ANSWERS: Tetris Blockout

I'll admit it: that "Tetris Blockout" puzzle from two weeks ago ranks right up there with my "Flower Power" puzzle for being one of the hardest puzzles that I've made, and the low number of people who have solved it confirms that. I thought that last week's easier version would increase the number of solvers, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case. In fact, considering that no one has solved one of my puzzles in the second week since my third meta-crossword from last month, I'm starting to question if I should even keep doing easier versions if no one will solve it that way! I'll still publish the easier version for my latest puzzle later today, of course (since it's already made); I'm just questioning if I should continue doing so. At least I got some good news to share with you last Tuesday... but I'll save that for tomorrow. In the meantime, here are the few people who have figured out "Tetris Blockout"!

• Eric Maddy **
• Adam Weaver **
• Paolo Pasco **
• Grant Fikes **
• Christian H.P. **

Now just go below the break for the answers, along with some solver comments and a story on how it turns out that this puzzle was just as hard to make as it was to solve (if not more so)!

EASY VERSION: Tetris Blockout

Boy, my last puzzle must've been just as hard to solve as it was to make, because so far, only 5 people have managed to figure it out so far (All of whom have managed to do so in the first day of its posting). Fortunately, I've provided an easier version below the break, as always, and included in that are easier clues as well as the Tetris blocks already being placed. Then again, considering that this week's FINAL ANSWER is one of the answers in the puzzle, I might've made this Easy Version TOO easy...

TETRIS MONTH! Puzzle #19: Tetris Blockout

TETRIS MONTH!

PUZZLE #19

TETRIS BLOCKOUT

This title works on several levels; not only does this puzzle involve "blocking out" parts of this grid, but it turns out there's a 3D variant of Tetris actually called Blockout! Anyway, let's get to the directions!

This grid is just an example; not the actual puzzle

This puzzle uses a 9x9 grid. When completed, the grid will contain 28 shaded squares appearing in the form of the 7 different Tetris pieces known as "tetrominoes". The shaded tetrominoes may be rotated (but not reflected) as needed and don't touch each other, not even at a corner. The example above shows an idea on how the blocks are placed, but be careful, as it's up to you to determine where the shaded tetrominoes go in the grid!

The 18 clues grid entries (9 across and 9 down) are given, but which clue in each pair yields the across entry and which one yields the down entry is, once again, up to you to determine (save for the first pair). Entries are placed into the grid, one per row and one per column, skipping over all of the shaded tetromino squares. For instance, in the example above, the last column contains four shaded tetromino squares, so the entry for that column will contain 5 letters, entered in order into the white squares. As an additional hint, the first square in the first row/column does not have a shaded square in it.

All of the entries in this puzzle are at least four letters long... except for one. So this week's FINAL ANSWER is the only entry in the grid that's less than four letters.

1) [ACROSS] The first name of a pink-clad Wacky Races racer... / [DOWN] ...and their last name
2) Pi'_____ Island (location in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team) / Someone who makes people happy
3) Voldemort's pet snake / Baymax's creator from Big Hero 6
4) Decahedron-shaped die used in many tabletop RPGs / Their debut album Wisconsin Death Trip went platinum
5) Annoy successfully (I may or may not have used this answer before in Puzzle #13) / Stretchy, like a waistband
6) Christ's first name in Latin / Cease to have the benefit (of), like an amputated limb (Anagram of LOU SEES)
7) "_____ you. It's been a long time, how have you been?" (GLaDOS' first lines in Portal 2. Please ignore the fact that part of the answer is in the clue itself) / Campsite shelters
8) Paintings by Pablo / Lt. Colonel played by Hiro Abe in Letters from Iwo Jima
9) Zelda or Midna, for example / Add-on to the end of a phone no.

I know a lot of these clues look tough, but remember that you're allowed to look up the answers if you so wish! Anyway, once you figured out this week's FINAL ANSWER, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com before April 26th and you'll win a spot on the solvers list as well as bragging rights. Oh, and last week's puzzle is a contest with prizes to win, so using those same email addresses, please send me the FINAL ANSWER to that one as well before next Sunday, if you haven't already! If you want a version of this puzzle to print out, just go below the break to do so!