ANSWERS: Diagramless Fill-In

About two weeks have gone by since my first "Diagramless Fill-In" puzzle was posted on this blog, which means that it's time for me to reveal the list of everyone who has solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #600: Diagramless Fill-In

PUZZLE #600

DIAGRAMLESS FILL-IN

This puzzle type was (partially) 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 full at the moment, so you might have to resort to PayPal if you still want to make a request of your own.

It's my 600th puzzle! And whenever I reach a big milestone like that, I tend do do something special for the occasion, and this time, it's an all-new-to-this-blog format! This one will be a toughie, however, so I'd suggest reading the directions carefully before jumping straight in.

Below is a fill-in crossword, where all of the answers have been given and all you need to do is to put them into the grid so that they'll all mesh together correctly. However, almost all of the black squares have disappeared, and the only thing left are all of the places where the letter "E" appears. To get started, look for patterns in the provided "E"s that will match the words in the answer list; words with double "E"s and/or multiple "E"s will help out the most. Then, continue fitting the remaining words into the grid. Don't forget to add black squares before and/or after each word (where applicable), and then add their counterparts on the opposite side of the grid so that all of the black squares will have rotational symmetry (two black squares have already been filled in to provide a visual example).

There are two words in the list that have not been revealed, neither of which contains an "E". Figure them out, then combine them to get the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word phrase

3 Letters

ADS

COY

END

FIX

LAW

LOX

OFF

RUG

RUN

TOM

VEG

ZEO

4 Letters

ATOP

BLUE

DEFT

DENS

FLAG

FREE

HIYA

MOCK

OMEN

OPEN

PAPA

REIN

SNOT

TAXI

TEED

YALE

5 Letters

ASIAN

CYCLE

ELITE

FLEES

FORTY

GETUP

GIFTS

GRIEF

LEERS

PESOS

PETER

PSHAW

ROPED

VAPOR

6 Letters

APOGEE

ARTIER

EXOTIC

GINKGO

GUSHED

GYRATE

HEREIN

SNEEZE

TOBIAS

TOYOTA

7 Letters

ASSORTS

CHIEFLY

DEFAMED

EXECUTE

PERPLEX

REPTILE

8 Letters

HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

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: Diagramless Crossword 8

Two weeks have passed by since "Diagramless Crossword 8" was posted on this blog, and nineteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Cathy Bowen
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Tamara Brenner
• KeoFam
• Patrick Jordan
• Mom [Help used]
• Wendy Walker
• Lynn Sweeney
• Steve Gunter
• Chris Kochmanski
• Stasi Gustafson
• Derek Allen

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #552: Diagramless Crossword 8

PUZZLE #552

DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 8

This puzzle (suggested by Patron Grant Fikes) 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!

Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.

Once everything's filled in, two of the across answers will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: A person's name.

ACROSS

1) Warty amphibian such as Slippy from Star Fox: Assault

5) With "The", Hope van Dyne's superhero identity in Marvel movies

9) Currency for Greece

10) Actress Kendrick from the Pitch Perfect trilogy

11) Striped feline in the Chinese zodiac

12) Traffic signals

14) Lead singer of the Holograms in a very 1980s cartoon

17) PART ONE OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE

19) Bearded bovine on Wyoming's state flag

20) "Finally, it's over!": 2 wds.

21) "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" band (or a birthday dessert)

22) Les États-_____ (French for "The United States")

23) Renewable energy source for rooftop panels

24) Win Ben _____'s Money (Comedy Central game show)

26) Flour factory

27) Handle hardship

28) Single-celled organism often seen in The Far Side comics

31) More cunning

33) PART TWO OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE

37) Learn the _____ and outs of something

38) Utterly lacking in logic

39) They can't handle telling the truth

40) Famed '50s Cleveland Browns quarterback Graham

41) "Behold!", in ancient Rome

42) Vowelless version of "Hey! Over here!"

43) A fortnight has fourteen of these

DOWN

1) Supermodel Crissy who married John Legend in 2013

2) You _____ to Be in Pictures (Looney Tunes short combining animation and live action)

3) "Chain of Fools" singer Franklin

4) English county on the English Channel (anagram of SORTED)

5) "Clean" word following "brain" or "mouth"

6) Pay to play poker

7) Grew uncontrollably (especially in winter?)

8) 2006 anime film featuring devices that let people enter dreams (or a spice made of red peppers)

11) Retired MMA fighter Ortiz

13) Not a winner

14) Richie Cunningham's kid sister in Happy Days

15) Red dye (answer hidden in TEOSINTE)

16) NYSE, NASDAQ, etc.

18) Architectural schematics

21) Orange, green, and purple are secondary ones

23) _____ & Schuster (publishing house)

24) Genre that the magazine Amazing Stories specializes in: Hyph.

25) Simplest figure skating jump: 2 wds.

26) Country north of Burkina Faso

29) Made water hot enough to bubble

30) Continent with the answer to 26-Down

31) Doesn't hog all of one's toys, say

32) "_____ not and say we did"

34) Comic strip detective Dick known for his yellow hat and coat

35) Munches on macaroons, maybe

36) Coin opening in an arcade cabinet

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: Diagramless Crossword 7

It's been close to two weeks since "Diagramless Crossword 7" was posted on this blog, so here's the list of the fifteen people who have solved it since then:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #465: Diagramless Crossword 7

PUZZLE #465

DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 7

Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.

Once everything's filled in, two of the across answers will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: A fictional character's name.

ACROSS

1) One of two limbs missing from the Venus de Milo statue

4) Female pig or guinea pig

7) Recede, like the tide

10) Necklaces from Honolulu

12) Osso _____ (veal-based dish)

13) The Loud family's pet hamster in The Loud House (or a prefix meaning "earth")

14) Pimples

15) Developer of the arcade games Bubble Bobble and Space Invaders

16) Gadot who cameoed as Wonder Woman in The Flash (2023)

17) Without accompaniment

20) PART ONE OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE

23) Beyond Good and _____ (2003 Ubisoft video game)

24) Adjective for Al Yankovic

25) South Korean rapper who had a couple other Top 40 hits besides "Gangnam Style"

26) First name of Tom Hanks' wife

27) Bandmate of Crosby, Stills, and Young

29) @ @ @ @

30) Quickly touch an icon on an iPhone

32) Units of electrical resistance

35) Magnesite, magnetite & malachite, e.g.

37) Number of contestants in The Price is Right's final Showcase round

40) Flora and fauna (anagram of "I BOAT")

43) Famed music venue in Nashville, briefly

44) PART TWO OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE

47) Eagerly look forward to

48) _____ Balls (pink treats by Hostess)

50) Celery piece

51) MLB team in Cincinnati

53) Moray, for one

54) Semiaquatic salamander

55) Thanos's action at the end of Avengers: Infinity War that got rid of half of Earth's population

56) Ingredient that makes a red velvet cake red

57) _____-la-la

58) Wipe up water, as with a towel

DOWN

1) Apple pie _____ mode: 2 wds.

2) Happen again, like a nightmare

3) Tiny fish that was the namesake for Gilligan's boat

4) Get dressed in armor, maybe: 2 wds.

5) Full sets of black pawns and white pawns, perhaps

6) Owl who says "Give a Hoot! Don't Pollute!"

7) It's laid by a loggerhead turtle

8) Dr. Honeydew's assistant in The Muppet Show

9) South American country whose largest city is Santa Cruz

11) Now You _____ (heist film about thieving magicians): 2 wds.

12) Building raised in an Amish project

15) Fungus that's also the last name of Princess Peach

18) Swivel on a swivel chair

19) Triceratops from The Land Before Time whose name is found in "TRICERATOPS"

21) "Same here!"

22) Kind of scene that may start with the line "I remember it like it was just yesterday..."

28) Silent member of the Marx Brothers

31) Studied thoroughly

33) Music format for many early '90s MS-DOS games

34) Chicken _____ for the American Idol Soul (actual book from 2007)

36) Capital of New South Wales, Australia

37) Elizabethan contraction with two apostrophes

38) Modern Family actress Ariel

39) Ontario birthplace of Alanis Morissette

41) Nicholas I and Nicholas II

42) Go to a show

45) Dagger handle

46) _____ Point (amusement park in Ohio)

49) Exclamation in Ecuador

52) Secret agent man

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: Diagramless Crossword 6

It's been close to two weeks since "Diagramless Crossword 6" was posted on this blog, and a whopping seventeen people (one of which is a family group) have correctly figured out its Final Answer, all of whom are listed below:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #408: Diagramless Crossword 6

PUZZLE #408

DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 6

This puzzle contains a word 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!

Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.

Once everything's filled in, two of the across answers will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: A person's name.

ACROSS

1) Perlman who won four Emmys for acting on Cheers

5) Fend (off)

10) Track & _____ (Olympic-themed NES video game)

11) Word before "bear" or "vortex"

12) Seasoning herbs of the mint family

13) Breed of Hachikō, a very loyal dog immortalized with a bronze statue in Japan

14) Split from a country, like South Sudan did in 2011

15) "...Kissed the girls and made them _____" (nursery rhyme lyrics)

16) PART ONE OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE

19) British songstress Rita

20) "Turn to Stone" band, for short

21) Numeric online addresses, for short

24) Flowing waterway crossed in the "Fox, chicken, and grain" puzzle

27) Journalists' workspace where The Mary Tyler Moore Show is set

30) Relating to birds (or bird-like anthropomorphic characters)

31) 19th-century soldier dressed in gray

32) Installment of Inc., e.g.

33) His song "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" hit #1 in 1977

35) Pinball machine manufacturer whose name is a synonym for "strict"

36) Beats by _____ (brand of expensive headphones)

37) Prefix for "corn" or "cycle"

38) Post-op stop

39) PART TWO OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE

45) Intelligent primate from George of the Jungle named after his own species

46) Groups in some essential acids found in proteins

47) Playable Mario Party Superstars character with a green hat

50) Like the color of straw or blonde hair

51) Find common ground

52) Brown, Dartmouth, and Harvard, for three

53) Sears slightly

54) Hair-stiffening goops

DOWN

1) The Dark Knight _____ (film directed by Christopher Nolan)

2) Children's novel about a girl in the Alps living with her grumpy grandpa

3) First name of Ripley from Alien (1979)

4) Online annoyances that can be blocked in Firefox with extensions

5) Captain Jack added to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in 2006

6) City where the statue mentioned in 13-Across's clue is located

7) Baba who encountered forty thieves

8) Cauldron

9) Significant stretch of time

10) Two-_____ (coin-flipping comic book villain)

12) Manner of conduct

14) Gave it one's all

15) People person, for short

17) Last name of Bobby from Bobby's World (EASIER CLUE: Not brand-name)

18) "_____ World Problems" (Weird Al song with lyrics like "There's a pixel out in the corner of my laptop screen")

19) Type of exam with no writing

22) Greek equivalent of the Roman sea god Neptune

23) What statements marked with "[citation needed]" need

25) Let up on the difficulty

26) Genetic material hidden in the word "fingernails"

28) Bro's sib, sometimes

29) Drop-down _____ (list of options in a computer program)

31) Zellweger with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

34) Materialistic characters in American Psycho or Wall Street, for example

40) Impatient, like a beaver?

41) Bisect

42) Message sent to itsredhead64@gmail.com, perhaps

43) Blends ingredients

44) Addition column to the right of the tens

47) French word for a body of water smaller than a sea

48) "Blecch!"

49) Rosemary's Baby author Levin

50) _____ Newtons

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: Diagramless Crossword 5

Happy Sunday-Before-Thanksgiving, everyone! On a more relevant note, it's been thirteen days since "Diagramless Crossword 5" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have successfully solved it since then, all of whom are listed below:

• Grant Fikes
• Joe Bernard
• Dave C.
• Kevin Orfield
• Tyler Hinman
• Sam Levitin
• Karen Spencer
• Meg Duvall
• Alex Sisti
• Stephen Potter
• Tamara Brenner
• Patrick Jordan
• Ray Youstra
• Mom [Hints Used]
• Michael Lebowitz
• Lynn Sweeney
• Tommy Weigle
• Mindy Moore

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

PUZZLE #360: Diagramless Crossword 5

PUZZLE #360

DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 5

Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.

Once everything's filled in, two of the across answers will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: A fictional being's name.

ACROSS
1) _____ Saigon (Tony-winning musical)

5) Language spoken in Vientiane (or someone who lives there)

8) Have lofty ambitions

11) Super stumper

14) First-ever, as a voyage

15) Diminishes the value (of)

18) "Scarborough Fair", for one

19) PART ONE OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE

21) Long-gone days of old

22) _____ and the Last Dragon (Disney movie)

23) Whirled around in a swivel chair, maybe

25) Justice Dept. agency that Clarice Starling works for

28) Acorn, eventually

29) Telephone booth stuffing in the 1950s, for one

30) Face mask thickness measurement

31) Grandson of Adam and Eve

33) Belonging to you and me

35) Agatha Christie: And _____ There Were None (2005 adventure game)

39) PART TWO OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE

45) "Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)" singer Keys

46) Facial cosmetic item that dates back to ancient Egypt

47) Toy company that popularized the yo-yo

48) Hosted a variety show, say

49) Believe to be true without any sort of fact-checking

50) Piglets' pen

51) Greek goddess of discord who appears in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

DOWN

1) Deadly black snake

2) Bartender on The Love Boat

3) Like milk that one shouldn't cry over

4) Walk like a crab

5) Roughly 2.11338 liquid pints

6) Has the same opinion

7) Easternmost country in the Arabian Peninsula

9) With 10-Down, posterior

10) See 9-Down

11) Tense and nervous

12) Villainous Romulan played by Eric Bana in Star Trek (2009)

13) Increase in interest

16) "¡Gracias!": 2 wds.

17) "_____ 'hello' to my little friend!" (memorable Scarface quote)

20) "Right Down the Line" singer Gerry

24) Burst a balloon

26) Shrieking creature from Ireland

27) Affirmation at an altar: 2 wds.

32) Rigorous, as some rules

34) Native American tribe that lent its name to the 45th state

36) Sue Bee product

37) Fencing sword with more than two vowels

38) Steve Urkel, for one

39) Winter ailments

40) Lather, _____, repeat

41) Transpire

42) Florida city where a CSI spinoff was set

43) Striped Christmas candies

44) "Slippery" trees

45) Programming language named after Mrs. Lovelace

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: Diagramless Crossword 4

So you know how in my news post from two days ago that I wouldn't make any more posts on this blog until I got back to my work computer in my flood-devastated house? Well, the very next day after posting that, I managed to get a workaround for the time being: a new Windows-compatible laptop that I got from an out-of-town Best Buy (using curbside pickup, of course)! And I've also found a temporary place to stay in the form of my sister's house until my regular home becomes safe to live in once more! So for the time being, I'm gonna keep on doing this blog from my new location with my new laptop, and I'll let you all know about any other events that will occur in the future regarding my current situation!

So with all that said, here are the ten people that have solved "Diagramless Crossword 4" from about two weeks ago:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Mom *
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Tyler Hinman **** (normally, if this post had gone up at its normal scheduled time of midnight EST, he wouldn't have made the deadline, but because of everything that I've been through these past several days, I've decided to put him on this list regardless)

Thanks to everyone who's currently supporting me through these hard times, either monetarily or spiritually! Now head below the break for the answers as well as a few solvers' comments!

PUZZLE #282: Diagramless Crossword 4

PUZZLE #282

DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 4

Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.

Once everything's filled in, two of the across answers will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: A character's name.

ACROSS
1) Syringe amts.
4) Steely Dan album containing "Peg" and "Josie"
7) Hilda or Zelda, to Sabrina the Teenage Witch
9) With "The", Adam Sandler movie where he becomes a great football tackler whenever he gets angry
11) Punny unit of currency in The Sims
12) Egg cells, scientifically speaking
15) PART ONE OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE
19) Very corrosion-resistant metal with an atomic number of 77
21) Winter hrs. in Salem, OR
24) A _____ Love with Tila Tequila (2000s dating show starring a then-MySpace model): 2 wds.
27) Vegas-set forensic drama with spinoffs located in Miami and New York
28) Yellow tuna commonly used in sushi and crosswords
29) Prefix for "archy" that means "father"
30) European conger, e.g.
31) Mr. Nessman who works at WKRP in Cincinnatti
32) Type of Pokémon that can learn moves like "Acid" and "Toxic"
33) It's a step up from dial-up, for short
34) The Man Who _____ His Wife for a Hat ('80s book written by a neurologist)
36) PART TWO OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE
42) Miss Prissy from Foghorn Leghorn cartoons, for one
43) "Ain't No Other Man" singer Christina
47) Sweater with a zipper
48) Rock band featured in the 1999 film Detroit Rock City
49) Newman's _____ salad dressing
50) Court divider in Mario Tennis Open

DOWN
1) Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? illustrator Eric
2) Speedy solver of a certain toy invented by Ernő Rubik
3) Stick one's nose into
4) Typical reactions to adorable kitty videos
5) Pretty much the only word that can precede "alai"
6) All-day cash dispenser: Abbr.
8) Judging Amy costar Daly
10) Greek goddess of the dawn
12) Cowardly blue dragon from Dragon Tales (okay, fine, just delete a consonant from WORD)
13) Gave utterance to
14) Tickles one's fancy
16) Crash Team Racing: _____-Fueled (award-winning video game remake)
17) The Little Engine That Could, say
18) Like a fiddle?
20) Pepper pulverizer
21) Conceal a coin, like a stage magician
22) Arabian leader with a silent last letter
23) Piece of paper produced by Puffs
24) Lighthearted parody
25) Gothic Loud House character named after the Japanese poem type she specializes in
26) Tie-breaking NHL periods
32) Milk cap involved in a '90s fad
35) Channel that changed its name to Spike TV, and then to Paramount Network
37) Expansion _____ (computer game add-on)
38) Last lyric of "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider"
39) Hospital employee who supervises candy stripers
40) Shakespearean synonym for "performed"
41) Laila who retired from boxing undefeated
44) Kurt Russell's role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
45) Like unbaked cookie dough
46) Antarctic explorer Bancroft

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: Diagramless Crossword 3

15-Across: Video game archaeologist Croft = LARA

"Diagramless Crossword 3" was posted on this blog thirteen days ago, and eight people since then have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Stephen Staver ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Mom **
• Lynn Sweeney ***
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Joe Bernard ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #227: Diagramless Crossword 3

PUZZLE #227

DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 3

Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.

Once everything's filled in, the two longest across answers will spell out the name of two movies. The FINAL ANSWER is the male actor who appeared in both films. 

ACROSS
1) Air_____ (lodging website)
4) Dr. Evil's son in the Austin Powers movies
9) Words that precede "saw Elba" in a palindrome: 2 wds.
10) Celebrated in historic lore
12) Firing, as from a job (hopefully, hatchets aren't involved!)
13) Professor X’s mutant-finding device in X-Men
14) What Clearasil treats
15) Video game archaeologist Croft
16) 1/10,000,000th of a joule
17) MOVIE #1: ? wds.
20) Didi's purple-haired husband from Rugrats
21) Soak up like a paper towel
22) Fortnite developer
24) The Favourite actress Stone
27) "The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum", according to ads
31) Italian philosopher Umberto
33) MOVIE #2: ? wds.
36) Enjoyed a smorgasbord
37) Road to _____ (Ramones album)
38) Still-life pitcher
39) Vague feeling of general discomfort
41) Home of Lightning and Buccaneers
42) Source of a licorice-like flavoring
43) Tweak levels you've made in Super Mario Maker, say
44) Cartoon duck who has nieces named April, May, and June
45) Greek goddess of the night

DOWN
1) Introduce, as a subject: 2 wds.
2) "Buffalo Stance" singer Cherry
3) Huge, like a "dipper" in the sky
4) Mono's successor
5) Habitat for at least 25% of all marine species: 2 wds.
6) Bauxite or azurite
7) The highest region on Earth
8) Gilliam or Jones from Monty Python
9) _____bike (NES motorcycling game)
10) Oodles and oodles
11) Dalmatian or dachshund
12) They're often heard after "oohs"
15) Women's _____ (what feminism was called in the 1970s)
18) Automobile assembly plants
19) Company that created the chess-playing computer Deep Blue
23) Suffix that means "sorta"
25) Cat food brand with a catchy jingle made up of kitty sounds: 2 wds.
26) Come to terms with
28) MMA fighter-turned-WWE wrestler Ronda
29) "Yeah, none of that was true": 2 wds.
30) The Secret of NIMH director Bluth
32) Gumbo vegetable seen too often in crosswords
33) Place to buy lemonade from kids
34) Monsters, Inc. receptionist with snaky hair
35) Word before "set, GO!"
36) Reddit Q&A session, for short
40) _____ Lay Dying (heavy metal band): 2 wds.
41) Alexander Hamilton's bill

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

ANSWERS: Diagramless Crossword 2

Tomorrow's Christmas Day, but before we get to that, we have to reveal the answers to my second "Diagramless Crossword" puzzle from thirteen days ago, as well as the eight people who have successfully solved it:

• Grant Fikes ***
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Mom *
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Brittany Trofimovich ****
• Lynn Sweeney **

Now head below the break for the answers! Four of my solvers had stuff to say, too, so be sure to check their comments out as well!

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH! PUZZLE #156: Diagramless Crossword 2

CHRISTMAS GIFTS MONTH!

PUZZLE #156

DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 2

It's week 2 of Christmas Gifts Month, so I should probably explain what it's all about. You see, people who solved my Anacrossword puzzle from two weeks ago were asked to request a type of word puzzle from me, so for this month, I'll pick four of those requests as Christmas gifts from me to you! If you want a full list of puzzles that I may do this month, go to this link that I posted yesterday. This week's offering is a request from Pavel Curtis, and I hope he finds it satisfactory!

Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.

Once everything's filled in, two of the across answers will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER: A title.

ACROSS
1) Piggy bank from Toy Story
5) Legal drama that NCIS spun off from
8) Army rank with two chevrons: Abbr.
11) Mexican water
12) Cheer for a torero
13) Scottish hillsides
16) Zoe and Hammie's baby sister in Baby Blues
17) Freddy Krueger's street
18) Up to this point
19) Rock band that sang the lyrics "And now you find yourself in '82"
21) "Ich bin ___ Berliner"
23) Beverly Hills, 90210 actress Spelling
24) Garfield's favorite pasta dish
26) Treebeard, for one
27) PART ONE OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE
32) Popular Reddit Q&A feature
33) Greek vowel with the shortest name
34) Chews on wood
35) In medias _____
36) Popular urban "sandbox" video game series published by Rockstar, for short
37) Cremation container
39) iPad platform
40) Voices above tenors
42) Wrestling org. that changed its name to Impact Wrestling in 2017
43) Gun grp. founded in 1871
44) PART TWO OF THE FINAL ANSWER'S CLUE
49) Three, in Italy
50) Residents of Pago Pago
51) Record label that Yes released 90125 on
52) Dadaist Jean that crossword solvers are sick of seeing
53) Ice planet from The Empire Strikes Back
55) The L in AWOL
57) The invention of this blue energy-saving bulb earned its creators a Nobel Physics Prize
59) Beekeeper that Peter Fonda played in 1997
61) Comparable to an embarrassed beet?
62) Prefix for "metric" and "morphic"
63) Gnorm _____ (Jim Davis comic predating Garfield)
64) Like deadpan humor
65) Utmost degree
66) Group of goats

DOWN
1) Hee-_____
2) Taj Mahal's city
3) Cereal comprised of rolled oats
4) Hit Michael Sembello song from Flashdance
5) Barack's Vice President
6) _____'s Window ('90s Nick Jr. show)
7) Zodiac sign after Taurus
8) Network that airs </scorpion>
9) Casein, for one
10) Legendary movie trailer announcer Don
14) _____ Jim (quirky 16-bit platformer video game)
15) Word preceding "Lanka"
20) Black-ink item
22) Short snooze
25) Ant princess from A Bug's Life
27) Weight unit for gemstones
28) Egg dishes that may come "au fromage"
29) Their "Priceless" ad campaign began in 1997
30) Chicago-based cable channel that used to have "Superstation" in its name
31) Analyze ore
36) Idiotest channel
37) Ctrl-Z, in Microsoft Word
38) Princess Jasmine's pet tiger
41) Bogey
42) Unicorn with a broken horn in My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
45) Sly-fox link
46) Nemo's dad in Finding Nemo
47) "Quit quarreling!"
48) Free letters given out in Wheel of Fortune's Bonus Round
51) In the style of
54) Use your ears (assuming you're not deaf)
56) Dreyer's ice cream partner
58) Exclamation written in The Simpsons' scripts as "annoyed grunt"
60) Airplane takeoff guess: Abbr.

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: Diagramless Mini-Crossword

It's been thirteen days since I've posted my first Diagramless Crossword, and since then, nine of you have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Sam Levitin ****
• Eric Maddy ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• YYW ****
• Mom *
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• David Cohen ****
• Debbie Benford ****

Now just click on "Read more" for the answers as well as a couple solver comments!

OSCAR MONTH! PUZZLE #112: Diagramless Mini-Crossword

OSCAR MONTH!
PUZZLE #112

DIAGRAMLESS MINI-CROSSWORD

Well, it's February, and if you're in the U.S. like I am, that means we're smack dab in the middle of Oscar Season. So to commemorate the occasion, I'm going to do another theme month in the form of Oscar Month! All this month, the FINAL ANSWERS of each puzzle will have something to do with the Academy Awards! So with that little explanation out of the way, let's start with the directions of this month's first puzzle, shall we?

Diagramless crosswords are solved by using the clues and their numbers to fill in the answers as well as the black squares. When completely filled in, the black squares in the grid will have diagonal symmetry, meaning that they'll look the same when rotated upside-down. As a help, the first number has already been placed in the grid.

This week's TWO FINAL ANSWERS are both Oscar-nominated films

ACROSS
1) Resell on eBay for ridiculous prices
6) Fictional pet detective Ventura
9) Eldest son in Foxtrot
10) "Sugar, We're _____ Down" (Fall Out Boy song)
12) Heart song that hit #1 in 1987
13) 2012 Oscar-winning film about a fake film (not one of the FINAL ANSWERS, by the way)
14) One FINAL ANSWER
16) The pinnacle of TV manufacturers?
17) Main _____, U.S.A. (part of Disneyland)
21) The other FINAL ANSWER
25) Persuade
26) Diamond _____ (ex-bully from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
28) Ballooned
29) Music genre of B.B. King and Freddie King
30) Sets in medical dramas, for short
31) Canvas holder

DOWN
1) Hot springs site
2) Pictures from Pinocchio, perhaps
3) _____ the Fourth Wall (Internet review show about comic books)
4) He preceded (and succeeded) O'Brien on The Tonight Show
5) Auntie Anne's offering
6) "You can say that _____!"
7) Welsh dog
8) Number of worlds in the original Super Mario Bros.
11) Chris who played Mr. Big on Sex and the City
15) Beatles album containing "The Long and Winding Road"
17) Arrogant, like a stereotypical hipster
18) Former Yankees manager Joe
19) Green-skinned bully from Doug
20) Celebrity gossip and current events show on the same network as Fashion Police
22) Type of "monster" found in the southwestern US
23) Home, in Hamburg
24) Birch or beech
27) Handy way of communicating? (Abbr.)

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 that one out (Don't forget that it's also a Contest Puzzle!). 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!