PUZZLE #493 TOUCHWORD This puzzle type was suggested by Patron Grant Fikes. Support me on Patreon at $25 per month to suggest any puzzle type of your choice every month (but be careful, cuz there's only one slot left for that specific tier)! In a normal crossword, words cross each other; in this puzzle, they simply touch. More specifically, all answers read across each numbered row (ranging from one to three answers per row), and every letter touches, along an edge, at least one identical letter above or below it. Since the top and bottom rows also loop around and connect with each other, t ..read more

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! 1W) Sinewy, 2W) Visine, 3W) Subsiding, 4N) Live Off, 5S) Road, 6N) Buffet, 7N) Oreo, 8N) Less, 9N) Date, 10N) Discord, 11E) Astral, 12N) Narrow, 13S) Moonwalk, 14S) Naomi, 15N) Worrywarts ..read more

It's been almost two weeks since "Deck It Out 9" was posted on this blog, and quite a few people have solved it since then: Grant Fikes Cindy Heisler Pavel Curtis Joe Bernard Mike Armstrong Michael Lebowitz Josie Giles Chris Kochmanski Sam Levitin Tamara Brenner Mom Tower Lynn Sweeney Steve Gunter Kevin Orfield Wendy Walker Now head below the break for the answers! A) Sidney, 2) Tiptoe, 3) Warmth, 4) Pirate, 5) Blotch, 6) Degree, 7) Office, 8) Radius, 9) Rewind, 10) Hacked, J) Buying, Q) Canada, K) Salmon The sentence in the above grid reads SIMPLE CARD GAME OR THE FUNK BAND THAT DID "W ..read more

PUZZLE #490 TRIANGLE TANGLE 6 To solve this puzzle, enter the 4-letter answer to each clue into the diagram either from top to bottom or diagonally upward. There are two numbers starting each clue; each answer begins in the triangle marked with the first number, and ends in the triangle marked with the second. Once the grid has been filled in, there are two more words hiding in the topmost row of letters and the bottommost row of letters. Combine them both to get the FINAL ANSWER: the name of a candy brand 1-2) Grand Cherokee SUV manufacturer 2-3) Machu Picchu's country 3-4) Risk territor ..read more

It's been about two weeks since "Gryptics 8" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have solved it since then, as you can see in the list below: Grant Fikes Cindy Heisler M. Sean Molley Pavel Curtis Kevin Orfield Josie Giles Mike Armstrong Michael Lebowitz Chris Kochmanski Sam Levitin Tower Wendy Walker Tamara Brenner Steve Gunter KeoFam Patrick Jordan Mom Lynn Sweeney Now head below the break for the answers! The two words that combine to make the name of a cartoon character, highlighted above, spell out CAPTAIN PLANET This puzzle contains the seed word REBIRTH, suggested by&nb ..read more

PUZZLE #439 DECK IT OUT 9 Fill in the answers to the clues below, then transfer the letters marked with playing card symbols to their proper places in the grid below. The number (or letter) of each clue will tell you what column to place those letters in. Once it's completely filled in, the grid will spell out a sentence that will provide a hint to the FINAL ANSWER. This week's FINAL ANSWER is a short name A) Dog Day Afternoon director Lumet    ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___     ♣       ♠   ♦   ♥ 2) "_____ Through the Tulips ..read more

It's been nearly two weeks since "Masquerade Party 3" was posted on this blog, and seventeen people have solved it since then: Grant Fikes Cindy Heisler Joe Bernard Pavel Curtis Kevin Orfield Mike Armstrong Tamara Brenner Michael Lebowitz Josie Giles Chris Kochmanski KeoFam Wendy Walker Sam Levitin Mom Lynn Sweeney Tower Steve Gunter Now head below the break for the answers! WORDS: Cuties, Byline, Advance, Teasing, Squirt, Resized, Policy, Indent, Whisker DISGUISES: Strum, Lass, Tag, Per, Rely, Synth, Levi, Tel, Order INDENT → INSTRUMENT CUTIES → CUTLASSES ADVANCE → ADVANTAGE WHISKER ..read more

Roughly two weeks have gone by since "Slide Show: Double Feature 6" was posted on this blog, and eighteen people have solved it since then: Grant Fikes Cindy Heisler Pavel Curtis Kevin Orfield Mike Armstrong Michael Lebowitz Chris Kochmanski Sam Levitin Josie Giles Mom KeoFam Lynn Sweeney Tower Wendy Walker Patrick Jordan Tamara Brenner Steve Gunter Stasi Gustafson Now head below the break for the answers! The two highlighted words combine to spell out the song title PENNY LANE ..read more

PUZZLE #487 MASQUERADE PARTY 3 Below are rows of blanks that each need to be filled in with a 6- or 7-letter word; these words are clued in no particular order. However, one letter in each word is "in disguise" as another word. The locations of the disguised letters are indicated by symbols and the disguises themselves are clued next to those symbols below. Replace each symbol/disguised letter with its corresponding word to form a longer word. Once everything has been correctly filled out, the letters that have been replaced by symbols will spell out the FINAL ANSWER: a movie that has been n ..read more

It's been almost two weeks since "Insiders 3" was posted on this blog, and a whopping nineteen people have solved it since then, as you can see in the following list: Grant Fikes Cindy Heisler Joe Bernard Pavel Curtis Kevin Orfield Mike Armstrong Sam Levitin Chris Kochmanski Josie Giles Tower Wendy Walker Michael Lebowitz Patrick Jordan Mom Tamara Brenner Lynn Sweeney KeoFam Bart Gold Steve Gunter Now head below the break for the answers as well as a solver's comment! ROWS: 1) Photo/Kenny, 2) Twinkle/Rob, 3) Accost/Arco, 4) Proven/Iced, 5) Uni-/Collect, 6) Thai/Cement, 7) Blimp/Endow, 8 ..read more