Wordy Wednesday 201: Divided Into Columns 3 & Wordy Wednesday 202: Anacrossword 14

WORDY WEDNESDAY #199

TOUCHWORD 5 (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:
Anthony Bailey **
Jack Bross **
Bryce Herdt **
Rusty the Wolf **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #200

PENT WORDS 40 (hint)

As of this writing, 7 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!

FIFTH WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH = DOUBLE WORDY WEDNESDAYS!

WORDY WEDNESDAY #201

DIVIDED INTO COLUMNS 3

(click here for a PDF version)

This puzzle contains a word suggested by patron John Reid. Support me on Patreon at the $5 per month level and solve the monthly Patron Puzzle for a chance to suggest a seed word for a future puzzle, or at the $20 per month level to suggest one seed word every month!

Hawaiian greeting __ __ __ __ __
                  55 66 21 05 60
Strongly affected by love __ __ __ __ __ __ __
                          38 10 11 35 52 22 48
Grasp and hold, or an automotive part __ __ __ __ __ __
                                      33 41 53 40 27 65
Make plumper, as the prodigal son's father's calf __ __ __ __ __ __
                                                  14 07 18 31 45 25
Three little animals in a nursery rhyme __ __ __ __ __ __ __
                                        47 34 19 13 39 42 15
Stone or brick worker __ __ __ __ __
                      24 37 43 50 51
Group of wolves __ __ __ __
                59 64 29 03
Aquatic animal that inflates itself: 2 wds. __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
                                            16 28 30 56 02 67 49 08 26 20
Period of decline __ __ __ __ __
                  12 57 06 09 62
Website with a limit of 140 280 characters __ __ __ __ __ __ __
                                           63 04 46 32 44 23 17
Trademark of an exercise fitness program __ __ __ __ __
                                         54 36 58 01 61

WORDY WEDNESDAY #202

ANACROSSWORD 14

(click here for a PDF version)

This puzzle contains a word suggested by patron M. Sean Molley. Support me on Patreon at the $5 per month level and solve the monthly Patron Puzzle for a chance to suggest a seed word for a future puzzle, or at the $20 per month level to suggest one seed word every month!

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93
Determine the value of
Magazine head honcho
“If you can’t stand the ____. . .”
Shelter for farm fowl
Spanish greeting
____ & the Blowfish
Prisoner
Not lustrous
____ the buck
Quiet, musically
Arabian nation with Doha as its capital
Sport played by Harry Potter
A person’s police arrest record: 2 wds.
Bully
Endurance
“Ain’t I a ____?” (Bugs Bunny catchphrase)
Pearls Before ____ (newspaper comic)
Sport for Venus Williams
John Barleycorn Must Die band

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* Whose Symphony No. 8 is often called “The Symphony of a Thousand”?
* Patron Puzzle #33, which will be delivered exclusively to Patreon supporters ($5 or more per month), is a Snake Crisscross.

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 200: Pent Words 40

WORDY WEDNESDAY #198

MUSICAL WORD CHAIRS 3 (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:
Anthony Bailey **
Giovanni Pagano **
Jack Bross **
M. Sean Molley **
Bryce Herdt **
John Bulten **
Rusty the Wolf **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #199

TOUCHWORD 5 (hint)

As of this writing, 6 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 #200

PENT WORDS 40

(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 Mercury, for one / Emcee
2 Snooty person / Seek to achieve
3 ____ of Man / Word following "arithmetic" or "geometric"
4 Give up / Like a fen
5 Baynes of the Boston Celtics / National song
6 Actress Midler / ____ with envy
7 Down the wrong path / Make coffee, perhaps
8 Me, Myself & ____ (Jim Carrey flick) / "Life's Been Good" singer Joe
9 A circle, for one / Quality
10 The first cryptocurrency / Use one's eyes

PENTOMINOES:
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* ____ setter
* ____ Hunter (Christian metal band)
* Sana'a is its capital
* "Lather, ____. . ."
* Item for a nun
* Its logo has a blue cat and a red dog
* Foundation
* Pointed throwing weapon
* With "The", Rush song about an arboreal feud
* Tropical source of strong, lightweight wood
* Bundles of hay
* ^
* Yonder
* Brightly-colored aquarium occupant
* Enraged
* A group's moral standards
* Blueprints
* Lengthen, as a subscription

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* What's a 7-letter word for "Website with a limit of 140 280 characters"?
* What sport is played by Harry Potter?

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 199: Touchword 5

WORDY WEDNESDAY #197

FOXGERYPTICS 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:
Anthony Bailey **
Cory Oldweiler **
M. Sean Molley **
Bryce Herdt **
John Bulten *
Rusty the Wolf **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #198

MUSICAL WORD CHAIRS 3 (hint)

As of this writing, 8 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!

LOGICSMITH EXHIBITION 7!

I have started a new puzzle construction contest for all of my readers to enter. Prizes include the awesome puzzles from my Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy initiative. Put your puzzle-writing skills to the test!

WORDY WEDNESDAY #199

TOUCHWORD 5

(click here for a PDF version)

In a crossword, words cross each other; in this puzzle, they merely touch. More specifically, 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. (You can think of it as a diagramless, cylindrical Share-A-Letter puzzle.)

Arrange the letters in the shaded spaces to form the final answer, an 8-letter word.

1 Eighth month / Event where prices are reduced / It's measured in points, usually
2 Mythological flying horse / "____, poor Yorick. . ." / Reset a scale to zero
3 Put the ____ to the metal / Lyft alternative / Charge
4 Center part / Cap which the painter Pokémon Smeargle appears to be wearing / Hit the ____ (go to bed)
5 Mentality / Cookie trademark / Citizen Kane’s Rosebud, for one
6 Restaurant offering / Buddhist's goal / Eyed greedily
7 A Gorgon / Video game where Luigi, Yoshi, and pals compete on the links: 2 wds.
8 Word in statements of the congruency of two numbers / Very long-legged red-and-black canine: 2 wds.
9 Emulate a mountaintop singer, perhaps / Muscat is its capital / ____ Scissorhands
10 Time long past / ____ bean / Clouded ____
11 Hoisting machine with tine-like fingers / Moving in a circular path
12 Word before "medicine" or "music" / Winnow / Nada
13 Egg parts / Curling ____ / Timon of ____
14 Dairy product with culture? / Pick-up artists, for example
15 Presage / British streetcar / Repeat performance

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* What's a 5-letter word for "Sana'a is its capital"?

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!

Logicsmith Exhibition 7: Pentominous Borders

I was recently contemplating one of my logic puzzles from 2016, and this contest came about as a result.

You are to divide a 15x15 square grid into the smallest possible number of regions such that it forms a valid Pentominous Borders puzzle (that is, there is exactly one way to further divide the regions into pentominoes, regions of five cells each, so that no two congruent pentominoes, even if rotated or reflected, share an edge). Ties will be broken in favor of which puzzle has the most solutions if you disregard the rule that congruent pentominoes cannot share an edge (since such a puzzle is more likely to be interesting as a puzzle). Further ties will be broken by random.org. Consider the 5x5 examples below:

Puzzle A is outranked by puzzles B and C because it contains more regions (even though it also has more faux solutions); puzzle B is outranked by puzzle C because it has the same number of regions and fewer faux solutions (and in fact is a very boring puzzle).

Submit your puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next 4 weeks (before 11:59 PM Central time on February 12, 2018). You may enter multiple times; only your best valid entry will be counted. I will feature the best valid entry from every entrant on this blog, so even if you don't win, your puzzle-writing abilities will be showcased on my blog.

The winner will receive every puzzle in my Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy initiative! This means you'll get the original Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy pack (24 previously Patreon-exclusive word puzzles), the LiveJournal Logic Pack (300 logic puzzles), the Signed Magazine Four-Pack (four signed puzzle magazines), and the Section Six Six-Plus-Six Pack (12 Section Six puzzles). That's a $50.10 value! Three runners-up will receive the Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy pack, the LiveJournal Logic Pack, and the Section Six Six-Plus-Six Pack (a $20.10 value). The awarding of these prizes was made possible by a very generous donation I got last year. Of course, you can still support my chosen charities if you wish to do so, but if you can't afford such generosity, give puzzle-writing a try.

Good luck!

Boycott The New York Times!

TRIGGER WARNING: This post refers to the 45th President of the United States by name.

As some of you know, I'm the most liberal person in the entire puzzle community. In fact, I've been pro-choice ever since I was in the womb. So like many of you, I was utterly appalled when the New York Times crossword for January 9, 2018 clued the entry JOHN not as a "Toilet" or as "'Imagine' singer Lennon", but as Donald "literally Hitler" Trump's middle name. Prominent blogger Rex Parker [TRIGGER WARNING: blog post mentions sexual assault and refers to the 45th President of the United States by name — Rex neglected to put a trigger warning in his own post, which I called him out on] wrote, "Puzzle lost my good will at 1-Down [the offending JOHN clue] and never got it back, despite the fact that it's technically fine." The puzzle was fine in all other regards, but because of a single clue, it became one of the worst crosswords the NYT has ever published. And as illustrated by the Tweets cited in Rex's blog post, he's far from alone.

If this were any other President, like Barack Hussein Obama, I'd respond, "You get nausea from a middle name? For frick's sake, you need serious medical help, and I don't mean WebMD!" But Trump is different from all 44 previous Presidents, and anyone who doesn't see that either is a Nazi or has an IQ below 69.

Mr. Bloom hits the nail on the head here. The mere mention of the President's name in a crossword endorses and normalizes the far right and fascism.

Until The New York Times fires Will Shortz for the obvious gaffe of mentioning the current President's middle name in a crossword clue and hires someone else, such as the venerable Timothy Parker, I will be boycotting their crossword. Additionally, my research shows that The New York Times is not only a vendor of crossword puzzles, but a newspaper that reports the news (and has been doing so for longer than it's been publishing crosswords). Until they stop mentioning the President at all in any of their news reporting, thereby normalizing the far right, I will be boycotting everything they do. I will also boycott any other news outlet that mentions the name of the President and reports actual news instead of pretending that Hillary won in 2016 (as she should have), such as CNN and MSNBC.

Please spread the word about these boycotts. The puzzle community can affect positive change in the world, but only if we stick together.

I usually stay out of politics on this blog, but this issue is obviously too serious to ignore. There has never been a more justified negative reaction to a crossword clue in the history of crosswords, and despite what some people in Rex's comments section might say ("Okay this HAS to be a joke right? The normalization of the far right? I consider myself a democrat but the left can be embarrassing sometime. Saying the PRESIDENT'S NAME is normalizing the far right?"), we need to do everything we can to ensure this evil man's name never again appears in a crossword clue or entry.

Wordy Wednesday 198: Musical Word Chairs 3

WORDY WEDNESDAY #196

SECTION SIX 19 (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:
Anthony Bailey **
Cory Oldweiler **
Jack Bross **
Bryce Herdt **
Rusty the Wolf **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #197

FOXGERYPTICS 9 (hint)

As of this writing, 7 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 #198

MUSICAL WORD CHAIRS 3

(click here for a PDF version)

The letters in these words are playing musical chairs; in each round, one letter gets dropped and the rest get rearranged. Write the clued 8-letter words in column A. Then drop one letter from each word and rearrange the rest to get a 7-letter word that goes in column B. Drop one more letter and rearrange what's left to get a 6-letter word to write in column C. The letters thus dropped, reading down the leftmost column and then the rightmost column, will spell a song title. The words in column C are clued in order, but you must determine where the words go in the other columns.

COLUMN A
* Cruel
* Diseases
* Faltering
* Having the most weight
* Lineage
* Male gland
* What some workers are paid
* Worst-case ____

COLUMN B
* Assumed names
* Certain eye parts
* Harbor for ships
* Robbers
* Send in the wrong direction
* Some gaits
* Spit and ____
* With The, 1959 Walter Tevis novel

COLUMN C
1. More abundant in vegetation
2. Gradually narrows
3. Singer Wonder
4. Squirrels’ items
5. Collie of fiction
6. Capital of Saskatchewan
7. Depressing
8. Minute amounts

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* In what video game do Luigi, Yoshi, and pals compete on the links?

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 197: Foxgeryptics 9

WORDY WEDNESDAY #195

PENT WORDS 39 (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:
Anthony Bailey **
Cory Oldweiler **
Giovanni Pagano **
Jack Bross **
Bryce Herdt **
Rusty the Wolf **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #196

SECTION SIX 19 (hint)

As of this writing, 7 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 #197

FOXGERYPTICS 9

(click here for a PDF version)

Insert a single letter in each space of each grid so that each grid's five rows and five columns spells a word from left to right or top to bottom (including the letters outside the grid).

Arrange the letters in the shaded spaces to form the final answer, an eight-letter word.

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* What's a 7-letter word for "With The, 1959 Walter Tevis novel"?

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!