Wordy Wednesday 50: Pent Words 10

WORDY WEDNESDAY #48

FRAMELINKS 2 (answer)

It's been two weeks, so time to unveil 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:
Adam Weaver **
Bryce Herdt **
Christian H.P. **
Edderiofer He **
Frances Noga **
Giovanni Pagano **
Izak Bulten *
Jack Lance **
James McGowan **
John Bulten **
Kou T. *
Lewis Chen **
Mark Tilford **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
Tim Harrod **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #49

WORDS WITHOUT FRIENDS

4 people have submitted scores of over 350 points for last week's puzzle. You have one week left to submit your score (or improve your existing one) and be entered to win some Pokémon cards as a booby prize.

Remember where I said that I got out of having to write an actual puzzle? I lied! There's actually a hidden puzzle here! So far, only 1 person has managed to find and solve this hidden puzzle: John Bulten! He will be receiving the actual prize: a signed copy of the final issue of Will Shortz's Wordplay! There will not be an easy version posted of this hidden puzzle; knowing the hidden puzzle exists is your easy version. Send your solutions to the hidden puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to be eligible to win another prize package!

WORDY WEDNESDAY #49.5

WORDS WITHOUT FRIENDS (OR POINTS)

(click here for a PDF version)

Whether you enjoyed Words Without Friends or not, I hope you will enjoy this bonus puzzle I crafted. (There's no hidden puzzle here.)

Using the first rack of letters, form an English word and place it reading across (from left to right) or down (from top to bottom) in the grid, with one of the letters covering the shaded cell. On each successive turn, take the next rack of letters, and then play a new word using all of those letters. As in Scrabble, you can play at right angles to a previous word (either incorporating a letter from it or expanding it) or parallel to a previous word, but must adjoin some previous word; adjoining letters must always form words in crossword fashion, and all letters used in a single turn must be part of a single word. When you're finished, all 60 spaces in the grid will be used.

All words in my solution appear in Official Scrabble Players Dictionary Fourth Edition, the newest one I have. Aside from a few two-letter words and a former trademark (which I didn't realize isn't a trademark anymore), all words in my solution should be familiar to the typical English speaker.

WORDY WEDNESDAY #50

PENT WORDS 10

(click here for a PDF version)

In this puzzle, you must divide the grid into pentominoes (regions containing five cells each), and write 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, in reading order (left to right starting 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 PLANT, SHARE, and BITES, and the pentominoes spell the words PLANS, TREES, and HABIT.) Use the ACROSS answers to determine where the pentominoes are.

ACROSS (two answers per row):
1 Gallows ____ / Howard Thurston's area of expertise
2 Printer paper purchase, often / ____ lizard
3 Fairy king in folklore / Use eBay, perhaps
4 Like the god Odin / Not above
5 Student at a military school / New ____, India
6 Drinking implement / Prices
7 Walk with confidence / Dance move
8 Dog voiced by Kevin Bacon / Annie Hall director's surname
9 Controlled, as a horse / Border
10 Time of fasting, for some / Border

PENTOMINOES:
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* Beginning
* Move an inch
* A bad way to be buried
* Divine Comedy poet
* Prop for Yo-Yo Ma
* Taxonomic group between class and family
* Make up (for)
* It looks like a duck, but doesn't quack like a duck
* They protect broken bones
* Upright
* Getting older
* It glows in a fire
* Common piece of computer hardware
* Used up
* Flooded
* A Great Lake
* Play for time
* "Carol of the ____"