Wordy Wednesday 700: Pent Words 140

WORDY WEDNESDAY #700
PENT WORDS 140
(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, 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 “Harder, Better, ____, Stronger” (Daft Punk song) / Approach
2 With The, historical drama series created by Dallas Jenkins / Harp relative
3 Scuffle / Namesake of a number representing a speed’s ratio to the speed of sound
4 Brown pigment from a cuttlefish / Composer of “The Stars and Stripes Forever”
5 Kindergarten ____ (1990 film) / Mountain known in Tibet as Chomolungma
6 Long solid piece, as of candy / “A house ____ against itself. . .”
7 Judges’ garments / One-twentieth of a ream
8 Underlying ideological program / Stead
9 Larson of Captain Marvel (2019) / Posture
10 “Do ____ others. . .” / Counter the effect of
PENTOMINOES:
• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
• The ____ of Life (1979-1988 sitcom)
• Oral-B alternative
• Daniel of Home Alone
• Hooded snake
• ____ of humor
• What some marbles are made from
• Score of 40-40
• Producing strong mental images
• Greater part of a burden
• Ahead of time
• Building material whose name is Spanish for “mudbrick”
• Fall bloomer
• Laurie of The Hustler (1961)
• What calamari is made from
• Foreign
• “____ in a Bottle” (Christina Aguilera song)
• Leave no ____ unturned
• Word before “pointer” or “printer”

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* A Codewords!

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

Wordy Wednesday 699 answer

WORDY WEDNESDAY #699
MINI TOUCHWORD 12 (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 **
Joe Bernard **
Michael Lebowitz **
Pavel Curtis **
Randy Rogers **
Russ Kale **
Kevin Orfield **
Marie desJardins **
Patrick Jordan **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
Steve Levy **

Wordy Wednesday #700 will go up next week, marking the end of my brief hiatus from posting. It has not, however, been a hiatus from writing, as I have upped my testing standards somewhat and refined my creation pipeline in ways which I hope will make y'all's experiences just a wee bit better going forward!

Wordy Wednesday 698 answer & Wordy Wednesday 699 hint

WORDY WEDNESDAY #698 
MINI TOUCHWORD 11 (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 **
Joe Bernard **
Michael Lebowitz **
Pavel Curtis **
Randy Rogers *
Russ Kale **
Kevin Orfield **
Marie desJardins **
Patrick Jordan **
Ryan Faley *
Sam Levitin **
Steve Levy **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #699
MINI TOUCHWORD 12 (hint)

As of this writing, 14 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 is going on a brief hiatus while I play catch-up and make a backlog (whilst hopefully upping my quality assurance standards). Wordy Wednesday 700 will be posted on May 27, 2026. Looking forward to it, and my sincerest apologies!

Wordy Wednesday is going on a short hiatus.

I have failed in maintaining my Wordy Wednesday backlog, and I have no puzzle for next week. Furthermore, I wish to give my future Wordy Wednesday offerings time to receive more testing and quality control, so from now on, the same testing team who assists with Outside the Fox Puzzles will also test future Wordy Wednesdays and Patron Puzzles. (There is overlap between this testing team and my current Patreon supporters, so I may drive them to stop giving me money needlessly, but it's a price I am willing to pay to ensure quality for the rest of you.) My intention is to return from the hiatus with WW700 on or before May 27. I apologize for the dip in quantity.

Wordy Wednesday 699: Mini Touchword 12

WORDY WEDNESDAY #697
ANACROSSWORD 50 (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 **
Derek Allen **
Michael Lebowitz **
Pavel Curtis **
Kevin Orfield **
Marie desJardins **
Sam Levitin **
Steve Levy **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #698
MINI TOUCHWORD 11 (hint)

As of this writing, 12 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 #699
MINI TOUCHWORD 12
(click here for a PDF version)

This puzzle contains a word suggested by patron Russ Kale. 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 Mole-like nocturnal mammal / Good device to have on a cold day
2 Function in the imaginary part of a complex number’s polar form / Wil who portrayed Wesley Crusher
3 Ill-fated Ford subcompact / Rhyme’s partner
4 Scheme / “Oh, Pretty Woman” singer Roy
5 “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf ____” / “The Poisonwood ____” (1998 Barbara Kingsolver novel)
6 Vehicle that can be driven with or without a roof
7 Ice cream container, perhaps / The twin sister of Apollo
8 Lacking branching paths / Matches that determine the finalists, briefly
9 “Jakob the ____” (1999 Robin Williams film) / States positively
10 Fragment of glass / Begins
11 Cuts into narrow strips / Spud

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* Um, I guess I need to write this puzzle. Oops!
* Patron Puzzle #144, which will be delivered on May 8, 2026, exclusively to Patreon supporters at the Super Fan level and up ($5 or more per month), is a Letravex.

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