Outside the Fox Puzzles is proud to sponsor the 2nd triannual Triple Crown Fox Derby! Up to three winners of this contest will receive their choice of one of these prizes, for themselves or for anyone else of their choice:
• A 1-year subscription to Outside the Fox Puzzles, which comes with 150 puzzles just like the ones in this contest!
• A $10 gift card for Grandmaster Puzzles, with which one can buy ebooks of beautiful logic puzzles written by talented authors from around the world!
• A 2-month Premium membership on Board Game Arena, with which one can play board games in real-time and turn-based modes against opponents from around the world!
My plan is to run these contests on the third Monday of every March, July, and November (shortly after each season of Kevin’s Puzzles at Home ends), at 12:01 AM Central Time. The entry deadline will be 13 days later (on a Sunday) at 11:59 PM Central Time; in this case, the deadline is Sunday, March 30, 2025, at 11:59 PM Central Time.
This contest combines a Touchword puzzle, a gridded logic puzzle, and a variety word puzzle with a fox race. Yes, in the real world, people bet on horse races and greyhound races, but in the fantastic world of Outside the Fox Puzzles, it is foxes who race. To participate in the contest, send an e-mail to glmathgrant@[at]gmail[dot]com. Your entry should include:
• Your answers to the three puzzles, as explained in their respective instructions. (Any format, including scans or photos of printed pages, screenshots, or plain text, will work, so long as I can read and judge it.)
• The name of the fox you'll be entering in the race (this is just for fun and has no effect on the outcome).
• The number of the gate your fox will start from (any integer between 1 and 50 inclusive) in each of the three races (the Kittucky Derby, the Sneakness Stakes, and the Tailmont Stakes). You can use the same gate any number of times.
The first race is the Kittucky Derby; to qualify, you must have submitted correct solutions to all three puzzles. The second race, the Sneakness Stakes, requires only two correct solutions, and the Tailmont Stakes requires only one. Winning an earlier race disqualifies you from a later race; otherwise, you can qualify for, and participate in, one, two, or all three races. The winner of each race is the fox that started from the lowest-numbered gate that nobody else selected! Unfortunately, when two or more foxes are crammed into the same gate, they have a tendency to fight each other and to not notice when the race has started. If no foxes qualify for a race, or if all qualifying foxes end up in fights, then there will be no winner.
These statistics on the previous Triple Crown Fox Derbies may give you an estimate of how many entrants the current Derby will have and help you plan your strategy. Enjoy the puzzles, and yappy racing!
• A 1-year subscription to Outside the Fox Puzzles, which comes with 150 puzzles just like the ones in this contest!
• A $10 gift card for Grandmaster Puzzles, with which one can buy ebooks of beautiful logic puzzles written by talented authors from around the world!
• A 2-month Premium membership on Board Game Arena, with which one can play board games in real-time and turn-based modes against opponents from around the world!
My plan is to run these contests on the third Monday of every March, July, and November (shortly after each season of Kevin’s Puzzles at Home ends), at 12:01 AM Central Time. The entry deadline will be 13 days later (on a Sunday) at 11:59 PM Central Time; in this case, the deadline is Sunday, March 30, 2025, at 11:59 PM Central Time.
This contest combines a Touchword puzzle, a gridded logic puzzle, and a variety word puzzle with a fox race. Yes, in the real world, people bet on horse races and greyhound races, but in the fantastic world of Outside the Fox Puzzles, it is foxes who race. To participate in the contest, send an e-mail to glmathgrant@[at]gmail[dot]com. Your entry should include:
• Your answers to the three puzzles, as explained in their respective instructions. (Any format, including scans or photos of printed pages, screenshots, or plain text, will work, so long as I can read and judge it.)
• The name of the fox you'll be entering in the race (this is just for fun and has no effect on the outcome).
• The number of the gate your fox will start from (any integer between 1 and 50 inclusive) in each of the three races (the Kittucky Derby, the Sneakness Stakes, and the Tailmont Stakes). You can use the same gate any number of times.
The first race is the Kittucky Derby; to qualify, you must have submitted correct solutions to all three puzzles. The second race, the Sneakness Stakes, requires only two correct solutions, and the Tailmont Stakes requires only one. Winning an earlier race disqualifies you from a later race; otherwise, you can qualify for, and participate in, one, two, or all three races. The winner of each race is the fox that started from the lowest-numbered gate that nobody else selected! Unfortunately, when two or more foxes are crammed into the same gate, they have a tendency to fight each other and to not notice when the race has started. If no foxes qualify for a race, or if all qualifying foxes end up in fights, then there will be no winner.
These statistics on the previous Triple Crown Fox Derbies may give you an estimate of how many entrants the current Derby will have and help you plan your strategy. Enjoy the puzzles, and yappy racing!
TOUCHWORD
Every
row has one or more answers clued in order. Every letter shares an edge
with at least one identical letter either immediately above or
immediately below. The top and bottom rows are considered adjacent. To qualify for the Triple Crown Fox Derby, submit the completed grid.
2 Burglar’s crime / Turned reddish, as oxidized iron
3 Gordon Ramsay is one / “For purple mountain majesties above the ____ plain”
4 The 4 in the term 4x, for example
5 Humorous / Tenant’s payment
6 Along ____ a Spider (2001 film) / Turn aside, as from a discussion topic
7 Nation of which Pierre Trudeau was prime minister / Snake in the ____
8 Word game that comes in an ap-“peel”-ingly shaped yellow pouch
9 Hockey mascot Blades is one / Certain support structure: hyph.
10 Tom of Born on the Fourth of July (1989) / One of 24 in Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier
11 Line made by folding paper / Ancient Roman diviner
AQRE
Illustrated rules on puzz.link | Solve on puzz.link
Rules summary: Shade some cells black. A number inside an outlined region indicates how many black cells are contained in that region. All of the black cells must be connected through their edges. No row or column may contain four consecutive cells of the same color (black or white). To qualify for the Triple Crown Fox Derby, submit the completed grid.
Illustrated rules on puzz.link | Solve on puzz.link
Rules summary: Shade some cells black. A number inside an outlined region indicates how many black cells are contained in that region. All of the black cells must be connected through their edges. No row or column may contain four consecutive cells of the same color (black or white). To qualify for the Triple Crown Fox Derby, submit the completed grid.
LETRAVEX
Write the 4-letter clue answers in the square tiles in each grid, one letter per triangle, so that adjacent triangles across tiles have the same letter. Each answer reads clockwise, starting in the triangle indicated by the arrow. Answers are alphabetized; you must determine which answer goes in which tile. The letters on the grid’s perimeter will spell a song title, going clockwise from the leftmost triangle on the top edge. To qualify for the Triple Crown Fox Derby, submit the song title.
• Severely gloomy ←
• Laundry detergent brand name that’s synonymous with “profit” ↓
• “Get off my ____!” (stereotypical shout of an old homeowner) ←
• Not short →
• Butter alternative ←
• Like two ____ in a pod ↓
• Farming implement for breaking up soil ↓
• ____ and proper ↑
• Peril ←
• Motown singer Diana ↑
• One of two long narrow openings in a quantum physics experiment ↑
• Curved line connecting two notes on a music staff→
• Rod for holding roasting meat ←
• Thomas the ____ Engine →
• Disney movie with a star named Star ←
