PUZZLE #180: Anacrossword 2

PUZZLE #180

ANACROSSWORD 2

This puzzle type was suggested by Patron Grant Fikes. Support me on Patreon at $30 per month to suggest one puzzle type every month!

Solve the clues below and transfer their answers into the crossword grid. Then, transfer the letters in the filled numbered squares to each of the correspondingly numbered dashes. Work back and forth between the crossword and the numbered dashes until the crossword is filled and the dashes read out a legible sentence.

Once you're done with everything, the sentence will spell out a hint to the FINAL ANSWER: a two-word title.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
​01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98

CLUES
* "Unpack Your _____" (Schoolhouse Rock song)
* February birthstone (or a purple Steven Universe character)
* Retired sprinter Usain
* Sport with spares and splits
* Blue bunny from Tiny Toon Adventures
* _____ Cat (Internet-famous feline with a perpetual scowl)
* With "The", 2009 comedy where the main characters wake up and find a tiger in the bathroom, among other oddities
* Movie about a pregnant Arnold Schwarzenegger
* Maggie Simpson's mother
* _____ 5 (Adam Levine's band)
* Kermit and Gonzo, for example
* Elongated circle
* "I Wanna Be _____" (Ramones song)
* "Let the Music Play" singer
* Not as rock-hard, like a pillow
* Cuckoo mascot of Cocoa Puffs
* Mario Kart 8 Deluxe console
* Ms. Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII
* Sebastian's song from The Little Mermaid that won an Oscar: 3 wds.

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: Word Squares: Overlap Again

It's been about two weeks since I've posted "Word Squares: Overlap Again", and seven people since then have managed to solve it, as you can see in the list below:

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

Now head below the break for the answers!

PUZZLE #179: The Block List 2

PUZZLE #179

THE BLOCK LIST 2

This puzzle contains a word suggested by Patron Grant Fikes. Support me on Patreon at $20 or more per month to suggest one word or phrase every month!

In each numbered row of squares, fill in the squares of each color with one of the given words below from the set of that color, keeping the letters in their original order, so that the entire row spells out a single longer word. However, you have to figure out what each smaller, color-coded word is based on the clues given.

Once you're done with the first four rows, enter the letters of the remaining words into the last row of squares similarly to spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a short-lived game show whose title is more than one word.

RED WORDS
* Most common conjunction
* Redheaded main character of Futurama
* Comic book author Simone who wrote for Wonder Woman
* Grains in a golf trap

BLUE WORDS
* Woody Allen voiced one in a 1998 Dreamworks animated movie
* Feathered friend of Kirby in Kirby's Dream Land 2 (or a dove's call)
* _____ the tail on the donkey
* Crossword editor Shortz

GREEN WORDS
* A byte has eight of these
* Shy, like a certain rodent?
* Box lifted by a forklift
* Wayne Brady's role on Let's Make a Deal

ORANGE WORDS
* "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" band Manfred _____
* Friars Club event
* Hornet's attack
* Desperate Housewives actress Hatcher

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: Pent Words 10

My tenth "Pent Words" puzzle was published on this blog roughly two weeks ago, and nine people since then have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

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

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

PUZZLE #178: Word Squares: Overlap Again

PUZZLE #178

WORD SQUARES: OVERLAP AGAIN

Word squares have words in them that can be read both across and down. Below are four 4x4 grids with different colored borders, each of them overlapping with each other at the corners. Each clue is sorted by the grid that they're placed in, though otherwise, the clues aren't in any particular order.

Once you've finished this puzzle, the overlapped tiles (highlighted below in gold) will unscramble to spell out this week's FINAL ANSWER: A four-letter word

RED GRID
* Drop-down list
* Honeycomb abode
* Stratford-upon-_____, England
* "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" duo

GREEN GRID
* Baseballer Felipe or his son Moisés
* "La _____ Bonita" (Madonna single)
* Pinkie Pie's monotone-speaking sister from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
* Thailand, once

BLUE GRID
* -, on sheet music
* Chimpanzee sent into space in 1961 (ALTERNATE CLUE FOR CHRISTIANS: Seth's son)
* Ridesharing company with a German name
* Tom Hardy's masked role in The Dark Knight Rises

YELLOW GRID
* Dayton's state
* Grunt from a hog
* Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year _____
* Streaming player brand named after the Japanese word for "six"

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 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 #177: Pent Words 10

PUZZLE #177

PENT WORDS 10

For this puzzle, you must divide the grid into pentominoes (they’re sorta like Tetris pieces, except they’re areas made up of five squares each) and put a letter in each cell. The rows, reading from left to right, will contain the words hinted at by the ACROSS clues. The letters in the pentominoes, reading left to right beginning with the top row, will form the words hinted at by the PENTOMINOES clues; these clues are presented in no particular order. (In the example above, the rows spell out CHINS, PARTY, and ANKLE, and the pentominoes spell out the words CHINA, STYLE, and PRANK.) Use the across answers to figure out where the pentominoes go.

Once you're done, combine the two unclued pentominoes to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: A two-word phrase

ACROSS (Two answers per row)
1) _____-Kazooie
    Winchester, for one
2) Type of writing also known as "longhand"
    Balloon Fight console, for short
3) Washington's bills
    New Jersey's largest city
4) Saturn has at least 62 of these orbiting it
    Linus and Lucy's little brother
5) Give a flu shot, for example
    Student's spot
6) Breed of twin cats in Lady and the Tramp
    Keyboard key on either end of the space bar
7) Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor Crews
    She falls in love with Gus in The Fault in Our Stars
8) Email from a Nigerian Prince, e.g.
    Reacted to a doorbell like a dog
9) The largest city on the Illinois River
    "Not guilty," for one
10) Home country of Sigur Rós and Björk
      Santa _____, California

PENTOMINOES (Five letters per answer)

* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

* Action icon who made his debut in First Blood (1982)

* Like fresh brownies

* Peddler's merchandise

* Animal whose diet is over 99% bamboo

* Red _____ (1985 film role for Brigitte Nielsen)

* Nutmeg, e.g.

* Unites

* Nintendo's Princess of Hyrule

* Abrasive powder on a nail file

* The "B" in BLT

* Fifi from Tiny Toon Adventures, for one

* Nephew's sister

* Standing straight and tall

* _____ of Avalor (Disney Junior show)

* The first company to successfully make bubble gum

* Extremely common sans-serif font

* Handed out cards

* Sequel to Myst that was released in 1997

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: Compound Crosswords 2

It's been thirteen days since I've posted "Compound Crosswords 2", and nine people since then have correctly solved it, as you can see in the list below:

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

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

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: Drop Tower 5

It's been almost two weeks since I've posted "Drop Tower 5", and since then, a whopping eleven people have successfully solved it, as you can see in the list below:

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

Now click on "Read more" below for the answers as well as a solver's comment!