Wordy Wednesday 663: Touchword 33

WORDY WEDNESDAY #661
MINI TOUCHWORD 8 (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:
Bonnie Veenschoten **
Cathy Bowen **
Cindy Heisler **
Derek Allen **
James Haddad **
Joe Bernard **
Michael Lebowitz **
Pavel Curtis **
Randy Rogers **
Russ Kale **
Kevin Orfield **
Marie desJardins *
Patrick Jordan **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
Steve Levy **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #662
LOGICROSSWORD 17 (hint)

As of this writing, 9 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!

WORDY WEDNESDAY #663
TOUCHWORD 33
(click here for a PDF version)

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. (If you want more of these puzzles, the author offers the Touchword subscription service Outside the Fox Puzzles.) Arrange the letters in the shaded squares to form the final answer, a Scrabble-legal (unhyphenated, uncapitalized, etc.) 8-letter word.

1 Little Bo-Beep lost them / “Forever in Blue Jeans” singer Diamond / Mia Hamm’s sport
2 Large sea vessel / Risks / Happen
3 Very cheerful / Mythological creature who was trapped in a labyrinth
4 It’s just below the lower jaw / Pathogenic microorganism / Set up, as a new program
5 Alter / 1986-1991 sitcom starring Sherman Hemsley as Deacon Ernest Frye / Not large
6 Certain aquatic bird / Substance covering teeth / Digital message
7 The largest Nordic country / Saunter / Ancient Egyptian goddess of motherhood
8 Portland-based rock band whose hits include “Of Angels and Angles” and “Sixteen Military Wives”: 2 wds.
9 “____ goodness!” / Middle point / Take ____ account
10 Actor Tudyk / Acute / Canada’s largest city
11 Cry of woe / Lottery-like casino game / Diadem
12 Monster / Methuselah’s father / Something of value
13 Kidney ____ / Shark ____ (2004 animated film) / The frame of a car
14 Surround on both sides / Guinness who played Obi-Wan Kenobi / Suspects’ excuses
15 Run away / Leg joint / Diameter of a bullet

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* A Framelinks!

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 662: Logicrossword 17

WORDY WEDNESDAY #660
PENT WORDS 132 (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:
Bonnie Veenschoten **
Cathy Bowen **
Cindy Heisler **
Derek Allen **
Joe Bernard **
Michael Lebowitz **
Pavel Curtis **
Randy Rogers **
Russ Kale **
Kevin Orfield **
Marie desJardins **
Patrick Jordan *
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
Steve Levy **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #661
MINI TOUCHWORD 8 (hint)

As of this writing, 15 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!

WORDY WEDNESDAY #662
LOGICROSSWORD 17
(click here for a PDF version)

Blacken some cells in the grid and fill the rest with letters to form words. Hereafter, a “word” refers to any string of two or more consecutive letters reading from left to right or top to bottom, bounded on both sides by black cells or the edge of the grid. All words are Scrabble-legal and appear in the NASPA Word List 2023 Edition (NWL2023). A list of all acceptable 2-letter words is provided as a solving aid; all of the words which are not on this list and not mentioned in the clues should be familiar to most solvers. Use the clues, logic, and your vocabulary to find the solution.

Arrange the letters in the highlighted cells to get the final answer, a single Scrabble-legal word. (If any of the highlighted cells are blackened, then the final answer will be less than 8 letters long.) 

AA AB AD AE AG AH AI AL AM AN AR AS AT AW AX AY BA BE BI BO BY DA DE DO ED EF EH EL EM EN ER ES ET EW EX FA FE GI GO HA HE HI HM HO ID IF IN IS IT JO KA KI LA LI LO MA ME MI MM MO MU MY NA NE NO NU OD OE OF OH OI OK OM ON OP OR OS OW OX OY PA PE PI PO QI RE SH SI SO TA TE TI TO UH UM UN UP US UT WE WO XI XU YA YE YO ZA
• No two black cells share an edge. All the white cells are connected through their edges. No word is repeated in the grid.
• Row 1 contains exactly one black cell.
• Row 3 contains a word whose first letter is W.
• Row 4 contains the words GI and WHOMSO, in that order from left to right; one of these words intersects DWARF.
• Row 5 contains a 6-letter word that contains the substring NF.
• Row 8 contains the word IN and a word that contains the substring HE.
• Row 9 contains a 5-letter word whose first letter is A and whose last letter is not E.
• Column D contains the letter S.
• Column E contains the word TO, which intersects the word OE.
• Column G contains the word IMID, which intersects the word MAC.
• Column H contains fewer black cells than column I.
• Cell C1 contains a letter.
• The words HYPOXIC, IT, NAIFS, and NARD appear somewhere in the grid.

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* What's the largest Nordic country?

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 661: Mini Touchword 8

WORDY WEDNESDAY #659
SUDOKUROSTIC 9 (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:
Cathy Bowen **
Cindy Heisler **
Derek Allen **
James Haddad **
Michael Lebowitz **
Randy Rogers **
Russ Kale **
Kevin Orfield **
Marie desJardins **
Pavel Curtis *
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
Steve Levy **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #660
PENT WORDS 132 (hint)

As of this writing, 13 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!

WORDY WEDNESDAY #661
MINI TOUCHWORD 8
(click here for a PDF version)

This puzzle contains a word suggested by StrangerCoug. 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!
In a crossword, words cross each other; in this puzzle, they merely touch. More specifically, all answers read across, and 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. (If you want more of these puzzles, the author offers the Touchword subscription service Outside the Fox Puzzles.) Arrange the letters in the shaded squares to form the final answer, a Scrabble-legal (unhyphenated, uncapitalized, etc.) 6-letter word. 

1 Trickle / Hell for ____
2 One with two identical siblings / ____ Might Be Giants (rock band)
3 Fats Navarro’s instrument / Not difficult
4 ____ change / Bosom
5 Item to sit in / Basketball great Kobe
6 One with psychic perception
7 Set in the ground, as seeds / Simultaneous discharge of many projectiles
8 One of sixteen at the start of a chess game / Vehicle in an ethical thought experiment
9 Young deer / Support for climbing vines
10 Tinker Bell, for one / John McEnroe’s sport
11 Place where butter is made / Surname of the family from ALF

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* A Logicrossword!

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 660: Pent Words 132

WORDY WEDNESDAY #658
MINI TOUCHWORD 7 (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:
Bonnie Veenschoten **
Cathy Bowen **
Cindy Heisler **
Derek Allen **
Joe Bernard **
Michael Lebowitz **
Pavel Curtis **
Randy Rogers **
Russ Kale **
Kevin Orfield *
Marie desJardins **
Patrick Jordan **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
Steve Levy **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #659
SUDOKUROSTIC 9 (hint)

As of this writing, 11 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!

WORDY WEDNESDAY #660
PENT WORDS 132
(click here for a PDF version)

This puzzle contains a word suggested by patron Daren Crevan. 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!

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, 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 Sports official, briefly / 2001 PopCap game in which players turn lead into gold
2 Decorate / Conifer associated with Lebanon
3 The ____ and the Restless / Before and ____
4 Hip and trendy / Swimmer with whisker-like barbels
5 South Carolina representative Mace / Certain wading bird
6 Right-angle extension / Troublesome
7 Over there / Shesterkin of the New York Rangers
8 Blood-pumping organ / Plants-to-be
9 European capital formerly known as Christiania / Camel’s biome
10 Dog ____ dog / Tree related to the walnut
PENTOMINOES:
• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
• Blunder
• “Let’s get ____ to rumble!”
• February 14 and March 17, for two
• One of the gifts of the magi in the New Testament
• Unaccompanied
• To ____ a Thief (1955 film)
• Mine finds
• Dense
• “Rock Me Amadeus” singer
• “Here’s the ____ of a man named Brady. . .”
• Bat from the Sonic the Hedgehog games
• Popular pub sport
• Book before Joel
• Common material for stockings
• Therefore
• Circular
• Wrinkle-removing implements
• Uncanny

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* What is the surname of the family from ALF?
* Patron Puzzle #135, which will be delivered on August 8, 2025, exclusively to Patreon supporters at the Super Fan level and up ($5 or more per month), is a Large Sudokurostic.

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!

Outside the Fox Puzzles: Triple Crown Fox Derby #3 (RESULTS!)

The 3rd triannual (soon to be quarterly) Triple Crown Fox Derby from two weeks ago has concluded. Click here for a PDF of all the puzzle solutions. The contest results follow.

22 foxes qualified for the first race, the Kittucky Derby, by solving all three puzzles. Race results:

Gate 1: Endless Foxtabilities, Farrah Foxcett, Generic Undisclosed Fox Pun, Ron, Tailwag
Gate 2: Paprika, Ruin Seeker
Gate 3: Baxter Foxworthy, Robin, Vulpine Victory
Gate 4: Fox in Socks
Gate 5: Neighsayer, Reykjavik Refur
Gate 6: Nickit
Gate 7: Derek, Faux-Chi, Mesquite
Gate 11: Bob, Cardigan, Ixnay Amenay

Gate 14: Reddy Fox
Gate 43: Ferris Homer Swiper Carlson

Redd, who would have used gate 9, didn't even attempt the Shikaku. Had Redd managed to wrangle the rectangles, the outcome would have been unaffected (but I would owe the food banks an extra dollar). Gate 1 was especially crowded, with 5 foxes fighting over it. Besides the winner Fox in Socks, only 3 other foxes managed to finish.

23 foxes qualified for the second race, the Sneakness Stakes, by solving two puzzles. Race results:

Gate 1: Generic Undisclosed Fox Pun, Ruin Seeker
Gate 2: Endless Foxtabilities, Fox in Socks, Tailwag
Gate 3: Baxter Foxworthy, Reykjavik Refur, Robin, Vulpine Victory
Gate 4: Bob, Farrah Foxcett, Neighsayer
Gate 5: Mesquite, Paprika
Gate 6: Faux-Chi
Gate 7: Derek
Gate 8: Cardigan
Gate 9: Redd
Gate 10: Ron
Gate 11: Ixnay Amenay, Nickit
Gate 14: Reddy Fox
Gate 43: Ferris Homer Swiper Carlson

The three foxes in gate 3 stubbornly stayed there, being joined by a fourth to make it the most crowded gate. Besides the winner Faux-Chi, 6 other foxes finished.

 

23 foxes qualified for the third race, the Tailmont Stakes, by solving one puzzle. Race results:

Gate 1: Fox in Socks, Generic Undisclosed Fox Pun
Gate 2: Faux-Chi
Gate 3: Baxter Foxworthy, Endless Foxtabilities, Mesquite, Neighsayer, Robin, Ruin Seeker, Tailwag, Vulpine Victory
Gate 4: Cardigan, Reykjavik Refur
Gate 7: Derek, Farrah Foxcett
Gate 8: Bob, Paprika
Gate 9: Redd
Gate 11: Ixnay Amenay
Gate 13: Nickit, Ron
Gate 14: Reddy Fox
Gate 43: Ferris Homer Swiper Carlson
Generic Undisclosed Fox Pun's potential rival, Fox in Socks, got to sit comfortably on the winner's podium, allowing the former fox to take gate 1 without a fight. Gate 3 got even more crowded, with 8 foxes in total, including the three obstinate foxes from the Kittucky Derby who were determined to make the strategy somehow pay off. Besides the winner, only 4 other foxes finished.

The three winners, Brian Joughin, Michael Lebowitz, and Yossi Fendel, will soon be contacted about redeeming their prizes. Additionally, a $68 money pool will be split between the Food Bank of West Central Texas, the Food Bank for Larimer County, and the Palm Beach County Food Bank ($22.67 each), and this donation will be matched by three anonymous benefactors. Thanks to you all for participating! The 4th quarterly Triple Crown Fox Derby will be held on October 6, 2025.