ANSWERS: Pathfinder 6

It's been almost two weeks since "Pathfinder 6" was posted on this blog, and nineteen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Marie desJardins
• Cathy Bowen
• Cindy Heisler
• Pavel Curtis
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Derek Allen
• Stasi Gustafson
• Okieboy2008
• KeoFam
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• Eli Zarconi
• Mom
• Michael Lebowitz
• Steve Gunter
• Nicholas Weaver
• Lynn Sweeney

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

PUZZLE #574: Pathfinder 6

PUZZLE #574

PATHFINDER 6

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

In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered square, goes in the indicated direction, and makes at least one right-angled turn as it winds through the grid. When you're finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.

Once the grid is filled out, there should be another entry inside it that doesn't have a corresponding clue, nor does it start in a numbered space. This unlisted word is this week's FINAL ANSWER: the name of a Pokémon

1E) Children's book family consisting of Mama, Papa, Brother, and Sister (Watch out for how it's spelled!) [3 10 5]

2E) Tiny part of a larger picture [6]

3S) Asphyxiates [10]

4S) "Would you let me? Pretty please?" [3 1]

5N) "Back in the _____" (song that opens the Beatles' White Album) [4]

6N) Woe with a tooth or tummy [4]

7S) Makes certain [7]

8N) The fat of penguins, polar bears, and whales [7]

9S) Swimming using a basic breathing tube [10]

10N) Marching to a different drummer [7]

11S) Those bottom sections of cable news shows with scrolling text [7]

12W) Vivid scene of people arranged as if they're in a painting [7]

13S) Mentalist who may say "You're getting verrrry sleeeeepyyyy...." [9]

14S) Sports channel that airs Pardon the Interruption [4]

15N) Struck back [10]

16S) Film _____ (genre of black & white crime dramas) [4]

17N) Smoked sausage from Poland [8]

18S) Top ten hit by the Cranberries whose name is a synonym for "remain" [6]

19N) "Fly the Friendly _____" (onetime United Airlines slogan) [5]

20E) Pixel's shape [6]

21E) Arabian country that hosted the World Cup back in 2022 [5]

22N) Star _____: Strange New Worlds (sci-fi series on Paramount+) [4]

23S) A backslide to a worse state than before [10]

24S) List of editorial screw-ups that need correcting [6]

25W) Once out of style, but now back in style [5]

26W) Understands completely [4 2]

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: Pathfinder 5

It's been almost two weeks since "Pathfinder 5" was published on this website, and eighteen people have successfully solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Cathy Bowen
• M. Sean Molley
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Josie Giles
• Mike Armstrong
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Chris Kochmanski
• KeoFam
• Stasi Gustafson
• Lynn Sweeney
• Steve Gunter
• Derek Allen
• Tamara Brenner
• Mom

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #510: Pathfinder 5

PUZZLE #510

PATHFINDER 5

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

In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered square, goes in the indicated direction, and makes at least one right-angled turn as it winds through the grid. When you're finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.

Once the grid is filled out, there should be another entry inside it that doesn't have a corresponding clue, nor does it start in a numbered space. This unlisted word is this week's FINAL ANSWER: the name of a nerdy cartoon character

1W) Elvis Presley's middle name [4]

2W) Bearded dwarflike creatures from Gravity Falls [6]

3E) Dots in numbers like 2.71828 and 3.14159 [7 6]

4S) Beaded calculator [6]

5N) Snake-eating relative of ferrets [8]

6N) Wrens' residences [5]

7N) Long Island _____ tea (drink that doesn't even have tea) [4]

8N) Mexican Mrs. [6]

9N) "Same here!" [1 2 3]

10N) Allen Funt-hosted prank show that debuted on TV in 1948 [6 6]

11N) Gold bar [5]

12E) White bird used in classic magic tricks [4]

13N) Harshly reprimand [7]

14N) 1996 movie musical where Madonna sings "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" [5]

15S) _____ Armstrong (elastic action figure) [7]

16E) Coughing Revenge of the Sith character who can wield four lightsabers at once [7 8]

17W) Less than zero [8]

18S) Stick that one uses to stuff a cannonball down a cannon [6]

18S again) Mischievous little imp [6]

19N) Making a face like a purple McDonaldland character? [9]

20S) The _____ Bucket (restaurant from SpongeBob SquarePants that serves ground-up bait) [4]

21S) Handyman's kit [7]

22S) Purple plants which are New Hampshire's state flowers [6]

23W) College student’s quarters [4]

24W) Joe Biden's wife [4]

24E) Oxymoronic shrimp size [5]

25E) Robbed during a riot [6]

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: Pathfinder 4

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Pathfinder 4" was posted on this blog, and seventeen people have solved it since then:

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Pavel Curtis
• Kevin Orfield
• Chris Kochmanski
• Michael Lebowitz
• Sam Levitin
• Tamara Brenner
• Mom
• Josie Giles
• Mike Armstrong
• Tower
• Wendy Walker
• Steve Gunter
• KeoFam
• Lynn Sweeney

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

PUZZLE #491: Pathfinder 4

PUZZLE #491

PATHFINDER 4

In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered square, goes in the indicated direction, and makes at least one right-angled turn as it winds through the grid. When you're finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.

Once the grid is filled out, there should be another entry inside it that doesn't have a corresponding clue, nor does it start in a numbered space. This unlisted word is this week's FINAL ANSWER: a tool invented in the 19th century

1W) Muscular, yet stringy [6]

2W) Eye drop brand that "gets the red out" [6]

3W) Dwindling down [9]

4N) Use someone as a primary source of support [4 3]

5S) Mad Max: Fury _____ (2015 film) [4]

6N) Self-serving section of a Golden Corral [6]

7N) Cream-filled cookie that Weird Al's "The White Stuff" is about [4]

8N) 25 Words or _____ (Meredith Vieira-hosted game show) [4]

9N) Couple's night out [4]

10N) "Unharmonious" instant messaging app [7]

11E) Celestial [6]

12N) On the straight and _____ [6]

13S) Michael Jackson's out-of-this-world dance move [8]

14S) Tennis player Osaka who was born in Osaka [5]

15N) Nervous Nellies [10]

16S) Howling monsters such as Wayne from Hotel Transylvania [10]

17S) Often-restricted flight zones [9]

18N) Aesop character who removes a thorn from a lion's paw [9]

19S) Realm ruled by Princess Peach [8 7]

20S) "Pocket", "rocket", and "socket", for three [6]

21E) Beckon [6]

22S) "Oh, snap! What a clever comeback!" [4]

23S) Completely figure out, such as this puzzle (I hope!) [5]

24N) Innumerable [6]

25W) 9-1-1: Lone Star star and Mental Samurai host Rob [4]

26E) Win–_____ record (baseball stat) [4]

27E) Flipping over, as an unfortunate ship [9]

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: Pathfinder 3

Thirteen days have passed by since "Pathfinder 3" was posted on this blog, and quite a few people since then have correctly solved it (I didn't put a specific number this time since one of the names below solved it as a family of unknown size):

• Grant Fikes
• Cindy Heisler
• Joe Bernard
• Kevin Orfield
• Sam Levitin
• Mike Armstrong
• Stephen Potter
• "KeoFam"
• Patrick Jordan
• Lynn Sweeney
• Tyler Hinman
• Michael Lebowitz
• Mom
• Tamara Brenner
• Peter Abide

If you want to know the answers to this puzzle, just head below the break to read them.

PUZZLE #396: Pathfinder 3

PUZZLE #396

PATHFINDER 3

One of the clues in 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!

In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered square, goes in the indicated direction, and makes at least one right-angled turn as it winds through the grid. When you're finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.

Once the grid is filled out, there should be another entry inside it that doesn't have a corresponding clue, nor does it start in a numbered space. This unlisted word is this week's FINAL ANSWER: a city in the Southern United States

1W) Not planned, like reality shows that actually live up to their name [8]

2W) Oscar category won twice by Hans Zimmer [4 8 5]

3E) Male red deer [4]

4S) Airline headquartered in Israel [2 2]

5N) Sign for an occupied outhouse [2 3]

5S) Brightens up a dark room [11]

6E) Smelly substance, like what the monsters from Monsters, Inc. spray on their armpits [7]

7N) The Great _____ (Fitzgerald novel that entered the public domain in 2021) [6]

8N) Start up a Windows PC [4]

8S) Superheroine name for Barbara Gordon or Cassandra Cain [7]

9N) Haircuts described as "business up front and party in the back" [7]

10W) Spoof such as the MAD comic "Superduperman" [6]

10S) Writing out block letters [8]

11S) _____ Starr & His All-Starr Band (live rock group) [5]

12E) Every so often [10]

13N) Less fresh, like potato chips [6]

14W) Prickly feeling on the back of one's neck [6]

15S) Manufacturer of cheap '80s synthesizers [5]

16S) Nonprofessional who doesn't understand technical jargon [6]

17S) Folklore figures made out of clay [6]

18W) Player on certain shows like Pass the Buck and Password [10]

18S) Tranquil [4]

19S) Place to purchase pastrami [4]

20N) #1 Mariah Carey song with a black and white music video [2 3]

21S) _____ Joy (coconutty candy bar) [6]

22E) British capital where Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties is set [6]

23E) Put on a happy face [6]

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: Pathfinder 2

It's been almost two weeks since my second attempt at a "Pathfinder" puzzle got posted here, and an impressive twelve people have successfully solved it since then, as you can see in the list below:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Giovanni Pagano ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Pavel Curtis ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Peter Abide ****
• Lynn Sweeney ***
• Mom ****
• William Dunbar ****

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

PUZZLE #316: Pathfinder 2

PUZZLE #316

PATHFINDER 2

In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered square, goes in the indicated direction, and makes at least one right-angled turn as it winds through the grid. When you're finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.

Once the grid is filled out, there should be another entry inside it that doesn't have a corresponding clue, nor does it start in a numbered space. This unlisted word is this week's FINAL ANSWER: A fictional race

1W) James Bond film that will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2021 [8 3 7]

2E) Horse-_____ cart [5]

3S) Extremely skeptical [11]

4N) Eyelash thickener [7]

5N) Amelia Bedelia, and others in her line of work [5]

6E) Deep, deep sleeps [5]

7E) Pixar movie featuring two blue elf brothers [6]

8N) Bank vault that tends to land on cartoon characters [4]

9S) Paula who was a judge on the first eight seasons of American Idol [5]

10E) Partner of "Bed" and "Bath" in a store's name [6]

11W) Wealthy teen girl from Archie comics [8]

12S) Film studio that originally distributed Clerks [7]

13S) Wisconsin's state animal [6]

14S) _____ En-lai [4]

14S also) Sprouting "pet" that comes in a "Weird Al" model [4]

15N) Church, like the one in Westminster [5]

16S) Create computer software [7]

17N) Like contestants on a reality show hosted by RuPaul [2 4]

18N) Instrument heard in the iPhone's default ringtone [7]

19S) What "♥" can represent [4]

20N) Laser_____ (DVD ancestor) [4]

21S) Strong string often balled up [5]

22W) Flag holder [4]

23W) Prove Darwin's theory right, in a way [6]

24W) Band that performed silly love songs like "Silly Love Songs" [5]

25W) Hubble whom a telescope was named after [5]

26W) With "The", Adam Sandler movie where he performs '80s songs like "Love Stinks" [7 6]

27E) Approximate [7]

Once you believe you've figured out the FINAL ANSWER, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com (though I'm more likely to check the second one) and I'll put your name on a solvers list once I post the answers in about two weeks. You can also use those email addresses to give me some comments and feedback (or get a hint from me in exchange for a "hint star"; more details for that are on the sidebar to the right) or send me the answer to last week's puzzle, if you haven't already figured it out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

ANSWERS: Pathfinder

8W) Complete and utter madness: INSANITY

It's been almost two weeks since my first attempt at a "Pathfinder" puzzle was posted on this blog, and nine people since then have correctly solved it, as you can see in the list below:

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

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

NEWVEMBER! PUZZLE #206: Pathfinder

NEWVEMBER!

PUZZLE #206

PATHFINDER

In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered square, goes in the indicated direction, and makes at least one right-angled turn as it winds through the grid (except for one answer that just goes in a straight line). When you're finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.

Once the grid's filled in, unscramble the letters in the gray squares to get the FINAL ANSWER: An 8-letter word

1W) You Might Be a _____ If... (Jeff Foxworthy album) [7]
2E) Hey Arnold! character whose hair is braided up to look like a spider (Anagram of DIANNE) [6]
3N) Evil crocodile king from Donkey Kong Country and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate [1 4]
4S) Web-slinging alter-ego of Peter Porker (not a typo; he's an actual pig, and he's gonna be in an animated Marvel movie this December) [6-3]
4S) Intermittent [8]
5S) Traditional Thanksgiving meal [5]
6N) "_____ Anthem (I Don't Want to Be in Love)" (Good Charlotte song) [5 5]
7E) Autumn apple drink [5]
8W) Complete and utter madness [8]
9N) Return address name [6]
9S) Los Angeles suburb where film's Bill & Ted are from [3 5]
10S) Barcelona boy [4]
11W) _____ Mack (current Disney Channel show) [4]
12S) Nihil _____ (defendant's refusal to plead) (Answer hidden in APPENDICITIS) [5]
13S) What live TV might use in case someone decides to cuss [4 5]
14S) Sole Top 40 hit for Luscious Jackson [5 3]
15S) Port-au-Prince's country [5]
16W) Huge herbivorous dino whose name means "arm lizard" [13]
17S) Pregnant cop from Fargo (1996) [5]
18N) North West's father [5]
19S) Stop, like marching soldiers [4]
20N) With "The", hidden camera show on TruTV where a magician pranks unsuspecting people [9 6]
21E) Abe Simpson, to Bart and Lisa [6]
22S) America's most popular potato chip brand [4]
23N) Sammy with 609 home runs [4]
24S) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? playwright [5]
25W) Bull-ish constellation? [6]
26E) Amazon founder and president Jeff [5]
27E) _____ 101 (2000s Nickelodeon show) [4]

Once you believe you've figured out the FINAL ANSWER, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com (though I'm more likely to check the second one) and I'll put your name on a solvers list once I post the answers in about two weeks. You can also use those email addresses to give me some comments and feedback (or 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!