ (Adam Sandler film)
    Three feet
9) "The Fox and the Grapes" storyteller
    Vampire from Nosferatu
    Owns
10) _____ Player One (upcoming Spielberg film)
      Animator Walt who created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
11) Lawn greenery
      Insurance company with a spokeslizard
12) Any one of the Goodfeathers from Animaniacs, for example
      The Coca-Cola Company's first diet soda
      Click one's fingers
13) ___-Eaters (shoe inserts)
      Oxymoronic shrimp size
      Digital assistant introduced in 2011
14) Complete collections
      About 95% of these gemstones come from Australia
      Harold Ramis' role in Ghostbusters
15) "Don't make me laugh!"
      Erase the memory of having looked at something, somehow
      Filleted flatfish

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Brick By Brick 3

Before I reveal the answers to my third "Brick by Brick" puzzle, I just wanted to let you know that I've got another set of "Squeezed in the Middle" "Word Sandwiches" puzzles accepted by Games Magazine! They're set to publish in the October 2017 issue, so it's not available to buy yet, but as a subscriber, I got that issue early, so be sure to look out for that issue when it arrives in stores! Don't worry, I'll also do a contest for it in the future, but before I do that, here are the six people that have solved "Brick By Brick 3":

• Grant Fikes ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Debbie Benford ****

Now just head below the break for the answers as well as more info on the product that acts as the FINAL ANSWER to this puzzle!

GAME SHOW MONTH! PUZZLE #138: Brick By Brick 3

GAME SHOW MONTH!

PUZZLE #138

BRICK BY BRICK 3

It should be no secret by now that I love game shows, so to make that fact even clearer, I'm going to do another theme month in the form of Game Show Month! All this month will feature puzzles inspired by, or referencing, various game shows!

The first puzzle of this month will have its FINAL ANSWER be about a newer show called Steve Harvey's Funderdome. Okay, I know it's more of a competitive reality show than anything else, but competitive reality shows are still technically game shows, so for the purposes of this month, it still counts. So as Steve himself would say in every episode, let's get down to business!

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 a product featured in an episode of Steve Harvey's Funderdome

ACROSS

1) MacBook Air manufacturers

    Grievous bodily _____

    Air pollution in L.A.

2) Bird with a drooping feather cluster on top of its head

    Molded curve overused in crosswords

    Bridgestone product

3) Last name of Felix from The Odd Couple

    Typed message from a smartphone

    Dutch cheese coated in red wax

4) The Blob That _____ Everyone (Goosebumps book)

    Makes a decision

    Female news reporter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

5) Not me

    Ingredient in homemade slime

6) Org. that launched Skylab

    Transportation company with a LOT more bad publicity than Lyft

    Top-story studios

7) Sea creature that's basically a spiky ball

    _____ Monsters (card game in Yu-Gi-Oh!)

    Dada artist Jean seen in way too many crosswords

8) THE FINAL ANSWER

9) Many, many millennia

    Spa treatment to go with a mani

    "Sure thing, Cap'n!"

10) Use 4-letter words

      Hercules' dad, in a 1997 Disney movie

      Possessed doll playable in Super Mario RPG

11) _____ Runner (Brøderbund computer game)

      Golf ball stand

12) Team Fortress 2 developers

      Polar bear voiced by Rob Schneider in a terrible animated movie

      Undergarment measured by cups

13) Suffix for "million" or "billion"

      One of twelve in AA

      Synthetic fabric created by DuPont in 1941

14) Bambi's father, e.g.

      Fruit or flightless bird from New Zealand

      Arcade game where you play as a knight on an ostrich

15) Loathe entirely

      7-time MLB All-Star Sammy

      Symbolic light bulbs in comic strips

DOWN

1) Color that's halfway between blue and green

    Unclothed art class models

    Main character of the Pokémon anime who hasn't won a tournament in 20 years

2) Common play on fourth-down

    Superhero show on The CW featuring Oliver Queen

    Underperforming PlayStation handheld

3) Pin-up model Bettie

    Act section

    "I smell ____!"

4) What two of the three panelists on To Tell The Truth do

    Norwegian band whose "Take On Me" video won 6 MTV VMAs

    Assert with absolutely no proof

5) Judy Jetson's little brother

    Type of comedy seen in Whose Line Is It Anyway?

6) Leap like a lurking lion

    Pieces of furniture that computers sit upon

7) Jacuzzi

    Wood-shaping tool

    Uruguayan uncle

8) "Rock of _____" (Def Leppard hit)

    Pearl Jam singer Vedder

    Walter Cronkite once reported them

9) Toy Story 2 character who knocked Zurg down an elevator shaft

    "You are likely to be eaten by a _____" (quote from Zork)

    Place that's too perfect to exist

10) Genre for Judas Priest

      One end of a pencil

11) One of the six simple machines

      "Face with Tears of Joy" is the most popular one

12) Mono's successor

      Pete's wife in Goof Troop

      Shower curtain holder

13) Digital music format heard in many old computer games

      One of two choices in some quiz questions

      Cerulean or cobalt

14) Type of test with no writing

      "Calling All Angels" band

      Civil rights activist Parks

15) Precious stone collected by the answer directly below this one

      Sheep-torching purple dragon of video game fame

      Insects that reside in a farm

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 version you can print out!

ANSWERS: Brick By Brick 2

Before I reveal the answers to my second "Brick By Brick" puzzle, I have a little update for you guys: remember that Phrase Shift game I shamelessly plugged a while back? Well, it's now available on Steam with over 600 puzzles and Achievements for you to earn (for those that care about that sort of thing)! If you already bought the mobile version, the game's creator Chris Hendricks told me that it'll hopefully update later this month with presumably the same features as the Steam version! Now then, here are all seven people who have solved "Brick By Brick 2":

• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• YYW ****
• Lynn Sweeney **
• Chris Hendricks ****

Now just click on "Read more" below for the answers!

PUZZLE #106: Brick By Brick 2

PUZZLE #106

BRICK BY BRICK 2

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 video game that I got for Christmas yesterday

ACROSS

1) Simba's uncle
    Unimaginative dalmatian name
    Spanish-speaking kid from the Backyard Sports series
2) Euphonium's big brass cousin
    Snow queen who created Olaf
    Many characters in The Avengers (The British one, not the Marvel one)
3) Do as you're told
    Superhero name of Marvel's Janet van Dyne
    Pants-wearing member of the Warner Brothers (and Sister) from Animaniacs
4) 1957 Frank Sinatra musical film
    Like this answer
5) He "Goes to Washington" in a famous Jimmy Stewart film
6) Ease up
    Business card nos.
    Kon-Tiki, for one
7) Commissioner Bud who was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016
    The original protagonist of the Puyo Puyo series of puzzle games (Anagram of REAL)
    Norway's most populated city
8) THE FINAL ANSWER
9) Uncommon
    My Little Pony's Pinkie and family
    Meat Loaf's role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show
10) Crosswordese leftovers
      Oldest sister from The Loud House
      Oglers
11) Kidnappers' demands
12) Bugs, to Elmer Fudd
      _____ Things (Steven King novel)
13) Heroes character whose paintings can predict the future
      Related (to)
      Nestlé's bubbly chocolate bar
14) Drawing tool for Rudy Tabootie
      _____ Effect: Andromeda (upcoming video game)
      The world's most famous loch
15) Former Destiny's Child member Rowland
      Android from Star Trek: The Next Generation
      Lament for "poor Yorick"

DOWN
1) Word in a red octagon
    George Jetson's pooch
    John ____ (Keanu Reeves' comeback role)
2) Largest Caribbean island
    Joy who is the only original cohost of The View left
    Arthur who won Wimbledon in 1975
3) Cain's brother in DC's House of Mystery (Oh, and the Bible as well)
    Command & Conquer: Red _____ (strategy game)
    False god, according to Judges
4) Brandy's brother
    They make up a mosaic
    Base or basket suffix
5) Horseshoe-shaped letter
    "Weird Al" Yankovic song about I Love Lucy
6) Home for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    With "The", Successor to "The '90s Are All That"
7) Sony console that originated as a CD-based add-on to the Super Nintendo
    Intel rival
8) Org. in the Spy Kids movies
    Corporate couplings
    Hypnotic Jungle Book snake
9) Touch a touchscreen, maybe
    Person who practices prestidigitation
10) Puzzled, or on the Pacific
      High IQ Society that turned 70 in 2016
11) USA Network series featuring Shawn and Gus
      Candy creator H. B. _____
12) On _____ with (equal to)
      The Price is Right announcer before Fields
      Sigourney's role in Ghostbusters (1984)
13) Peter Gabriel song about an anti-apartheid activist
      Remark to the audience
      Anime studio that did This Art Club Has A Problem! (Okay, it's a synonym for "perceive" or "touch")
14) Albanian coins
      Decorative buttons that Joanna hates to wear in Office Space
      Major or minor constellation
15) Spanish bears
      Paint shades
      Not a win

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 version you can print out!