ANSWERS: Nonplussed 4

It's been almost two weeks since "Nonplussed 4" was posted on this blog, so now it's time to take a look at the twenty people who have solved it since then:

• Marie desJardins
• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Okieboy2008
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Wendy Walker
• Stasi Gustafson
• Mom
• Patrick Jordan
• Tamara Brenner
• Lynn Sweeney
• Craig Leach
• Chris Kochmanski
• Steve Gunter
• Derek Allen

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #555: Nonplussed 4

PUZZLE #555

NONPLUSSED 4

The answers in this puzzle are entered in two ways: the fifteen numbered rows have one or two answers that read left to right (even the two rows that only have one letter in it), and the plusses have five-letter answers that read left to right beginning in the top row (exactly like how they're entered in Pent Words). The clues for the plusses are split up into two groups: white plusses and gray plusses. Answers to those clues should be placed in their respectively-colored plus, though you have to use the Rows' answers to find out where each plus answer is located.

There are two unclued rows in this puzzle; combine them to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: a two-word military phrase

ROWS
1) Vowel that acts as the pseudonym for Pretty Little Liars' blackmailing villain

2) No _____, no fuss

3) Win back one's losses

4) THE FIRST HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

5) The View co-host Joy who voiced Sid the Sloth's mom in Ice Age: Continental Drift

    Rule Rhode Island, maybe

6) Raised fingerprint part

    Not chemically inert

7) Poplar part that falls in the fall

    Animated series set in the 31st century that spawned the phrase "Shut up and take my money!"

8) Add to, as a robotic build

    It is I (on the periodic table, at least)

9) Bruce Springsteen album with "Hungry Heart": 2 wds.

    NBC's peacock, CBS's eye, or ABC's lowercase "abc" in a ball, e.g.

10) Semester-ending test

      Pillar carved by many tribes of the Pacific Northwest: 2 wds.

11) Word that can usually be pluralized

      Party board game "for your Whole Brain" with art by cartoonist Gary Baseman

12) THE SECOND HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

13) A quart has 32 of these fluid units

14) Word preceding "five", "flying", and "fidelity"

15) To a ___ (quirky video game where you play a teen stuck in the shape of the 20th letter)

WHITE PLUSSES

• Get a smile out of

• _____ of Frankenstein (Universal monster movie where Elsa Lanchester plays the title role)

• Networking company founded in San Fran (or what's missing from "San Fran")

• "Ouchless" bandage brand

• Number of bits used in an original Apple II computer

• Rock type Pokémon named after a clay creature from Jewish folklore

• Taz-_____ ('90s Warner Bros. cartoon that's a pun on an Australian island)

• Be deserving of

• German cosmetics company

• Chicago airport not named "Midway"

• Penguin from The Backyardigans (or cubist Picasso)

• Member of an NFL team that plays home games in Houston's NRG Stadium

• Make knots not be knots anymore

GRAY PLUSSES

• Tennis Hall of Famer Chris who won the US Open four times in a row

• Social faux pas

• _____ white shark (fish such as Jabberjaw)

• Gut feeling

• "Live, _____, Love" (slogan commonly found on home decor from the 2010s)

• Sal who got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Rebel Without a Cause

• Pitcher's hill

• Deck in the Obra Dinn ship from Return of the Obra Dinn (answer hidden in DOCTOR LOPEZ)

• Swiss/French river with a circumflex (^) in its name

• Scrub with a Brillo pad

• Hard-to-control impulses

• Person picking a politician to elect

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: Nonplussed 3

Wow! That's all I can say regarding the number of people that have solved "Nonplussed 3" from two weeks ago, just ..... wow!! All in all, a huge twenty-two people have solved it; the most amount so far for a puzzle published this year! Take a look:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Kevin Orfield
• Karen Spencer
• Al Sisti
• Marich
• Mom
• Tamara Brenner
• Patrick Jordan
• Dave C.
• Stephen Potter
• Tyler Hinman
• Peter Abide
• Lynn Sweeney
• Elliott Frankfother
• Sam Levitin
• Joe Bernard
• DannyVee
• Seth Christenfeld
• Bonnie Veenschoten
• Debbie Benford
• Chris Hendricks

Now head below the break for the answers as well as some solvers' comments!

PUZZLE #331: Nonplussed 3

PUZZLE #331

NONPLUSSED 3

The answers in this puzzle are entered in two ways: the fifteen numbered rows have one or two answers that read left to right (even the two rows that only have one letter in it), and the plusses have five-letter answers that read left to right beginning in the top row (exactly like how they're entered in Pent Words). The clues for the plusses are split up into two groups: white plusses and gray plusses. Answers to those clues should be placed in their respectively-colored plus, though you have to use the Rows' answers to find out where each plus answer is located.

There are two unclued rows in this puzzle; combine them to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: a two-word occupation

ROWS
1) English letter with more than one syllable

2) Immunity token on Survivor

3) Spadroon, scimitar, and sabre, say

4) THE FIRST HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

5) Devoured dates, say

    Exceedingly negative reaction to an announcement

6) Orange alternative to ice cream

    Defeat the incumbent

7) Aardvark noses

    Use DuckDuckGo, e.g.

8) Metal stick that holds stair runners in place (Anagram of CROP TRADE): 2 wds.

    "Gimme _____ More" (Busta Rhymes song)

9) Tiny dose of Visine

    Quite impossible to miss

10) Fictional Rhode Island city where Family Guy is set

      Established by edict

11) White Fang novelist Jack

      Full of foliage

12) THE SECOND HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

13) Silver-haired half-elf heroine from Re:Zero

14) Carve with acid

15) Generation _____ (alternate name for millennials)

WHITE PLUSSES

• White as a sheet

• Pointy bit on a soccer shoe

• Like five dimes, when compared to two quarters

• Toffee-flavored candy in some Klondike bars

• In desperate need of calamine lotion

• Shish _____

• Closes in on

• Davis who played "Da Mayor" in Do The Right Thing

• Former Red Sox pitcher Martínez

• Long and slender

• Reek like Limburger

• Straight razor's sharpener

• Black _____ (upcoming film starring Scarlett Johansson)

GRAY PLUSSES

• Whale constellation

• Celestial streaker with a coma

• White Cliffs locale

• Strawberry-flavored drink from the Coca-Cola Company

• Material that Snow White's coffin was made of

• Street Fighter II character who shares his name with a Japanese automaker

• Her debut single "Royals" went Diamond, according to the RIAA

• Poet Nash who claimed that "Parsley is gharsley"

• _____ 66 ('60s TV show about two men in a Chevy Corvette)

• Only black member of the Spice Girls

• Word following "book" or "street"

• Put on a happy face

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: Nonplussed 2

Two clues in one: TOADETTE ("Pink mushroom girl playable in Mario Tennis Aces") wearing a LEI ("Hawaiian neckwear")

Roughly two weeks have passed since "Nonplussed 2" was posted on this blog, and nine people since then have correctly solved it, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Chris Hendricks ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Mom ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Dan Simonds ****
• Eric Maddy ****

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #202: Nonplussed 2

PUZZLE #202

NONPLUSSED 2

Happy two-days-before-Halloween! Last year, I didn't really do anything suitable for the season on this blog, but not this time! Not only is the FINAL ANSWER appropriately horror-themed, but it's from a puzzle that's metaphorically rising from its grave, as it hasn't been seen for over three years! Since it's been so long since this original type of puzzle appeared, read on for a refresher on how to solve it!

The answers in this puzzle are entered in two ways: the fifteen numbered rows have one or two answers that read left to right (even the two rows that only have one letter in it), and the plusses have five-letter answers that read left to right beginning in the top row (exactly like how they're entered in Pent Words). The clues for the plusses are split up into two groups: white plusses and gray plusses. Answers to those clues should be placed in their respectively-colored plus, though you have to use the Rows' answers to find out where each plus answer is located.

There are two unclued rows in this puzzle; combine them to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: the name of a horror video game

ROWS
1) Second-most common article, after "the"
2) Furniture store that serves Swedish meatballs
3) English, in Spanish
4) THE FIRST HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
5) Pink mushroom girl playable in Mario Tennis Aces
    Hawaiian neckwear
6) Symmetrical necktie knot
    _____ Kombat X (gory fighting game)
7) Dubstep musician who did "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites"
    Lazily
8) Actress Rhea who played Aunt Hilda on Sabrina the Teenage Witch
    Blue, furry, and brainy X-Men character
9) Lightsaber-weilding heroes
    Hot spots of the Earth
10) Utah city that's about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City
      Destructive Battlebots robot named after a rock marking a grave
11) Queen of rap
      Guitar boosters
12) THE SECOND HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
13) Alternative rock group whose only hit (so far) is "Come With Me Now"
14) As well
15) ___-Gage (ill-fated phone/handheld game console hybrid from the 2000s)

WHITE PLUSSES
* "Invisible" singer Clay
* Eyeball cells that allow color vision
* Word following "control" or "neat"
* Literally hotheaded villain from Disney's Hercules
* European country where Pinocchio is set
* Father of Superman played by Marlon Brando: Hyph.
* Titanic or Lusitania, e.g.
* Someone who pens praiseful poems
* Original Match Game and Price is Right announcer Johnny
* The "O" in N2O
* Orca captured and sold to SeaWorld in 1965
* Get _____ ('60s spy spoof show)
* A glint in one's eye

GRAY PLUSSES
* That plastic thingy on the end of shoelaces
* Hasbro toy that involves pulling and twisting: Hyph.
* Dreaded dentistry tool
* Catcher of congers
* The Princess Bride character who says “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
* Perseveres
* Veg-O-_____ (infomercial product that slices and dices)
* Garlic-crushing utensil
* Frighten the pants off of
* PlayStation 1 game about a pink-haired kid fighting pigs (Answer hidden in TOM BAKER)
* Island nation east of Fiji
* Mel who co-wrote "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)"

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: Nonplussed

It's been thirteen days since I posted my "Nonplussed" puzzle, so now it's time for me to reveal the answers! But first, as always, here are the people who have solved it during that time frame:

• Eric Maddy ****
• YYW ****
• Grant Fikes ****
• Adam Weaver ****
• Lynn Sweeney ****
• Mom ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Sam Levitin ****

Now just head click on "read more" for the answers, along with some solver comments!

PUZZLE #38: Nonplussed

PUZZLE #38

NONPLUSSED

This next puzzle was inspired by Grant Fikes' "Pent Words", except that for this puzzle, only one pentomino is used: the one shaped like a plus sign. I've made a grid using 25 of these, and you can see the final result below. How do you fill it out? Well, just read on for the directions!

The answers in this puzzle are entered in two ways: the fifteen numbered rows have one or two answers that read left to right (yes, even the two rows that only have one letter in it), and the pluses have five-letter answers that read left to right beginning in the top row (exactly like how they're entered in Pent Words). The clues for the pluses are split up into two groups: white pluses and gray pluses. Answers to those clues should be placed in their respectively-colored plus, though you have to use the Rows' answers to find out where each plus answer is located.

There are two unclued rows in this puzzle; combine them to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: the name of an '80s cartoon villain

ROWS
1) Early survival horror video game "starring" Laura, the "virtual actress"
2) Final boss of Super Mario Bros. 2 who hates vegetables
3) "Planet Rock" musician _____ Bambaataa
4) THE FIRST HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
5) Remove cargo / Gathering of Wiccans
6) Smaller version of a collie (I used to have one of these named Sprite!) / Type of Bible often seen in hotel rooms
7) Practice public speaking / Webcomic with characters named Big-Ears, Dies-Horribly, and Complains-of-Names
8) Camaro or Corvette, not for short / Exhale audibly
9) Lego block / In the midst of
10) Michigan's capital / Add yeast to
11) Cedar or cypress / Cheese _____ (Nabisco's Cheez-It competitor)
12) THE SECOND HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
13) Mouth-watering
14) Grizzly cub from Brother Bear
15) Knight, in algebraic chess notation

WHITE PLUSES
* The "A" in NBA: Abbv.
* Mel who voiced almost all of the Looney Tunes
* Sleepy or Sneezy
* Muppet whose song "Rubber Duckie" actually hit #16 on the Billboard Hot 100
* Ben _____ Five (Their biggest hit is the first answer in Row #9)
* Root beer with ice cream on top (Great, now I want one...)
* Humanoid creature made of living clay
* Islam's equivalent of Satan
* Bright Vegas lights
* Giant pteranodon from the Godzilla series
* Kristoff's pet reindeer and Ren Höek's idiot cousin
* "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" singer
* Mama's Family comedienne Lawrence

GRAY PLUSES
* Acute or obtuse
* It may say "Kiss the Cook"
* Saber-toothed cat from the Ice Age films
* Physics-based video game engine used in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
* Not now
* "It was a dark and stormy _____..."
* Light brownish-yellow: Var.
* Celebration, like the kind Pinkie Pie would hold
* Wandered about
* Dr. "Eggman" Robotnik's arch-rival
* The only monarchy in the Pacific
* Three-wheeler

Once you believe you've figured out the FINAL ANSWER, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com 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!