Wordy Wednesday 92: Make A Zigzaggy Exit

WORDY WEDNESDAY #90

PENT WORDS 18 (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:
Giovanni Pagano **
Jack Bross **
M. Sean Molley **
Adam Weaver **
Bryce Herdt **
Jack Lance *
John Bulten *
John Davis **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
With these solutions, combined with the $4 I raised from WW89, I will be donating $14 to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (and my reader will be donating $140). Thanks to everyone who participated!

WORDY WEDNESDAY #91

WORD INTERSECTIONS (hint)

As of this writing, 9 people have solved last week's puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Not only does it remove the diagramless aspect of the puzzle, but it gives explicit instructions on how to extract the final answer. (I would dare to say that this makes the puzzle easier than Ryan Faley's most recent offering, which is pretty easy.) Send your solutions 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 #92

MAKE A ZIGZAGGY EXIT

(click here for a PDF version)

There's an S in the upper left, and an F in the lower right. Yeah, let's call it “Wordy” Wednesday.

The answer is a famous person's name. (Click the image to enlarge it.)

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* A logic puzzle that will make your head explode!
* Patron Puzzle #10, which will be delivered exclusively to Patreon supporters ($5 or more per month), is a Bricks and Mortar puzzle. Veterans of Penny Press publications (including the short-lived Will Shortz's Wordplay) may be familiar with Bricks and Mortar, which are normally 18x18 in size; this one's 24x24, and features 51 8-letter words for your solving pleasure.

Until next time, yappy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 91: Word Intersections

WORDY WEDNESDAY #89

WORDS WITHOUT FRIENDS (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:
Jack Lance 516 *
Giovanni Pagano **
Adam Weaver **
Bryce Herdt **
John Davis **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin *
With these solutions, I will be donating $4 to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (and my reader will be donating $40).

WORDY WEDNESDAY #90

PENT WORDS (hint)

As of this writing, 8 people have solved last week's puzzle. That means I'll be donating at least $8.00 to Doctors Without Borders. Including my reader who's matching my donation times 10, and including the previous puzzle, this represents a grand total of $132.00.

Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your solutions 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 #91

WORD INTERSECTIONS

(click here for a PDF version)

Place each of the given words into the grid, one letter per cell, reading from left to right or top to bottom. All words must be connected, and no words other than the given words can appear in the grid. The highlighted cells indicate all of the places where words intersect.
The answer is 8 letters long.

DOT, ERA, FIR, HAM, MAN, NUT, OWN, SAT, SKI, SUN, WAS
BUNS, ICON, IDOL, NIGH, NOEL, STEW, TRIO, WILT
BAGEL, BAYOU, LOGIC, STERN, SUSHI
ADDING, IMPACT, INWARD
BLASTOFF, ENERGIZE, GRIDIRON, IRRITATE
ARCHITECT, YESTERDAY

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* A truly amazing puzzle where the only two letters are S and F.

Until next time, yappy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 90: Pent Words 18

WORDY WEDNESDAY #88

DIVIDED INTO 100 CELLS 3 (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:
Giovanni Pagano **
Jack Bross **
M. Sean Molley **
Adam Weaver **
Bryce Herdt **
John Bulten **
John Davis **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
yyw **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #89

WORDS WITHOUT FRIENDS 3 (hint)

As of this writing, 5 people have solved the puzzle version of last week's puzzle. That means I'll be donating at least $2.50 to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières. A trifling amount, to be sure, but one of my readers has offered to match my donation times 10, meaning we've raised $27.50, which is somewhat more substantial. Remember, if at least one person can score above 615 points in the game version, I'll double the donation! This may or may not be suitable incentive to start crunching some numbers and seeing how many points you can muster. . . .

Haven't solved the puzzle version yet? Here's an easier version. Send your solutions 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 #90

PENT WORDS 18

(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 below, 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.

I will donate $1 to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières for every correct answer that I receive before February 24, 2016, at 8:00 AM CST, up to a maximum of $50. One of my readers has offered to match my donation times 10, meaning every correct answer will be worth $11 for Doctors Without Borders.

ACROSS (two answers per row):
1 "____ Solution" (Ozzy Osbourne song) / Item in a pod
2 Grammy-winning Christian rock band / Kay rival
3 Ben Affleck's younger brother / Severe
4 Emulates a mad dog, perhaps / "____ there, done that"
5 Mario ____ (Nintendo 64 video board game which spawned a franchise) / Discloses
6 Australian girl / Interior designer Berkus
7 Fondle / Pro wrestler John
8 ____ My Children (1970-2011 soap opera) / ____ freak
9 Google alternative / Cause to go off track
10 Keep possession of / "I Don't ____" (Ozzy Osbourne song)

PENTOMINOES:
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* Goodyear products
* Permit
* Swan played by Kristen Stewart
* Van Susteren of Fox News
* Certain courtroom employee
* Not late
* An alcoholic is prone to do this
* Slash on a bowling score sheet
* It makes waste
* Dunbar of the Dallas Cowboys
* Classic pie ingredient
* The ____ in the Woods (2012 horror film)
* Clubs and hearts, for example
* First word of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18
* Members of a jury, perhaps
* Pale
* You might eat one with tea
* Optimal

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* A LOGIC puzzle that will IRRITATE you. . .

Until next time, yappy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 89: Words Without Friends 3

WORDY WEDNESDAY #87

ANACROSSWORD 5 (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:
Giovanni Pagano *
Jack Bross **
M. Sean Molley **
Adam Weaver **
Bryce Herdt **
John Bulten **
John Davis **
Lewis Chen **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
yyw **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #88

DIVIDED INTO 100 CELLS 3 (hint)

As of this writing, 10 people have solved last week's puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your solutions 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 #89

WORDS WITHOUT FRIENDS 3

(click here for a PDF version)

This game of word solitaire is inspired by Solicross. Actually, it is Solicross. Don't sue me, Dell.

You have 15 turns to score as many points as possible by building words on the grid. Start by taking the first 7 letters from the LETTER LIST. Form an English word using two or more letters, and place it reading across (from left to right) or down (from top to bottom) in the grid, either starting in or ending in the shaded cell. On each successive turn, cross out the letters you used and replace them with the next letters from the LETTER LIST, and then play a new word using some or 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.

Every turn, you score for the words you made on that turn. The score for a word is the sum of all the numbers it covers (whether those letters were played on that turn or not); multiple words formed in a single turn are added up together (with shared letters counting twice). If you use all 60 letters within 15 turns, give yourself 50 extra points.

My score for this game is 615 points. After you've gotten the highest score you can (or sooner, if getting high scores doesn't interest you), follow this link for the “puzzle version" of this puzzle, which indicates where I placed the tiles; you must determine which tiles to place each turn turn to form valid words and match my solution. Any game that beats my score of 615 points will be considered a solution to this “game version”. (All words will be checked against http://www.m-w.com/scrabble for validity.) Alternatively, I will accept any score of at least 500 points, so long as at most 2 words of 4 or more letters are formed that are also in my 615-point solution. (This prevents you from claiming credit for trivial changes to my solution which don't improve the score, but keep the score above 500. If you can find a trivial change to the solution which does improve the score, then you have earned my hearty congratulations.)

In an attempt to generate interest in this puzzle, and because I'm getting rusty at this “altruism” thing, I will donate 50 cents to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières for every solution to the puzzle version and every solution to the game version that I receive before February 17, 2016, at 8:00 AM CST, up to a maximum of $25. If I receive at least one solution to the game version that beats my score of 615 points, I will double this amount! (The last time I did something altruistic on this blog, one of my readers increased the impact of my altruism by matching my donation; if this happens again, I'll be sure to let you know. . . .)

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* What's a 5-letter word for "Swan played by Kristen Stewart"?

Until next time, yappy solving!