WORDY WEDNESDAY #646
SECTION SIX 64 (answer)
Here is the answer to this puzzle. If you still wish to solve it yourself, please go here for the normal version of the puzzle, or here for the easier version of the puzzle. Here's a list of people who solved it:
SECTION SIX 64 (answer)
Bonnie Veenschoten **
Cathy Bowen **
Cindy Heisler **
Derek Allen **
Joe Bernard **
Michael Lebowitz *
Pavel Curtis **
Russ Kale **
John Bulten **
Kevin Orfield **
Marie desJardins **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
Steve Levy **
WORDY WEDNESDAY #647
MINI TOUCHWORD 5 (hint)
As of this writing, 16 people have solved this puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to appear on the solvers list and be recognized for your puzzle prowess. Good luck, solvers!
MINI TOUCHWORD 5 (hint)
WORDY WEDNESDAY #648
KEVIN'S UNFINISHED PUZZLES AT HOME
(click here for a PDF version)
This puzzle contains a word suggested by patron Cathy Bowen. Support me on Patreon at the Super Fan level ($5/month) and solve the monthly Patron Puzzle for a chance to suggest a seed word for a future puzzle, or at the Ultra Fan level ($20/month) to suggest one seed word every month!KEVIN'S UNFINISHED PUZZLES AT HOME
(click here for a PDF version)
As you may already be aware, I like to present my blog’s readers with simple puzzles without instructions, using the colorful anthropomorphic wolf Kevin Edmund Kepler as a framing device. Go behind the scenes and take a look at some of my unfinished Kevin’s Puzzles at Home puzzle ideas!
Unfinished Puzzle #1
When Kevin looks up at the stars, he can’t help but sometimes feel like they’re trying to communicate a message to him!
[to do: The use of “feel” in the flavortext might be too subtle a hint for newer solvers as to what encoding is being used. But I “cannot see” a way to clue it that isn’t overly blunt.]
When Kevin looks up at the stars, he can’t help but sometimes feel like they’re trying to communicate a message to him!
[to do: The use of “feel” in the flavortext might be too subtle a hint for newer solvers as to what encoding is being used. But I “cannot see” a way to clue it that isn’t overly blunt.]
Unfinished Puzzle #2
Grab yourself a “Greece” pencil and help Kevin recall the details of his and his friends’ trips!
[to do: Extracting the answer will be straightforward enough, but some solvers may not be familiar with grid logic puzzles like this. I might translate the puzzle to Greek to make it harder, if only I knew someone who speaks Greek. Oh well.]
Kevin and three of his friends all took vacations to the beautiful nation of Greece. From the clues below, determine in what year and for how many nights each of them did so.
1. Concord either visited Greece in 2025 or stayed there for 7 nights, but not both.
2. Douglas stayed in Greece for exactly 2 nights longer than did the one who visited in 2024.
3. Buck’s trip to Greece was exactly 2 years after the 4-night stay.
Grab yourself a “Greece” pencil and help Kevin recall the details of his and his friends’ trips!
[to do: Extracting the answer will be straightforward enough, but some solvers may not be familiar with grid logic puzzles like this. I might translate the puzzle to Greek to make it harder, if only I knew someone who speaks Greek. Oh well.]
Kevin and three of his friends all took vacations to the beautiful nation of Greece. From the clues below, determine in what year and for how many nights each of them did so.
1. Concord either visited Greece in 2025 or stayed there for 7 nights, but not both.
2. Douglas stayed in Greece for exactly 2 nights longer than did the one who visited in 2024.
3. Buck’s trip to Greece was exactly 2 years after the 4-night stay.
Unfinished Puzzle #3
Kevin had a dream that a shadowy figure demanded of him, “State your name!”
[to do: Is this puzzle too America-centric? And will my solvers think to look vertically for the final answer?]
• Natural • Golden • Sunshine • Aloha • Hawkeye • Pine Tree • Bay •
Kevin had a dream that a shadowy figure demanded of him, “State your name!”
[to do: Is this puzzle too America-centric? And will my solvers think to look vertically for the final answer?]
• Natural • Golden • Sunshine • Aloha • Hawkeye • Pine Tree • Bay •
Unfinished Puzzle #4
Can you help Kevin locate these duos of shaded cells?
[to do: Is it fair to expect novice solvers to know what a Norinori is? And if they manage that, will they figure out how the column numbers of the shaded cells affect the given letters? I might need to brainstorm some better hinting.]
Can you help Kevin locate these duos of shaded cells?
[to do: Is it fair to expect novice solvers to know what a Norinori is? And if they manage that, will they figure out how the column numbers of the shaded cells affect the given letters? I might need to brainstorm some better hinting.]
Unfinished Puzzle #5
Kevin simply cannot understand abstract art. Can you help him?
[to do: Should I mention that the artist’s name is “Samuel Finley Breese”? A reference to Piet Mondrian could also tip solvers off to the solving method.]
Kevin simply cannot understand abstract art. Can you help him?
[to do: Should I mention that the artist’s name is “Samuel Finley Breese”? A reference to Piet Mondrian could also tip solvers off to the solving method.]
Unfinished Puzzle #6
Kevin has rediscovered the party game Musical Chairs, in which players scramble to get seated and not be left behind.
[to do: Should I put the items in column B in the correct order? Some people are very bad at anagramming, and they might get frustrated with the added element of figuring out which answer goes where. But some solvers might find this order to be a good solving aid, too. We’ll have to see.]
Kevin has rediscovered the party game Musical Chairs, in which players scramble to get seated and not be left behind.
[to do: Should I put the items in column B in the correct order? Some people are very bad at anagramming, and they might get frustrated with the added element of figuring out which answer goes where. But some solvers might find this order to be a good solving aid, too. We’ll have to see.]
1. Frequent hangout, as for a ghost
2. One who reads omens
3. Striped mammal related to the horse
4. Take on legal custody, as of a child
5. Lip ____ (cosmetics item)
6. “Great minds think ____”
7. Large abyss
8. Garment covering one’s trunk
9. Hooded Indian snake
10. Cleanse with water
COLUMN B
• Folk musician Joan
• Sideways-walking crustacean
• Expert or spiritual guide
• Pipe problem
• A lumberjack’s felled tree trunks
• Prepare potatoes, perhaps
• A trigonometric function
• Mix, as ingredients in a bowl
• Warty amphibian
• Fishy mascot Charlie, for one
Unfinished Puzzle #7
Kevin has found that Disney songs keep getting stuck in his head, and in an effort to get them out of his head, he has started rating them on a numerical scale.
[to do: Hopefully my solvers will be smart enough to figure out what those numbers are actually for, and I won’t have to give blatant hints. Surely someone will get suspicious and count the number of letters in each Disney movie title. . . right?]
“The Second Star to the Right” - 6 out of 8
“Little April Shower” - 5 out of 5
“Surface Pressure” - 5 out of 7
“Baby Mine” - 5 out of 5
“Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” - 1 out of 10
“Go the Distance” - 4 out of 8
“Oo-De-Lally” - 6 out of 9
“One Jump Ahead” - 6 out of 7
Unfinished Puzzle #8
Oh no! Kevin’s board game shelf collapsed, and now the components of some of his games got all mixed together! Can you sort them out?
[to do: Hopefully all of these board games are relatively familiar, but even if they aren’t, the fact that all of the words in their names are ordinary non-capitalized dictionary entries should help. Well, except for that very capitalized, but very well-known, Asian city in row 2.]
Kevin has found that Disney songs keep getting stuck in his head, and in an effort to get them out of his head, he has started rating them on a numerical scale.
[to do: Hopefully my solvers will be smart enough to figure out what those numbers are actually for, and I won’t have to give blatant hints. Surely someone will get suspicious and count the number of letters in each Disney movie title. . . right?]
“The Second Star to the Right” - 6 out of 8
“Little April Shower” - 5 out of 5
“Surface Pressure” - 5 out of 7
“Baby Mine” - 5 out of 5
“Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” - 1 out of 10
“Go the Distance” - 4 out of 8
“Oo-De-Lally” - 6 out of 9
“One Jump Ahead” - 6 out of 7
Unfinished Puzzle #8
Oh no! Kevin’s board game shelf collapsed, and now the components of some of his games got all mixed together! Can you sort them out?
[to do: Hopefully all of these board games are relatively familiar, but even if they aren’t, the fact that all of the words in their names are ordinary non-capitalized dictionary entries should help. Well, except for that very capitalized, but very well-known, Asian city in row 2.]
Unfinished Puzzle #9
Normally, Kevin enjoys a trip to the zoo to meet his fellow mammals, but the layout of this zoo was very confusing, and he had difficulty finding all 17 exhibits!
[to do: It’s a good thing that all of the mammals are 5 letters or longer, or else some solvers would get flashbacks to that viral “Find the Fox” word search book. As for the other solvers, hopefully they can figure out that the unused letters aren’t random.]
Normally, Kevin enjoys a trip to the zoo to meet his fellow mammals, but the layout of this zoo was very confusing, and he had difficulty finding all 17 exhibits!
[to do: It’s a good thing that all of the mammals are 5 letters or longer, or else some solvers would get flashbacks to that viral “Find the Fox” word search book. As for the other solvers, hopefully they can figure out that the unused letters aren’t random.]
Unfinished Puzzle #10
Kevin has decided to enhance his enjoyment of sports by risking his money on sports betting. He's even placed bets on sports that most people wouldn't expect to be able to bet on!
[to do: This puzzle might have a bit too much math in it for some people’s tastes. I guess they should be grateful that it’s just arithmetic using numbers from 1 through 26 and not differential calculus. Once they’ve figured out the numbers and turned them into letters, finding the right order will be as easy as ABC. . . fingers crossed!]
All bets were in positive, whole dollar amounts. No two bets were of the same amount.
The largest bet was on golf, and the smallest bet was on baseball.
There was no $5 bet.
The bet on hockey was equal to the combined bets on archery and darts.
The bet on darts was equal to the combined bets on cricket and equestrian.
The bet on archery was 2 times the bet on baseball.
The bet on golf was 5 times the bet on cricket.
The bet on football was equal to half the combined total of the bets on darts and hockey.
The bets on golf and hockey were for a combined total of $35.
Unfinished Meta Puzzle
[to do: Well, crap, I have all of these unfinished puzzles that will never see the light of day. It’s a shame, really. All this effort put into writing puzzles that nobody will ever see. Unless. . . wait! One of my Patreon supporters suggested a really interesting word to me. I could use it as the answer for a meta-puzzle, and throw all of these unfinished puzzles together into a big unfinished mess, and. . . yes! Maybe the effort I put into writing these unfinished puzzles won’t go to waste after all! Just make sure the puzzles are presented in the right order to extract the answer; most anagram engines are going to be extremely unhelpful in solving this obscure word. But if my solvers fact-check me, they should indeed find a few sources which attest to its word-ness. It’s rather meatier than my usual Wordy Wednesday offerings, but maybe it won’t be too overwhelming if all of the parts are simple enough. Done!]
Kevin has decided to enhance his enjoyment of sports by risking his money on sports betting. He's even placed bets on sports that most people wouldn't expect to be able to bet on!
[to do: This puzzle might have a bit too much math in it for some people’s tastes. I guess they should be grateful that it’s just arithmetic using numbers from 1 through 26 and not differential calculus. Once they’ve figured out the numbers and turned them into letters, finding the right order will be as easy as ABC. . . fingers crossed!]
All bets were in positive, whole dollar amounts. No two bets were of the same amount.
The largest bet was on golf, and the smallest bet was on baseball.
There was no $5 bet.
The bet on hockey was equal to the combined bets on archery and darts.
The bet on darts was equal to the combined bets on cricket and equestrian.
The bet on archery was 2 times the bet on baseball.
The bet on golf was 5 times the bet on cricket.
The bet on football was equal to half the combined total of the bets on darts and hockey.
The bets on golf and hockey were for a combined total of $35.
Unfinished Meta Puzzle
[to do: Well, crap, I have all of these unfinished puzzles that will never see the light of day. It’s a shame, really. All this effort put into writing puzzles that nobody will ever see. Unless. . . wait! One of my Patreon supporters suggested a really interesting word to me. I could use it as the answer for a meta-puzzle, and throw all of these unfinished puzzles together into a big unfinished mess, and. . . yes! Maybe the effort I put into writing these unfinished puzzles won’t go to waste after all! Just make sure the puzzles are presented in the right order to extract the answer; most anagram engines are going to be extremely unhelpful in solving this obscure word. But if my solvers fact-check me, they should indeed find a few sources which attest to its word-ness. It’s rather meatier than my usual Wordy Wednesday offerings, but maybe it won’t be too overwhelming if all of the parts are simple enough. Done!]
COMING NEXT WEEK. . .
* A Logicrossword!
Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!
